- Humble Calvinism © 2019 J.A. Medders
Thursday, June 11, 2020
The Doctrine that Undercuts Racism
“Total Depravity not only protects us from pride—it protects us from racism. A heart understanding of Total Depravity eradicates any kind of racism in our hearts. No people, tribe, or race outran the curse of sin. Nations and races have committed all kinds of hellish depravity against each other. From the mistreatment of Israelites in Egypt, through the African slave trade, Jim Crow in the United States, Nazi Germany, the Klu Klux Klan, to hate crimes against Syrian refugees in Europe, and right down to sentences said among friends that begin with, “I’m sorry, but Mexicans/Chinese/Italians…”—it all comes from Total Depravity. And once we know Total Depravity, we see that racial superiority is a charade. Every person of every shade of skin under the sun is, by nature, dead in sin. No one is better. Total Depravity explains why racism is so hard to see, repent of, or forgive. Depravity blinds us to depravity.”
Trudeau vs. Lucki
“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today the RCMP and other police agencies across the country have a problem with systemic racism — a day after RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki said she's "struggling" with the term and denied racism is entrenched within the organization.
"Systemic racism is an issue right across the country, in all our institutions, including in all our police forces, including in the RCMP. That's what systemic racism is," said Trudeau when asked about Lucki's comments by reporters during a news conference in Ottawa this morning.” [1]
Commissioner Lucki said this, “That is an interesting question because in the last couple of days I have honestly heard about 15 or 20 definitions of systemic racism," she said.
"If it refers to an unconscious bias that exists ... we definitely have that in the RCMP and we are not immune to it at all. There are times when our members don't act in accordance with our core values, which includes racism, and it's those times that we have to make sure that that doesn't happen."” [1]
Lucki is on point. People are using the term “systemic racism” in casual and careless ways. Prime Minister Trudeau is using the term in casual and careless ways. If we are talking about Canadian government policy in years past that levied indelible harm to our indigenous people, that is systemic racism. If we are talking about dogmatic, legislated assaults on black Americans by the US government in years past, that is systemic racism. For systemic racism to occur in Canada’s police forces there needs to be structural, programmatic, pedagogical intent and applications toward racism. Quite clearly there is not. As a former soldier I can say with confidence that there is not systemic racism in the Armed Forces. Businesses and institutions cannot be unilaterally slurred be assuming systemic racism.
This attempt to deflecting the problem and blaming systems is an age-old trick — and it won’t work. Commissioner Lucki is closer to the truth as she uses the term “unconscious bias”. And that charge can be duly levied upon all mankind. The Bible calls it our “sin nature”. It is our default setting. We are born with one shtick and that is to prefer ourselves above others. We live in a post-modern world where words and definitions don’t matter. The cultural definition of racism is so broad and so thin it is meaningless, all meaningless. As the Commissioner noted there is no agreement on the term systemic racism.
Nelson Mandela unfortunately said this, “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate.” Nothing could be more wrong than that. His application is that if we learn to hate we can learn to love. Not a chance!!! The Bible teaches us that we are born with a sin nature that is inclined to all manner of evil including preferring ourselves over others. Apart from a change of heart that is offered in the Christian Gospel, there is no hope.
The Bible teaches that there is but one race. The Bible teaches that through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ our self-centered, self-absorbed, self-centered default bias can be forgiven and replaced with a heart motivation to love God and love others as ourselves. This can only occur through the miracle of salvation. When this miracle takes place, men and women, blacks and whites, people from every nation, tribe and language are united in essential and eternal unity with Christ and one another. There is no other solution.
So Commissioner Lucki I commend you. We do have an unconscious bias to honour, prefer, love ourselves above others and only the redeeming work of Jesus Christ can change that.
