Resources

A little Time With The 1689: Day 2

/ Reformed Baptista / 2 Comments

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Day 2

Of The Holy Scriptures

Chapter 1, Paragraph 1

“…although the light of Nature, and the works of Creation and Providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men unexcusable; yet they are not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and His will, which is necessary to salvation.”

Scripture Lookup:

Romans 1:19-21. Why are all people without excuse when it comes to knowing God?

Romans 2:14,15. What is the evidence given that all people are responsible to obey God?

Psalm 19:1-3. What demonstrates God’s glory? Is this a one-time instance of declaration, or is it constant?

Reflection

Warm, sandy beaches. Crisp, glittering snow. The beat of a hummingbird’s wings. When confronted with the beauty of the world around us, it is apparent that God created it all. How could such beauty come by chance?

Rain falls, the sun shines, and food grows. People are fed. The goodness of God is declared.

The earth’s rotation around the sun is extremely reliable. Math equations are constant. Mankind has a desire for knowledge. The wisdom of God is shown.

Ocean tides ebb and flow. Volcanoes erupt. History tells of people surviving events that should have crushed them. The power of God is displayed.

This constant cry from nature, creation and providence declaring God’s goodness, wisdom and power is called general revelation. How amazing is it that those attributes of God are made known to everyone? And yet, due to sin, we supress that knowledge and disregard God’s law. General revelation is amazing, what it tells us about God is awe-inspiring, and yet it is not enough. It leaves out the knowledge needed about God to free us from our sin and the penalty due to sin. Where can that knowledge be found? In the Holy Scriptures.

General revelation is beautiful. How much more so the Scriptures!

Questions to consider:

  • If you looked outside your window right now, how would nature, creation and providence you see point to the goodness, wisdom and power of God?
  • If a person has never heard of the Scriptures, can that person be saved?
  • What importance do you place on Scripture? Is it more valuable to you than creation?

A Little Time With The 1689: Day 1

/ Reformed Baptista / 1 Comment

Preface: I have written that one of my goals for this blog is to go through the 1689. This year, Lord willing, I will do so. It is my hope that this devotional will appeal to women who may be new to the whole “Reformed Baptist” idea, who may find the idea of studying the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith overwhelming. While I have some trepidation in wading in such waters, the knowledge gained will be beneficial for myself, and I pray it will be for you as well. So let’s dip our toe in this stream, shall we? I will mainly use the facsimile edition for my work, copies of which can be found at RBAP.

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Day 1

Of The Holy Scriptures

Chapter 1, Paragraph 1

“The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving Knowledge, Faith, and Obedience…”

Scripture Lookup:

2 Timothy 3:15-17. List the uses of Scripture.

Isaiah 8:20. What law (or “teaching”)and testimony is being talked of here?

Luke 16:29, 31. To what parts of Scripture does the phrase “Moses and the Prophets” refer?

Ephesians 2:20. According to the passage, what role do the “apostles and prophets” have in the household of God?

Reflection

At the close of 2016, dishonesty seems to be in the very air we breathe.  “Fake news” is blamed by some for the outcome of the U.S. presidential election. Doctored photos appear in magazines, news journalists admit to falsifying stories, politicians speak out of both sides of their mouth. Advertising is ubiquitous, twisting words and image to mean whatever an ad executive wants it to mean. Everyone has an agenda, and we need to keep our guard up so we are not betrayed.

We can be so used to this defense that we can be tempted to turn this skepticism to Scripture. Some scholars say Scripture is unreliable. They’ve studied it, so they must know, right? Can writings thousands of years old really be trusted?

Let’s look at the line from the Confession again: Holy Scripture is the ONLY sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of ALL saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.

It is sufficient. We do not need to look elsewhere, for Scripture is not lacking.

It is certain. Waffling and wavering will not be found in what It says.

It is infallible. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines infallible as “not capable of being wrong or making mistakes”.

Scripture does not fail. It cannot err. In our day and age of photoshop, filters and fake news stories, we grow skeptical of information we receive. But we need not cast a wary eye at Scripture. It remains trustworthy. And what is it that Scripture can be trusted with? It is our guide for all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. Scripture will tell us what we need to know about God, what we need to believe concerning Him, and what we need to do to please Him. It will tell us the Truth.

Questions to consider:

  • Have you been skeptical of God’s Word?
  • Are there any parts of Scripture that still make you wary?
  • Do you look to any other guide to show you how to live for God?

Introducing a Baptist Larger Catechism

/ Jason Delgado / 2 Comments

Just yesterday, a fellow 1689’r announced that he is working on putting together (in community) a Baptist Larger Catechism.

It has only been in recent years that I discovered the writings, confessions, and catechisms of the original 17th century Particular Baptists. I’ve enjoyed reading through The Baptist Catechism by Benjamin Keach and The Orthodox Catechism by Hercules Collins. Those two catechisms most closely align with the Westminster Shorter Catechism and the Heidelberg Catechism, respectively. What I’ve found interesting is that I haven’t seen a Particular Baptist version of the Westminster Larger Catechism, in which a thorough discussion of credobaptist distinctives have been given in catechetical form. So in my small attempt to pass down sound doctrine and tradition, I have decided to do a Baptist Larger Catechism. So, on a weekly basis, I will post a couple of questions from the catechism that I have completed. I view this as a community project for all other Reformed Baptists who would like to see a Larger Catechism in modern English so if you are interested in assisting in any way, feel free to comment. So, without further ado, here are the first couple of questions of a Larger Baptist Catechism.

Check it out:

Resources for “How to Read a Book”

/ William F. Leonhart III / Leave a comment

The following is a comment left on our site in lieu of our forthcoming discussion of Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren’s How to Read a Book:

___________________________

Hello,

We are a not-for-profit educational organization founded by Mortimer Adler and we have recently made an exciting discovery—three years after writing the wonderfully expanded third edition of How to Read a Book, Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren made a series of thirteen 14-minute videos—lively discussing the art of reading. The videos were produced by Encyclopaedia Britannica. For reasons unknown, sometime after their original publication, these videos were lost.

Three hours with Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren, lively discussing the art of reading, on one DVD. A must for all readers, libraries and classroom teaching the art of reading.

I cannot exaggerate how instructive these programs are—we are so sure that you will agree, if you are not completely satisfied, we will refund your donation.

Please go here to see a clip and learn more:

http://www.thegreatideas.org/HowToReadABook.htm

ISBN: 978-1-61535-311-8

Thank you,

Max Weismann, Co-founder with Dr. Adler