tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8934298301663499561.post4153506235472292996..comments2023-05-07T09:56:23.909-04:00Comments on The Christian Curmudgeon: Bayly the BaptistAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07146011447109951026noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8934298301663499561.post-28019918274060426362014-12-04T20:41:03.878-05:002014-12-04T20:41:03.878-05:00Tim, I surely did not post any ad for my Blog. Rat...Tim, I surely did not post any ad for my Blog. Rather I responded to your post on my Blog. Thinking you encouraged responses to your posts, I provided a link to my Blog where readers who wished could find a full interraction with your post. Apparently you did not wish your readers to have the opportunity to consider my thoughts, which, inasmuch as it is your Blog, is your right. However, you will note that I have allowed you to post as you will here. That, I think, speaks quite clearly about our two approaches to allowing others their say. I don't find your expressing your views to be threatening or to provoke any defensiveness on my part or to require any high-handed censorship.<br /><br />No one has twisted anything you have said. My approach has been to quote you and to respond to your words. I think this is evident, and I expect you know it.<br /><br />Perhaps part of the problem here is that while you engage in sharp criticism of Pete Leithart (and some of your comments were quite petty), you cry foul when similar crticism is directed toward your posts.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /> Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07146011447109951026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8934298301663499561.post-37054048874717306692014-12-04T16:24:54.550-05:002014-12-04T16:24:54.550-05:00Dear Pastor Smith,
You have not been forbidden to...Dear Pastor Smith,<br /><br />You have not been forbidden to comment, You have been forbidden to simply paste ads for your blog as your comment. But I'm done trying to explain anything to you, good sir. It's always twisted when you repeat it.<br /><br />Love,Tim Baylyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10108604506127469314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8934298301663499561.post-84378150035733922602014-12-04T14:25:41.685-05:002014-12-04T14:25:41.685-05:00I believe your views are fairly represented by the...I believe your views are fairly represented by the quotations from you I cite.<br /><br />Re the use of quotations, all the quotations are clearly indicated in the text of the Blog. All of them are quotations copied and pasted from your post, where you quote Leithat and iterract with him.<br /><br />My comment reponse to your original comment is, after the introductory sentence, entirely a quotation of your post at your Blog.<br /><br />As perhaps you will note, I extend to you the freedom to comment as you will on my Blog, a courtesy you do not extend to me.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07146011447109951026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8934298301663499561.post-48399420197436625892014-12-04T14:13:45.018-05:002014-12-04T14:13:45.018-05:00Dear Pastor Smith,
The operative word is "th...Dear Pastor Smith,<br /><br />The operative word is "the." The definite article. As I said, I never have denied that the sacraments are a place God gives us assurance. But not THE place that Dr. Leithart's piece argues.<br /><br />BTW, if you want people to understand what you're quoting, you could make it clear where you're quoting me and where you're quoting Dr. Leithart. It's quite confusing.<br /><br />Love,Tim Baylyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10108604506127469314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8934298301663499561.post-9493637545406953012014-12-04T13:27:52.781-05:002014-12-04T13:27:52.781-05:00Here it is, Tim.
After twisting several Scripture...Here it is, Tim.<br /><br />After twisting several Scripture texts, Dr. Leithart turns to a discussion of his readers' Christian assurance:<br /><br />Suppose I ask you, “How do you know you are in a right standing with God?” You might say, “Because I feel the relief of forgiveness.” But then I’ll ask, “Do you always feel relief? Do you never feel guilty?” And I suppose you’ll admit that you do feel guilty sometimes.<br />Even momentary lapses in feelings of relief or momentary recurrences of feelings of guilt amount to utter failure. Dr. Leithart then moves on to this:<br /><br />You might say, “I know I’m justified because I believe the gospel.” ...That sounds a lot like putting faith in your faith, which is putting faith in something you’ve done...<br />Again, note Dr. Leithart's rhetoric. "Sounds a lot like" smoothes the path for equating "believe the Gospel" with "putting faith in something you've done." You and I both know that's what we mean when, with the Apostle Paul, we say we are not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: we are actually saying we believe in our own works and our own selves.<br /><br />Not.<br /><br />Reformed Protestants deny faith is a work. It is the gift of God. Yet Dr. Leithart doesn't blush to tell us that belief in the Gospel is "putting faith in something (we've) done."<br /><br />Really?<br /><br />Dr. Leithart has only begun his deconstruction. After morphing "belief in the Gospel" into "faith in something we've done," there's more:<br /><br />You might protest, “But faith is a gift. I’m not putting faith in my own belief, but in God’s gift of faith.” Fair enough, but you’ll notice that you’re still focusing on what’s happening in you. Instead of getting assurance by turning outward to God, you’re assured by turning inward.<br />Having shaken his readers' confidence in the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, Dr. Leithart trots out Baptism as the place to find relief and peace:<br /><br />We cannot get assurance unless we’re convinced that God declares me His beloved child in the water of baptism.<br /><br />Which means, No baptism, No justification.<br />There it is, bald-faced, ugly, and raw.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07146011447109951026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8934298301663499561.post-85414180544453889822014-12-04T12:06:47.226-05:002014-12-04T12:06:47.226-05:00Dear Pastor Smith,
There are a number of statemen...Dear Pastor Smith,<br /><br />There are a number of statements made in your post that aren't accurate, but this one is particularly egregious: "Brother Bayly denies that Baptism has anything to do with even our assurance of justification." Show your readers where I say that, or anything close. In fact, in a comment just yesterday I said precisely the opposite. The sacraments are God's stooping to our weakness from His great kindness and mercy, assuring us we belong to Him. This is just basic Reformed doctrine, brother. Why you would say I deny it is beyond me.<br /><br />Love,Tim Baylyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10108604506127469314noreply@blogger.com