ryan.the.calvinist

"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.  In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his wife loves himself." Christ's love for his bride makes me look like the most pathetic husband ever. What??  Yes.  Recently married - about 5 1/2 months now - and already I'm learning about how selfish human beings are.  She will not want to be cuddly with me and insist on having space.  I will complain that I'm too tired to cook dinner and that I'm hesitant to do it, as I don't have a clue what I'm doing.  k Selfishness.  Two sinners living together.  Yowssah! Compared to Christ... I'm a pathetic example of Christ's love for ...

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.  He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”     (Matthew 28:5-7 ESV)

This past week, I caught up in my Bible reading calendar… and came to John 14:18-21 a few days ago: I will not leave you as orphans;  I will come to you.  Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me.  Because I live, you also will live.  In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.  Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.  And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. In all honesty, the thought of this saying of Jesus causes me to tremble a bit.   If it doesn’t cause you to tremble, look at your own life for a bit. Why do I tremble? I do not obey Christ perfectly.  We know from Scripture that God’s law – his statutes – his commands demand perfect obedience.  I can’t wonder, how many people can I be really unjustly angry with and NOT be counted a murderer?   Or how many girls can I lust af...

He Is Risen Indeed! "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:  that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ... "Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain."  (1 Corinthians 15:3-5, 13-14)

The more and more I try to like the TNIV, the more and more I find that I dislike it.  And the more I discover I dislike it, the more I realize that my disdain is not limited merely to the TNIV… but extends to the Evangelical’s favored version: the NIV. A while back, I published a brief article on one of the many reasons someone should avoid (or rather use with caution) Today’s New International Version.  After I hit the PUBLISH button, I thought I should double-check and see if the same translation error made in the TNIV was present in the NIV.  It was.  So today when I encountered yet another translation biff, I decided to check in advance.  And guess what – it was poorly translated both in the TNIV and NIV.  At least I know in advance.  Now once again, I am not accusing anyone who uses the NIV (or even the TNIV) of being a heretic.  It is, after all, a translation of God’s Word.  Neither the NIV nor the TNIV are among the absolute WORST...

While attending The Journey this summer, I received several inserts in bulletin inserts containing amazing quotes.  Currently I am using one of these inserts to read CS Lewis' Surprised By Joy:  The Shape of My Early Life .  In any case, this particular collection of quotes are amazing reflections/insights into the importance of the cross of Christ, where the gospel resides.  I will proceed to post these as status updates on facebook, but I wanted to write them down in a more organized location also.  Here they are, in the order presented on the page. "The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man.  Man... puts himself where only God deserves to be;  God... puts himself where man deserves to be." - John Stott, The Cross of Christ. "Learn to know Christ and him crucified.  Learn to sing to him and say, Lord you are my righteousness, I am your sin.  You took on you ...

This was the responsive reading today @ Boulevard Baptist, where Kacey and I currently attend.  When I sat down this evening to read 1 Tim, I did not know that I would choose this verse, necessarily, to write about on here.  Interesting. I will not take the time to quote the verse in length... feel free to look it up yourself and then proceed.  As always, I recommend the ESV, but also see the benefit in the NIV, NASB, and NKJV, depending on the verse. I do want to focus, however, primarily on verse 15:  "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost."  This seemingly simple statement boldly proclaims why Christ came in his humble incarnation, which many Christians around the world celebrate between December 25 - January 6.  It wasn't to merely show us an example of how to live and love.  Did he live a perfect life, free from sin?  Absolutely. ...

Malachi 4:1-3 For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble.  The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the L ORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.  But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.   You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.  And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the L ORD of hosts. Thanks to a good friend of mine named Jim , Kacey and I learned of a church down here in Springfield that is attempting to join the OPC - Orthodox Presbyterian Church.  The congregation is fairly small; even smaller than the Sovereign Grace church in town or South Creek... and considerably smaller than Boulevard Baptist.  But it is also full of people who love God... and who use the Trinity hymnal. ;-) The sermon text today...

