Justin Taylor's Blog, page 317

Is It a Sin to Act Against Your Conscience?

Martin Luther said, "To act against conscience is neither right nor safe." Was he right?

R. C. Sproul answers:

Here we must tread carefully lest we slice our toes on the ethical razor's edge.

If the conscience can be misinformed or distorted, why should we not act against it?

Should we follow our consciences into sin?

Here we have a dilemma of the double-jeopardy sort.

If we follow our consciences into sin, we are guilty of sin inasmuch as we are required to have our consciences rightly informed by the Word of God.

However, if we act against our consciences, we are also guilty of sin. The sin may not be located in what we do but rather in the fact that we commit an act we believe to be evil. Here the biblical principle of Romans 14:23 comes into play: "Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin." For example, if a person is taught and comes to believe that wearing lipstick is a sin and then wears lipstick, that person is sinning. The sin resides not in the lipstick but in the intent to act against what one believes to be the command of God.

The dilemma of double jeopardy demands that we diligently strive to bring our consciences into harmony with the mind of Christ lest a carnal conscience lead us into disobedience. We require a redeemed conscience, a conscience of the spirit rather than the flesh.

The manipulation of conscience can be a destructive force within the Christian community.

Legalists are often masters of guilt manipulation, while antinomians master the art of quiet denial.

The conscience is a delicate instrument that must be respected. One who seeks to influence the consciences of others carries a heavy responsibility to maintain the integrity of the other person's own personality as crafted by God. When we impose false guilt on others, we paralyze our neighbors, binding them in chains where God has left them free. When we urge false innocence, we contribute to their delinquency, exposing them to the judgment of God.

You can read the whole post here, excerpted from Sproul's booklet How Should I Live in This World?

Debating the Sabbath

Fred Zaspel has a nice review—overview and interaction—with the book Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views, edited by Chris Donato (B&H, 2011).

A Lutheran and a Wesleyan Dialoge about Work and Vocation

Hats off to Trevin Wax who recently initiated and facilitated an interesting discussion on work and vocation with Patrick Henry College Provost Gene Edward Veith Jr. (author of God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life) and Asbury Theological Seminary New Testament Professor Ben Witherington III (author of Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor). You can read the posts here:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

What I found most interesting about their discussion was the way in which their theological traditions (Veith is a confessional Lutheran, Witherington a Wesleyan) influence the way in which they understand issues like work and vocation.

Veith makes this observation:

I don't want to minimize our theological differences, even though I argue that we agree with each other on more things than we might realize. What I am coming to understand through your book and our discussions is that the different theologies and theological traditions that we have as Christians are going to manifest themselves in their theologies of work.

Lutheran theology emphasizes God's action in our lives and His presence in physical means, so that carries over into vocation.
Wesleyan theology emphasizes human agency, freedom, and the role of good works, so that carries over into a Wesleyan view of work and vocation.
Calvinists, I have noticed, tend to look at vocation in terms of their understanding of the Third Use of the Law.
I suspect that Pentecostalists, Anabaptists, and regular Baptists would have their own spin on the topic.

This is understandable and the nature of having particular theologies. What all can agree on, though, is that ordinary human work has a spiritual significance that we need to recover and to live out.

Witherington agrees:

I think this is an excellent insight of yours that theological differences in general will manifest themselves in particular in one's theology of work. Of course this is especially clear with something like 'the Puritan work ethic' but it would be true in all theologies I imagine. For example, in the Wesleyan tradition good works are part of our working out our salvation so it does indeed have to do with our sanctification. We don't believe in the imputed righteousness of Christ substituting for our actual righteousness. We believe in the imparted righteousness that comes through the Holy Spirit, and that absolutely affects the way we view both work, and good works, and final salvation which is not just a matter of justification by grace through faith.

For those interested in the issue of vocation, especially as it applies to the family, make sure to keep an eye out for Crossway's forthcoming book, Family Vocation: God's Calling in Marriage, Parenting, and Childhood, co-authored by Veith and his daughter Mary Moerbe.

I Asked the Lord to Grow in Grace and He Almost Drove Me to Despair

John Newton:

I asked the Lord that I might grow

In faith, and love, and every grace;

Might more of His salvation know,

And seek, more earnestly, His face.

'Twas He who taught me thus to pray,

And He, I trust, has answered prayer!

But it has been in such a way,

As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favored hour,

At once He'd answer my request;

And by His love's constraining pow'r,

Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel

The hidden evils of my heart;

And let the angry pow'rs of hell

Assault my soul in every part.

Yea more, with His own hand He seemed

Intent to aggravate my woe;

Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,

Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

Lord, why is this, I trembling cried,

Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?

"'Tis in this way, the Lord replied,

I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I employ,

From self, and pride, to set thee free;

And break thy schemes of earthly joy,

That thou may'st find thy all in Me."

Indelible Grace has a version of this entitled "I Asked the Lord":

Is Truth (Necessarily) Opposed to Fiction?

Douglas Jones:

I agree that very serious issues are at stake here, and I do indeed think that a healthy imagination is essential to spiritual maturity. But I worry about your assumption that truth is opposed to fiction. Scripture itself repeatedly teaches truth by means of the "fictions" of metaphors and parables. When Psalm 72:3 teaches "The mountains will bring peace to the people," that is a grand fiction revealing a great truth. Mt. McKinley and Mt. Everest can't really bring peace to God's people. Christ alone does. But God repeatedly sees fit to speak to us as a poet and not an engineer. And if we aren't well-exercised in poetic, fictional thinking, then we'll regularly misunderstand Scripture and life.

