The Great Divide

"Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment."

- 1 Corinthians 1:10

Thursday, 25 June 2020 from 1800-2000(ish)

Casa de Hadding 

With Protestantism several thousand denominations strong, not to mention the several hundred various Catholic rites and a myriad of "Independents" (Mormons, JW, Scientology, etc.), Christianity would seem to be quite divided today; just a drive down Highway 90 is quite the study in differences of spiritual opinion.  Moving in the other direction is a hyper-ecumenicalism as seen by advocates like Pope Francis denying hell for non-believers (Jews, Muslims, Hindus, etc.).  So where does that put us?

Questions:

• What did Paul mean in John 17:21 and Ephesians 4:3 when speaking of "unity" and "being one?"
• How do we determine what churches/denominations/faiths constitute the "bride of Christ?"
• What are legitimate reasons to split/cease fellowship over?
• What are legitimate reasons to come together over?
• Are there issues that larger schisms can be overcome (i.e. abortion, borders, homosexuality, etc.)?  Does that single-issue unity create more problems than it portends to solve?  Can we join hands with those outside of the Christian faith over single issues?
• How do we live out ecumenicalism in our daily lives yet maintain the necessary distinctives of our faith?

Listen:

• False Unity, No Bueno (Fight Laugh Feast Network, AD Robles)

Readings:

• A Warning Against Division in the Church (Ligonier Ministries, R.C. Sproul)
• Is Ecumenism Biblical? (Got Questions)
• My Sunny, Ecumenical Side (Blog & Mablog, Doug Wilson)
• Ecumenical Incorrectness (First Things, Mats Wahlberg)

Boo!

“After one’s own birthday, the two major Satanic holidays are Walpurgisnacht (May 1st) and Halloween.” 
--The Satanic Bible, by Anton Levey, Page 96, Segment on Religious Holidays

Thursday, 31 October 2019 from 1800-2000(ish)

Rotolo's (under 21 are welcome & encouraged!)

Halloween has become the second-largest grossing holiday with over $9 BILLION spent by American families each year (more than our presidential elections, even).  Should we be among those?

Questions:

• What is Halloween?  What/Why is there controversy concerning its history?
• Does Halloween now mean the same that it did then?  Does this matter (see also: Christmas, etc.)
• What does Halloween represent today?
• Are Christians participating in Halloween conforming to the world or transforming their minds (Rom 12:2)?
• Are "Fall Harvest/Festival" or Trunk or Treat" a more acceptable alternative? 

Readings:

• Concerning Halloween (James Jordan)
• Should Christians Celebrate Halloween? (OPC Q&A)
• A Brief History of Halloween (Dr. McMahon)

Scripture:

• Philippians 4:8
• Leviticus 20:27
• 2 Corinthians 6:17
• Acts 19

Clothes Make the Man

“Where is our gratefulness toward God for our clothing if in the sumptuousness of our apparel we both admire ourselves and despise others, if with its elegance and glitter we prepare ourselves for shameless conduct?'" 

--John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion

Thursday, 26 September 2019 from 1800-2000(ish)

Rotolo's (under 21 are welcome & encouraged!)

In today's American culture, the dress code for all things professional and private continues to be loosened and the church is no exception.    

Questions:

• What is the function of clothing to the believer in either sacred or secular functions?  
• Are clothing and appearance powerful non-verbal indicators of what one believes about one's character, values, and beliefs or simply expressions of taste/culture? 
• How does our clothing affect (or not) others?
• Does our clothing choice at church matter to God?
• How does modesty translate to clothing choices?
• BONUS: Does what a pastor wears matter to God?  To his congregation?  To the lost?  

Readings:

• Dressing for Others (Art of Manliness: Brett & Kay McKay)
• What Should We Wear to Church? (Desiring God: John Bloom)
• A Biblical Theology of Clothing (A Place for Truth: Nick Batzig)
• BONUS: Why Does the Pastor Wear a White Robe? (Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church [PCA]: Pastor Jeffery Meyers)

Scripture:

• 1 Timothy 2:9-10
• Deuteronomy 22:5
• Matthew 6:25-34
• 1 Samuel 16:7

Under New Management

With my pending all-expense-paid-trip to lands unknown for the near future, the management and running of this blog will be handed over to our penultimate English teacher, wise in all things beard-related.  Please bother him with all your topic suggestions and I'll be watching this space for his work.  It's been truly a pleasure meeting with you all and working through our Christian walk together...looking forward to seeing you at the end of my journeys!

