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Is There Room for Miracles in Your Apologetics?

Replied Dec 8

Law & Gospel
14 Replies

Started this discussion. Last reply by Ratatösk Dec 8.

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Josh Newmaster replied to Dr Mike's discussion 'Is There Room for Miracles in Your Apologetics?'

I have a question (and this is not meant to criticize) only to spur on further engagement into this issue. At what point do we invoke the supernatural? It is at the point where all the so called "natural" explanations fail? Why is it that we seek t…

December 8

Ratatösk replied to Josh Newmaster's discussion 'Law & Gospel'

Josh, I understand the Torah to be part of the Old Covenant. It served a number of purposes, but chief among these was to focus sin in the nation of Israel so that it could be disposed of by her representative king: the Messiah. It served a pedagog…

December 8

Amy F replied to Josh Newmaster's discussion 'Law & Gospel'

Exodus 18:15-16 Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws." Matt 22:36-40 "Teacher, which is…

December 8

Raquel replied to Josh Newmaster's discussion 'Law & Gospel'

A couple of years ago, Nicole (whom doesn't exist here anymore) had me read The Unity of the Bible by Fuller. Good stuff.

December 7

Harry replied to Josh Newmaster's discussion 'Law & Gospel'

A another good read is C.F.W. Walther's "The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel" which is a required read for LC-MS pastors and John T. Pless' "Handling the Word of Truth: Law and Gospel in the Church Today" The OT and NT both have Law and Go…

December 7

DanielH replied to Josh Newmaster's discussion 'Law & Gospel'

You might find this an interesting read: HOW CHRISTIANS SHOULD REGARD MOSES: A Sermon by Martin Luther It goes beyond the Lutheran distinction of Law and Gospel and addresses the place of the Torah (the whole OT, in fact) in Christian theology. In…

December 7

Craig Falvo replied to Josh Newmaster's discussion 'Law & Gospel'

I don't disagree with what you've said and perhaps I should have been more clear. This is what I get for multi-tasking. There is a difference between law and the Law. The Lutheran understanding of law and gospel does not change what Paul meant by t…

December 7

Ratatösk replied to Josh Newmaster's discussion 'Law & Gospel'

Craig, I believe the Lutheran understanding is important and helpful. It has a place, but I don't think that is what Paul meant when he spoke of Law. If we read our helpful (and in the context of the introspective West, necessary) Lutheran definiti…

December 7

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Jonathan Edwards

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Josh Newmaster's Blog

The theological implications of the Theory of Evolution

As the world continues to go in an “interesting” direction regarding the
nature of origins I thought I would pose a survey/questionnaire regarding
your impressions on the theory of evolution within a Christian worldview.

Before this discussion gets out of control, I would like to be very
precise on what I’m asking and to present as much clarity and honesty to
the issue as possible.

Part I

When I say the theory of evolution I mean, “The descent with
modification of all living thi… Continue

Posted on July 1, 2008 at 9:09pm — 3 Comments

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At 2:33pm on November 25, 2009, Michael Patton said…: Where are you going to seminary at? What made you decide to go?

Congrats by they way.

At 10:14pm on June 13, 2009, H said…: Josh:

Funny - I'm a woman, and there is no enmity between snakes and me...I used to pick them up as a child, and recognize that they are a valuable part of the natural order. Never been bitten. Avoided a couple of rattlers in Texas while hiking - just left them alone and they re-paid the courtesy. Must be one of those pesky female traits. :)

I'm not sure the point of the Genesis story is to pit humanity against certain animals. I could be wrong. I'm interacting with the "enmity" part of your post, obviously, and where you seem to think it comes from.

As to who was in the Garden with Eve - I've heard all kinds of explanations, even up to and including the notion that humans are but animals that learned to talk, so maybe the "beasts," including one in particular, possessed the same ability at some point.

Just throwin' a thought or two out there.

Peace,

Holly

At 8:41am on March 31, 2009, Char said…: I gotta say Josh that while I am a baptist (mostly) I am a sacramental one. I wish the thread Seraphim started hadn't gotten deleted! We got pissy in it but it layed out a lot of the differences in the opinions.

