How much different is Brian McLaren than the Nazi Walter Grundmann?

Did Hitler rewrite the Bible?

 

by Russell Grigg

Elimination of the Jews in Nazi Germany was not confined to the Holocaust. It also took the form of rewriting the New Testament to ‘dejudaize’ it, i.e. to remove references to Judaism and to recast Jesus as an Aryan, generating what has been called the ‘Nazi Bible’. This has been the subject of some sensational and substantially erroneous claims, including that the project was Hitler’s brainchild.
So what are the facts? This article is based on the book The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany by Susannah Heschel,¹ Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College.

Page numbers in brackets in this article refer to her book.

They wanted a faith without anything Jewish in the Bible, and without converted Jews in the church.

The German Church in the 1930s

In 1930s’ Germany, the ‘German Christians’ (Deutsche Christen) movement arose. These were theologically liberal Protestant churches and theologians who were enthusiastically pro-Nazi, calling Hitler the ‘Führer Jesus’ and ‘God’s agent in our day’ (p. 67). Politically ambitious and anti-Semitic, they wanted a faith without anything Jewish in the Bible, and without converted Jews in the Church. Their ultimate membership of 600,000 constituted about 30 percent of German Protestants (p. 3).
In opposition to this, the so-called ‘Confessing Church’ (Bekennende Kirche) movement arose, ultimately attracting some 20 percent of Protestant pastors. It included notable opponents of Hitler such as Karl Barth, Martin Niemöller, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. However, some of its members were inclined to take other liberties with the plain meaning of the biblical text, and some were even ideologically anti-Semitic, despite wanting to retain Christian Jews in the church.

The Institute

The Deutsche Christen flag

The research arm and propaganda organ of the ‘German Christians’ movement was its Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Church Life (Institut zur Erforschung und Beseitigung des jüdischen Einflusses auf das deutsche kirchliche Leben).² This served Nazi anti-Semitism by a program of dejudaizing the Bible, and giving anti-Semitic theological training to clergy and laity via lectures, seminars, scholarly books, and popular pamphlets.
Its founding visionary and Academic Director was Walter Grundmann (1906–76), a member of the Nazi party from 1930. Though Hitler did personally sign the 1938 appointment of Grundmann to Jena University as Professor of New Testament, there is no evidence (despite some sensationalized claims to the contrary) that Hitler ordered the ‘Nazi Bible’ project.
Grundmann was clearly the main instigator of this and the Institute itself, which by 1942 had 180 members—mostly professors of theology, teachers, pastors, bishops, and church superintendents (p. 99). It was not financed by government but by donations from supporting churches, individual church leaders, and sale of its publications (p. 96).
Its goal was to redefine Christianity as a Germanic religion, whose founder, Jesus, was not just a non-Jew, but was an anti-Jew, (a proto-Nazi (p. 71)), who had fought to destroy Judaism, dying as a victim in that struggle. According to Grundmann, the Bible needed to be restored to its pristine condition—purged of its Jewishness which was due to the distortions of history. Protestants had to overcome Judaism, he declared, just as Luther had overcome Catholicism (p. 2) in the Reformation.
Churchgoers were reassured that the Institute was promoting a return to the anti-Jewish Christianity practised in the days of Jesus (p. 116). However, beyond this, the Institute provided a scholarly and religious mantle that gave Nazism religious and moral authority (p. 16). Describing Jesus’ goal as the eradication of Judaism “effectively reframed Nazism as the very fulfillment of Christianity” (p. 17).

The so-called Nazi (or Hitler’s) Bible

CMI’s good friend, information scientist Dr Werner Gitt, author of the new book Without Excuse, was able to obtain a copy of Die Botschaft Gottes via the Library of the Technical University of Braunschweig. 

