Three Views on Baptism

A little over a year ago, I wrote on this blog that I was going to begin a thorough study of the doctrine and practice of baptism. Though I haven’t written much on it since, my studies continue, and my personal views on baptism are maturing. At some point (though I don’t know when I’ll feel ready) I want to spend time writing some serious reflections on what I’m learning, but for now I can at least share the short version.

While I remain a committed credobaptist, my understanding of other viewpoints is much better. My hope is that this will allow me to be more gracious toward those with whom I differ on this doctrine, and better able to articulate why I am a Baptist. Best of all, I am developing an appreciation for how challenging the issue is, and how important baptism is to Christian faith. Before I began my study, I was guilty of what Jonathan Leeman (in an article I’ll link below) calls the second of two errors that Christians tend to have regarding baptism:

There are two opposite errors that evangelical Christians easily stumble into on the topic of baptism: we treat it with too little or too much importance…

The solution to the first error is to recognize that baptism may not be essential, but it is important. The solution to the second is to realize that baptism is important, but not essential. In short, Christians need at least three categories for setting theological priorities: essential, important, and unimportant. We often miss that middle category, and act as if everything is either essential or completely unimportant.

This is from Leeman’s excellent review of Baptism: Three Views edited by David Wright. I’ve not written reviews of any of the baptism books I’ve read, but I could not have done a better job of reviewing this one than Leeman. It’s worth your time to check it out!

I really only have one thing to add to the above review. Like Leeman, I found it difficult to approach the book as an objective reader, as hard as I tried to do so. But when I was feeling most objective, I found Bruce Ware’s arguments to be the least persuasive. Maybe this is because his were the points with which I was already most familiar, or maybe it was because I was consciously trying to be sympathetic to the other viewpoints, but I was disappointed that the Baptist view seemed (at least upon first reading) to be the weakest argument in the book.

Jonathan Leeman may have pinpointed the reason for this in his review. The nature of the covenantal paedobaptist position “requires greater theological sophistication and canonical sensitivity” than the credobaptist position, because of the different hermeneutic principles utilized by the two sides. For this reason, Sinclair Ferguson’s defense of infant baptism was perhaps better suited to this format. Ware’s defense of believer baptism seemed simple by comparison to Ferguson’s nuanced and sophisticated reasoning… but maybe that’s the whole point?

Anyway, here are some of the other books I’ve read on baptism, which I’ll hopefully get around to reviewing in detail later:

• Infant Baptism and the Covenant of Grace by Paul Jewitt — Though it has infant baptism in the title, this book was written as a refutation of the practice. John Piper attributed much of his confidence in believer’s baptism to Jewitt’s work in this book, so I was intrigued. I didn’t find it quite as compelling as Piper made it sound, though he certainly builds a strong case.
  
• To A Thousand Generations: Infant Baptism — Covenant Mercy to the Children of God by Douglas Wilson — Of the books I’ve read from a paedobaptist position, this has been the best. Interestingly, Wilson’s church, while Presbyterian, is a dual-practice church, leaving the decision in the hands of parents on whether to baptize children as infants or after a profession of faith. I previously attended a church with a similar stance on baptism, so it’s an idea that intrigues me.
• The God I Never Knew: How Real Friendship With the Holy Spirit Can Change Your Life by Robert Morris — I read this one in part because it talks at length about the Pentecostal teaching of a third “baptism of the Holy Spirit”. While there are probably better examples of this position out there, this one was a complete waste of time, bordering on the heretical. Here’s my full review.
• Believer’s Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ edited by Tom Schreiner — Though I’ve not yet read every essay in this book, when it’s all said and done I’m likely going to concur with the many baptist pastors who have told me that this is the best book available on the side of believer’s baptism.

Perspectives on How Conservative Christians Should Vote

With less than a month to go before the election, political blog posts are popping up everywhere, as expected. My blog is certainly no exception, though I expect that from here on out I’ll turn my attention back toward other matters for a little while.

