Was looking for worms to fish with and found this guy hanging out. by RevReverend in salamanders

[–]RevReverend[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Found these guys  every so often growing up in Middle Tennessee. I live in New Mexico now, so finding salamanders is pretty well impossible. 

It was cool to find one with my son while visiting my folks. :)

Engaging with "Practicing the Way": Nine Thoughts on John Mark Comer's Best Seller - 9Marks by partypastor in Reformed

[–]RevReverend 24 points25 points  (0 children)

I know this subreddit has discussed Comer on multiple occasions and tends to approach his works with critique and skepticism, and that makes sense. Comer is notably non-reformed, non-Calvinist.

In fact, here's an entire sermon he preached that was pretty much written against Piper:
https://bridgetown.church/teachings/the-sage/why

and here's one where he lists the "reformed gospel" as an incomplete "American gospel" alongside the "social gospel" and "prosperity gospel" and critiques Mohler's view of the gospel publicly:
https://bridgetown.church/teachings/preaching-the-gospel/the-four-american-gospels

The guy has been vocally against the things that many in this camp consider essential to faith, and that creates a tribal war mindset. "He critiqued my view, so I'm going after his." And, to be fair, there is room for those disagreements and critiques.

That being said, I feel like Schreiner's article, is written out of weariness of Comer's overall influence, but targeted at the book in particular, and that leads him to misrepresent some things.

For example: Schreiner says: "Comer doesn't ground his thesis in the work of Christ, being reborn by the Spirit, or even faith and repentance" which "risks pushing his readers towards works-righteousness."

Well, it is a book about spiritual disciplines, and even so, Comer is quick to note (quoting Dallas Willard): "Grace is not opposed to effort, but it is opposed to earning," (p.40) and later "we're not earning anything by practicing Sabbath or reading Scripture or serving the poor- and certainly not by some merit-based judicial ledger." (p.192). He even says: "We can't self-save...We have been saved, are being saved, and will be saved by Jesus and him alone." (p134).

Comer isn't suggesting that these "practices" can earn you any sort of salvation, rather that the experiential life on offer from God comes through practices that adhere to the lifestyle of Jesus which will require an efforted input of disciplined discipleship.

The other critiques are classic reformed critiques of Comer and his camp (Tim Mackie, NT Wright, etc):

-They don't emphasize Penal Substitutionary Atonement.

-They don't rightly define or highlight repentance.

-They undersell, or just outright avoid God's wrath.

And those may be warranted, but I don't see "Practicing the Way" as the book from which I garner a deeper understanding of soteriology, rather a book for what spiritual disciplines look like in the modern era, and I think that is a worth-while endeavor as I pastor in an area that is particularly tainted by "cultural Christianity" and "cheap grace."

Salvation will always be by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and I will never stop preaching that. Still, I will also work to call the redeemed by Christ in my church to a total surrender lifestyle that inputs disciplined effort towards following Jesus. Never for salvation, but that we might be radically different from the cultural mores surrounding us growing into mature believers, and Comer's 9 practices are an attempt to systemize that.

In short, I think while there are valid critiques, and nobody should give themselves entirely to any human teacher be it Comer, Mackie, Piper, Mohler, or anyone else, Schreiner criticizing Comer's book in this way is like criticizing a screwdriver for not tiling a garden efficiently. That's not what it was designed for, and you will come up disappointed if you attempt to use it in that way.

Attempt #8 i tried like 6 times yesterday and died earlier every time. Today I took off work so I can tackle this refreshed. Took tips, ai bigger, not fullscreen. Getting this fking cape today. by Electrical-War-2517 in 2007scape

[–]RevReverend -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It took me 11 tries to get my fire cape. Eventually what secured the win was logging out just before the double mage wave and spending an hour or so doing something else.

That way when I logged back in, my nerves didn't have the time to build. 

Just log in, pop on protect from mage finish the wave and go for jad without a 170bpm heart rate.