The Institute’s most notorious publication was its dejudaized version of the New Testament (NT), titled Die Botschaft Gottes (The Message of God), and released in 1940. This was a book of some 304 pages, with about 60% fewer words than in the German Luther NT. The Foreword by Grundmann and others said it was a selection from the NT which had shed new light for them.³ It contained no OT books, and was never called a Bible, let alone Hitler’s Bible.⁴ The text was divided into four sections (p. 109 ff.):

1. Jesus the Saviour—a life of Jesus based on excerpts from the synoptic Gospels, expunged of OT prophecy fulfillment, and reorganized to present Jesus as a warrior, not a servant or meek or the Lamb of God.
2. Jesus the Son of God—a condensed version of the Gospel of John to show the theological significance of Jesus’ actions.
3. Jesus the Lord—brief excerpts from various Epistles concerning hope, comfort, community of God, etc.
4. The Emergence of the Christian Community—based on Acts, Paul’s Epistles (without his Jewish biography), his mission to the Gentiles, and his break with the Judaizers of Palestine.

Part of John 4 from Die Botschaft Gottes; v. 22 “salvation is from the Jews” was omitted. In v. 25 “Messiah (called Christ)” was changed to “Promised one”. Reference to Jesus being “a Jew” in v. 9 was changed to “who comes from Judea”. 

Jewish references were retained only where they were deemed negative to Judaism. Omitted were the genealogies of Jesus linking him to the OT patriarchs. The baby Jesus was brought to the temple to bring him to God, but was merely given a name, not circumcized. In the Sermon on the Mount, there was no blessing for the merciful. The Sabbath became ‘holiday’.
The text associated Jesus with Galilee. Liberal German theologians had taught since the early 1900s that Galilee was supposedly populated by racially Aryan Gentiles in the 8th century BC following the Assyrian conquest of Israel, thereby opposing Jesus’ identity as a Jew (p. 57).
In his own book, Jesus the Galilean, Grundmann advocated that Mary was not a Jew, and Jesus had an illegitimate father: a Roman soldier named Panther (or Panthera) (p. 155). Ironically, this is an ancient libel from Celsus and anti-Christian Jews attacking Jesus’ legitimacy (“ben Panthera/Pandera”). However, the Gospel was clearly presented in Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus, especially in John 3:16.
By the end of 1941, 200,000 copies of Die Botschaft Gottes had been sold or distributed to members of the German Christians movement, including soldiers (p. 111). Some pastors and scholars in the Confessing Church wrote pamphlets or spoke against it. After the War, most copies were destroyed, with only two or three still known to exist.

A catechism for the times

In 1941, the Institute was involved in producing Germans with God: a German Catechism.⁵ “It omitted traditional doctrinal positions regarding miracles, virgin birth, incarnation, resurrection, and so forth, in favor of positioning Jesus as a human being who struggled on behalf of God and died not only as a martyr, but also a ‘victor’ on the cross, despite being a victim of the Jews” (pp. 126–27).
It (not the ‘Nazi Bible’, as has been reported) contained 12 revised Commandments in place of the OT ten:

1. Honor God and believe in him wholeheartedly.
2. Seek out the peace of God.
3. Avoid all hypocrisy.
4. Holy is your health and life.
5. Holy is your well-being and honor.
6. Holy is your truth and fidelity.
7. Honor your father and mother—your children are your aid and your example.
8. Keep the blood pure and the marriage holy.
9. Maintain and multiply the heritage of your forefathers.
10. Be ready to help and forgive.
11. Honor your Führer and master.
12. Joyously serve the people with work and sacrifice.

The Institute’s perverse attempt to marry Christianity to Nazism was not reciprocated by the Nazis.

Perhaps divine prohibitions of murder, theft, and covetousness were deemed inappropriate for a ‘survival-of-the-fittest’ ideology that was instrumental in the then ongoing pillage of Europe.

Relationship to the Nazis

The Institute’s perverse attempt to marry Christianity to Nazism was not reciprocated by the Nazis, who were deeply suspicious of all things Christian.⁶ They tolerated the Institute, but at times even mocked it (p. 148), and kept it under secret surveillance by the intelligence arm of the SS. (p. 149). In March 1943, they confirmed their lack of sympathy for Grundmann by drafting him into military service on the dreaded Eastern (Russian) Front (p. 161).
After the war, Grundmann claimed that he was “an objective scholar who had fallen victim to Nazi attacks as a result of his efforts on behalf of Christianity and his scholarship” (p. 253). In the 1950s, he was appointed rector of the Thuringian seminary in Eisenach, in East Germany. From 1956 he served the communists as a spy, supplying information about his opponents in the Confessing Church (p. 256 ff.). He went on to publish various commentaries on the Gospels, which attained significant popularity.

