Why Predestination is Good News

As a child, I loved the Greek myths - rural England was far too short of jeopardy for a young boy. Perhaps, had I lived in Australia, the local flora and fauna would have presented enough dangers for me not to retreat elsewhere, but so be it.

For myself, above and beyond the Hydras, Minotaurs, Harpies and Sphinxes, the most terrifying creatures were the Sirens.

These nymphs, who lived on an island, were the most beautiful creatures in the world, and sang so beautifully that all men who heard them could not resist going towards them... such sailors would then be dashed on the rocks and the sirens would devour their flesh.

Only two men ever passed that island alive: One was Odysseus, who so desired to hear the voice of the sirens that he instructed his men to block their ears with beeswax, and lash him firmly to the mast, but with his ears uncovered, as they sailed past.

He was in agony: as he heard the music he strained against the ropes, crying and gurgling, and his wrists and arms were bloodied as they scraped against the knots that held him down.

But he passed the sirens, and reached safety.

Irresistible Grace

The doctrine of irresistible grace is one that has caused great consternation amongst many Christians. The image is one of people being dragged, kicking and screaming into heaven.

C.S. Lewis describes his conversion: 

"You must picture me alone in that room at Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England"

(Surprised by Joy)

Yet, do we think his free will was triumphed over by God? By Him who set two trees in Eden, by Him who returned to His people again and again as they whored themselves to other gods; by Him who made man even while already surrounded by adoring angels? This is no God with an implanted 'believe' switch in the head of every human, but one who bears patiently with those whom he loves.
And we can only love Him because of this.

Let us return to the sirens. The other man to pass them was Jason, along with his Argonauts. The goddess Hera had told him, before he sailed past the sirens, to pick up a man called Orpheus.

As they passed the island and the creatures started to sing, Orpheus pulled out his Lyre and began to play.

The music he played was so sweet, that the sailors sat, entranced, oblivious to the sirens' ever more desperate wailing as the winds took them out of earshot.

This is irresistible grace. Not irresistible strength, nor deceptive allure - but they were exposed to the truest joy, and no longer desired that which brought only death.

Lewis himself said in a paper that God finds our desires "too weak":

"We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea."

So tell me, when I show such a child what the seaside looks like... have I taken his free will away?

Of course not. I have simply opened his eyes and made him a guest of reality.

The choice

Before I go on to further demonstrate why this is good news, I must emphasise also, that it is the only option over and against some severely awful news.

To illustrate, let's play every child's favourite game: asking the question 'Why?' until blood comes out of daddy's ears:

Why are you a Christian and your best friend is not?

Because I believed and trusted Jesus and they didn't

Why?

Because I understood that I was sinful and needed forgiveness and they didn't

Why?

Because I saw that Jesus was perfect and my life was destructive and they didn't

Why?

And so on, and so forth.

Eventually though, you will answer in one of two ways:

a) Because the Spirit opened my wicked heart and turned me t'ward my Saviour

or

b) Because I was humble enough / intelligent enough / good enough to see what I had to do... 

...and they weren't.

Put frankly, there are only two options - predestination, or a gospel of works.

Why does God love you?

(and are you still doing it!?)

Either God is entirely in control of our salvation and draws us to him, or there is something within us that either qualifies or disqualifies us. 

If you can suspend disbelief long enough to imagine that I am married, then I will at least make the story more realistic by asking my wife, "Why do you love me?".

Well, if she answers that she loves me because of my patience, then I live in fear of the fast-approaching day when I will snap at her. Or for my humour, the fast-approaching day when I've used all of my jokes and begin to recycle. Or for my wisdom, the day she witnesses me making a mistake. Or for my body, the day she goes to Specsavers. 

The only way to answer that question is "I just do."

Moving on from my hapless, imaginary wife - how does God answer that question? In the same fashion in which he answered Moses's question of who he is: "I love you because I love you."

If the answer is anything else, then the Christian life becomes all about keeping that thing, that reason he loves you, going.

