Monday, June 2, 2008
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Bonhoeffer's "To Realize His Presence"
I love to read the writings, sermons & letters of the old theologians & pastors such as Charles Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards, Martin Luther, Augustine & others. One of my favorite theologians of all time is Dietrich Bonhoeffer. His testimony has influenced my life in so many ways. Bonhoeffer was a German theologian. Though I do not hold to all of his theological positions, he was a devout student & teacher of God's Word. He founded a seminary for the Confessing Church, which which was made up of a group of 5,000 Christians who refused to be a part of Hitler's pro-Nazi denomination & they pledged total obedience to God's Word. Even after most of the Confessing Church succumbed under Nazi pressure & pledged allegiance to Hitler, Bonhoeffer was one of the few Christian voices who protested Hitler's massacres & atrocities against the Jews. After getting himself entangled in a plot to overthrow Hitler & smuggling Jews out of Germany, Bonhoeffer was arrested & later thrown into a concentration camp. On the Sunday after Easter, 1945, he preached a short sermon to his fellow prisoners, which was his last. Just four months before Hitler was defeated & the Allied Forces were victorious, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hung. He was 39 years old. Below, is one of his writings that he wrote from prison, which I have pondered & has truly challenged me. May you ponder it & be challenged as well:
To Realize His Presence
To Realize His Presence
How wrong it is to use God as a stop-gap for the incompleteness of our knowledge. If in fact the frontiers of knowledge are being pushed further and further back (and that is bound to be the case), then God is being pushed back with them, and is therefore continually in retreat. We are to find God in what we know, not in what we don't know; God wants us to realize His presence, not in unsolved problems, but in those that are solved.
Here again, God is no stop-gap; he must be recognized at the center of life, not when we are the end of our resources; it is His will to be recognized in life, and not only when death comes; in health and vigor, and not only in suffering; in our activities, and not only in sin.
The ground for this lies in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. He is the center of life, and He certainly didn't 'come' to answer our unsolved problems.
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Monday, August 27, 2007
Can God use Evil to Accomplish His Purposes: A Study in Habakkuk 1
In Christian & non-Christian circles, the question often arises about evil in our world & if God can really use evil to accomplish His purposes. Let me briefly explain the question of evil. Many people will say that God created evil. But it must be pointed out that evil is not a thing. Evil is like more of an intrusion, such as rust. You can't create rust, but as iron corrodes, rust will form. In the same way, God created man with freewill. Through his choices, man decided to use the freewill given to him by God to commit evil. That doesn't make God the author of evil. You could say that God created man with the potential to commit evil, but man actualized it when he sinned. It had to be that way. Otherwise, man would just be a robot with no choice, but to bow down & serve God & the relationship would not be a genuine one as man would not truly love God with all his heart, soul, mind & strength. Maybe in another post, we can go further into the origins of evil.
For this post I want to look at the question: can God use evil to accomplish His purposes? To answer this question, I thought we would look at the first chapter of the Book of Habakkuk. Please read the chapter. If you do not have a Bible, you can look it up on http://www.crosswalk.com/ or http://www.biblegateway.com/.
Just to give a quick background to the chapter, Habakkuk was an Old Testament prophet, who prophesied during the final days of the Assyrian Empire. If you know anything about the kings of Israel & Judah from the books of 1 Kings-2 Chronicles, then you are familiar with the reign of wicked kings in the land of Israel & Judah under whose reign the nation was engrossed in idolatry & wickedness. However, King Josiah lead the nation in national repentance & back to God. However, after King Josiah died (609 B.C), the nation quickly reverted back to their evil ways. This is time period in which the book of Habakkuk takes place.
In verses 1-4, Habakkuk is pouring out his complaint before God, that Judah has turned away from Him and that God has not responded in His righteousness, holiness and wrath. The main charges named against Judah were violence, iniquity, wickedness, destruction, strife & contention, the law was ignored and justice was perverted. Does that remind you of anyplace else...maybe even our country.