Relevance to us today

When what God has said in His inspired Word, the Bible, is disregarded by those who claim to be Christians, there is no logical limit to the errors or indeed the blasphemy to which this opens the door.
Today many pastors and theologians think they are doing the church a favour by substituting theistic evolution for recent Creation in Genesis, and by denying that the biblical accounts of the Flood and Babel are part of Earth’s true history. However, such persons have no authority to censor the Word of God in this way, any more than the liberal German Christians had to dejudaize it.
Without exception, all attempts to marry Christianity to the worldview of unbelievers contravenes biblical authority, and subverts the faith of Christians. At the same time, it cuts no ice with atheists and agnostics. Just as the Nazis whom Grundmann was trying to impress treated him with disdain, many anti-theists have nothing but contempt for Christians who do not believe their own Holy Book.⁷

 

Related Articles

• The Christian Nazi myth refuted
• Darwinism and the Nazi race Holocaust
• The Darwinian roots of the Nazi tree (Weikart review)
• Hitler’s ‘master race’ children haunted by their past

References and notes

1. Heschel, S., The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany, Princeton University press, USA, 2008—see also ref. 2. Return to text.
2. Heschel’s book is based on her research into previously untouched archives of the Institute, and interviews she conducted in the 1990s with surviving members (p. xi). Return to text.
3. Verses were itemized in the 20-page Index. Return to text.
4. Prof. Heschel presents no evidence that Hitler had anything to do with it. Return to text.
5. Deutsche mit Gott: Ein deutsches Glaubensbuch. Return to text.
6. See Sarfati, J., Nazis planned to exterminate Christianity, Creation 24(3):47, 2002; creation.com/naziex. Return to text.
7. For example, see Dawkins on compromising churchians, as well as Darwin’s Bulldog: Thomas Huxley, Creation 31(3):39–41, 2009; creation.com/huxley. Return to text.

20,000 pageviews!!!

Wow I can't believe its been so long (almost) 3 yrs!
April 2011 was my first blog post and since then its been viewed over 20,000 times
Thanks to everyone who's been apart and had a hand in this:
Reformed Baptist Fellowship
Monergism
The Gospel Crier
Calvary Baptist of Lenexa
Reformation 21
and many others.
I hope and pray that over the years you've read, studied or seen something that's taught you more about Christianity, the Bible, Reformation Protestantism or Church History.

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Hello

This is my first Blog!

Hope you all enjoy the rantings of a crazy person.
I know I do.
What you'll get to see here is ideas and photos of my life and family.
And short tidbits from Church History (photos-stories-bios-and brief articles)
Enjoy!

Lutheran Pastor Curtis Leins

IT’S AN EPIDEMIC!

That is what my friends said as they looked for a church in their neighborhood. “It’s an epidemic!  Poor theology, false theology, no theology:  It is everywhere!”  I asked my friends to explain what they were seeing.  They said that at least three messages  seemed to be in churches all around them: 
The “Win Souls" message.  This is the church that only has one message.  Every week there is a salvation message for the "unsaved,” most of whom aren’t in attendance.  Those who do attend receive a reprimand if they have not "won" any souls that day or week. The problem here:  God is the Author and Finisher of our faith. Surely, we participate as witnesses to Christ, but God alone works in the human heart to bring salvation.  We have no power to make a person believe.  This approach gives a human being the place that belongs to God. 

In Hebrews 12:2 we read, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” 

In the “Win Souls” church, the un-believer is pressured to convert, and the Christian is pressured to “make” someone convert.  After “conversion,” this church typically has little else to offer in terms of spiritual formation, biblical education, and theological explanation.

