Great Stott!

Man, I've read The Cross of Christ three times now, and it still so good.

On the Last Supper, and the need to appropriate the death of Christ personally:

"Again He took and blessed the cup, but then he explained its meaning as he gave it to them to drink. Thus they were not just spectators of this drama of the cross; they were participants in it. They can hardly have failed to get the message. Just as it was not enough for the bread to be broken and the wine to be poured out, but they had to eat and drink, so it was not enough for him to die, but they had to appropriate the benefits of his death personally. The eating and drinking were, as still are, a vivid acted parable of receiving Christ as our crucified Saviour and of feeding on him in our hearts by faith." (cf. Jn. 6:53-55)

pg.70

Whew

Concerning the parallels of Adam and Christ in Romans:

We may not try to trace parallels in every detail; in the operation of redemptive grace there are factors which far transcend the operations of judgment in our relation to Adam's sin, as Paul observes in Rom 5:12-19. But a parallel to this extent is surely not without warrant, that as representative solidarity with Christ in his obedience unto death and in his resurrection secures and insures subjective renewal in regeneration, so representative solidarity with Adam in his sin involved for posterity their subjective depravity as well as the forensic judgment of their being "constituted sinners."

From Murray's The Imputation of Adam's Sin

"Dogmatics in Outline" insights:

"Christian dogmatics will always be a thinking, an investigation and an exposition which are relative and liable to error…as a science [it] takes about the content of the proclamation in the Christian Church."

(i.e. Thinking through the whole of Scripture, understanding it to be Christ, and the labor of laying down principles as incontrovertibly true THAT the proclamation of Christ would be more pure and more powerful. This is me talking.)

“If we look past [Christ], we must not be surprised if we fail to find God and experience errors and disillusionments, if the world seems dark to us. When we believe, we must believe in spite of God’s hiddenness. This hiddenness of God necessarily reminds us of our human limitation. We do not believe out of our personal reason and power. Anyone who really believes knows that. The greatest hindrance to faith is again and again just the pride and anxiety of our human hearts. We would rather not live by grace. Something within us energetically rebels against it. We do not wish to receive grace; at best we prefer to give ourselves grace. This swing to and fro between pride and anxiety is man’s life. Faith bursts through them both. Of his own strength a man cannot do it. We cannot deliver ourselves from pride and anxiety about life; but there will always be a movement of defiance, not last against ourselves."

"Wisdom is the knowledge by which we may actually and practically live; it is empiricism and it is the theory which is powerful in being directly practical, in being the knowledge which dominates our life, which is really a light upon our path. Not a light to wonder at and to observe, not a light to kindle all manner of fireworks at – not even the profoundest philosophical speculations – but the light on our road which may stand above our action and above our talk, the light on our healthy and on our sick days, in our poverty and in our wealth, the light which does not only lighten when we suppose ourselves to have moments of insight, but which accompanies us even into our folly, which is not quenched when all is quenched, when the goal of our life becomes visible in death. To live by this light, by this truth, is the meaning of Christian knowledge."

And finally,

"Where there is faith, man in his complete limitation and helplessness, in his utter abandonment and folly, possesses the freedom, the freedom royal in all humility, to let the light shine of the doxa, of the gloria, of the glory of God. More is not required of us but that is required of us. This public responsibility of our trust in God’s Word and of our knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ is the general concept for what in the Christian sense is called confessing and confession."

And breathe...

Step 1 of 6 this Summer

May 2

1. A video with Mike Rowe from dirty jobs. (also check out TED.com)
2. Here's a website about the new epidemic: doihaveswineflu.org

Canes Win!

Normally I wouldn't write about a hockey game. But this one was sweet.

Canes 4 Devils 3

Rachel's friend had 10 extra tickets to tonight's game. Carolina Hurricanes vs. New Jersey Devils. Playoffs. The seats were on the first level, right behind the Devil's net, so we got to see a couple goals scored up close. Thrilling. The idea of hockey is not laughable to me, but somewhat, mystifying I guess. Put big men in even bigger pads, strap knives to their feet and try to smack a rubber disc at a net. I guess I'm not cold blooded enough to grasp it inherently. But I did appreciate the game tonight.

Experiencing this game made me feel like my life was a little more complete. The loud cheering, the boisterous atmosphere, the high stakes, the last second goal and the final eruption, all that made me feel a little more human. Loud speakers, and being surrounded by many more die-hard fans sort of helped. Odd. I feel like I have one more trick in my arsenal of personal experiences. One more story to tell.

I know what you're thinking. If you were not a State fan, you would have this high much more often. Well. You're probably right.

Ark the Chinese Builders Bring

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