Canons of Dort

FIRST HEAD OF DOCTRINE. DIVINE ELECTION AND REPROBATION

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 1. As all men have sinned in Adam, lie under the curse, and are deserving of eternal death, God would have done no injustice by leaving them all to perish and delivering them over to condemnation on account of sin, according to the words of the apostle: "that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God." (Rom 3:19). And: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Rom 3:23). And: "For the wages of sin is death." (Rom 6:23).

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 2. but in this the love of God was manifested, that He "sent his one and only Son into the world, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (1 John 4:9, John 3:16).

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 3. And that men may be brought to believe, God mercifully sends the messengers of these most joyful tiding to whom He will and at what time He pleases; by whose ministry men are called to repentance and faith in Christ crucified. "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?" (Rom 10:14-15).

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 4. The wrath of God abides upon those who believe not this gospel. But such as receive it and embrace Jesus the Savior by a true and living faith are by Him delivered from the wrath of God and from destruction, and have the gift of eternal life conferred upon them.

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 5. The cause or guilt of this unbelief as well as of all other sins is no wise in God, but in man himself; whereas faith in Jesus Christ and salvation through Him is the free gift of God, as it is written: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Eph 2:8). Likewise: "For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him" (Phil 1:29)

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 6. That some receive the gift of faith from God, and others do not receive it, proceeds from God's eternal decree. "For now unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world" (Acts 15:18 A.V.). "who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will" (Eph 1:11). According to which decree He graciously softens the hearts of the elect, however obstinate, and inclines them to believe; while He leaves the non-elect in His just judgment to their own wickedness and obduracy. And herein is especially displayed the profound, the merciful, and at the same time the righteous discrimination between men equally involved in ruin; or that decree of election and reprobation, revealed in the Word of God, which, though men of perverse, impure, and unstable minds wrest it to their own destruction, yet to holy and pious souls affords unspeakable consolation.

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 7. Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby, before the foundation of the world, He has out of mere grace, according to the sovereign good pleasure of His own will, chosen from the whole human race, which had fallen through their own fault from the primitive state of rectitude into sin and destruction, a certain number of persons to redemption in Christ, whom He from eternity appointed the Mediator and Head of the elect and the foundation of salvation. This elect number, though by nature neither better nor more deserving than others, but with them involved in one common misery, God has decreed to give to Christ to be saved by Him, and effectually to call an draw them to His communion by His Word and Spirit; to bestow upon them true faith, justification, and sanctification; and having powerfully preserved them in the fellowship of His son, finally to glorify them for the demonstration of His mercy, and for the praise of the riches of His glorious grace; as it is written "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves." (Eph 1:4-6). And elsewhere: "And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." (Rom 8:30).

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 8. There are not various decrees of election, but one and the same decree respecting all those who shall be saved, both under the Old and New Testament; since the Scripture declares the good pleasure, purpose, and counsel of the divine will to be one, according to which He has chosen us from eternity, both to grace and to glory, to salvation and to the way of salvation, which He has ordained that we should walk therein (Eph 1:4, 5; 2:10).

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 9. This election was not founded upon foreseen faith and the obedience of faith, holiness, or any other good quality or disposition in man, as the prerequisite, cause, or condition of which it depended; but men are chosen to faith and to the obedience of faith, holiness, etc. Therefore election is the fountain of every saving good, from which proceed faith, holiness, and the other gifts of salvation, and finally eternal life itself, as its fruits and effects, according to the testimony of the apostle: "For he chose us (not because we were, but) in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight." (Eph 1:4).

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 10. The good pleasure of God is the sole cause of this gracious election; which does not consist herein that out of all possible qualities and actions of men God has chosen some as a condition of salvation, but that He was pleased out of the common mass of sinners to adopt some certain persons as a peculiar people to Himself, as it is written: "Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad--in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls--she (Rebekah) was told, 'The older will serve the younger.' Just as it is written: 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'" (Rom 9:11-13). "When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed." (Acts 13:48).

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 11. And as God Himself is most wise, unchangeable, omniscient, and omnipotent, so the election made by Him can neither be interrupted nor changed, recalled, or annulled; neither can the elect be cast away, nor their number diminished.