The “Clean Yourself Up" message.  This is the church that tells its members that righteousness depends upon them.   “Clean yourself up, stop sinning, and get yourself right with God,” they say.  The problem here:  No one can clean himself up, and no one can get himself right with God.  That is the work of Christ alone.  By the Spirit’s leading, we war against sinful thoughts, words, and deeds.  We confess and repent of our sins, and for Christ’s sake God forgives them.  Christians do not approve of sin. But, we will sin again and we will confess again.  We will never be righteous by our own works or efforts to live a holy life.  It is only through faith in Christ that we are made righteous and clean before God.  

In 1 John 1: 8-9 we read, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  

In the “Clean Yourself Up” church, the leaders give the impression that they never sin, and a member is made to feel guilty for admitting that s/he still does.  There is often little opportunity for a member to confess sin and receive God’s forgiveness.

The “Good Life" message.  This is the church that says that Christians don’t have troubles if they have real faith.  They teach that God shows His love by giving Christians all that they have faith to receive.  If you are poor or in need, it is the fault of your lack of faith.  The problem here:  The Bible teaches something else.

In 1 Peter 1: 6 we read, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials…” 

In the “Good Life” church, the Christian is made to feel inferior when s/he is distressed or anxious because of life’s troubles.

My friends wanted to know what is wrong with churches today.  Why couldn’t they find a place that taught them the true Word of God and enabled them to grow into maturity as Christians.

Loss of the Office
Though most Christians have some understanding of the importance and purpose of the Church, I believe that many have little understanding of the importance and purpose of the Office of the Ministry.
Is there an Office of the Ministry?  Yes.  The Bible teaches that God established the Office of the Ministry:  

And He (Christ) gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ…  (Ephesians 4: 11)
It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.  (I Timothy 3: 1)

The primary task of the Office is to teach and preach the pure Word of God and rightly administer the Sacraments.  God works faith through these means of grace. On behalf of Christ and at the command of the Church,  those who hold the Office of the Ministry are:  to baptize and teach (Matthew 28: 18-20), forgive and retain sins (John 20:19), celebrate the Lord’s Supper (I Cor. 11: 23-26), and preach repentance and forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:44).  

Isn’t every Christian a Pastor?
The short answer is, “No.  Every Christian is a priest.”  The Bible teaches that every Christian belongs to the “royal priesthood” (I Peter 2:9).    

All Christians are indeed priests (I Peter 2:9; Rev. 1:6), because they offer spiritual sacrifices to God.  Everyone also can and should teach the Word of God in his own house (Deut. 6:7; 1 Cor. 14: 35).  (Examination of the Council of Trent, Part II.)

Though all Christians are called to be priests, not all are Called to the Office of the Ministry.  The Church designates and ordains certain persons to perform the functions of the Ministry on behalf of the Church.  

Their qualifications are listed in several places in the Bible: I Tim. 3, II Tim. 2, & 4,  Titus 1, and I Peter 5.  In addition to prerequisites of character, a very important requirement is to be apt to teach (I Tim. 3:2).  The Pastor must have special aptitude and knowledge in the areas of Bible and Theology.  He must be able to teach sound doctrine and be able to refute those who contradict the truth of the Word of God (Titus 1:9).  The Pastor is held accountable before God for the care and proper nourishment of the souls entrusted to him (Hebrews 13: 17).  The care of eternal souls is based upon the pure and clear presentation of the Word of God.  Such presentation requires extensive education and practical preparation.  The person in this Office must be rightly certified (examined and Ordained), recognized by the Church (Called), and invested with the authority and responsibility of Word and Sacrament Ministry.  

The Pastor is no more holy and no less sinful than any other Christian.  It is even possible for him to disqualify himself by unrepentant unfaithfulness.  However, when he acts according to his Calling, he represents Christ (Apology to the Augsburg Confession, VII, 28). Through no power or character of his own, the one who is in the Office of the Ministry is used by Christ as His tool and instrument.  It is Christ who baptizes, Christ who forgives, Christ who distributes His body and blood, Christ whose Word is living and active.  Christ has given us these means of grace.  The Pastor is used by Christ to perform these functions.

