Rev. Ed McNeill (Rector of St. James Anglican Church in San Jose) gives us a very well written article on what Anglicanism is about:

In the summer of 2006 the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams very helpfully identified three things that when held together make Anglicanism distinct from other Christian denominations and contribute to the essential character of our church. Other denominations share one or two of these things. What makes Anglicanism unique is the balanced presence of all three. They are:

1. A reformed commitment to the absolute priority of the Bible for deciding doctrine.
2. A catholic loyalty to the sacraments and the threefold ministry of bishops, priests and deacons,
3. A habit of cultural sensitivity and intellectual flexibility that does not seek to close down unexpected questions too quickly.

These three points clearly linked to our reformation heritage, our catholic heritage, and our intellectual heritage nicely capture the core strength of the Anglican way of living out our Christian Faith.

So there we have it: a commitment, a loyalty, and a habit; three marks of Anglicanism.  When these three elements are in balance we have Anglicanism.  Problems within Anglicanism occur when they get out of balance.

(Continue reading for more explanation on these three points)

Tension, tension, tension. I honestly feel a lot of tension and temptation to side with just one (or at most two) emphases above and dismiss the rest. However, my whole Regent education has taught me to embrace and hold the tension, because many important things in theology are not either/or but paradoxically held in great tension as both/and (e.g. three and one, divine and human, already but not yet, unity and diversity in the body of Christ…) Those who claim that they can resolve it easily and dismiss certain theologies or practices have no respect for the church’s history and the struggle of all the saints before us. It can also easily go down the slippery slope of heresy and schismatic moves.

I remember many years ago my mentor prophetically told me that he thinks Anglicanism suits me because it provides a nice bridle to a revolutionist at heart like me. Tension, tension, tension. Keep embracing and holding the tension in humility, admitting that we cannot resolve it until the day we meet the Lord.

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1. Free Lecture: Hell and the Goodness of God

“When I get to heaven, I shall see three wonders there.

The first wonder will be to see many there whom I did not expect to see;

the second wonder will be to miss many people who I did expect to see;

and the third and greatest wonder of all will be to find myself there.”

– John Newton

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1. Rob Bell Comes Clean
2. A Brahmin Serving Jesus and What Rob Bell is Trying to Say

Download MP3 for free

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“There’s an overwhelming desire for people to be rooted…… and the only way they feel rooted is through another person.” (@2:19)

What a profound theological statement being made back when the Internet just started to become popularized!

Yes, many of us may be addicted to the Internet, but perhaps that’s just pointing towards the reality that we are all made for relationships and connectivity. We cannot live as disconnected people.

Instead of discarding our technology, we need to redeem it, for it can sometimes guide us into greater realization about our human or God-made nature.

Watch till the end for the punch line.

This is the book that many are condemning but have not read a single page:

Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived

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Dr. Hans Boersma teaching Systematic Theology C under the sun during the summer time. Yeah, that's me sitting on the far left.

I am lucky to have just finished my 4.5 year long journey at Regent, completing my MDiv and graduating at the end of this month on April 29th. However, I don’t think learning will stop from here. Having such a great school in my backyard, I think I will continue taking courses every now and then.

Now for those of you who are far away, have you ever considered spending a 1-2 week vacation in Vancouver (which is voted the best place to live in the world numerous times) during this summer, while you take some classes from world-class theologians and think about God and His Kingdom all day? If so, please come and be my guest. Here are a few words from Regent:

Regent College offers a tremendous range of one or two week courses during their summer session. Classes are taught by some of the foremost evangelical scholars of our day – like Alister McGrath, Bruce Waltke, Marva Dawn and Chris Wright – in the areas of theology, art, missions, spirituality, history, Bible studies, church leadership, marketplace theology and much more. If you’re pursuing a graduate degree, some of these courses may well transfer over – and not just in theology or Biblical studies. If you’re considering a career or vocational change, some of these courses will help you sort through those issues. If you’re simply seeking personal enrichment this summer in one of the world’s most liveable cities, come check us out. See http://summer.regent-college.edu for more course details, registration info, free audio and video of lecturers, and much more.

I recommend these courses:
Marva Dawn – Pastoral Care for Those who Suffer (May 16-20)
Christopher Wright – God’s Word, God’s World, and God’s Mission: Reading the Whole Bible for Mission (May 9-13)
Gordon T. Smith – Spiritual Discernment (May 23-27)
Alister McGrath – Truth, Beauty, and Imagination: Christian Apologetics in a Postmodern Context (Jun 27-Jul 1)
Bruce Waltke – The Psalms (Jul 25-29)

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‘What would Jesus do?‘ seems like an innocent question to ask, but it is impossible to answer literally and does not reflect the teaching of the New Testament. As Christians we are not called to do what Jesus did (or what we might think he would do if he were in our shoes) but to do what he tells us to do — to obey his commands, not to copy his actions (unless, of course, that is what he tells us to do!) We must resist the temptation to turn Jesus into the first Christian, or as some translations of Hebrews 12:2 put it, the ‘pioneer’ of our faith. A Christian is a sinner saved by grace, which Jesus was not. His life was lived in a different context and had a different purpose from anything that our life could ever have. He is not a man who discovered a new relationship with God that he is now sharing with us, but our Saviour and Lord, and we must respect that essential difference. What he was capable of is not possible for us because we are still sinners, and must continue to depend on him for the grace we need to live the life he wants us to live.

