Regarding Rick Warren's Son

This is probably the best web page on the subject: Triablogue: Perseverance and suicide.

Notice that in the comments section someone mentions the Scripture that I would also mention in discussions where it is denied that suicide is an “unpardonable sin”: 1 John 3.15.  With that said, my thinking is that a person would have to work to prove that any Christian who has considered suicide was in fact regenerate when he died; any Christian who has died in this way would have done mental and logical gymnastics to work around the problem of ending his life without intentionally killing himself: something which can be done though presumably no one commits himself to such a project before he puts himself to death.

"Triablogue: Is Breivik a Christian?"

For those of you who were thinking about Norway: Triablogue: "Is Breivik a Christian?"

The first comments on the issue I would leave are the following:

That there are Christians who have done evil is easy to admit, because it’s true. On the other hand, since pragmatics (in a non-linguistic sense of the word) is all about what “works” for an individual--what suits his ends, whether good or bad--there is no special reason to believe that Anders Behring Breivik believes the tenets of Christianity and believes in Christ.

If you’re someone who in any way judges the veracity of something on the basis of admissibility of on-going tests and trials, then any foregoing profession of belief in that thing is necessarily delusional falsehood at best. And if you’re someone who judges the utility of something on the basis of admissibility of on-going tests and trials--well, in that case there is no necessity of the existence of faith in that case.

Therefore, even apart from a consideration of the likes of 1 John 3.15 and John 3.36, the mass killing that just took place in Norway does not add very much to the idea that Christianity has a track record of getting lots of people killed as a matter of theological duty.

Powerless Powerful People

2 Timothy 2:13: “If we believe not, [yet] he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”

If it is fair for the apostle Paul to blur identities here, as if the Head of the body of Christ were identical with the parts of the body, then up to a point perhaps it is fair for us to do the same. That is, if Christ cannot deny himself, then his self probably cannot deny him. Consequently, particular apostasy--in this case, a repudiation of Christianity--probably is not possible for those in whom the seed of God and the Spirit of God dwells.

Meanwhile, even if one can produce biblical exhortations or warnings that one not succumb to even this sort of apostasy, this doesn't necessarily prove that such apostasy is possible of believers. I go back to what Dr. John Martin Fischer was telling us once in class. Someone once explained to him (and I paraphrase): Look, even if determinism is true and your visiting a particular restaurant later tonight is determined, it’s still not going to happen unless you (intentionally) get up and go there.

God keeps his people safe, but God is also a God of means. And this means that you should not be surprised if God were to accomplish his ends through reminders of what would happen if two links in the causal chain were to be removed.

Second Juxtaposition

The following set harkens back to http://bright-idea.blogspot.com/2009/09/juxtaposition.html, but it also presents its own challenge:

Revelation 2.20: “Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.”

1 John 3.9: “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

The challenge for biblical inerrantists is to come up with a truly plausible explanation of the seeming contradiction. The challenge for errantists includes this and their civil obligation to give the benefit of the doubt and not to jump the gun. Any thoughts?

Juxtaposition

Regeneration does not guarantee instant moral infallibility. Nevertheless, it apparently does come with limits:

1 John 3.15: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”

Revelation 2.20: “Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.”

More could be said on this subject.