John H Armstrong

Brothers and Sisters Pray for Me

I write today, on the Lord’s Day of September 18, 2011, asking you to pray for me personally. Unashamedly I request your intercession in your corporate worship today and in your private intercession as well. Why?

1. I am a simple servant of the living God, like you, and thus I need the prayers of all God’s people. Revelation 5:6-8 says:

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.

The metaphor used here is of a golden bowl full of incense offered to The Lamb on the throne—Jesus. These bowls are full of “the prayers of God’s people.” Your prayers add to the content of these golden bowls. I do not understand how this works and do not need to understand but I do need and desire your prayers. You are giving to me and to Jesus when you pray.

2. I struggle daily with physical distress in the form of an auto-immune disorder that I’ve endured for 13-plus years. This unseen illness sometimes leaves me almost hopeless and helpless to fight on. Recently I’ve had a very difficult struggle but the Lord has clearly spoken to me about developing a deep mental toughness through contemplation and becoming more quiet in his presence.

3. I believe, God willing, that the very best years of my mission are just beginning as the new missional-ecumenical cohort program gets started on October 4. (Go to www.act3online.com for more information.) This program and training has the possibility, in the ideas and the type of high-touch/high-tech teaching that I’ll use, to transform hundreds of leaders and through them to touch and change thousands more. I hope to see the fruit of this effort begin and the real fruit of it when I am at the feet of The Lamb in the church triumph many decades from now!

4. I do not promote ACT 3, but Jesus, the unity of his church and the mission he gave us to accomplish before the end of this age. This is not because I am so humble but rather because I am genuinely convinced this is the way the Lord wants it to be. I prefer to serve other leaders and will do this mostly without being in the spotlight. I once knew the spotlight and discovered that it was not such a big deal. In fact, it is not what you think it is I assure you. What really matters is seen in secret, and sometimes by little people with real faith, but not what people see in public and talk endlessly about in the media, Christian or otherwise.

5. ACT 3 does have specific needs but prayer is the divinely appointed, Christ-glorifying, means for meeting all those needs. Of this I have no doubt. Therefore, brothers and sisters please pray for me.

Senator Mark Hatfield: RIP

The death of former Senator Mark Hatfield of Oregon, on August 7, reminded me of just how influential this incredibly thoughtful and seriously devout man was for my journey of faith. While I never shared every view that Hatfield held on every issue I always paid careful attention to his arguments and respected him for his courage. He was a man of principle, something that there is too little of in our time. He feared no one and consistently spoke truth to power no matter what it cost him.

Hatfield served thirty years in the U.S. Senate and two terms as governor of Oregon. Sarah Pulliam Bailey, writing for Christianity Today, said of Hatfield:

For nearly four decades, [he was] perhaps American evangelicals' most prominent and admired politician . . . a man associated with liberal politics, one of the country's leading voices against the Vietnam War and military spending, and a critic of the nascent religious right.

Hatfield stood out at a time when the nation, after World War II and the strong warnings of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, began to pursue global empire under the guise of spreading democracy, an idea that has now come home to roost. This notion of place in the world as a benevolent empire has been promoted by every president since Nixon, including our current president who openly ran against the notion and now defends it. George W. Bush did the same thing, telling Al Gore in a debate he opposed the “nation building” ideas of Clinton and Gore.

One of the most moving tributes to Hatfield that I read came from Russell Moore, a conservative who disagreed with many of Hatfield’s ideas. In a moving and respectful tribute, also published in Christianity Today, Dr. Moore spoke of a time when he was conflicted about feeling a call to the ministry and yet he had a love for politics. He told how he sought help from Hatfield through a brief three-minute encounter in the Capitol. Moore writes:

Hatfield leaned in and listened to me. He told me, as I thought, that politics was a noble calling, but he said, "You should really be sure that the Lord isn't calling you to ministry, though, because that would be a shame to miss." As he left, he turned back and said, "Remember 1 Corinthians 4:20."

I am quite sure that Hatfield had no idea that these few minutes were that important. Most of us never do. But he stopped and spoke to this young man and made a big difference in his life. That inspires me to stop and listen.

How many leaders, in Washington or in the church, would stop and give that kind of personal attention to anyone? I would hope that I would but I am sure I have failed. I feel like Hatfield, in a way that was never directly personal, made a real difference in my life and many in my generation of young evangelicals. I do not wish to be sentimental at all but he touched my life. I thank God for him and pray that he now rests in the loving presence of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

God’s Hands

I have heard, for as long as I can recall, the idea that God’s hands in this world are those that he has given to us. Put very simply, God has no hands but ours, no arms but ours, no legs but ours.

I once mocked this idea because I felt it directly attacked the notion of divine sovereignty. I even said that if this was true then God was a poor and broken cripple who could do nothing in this world at all but wait on us to act.

When I understood where this idea came from, and what it really meant, I changed my mind. Let me explain.

One popular story says that following Word War II some German students volunteered to help rebuild a cathedral in England damaged by Luftwaffe bombings. As the work progressed the workers were not sure how to best restore the statue of Jesus with his arms outstretched and bearing the inscription: “Come unto Me.”

