Today is the anniversary of the day in 1945 when Deitrich Bonhoeffer was hanged by the Nazi’s. Bonhoeffer is remembered for a ton of things, including numerous theological works and taking a stand against the Nazi regime in Germany.

The night before he died, he said this: “This is the end – for me, the beginning.”

I found it helpful to remember his words this holy week, since we celebrate the end of the reign of sin and evil and the beginning of true life with God.

“God is good to all in some ways but good to some in all ways” (JI Packer, Knowing God).

It seems like the study of doctrine in Christian circles is pretty polarizing. There are those churches who major on doctrinal issues, using classic Christian terminology and stressing the importance of knowing these key issues to faith; issues like justification, sanctification, predestination, foreknowledge – you know the drill.

Then there are those churches who would argue that kind of study does little to further real life change in the people. The people need something practical, something that’s going to help them hang onto their marriage, get through the recession, and parent their children. So they lean toward this “application oriented” strategy of teaching and preaching.

I think there’s a balance in the middle to be found, where one feeds the other and vice versa, but I also see how a group of people might find the study of doctrine antiquated, boring, and useless.

And it’s because of the classic abuse of doctrine.

We have the tendency to use doctrine as nothing more than an arguing tool. We use it to be “right” in conversations, as a mark of spiritual superiority, or as a means of furthering our own arrogance which is already considerable enough.

In short, the fact that doctrine is falling out of favor in alot of circles is because in alot of circles doctrine has been abused.

It’s not supposed to be like that. Paul reminded Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:5 that “the goal of our instruction is love…”

Love. That’s the end of doctrine. Anything else is abusive.

Today, 4 decades ago in 1966, London’s “Evening Standard” newspaper published an interview with Beatle John Lennon in which he remarked:

Christianity will… vanish and shrink… We’re more popular than Christ right now.

J.I. Packer in Knowing God has a great illustration about what wisdom is, and what wisdom is not. He begins by writing how confusing it is when you stand on the platform of a train station. You don’t know why this train has been rerouted, why that one is arriving late, and so on. But if you have the chance to into the signal box, you get to see a diagram of the whole system. From that high view you can see the whole situation through the eyes of those who control it. You can see the “why” behind all the rerouting, diversions, and delays.

Packer continues:

Now, the mistake that is commonly made is to suppose that this is an illustration of what God does when he bestows wisdom: to suppose, in other words, that the gift of wisdom consists in a deepened insight into the providential meaning and purpose of events going on around us, an ability to see why god has done what he has done in a particular case, and what he is going to do next. People feel that if they were really walking close to God, so that he could impart wisdom to them freely, then they would, so to speak find themselves in the signal box.

But Packer argues that’s not true wisdom. It’s not some mystical insight. Wisdom is reactionary. Packer goes onto say that real wisdom is more like driving a car. In a car, you have to react wisely by using your blinker or wipers or merging or unmerging. You have to be able to access the situation and react accordingly. That’s wisdom.

It’s the recognition that bad things are going to happen. And it’s the ability to make the right, practical, God-honoring decision when they do.

According to Emil Brunner, the Swiss theologian: “All other religions spare us the ultimate humiliation of being stripped naked and being declared bankrupt before God.” That’s pretty strong language.

And yet it points to the humiliating nature of Christianity. All the other world religions don’t treat humanity with such pecissimism. In all other schools of thought, we have something to bring to the table. We can strive toward God and meet Him, and in a sense, be congratulated when we do.

Not Christianity.

In Christianity, we bring nothing to the table. In fact, the only thing we bring to the salvation of equation is the sin we need to be rescued from. Perhaps that’s why, if we look back into history, Christianity has been called the religion of women and slaves. In cultures of the past, neither of those two groups had many rights, so it wasn’t a far stretch for them to admit their abject need of God’s complete and total intervention on their behalf.

The bottom line is this: The one character flaw that has, and will continue, to most keep people from Christ is not greed. It’s not lust. It’s not lying or stealing or killing.

It’s pride.

That’s the only thing there is no room for at the foot of the cross.

An interesting quote from Rick Warren, complete with some rhyming:

I’m looking for a second reformation. The first reformation of the church 500 years ago was about beliefs. This one is going to be about behavior. The first one was about creeds. This one is going to be about deeds. It is not going to be about what does the church believe, but about what is the church doing

You can read the whole interview here.

Straight from the mouth of one of the pillars of Communism:

“I will believe in your redeemer when you look more redeemed.”

Just something to think about today.

I read this remarkable post from John Piper about Benjamin Warfield and his life. Piper quotes in his article:

Benjamin B. Warfield was a world-renowned theologian who taught at Princeton Seminary for almost 34 years until his death on February 16, 1921. Many people are aware of his famous books, like The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible. But what most people don’t know is that in 1876, at the age of twenty-five, he married Annie Kinkead and took a honeymoon to Germany. During a fierce storm Annie was struck by lightning and permanently paralyzed. After caring for her for thirty-nine years Warfield laid her to rest in 1915. Because of her extraordinary needs, Warfield seldom left his home for more than two hours at a time during all those years of marriage. (Great Leaders of the Christian Church, 344.)

That’s amazing patience, especially in a day when we want it our way, right away. It’s a good reminder that patience is something the Lord values greatly. How many times do we read in Scripture about those who wait on the Lord, exhortations to wait, and instruction about how to wait? Seems like a theme to me. I wonder what it is about patience that the Lord prizes so much? What does our patience reveal about Him, and our relationship to Him?

Thoughts?