Bayly Blog: Out of Our Minds, Too

How to choose a church...

Out of the kindness of our church and her elders, Mary Lee and I are away on a two-week study leave for me to work on completing a book tentatively titled, How To Choose a Church: Lessons from the Apostolic Church in Jerusalem. Dear Mary Lee has suggested I post a short excerpt and ask for your prayers for the completion of the work, and that it would serve the Church well. So would you please pray for this work?

Maybe it would be good to mention that most of the posts, but particularly the last two--on divorce and remarriage, and why David and I still call ourselves "evangelicals"--were written some time ago and, since then, have been awaiting posting.

Here's the preface...

Still evangelical after all these years...

(Tim) Some of our elders and closest friends think the commitment David and I have to evangelicalism is quixotic, with the kindest of them hoping we'll see the light some day, and give it up. It's not likely.

Take the sermon text this past Lord's Day, for instance. It was Matthew 22:34-40, where Matthew records the exchange between Jesus and a lawyer who asks Him which is the greatest commandment? Jesus answers that the greatest commandments is to love God with all our heart and soul and mind.

Today's evangelicalism has eviscerated love of much of its objective biblical content, so I'm not suggesting anyone take out membership in a megachurch and join in a sing-along...

Roman Catholic and Protestant divorce and remarriage...

(Tim) Divorce is one of the most difficult questions pastors and elders face as we shepherd God's flock. Providing spiritual counsel in cases where husband and wife don't get along is relatively easy. Much harder are those cases in which husbands or wives physically abuse their spouses, fathers or stepfathers sexually abuse their children, husbands or wives commit serious sexual sin (what Jesus refers to as "porneia" in the exception clause of Matthew 19), or husbands demand their wives and children deny the faith. Each of these matters requires the most careful study of Scripture, prayer, and pastoral counsel. Sometimes the result is a session (board of elders) recommendation of divorce.

In the twelve years since Church of the Good Shepherd was founded, our session has made such a recommendation two or three times, each by unanimous consent. Sometimes it's hard to say whether the believing or unbelieving spouse is the one taking the initiative in the divorce. This is why it's impossible to say precisely how many times we've counseled divorce. We don't make the decision--the innocent party does. Yet neither do we abandon that innocent party to their own counsel. Our Westminster Standards are correct..

Cindy McCain rocks (I): And contra Barack Obama, she thinks babies born alive should live...

(Tim) Last night, Michele Peatie left a kind comment here in which she mentioned her blog, Unborn Word of the Day. My curiosity piqued, I went and read some of her posts including this on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of orthodox Roman Catholic French composer, Olivier Messiaen. If you're not familiar with Messiaen's music, try this.

Further down the page was this gem of a post, "Living Pro-Life - 3 Politicians." Here Mrs. Peatie tells the stories of two female politicians' response to their Down Syndrome children, as well as the adoption by Senator John McCain and his wife, Cindy, of a special needs child from Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh.

A teenager now, the McCain's daughter, Bridget, would not have survived without surgery and years of rehabilitation. Cindy brought her home and, with her husband, provided her surgery, care, and love. Actually, Mrs. McCain brought back two babies: The other is also a teenager, now, and was adopted by one of McCain's aids, Wes Gullett, and his wife. Her name is Nicki. She too needed much medical care and Mr. Gullett says he "never saw a hospital bill" for her care, implying the McCain's paid for it all.

Turning to another politician who shows love for the poorest among us, this woman is a member of Feminists for Life and the Governor of Alaska...

Barack Obama rocks (IX): More bloodthirsty than Teddy Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, and Barbara Boxer...

(Tim) Those Christian hipsters still mesmerized by Senator Obama, thinking him to be a gentleman, need to watch this video. And anyone wondering how believers could vote for such a man need only listen to a podcast of the sermons these hispters sit under, week after weak. Vacuous and sentimental, but so very chic.

Pastoral approaches to opposition...

(Tim: For those who skip the comments, here's one just posted as part of an exchange under the post, "Slaughterhouse-Two hundred and fifty thousand...." It would be good to read this in context, seeing the comments that gave rise to it. Regardless, the issues here dealt with come up frequently enough on this blog that I thought I'd give it main level posting in order to make some of the methods David and I employ on this blog more clear to our readers.)

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Dear Friends,

It's unusual for such comments as that made by Ben above to be signed, and thus for us to know the person and life that's given rise to them. My guess is that, almost always, such comments come from desperate sinners who make no effort to hide it; their anger and tormented consciences are right there in plain sight.

It's my inclination to deal with them one of two ways: Either dismiss them and delete their comments, or call them to the Cross. Arguing and exposure are not my first choice.