The workers repaired all the damage but could not find a way to repair Christ’s hands. They decided to leave the hands off and changed the inscription to read: “Christ has no hands but ours.” (More about the credibility of this account in a moment.)

Before you assume anything please understand that however this came about, or even if this English cathedral story is apocryphal, people did not come up with this idea entirely on their own. The tradition behind it is deep and ancient. St. Theresa of Avila once prayed:

Lord Christ,

You have no body on earth but ours,

No hands but ours,

No feet but ours.

Ours are the eyes through which your compassion

Must look out on the world.

Ours are the feet by which you may still

Go about doing good.

Ours are the hands with which

You bless people now.

Bless our minds and bodies,

That we may be a blessing to others. Amen.

Multiple interpretations of this event abound (an Internet check reveals several different similar events) but one simple fact is clear – the idea behind this Christ without hands statue is sound if the thought is correctly understood and not stereotyped through misunderstanding like that which I had in the past. God is sovereign but the Sovereign God has assigned us the role of being the body of Christ in this world. Both truths are clearly taught in Holy Scripture.

Further, the idea of the body of Christ being Christ’s hands and eyes, etc. is underscored in one of the most famous prayers ever spoken and written, that of St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is discord, union.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

My Visit with Fr. Joseph Girzone on Joshua Mountain

The famous author and well-known spiritual teacher, Fr. Richard Rohr, wrote an endorsement for Barbara Benjamin’s engaging biography of Fr. Joseph F. Girzone, The Joshua Priest: A Biography of Faith. The endorsement noted: “It has been said that ideas do not change people, but people change people. In this book you will have two beautiful ‘people’ encounters – with a great man and with the great woman who writes about him. Be prepared to be changed, enlightened, and readied for an even greater Encounter.”

That sums up well my experience with the life and writing of Joseph Girzone, a man that I now have the joy of calling my dear friend.

Barbara Benjamin shows how faith, for Joseph Girzone, is not an intellectual state but a deep conviction, or what the writer of Hebrews calls the evidence of “things not seen.” Faith is, to use another expression, an attitude of being convinced by the person one trusts and loves. My friend Joe Girzone is convinced of Jesus and by Jesus. Guided through a life of pursuing God from childhood Joe eventually came to realize that his fear of God was rooted in not intimately knowing Jesus through faith. His journey was always taking different turns in the road, as Barbara Benjamin’s biography shows, but his destiny was clear – to know Jesus and to make him known to the world. If I had to say one thing about Joe it would be this; he knows and loves Jesus in a deeply personal and completely human way!

Barbara Benjamin writes, in the final two paragraphs of her story of The Joshua Priest:

Looking back over the Joshua years, and over a lifetime filled with so many small and wonderful miracles, Father Joe remains deeply humbled. For his faith journey has led him closer to Jesus, closer to God, and closer to his own unique ministry than he could ever have hoped for. It has led him to met people from all over the world and from all walks of life and to share with those people the new sense of Jesus that had renewed his own soul and brought him unimagined freedom and joy. And he has graced with the opportunity to see people of every nationality and religious persuasion respond to God’s universal love, respond to the healing compassion of the good shepherd and to the living spirit of Jesus among them.

Indeed, his journey with his deeply rooted, living faith had led him to Joshua and to his own spiritual rebirth as The Joshua Priest (135-36).

This was precisely how I found Father Joe to be in the flesh. He was exactly what I expected in every way. He was as non-pretentious as any spiritually-formed man I’ve ever met. He prayed with me, he shared meals with me (he is a good and healthy cook), he listened to me ramble on about this and that, he argued with me and even watched a Stanley Cup hockey game with me! We discussed Jesus, faith, politics, the church, the sacraments, Mary, visions, homosexuality, the scandal of so many priests who’ve been charged (often falsely he believes and I now do as well) with molesting children, the afterlife, the beauty of creation, the history of Albany (NY), the wonder of friendships, etc. Three days with Fr. Joe was rewarding and life-changing.

Joe lives in Altamont, New York, a small place outside of Albany. After the success of Joshua in the late 1980s Joe bought this lovely large home to be a place for him to pray, rest, write, counsel and entertain friends. I spent three days in a large, quiet room where I could see three states: New York, Vermont and Massachusetts. The spring flowers and foliage were gorgeous and the days were not too hot. We walked to the higher reaches of Joshua Mountain, drove into Albany to see sights and generally relaxed and talked a lot about the real Jesus, the one so many people (sadly) do not know. Joe gave me many of his books that I have not yet read and opened his heart and home to me as if I was a long lost brother. Each morning began with the eucharist and morning prayers. Our pace was relaxed and our conversation not prepared in any sense. We just “hung out.” For a man who was told thirty years ago he might not live another six months Joe is fit and energetic at age 81. He also maintains an active life through the Internet, the telephone and the guests he sees around his home. Several times a month he conducts evening times for teaching and people come to Joshua Mountain from around the area. It is all simple and straightforward. No pretense and no barriers. Joe is one of the freest and most genuinely joyful souls I’ve ever gotten to know.

