April 2004

Commenting on my entry, "JPUSA: She's the boss...," a reader wrote, "(I) would be interested to hear your comments on the TNIV and this disturbing gender-neutral trend." To which I respond:

The TNIV is an emendation of the actual Hebrew and Greek text of God's Word, and therefore rebellion against the Holy Spirit Who is the author of that Word. (Similarly, the NRSV, the NIVI, the NLT, etc.) The men marketing these versions have changed thousands of Scripture's words to the end that the patriarchal nature of the Greek and Hebrew text the Holy Spirit inspired will be obscured or removed.

For instance, the Hebrew word 'adam' is used throughout the Old Testament to refer to the whole human race, and by this usage we are reminded ...that Eve's husband, Adam, was our federal head, and that through him all who have ever lived are "conceived in sin," as David put it, and subject to death and hell. As the New England Primer reads, "In Adam's fall, we sinned all."

Changed to reflect the Hebrew of the Old Testament, the Primer's statement would read, "In Adam's fall, adam sinned all." Changed to fit the mold of these gender-neutered Bible products, it would read, "In Adam's and Eve's fall, people sinned all."

Multiply such changes thousands of times across the Old and New Testaments and the radical agenda becomes clear: 'man' becomes 'person,' 'men' becomes 'people,' 'brothers' becomes 'siblings,' and so on.

Those who make these changes deny the changes are ideologically motivated, claiming that they're simply implementing the latest linguistic scholarship used by translators across the world, and that those who oppose these changes are ignorant...

Christian homes aren't for show, but for ministry and love. If we obey God's Word and "practice hospitality," it would be perverse for us to use that hospitality as an occasion to preen. Such behavior is the opposite of what Scripture commands:

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence ...contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. (Romans 12:10-13)

We are to welcome those who cannot repay us (Luke 14:13,14), seating them around our tables and sharing with them the love and joy God has brought into our families. If our glasses get broken and our carpets stained, it should increase our resolve to be faithful to the biblical command to practice hospitality "without complaining" (1Peter 4:9).

Never in history have Christians had the kitchens, dining room tables, chairs, food, or leisure we have today, but as our wealth increases our hospitality seems to decrease. This ought not to be: "To whom much is given, much shall be required."

Brothers and sisters, when did you last have the poor, crippled, lame or blind over for dinner--anyone other than relatives? Husbands, do you have a godly wife who wants to wash the feet of the saints but she's married to a boor who is unwilling to share his table?

In her excellent book, "Open Heart, Open Home," Karen Mains points out that true hospitality doesn't vaunt itself. Rather, without pretension it aims at making others feel "at home." Look at your home and ask yourself why God has given you such riches? Is it only to satisfy a romantic daydream of life as it used to be?

When reporting a story for The New Yorker several years ago, I found that the less people cook, the more money they spend on cooking appliances. Like the people who stood in line to buy my cookbook, people bought professional-grade ranges in the hope that they would one day use them.

It should not have been surprising when, in the final decade of the twentieth century, food writers became the voice of an idealized past, issuing bulletins from a land where pies cooled perpetually on windowsills.

-Molly O'Neill, "Food Porn," Columbia Journalism Review 42, no. 3 (September/October 2003): 45.

This interview of Budziszewski, one of Marvin Olasky's colleagues at University of Texas, is quite helpful--particularly in the context of reformed pastors and elders abdicating their authority in the civil realm, generally; and most recently with regard to sodomy and sodomite (non) marriage. But more on this later.

As one of those reformed pastors, I haven't yet nailed down where, exactly, I stand on natural law (and I know I'm pretty old to be writing that). Still, as we're surrounded by the crumbling foundations of the West, I'm gaining sympathy and think, regardless of the reader's own position, he'll profit from this interview and be better able to articulate the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all creation.

Of course, by posting this interview I'm not at all commending the recent (Easter) conversion of Dr. Budziszewski and his wife to Roman Catholicism.

Contra Neuhaus, Colson, and their comrades-at-ambiguity known as Evangelicals and Catholics Together, little things like the cult of Mary, the unique authority of Scripture, imputation, and justification keep getting in the way of rapprochement. Nor do I agree with Budziszewski's recommendation that Christians place a decreasing emphasis on the testimony of Scripture in witnessing to our culture, and a correlative increase in the testimony of natural law. In fact, there are a number of things I wish Budziszewski hadn't said. Still, there's much more I'm glad he said and find wise and helpful.

And while I'm at it, I am well aware how many readers of "World," and thus of Worldblogs, are Roman Catholic--in fact, here as I write, I find that a recent comment posted on this blog is by a dear brother in Christ who, many years ago, first introduced me to much of what I have come to hold dear in my life--a scepticism concerning the use of birth control to separate the unitive and procreative functions of the marriage bed; a parallel belief that children are one of God's chief blessings; a fatherly (and I must admit, somewhat haphazard) practice of praying over my children as they go to bed each night; a conviction that it is an act of piety and holiness to battle against false shepherds; a love of the writing of G.K. Chersterton and Joe Sobran; and so much more--all this happened one night when my wife, Mary Lee, and I sat for hours at John and Molly Archibold's dinner table, watching, listening, and learning. One night, and then we moved to Massachusetts and, decades later, the Archibolds moved from the Episcopal to the Roman Catholic Church. But we continue to love the Archibolds, and to look toward that day when we will have completely transparent fellowship in the Presence of our Lord.

