Skyfall

Within the last couple of days I read an account of a funeral at which the deceased wishes were expressed that those attending should go see Skyfall. Perhaps he was just a James Bond fan, but maybe he had something like this in mind. The review by Mark Judge encourages me to think Daniel Craig has gone full Sean Connery:

Young people are feckless, inconclusive, and incapable of perseverance and self-reliance. Young males are especially bad–and they are excessively effeminate to boot.

That’s a major takeaway from Skyfall, the new James Bond film. The film is arguably the most conservative film since 300. It doesn’t argue that there are marginal differences between the generations; it holds that younger people are epicene and clueless. ....

.... “Youth is no guarantee of innovation” Bond tells the young Q when they first meet. The new Miss Moneypenny, played by Naomi Harris, is several years Bond’s junior, and she is put on desk duty because she’s a bad shot. M, played by the elderly Judy Dench, shows more courage and determination than MI6 agents more than half hear age.

I’m usually wary of arguments about “the feminization of culture.” I don’t like them because behind them is the assumption that women are not incredibly powerful, which is a fallacy easily refuted by anyone who has a mother, sister, or wife.... And as a teacher I know that people who criticize kids usually don’t know any. But there is something going on in Skyfall that is an important defense of experience and traditional manhood. Frankly, the film expresses a rebellion against today’s young males forgetting what it is to be a man, whether it be the ability to couple noble purpose with raw strength or just the proper way to shave. ....

It’s important to observe that James Bond is a man in a very broad and wonderful sense. He isn’t a Jason Bourne brute or Bruce Willis knucklehead.... Bond knows his drinks, he can quote literature, and his suits are top of the line. He’s a gentleman. But, as Skyfall shows with uncompromising clarity, he is also a man. Without apology, in fact with a great deal of pride, he is a man.

Manfall: James Bond Battles the New Wimpiness « Acculturated

"The worst form of government..."

I've always thought Churchill's description of our form of government was the wisest way to think about it. David Koyzis provides that one along with others. After the last election I'm emotionally inclined to credit even the most cynical among them.

• I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but there can be no doubt that such men do not run. ― Alexis de Tocqueville
• In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, intelligence is so highly honoured that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office. ― Ambrose Bierce
• Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. ― H.L. Mencken
• Democracy is being allowed to vote for the candidate you dislike least. ― Robert Byrne
• Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. ― James Bovard
• Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated. ― Gilbert K. Chesterton
• Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. ― Sir Winston Churchill
• Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor. ― James Russell Lowell
• Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule – and both commonly succeed, and are right. ― H.L. Mencken
• The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeois. ― Gustave Flaubert
• Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. ― George Bernard Shaw

And I add this from former New York City Mayor Ed Koch when, after his defeat, he was asked whether he would run again: “No, the people have spoken — and they must be punished.”

Democracy ― as others see it » First Thoughts | A First Things Blog

An exhortation to Prayer

From Hymns by William Cowper, 1779:
29. Exhortation to Prayer.

What various hindrances we meet In coming to a mercy seat! Yet who that knows the worth of prayer, But wishes to be often there?	While Moses stood with arms spread wide, Success was found on Israel's side; But when through weariness they fail'd, That moment Amalek prevail'd.
Prayer makes the darken'd cloud withdraw,      Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw, Gives exercise to faith and love, Brings every blessing from above.	Have you no words? Ah, think again, Words flow apace when you complain, And fill your fellow-creature's ear With the sad tale of all your care.
Restraining prayer, we cease to fight; Prayer makes the Christian's armour bright; And Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees.	Were half the breath thus vainly spent To heaven in supplication sent, Your cheerful song would oftener be, "Hear what the Lord has done for me."

