The Wise and the Fool in Controversy

I read a very good Proverb the other day:

"When a wise man has a controversy with a foolish man,
The foolish either rages or laughs, and there is no rest." Prov. 29:9

This verse may be primarily referring to arbitration issues in court (see Dr. Bruce Walke's commentary), but I think that there is some truth here with regard to controversy in general be it: relational, doctrinal, political, etc...

Being wise does not mean that you avoid controversy, but wisdom is demonstrated in the way in which one handles controversy. Controversy will come to any person, but whether the person is wise or a fool is another story.

This verse says that foolish people laugh off controversy as if it is no big deal or they rage in anger and get overly worked up and take it too personally. A wise person doesn't rage or laugh. A wise person is sober and a wise person is joyfull and somehow walks that line well. I'm picturing the fool in two of the following ways: as a cable network commentator barking at someone and foaming at the mouth over the latest political issue or the a-theological hip pastor who doesn't give a rip about doctrine and just thinks biblical controversy's are meant for either endless sarcasm or perpetual passivity.

Being in a meaningful controversy means that there is no time for fun and games and constant cutsey-ness or for those that are going to shake with anger without listening to the issue at hand. The worst kinds of controvesy to be in is when someone is so furious that they don't listen to the other person or when one is so sarcastic and passive that you can tell that they really don't give a damn about you or the subject at hand and would just rather laugh you and that subject off.

Don't be that kind of person. It's possible to be wise in controversy, but no one should thrive on controversy. As the wise man, like the godly elder, is not "quarrelsome" (2 Ti. 2:24).

May God help me be wise in doctrinal controversy's, political controversy's, interpersonal controversy's, even legal controversy's, etc. This matters in your marriage, matters in your church, and matters in State. Wisdom cries out in the streets looking for people in controversy that are wise.

Francis Beckwith on President Obama's Abortion Comments

Justin Taylor posted a piece of President Obama's recent comments on abortion, and Francis Beckwith, Baylor Philosophy Professor and Senior Visiting Fellow at Norte Dame, made some comments after reading President Obama's quotes on Justin Taylor's blog. I found them very provoking and very needed.

President Obama:

"On the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we are reminded that this decision not only protects women's health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters. I remain committed to protecting a woman's right to choose.

While this is a sensitive and often divisive issue, no matter what our views, we are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make. To accomplish these goals, we must work to find common ground to expand access to affordable contraception, accurate health information, and preventative services.

On this anniversary, we must also recommit ourselves more broadly to ensuring that our daughters have the same rights and opportunities as our sons: the chance to attain a world-class education; to have fulfilling careers in any industry; to be treated fairly and paid equally for their work; and to have no limits on their dreams. That is what I want for women everywhere."

Professor Francis Beckwith:

"Apparently, the only way our daughters can be successful is if they are permitted to kill our grandchildren.

So, without surgery so that women can be like men, women are unequal to men. Thus, according to Obama, women are congenitally inferior unless they can have abortions.

I don't even think the worst chauvinists in the world have implied anything so outrageous."

Sometimes the assumptions of the pro-choice argument can be deconstructed from the inside out. Beckwith demonstrates this clearly and poignantly.

President Obama is right in that this is a "sensitive and divisive issue," yet I disagree that this means that the ultimate issue is coming together on finding ways to "reduce the need for abortion." That sentence does not work for anyone who believes that there is never a need for abortion.

"Need for abortion." "Need for abortion." Listen to what that is saying. It presupposes a belief and one that is antithetical to the pro-life position.

The belief and assumption that President Obama carries into his viewpoint of pro-choice is not unifying but divisive. Where one comes down on certain issues eliminates the possiblity of agreeable conclusions. I am united to eliminate (and see a decrease in) abortion, but not the "need" for it. This is not a common viewpoint, nor is it a unifying foundation that President Obama has laid.

