Troy Tulowitzki Philosopher Prince

In response to Eric Byrnes feeble attempt to explain away the DBacks collapse against the Kid Rox where he stated that the Rockies were simply ‘lucky’, the beneficiaries of the obviously tainted umpiring staff, and had clearly been outplayed by the Diamondbacks superior team, young Mr. Tulowitzki opined “They can outplay us all four games. If we end up winning the series, I’ll be fine with that.”

A Clint Hurdle in the making?

Stott and Ervin on Spirit Baptism Part One

In 1964, immediately prior to the latest movement of Charismatic Renewal, respected theologian John Stott wrote a short book entitled Baptism and Fullness offering an exposition of the biblical description of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Four years later, in 1968, Dr. Howard Ervin wrote a scholarly treatise on the narrower ministry of baptism in the spirit titled These Are Not Drunken, As Ye Suppose (now Spirit Baptism).  Since they are both respectful and irenic in their presentation, it is instructive to examine the positions of both side by side in order to further expand our views on the doctrine of Spirit Baptism.

Stott’s approach is fundamentally this: the Baptism in the Spirit coincides with the moment of conversion. Upon his surrender to Christ, the believer receives the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who immediately sets to work in the ongoing process of sanctification.  He uses the question “Is it that God makes us his sons and daughters and then gives us His spirit, or that he gives us his ‘Spirit of Sonship’ who makes us his sons and daughters?” to frame his discussion of the indwelling. Helpfully, Stott points out that Paul answers both ways in the Scriptures: in one instance he wrote “because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.” (Gal 4:6) and in another wrote “…those who are led by the Spirit of God, are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.” (Rom 8:14-15). In other words, the Christian is in every moment of his or her new life seen as having the Spirit within.

Ervin finds in the scriptures evidence that the Baptism in the Spirit is a second event in the life of the Christian, subsequent to the crisis event of conversion. As he lays out his case for viewing Pentecost (and the familiar passages in Acts) as representative of a normative experience for all Christians, he makes five propositions intended to guide the topic’s exploration. The points are intended to buffet the non-Charismatic’s argument rooted in Romans 8:9b “And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” intimating at the difficulty of separating conversion and a subsequent indwelling event. First, John the Baptist’s baptism set the type for the Spirit Baptism, placing the convert in water in preparation for the second baptism of the Spirit (Acts 1:5). Second, Jesus administers the Spirit baptism (John 1:33, et. al). Third, Ervin states without reservation that “baptism in the Holy Spirit is not synonymous with conversion and the new birth from above.” Fourth, there will be evidence of the indwelling of the Spirit, specifically glossolalia. Finally, the fifth point of structure is that the baptism in the Holy Spirit in Lukan theology is synonymous with being filled with the Spirit, contrary to the notion of repeated or progressive fillings of the Spirit’s power.

Neither of these men approaches the discussion in an emotional manner. Instead they lay out the evidence as they interpret it scholastically and theologically giving students of the topic an opportunity to weigh their work, examine the scriptures prayerfully on their own, and arrive at the conclusion that the Lord means for them to have. We will engage Ervin and Stott further in the days to come.

Debating Points for Calvinists and Arminians

A word that is desperately needed here in the land of Blog is posted over at Arminian Today. While the well reasoned and written piece is especially applicable to the Cal-Arm debate, it is also instructive for inviting the LDS or Watchtower folks into your living room to help them reason through the tenuity of their belief system. The author makes an important point as he echoes something I have long made note of; many Reformed brethren consider the Arminian theologian to be ‘deceived’ and following the ‘false god of Man’, therefore placing themselves on the wide road that leads to destruction. He does a good job of setting this and other straw men afire so as to encourage more collegial discussion.

Clint Hurdle: Philosopher King Hurdleism II

The man of the perpetual grin and bubble blower extraordinaire gives us something to chew on this morning in an oft repeated phrase “Respect everything. Be in awe of nothing.” Rumor has it that he has printed and bound this and other statements to be delivered to Snakes such as young Mr. Byrnes who opined “I think we’re a good team, I also don’t think the Rockies have outplayed us, because they haven’t,” Byrnes said Saturday afternoon before the Diamondbacks workout at Coors Field. “Not even close. They’ve had a little luck go their way. Definitely, the ball has bounced in their direction. They’ve been the beneficiary of some calls.” Would those calls be the strikes that the Snakes have watched go by or the high-sticking check into the glass that his teammate tried to lay on Mr. Matsui? That kind of talk just makes you look silly when you’re losing.

Collapse of the Titans: Rockies will Take Game 2

In a collapse heard round the baseball world after midnight last night, both closers of the battling Diamondbacks and Rockies faltered and hoisted the entire game onto their backs. First, with a hard fought 2-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth, Rox closer Manny Corpas beaned Young with one out later allowing him to score on a ground out by Byrnes. Fortunately, Stephen Drew had a ‘Baldwin Brothers’ moment, walking off of second base after the umpire called him safe and into the eternal jibing that his brothers will offer.

When the Snakes trotted their intimidating closer Valverde out in the eleventh inning having thrown far more pitches than he normally does, he too stumbled. After giving up a single to Spilly, he walked Brad Hawpe and Jamey Carroll to load the bases for defensive hero Willy Taveras. Taveras stood in and patiently took four flaming pitches that, unfortunately, weren’t even close to the strike zone. Base runner trots home to take the lead, ball handed to Speier for a perfect eleventh and the Rockies headed to Sky Harbor Airport for the trip back to the oxygen depleted confines of Coors Field for game 3. As the sign used to warn at the old Mile High Stadium fence, “Breathe Deeply, you are now one mile above sea level.”

Who Are Those Guys?

That line, originally tossed off by both Butch and Sundance as they looked over their shoulders at the pursuers who would not quit, has been asked more often in recent days of the surging Colorado Rockies. Few of them had were familiar with the players, much less having seen the team play. Strange, in a world of satellite television and 24 hours sports news. Perhaps the reason that the Kid Rox are such strangers is that they are not in the news for dog fighting, steroid abuse, tantrums and threats to sit out their contracts, drug problems, alcohol driven incidents, or any of the other myriad issues that athletes succumb to these days.

Perhaps USA Today was on to something back in June when they ran the story entitled “Baseball’s Rockies seek revival on two levels.” Give the article a read and get to use our boys in Purple (who have stuck with the black tunic in hopes of not interrupting the streak) a little better.