Universal Objective Justification

Sequence of events in my faith life since last March:

1. Attended a workshop session led by Pastor James Skorzewski (who goes by "Pastor Ski") of The Core (WELS) in Appleton, WI. Attended worship at The Core with my family the following evening. (March 2010)

2. Felt inspired by the experience. Have since been serving at my own congregation, Divine Savior (WELS) in Shawano, WI, with the aim of having it be more like The Core in terms of atmosphere and function. ("Atmosphere" = welcoming to people from outside of the congregation specifically and from outside the Christian faith in general; "function" = trying to make our worship at church and our work in the community more engaging for our members)

3. Discovered the blog Ichabod, The Glory Has Departed, authored by Dr. Gregory Jackson, about a month ago (October 2010). This blog speaks very strongly against certain leaders within the WELS. Among those named specifically are Pastor Ski.

Since then I've been attempting to understand the doctrinal issues that Jackson has with WELS leaders. This has not been easy for me, but I'm trying. Jackson's tone tends to be sarcastic and mocking, and he's attacking a guy whose preaching I really like. However, I'm striving to be impartial about the merits of his points, and not just dismiss him because of his style, and the fact that he's calling one of my favorite preachers a false teacher.

One of the first issues I'm trying to clear up in my own mind is that of universal objective justification (UOJ). Here's how I understand the term: UOJ says that God forgave the world when Jesus died, and that we all are forgiven whether we believe or not. Jackson, by my understanding, is anti-UOJ because it implies that heathens are saved even if they don't believe.

What seems to be called for here is agreement on what exactly is the meaning of several different terms, such as forgiveness, belief, and faith. I'm going to fall back on one of my favorite teaching tools, the analogy, to try to lay this all out in terms that I myself can understand. I realize that analogies are inherently imperfect, because they aren't the actual thing you're talking about, but merely like the thing you're talking about. Nevertheless, I'm going to plow ahead with a lottery ticket analogy. I certainly don't mean to trivialize the gift of salvation by comparing ti to a lottery; I'm merely attempting to put things in terms I'll be able to understand.

So, heaven (being saved, having eternal life with God) would be the lottery prize. Let's say that we can share in the prize if we have a lottery ticket, but it's not like a traditional lottery ticket in that probability enters into it. Let's say it's more like a ticket to a show or concert (now that I think of it, that's a much better analogy!) You don't have to match a random number, you simply have to possess the ticket, and you're in.

Now, you don't have to choose to buy one of these tickets to the show - if you had to choose to buy the ticket, that would mean that our being saved is up to us, and it is not. So to make my analogy better fit what I believe, I'm going to say that everybody gets a ticket. One morning everybody in the world goes to their mailbox, and there they find a ticket to the show. Everybody gets a ticket, whether or not they feel they deserve it, whether or not they believe the show is actually going to happen, they get a ticket.

Is this a valid analogy for universal objective justification (forgiveness of sins)? Justification and forgiveness of sins are the same thing, right?

The next part of the analogy is, what do each of us do with the ticket that we already possess? I can't choose to possess it - I already do possess it! However, I can choose to throw the ticket away. This compares to how we, with our free will, can choose to not believe; we can't choose to receive the ticket, but we can choose to throw it away.

So all are forgiven (have a ticket), but not all are saved (saved = use the ticket).

Here's where it gets tricky for me: are faith and belief the same thing? In my analogy, no one chooses to receive a ticket, but some choose to not use the ticket. If you can choose to not use the ticket, doesn't this imply that it's also possible to choose to use the ticket? Which would imply that we can choose to believe? I think this is really where my analogy breaks down.

So to summarize where I'm at: justification (forgiveness) is given to all, salvation can be forsaken by those who choose to forsake it.

I'm sure this is not the end of the development of my understanding of these issues. I pray that God will help me to understand, and that He will use me to help others to understand.

"Youth groups destroy children's lives."

I found this quote in Hipster Christianity (Baker Books, 2010, by Brett McCracken). The quote is by David Fitch, who is the founding pastor of Life on the Vine Church in Long Grove, Illinois.

I was so jarred by the quote that I thought I should turn it into a blog post, which would hopefully foster some input from my friends who are pastors, youth pastors, staff ministers, youth group leaders, or youth group participants (or survivors?).

I haven't had a chance yet to read up on the church's website or anything else the pastor in question has written. I have no idea what has led him to hold such a seemingly extreme view, but I do hope that I can gain some insight as to why he feels the way he does.

At this point, I can't imagine that I'll ever agree with him, but I would at least like to try to understand where he's coming from.

I listened to 'Classic Rock' yesterday...

"Classic Rock" in quotes not because I think it's classic, but because it's the kind of music that guys who are serious about rock always seem to really go for.

Side 4 of Rush's "Exit...Stage Left"

Who's Next

Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush" (in which, by the way, I found remnants of some very old pot. So whoever donated it to Goodwill killed too many brain cells to remember where they left their stash.)

Led Zeppelin (the first)

I like The Who well enough, but I've never really developed a taste for the others. I just want to know what the hardcore fans see in these groups. By that, I mean besides "I like 'em because they're f-ing awesome!" I want to know why you think they're awesome. What is it about the music that you like?

Cool thread on gretschpages.com:

http://gretschpages.com/forum/modern-gretsch-guitars/rockabilly-worship-tunes/31353/page1/

Seems I'm not the only one! I post there as Bear85.

Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands

I'm reading this book titled Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands, by Paul David Tripp. Chapter 4 deals with the heart, and how your actions follow directly from your heart. What you're worshiping in your heart (either God or some idol) dictates your actions and the motivations behind those actions.

It has me thinking about worship and tastes in music. If we "like" the music in worship, does it mean we have a heart that's after the same things God is after? If we attempt to introduce into worship the kind of music that we like, rather than traditional worship music, does that mean we're pushing our own idols into God's house? Or does it mean that we're simply using our (for lack of a better word) natural inclinations (a.k.a. tastes) to praise God?

Robert Gordon

My wife and I had the chance to catch Robert Gordon and the Gang They Couldn’t Hang (Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols, Chris Spedding of Roxy Music, and Slim Jim Phantom of Stray Cats) last weekend at the Oneida Casino in Green Bay. I actually got to see him up close – I tell the story below in a post I originally made to the HoodooVoodoo Lounge discussion board:

“Those of you who are Robert Gordon fans are going to be appalled at this opening, but... I had never heard of the guy before! I know, I know, I'm pretty uninformed! I had no previous reference to compare Gordon's performance to, so I'll take the easy way out on that I enjoyed the show a lot. I do, however, have a story to relate about the break between Gordon's two sets.

He announces he's taking a 10-minute break, and the Gang breaks into a medley thing. I'm remembering snippets of various artists, such as Hendrix and Clapton. It was almost as if they were a local bar band, trying to win over the crowd by giving them something they'd recognize. So while this medley is going on, Gordon comes down into the lounge - not backstage. He orders a drink at the bar. People approach him, shake his hand, have a word, return to their table. Once his drink arrives, he turns around to find a place to sit down. My wife and I had a table to ourselves. He walks over and asks if he can sit down! I said, "Of course, please do."

Then he pulls out a black zippered case, about the size of a large wallet, takes out a pair of glasses that looked very 1955, and a cigarette, and asks, "Do you mind if I smoke?" I said, "No, not at all, go right ahead!"

So anyway, he lights up while the Gang is playing away – by now they were into their own hits - and he leans over and says, "Not bad for a bunch of old guys, huh?"

I replied, "I thought you were gonna say 'Not bad for a bunch of kids'!" He laughed, and we went back to listening. (Not very snappy dialogue, I know, but it's kind of hard to chat when the music's going.)

At this point I'm fully aware of the fact that I'm living a classic fan moment, but I can't really appreciate it because unfortunately, I haven’t been a fan of the guy for the last thirty years! Maybe he sat by us because he has 'fan-dar' - the ability to detect someone who won't spazz out when they meet him

He finished his cig and went back by the sound board to talk to Phil, the guy who books the talent at the casino. The crowd gets a little rowdy - one guy yelled, "Where the hell's Robert Gordon?" So now he's probably about 20 minutes into his 10 minute break, and he comes back into the lounge area...and sits down next to me for another cigarette!

Then Cellphone Camera Guy shows up. At first I wasn't sure what the guy asked Gordon; it was kind of loud in there. I noticed Gordon nod kind of curtly, then the guy asks someone to take the picture. Does she know how to work the camera? Of course not, she's a total stranger! So it took awhile. I don't think Gordon was too thrilled, but he was at least polite to the guy. After the guy left, Gordon finished the second cigarette, and he went back up on stage.

And that was my brush with greatness. It was a great show, and now I have a new artist to follow. It is too bad this little encounter couldn't have happened to an already-fan instead of me! But I believe that everything, even little stuff like this, happens for a reason. Maybe someday I'll find out what the reason was!”

It’s been running through the back of my mind all week. I really appreciate that Gordon is still out there making music for his fans. He seemed like he was enjoying himself, except maybe for the extended snapshot episode.

The Casino used a publicity photo that looked something like this –

And here’s what he looks like today –

I’m guessing most days, Robert Gordon could walk down the street and nobody would bother him. In a room full of people who came just to see him, it stands to reason that he’d have a tough time getting a drink without somebody approaching him.

I wonder what it’s like to live the life he’s living.

What This Thing Is All About

The first message board I got seriously hooked on is now defunct; it used to be located at briansetzer.com, but there’s no longer a board there. One of the people who posted there, burner1, told about seeing Carl Perkins at a book promo event years ago. Burner1 said, “He had a way of talking that made it seem perfectly understandable that a rock’n’roller could have a strong faith in God.” (Confession: that was a paraphrase. I don’t have access to the original post anymore.)

The inspiration for this blog is drawn from that post. I’ve always loved 50’s-style rock’n’roll, in its many forms – Buddy Holly, doo-wop, the R&B influenced rock of Little Richard and Chuck Berry, even the teen idol stuff of Frankie Avalon and Bobby Rydell. The music that I’ve really developed an appreciation for in recent years, though, is the style known as rockabilly, the way they played it back at Sun Records in Memphis.

I’m also a Christian. By that, I mean simply that I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again on the third day, so that we might be reconciled to God. Through Jesus, my sins are forgiven.

I think for many people, the Christian faith seems incompatible with music like rockabilly. I’m hoping to use this forum to share my thoughts on my faith and my favorite music. I also hope to have you join in a discussion, via your comments, on just how compatible or incompatible they are.