On the other hand, most of the comments put up here on this blog that oppose what we write--particularly on matters such as abortion and sexuality--come from those who think of themselves as leaders, wise souls, deep thinkers, the cream of the crop. These people should be treated in an entirely different way; not at all with patience and tenderness, but satire, irony, and any other weapon that will expose them before the eyes of the sheep...

Slaughterhouse-Two hundred and fifty thousand (per year)...

(Tim, w/thanks to Mark, James, and David) Across the country, Christians should be refusing to participate in United Way campaigns that fund Planned Parenthood. It's not enough that some United Way chapters allow donors to specify certain charities or exclude others. We should have nothing to do with an organization that provides a single dollar of support for those making a living off the slaughter of unborn babies safely nestled in their mother's womb.

Planned Parenthood is wicked, ruthless, heartless, cruel, deceptive, bloodthirsty, and depraved. Planned Parenthood is also obscenely rich.

How many of your tax dollars will be used this year to fund these worshipers of Molech? Have you and the men of your church opposed that funding? Let's not be monkey see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil men.

To help in our recovery of the pure religion that is undefiled before God and the Father, here are some recent articles exposing the business end of Planned Parenthood...

Phil Ryken on B. B. Warfield and woman deacons: a correction...

(Tim: Given the importance of this correction, we'll leave this post at the top for a few days. Please check below for more recent posts. Thanks.)

Speaking of Bryan Chapell putting forward Phil Ryken for service on a study committee on woman deacons, I held off correcting some significant errors in Phil's commentary on 1Timothy 3:8-13 until I'd been able to notify him of those errors, giving him a chance to correct the text of the PDF available for download. A week and a half after we exchanged e-mails (Phil was quite cordial, by the way), it appears the text hasn't yet been corrected. The errors appear in Phil's commentary issued as part of P&R's Reformed Expository Commentary Series, and specifically his comments on 1Timothy 3:8-13 where the Apostle Paul enumerates qualifications for the office of deacon. In this text, Phil misquotes B. B. Warfield...

Your tax dollars at work...

(Tim: A week or so ago, thirty plus members of Church of the Good Shepherd went to Bloomington's City Council meeting to oppose our tax dollars being appropriated by the Council members to fund an organization that makes Hitler's Third Reich and it's Holocaust factories look like child's play. I'm speaking of course of Planned Parenthood which makes its living off of the slaughter of unborn children tenderly nestled in their mother's womb. By itself, Planned Parenthood is responsible for a quarter of a million of those murders each year, and they're moving their abattoirs into more affluent areas in order to grow their bloody profit.

Each year here in Bloomington, Planned Parenthood goes through the charade of requesting tax dollars to help provide its clients with some service close to, but not exactly coterminous with it's slaughter machine. And each year, our city fathers cuddle up to this progressive nonprofit and ante up our dough over our vociferous protest. One of those speaking against this Holocaust funding this year was Mary Lee's and my dear friend and fellow CGS member, Joshua Congrove. Although we were out of town at the time, we heard Josh's testimony was good, so I asked him if he could send me a copy. Here are a few prefaratory comments he wrote to set the scene, followed by what he said that night.)

This year, as usual, Planned Parenthood received a donation from the Bloomington City Council (and from public funds) to support a particular medical procedure. While the procedure itself is unobjectionable, the giving of public money to an organization that performs hundreds of abortions per year is an egregious act that demands objection...

Fast and loose with primary sources...

(David) Advocates of an inclusive diaconate in the PCA show greatest disdain for primary sources not in their treatment of the works of men but in their handling of the Word of God. If it's embarrassing to misread Warfield, it's shameful to permit a tendentious view to warp our teaching of God's Word.

Where is this failure most evident in the arguments of advocates of mixed diaconates?

First, in claiming the office of "deaconess" for Phoebe while generally denying that office to the seven selected to serve the needs of widows in Acts 6, advocates of a mixed diaconate display a troublingly selective approach to what constitutes the office of deacon in Scripture.

Woman deacons: two articles from Aquilla Report worth reading...

(Tim) One news source worth checking out because it isn't dependent on denominational money and the approval of denominational leaders for its existence is Dominic Aquila's eponymous Aquila Report. And concerning the PCA and woman deacons, here's a good article from Aquila Report summarizing this past assembly's actions on the matter.

Also from Aquila Report, here's an article reporting on the actions taken by my own Ohio Valley Presbytery concerning Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis in the matter of their practice of woman deacons. Here is most of the text of the recommendations made by a committee that had been appointed by presbytery to deal with this matter. These recommendations were adopted by Ohio Valley Presbytery...

Woman deacons: what about Warfield's approach today...