 

We Can Do It?

“To promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion, or empire above any realm, nation, or city, is repugnant to nature; contumely to God, a thing most contrary to his revealed will and approved ordinance; and finally, it is the subversion of good order, of all equity and justice." 

--John Knox

Thursday, 20 September 2018 from 1800-2000(ish)

Rotolo's (under 21 are welcome & encouraged!)

Our better halves, the fairer/weaker sex, china to our chainsaw...the women in our lives, whether they be mothers, sisters, wives, or daughters, have a special place in our hearts.  But does that place extend to the workplace?  While there are many variations, tangents, and foundational issues that could/should be explored, honing in on this one aspect of the daily interaction between men and women should be more than enough to fill an evening.

Questions:

• Should women work outside the home in a Christian marriage?  Does this apply to "mixed" marriages (only one believing spouse), or pagan/atheistic ones?  
• Does the answer to the former change if that work is political/governmental, in the military, or carry some other stipulation?
• Should economics be a trumping factor to biblical, moral, or personal precepts?
• Does the answer change with different seasons of life (singleness, no children, children, empty nest, etc.)?

Readings:

• What Should A Wife's Priorities Be? (Grace to You: John McCarther)
• AskDoug: Women Working Outside the Home (CanonWired: Douglas Wilson) 
• The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women (John Knox)
• Why Women Shouldn't Work (The Weaker Vessel)

Scripture:

• Proverbs 31
• Titus 2 3-5
• 1 Timothy 5:8

Tyranny of the Weaker Brother

“To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it." 
--GK Chsterton

Thursday, 31 May 2018 from 1800-2000(ish)

Rotolo's (under 21 welcome)

Safe spaces, emotional support animals, safety pins, trigger warnings, and other aspects of modern insecurity cause consternation within the church and between believers.  Paul in Romans 14 indicates that serious problems can arise in the church due to the differences between “weaker brothers” and “stronger brothers.” On the one hand, many churches have experienced the “tyranny of the weaker brother,” and fallen into an unbiblical legalism or extreme eggshell flooring. On the other hand, many “stronger brothers” do not bear with the failings of the weak.  How is the church to maintain peace and unity while living with weaker and stronger brothers?

Questions:

• Who is the weaker brother?  Is the weaker brother stronger in faith (because he recognizes his failings) or weaker (because he does not understand the subject robustly)?  
• Is it a sin to be the weaker brother (unnecessary rules/regulations/legalisms)?
• Is there a difference between offense and stumbling?  Is causing offense a sin/stumbling itself?
• Is weakness and strength only applicable to secondary issues like drinking/eating or can it apply to primary ones as well?
• Does the stronger/weaker brother dynamic look different within a family?  Why/why not?
• What offenses are allowed (Christ offending the money changers, Pharisees, etc.)?  

Readings:

• Love is not Relativism (Canon: Douglas Wilson)
• How to Welcome a Weak Brother (Desiring God: John Piper) 

Scripture:

• Romans 14
• Philipians 4:3
• 1 Cor 9:22
• 1 Cor 8:13

Six Days: Does the Creation Narrative Matter?

“I have said above that six days were employed in the formation of the world; not that God, to whom one moment is as a thousand years, had need of this succession of time, but that he might engage us in the contemplation of his works."

-John Calvin (Commentaries on Genesis, 1554)

Thursday, 22 March 2018 from 1800-2000(ish)

Rotolo's (under 21 welcome)

"In the Beginning, God Created the Heaven and the Earth" are possibly some of the most recognizable words in Western Civilization but from there, things tend to go sideways.  Did God really create, did he simply set in motion, or did he intimately design, breathe life into, and maintain every corner of the universe to his exact specifications?  As Christians, the creation narrative lays the bedrock of our faith and presuppositions yet there is debate as to the mechanics behind the words we find in the opening chapters of the Bible. It is this foundation that our faith makes its first conflict with a secular worldview.  

Questions:

• Does our view of creation (Old Earth vs. Young Earth or Intelligent Design vs. Creationism vs. Evolution) matter? 
• Does holding a non-literal interpretation of Genesis create an opening for non-literal interpretations of any other portion of scripture up to/including undermining the gospel? 
• If there was death before sin (ages/millions of years per "day") and an abandonment of the historical Adam, is that a problem?
• If God created man "in His own image" (Gen 1:26-28), is there an allowance for the evolution of molecules/monkeys to man?
• But what about the dinosaurs?

