Excellent and Balanced Discussion of the Reformation

[Fidelio]

[video][/video]

[Sudsy]

[video][/video]

I'll give it a listen when I can even though he is a die-hard Calvinist. I usually have only watched/listened to him and Leighton Flowers going at it over Romans 9.

[singitagain]

I think that is a good discussion regarding the danger of sacralism. I consider Dr. White an excellent teacher on church history. He has a series posted on Sermon Audio.

https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermons.asp ... ames+White

For the most part, it is the most thorough I have listened to. I was disappointed with his treatment (or lack thereof) of the Anabaptists. While he acknowledged that the anabaptist movement covered a wide spectrum, his treatment of it was almost entirely on the Muenster disaster. I thought his reference in this video was much more fair. Also, I would disagree with his Calvanistic position, and the degree to which he takes the sovereignty of God, but for the most part I enjoy listening to him.

[Valerie]

I'm reading through Genesis- in it, God is promising that through Abraham's seed, all nations would be blessed, that he would be the father of many nations ,( of course, ultimately then through Jesus. So under Old Covenant, Israel was God's nation. But in the New Covenant, the Gentile /pagan nations received the Gospel. As was prophesied- to the early Church, their understanding would be nations would convert. Is that out of the question then? Example, just one of many passages prophesies "All kings will bow down to Him and all nations will serve him" (Psalm 72:11). So would the nations who received the Gospel, turning away from their pagan gods, believing their nation should now be known to serve the True & Living God? Was that wrong then to declare that for themseves? I can see how various passages would have led to the idea of state church- as they believed it to be fulfilling prophesies? (Because there are a lot of prophesies about the nations coming to God- Malachi prophesied "My name has been glorified among the Gentiles; and in every place, incense shall be offered to My name, and a pure offering, for My name shall be great among the Gentiles". Indeed, this came to pass.

[singitagain]

When we pray the Lord's Prayer, we pray "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." There is a sense in which that takes place in the lives of His followers today. But within our hearts, as within the hearts of the prophets of old, remains a longing for something better - a time when Jesus will rule, and all will do His will, a time when there will be no more war, famine, sickness, or infirmity, a time when even nature will be at peace and the lion will lay down with the lamb. But history has shown us, that when we take things into our own hands, and set dates for Jesus' return, when Jesus has said that the times are in the Father's hands, or take up the sword and try to bring about an obedience according to what we think that should look like, the results have not been good, and sometimes have been disastrous.