Rod Rosenbladt on Evangelicals and Assurance

hamwhlGuest blogger Ted R is one of the good guys at New Reformation Press. Our discussion on the struggles of some evangelicals with assurance brought up some of the very helpful teaching available through that fine IM sponsor. See them on the sidebar if you like this post.

I thought I’d post a small sampling of Dr. Rosenbladt’s presentation which iMonk mentions, The Gospel For Those Broken By The Church, since it’s so timely in discussions regarding justification, sanctification and assurance. It’s hard to cherry-pick the presentation, though… it’s essentially one big cherry. I still listen to it regularly.

For your consideration I submit this sample of the PDF version of Dr. Rosenbladt’s presentation:

If the Ten Commandments were not impossible enough, the preaching of Christian behavior, of Christian ethics, of Christian living, can drive a Christian into despairing unbelief. Not happy unbelief. Tragic, despairing, sad unbelief. (It is not unlike the [unhappy] Christian equivalent of “Jack Mormons” i.e. those who finally admit to themselves and others that they can’t live up to the demands of this non-Christian cult’s laws, and excuse themselves from the whole sheebang.) A diet of this stuff from pulpit, from curriculum, from a Christian reading list, can do a work on a Christian that is (at least over the long haul) “faith destroying.” You might be in just this position this evening.Continue reading “Rod Rosenbladt on Evangelicals and Assurance”

iMonk 101: Losing the Treasure of a Christ-Centered Assurance of Salvation

I had a good talk yesterday with one of our young preachers on this subject. I’m also longing for Robert Capon to never die and to keep writing books that show me the way. Anyway, this is a favorite topic and I hope a helpful repost from a couple of years ago.

i-beli8.jpgUPDATE: John H has a helpful Lutheran response.

UPDATE II: A Lutheran view of Assurance. [Link is dead]

UPDATE III: Mark Shea comments on assurance in Calvinism and Catholicism. I think Mark’s experience with Calvinism is not very nuanced, but it’s on target. Takes forever to load, but is worth it. (Buy the Rosenbladt presentation.)

Q. 1. What is your only comfort, in life and in death?

A. That I belong–body and soul, in life and in death–not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.Continue reading “iMonk 101: Losing the Treasure of a Christ-Centered Assurance of Salvation”

Welcome to the NEW Internet Monk.com

newThanks to a lot of hard work by Joe Stallard, the new Internet Monk is coming on line tonight. Plenty of bugs and minor matters to attend to, and I can’t promise that we won’t need to go off the air briefly, but here we are.

Please notice that the Primary post is now larger than all secondary posts. Recommended ministries and sponsors are easy to find. Amazon Wish list and Pay Pal are easy to see.

All RSS, podcast and comment feeds can be found on the sidebar, in the meta and at the bottom of the page. Facebook, Twitter and iTunes subscriptions are all available at the bottom of the page.

The Archive tab contains IM by the month and the last 100 posts. This is useful to many of you, I think. Also, comment threading is now enabled.

Once again, thanks to Joe and welcome.

Open Mic at the iMonk Cafe: What Might Boys Read?

mica

Noel, Ryan and I were talking tonight about the fact that while a few middle/high school girls read, almost no middle/high school boys read.

My dad died almost 15 years ago. He enjoyed Zane Grey and Tarzan. There was a time the John Carter of Mars books were popular. Also the Hardy Boys. Sherlock Holmes. I read a lot sports as a kid. Times have changed.

Boys today read manga and comics, if they read at all. A few read Poe and Tolkien. When in college, Sci-fi and action/military books may find an audience.

So what is out there, contemporary and classic, that we could suggest or assign to middle/high school boys? (Not Christians in an advanced environment. Just regular boys.)

Riffs: David Mills/Noel Cordle: What Are Our Kids Reading, Anyway?

croppedbwOur guest blogger today is my daughter, Noel Cordle, who is riffing on David Mills review of contemporary young people’s literature in the current issue of Touchstone magazine. Noel recently finished her English degree from Ohio State and is teaching middle school English at the school where I serve. Her blog is Mere Musings.

During part of last year, I had my freshmen students completing bi-weekly book reports. Unfortunately most of them chose to either a.) not do the assignment or b.) pick some book from the library that was of no interest to them, simply to get the assignment done. However I did receive a couple of reports from students (almost always girls) who enjoyed reading and had chosen a book on their own that was of interest to them. That, my friends, was an eye-opening experience. Two of these experiences stand out to me.