After conversation for several days I determined that Joe clearly is a Christian mystic. He understands contemplation, practices it and does not get distressed over the things that bother so many people. He walks and talks with Jesus who is closer to him that the world itself. What does distress his soul very deeply is to see people, especially poor and weak people, being treated unjustly by other people and by social systems like government and the church. He feels the pain of the oppressed deeply but lives with joy, the very same spiritual paradox I see in the life of Jesus.

Why I Love Fr. Joe Girzone and Support Joshua Mountain Ministries

Each month Father Joe Girzone writes a news and prayer letter for friends and people who support his mission on Joshua Mountain. During my three days with Joe I saw him take phone calls from people as far away as Japan and as close as near-by Albany. He referred to his large “parish” several times. I soon became aware that he was not exaggerating at all. I was amazed at how he listened and interacted with everyone, many of them people he had not met in the flesh at all. At times he was extremely funny and at others most serious and helpful. He was always joyful and always quick with his wit. Joe just lights up around people and brings joy to them with great blessing. The presence of Jesus is quite real in his simple, unpretentious, very human presence.

I can tell you that Fr. Joe’s parish is genuinely represented by people from all over the world. He responded to emails late into the evening and talked with workers around his home during the day. He met new people in Albany, and the nearby village of Altamont, and engaged with everyone in a deeply personal way. He called on the grieving and comforted them during the time I was with him. He shows respect and dignity to everyone, just like the One he so deeply loves, Joshua.

In June Joe wrote in his “News from Joshua Mountain” the following:

Frequently throughout each month I come across more and more hurting people.  I either meet them when outside and end up talking to them or they come to visit or call to talk to me.  The pain and heartaches in their lives overwhelms me sometimes.  I am becoming more and more convinced that most people have been damaged in some way, either by others' abuse or neglect, or rejection, meanness, contempt, abandonment, hatred, or by being treated as if they don't exist by those who should love them. Some people's personalities have been severely crippled by genetic damage which often conditions them in a way difficult to control towards behavior which is unacceptable by society. They end up in prison, where they are punished severely. A truly Christian society following the mind and heart of Jesus, who said, "It is not the death of a sinner that I desire, but that he be converted and live," should be more concerned about healing damaged and broken people than treating them like animals in cages. Our highly enlightened society has more people in prison than any other country in the world, with almost four times as many in prison than the country with the next highest number which is Australia. And I know cynics will ridicule this out of ignorance and contempt for Jesus' mentality. But, if people who come to me broken, came to them on a regular basis, even their eyes would be opened and they would soon see what many of us see in the lives of damaged people. And I am perhaps more sincerely concerned than cynics about the victims of crimes also. It is easy for a cynic to say something smart but I rarely see them doing anything helpful in real life. There brilliance is limited to rocking chair commenting.

I am coming to see more and more why Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd.  Only he sees the almost universal extent of human suffering and to give us hope in our pain and hopelessness, tells us, "Do not be afraid. I am the Good Shepherd. I know your pain, and I wander day and night through the world trying to find you and heal you, so you may be able continue your pilgrimage through this world and reach out to others you meet and help them too. Always know that I love you and I will always be there for you, all of you, who are hurting and have been hurt by others.

I read this news before I met Joe and spent three days with him on Joshua Mountain. I’ve been reading his news for about a year now. I can tell you this is genuinely representative of the real man who writes these readable and simple best-sellers. He cares about people because he loves Jesus so very deeply.  

After I visited Joshua Mountain Fr. Joe wrote his July “News from Joshua Mountain.” This reveals the very things I write above and is the truth about the friend I made in June.

This past month has been a busy month in a number of ways.  My parish has grown significantly. I know I don't have a canonical parish, but as providence would have it, a parish spontaneously developed, making my priesthood an enjoyable, though at times, a stressful ministry. Whenever I notice this, my memory drifts back to a congratulations card I got when I retired in 1980.  A Protestant lady sent me a beautiful card congratulating me on my new parish. I was stunned because, I was told by my doctor that I might have only six months to live. He insisted that I retire from my unusually stressful parish work.

It was only a short time after I retired that I received the card from that lady. I called to thank her and told her that my dangerous health condition necessitated my retirement.  She said immediately, "You're not retiring, Father, you are going to have a parish that will be worldwide.” I just smiled and thanked her for her kind wishes. That was 31 years ago.

For almost three years after that I was unable to work or move around for more than two or three hours when I had to lie down and rest. That was four or five times a day. I followed strictly my doctor's orders and stuck to my diet. For the first two years one of my sisters let me stay with her even though I was not the best house guest, then an undertaker friend let me live in an unrented bungalow she owned and I lived there for four years while I wrote JOSHUA. Shortly after that my strength began to come back and I was able to work five or six hours without resting. In time JOSHUA spread throughout the whole world and was put in Buddhist monastery libraries in India. Priests in mission countries translated it into their languages and used the translation in their parishes in Pakistan, and Nepal and in other places. In time, demands came for speaking engagements which brought me, and later on Sister Dorothy with me, to China, Australia, Scotland, Belgium, Germany, Canada, and most of the states in our own country. People from all these places still keep in touch and share the happy and sad times in their lives.