A Word of Caution
I believe that our current plight in the North American Christian environment is the direct result of the loss of the Office of the Ministry.  Today, it is often thought that there are no special requirements necessary in order to be a Pastor.  He has no need for knowledge of the original languages of Holy Scripture.  The Pastor does not need  training in biblical interpretation.  He is not aided by comprehension of systematic theology or study of Church history.  The one who occupies the Office need not have had a supervised, practical internship in the performance of the duties of Word and Sacrament Ministry.  Why?  Anyone can be a Pastor, right?  Everyone’s interpretation of Scripture is acceptable, isn’t it?  No and No!  


My friends have been looking for a church.  They do not want superficial spirituality and weak theology.  They do not want a minister who implies that Christ’s forgiveness and love are given to those who deserve them.  They do not want hyper-faith-ism that denies the realities of sorrow and suffering in this world. 

My friends said, “It’s an Epidemic!”  I suggested to them that not just anybody should be permitted to be their Pastor.  God has established an Office with specific qualifications, expectations, and requirements.  He has Called select men to fill that Office (Acts 20:28).  If you are facing a medical epidemic, make sure that you find a physician who knows the right treatment for your temporal body.  If you are facing a spiritual epidemic, how much more cautious must you be to find one who can rightly preach and teach the eternal Word of God!

God uses Guinnes to reduce drunkeness and extend the Gospel

God and Guinness?

To many, this juxtaposition may appear sacrilegious, if not rightfully awkward. But only those who know the story behind the Guinness family can fully appreciate the connection between the two; that is, how the national drink of Ireland became arguably the greatest instrument for propagating the Gospel.

Here are some interesting tidbits I gleaned in my study of the Guinness family:

• The trademark thick foam head of Guinness is the result of the presence of nitrogen. This is why one should drink Guinness form a glass and not the can or bottle.
• Hendry Grattan Guinness, the grandson of Arthur Guinness, was a contemporary evangelist whose name was often mentioned alongside the likes of D.L . Moody and Charles Spurgeon. His son married Hudson Taylor’s daughter.
• Today, nearly ten million glasses of Guinness are consumed daily, nearly 2 billion pints a year.
• Arthur Guinness, the founder of Guinness, founded the first Sunday School in Ireland.
• In 2003, a researcher from University of Wisconsin concluded that a pint of a Guinness a day actually bolsters hear health and is infinitely better for you than the caffeine in coffee or the high fructose corn syrup in soda.
•  

Calling – Business as Mission

Arthur Guinness was a man of faith.  Born in 1724 in a family where his father was an archbishop, he embodied the words that were his family motto: Spes mea in deo (My hope is in God). His influence from the famous revivalist John Wesley inspired and enabled him to use his God-given talents in entrepreneurship as a vehicle to follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Wesley’s mantra which is known as the statement, “Make all you can, save all you can, and give all you can” profoundly impacted Arthur Guinness’ perspective in life and his wealth.

In mid 1700 in Ireland, there was a phenomena called “The Gin Craze.”  An overwhelming large number of people were drinking whiskey and gin as their primary beverage. Water was deemed unsafe due to the micro-organisms and mysterious diseases found in water unbeknownst to everyone. The parliament forbidded the importation of liquor in 1689, so the Irish and British began making their own. This led to excessive drunkenness resulting in a poverty-ridden, crime-infested time. Statistics show that every sixth house in English was a gin house.

Arthur Guinness was infuriated with this drunkenness. He constantly prayed to God to do something with the alcoholism on the streets of Ireland. In fact, he felt God calling him to “Make a drink that men will drink that will be good for them.” He then developed a dark stout beer called Guinness. Guinness contained so much iron that people felt full before they can drink more pints. During its creation, the alcohol level was lower than gin and whiskey.

Guinness truly was doing business as a mission instead of business for mission. With the preserving influence of the salt and penetrating influence of light, his life truly exemplified Lord’s mandate to be the salt and light of the world.

