At work we are going through Focus on the Family's "Truth Project." This is a series that seeks to give christians a biblical worldview because lets face it not all believers have that. Today we covered Philosophy and Ethics. I absolutely loved it although there were alot of sad realities that were shown in the video. When people take God out of anything you get a shell of what used to be truth that is now a lie. When people take God out of philosophy you get pathetic attempts of people trying to explain big questions like "why are we here" and "what is the meaning of life" and "what is reason". they get answered with all these different "ism's" like idealism, rationalism, naturalism, relativism, mentalism, etc that are all wrong.
When God is taken out of life people end up depressed, lonely and trying to fill voids. They turn to pleasure (hedonism) because "if im not going anywhere when i die i better seize the day"
Ethics and morality get tossed out the window because there is nothing firm to base it off of. People end up going with statistics to determine what is right and wrong. "Statics show that people are more linient towards homosexuality and abortion" therefore it must be ok since 56% (the majority) of the population is ok with these practices.
Please do not let God be taken out of your life and worldview. Crazy, wait sinful and God belittling, things happen when God is taken out of any area of our lives.
Grace and Peace
sarah B.
Showing posts with label truth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label truth. Show all posts
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
The Best of Men Are Men at Best
Yesterday I visited a very nice Presbyterian church (myself being a Baptist). I've only visited two Presbyterian churches in my life (that I can recall) and I always love it. If it weren't for the paedo baptism issue I probably would have joined a Presbyterian church by now (since I visited one before I visited my current church whom I love).
One interesting thing about Presbyterian churches is the way they follow their tradition. Whereas some more litergical denominations hold to traditions in their form of worship and others (like my denomination) hold to traditions as they evolve over time, Presbyterians refer back to certain documents written by some of the wisest men of biblical history. That is why it was interesting to me when the pastor brought up a glaring weakness in the go-to document (outside of Scripture) for reformed Christians- especially Presbyterians, the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
In the question #4 of the Catechism we read:
The glaring weakness in this is not what it says, these are all true things. But it is the attribute that is left out, namely, love. I have written several posts on the love of God in the past, as have my friends here on the Grace and Peace blog, so instead of addressing that topic I want to look at what I learned simply from the ethos of the pastor.
How much do we love our traditions more than we love the truth? Or to put it another way, how much do we treat tradition as equal to the truth? This issue can take many forms. Sometimes it comes in the form of "I don't know where but I know somewhere the Bible says..." and instead of knowing the Scripture and applying it to our lives we usurp its authority in order to say what we think. Other times it can come in the form of gripping our views tightly in the face of what we see taught in Scripture. Still other times we think it's wrong to question the great men of the faith for whom we have great respect. We might say "if that's what Spurgeon taught, who am I to question it?"
We must remember that "All Scripture is breathed out by God" (2 Tim. 3:16) and any tradition that doesn't root itself in that Scripture will be flawed in some way. Does that mean that no tradition is good? Can we learn anything outside of the Bible? Of course we can. But we must be willing to critique our traditions according to Scripture. If we don't do that we will never be able to correct the blindspots in our doctrine or in our lives.
Grace and Peace,
Stephen
One interesting thing about Presbyterian churches is the way they follow their tradition. Whereas some more litergical denominations hold to traditions in their form of worship and others (like my denomination) hold to traditions as they evolve over time, Presbyterians refer back to certain documents written by some of the wisest men of biblical history. That is why it was interesting to me when the pastor brought up a glaring weakness in the go-to document (outside of Scripture) for reformed Christians- especially Presbyterians, the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
In the question #4 of the Catechism we read:
4. What is God?
A. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
The glaring weakness in this is not what it says, these are all true things. But it is the attribute that is left out, namely, love. I have written several posts on the love of God in the past, as have my friends here on the Grace and Peace blog, so instead of addressing that topic I want to look at what I learned simply from the ethos of the pastor.
How much do we love our traditions more than we love the truth? Or to put it another way, how much do we treat tradition as equal to the truth? This issue can take many forms. Sometimes it comes in the form of "I don't know where but I know somewhere the Bible says..." and instead of knowing the Scripture and applying it to our lives we usurp its authority in order to say what we think. Other times it can come in the form of gripping our views tightly in the face of what we see taught in Scripture. Still other times we think it's wrong to question the great men of the faith for whom we have great respect. We might say "if that's what Spurgeon taught, who am I to question it?"