_______________________________________
1. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-systemic-racism-lucki-trudeau-1.5607622{
Saturday, June 6, 2020
The Infallible Test of the Spirit's Work, 1 Samuel, Part 34
In
this chapter, Saul attempts to kill David eight times. He initially tries to
persuade Jonathan to murder David, but Jonathan refuses and asserts his
friend’s innocence (vv. 1–5). In response, Saul vows not to harm David.
However, he goes back on his word a short time later (vv. 9–10). In vv11-17 we
read that Michal betrays her father’s confidence for the sake of saving David. Michal
lies to her father to cover up her deceit. David flees to Samuel at Ramah and
goes into hiding.
Twice
Saul sent messengers to Ramah to arrest David but when they came into the
company of Samuel we read, “1 Samuel 19:20 (ESV): the Spirit of God came upon
the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.” And then Saul goes himself and we read:
1
Samuel 19:23–24 (ESV): “And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he
went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. And he too stripped off
his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and
all that night. Thus it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?””
This
leaves us with several questions. What
is the nature of this prophesying? How
can a man who is subject to harmful spirits also be under the control of God’s
Spirit? What in the world does nakedness
have to do with all this?
It
is likely that Samuel and these prophets, including David now, were in some
sort of Spirit-filled worship, perhaps declaring God’s Word with or through
song. When Saul’s messengers came into
the scene the Spirit of God overwhelmed them and they were irresistibly led to
join the group. Saul experienced a similar fate except the author tells us that
1 Samuel 19:23–24 (ESV): “And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too
prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night.” This appears to be a Divine act of
humiliation. Naked doesn’t necessarily
mean naked[1]. The Faithlife Study Bible suggests:
1
Samuel 19:24 (FSB): “Saul removes his regal robes when encountering God,
confirming the judgment of 15:23, 28. This involuntary prophesying seems
designed to humiliate Saul and show that, despite the trappings of power, he is
helpless before God.”
The
ESV Study Bible adds, poignantly: 1 Samuel 19:23–24 (ESVSB): “The aggressive,
angry king is humbled, even comically humiliated, before the power of the Lord,
against whom he vainly strives.”
As I
read this account I am reminded of Jonathan Edwards book: A Treatise onReligious Affections, where he writes,
“From
these things it certainly appears, that religious affections being in a very
high degree, is no evidence that they are not such as have the nature of true
religion. Therefore they do greatly err, who condemn persons as enthusiasts
merely because their affections are very high. And on the other hand, it is no
evidence that religious affections are of a spiritual and gracious nature,
because they are great. It is very manifest by the holy Scripture, our sure and
infallible rule to judge of things of this nature, that there are religious
affections which are very high, that are not spiritual and saving.”
In a
word, Edwards argues that by simple observation of person who is under the
influence of and seemingly affected by something spiritual is no evidence in
itself that they are experiencing a sanctifying manifestation.
To
be more blunt, just because someone experiences great tears; physical weakness
and even things such as shaking or other manifestations; or a person
experiences great grief and regret does not confirm they are experiencing the
sanctifying work of the Spirit. There has
to be more evidence than that to decide one way or the other. That is the point of Edwards’ book and what
he will explain.
To
be facetious, if many modern Christians had walked in on this praise service in
Ramah they would have assumed by the uncontrollable expressions of praise, the
anointing and perhaps “slaying of the Spirit” that a revival was in
process. Books would be written. Appearances on so-called Christian TV would
be made. Strategies to replicate the
event would be offered. There would be
no discernment as to what is actually going on.
I commend
to you Edwards’ book. This does not
comprehensively treat his infallible signs of the Spirit’s work, but it is a
good summary:
“I
shall consider Christian practice and holy life, as a manifestation and sign of
the sincerity of a professing Christian, to the eye of his neighbors and
brethren. And that this is the chief sign of grace in this respect, is very
evident from the word of God.”
Will
Saul arise from his stupor a man that is committed to holiness? Then it can be considered a sanctifying work
of the Spirit. If holiness of life is
not evident, true worship is absent also.
