To Lent or reLent?

To Lent or reLent? Some thoughts on a recent post at The Gospel Coalition

In Reformed Baptist Fellowship on Thursday, February 14, 2013 at 5:23 pm

 

Recently, The Gospel Coalition (TGC) site posted a blog entry entitled – “Lent Is About Jesus: A Free Devotional Guide.” No, I did not make that up. You can read the whole thing here. As I read the post and thought about it a bit, I concluded I would like to respond to it. So, as many of you do on various blogs, I sent a comment to that post. Before sending the comment, however, I sent copies of my response to a few friends, just to make sure I was responding correctly and clearly. They encouraged me to post my thoughts. Here is (below) what I sent to TGC’s site, which is still awaiting moderation, even though there has been at least one comment posted after I sent mine, I received notice of that post via email, and there were, at one point this afternoon, 25 comments and now there are only 24, as of 2:41pm Pacific time. I hope that changes, but in case it does not (which will not be the first time my comments at TGC have been deleted, if, in fact, that is the case), here it is.

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This is not helpful to me as an individual or, especially, as a pastor. It creates more work for me.

Though there are many, many problems I have with this post, I will share but two.

First, moralizing John’s preparatory ministry is terrible–hermeneutically, theologically, and practically. Your post says:

“At the onset of Jesus’ ministry, John announced his coming in fulfillment of Isaiah 40: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” This is the cry of Lent: Prepare the way of the Lord! Make room for him in your thoughts and activities and affections.”

This goes against, for example, what Dr. Carson’s Commentary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament advocates (and I think rightly). The Gospels narrate these kinds of things for us because they are telling us what happened in fulfillment of the OT and in relation to John the Baptist and the incarnation and ministry (i.e., His sufferings and glory) of Christ. Drawing these kinds of “practical” applications from these types of texts is simply wrong. The Epistles are God’s theological commentary upon and ecclesiastical applications of some of the events depicted for us in the Gospels. Nowhere do we see John’s preparatory ministry interpreted and applied as your post does in the Epistles (or anywhere else in the Bible). The fact of the matter is this: The way has already been prepared for the Lord by John and in fulfillment of God’s Word via Isaiah. We don’t “Prepare the way of the Lord!” John already did that. We can certainly gain confidence in the veracity of the Word of God due to this and connect the dots between the OT, John, and Jesus; but to tell people “Make room for him in your thoughts and activities and affections” based on John’s preparatory ministry is, at best, naive and at worst, a moralizing/allegorizing of a text that ends up creating new laws for God’s people–laws invented by man. “God alone is Lord of the conscience.”

Second, the following words are very troubling to me:

“The practice of giving something up for Lent is a way of entering into the wilderness with Jesus. Don’t worry about whether your sacrifice is a good one. It’s not a contest. Just make your aim to know Christ more fully, and trust him to lead you.”

“…entering into the wilderness with Jesus”? What does that mean and where has God revealed that it is His will for us to enter such? The fact is that Christ already entered the wilderness for us and won! This statement betrays a hermeneutic that is too horizontal, allegorizing, and misses the point of Christ’s wilderness experience. He was driven there to be tempted as our representative and win; unlike Adam in the garden and Israel in the wilderness, Jesus does not give-in to the devil.

TGC brothers, this post makes more work for local church pastors. It is destructive. It erodes confidence in those involved with TGC. Recently a Mark Driscoll interviewwas posted on TGC blog where he gave somewhat of a “pass” to Joel Osteen. Check thisout by Mark Dever. This is what we need from TGC; a clear sound for truth and against error.

I hope you will consider these things in the spirit they are intended. I think this post should be deleted and a humble apology posted in its place.

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Richard Barcellos

Grace Reformed Baptist Church

Paldmale, CA

www.grbcav.org

Mary Idolatry

It is sad that many are deceived by the heretical teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. No where is this claptrap substantiated in Scripture.

Mary Idolatry:

"Just as Mary cannot be understood apart from her Son, the journey of the Church cannot be understood apart from Mary. For the Virgin Mary is, by her fait, the first Christian and the first disciple. Further, she is the spiritual mother of all the children of God, given us by our Savior from the Roman cross: "when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, 'Woman, behold, your son.' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold, your mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into his home" (John 19:26-27)."

First Christian?  First disciple?  Where is the Scriptural substantiation for those statements?  We have no idea who the first Christian is...especially if one holds to the doctrine of election.  God has been electing HIS saints since the fall of Adam and Eve!

Christian - the first usage of the word:

Act_11:26  And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. 

Christians - G5546 - From G5547; a Christian, that is, follower of Christ.

• G5547 - From G5548; anointed, that is, the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus.
• G5548 - Probably akin to G5530 through the idea of contact; to smear or rub with oil, that is, (by implication) to consecrate to an office or religious service.
• G5530 - Middle voice of a primary verb (perhaps rather from G5495, to handle); to furnish what is needed; (give an oracle, “graze” [touch slightly], light upon, etc.), that is, (by implication) to employ or (by extension) to act towards one in a given manner.

Using just the basic definition of Christian - a follower of Christ, would mean that the Old Testament saints could be classified as such.  Perhaps Adam was the first Christian?

"Mary is the Mediatrix of all graces: that is why the grace of conversion will come through her."

Grace of conversion through Mary?  Where is that in the Word of God?  NO WHERE! This is idolatry.

"From Mary, all grace overflows into us. She is the Mediatrix of All Graces. Nothing comes from God to us except through Mary. Nothing goes from us to God except through her. Saint Bernardine of Siena says, 'All the gifts and graces that we receive from God are given by Mary, to whom, when, and as she pleases.' Saint Louis Marie de Montfort says that no one gets into Heaven without venerating the Blessed Virgin Mary."

All the gifts received from God are given by Mary? No one gets into heaven without venerating her?  Scripture?  None.

It behooves us to remember that Mary, while the mother of Christ, is not to be put on a pedestal.  No where did Christ Jesus, the Messiah, EVER elevate her above anyone else.

He rebuked her several times:

Luk 2:49  And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? 

Joh 2:4  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.

Mat_12:48  But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? 

Oh Father, open blind eyes and deaf ears to hear the truth of Your Word. Let the fallacies and heretical teachings of denominations fall and be exposed.  Raise up people to pray and intercede for those who are lost an dying.  Please increase Your laborers into the harvest.

Quotes were taken from catholic.org