The Vision
by R.C. Sproul Jr.

Nothing's happening this fall. Or, nothing isn't happening. For the first fall in nearly a decade there won't be nothing on television. This is the Pj fall, post-Jerry Seinfeld, for those of you wise enough not to know, was the runaway successful sitcom that proudly proclaimed itself to be about nothing. No plot, no narrative, no issues, nothing. And now it's all over. And what do I have for my trouble for timing in all these years? Nothing but a little shame and embarrassment. Well, that and at least I have this lame idea for a theme. For those of you who are addicted to nothing, who are having nothing withdrawal, we present the nothing issue of Every Thought Captive.

Actually it's not about nothing. It's just that nothing is its unifying theme. What you'll find in the following pages are leftovers (ed. note - change the phrase. Not apt to encourage them to read on. Try something like 'golden nuggets'), thoughts that are big enough for an article, but perhaps not a part of a theme big enough for a whole issue.

I'm reminded of the question from Steve, our last resident student. As his stay was drawing to a close he was wont to ask me, "What else?" He was looking for tidbits, for little discreet issues that perhaps we had thought through here, that he had not. Having learned about marital roles, about husbands leading their wives and protecting their daughters through courtship, having considered the debilitating effects of passive entertainment, he wanted to know what he might have missed.

We affirm that all truth is connected, that one can and ought to seek out systems which help us understand reality. Our conviction is that the best paradigm for bringing together all the truths that God has revealed is the covenant. At the same time we recognize the danger of turning theological or ethical systems into Procrustean beds, that in making everything fit we cut off dangling appendages. Man is not a machine, and so we might actually be wasting time when we try to fit revealed truth in the right system, and miss the opportunity to muse over truthfulness. To perhaps put it more clearly, if Steve asks, "What else?" and I spend his last remaining hours constructing a connection to the last truth he discovered, I won't have the chance to tell him the next truth.

That's all part of the program here. It is a program that says, "A pox on programs." What we teach here isn't a man made philosophy. It isn't some warmed over pagan program for successful living. If our teaching is to have any value, it must be organic. Here's an example. We could study the family in any number of ways. We could look up 'family' in Calvin's Institutes, and glean a great deal. We could scour the history books to see how different times looked at families. We could read a stack of back issues of Focus on the Family magazine (if we had such a stack).

Here's how we've done it. We start with courtship. If a young man or young lady wants to know about family, they first have to know how to get there. The American dating system creates a set of beliefs, operates under a set of assumptions at odds with the biblical view of marriage. Next we consider marriage, and all that the Scripture teaches concerning marriage. Next we talk about family banning, and God's view of children. Having been taught a sound view here, it's time for teaching on child rearing, or why the student must teach their children all that they've just learned. Makes sense doesn't it?

Of course all the way through the 'program" we have lab time as well. Right in the same building where all this book larnin' is going on, there is a husband and wife and kids. They have a marriage. They have children. They teach those children in the home. (ed. note- Be sure wife and kids don't mind being presented as lab rats.) You can not only watch, but actually put a bouncing baby on your knee. See how you like it.

So it's not really an issue about nothing. It's about a bunch of little somethings. It's a conversation that meanders a bit, which frustrates Yankees to no end, but we see the charm in it. And getting under the skin of a few Yankees is not nothing; it's a bona fide legitimate goal. We'll have more concrete themes in future issues. We'll even consider your suggestions. We'll go back to being the systematic theologians you all know and love. We'll have outlines and footnotes and references with important sounding titles. (ed. note-Don't forget to learn how to do footnotes for the next issue. They're going to be watching.) We'll even talk about Ansel, and Turretin. (ed. note- Go back up top and stick in a few funny editorial notes here and there. They'll think I left them there by accident, that they're getting to see into the dark world of the editorial process when actually it's just another technique to get them to keep reading.)

I hope you'll enjoy the read. At worst I think you'll find nothing in here to complain about. On the other hand, you'll also find nothing to get excited about. Either way, you get what you pay for. What do you expect for nothing?