Ben Zornes, Author at Ben Zornes

Book Review: “Hillbilly Elegy” by JD Vance

by Ben Zornes · Mar 6, 2023

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Get Married Stay Married | Get the Girl

by Ben Zornes · Mar 2, 2023

Introduction

The Gospel we preach is potent because it restores in Christ what was ruined in Adam. Throughout Scripture, high and lofty theological discourses are often followed by “now husbands.…” Or “teach these things to you children.” This sets doctrine in the midst of community; and marriage is the fundamental building block of community. Modern redefinitions of marriage are like a contractor substituting concrete for silly putty. We currently live in a culture that’s trying to build skyscrapers this way. So faithful Christians, in living out the Gospel glories of Christ winning His bride, must labor to cultivate & maintain godly marriages.

The Text

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Genesis 2:24

Made for Community

The creation narrative ends with a wedding. Our text describes how all subsequent marriages are to occur: the tie between father & son is left (not ended) in order for the son to be bound fast unto his wife. As an aside, one aspect that we will delve into in later messages is the authority that rests particularly in the father. Maybe you’ve heard this called “patriarchy”. But it is of note that the son is to leave the father; this is not the centralization of patriarchal authority it is decentralized patriarchy.

The community of parents is forsaken in order to enter into the sweeter community of marriage. And from this communion of husband and wife an increase of community. Community is not decreased by marriage, it is increased, sweetened, and heightened. The motion is from community, to greater community, the sort of community that can set the solitary in homes (Ps. 68:6).

But this text also clues us in to what happens in this cleaving. The man & his wife are made one. This all follows from God revealing to Adam his task of dressing and keeping the garden (Gen. 2:15-17). Although Adam is created similar to the beasts, there’s no companion for him amongst them (Gen. 2:18-20). It is not good for man to be alone.

Amidst the good of God’s creation, we find that the one thing “not good” was Adam’s incompleteness. Man was not made for isolation, but for communion; communion with God, and then communion with neighbor. Thus, a single man eager to pursue marriage isn’t being ungodly, but he is pursuing the Love God, Love Neighbor paradigm which Scripture sets forth as a life of true holiness.

Jesus’ teaching (Cf. Mt. 19:4-6) on this verse makes explicit what is inferred in Genesis: the union created marriage is something God does. God joins the man and woman together into one. God does this so that man can be aided in what he’s called to do. In other words, marriage is not, as some might paint it, as being merely the only lawful way for a young man to fulfill sexual desires. Rather, there is a far larger mission which is to be accomplished, and this one-flesh union is a force-multiplier. The point here, is that young men need help.

Before Choosing a Bride

From this we can glean a few instructive lessons for young men who would honor God in wooing & winning a bride. Young men must recognize that they were made for an aim. They were made for a mission. God gave unto man the task of protecting and providing. Boys & young men should be taught what their strength is for: not taking, but creating.

The Scriptures give us a helpful description of what a young man should be aiming for and spending his strength on. In other words, if a young man desires to honor the Lord, he is not left to guess at where he should be headed. Young men should be strong––the inverse of this truth is that a young man, weak in will & body is a shame (Pro. 20:29). Young men should be sober minded; men of gravity (Tit. 2:6). Young men should be noted for strength & overcoming the devil (1 Jn. 2:14-15). Lastly, and most importantly, young men should be mindful that their youth will fail, but waiting upon God will be an eternal fountain of strength (Is. 40:30-31).

This last point is of utmost importance. A man who looks to himself to be filled, will soon find himself empty. Amos warned Israel that as they would not hear and heed God’s word, the curse would land upon them in the form of fainting young men and maids (Amos 8:13, Cf. Is. 51:20).

You’re a contingent being. Even the strength of young men isn’t enough to save them. It will fade. It will falter. It will fail. But in the Lord is an unwearying supply of strength. A new birth, a renovation brought about the work of the Spirit, is the only way to truly live. In other words, the word to young men is the word to us all, rest in the power of Christ alone. Having this frame of mind, for all of life, is the only way for a young man to keep his way pure (Ps. 119:9). This is poignantly true in regards to pursuing marriage.

Finding a Wife

A young man desiring to find a wife is a good thing, but this goodness is not automatic. Better to live in the Australian outback, than with a brawling wife. But of course, a godly wife has a price far above rubies. A bachelor should think of himself as a treasure hunter, not a museum curator. As such, he must bear a few things in mind.

Contrary to the modern sentiment, romance isn’t a hobby. In the last decade or two, a seismic shift has taken place. Dating was an expected recreational activity of young people. Find a boyfriend/girlfriend, for as long as it suited your fancy. However, this was understood to be a temporary arrangement. You need to play the field in order to know what you like. Or so the “thinking” went. It’s been observed that this was divorce training, and that certainly hits near the mark.

