Do it, Do it, Do it!

Was Martin Luther's advice to a young man seeking guidance on marriage. Rather intriguingly his answer to the young chap, incluided the line that "It is best to comply with all our senses as soon as possible and give ourselves to God's Word and work in whatever He wishes us to do." Wow - Embarking on Marriage as being an expression of God's Word and work! Can you imagine your local minister responding like this to a young man seeking counsel on whether to ask for a young maiden's hand in marriage? Well, if ever you need to urge someone (as I surely will be) here is the quote in full

"I fancy that human fear and timidity stand in your way. It is said that it takes a bold man to venture to take a wife. What you need above all else then, is to be encouraged, admonished, urged, incited, and made bold. Why should you delay, my dear and reverend sir, and continue to weigh the matter in your mind? It must, it should, and will happen in any case. Stop thinking about it and go to it right merrily. Your body demands it, God wills it, and drives you to it. There is nothing that you can do about it...It is best to comply with all our senses as soon as possible and give ourselves to God's Word and work in whatever He wishes us to do."

Let us not try to fly higher and be better than Abraham, David, Isaiah, Peter, Paul, and all the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, as well as many holy martyrs and bishops, all of whom knew that they were created by God as men, were not ashamed to be and be thought men, conducted themselves accordingly, and did not remain alone. Whoever is ashamed of marriage is also ashamed of being a man or being thought a man or else he thinks that he can make himself better than God made him.

Martin Luther’s letter to Wolfgang Reissenbusch, March 27, 1525, Library of Christian Classics, Vol. XVIII Philadelphia: Westminster Press

The right time

With marriage so nearly upon me, I've been pondering if ever there is a "right" time to get married. We were chatting recently with my soon to be wife (the lovely Rachel) and I instinctively said that I think folks should be getting married much much younger than they are now. When Rachel asked me for my reasons, I waffled on for a bit, with my only vaguely useful response being that women reach their reproductive peak in the late teens. Today, I read an article which makes this case fairly persuasively and rather eloquently. Read it here Let’s Have More Teen Pregnancy and then-dare I say it-egg someone on...

Be plagued y'all

So a few weeks ago, my first ever letter in the CofE newspaper got published. Exciting stuff. I was basically bemoaning the lack of choice Christians face when it came to choosing a party to support. My conclusion to that letter was "I am not one for a gloomy outlook but given the choice between Conservative and Labour, I'm inclined to agree with Shakespeare and declare: a plague on both your houses." In other words, woe unto him who says that the Conservative party is the choice for Christians!

I'd kind of forgotten about all this and then I came across this from the an pro-conservative blogger (http://www.archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/)

If David Cameron made one mistake during this election campaign, it was his decision to sideline the Christian majority. It is one thing to ‘love bomb’ the Liberal Democrats and to court the minority faiths, but quite another purposely to rile and alienate Christians. [...] he denigrates and misrepresents the Church of England; he proclaims that ‘it is mainstream Britain which needs to integrate more with the British Asian way of life, not the other way around’; and he asserts that if Jesus were around today he would be supporting ‘gay rights’.

For the full piece, see Why the Conservatives did not win the General Election

What's more today I read that the Theresa May who is the new Home Sec, has decided to abandon traditional (i.e. biblical) values and is taking a more "progressive" approach to morality (Fragile Coalition under threat from political correctness) So who says the Tories are any better than Labour or the Trendy liberals? Reminds me of something the Prophet Isaiah wrote way back then

8 For Jerusalem has stumbled,
and Judah has fallen,
because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord,
defying his glorious presence. [4]

9 For the look on their faces bears witness against them;
they proclaim their sin like Sodom;
they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
For they have brought evil on themselves.

Quote of the week

When we get to the decisive point of the coming Obamafail, we are going to be looking at a political moon crater that makes Jimmy Carter's hole in the ground look like the something on the 11th green at Augusta.

From the legendary Doug Wilson: The Coming Obamafail

Joke of the week

A teenage boy had just passed his driving test and inquired of his father as to when they could discuss his use of the car.

His father said he'd make a deal with his son: 'You bring your grades up from a C to a B average, study your Bible a little, and get your hair cut. Then we'll talk about the car.'

The boy thought about that for a moment, decided he'd settle for the offer, and they agreed on it.
After about six weeks his father said, 'Son, you've brought your grades up and I've observed that you have been studying your Bible, but I'm disappointed you haven't had your hair cut.

The boy said, 'You know, Dad, I've been thinking about that, and I've noticed in my studies of the Bible that Samson had long hair, John the Baptist had long hair, Moses had long hair...and there's even strong evidence that Jesus had long hair.' To which his Dad replied:
'Did you also notice they all walked everywhere they went?'

HT: Andrew Baughen

Deadly invitation

Is the kind of invitation Jesus makes in Mark 8:34-36... To follow Christ is the most wonderful and truly human thing any sane person would do but - and this is crucial - it is also the most costly thing to do. Read the gospels and see how Jesus loves to call people to Himself yet, he never hides the fact that to follow Him amounts to denying self and loving death. Bonhoeffer must have had something of this in mind when he wrote "When Christ Calls a Man, He Bids Him Come and Die."

The path to happiness

So I posted Friday on what I thought would make for a good, Christ-honouring stag day and yesterday I had mine... How was it?

Well we started off with some good food at a local pub, then we were off to the go kart race track for some serious racing - I think for many this was a real highlight. I mean seriously, put any man near some fast moving machinery, and very quickly they start behaving like a boy about to enjoy some toy. I was also surprised to see how one minute Christians can be sooooo friendly and ever so polite but get them racing against each other and its carnage at every corner!

After the racing we had some chill out time at the best man's house and the evening was concluded with a curry (lovely for most people but not for me who was 'encouraged' to eat some chillies - managed to eat three and then almost threw up)

I think if I had to be honest I would say it was an okay day. I still don't understand why stags have to wear comedy outfits and I still wonder why the stag has to be challenged to do something outrageous like eat raw chillies, or challenge strangers to a duel or some such...

Sometime in the near future and before any kiplets get married, I would like to think some more about what our ascended Lord Jesus thinks about one of his followers having a stag do - I'm sure His word has something to say on it only that I don't yet know what it is and if any of you have put some thought into this I would love to hear it...

Right now though I want to leave you with an excerpt of a note someone wrote me yesterday on my stag day. If you are married, about to get married, aspire to be married, these are words worth hearing

Utter devotion to Christ, fearless submission to Scripture, passionate faithfulness to your wife and radical, perservering, joyful, self-giving, humble, self-forgetful service in your marriage are the path to happy fruitfulness

Thank you for such stirring words dear David.

May the Lord give me and others in a similar situation great grace every day, hour and minute to walk this path, for our own good, others blessing and to God's praise and glory.