We must remember that "All Scripture is breathed out by God" (2 Tim. 3:16) and any tradition that doesn't root itself in that Scripture will be flawed in some way. Does that mean that no tradition is good? Can we learn anything outside of the Bible? Of course we can. But we must be willing to critique our traditions according to Scripture. If we don't do that we will never be able to correct the blindspots in our doctrine or in our lives.
Grace and Peace,
Stephen
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The Wonderful Cross
I've been reading through John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress and i love it when i get to the part where Christian is relieved of his burden when he is at the cross. It is so easy as Christian's to get bogged down with everyday life and activities, even church activities that we forget the mighty and awesome power of the cross. Im finding in my walk that can't and very much dislike days when i don't think about the cross and meditate on the work of christ at calvary. It truly does "bid me come and die so that I may live". In Christian's case (in the book) he looks at the cross and is eased of this burden that is on his back and shortly after this Christian sings this song:
Thus far did i come loaden with my sin,
Nor could aught ease the grief that i was in,
Till i came hither, What a place is this!
Must here be the beginning of my bliss?
Must here the burden fall from from off my back?
Must here teh strings that bound it to me, crack?
Blessed Cross! Blessed Sepulchre! Blessed rather be
The man that there was put to shame for me.
What beautiful words that have such great truths: Yes we are loaded with sin that cannot be eased or made to go away until we come to the cross and realize that we have a wonderful savior who has died so that we may live. Please let Christians song be encouraging and enriching, not even the words but the truths they speak, to you today. Be Blessed and Be God's
Grace and Peace
Thus far did i come loaden with my sin,
Nor could aught ease the grief that i was in,
Till i came hither, What a place is this!
Must here be the beginning of my bliss?
Must here the burden fall from from off my back?
Must here teh strings that bound it to me, crack?
Blessed Cross! Blessed Sepulchre! Blessed rather be
The man that there was put to shame for me.
What beautiful words that have such great truths: Yes we are loaded with sin that cannot be eased or made to go away until we come to the cross and realize that we have a wonderful savior who has died so that we may live. Please let Christians song be encouraging and enriching, not even the words but the truths they speak, to you today. Be Blessed and Be God's
Grace and Peace
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Goats eat anything
As a kid I loved picking out books on killer animals such as snakes, tigers, mountain lions, and killer bee's. One book that I remember checking out at the library was a book on sharks which told how they could pierce through a small boat, or that they can leap several feet into the air when catching seals. But I remember one story (whether true or not) about some scientists who found a tin can in a shark one time, and it was apparently not the type of thing that typically ends up in water. The shark had eaten a goat that ate a tin can... the odd thing was I never question the goat eating the can as much as I did the shark eating a goat. How could that have happened? But the mystery now is how can a goat just keep munching on a tin can?
Whether the story is true or not I think most would agree that goats will eat just about anything. While sheep on the other hand are much more selective about their meals. All to true with the gospel today. We seem to live in a society that will swallow anything and if you don't care for the taste your supposed to smile and be polite saying “its not for me but I'm sure its great for you”. All the while never saying “Hey that tin can is bad for you and the sharp edges could actually harm you!”
We know false teachings have been a problem for a long time, Paul didn't waste any time in 1 Timothy before he started reminding Timothy that he was there to guard against false doctrine. Knowing this, and through a few conversations in the last few months it just appears to me that our society, even among believers, is so much more concerned with being tolerant than we are concerned with the gospel. We have people who though they try very hard to break down the old walls of religion with music and hipness, they keep simply stirring up more trouble and hardly breaking past the point that they are trying to make (usually trying to breakdown legalism). Or preachers who love to teach on sex, and money but they try to avoid to much discussion on the gospel implications on life (Luke 9:23), the wrath or justice of God. Which leaves the goats unknowingly chewing on unsweeted tin cans that seems like the less painful thing to do. Rather than keep searching for the flock that is at the meadow instead of the junk yard picking through the left over worldly junk.
There is no shame in the true gospel of Christ. Romans 1:14-17
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Get the Good Bread!
