Comments Which Conservatives Block From Their Blogs For September 7, 2016

Sept 6

To R. Scott Clark and his blogpost on how the statement truth offends narcissists is used to promote reformed theology. This appeared in Heidelblog.

What the title says is true. But everyone needs to examine oneself to see if one is a narcissist  for believing in some truths does not exclude one from that club.

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To R. Scott Clark’s blogpost quote of Calvin on real religion and the following of the rule of worship. This appeared in Heidelblog.

So thus says Calvin. But could we see Calvin's emphasis on the law reflected in Paul's epistles such as the one he wrote to the Galatians? Or is Calvin's emphasis on the law reflected by what Jesus said to the woman at the well when he said true worship is in spirit and in truth rather than at Jerusalem?

I see theological opportunists who, because of the heritage of their theology, use this quote by Calvin as a reason for claiming that they have a monopoly on real religion and thus see themselves as being above others. Certainly not all Christians and theologians are such opportunists, but some are.

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To Dan Dorlani and his blogpost on why voting for the lesser of two evils is wrong. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.

Two points on voting for the lesser of two evils, which was called 'Consequentialism' here, are missed. First, those who push voting for the lesser of two evils intend to rob the voters of their independence by trying to compel them to vote for someone who does not represent them. Second, those who push Consequentialism are trying to inflict a kind myopia on fellow voters. This kind of myopia revolves around time in that only the soon to follow consequences matter. Here we should note that the only way to escape a voting for the lesser of two evils is to make third party candidates viable. And since most change is incremental, we must go through elections of voting for non viable third party candidates with hope future third party candidates eventually become viable.

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To Mike Bullmore, Ryan Kelly, and Vermon Pierre and their blogpost discussion on whether we are required to forgive those who do not repent from sinning against us. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition.

There were some good points here especially regarding the distinction between forgiving and the need for restoration. And there is a good point made about love covering a multitude of sins. But there is an important point that was not just missed, it taught wrongly. That point revolves around us having clear consciences with at least the suggestion that these consciences of ours are accurate. And that leads to the most important point of whether we believe that we have repented from all of our sins. If we believe that such is possible, then we lean towards some kind of perfectionism and perfectionism relies on obedience to the law rather than faith. It also leads to other problems of being judgmental and acting like the pharisee from the parable of the two men praying (see Luke 18:9-14).

The more we understand how sinful we are, then the more the command to forgive others as we have been forgiven should temper any ill-feelings we have toward those who have offended us. And perhaps how much we rely on the forgiveness of God is, at least in part, indicated by how willing we are to forgive others.