St. Ignatius of Loyola

St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491 - July 31, 1556) has had a continual influence on the spirituality of the Church (Catholic as well as Protestant) primarily through his writings and the society he helped found, the Society of Jesus. He was born of noble birth in the castle of Loyola in the north of Spain. As a youth he lived a life of privilege as an attendant of the court serving Juan Velásquez de Cuellar, contador mayor to Ferdinand and Isabella. In this respected position Ignatius seems to have fallen into more carnal pursuits that so often go along with any political enterprise. After Velásquez's death, the young Ignatius moved into military service. After some time in the army, a French cannon ball rips through his legs removing a chunk from one and snapping the other. During his long convalescence, Ignatius finds himself short of his usual reading material of knights and fair maidens and is forced to read books on the life of Christ and the saints. Ignatius becomes fascinated with these stories, his imagination takes over and he sees himself outdoing the saints in their holy pursuits. While laying awake one night he realizes the emptiness of his former pursuits of glory and sees immense worth and satisfaction in attempting to outdo the saints. Later, Ignatius visits the sanctuary of Montserrat, hangs up his sword and dagger before the altar, gives away all his rich clothes to the poor and puts on sackcloth. Ignatius starts the life of penance, self-denial and self-sacrifice that he would live by for the rest of his live.

St. Ignatius plays an important part in something called the Counter-Reformation. The Counter-Reformation is a little known period of the Catholic Church where there was, in response to the Protestant Reformation, a time of great revival and reform. Ignatius' shrugging of material excess stands in contrast to many who abused the Church before him, but it was ultimately his pursuit of God that makes him stand out as important. What we Protestants should see in Saint Ignatius is that during the great spiritual awakening that is the Reformation there was a concurrent awakening amongst Catholics.

St. Ignatius' famous work Spiritual Exercises is available for free on the CCEL website.

Images and Words

In J.I. Packer's book Knowing God he talks a bit about the second commandment and how this commandment speaks against all images of God. "Images dishonour God, for they obscure His glory (40)." He means to say that not just images of other gods are wrong, but that the expression of God in the form of an image is wrong. The truth of this is obvious from the start. How could a picture express the fullness of the glory of God? It is much like how words fail to express their images of theological truths falling much short of the immensity of God. Wouldn't this also mean that words are a problem?

Imagine a book on the glory of God. The very first chapter of this book starts with the statement, "God is glorious" and goes on to expound on this subject. The first proof is the most obvious, God is creator. The majesty of mountains, the grandeur of the heavens, the complexity of cells and the beauties of science all express in wonderful simplicity the glory of God in creation. The next proof is that God's love is glorious. The writer then expounds on the subjects of justification, sanctification and adoption. Next, he moves to God's longevity, power and knowledge. He describes in intimate detail all these subjects, he quotes every word ever spoken by church fathers and theologians on the subject and brings thought and reason together to provide the reader with the most complete definition on the subject ever written. But, at the very end of the book, in conclusion of all this work, the writer could only end with this: "God is glorious." The writer's lengthy paragraphs, exquisite explanations and precise descriptions always carry with them the essence of futility.

Such a great book does not share glory with God and will always fall short of what glory really means. However, it is with this understanding that we read such books with awe. The God so wonderfully described exceeds words and our imagination's rendering of them. It is in this enamored stupor that we get a taste of what glory really is. Likewise, great art tells us not verbatim God's qualities, but inspires awe by telling us God is far more beautiful than anything we have ever seen.

We must be careful of the images we craft whether they be in language or art. If we say that what we have created is God then we have committed the sin of idolatry. This idea is very easily seen in bowing down to idols, but it is less clearly seen in words. In writing about glory if we say we have captured glory we have sinned. Therefore, in all our doings we must understand our limitations as humans and the inability to express adequately the glory of God.

Love Wins

A lot has been written about Rob Bell's new book pointing out its errors and providing the truth that stands against it. There are a lot of problems with the book, but I think sitting down and going through all those problems would be a waste of time. The book is not a work of theology and I don't think it was written to make any kind of solid pronouncements about hell. I believe this book was written to make people think.

