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Baptism and Predestination
Table Talk Recorded by Conrad Cordatus - Autumn, 1532
"[Martin Luther] spoke of predestination and said that when a man begins to dispute about it, it is like a fire that cannot be extinguished, and the more he disputes the more he despairs. Our Lord God is so hostile to such disputation that he instituted Baptism, the Word, and the Sacrament as signs to counteract it. We should rely on these and say: 'I have been baptized. I believe in Jesus Christ. I have received the Sacrament. What do I care if I have been predestined or not?' In Christ, God has furnished us with a foundation on which to stand and from which we can go up to heaven. He is the only way and the only gate which leads to the Father. If we despise this foundation and in the devil's name start building at the roof, we shall surely fall. If only we are able to believe that the promises have been spoken by God and see behind them the one who has spoken them, we shall magnify that Word. But because we hear it as it comes to us through the lips of a man, we are apt to pay as little attention to it as to the mooing of a cow." Posted by Jamey W. Bennett - 10/11/2008 | Link to this post | Print this post | 0 Responses
   
Debtor’s Prison
Jamey Bennett responds to feedback on the subject of forgiveness
Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
- St. Paul
I am always grateful for the opportunity to respond to mail I receive about something I’ve written, even something as sloppy as my recent piece on forgiveness. I received a number of notes with praise, criticism, and questions on applying this in the real world. While I included plenty of qualifiers and caveats in the original, a few additional comments and observations are apparently in order for this one.
Of course, I affirm that we are to forgive seventy times seven; meaning, countless times. Of course, we are to ask God to forgive us in the same manner we have forgiven others. Of course, love covers a multitude of sins. Faith, hope, and love are here, but still, these three remain: enemies, jerks, and wisdom. And the greatest of these is wisdom.
First, it is perfectly appropriate to have ... Continue Reading
Posted by Jamey W. Bennett - 9/26/2008 | Link to this post | Print this post | 0 Responses
Forgive Us Our Trespasses?
Jamey Bennett wants to understand what it means to love his enemies
I don’t know where I picked it up, maybe Francis Schaeffer, but somewhere along the way I came to believe that a Christian should not have enemies. We’re the great “agents of reconciliation” in this world, after all, and so there is no way we should have enemies. At least among our fellow human beings. And when it came to political wartime enemies, I was able to compartmentalize that from my understanding of personal enemies.
My mind has changed about this in the last year. If we are to be Christians, we’re stuck with enemies. We will have them, and we will want to hate them.
First of all, there are enemies from without. Think Taliban, vicious atheists, and various religions that want to see orthodox Christianity eradicated from the face of the earth. Militant Muslims may use bombs, atheists may use legislation, and unorthodox religious views may use powerful persu ... Continue Reading
Posted by Jamey W. Bennett - 9/20/2008 | Link to this post | Print this post | 1 Responses
Hello Hilo, Here I Come!
I'm off to Hawai'i! Yep, moving.
But first, Washington, Arizona, and California...
Thanks and love to all in Tennessee! Posted by Jamey W. Bennett - 7/14/2008 | Link to this post | Print this post | 0 Responses
The Office Debuts in Japan
Posted by Jamey W. Bennett - 6/5/2008 | Link to this post | Print this post | 0 Responses
When the Abstract Meets the Road
Jamey Bennett re-envisions some muddled five year old musings on a church service bulletin
I was sitting in church. It was Maundy Thursday, 2003. Presbyterian church, Nashville. My mind was wandering. I began to doodle on the bulletin.
I didn’t admit it at the time, but I was living a double-life of sorts -- or at least a wavering life. I was editor of an Online Christian magazine with a decent following. It was there that I droned on and on about the goodness of God. I actively proclaimed the name of Jesus from concert stages across the country with my music group. I was worshiping regularly at my own church and sporadically at other people's church services. I was preparing to teach in a Christian preschool in a few weeks, as well. My prayer life wasn’t even half-bad, even if it was somewhat repetitive and often involved what some call the “Jesus Prayer” – Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.
Save for the prayer, my faith was ... Continue Reading
Posted by Jamey W. Bennett - 5/29/2008 | Link to this post | Print this post | 2 Responses
My Trip to Virginia
Jamey Bennett shares his photos from his visits with various contributors and friends of The Hall
It doesn't get much better than this...
