This year is a very special anniversary, the 500th birthday of one of the greatest, most humble, most courageous, most influential Christian theologians since the early days of the church: John Calvin. A Frenchman who ended up in exile in Geneva, Switzerland because of the intense persecution of Christians in his native land, Calvin encouraged the faithful reading and application of God’s holy, inerrant Word for his generation — of which many were martyred for their fidelity to God and the five solas of the Reformation — and for generations to come.

Sadly, many in the church have maligned the memory of this great man, portraying him as a stern, proud, authoritarian religious zealot whose heavy-handed ways led to the persecution of his opponents, particularly “poor” Servetus, at whose feet Calvin is practically accused of igniting the wood that burned him for heresy. This most well-known bit of slander is handily dealt with by apologist James White here:

I’m currently reading a book of essays in honor of Calvin’s birthday, John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, & Doxology. The authors are a “Who’s Who” of outstanding Christian teachers of our day, including Jay Adams, Joel Beeke, Jerry Bridges, Sinclair Ferguson, Steven Lawson, John MacArthur, and Derek Thomas. John Piper, Joni Eareckson Tada, D.A. Carson, David Wells, and G.I. Williamson are among those who endorse this book. Such consensus of some of the most solid and godly thinkers of our day ought to give pause to those who would readily condemn the memory of a man whose contributions to the Reformation were pivotal in the battle for the truth, who gave us an inheritance of not only freedom of religion, but political freedom in our own nation, as well.

Our friends at Vision Forum have planned a big birthday bash in Boston, July 1-4, to honor the legacy of John Calvin, and with inimitable style, they will be giving irrefutable and compelling evidence from outstanding speakers that we owe a great debt to that great man. One of the best parts of the celebration is the teaching of our friend Pastor Joe Morecraft, whose knowledge of reformation history is unparalleled, as is his passion to convey a love for God’s Word and for our Christian heritage. Anna has been reading Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion because of this upcoming shindig, and I have been enjoying her enthusiasm as she delves deeply into those theological roots, blossoming with inspiration for applying the Word of God to her life. She is finding that the practical piety of Calvin is a spur toward greater intimacy with her Savior which leads to wanting to live out her faith in Him in every area of life.

In his essay about John Calvin, Sinclair Ferguson says this about the change that took place in the misunderstood reformer when God called him out of darkness into His glorious light:

In Calvin’s conversion, two things stand out: First, his pre-conversion condition was marked by a “hardened” and resistant (”unteachable”) mind, and, by implication, a distaste for true godliness (later reversed into an “inflamed…desire”). This, of course, was the informed biblical analysis of one who believed that the fallen human mind is “a perpetual factory of idols” and therefore deeply resistant to the iconoclasm of grace.

Second, for Calvin, conversion to Christ meant not only a transition from condemnation to justification but from ignorance to knowledge and from arrogant rebellion to a humbled heart. His mind was thus softened and brought “to a teachable frame.” From this flowed powerful new affections. He now was “inflamed” with “intense…desire” to make progress in “true godliness.” Thus, to have a heart for God meant to have a desire to grow in the “knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness” (Titus 1:1).

That humility, that teachableness, is evident in his life, seen both in his own writings and in the voluminous correspondence and writings of those who knew him. If you don’t know anything about this giant of the faith, other than some snide gossip from historical revisionists, I encourage you to emulate both his humility and teachableness and at least read some of the articles posted by Doug Phillips at his blog and this article by Bill Potter on the Puritans and how their Calvinist heritage led to blessing for us all. If you aren’t able to make it to the Reformation 500 celebration, you can still learn from Pastor Morecraft and Dan Ford through an online study course on the Reformation and its impact on the family, the church, and the state.

I posted a series of articles in November concerning the sin of gossip, particularly thinking of how it relates to our interactions on the internet, where people are particularly prone to letting loose with all sorts of invective and assumptions which attack real people. Basking in the glow of the computer screen, self-appointed zealots feel free to make mincemeat out of their “opponents,” slicing and dicing with abandon. Sadly, even professed Christians participate in this kind of slug-fest, showing little grace to other believers who don’t agree with their beliefs. It’s one thing to disagree with what people have said or written, but crusades and cabals to destroy other people are not within the realm of Christian possibility thinking.

In my first post about gossip, I quoted this verse:

Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned. (Titus 3:10)

That admonishment from the Spirit-inspired apostle Paul is why I will not condone gossip on this website nor allow those who are known to engage in it to comment here. I moderate comments, and I do not allow unrestricted commenting on my site, not only because I don’t have time to police it, but because I do not believe it is responsible to allow any foolish or evil person to have a platform to perpetuate their foolishness or evil. The first amendment was written to restrain the government, but private citizens are free to “censor” their own domains as they see fit…I must answer to God for what I say and for what I allow to be said in this space.

