Joseph and Marriage

With the upcoming elections, one issue that is being debated is marriage and whether or not same-sex marriage should be legalized. Here's a thought during this Christmas season—Joseph is the ultimate example that God created marriage for a man and a woman, and that a family is meant to have both a mother and a father.

Mary was a virgin, impregnated by the Holy Spirit. Joseph didn't have to be there for biology's sake. But, God didn't leave Mary on her own to raise her child. He didn't have her stay with her parents or move into her cousin Elizabeth's home. And he didn't have her team up with another woman to raise Jesus, either. He provided for her through the care of a husband, Joseph. Doesn't this show that is the way God intended a family to be? A family should have both a mom and a dad.

Joseph was the man of the house. He took Mary to Bethlehem to be registered. He, along with Mary, took Jesus to be presented to the Lord. He was warned by angels to flee from Bethlehem and King Herod by taking Jesus and Mary to Egypt. Later, he again followed the direction of an angel and took his family to live in Nazareth. We can speculate that he trained Jesus in his craft, carpentry, too.

Joseph was not Jesus' biological father. But since it was important enough to God that Mary, the mother of His son, be married to a man, we should take our cue from this example. Marriage is the union of one man and one woman.

Blessings,
Lisa G.

Going Back To Cali!

I am heading back to the Escondido area for another week. Just thought I would rub that in... I mean point that out (sorry John) and give everyone an opportunity to submit any question you would like Dr. Horton to answer, yes we will be attending Christ URC again. Submit all queries in the comments and I will select the best one, IMHO.

In Christ
Alan

Why Seminary? by Michael S. Horton

The Continuing Importance of an Educated Ministry
Michael S. Horton, Ph.D.

Dear Alumni,

I hail from a long line of medical doctors. Although none of us has ever had formal medical training, we are all perfectly confident that we can diagnose ourselves and prescribe a remedy. My grandmother ("Big Mama"), in fact, created a concoction which she called "the remedy." No fancy names to befuddle patients and overwhelm them with a foreign vocabulary. Just "the remedy. Since we were, generally speaking, hypochondriacs, the remedy seemed to work. Only in my adulthood did I learn that it consisted mainly of cheap bourbon and coconut shavings. (We were Southern Baptists: whiskey could only be justified for medicinal use.)

Read the rest of Dr. Horton's article.

My Westminster Visit

I had a great visit to Westminster West on Tuesday. Dr. Hywel Jones preached in chapel. I sat in on an systematic theology course taught by Dr. Horton and a church history class with Dr. D.G. Hart. Both classes were exciting, but the highlight had to be when Mark MacVey, the Director of Admissions, gave me a copy of Machen's "Christianity and Liberalism!" I knew there was a reason I never picked this up. I also bought the textbooks for the first two Greek classes, hoping that some self study and the Greek I have already had in undergrad will allow me to test out of the first six hours of Greek (and therefore avoid taking Greek and Hebrew concurrently). Oh, and I got a Westminster Seminary baseball cap to add to my fledgling collection of hats.

I thought I would share some pearls of wisdom I gleaned from Dr. Horton's class, though don't be disappointed if it is not world altering.

"Good philosophy helps clarify and simplify what we believe."

"A little philosophy can be dangerous."

"All knowledge is a form of faith seeking understanding."

There you have it—words to live by thanks to Dr. Horton. I promise not to post quotes from my classes once I start attending Westmin.....errr, wherever I end up attending. Speaking of which, don't forget to vote in this week's poll!

Crossing Paths with Dr. Horton

So, my wife got a contract job in southern CA. It was supposed to be for 4 days, but it turned into 8, so I flew to San Diego Saturday night. I looked up Christ URC on the internet and got directions from the hotel we are staying at in Hemet. It's about 80 miles, so we got up early Sunday morning and took a scenic drive to the church. Rev. Michael Brown preached on Genesis 37, and I was not disappointed. He preached the Law and the Gospel like no one I have heard except my former pastor in St. Louis, Scott Churnock. (As an aside if you would like to hear Scott preach you can do so here.) The people were friendly, noticing we were guests and stopping to talk with us. One of them, Beth, asked what we thought about the sermon. I told her it was great, and she smiled saying, "We get this every week!"

Then, we had the pleasure of sitting under Dr. Horton teaching a Sunday school class. He taught on the Federal Vision/New Perspective on Paul with authority. My wife and I also had the opportunity to have our picture taken with Dr. Horton, so enjoy.

I will be visiting Westminster Seminary tomorrow and will be meeting with Mark Mcvay—who happens to have a sister in Cedar Rapids, where I live. Her husband also happens to teach history at Kirkwood Community College, where I happen to be taking two history classes with, you guessed it, her husband Professor Peterson. Small world, huh?

You may also hear Rev. Brown preach here. I encourage you to listen to both Rev. Brown and Rev. Churnock. They are both excellent expositors of the Word of God.

The 50 Most Influential Churches?

So, my wife is applying for a job with Logos Bible Software, and one of the things required in their most interesting and entertaining application process is to provide the url where she would find a list of the 5o most influential churches. Since one of the requirements for the job is writing blog posts, she created a blog to display her answers to their questions, along with her resume and cover letter (you can check it out here). Her surgery and recovery time have delayed her completing the scavenger hunt they prescribed to apply for the job. Today she resumed working on this maze of information gathering, and found that someone had discovered her blog and commented on it. At first we found this entertaining, but after searching around a bit, she discovered there appears to be a controversy around the "magazine" that puts out the list, specifically the man in charge.

If you are interested in reading about this story, here are some links:

• Associated Baptist Press News
  


• The Baptist Standard


• Christianity Today


• The Christian Century

I also have a question for those who wish to comment (I know more of you read than comment but I am interested in everyone's opinion on this, so I hope you will all step up and let me know what you think). Do you think Lisa should mention the controversy in her application for the job?

D. James Kennedy goes to be with the Lord

D. James Kennedy went home today September 5, 2007. He was 76 years old and has been fighting complications from a heart attack Dec. 28th. Dr. Kennedy has not been seen since his heart attack. His death comes only ten days after his retirement announcement.

Dr. Kennedy was the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, since 1959 when he started the church with just 45 members. Today the congregation boasts over 10,000 members.

In the 1960's, Kennedy began Evangelism Explosion, one of the most effective evangelistic tools created in the last few decades.

Dr. Kennedy was an influence to me personally. I spent many years delivering pizzas, listening to Christian radio, and honing my discernment skills and he was one of the reliable speakers I listened to along with R. C. Sproul and Alistair Begg. While some of his sermons probably would not pass the diagnostic I laid out a few weeks back, he was a man of God and will be missed.