ryan.the.calvinist

Question:  Would you join a local congregation knowing you would be excluded from holding either office of deacon or elder? I am asking this question from a complimentarian view.  That is, I am against "eldressess" or "pastrixes" and see no biblical support for women holding such roles.  While on the topic, I *do* see the capacity of women to hold the role of deaconess.  But that is not what I am referring to.  The issue is not one of gender requirements; it is one of belief or conviction. I am Reformed (NO! REALLY?!??!).  I am also a convinced credobaptist, wishing to bestow the visible sign of the New Covenant to those who are actually members of that covenant - namely those who repent of sin and place their trust in Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins.  Are there false converts? Yes.  Credobaptists baptize many many many who are not truly of the the New Covenant, though they profess to be.  This is due to our inability to kn...

"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 ...

I just read the lyrics to the Lady GaGa song "Born This Way" for the first time.  I would rather not post the lyrics... but you can find them in their entirety here.  I will post the climax of the song, found in the bridge: Don't be a drag, just be a queen Whether you're broke or evergreen You're black, white, beige, chola descent You're Lebanese, you're orient Whether life's disabilities Left you outcast, bullied, or teased Rejoice and love yourself today 'cause baby you were born this way No matter gay, straight, or bi, Lesbian, transgendered life, I'm on the right track baby, I was born to survive. No matter black, white or beige Chola or orient made, I'm on the right track baby, I was born to be brave. Wow. All I can think about is the way I was born - in sin.  I was stillborn, dead in sin.  A rebel against God.  That's how I was born.  A child of wrath by nature.  I'm so thankful that God sovereign...

I hope I don't tick off my Presbyterian brothers... esp. since I like their churches (as a whole) generally more than Reformed Baptist ones... In light of my diving into Covenant Infant Baptism arguments, I found this defense from Dr. James White regarding Hebrews 8 and the New Covenant to be useful. He asserts that the Old Covenant was a mixed covenant - that the covenant sign was correctly administered to those whose hearts were changed (like David) and those whose hearts remained corrupt (like Ahab). The New Covenant, however, is not a mixed covenant.  ALL in the New Covenant know the Lord.  The text looks not to a future fulfillment, but is speaking as a present reality.  The New Covenant is better now; It won't be better later, it is presently better, in a similar way that Christ is a better mediator now, and the sacrifice of Christ is better now than the sacrifices under the Old Covenant. I must say, this is what I keep coming back to in my focus on ...

Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.         And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? (Isaiah 5:1-4 ESV) I have read most of the Bible... but am only now tackling some of the Old Testament books I have never read front to back - Jeremiah, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezekiel, and Isaiah to name a few.  Presently, I am going through Isaiah. I used to try and find passages and verses that had special life application and draw wisdom...

While things have been fairly quiet on the blog here, thoughts have been racing through my head of late. Particularly, thoughts relating to the New Covenant ... what is is... what the benefits are... and especially who makes it up: Is it comprised of believers only?  Or are nonbelievers included in this New Covenant as well? The Evangelical Presbyterian Church emblem. Growing up from a slightly Pentecostal and then a standard evangelical background, I grew up recognizing that the New Covenant was comprised of believers.  I have no recollection of learning anything to the contrary.  However, while investigating churches in the O'Fallon / St. Peters / St. Charles, MO area, my wife and I have spent the last month or so at Mercy Road Fellowship, an Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) plant near Mid Rivers Mall in St. Peters.  Aside from a small Acts 29 church plant of maybe 15 people, this is by far the smallest congregation I've been involved in on any capac...

//In this series, I look at a few common objections I have received regarding Christianity and attempt to give a defense for the hope that is within me.// Objection #2:  Everything comes from something, so something had to create God.  God must have an origin. This goes back to a conversation I’ve heard posed between two children:   “Who   created the trees?” one child asks, to which the second replies “God.”   “Who made the birds?”   “God.”   “Who made God??”   The second child pauses for a bit and replies: “God made himself.”   Cute storey, but the kid needs a bit more time of schooling in the beliefs of the Christian faith.   ;-)   Where did God come from?   He always existed.   If he did not always exist, he would not be God.   Definitionaly, he was not created.     As dumb as this example sounds… Saying that God was created is like saying there can be an all-green painted room that is colored orange...