Medicine of Immortality "It's a cold, and it's a broken, 'Hallelujah!'"

Posted by Rick on January 19th, 2002

Random thoughts

As I sit here at the computer blowing bubbles, it is hard not to think about my life. It seems like an endless web of paradox. Rarely do people get to know me before they form an opinion on me. Opinions on me vary from each end of the spectrum. I have very few close friends, but about 150 million “friends.” Its an odd thing.

I like to travel. I am ready for a trip. I need some new scenery. Perhaps this trip to Moscow will suffice. I am hoping to get up to St. Louis in February. I am looking forward to seeing some friends in Washinton. I also get to stop by in Jackson for a few hours. There I will get a chance to visit with Josh Wright, a good buddy of mine from Belhaven.

I had a delightful meal with Paul McCoy, a single man of 30 at our church. I had a wonderful salad, potato soup, steamed veggies, a nice medium rare steak, and some cabernet sauvignon. A meal for kings. It was a bill for kings too, but it was worth having a meal with a friend.

If you ever buy Sensus Plenior, you’ll feel empty without it.

I am sick of online conversations. Yet I am hopelessly addicted—reigned in. Like I just had this conv with some girl telling me about someone that likes a guy, so I started to name people from the place she said the guy was from. Then all of a sudden, halfway through the conversation, I figure out that she didn’t say what I think she said, and it turns out that she thought I was trying to say that this girl liked someone. And I am sitting here thinking? “What? You’re the one who said that!” Hahaha. I wonder how many people have had fatal/relationship ending conversations because of this fake communication. Like, the other day, I said something to a girl in an email about trying to find a wife in an online ad. I was being totally sarcastic, but she took me seriously, and the next email I got back from her was really short. I couldn’t figure out why until I remembered what I had said. I hope that is cleared up.

Posted by Rick on January 19th, 2002

Wow. Okay, so this template isn’t really “me.” However, I was sick of not being able to make changes in my template. My other template had a glitch in it, so if I tried to change it, it would change all sorts of things I didn’t touch. I know this template is a bit fruity, but at least I can play with the HTML without messing it up. I lost my code for Sensus Plenior, but as soon as I get it back, I will be back in business. And now with a new, improved blog

Posted by Rick on January 18th, 2002

Thanks to Joel and John for this. Joel posted this on his blog:

John mentions a Reformed baptismal rite in his comments on another blog. For those wondering what it says, here it is. This is the old “Form Number 1” from the CRC Psalter Hymnal and resembles the rite used in many Continental Reformed churches (hopefully this isn’t violating any copyright):

Beloved congregation in the Lord Jesus Christ:

The principal parts of the doctrine of holy baptism are these three:

First: That we with our children are conceived and born in sin, and therefore are children of wrath, so that we cannot enter the kingdom of God, except we are born again. This, the dipping in or sprinkling with water teaches us, whereby the impurity of our souls is signified, that we may be admonished to loathe ourselves, humble ourselves before God, and seek for our purification and salvation apart from ourselves.

Second: Holy baptism witnesses and seals unto us the washing away of our sins through Jesus Christ. Therefore we are baptized into the Name of God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

For when we are baptized into the Name of the Father, God the Father witnesses and seals unto us that He makes an eternal covenant of grace with us and adopts us for His children and heirs, and therefore will provide us with every good thing and avert all evil or turn it to our profit.

And when we are baptized into the Name of the Son, the Son seals unto us that He washes us in His blood from all our sins, incorporating us into the fellowship of His death and resurrection, so that we are freed from our sins and accounted righteous before God.

Likewise, when we are baptized into the Name of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit assures us by this holy sacrament that He will dwell in us, and sanctify us to be members of Christ, imparting to us that which we have in Christ, namely, the washing away of our sins and the daily renewing of our lives, till we shall finally be presented without spot among the assembly of the elect in life eternal.

Third: Whereas in all covenants there are contained two parts, therefore are we by God, through baptism, admonished of and obliged unto new obedience, namely, that we cleave to this one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; that we trust in Him, and love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength; that we forsake the world, crucify our old nature, and walk in a godly life. And if we sometimes through weakness fall into sins, we must not therefore despair of God’s mercy, nor continue in sin, since baptism is a seal and indubitable testimony that we have an eternal covenant with God.

And although our children do not understand these things, we may not therefore exclude them from baptism, since they are without their knowledge partakers of the condemnation in Adam, and so again are received unto grace in Christ; as God speaks unto Abraham, the father of all believers, and therefore also to us and our children, saying: “I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee” (Gen. 17:7). This also Peter testifies with these words: “For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him” (Acts 2:39). Therefore God formerly commanded to circumcise them, which was a seal of the covenant and of the righteousness of faith; as also Christ embraced them, laid His hands upon them, and blessed them (Mark 10:16). Since, then, baptism has come in the place of circumcision (Col. 2:11-13), the children should be baptized as heirs of the kingdom of God and of His covenant; and as they grow up, the parents shall be bound to give them further instruction in these things.

