Some historians, it is sorrowful to say, have not taken into account this sad mixture of evil vessels with the good the silver line of God's grace in true Christians; though at times the alloy so predominates that the pure ore is scarcely perceptible.
(Andrew Miller, Short Papers on Church History)
September 14th
The son of a butcher, most of his family died in a plague that swept England, leaving him with a fair estate. He attended Emmanuel College and became a minister. He married, sailed for America, and served as assistant pastor of the First Church of Charlestown, before dying oftuberculosis on this day, September 14, 1638. His name: John Harvard. The founders of Harvard College wrote: “After God had carried us safe to New-England… it pleased God to stir up the heart of one Mr. Harvard, a godly gentleman… to give… one half of his estate… towards the erecting of a college.”
Bill Federer, American Minute (St.Louis, MO.:Amerisearch, Inc.,
2003). September 14
Theology is a logos about the theos—the logic of God. Theology is a rational discourse about God. The Gospel of John begins with the statement, “In the beginning was the Logos.” The basis of all logic is that some statements are true and others are false. If this word about God is not a logical word, then what is it? The whole idea of theology is that rational statements can be made about God. Even someone who says the opposite has just made a rational (although untrue) statement about God. Logic is undeniable.
(Norman L. Geisler and Ronald M. Brooks, Come, Let Us Reason : An Introduction to Logical Thinking (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1990). 15.)
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
The Constitution of the United States of America
If there is ever going to be a solution to the christological riddle, it must eliminate the idea that there is a contradiction in the union of the two natures. As long as they are seen as mutually exclusive, polar opposites, the hope for any understanding appears to be in vain. Of course, by means of a mystical way of thinking liberated from the obligations of logic and coherence, we could conclude that the two natures are noncontradictory. But a delight in ignorance and muddlement will certainly not advance the cause of under-standing, so we will forego it as an option. Rather, we will analyze the components of divinity and humanity with an eye toward finding in their difference, not a contradiction, but complementarity.
Winfried Corduan, Handmaid to Theology, electronic ed. (United States of America: Baker Book House Company, 1981). 1.
To say that before His incarnation Jesus was actually (temporally) God and only the Son prophetically is somewhat problematic in that God is extratemporal. He created time and stands outside of or above time. Thus past, present and future do not affect Him as God in the way they affect His creation. (Crownover, Raymond. Crown Teaching Ministries)
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