Barna Group Profoundly Mistaken on the New Birth!

Thanks to our Lord Jesus and to John Piper we have another sound, corrective on what constitutes being born-again. In his latest book, Finally Alive, Piper introduces the category of the new birth by juxtaposing the Barna Group and the New Testament presuppositions (pp. 13-15). After citing Barna researcher's definition of born again, Piper points out it's categorical weakness:

"In this research the term born again refers to people who say things. They say, "I have a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. It's important to me." They say, "I believe that I will go to heaven when I die. I have confessed my sins and accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior." Then the Barna Group takes them at their word, ascribes to them the infinitely important reality of the new birth, and then slanders that precious biblical reality by saying that regenerate hearts have no more victory over sin than unregenerate hearts. [The Barna Group reported for instance that "only nine percent of evangelicals tithe." And, "of 12,000 teenagers who took the pledge to wait for marriage, 80% had sex outside marriage in the next seven years."]

It's no wonder, after citing Barna's research which leads us to conclude that believers are no different from the world, that Piper declares unashamedly, 

I want to say loud and clear that when the Barna Group uses the term born again to describe American church-goers whose lives are indistinguishable from the world, and who sin as much as the world, and sacrifice for others as little as the world, and embrace injustice as readily as the world, and covet things as greedily as the world, and enjoy God-ignoring entertainment as enthusiastically as the world--when the term born again is used to describe these professing Christians, the Barna Group is making a profound mistake [emphasis mine]. It is using the biblical term born again in a way that would make it unrecognizable by Jesus and the biblical writers.

But the New Testament says otherwise:

I'm not saying their research is wrong. It appears to be appallingly right. I am not saying that the church is not as worldly as they say it is. I am saying that the writers of the New Testament think in exactly the opposite direction about being born gain.

Then Piper draws a pivotal and devastatingly accurate contrast:

Instead of moving from a profession of faith, to the label born again, to the worldliness of these so-called born again people, to the conclusion that the new birth does not radically change people, the New Testament moves in the opposite direction.

It moves from the absolute certainty that the new birth radically changes people, to the observation that many professing Christians are indeed (as the Barna Group says) not radically changed, to the conclusion that they are not born again. The New Testament unlike the Barna Group, does not defile the new birth with the worldliness of unregenerate, professing Christians.

And there it is--not merely man's opinion; it is all through the New Testament! We must hear this. Please secure a copy and read it. . . . Or wait for further posts. This resounds with my heart!

Boston's Amazing Tribute to His Wife!

The following tribute comes from Thomas Boston in his Memoirs. I credit John Marshall for bringing this so poignantly to my attention from his lecture on Boston (see previous blog post). Before reading this, let me point out two facts which should aid in your reading. 1) Catherine nearly died each time she went into labor, which was 10 times! 2) She died the same year as he records this, so this wonderfully loving word was penned 10 years after she had often been tied to her bed due to an extreme type of dementia, or perhaps even insanity! Knowing these facts cannot but help us to respect this man all the more for writing about his beloved with such glowing praise in spite of her degraded condition!

Thus was I by all-wise providence yoked with my wife, with whom I have now [1730], by the mercy of God, lived thirty years complete; a woman of great worth, whom I therefore passionately loved, and inwardly honoured; a stately, beautiful, and comely personage, truly pious, and fearing the Lord; of an evenly temper, patient in our common tribulations, and under her personal distresses; a woman of bright natural parts, an uncommon stock of prudence; of a quick and lively apprehension, in things she applied herself to; great presence of mind in surprising incidents; sagacious and acute in discerning the qualities of persons, and therefore not easily imposed upon; modest and grave in her deportment, but naturally cheerful; wise and affable in conversation, having a good faculty at speaking, and expressing herself with assurance; endowed with a singular dexterity in dictating of letters; being a pattern of frugality, and wise management of household affairs, therefore entirely committed to her; well fitted for, and careful of, the virtuous education of her children; remarkably useful to the country-side, both in the Merse [area around Simprin, their first charge] and in the Forest [area around Ettrick, where they served for 25 years], through her skill in physic and surgery, which in many instances, a peculiar blessing appeared to be commanded upon from heaven; and, finally, a crown to me in my public station and appearances. During the time we have lived together hitherto, we have passed though a sea of trouble, as yet not seeing the shore but afar off. I have sometimes been likely to be removed from her; she having had little continued health, except the first six weeks, her death hath sometimes stared us in the face, and hundreds of arrows have pierced my heart on that score; and sometimes I have gone with a trembling heart to the pulpit, laying my account with being called out of it, to see her expire. And now for the third part of the time we have lived together, namely, ten years complete, she has been under a particular racking distress; and for several of these years, fixed to her bed; in the which furnace, the grace of God in her hath been brightened, her parts continued to a wonder, and her beauty, which formerly was wont, upon her recoveries, to leave no vestige of the illness she had been under, doth as yet now and then show some vestiges of itself.

