… Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early youth, for he tarried [on earth] a very long time, and, when a very old man, gloriously and most nobly suffering martyrdom, departed this life, having always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone are true. To these things all the Asiatic Churches testify, as do also those men who have succeeded Polycarp down to the present time, - a man who was of much greater weight, and a more stedfast witness of truth than Valentinus, and Marcion, and the rest of the heretics. He it was who, coming to Rome in the time of Anicetus caused man to turn away from the aforesaid heretics to the Church of God, proclaiming that he had received this one and sole truth from the apostles, - that namely, which is handed down by the Church.
The thesis: Historically the church has excelled in producing good beer & wine .... and then in drinking it.
[Is it really true that John Calvin was given over 200 litres (or gallons?) of wine as part of his yearly stipend?]
Liberalism & feminism = no more wine
Alcohol is good (not on the job though)
Drunkenness is a sin. So serious that drunkards cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Unless repented of.
Being drunk leads to or is connected with ... brawling, mockery, sexual sin, poverty, violence, dumb drinking games (& then the bragging about the 'legendary' antics of last night), getting really loud, sleepiness, getting others drunk so as to see them naked, depression, futile attempt to escape from life's problems, sleeplessness.
We often read into drinking our past experiences (or of those close to us).
There are 3 perspectives: prohibitionist (all drinking of alcohol is wrong, evil etc.), but this is silly, God created it to gladden the heart of man (and Jesus turned water into wine! 100-180 gallons of the good stuff). Jesus was accused of being a drunkard. Because he never drank? Come on! But he NEVER was drunk ... he was without sin. So are you holier than Jesus?
abstentionist (not a sin, but because so many people abuse it we should never drink alcohol), God gave Israel loads of stuff that they used for sin. Has God given you a tongue, or hands or mind that you have misused? Is there anything on planet earth that someone has not used to sin with? No! We'll have to absain from everything. And then we'll line up with those who killed Jesus when he broke their rules. Swearing. Speeding. Gluttony. Rape. Speaking. Cars. Food. Women (or men!). The Bible???!!! Der! Just learn use them rightly to God's glory. Did Jesus drink in a day when people abused alcohol and overindulged? Yes. So are you holier than Jesus? And God makes evil things?
moderationist (drinking alcohol is not a sin, somepeople can drink, some can't - down to conscience) distinguishes between universal and particular sins. Universal sins: Murder, adultery, rape etc. are ALWAYS WRONG FOR EVERYONE. But not all sins are like that.
So the key is to ask the right questions that make this distinction (like Scripture): Who is drinking it? Why? Where? How much? How often? With what effect? etc.
And then act in love with regard to those in the 'other' category to you. [Romans 14]
Kimani Maruge, an illiterate great-grandfather, grabbed global headlines when he jumped at a belated chance to educate himself soon after President Mwai Kibaki's government introduced free primary schooling in 2003.
But he was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and though he underwent surgery his health deteriorated and he died on 15th August. He was 90 years old and two years away from completing his primary education.
In an interview in 2006, Maruge told Reuters he wanted to go to school so he could read the Bible for himself, and that he would only stop studying if he went blind or died.
BBC viewers were treated last week to the bizarre spectacle of Mr BanKi-moon standing on an Arctic ice-floe making a series of statements so laughable that it was hard to believe such a man can be Secretary-General of the UN. Thanks to global warming, he claimed, "100 billion tons" of polar ice are melting each year, so that within 30 years the Arctic could be "ice-free". This was supported by a WWF claim that the ice is melting so fast that, by 2100, sea-levels could rise by 1.2 metres (four feet), which would lead to "floods affecting a quarter of the world".
Everything about this oft-repeated item was propaganda of the silliest kind. Standing 700 miles from the Pole, as near as the stubbornly present ice would allow his ship to go, Mr Ban seemed unaware that, although some 10 million square kilometres (3.8 million square miles) of sea-ice melts each summer, each September the Arctic starts to freeze again. And the extent of the ice now is 500,000 sq km (190,000 sq m) greater than it was this time last year – which was, in turn, 500,000 sq km more than in September 2007, the lowest point recently recorded (see the Cryosphere Today website). By April, after months of darkness, it will be back up to 14 million sq km (5.4 million sq m) or more.
Mr Ban seems equally unaware that, even if all that sea-ice were to melt, this would no more raise sea-levels than a cube of ice melting in a gin and tonic increases the volume of liquid in the glass. If he is relying for his "100 billion tons" on land ice melting in Antarctica and Greenland, he should note that much of their ice sheets are growing rather than shrinking. His "100 billion tons" is fantasy.
Keep me a humble disciple in the school of Christ, learning daily there what I am in myself, a fallen sinful creature, justly deserving everlasting destruction;
O let me never lose sight of my need of a Saviour or forget that apart from him I am nothing and can do nothing.