That we, therefore, may administer this holy ordinance of God to His glory, to our comfort, and to the edification of the church, let us call upon His holy Name:

O almighty, eternal God, Thou who hast according to Thy severe judgment punished the unbelieving and unrepentant world with the flood, and hast according to Thy great mercy saved and protected believing Noah and his family; Thou who has drowned the obstinate Pharaoh and all his host in the Red Sea and led Thy people Israel through the midst of the sea upon dry ground—by which baptism was signified—we beseech Thee that Thou wilt be pleased of Thine infinite mercy, graciously to look upon these Thy children and incorporate them by Thy Holy Spirit into Thy Son, Jesus Christ, that they may be buried with Him through baptism into death and be raised with Him in newness of life; that they, daily following Him, may joyfully bear their cross, cleaving unto Him in true faith, firm hope, and ardent love; that they, being comforted in Thee, may leave this life, which is nothing but a constant death, and at the last day may appear without terror before the judgment seat of Christ Thy Son, through Him, our Lord Jesus Christ, who with Thee and the Holy Spirit, one only God, lives and reigns forever. Amen.

Address to the Parents

Beloved in Christ the Lord, you have heard that baptism is an ordinance of God to seal unto us and our seed His covenant; therefore it must be used for that end, and not out of custom or superstition. That it may, then, be manifest that you are thus minded, you are to answer sincerely to these questions:

First: Do you acknowledge that our children, though conceived and born in sin and therefore subject to all manner of misery, yea, to condemnation itself, are sanctified in Christ, and therefore as members of His Church ought to be baptized?

Second: Do you acknowledge the doctrine which is contained in the Old and the New Testament, and in the articles of the Christian faith, and which is taught here in this Christian church, to be the true and complete doctrine of salvation?

Third: Do you promise and intend to instruct these children, as soon as they are able to understand, in the aforesaid doctrine, and cause them to be instructed therein, to the utmost of your power?

Answer: We do.

Then the minister of God’s Word, in baptizing, shall say:

N_________, I baptize you into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Thanksgiving

Almighty God and merciful Father, we thank and praise Thee that Thou has forgiven us and our children all our sins, through the blood of Thy beloved Son Jesus Christ, and received us through Thy Holy Spirit as members of Thine only begotten Son, and so adopted us to be Thy children, and sealed and confirmed the same unto us by holy baptism. We beseech Thee also, through Him, Thy beloved Son, that Thou wilt always govern these children by Thy Holy Spirit, that they may be nurtured in the Christian faith and in godliness, and grow and increase in the Lord Jesus Christ, in order that they may acknowledge Thy fatherly goodness and mercy, which Thou hast shown to them and to us all, and live in all righteousness under our only Teacher, King, and High Priest, Jesus Christ; and manfully fight against and overcome sin, the devil, and his whole dominion, to the end that they may eternally praise and magnify Thee, and Thy Son Jesus Christ, together with the Holy Spirit, the one only true God. Amen.

Posted by Rick on January 17th, 2002

I just received an email from a friend in the English department. I’d love to hear anyone’s comments on the following email. I think she makes some great points. Here it is:

Okay, I haven’t totally lost my mind yet. That’s my disclaimer for you all before you read this. Hopefully, someone will sympathize with my meandering deep thoughts and give me a reply on this. Here goes:

Has anyone ever really thought about the importance of sheep in our culture and literature? I mean, I’m sure some historian at a small private university somewhere in the Midwest has spent a lifetime researching the role of sheep in the English speaking world. I just can’t find his book right now, so I have to flesh this out for myself.

Maybe the sheep have to do with me and my Irish heritage thing. But think about it, those of you also of Irish or Scottish heritage: Our
ancestors’ whole damn lives revolved around their animals. Namely, sheep. They wore their wool, ate their flesh, used them for currency and dowries for their daughters! The whole of Christianity is based around sheep metaphor. And there the critters are again, starring in Christopher Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to his Love.” The overwhelming question here is, of course: Where have all the Sheep gone???

We have sacrificed our sheep to our greedy, postmodern urbanization!
We have betrayed our friends!

Seriously, we did leave the farm. But isn’t it ironic that the Scottish scientists chose Dolly the Sheep as their first cloned mammal? Don’t
you find that kind of poetic? Doesn’t it make you feel all proudly pastoral and Robert Burns-esque? Maybe not. But since I know no one is going to stoop to argue this one, I declare the British Sheep the Single Most Literary Animals in Our Language.

Baaaaaaaaaaahhhhh,

Ferris

Posted by Rick on January 17th, 2002

I am on a low right now. I guess it was coming. I have been on a high all day. We had a really good study group for MA comps tonight. We studied for about 2.5 hours and made up some research for each of us. There were about eight of us there tonight. I am supposedly the authority on Renaissance lit. How fun.