[1]
Nakedness does not always signify complete nudity, but is also applied to a
person with his upper garment off (cf. Isaiah 20:2; Micah 1:8; John 21:7).
Monday, June 1, 2020
Not Your Usual Father-in-Law! 1 Samuel, Part 33
Undoubtedly this
is the strangest marriage arrangement on the pages of Scripture. In keeping with his promise (“And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come
up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who
kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his
father’s house free in Israel.”” (1 Samuel 17:25, ESV)) Saul offers his
eldest daughter Merab to David as a wife.
The first hint that not all is well in the king’s heart is his added expectation:
“Only be valiant for me and fight the Lord’s battles.”[1]
It is here the author lets us in on a
secret: Saul still wants to kill David (v17b).
David, on the other hand shows a humility of heart. “And David said
to Saul, “Who am I, and who are my relatives, my father’s clan in Israel, that
I should be son-in-law to the king?”” (1 Samuel 18:18, ESV). This supports the notion that his desire to
combat Goliath was truly for God’s honor and not for his own reward. During the time that passed Merab became the
wife of another.
Father Saul learned that daughter Michal
loved David, so immediately he saw another opportunity. His motives were still ungodly. “Saul thought, “Let me give her to him, that
she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against
him.””[2] We are not sure how Michal
could be a snare to David. In Chapter 19
we learn that she practiced idolatry and perhaps Saul saw that to morally
defeat David. But with the help of David’s
servants, Saul was able to convince David to accept Michal as his wife. But again, he adds a dangerous proviso: “‘The
king desires no bride-price except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that
he may be avenged of the king’s enemies.”[3]
Saul thought that surely David would die as
he takes up this challenge. Not so!
“David arose and went, along with his
men, and killed two hundred of the Philistines. And David brought their
foreskins, which were given in full number to the king, that he might become
the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him his daughter Michal for a wife.” (1
Samuel 18:27, ESV)
Saul’s failure to get David killed
exasperated this monarch: “Saul was even more afraid of David. So Saul was
David’s enemy continually.”[4]
The author’s postscript on David was
amazing: “Then the commanders of the Philistines came out to battle, and as
often as they came out David had more success than all the servants of Saul, so
that his name was highly esteemed.” (1 Samuel 18:30, ESV)
In Psalm 76, Asaph wrote, “Surely the
wrath of man shall praise you; the remnant of wrath you will put on like a
belt.” (Psalm 76:10, ESV) A modern paraphrase reads, “Human defiance only
enhances your glory . . ..” (Psalm 76:10a, NLT) The message of this story as we
consider the Big Story is that “I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from
ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I
will accomplish all my purpose.”[5]
David was God’s anointed. In David there would come the greatest son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. The rage of Saul
could not prevent that. God’s purposes
will stand. It was Job that would say, ““I know that you
can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2, ESV)
All of Saul’s plans
failed. He added expectations to his original offer hoping David would die in
battle. He asked for the lives of 100 Philistines, hoping David would die in
battle. He viewed his daughter as a snare and offered her to David. The result was the intensified anger of Saul
and the magnified glory of God. Every
time Saul tried to bring David into a vulnerable place, into a place that would
take his life, it brought David closer to kingship – it brought the purposes of
God to establish a Davidic dynasty closer to fruition. It brought Jesus Christ the Son of David, into
reality. “No purpose of Yours can be
thwarted.”
[1] The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version. (2016). (1 Sa 18:17). Wheaton, IL:
Crossway Bibles.
[2] The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version. (2016). (1 Sa 18:21). Wheaton, IL:
Crossway Bibles.
[3] The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version. (2016). (1 Sa 18:25). Wheaton, IL:
Crossway Bibles.
[4] The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version. (2016). (1 Sa 18:29). Wheaton, IL:
Crossway Bibles.
[5] The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version. (2016). (Is 46:9–10). Wheaton, IL:
Crossway Bibles.
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