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 12. The elect in due time, though in various degrees and in different measures, attain the assurance of this their eternal and unchangeable election, not by inquisitively prying into the secret and deep things of God, but by observing in themselves with a spiritual joy and holy pleasure the infallible fruits of election pointed out in the Word of God - such as, a true faith in Christ, filial fear, a godly sorrow for sin, a hungering and thirsting after righteousness, etc.

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 13. The sense and certainty of this election afford to the children of God additional matter for daily humiliation before Him, for adoring the depth of His mercies, for cleansing themselves, and rendering grateful returns of ardent love to Him who first manifested so great love towards them. The consideration of this doctrine of election is so far from encouraging remissness in the observance of the divine commands or from sinking men in carnal security, that these, in the just judgment of God, are the usual effects of rash presumption or of idle and wanton trifling with the grace of election, in those who refuse to walk in the ways of the elect.

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 14. As the doctrine of election by the most wise counsel of God was declared by the prophets, by Christ Himself, and by the apostles, and is clearly revealed in the Scriptures both of the Old and the New Testament, so it is still to be published in due time and place in the Church of God, for which it was peculiarly designed, provided it be done with reverence, in the spirit of discretion and piety, for the glory of God's most holy Name, and for enlivening and comforting His people, without vainly attempting to investigate the secret ways of the Most High (Acts 20:27; Rom 11:33f; 12:3; Heb 6:17f).

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 15. What peculiarly tends to illustrate and recommend to us the eternal and unmerited grace of election is the express testimony of sacred Scripture that not all, but some only, are elected, while others are passed by in the eternal decree; whom God, out of His sovereign, most just, irreprehensible, and unchangeable good pleasure, has decreed to leave in the common misery into which they have willfully plunged themselves, and not to bestow upon them saving faith and the grace of conversion; but, permitting them in His just judgment to follow their own ways, at last, for the declaration of His justice, to condemn and punish them forever, not only on account of their unbelief, but also for all their other sins. And this is the decree of reprobation, which by no means makes God the Author of sin (the very though of which is blasphemy), but declares Him to be an awful, irreprehensible, and righteous Judge and Avenger thereof.

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 16. Those in whom a living faith in Christ, and assured confidence of soul, peace of conscience, an earnest endeavor after filial obedience, a glorying in God through Christ, is not as yet strongly felt, and who nevertheless make use of the means which God has appointed for working these graces in us, ought not to be alarmed at the mention of reprobation, nor to rank themselves among the reprobate, but diligently to persevere in the use of means, and with ardent desires devoutly and humble to wait for a season of richer grace. Much less cause to be terrified by the doctrine of reprobation have they who, though they seriously desire to be turned to God, to please Him only, and to be delivered from the body of death, cannot yet reach that measure of holiness and faith to which they aspire; since a merciful God has promised that He will not quench the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed. But this doctrine is justly terrible to those who, regardless of God and of the Savior Jesus Christ, have wholly given themselves up to the cares of the world and the pleasures of the flesh, so long as they are not seriously converted to God.

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 17. Since we are to judge of the will of God from His Word, which testifies that the children of believers are holy, not by nature, but in virtue of the covenant of grace, in which they together with the parents are comprehended, godly parents ought not to doubt the election and salvation of their children whom it pleases God to call out of this life in their infancy (Gen 17:7; Acts 2:39; 1 Cor 7:14).

FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 18. To those who murmur at the free grace of election and the just severity of reprobation we answer with the apostle "But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?" (Rom 9:20), and quote the language of our Savior: "Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own?" (Matt 20:15). And therefore, with holy adoration of these mysteries, we exclaim in the words of the apostle: "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 'Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?' 'Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?' For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen." (Rom 11:33-36).

Grammar and its effect and affect

"Grammar is the structured system that underlies our language and that the basic unit of language structure is the sentence" (Max Morenburg, p.3)

Reading for Advanced Grammar

I am reading a few different Grammar books. It may sound uninviting or boring but I have found it otherwise. The matters that emanate from the study of Grammar may shock you. As I have found there are a number of philosophical matters and theological matters that proceed from ones perception of language, particularly grammar apprehension. The way in which an individual learns how things and symbols relate has bearing on his/ her capacity to communicate and process other things and symbols. One question that naturally rises out of a study of grammar pertains to use and rules or, if you would rather, rules and use. That is, Do rules dictate correct and incorrect usage of words, phrases, sentences, etc. or are rules derived from cultural usage?