Willaim Cowper's Hymns, The hymn: What Various Hindrances We Meet

November 11

Abortion and evangelicals

Responding to the argument that evangelical opposition to abortion is recent and grew from political rather than biblical or theological origins, Mark Galli at Christianity Today explains that it wasn't The Moral Majority of Jerry Falwell that convinced most of us and quotes David Neff in illustration:

I know that my own conversion on the abortion issue was not at all influenced by Jerry Falwell or by Franky Schaeffer. It was influenced by C. Everett Koop and by Michael Gorman's InterVarsity Press book, Abortion and the Early Church. Koop provided a cultural argument and Gorman grounded it firmly in the Christian tradition.

My own pro-life convictions date from the 1960s, well before Roe v Wade, resulting from my understanding of human development as well as rather strong opinions about the value of that human life, reinforced by my understanding of Christian doctrine.

Galli:

...[I]t is fair to say that the Bible does not teach that "life begins at conception." We cannot find a verse that puts it so simply and clearly. But evangelicals are not wooden literalists. ....

The Bible teaches that God forms us in the womb (Job 31:15, Ps. 139:13) and affirms the value of human life ("You shall not murder"). The great tradition of the church has from the beginning condemned the evil of abortion; for example, The Didache, written in the first century, is one of dozens of early church documents that explicitly rule out abortion for believers. So, it's hardly a stretch for Christians to conclude that perhaps life begins at conception. Christians of good conscience can disagree about when exactly human life begins, but the vast majority of Christians, Catholic and Orthodox and Protestant, across long stretches of time (2 millennia) have said that abortion is a grave evil, and grounded that in their interpretation of the biblical command that forbids murder. The remarkable historical thing is not that evangelicals came to believe this, but that at one time many didn't believe it. One reason they didn't believe it was because, well, it was a Catholic thing. But once they began to appreciate the teachings and resources of this great tradition, they could see and appreciate those theological and biblical arguments afresh. .... [more]

I can affirm based on conversations with theologically liberal clergy in my grandfather's generation that at least part of their resistance to being anti-abortion was, in fact, that it was a "Catholic thing."

Does It Matter that Evangelicals Became Prolife R... | Christianity Today

Escaping the eye of judgment

Decades ago conversation with someone who had "lost" faith convinced me that at least one reason for atheism is the desire not to be held to account. David Conway provides an interesting and extensive review of Roger Scruton's The Face of God. Scruton, and then Conway:

‘[In] the culture that prevails today… belief in God is widely rejected… But… we lose [more than merely it]… when we lose that belief… [because] atheist culture… is not only an intellectual phenomenon… but also a moral phenomenon…[While] atheists can be thoroughly upright people… there is more than one motive underlying… atheist culture… and the desire to escape from the eye of judgment is one of them. You escape from the eye of judgment by wiping away the face [of God].’

In these opening remarks from his 2010 Gifford Lectures, Roger Scruton suggests something more, and more worrisome, than mere changes of prevailing belief are impelling the West’s current headlong rush towards ever greater secularity. What lies behind it, he intimates, is not simply the intellectual repudiation of God’s existence, but rather an attempt by many to evade the moral corollaries attendant upon its acknowledgement. Among these corollaries, the one from which many are seeking to escape, Scruton is claiming, is the consciousness of always being scrutinized by an all-seeing eye who discerns and judges our every thought and deed. The salutary moral influence of such a form of consciousness was well described by Adam Smith in his Theory of Moral Sentiments, when he wrote:

The idea that, however we may escape the observation of man, or be placed above the reach of human punishment, yet we are always acting under the eye… of God… is a motive capable of restraining the most headstrong passions… The religious man… never acts deliberately but as in the presence of that Great Superior who is finally to recompense him according to his deeds. [Part 111, ch. 5, section 12.]

To evade recognition of that all-seeing eye, contends Scruton, demands expunging all trace of God from our world, and since God’s presence may be detected, at least potentially, wherever beauty and goodness reside, whatever possesses either attribute must be defaced by those seeking to evade Him. The result today, according to Scruton, is the increasing defilement and pollution of our physical and moral world in the endeavor to remove from the face of the earth all trace of God.

