Journal of the Week

7/11/2025

Stephen Tong: Paul vs. James on Faith and Work. Paul's faith is not the same as James'; James' work (James 2) and Paul's is also not the same.

Paul's "work" in Romans, is referring to the self-righteous work. Alluding to the pharisaic righteousness (Romans 3, 4, 8), which Jesus commanded us to exceed.

James' "work" is the fruit of life.

＃＃關於「行為」，羅馬書與雅各書的定義如何不同❓為何我們當謙卑學習❓（希伯來書要理問答 第761問）（此講原始影音嚴重不良，請多看文字內容）

James' "faith" is a fake one, an imitation, not related to grace nor salvation:

為何雅各說的信心是假信心，不同於保羅所講的真信心❓（希伯來書要理問答 第763問）（此講原始影音嚴重不良，請多看文字內容）

Therefore, do not also think that Paul's and James' were supplement to each other, because their terminologies are though same words used, but different meaning.

Stephen Tong incorrectly sourced this quote "Faith is the acceptance of acceptance" to Martin Luther. But it was actually Paul Tillich who said that in his sermon "You are Accepted", then published in his book "The Shaking of the Foundations" in 1948. "You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know... Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!" ~ Perplexity.ai

＃保羅所講的信心是什麼意思❓馬丁路德有何獨到的見地❓（希伯來書要理問答 第762問）（此講原始影音嚴重不良，請多看文字內容）

7/9/2025 我今站在主的言語上 詩歌 short children's hymn. Also, if there's bad recording in Stephen Tong's series, STEMI Taiwan's youtube channel maybe a good place to find recovery, such as this one, on Hebrews 5

＃站在上帝話語上而永不退卻、永不妥協的心，有多重要❓（希伯來書要理問答 第759問）（因此講原始影音嚴重不良，請多看文字內容。）: Isaiah 56:7 House of Prayer vs. Sermon Preaching in the Church (minister of the Word)

＃為何馬丁路德以不妥協的精神，強調行為與救恩不能相提並論❓（希伯來書要理問答 第760問）（因此講原始影音嚴重不良，請多看文字內容。）Why by grace alone (Sola Gratia) and yet I am working so hard? Tong: Many churches do not realize this, that Martin Luther though in shallowness, looked down on the book of James because of its emphasis on WORK, but in motive, Luther was greatly important to do so because our work has absolutely no part in the Gospel in God's grace. Because of Luther, the Catholics adjusted (for the better) their theology to put more emphasis on grace, though they still require work in salvation. Unfortunately, a couple hundred years later, the Lutheran also adjusted (for the worse) their theology, seeing that the book of James is also God's revelation, a sort of balancing act of God using James' notion of work and Paul's faith together.

Paraphrased from Perplexity.ai: Of course, the Catholics wouldn't admit that they "adjusted" their theology because of Luther, but rather: "Clarified" and "Reaffirmed" their own doctrine of grace and justification, in the Council of Trent (1545-1563), the counter-reformation movement: Though it affirms the necessity of grace, it conflates justification with sanctification in order to credit man's work. I would say that the Reformed compatibilism view trump this.

我今站在主的言语上， 虽世界过去或灭亡。 主的言语永远必长存， 我今站在主的言语上

7/8/2025 TUES Came across lots of shocking news (to me at least) regarding Ruby Franke, former youtuber of 8 Passengers channel. A mormon mother who shared her family life on Youtube. She's now imprisoned, and apparently estranged from all her children and especially her oldest daughter, Shari, who wrote a book (The House of My Mother, A Daughter's Quest for Freedom, apparently the book was actually written by the ghost writer Caroline Ryder) about it. I would probably expand any detail of this here instead of creating a new entry. Also, this is a reminder to me that it is crucial to really download any important/interesting/good Youtube videos, because Youtube really would just ban/delete/remove/cancel videos they don't like at any time.

There are tons of videos about this news, even movies and TV documentary series made.

After watching the Hulu Series: Devil in the Family - The Fall of Ruby Franke. I think it's possible that Jodi Hildebrandt was truly possessed by demons and Ruby fell for it.

7/7/2025 Mon

Charlie Kirk mentioned ESOP to a guy in Che Guevara (Argentinian/Cuban Marxist) T-shirt, after asking Kirk about the Mondragon Corporation in Spain (founded by a priest) which Kirk criticized as "widely inefficient". ESOP is what my company SP has started using a couple of years back. This was after dealing with the Marxist audience with the concept of ESPP (Employee Stock Purchase Program) being practiced in Florida already by Publix (grocery store).

Another interesting public exchange by Charlie Kirk is the one labeled "Can you Be a Christian and a Nationalist". This has been a particularly interesting topic for me due to the recent debate between Stephen Wolfe (proponent of Christian Nationalism) and Chris Gordon.

My take: Charlie Kirk is good, but he actually lost this one in general. His fundamentalist mentality cause him to make false accusations here and there of his interlocutor, without deeper thinking (viz. low IQ).

In this case Nick wins the general argument. I'm not sure if Nick's a lefty or a Catholic, but his argument is more reformed than Kirk's. Kirk argued as if America = the Church. He miscited (he said in City of God, 3rd Chapter) Augustine's Just War Theory. He misinterpreted ekklesia (Matthew 16:18) as government instead of church, an apparently fundamentalist low IQ view of Israel/nation vs. the Church. Nick should have stuck to Israel being the shadow type of the Church. And that Christian Nationalism is simply man's work, rather than God's work to bring God's kingdom to Earth.

7/6/2025 Sun

2nd time a new family visited our church today. Orlando was the one I spoke to first. I believe the one called 伊莎贝拉, is the wife, whose sister is 娜塔莉 (Thanks to Nadia for helping me remember), whose husband, 弗朗西斯, whose little boy is Calvin. Chinese transliteration for privacy.