Tragically, that removal of responsibility triggered an avalanche of sexual irresponsibility. We live in a moment where young men are increasingly withdrawing from even pursuing young women, while women are increasingly throwing themselves at the “top 20%” of men. The average young man has been incentivized into a neutered existence. The average young woman has been incentivized into an unchaste existence. This arrangement will be the ruin of our nation unless we repent and return to the ways of the Lord.

Christian young men should take to heart the wisdom of Solomon. Throughout the book of Proverbs the summons is for the son to recognize and flee from the seductive woman, and to pursue and cling to the virtuous woman. This comes back to my earlier point that young men should cultivate gravitas. A man without this Spirit-born gravity will be easily thrown out of orbit by every insta-babe that shows up on his feed. By contrast, a man who can say with David, “I shall not be moved”, will be the sort of man which lovely women of virtue will want to orbit.

Scripture, then, gives a broad category of two types of women: Lady Wisdom & Lady Folly. Or, to put this in NT terms: converted & unconverted. That narrows the pool. While the OT patriarchs selected brides for their sons from the extended family––and there is a certain wisdom that can be gleaned (i.e. start the search nearby)––we shouldn’t forget that provision was made for how a man might lawfully marry a foreign women (Deu. 21:10-14). There were a few more hoops to jump through, but it wasn’t unachievable. That said, wisdom would call for seeking a bride by starting close to home, and working outward from there. But only in the Lord (1 Cor. 7:39).

Finding a wife isn’t a matter of getting someone to scratch an itch. You don’t get the girl by simping, but by a life of Christ-like sacrifice. This means action, not passivity. Christ did not exemplify to us the life of “letting things happen to him.” He did it all on purpose, by design. The strength of a man is meant to be spent, it isn’t designed to be coddled. Young men, this means that in your search for a wife, you must learn to have your desires harnessed by the Spirit of God, and governed by honor for father & mother (both yours & hers). And don’t be passive, you’re meant to bleed, to sweat, to break lions’ jaws.

Rooted in Christ

But all of this is vanity if it is not rooted in Christ. The mystery of marriage is that while it brings a husband and wife to the heights of earthly joys, it isn’t an eternal arrangement. Marriage is bounded by earthly life (only death ought to end a marriage). Nevertheless, it is a parable of eternity. Young men are called upon to model their lives in conformity to Christ, the Church’s bridegroom. And this means learning to live so as to die. This means a life of sacrifice, selfless leadership, courage, all built on the faith which God gives by grace (Cf. 2 Pt. 1:5).

Charge & Benediction

The call for young men is to overcome dragons by being men of godly strength. Aimless men are easy marks for the devil’s seduction. So young men, and those tasked with raising young men, fix your eyes on Christ, by faith imitate His life of finding the glory of the crown, through the self-denial of the cross.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessings of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon, and remain with you always. Amen.

Narnia Talk #4: The Silver Chair

by Ben Zornes · Feb 27, 2023

Our Enchanted World

Introduction

The fourth installment of Narnia is the first one without a Pevensie. Eustace, the Pevensie’s cousin from Voyage, takes their mantle. But he is not the main character; rather it is Jill Pole who takes center stage.

Let me quickly trace the narrative, which forms a wonderful chiasm. From England, to Aslan’s Mountain, down into Narnia (and the north), further down to Underland, back up to Narnia, up to Aslan’s Mountain, and then a return to England. Now, for a bit more detail. Jill and Eustace attend a school for bureaucratic bullies, run by bureaucratic bullies. Eustace had told Jill about his previous Narnian adventure, and then they pleaded for Aslan to let them go to Narnia. As soon as they make this “petition” some bullies begin chasing them, and as they’re fleeing they go through a gate and find themselves in Aslan’s country. Aslan has heard their pleas.

Aslan gives Jill an errand. And, due to her folly in knocking Eustace off a cliff when they first arrive, she has a greater duty. She is to remember 4 signs which will lead them to the lost Prince Rilian (Caspian’s son). Once Aslan sends her down into Narnia (by his breath), she’s reunited with Eustace and they set out on their assignment. A gloomy marshwiggle, Puggleglum, agrees to guide them to the north and assist them as he’s able. But due to various follies they miss the first three signs. However, in the end, they obey Aslan’s last sign, despite it seeming like madness to obey the sign. They free the lost prince from his enchantment in the silver chair, and then overthrow the enchantress, and make their way back to Narnia.

They arrive in time to reunite Rilian with his father Caspian, before he dies of old age. Aslan brings Jill & Eustace back to his mountain, Caspian is resurrected by Aslan’s blood, and then he allows Caspian to enjoy his greatest wish…to spend a few moments in our world. He and the two children go and frighten off the bullies. In other words, this is the clearest example in “The Chronicles of Narnia” of the role of fairy stories. They equip us not to escape our troubles, but to face them with renewed courage which we receive from the fairy story.