I am in one of those contemplative moods right now. I sometimes have to wonder if I am not completely nuts. I just got depressed out of nowhere. I have to tell myself what I would tell my friend, “Quit sinning!” I miss a friend that I haven’t talked to in awhile though. I often think of the shortness of life. On a daily basis at least. I also think of death at least daily. I have to remind myself who I am. I am a sinner, but I am also in Christ. It is an odd thing to me. It is quite a glorious thing though. I also sometimes have fleeting thoughts like “What’s the point of getting married with such a short life?” That is when I KNOW I am going crazy

I am finally going to get a Louisiana license tomorrow. My Oklahoma license is quite tattered, and I am afraid that the airline officials will think I am Arab. I will be going to Washington/Idaho next week. I am trying to get excited about it. It is a weird thing about me, that I don’t really get excited about things until they’re here. I was quite excited about the Pastor’s Conference. That was quite an odd thing for me. I wasn’t disappointed.

I heard a typical reformed lecture about carnal Christianity yesterday. Typical Reformed theology can be so backwards sometimes. He showed three pictures with thrones, and each picture represented where sin, Christ, and ego were in relation to each other. The suggestion was your typical reformed answer, but it failed to take seriously baptized, covenant-breaking apostates. It simply acknowledged them as not elect. Where are the covenantal curses? It undermined the sacrament of baptism. What was particularly frustrating is that this man gave the same lecture a year ago, and I approached him after his lecture about it. He decided that he was in error and that my diagram was better. Well, when he taught it this time, I approached him again. I drew him what I believe was the correct diagram, and he said, “That’s it, you’re right.” Ahhh. I need to learn patience.

Posted by Rick on January 17th, 2002

Thanks to John for pointing out these catechisms for me. I think these are beautiful.

Calvin’s Strasbourg catechism:

Q. Are you, my son, a Christian in fact as well as in name? A. Yes, my father. Q. How do you know yourself to be? A. Because I am baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.

One of Bucer’s liturgies includes this catechism:

Q. Are you a Christian? A. Yes. Q. How do you know? A. Because I have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit.

Posted by Rick on January 16th, 2002

This poem by Michael Drayton is known either by its first line ot the Title “Breakin Up Is Hard To Do.”

Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part.
Nay, I have done, you get no more of me.
And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart
That thus so cleanly I myself can free.
Shake hands forever, cancel all our vows,
And when we meet at any time again,
Be it not seen in either of our brows
That we one jot of former love retain.
Now at the last gasp of Love’s latest breath,
When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies,
When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death,
And Innocence is closing up his eyes— Now, if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,

From death to life thou mightst him yet recover.

I find this poem very interesting. The first line seems to be the break up, and then the next seven lines seem to be him trying to convince himself he’s cool with it. And then the last six lines the reversal. Anyway, I like this sonnet.

I’ve had a weird couple days. I now have Windows XP instead of Windows Professional. I am not sure what I think. XP is definitely more colorful.

Posted by Rick on January 14th, 2002

Here is a picture of a few of our fellow bloggers at the Auburn Avenue Pastor’s Conference last week. If you can’t see this, see this pic and others from the conference in my photo album.

Pastor John Barach, me, Pastor John Owen Butler, and Pastor Mark Horne

Posted by Rick on January 11th, 2002

Feed the Children

Tim Gallant’s new book on paedocommunion
Feed My Lambs
Coming February 22nd, 2002

Be sure to read the interview with the author under the link “How Dare You?”

Posted by Rick on January 11th, 2002

I got a few emails asking why I haven’t been posting. Well I didn’t think anyone had been reading this lately because I haven’t gotten many people talking on here. I am sure it has to do with the boring content I’ve also been trying to recover from the conference. I got to see Pastor Butler again and finally meet Mark Horne. I appreciated our conversations and his friendly demeanor. I also enjoyed getting to know Rev. John Barach better. He came over Wednesday night and stayed into the wee hours. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time—and I am a laugher. I also got to see the Schlissel gals, and I finally got to see Mike Sosa. It was also good to see Kat again and meet new friends and pastors.

Overall, this was the best conference we’ve ever had here. I believe this was a landmark conference. Wilkin’s was his usual flamethrower self. Schlissel was amazing in the delivery of great content. Wilson was his usual self. He has the respect of those men so much that they hang on his every word. However, I think our own blogging Barach was the jewel of the conference. I told him that it was because of his ignorance that he was able to say all the things he said. I don’t think he knew what he was stepping into, and I honestly don’t believe he understood how important his message was to these men. I think he actually set Wilkins up to be able to say the things he did in the conference’s final lecture. You see, the demographic of the conference was mostly Southern Presbyterian pastors. These men have the systematic theology down, but for the most part, they do not understand the covenant as the Continental Reformers did. Southern Presbyterianism has, for the most part, inherited a lower view of the covenant which I think is due to Puritanism and revivalism. The cry I repeatedly heard these godly Southern Presbyterian pastors yelp was, “If this is true, if what he is saying is right, then it makes sense of so many passages.” It was hard not to get choked up hearing that over and over. These men had struggled to understand Scripture in light of their Reformed systematic, but they couldn’t because something was missing—understanding the objectivity of the covenant and its conditionality. As my friend Heidi’s pastor said to me, “I have a lot to bring back home.” Many of these men are bring a lot BACK HOME. The tide is turning…