Readings:

• Why Shouldn’t Christians Accept Millions of Years? (Answers in Genesis: Dr. Terry Mortenson)
• How long are the Days of Genesis 1? (BioLogos)
• Theological Triage and the Doctrine of Creation (TGC: Samuel Emadi)
• The Evolution of Calvin College (Bylogos: John Byl, PhD (astronomy)) 

Head Coverings: Then and Now?

“The wearing of fabric head coverings in worship was universally the practice of Christian women until the twentieth century.  What happened?  Did we suddenly find some biblical truth to which the saints for thousands of years were blind?  Or were our biblical views of women gradually eroded by the modern feminist movement that has infiltrated the church?"

-R.C. Sproul

Thursday, 15 February 2018 from 1800-2000(ish)

Rotolo's (under 21 welcome)

Headcoverings seem to be something taken out of the historical Christian culture, or stubbornly held onto by Eastern Orthodox, pre-Vatican II Roman Catholics, and Coptic/Arabic churches.  Looking closer, however, we find evidence of head coverings in use by women in the church since AD 100 in the catacombs of Italy through the mid 20th century in mainline congregations and through today in other sects.  Why were they used and why not now?  Is R.C. Sproul right in that modern feminism has infected the church concerning headcoverings via egalitarianism or is it something else?

Questions:

• Following the order of Paul, there are four reasons for head coverings: The Creation Order, the Angels, Nature, and Church Practice.  How do these four reasons inform our thoughts on this subject? 
• Are Paul's words to the Corinthians a perpetual mandate for the church of all ages or a local/temporal custom illustrating a principle, perhaps in relation to temple prostitutes?    
• Do (did) headcoverings only refer to public worship, especially if we are taught to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess 5:16)?
• Is a woman's hair not her covering?  And what then of those that cut it short or cannot grow long hair?
• If the Presbyterian church advocated headcoverings until the 1960s, what changed/happened like RC Sproul said in the masthead quote?
• Does Paul in 1 Tim 2:12-15 strengthen or have no impact on the position that head coverings are applicable to today?

Readings:

• The Biblical Case for Head Coverings #1, 2, 3, 4 (The Head Covering Movement: Jeremy Gardiner)
• Should Women Wear Head Coverings? (TGC: Benjamin Merkle)
• Uncovering the Head Covering Debate (Christianity Today: Luma Simms)
• John Calvin's Commentary on Head Coverings (The American Historical review: Michael Bailey)
• Head coverings in Scripture and Church History (Greg Price)
• Covered Glory (condensed) (full-length) (David Phillips)

The Seen and Unseen: How to Properly See the Paranormal

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

- Ephesians 6:12

Thursday, 18 January 2018 from 1800-2000(ish)

Rotolo's (under 21 welcome)

Stories of increasingly numerous and dangerous exorcisms have been making the news rounds recently while conversation over spiritual darkness and deviancy at the highest levels of Hollywood and government continue to reverberate.  Wiccans and other "magical orders" "cast spells" on President Trump to be expelled from office while ghost hunting shows consistently rank high on multiple networks.  Ghost stories, folk tales, legends, myths, fiction, and even the Old Testament (The Witch of Endor, a necromancer; 1 Samuel 28:3-25) tell of occultist or supernatural manifestations and interactions with our natural world.  How do we as Christians understand this and derive sound theological truths from a murky and hazy realm?

Questions:

• Does the spiritual realm still interact/manifest in our day and age?  Has that mostly fallen away since the time of the New Testament, gotten "stronger", or is it cyclical? 
• In reference to the 1 Samuel passage, did the witch have the ability to bring the departed spirits of the dead back to predict the future for the living, or was this simply a demonic delusion? Does not only God have the power to predict the future or do departed spirits or evil spirits too? What about other sources of revelation besides the Word of God? Does this text not prove that such exist?
• The Pharaoh’s magicians performed miracles (Ex 7:22), the antichrist and false prophet will perform miracles (2 Thess 2:9), while the Bible speaks of counterfeit signs and wonders (Matt 7:22), and a "messenger of Satan" physically tormented Paul (2 Cor 12:7).  What exactly ARE the powers of Satan and his fallen angels?
• What are ghosts, possessions, and premonitions?
• Why is it that we only hear of "neutral" or evil supernatural manifestations and magic but never (rarely) ever of angels or physical manifestations of prayer?
• Does Frank Peretti (author of spiritual warfare books ex: This Present Darkness) have it right?