I found while reading the book that Bell's arguments for hell were accepting of a variety of different views on the subject. I thought some passages were somewhat pluralistic or possibly espoused some kind of purgatory or were vaguely traditional. It is because of Bell's lack of definitiveness that I am frustrated just thinking about this book. At the end of the day, I really don't care about Rob Bell's views on hell because they are either nonexistent or too imprecise. However, with this said, Bell's book is still provocative. What this book does well is ask questions.

Rob Bell is a pastor of a large church in Michigan and I think much of what he says resonates with the emergent movement and many within the church today. I think we can take this book as a statement that the church today doesn't really understand hell and that it is looking for answers. The energy that this book has created can be seen as a good thing. It is good that we are taking about what happens to ourselves when we die.

There are a lot of exegetical and logical fallacies throughout this book and I'm sure you could find nice tidy lists of them if you Google hard enough. I don't want to go into that much detail. However, I do think it is good exercise to read a book while arguing with it. I think one of the lasting impressions I have of the book is that we don't really know exactly what it takes for a person to be saved. I think this is a good question to take away from the book and carry with you as you read though the scriptures.

Love Wins. I find this an incredibly beautiful idea. At the end of all things God's great loves shines out and conquers everything with its might. Bell makes love the only attribute of God and forgets about such things as justice and righteousness which becomes a problem when we consider the simpleness of God. If God is love and God is righteous these attributes of God can not be smaller parts of the whole excluding one another. If God is love the same God must also be righteous. This is all to say that God's attributes are all interrelated so that a righteous act of God is a loving act. God's love, therefore, can not be divorced from God's righteousness or justice. The "love wins" idea in this book is one that seems to save everybody regardless of the atonement of Christ. This would deny the justice of God. Love wins is a beautiful idea but only in light of the God who is just and the justifier of our sins.

Personally, I don't think this book is worth reading because there are much better books on hell out there. Several years ago a book called Hell Under Fire was published containing a collection of essays on different aspects of hell by top theologians. Also, there are new books that have been written in response to Love Wins and Justin Taylor on his blog talks about some of them.

Kevin DeYoung's lengthy review of the book:
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/03/14/rob-bell-love-wins-review/

She Walks in Beauty: a response to Lord Byron

She walks in beauty, like nothing

E'er spoken but lisp'd and stuttered;

Volumes gathered to her being

Are no more than pages tattered;

One Word so eloquently stings

to say all that really mattered.

A word the more betrays the thought

To say less with such impurity;

Beauty like this for ages sought

Was found not for such depravity;

Yet in grace was it for her bought

By heaven's magnanimity.

And on her cheek, to marrow's core,

Great and greatness are to me told;

Seen within her is heaven's door

Wide open, spewing heaven's hold;

Worn is a smile bidding more,

Breaking through to the darkest cold.

Father, I pray that you would break my back before my feet are ever quieted. I pray that as the burdens grow so too would the sound of heavier and heavier footsteps. Let my burdens never retain me. Let my feet never fail. Lord keep me and press me on.

Polycarp

Polycarp was one of the Christian church's first martyrs and when Roman soldiers took him to be nailed to the stake he was to be burned on, Polycarp said this in response: "Leave me as I am. For he who grants me to endure the fire will enable me also to remain on the pyre unmoved, without the security you desire from nails."

Lamentations

This afternoon, I read through the book of Lamentations and I found it interesting how something so stark and depressing could contain such beauty as this book does. The book is about how Israel has been bad and how God is going to destroy them for that. The book goes on and on about how dire the situation is for Israel. Israel will groan, weep and be consumed. But this book is contrasted with something as we see in chapter 3 verse 22, "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end." It's such a cutting contrast that it should change the whole tenor of the book for us. The nation written to were lamenting their fate, cursing their sins, awaiting wrath while holding onto a future hope, but for us as Christians that future hope has arrived. The story of Lamentations covers a period of several centuries. However, today we look back on this history and see it in an instant. As Christians we should see the wrath meant for us and the grace that let it pass over us.

Should vengeance still my soul pursue,
Death and destruction are my due;
Yet mercy can my guilt forgive,
And bid this dying sinner live.