In verses 5-11, God responds to Habakkuk's complaint. In Habakkuk's temporal vision, he could only see the wickedness around him and what appeared to be God's indifference to it. We should never assume that because God has not judged wickedness, that He is indifferent to it. Because God is holy, He hates sin and He will ultimately judge it in His way & in His timing. He is patient & longsuffering in extending His grace and giving the wicked time to repent. However, if they reject His kindness and common grace, they are merely storing up wrath for themselves in the day of judgment according to Romans 2:5, which states: "But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God". God views things in light of eternity. He is not pushed for time because He is not limited by time. He has eternal purposes to accomplish His sovereign plan. God is not a tit-for-tat kind of God, waiting for us to mess up so that He can wipe us out. Rather, He accomplishes everything in His perfect timing and will, even giving us time to repent. It all fits (even His longsuffering) in His sovereign plan.
While all this wickedness was going on in Judah, God knew all along what their punishment would be, in fact He set it up. The Babylonians had been marching and conquering surrounding lands: in 612 B.C, they captured Nineveh, Haran in 609 B.C and Carchemish in 605 B.C. Little did Judah know that the Babylonians were headed their way! A Habakkuk was prophesying, King Nebuchadnezzar was being raised to power. He would be the king who would lead the strike against Judah. Nebuchadnezzar's father, Nabopolassar ascended to power in 626 B.C and Nebuchadnezzar, the oldest son, took over the role of King of Babylon after his father's death on August 15, 605 B.C. The stage was being set unbeknowst to Habbakuk or the rest of Judah. God is asserting to Habakkuk that He has everything under control and that Judah's sin has not gone unnoticed. He is sovereignly behind the scenes working it out so that Babylon would capture Judah so that ultimately Judah would turn back to the God of their salvation.
In verses 12-17, Habakkuk responds to God's verdict. Habakkuk initially cried out inquiring when God was going to rebuke Judah for their rebellion. God has now revealed to Habakkuk that He will use the Babylonians to punish Judah. This presents a perplexing dilemma for Habakkuk. He knows that the Babylonians are a far more wicked people than Judah. This didn't make sense to Habakkuk at all. In verses 12 & 13 he declares, "12 Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O LORD, have appointed them to judge; And You, O Rock, have established them to correct. 13 Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor on those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they?" Here, the "them" & the "they" and "the wicked" that Habakkuk is referring to are the Babylonians. Habakkuk declares that God is eternal and holy and righteous and by His very nature, He can't look upon sin with approval. In Habakkuk's mind, by using the Babylonians to chastise Judah, God was in essence giving His approval and favor to Babylon. This was the likely interpretation because during the days of the conquest when coming into the Promised Land, as a result of God's hand of favor, Judah was about to defeat mighty armies in order to take possession of the land that God had given to them. So Habakkuk was in a sense thinking that God has removed His hand from Judah and had now adopted Babylon as His covenant people. But he could not reconcile God's holiness with His partnership with such a wicked people. So Habakkuk spends verses 14-17 pointing out to God how wicked the Babylonians were (as if God didn't already know). He assumes that either God didn't know these things or that He has made an uninformed decision that is going against His nature.
We must always remember that God's attributes never change according to Malachi 3:6. Anything that God does or says, though it may seem contradictory to us, is always in agreement with His nature. In our finite minds, we try to judge God by our own standards. For instance, we try to hold God's love to our standard of touchy, feely love and therefore when God chastises us out of love, we assume that He is not being loving even though Hebrews 12:6 says: "That whom the Lord loves He disciplines". Habakkuk mistakenly associated God's usage of Babylon to capture Judah as God's approval of Babylon. God had previously (verse 11b) told Habakkuk that Babylon will still be held guilty. It reads, "But they will still be held guilty, they whose strength is their god". So God is still going to judge Babylon because their strength was their god. The Babylonians were known for their rampant idol worship. They worshipped gods that they had created with their own hands in their own likeness and image and they trusted in themselves as the source for their military and political greatness . In fact, in Daniel 4:30, we see the scene where Nebuchadnezzar is walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon and it reads: "The king reflected and said, 'Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?" The Babylonian's self-sufficiency and idolatry was their own destruction. God was going to use Babylon to accomplish His own purpose.