Now, though I am 81 and am not able to go far from my house for long periods of time, I am still able to continue my work as a priest. What a wonderful invention computers are! My computer was set up with very high speed capability, and I can now have teleconferencing sessions with my friends around the world and through Skype can give live video talks to groups here and in other countries. I videoed my dear friend, Koji Yamazaki, last night. He had done a very professional Japanese translation of JOSHUA six years ago and it has spread all over Japan. And this morning I had a delightful session with another friend in The Netherlands, Jan van der Boom. When he called I was sitting in front of the computer shaving, and when my teleconferencing kicked in immediately, I could see myself on the screen sitting there in my tee shirt and shaving. He got a big laugh out of that because he could see me, too.

So, I am finally realizing that I still have a parish, and my parishioners are the most wonderful people in the whole world. But now to get back down to earth! In the beginning of June I was asked by my new publisher, Orbis Press, to go to Chicago for a Publishers Convention. Orbis, introduced our new book, THE HOMELESS BISHOP, to the booksellers market and it received a very good reception. I am so happy with my new publishers. They are such gracious people to work with, and have already initiated a wide publicity program throughout the country and are very enthusiastic about the book's potential. That will be such a big help. 

To my surprise my friend then wrote about our visit in June by adding:

I also had a most pleasant visit from another dear friend, John Armstrong from Chicago. John is a Dutch Reformed theologian and our theological beliefs are very much in harmony. We had long and very frank discussions about so many topics, and we both needed a mental rest when the visit ended.

Joe ended his July “News from Joshua Mountain” by adding:

If any of you would like to make a small donation to help our ministry, it would be a big help. I have tried to do it myself for the past 29 years, but I don't have the resources anymore.

I am committed to helping Joe in whatever small ways that I can. I have already sent a generous gift. You can send a tax-deductible gift to:

Joshua Mountain Ministries

1071 Joshua Lane

Altamont, NY 12009

I encourage you to get to know him, receive his monthly news, and read the books I mentioned two days ago. If you live near Albany or can get there be sure to plan on one of Joe’s Tuesday evening talks. You can also subscribe to his monthly news, as I do, by writing him directly at: [email protected]. You should also visit the Joshua Mountain web site.

Getting to Know the Joshua Priest, Fr. Joe Girzone

Since the publication of Joshua: A Parable for Today (1983) countless millions of readers have been transformed by the way Fr. Joseph F. Girzone presents the good news of Jesus in a simple and compelling manner. The Jesus of this best-seller is a good person, kind beyond all measure and full of true love for everyone he meets. His unconditional compassion is almost too much for some people to handle. (A search of comments about the book on the Web will reveal deep appreciation mixed with some incredible, and generally unfair, criticism of Fr. Girzone and this book.)

But who is Fr. Joseph Francis Girzone?

Until two years ago I knew nothing about the author, except that his books had sold like very few religious books in the last thirty years. One reason, I soon discovered, for the popularity and sale of Girzone’s books is that they are not religious in the normal sense of that word. They are deeply spiritual, but I assure you they are entirely about Jesus! Now there’s a refreshing idea if ever there was one.

I knew very little about the Joshua phenomenon in the 1980s and 1990s (a number of other books followed the original one once it sold in large numbers) because I had no interest in fictional books about Jesus. I was anchored in the view that any fiction about Jesus had to be questioned on principle. The idea of writing about Jesus in this way was fraught with serious dangers, or so I thought at the time. I was clearly the product of a rationalistic approach to hermeneutics and this kept me from using my imagination in a deep and growing way. This has all changed now and Joe Girzone has been a dear friend to me in this journey. (But I jump ahead of myself!)

So how did I begin to read and appreciate Joseph F. Girzone? I was browsing “new” book titles in my public library and there was a book by Girzone. It was not fiction so I felt safe to read him and see how he dealt with the life of Christ. The book, Jesus: A New Understanding of God's Son, followed the life of Jesus by telling his story in a simple, but very faithful, human way. For me it really proved to be exactly what the subtitle said, “A new understanding of God’s Son.” I could not put the book down. Girzone followed the life of Jesus from infancy to adulthood, through his life and mission, his death and resurrection and his ascension to the Father. His treatment of Jesus was orthodox, respectful and biblically sound. (Even in the small areas where Catholics and Protestants disagree about Jesus and his mother Fr. Girzone was very careful and most wise!)

So moving was Girzone’s story of Jesus that I found my heart moved, warmed, filled with fresh excitement. I was falling in love with Jesus all over again. For a few days I felt like I had undergone a new conversion! There was an excitement about knowing Jesus that I had lost in debate and discouragement. The wages of religious warfare had truly drained me down more than I realized at the time. I took the book on a trip to Seattle and Vancouver (BC) and devoured it in a few days. As result I did something I had never previously done. I wrote my first review of a book on Amazon.com. Here is what I posted on November 28, 2009:

Father Joseph Girzone is an incredibly effective writer. He is elegant with words and his style is moving and humane. I had previously read only one of his books, The Trinity. I am now going to go back and read his popular fiction.