To claim to be able to copy the actions of the historical Jesus (or guess what he would do if he were alive today and do the same) is to claim to be in a state of sinless perfection, which is a lie.

Gerald Bray, Article 15: Of Christ alone without Sin in The Faith We Confess: An Exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles (London, UK: The Latimer Trust, 2009), 86.

It is very easy for us to buy into popular memes without carefully thinking through what they actually mean (no matter how well-intentioned they are.) I just discovered that there are many others phrases like P.U.S.H., G.O.L.F., F.R.O.G…. etc. (Try to guess or go google them.) You know, first of all they are quite lame and uncreative. Secondly, they might actually be theologically unsound. I think we really need to stay away from these acronyms and the hoard of products that come with it.

“It is one thing to say that confession of faith accompanies baptism, and quite another to say that the meaning and purpose of baptism is to give an opportunity for confession.”

“If baptism is primarily for the remission of sins and regeneration, the emphasis is not on our necessary but subsidiary part, faith and the confession of faith, but on the indispensable primary part, the divine work of reconciliation and renewal. The chief thing which is declared in baptism is not what I do, but what God Himself has done and does for me.”

“We are not directed to ourselves and our faith and our confession of faith. We are directed to God, and to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ and will do within us by the Holy Ghost. Only in that context can we think of the necessary response of faith as the personal entry into the saving work of God.”

“It is no less perverse to treat baptism as primarily a sign of faith and the confession of faith than it is to regard circumcision as primarily a sign of the faith of Abraham. Indeed, it is more than perverse. It is false to the New Testament. It destroys the whole balance of the Christian Gospel and the Christian life. It puts the ‘I’ and its decision in the place of primacy and honour which belongs rightly and exclusively to God and His work. It gives it an apparent independent importance apart from Jesus Christ and the atonement. It finds the critical point in our turning to God rather than in His turning to us and His turning of us to Himself. In other words, it turns the Gospel upside down, and in so doing it misses the real meaning and purpose of the Gospel sacrament.”

Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The Baptism of Infants, Chapter 3: The Meaning of Baptism (Vine Books Ltd, 1955, 1976 & 1977)

Sorry my Anabaptist friends. These are pretty strong words, but I’m afraid I agree with Bromiley in his sacramental view of baptism.

I just lament that the sacramental nature of baptism has been lost in many church traditions and baptism has become a very I-centric activity — “I decide to get baptized…… I want to be a public witness to my family and friends…… I want to tell my story of who I was, how I converted, and what kind of a person I am now…..  I pledge to God my commitment to Him for life…… etc.”

As Dr. David Pao said in the Asian Mission Conference last week, our Protestant heritage is to realize that there is very little that we can do ourselves, except to just “hear” what the Lord has done and is doing for us. God is always the subject, the initiator, the active one. We are merely passive recipients and respondents of His divine grace and mercy.

P.S. I once wrote a paper titled “The Identity of the Children of Believing Parents and the Benefits of Infant Baptism,” explaining my position on infant baptism and why I let my two daughters get baptized. Let me know if anyone is interested in reading.

Justice is defined in Western culture by constitutional rights, by individualism, and by economic theory. So, justice is giving me what I have by right – like happiness and a good life and a good job and nice home – and by what I personally want for personal fulfillment and by each of us having enough money to buy a home and take a nice vacation. Then we have others defining justice as retribution, as in “we’ll bring the criminal to justice.”

Then, we have folks wanting to be more positive so they define justice as restoration, which is yet one more Western theory at work before we even get to the Bible.

So, in just a brief set of words: justice requires a standard whereby we measure actions and conditions. That standard in the Bible is God’s Word, and for followers of Jesus that standard becomes the teachings of Jesus or the guidance of the Spirit (Pauline emphasis) – and I’m more than willing to let Jesus define justice as love of God and love of others. After all, he reduced the entire law to loving God and loving others and the apostle Paul and James both echo that very teaching.

So, justice defined: “justice is a society characterized by the conditions and actions that are established by God as God’s will.” Followers of Jesus “do justice” when they embody and work for conditions and behaviors that conform to the teachings of Jesus. Followers do not define justice by the Western doctrines of rights to happiness.

Scot McKnight on Living the One.Life by Q Ideas and Scot McKnight

If any ideal, justice included, surpasses our commitment to Jesus and His teachings, it will become an idol to us.

Instead of the gift, seek the Gifter.
Instead of the blessing, seek the One who blesses.
Instead of justice, seek the Just One.
Instead of beauty, seek the One who is truly beautiful beyond description.

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