Other matters that emerge pertain to so called "pre-linguistic sentiment." Do words represent sentiments that precede their symbols? Are symbols such that they usurp images that could exist without symbols?

Jack Conner in his A Grammar of Standard English submits that 'deictic' words call to mind images (p. 5), while 'syntactic' words are exclusively functional or empty. One note that he inserts after these is, " it is not the word itself that is functional and not lexical; it is the word as the writer uses it" (p. 5). Therefore, according to Conner, "Words mean what the writer or speaker intends it to mean... The business of the reader is to discover what the writer or speaker intended, and the dictionary may or may not help him."

Assessment

Teachers are obligated to attend to specific objectives that their class should fulfill. These objectives are determined by the state without the direct consent of its teachers. It is supposed that they are an educated bunch distinguishing what belongs to a foundational formal education. In response, teachers are responsible to prove that every student is learning certain material. It is also supposed that if teachers can swallow hard and fudge a few numbers, then they can demonstrate that all their students are achieving a standard for which they were never desirous.
Now, many would say that numbers fail to prove that a student is learning, while others declare that numbers empirically do. Teachers have been known to prove that all students are learning by virtue of assessment. That is, of course, they practice assessment in their classroom synthesizing the two (instruction and assessment). But one may ask: how can teachers be sure that learning is measure by their tools? How can one respond? They do by virtue of their tools. It is true that good numbers are praised by the state. It is true that the state praises education on these basis; however, the question remains unanswered.
It is true that if you attend to the demands of the state, as it demands, regardless if bribery is involved, then you will be rewarded. Teachers are taught to swallow hard, accept the baggage for the sake of its gold. If teachers follow the states proscription exceedingly better than others they are rewarded proportionately. This probably would be labeled indentured servantry by others, but the state likes to call it free and appropriate education. In retrospect, assessment proves that students can preform a skill or regurgitate material. However, teachers are still subject to a system over and above education. For educators have defined what belongs to education so that the educator's pedagogy can assume that they are educating as well. But educators have long built structures before assessing the strength of its foundation. And they have redefined assessment so that their measurement tools no longer assess qualitatively. They are only adept to measure quantitatively so that this circle has retrieved itself.

Economics considered

Clason's Concerns Measured

In the Richest Man in Babylon, George S. Clason advocates three laws that explain how to successfully acquiring wealth. He articulates a way toward fiscal liberty to avoid the perils of debt. However, Clason's principles disguise the reality of acquisitions overpowering influence on those who seek it. These principles are a most dangerous trap.
Clason caricatures persons, readily embodying citizens who have much and citizens who have little. He depicts affluent men who understand the laws of acquisition, middle-class men who live from payday to payday, and slaves who seemly have no capacity to have financial liberty. Arkad is the richest man in Babylon; he willingly pronounces practical principles that he learned from Algemesh, who preceded Arkad as the richest man in Babylon. Bansir and Kobbi, although free, laboriously scrape the bottom of the tin in order to meet the demands of their financial obligations. And Dabasir became a slave because he had spent more than he had made.
At the end of the book, Alfred H. Shrewsbury, a professor of archeology finds five tablets that tell the story of Dabasir, a man whose own debt forces him to seek help. Shrewsbury listens as Dabsir tells about the three principles of acquiring wealth. He informs Shrewsbury about acquisition (how to acquire money), possession (how to keep money), and accumulation (how to use money). Dabasir spends himself into slavery because of his financial incompetence; yet, through his determination, he masters his miserable circumstances. Shrewsbury says: “Here comes an old chap out of the dust-covered ruins of Babylon to offer a way that I had never heard to pay off my debts and at the same time acquire gold to jingle in my wallet (Clason, 107).” These laws that the professor happened upon are eminently helpful; their aim complements the nature of the author's scheme.