I would say it confers one into the body of Christ, the Church. The Holy Spirit washes us as the water washes our bodies. It is a sign evidencing the promise that God has given us to cleanse us. We pass through waters where we die with Christ and are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. My view is close to the one expressed in the Heidelberg Catechism.

I do not think it is a work done out of obedience, because it is not "done" by us. We don't baptize ourselves, we get baptized. I consider the sacraments to be "gospel works", things that God does for us rather than things we do for him. They are signs tied to the things he gives to us.

If you want to seriously discuss it, I started a group awhile back for me an another member to discuss sacramentalism without some other people doing drivebys and letting the subject get off track. it never got off the ground but it can be resurrected.

At 9:57am on February 17, 2009, Thomas Ham said…: Hey mate, how much are you looking to spend on a site? And what do you want in this site?

At 1:18am on February 13, 2009, Raquel said…: I'm far too lazy to read all 8 million pages but I thought of you, Josh, when my kids were asking tonight about why folks in the OT made animal sacrifices to God. As our conversation grew, the question was asked: why does God require blood in order to forgive?

I took my best shot, and here's what I pretty much told them...
So animal sacrifices were used as a way to absolve ourselves of our sins. The animal would bear the death for us. It was either them, or us. Someone had to pay for our sins. Then God decided that enough was enough and He offered up Jesus to die in our place. Something had to pay for our sins - it was either us or something else. Jesus willingly took our sins and our death from us! What a wonderful God we have!
But just like folks in the OT had to choose if they wanted to give up their best calf in trade for their own lives, we have to choose to accept that Jesus died for us for it to be as effective trade. Otherwise we didn't participate, in any way, to get all of that nasty sin off of us. Jesus offered to take it for us but we've got to take Him up on His offer. If someone says, 'I'll trade you my sticker for your last bite of ice cream,' you've gotta agree and then give up your sticker in order for the trade to have even happened. If you offered to trade with someone and they just pretended like you weren't there, would you be able to trade anything? NO. Because if you took their last bite of ice cream, then you would be stealing because they hadn't agreed! That's not how God works.

...and on from there...

I'll be praying for you Josh. It sounds like you're really scared of the idea of hell. I hope that other folks didn't say that hell was a good evangelizing tool. Because it isn't. Fear leads to conversations just like this one, Josh. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. "

At 6:58pm on February 2, 2009, JL Vaughn said…: Josh,

Covenant Creation posits that the creation in Genesis 1 was the old covenant or the old covenant people. How the details work out remains to be seen.

My coauther won't go as far as I will, but here is my particular take, at this time is,

In the beginning God cut the covenant people The Heavens and The Earth. Gen. 2:4 says, "This is the account of The Heavens and The Earth," indicating people just as it does throughout Genesis. The Heavens and The Earth are the covenant people. The Sea were the believers who were technically outside the covenant, the Gentile believers. Adam was "formed" from "the dust of the earth," a phrase that often and possibly always refers to people.

Jesus is the Tree of Life, so partaking of the Tree of Life might be in some sense today's communion or Lord's Supper.

Before the Fall, men died physical deaths. The serpent, the accuser, is the same serpent-accuser found in Revelation. The one sin in the Garden was analogous to the one unforgivable sin that Jesus spoke of. Before the Fall, Adam was a sinner just like us. His fall was a willful rejection of God.

Cain was driven from the "face of the earth," the same "face of the earth" that was destroyed by the Flood. Cain was driven from his family and homeland.

YECs must answer, 1) Why would Adam let Cain marry his sister? 2) Why would Cain's brothers leave the homeland without being driven out? 3) Why would Cain's brothers let Cain rule them?

From a covenantal view. Cain could have found strangers in the new land. Cain was afraid of them because they were murderers, rather than because Cain feared revenge. Cain somehow proved stronger or smarter than the people in Nod and ended up their ruler. In the process, he got a wife.

The Flood's purpose was to clean the covenant line, not to deal with sin in general. The Flood destroyed Eden but didn't touch Nod.

You can see, I'm too far from the pack to hope for a useful discussion in a public forum. I hope this helps.

JL Vaughn
JeffreyLVaughn@gmail.com