A while ago I sent my husband to the grocery store. On the small list of items needed was bread. I had written down what brand I wanted just in case he forgot. Well, when he returned he explained to me that the store didn’t have what I had written down. Instead... “I got what I knew would be the most appealing to you and the least appealing to me.” It was funny because he was so right
In Christianity bread can be a synonym for Christ or the Word of God. In John 6:35 Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” And by daily reading God’s word we’re allowing God to fill up our souls and nourish us. By reading Gods word we draw closer to him because we learn about his character and his will for our lives.
So why the husband/bread story? Because in the same way that my husband knows im picky about my bread because I want food that is nourishing and good for our bodies, we need to be picky in our faith and what we choose to believe. There are many false gospels out there today and people who water down what the bible says. There are people who whether they know it or not would lead you down a dangerous road that weakens your faith in Christ. Two that I can think of off the top of my head are the prosperity gospel and the idea that since we have freedom in Christ ( Galatians 5:1 ) we are free to live as we please because we have our “Jesus Ticket.” 1 Corinthians 1:23-24 says “ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
It is important for us as believers know and study God’s word so that we wont be swayed by false gospels. Think of it like this…it would be silly to study ALL the different versions of a counterfit 100 dollar bill right? That would be time consuming and yeah you would learn to recognize a fake one, but why not just study a real 100 dollar bill and when you see a counterfit come up, you know its not the real thing. God’s word is the real thing, so start feasting on the good bread!
In Christianity bread can be a synonym for Christ or the Word of God. In John 6:35 Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” And by daily reading God’s word we’re allowing God to fill up our souls and nourish us. By reading Gods word we draw closer to him because we learn about his character and his will for our lives.
So why the husband/bread story? Because in the same way that my husband knows im picky about my bread because I want food that is nourishing and good for our bodies, we need to be picky in our faith and what we choose to believe. There are many false gospels out there today and people who water down what the bible says. There are people who whether they know it or not would lead you down a dangerous road that weakens your faith in Christ. Two that I can think of off the top of my head are the prosperity gospel and the idea that since we have freedom in Christ ( Galatians 5:1 ) we are free to live as we please because we have our “Jesus Ticket.” 1 Corinthians 1:23-24 says “ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
It is important for us as believers know and study God’s word so that we wont be swayed by false gospels. Think of it like this…it would be silly to study ALL the different versions of a counterfit 100 dollar bill right? That would be time consuming and yeah you would learn to recognize a fake one, but why not just study a real 100 dollar bill and when you see a counterfit come up, you know its not the real thing. God’s word is the real thing, so start feasting on the good bread!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Wisdom, Folly, and Truth
If you have ever attempted to give testimony of the gospel to a lost person you have probably heard something like the following response, “Well, that may be true for you but I have my own beliefs and they are true for me.” This kind of response comes from a post-modern worldview; which tells us that any non-testable truth claim is subjective and, therefore, cannot be applied to every person universally.
In some ways this way of thinking is a good thing. Every time we see or experience the rotten fruit of Islamic fundamentalism we should be glad that America allows the freedom to adhere to any truth as long as it doesn’t break certain moral laws. The belief in relative truth has its own way of encouraging some humility in the public square where ideas are shared.
On the other hand, this view of truth mostly comes straight out of secularism which says that God does not exist (or at least we cannot know that He exists) and man is the authority for judging truth and falsity. It is a view that comes straight out of Romans 1:21 by which man suppresses the truth about God by claiming ignorance on the most important matters.
What I want to do here is spend a little time looking at one example in Scripture of the interplay between subjective and objective truth. Perhaps I do have my own truth and you have yours but what I want us to see is the truth that really matters. I also want us to see how we might apply that truth to our evangelistic ministry.
Notice how Paul addresses things throughout this chapter and especially in this particular verse. There are wise people and there are fools. The strange thing about these two types of people is that they are exactly the opposite of what one would expect to read. The bad guys with whom Paul completely disagrees are called wise. The good guys who have given up everything to follow Christ are called fools. Why is that?
The reason is because Paul is looking at these two kinds of people from the perspective of the lost. They are wise in their own eyes and have, according to Romans 1:22, become fools. So subjectively Paul is able to say that the message of the cross is folly in the eyes of the one group.
On the other side we have the fools. Why are they fools? From the standpoint of the lost it is because they have given up their lives in service to this mysterious God of the low and despised. From another perspective we can say that they are fools because that is what they are apart from Christ who chose them in order to shame the wise (see 1 Corinthians 1:27). To these foolish people the message of the cross is the power of God to save them.