Weak imaginations have always fallen before Scripture's chief enemies: legalists, rationalists, and libertines. Orthodoxy demands imagination, and so we are just asking for serious spiritual problems if we deny the imaginative life to our children.

Response, in Letters to the Editor, Credenda Agenda (11/2), p. 7.

Getting Secondary Issues All Out of Whack

An excellent article from Kevin DeYoung from the June 2011 issue of Tabletalk.

First, we are not always gracious in the way we talk about secondary issues. Most Christians speak kindly and calmly about their convictions. But sadly it often feels like the less important the issue the more intensely someone will hold to it. We make up for the lack of gravity surrounding the issue by promoting that issue in the gravest possible terms. And even if we are right and someone else is dead wrong we should still correct our opponents with gentleness and grace (2 Tim. 2:25), not with hand grenades.

Second, some of us have never considered that certain issues in the Christian life belong in a Romans 14 category. Don't get me wrong, I believe in polemics. I believe in dying on some hills. I believe in standing fast on doctrine, even on "non-salvation issues." But on some matters we should say with Paul, "Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind" (Rom. 14:5). And sometimes we must ask, "Why do you pass judgment on your brother?" After all, "we will all stand before the judgment seat of God" (14:10-11). It's okay on some matters (not all!) for Christians to agree to disagree (even if you know you're right like Paul did!). It's not a failure of theological nerve to recognize that some good believers we'll make different decisions than other good believers. The mature Christian can hold strongly to his opinions without insisting strongly that all other Christians do the same.

A third problem is that some Christians inquire too early and too often about their particular hot-button issues. When a brother visiting the church for the first time asks where I stand on Rushdoony, I'm a little freaked out. It's like taking a girl out on a first date and asking if her parents have digital cable. What?! Don't you want to know a few other things first? In checking a church I hope you'd be interested to hear about the role of prayer, the importance of missions, the understanding of the gospel, the integrity of the leaders, their view of Scripture, and a dozen other things before launching into the rareified air of Rushdoony. Besides, I would also hope visitors, as a matter of courtesy, would not land at a church ready to insist on items 16-25 on their theological checklist.

Finally, we must be careful our passions are not out of proportion. There is no problem with Christians who feel strongly about schooling, the placement of the congregational prayer, or the frequency of communion. The problem is when our passion for these issues exceeds our passion for the gospel, for the cross, for the lost, for the afflicted. Not every issue matters as much as every other issue. Not every position deserves out fieriest passion. Save the big guns for the big ones. Get the heart pounding for the doctrine of the Trinity or penal substitution or God's sovereignty. If your "thing" is Christmas trees or the kind of beverage in the communion cup, it's time to get a better "thing." The Christian life allows for lots of passion, discourse, and detailed application—as long as we don't get everything out of whack.

Midnight in Paris

Both Mike Cosper and Russell Moore have posted reviews today of the movie Midnight in Paris.

Finish the Mission: For the Joy of All Peoples, Bringing the Gospel to the Unreached and Unengaged

Desiring God:

The theme of this year's Desiring God National Conference is "Finish the Mission: For the Joy of All Peoples, Bringing the Gospel to the Unreached and Unengaged." The event will take place in Minneapolis, MN on September 23 – 25, 2011.

We are pleased to announce that Louie Giglio, David Platt, Michael Ramsden, Michael Oh, Ed Stetzer, along with John Piper will be bringing the plenary addresses at this year's conference.

We'll also be hosting two tracks of seminars on frontier missions and church planting. Seminar speakers include David Sitton, David Sills, Jason Mandryk, Ed Stetzer, Dave Harvey, and Jeff Vanderstelt.

Fanboys and Haters: Nothing New

Charles Spurgeon on the haters of Charles Wesley:

To ultra-Calvinists his name is as abhorrent as the name of the Pope to a Protestant: you have only to speak of Wesley, and every imaginable evil is conjured up before their eyes, and no doom is thought to be sufficiently horrible for such an arch-heretic as he was. I verily believe that there are some who would be glad to rake up his bones from the tomb and burn them, as they did the bones of Wycliffe of old—men who go so high in doctrine, and withal add so much bitterness and uncharitableness to it, that they cannot imagine that a man can fear God at all unless he believes precisely as they do.

And Spurgeon on the fanboys:

Unless you can give him constant adulation, unless you are prepared to affirm that he had no faults, and that he had every virtue, even impossible virtues, you cannot possibly satisfy his admirers.

He also writes:

I am afraid that most of us are half asleep, and those that are a little awake have not begun to feel. It will be time for us to find fault with John and Charles Wesley, not when we discover their mistakes, but when we have cured our own. When we shall have more piety than they, more fire, more grace, more burning love, more intense unselfishness, then, and not till then, may we begin to find fault and criticize.

You can read more on this at the post "Calvinists Who Love Wesley" by Fred Sanders, who is currently writing a book for Crossway entitled Wesley on the Christian Life.

Proverbial Thoughts Worth Chewing On

"Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone."

—Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (HT: Doug Wolter)

"Don't assume your godliness because you sympathize with a friend in distress. Even the Gentiles do that. Try rejoicing in his success."

—Douglas Wilson