Odysseus straining against the ropes is not a caricature of irresistible grace, but one of the Christian life without a firm belief in predestination. Martin Luther, before he understood that justification did not come from any of his own merit, realised that he could have no confidence that he had ever done enough - he sinned, and so could have no assurance. In penance he pilgrimmed up the 491 steps of St Peter's basilica on his knees, and, reaching the top, grazed and bloody, knew still that he had no confidence.

If the only call we receive is from the world, then all we can do is strive and strain and grasp at assurance like a fool at the clouds.

Non-belief in predestination and not having assurance does not affect, of course, whether or not you are saved. But I would that all my brothers and sisters, as long as they are on this ship, would listen to that glorious music, rather than bind themselves with worldly knots against worldly pleasures.

Because it is not just the world who calls out to us. Because we are predestined from the dawn of time:

"...and those he predestined he also called; those he called, he also justified, those he justified, he also glorified." (Romans 8:30)

This is perhaps less than half of what I wanted to write on the matter. As well as the caricature of people being dragged kicking and screaming into heaven, there is the equally, if not more, troubling image of them being dragged kicking and screaming into hell. I hope that much of this has dispelled both of these, but I shall be attentive to any comments and glad to continue the conversation.

Left-handed glory, crappy idols, and the Burning of the Word

(Editorial note: all references to poo in this article have been stolen from Mike Reeves. All credit to him for his extensive research on the matter.)

Today's post is just some (slightly rushed) story-telling. I shall try to make it worth your while. I suppose it's a story remix.

Two stories

One rarely hears of 'Left-handed Leo Da vinci', 'Julius Caesar the left-handed' or 'Barack Obama the left-wing leftie'. This is because it's a fairly incidental point to make about someone - a lot of people are left-handed.

But, in Judges 3, that's pretty much the only thing we're told about our hero:

Ehud, a left-handed man, was a judge in Israel.
The people had been subject to the rule of Eglon, the fat Moabite king for eighteen years, and he had filled their land with idols.
For those eighteen years, the Israelites wept while Eglon grew fat off their land, yet still they persisted in disobedience and idolatry.
When the Israelites finally turned to God for help, He sent them Ehud who went to the king, claiming to have a word from God. The king's servants left him, and Ehud, with his left hand, reached into his robe and pulled out a 'two-edged sword' and stabbed the king.
The Bible tells us that the sword went deep into the king's belly, the fat closed over the hilt and "the excrement came out."

Apologies.
But it does say that.

Then he ran back past the idols, gathered the Israelite army and marched them to victory.

So, why mention that Ehud was left-handed? Surely this is an inconsequential fact? (If anything it was an advantage - these guys wrote right to left - no smudging!!)

Well, the only thing more frustrating than a man who answers his own questions is a man who answers questions with a story...:

According to Livy's legend, in 508bc Gaius Mucius was a young Roman soldier during the Etruscan siege of Rome. The senate, desiring to end the siege quickly, sent him out in the dead of night to assassinate Porsena, the king of the Etruscan city of Clusium. 

Alas, despite successfully finding the king's tent unhindered, he killed the king's secretary who was close by and in similar clothes. 

Immediately he was captured and the king demanded he be burned alive at the altar unless he betray Rome's battle plans.

At this, Mucius said: "[This is so] that you may see how cheap they hold their bodies whose eyes are fixed upon great glory."

With that he thrust his right hand into the flame and watched the flesh burn off.

The king was so impressed by this act of defiant loyalty that he freed him.

He was known from then on as Gaius Mucius Scaevola. Scaevola means 'left-handed'.

Name-calling

The reason Ehud is described as left-handed is that he was crippled. As with Gaius Mucius, calling someone left-handed, historically is not a comment about how they play tennis or why they might appear to be slightly more artistic, or why the nuns at their school didn't like them... it just means that they do not have a functioning right-hand.

So this was why Ehud was called 'left-handed'. An innuendo, I suppose, for 'definitely not right-handed'.

