JackHammer

When we say something is “sufficient” we normally mean that it “is good enough.”  When we are thinking of sufficiency in a theological sense, I think we’d agree that it means more than this.  We say that Christ’s sacrifice for us is sufficient.  We would label everyone that would add to His work for their salvation as damned.  We would label anyone that teaches that more than His work is needed (that His work is not sufficient), as an heretic.

So how far should we go with this idea of Scripture and sufficiency.  I believe this is directly related to a long theological discussion known as “the regulative principle.”  How much do the Scriptures regulate and how much do they leave to our discretion?  The question plaguing me has been: if the Scriptures do address an issue, how are we to view ourselves if we add to that issue?  With Christ, adding to his sufficient work is damning.  But with the Scriptures….  what happens to my worship if I add to the scriptural model?  What about if I add to the scriptural model of church polity?  How about the scriptural model of evangelism?  How sufficient are the Scriptures?

Of course, I do not doubt the Scriptures.  These questions are ones all Christians should ask themselves.  We shouldn’t just think that everything we do is right because “fundamentalists have always done it that way,” or “it brings results into the church.”  The Scriptures alone, because they are sufficient, should be our guide for faith AND practice.

It’s our anniversary, and we want gifts.  Virtual gifts will do.  So, in keeping with the theme for September, here’s what you can do.

Write one word in a comment.  Choose wisely.  One word and one word only.  One word that makes us think, that expresses your thought, that gives us something to chew on for longer than a spoonful of pudding.

What’s the good word?

Oh, and a sentence before or after would be fine too.  Just be sure to highlight the One Word.

We’ve plenty to celebrate for this anniversary… JackHammer’s first. Because, along with the fact that we’ve been doing this for a year now, we also haven’t quit yet. You haven’t quit yet either, which is more cause for celebration. In fact, more of you are coming back than used to. Which makes us feel all warm and glowing inside. Some of you actually come back more than once in a day, effectively running up the score on our “Hit counter.” In fact, since the beginning, if I understand our stats correctly, we’ve nearly doubled our readership over the course of this year! From three to five in one year isn’t half bad now, is it!

Of course, for all of this, we wish to thank our gracious Lord for His mercy and blessings on us. We don’t wish to ignore you either, our faithful reader who keeps coming back and back and back and back… in fact, over 84,000 times this year! I’m sure either your finger is really sore or else your mouse is all worn to bits from clicking on our site so many times each day, but we thank you just the same.

Fine anniversaries call for fine celebrations. With that in mind, we’d like to invite you all to our Virtual Anniversary Celebration, which we’re hosting even now as you read this. Its sort of like that Cyber Communion service that Bobby always wants, only without the bread, and without the cup, and for that matter, without the Communion.

While enjoying our Virtual Feast, we hope you won’t mind if we pass around some Virtual Sentiments, after which we will exchange Virtual Gifts, followed by a Virtual Group Hug. When we finish all that, we’ll do some Virtual Laughing of the LOL variety, and maybe the ROTFL kind. Though we’d like to discourage the ROTFLMHO or the ROTFLMFHO kind, as we really must maintain more Virtual Dignity than that. But, we suppose it won’t hurt if somebody LOLOLOLOL’s. Just so they BRB when they are finished. And we’ll probably shed a Virtual Tear or two, too. Then, maybe we’ll share some Virtual Memories and some Virtual Desert. When we’re done, we’ll say our Virtual Good byes, get in our Virtual Cars with our Virtual Spouses, and go to our Virtual Houses. Hope you have a Virtual Good Time, and best of the Virtual Day to you!

While we do our Virtual Party, we would be amiss should we fail to give you, fair reader, your Virtual Gift. And so, without any more ceremony, here it is in all its Virtual Glory. After much thought and consideration, the esteemed bloggers of JackHammr.org have selected a gift which we hope will be a small token of our appreciation for you, our reading audience. Not a funny, not a laugh, not a rich declamation or an e-card… just something practical, something useful, something (we hope) beneficial.

Without further ado, we give you… A newly imposed limit on Thomas’ comments…

No Thomas Comment may exceed the length of the original post about which Thomas is commenting.

Should the Thomas Comment exceed the length of the post, readers will hereby skip over it and refuse to reply.

There you have it. Enjoy! And may we share many more Virtual Times!