Tuesday, May 30, 2017

The Marines; a few good MEN

One of the feminist at T.W.W. is exceedingly anxious to suggest women can do war like men.  She drags Old Testament Debra out as an exhibit.  But just a side note; if you have to go back 2 millenia to find a woman warrior, you've got problems.

She also notes a Russian Sharpshooter from World War II who had a huge number of kills.  What she doesn't mention is that there were 50 men with even more kills.

She notes a Chinese female taking a man down.  Can you spell "outlier.:"

But David Frum of National Review posted this article today  5/40/3027

by DAVID FRENCH May 30, 2017 4:52 PM @DAVIDAFRENCH 
Like any sentient moral being, I was troubled by the number of Marines who were caught up in the  so-called “Marines United” scandal sharing naked pictures of female Marines without their consent (I’d also have a problem with sharing the pictures even with consent.) But that scandal has absolutely nothing to do with the question of whether women should serve in the infantry, and integrating more women in the infantry is far more likely to impair fighting effectiveness than it is to create an enlightened Marine Corps.  

Yesterday, Vox ran a piece calling out the Marines for their “toxic masculinity” and used the Marines United scandal to highlight a different problem, the failure to effectively integrate women into all aspects of Marine operations. The reason for Marine resistance to women in the infantry? Macho culture. I’m not making this up: There’s a “toxic masculinity culture” in the Marine Corps, James Joyner, a professor at the Marine Command and Staff College, told me. That may be what is at the core of the women-in-infantry debate among Marine ranks: the identity crisis of a historically macho club now being forced to let in women. 

Now that the Marine Corps must allow women to serve in combat roles — and is putting out recruiting commercials highlighting that fact — it tears at the social fabric of the service. That has led many to act out, some anonymously, online. 

No, “at the core of the women-in-infantry” debate is the question of whether women can fight as effectively as men. They cannot. There is no serious argument that they can. In fact, the Marines studied the issue closely and found that mixed-gender infantry units seriously under-perform same-sex units. The results were devastating: 

The women weren’t slightly less capable than the men; they were PROFOUNDLY less capable.

All-male units performed better in 93 of 134 categories evaluated, and there were “notable” differences in accuracy in “every individual weapons system.” Physically, the top 25th percentile of women overlapped with the bottom 25th percentile of men, and they possessed less anaerobic power, anaerobic capacity, and aerobic capacity than their male colleagues. Women undergoing entry-level infantry training were injured at “more than six times the rate of their male counterparts.” Indeed, as the Vox article notes, only four women currently serve in the Marine infantry. Only the tiniest number can pass through training that physically fit men pass as a matter of course. The women-in-infantry debate is the luxury of a society that hasn’t fought a large-scale ground war in generations, and a serious mixed-gender experiment wouldn’t survive first contact with a well-equipped and well-trained opposing force. That’s not macho culture. It’s truth. Life isn’t the movie Aliens, nor is it G.I. Jane, and there is nothing “toxic” about bowing to biological and psychological reality.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/448117/marines-can-treat-women-honorably-without-putting-them-infantry

John Piper is right - leave warring and policework to men.  They are most equipped to succeed.

Friday, May 26, 2017

Wartburgwatch HATES shepherds - they will have no man in authority over them

But they're wrong.

