Wednesday, 28 September 2011
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Muslim Woman Offered Holy Communion
Shane Hipps is the teaching pastor at Mars Hill Church.The Rob Bell version of Mars Hill, that is, not the Mark Driscoll church. What was interesting was something that happened this past Sunday, he tweeted the following about a Muslim woman:
"Watched members of @marshillorg invite a Muslim woman to the communion table today. You all amaze me. bigjesus"
"@Blogustana For clarification, we practice an open table. Anyone wanting grace is welcome."
"@TheBerker My apologies. I wasn't trying to be cool. I just thot it was cool. We practice an open table. Anyone wanting grace is welcome."
"To clarify, the Muslim woman didn't actually take communion. Even so, taking it would violate her theology more than mine. Open table here"
"@BillyKangas Yes, the word "Sacrament" is from the Latin for "mystery." So I have a lot of room for disagreement on this one."
"@jeffreykauffman I love the Bible. I think Paul is talking to a specific community, like head coverings, slavery, or women being silent."
In contrast to what Shane Hipps is talking about, take the stance that John Calvin took toward the Lord's Supper:
The issue, as always, was the glory of Christ. He wrote to Viret, "I . . . took an oath that I had resolved rather to meet death than profane so shamefully the Holy Supper of the Lord. . . . My ministry is abandoned if I suffer the authority of the Consistory to be trampled upon, and
extend the Supper of Christ to open scoffers. . . . I should rather die a hundred times than subject Christ to such foul mockery" (see note 39).The Lord's day of testing arrived. The Libertines were present to eat the Lord's supper. It was a critical moment for the Reformed faith in Geneva.
The sermon had been preached, the prayers had been offered, and Calvin descended from the pulpit to take his place beside the elements at the communion table. The bread and wine were duly consecrated by him, and he was now ready to distribute them to the communicants. Then on a sudden a rush was begun by the troublers in Israel in the direction of the communion table. . . . Calvin flung his arms around the sacramental vessels as if to protect them from sacrilege, while his voice rang through the building:
"These hands you may crush, these arms you may lop off, my life you may take, my blood is yours, you may shed it; but you shall never force me to give holy things to the profaned, and dishonor the table of my God."
"After this," says, Beza, Calvin's first biographer, "the sacred ordinance was celebrated with a profound silence, and under solemn awe in all present, as if the Deity Himself had been visible among them". (HT naphtali_deer)
What does communion mean if it is not the essential unity and communion of the Church? Should non-believers receive Holy Communion? And, perhaps most importantly, why was Shane Hipps tweeting during church?
(HT to comingoutcalvinist.com for the heads-up)
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- From: llamalima@xanga
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has finally expanded to reach the ocean shore in Dominion: Seaside, an expansion for the
hit card game.runescape , There's plenty of territory beyond the shore though, with islands and
native villages ripe for the picking. So recruit explorers, navigators, merchant ships
and ambassadors. Confront pirates, deal with smugglers and find buried treasure in your
quest to expand your Dominion beyond the sea!Dominion: Seaside is the second expansion
for the deck-building card game that has been hugely popular since its debut in 2008.
Being an expansion set, it requires either the base Dominion game or the standalone
expansion Intrigue to play. This review focuses on the Seaside expansion. If you want to
know more about how the base game is played, please read our Dominion review.Dominion:
Seaside is another thematic expansion set, following the underhanded and covert theme in
Intrigue. In Seaside, the cards are based loosely around the naval and oceanic themes,
with card effects representing the ideas of exploration, colonization, pirates and
treasure maps. A new card type - Duration cards - is also introduced in this set,
changing the way games are played.These Duration cards are the biggest new concept
introduced in the Seaside expansion. These orange-colored action cards have persistent
effects, providing you with benefits until your next turn. They include the Merchant
Ship that provides you with 2 coins when you play it, and another 2 coins on your next
turn. There is also the Caravan that provides you with an extra card immediately as well
as on your next turn. However, the most interesting Duration cards would have to be the
Lighthouse and the Tactician. While giving you an extra action and an extra coin
immediately and on your next turn, the Lighthouse also makes you immune to all Attack
cards while it is in play! With the Tactician, you can discard your hand in order to
have 10 cards, 2 buys and 2 actions on your next turn. Now that's planning ahead!Other
new concepts are also introduced in Seaside, introducing new physical tokens and items
to liven up the game. There is the Embargo card that lets you place embargo tokens onto
a card pile. When any player buys a card from that pile, they also have to gain a Curse
card. If you use the Pirate Ship, you get to plunder treasure from your opponents, and
gain beautifully-crafted coin tokens for each successful plunder. Also introduced is a
separate playmat signifying a Native Village. When you play the Native Village card, you
are able to set cards aside onto the playmat ready for you to use later in the game.