Follow the Signs

The backbone of this story is Jill’s task to follow the signs which Aslan gave. But the first sign is missed because Jill begins bickering with Eustace and should have explained to him the assignment Aslan gave her.

As they endeavor to follow the second sign, which was to find the city of the ancient giants, they’re met by a Green Lady (on a white horse), and an armored knight (on a black horse); the Green Lady’s promise of warmth and reprieve in the home of the “Gentle” Giants leads the children in particular to neglect looking for the second sign, and they bungle right past the city they were tasked with looking for. The narrator tells us that Jill had given up repeating the signs to herself. She had, we might say, failed to hide these signs in her heart. And so, she was led astray.

Once they are welcomed as guests for the Autumn Feast at Harfang, the Gentle Giants’ home, they eventually come to realize they are on the menu. Aslan appears to Jill in a vision, and while looking out of the window, they see the broken lettering of some ancient memorial of the giant city they were supposed to search. It read: “Under Me.” They escape, barely, and find themselves in underworld.

Having badly obeyed the first three signs, they are brought to the Queen of Underworld’s castle. There they meet a psycho prince, who is entirely enamored with the Queen. He tells them he is under an enchantment that causes him to go mad one hour every day, and he must be bound to a silver chair. They linger to watch him during his manic episode, and are shocked to find that he is more sane during his supposed madness. He pleads with them, in the name of Aslan, to set him free. This was the fourth sign. They are shocked, and fearful to obey what is clearly the sign. But Puddleglum wisely reminds them that Aslan never told them what would happen if they obeyed the signs, he only told them to obey the signs.

Here then is a vital lesson for Christian adventurers. Always follow the signs. We do not obey because it is easy or convenient, or so we might gain the esteem of those around us. Obeying the signs might seem like going on a fool’s errand to most, but that doesn’t let you off from obeying the clear commands of God’s Word. It might also be observed that even though they apparently bungled them, providence was actually at work despite them, not because of them. Aslan’s instructions always work, no exceptions.

Two Ladies

Another important lesson in this story is a very Solomonic one. The enchantress is also a seductress. She captivates Rilian by appearing in the form of a beautiful lady. Instead of avenging his mother’s death, he is led into the darkness of the strange woman’s pit, the very woman who (in serpentine form) slayed his mother.

Rilian set out with vigor to slay the serpent, but when he beheld the enchantress, his vigor cooled. Lust will unman you. It will hollow you of virtue. Chop off the head of lust before it grasps you in its coils. But it is never too late. Once he is delivered, he slays the enchantress, thus avenging his mother. A good word is here to young men in particular, your mama wants you to kill any desire for the seductress.

The Real World

Lewis brings in some of the finest apologetics in any of his writings in the exchange between the children, Puddleglum, and Rilian with the Enchantress. She tries to persuade them that they are just making up Narnia (Overworld). Her world is all there is, she croons to them. She coaxes them with her song and her incense to believe that her world is the real world. How she describes the world is how it really is.

She almost has them under her spell, when good ol’ Puddleglum rouses himself in a fine act of defiant courage. He burns his foot putting out her fire, thus replacing the odor of enchantment with the less than enchanting smell of burnt marshwiggle. He argues that even if they were making up the glories of Overworld, that their imaginary world was superior to her alleged “real world”. He insisted that far better to follow Aslan, even if there really was no Aslan, than to dwell in her dull, cold world. There is a time for logical argumentation, but the martyr’s blood often proves far more persuasive. Self-sacrifice is how we overthrow the follies which surround us.

In the modern haze in which we live, it is this sort of clear thinking that will free enchanted souls. You think boys can become girls? That thinking renders boy-ness & girl-ness meaningless, what even is the point. We shall live as male & female regardless of your myriad gender identities.

You think the world is the result of a Big Bang & time and chance? What a colorless view of the world & cosmos. We shall live as if God made the heavens & earth in six days, no matter how loudly we are scoffed. For that is a far more beautiful myth, and it happens to be the true myth. The tyrants might call us crazy kooks, but we don’t pay them any heed. For we the smell of reality is on our side.

We live in a digital age of screens. Our peers around us are dulled through endless entertainment, porn, meta-verse madness, weed, psychotropic drugs, mindless social media scrolling, transhumanist pipe-dreams, and uncovenanted hook-ups. Living in Christian community, marked by self-control, abstaining from fleshly lusts, and celebrating the Incarnation & Bodily Resurrection of the Lord Jesus each Lord’s Day is the way forward.