This volume is something between a parallel Gospel account and a narrative constructed on such a plan. It is not always the best scholarship on Jesus but it reads so well, and engages the reader in such a profoundly personal way, that it should not be missed by Christians and non-Christians alike. I know of no other book quite like it. The author's purpose is to enter into Jesus' heart and mind as he understands the four different accounts we have from the Four Gospel authors.

These chapters were originally given as oral talks over the course of three and a half years. Girzone's goal is to have readers enter into a deeper understanding of Jesus, not into a highly technical Christological debate. He succeeds marvelously. Non-Catholic readers will disagree at a few points but he treats these matters with grace and care. I found myself loving the mother of our Lord far more after reading Girzone's account of Mary's relationship with Jesus and I am an evangelical Protestant. He may fill in some blanks with a vivid imagination at a few points but I believe he is warranted to make such suggestions based upon the overall account that we do have of the life of Lord.

There is much here that some readers will quibble about but the book is important for one great reason: it introduces ordinary readers, and long time students of the Bible like me, to the human Jesus in a fresh and immensely helpful way. I loved it.

Well, not long after this review was posted I received a biography about Girzone in the mail from the author, Barbara Benjamin. The title was: The Joshua Priest: A Biography of Faith. The book was the story of Fr. Girzone’s life in Christ. It told me about his family and childhood, his time in preparation as a Carmelite, his parish priesthood and the amazing work of the Joshua priest over the last thirty years since he left parish work. I was pleased by this unexpected gift, to say the least. I was even more pleased to read the book in 2010 and begin correspondence with the author. She later sent me a lovely collection of her poems: Face to Face. Through Barbara I got to know Fr. Girzone. I then had the incredible joy of meeting him in June of this year. I spoke to Barbara on the phone but our schedules did not allow us to meet when I was in Westchester County (NY).

Tomorrow: The Story of the Joshua Priest

The Supreme Authority of Scripture and Interpretation

Yesterday, I wrote about the authority of Scripture. I am often asked what has kept me from embracing the Catholic Church in its present state? I have many friends who’ve converted to Roman Catholicism. I have many supporters of this mission who are Catholic. This happens because these friends and donors know I am serving the whole church in a unique and ecumenical context. The fact is that I have great love for the Catholic Church. And I am clearly not an anti-Catholic. Further, I have no desire to become a polemicist who engages in anti-Catholic evangelicalism. I am a serious ecumenist and as such I love all Christians – Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant. I long to see full communion between the great ancient churches of the Christian faith. Because of this love and longing I will continue to engage with these kinds of issues for the rest of my life. It is because I love Christ and all his people that I do so.

But I am sometimes asked, What keeps you from becoming a Catholic? There are several reasons I remain a Reformed Protestant but a major one is related to this issue of authority. Over time I believe the Catholic Church developed a two-source view of authority. I believe this view is wrong. I believe this view was correctly challenged by the magisterial Reformers of the sixteenth century because the errors it had produced were harmful to the health of the church. I also believe, as I began to show yesterday, that this two-source view is in conflict with the teaching of the early church fathers as well. This point will be strongly opposed by good Catholic friends. The danger in this debate is that we will simply trade quotes and throw verbal bombs. Good ecumenism will not do this. It will listen respectfully and keep the discussion moving forward. In the end a person has to be persuaded in their own conscience by the facts they read and seek to understand. I have wrestled with these facts deeply. I remain persuaded that the Catholic claim that final authority residing in two-sources is wrong.

For my Catholic friends I urge you to respect me even if you disagree with my reading of this important issue. I know most of you do. Catholic academics clearly engage in this dialog without the heated rhetorical devices of many untrained apologists. For my Protestant friends, I urge you to not give up this precious truth in the midst of the modern polemics used against it by popular Catholic authors and speakers who often rail against it by using stereotypes and misrepresentations. What is at stake here is very important, so important that at least for now it hinders the union of our respective Christian churches. (It should not hinder unity even while we cannot attain union with this disagreement on the table!)

Yesterday, I cited some sayings from early church theologians. Here are a few more that I find extremely helpful:

What the Scriptures have not declared, you will never find.
(St. Athanasius, De S. Trin. Dial.)

It is a mockery to ask questions, or to make discourses, on that which is not written. (St. Athanasius, Epist. Ad. Serap.)

In the Holy Scriptures alone is the instruction of religion announced—to which let no man add, from which let no man detract—which are sufficient in themselves for the enunciation of the truth. (St. Athanasius, adv. Gentes init.)

Do not believe me simply, unless you receive the proof of what I say from Holy Scripture. (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. A.D. 348)

Keep that faith only which the Church is now giving to you and which is certificated out of the whole of Scripture. (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech.)

Concerning the divine and holy mysteries of the faith, even the most casual remark ought not to be delivered without the sacred Scriptures. (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. IV.12)

It is evidently a falling away from the faith, and a proof of great presumption, to neglect any part of what is written, or to introduce anything that is not written. (St. Basil c. 329-379, bishop of Caesarea, de Vera Fide)

How can we use those things, which we find not in the Scriptures!
(St. Ambrose c. 339-397, Offic. Lib. 1, c. 23)

When we receive money, we do not trust to those who give it to us; we wish to count it ourselves: and when there is a question of Divine things, would it not be a folly rashly and blindly to receive the opinions of others, when we have a rule by which we can examine everything? I mean the Divine law. It is for this reason that I conjure you all, without resting in the slightest degree on the judgment of others, to consult the Scriptures. (St. John Chrysostom c. 347-407, Homil. xiii. in 2 Cor.)