The Legacy of Guinness

If the story of the Guinness story ended with a man of Arthur Guinness, it would be a fairly small footnote in pages of history. Many of Guinness’ accomplishments were done in his family by teaching values undergirded in his biblical faith and relationship with Jesus Christ. He created a family culture that focused on giving generously and investing in his people.

The grandson of Arthur Guinness named Hendry Grattan Guinness became a foremost evangelist spreading the Good News. Another descendant of Guinness received five million pounds sterling for a wedding gift, but then moved his new bride into the slums to utilize his resources to eradicate the poverty in the land.

Another Guinness heir became Lord Iveagh as a member of the House of Lords due to his philanthropic efforts. In his new role, he brought wholesale changes in the legal system. In that time, people used to have dueling on the streets. Like you see in the movies, people would turn around and shoot each other whenever there was conflict. Lord Iveagh said you can’t do this anymore. The biblical principle said if you’ve got something against somebody, you need to talk to them; if they won’t change or refuse to listen, you will have a legal representation that will go to public court with a witness. This is how he embedded the biblical principles into the legal system.

Guinness – A Great Place to Work

If you think Google or Facebook has great perks, Guinness was one of them. A key belief that the Guinness family subscribed to were the belief that “You cannot make money from people unless you are willing for people to make money from you.” This starkly contrasts the traditional thinking of today’ corporation where they think of employees as a disposable resource instead of a unique human being created by God.

Guinness’s investment in their employees were impressive. If you had worked for Guinness in 1928, a year before the Great Depression, you would have had 24-hour medical care, 24-hour dental care and an on-site massage therapy. In addition to this, your funeral expenses were paid by the company as well as your pension all paid with no contributions needed to be made. Your education as well as your children and wife were all paid for. The company had libraries, reading rooms, athletic facilities and so on. Now, think again. This was 1928…not 2012.

The Guinness family was, by all accounts, a godly family and one the Lord used greatly in His service. What most fascinates me is not the novelty of utilizing beer as an instrument to spread the Good News but how a Christian businessman incorporated his faith so holistically in his business. Today, the world needs more people like Arthur Guinness.

Let me conclude this blog post with a departing question to you. What are you doing now that is giving glory to God. What tool are you using to maximize your God-given talent to advance the Christian mission? 

If this blog post piqued your interest, I highly recommended Stephen Mansfield’s book The Search for God and Guinness. It is a fantastic read even for those who don’t enjoy beer like myself. Mansfield ends the book, capturing the essence of the Guinness Way:

1. Discern the ways of God for life and business.
2. Think in terms of generations yet to come.
3. Whatever else you do, do at least one thing very well.
4. Master the facts before you act.
5. Invest in those you would have invest in you.
6.  

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The Philanthropists: Arthur Guinness

November 24, 2013

Arthur Guinness (1724 or 1725 – 1803) was the visionary, entrepreneur, and Christian philanthropist who founded the Guinness brewery business. Born into an Irish Protestant family, Guinness received £100 from his godfather Arthur Price, the Archbishop of Cashel, in the Church of Ireland. When he was about 30 years old, Guinness invested this money in building a brewery near Dublin, the capital of Ireland. In 1761, Guinness married Olivia Whitmore in Dublin and amazingly they had 21 children.

Like many others during his day, Guinness had numerous family members who brewed their own beer (Arthur’s father had, and three of his sons did as well). Alcohol was a safer alternative to drinking the disease-infested, unfiltered water of the time. However, since so many drank to great excess, some people began to brew beer which had a much lower concentration of alcohol. Guinness was among them.

His Conversion

As noted earlier, the Guinness’s were Irish Protestants. Therefore, Arthur grew up going to church. His personal motto was Spes Mea in Deo, which means, “My hope is in God.” He was a devout Christian who loved Jesus and shared his care for the weak and poor. This love led him to help those who were addicted to strong drinks like whiskey and gin, and to offer a healthier and safer alternative in beer.