Today, though, I just want to highlight some prominent Christian thinkers/authors who have written strong arguments in favor of a particular viewpoint of how Christians should approach the election. There seem to be only two real options out there, with a few varieties of each: 1) Voting against Obama (as opposed to voting for Romney), or 2) Voting your conscience (either a third-party candidate or abstaining).

It comes as no surprise that I’ve not seen any posts titled “Why Conservatives Should Vote for Obama”, but I think it’s telling that I also haven’t seen anyone really talking about how much they love Mitt Romney. Maybe I just don’t run in that crowd. If you’re aware of a staunchly pro-Romney article from an evangelical perspective, I’d love to see it.

Here are some of the best representative articles of what our options appear to be:

Voting Against Obama / For Romney

Wayne Grudem, author of Politics – According to the Bible, was one of the most prominent supporters of “Pulpit Freedom Sunday”. While I’ve yet to hear his actual sermon from yesterday morning, I’m assuming based on things he wrote leading up to it that he endorsed Mitt Romney. He has compiled a list of 24 “moral and spiritual issues in the 2012 election” with differences in the two main political parties detailed. From his conclusion:

In the current political system in the United States, every vote for every candidate is much more a vote for one party or another than for the candidate. This is because laws are not passed by individuals but only by one political party the other, under the leadership of that party’s elected officials. Therefore Americans need to choose which column best represents their view, and then vote for candidates in the party that represents that column.

Dan Phillips pulled no punches in saying, “This election’s choice: Romney, third-party (=Obama), or don’t vote (=Obama)”. While he’s no admirer of Romney, he thinks any Christians who don’t vote for the GOP candidate are “idiots”. (See my response to Phillips’ article here.)

You want to make a difference? Vote for the only candidate with any possibility of making any positive difference in any of the categories I’ve outlined. That would be — much as I regret to have to say it — Mitt Romney.

Phillips’ fellow Pyromaniac Frank Turk makes a similar argument, utilizing mathematics. Primaries, he says, are the place to vote your conscience. But in the general elections,

You have to vote for someone with a mathematical likelihood of winning if you really want to affect change… a vote against Obama but not for Romney ensures Obama’s victory.

One variation on this theme is seen in those who argue explicitly against voting for the Democratic Platform, without actually endorsing a candidate. This is best represented in this John MacArthur clip from last Sunday:

Voting Your Conscience

What of those who can’t bring themselves to pull the trigger for Romney, yet know they can’t vote for Obama?

Douglas Wilson attempts to carve out a position in which he can prefer a Romney win on one level, yet not vote for him to help make it happen. Though many have critiqued this as an illogical viewpoint, he makes a good case for it. And while he thinks that Obama will lose, he feels “we will deserve everything we get” if Obama wins.

So I grant that Obama is bad and that double Obama will be double bad. Got it. And I grant that Obama will be far worse than Romney if you placed them side by side and kept them there. But who is going to follow Romney? Will it be eight years of Romney, then eight years of Ryan, and then the millennium? Come on. Republicans will do what Republicans do, which is to say, they will screw it up somehow. They always seek to propitiate the gods of bipartisanship.

Thabiti Anyabwile says that he won’t vote. In his first argument for why not, he turns to W.E.B. DuBois for justification in protesting a “helpless vote” by not voting. After taking a lot of heat he wrote an excellent follow-up article, the best part of which is his insistence that Christians need to “care about abortion and more than abortion.” I couldn’t agree more!

It’s not rhetoric I want in my candidate, or invented lives and embellished pasts, faux images and focus-group-tailored soundbites. I want to elect a free man, someone who stands flat-footed and leans into the cross-current of moral drift with conviction and courage. If he’s out there, he has my vote. And if a two-party system denies a righteous man opportunity to stand for justice then the system itself is the evil we need to oppose.

