Bully's Blog

or Why Are We Baptizing the Dead? Peter Leithart writes concerning baptism: “In Genesis 9:11, Yahweh promises not to “cut off flesh” by water.  That is the covenant with Noah. A few chapters later, Yahweh tells Abram that he must cut off the flesh of all male children of Israel, not by water but by […]

Boisterous with Wine Bread and wine administered separate from a meal and in meagre doses portrays God as stingy. Besides this fact, the Biblical image of abundant wine as liquid fire is important for war. Peter Leithart, commenting on Zechariah 9:15, writes:

Deconstituted Ingredients “The second ‘zone’ we need to think about concerning gnostic tendencies is the sacraments. God’s affirmation of the material world is seen in the fact that He uses physical water to introduce people into His kingdom; and by the fact that we eat Christ’s flesh and drink His blood in the Lord’s supper. Many Christians, however, cannot […]

Two Waters Why is baptism for both males and females, when circumcision was only for males? I have been following the Exodus pattern through the Bible, and an offshoot of that was an ‘accidental’ application to baptism. I’ll let you decide whether or not you think it holds water. There are two ‘waters’ in the exodus […]

Passover versus Atonement = Circumcision versus Baptism With that background, the entire Bible follows this pattern: Sabbath - Creation to Abraham 000Passover - Circumcision divides humanity in two >000000Firstfruits - Under Moses, a priesthood ascends before God, >000000and draws near over blood sacrifices 000000000Pentecost - In the biblical pattern, this central point is always 000000000testing in the wilderness. This is […]

Voluntary Submission The sign of the Covenant has progressed from the removal of Adam’s sin (Passover) to Eve’s removal from sin (Atonement). Circumcision was only for males, because Israel’s history concerned the coming of the Adam. Baptism, however, is for both males and females, imaging the resurrection for war of a corporate Eve—the body (Trumpets). […]

Is that all there is to it? “Can it really be so simple?” That is the feeling we have about the church. She has been given a mission of global conquest. As Rudolf Schnackenburg has explained, “Through the Church, Christ wins increasingly his dominion over all things and draws them ever more powerfully and completely […]

Ordinary People In Judges and 1 Samuel, the weapons used to defeat the enemy reflect the ordinary people who used them: a tent peg, an ox goad, a millstone, an ass’s jawbone, a slingshot. It was Saul who started throwing spears like a Gentile, like Goliath. Our weapons are not of this world, but many […]

Present Your Bodies as Spiritual Worship Over the years we have emphasized the importance of ritual. Rituals are significant in the Bible, and they ought to be significant to us. We have also emphasized the importance of worshipping God with our bodies and not just with our minds. We have sought to resist the temptation […]

Witness or Worship? “…the political task of Christians is to be the church rather than to transform the world”–Stanley Hauerwas, Resident Aliens. This presents a false dichotomy. When Gideon and David were faithful, God went ahead of them and defeated their enemies. Would it be fair to assume that Hauerwas is just saying that political activism […]

Power Tools “Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty man who shouts because of wine. And He beat back His enemies; He put them to a perpetual reproach.”  Psalm 78:65-66 “I’m a 30 year old boy.” Edward Norton, Fight Club. Guns are dangerous. They are so offensive in fact, that they should be prohibited altogether. […]