God does and can use evil people and their actions by turning it around for overall good. This does not mean that God condones evil or that He does not hate it, it just means that rather than let an evil situation jut end in utter tragedy, He will accomplish good out of it. He even uses evil people who think that they are acting alone that they are merely doing their own good pleasure. Because God is omniscient, He knows the evil intent of man's heart and in His foreknowledge, He knows the evil that man will do. So rather than violating man's freewill, God takes man's actions and accomplishes a good result of it all. This was exactly the case with the Babylonians. Even though God was using their evil actions to punish Judah, they were still storing up wrath for themselves and they would not go unpunished because they were still acting out of their own freewill. This is a very difficult topic and it's hard to comprehend how God can use evil for good, while at the same time allowing man freewill. That's why He's God and we're not and just because something is incomprehensible to us, doesn't mean it isn't so. We must remember the words in Genesis 18:25: "Shall not the Judge of the earth do what is right?". also, Romans 9:14 says that there is no injustice with God. It should also be pointed out that in His longsuffering, God does allow man to pursue their sinful desires. Even while they are indulged in sin, God's kindness is still leading them to repentance (Romans 2:4,5). The book of Habakkuk was written somewhere around 609 B.C and the Babylonians did not invade Jerusalem until 597 B.C. So God was warning Habakkuk some 12 or so years before they would be captured. Not to mention, the prophet, Jeremiah, had started prophesying about 18 years before Habakkuk warning Judah to repent because the Babylonian captivity was coming. Ultimately, God gets the glory because He was giving both Judah and Babylon time to repent. Though Judah, did not repent, God used the 70 years of captivity to turn their hearts back to Him. After the captivity, God allowed a remnant to return back to Jerusalem, where they rebuilt the city and dedicated themselves back to the Lord as a nation. In the meantime, the Babylonians had been overthrown and destroyed by the Medo-Persian Empire (538 B.C), and they would never again recover. So God used the time of captivity to restore His covenant people and ensured that Babylon would no longer be a threat to them. Psalm 137 was written during the time of the Babylonian captivity. It reveals how as the people were captives in a foreign land, they longed for the days that they were home and that they could praise the Lord in freedom. As they observed their present conditions, they were repentant and longed for home. Sometimes,we must go through a period of captivity so that we can truly appreciate and see the error of our ways and the grace of God. Verses 1 of Psalm 137 reads :"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion". Can't you hear the somber repentance in their song? After their return from captivity, there is another psalm recorded. The sadness and grief is gone and now the people are rejoicing because they have been restored to God. Psalm 126 reads: " 1When the LORD brought back the captive ones of Zion, We were like those who dream. 2Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with joyful shouting; Then they said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them" 3The LORD has done great things for us; We are glad. 4Restore our captivity, O LORD; As the streams in the South. 5Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. 6He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him". As we read the testimony of Judah's disobedience, the Babylonian captivity of Judah, Babylon's fall & Judah's restoration, we see the providential hand of God & how He does and can use evil to accomplish His purposes.
For this post I want to look at the question: can God use evil to accomplish His purposes? To answer this question, I thought we would look at the first chapter of the Book of Habakkuk. Please read the chapter. If you do not have a Bible, you can look it up on http://www.crosswalk.com/ or http://www.biblegateway.com/.
