Monthly Archives: November 2011
A Strong Argument Against Calvinisim? Part 1 You Decide….
Over here at Not For Itching Ears we like to discuss issues that challenge our view of Christianity and the Church. It is healthy to consider what one believes about the Christian faith and how we express that faith in our corporate church life. If all we ever do is listen to ourselves, we can inadvertently become the kind of people Paul warned Timothy about: People who surround themselves with “teachers who say what their itching ears want to hear.” Today’s post is an attempt to counter that tendency among us as we discuss Free-Will and Determinism. To do this, we turn to an extremely interesting email exchange between Father John Whiteford (an Eastern Orthodox priest) and some proponents of Calvinism.
This isn’t your typical argument! Father Whiteford brings another line of argumentation to his view that is almost entirely absent from the typical back and forth between Calvinists and Arminians: What did the early church fathers teach about this?
I recognize that there are three groups of people who will read a post like this: 1) Strong Calvinists who will want to defend their view. 2)Strong Arminians who will want to find ammo for their view and 3) those who don’t have their minds made up but may lean to one understanding of things. My hope, is that all three groups of people will be challenged and encouraged. It’s a long discussion so I will be breaking it up into three posts. Now, let the Discussion begin… Read the rest of this entry
A Compelling Argument AGAINST Sola Scriptura? (The Scriptures Alone) Part 4
I just couldn’t resist reposting this article by Father John Whiteford, who happens to be an Eastern Orthodox priest. If you are a Protestant like me, then you may have never even heard of the Orthodox church, I know I had not. I am very grateful that I have discovered them. The following is a very well thought out rejection of one of the cornerstones of the Protestant Reformation: Scripture Alone. Read it with an open mind and then share your thoughts with the rest of us. I think he makes some good points. It is a very long article, so I broke it up into 4 parts. Here’s the fourth and final part:
Read part 1 HERE,
Read Part 2 here,
Read part 3 here:
THE ORTHODOX APPROACH TO TRUTH
“When, by God’s mercy, I found the Orthodox Faith, I had no desire to give Protestantism and its “methods” of Bible study a second look. Unfortunately, I have found that Protestant methods and assumptions have managed to infect even some circles within the Orthodox Church. The reason for this is, as stated above, that the Protestant approach to Scripture has been portrayed as “science.” Some in the Orthodox Church feel they do the Church a great favor by introducing this error into our seminaries and parishes. But this is nothing new; this is how heresy has always sought to deceive the faithful. As Saint Irenaeus said, 
as he began his attack on the heresies current in his day:
By means of specious and plausible words, they cunningly allure the simple-minded to inquire into their system; but they nevertheless clumsily destroy them, while they initiate them into their blasphemous opinions….
Error, indeed, is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it is craftily decked out in an attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the inexperienced (ridiculous as the expression may seem) more true than truth itself.18
Lest any be mistaken or confused, let me be clear: the Orthodox approach to the Scriptures is not based upon “scientific” research into the Holy Scriptures. Its claim to understand the Scriptures does not reside in its claiming superior archaeological data, but rather in its unique relationship with the Author of the Scriptures. The Orthodox Church is the body of Christ, the pillar and ground of the Truth, and it is both the means by which God wrote the Scriptures (through its members) and the means by which God has preserved the Scriptures. The Orthodox Church understands the Bible because it is the inheritor of one living tradition that begins with Adam and stretches through time to all its members today. That this is true cannot be “proven” in a lab. One must be convinced by the Holy Spirit and experience the life of God in the Church.
The question Protestants will ask at this point is who is to say that the Orthodox Tradition is the correct tradition, or that there even Read the rest of this entry
A Compelling Argument AGAINST Sola Scriptura? (The Scriptures Alone) Part 3
I just couldn’t resist reposting this article by Father John Whiteford, who happens to be an Eastern Orthodox priest. If you are a Protestant like me, then you may have never even heard of the Orthodox church, I know I had not. I am very grateful that I have discovered them. The following is a very well thought out rejection of one of the cornerstones of the Protestant Reformation: Scripture Alone. Read it with an open mind and then share your thoughts with the rest of us. I think he makes some good points. It is a very long article, so I will break it up into 4 parts. Here’s Part 3: Read part 1 HERE Read part 2 here
C. PROTESTANT INTERPRETIVE APPROACHES THAT DONT WORK
Even from the very earliest days of the Reformation, Protestants have been forced to deal with the fact that, given the Bible and the reason of the individual alone, people could not agree upon the meaning of many of the most basic questions of doctrine. Within Martin Luthers own life dozens of competing groups had arisen, all claiming to “just believe the Bible,” but none agreeing on what Read the rest of this entry
A Compelling Argument AGAINST Sola Scriptura? (The Scriptures Alone) Part 2
I just couldn’t resist reposting this article by Father John Whiteford, who happens to be an Eastern Orthodox priest. If you are a Protestant like me, then you may have never even heard of the Orthodox church, I know I had not. I am very grateful that I have discovered them. The following is a very well thought out rejection of one of the cornerstones of the Protestant Reformation: Scripture Alone. Read it with an open mind and then share your thoughts with the rest of us. I think he makes some good points. It is a very long article, so I will break it up into 3 parts. Here’s Part 2: Read part 1 HERE
FALSE ASSUMPTION # 2:
The Scriptures were the basis of the early Church, whereas Tradition is simply a “human corruption” that came much later.