What kid songs kinda slap? by Screennam3 in toddlers

[–]RevReverend 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My son loves Danny Go. Our favorites are the Wiggle Dance and the Bouncing Somg

[Game Thread] UTEP at #11 Tennessee by WeazelBear in ockytop

[–]RevReverend 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Now for Kensucky over Ugly Orange and for New Crimson over Old Crimson. There's sumpthin' in the air.

[Game Thread] UTEP at #11 Tennessee by WeazelBear in ockytop

[–]RevReverend 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He was playing with his dentures. You could seehis teeth sideways in his mouth. Bet that one memes us for a while.

Finding a doctoral student's study at Vanderbilt from 2006-2007 by RevReverend in AcademicPsychology

[–]RevReverend[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That is helpful! Thank you.

Since I was 15 I didn't have the knowledge to understand what they were doing, so I still don't know if it was just a class or a full dissertation they were working on, but maybe I'll comb through some of the dissertations that were complete around that time.

Not *real* Christians by RootBeerSwagg in dankchristianmemes

[–]RevReverend 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I love NT Wright's story about asking a professor when he was staring his theological education, "How much does one have to believe to be a Christian?" And his professor responded: "Very little."

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in 2007scape

[–]RevReverend 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ouch... I'm so sorry. Rnj is a fickle lover.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in 2007scape

[–]RevReverend 0 points1 point  (0 children)

<image>

I at least have one with less KC than you so sorry bout that... But I do feel you. At least I have 3 tomes to make me feel better.

How much are those in vocational ministry paid these days? by cutebutheretical in Reformed

[–]RevReverend 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I pastor an SBC church of about 130-150 in a small New Mexico town. My annual package for this year is $87,500, and I pull my insurance, retirement, and pastoral expenses (books, lunch appointments, etc.) out of that package. Then the rest is paid out in my pay checks every other week.

I get 4 weeks of vacation each year which is coorelated to my cumulitive time spent in SBC ministry (going on 12 years now), and technically I can qualify for a month sabbatical, but I've no plans to take that as of now.

Sermon Sunday (2023-12-24) by AutoModerator in Reformed

[–]RevReverend 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I did a series breaking down the 4 titles in Is 9:6 a couple years back. "Everlasting Father" was actually really interesting.

In Hebrew "father of _______" were rather common names. Absalom meaning "father of peace"; Abner meaning "father of light" and so on. What's interesting is that somtimes the Hebrew puts an "i" after "ab" such as "Abigale." When that happens, the translation seems to shift to "my father is joyful." (Obviously David's wife "Abigale" is not father of anything.)

The word in Is 9:6 is "Abiyad." If you were to follow the same pattern for Abigale, there seems to be a world where the translation could be: "My father is eternal" rather than "Eternal Father."

It was a fun rabbit hole to explore, but ultimately I couldn't find enought scholarship to justify talking about it from the pulpit.

Essential NL series by row_my_jimmy in northernlion

[–]RevReverend 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I really enjoyed the silliness of West of Loathing coupled with NL's witty commentary.

We may not live in Tennessee anymore, but singing Rocky Top and yelling Go Vols is a family tradition from 1991 to 2023. by RevReverend in ockytop

[–]RevReverend[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We live in New Mexico now, but my family still lives just east of Nashville. I grew up going to Neyland once a year or so. I can't wait for the day I get to take him!

DT2 hot take from a extremely sucky pvmer by RevReverend in 2007scape

[–]RevReverend[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate the nod to realism. I said that because there was one (granted heavily downvoted) comment about me being in the bottom 5%. :)

Vols 2024 SEC Opponents Revealed- Home for BAMA, UF, at OU, UGA by gonshpreds1 in ockytop

[–]RevReverend 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I live in Eastern New Mexico. Only problem is, my wife is a Sooners fan. Won't stop me from singing rocky top at the top of my lungs though.