Principles for Voting

Perhaps the most helpful thing to keep in mind this November are certain Biblical principles which should guide our voting. Many Christian leaders have spoken on this without endorsing any candidate or platform (which, by the way, is the best way for a pastor to address politics from the pulpit, in my opinion). The best succinct version of this is R.C. Sproul’s article Principles for Voting, much of which is taken from his excellent book on Abortion.

Another excellent resource is Tony Evans’ new book How Should Christians Vote? The book is this month’s free download from ChristianAudio. I listened to it this weekend. I’ll try to get a full review posted sometime this week, but for now I commend it to you. It’s less than two-and-a-half hours from start to finish, and will be well worth your time.

As for me, I’ve all but made up my mind, but I’m probably not going to tell you who I’m voting for. In fact, I’m probably not going to write much more about the election until it’s over. I am interested in hearing your take on these articles, though. Who speaks for you? Are there any viewpoints I’m missing?

Combing the Net – 7/10/2012

How to Shuffle a Deck of Cards: An Illustrated Guide — I’ve always been a pretty good card shuffler, but I’ve still got some work to do on getting the “cascade” effect to look a little smoother…

The Absent-Minded Husband — I’m not totally absent-minded, but I definitely have some tendencies. Here’s an article that provides justification godly counsel for husbands who are working through this, and the wives who are married to us. (HT: Challies)

Reformed and Baptist: The Third Wave — This is a somewhat wordy but worthwhile read about the heritage of Reformed Baptists. (HT: Aaron Armstrong)

From the same folks who brought us this brilliant satirical video poking fun at Rob Bell comes this trailer for an upcoming Grace Agenda Conference (HT: Justin Holcombe)

Combing the Net – 7/5/2012

Malware May Knock You Off the Internet Monday — The FBI estimates that tens of thousands of Americans will lose Internet service on Monday due to a malicious computer infection. And unlike many similar warnings that appear on Facebook all the time, this one’s legitimate… it’s Snopes verified! Hopefully you haven’t been affected (NEVER download “free” programs off the Internet!), but you can check to be sure by clicking over to this website set up by the FBI. If it comes up green, you’re good to go.

The Awfulness of Classical Music Explained — I can’t tell you how much I love this article! The Managing Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic says that classical music concerts are too boring… and he’s right! With all the “‘clap here, not there’ cloak-and-dagger protocols to abide by” is it any wonder that orchestras have a difficult time attracting new audiences? He argues compellingly that the problem isn’t the music itself; people listen to orchestra music today more than ever… they just don’t enjoy the theater experience. Besides… music is intended to provoke a response in the listener. Why stifle that response?

I don’t think classical music was intended to be listened to in this way. And I don’t think it honors the art form for us to maintain such a cadaverous body of rules… One step therefore we might take to make classical music less boring again is simply for audiences to quit being so blasted reverential.

He Never Said That — One of my biggest pet peeves is the use of “apocryphal” quotes, which are sayings commonly attributed to someone who never actually said them. One of the most famous are variations on “Preach the gospel at all times, if necessary use words“, usually attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. This article looks at a fake C.S. Lewis quotation: “You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.” You might also like to click over to this Mere Orthodoxy article which goes in to more detail.

Every year on July 4, the Internet is filled with patriotic/nationalistic posts. I made a point not to read any of them yesterday (one of the reasons I skipped making a “Combing the Net” post), but did want to highlight a few that stood out as being exceptional:

The Idea of America — Kevin DeYoung on why the ideas upon which America was founded are worth celebrating:

I understand the dangers of an unthinking “God and country” mentality, let alone a gospel-less civil religion. But I also think love of country–like love of family or love of work–is a proximate good. Patriotism is not beneath the Christian, even for citizens of a superpower.

Should Churches Display the American Flag in Their Sanctuaries? — Three views on a sometimes touchy subject. While I have strong sympathy for Douglas Wilson’s position (“No”), I probably resonate more with Russell Moore’s (“Fly It Responsibly”):

Removing a flag doesn’t remove the tendency to idolatry or triumphalism; it just leaves such things unaddressed and untroubled. If a congregation already has a flag in the sanctuary, the first step might be for the pastor to use it as an object lesson in a right-ordered patriotism.

