The Thoughts of Ryan-C

QOTD: Luther

// August 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // Jesus Stuff, Life, Luther, Quote of the Day

You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.

-Martin Luther

A Couple Quick Book Reviews….

// June 29th, 2009 // No Comments » // Books, Calvin, Jesus Stuff, Luther, reformed, review, sin, theology

Up first is The Difficult Doctrine of The Love of God by D.A. Carson. In this book, Carson tries to tackle the modern concept of the love of God. If you have been alive for more than a month (which you probably are if you can read this) you’ve heard that God loves you. And this is the part that everyone likes about God, because it isn’t difficult and it makes us feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. But our culture (and even our churches) have sanitized the love of God in order to remove it far from the pages of scripture and riding it of anything we find uncomfortable. It is Carson’s aim to win back the doctrine of the love of God. First, he lays out 5 of the main ideas presented in scripture concerning the love of God.

1) The peculiar love of the Father for the Son, and the Son for the Father.

2) God’s providential love over all that he has made.

3) God’s salvific love for his fallen world.

4) God’s particular, effective, selecting love toward his elect.

5) God’s love that is conditioned on obedience.

Now while all of these aspects of God’s love are true and are presented in scripture, they must be viewed in relation to one another and one cannot be held to be weightier than one another. If we solely believe 2) then we are just cultural Christians, if we only believe 3) we may become universalists, if we only believe 4) we may become hyper-Calvinists, and if we only believe 5) then we become strict moralists. All must be held in regards to one another, and that is Carson’s main thesis. This book is easy to read and weighing in at only 84 pages, Carson manages to thoroughly cover a weighty theological topic with ease.

Up next is The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World by Stephen J. Nichols. Now we have all heard something about the Reformation either in church or in school, but it is generally just about Luther and the major break from the Catholic Church, but it goes much further than that. In this easy to read, 150 pages book, Nichols briefly (albeit thoroughly) covers the major reformation movements that occurred around the time of Luther up until the times of the Puritans. The major people covered are Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli (whom I want to read more about), John Calvin, the Anabaptists, the Anglicans, and the Puritans. Now when most people think of reading a book that involves church history, they don’t exactly get giddy with excitement, but Nichols manages to make this book quite entertaining and rather funny at times. If you’ve ever wondered why you aren’t Catholic and what this whole reformation thing is all about, check out this book for some easy to read and enjoyable history.

QOTD – We are sinners.

// June 22nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Jesus Stuff, Life, Luther, Quote of the Day, reformed, sin, theology

We are not merely sinners because we sin; we are sinners at the very root of our being. Sin isn’t just a matter of what we do; it’s a matter of who we are. And nothing we can do, even if we are considered saints, can overcome that.

-Stephen J. Nichols, The Reformation

QOTD

// April 28th, 2009 // No Comments » // Jesus Stuff, Life, Luther, Quote of the Day

I was wrong, I admit it, when I said that indulgences were “the pious defrauding of the faithful.” I recant and I say, “Indulgences are the most impious frauds and imposters of the most rascally pontiffs, by which they deceive the souls and destroy the goods of the faithful.

-Martin Luther