Death & Life; Names & Vows | Genesis 3.20-21

The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them.
—Genesis 3.20-21

I don’t know why I’ve never noticed this before. Why does Adam only name Eve after they sin? Further, of all the things to do after receiving the curse from God, he does this covenantal, marital act: he gives her a name.

I know this isn’t in this text, nor was it on the mind of the original writer, but it reminds me of the odd line in Revelation where God promises to give each person a new name that only He and they will know.

It seems that in the whole sweep of redemptive history, the Bride of the first Adam received a new name when he brought death, just as the Bride of the second Adam receives a new name when he brings life.

See other Marginalia here. Read more about the series here.

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When easy & simplistic proof-texting trumps the nuance & complexity of wrestling pastorally with the text

On Tumblr, a very, very dear friend posted this earlier, in support of the Doctrine of Double Predestination, which says that in eternity past, God predestined not only who would be saved (apart from their own works), but also those who would not be saved (apart from their own works):

“They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.” 1 Peter 2:8

Double predestination

#it’s biblical

In one of the most widely used Bible commentaries in existence, I found these words written about this verse, starting with commenting on the word “also” (which isn’t found in my friend’s translation of the verse). I’ve changed some formatting and some grammar to make it easier to understand. Enjoy:

“also” [as in “as they were also destined to do”;  this is in the Greek, though Revelation 19’s translation doesn’t have this]—[this is] an additional thought; God’s ordination; not that God ordains or appoints them to sin, but they are given up to “the fruit of their own ways” according to the eternal counsel of God. The moral ordering of the world is altogether of God. God appoints the ungodly to be given up unto sin, and a reprobate mind, and its necessary penalty.

The phrase “Were appointed,” (Greek, “set,”) is an answer to the “I lay,” (Greek, “set,”) found in 1Pe 2:6.

God, in the active, is said to appoint Christ and the elect (directly). Unbelievers, in the passive, are said to be appointed (God acting less directly in the appointment of the sinner’s awful course) [Bengel]. God ordains the wicked to punishment, not to crime [J. Cappel].

“Appointed” or “set” (not here “FORE-ordained”) refers, not to the eternal counsel so directly, as to the penal justice of God. Through the same Christ whom sinners rejected, they shall be rejected; unlike believers, they are by God appointed unto wrath as fitted for it.

***The lost shall lay all the blame of their ruin on their own sinful perversity, not on God’s decree; the saved shall ascribe all the merit of their salvation to God’s electing love and grace.***

(from the “Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible“)

What are your thoughts on this issue? How important do you think it is in the grand scheme of the Gospel?

Women’s Ordination is indeed the end of the world

We’ve spent a few weeks focusing on Genesis—the beginning of our story as Christians—and seeing what cues we can draw from it regarding our continuing discussion of women’s roles in churches. Having done that, I thought it might now be helpful to check out what implications the end of our story might hold for us.

After a few generations of bad (or incomplete) teaching, Western churches are, I think, reconnecting with the accurate Christian doctrine of heaven. The sense I get is that more and more of us are regaining the belief that the final heaven is not some abstract, ethereal, disembodied existence, but rather this material earth and these physical bodies renewed and re-imagined.

Hope of the Earth: a political eschatology (we can all breathe) [REPOST]

In light of the election, I wanted to re-post this article from a couple of weeks ago. I hope it’s encouraging.

November 7th, we will wake up to front pages declaring with finality the results of the American Presidential Election. Most of us will see these headlines and have some sort of emotional reaction (especially those of us that stayed up as late as we could to know the results early).

Depression? Fear? Anger? Injustice? Sadness? Joy? Elation? Ecstasy? Worship? Peace?

I remember after the 2004 election when Bush beat Kerry. Going to a large, urban University dominated by idealistic and passionate liberal youth, the campus was in mourning for the rest of that week. People walked in silence, hugged one another, and I saw a good number of people crying as they resigned themselves to what they felt would be the end of every good thing they’d ever thought about this country.

This election cycle, I was certainly active–probably more so than ever before (especially on this blog, at least). I’m almost certain that I have been blocked from my fair share of Facebook feeds and removed from some feed readers in the past six months or so. I’ve been quite passionate on those few issues that have guided so much of my writing and reading.

But I haven’t lost a bit of sleep over any of that stuff. I’ve been able to enjoy good books and beers, and pipes and peers, without any discussion of politics or debates or elections.

Continue Reading –>

[image credit: Untitled piece by Arielle Passenti. Read my review of this piece.]

Writing in Hope & Angst (a Lament, a Praise)

Okay, now for a personal post. I usually don’t do these, but some encouragement/wisdom from others might help. I don’t know what exactly has been the cause, but the past few weeks have seen my desire to write and effect change rise to a level I’ve previously never known, only to be brought low by information on every side.

If I had to guess, I think my increase in desire and confidence to write has been inflamed by several fronts. First, intellectually, I’ve been experiencing a clarity and creativity of thought concerning books I’ve been wanting to write. Books that have been rolling around in my mind for about a year finally have some shape, structure, and direction. Also, I’ve been feeling more confident in my ability to think and subsequently express those thoughts in writing. This little slavery and atheism series I’ve been doing has been giving me a chance to flex some muscles I didn’t know were there. This has led to lots of affirmation and encouragement from others concerning my writing prospects. This has put writing in the front and center of my mind.

But, anxieties and insecurities ensue, both from within and without . . .

Derek Webb’s “Stockholm Syndrome” {“Freddie, Please” pt. II}

[TO ANYONE THAT COMES ACROSS THIS POST: there is updated information and another song on a later post.  All the songs found here are also there, in addition to the much anticipated song off the new record “What Matters More?”  Here’s the link for that post.]

It has been brought to my attention that yesterday’s post is already out of date. Apparently, there was a 12-hour window to download the song. I’ve received a couple of requests to make the music file available for download here. After much thought about the ethics of it all, I’m thinking that since Derek Webb did post it up for free, and he didn’t include any statement prohibiting this, I’ll go ahead and post a link to download it. If any representatives of Webb see this and want me to take this down, I’ll be glad to do so. I really want to support Derek in any way.

[UPDATE: Thanks to Shane Bertou for posting these other audio files up. In the article, he also has the so far assembled audio from the currently released “stems” that form Webb’s song that apparently is being referred to as “Stockholm Syndrome” for the time being.]

So on that note, here’s a link to download the new song “Freddie, Please” off of Derek Webb’s upcoming album “Stockholm Syndrome”, along with the other full songs that have been released so far:

“Freddie, Please” by Derek Webb

from Shane’s site:

“Heaven”

“The Spirit vs. the Kick-Drum”

Thanks to Angina Pectoris for bringing these other recordings to my attention.

Here are other sites concerning Webb and the album. Please visit these as well to support the artist and his craft.

• Derek’s Site: http://www.derekwebb.com/
• The “Mystery” Site: http://www.paradiseisaparkinglot.com/
• The Twitter account: http://twitter.com/ssyndrome
• The Patrol Magazine article on it all

Grace and peace.