First was the time one of my students was asking for clarification of the book report guidelines. As I was explaining that she could do a report on any book of her choosing as long as it was on her reading level, she got a bit wide-eyed and asked, “Really? Any book? You don’t care what it is about?” I gave her a hearty, “Sure, any book! I’m just glad you’re reading!” As I read the book report that was handed in to me, I started to regret saying those super-teacher words. I have no idea what the book title was, but it was basically something about lesbians coming out of the closet. While this could perhaps be written as a tasteful novel about finding one’s identity, I was not under the impression that this teen trash had been written as such. Yet this is what was of interest to my student and what she had read. She was reading after all…right? Shouldn’t I have been thrilled about that?Continue reading “Riffs: David Mills/Noel Cordle: What Are Our Kids Reading, Anyway?”

From the Writer’s Worktable: Check in, but don’t always Buy in

bdcThis was going in at the end of a chapter on the Christian and the Bible that I’ve been working on yesterday and today, but it fell out when I changed directions. It may appear in some form in later chapters more intentionally about the faith community. Or maybe not.

Please know: I am speaking to “leavers” in much of this book, i.e. people who have left or are leaving the church. If your orientation is totally “unquestioned loyalty to whatever my church says or does” an you’ve never considered leaving, I’m definitely on a different page.

This topic is giving those outside of the church who still relate to scripture a positive way to think about reapproaching the church on this issue.

What should be the relationship between the Christian and the church when it comes to the Bible? Here’s a simple saying that’s helped me understand the balance: We should “check in” with the church, but not necessarily “buy in” to everything the church is saying about the Bible.Continue reading “From the Writer’s Worktable: Check in, but don’t always Buy in”

Internet Monk Radio Podcast #148

podcast_logo.gifThis week: Where is the Gospel in the Church? Credo House. Blogosphere spiritual formation. Jesus calls the first disciples.

Support the IM sponsors: New Reformation Press. New teaching available. Emmaus Retreat Center. A great place for your next group or individual retreat. E3 Sudan is church planting and training pastors in the Sudan.

The Credo House: Back in March, and Now.
David Wayne’s Blog
New Reformation Press: Where is the Gospel?

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Michael Bell: What Is An “Average Church?”

pewsWelcome back IM First Officer Michael Bell as the guest blogger today.

You may have heard people say that the “average” sized church in the U.S. or Canada is about 75 people. You also may have heard someone say that the “average” sized church in North America is about 185 people. Who is right? It all depends how you define “average”.

Statisticians use three terms when describing populations. “Mean”, “Median”, and a third term that won’t really enter our discussion today called “Mode”.

I have borrowed, and expanded upon, an analogy from the The National Congregations Study that was released last month, to help us understand the differences in these terms and why they are important to our understanding of churches in North America. What you will read here is U.S. data, but the numbers are very similar for the Canadian situation as well.

churchrowImagine you are looking down a very, very long street, and all the churches of U.S. are lined up along the left side of the street from smallest to largest. In behind each church are all their Sunday morning attenders.

If you counted the grand total of everyone standing behind each church and then divided this number by the total number of churches that you see on this very long street, you would come up with a “mean” or “average” size of 184. “Mean” is usually what we mean of when we think of “average”. But this number of 184 is a very misleading number.Continue reading “Michael Bell: What Is An “Average Church?””

Blogosphere Spirituality: An Assessment

ereI’m writing about spirituality these days. Yeah, I know how a lot of you feel about that word. So deal. We’re going to use it.

We’re also going to use another word some of you don’t like: formation. Now that we’re good and grumpy, let’s go for a ride.

I’ve been reflecting on the spiritual formation I’ve received as a result of my participation in the blogosphere. The Christian blogosphere.

What kind of Christian influences are coming into my life through the models of Christian faith I am exposed to in this medium? What is the shape of the spiritual formation I encounter here? Can I distance myself from it enough to make any kind of helpful observations?

I have to admit that the blogosphere is a unique experience to everyone. No one of us, no matter how many similar social networking or communication tools we use, encounters the exact same influences. I’m experiencing this medium from one place and through a unique combination of elements that I choose to read, view and participate in. Your mileage will vary.Continue reading “Blogosphere Spirituality: An Assessment”