March 31 - Tremble and Quake

March 31 – Tremble and Quake

As the world challenged the church to allow freedom of worship, different denominations began springing up. While everyone believed that the Bible alone was the authority, no one was actually able to decide which interpretation was correct.

The Puritans didn’t like the teachings of the Anglican church, but while they still believed the clergy had a place within the church, one man did not. George Fox felt that there was too much formality within the church, even in the churches outside the Anglican Church.

He searched for answers and found them one day in 1647 when he heard a voice say to him, “There is one, even Jesus Christ, who can speak to thy condition.” (Notice how Jesus spoke to him in formal English? He’s good with words that way.)

Fox realized that the light of God was within himself and that all Christians had immediate access to God. They were all friends of God. He taught that if people would follow the light that God gave them, they could break free from sin.

There were a few rules that he set forth to become a participant in “The Friends,” but this group drew both aristocrats and commoners who worshiped and studied together. There were no clergy, but anyone could speak.

The Friends dressed simply, spoke the truth, opposed war, refused to pay a tithe to the state church and refused to bow to any man, even to tip a hat.

They placed great emphasis on freedom, which allowed for some abuse within the church. Fox ended up in jail and the judge began mocking the beliefs of the Friends. Fox told the judge that he should ‘tremble at the Word of God.’

The judge replied, “You are the tremblers, the quakers.” The name stayed with them.

Oliver Cromwell had offered tolerance to most religious groups during his rule, but not the Quakers. He thought they were honest and had integrity, but he didn’t like their demand for freedom. The movement grew, however as the teaching that each individual should experience Christ made itself known.

March 30 - Confession of Faith

March 30 – Confession of Faith

“Oliver Cromwell lay buried and dead, Hee-haw buried and dead.”

If you didn’t grow up singing those lyrics to a nursery rhyme, you lived a quieter life than I did. But, then my mother also taught me the rhyme for Lizzie Borden at an early age as well.

James I and his son, Charles I did their best to bring Scotland and England together under the Anglican Church. It didn’t go so well. There was the small matter of the English Civil War that occurred. So, Charles called a Parliament – that didn’t go well either. He dissolved it, but called another later that year. He wanted them to come to agreement about the Church. He made a fatal error.

Two years later in 1642, the same Parliament was in session. Charles thought he might get away with arresting members of the House of Common, saying that they had committed treason. War began. England turned to Puritanism.

In 1643, Parliament called an assembly at Westminster Abbey. The Episcopal system of the Anglican Church was done and a system similar to the Presbyterian church was put into place. At this assembly, the church was to be rebuilt. They met for six years.

Oliver Cromwell, who had charge of the army brought the Puritans into power and had the king beheaded in 1649.

The Westminster Assembly created the Westminster Confession in 1646, and several other tracts throughout the years, all very Calvinistic in theology: inspiration of Scripture – the Bible was the sole authority. Scripture was inspired by God and kept pure in all ages. The doctrine of predestination was upheld as was the teaching that God related to his people through covenant.

The church would be ruled by elders – not priests and bishops. And there would be no teaching of transubstantiation in communion. The Sabbath was set aside solely for worship.

In 1658, Cromwell died. His son, Richard, tried to take over but didn’t have his father’s talent for leading. He retired and Charles II came back into power. He restored the Anglican Church. The Westminster Confession moved into Scotland and became the power behind the Church of Scotland.

March 29 - New World

March 29 – New World

The Puritans and the Separatists had a problem. England no longer wanted them around. In fact, many of them ended up in prison and harassed by the government because they had rejected the Anglican church.

King James made it clear to them that when they left the Anglican Church, they had left him as well. He didn’t want them.

They let for Holland. But, much as the country was open to their beliefs, it wasn’t home. No one cared whether or not they were there and in fact, the country was so secular, the people were afraid of what would happen to their communities of faith.

Their hope lay in the New World, a place where there was no government which would persecute them. In fact, they hoped that they could take their Calvinist ideals with them and establish a new government. They weren’t afraid of the trials that would come in carving out a life in an unknown territory.

They returned to England and took a ship called the Mayflower and headed for the New World. They originally intended to sail to Virginia where there was an established colony, but when they went off course, they landed in Massachusetts.

Before they left the ship, forty-one men signed the Mayflower Compact, agreeing that this new colony was theirs and would be created for the glory of God. Their laws would be made for the common good, they would work as a group and not as individuals. They declared that they would govern themselves, under God.

The New World was on its way to becoming a new country.

March 28 - Palm Sunday

March 28 – Palm Sunday!

Hosanna in the Highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna!

Today marks the beginning of Holy Week. For most Christians, we have been preparing for this week since Shrove Tuesday / Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday.

The date for each of these days is determined by the date that is set for Easter.

Easter had been celebrated since the early days of the church. The specific date was always up in the air though and debated for centuries. For a long period of time, the date for Easter was set on Nisan 14 – the beginning of Passover according to the Jewish calendar. However, that meant that it wouldn’t necessarily be celebrated on a Sunday.

Polycarp (a disciple of John, the author of the Gospel, three letters, the Revelation and a disciple of Jesus) accepted that date as the proper date for celebration, but others in the Roman church held out until the Sunday following.

The only way many of the Christians at this time knew to set the date for Easter was to rely on their Jewish friends to tell them when Passover would begin.

This became much too unreliable a method. The Jewish calendar and the Julian calendar were quite different and calendars around the world were not yet uniform.

At the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, a decision was finally arrived at which would set the date for Easter independently of the date of Passover. However, arriving at the date for Easter does not depend on the Gregorian or the Julian calendar, but the movement of the sun and moon, which is exactly how the Jewish calendar is created.

