Chapter Four of the Westminster Confession discusses creation. The first point tells us that God created everything, and that it was good: "It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and
goodness, in the beginning, to create, or make of nothing, the
world, and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, in the
space of six days; and all very good." The second point discusses the sixth day of creation in more depth, specifically the creation of man and woman and their duties and obligations to their Creator. [1] While all of what the Confession says in Chapter Four—brief as it is—is indeed true, a very crucial is point is overlooked by this historic document of Reformed theology.
I told the story of saving Dale a couple of weeks ago, and remarked on the joy of evangelism, and how it ought not be an occasion for fear, but for holy boldness and trusting in God for the result. But there is a sense when it can sometimes be a fearful thing, for whenever we speak the gospel to someone we must start by showing them their sin and their need of a Savior.
I've held a number of interesting jobs in my time; I'm sort of a Jack-of-All-Trades. I was a welder in a river barge manufacturing company. I've driven trucks. I've been a roofer, a concrete worker, a framing carpenter, and I installed vinyl siding and replacement windows. One of my favorite jobs, (besides pastoral ministry) was driving a wrecker. I put myself through college in the late '80's and early '90's as a wrecker driver/mechanic/general shop monkey for I-70 Shell and then for Bennett's Northside Conoco in Columbia, Missouri.
One of the more interesting phenomena to arise in televised sports is the fact that many people tune in to the Super Bowl not so much to watch the game, but to watch the ads. The commercials that air during the game—many for the very first time—generate almost as much hype and interest as the action on the field. This year's game, Super Bowl XLIV, was the most watched program in television history, besting the 27-year old record held by the final episode of M*A*S*H. This is a remarkable accomplishment, especially considering that viewers in 2010 have many more programming options available to them than did viewers in 1983. The Super Bowl is much more than a championship football game, it has become a cultural event. Because of this, Super Bowl ads are often very good indicators of where American culture is as a whole.
Well, finally we’re ready to wrap up this series of essays (click here to go to Part 1). The question before us is this: “Is there some sense in which men and women, husbands and wives, complete each other?”
We have discussed relative goods and absolute goods, and the nature of hierarchy and how evil and sin result from taking anything out of its God-ordained place and either elevating it or lowering it. There must be a place for everything and everything in its place. The final piece of the puzzle comes in the nature of human beings as social creatures.
Last week we went back to Genesis and to the Lord’s words in Matthew in order to discover the concept of absolute good and relative good as it relates to both marriage and singleness. Both marriage and singleness are relative goods; that is, they are good for certain people in certain circumstances, but not good for all people in all circumstances. God has called some people to singleness, and for them that is their good. God has called some people to marriage, and for them, that is their good.
Forget for a minute that you exist. Forget about your life, what it
is and what you expected it would be. Forget about your likes and
dislikes, your preferences and annoyances, your motivations and
discouragements. Forget that you have a mother and a father, brothers
and sisters, aunts and uncles, co-workers and colleagues. Forget that
you have a place in this world, whether good or bad, happy or sad.
Forget, if you can, that you exist at all. In fact, forget that you ever existed. Imagine a world that doesn’t include you. A world remarkably similar to the one that you do live in, but one that hasn’t bothered to include you in its plans; the world that you know, minus one thing: you.
I was asked to write more on the subject of men and women and relational idolatry, in order to clarify some things. This I will cheerfully do.
The main question put to me is, “Is there not a sense in which men and women do complete each other?”
The answer is not straightforward. We must go ad fontes, back to the source, to see what our loves were supposed to be and what, exactly, went wrong. We must go to Genesis. And we will travel by a very circuitous route.
This article is a follow-up to my earlier article, "Our Inward Sickness." If you haven’t read that, it might help you to do so before you read this one, because I
am going to build on what I said before. —Brian
Over the years I have had a
number of people come for pastoral counseling concerning their relationships. Often the relationship in question is a marriage, but
not always. Parent-child relationships are also sources of deep grief
and pain. Very often the pain and damage in a parent-child
relationship is the material cause of further pain and damage in a
marriage relationship later on in life. Very often the core issue is
one of relational idolatry.
If initial predictions are correct, this weekend could prove to be one of the highest grossing movie weekends in recent memory. The second installment of the Stephenie Meyer vampire series, New Moon, hits theaters today, as well as TriStar Pictures newest animated film, Planet 51. These two films alone would probably be enough to contend for a record weekend, but a third film, The Blind Side, has been steadily fighting its way through the New Moon hype and may prove to be a contender in its own right. If nothing else, The Blind Side provides an outlet for moviegoers to show their support for the underdog; to prove that feel-good sports movies still have a strong appeal, even in the midst of vampire and alien hysteria.
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