So here we have two groups with opposing truth claims. They are completely at odds and there appears to be no way of reconciling their worldviews. However, we can consider that someone is writing this story. There is one who is telling us about these two groups and how they think. In the same breath by which Paul tells us what the wise man says and what the foolish man says he tells us what is really happening to them…objectively! The truth is that the wise man is in reality the perishing man and the fool is the one being saved.
Unfortunately in our day we will do almost anything to convince the wise man of the truth of the gospel by using his own “wisdom.” Some appeal to scientific evidence while others try philosophical arguments. Others just do whatever they can to get you in the doors of a church so they can show you how much better Jesus is for your emotional well-being. But verse 17 says “Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”
The power of the cross is its ability to save. If we try to take the form of a fellow truth-suppressor we will only convert them to a slightly different form of rebellion against God. We might have more theistic heathens but in the end there won’t be anymore knees bowing to Jesus (unless God is so kind as to convert them despite an unbiblical presentation of the gospel).
My encouragement to you is to remember as you do apologetics and try to reach out to people that you don’t try to do it in a cunning persuasive way. Show people you care about them, show them that the Bible answers the questions they have (even the deep ones), but in the end let them accept or reject the truth of the cross. It isn’t up to you to convert souls, it is up to you to speak the truth of the gospel. The rest is up to God.
Grace and Peace,
Stephen
In some ways this way of thinking is a good thing. Every time we see or experience the rotten fruit of Islamic fundamentalism we should be glad that America allows the freedom to adhere to any truth as long as it doesn’t break certain moral laws. The belief in relative truth has its own way of encouraging some humility in the public square where ideas are shared.
On the other hand, this view of truth mostly comes straight out of secularism which says that God does not exist (or at least we cannot know that He exists) and man is the authority for judging truth and falsity. It is a view that comes straight out of Romans 1:21 by which man suppresses the truth about God by claiming ignorance on the most important matters.
What I want to do here is spend a little time looking at one example in Scripture of the interplay between subjective and objective truth. Perhaps I do have my own truth and you have yours but what I want us to see is the truth that really matters. I also want us to see how we might apply that truth to our evangelistic ministry.
“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor. 1:18 ESV)
Notice how Paul addresses things throughout this chapter and especially in this particular verse. There are wise people and there are fools. The strange thing about these two types of people is that they are exactly the opposite of what one would expect to read. The bad guys with whom Paul completely disagrees are called wise. The good guys who have given up everything to follow Christ are called fools. Why is that?
The reason is because Paul is looking at these two kinds of people from the perspective of the lost. They are wise in their own eyes and have, according to Romans 1:22, become fools. So subjectively Paul is able to say that the message of the cross is folly in the eyes of the one group.
On the other side we have the fools. Why are they fools? From the standpoint of the lost it is because they have given up their lives in service to this mysterious God of the low and despised. From another perspective we can say that they are fools because that is what they are apart from Christ who chose them in order to shame the wise (see 1 Corinthians 1:27). To these foolish people the message of the cross is the power of God to save them.
So here we have two groups with opposing truth claims. They are completely at odds and there appears to be no way of reconciling their worldviews. However, we can consider that someone is writing this story. There is one who is telling us about these two groups and how they think. In the same breath by which Paul tells us what the wise man says and what the foolish man says he tells us what is really happening to them…objectively! The truth is that the wise man is in reality the perishing man and the fool is the one being saved.
Unfortunately in our day we will do almost anything to convince the wise man of the truth of the gospel by using his own “wisdom.” Some appeal to scientific evidence while others try philosophical arguments. Others just do whatever they can to get you in the doors of a church so they can show you how much better Jesus is for your emotional well-being. But verse 17 says “Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”
The power of the cross is its ability to save. If we try to take the form of a fellow truth-suppressor we will only convert them to a slightly different form of rebellion against God. We might have more theistic heathens but in the end there won’t be anymore knees bowing to Jesus (unless God is so kind as to convert them despite an unbiblical presentation of the gospel).
My encouragement to you is to remember as you do apologetics and try to reach out to people that you don’t try to do it in a cunning persuasive way. Show people you care about them, show them that the Bible answers the questions they have (even the deep ones), but in the end let them accept or reject the truth of the cross. It isn’t up to you to convert souls, it is up to you to speak the truth of the gospel. The rest is up to God.
Grace and Peace,
Stephen
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