“I may be speaking to some who can say, with an emphasis, that they oftentimes find great crops of thistles springing up in their hearts, and they have to keep the sickle of sacred mortification going to cut them down, and they try if possible to dig them up by the roots. But thus it is; you cannot expect a perfect life of happiness in an imperfect world Eke this. No; your Savior carried the cross, and you will have a cross of some kind or other to carry after him. ??Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.?? Spurgeon, C. H.
Christianity
Christianity,Saturday, August 18, 2007
My wife had pointed out an article on Vanity Fair titled, “God Bless Me, It’s a Best Seller!” The article is written by Christopher Hitchens, an atheist and author of the best selling book “God is Not Great”. The article is a summary of his travels around the country and his encounters with religious people. He had placed the following challenge out for the faithful to respond.
“My challenge: name an ethical statement or action, made or performed by a person of faith, that could not have been made or performed by a nonbeliever. I have since asked this question at every stop and haven’t had a reply yet.” Christopher Hitchens
This is actually a very easy one. The Ten Commandments holds several that the non believing person cannot fulfill.
““You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3, ESV)
The non-believing atheist has no God at all! And even if the nonreligious person believes that a God exists, it is likely they have not put God first and foremost in their lives. If they did, they would not be ranked among the nonreligious.
““You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,” (Exodus 20:4-5, ESV)
God is not only to be first and foremost, but there is not to be any replacement of him in our lives. All too often, you see the nonbeliever, putting created things in the place God. In more substantial ways, the nonbeliever puts material objects in the place of God, like cars, wealth, fortune. In less substantial ways, the nonbeliever puts intellect, ethics, knowledge and self-pride in the place of God.
““You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7, ESV)
On every turn, the nonbeliever fails on this one. Their entire disposition of their life is without the respect due to the name of God. This commandment doesn’t mean to refrain from certain profanities. It means that you should not do anything that dishonors God, and do everything that honors God. The nonbeliever does not honor God in their mind and although their actions might mimic and appear equal to the religious person, they are only facades. The heart disposition of the nonbeliever is not towards honoring God. Thus there actions might receive high honor among men, but with respect to honor for God, their actions are like lies, or words spoken insincerely and without truth.
““Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” (Exodus 20:8, ESV)
Obviously, the nonbeliever cannot keep a day holy for the reason I just stated. The disposition of their heart as unbelievers has already made every day unholy. It is impossible for them to make a single day holy.
He puts the question out almost like a litmus test to give religion it’s worth. The conclusion he tries to draw is that religion is no more morally better than secularism if it cannot distinguish itself by a superior ethical statement or action that is not possible by a non-religious person. Perhaps he might judge the above ethical statements as low in value, but that’s not the view that God puts on these ethical statements. They are first and foremost on God’s list. Christopher Hitchens would no doubt put at the top of his list of ethical statements things that provide immediate benefit to humans. Of course, that’s not surprising since the nonreligious person has taken God out of his rightful place as the most important thing in the universe and in this case placed humans there. This is the mistake that causes the whole system of ethics to crumble into a pile of rubble. The nonbeliever should consider this challenge question. Suppose there is an an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, eternal God who created everything in the universe. Why would he need you to make any good ethical statement or action? After all, God is capable of doing every good thing himself. The answer is only found and understood when God is placed in His rightful place as first and foremost in our mind. And sure, you can find something compelling in one of the world religions other than Christianity, but the superior and complete answer to this question is only found in Christianity. And coincidentally and providentially, Christianity is the only religion where God really did do it all for us in the saving work of Jesus Christ. I challenge the nonreligious person to learn how to put God in his rightful place and learn the reason that ethics and humans are not supposed to be in God’s place. The Bible is the best place to start, especially the Gospels, but there are also a number of excellent teachers in Christendom to learn from. Click here to see my list of favorite teachers.
Christianity,Friday, July 27, 2007
A recent Albert Mohler program had touched on the subject of abortion in the movies. Hollywood is reluctant to carry out a storyline that includes a character that carries out an abortion. This is surprising in a country that widely supports abortion rights. However, it is not surprising for someone like me that believes that abortion is a great evil that will haunt the conscience of those who support and practice it. Abortion is so shameful and dreadful that Hollywood doesn’t dare create a movie that contains it.
I can understand and share in the pain of being upset about the dying American soldiers and people of Iraq. Even more so, we should be upset about the injustice and shameful killing of multitudes more of unborn babies that are murdered on our own country’s soil and worldwide. There’s no lack of people to cry support our troops. But who’s crying support our children? Of course, it’s easy to muster up emotional vigor to support the troops that help protect our lives. We have selfish reasons for that. However, the same vigor is quiet when it come to support a defenseless child in the womb. This child has no voice to cry out for support. We must be that voice and if we don’t voice it, then the conscience will, and eventually God will on that day of judgment.