Yes.  Believe it or not... it is possible.  Actually don't "not" believe it.  If you do (or don't?) then you are just wrong.  So stop it.  Or do it.  I forget.  Moving on. One of the "drums" my extremely liberal professor Boyer was banging away at this past intercession course was that there is no way to generalize about an event or teaching of Christ from the pages of Scripture.  We can, according to Boyer, only say with any certainty what Mark says about Jesus doing _____ or how John characterizes Jesus during ______.  Each account exists isolated from each other; it would be foolish to attempt to reconcile these accounts into one coherent account of the life and teachings and death and resurrection of Jesus... as... "Then you would be creating a gospel that is unlike ANY of the four canonical Gospels: a gospel that does not even exist!!"  Right.  I call shenanigans. It sounds profound, after all.  I mean, if I were...

Toying w/ this idea... so hang in there with me... If the work of Christ was limited to the cross in the forgiveness of sins and the wrath of God being transferred to Christ on my account... this does me ZERO amount of good. Ok, I'm forgiven of my sin by God, and God isn't justly furious with me because of my sin... so what? This would do me NO good because ... if I only had my sins forgiven and wrath for me staved off... that doesn't mean I get anything GOOD out of it. Nothing inherently positive. Sure, God not being mad is ok. But is it good? Think about it. Just because someone isn't pissed at you doesn't mean you have a good relationship with that person, does it? You can not hate someone, but then again not have that individual be your favorite person. Just because you don't want to burn their face with a hot iron doesn't mean you want to give them a hug and let them use your favorite robe when they come over for a late night of pizza & Star Wars (t...

Personally, I am in the process of working my way through the Gospel of Mark in preparation/repentance as we move closer and closer to Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. However, a question came up today from a professor of mine that I had to address. Matthew 5:17-20 {ESV} [Jesus taught, saying:] "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever laxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." I am fairly certain that a few months ago I did a rather lengthy 2-part ...

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (ESV) And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. If truth be known, I would probably be accused of being a "church hopper" by some (or many). This is unfair. I have not been hopping for the sake of hopping or until I find a church that has the right color of carpet or that only sings Charlie Hall praise choruses ('cause Chris Tomlin is better anyway... lol), etc. Someday I will write a lengthy blog about my journey through (more or less) Evangelical churches, starting with my parents being raised in the Oneness cult and then onto a Penteco...

John 3:3 Jesus answered him [Nicodemus], "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 Now I [Paul] would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you--unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. John 14:6-7 Jesus said to him [Thomas], "I am the way, and the truth, and the life No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Ephesians 2:4-9 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he lo...

The following is a slightly-altered response I made to someone on Facebook… concerning the topics of abortion, sin, the nature of God, and man’s need for a Savior.  I hope it is a blessing to those who read it. I have heard the desires to make exceptions when it comes to abortion for cases of rape or incest.  However, there is still a fundamental issue:  There is a living human being inside of the mother, with DNA and a heartbeat distinct from the mother's own.  Is rape a horrible crime and sin?  YES.  However, I think it is just as much of a crime/sin to slaughter the unborn child that results.  Truth be told, pregnancies resulting from rape are less common than those resulting from Tom and Linda not being able to keep it in their pants.  I would say the child deserves to live either way.  Adoption is always an option.  the 9 month journey is difficult, but having the blood of the innocent on the mother's hands is far worse.  "What...

Acts 19:15-16 But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?" And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. A lot has been going on within "charismatic evangelicalism" until recently with Todd Bentley . Supposedly, there was a revival in Lakeland, FL where the Holy Spirit was attributed for healing people and men were casting out demons in Jesus' name. Now, do I believe the Holy Spirit heals people of disease and illness? Absolutely. God is sovereign and does as he pleases. And can/does the Holy Spirit work through men to cast demons out of others? ... I refuse to limit God's ability to do such a miraculous act. Whether or not it actually happens in 21st century ... that is another story. Still, God can do this sort of stuff if he pleases and wills it. However, I think it is clear that Bentley's violent min...

Romans 7:7-12 (ESV) "What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good." I am a Religious Studies major. But I am also realistic and I know such a degree has really nothing to do with the part of life that involves feeding myself or my (future) family. So, I also am in the process of getting my General Business minor. What will I do with a General Bus...