Atheists, of course, will deny anything save error becomes lost when religion is abandoned. Scruton disagrees, although he acknowledges individual atheists may possess as much moral integrity as believers. .... [more]

Till We Contemplate Faces | Online Library of Law and Liberty

"God is His own interpreter"

For only $.99 from Amazon Kindle: William Cowper's Hymns. Cowper wrote two of my favorites, "Sometimes a Light," and "God Moves in a Mysterious Way" [see below]. From Amazon's description:

William Cowper (1731-1800) was an English poet and hymnist, and the celebrated friend and companion of John Newton. Together the two collaborated on producing Olney Hymns for the congregants of Newton's parish, which contains Newton's famous hymn "Amazing Grace."

In between bouts of severe depression, Cowper contributed 68 hymns to the collection, including such classics as "There is a fountain filled with blood" and "Sometimes a light surprises/The Christian while he sings."

Cowper's final hymn gives a taste of the whole:

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.	Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.
Deep in unfathomable mines Of never-failing skill, He treasures up His bright designs, And works His sovereign will.	His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour; The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break       In blessings on your head.	Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan His work in vain: God is His own interpreter, And he will make it plain

Via Brandywine Books

To the God of earth and Heaven

Firmly I believe and truly God is Three, and God is One; And I next acknowledge duly Manhood taken by the Son.	Simply to His grace and wholly Light and life and strength belong, And I love supremely, solely, Him the holy, Him the strong.
And I trust and hope most fully In that Manhood crucified; And each thought and deed unruly Do to death, as He has died.	Adoration aye be given, With and through the angelic host, To the God of earth and Heaven, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.

 
Words: John H. New­man, The Dream of Ge­ron­ti­us, 1865.
Music: Ships­ton, tra­di­tion­al Eng­lish mel­o­dy, ar­ranged by Ralph Vaugh­an Williams, 1906

No abiding city

"...[T]here is no such thing as a Lost Cause because there is no such thing as a Gained Cause. We fight for lost causes because we know that our defeat and dismay may be the preface to our successors’ victory, though that victory itself will be temporary; we fight rather to keep something alive than in the expectation that anything will triumph.” T.S. Eliot

A reminder from the late Richard John Neuhaus that may be helpful to those of us who are feeling disappointed today. From American Babylon: Notes of a Christian Exile:

.... The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that Christians have here no abiding city. In the third eucharistic prayer of the Catholic Mass there are the words, “Strengthen in faith and love your pilgrim Church on earth.” Christians are a pilgrim people, a people on the way, exiles from our true home, aliens in a strange land.

There is in all the Christian tradition no more compelling depiction of our circumstance than St. Augustine's City of God. Short of the final coming of the Kingdom, the City of God and the earthly city are intermingled (XIX, 27). We are to make use of, pray for, and do our share for the earthly city. Here Augustine cites the words of Jeremiah urging the people not to fear exile in Babylon: “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its peace you will find your peace” (Jer. 29:7). This is a continuing theme in the way Christians think about their place in history.

It is often forgotten how very much of a Roman Augustine was. The City of God is, among other things, a sustained argument with pagan interlocutors whom we might today call “public intellectuals” in which Augustine is contending for the superiority of the Christian philosophy and understanding of history. It is sometimes suggested that Augustine knew he was writing in the ruins of a collapsing empire that he dismissed as terminally corrupt. In fact, he wrote, “The Roman Empire has been shaken rather than transformed, and that happened to it at other periods, before the preaching of Christ’s name, and it recovered. There is no need to despair of its recovery at this present time. Who knows what is God's will in this matter?” (IV, 8). .... [more]

Via: Matthew Cantirino at First Thoughts | A First Things Blog

How the Public Square Became Naked | First Things

"God, our Maker, doth provide..."