One person called into the program telling how so many older and very godly women in the church had gone through abortions and experienced the unrelenting pain of their conscience. Their conscience soon found rest in the forgiveness they found in Jesus Christ. And how true it is! Through Jesus Christ, there is forgiveness for even the most heinous of sins. But some people may not come because of their hard hearts. However, the love of Christ can soften even the hardest of hearts so that they can find rest in Him. The world tries to tell us the freedom to choose is where true freedom lies. This is a lie. True freedom is found when you lack nothing and are in need of nothing. Only in Jesus Christ, can our souls experience true freedom and the lack of nothing needful. Come to Him and experience it.
Click Here to Listen to this Topic on the Albert Mohler Program
Christianity,Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Some of you might have thought that the Roman Catholic Church might soon be united in faith and theology with the protestant world. Well, the pope recently removed all doubt and made it clear that all protestant churches are not considered part of the true Church and only those churches which submit to the authority of the pope are part of the true Church. Albert Mohler, Southern Baptist theology seminary president commented on this news. Click Here to Read the Entire Article
And of course, I agree with Albert Mohler and Martin Luther on this matter. Man should submit to the authority of Scripture and Scripture alone. Looks like the Roman Catholic church hasn’t moved an inch since the Reformation. They are still enslaved by their magisterial pride and traditions despite the teachings of Scripture. They have made themselves to be the modern day Pharisee.
Christianity,Thursday, July 12, 2007
Since becoming a Christian, I have been very interested in theology. It is motivated by a desire to know the God of the Bible more closely and continually fed by the rewards as each treasure of truth is uncovered. I find that the glory and awesomeness of God becomes better understood and realized through learning the theology of the Christian faith.
So Jenn and I have also sought to be a part of a church that also believes in teaching theology and bringing back theology into the life of the church members. However, at the same time, I’ve been slightly troubled by the thought that perhaps theology is really not all too good for reaching out to unchurched people. However, recently I found an article on the 9 Marks website that is very encouraging. People are actually more interested in theology than we might think.
Many churches assume that people cannot hear the Word of God or a gospel message that has any theological words in it. So they downplay it. But the results of some important research among formerly unchurched people who then came to church are shocking. When these individuals were asked what they liked about the church, ninety-odd percent said that what was preached was important to them. And almost 90 percent said that they wanted to know what the church believed. They wanted to hear its doctrine. Now that is just the reverse of what the common outreach approach assumes. It assumes people don?t want to know. In actual fact, those who want to come into the church do want to know.
Actually, I am one of those unchurched people not too long ago and I am a testimony of an unchurched person who became very interested in theology. I became interested to the point that I felt the local church is simply lacking in it’s dedication to providing new believers with the instruction and growth in theological understanding that I desired. They seem more preoccupied with community and doing a bunch of cool things that entertain and thrill our senses. Our old church is still chasing after the leadership of Willow Creek, which is more of a model of dumbing down the church and marketing it to look cool and hip.
Check out their latest leadership summit which is supposed to equip leaders in the church. When the apostles wrote letters to the early churches for training, it’s filled with rich biblical truths and theology. Now consider the Willow Creek Leadership summit schedule . It’s filled with worldly talk about how to create strategy and maximize your potential. Most of the speakers are not even model leaders in the church. You have an an HP executive , a Gallup Poll employee, Collin Powell, a Harvard Strategy Professor, a film / screenwriter, and Jimmy Carter. There are only 2 guests other than Bill Hybels who have a background in the church.
In contrast, look at the recent Ligonier National Conference, featuring John MacArthur, Al Mohler, John Piper, R.C. Sproul, and Ravi Zacharias. And look at the recent John Piper Design God conference with David Wells, Don Carson, Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, Voddie Baucham, and John Piper. These are figures of Christian leadership and teaching that we should be looking to for training and teaching in our day.
I think the leadership at 9 Marks has it right and is a more appropriate biblical model for churches to follow. They also have the support of many of the most respected Christian pastors and teachers of our nation. I encourage all of you to take a look at 9marks and if you are a member of a church, encourage your church leadership to learn from the people at 9marks. If you are not a church member, I encourage you to find a church through the 9 marks website. We found an excellent local church that is dedicated to returning the church back to it’s biblical roots and I agree that it’s been much better for both me and my families spiritual growth.
Christianity,Saturday, June 02, 2007
In a book I’m reading called “The Hermeneutical Spiral”, I found this very good illustration of why a Christian would want to spend lots of time in Bible study. It’s an excellent illustration because it sums up the truth about the value of God’s word in a way that the material side of our human minds can easily understand.
For the true believer there is very little as important as studying God?s Word seriously. Let me use an illustration. Suppose someone were to rush into your Bible study and tell you they had discovered gold coins all over your church?s back lot, and that in fact soundings had shown that the number of coins got greater every few feet all the way down to two hundred feet. It would take one-tenth of a second to clear the room, and you would not be content just to gather them off the surface of the ground. You would start digging, and soon you would be buying and learning to use the tools (back hoes, etc.) to dig deeper and deeper. That is the reality of Bible study; the deeper you go, the greater the rewards. Yes, you will be blessed at the surface level, but why stay there when you can dig deeper and find ever greater treasures?
Osborne, G. R. (2006). The hermeneutical spiral : A comprehensive introduction to biblical interpretation (Rev. and expanded, 2nd ed.) (21). Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.
