Category: Announcements

This is exactly what I said to Tim Bayly,

“I don’t care if your best friend is a minister in the first church of Satan. That comment was out of line, and I do take umbrage for myself and a good number of other faithful ministers and laymen who are trying to fight the good fight.

I’ll chill out when you learn how to write about matters you’re apparently clueless about.”

As you can see there is no profanity here which Bayly’s deletion strongly implies.

You’ll also notice I didn’t say his friend was a minister at the first church of Satan. I put the comment the way I put because Tim Bayly had suggested that all because his best friend is a minister in the CRC therefore I shouldn’t be put off by his denigrating comments. That observation was completely irrelevant to anything I said and I put the phraseology the way I did to draw attention to its irrelevancy.

And yes … I am ticked off. It’s hard enough laboring in the CRC without the hyperbole sloshing Tim Bayly taking potshots from the sidelines. As I told him, there remain many faithful ministers and laymen in the CRC and for him to suggest that the CRC is completely bereft of faithful ministers is just stupid on steroids.

Friends and Readers,

Apologies for the slow posting the past few days. I managed to run headlong in to a pretty good flu bug and am now just recovering.

As it is, I am headed out to Maine for holiday and so my posting will continue to be hit and miss for a couple weeks. God willing, I will return refreshed and ready to hit the ground running with more posts from the catbird seat.

Tomorrow I will have a Classis meeting in Akron, Ohio and then it is on to points East. Classis meetings never fail to raise interesting observations into the way our church culture is reasoning. Your prayers are coveted.

Thanks for your readership and friendship.

p.s. — To those I have promised responses to, I promise I will get to them before I return. Mr. V. I’m thinking especially of you

U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, responsible for the vehicular homicide of Mary Jo Kopechne, Senate floor manager for the 1965 immigration act which fundamentally and unalterably changed America’s demographics despite his then promise that, “our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually,” and annual water carrier for socialized health care in America has been reunited with Miss Kopechne in his death from brain cancer. Senator Kennedy outlived Miss Kopechne by just over 40 years dying at age 77.

Teddy Kennedy’s philandering and womanizing was consistent with the Kennedy family tradition. Father Joe, and brothers Jack and Bobby were legendary skirt chasers and Teddy followed in that family tradition. Another family tradition that Sen. Kennedy was involved in was national politics. His Father had been US ambassador to England during the Roosevelt administration and his Brothers Jack and Bobby each achieved high elective office with Jack serving as President and Bobby as Attorney General and US Senator from New York. Teddy Kennedy was the only son of Joe Kennedy to die of natural causes in his old age.

Edward Kennedy, despite ushering Mary Jo Kopechne to a watery demise went on to become an influential US Senator from Massachusetts. In 1980 Kennedy challenged incumbent Jimmy Carter for his party’s nomination to be the Presidential standard bearer but lost in a tight contest to the incumbent President. Kennedy’s political career also included his leading the way in crushing Robert Bork’s nomination to the US Supreme court. With adroit underhanded slime and malicious and misleading innuendo Sen. Kennedy almost single handedly tarred what had been Bork’s stellar personal and judicial reputation and in so doing help to create the current poisonous partisan climate that still prevails in Washington D.C. some 25 years later.

Speculation from Washington D.C. is that the Democratic party will use Kennedy’s death as a martyrdom in order to pass the current proposed socialized health care. Rumors are swirling that the Democratic party will label the pending legislation as the “Kennedy Memorial Health care legislation.”

Randy,

I don’t think I misunderstood you. You said, “I, too, used to “thwack” people upside the head with God’s Word.” By your use of the word “too” you did more than imply that Mrs. Nanna was, like you, being legalistic. As I pointed out, that was inaccurate.

I praise God that he rescued your from the GRBC with its dispensationalism and its fundamentalism. I pray that God will continue to deliver His people from the errors that their current respective faith communities entertain.

You said Randy,

“Still, now having said that, while legalism is ultimate a “Law+Grace=saved,” the end effect can be the same if a Christian believes that in order to be a “good Christian” or a “real Christian” then you really need to do “X,y,Z.” That is a very dangerous place to go and we need to be careful when we head there.”

I’m not sure what you’re getting at here. I do know that throughout the Scriptures the Apostle Paul warns people against behavior that is inconsistent w/ confessing Christ. The Apostle Paul doesn’t seem to shy away from saying that we may not go on sinning that grace may abound.

As a contrary example to your statement the Apostle Paul seems to suggest that the Galatians can’t be good Christians if they deny being saved by faith alone. Another contrary example to your statement would be when the Apostle tells the Corinthians that they are not being very good Christians when they take one another to court, or when they allow the one caught in incest to remain a member of their Church. But perhaps I’m misunderstanding your concern?

Actually, Luther, in his writings was more predestinarian than Calvin ever was. And I agree w/ you that Lutherans don’t mind contradictions. That is why they have a mystery box to throw them in.

I think Anna’s post in which we are responding to is not the legalistic admonition that you fear it is. Thanks for your concern for her though. It is always good to be reminded that we need to tell people of God’s grace.