These are quotes taken from Thomas Boston’s, Human Nature In Its Fourfold State. The excerpt in full is found on the Providence Baptist Ministries website as provided by Monergism.com.
A man may bring as many buckets of water to a house that is on fire, as he is able to carry, and yet it may be consumed, and will be so, if he bring not as many as will quench the fire. Even so, although you should do what you are able, in keeping the commandments, if you fail in the least degree of obedience which the law enjoins, you are certainly ruined forever, unless you take hold of Christ, renouncing all your righteousness as filthy rags.
Objection 1: If we be under an utter inability to do any good, how can God require us to do it? Answer: God making man upright (Eccl. 7:29), gave him a power to do everything that He should require of him; this power man lost by his own fault…Now, we having, by our own fault, disabled ourselves, shall God lose His right of requiring our task, because we have thrown away the strength He gave us whereby to perform it? Has the creditor no right to require payment of his money because the debtor had squandered it away, and is not able to pay him?
But all this is needless, seeing we are utterly unable to help ourselves out of the state of sin and wrath. Answer: Give not place to that delusion, which puts asunder what God has joined, namely, the use of means and a sense of our own impotency. If ever the Spirit of God graciously influence your souls, you will become thoroughly sensible of your absolute inability, and yet enter upon a vigorous use of means. You will do for yourselves, as if you were to do all, and yet overlook all you do, as if you had done nothing. Will you do nothing for yourselves because you cannot do all? Lay down no such impious conclusion against your own souls. Do what you can; and, it may be, while you are doing what you can for yourselves, God will do for you what you cannot.
I have applied to Lincoln Christian Seminary in hopes of beginning my graduate work in August of this year. While I have received affirmation concerning financial aid, I have not yet received a Letter of Acceptance so I may be counting my chickens before they hatch. My plan is to pursue a Master of Divinity degree with a specialization in Christian apologetics. While I have not made a final decision, I may also pursue a Master of Religious Education degree at the same time.
In addition to graduate classes I will also be teaching my three boys using the Weaver Curriculum this fall, and I continue to fill the pulpit at Isabel Christian church. Because of these obligations I will only be attending classes part time for the foreseeable future at 6 hours per semester.
UPDATE: I recieved my Letter of Acceptance today, and will begin course work in the first week of September.
I don’t have an iPhone or and iPod Touch, but now there is one more reason to think abou it. Pandora is now available for the iPhone and the iPod Touch! Free, comercial free, customized music anytime and anywhere (WiFi connection needed for iPod Touch). This will certainly help out those running out of room for all their music…now they can listen to without putting it on the device.
Covenant Transport is a Christian owned and operated trucking company out of Tennessee. If you live in the Midwest you have probably seen one of their trucks with the blue rectangle on the back door that reads, “ITS NOT A CHOICE ITS A CHILD”. A few days ago I saw one of these truck that had been vandalized. The words ITS NOT A CHOICE ITS A CHILD had been marked through, and underneath was written, “I don’t judge you!”
What really irritates me about this is not so much that someone out there believes abortion is ok, but that they are a) ignorant enough to not understand the self-defeating characteristic of their own comments, and b) are willing to commit a crime (vandalism) in order to deface the first amendment rights of someone else. Of course it upsets me that people believe abortion is a valid option, but the point here is that if people are unable to think critically enough to avoid ignorance of this kind, it is not surprising when we cannot explain the fallacious nature of abortion to them.