Hymnary.org [a great site for anyone who loves hymns] has scanned and made available every hymn from The Hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America 1940 that isn't still under copyright. It is a great hymnal: good texts to good music. Since Thanksgiving Day approaches I chose this example from that hymnbook:

Even so, Lord, quickly come
To Thy final harvest-home;
Gather Thou Thy people in,
Free from sorrow, free from sin;
The Hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America 1940 - Hymnary.org

Foolish dreams

The Silver Chair is one of my favorites among the Narnia series and the chapter titled "The Queen of Underland" is one of the reasons. That queen, using a familiar kind of argument and a dulling enchantment, is trying to convince Eustace Scrubb, Jill Pole, Prince Rilian, and one of my favorites among Lewis's creations, Puddleglum, that their memories of Narnia are all wish fulfillment:

The Witch shook her head. "I see," she said, "that we should do no better with your lion, as you call it, than we did with your sun. You have seen lamps, and so you imagined a bigger and better lamp and called it the sun. You've seen cats, and now you want a bigger and better cat, and it's to be called a lion. Well, 'tis a pretty make-believe, though, to say truth, it would suit you all better if you were younger. And look how you can put nothing into your make-believe without copying it from the real world, this world of mine, which is the only world. But even you children are too old for such play. As for you, my lord Prince, that art a man full grown, fie upon you! Are you not ashamed of such toys? Come, all of you. Put away these childish tricks. I have work for you all in the real world. There is no Narnia, no Overworld, no sky, no sun, no Aslan. And now, to bed all. And let us begin a wiser life tomorrow. But, first, to bed; to sleep; deep sleep, soft pillows, sleep without foolish dreams."

The Prince and the two children were standing with their heads hung down, their cheeks flushed, their eyes half closed; the strength all gone from them; the enchantment almost complete. But Puddleglum, desperately gathering all his strength, walked over to the fire. Then he did a very brave thing. He knew it wouldn't hurt him quite as much as it would hurt a human; for his feet (which were bare) were webbed and hard and cold-blooded like a duck's. But he knew it would hurt him badly enough; and so it did. With his bare foot he stamped on the fire, grinding a large part of it into ashes on the flat hearth. And three things happened at once.

First, the sweet, heavy smell grew very much less. For though the whole fire had not been put out, a good bit of it had, and what remained smelled very largely of burnt Marsh-wiggle, which is not at all an enchanting smell. This instantly made everyone's brain far clearer. The Prince and the children held up their heads again and opened their eyes.

Secondly, the Witch, in a loud, terrible voice, utterly different from all the sweet tones she had been using up till now, called out, "What are you doing? Dare to touch my fire again, mud-filth, and I'll turn the blood to fire inside your veins."

Thirdly, the pain itself made Puddleglum's head for a moment perfectly clear and he knew exactly what he really thought. There is nothing like a good shock of pain for dissolving certain kinds of magic.

"One word, Ma'am," he said, coming back from the fire; limping, because of the pain. "One word. All you've been saying is quite right, I shouldn't wonder. I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won't deny any of what you said. But there's one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things—trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himse1f. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Asian's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we're leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that's small loss if the world's as dull a place as you say."

C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair, 1953

Pessimism and happiness

From a 2006 George Will column:

.... Conservatives are happier than liberals because they are more pessimistic. Conservatives think the Book of Job got it right ("Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward"), as did Adam Smith ("There is a great deal of ruin in a nation"). Conservatives understand that society in its complexity resembles a giant Calder mobile — touch it here and things jiggle there, and there, and way over there. Hence conservatives acknowledge the Law of Unintended Consequences, which is: The unintended consequences of bold government undertakings are apt to be larger than, and contrary to, the intended ones.

Conservatives' pessimism is conducive to their happiness in three ways. First, they are rarely surprised — they are right more often than not about the course of events. Second, when they are wrong, they are happy to be so. Third, because pessimistic conservatives put not their faith in princes — government — they accept that happiness is a function of fending for oneself. They believe that happiness is an activity — it is inseparable from the pursuit of happiness. ....