When you shall see the wicked heresy, which is the army of Antichrist, standing in the holy places of the church, then let those who are in Judea head for the mountains, that is, those who are Christians should head for the Scriptures. For the true Judea is
Christendom, and the mountains are the Scriptures of the prophets and apostles, as it is written: “Her foundations are in the holy mountains.” But why should all Christians at this time head for the Scriptures? Because in this period in which heresy has taken
possession of the churches there can be no proof of true Christianity nor any other refuge for Christians who want to know the truth of the faith except the divine Scriptures. Earlier we showed in many ways which is the church of Christ, and which heathenism. But now there is for those who want to know which is the true church of Christ no way to know it except only the through the Scriptures. Why? Because heresy has everything just like the church. How, then, will anyone who wants to know which is the true church of Christ know it in the midst of this great confusion resulting from this similarity, except only through the Scriptures? The Lord, therefore, knowing that there would be such a great confusion of things in the last days, commands that Christians who…want to gain steadfastness in the true faith should take refuge in nothing else but the Scriptures.

Otherwise, if they look to other things, they will be offended and will perish, because they will not know which is the true church, and as a result they will fall into the abomination of desolation which stands in the holy places of the church. (Traditionally ascribed to St. John Chrysostom, glossa ordinaria 49th Homily, on Mat. 24)

We deny not those things which are written, so we refuse those which are not written. That God was born of a Virgin, we believe, because we read; that Mary married after she gave birth to him, we believe not, because we read not. (St. Jerome c. 347-c. 420, adv. Helvidium juxta finem, Tom. IV. Part II)

In those things, which are plainly laid down in Scripture, all things are found, which embrace faith and morals. (St. Augustine, De Doctrina Christiana A.D. 427, Lib. II, c. 9)

The canon of the Scriptures is perfect, and in itself suffices to the full, and more, for all demands. (St. Vincent of Lérins, Adversus profanes omnium novitates haereticorum commonitorium A.D.434)

Bring me not human reasonings and syllogisms, for I rely on the divine Scripture alone. (Theodoret of Cyrus c. 393-466, Dial. I. Atrept.)

I have provided only a small sample of hundreds of such early church texts. When I began to wrestle with this issue of biblical authority some years ago, and then re-engage it through my deep love for the whole Christian church over the last fifteen years or so, I came to a deeper appreciation for a sound and balanced understanding of the truth of sola scriptura. Often Protestants hold very bad views of sola scriptura. This does not disprove the true doctrine but it should make us careful about how we state it and teach it.

But this pursuit has also caused me to see many of the more common errors taught by Protestants who hold to this principle. Some Protestant evangelicals make amazing claims about the Bible, especially when it comes to interpreting Scripture. In their desire to avoid various forms of interpretation (allegory comes to mind) embraced by the whole church throughout her history they sometimes fall into grievous errors. One such egregious error was made by a now deceased professor of mine who also became a personal friend. He once lectured for our ministerial meeting here in the Chicago area. In his lecture on Scripture he said:

We don’t criticize the apostolic use of the Old Testament in the New because the apostles were inspired but we cannot follow it because  they were wrong.

I am not misquoting my departed friend. So amazing was this claim that I have discussed it now and again with friends. (This professor actually wrote a book on the Old Testament in the New!) When my dear friend, Fr,. Wilbur Ellsworth, once a Baptist and now an Orthodox priest, brought his up to me a few days ago I was mortified by its conclusion once again. I asked myself, “What made a brilliant man make such a statement?” What my friend was seeking to uphold was a particularly evangelical view of how to interpret the Bible literally. I believe in this case his view of Scripture had gone wrong.

I am again reminded that Catholic and Orthodox Christians read the Bible as the Word of God. This is why I am especially delighted when I see all of us reading and discussing Holy Scripture. For now we disagree about the nature of biblical authority but we can agree on far more than we realized not too long ago. This will remain true so long as we keep talking and listening. By talking and listening we can still learn and so long as we are learning there is room to grow in knowledge and the grace of God. A true ecumenist doesn’t have all the answers but knows the way forward. After all the central message of Holy Scripture is the same for us all – God is love and Christ died for our sins, was raised on the third day, and ascended to the Father from where he will come again at the end of this age. He thus came to redeem all who trust in Him!

Why Did the University of Notre Dame Fail It’s Own Christian Standards and Ideals?

Blogging is a rather amazing phenomenon. It has impacted politics, the church and almost everything else in between. When I began to write blogs in April of 2005 I had no idea what I was doing or where this would go. I began blogging because I enjoyed writing and believed I could express my thoughts in this form and thereby help and serve both God and some of his people. My core values were clear: speak the truth in love, always correct my mistakes when they became known to me and encourage people in every way possible to think, grow and change in the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. For about five years now I have written a blog almost every day of the week.