Readings:

• The Protestant Reformation, Magic and Religion (Guided History: Nichole Close) 
• What Does the Bible Say About Ghosts? (Relevant: Emily Miller)
• Defeating the Devil (Ligonier)
• Long: The Disenchantment of Magic: Spells, Charms, and Superstition in Early European Witchcraft Literature (The American Historical review: Michael Bailey)

The Bodily Temple and It's Maintenance

"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple."

- 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Thursday, 14 December 2017 from 1800-2000(ish)

Rotolo's Pizzeria (1409 E. 70th St, Shreveport)

I hope that everyone had an excellent Thanksgiving, though I'm sure that you lamented the lack of a C&H last month.  Could this have been the ignominious ending to 2017 intellectually robust spiritual fellowship?  Fear not!  Your final fix of manly character and conversation for this year is not in the past and will occur this Thursday at a new location.  Rotolo's offers a slightly better location for you Shreveport brethren, a potentially cheaper menu, and $1 craft brew nights on Thursdays.  To top off the pick, there's no smoking for you dainty-of-lung and under 21 is allowed so please feel free to bring the young men in your lives that would be encouraged and challenged to join us. 

A quick insight into the philosophy of topic choice before getting into the meat: Every month I attempt to cycle between personal/applicable and overarching/worldview.  Last month was more of the latter and some of the former as it concerned firearms, gun control, governmental limits concerning it, and a congregant's (potential) responsibility towards them.  This month will hit more onto the former (or the belt, in this case): As the masthead verse states, our body is God's temple.  What does that look like?

Questions:

• Does the temple imagery/description only apply to sexual sins (1 Corinthians 6:15-20)?
• Does God care what we eat?  How it's sourced, raised, harvested, etc.?
• To what does/should the Latin phrase abusus usum non tollit (“Abuse does not take away proper use”) apply?  Why?
• What defines defiling our bodily temples or putting it at risk?  Smoking, alcohol, caffeine, tattoos, piercings, trans-fats, skydiving, roller coasters, etc.?  Why and who/what decides?
• Should Christian liberty be negotiable in that it should be given up in deference to fellow Christians who are gravely offended or possibly tempted?
• As our bodies are not corrupt and imperfect, are decaying and dying in a fallen world, how much does this matter as we look forward to incorruptible, redeemed bodies in the life to come? 

Readings:

• Fear, Shame, and Guilt at Lunch (Blog & Mablog: Douglas Wilson) 
• Beer, Bohemianism, and True Christian Liberty (Grace to You: John MacArthur)
• Concerning Christian Liberty (Martin Luther)

The Armed Christian: Where Firearms Fit in the Modern Christian World

“If we see the lives or livelihoods of any in danger of being taken away unjustly, we ought to bestir ourselves all we can do to save them …”

- Proverbs 24:11-12

Thursday, 26 October 2017 from 1800-2000(ish)

The Noble Savage (21 and over)

With the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas, much ink is being spilled concerning firearms, availability, restrictions, liberty, morality of self-defense and other related topics.  As Christian men, God has laid the expectations at the feet of heads of households that they protect, provide for and defend their families and protect and defend their countries.  If this is true, then the conversation in light of reaction to this tragedy is where we as men, laity, and leaders should stand.

Questions:

• Is gun control a personal moral/ethical issue or simply a political/philosophical one?
• Where should we stand in the tension between Romans 13 and God's call to protect the weak?
• Is God more glorified "if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake" (1 Peter 3:14) or in "defending the weak and the fatherless; upholding the cause of the poor and the oppressed...rescuing the weak and the needy; delivering them from the hand of the wicked." (Psalm 82:3-4)?
  
• Was the example of individuals and communities coming together to defend themselves and destroy their attackers (and take their spoils!) in Esther 8:3-9:11 a descriptive or prescriptive one for our communities?
• Is pacifism a legitimate position for the Christian man? Or Machine Gun Preacher Sam Childers?

Readings:

• Christians, the Second Commandment, and the Duty of Self-Defense (The Captain's Journal Blog: Herschel Smith) 
• Shooters, the Tower of Babel, and Gun Control (Blog & Mablog: Douglas Wilson)
• Why All Christians Can Back Better Gun Control (Christianity Today: Sharron Miller)
• Should Christians be Encouraged To Arm Themselves? (Desiring God: John Piper)