However, I would be called narrow. I would be the one that is divisive, because the sentence is framed in such a way that anyone who disagrees with the assumptions of his "unifying" statement is forced into divisiveness. I think its better just to admit that both of us are divisive. President Obama elevates the choice of the born pregnant female over the unborn male-female, and I elevate the right to life of the unborn male-female over that of the choice of the born pregnant female. Of course, I have made just a ton of assumptions, of which I believe to be true, and so has our President.

I sincerely hope that President Obama's goal is truly to do all that he can to lessen abortion. Oftentimes, one's who hold the pro-choice position insist that they really do not want to see more abortions, but less. However, it is paragraphs like his that do not give me that impression. In his view, a born female choice is supreme, the unborn human or unborn potential human is secondary. In that model the goal is not to decrease abortion but to elevate choice. Let's not act like we agree on the assumptions.

It is possible to honor someone with who you vehemently disagree with. I do honor President Obama as my President, and in honor, I radically express my disagreement with him. Somehow this can be done without compromise and with civility.

Spirit & the Word - Calvin's Institutes 5

John Calvin: 

"But I answer, that the testimony of the Spirit is superior to reason.  For as God alone can properly bear witness to his own words, so these words will not obtain full credit in the hearts of men, until they are sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit.  The same Spirit, therefore, who spoke by the mouth of the prophets, must penetrate our hearts, in order to convince us that they faithfully delievered the message with which they were divinely intrusted...the only true faith is that which the Spirit of God seals on our hearts."  Institutes of Christian Religion, Vol. I, 72-73.

A Defective Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

"...in Acts 10.  We read in verse 44 that 'While peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.'  And if your doctrine of the Holy Spirit does not include this idea of the Holy Spirit falling upon people, it is seriously, grievously defective.  This, it seems to me, has been the trouble especially during this present century, indeed almost for a hundred years.  The whole notion of the Holy Spirit falling upon people has been discountenanced and discouraged, and if you read many of the books on the Holy Spirit you will find it is not even mentioned at all, a fact which is surely one of the prime explanations of the present state of the Christian church."

Joy Unspeakable, 115-116.

Honor and Pray for President Obama

(Image Source: Huffington Post)

The Survival of the "Dream"

Dr. Alveda C. King, Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece, states:

"How can the “Dream” survive if we murder the children? Every aborted baby is like a slave in the womb of his or her mother."

Quoted via John Piper's sermon,"When is Abortion Racism?"

'Zona Cardinals, I Don't Have to Choose Another

Regarding the Card's playoff run, I wrote,

"I'm pulling for Arizona in the playoffs this year, but when they get kicked out I'll have to choose another."

Well, I don't have to choose another.

Can you say, "Larry Fitzgerald."

A Controversial Statement

The "Doctor":

"Let us put it as plainly as that: you can be baptized with the Spirit and not show the fruit of the Spirit..." Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Joy Unspeakable: Power and Renewal in the Holy Spirit, 76

Think about that for a moment.

As a Christian, whether you agree or disagree with that statement will determine the way you handle and respond to certain revival movements and certain individual people, as well as, yourself.

Cultivating a Knowledge of God in the Heart - Calvin's Institutes 4

John Calvin,

"And here we must observe again...that the knowledge of God which we are invited to cultivate is not that which, resting satisfied with empty speculation, only flutters the brain, but a knowledge which will prove substantial and frutiful wherever it is duly perceived, and rooted in the heart." Insitutes of Christian Religion, Volume I, 57.

The World a Mirror to Behold God - Calvin's Institutes 3

John Calvin states,

"...we cannot open our eyes without being compelled to behold him...first, wherever you turn your eyes, there is no portion of the world, however minute, that does not exhibit at least some sparks of beauty; while it is impossible to contemplate the vast and beautiful fabric as it extends around, without being overwhelmed by the immense weight of glory.  Hence, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, elegantly describes the visible worlds as images of the invisible (Heb. xi. 3), the elegant structure of the world serving us as a kind of mirror, in which we may behold God, though otherwise invisible."  The Institutues of the Christian Religion, Volume 1, 51.