Redemptive Theology and Family Planning: New Steps at Lawn Gospel

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“Any book that purports to explain how to apply the scriptures today must feature prominently the redemptive historical character of the scriptures…” – Dr. Tom Schreiner

Folks, just so you know what’s going on behind the scenes here at LawnGospel, here’s the 411:

I never intended this blog (or any of my blogging for that matter) to revolve around a single issue – besides The Redemptive event, or rather The Redemptive man himself, Jesus Christ. While that has always been at the forefront of my mind, I can see how it would be very easy to peruse the pages of this blog and not come away thinking about what Jesus Christ has to do with anything. I’ve assumed that people are connecting the same dots in their minds that I already have in mine. That’s not saying that people don’t understand what I write, but it is saying that many times they may come away not understanding why what I write matters in light of what Christ accomplished at Calvary.

I feel like the biggest reason for this lack of flow between “purpose” (mine) and “understanding” (my readers’), is that I have yet to develop a unified framework and consistent language as how to deal with the issues that I talk about (family ethic issues in particular — although I’ve made attempts). In the end however, I’ve been quite hesitant to make extensive use of the “kingdom” language that many of my professors (like Dr. Moore) use, mostly because I’ve yet to see the issues I handle here really addressed by them in light of the kingdom of God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. No doubt, Christ is Lord over marriage, sex, and fertility – and he has efficaciously redeemed those very things in the cosmic scope of his work on the Cross; but where do we go from there? That is the question that I have been stuck on for at least a year now. What does redeemed fertility look like? What does a “kingdom” understanding of sex mean for the Christian marriage? Although these questions are weighty, one thing is for certain – the answer is: these things look redemptive.

So that’s the direction that we’re going to be heading here at the blog. Many of my readers that have disagreed with me in the past over these issues have made consistent calls for “more Scripture!” The issue however, was that when Scripture was presented, it was done so apart from an historical redemptive framework with Christ at the center – and so both parties were tempted to dismiss texts out of hand as “unrelated” or “not binding,” without any regard to their place in redemptive theology or the universal truth that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work (2Ti 3:16-17). So yeah, we’re going to wrestle with Scripture here, but we’re also going to wrestle with general revelation (as it too is Divine in its origin, and it’s ultimate ends (”The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” -Psa 19:1). We’re not going to get caught up in contemporary assumptions, rather we are going to get caught up in a reformation of our worldviews.

If, at the end of the day, we end up somewhere that we did not intend, so be it. But the path I’ve purposed to trod is one that’s been graced with a certain pair of dusty Galilean sandals that we are quite unworthy to unloose, but undeniably drawn to. We’ll be looking towards both a path and a Man, a Way, and a Life. Indeed, a Life that will change the way that we live ours.

So, let’s have ourselves a conversation, how ’bout it?

‘BH

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Tags: Bible, Birth Control, Children, Christian, Contraception, Ethics, Family, family planning, Marriage, Morality, Pro-Life, Redemptive Theology, Scripture, Sex, Theology, Worldview