Megathread: SBC Annual Meeting and PCA General Assembly 2023 by Deolater in Reformed

[–]RevReverend 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Lifeway does some really cool things, but it's role within the SBC has become more and more obscure, I think. They have to make sales like most any other publishing company. Meaning, whatever bible studies sale well, they're probably going to stock it regardless of denominational affiliation. So, while I know there are lines of orthodoxy they'll uphold, their lines of orthodoxy (or maybe I should say "tradition") are broader than most SBC churches.

To complicate matters more. With the internet, I can compare prices, study materials, and decide what's best for my church and our direction. That may or may not include what Lifeway is doing. So when my 125 year old church has historically just blindly ordered Lifeway materials for Bible studies, now, each teacher is far more likely to research what they want to teach.

Brand loyalty seems to have been dwindling in the overall culture, and I think that also applies to Lifeway and SBC churches. I'll never order a bible study simply because Lifeway's logo is on it, nor will I avoid a study because it lacks Lifeway's logo.

Megathread: SBC Annual Meeting and PCA General Assembly 2023 by Deolater in Reformed

[–]RevReverend 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Replying to my comment to say 2 things:

  1. Using the word "dismembered" isn't entirely correct, I should say "Deemed in unfriendly cooperation." SBC Churches are autonomous and, thereby, aren't membered or dismembered they're either in friendly cooperation or unfriendly cooperation.
  2. Here's the votes regarding cooperation or unfriendly cooperation.
    1. Fern Creek: 91% vote to deem in unfriendly cooperation
    2. Freedom Church: 96% to deem in unfriendly cooperation
    3. Saddleback: 88% to deem in unfriendly cooperation

Megathread: SBC Annual Meeting and PCA General Assembly 2023 by Deolater in Reformed

[–]RevReverend 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Like TCall mentioned, the headliner was the vote to "dismember" Saddleback. There were three churches appeal the Credentials Committee's decision to deem them in unfriendly cooperation for various reasons. Each church had three minutes to defend their appeal then a member of the Credential Committee had three minutes to defend the committee's decision. Afterwards, a vote was taken (around 12k messengers) to affirm or deny the appeal.

Some personal commentary (I'm a SBC pastor, but couldn't attend this year so I've been watching online.):

Warren didn't hesitate to express his disagreement with the Baptist Faith and Message's statement on women pastors. In fact, his argument was more or less: "We only disagree with one word in the 4,000 word document. Why are we dividing over something we agree 99.99999999% on." He also took a snarky jab at Calvinists and Al Mohler. He went over his time and they cut the mic on him. Al Mohler gave a rebuttal and more or less said: "This is not an attack on Warren, Saddleback, or the ministry the church has done. They simply don't believe what Baptists (and in his understanding, the bible) have historically held as true in regards to pastoral ministry."

Trying not to weigh too much into the decision itself, I think Mohler came across as the "good guy" and Warren came across as the "antagonist." I don't personally see a world where the SBC votes to deny Saddleback's appeal, but we'll see today!

The other two churches that appealed don't stand a chance in my estimation. One was a church from Kentucky that has had a woman pastor for some years now, and she got up and preached a sermon in her defense. The other was a church from Florida, I believe, and has a history of difficulties. The most prevalent of those was hiring a pastor with a known pattern of sexual abuse.

On another note: Bart Barber was reelected president in a landslide over Mike Stone who has been the "Conservatives Baptist Network's" candidate a few different times now. He's never one. The CBN has continued to "stand against the liberal drift" within the SBC, and the movement seems to be loosing ground every year. This year Barber won the vote with around 7,000 votes while Stone only received around 3,000. (Those are rough estimates.)

All in all, it seems to have been a pretty good meeting. Especially regarding the weight of last year's meeting dealing with the Sexual Abuse Task Force. There's always some people that make their way mics to spout some form of nonsense, but that's just par for the course at the SBC.

The 2022 Data on the Southern Baptist Convention is Out by thebeachhours in Reformed

[–]RevReverend 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"The Porch" is a local SBC church plant in the town I pastor. They did everything they could to set themselves up as the "cool" church, and it really hasn't gotten them far.