Guinness had the opportunity to hear John Wesley preach at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The revivalist made a strong impression on him. In response, he lived Wesley’s message: “Earn all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can. Your wealth is evidence of a calling from God, so use your abundance for the good of mankind.” God indeed gave him great wealth and he was faithful to honor God and love others with what he had received.

His Contributions

A significant part of Guinness’s giving was his genuine desire to help people by brewing beer because of its lower concentration of alcohol compared to many other drinks (as we noted earlier). In other words, beer genuinely helped some people avoid the excesses of drunkenness. Similarly, because of Wesley’s influence and message, Guinness worked hard to start Sunday schools and, in fact, founded the ministry of Sunday schools in Ireland. He gave money to the poor, served on hospital boards, and sought to live a simple life despite being quite wealthy.

The legacy Guinness left is still felt today. In 2009, Guinness & Co. established the Arthur Guinness Fund (AGF), which offers people opportunities to help their communities. One of the main reasons his influence has lasted so long is that he invested a great deal of time and energy into his family. He taught his children the same values that he himself cherished and lived by. Thus, his children developed the Guinness Corporation into a strong, effective organization that is still widely known to this day. Much of the reason it has done so well is because the corporation has been very generous with its customers, with its own employees, and with those outside the organization. For example, during World War II, Guinness gave a bottle of their beer to every British soldier serving in the war. Through many other similar stories, Guinness sought the good of mankind and the praise of God.

The Five Points of Reformed Baptist Churches

The Five Points of Reformed Baptist Churches

 

A brief out-line of our distinctive convictions

I REFORMATIONAL

A. Sola Scriptura  -  The Bible is the complete, closed and clear authority in all matters of faith.

B. Solus Christus  -  Our confidence is in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

C. Sola Gratia  -  Grace secured redemption without reference to works.

D. Sola Fide  -  We are declared righteous by God through faith alone(1).

E. Soli Deo Gloria  -  Goal of creation and redemption is God‘s praise.

II CALVINISTIC

A. Total Depravity  -  The fall of Adam affected the totality of man’s person(2).

B. Unconditional Election  -  Election is not based on foreseen faith or works(3).

C. Limited Atonement  -  Redemption was accomplished by Christ for elect(4).

D. Irresistible Grace  -  Regeneration by the Holy Spirit is efficacious for elect.

E. Perseverance of the Saints  -  God will, by grace, complete what He began in regeneration of the elect.

III PURITAN

A. Godliness in Worship  -  Regulative Principle of Worship(5), the Lord’s Day as a Christian Sabbath.

B. Godliness in Preaching  -  Primacy of preaching. Both exposition and application emphasized.

C. Godliness in Instruction  -  Confessional and catholic. Publishing what we believe the Bible teaches(6).

D. Godliness in Family  -  Parents are to instruct (catechize) and discipline their children in the Lord.

E. Godliness in Behavior  -  Maintaining a good conscience before God and man.

IV COVENANTAL

A. Unity of the Bible  -  Many parts yet one message.

B. Christ-centered interpretation  -  Jesus’ person, work and kingdom is the theme of the Bible.

C. Law / Gospel distinction  -  Law(7) commands and condemns. Gospel saves(8).

D. One way of salvation  -  Christ has saved all the elect throughout all the ages.

E. Optimistic view of history  -  Jesus Christ is now King ruling over all. He will soon come again.

V BAPTIST

A. Biblical Church Practice  -  Ordinances for believers only(9). Church discipline lovingly exercised.

B. Biblical Church Freedom  -  The state is not to intrude into matters of conscience.

C. Biblical Church Government  -  Elders and deacons. The local congregation chooses its leaders(10).

D. Biblical Church Growth  -  Gospel proclamation to the world. Repentance and Faith demanded of all.

E. Biblical Church Ministry  -  Priesthood of all believers(11).

THOU SHALT NOT QUESTION MARK DRISCOLL ?

If the Top Men take over, who will ask the hard questions?

Posted by Carl Trueman

 

The controversy surrounding Janet Mefferd's interview of Mark Driscoll is interesting for a variety of reasons.  There is one aspect of it which has yet to attract comment as far as I can tell.  That is the way it brings out another aspect of the celebrity culture which has so corrupted the young, restless and reformed movement.