Note: At the very bottom of the piecce, you'll find appended the extended section of Calvin's Institutes Budziszewski (briefly) quots in the first half of the interview.

Here on Easter Eve, as I prepare for Easter morning worship, a call comes from Africa to tell us that Mpaulo, the little boy our daughter, Michal, spent much of the past three months cuddling and loving, just died. (Here's a picture of the two of them posted by my son, Joseph, on his Worldmag blog.)

Two days ago, Michal and her dear friend, Annie Walker, left Ndola, Zambia, for London, where they will spend a short time before returning home. Michal had set her heart on having her elder sister and her husband, Heather and Archie Ummel, adopt Mpaulo, and some of you may have received an email from Heather and Archie, or me, asking if you might be able to help us with information concerning the five other Zambian children adopted by US citizens in the past year.

Many of you gave of your time and prayers to this end, and despite considerable setbacks, as Michal and Annie left Ndola we were all hopeful for the eventual adoption of Mpaulo and his reunion with Michal, Annie, and the rest of his new Covenant family.

But God is gracious, and saw fit to answer our prayers in another way.

My dear brother in Christ, David Wegener, called to tell us of Mpaulo's death and will see to the funeral arrangements and service. (In fact, it's likely that beyond two of the women from the orphanage, David, his wife, Terri, and their children Elizabeth, Mary, Sarah, and Jonathan will be the only ones present to mourn Mpaulo's passing.)

Yes, I know Mpaulo is one among millions of little orphans with no father and mother to comfort and care for them, but God placed this little boy in our hearts and we are grieving his death.

When I called Michal just now, I told her I was searching for the verse that says God takes the lives of some to protect them from coming evil. I said I thought it was somewhere in Isaiah. Through her tears she responded, "Isaiah 57:1."

Sure enough:

The righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to heart; And devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from evil, He enters into peace; They rest in their beds, Each one who walked in his upright way.

If Augustine could ask his readers to pray for his mother, may I follow him in asking for prayer for our daughter, Michal, as well as the others who loved and cared for Mpaulo--the Wegeners, Annie Walker, the women of Ndola's Transient Home for Children, and Doug and Heather Ummel?

May the Lord be pleased to add an orphanage in Africa, filled with the love of Jesus Christ and called, "Mpaulo's Home." And may He be pleased, also, to give many of His people the grace to follow Him in being a father to the fatherless.

I am so grateful our Lord allowed Mpaulo to spend the last few weeks of his life being carried around in a chitenga on the backs of women and girls who loved Jesus, and therefore loved him.

If you read Roman Catholic publications of the more fervent variety, you may have run across accounts of the notorious rate of conversions suffered by my own alma mater, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. It's hard to keep track of exactly how many of my fellow graduates have made the pilgrimage to "home sweet Rome," but four of the more prominent I know personally, including Scott and Kimberly Hahn, Steve Wood, and Marcus Grodi. Stories of these conversions are found all over the web and some of the details are not quite accurate--but more on that later.

Prior to the land being purchased and turned into a Protestant seminary, Gordon-Conwell's campus had housed a Roman Catholic (Carmelite) boys school whose purpose was to facilitate vocations to the priesthood. Meeting one of Gordon-Conwell's Roman Catholic converts, Fr. Schevers (who formerly taught at the boy's school) suggested that the prayers of their Carmelite predecessors were the reason so many Gordon-Conwell graduates coverted. (For an interesting, albeit Roman Catholic, account of these conversions, see the Spring 1996 issue of Sursum Corda!, 1331 Red Cedar Circle, Ft. Collins, CO 80524.)

Despite my gratitude for much of the work undertaken by Rome to witness against the moral cesspool flooding our Western world, I had to chuckle recently when I received a letter from Marcus Grodi asking me to give money to his non-profit, The Coming Home Network, to facilitate the conversion of additional Protestant pastors. I do hope Marc isn't holding his breath.

Some excerpts:

March, 2004.

Let me introduce you to the Coming Home Network. We're a lay Catholic apostolate that has helped hundreds of Protestant ministers convert to the Catholic faith. And right now, we're helping 200 more who are on the journey to Rome. Each one of these pastors faces a severe personal crisis, and I'm short of funds to help them all. Please read this important letter and consider helping us help more Protestant clergy convert to the Catholic faith. You may be their only hope!

Dear Fellow Catholic,

Hello. My name is Marcus Grodi. I'm a former Protestant minister who converted to the catholic faith nine years ago.

As you probably know, a large number of Protestant ministers have converted to Catholicism in the last decade. You may have heard their stories on my weekly live television program, Journeys Home, on EWTN.

But what you might not know is that hundreds of Protestant ministers are currently "on their way home" to Rome.