Bansir and Kobbi live day to day on the verge of financial failure. They complain about their enslavement to their monetary demands. Bansir exclaims, “Income!” convinced that income was a necessary want that would bring happiness and contentment to him (6). Clason argues that desire must precede acquisition and acquisition is the primacy for happiness. He says, “Wealth is a power... that brings delight for the senses and gratification for the soul (11).”
Bansir and Kobbi are without wealth even as they earnestly work in their respectable trades. They observe that their pouches are empty, so they seek means that might foster a flow of income. They seek counsel from Arkad, the richest man in Babylon; he willingly pronounces practical principles that he learned from Algemesh, who preceded Arkad as the richest man in Babylon. Algemesh provides the way towards acquisition, possession and accumulation: the three laws of successfully acquiring wealth.
Firstly, ones income provides a means of acquisition; however, if he/she spends as much as he/she makes he/she pays everyone else but himself/herself. Furthermore, if he/she determines what he/she needs as a result of what he/she possesses: his/her necessities aptly become proportional to his/her income. Algemesh taught Arkad that the farmer who kept one egg for every ten he gave away, acquired an income. Arkad insisted on setting aside ten percent of all his income because “A part of all you have earned is yours to keep (17).”
Secondly, possession means keeping what you have acquired. In order to keep what you have accumulated contemplatively consider where and who best accommodates a risk-free investment. Arkad experienced the folly of partnering with someone in an investment foreign to both of them. He invested in a bricklayer who was interested in jewelry. He lost all his earnings. Arkad says, “Advice is one thing freely given away; yet, watch that you only take what is worth having (17).” He qualifies his proposition by saying, “seek advice from those competent through their experience to give it.” Keeping what you have worked so diligently to accumulate demands just as much circumspection as your endeavor to accumulate. “It is so easy to lend. If lent unwisely it is difficult to get back (74).” As one accumulates it becomes easier and easier to become imprudent and liberal. Mathon, a prudent and wise money lender, offered advice to Rodan, who was contemplating whether or not he should lend his hard-earned stash of fifty gold pieces to his brother-in-law. He said, “better a little caution than a great regret (88).” Mathon conjectured about how tragic it is to bring upon yourself the burdens of the ones you are helping. Out of the many ways one can lose money, one consists in imprudent investments with inexperienced partners; another consists in helping others to the extent that their burden becomes your burden.
Lastly, accumulation consists of the modes and means of how one invests his money making it work to acquire more money. If one finds profitable employment for his money, he necessarily accommodates profitable investments. “Put each coin to laboring that it may reproduce its kind even as the flocks of the field and help bring thee income, a stream of wealth that shall flow constantly into thy purse (32).” Bansir fancied a flow of gold that would come no matter if he stayed seated or if he traveled to distant lands and profitable investments precedes accumulation.
Clason plainly articulates in the forward of the book that his purpose is to inspire his readers to grow bank accounts, to grow greater financial success and to provide incomes for the future. Clason caricatures Algemesh, Arkad, and Methon to disseminate his message. Although, Clason is full of practical advice and wisdom concerning what is now finances, he offers a program that mediates a method for monetary gain. He overlooks its overpowering influence on those who seek it. He does not tell his readers that “the love of money is the root of all evil.” Conversely, the Apostle Paul said, “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith... But flee from these things, you man of God; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called… (I Tim 6:9-12)”
Jesus taught many parables that included characters with monetary problems; yet, He emphasized the eternal over the immediate. The Scriptures may condone Clason's method; however, they condemn his motives. Clason offers practical advice that closely resembles wisdom inherent in biblical stewardship like debt reduction and monetary discernment. Clason articulates the dangers inherent in unpaid debts. Debt devastates people. Dabasir's debts took control of him, and he became a slave because of his incompetence. He notes, “being young and without experience, I did not know that he who spends more than he earns is sowing the winds of needless self-indulgence from which he is sure to reap the whirlwinds of trouble and humiliation (Clason, 97).” Proverbs says: “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty (Proverbs 21:5).” Clearly, Clason's concern for monetary wisdom coincides with biblical principals concerning practical insights implicitly and explicitly interwoven in Scripture.
As His scheme embraces acquisition, however, it mitigates the dangers that emanate from a love of money. “Where your treasure is there shall your heart be also (Matt 6.).” Wealth is a power and the power is a consequence of acquisition. Acquisition is a necessary component in any quest for monetary success (11). Yet, acquisition, possession and accumulation are practical expressions that run on the basis of their result. Result-oriented programs fail to accommodate good values.
Money provides the means to accumulate all the worldly necessities of any physically dependent entity; yet, Jesus says, “Do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” He offers the reason in one passage before, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other You cannot serve God and wealth.”And this proposition is predicated upon, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Thus Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”

Cause...