To this end I soon began to write about a whole panorama of issues and ideas. Now, more than six years later, I write to an audience that includes Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox. I write to non-Christians and I write to people on both sides of issues that divide us; homosexuality, abortion, health care, etc. I generally avoid partisan politics because I have no interest in these debates. I do not think culture is fundamentally altered by politics but politics is an expression of culture, for better and for worse. But I do not avoid big issues that shape culture and life thus there are always political ramifications to things I write about.

Along the way I also decided to write about some of my own personal passions; e.g. college football, baseball, movies, art and literature. This gave a humane color to the tapestry I was painting day-by-day. It allowed friends to see me, warts and all.

As I blog it never ceases to amaze me how the Internet allows people to discover my articles and blogs. Once I wrote a blog about two local persons, both of whom were featured on the front page of our newspaper. I profoundly missed the mark in what I said about one of these two persons and a relative of this brother in another state let me know how I messed this up. I asked for forgiveness and corrected my mistake online. I also made a friend in the process.

Yesterday, I wrote about the football program at Notre Dame University. I was concerned about how the football program was allowed a “free pass” in several recent student related issues that rocked the South Bend campus. I referred to a Northbrook (IL) family that had lost their daughter because of the sexual assault she had suffered because of the actions of a member of the football team at Notre Dame. The subsequent failure of the university to deal with her appeal for help and justice put her life in a state of emotional crisis and resulted in the personal crisis that led to her death. I made reference to a “deal” that had been reached between the Seeberg family, in nearby Northbrook (IL), and the University of Notre Dame. In writing this point in my blog I was wrong. Yesterday, I received a lovely email from Lizzy’s dad, Mr. Tom Seeberg. Here is his appeal to me, which I gladly comply with in today’s post:

I read your blog post this morning (July 20). I want to correct one item that I hope you will change - there has been no deal cut between my family and Notre Dame. In fact, there has been no communication between us and ND since December 2010. I believe the "deal" you are referring to was in my reference in a statement (published in an op-ed in the South Bend Tribune) to the deal ND cut with the Department of Education not having to admit any failure in its policies and procedures.  I have attached a copy of the statement we issued after press inquiries resulting from the ND/DOE announcement on the Friday, just before the July 4th weekend.

Seeberg Family Statement

Notre Dame – DOE Resolution

July 1, 2011

When we read the resolution agreement and related press stories, we saw not words on a page but a face. We saw the face of our Lizzy, a frightened yet profoundly courageous young lady who did everything right when facing a nightmare. Perhaps it will be her legacy that our daughters and granddaughters, our sisters and nieces, may one day soon walk their college campuses with the safety and freedom that they should expect and their loved ones demand.

We are glad to see a professed commitment to change at Notre Dame – changes that may help make pursuing a claim of sexual violence easier for the next woman. Sadly though, the changes announced today do not fully address our concerns about the mishandling of Lizzy’s case. To this day, nearly one year after Lizzy reported being assaulted on the campus of Our Lady’s University, Notre Dame has refused to meet with us or discuss with us the results, if any, of Lizzy's complaint. They also refuse to acknowledge, let alone discuss, the obvious failures and shortcomings of the Notre Dame Security Police Department's efforts to investigate and pursue justice in Lizzy's case.

As respects Notre Dame’s comments on the resolution, sadly, the Notre Dame president and his administration, and the cabal of lawyers and PR flaks who do their bidding, have demonstrated once again that they don't get it--it being their existential obligation to live their mission with grace and integrity instead of protecting their reputation above all else. The spin machine is in full gear at Notre Dame. But the truth will prevail. Notre Dame's lawyers have cut a deal, signing the resolution without an admission of any failure in policy and procedures. However, implicit in the agreement with the DOE is just such an admission. Any truly objective reader of the full, signed statement will come to this obvious conclusion.

Lizzy's case speaks with quiet persistence from every cold and lawyerly sentence of the resolution. Notre Dame is now legally obligated to clean up its house. Regrettably, no person in leadership at Notre Dame is willing to stand tall and say so. But the truth will prevail.

We hope those, like us, who care about Notre Dame, its students, its legacy and its values will demand that the University demonstrates genuine leadership regarding these important issues. What is at stake is nothing less than the University's integrity and the future of the young men and woman lucky enough to call Notre Dame their home. My family and I continue to pray the University can find a path to a just result and tangible improvements that will make life better for the next woman.

Tom Seeberg

Northbrook, IL

I wrote Mr. Seeberg and expressed my concern for his family and my appreciation for his respectful, Christ-centered way of dealing with his pain and the sad treatment his family received from the university. Tom then sent me the following email:

Thank you for your kind thoughts and especially your prayers. Our blessing here is in knowing we have someone close to us who has gone before us and will be waiting for us. We are all here but a short time. It’s not about the time you get here, but what you do with it while you are here to learn Christ's message. We know our Lizzy "got it."

