Grumpy cat and theology. [quotage}

I am going through the draft posts I have cluttering up the place and getting them posted. Some are now a little out of date, but the points are not that wrong.

Modern Churchianity tends to be extrabiblical. My issue with this is very much the same as Alan at the Orthosphere has: the Churchian faith does not allow for thinking, and reform, and improvement. Now, the Churchians accuse the Reformed, such as me, of being Grumpy Cat and not having any joy. Because it as if one must be joyful, because otherwise you do not have blessings…

http://http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NWTXmmJCnk0/UcwbdDGbetI/AAAAAAAABPc/jaQihVB3rP4/s1600/grumpy-cat2.gif

Pentecostalism has had a short but colorful history since emerging at the turn of the Twentieth Century as a movement built around the belief that God is initiating a new movement featuring a renewed ministry of the Holy Spirit: speaking in tongues, miraculous healing, new prophecy. Since the belief of a new movement cannot be drawn from Scripture, Pentecostalism has been troubled by extrabiblical tomfoolery since its inception.

Surprisingly, MacArthur drew flak from some who might be expected to support him. Steve Hays from the influential theological blog Triablogue, for example, was critical of the “MacArthurites” and their position of strict cessationism, the view that the miraculous “sign gifts” evident in the New Testament (healing, raising the dead, and so on) were intended solely to authenticate the message of the Apostles, and consequently when the last Apostle died, these miracles ceased. But proving strict cessationism from Scripture is difficult, as proving a universal negative generally is, and it is also easy to drift from theological cessationism (no more sign miracles, miracles intended to authenticate Apostolic teaching) to strict cessationism (no miracles, period.)

But cessationism is mostly a red herring. The fundamental problem with Pentecostalism is not a matter of precise theological definition. It is simply this: Pentecostals, as Pentecostals, generally desire an experience of Holy Ghost power more than they desire to build the faith that saves them by learning the Word of God (the Bible) and participating in the sacraments. To be sure, many Pentecostals are faithful to the Word of God. But many are not.

It could be worse. You could be dealing with a state church. Denmark has a state church: it is Lutheran. And parliament has just legalized sams sex marriage — including in churches. All churches. Indeed, if a priest refuses within the Lutheran church the bishop must refer the couple to a more complaisant prelate.

And the rules apply to all churches.

Nah, it won’t really split the church. It will destroy it. Or at least, send it underground. Christians in Denmark will have to go crypto pretty soon.

Denmark isn’t quite the United States. It has an official Evangelical Lutheran Church that is supported by taxpayer money. This bill is not limited to the state-run church. All churches in Denmark must comply.

Here’s a fun twist: Manu Sareen of the Danish Social Liberal Party is the parliamentarian who pushed the bill that forces churches to perform same-sex weddings. Sareen is also the minister for ecclesiastical affairs. But he isn’t much of a man of faith.

“The debate has been really tough,” said Mr Sareen, an agnostic who has pushed hard for the legislation since taking his post last autumn.

Denmark offered civil unions for gay couples in 1989. That wasn’t enough. The Danish church tried to reserve the definition of marriage to itself. That didn’t work. Now Denmark’s agnostic minister of church affairs is forcing every Danish church to violate what’s left of its teachings.