For this matter – Easter is observed on the Sunday after the first full moon on or after the day of the vernal equinox.

It will occur between March 22 and April 25.

Some fun stats on the dates for Easter are taken from Wikipedia’s article on Easter: Easter last fell on March 22 in 1818, and will not do so again until 2285. It fell on March 23 in 2008, but will not do so again until 2160. Easter last fell on the latest possible date, April 25, in 1943 and will next fall on that date in 2038. However, it will fall on April 24, just one day before this latest possible date, in 2011. The cycle of Easter dates repeats after exactly 5,700,000 years, with April 19 being the most common date, happening 220,400 times or 3.9%, compared to the median for all dates of 189,525 times or 3.3%

March 27 - Saved or Not

March 27 – Saved or Not

IN the late 1500s, two pastors came together to debate Calvin’s views on predestination. Jacob Arminius had agreed to argue for Calvin. But, he lost the debate. In fact, he lost before it even began. As he studied both sides of the issues, he couldn’t help himself, he came to agree with hi opponent.

He split the Calvinist movement. When he died in 1609, the conflict was still raging. In 1610, his followers published the “Remonstrance” an outline of their five beliefs regarding salvation. “Remonstrance” stated that they had ‘set out what is sufficient for salvation. It is unnecessary to look higher or lower.’

1. Humans can do nothing good on their own.
2. Before the foundation of the world, God chose to save everyone who would freely choose to trust Christ.
3. Jesus died for everyone, but his death only redeems believers.
4. People can choose to reject God’s attempts to save them.
5. Scripture doesn’t clearly state whether or not Christians can forfeit their salvation.

In 118, Prince Maurice of Holland, who hated the Arminians for political reasons invited Calvinist pastors to gather in Dort simply to attack the Arminians. This Synod, though dealing with all of the political overtones, attempted to draft a balanced response.

1. Humans are by nature spiritually dead.
2. If someone trusts Christ, it is because God chose them. God’s choice is unconditional, not based on any human decision.
3. Christ’s death atoned for only those who would believe in him.
4. When God regenerates someone, that person will neither resist nor reject His grace.
5. Every Christian will persevere in faith until the end.

Until this time, predestination was only a small part of Calvinist theology. Its main purpose was simply to assure Christians of God’s love. After this point, predestination became one of the central tenets of their teaching.

March 26 - THE Bible

March 26 – THE Bible

Yes, you’ve met him a couple of times in the last week. He was the son of Mary Queen of Scots. While living in Scotland, he was Prince James – James VI. When he moved down to England to reign after Elizabeth’s death, he became James I.

The Puritans were hopeful … ever so hopeful that he would grant them favor. The church in England hadn’t yet committed itself to Calvinism and they were definitely hoping that James, coming from Presbyterian Scotland would be on their side.

James, however, believed that he had been given a “divine right to rule.” He kind of like that whole “Defender of the Faith” title and placed himself as the head of the Anglican Church. Those Presbyterians – well, they preferred independence and that might get in the way of the king having divine rights.

Now, there were a BUNCH of Puritans in England, so James couldn’t just dismiss them out of hand. IN 1604, there was a meeting between the Puritans and the bishops. James pretty much told them that they weren’t going to get anything they wanted. In fact, he let them know that he wanted them out of England.

What they did receive was his approval for a new Bible translation. What they didn’t realize is that James wanted to get rid of the Geneva Bible, which was clearly Calvinistic in its translation and in its helps. It was time for a translation of the Bible into English that would appeal to James.

He brought together fifty-four scholars, who worked with both the original texts (as they had them) and earlier translations. They worked for nearly three years on King James’ version of the Bible and it hit the presses in 1611. A highly accurate translation of the Bible was now available to everyone in England, endorsed by the King.

March 25 - Baptist Beginnings

March 25 – Baptist Beginnings

All of that upheaval in England created years of craziness for Christians and their churches. Remember, there really wasn’t anything like our ‘freedom of religion.’ Every time someone wanted to do things a bit differently, a hideous period of persecution occurred.

Queen Elizabeth had gotten the Anglican Church back on track, but it was pretty Catholic for some of the more reform-minded folk. The Puritans tried to ‘purify’ the church from within and then there was a group that just decided to separate – they were the Separatists (imagine that).

James I came to rule in 1603 and the reformers hoped for the best since he came from Scotland (where the Presbyterians were in existence) and his mother was Catholic. But, no, he had his mind made up and the Anglican Church wasn’t going to let anyone get away with being different.

John Smyth came from within the Anglican Church, but saw the need for the Separatist church and started one. Things weren’t good at all for this group of believers and they fled to Holland. He hooked up with a Mennonite and soon became convinced that infant baptism wasn’t scriptural. He managed to confuse himself for awhile because he wasn’t sure who would be able to baptize him or any of his church members. Finally, he baptized himself. That didn’t bring him a lot of comfort, so he tried to merge with the local Mennonites. Before they agreed, a small group split away and Smyth died.

The small group moved back to England and were led by Thomas Helwys. He had studied law and began making a lot of noise about religious liberty, even going so far as to send a copy of his small book to the King and writing an inscription telling King James that he was mortal and not God and didn’t have power over the soul of his subjects. Helwys was tossed into prison – and never heard from again.

But, the movement grew. The first group were called the “General Baptists” because they believed, along with the Mennonites that Christ died for all – not just the elect (a Calvinistic doctrine). A group of Puritans created another group called the “Particular Baptists” who believed in adult baptism, but retained Calvinist theology.

The Baptist church was born, with its emphasis on believer’s baptism and separation of church and state.