Monday, May 30, 2011

What would Karl Barth say to Rob Bell?

Not sure exactly. But we do know what he did write about the question of universalism.

See here.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Andrew Fuller on Genesis 2 and the creation of woman

"The place assigned to the woman in heathen and Mahomedan countries has been highly degrading; and the place assigned her by modern infidels is not much better. Christianity is the only religion that conforms to the original design, that confines a man to one wife, and that teaches him to treat her with propriety. Go among the enemies of the gospel, and you shall see the woman either reduced to abject slavery, or basely flattered for the vilest of purposes; but in Christian families you may see her treated with honour and respect; treated as a friend, as naturally an equal, a soother of man's cares, a softner of his griefs, and a partner of his joys."

Friday, May 06, 2011

Andrew Fuller on Genesis 2 and the Sabbath

"It is a Jewish tradition, and seems to have generally prevailed, that, as there is a harmony of times in the works of God, this seventh day of rest is prefigurative of the seven thousandth year of the world being a rest to the church. We know that years were divided into sevens, and seven times sevens. Every seventh year the land was to have its sabbath, and every fiftieth year its jubilee: and thus it may be with the world. If so, we are not at a great distance from it; and this will be the period when a great number of prophecies of the universal spread of the gospel shall be fulfilled."

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Great rows and God's hammer

"...There is not a situation in Christ's church in the whole wide world that cannot be dealt with by the Word of God. There is nothing else to deal with it. What other authority or means have we for dealing with evils but God's Word? That Word, if we ransack it from cover to cover, has the very word for our situation. I am amazed at the ineptitude not only of individuals, but of whole schools of thought, and even denominations, in respect of evils which beset and bedevil their work. I have been saying to some for years that the way to deal with the evil of certain secret societies which have sapped the vitals of Christian denominations for years with their subtle, but ridiculous evils, is to bring them out into the open. What the Christian church needs in so many situations is great rows! The Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles is not afraid of disturbance. Sometimes it is necessary.

I know that that will shock many, and they will dismiss what I am saying out of hand because it appears to them blantantly unchristian. I have seen many causes of strife which cannot be dealt with but by prayer; but major evils, radical departures from biblical orthodoxy, deep corruption, bitter feuds, and adamant worldliness may not be dealt with by prayer without action. Trace the course of our Lord's three years' ministry and you will see that in the end He brought everything out into the open, the climax of which is seen in the Gospel according to Matthew from chapter 21 onwards, especially chapters 23 and 24. If anyone every used the Word of God as a hammer to break the rock in pieces, or as wildfire to set the straw, or as we say in Scotland, the heather on fire, it was Jesus."

Letters of William Still, April 1970