This icon will be going in the sidebar, right under my “Blog Policy.” Anyone who wants to borrow it for her site is welcome to do so, and I encourage anyone with a blog to consider how to deal with gossip, whether it is something you are prone to do or if others try to use your comments section to engage in it. It is a sin. In case anyone needs a reminder of why it’s a serious subject, here are the links to all my posts on the topic. I will put a link to this post with the icon in the sidebar, so it can be easily found if anyone needs a reminder.

Non-Gossip Week
Psalm 15 in Metre
What Is That Wind at My Back?
Temper All With Love
Bitterness
Our Privileges and Our Pitfalls
Time’s Up

As I promised, it’s been a week talking about gossip. So what have we accomplished?

Perhaps very little in the bigger scheme of things. If the apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit couldn’t totally stamp out the gossip (and slander, and libel, and backbiting, and bitterness, etc.) he encountered in the early church, then we are not likely to do so with a few quotes and reminders. However, we can accomplish a great deal if we who have been convicted by those quotes and truly desire to please God with our words and actions will set a high standard for our conduct online.

I do not think it is wrong to discuss controversial issues, to try to make sense out of the confusion that is reigning around us. I do think there is a great temptation to make mincemeat out of other people while we are doing it, and that’s why controversy must be discussed in small doses, in my opinion. In case you missed it, here’s criteria I suggested in the comments for how to decide whether or not you ought to jump into the fray:

My cursory opinion this morning is that when talking about controversies or people, online or in person, we must evaluate (which takes time!) these things: jurisdiction, authority, and motivation. Is it our place to be talking about the subject, do we have something to do with the circumstance that would properly contribute to making it better? Are we in a position of authority to teach, rebuke, or encourage in that particular instance? If the answer is yes to those questions, then is our desire to love all those involved and be a peacemaker, or do we use our platform to mock and belittle those who disagree with us?

To that I would add that you need to be very careful of your time. If you are spending hours involved with online disputes or even gracious discussions over the internet fence, you need to get back to real life. Being a doer is a lot more important than being a talker, though not nearly as exciting in the short-term. But in the long-term, as my husband says, it is the slow-fast way of accomplishing things that has the most long-lasting impact.

Speaking of that wise man, he is going to help me make a blog button you are welcome to use to clutter up your website, as a reminder that your site is a gossip-free zone. Use it at your discretion, of course, as I am not trying to squelch freedom of speech, just encourage not using your liberty as license. I’ll try to post it in the next day or so.

While you are waiting, here’s one more quote for you from an essay I have in my articles section, but many of you may have missed it. It was written by my online friend Antonia, who has left the blogging world for greener pastures. The article is called Soft Tongue Soft Pen, and it is an exhortation to women that their distinctiveness ought to be reflected in what they write about and how they say it. Here is a good reminder:

When I say that women should write softly, I do not mean that we should not be using big words or hard facts. Nor does it mean that we shouldn’t rebuke ungodly behavior or write on certain subjects like theology, philosophy or history. What I do mean, is, our writing should have a certain quality of nurturing, intimacy and friendliness to it. When Christ took on human flesh and walked among us, He perfectly demonstrated God’s Law-Word to us in nurturing, intimate, friendly ways. You can almost see the disciples with their mouths open, thinking, “So this is what Moses, Isaiah…. etc were talking about!” Obviously men who preach, teach and write should be Christlike also, but as women, we have the unique privilege of nurturing as helpers to Christlike men.

Speak softly and carry a big Bible, not to beat people over the head, but to get your thinking straight before you set everyone else straight.

The average woman is at the head of something with which she can do as she likes; the average man has to obey orders and do nothing else.
~G.K. Chesterton

We need to remember the privileged place we occupy as homekeepers. Everyone needs a reminder to be content at times, but how ungrateful we can be when we have nothing to complain about and everything about which to rejoice. Today I educated my children, delivered a meal to a sick friend, read a little of a murder mystery, did some straightening of the house, cooked a couple of meals for my husband who sometimes needs to eat differently than the rest of the family, had many (countless?) conversations, gave a few hugs, and I talked with a friend on the phone. As I type this, I just finished watching a movie with my girls, I nibbled a piece of chocolate and drank a glass of wine (given to me earlier by my husband), I caught up on a couple emails, and I am getting ready to stoke the wood stove. My wonderful husband is up in his office working hard to keep a roof over our heads and our bellies full of good things, like wine and chocolate. I am not complaining.