Other cards such as the Haven and Island also allow you to set cards aside for later
use.There are also plenty of cards in Seaside that fit the naval theme. The Explorer
lets you gain a Gold if you have a Province in hand. And if you manage to have 2
Treasure Map cards in your hand at the same time, you find buried treasure and gain 4
Gold cards! And what naval story is complete without the ever-present Smugglers? These
guys let you gain a copy of the card that the previous player gained last turn. Looks
like treasure and loot is one of the major focuses of this set!The Dominion series seems
to be moving in the right direction, adding new themes and new concepts and mechanics
with each expansion. The naval and pirate theme is lighthearted and fun, and is a
welcome change of pace after the darker subterfuge themes in Intrigue. Seaside also adds
something not seen before in this deck-building game: physical objects. It's nice to
play with the extra items such as embargo tokens and pirate coins, rather than just
focusing on drawing and shuffling cards.It also looks like the game is still going
strong with no signs of slowing down, with a new Alchemy expansion being released in
early 2010, and another expansion titled Prosperity scheduled to be released in late
2010. If you already play Dominion, getting Dominion: Seaside will add excitement as you
throw in the new cards and concepts into the mix. If you have yet to try the game, get a
copy of Seaside as well as either the base game or Intrigue and start conquering!
Complexity: 2.5/5.0 Playing Time: 30 to 45 minutesNumber of Players: 2 to 4 players (up
to 6 with the Intrigue expansion)You can read more about Dominion
@go1827 - lulz.
@Amerindian666@xanga - I'm going to use that link from now on, when I see spam! :D
In the parable of the weeds (Matthew 13:24-30), Jesus told of the master who refused to let his servants pull up the weeds, lest they "root up the wheat with them" (v. 29). It is not for us to judge who believes and who does not. There will come a day when the Lord, who judges the heart of every man (Proverbs 21:2), will separate the believing from the unbelievers. Yet that day has not yet come. In this age, Jesus calls all who are thirsty to drink from him, the living water that leads to eternal life (John 4:13-14).
A bruised reed he will not despise, nor a smoldering wick will he snuff out (Isaiah 42:3). He seeks only a broken and contrite heart, and his mercy rejoices against judgement (James 2:13). Even for the Jews who scorned him and would not believe, Jesus cried out, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings" (Matthew 23:37).
For Jesus came to die for us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8). He became man to take our sin upon himself. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. (Romans 3:23-25). And God does not show favoritism, but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right (Acts 10:34-35).
As the Book of Common Prayer states, "we do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen."
As sinners ourselves, who then are we to call anything impure that God has made clean? (Acts 10:15)
@demerara@xanga - What about all of the epistles Paul, Peter, John, and Jude wrote about having a pure doctrine and refuting heretics?
While we can't tell for certain who is saved, who can tell for certain what is proper doctrine from the bible, and clearly Shane Hipps and Rob Bell are far off from anything that is considered to be orthodox belief. They are heretics and should be treated as such. The fact that they risked this woman's life, and soul, by offering her communion knowing that she isn't a Christian is all the more evidence of that.
Christ subjected himself to such mockery on the cross. The Eucharist brings us back to that moment.