(Tim) A reader asks: "(D)id I understand your introduction to say that you agreed with Warfield's approach inasmuch as 'deaconess' could be a valid office in the church as long as it did not entail the exercise of authority over men, and thus was not conflated with the male diaconate?"

I respond: Yes, but I think such an action on the part of the PCA right now would be unwise in the extreme, given the conflation of the biblical office of deacon and these various helps women performed at times in church history. Furthermore, as Warfield points out quite clearly, Scripture itself cannot be said to provide a biblical basis for woman deacons. Warfield's exactly right.

What we find is that at various times the church did precisely what our Book of Church Order (BCO) allows: namely, to create ad hoc or ancillary groups of women for service to the church--including helping those officers called "deacons." Those women might be called "deaconesses," but across church history they were never exercising authority over men.

And this is where the practice of so many churches of the uber-hip metro-sophisticate variety leave us in a position that we must oppose woman deacons...

Dobson exposes Senator Obama's blood-guilt...

(Tim, w/thanks to Jeff) Today, Dr. James Dobson aired a fifteen minute exposure of Senator Barack Obama's attempt to cloak his radical politics as if it were on version of a faithful Christian conscience. In the program, Dr. Dobson said Senator Obama is trying to govern by the "lowest common denominator of morality." Dr. Dobson labelled Senator Obama's support for the killing of the unborn as "a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution," going on to ask, "Am I required in a democracy to conform my efforts in the political arena to his bloody notion of what is right with regard to the lives of tiny babies? What (Senator Obama is) trying to say here is unless everybody agrees, we have no right to fight for what we believe."

"Bloody notion of of what is right" indeed.

PCA and woman deacons: unity requires submission...

(Tim) Pushing for Philadelphia Presbytery's overture to study woman deacons, Bryan Chapell presented the Bills and Overture Committee's Minority Report, arguing “We have to listen to one another. We have to be willing to talk about difficult things without fear of demoralizing the church. We must get people together in the same room to talk about (these things) in an atmosphere that’s not highly charged.”

Our denominational magazine, Byfaith, reported that Chapell's minority proposal "recommended that a committee comprised of theologians on both sides of the issue—including Tim Keller, Phil Ryken, Ligon Duncan, and Jimmy Agan—meet together over the coming year to come to a Scriptural understanding of deaconesses." The remaining three members of the study committee were to be appointed by the moderator, but somewhere Chapell was quoted as saying he hoped the majority would be in favor of the status quo--namely, woman deacons forbidden by our Book of Church Order.

So let's do the numbers.

The churches Tim Keller and Phil Ryken serve have woman deacons. And reading what they've written on the subject, we could expect them to support amending the Book of Church Order. Jimmy Agan is a junior faculty member under Bryan Chapell at Covenant Seminary, so he's likely to stand where Bryan stands.

Where is that? I'm guessing some sort of compromise that keeps large churches happy both north and south of the Mason-Dixon Line...

God's immanence in blessings and curses...

Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And He answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:1-5)

(Tim) The headline ran, "Some see human link in severity of U.S. floods." It piqued my interest, so I read the teaser: "Natural disasters like floods are normally blamed on nature, but some experts believe humans are at least partly responsible for this month's massive flooding in Iowa and elsewhere in the US farm belt."

Right. Nature and man are blamed, but God is absent. Man can sin against nature and mother nature can take her revenge, but the discipline and judgment of God only comes in the life to come...

A Christian defends a Guantanamo detainee...

(David) Are we willing to have our potential preconceptions about the Guantanamo legal process challenged?

Yesterday's New York Times profiles a 36-year-old Guantanamo defense attorney. The Times describes Navy Lt. Commander William Kuebler as, "...married to the first girl he ever dated in high school... a self-described born-again Christian and conservative who has 'never voted for a Democrat.'" Yet Kuebler describes the Guantanamo process as, "'designed to get criminal convictions' with 'no real evidence,'”  and to “launder evidence derived from torture.”

Read the full article here.

Iranian brother tortured for baptizing Muslim converts...

(Tim, from Compass Direct News) On May 31, house church leader Mohsen Namvar was arrested by eight police officers in his home in Tehran, Iran. According to Compass Direct News, "The officers confiscated a number of Namvar's personal belongings including his computer, printer, CDs, books and money. He was given no official explanation for the arrest, and his current location is unknown." Compass Direct added, "According to an Iranian pastor residing outside the country, Namvar had anticipated that police would come for him since hearing that he had been implicated during police interrogations of Christians in the city of Amol in April. He had been warned by a friend that authorities were keeping him under close watch. Namvar was previously held and tortured for baptizing Muslim converts to Christianity in the spring of 2007." Pray for Namvar's release. Pray that he will act as a faithful witness for Christ during his detention. Pray that his wife and children will rely on the Lord for comfort and strength.