Conclusion

Hold fast to the signs. Turn them over and over. When you rise and when you lie down, when you go out and come in. Do not let the thick air of even the strongest potion cloud your mind. Be sober, be vigilant. And so be used of the Lord to deliver the captives, overthrow serpents, and guard your beloved land from wickedness. And never forget that sometimes the best way to flee temptation is to get a whiff of burnt marshwiggle foot.

Supper Ditches

by Ben Zornes · Feb 22, 2023

Amongst Reformed minded Christians, one of our besetting sins is that of making our faith into a merely set of logical propositions. While in other ranks of evangelical Christians, the faith is turned into a series of emotional therapy sessions.

But the Lord’s Supper rebukes both sorts of sins. You are confronted with a covenantal sign which you must eat and drink. You take this meal, and your hands feel the rough crust of bread, and the cool of the cup, your tongue tastes the sweet potency of wine and the savor of sourdough. The tangibility is inescapable here. But lest we drift into just “feel good-eology” we’re simultaneously confronted with the Word: this do in remembrance of Me.

Our mind is to be sparked by the sensations of bread & wine to reflect upon the covenant claims which our Lord Jesus made. He said this bread is His body, this wine His blood. Which forces us to meditate upon the grand doctrines of Christ’s incarnation, man’s fall into sin from his place of glory in Eden, and our Lord’s redemptive work upon Calvary to save us.

The doctrines we confess aren’t Stoical sayings. They are deep wells of eternal truth. Remember, these doctrines are revealed to mankind; not to assist us in escaping the prison of creation, but that we might be raised into the glory of creation redeemed. As Moses once declared, “those things which are revealed belong unto us & to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

Upon this table are the tokens that God has redeemed His Creation. So your mind meditates upon this bright truths, while your mouth tastes the goodness of God’s redemption work, and your heart is filled with joy that all of this is yours because Christ has won you.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ

The Peril of Paedobaptism

by Ben Zornes · Feb 21, 2023

The practice of paedobaptism is glorious, but perilous. The greatest peril is that of presumption. Both the Old & New Testament are emphatic that the just shall live by faith. Not by presumption.

Our nation, once Christian, is now running on the fumes of covenant presumption. We’re like a boy trying to ride his bike uphill, even though the chain fell off a mile back. Peddling harder won’t help. A child that is brought up in a home or culture of presumption will come to find no heat of love for God, no desire for holiness, no compulsion for obedience, no yearnings after glorifying God.

Which is why it is utterly necessary to accompany this sign with the Gospel call, to this child and all in my hearing, “You must be born again.” God calls you, if you would be justified in His sight, to believe in Christ by faith, all the days of your life.

So welcome our sister to Jesus Christ…

Book Review – “The Rise & Triumph of the Modern Self” by Carl Trueman

by Ben Zornes · Feb 21, 2023

Another one minute book review. Enjoy!

Get a copy here:

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Measured by the Word

by Ben Zornes · Feb 20, 2023

Imagine a young boy, dissatisfied with the fact that he’s still not big enough to play in the NBA. A clever idea strikes him, and he gets out his dad’s tape measure, grabs a Sharpie, and gets to work re-labeling. Once his little project is complete he measures himself and voila, he is no long 4’2”, he’s now 6’7”.

Now, we all can see that just because he changed the numbers on the tape measure doesn’t mean he actually changed in height. Likewise, growing in godliness is not a matter of measuring ourselves by our own measuring stick. Using your own system of measuring holiness can go one of two disastrous ways. Either you will be continually discouraged that you’re not more like Christ, or you will be puffed up with self-righteous pride.

But in both instances the problem is found in measuring yourself against yourself. Instead, you must learn to fix your eyes upon Christ. In doing so a few things take place. You stop trying to adjust the scale to make your sins less severe than others’ sins. You let Christ’s Word say precisely what your sin is. You stop making up fake sins to feel guilty for, and you start repenting for sins you actually are guilty for. You begin to see that what you see as your best attributes, the Word reveals how such things have become a place for you to hide your ugliest iniquities.

If you would grow in godliness, it won’t arise from any other source than Christ Himself. You must be rooted in Christ’s redeeming grace, in order to make any progress in sanctifying grace. As you prepare to look at your own heart, remember to measure by the eyes of faith using the Word, not with some custom made measuring stick of morality.

We are often blind to what we should see clearly, and we think we see clearly what we are actually blind to. By looking to Christ we can see both things clearly, in the light of the Word. Growth in grace will lead us to see where we are overlooking faults we really should confess, and the ways we twist ourselves in knots over things we’ve exaggerated. By God’s great grace, may we come to see aright. May we not glory in our shame. Rather, may we glory in the cross alone, through which the world is crucified to us and we unto the world.

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