... Continue Reading
Posted by Jamey W. Bennett - 5/29/2008 | Link to this post | Print this post | 0 Responses
Running Fool
My friend Joel Miller (the original razormouth man) made the front page of American Spectator Online on Monday. He ran the Country Music Marathon, which he swears was less like a marathon and more like a death march. Here are some snippets.
As I sit down gingerly to write this, it's Sunday, just before noon. Yesterday I ran the half-marathon here in Nashville. What was I thinking?
I'm now hobbling like an old man. Every part of my lower body hurts. My knees, hamstrings, and other parts and pieces connected by various ligaments and sinews are all threatening a sit-in -- mainly because they can't manage a walkout any longer. The arch of my right foot has filed for divorce, charging physical abuse. I dreaded church this morning. We kneel at three places in the liturgy. Would I be able to get back up? ...
Getting to six miles was a bit of a challenge. In my training, such as it was, I never got past eight miles. I remember feeling a little drained before reaching the four-mile mark, especially when I began to figure that meant I still had nine miles to go.
I took encouragement where I could get it. I had the iPod going with a mix of Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Glenn Kaiser. Nothing like a ripping guitar solo to keep up your spirits. ...
Pretty soon I was in the homestretch. I didn't weary until the final mile, which unlike the last five or so, seemed to go on forever. I was still moving quickly. I brought my time per mile down almost another dozen seconds. But that last bit was tough. When I geared up for my final push across that glorious finish line, I barely got up any extra speed. I thought "sprint." My body disagreed. Wasn't anything left. ...
I FINALLY MADE my way to the Nelson tent in the parking lot and lit up a cigar. My friend Jamey arrived a few minutes later with a cooler of beer and began dispensing. "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish," he said, quoting Proverbs.
Check out the full thing here! Posted by Jamey W. Bennett - 4/30/2008 | Link to this post | Print this post | 1 Responses
Fill Up What is Lacking
Jamey Bennett joins conversation with Luther, Calvin, and Paul on the sufferings of life
Colossians 1
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Many Christians haven’t put much thought into the Christian belief in the resurrection of the body. Many Christians, thinking “heaven is my real home,” think that eternity is wrapped up in an ethereal existence up in foggy clouds. We tend to think we’ll all have wings, look like babies, and play goofy harps all day while thinking about soft things such as feather-down pillows. We tend to think so-and-so died and went to heaven or hell and that’s it. Many of us don’t know much about the resurrection of the body, and some Christians even mistakenly expect to get “a new body” at the time of death (as opposed to a renewed body). I remember sitting in a Bible study ... Continue Reading
Posted by Jamey W. Bennett - 4/21/2008 | Link to this post | Print this post | 0 Responses
Tax Day
Mark Twain
"The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin."
Will Rogers
"It is a good thing that we do not get as much government as we pay for."
H. L. Mencken
"Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages."
Will Rogers
"The difference between death and taxes is death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets."
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
"The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the least amount of hissing."
Benjamin Franklin
"It would be a hard government that should tax its people one-tenth part of their income."
Chris Rock
"Taxes are like kicking Monday and Tuesday in the ass." Posted by Jamey W. Bennett - 4/15/2008 | Link to this post | Print this post | 2 Responses
An Evening with Abp. Orombi
Jamey Bennett shares his photos from a special evening with the Archbishop of Uganda at Covenant College (PCA) in Chattanooga (09/07)
Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda with Jamey Bennett
... Continue Reading
Posted by Jamey W. Bennett - 4/10/2008 | Link to this post | Print this post | 2 Responses
Juno the Movie
 Jamey Bennett is impressed by the beauty of a tale well told
Every now and again a movie comes out that is just so cool that I can’t get it out of my head. But I mean “cool” not in the “great special effects” sense, but cool in the sense that it is clever, original, and touches something in my innermost being.
Juno is such a movie. Juno is the story of a sixteen year old girl – Juno – who hails from a typical American, piecemeal middle-class home. The story really begins when she gets pregnant from a fairly meaningless sexual encounter with a dorky boy, Bleeker, from the track team. When she finds out she is pregnant, she intends to have an abortion. After a brief encounter in the parking lot with a picketer – an Asian acquaintance from school with a poor command of English grammar – she presses on into the clinic. As she sits fill ... Continue Reading
Posted by Jamey W. Bennett - 4/2/2008 | Link to this post | Print this post | 0 Responses
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