But I do complain. We all complain. We get tired of the same old, same old and pretend there’s something better. Sometimes we delude ourselves so much that we have to invite others to our pity party and help them become deluded, too. Instead of drinking fine wine, we end up drinking the Kool-Aid.

One way we do this is by forming the Discontented Women’s Club. You can recognize the Red Hat Society ladies by their ornate red hats and purple attire. You can often locate the members of the DWC by their frowns and wordy wrangling over petty things. Looking for an outlet for our discontent, we look for loose threads to tug on, and sometimes we keep pulling until the whole sweater is unraveled.

The DWC is one club from which I would like to revoke my membership. It’s not always easy to resign from it, though, as many women find. Nancy Leigh DeMoss, in Lies Women Believe: And the Truth That Sets Them Free writes:

For reasons we cannot fully understand, Satan chose to target the woman for his strategy of deception. Twice in the New Testament the apostle Paul points out that it was the woman who was deceived: “The serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty” (2 Corinthians 11:3 KJV); “Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived” (1 Timothy 2:14).

Some theologians believe there was something in the way Eve was created that made her more vulnerable to deception—that she was inherently more “temptable,” or “seducible.” Others suggest that because God had placed her under the headship of her husband, once she stepped out from under that spiritual covering and protection, she was more easily deceived.

Regardless, the point is that as fallen women, we are particularly prone to fall prey to Satan’s deception. Remember that he did not first approach the man; he deliberately approached and deceived the woman. It was the woman who led her husband into sin, and together they led the whole human race into sin (though Adam, as head, is held ultimately responsible). I believe there is something significant about that progression and that, to this day, there is a unique sense in which Satan targets women for deception. This is part of his strategy. He knows that if we as women buy into his deception, we will influence the men around us to sin (Carmon sez: and other women, too), and our sinful choices will set a pattern for subsequent generations to follow.

Sometimes, as was the case with Eve, Satan deceives us directly. Sometimes, however, he uses other people as instrument of deception.

In the fifth chapter of Ephesians, Paul warns, “Let no one deceive you with empty words” (v.6). Repeatedly, he challenges God’s people to speak Truth to one another. When we are not honest with each other, we actually do Satan’s work for him, acting as his agents, deceiving and destroying each other.

Truth is what is at stake here. But we are not defending the truth when we use means that God abhors to do so. We are making a mockery of it. Let us be gracious, content women, who don’t need to chase after online ambulances to add a little excitement to our lives. For many of us, our lives are plenty exciting as it is, and very blessed, if we would only have eyes to see it. Go give your husband a big kiss and tell him “thank you” for putting up with all he does, especially for putting up with you .

I’m not quite finished with my gossip session (har, har), but I couldn’t resist this online quiz. I haven’t subjected you to one for a long time, and this one is actually more highbrow than most. Think of it in the way Dr. Grant describes his quizzes: an “opportunity.” I found it via Crimson Wife at Bending the Twigs, who left a comment on the post about the dearth of books in many homes and the inevitable consequences of growing up without them. She is a Roman Catholic homeschooling mom, and to show my goodwill to her, this reformed homeschooling mom will post a Chesterton quote on the next post. Crimson Wife is Irish, like me (and a northern Californian like me, too), so we technically shouldn’t like G.K. who was very English, but who can help liking him. Besides disliking the English, the Irish are also known for their loquaciousness and tempers, and that is how I’m tying this divergent post to the topic of the week.

But back to the quiz first. Here’s what Crimson Wife says:

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute did a survey of 14,000 college freshmen & seniors at 50 universities to test their knowledge of U.S. civics. The results were pretty dismal as the overall average score for seniors was a mere 54.2%. Even the elite schools in the sample had poor showings:

• Harvard 69.56%
• Yale 65.85%
• Brown 65.64%
• UVA 65.28%
• Penn 63.49%
• Duke 63.41%
• Princeton 61.9%
• Cornell 56.95%
• UC Berkeley 56.27%

I scored 88.3% with my auto-didactic secondary school education. It’s nice to know that if I ever need something to fall back on, I can probably make it in the Ivy leagues. Perhaps I’m not doing my daughters such a disservice to continue directing their education from home.

If you are inclined to take it and don’t mind a little transparency, I’d be interested in your score and your level of education (that information is also requested at the end of the online test), plus your opinion as to whether formal education helped you in your answers or if you think you learned them another way. By the way, Dr. Grant recently posted this quote from James Schall:

I think in general that you can get a terrible education in the best and most expensive universities and that in fact most students do.