Which Will summarized elsewhere: "The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." A belief in original sin has much the same effect.

Via Pejman Yousefzadeh: The Self-Medication of My Political Soul

George F. Will - Smile if (and Only if) You're Conservative

“When you get into the end zone, act like you’ve been there before.”

Mark Tapson approves of efforts to encourage a more restrained approach to football triumph:

It’s long been a familiar sight to National Football League fans: a player scores a touchdown and celebrates with a rehearsed dance routine for the fans and the cameras, sometimes in choreographed collaboration with a few teammates.

This kind of end-zone celebration has been the norm now for decades–and not only after touchdowns. Frequently a defensive player will jump up after a mere tackle in the backfield and congratulate himself like a breast-beating gorilla. You’d think no one had ever made a tackle before. There is an off-putting conceitedness about such displays that simply smack of bad sportsmanship.

Passions run high on the football field, and players can’t be expected not to celebrate a great play–nor should they be. But there is a difference between sincere jubilation and what comes across as taunting. “Exultation” is from a Latin word origin that suggests jumping for joy, and joy is infectious and uplifting. When the line is crossed from that genuine exultation to self-promotion and gloating, it’s not uplifting–it’s obnoxious, and the sport then is no longer healthy competition but vainglorious one-upmanship. ....

From the music industry to reality TV to politics to sports, our culture for decades now has increasingly celebrated narcissism and trash-talking over “old-fashioned,” less self-centered values like personal dignity, humility, and respecting others. “Sports don’t build character,” goes the saying attributed to sportswriter Heywood Hale Broun. “They reveal it.” ....

In politics as in sports, someone wins and someone loses. After the election next Tuesday it might be good to apply Mark Tapson's criteria for good sportsmanship to our response to the political result.

Putting the Sportsmanship Back in Sports « Acculturated

Alleluia!

For all the saints, who from their labors rest, Who Thee by faith before the world confessed, Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed. Alleluia, Alleluia!	The golden evening brightens in the west; Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest; Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed. Alleluia, Alleluia!
Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their might; Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well-fought fight; Thou, in the darkness, drear, their one true Light. Alleluia, Alleluia!	But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day; The saints triumphant rise in bright array; The King of glory passes on His way. Alleluia, Alleluia!
O blest communion, fellowship divine! We feebly struggle, they in glory shine; Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine. Alleluia, Alleluia!	From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast, Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host, Singing to God, the Son, and Holy Ghost: Alleluia, Alleluia!

Wise leaders

Evaluations of American Presidents can change quite a bit over time. Few think as well of JFK as they did just a few years ago. US Grant's reputation has improved. And my opinion of Calvin Coolidge gets better the more I know about his character and life.

Via Steven Hayward and George Will, President Coolidge:

It is a great advantage to a President, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know that he is not a great man.

When a man begins to feel that he is the only one who can lead in this republic, he is guilty of treason to the spirit of our institutions.

It is difficult for men in high office to avoid the malady of self-delusion. They are always surrounded by worshipers. They are constantly, and for the most part sincerely, assured of their greatness. They live in an artificial atmosphere of adulation and exaltation which sooner or later impairs their judgment. They are in grave danger of becoming careless and arrogant. ....

A sound and wise statesmanship which recognizes and attempts to abide by its limitations will undoubtedly find itself displaced by that type of public official who promises much, talks much, legislates much, expends much, but accomplishes little.

Hayward also notes a new biography of Calvin Coolidge by Amity Shlaes to be published in February: Coolidge. Shlaes is the author of a fine history of the Great Depression, The Forgotten Man, which book is already on my Kindle.

"God’s good servants first"

Pennsylvania's Catholic bishops indicate how Catholics ought to be thinking about next week's elections: "On the 2012 Elections." It is a good reminder to all of us of some of the things at stake. From their letter:

...Americans would do well to realize that many of our country’s leading thinkers in law, higher education, and the social sciences simply no longer believe in the idea of inalienable natural rights guaranteed by a Creator higher than the State—one of the cornerstone principles of the American experiment.

