Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

More Bible Memory Resources

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Two weeks ago I recommended Bible memory resources for young children, especially texts set to music.

I’ve updated that post in three ways:

  1. I added Songs for Saplings: 123 under heading 3. That CD just came out this month.
  2. I added heading 5: “Hide the Word (Mark Altrogge, Forever Grateful Music).” Altrogge, senior pastor of a Sovereign Grace Church in Pennsylvania, has set 182 Scripture passages to 9.1 hours of music. The genre is similar to Sovereign Grace Music, which has published several of Altrogge’s songs.
  3. I added heading 6: “Hidden in My Heart: A Lullaby Journey through Scripture (Jay and Trina Stocker, BreakAway Music).” Mellow.

I now have 20.8 hours of Scripture set to music. Grace.

The Natural Man

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John Bunyan. “A Book for Boys and Girls: or, Temporal Things Spiritualized.” Pages 746–62 in vol. 3 of The Works of John Bunyan. Edited by George Offor. London: Blackie and Son, 1853. Logos

Of Man by Nature [p. 761]

From God he’s a backslider,
Of ways he loves the wider;
With wickedness a sider,
More venom than a spider.
In sin he’s a considerer,
A make-bate and divider;
Blind reason is his guider,
The devil is his rider.

Free Class This Summer: Models of Sanctification

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That’s the name of a 4-credit class that I’m scheduled to co-teach this summer with Bruce Ware.

  • When? June 6–10, 2011
  • Where? Northland International University
  • For whom? Students in Northland’s graduate program (esp. DMin students)
  • How much? It’s free for first-time students in Northland’s graduate program (whether or not they wish to remain in the program).
  • Can the credit transfer to other schools? Yes.
  • What’s the workload? Check out the syllabus.
  • What’s the course’s general schedule? I’ll start off surveying and evaluating the Wesleyan, Keswick, Chaferian, and Pentecostal views of sanctification. Then Bruce Ware will survey and evaluate the contemplative view and explain and defend the Reformed view.

More info here.

I visited Northland’s campus for the first time last month to speak at their Heart Conference and then to teach a week-long grad course on the use of the OT in the NT. I was impressed. The faculty and administration are good folks, and the caliber of students is high. And they assure me that the weather in northern Wisconsin is nicer in June than February!

Update on 8/23/2017: My latest book attempts to survey and analyze “let go and let God” theology more accessibly:

No Quick Fix

Dever, Doran, Bauder, and Others Dialogue

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Calvary Baptist Seminary hosted the Advancing the Church Conference a few weeks ago, and the conference audio is now available.

Mark Dever was the keynote speaker, and he interacted with Dave Doran, Kevin Bauder, and other fundamentalist leaders in two panels:

Kevin Bauder shares his perspective on the conference in “Reflections after the Encounter: Considering the Current Situation of Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism; or, Why I Am Still a Fundamentalist (And How I Am Not).”

Fear of Change

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Why do so few churches have a plurality of elders?

Benjamin L. Merkle suggests three reasons in 40 Questions about Elders and Deacons (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2008), 188–91:

  1. Lack of Qualified Men
  2. Lack of Biblical Knowledge
  3. Fear of Change

Some of his shrewd observations about fear of change apply to more than changing a church’s polity (pp. 189–90, numbering added):

Fear is a motivating factor in the lives of many people, and fear of change often is what holds back a church from adopting and implementing plural eldership.

[Pastors fear change.]

  1. Pastors fear that the congregation will reject their ideas.
  2. They fear that the church will split if they try to change the constitution or bylaws in regard to church government.
  3. They fear that their efforts will fail and the church will be worse off than before.
  4. They fear having to do the hard work of educating the congregation about eldership.
  5. Other pastors fear that they might lose some of their power and authority in the church. Newton agrees: “At the root of much opposition to plural eldership are pastors who fear the loss of their authority in the church.”

Those in the congregation are also fearful.

  1. They fear that things might not be as comfortable as they are now. [Read more…] about Fear of Change

Called to Work

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Last month I presented a three-hour address to my church entitled “Called to Work: How We Should View and Do Work.”

Here’s the outline:

Introduction

1. What are some popular views on work?

1.1. Work is awful.

1.2. Work is meaningless.

1.3. Work is everything.

1.4. Work is money.

1.5. “Secular” work is inferior to “full-time Christian ministry.”

2. How does work fit in the Bible’s storyline?

2.1. Work at Creation [Read more…] about Called to Work

The Vanity of Life without God

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Is this vapid, moralistic therapeutic selfism the best you can do?

Text from the video (numbering added):

  1. Show up
  2. Follow your heart
  3. Find a new perspective
  4. Have a sense of wonder . . .
  5. Find people you love . . .
  6. Set goals
  7. Help others
  8. Dance
  9. Pamper yourself . . .
  10. Face your fears . . .
  11. Go to a museum
  12. Exercise
  13. Limit television
  14. Get in touch with nature
  15. Lighten up
  16. Get a good night’s sleep
  17. Read books
  18. Buy yourself flowers
  19. Don’t compare yourself with others
  20. Don’t beat yourself up
  21. Be open to new ideas
  22. Don’t focus on negative thoughts . . .
  23. . . . Focus on creating what you desire
  24. Make time just to have fun
  25. Keep the romance in your life
  26. Make a gratitude list
  27. Love your Mother Earth
  28. Want what you have
  29. Be true to yourself

That way of life is ultimately unsatisfying.

There is a better way.

That’s Why It’s Called Progressive Sanctification

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C. S. Lewis, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” in The Chronicles of Narnia (repr., San Fransisco: HarperCollins, 2004), 476:

[Context: The narrator makes this observation shortly after Aslan transforms Eustace Scrubb, the selfish-brat-turned-dragon, back to his human form.]

It would be nice, and fairly true, to say that “from that time forth Eustace was a different boy.” To be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy. He had relapses. There were still many days when he could be very tiresome. But most of those I shall not notice. The cure had begun.