Comments on: In the Blogosphere

By: Tim Wilson

Tim Wilson — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 07:23:26 +0000

At first I was infuriated with Dr Masters. I do think he is tarnishing people with the same brush and I do think he has some big errors in his thinking. Most of all, as I always wish in these “watch-blog” esque articles, I wish he’d proclaimed his own log as loudly as his neighbour’s speck.

Nevertheless, I’ve got to admit that for me personal holiness has become not as important as downloading the latest conference message. Though he has tarnished a lot of men who don’t deserve tarnish, he brought up some things I need challenging on.

I don’t think raising your hands or “sabbath-breaking” are unbiblical, far from it (Romans 14 says you don’t need a holy day and the Psalms are all over raising hands in worship). Nor do I think “heavy metal” music is sinful. But it would be wrong for the new calvinism to be more about the big events than the consecration. This is a worry JC Ryle expressed in Holiness and a worthwhile one.

In short, I think Master’s criticisms are lacking but there is always some truth to gain from critics. Searching for that log in my eye is better than searching for the speck in his.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:51:19 +0000

Also, there is a foolishness to what we believe as Christians and how we live as Christians. If we contextualize the Gospel so much so to the point that it doesn’t offend then we have probably abandoned the Gospel. If we live lives that are no different to the world and simply blend in then we probably haven’t been transformed by the Gospel. I recently listened to Mark Driscoll say between being cool and being faithful it’s always better to be faithful. Of the people Dr. Peter Masters mentions, my perception is that in contextualizing the Gospel and engaging with culture they are trying to be most faithful in spreading the Gospel. Dr. Peter Masters raises age old concerns about how we as Christians should be ‘in’ the world but not ‘of’ the world. This is a tension that all Christians have to live.

Any more thoughts anyone?

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:34:10 +0000

Yea, I agree, there is something in there. His definitions do seem different regarding worldliness and holiness and his view of the redemptive work of the Gospel on culture seems limited (i.e. his views on music)
Maybe I am being harsh but I find his objection to all this cultural engagement and contextualization very humorous in light of the fact that he published his objections on a website hosted on the interent. Though, from the sounds of it I’d also bet he doesn’t smoke cigars while reading Calvin like his old predecessor Spurge.
Joking aside, I agree that we shouldn’t casually dismiss all his points and we should never assume that we are the generation that has ‘got it’ as perhaps future generations may look back critically like we have on previous generations. Hopefully not, but time will tell.

By: Trevin Wax

Trevin Wax — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:04:18 +0000

There’s something we need to listen to in the article. We should never casually dismiss someone who points out worldliness.

That said, I think his definition of worldliness is lacking.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:58:58 +0000

Yea, I cannot believe the article by Dr Peter masters (Now Pastor of Spurgeon’s former church). What do you think Trevin?

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:15:35 +0000

Wow, that article by the Spurgeon pastor is BIZARRE!!