“But Jesus did not tell us to watch and adore. He told us to take and eat, take and drink. And in our obedience, Christ is with us. Christ inhabits the obedience, and the bread and wine are not obedient. Christ is in the participles, in the eating, and in the drinking” (Papa Don’t Pope, …
Not Monolithic
“When you actually start reading in the early church fathers, one of the first things you discover is that they are all over the map, just like us” (Papa Don’t Pope, p. 170).
No Need to Hang our Head
“I am not advocating simple causation and simple-minded causation for that matter, as though I was trying to put the eight ball into the corner pocket. But cultural influences include the general faith of the people, and the fact remains that during their centuries, Protestants built a world-class civilization, too significant to be patronized” (Papa …
Or Chao Chen!
“The communion of saints means that the body of Christ is a glorious and unified mystery. It means I am one with all the saints in heaven, just as I am one with all the saints alive today in China. But if I were crossing a street, saw a truck with no brakes hurtling toward …
What We Don’t Get to Assume
“It would not rock my Protestant world at all if I died and went to heaven, only to discover that at some point in my worldly sojourn, Mary had stumbled across some aspect of my story and prayed for me. ‘Oh, my. Look at that poor sap there.’ But for me to ask her to …
The Problem Is What You Assume, Not So Much What You Say
“When I ask my friend Bob to pray for me because I have an appointment with the surgeon tomorrow, I do not have to assume any superhuman powers on the part of Bob in order to make the request of him. I know he heard me, because he was right there, and he heard the …
Lesser Kissing
“The fact that humans can have it all worked out in their abstract theology (latria, hyperdulia, and dulia) such that they can admit to being an iconodule, but not an idolater, makes me hop in place in my impatient Protestant way. Imagine a wife catching her husband kissing the chambermaid. ‘Ah, my dear,’ he says. …
Lesser Authorities
“The Bible teaches that I am as a Christian to submit myself to spiritual authorities other than the Bible. These authorities would include my parents (who taught me to love God before I could read), my church (which taught me, for example, to memorize Scripture), and Bauer’s Lexicon (which teaches me that eulogeo means to …
High Mountain Air
[The grace of justification] “is moral liberty—the opposite of antinomian licentiousness and the opposite of legalistic wowserism. It is a blast of mountain air after two hours in the sauna” (Papa Don’t Pope, pp. 133).
No, Really. Not Mine.
[Concerning Phil. 3:9] “Let us get one thing clear at the outset—if Paul is to be justified by righteousness, whose will it be? For starters, Paul says not mine. ” (Papa Don’t Pope, pp. 133).