...
Lead me from faith to faith, that I may at all times have freedom to come to a reconciled Father, and may be able to maintain peace with him against doubts, fears, corruptions, temptations.
Your office is to teach me to draw near to Christ with a pure heart, steadfastly persuaded of his love, in the full assurance of faith.
as we are about to embark on a study in Luke 1 at eXcel I will be watching this with extra interest (if it is available on-line, which I guess it will be)
The Church remains finite and sinful; at her best, she has only a partial grasp of the riches of God’s infinite Word, and through sin, she holds the truth in imbalanced, disproportioned, and sometimes inaccurate ways. And so, Reformed theology should be reforming theology. Sometimes even deeply cherished beliefs should be challenged or supplemented by further and deeper reflection on Scripture. Sometimes new situations confront the Church, which previous generations never had to address, new apologetic challenges arise, new idolatries seek to rival the supremacy of Christ in her affections, new ethical questions press for her attention.
More positively, as history progresses, God, by his Spirit, is transforming the Church from one degree of glory to another. In the Church, he is growing humanity to maturity in Christ. And as she matures, the Church will grasp new things in new ways, not contradicting old truths rightly held, but enriching her understanding and ability to serve her Lord. It is the glory of God to conceal things; the glory of kings is to search them out (Prov. 25:2). What is needed, then, is a new generation of kings, glorious in their union with the glorified Christ, who will devote themselves to seeking new treasures in God’s Word and new treasures in his creation, and who then, like well trained scribes, will bring out of their treasury new along with old, in the service of Christ’s Church.
I love this approach.
And the rest of the first edition of the journal has impressed me too. I even understood some of the words.
I have enjoyed Ros Clarke on the Maximalist Hermeneutics of James Jordan. A very sensible article. I am just starting to read about John Owen's Doctrine of Union with Christ. I am pleased to see it comes with diagrams. The book reviews of the books I have read have been both fair and stimulating.
OK, Neil, I am giving in to a year's subscription!
The Church, though dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: [she believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His [future] manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father 'to gather all things in one,' and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, 'every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess' to Him, and that He should execute just judgement towards all; that He may send 'spiritual wickedness,' and the angels who transgressed and became apostates, together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men, into everlasting fire; but may, in the exercise of His grace, confer immortality on the righteous, and holy, and those who have kept His commandments, and have persevered in His love...
The book presents itself from the outset as part of the Canon, primarily written to be read in the liturgy (1:3). tabernacle imagery is used in the opening Doxology (1:4-5), and the Church is declared to be constituted as the new Kingdom of priests, as Israel had been at Sinai (1:6). the theme of the book, stated in 1:7, is Christ's coming in the Glory-Cloud; then, almost immediately, St John uses three words that almost always occur in connection with covenant-making activity: Spirit, Day, and Voice (1:10). The following vision of Christ as the glorious High Priest (1:12-20) combines many images from the Old Testament - the Cloud, the Day of the LORD, the Angel of the LORD, the Creator and universal sovereign, the Son of Man/Second Adam, the Conqueror of the nations, the Possessor of the Church - all of which are concerned with the prophecies of the coming of the New Covenant. The vision is followed by Christ' own message to the churches, styled as a recounting of the history of the Covenant (Chapters 2-3). Then, in Chapter 4, St John sees the Throne, supported by the Cherubim and surrounded by the royal priesthood, all singing God's praises to the accompaniment of Sinai-like lightening and voices and thunder. We should not be surprised to find this magnificent array of covenant-making imagery culminating in the vision of a testament/treaty document, written on front and back, in the hand of Him who sits on the Throne. The Book is nothing less than the Testament of the resurrected and ascended Christ: the New Covenant...
....But the coming of the New Covenant implies the passing away of the Old Covenant, and the judgement of apostate Israel....
...As St. John sees the opening of the New Covenant, therefore, he will also see the curses of the Old Covenant fulfilled on the apostate Covenant people.
When we obey God, as a general rule, we may expect His blessings, financial blessings included.
I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, bestowing wealth on those who love me and making their treasuries full. Proverbs 8:20-21
With me are riches and honour, enduring wealth and prosperity. Proverbs 8:18
The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it. Proverbs 10:22
So we must seek wealth God’s way and teach our sons the same. What has he said about it?
1. Fear God Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honour and life. Proverbs 22:4
2. Be Generous A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. Proverbs 11:25 (cf 22:9; 28:27; 11;24)
3. Work Hard All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. Proverbs 14:23
4. Save A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous. Proverbs 13:22
5. Be wary of borrowing The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. Proverbs 22:7
6. Care for the poor He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done. Proverbs 19:17
(above) 4 generations of Ambrose men