Maybe a bit harsh, but the Israelites really had a thing for name calling. At the beginning of this chapter, they refer to king 'Cushan-rishathaim' which means 'Cushan...of double wickedness'. 

They wanted history to remember him as he was, so they wrote it into his name.

They do the same with idols and foreign gods: 

In 1 Kings, Chemosh and Molek are both described as the 'dung' of the Moabites.

(our bibles have politely been translated as 'detestable' instead of 'dung')

In 2 Kings, Jehu destroys the temple of Baal and turns the site into a loo

("...and made it a latrine to this day.")

Baal's name (which simply means 'Lord' is extended to Baal Zebub (Beelzebub), which means 'Lord of the flies' - no prizes for guessing what that meant.

Words will never hurt me

King Eglon had filled the land of Israel with these 'detestable' idols, and it certainly seemed as though the Israelites were worshiping them.
And detestable is the word - Molek, for instance, was a god who demanded child-sacrifices.

Ehud went forth into this, armed with the double-edged sword which he described to Eglon as 'a message (literally translated: a 'word') of God'.

He stabbed the king and all the dung came out. The double edged sword cut away the idols from the land of Israel.

And, while we consider how deliberately strange descriptions are used - this is how the writer of Hebrews describes the Scriptures:

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

Sticks and Stones

It is no surprise then, that this powerful Word has been sought to be stopped many times in history.
William Tyndale, (a pupil at my alma mater), translated the Bible into English when it was illegal to do so, as it weakened the hold the Catholic church had over the people.
Many who supported the publication of the English Bible were killed.

Anyone found with a copy of Tyndale's Bible was burned along with the book.

There are many martyrs dotted throughout history, crucified, stoned, and burned at the stake.
Today is the anniversary of the martyrdom of Cranmer, a left-handed man, who was burned at the stake on the 21st March 1556, twenty years after Tyndale's death.

He should have been burned months earlier with Latimer and Ridley, but had recanted his faith and submitted to the pope, declaring that only through the Catholic Church could one be saved, signing numerous documents to this effect. He was right-handed, so signed with his right hand.

Despite this, Queen Mary decided to make an example of him and rescheduled his execution. He was allowed, being penitent of his Protestantism, to preach one last time.
But the sermon he preached begged forgiveness from God for being so weak as to deny him. He said that his right hand would burn first, that which had signed away his faith in the Word.

He was dragged from the pulpit to the pyre and burned. 

He shouted out: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. I see the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God."

Then, true to his word, he thrust his hand into the flames and watched it wither away.

Thus, all idolatry and cowardice cut away by the Word, he died a left-handed man.

That's the end of my story remix. I told you so that you may know how cheap they hold their bodies whose eyes are fixed on God's glory.

Responding to Depression - Eliphaz, Bildad and other Evangelicals

I'm not being fussy...

I should be up front from the off - I have been accused in the past, probably rightly, of being overly persnickety about the songs we sing. I'm the slightly tedious person who thinks people should be taught what is meant by 'Ebenezer' before they avow to raise theirs.

That's by the by. What I'm saying is that this objection is different. If you disagree with the pedantic zealots who want to over analyse to the nth degree, then this article is still for you.
The lyrics I want to focus on, from the song 'Trust and Obey' aren't just objectionable - they're a severe lie that oppresses the most vulnerable people in our congregations:

"Not a doubt nor a fear, not a sigh nor a tear

Can abide while we trust and obey"

It sounds so beautiful, doesn't it? It's like Revelation 21...except sooner!
I sigh and weep daily - and now there's an answer - a solution before Christ returns!: I need to obey more. I need to trust more.

Oh the sweet bliss of an impossible imperative placed over the tragic disposition of depression!

I don't feel I need particularly to labour the point: It's a fairly obvious lie, once pointed out. Aside from Jesus's tears and sighs in Gethsemene during the ultimate act of obedience, and aside from the disciples pharisaic question, "Who sinned, this man or his parents?" ; we know that suffering comes upon the righteous while the wicked prosper.