This has serious implications because many of our most urgent political issues—ranging from the economy, immigration, and abortion to global security—raise profoundly moral questions. These questions cannot be resolved without a common understanding of right and wrong. Consider today’s aggressive efforts to redefine the nature of marriage, to exclude parental authority in the choice of the best education for their children, and to force Catholic healthcare and social services to end their ministries unless they violate their religious identities through mandated support of practices contrary to the very sanctity of human life.

Religious liberty itself—“our first, most cherished freedom”—is no longer secure. At first glance, this may seem otherwise because religious freedom is so deeply ingrained in our national history. But democracy has no special immunity to losing its soul by little steps. As Alexis de Tocqueville, the great chronicler of early American democracy, observed more than 150 years ago, “it is especially dangerous to enslave men in the minor details of life”—because the more the state provides, the more it inevitably controls. ....

Today Catholics face a growing and deeply troubling effort that seeks to extend the reach of government into every aspect of social life. In turn, this generates a demand for exclusive allegiance of individuals and groups to the requirements of the State. This demand denies the primacy of associations that exist prior to the State, such as the family, church or synagogue, and even fraternal and charitable agencies. These groups enjoy a priority both chronologically, in terms of historical development, and practically, inasmuch as they engage the vast majority of activity in our everyday lives.

As Christians we do owe an appropriate loyalty to the State. We strive to maintain good relations with civil authority. But our primary allegiance must always be to God and to God alone. As St. Thomas More once said so eloquently, we are God’s good servants first. .... (more)

On the 2012 Elections: A Statement of the Pennsylvania Catholic Bishops | First Things

"In hoc signo vinces"

Benjamin Wiker, on a recent anniversary: "Constantine’s Gift to Christianity":

On October 28, 312, Emperor Constantine met Emperor Maxentius in battle just outside the city of Rome at the Milvian Bridge, spanning the Tiber. ....

As is well known, the previous day Constantine experienced a vision of a cross of light in the sky, with the words “By this sign you shall conquer”.... That night, so we are told, Constantine had a dream wherein he was told to paint the cross on the shields of his soldiers.

He did. And so it happened, as the vision said.

The next day, October 28, 312, Constantine defeated Maxentius. Interestingly enough, Maxentius could have stayed within the walls of Rome. He was plentifully stocked to endure a siege. Inexplicably, he decided to go out and engage Constantine. His troops were defeated, and Maxentius himself drowned in the Tiber trying to escape.

Such was the beginning of Constantine’s embrace of Christianity, and such was the beginning of the transformation of the Roman Empire from paganism to Christianity. ....

There are...those who take Constantine’s conversion as the beginning of the end of real Christianity. Christianity, they argue, is the Christianity of the early Church, the Church before it became favored and hence entangled with the empire, the pure Church, the Church before Constantine, the Church of the martyrs.

The problem with this romantic vision of the pure early Church is that it wasn’t shared by the early Church. We owe it to them to take things, first of all, from their point of view. ....

If you think about what these Christians actually endured at the hands of the pagan state, you will realize with what jubilation, what extreme thankfulness to God, what declarations of it all being miraculous, Christians 1,700 years ago greeted the news of Constantine’s conversion. ....

With Constantine’s favor, the Church began to blossom, and was free to spread out all over the Western, and then Eastern, parts of the Empire, thereby shifting its civilization from pagan to Christian moorings.

This was no small shift—it entailed a vast moral and political transformation that laid the foundation and built the structure of Christian civilization.