From Founders.org

 | MAY 23, 2017
As a teenager, we had about thirty goats on our family farm. Besides work as organic mowers they proved to be superb examples of stubbornness and noncooperation. They regularly tried to escape the fence that kept them safe. Our voice instructions might as well have been spoken to the sprawling oak tree by the barn. Goats don’t do well at being pastored.
Sheep, on the other hand, listen to the voice of the shepherd and follow his lead. Several times in Central Asia, I’ve watched shepherds lead their sheep through busy streets and on roadways with open fields on either side. A self-respecting goat would have bolted! Not so with the sheep. They knew how to be pastored.
Admittedly, goats and sheep are animals. We’re not. We’re people created in the image of God with minds, reasoning powers, gifts, emotions, and wills. Yet we’re fallen people, so that every one of those wonderful aspects of God’s image has been negatively affected. The gospel reorders and restores God’s image in its beauty and power. But the finished product still awaits the day when we stand before Christ. Until such time, he has given pastors/elders to shepherd us toward spiritual maturity. As regenerate people covenanted together in a local church, what do we need in order to be pastored? Let’s consider six essentials to being pastored.
1. Willingly follow Christ’s design for his flock. Jesus called his followers, “little flock” (Luke 12:32). He identified himself as the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep (John 10:11). With the Shepherd-sheep image, Jesus told Peter, “Shepherd My sheep” (John 21:16). Peter took that same language to apply to his fellow elders: “Shepherd the flock of God among you” (1 Peter 5:2). Paul similarly told the Ephesian elders: “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). Jesus clearly set the pattern: shepherding sheep. Now it’s the responsibility for the elders to shepherd the flock and for the flock to gladly follow this pattern.
Sometimes that doesn’t happen because pastors neglect shepherding. But other times the flock dons stubbornness and pride as its clothing rather than humility and peace. Pastors can try their best but without the flock following Christ’s design their pastoring falters. Jesus set the pattern. The church must follow if it would identify with him.
2. Humbly submit to those appointed by the church who watch out for your souls. Hebrews 13:17 is plain: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account.” Submitting to anyone goes against the natural bent toward self-autonomy. That’s why humility crowns a healthy congregation because it has learned to submit to those giving attention to soul-care. The failure at humble submission gives evidence of entrenched sin. One will not go far in persevering without learning to humbly submit to those who watch out for their spiritual health.
3. Hold the attitude that you’ve not arrived and so you value God’s means of grace in the journey. Even toward the end of his life, Paul declared that he hadn’t arrived but kept pressing on toward the prize of the call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:7–16). But does that attitude characterize us? Have we listened to the preening voices telling us otherwise? How do we know if we’re embracing the same attitude that Paul commends? We value the means of grace that God gives for the journey until we do arrive in Christ’s presence. Chief among the means is the labor of pastors shepherding us in the Word. One who thinks he doesn’t need pastoring reveals a perilous attitude.
4. Maintain that God did not save you to go alone but to journey with the body, receiving its support, encouragement, example, exhortation, forgiveness, admonition, and multiplied contributions to your spiritual walk. That’s the essence of Paul’s instruction to the church in Ephesians 4:11–16. God has given us pastors and teachers to equip us for the work of service toward the building up of the body until we attain unity, knowledge of Christ, and the maturity that “belongs to the fullness of Christ.” The work of those appointed by Christ to shepherd the flock joins with the members of the body by speaking the truth in love to one another, growing together, with each contributing to the other’s growth and usefulness in service. No solos here! We’re partners in growth and maturity, which means that in addition to the elders pastoring us, we’ll be receiving from our fellow sojourners. Talking about killing our pride and self-dependence! Yet that’s at the heart of pastoral work and aim for the church.
5. Regularly check your teachability. Pride constantly gets in the way of being pastored. We think that we don’t need the exhortation or the sermon or the admonition or even the gentle encouragement offered by the pastors. We’re beyond that, we think. Our pastors might be young enough to be our children or grandchildren! Yet as long as we fail at living with a teachable spirit, we fail at being shepherded. When we fail there, we fail to grow and contribute to the unity of the church. The simplest definition of disciple is “learner.” In a big sense, that’s what we are as Christians: we’re learners learning together from those appointed by Christ for our good, so that we might live together in Christ.
6. Consider those with whom you will spend eternity by giving attention to growth, relationships, obedience, unity, and joy. While pastors deal with temporal issues, the main part of the work stretches into eternity. Pastors shepherd the flock so that the church grows in grace, manifests the power of the gospel in relationships, walks in obedience to Christ, manifests the glory of God in its unity, and lives in the unfettered joy of Jesus. The receiving end of pastoring helps us toward that grand goal that’s really not an end, but a continuation of what’s gotten started here by the grace of God in Jesus’ redemptive work. We will live together eternally so get a head start through being pastored toward that day.
It takes grace to pastor a church. But it also takes grace to be pastored. Being pastored goes against the natural tendencies of the flesh. We need the Lord to work deeply in us so that we learn to receive what he has provided through those appointed to shepherd us in Christ. Let’s battle the goat tendencies of stubbornness and noncooperation! Let’s embrace the willingness to follow, humble submission, a not-arrived attitude, corporate mind, teachable heart, and consciousness toward eternity that characterizes being pastored.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Wartburg Watch argues that women can do policework just as well as men