Crushing the weak

I know and have known many brothers and sisters who suffer from depression, who are too ashamed to admit it to other Christians let alone their church leaders.
It is, in our minds, an 'unchristian' illness - a sign of weak faith.

Having beef with precious old hymns like 'Trust and Obey" may seem like pedantry, but it contains an attitude that must be mortified within the Church.

Bildad says to repent and be cured.
Eliphaz says he brings it upon himself.
Zophar says it should be worse.

Maybe you, like me, have heard sermons like this:

"Now, when we are told to take 'joy' in our sufferings, it doesn't mean that we should be happy when we suffer (*Christian chuckle*). It means that underlying our sadness and suffering should be a happiness in the gospel."

Now that; that is a profound description of how the depressed man experiences despair.

I can be with my the people I love most in the world, drinking a pint in a sunny beer garden, surrounded by beautiful St Andrews... yet underlying that happiness is a dark despondency.

What irony it is that the most conservative amongst us have the tendency to point us to a 'base emotion'!
Fear not, Rowling has the actual answer.

Escaping Azkaban

"They don't need walls and water to keep the prisoners in, not when they're trapped inside their own heads, incapable of a single cheerful thought."

This is J.K. Rowling's description of the wizard prison, Azkaban, in her third installment in the Harry Potter series. It could not be a more perfect analogy for depression:
The guards, dementors, as they're called, feasted upon happiness, crippling their prisoners.

One person, though, escaped from this prison of thought.
Sirrius Black explained how he escaped - "I knew I was innocent... that wasn't a happy thought, so the dementors couldn't suck it out of me... but it kept me sane and knowing who I am."

Where happiness could not be found, clinging to a Truth gave sanity...and even hope.

Our trials do not ebb and flow, (praise God!), along with our trust and obedience.
Our hope comes not from our own thoughts or actions, but the Truths, contained in the Word, which the Spirit whispers and shouts to our souls. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness (how much less indeed is my trust and obedience!)

Now raise your Ebenezer!

Two years ago, I was sent a copy of  John Piper's 'When the Darkness will not lift'. The note inside read:

"At my darkest moments...this book pointed me to truths that I couldn't even see.
For when we feel lost in darkness, the truth is, we're never alone... and we're never lost."
When you have no hope - look to Truth!

And now let me tell you what it means to raise your Ebenezer:

In 1Samuel 7, the Israelites, having forsaken their idols, are fighting against mighty Philistine armies. They sacrifice in obedience to God, and "the LORD thundered with a mighty sound against the Philistines and threw them into confusion."

Then Samuel takes a stone and 'set[s] it up' and calls it 'Ebenezer', which means 'stone of help'. 

He explains the name: "Til now the Lord has helped us."

So, if you are depressed - raise your Ebenezer - 'til now He has helped you. 2000 years ago he was pierced, crushed and hung on a cross - in love for you.

And He says to His people "Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you."

There is your Truth. It is a greater gift than any happiness I could possibly offer.

And of course, I am not saying that there is no happiness to be found in looking to the cross. It is a fountain of delight. But when drought dries up all happiness from our thoughts, the dry fountain remains a beautiful statue albeit pierced with inexplicable holes.

It will spout again. One day there will be no more death, mourning, crying or pain. You will smile again. Until then, the dying Saviour says 'I love you', and the risen Saviour says 'Hope in me.'

Til now, the Lord has helped us.

Tolkien's Talking: Theology of Glory vs Theology of the Cross

A short post - but not a 'filler'. [EDIT: It was short at some point!] I haven't blogged for a while, mostly because I've been busy turning my life upside down. This post is in some degree inevitably introspective, but I hope it is not indulgent. 

I read rather a lot of theology (to the point of indulgence) - but every now and again some of it breaks through and actually serves to change how I live: Martin Luther dichotomised two theologies - the theology of glory and the theology of the cross. 