To take some poignant examples, the pagan Roman culture happily affirmed contraception, abortion, infanticide, suicide, homosexuality, homosexual marriage, euthanasia, pornography, prostitution, concubinage, divorce, pederasty, and the mass killing of human beings for entertainment in gladiatorial combat. Once the emperors became Christian, both the Church and the Christian imperium engaged in the moral transformation of pagan society, and the Christian moral understanding was incorporated into law in the various imperial codes. And also, quite unlike Rome, both the Church and Christian state began to care for the poor and destitute, the widows and orphans. ....

...Constantine did not actually, officially, really become a Christian until very near his dying day. Like so many of the time, he held off on being baptized until the threshold of his departure. Feeling the approach of death, he very piously laid aside the royal purple, took upon himself the humble white robes of the to-be-newborn Christian, and entered the waters of regeneration.

The bishop doing the royal baptism was one Eusebius, an Arian, that is, heretical, bishop. ....

Such is the danger of royal patronage: the Church, and even its doctrine, can be defined by the state.

No doubt, that is why many who rue Constantine’s conversion do not wish to celebrate its 1,700th anniversary. It is a sobering thought, very sobering. The Church must not, cannot, be subordinate to the state. Otherwise, it becomes a mere instrument of politics. .... [more]

Benjamin Wiker: Constantine’s Gift to Christianity: Catholic World Report

"Sinning saints, righteous wretches, ...even justified jerks"

On this Reformation Day, Kevin DeYoung reminds us of one of the most important reasons we are Protestants:

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses concerning clerical abuses and indulgences on the church door at Wittenberg. This famous event is often considered the launching point for the Protestant Reformation.

The chief concern for Luther and the other reformers was the doctrine of justification. ....

There are five key concepts every Protestant should grasp if they are to understanding the reformer’s (and the Bible’s) doctrine of justification.

First, the Christian is simul iustus et peccator. This is Martin Luther’s famous Latin phrase which means “At the same time, justified and a sinner.” The Catechism powerfully reminds us that even though we are right with God, we still violate his commands, feel the sting of conscience, and battle against indwelling sin. On this side of the consummation, we will always be sinning saints, righteous wretches, and on occasion even justified jerks. God does not acquit us of our guilt based upon our works, but because we trust “him who justifies the ungodly” (Rom. 4:5).

Second, our right standing with God is based on an alien righteousness. .... I am not right with God because of my righteousness, but because “the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ” has been credited to me. .... We contribute nothing to our salvation. The name by which every Christian must be called is “The Lord is our righteousness” (Jer. 23:6).

Third, the righteousness of Christ is ours by imputation, not by impartation. That is to say, we are not made holy, or infused with goodness as if we possessed it in ourselves, but rather Christ’s righteousness is credited to our account.

Fourth, we are justified by faith alone. The Catholic Church acknowledged that the Christian was saved by faith; it was the alone part they wouldn’t allow. ...[E]vangelical faith has always held that “all I need to do is accept the gift of God with a believing heart.” True, justifying faith must show itself in good works. That’s what James 2 is all about. But these works serve as corroborating evidence, not as the ground of our justification. We are justified by faith without deeds of the law (Rom. 3:28; Titus 3:5). The gospel is “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:30-31), not “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and cooperate with transforming grace and you shall be saved.” There is nothing we contribute to our salvation but our sin, no merit we bring but Christ’s, and nothing necessary for justification except for faith alone.

Finally, with all this talk about the necessity of faith, the Catechism explains that faith is only an instrumental cause in our salvation. .... It is the object of our faith that matters. If you venture out on to a frozen pond, it isn’t your faith that keeps you from crashing into the water. True, it takes faith to step onto the pond, but it’s the object of your faith, the twelve inches of ice, that keeps you safe. Believe in Christ with all your heart, but don’t put your faith in your faith. Your experience of trusting Christ will ebb and flow. So be sure to rest in Jesus Christ and not your faith in him. He alone is the one who died for our sakes and was raised for our justification. Believe this, and you too will be saved. [more]

From Nathan Finn: "Baptists and the Reformation":

...[O]n this Reformation Day, I’m thankful for the Protestant heritage we Baptists enjoy. We stand with Luther and Calvin on justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. We stand with the Anabaptists on a believer’s church committed to radical discipleship and confessor’s baptism. We stand with all three of these groups in their commitment to the supreme authority of Scripture. And as good Protestants, we ultimately stand where we stand, not because others stand there as well, but because we believe the Spirit still speaks through His Word to guide Christ’s people on the narrow way.