One of the commenters posted this link  arguing that John Piper is right;  men were made to be the police.

- Marine versus Marine  [29 secs.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1jCOkyuzCs



Another commenter raised the issue of Joan of Arc as an example of girl power.  Well there seems to be a problems with that.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/oct/26/jonhenley

Pretty disappointing if your putting all your eggs in the Joan of Arc story.



Anyhow - More and more, Wartburgwatch is just another feminist website of which there are many.
Feminism is based upon lies.


Modernism, which denies and abolishes every difference, cannot rest until it has made woman man and man woman.
—Abraham Kuyper (1898)  [ i.e., nothing new under the sun. ]

Thursday, May 18, 2017

How to spot a Non Calvinist pastor

1)  They're more about tolerance and feelings then they are about Scripture.
2)  However, their "tolerance" doesn't extend to Calvinists

[ more to come - feel free to check back as the list grows and don't forget "I love you guys." ]

KUDOS to "Preacher's Wife" who in a non bitter, non angry way makes some nice points.

"Hmmm, these documents make it seem as though being Calvinist is the ultimate evil. I think the problem is more authoritarianism often coupled with youth. Most of the red flags have more to do with character than theology. Also, their descriptions of “Traditional” versus “Extreme Calvinism” ignore the more moderate Calvinism that was taught in my reformed Baptist church growing up. Or even just a middle of the road approach that my husband and I have, There is a definite tension in the Bible between free will and not, but that second document paints everything so black and white.
We would never sign such a specific statement of belief either, unless the rest of the church had to sign one as well. I don’t pretend to have theology all figured out, but I also don’t believe anyone else does. That document would also tempt me to be more secretive about my beliefs, since any sort change or questioning could lead to us lose our job and our home. Maybe it’s because I’m on the opposite side of the clergy/laity divide, but I could see this document being used aggressively and abusively towards the preacher. But, in our denomination the preacher often has the least amount of power compared to the elders – the preacher is just the employee while the elders are the board of directors.
I believe there’s abuse and authoritarianism within churches. And I don’t agree with reformed theology or even what the evangelical world is doing generally. I’m just not convinced that the problem is strictly with Calvinism, as these documents seem to apply."

 Her comment is not representative of much of the anger and bile spewed out on TWW's blog.

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Wartburg Watch IS the Christian Left - read the comments; it's all there.

I saw this written about the progressive left, I fear it too easily fits the Christian left.

"The most pernicious aspect of this evolution of the [ Christian ] left, is how it seems to be changing people, and how rapidly since the [ advent of T.W.W.] .

 I have been dwelling on this Nietzsche quote for almost six months now, 

'He who fights with monsters, should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.' 

 How easy is it for ordinary humans to commit atrocious acts? History teaches us it’s pretty damn easy when you are BLINDED TO YOUR OWN HYPOCRISY. When you believe you are morally superior, [ to conservative Evangelicals ]  when you have dehumanized those you disagree with [ John Piper, Mark Dever, Al Mohler, Lig Duncan et al],  you can justify almost anything. In a particularly vocal part of the  [ Christian ] left, justification for dehumanizing and committing [ libelous ] violence against those on the 
[ Evangelical right ] right has long since begun. "
__________

Everyday there are fresh, libelous comments on T.W.W. smearing men and women they do not know, have never met, and profaning them with ad hominem attacks which never appear to  be reined in.