The flag can prompt the church to pray for and honor leaders. The flag can prompt us to remember that national identity is important but transitory. There will come a day when Old Glory yields to an older glory, when the new republic succumbs to a new creation. Until then, let’s reorder all our affections, including our flag-waving. But let’s do so maintaining the paradoxical tension of “resident aliens.” There is no need to play “Rapture the Flag.”

Place, Patriotism, and Sensucht — Reflections on C.S. Lewis’ thoughts on patriotism from The Four Loves.

Patriotism is a good thing. It’s the natural emotional connection we have with place. We’re wired to ache for this notion of “home.” It’s what the Israelites longed for in the Sinai. It’s what the Hobbits longed for (the Shire) during their Middle Earth adventures. It’s what constitutes part of C.S. Lewis’sSehnsucht: a nostalgic longing for the “Green Hills” of his Belfast childhood, “the low line of the Castlereagh Hills which we saw from the nursery windows.”

…Ultimately my fondness for “home” and all of its nostalgic resonances–Gettysburg, Old Faithful, college football tailgating, Norman Rockwell, Kansas City barbecue, cherry cobbler–should point me heavenward, stirring my heart but not satisfying it, stoking the fires of Sehnsucht just as the Irish green hills did for Lewis.

Did You Hear What Happened in San Diego Last Night? — Last, but not least, some fun (at others’ expense) is in order! Everyone complaining about a lack of fireworks due to the drought should get a good laugh out of this SNAFU from the San Diego fireworks show, which inadvertently set off ALL the fireworks at once, condensing an 18-minute show into a 15-second fireball:

Book Review Shorts

Followers of my blog will notice I’ve not posted many book reviews lately. I’ve actually been reading more than usual the last few months, but haven’t been able to keep up with writing substantial reviews of everything. Since I’m hopelessly behind at this point, here are some short summaries of some recent reads:

“Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God” by John Piper

How often do we think about thinking? I know for me it isn’t often… but I do love to think! And I loved this book. It helped to clarify exactly why good reasoning and intellectual pursuits are important, as well as giving guidance to the process of that pursuit. Piper addresses the challenges of relativism and anti-intellectualism, both of which are rampant in the thinking of the contemporary church. He ends the book with an appeal to humility, which is perhaps the greatest danger of intellectual pursuit.

Incidentally, the structure of the book itself provides a great template for a logical progression of thought. The introduction and first couple chapters (which you can preview online) map out where the book is going and prepare readers for what is to come. I wish more books began this way!

You can buy this book here. Check out Piper’s video introduction as well:

“A Place for Truth: Leading Thinkers Explore Life’s Hardest Questions” ed. by Dallas Willard

The Veritas Forum began back in 1992 as a way for Christian students at Harvard University to explore questions related to the search for truth through a series of lectures and Q&A sessions. Two decades later, this project has expanded dramatically, with events at more than 100 universities around the world. This book is a collection of transcripts of some of the best talks in the series.

Authors/speakers include Christians from across the Liberal-Conservative spectrum (such as Tim Keller, N.T. Wright, and Francis Collins), as well as many atheists (such as Peter Singer and David Helfand). The lectures cover a broad range of topics, from theology to philosophy to music. As with any collaborative effort, there were strong and weak chapters, but each served as excellent discussion-starters for my Tuesday morning reading group!

Video and audio clips of each chapter/lecture can also be found free online. My personal favorites were the chapter by Jeremy Begbie (“The Sense of an Ending”), which “uses music and theology to explore the fundamental truths of how we understand our place in the world”, and the debate between Rodney Brooks and Rosalind Picard (“Can Robots Become Human?”), who dialogue about what it means to be human, and whether we will one day be able to create life from non-life in a godlike manner.

This is not a book that will appeal to everyone, but if you are interested in exploring these sort of hard questions (and getting a very wide range of influences that will force you to think for yourself), this is something you’ll enjoy. Buy it here.

“Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just” by Timothy Keller

Few topics stir up as much passion as that of justice. It’s hard enough to find agreement on what justice is, much less how to achieve it. For that reason, this is a book bound to make nearly anyone uncomfortable.

Keller looks to reclaim the biblical mandate to seek justice for the poor and marginalized from those who sacrifice sound doctrine in favor of a vague, highly politicized sense of “social justice”. Evangelicals are right to hold the line on gospel clarity, but this does not absolve us from our responsibility to care for the poor. However, this care, properly and biblically understood, is not what liberal theologians and social activists have long espoused. It is, rather, a type of self-sacrificing generosity that flows from a right understanding of the gospel of grace.

No matter where you stand, I guarantee this book will challenge your convictions, and force you to think through the issue of justice in a way you’ve never done before. This is something we all need: myself especially. Buy it here. Here’s an idea of the type of stuff you’ll encounter in this book:

“Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road” by Timothy Keller

I read these two books back-to-back, even though they were written 14 years apart. Keller has been remarkably consistent over the course of his ministry; his concern for addressing social justice issues from a conservative, evangelical view (particularly in urban settings) has been one of the central themes of his teaching for decades. Though his more recent books have garnered much more attention, this — his first — is just as good.

Where Generous Justice focuses more on the theological and philosophical aspects of justice, Ministries of Mercy devotes more time to practical concerns. Keller particularly calls out those in the Reformed evangelical tradition, who are not typically known for their concern for the poor (to our shame). He sets up his church (Redeemer Presbyterian in Manhattan) as a model for others to emulate: a theologically conservative Reformed church with a racially and economically diverse congregation that is actively engaging their community in an urban environment long thought to be “lost” to secularization. The fruit of this church’s ministries in the time since this book was written are proof of the validity of Keller’s arguments.

Buy this book here.

“Future Men” by Douglas Wilson

I have read a lot of books on parenting, and particularly on parenting boys, and this is far and away the best I’ve yet encountered. Wilson’s counsel is both pastoral and practical, and always tinged with his typical witty prose.

His approach is very different from many other parenting books, mainly because he starts from a different perspective. Rather than beginning with the various challenges associated with bringing up boys, he challenges parents (and especially fathers) to give consideration to the type of men we want our boys to become. In every circumstance, he encourages us to think about how best to prepare our boys for mature manhood. This often results in a very different approach from what society typically advocates, in everything from discipline to roughhousing to education.

If you have (or may ever have) a son or grandson, this is a very worthwhile book to have available as a reference (I expect to revisit it frequently as my son grows older and enters new stages of life). It would also be a great read for school teachers, as there is much that pertains to nurturing masculinity in the classroom. Buy it here.

“Economics in One Lesson: The Surest and Shortest Way to Understand Basic Economics” by Henry Hazlitt

I’ve read this one before, but mentioning it on my blog a few weeks ago reminded me that I wanted to read it again. The first time I read it, I’d checked out the original (written in 1946) from the library. This time, I purchased the revised (in 1978) edition, which includes MUCH more.

As the auspicious title indicates, Hazlett — a philosopher, economist, and journalist — has broken economics down into one simple lesson. In fact, he further breaks it down into one sentence: “The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.”

The “lesson” portion of the book is only four pages long, but is followed up by nearly 200 pages of application of this lesson to a number of circumstances. For those who think that economics is boring, I hope you’ll take me at my word: this book is not boring! Not only does Hazlitt succeed in speaking clearly for the layman; he also makes a sometimes difficult subject truly fascinating. Given the current state of our economy, books like this are needed now more than ever! Buy it here. Here’s a ten minute crash course:

If your interest is piqued, and you believe you are more of a visual learner, the Mises Institute has made a series of 12 videos teaching this book, which you can find here.

I have also recently finished the Hunger Games trilogy, but I plan to review those separately this weekend (when the movie is released). Stay tuned! Until then… tolle lege!