Five Key Concepts in the Reformation Understanding of Justification – Kevin DeYoung, Baptists and the Reformation

The election

Thomas Kidd has some excellent suggestions about what evangelicals should do and should not do as election day approaches:

Do pray for the election. Feel free to echo the words of I Tim. 2:2, which asks that ”supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

Don’t pray for specific candidates or parties to win, whether by implication or by name. This makes party loyalty a condition of good standing within the fellowship.

Do encourage the congregation to consider voting as an act of good citizenship, a “rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.”

Don’t imply that if Christians don’t vote, they are in sin, or that it is transparently obvious what party they should support if they do vote.

Do speak on issues of particular concern to Christians, certainly including religious liberty (again, I Tim. 2:2) and the value of all human life. .... Others might also emphasize traditional marriage, or Christians’ responsibility to care for the poor, to welcome the stranger, and to be peacemakers.

Don’t imply that those issues of particular concern to Christians lead necessarily to supporting only one party or slate of candidates. Allow congregants to sort this out for themselves. ....

Kidd: Dos and Don’t Evangelicals « Juicy Ecumenism

Halloween is an occasion for joy, not fear

I've posted this several times in years past as Halloween has approached. I was reminded to do so again today by reading an article by a pastor who repeated the nonsense about Druids:

As Halloween approaches it is useful for the more excitable among us to be reminded that the Evil One has already been defeated. From "Concerning Halloween" by James B. Jordan:

.... "Halloween" is simply a contraction for All Hallows’ Eve. The word "hallow" means "saint," in that "hallow" is just an alternative form of the word "holy" ("hallowed be Thy name"). All Saints’ Day is November 1. It is the celebration of the victory of the saints in union with Christ. The observance of various celebrations of All Saints arose in the late 300s, and these were united and fixed on November 1 in the late 700s. The origin of All Saints Day and of All Saints Eve in Mediterranean Christianity had nothing to do with Celtic Druidism or the Church’s fight against Druidism (assuming there ever even was any such thing as Druidism, which is actually a myth concocted in the 19th century by neo-pagans.) ....

The Biblical day begins in the preceding evening, and thus in the Church calendar, the eve of a day is the actual beginning of the festive day. [emphasis added] Christmas Eve is most familiar to us, but there is also the Vigil of Holy Saturday that precedes Easter Morn. Similarly, All Saints’ Eve precedes All Saints’ Day.

The concept, as dramatized in Christian custom, is quite simple: On October 31, the demonic realm tries one last time to achieve victory, but is banished by the joy of the Kingdom.

What is the means by which the demonic realm is vanquished? In a word: mockery. Satan’s great sin (and our great sin) is pride. Thus, to drive Satan from us we ridicule him. This is why the custom arose of portraying Satan in a ridiculous red suit with horns and a tail. Nobody thinks the devil really looks like this; the Bible teaches that he is the fallen Arch-Cherub. Rather, the idea is to ridicule him because he has lost the battle with Jesus and he no longer has power over us. ....

Similarly, on All Hallows’ Eve (Hallow-Even – Hallow-E’en – Halloween), the custom arose of mocking the demonic realm by dressing children in costumes. Because the power of Satan has been broken once and for all, our children can mock him by dressing up like ghosts, goblins, and witches. The fact that we can dress our children this way shows our supreme confidence in the utter defeat of Satan by Jesus Christ – we have NO FEAR! .... [more]

Biblical Horizons » Concerning Halloween