SO, T.W.W.'s  witness to a lot of us is that the blog and commenters are angry, bitter people claiming to be believers whom, after reading their comments, you'd  feel uneasy sharing a cup of coffee with lest they attack you after you left.

Are there problems with the church?  OF COURSE.  There's always been problems with the church, there will ALWAYS be problems of the church but letting commenters libel men and women they DO NO KNOW is simply sinful.  Until a serious attempt to rein in the commenters is seen, one has to believe that Dee and Deb are possibly just as angry and bitter as the commenters themselves.

Ladies, you can stop it if you really wish, otherwise I'll never believe it is not your intent to bludgeon with verbal clubs Godly men and women [ far from perfect but none of them claim that ] with whom you disagree.

Stop the ad hominem attacks and maybe a lot of us who no longer listen will at least give your concerns serious attention.  But until then,  not so much.

Those claiming to be seeing monsters under every Evangelical rock are becoming monsters themselves.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Wartburg Watch hates church change

Most recent post by the good ladies of T.W.W. let's a former member of a church she and her husband attended and participated with share her displeasure over the changes her church went thru.  They have now left and found the [ ideal ] church where the sun always shines, the membership is ever delightful and the pastor is perfect.  dryly.  [  Get back to me in a few years ]

TWW titled it "Church Takeover Success."  Of interest this "takeover" occurred over the course of 6 years and included many, many meetings where directions were explained, people were given the opportunity of input and there were votes.  This was the exact opposite of a stealth takeover.  It was always in plain sight.

Some people didn't like the changes and left the church  -  [ surprise ]  The writer doesn't suggest anybody was shunned for leaving, they apparently weren't.

It would appear this church followed the pattern of the Southern Baptist resurgence where the SBC decided to return to its Biblical roots.  It was a long painful process for the SBC but it has survived and moved on.   This church's leadership also decided to move in that direction.  It has also been painful for some and probably good for others.

LIKE all organizations;  change is or can be painful.  Old members leave, new members join.  Life goes on.

 If you are attending a church which is taking a more conservative theological turn and you are unhappy,  remember, you can always leave and a]  start your own church or b] there is a dying mainline church near you that would covet your attendance and financial giving.

FYI
Amid the decades-long decline in mainline Protestantism in North America, researchers in Canada recently found an “elusive sample” of congregations whose growth has bucked the trend.
The key characteristic these exceptional Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and United churches had in common? Evangelical theology.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/may/even-canada-conservative-churches-growing-mainline-theology.html
___________

The very first comment on the TWW post

"The writer mentioned John MacArthur. Say no more.
Same with my experience at my ex-gulag, Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley.
John MacArthur, in my opinion, has a seminary and a college that work like franchise-training grounds for future “owners”. A bunch of authoritarian, unloving, horrible people."
[ The word "smear" comes to mind - but that's so often TWW ]

Don't forget, I love you guys.


Friday, May 12, 2017

Wartburgwatch hates Church Discipline - only when not done their way, of course

MARK DEVER continues to be attacked by Wartburgwatch.  They truly despise him.

They have no problem allowing comments to appear such as this by "Velour."

"I wonder how Mark Dever at Capitol Hill Baptist Church/9Marks would score on a psychological test? He seems to have the hallmarks of a Narcissistic Personality Disorder that besets a large number of clergy."


As far as I know, Velour is neither a psychiatrist or psychologist but like most commenters, she is quick to the psycho-analysis of anybody who holds to Evangelical orthodoxy, such as the importance of protecting the flock through the appropriate use of church discipline.

She has given her own psychological diagnosis of Dr. Dever, whom she does not know, has never met.    Frankly, it's libelous but TWW doesn't care.

The comment will NOT be removed by either Dee, Deb or their husbands.
_________

Here's a post IX Marks actually sent out to Facebook May 2017

When should you leave a church?