My interest here is not who was right and who was wrong.  That will no doubt be fairly easy to establish as the claims which Janet Mefferd made should be empirically verifiable.    I would only comment that, in my own interactions with Janet Mefferd, I have always found her forthright but fair.  I am concerned in this post only with what the reactions to the interview tell us about the culture of celebrity in the subculture that is evangelicalism. 

I have tried a number of times to make the point that being a celebrity is not the same as being a public figure.   Anyone who acts in public is, to a greater or lesser degree, a public figure.  Celebrity brings with it such matters as a culture of false intimacy with complete strangers and a charismatic authority rooted in the person not in an institution.  Thus, influence is often predicated on personality, not on the intrinsic merits of arguments etc.

The Mefferd-Driscoll controversy points to another aspect of celebrity culture: celebrities are routinely allowed to behave in ways which would not be tolerated in ordinary mortals.  For example, being drunk on the job and hurling abuse at an employer would make one unemployable in the real world.  Not for Charlie Sheen. A conviction for rape would be enough to have you characterized as a monster in the real world who had forfeited the right to sympathetic media exposure.   Not for Mike Tyson or Roman Polanski (just ask that champion of women's rights, Whoopi Goldberg).   In short, normal rules do not apply to celebrities in the same way as they do to others. 

The same is true in the celebritydrome of the evangelical subculture.   Driscoll is a classic case in point. For example, he has claimed that God gives him explicit images of the sexual sins of other people.  He has embraced prosperity teacher and denier of the Trinity, T. D. Jakes, as a brother. He has written an explicit book on sex. Most recently, he engaged in a cringe-inducing publicity stunt unworthy of a spoiled teenager. For most of us, any one of these things would have ended in church discipline and (in the Jakes' case) removal from office.  Yet in all of this, the fan base and those with a vested interest in capitalizing on his success grant him free pass after free pass. 

So the fall-out from The Janet Mefferd Show has been interesting even as it has been entirely predictable.  The fan base and those with a vested interest in Driscoll's reputation rally around their hero while excoriating Janet Mefferd.   In so doing, they ironically demonstrate why shows such as Janet Mefferd's can be so very important: if the conservative evangelical world continues to be increasingly dominated by one or two huge media-style organizations, the conversation will be corralled and controlled, the hard questions will not be asked, and the leaders of such organizations and those over whom they choose to extend their patronage will not be held to account.

If, in your quest to promote yourself, you ask to appear on a particular show, you should be tough enough to take whatever that show throws at you with equanimity. The intricate and risky dance between celebrities and media is part of the game you have chosen to play, indeed a large factor in what has made you famous and influential.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not.  In such circumstances, you should also accept that Janet Mefferd's job is not to make you look good or to keep her comments within the accepted bounds of evangelical correctness as defined by you or by any other Top Man.  Her job as a radio journalist is to ask the hard questions and hold you, me or whomever she is addressing, to account.  

But you can still sleep easy at night knowing this important truth: blessed are the celebrities, for they will be rigorously held to a much lower standard of behaviour than the rest of us.  

Posted November 24, 2013 @ 3:24 PM by Carl Trueman

Christian Thanksgiving

Posted By Jason on Nov 27, 2013  

Eric Ayala:

As the Thanksgiving holiday comes again this year, we should remember the Thanksgiving meal that Christians celebrate all year long, the Eucharist. Apart from the theological prejudice that is heaped onto the term, Eucharist simply means “Thanks Giving.” We can see this aspect of the supper when Christ himself inaugurated his covenantal meal…

If all the Supper does is make us realize our sin and leave us in a self absorbed state because of the week’s failures, then we have missed a vital aspect of its proper observance.  When we properly understand the Lord’s Supper we should be moved to thanksgiving.

Unfortunately, when the issue of the Lord’s Supper comes up, the response many times is, “How often do we have to do it?” rather than, “Wow, we get to do it!”