“Especially among Evangelicals and so-called Charismatics you will find that the word “tradition” is a derogatory term, and to label something as a “tradition” is roughly equivalent to saying that it is Read the rest of this entry
A Compelling Argument AGAINST Sola Scriptura? (Scripture Alone) Part 1
I just couldn’t resist reposting this article by Father John Whiteford, who happens to be an Eastern Orthodox priest. If you are a Protestant like me, then you may have never even heard of the Orthodox church, I know I had not. I am very grateful that I have discovered them. The following is a very well thought out rejection of one of the cornerstones of the Protestant Reformation: Scripture Alone. Read it with an open mind and then share your thoughts with the rest of us. I think he makes some good points. It is a very long article, so I will break it up into 4 parts. Here’s Part 1:
“If we are to understand what Protestants think, we will have to first know why they believe what they believe. In fact if we try to put ourselves in the place of those early reformers, such as Martin Luther, we must certainly have some appreciation for their reasons for championing the Doctrine of Sola Scriptura (or “Scripture alone”). When one considers the corruption in the Roman Church at that time, the degenerate teachings that it promoted, and the distorted understanding of tradition that it used to defend itself -along with the fact that the West was several centuries removed from Read the rest of this entry
Looking for Cross-Centered Christmas Song ideas for Worship? Check this out
Break out the peppermint lattes and your Bing Crosby CD’s. It is that time of year again: Christmas! As a worship leader, you know what I am talking about. While everyone else was busy getting ready for Halloween (or whatever you call it) you were thinking about worship music for the upcoming Christmas season. Or at least you should have been. Waiting till Thanksgiving to start planning, is a little too late!
As one who has been responsible for leading corporate singing for years, I can attest to how hard it can be to plan for Christmas worship. Four weeks of December singing! At Christmas time, I always want to have a song that wraps the message of the Cross around the Christmas message. I like to have one new song that people aren’t familiar with so they have to think about the words as they sing. I think this is helpful for believers as well as all those people who only come on Christmas and Easter. Here’s a song that I have liked. It is called “The Son of God Came Down.” It is a slow, meditative song that mixes the Christmas story with Easter. Listen to it below. You will find it and many other “Christmas songs” on the album Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man
Words and music by Doug Plank
As recorded on Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man
THE SON OF GOD CAME DOWN
The Son of God came down and laid aside His crown
Born without great renown, this Sovereign One
All holiness and might, all glory shining bright
Have come to earth this night in Mary’s son
O come, let us adore
O Christ the Lord, our hope and Savior
Son of God yet made like us
O Christ the Lord, our King adored
Born a child, our Lord Jesus
Messiah born so small, asleep in cattle stall
Come to redeem our fall, nailed to a tree
This tiny, helpless child through death would reconcile
The holy God and vile, His grace so free
O come, let us adore
© 2004 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP).
Follow this link for the official free Guitar Chart: The Son of God Came Down Chord Chart
Follow this link for the official free LEAD CHART: The Son of God Came Down Lead Chart
Looking for Cross-Centered Christmas Song ideas for Worship? Check this out
As one who has been responsible for leading corporate singing for years, I can attest to how frustrating it has become to find songs that are worth singing! At Christmas time, I always want to have a song that wraps the message of the Cross around the Christmas message. I like to have one new song that people aren’t familiar with so they have to think about the words as they sing. I think this is helpful for believers as well as all those people who only come on Christmas and Easter. It is harder to find these types of songs, and if you are thinking ahead, the Christmas season is upon you and you are unprepared! Here’s a song that I have liked. It is called “Christ the Lord Is Born Today.” It is an exuberant song, calling us to celebrate the incarnation and pointing us towards the cross. Listen to it below. You will find it and many other “Christmas songs” on the album Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man
Words and music by Mark Altrogge
As recorded on Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man
Christ the Lord is Born Today
How my happy heart rejoices
I can hear the angel voices
“Christ is born” they all are singing
From the sky this good news bringing
Let the earth rejoice
O come and lift your voices
Christ the Lord is born today
He came from heaven’s throne
God is born a man today
To bring His children home
To bring His children home
Death and darkness surely tremble
Light has come to all the people
The Lion comes to crush the serpent
He comes a Lamb, a lowly servant
Let the earth rejoice
O come and lift your voices
God has sent His greatest treasure
Shown His love in greatest measure
Sending Christ to bleed and suffer
Purchasing our joy forever
Let the earth rejoice
O come and lift your voices
© 2006 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI).
Follow this link for the official free Guitar Chart: Christ the Lord is Born Today
Follow this link for the official free LEAD CHART: Christ the Lord is Born Todaleadsheet
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