And on that happy note, there are some positive legacy of Lizzy's giving spirit that lives on.  See this link.
http://www.ctkjesuit.org/SeebergMemorialScholarship.htm

 

What an amazing statement of love and faith. I am awed by the Seeberg’s response. It reveals pain, dignity and love. It is a rare model of how good people deal with great tragedy. Pray for the Seeberg family in their grief and their continued response to the way the University of Notre Dame chose to mishandle this tragedy.

John R. W. Stott: An Appreciation

Perhaps no evangelical thinker and writer has more influenced me over the last 45 years than John R. W. Stott, who turned 90 in late April. I’ve met John Stott on several occasions and keep a cherished photo of him in my study. The last time I saw him was in Carol Stream about four years ago.

Jim Packer has been a true friend, indeed a mentor. I’ve shared a great deal of time and fellowship with him over the last thirty years or so. He has personally encouraged me and been a profound theological influence. His frequent visits to serve as a senior editor for Christianity Today afforded us many evenings of sweet fellowship. But it is Stott that I write about today.

David Neff, editor of Christianity Today, wrote a tribute to Stott a few months ago and suggested that two things struck him as he read two different collections about his life. First, John Stott has remarkable discernment. Second, he has incredible discipline. My friends who know “Uncle John” (as they affectionately call this life long bachelor) all agree with David’s assessment.

John Stott’s influence around the world was made possible, Neff suggests, because he prayerfully discerned what God wanted him to do (and not do) and then focused on those things and not others. He left the good aside in order to pursue what was, for him at least, the best.

I have not had great influence in any sense of the word. I have had some influence. What influence I have enjoyed has often been strengthened by discernment. I believe I knew what God wanted me to do and stuck to it no matter what anyone thought or said, pro or con. What I have sometimes lacked, however, is the resolute discipline that I see in John Stott. Many would think of me as disciplined. I do not think I am nearly as disciplined as I could have (should have) been. What discipline I enjoy I owe to my father and mother and to a great military prep school education from grade 7-12.

Men like John Stott remind me that saying “No” is just as important as saying “Yes.” Stott has written so much, and thus left a deep legacy in his writing, because he has said “No” to so many people and prospects. Jim Packer has been far more open, it seems to me, and thus has never written all that some expected from him. He has also focused on the pastor and everyday Christian in doing theology for the church, not the academy. Stott has never married while Packer has a wife and family. The comparisons are not worth much deep thought but they can be made.

In the end, I appreciate John R. W. Stott not because I knew him as my close friend but rather because he used his considerable gifts to make me a better servant of Christ. His openness to “evangelical ecumenism” with the whole Christian church helped me more than he will ever know. For that matter Jim Packer did the same and interacted with me in private while I made my journey. I appreciate both men but I no longer stand in awe of them. Both have their flaws and their weaknesses, just as you and me. But these men knew the call of God and followed it, each in uniquely personal ways, with determination and great joy.

New Hope for Treating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

I’ve shared before that I have had a 13-year struggle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). This is an illness that has no known cure and creates a pattern of physical breakdown that borders on complete exhaustion through the inflammation of the central nervous system. Personally, I can function at reduced capacity and must take breaks and rest at various times of the day. Some days are so-so and others are terrible. By God’s grace I have learned to deal with this illness (weakness) by developing an increasingly contemplative practice of Christian faith. Some of this appears in occasional blogs and some of it is too personal to share at this point.

A few months ago scientists discovered proteins in spinal fluid that can distinguish people with two different, but similar, mysterious illnesses that mimic one another – Lyme disease and CFS. The study earlier this year is small and needs further verification. But some see it as a promising start. The bottom line, however, is that there is still no good means of consistent diagnosis or treatment. Dr. Suzanne Vernon of the Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome Association of America said, “This is a very important first step.”

Lyme disease is generally cured, over time, with antibiotics. But even with the use of antibiotics some patients report pain, fatigue and memory or other neurological problems that linger for months or years after treatment ends.  This post-treatment Lyme disease shares symptoms that characterize CFS, thus the linkage of the two illnesses.

The more recent study analyzed spinal fluid from 25 chronic Lyme patients and 43 people with a medical diagnosis of CFS, along with 11 healthy people. Using a special high-powered technology, researchers detected more than 2,500 proteins in each group. More important to the question they found clear sets of proteins – hundreds each – unique to each disease, according to Dr. Steven Schutzer of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, who led the study.

The next step in this process will be to study more people to see if certain protein abnormalities might serve as a signature for better diagnosis of patients. If these proteins can be found in blood then the tests will be easier and less costly.

A Lyme specialist, Dr. Joseph Breen, says caution is in order since much more funding and testing is needed. But the pool of clues might also eventually help scientists to figure out the underlying biology of these two similar illnesses that radically alter the lives of several million Americans.

For me personally this is, of course, more than interesting. But I have no expectation of a cure in my lifetime. I seek to live each day in the experiential presence of God’s love in Christ and keep my heart focused on Him.  If God leads scientists to a cure I will rejoice but I hope God will get the glory, at least in my body and spirit. This is all about becoming weak in order to know his strength. He leads each of us to this point through various means. One of mine has been this chronic illness that impacts me every moment of almost every day of my life.