Bondage

I love this one and it just tickled me. You’ll see why in a minute:

No; doctrinal truth should be preached always openly, without compromise, and never dissembled or concealed. There is no offence in it; it is the staff of uprightness. Who gave you the right and power to confine Christian doctrine to particular persons, places, times and cases, when Christ wills that it should be freely published and reign throughout the world? ‘The word of god is not bound,’ says Paul (2 Timothy 2:9) and shall Erasmus bind the word? God did not give us a Word that has respect of times, places, or persons. When Christ says: ‘go ye into all the world’ (Matthew 28:19)He does not say, as does Erasmus, ‘go to this place, but not that.’ Again: ‘Preach the gospel to every creature’ (Mark 16:15). He does not say ‘to some, but not to others.’ In sort, you enjoin in the ministry of God’s Word respect of persons, of places, of customs and of seasons; whereas one great part of the glory of the Word is precisely this—that , as Paul says, it does not respect persons, nor is God a respecter of persons (Romans 2:11, Ephesians 6:9, Colossians 3:25)You see again how unadvisedly you rush against the Word of God, as though you rated your own thoughts and ideas far above it.
–Bondage of the Will, Martin Luther

Edit Note: I edited this to add the credit and change the title. Thats what I get for posting late at night with one eye shut.

Unbound

I’ve read this over at Nathan Finn’s blog. Then I read this–H/T to Joe Thorn and I had this (per Centuri0n who has asked for prayer today, btw) on my desktop to read and wow…TNT.

If you haven’t read them and you’re a Christian you need to do so. Especially if you’re planning on going into the ministry or are already there. I can’t tell you how something like this would have impacted my life as a young person, mostly because they didn’t think like this back then. It was waaaay back in the Dark Ages of the church growth movement.

Anyway, give them a read as a Southern Baptist and think about what they say about you and the convention and the neighborhood in which you life. I think you’ll find yourself on your face.