All of us will, at times, be called to endure humbly a leader’s mistakes and sins. But if you find yourself in a church where the leadership is characteristically abusive, you should flee. Flee to protect your discipleship, to protect your family, to set a good example for the members left behind, and to serve non-Christian neighbors by not lending credibility to the church’s ministry.
How do you recognize abusive leadership? Paul requires two witnesses for a charge to be leveled against an elder (1 Tim. 5:19), probably because he knows that leaders will be charged with infelicities more often than others, often unfairly.
That said, abusive churches and Christian leaders characteristically:
– Make dogmatic prescriptions in places where Scripture is silent.
– Rely on intelligence, humor, charm, guilt, emotions, or threats rather than on God’s Word and prayer (see Acts 6:4).
– Play favorites.
– Punish those who disagree.
– Employ extreme forms of communication (tempers, silent treatment).
– Recommend courses of action which always, somehow, improves the leader’s own situation, even at the expense of others.
– Seldom do good deeds in secret.
– Seldom encourage.
– Seldom give the benefit of the doubt.
– Emphasize outward conformity, rather than repentance of heart.

– Preach, counsel, disciple, and oversee the church with lips that fail to ground everything in what Christ has done in the gospel and to give glory to God.
_______________
Gives a whole different perspective doesn't it.

Saturday, May 6, 2017

Wartburgwatch doesn't hate the Catholics; but why not? [ It's about a female Nun. not a male Evangelical Complimentarian.]

A Roman Catholic nun from Japan has been arrested and charged on suspicion of helping priests sexually abuse children at a school for youths with hearing disabilities in Argentina, authorities said.
Kosaka Kumiko was also charged with physically abusing the students at the Antonio Provolo Institute for children with hearing impairment in northwestern Mendoza province.
Local media showed the 42-year-old nun in handcuffs and wearing her habit and a bullet-proof vest as she was escorted by police to a court hearing. Kumiko, who was born in Japan but has Argentine citizenship, denied any wrongdoing during the eight-hour hearing late Thursday.
Authorities say that Kumiko lived at the Provolo Institute from 2004-2012. She had been on the run for about a month before she turned herself in this week.
The case against the nun was launched after a former student accused of making her wear a diaper to cover up a hemorrhage after she was allegedly raped by priest Horacio Corbacho.
Corbacho, fellow priest Nicola Corradi and three other men were arrested last year after they were charged with sexually abusing at least two dozen students at the Provolo Institute. They are being held at a jail in Mendoza and have not spoken publicly since the arrest. If found guilty, the accused face 10 to 50 years in prison.
Corradi had earlier been accused in Italy of abusing students at the Provolo Institute in Verona, a notorious school for the deaf where hundreds of children are believed to have been sexually assaulted over the years by two dozen priests and religious brothers.
Advocates for clerical sex abuse have expressed anger that Corradi wasn't sanctioned by the Vatican and allegedly went on to abuse children in Pope Francis' native Argentina.
Victims and prosecutors say the anal and vaginal rapes, fondling and oral sex allegedly committed by the priests took place in the bathrooms, dorms, garden and a basement at the school in Lujan de Cuyo,........
_________________

TERRIBLE THINGS were done to disabled children.

Applying Wartburg Watch logic; these people must secretly be Complimentarian Evangelicals who read C.J. Mahaney and  listen to John Piper and John McArthur.  Their favorite  websites must be the Gospel Coalition, Together for the Gospel or the homesite for the SBC.   Otherwise these things wouldn't have happened.[ sarc ]

ON THE OTHERHAND -if you follow the teaching of Piper, McArthur, Mahaney, Sproul et al., these men will remind you that satan is loosed in the world and the only answer is found in the Word of God.  NONE of these people think abuse or sexual abuse is okay under any circumstance.  Still the commenters and ladies of Warburg seem to despise them.  Obviously, they don't recognize the real enemy.

The TWW  "discernment" blog is NOT discerning.  They can't tell the good guys from the bad guys.