Theology of Glory

Forde explains that a theology of  glory assumes "that what we need is optimistic encouragement, some flattery, some positive thinking, [and] some support to build our self-esteem."

A theology of glory, when looking at going into ministry, will look at gifting and appearance - will affirm, as it were, the incidentals of who we are. A theology of glory will allow a 'calling' or 'gifting' (not to equate the two!) to supercede any defects in character or lack of maturity - to go forward immediately, armed with gifts, and try to achieve for the kingdom.

This theology believes that God's workers must be strong and self-confident. That we should show God's power through our own.

Luther says that the theologian of glory "does not know God hidden in suffering. Therefore he prefers works to suffering, glory to the cross, strength to weakness, [and] wisdom to folly"

If you allow this not to be trite, it won't be: Gandalf explains these theologies:

Theology of the Cross

This is how Luther describes 'Cross theology': "Through the cross, works are dethroned and the 'old Adam', who is especially edified by works, is crucified. It is impossible for a person not to be puffed up by his 'good works' unless he has first been deflated and destroyed by suffering and evil until he knows that he is worthless and that his works are not his but God's."

The theology of the cross is foolishness to the world. It says that humility and humiliation come before glory.

The theology of the cross remembers two things plainly - one: that we bring nothing. We are sinful and simple folk.

Secondly, it remembers that Jesus, because he was in his very nature God, did not cling to his equality with God, but instead went in all obedience and humility to death - even the most humiliating of deaths. And thus he was glorified (Philippians 2:6-11). 

I wonder if this will ever fully seep in for me; though I sincerely pray that it will. 

The bit where I talk about me

A couple of years ago, I had to leave university for a while because I was ill (I later packed it in altogether). My friends had all given me a lovely send-off, but one, instead, wrote a letter and sent it first class to my home so that the next day, when I woke up, literally hundreds of miles from where I wanted to be, and was feeling thoroughly sorry for myself,  then the post would arrive.

The letter told the story of Isaac Watts - who had to give up his ministry because of ill-health. But his writings and hymns in that time were the lasting parts of his ministry - affecting Dodderidge and thus William Wilberforce. That was what I chose to listen to, walked straight to my desk and got reading and writing (I haven't really stopped since).

But I found the letter again, buried in my bureau, about six months ago and read two sentences that I'd chosen to forget. "I'm not saying that the reason for your illness is that God is going to use you in the same way. Be open to what the Lord may have to teach you and how He may want to prepare you and refine you."

I was not. What I could have learned in that time was lost in a desire to prove myself.

I'm partly writing this because of a chance reading this morning of this in a letter written by John Keats: "Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul"

You can walk into a room and put on a sticker that says 'Chief of Theologians' or claim in your private thoughts to be 'Chief of Preachers' - however deluded these things may or may not be, the substantive point is that they are irrelevant. 

The minister's job is for the 'Chief of Sinners'. 

A Halfling's Call

I can flit between the Boromirs and Faramirs - between self-confidence (achieving) and self-doubt (proving); and I do. It is men, you'll remember, who are most easily seduced by the power of the ring.

But some way down the road, the theology of glory will lead to a sudden, crippling realisation that we 'can't do it'. If you can abide with a second Tolkien video - this will give you shivers - Frodo says he 'can't do this' - Sam says 'I know'... 

We do this because it's good and right; not because we are strong and good. Because we cling to goodness. 

I read a book recently that another friend had sent me (- I think with the sole purpose of kicking my backside). It mentioned a man whom I've looked up to for many years:

"In his living room with tea, I once asked Jerram why he hadn't written more books over the years... I told him how so many of us longed to hear more from him and want to learn more. Pausing and shrugging his shoulders, he smiled broadly... What he said put ministry ambition and the doctrine of creation into perspective. "I'd like to write more," he said, "but I really enjoy my garden.""

(Buy the book)

Whether to be Samwise the gardener, a bloke on the rigs, a barista or barrister, or, for some, to become ministers straight away in life,  we will none of us be in a position for ministry while we are men. It's a Halfling's call.