Boston himself died just two years later. Oh, that we husbands might imitate such a tender an affectionate heart as he, and our wives hear such praise fall from our lips.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Best Lecture Ever! Marshall on Boston

Honestly, I've never had such an interest in any cassette (now a CD) as I have had in the lecture given by John E. Marshall on the life and ministry of Thomas Boston. I have probably listened to it 2 dozen times since 1999. Last year, my cassette tape broke, so I bought two more, gave one to my son-in-law's father, and lost the other one! Yep. Then they disappeared off the computer. What was I to do? I really wanted another copy. Thanks to my research-queen-of-a-wife, I not only found a CD, but also discovered a wonderful resource for "over 15,000 messages from more than 40 organizations." It's called soundword.com. 

The picture here is obviously of John Marshall. It is found on the front cover of The Banner of Truth biography published in 2005. He is preaching in the open air in Trafalgar Square, London.  

Consideration 1:  It is difficult to separate us from our work sometimes. I bought the message for Thomas Boston, and came to love both him and his lecturer in the process. Now, I have Marshall's biography and am anticipating getting to know this brother. He went home to be with his Lord 29 August 2003. 

Does this not speak to us as well? As ambassadors of Christ, we no doubt affirm our Lord as precious. But are we not also intimately associated with him? People learn of Christ first through us. What would they know of Jesus by the way we represent him? It behooves us to live so as to reflect well upon our Subject in every message. 

Consideration 2: What about Thomas Boston? Let me simply say that I (along with Marshall) cannot see how the life of Boston would not serve as a tremendous encouragement to anyone in the ministry. His godly tenacity and sensitive conscience paved the way for a very self-correcting life-style, the kind that reveals a true but honest servant in the battle of grace. He fought demons within and without, just like we do. Read Memoirs of Thomas Boston and you will quite literally find prayerful pleading and dependency upon God on every page! As wonderful a life as he lived, the issues he faced, far from putting him out of touch with the common minister actually make reading him indispensable.   

I close with this quotation from his biographer, Andrew Thomson:

The assertion is not likely to be challenged that, if Scotland had been searched during the earlier part of the eighteenth century, there was not a minister of Christ within its bounds who, alike in his personal character and in the discharge of his pastoral functions, approached nearer to the apostolic model than did this man of God. It is a fact that, even before he died, men and children had come to pronounce his name with reverence. It had become a synonym for holy living. 

 Oh, Lord, raise up more godly men like Thomas Boston today!

On Toilets and Forgiveness?!

Toilets fascinate me. I know, odd subject! But go with me here! They are in every house (for the most part), not terribly expensive as household furniture goes, very well used, but oh so taken for granted. I mean, no one invites you over to show off their toilet, right? And it's usually not an "acceptable" subject in polite company. (Thankfully, my mother hasn't discovered the blogosphere!) 

May I suggest that, despite our cultural aversion to it, we commend the toilet's use as a perpetual reminder of God's forgiveness? Sin, too, is dirty and unacceptable in polite company. We often do it, but don't invite people over to see it. Rather, we cloak it, or perhaps take it for granted. But, like the physical toilet, Jesus has taken the ugly, the filth,  and the refuse of our lives and rid us of it. We may resistantly "jump on" the topic of toilets, but how quickly do we wince at sin?  Which, I ask, is more despicable, the natural bodily functions with which the Creator enables us to put off what is useless to our health, or sin, which is completely and utterly unnatural and despised on every level by God and man? How much greater, then, to be free of sin than of the other.

Forgiveness is freedom. Hey, all I know is that there is a certain finality about toilets, which reminds me of how completely God cleans everything up. It's gone! You may have a memory of sin, but by grace, it's flushed, down the drain. Does it offend us to talk about God's grace in the context of bathroom furniture? I hope not. Perhaps we prefer the more sublime casting of our sins into the deepest sea of Micah 7:19. But as I don't live next to the ocean, I'll opt for the ever-present toilet to keep grace before my heart. And remember too, what Christ did on the cross was most shameful, unpleasant, and certainly unacceptable. I think we miss a great opportunity to celebrate the complete cleansing we've received when we overlook the toilet. Really--pardon me--I don't think we should blush when we flush! 

OK, for the Christian there is no difference between the secular and the sacred. This post truly tests the validity of such a claim! Still, I hope this focus does not get lost on us. For its familiarity provides us with both a consistent hope and a constant reminder of Christ's forgiveness of things far, far worse.