J.I. Packer and O.R. Johnston say in the intro to The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther that,

“The idea of a meritorious act is an idea of an independent act which is in no way necessitated by God for man or performed by God in man, but is carried out by man acting in some sense apart from God. And there is no such action as this in God’s universe. The Creator directly energizes and controls all the acts of His creatures. All events are necessitated by His immutable, sovereign will. Human actions are genuinely spontaneous, and authentically express each man’s nature, for God works in all things according to their nature; but the fact that it is God who works all man’s works in him means that human action can never be independent of God in the sense required for it to acquire merit in the manner which the Pelagian envisage. Man cannot put God in his debt, because man does not stand apart from God free and independent agent. Luther thus undercuts the whole conception of merit by affirming the direct sovereignty of God over His world . . . God, he [Luther] says, works every human deed, whether good or evil. He works in the evil man according to that man’s nature, as He finds it . . . Behind the revealed dualism of cosmic conflict between the devil and God lies the hidden mystery of absolute Divine sovereignty; evil is brought to expression only by the omnipotent working of the good God. ‘Since God moves and works all in all, He moves and works of necessity even Satan and the ungodly. But He works according to what they themselves are, and what He finds them to be; which means since they are evil and perverted themselves, that when they are impelled to action by this movement of Divine omnipotence they do only that which is perverted and evil. . . ‘ [Luther p.204]”

John Calvin deals with this issue in the Institutes of the Christian Religion and asks:

"How may we attribute this same work to God, to Satan, and to man as author, without either excusing Satan as associated with God, or making God the author of evil? Easily, if we consider first the end, and then the manner of acting…So great is the diversity of purpose that already strongly marks the deed. There is no less difference in the manner…Therefore we see no inconsistency in assigning the same deed to God, Satan, and man; but the distinction in purpose and manner causes God’s righteousness to shine forth blameless there, while the wickedness of Satan and of man betrays itself by its own disgrace,” Institutes 2.4.2.

Turretin in his book Institutes 1:517 says, “Since his [God’s] will can have for its object nothing but good, it cannot will evil as evil, but as terminated on the permission of that which is good. God, therefore, properly does not will sin to be done, but only wills to permit it. And if at any time sin is called the means of illustrating God’s glory, it does not follow that God (who wills the end) ought also to will sin as such (which is the means to it). For it is called the means not so much causally and effectively (as if concurring finally to effect that end) as materially and objectively (because it is the occasion from which God illustrates his own glory). Again, it is not the means of itself because this rather obscures than illustrates the glory of God, but by accident from the wisdom of God (who elicits good from evil, as light from darkness). He who wills the end wills also the means, but not always by the same volition. If the means are of a diverse nature, he can will the end by an effective volition because the end is of itself good; but he wills the means only by a permissive e volition (if it is evil) not so much willing the means itself as the use of the means (to wit, the permission and ordination of sin itself,”

Jonathan Edwards puts it perfectly in his Works 1:76,78,79.saying, “They who object, that this doctrine makes God the author of sin, ought distinctly to explain what they mean by that phrase, ‘the author of sin.’ I know the phrase, as it is commonly used, signifies something very ill. If by ‘the author of sin,’ be meant ‘the sinner, the agent,’ or ‘actor of sin,’ or ‘the doer of a wicked thing’; so it would be a reproach and blasphemy, to suppose God to be the author of sin. In this sense, I utterly deny God to be the author of sin. But if, by ‘the author of sin,’ is mean the permitter, or not a hinderer of sin; and, at the same time, a disposer of the state of events, in such a manner, for wise, holy, and most excellent ends and purposes, that sin, if it be permitted or not hindered, will most certainly and infallibly follow: I say, if this be all that is meant, by being the author of sin, I do not deny that God is the author of sin (though I dislike and reject the phrase, as that which by use and custom is apt to carry another sense).And, I do not deny, that God being thus the author of sin, follows from what I have laid down; and, I assert, that it equally follows from the doctrine which is maintained by most of the Arminian divines. There is no inconsistence in supposing, that God may hate a thing as it is in itself, and considered simply as evil, and yet that it may be his will it should come to pass, considering all the consequences. Men do will sin as sin, and so are the authors and actors of it: they love it as sin, and for evil ends and purposes. God does not will sin as sin, or for the sake of anything evil; though it be his pleasure so to order things, that, he permitting, sin will come to pass, for the sake of the great good that by his disposal shall be the consequence. His willing to order things so that evil should come to pass, for the sake of the contrary good, is no argument that he does not hate evil, as evil,”