Just to give a quick background to the chapter, Habakkuk was an Old Testament prophet, who prophesied during the final days of the Assyrian Empire. If you know anything about the kings of Israel & Judah from the books of 1 Kings-2 Chronicles, then you are familiar with the reign of wicked kings in the land of Israel & Judah under whose reign the nation was engrossed in idolatry & wickedness. However, King Josiah lead the nation in national repentance & back to God. However, after King Josiah died (609 B.C), the nation quickly reverted back to their evil ways. This is time period in which the book of Habakkuk takes place.
In verses 1-4, Habakkuk is pouring out his complaint before God, that Judah has turned away from Him and that God has not responded in His righteousness, holiness and wrath. The main charges named against Judah were violence, iniquity, wickedness, destruction, strife & contention, the law was ignored and justice was perverted. Does that remind you of anyplace else...maybe even our country.
In verses 5-11, God responds to Habakkuk's complaint. In Habakkuk's temporal vision, he could only see the wickedness around him and what appeared to be God's indifference to it. We should never assume that because God has not judged wickedness, that He is indifferent to it. Because God is holy, He hates sin and He will ultimately judge it in His way & in His timing. He is patient & longsuffering in extending His grace and giving the wicked time to repent. However, if they reject His kindness and common grace, they are merely storing up wrath for themselves in the day of judgment according to Romans 2:5, which states: "But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God". God views things in light of eternity. He is not pushed for time because He is not limited by time. He has eternal purposes to accomplish His sovereign plan. God is not a tit-for-tat kind of God, waiting for us to mess up so that He can wipe us out. Rather, He accomplishes everything in His perfect timing and will, even giving us time to repent. It all fits (even His longsuffering) in His sovereign plan.
While all this wickedness was going on in Judah, God knew all along what their punishment would be, in fact He set it up. The Babylonians had been marching and conquering surrounding lands: in 612 B.C, they captured Nineveh, Haran in 609 B.C and Carchemish in 605 B.C. Little did Judah know that the Babylonians were headed their way! A Habakkuk was prophesying, King Nebuchadnezzar was being raised to power. He would be the king who would lead the strike against Judah. Nebuchadnezzar's father, Nabopolassar ascended to power in 626 B.C and Nebuchadnezzar, the oldest son, took over the role of King of Babylon after his father's death on August 15, 605 B.C. The stage was being set unbeknowst to Habbakuk or the rest of Judah. God is asserting to Habakkuk that He has everything under control and that Judah's sin has not gone unnoticed. He is sovereignly behind the scenes working it out so that Babylon would capture Judah so that ultimately Judah would turn back to the God of their salvation.
In verses 12-17, Habakkuk responds to God's verdict. Habakkuk initially cried out inquiring when God was going to rebuke Judah for their rebellion. God has now revealed to Habakkuk that He will use the Babylonians to punish Judah. This presents a perplexing dilemma for Habakkuk. He knows that the Babylonians are a far more wicked people than Judah. This didn't make sense to Habakkuk at all. In verses 12 & 13 he declares, "12 Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O LORD, have appointed them to judge; And You, O Rock, have established them to correct. 13 Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor on those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they?" Here, the "them" & the "they" and "the wicked" that Habakkuk is referring to are the Babylonians. Habakkuk declares that God is eternal and holy and righteous and by His very nature, He can't look upon sin with approval. In Habakkuk's mind, by using the Babylonians to chastise Judah, God was in essence giving His approval and favor to Babylon. This was the likely interpretation because during the days of the conquest when coming into the Promised Land, as a result of God's hand of favor, Judah was about to defeat mighty armies in order to take possession of the land that God had given to them. So Habakkuk was in a sense thinking that God has removed His hand from Judah and had now adopted Babylon as His covenant people. But he could not reconcile God's holiness with His partnership with such a wicked people. So Habakkuk spends verses 14-17 pointing out to God how wicked the Babylonians were (as if God didn't already know). He assumes that either God didn't know these things or that He has made an uninformed decision that is going against His nature.
We must always remember that God's attributes never change according to Malachi 3:6. Anything that God does or says, though it may seem contradictory to us, is always in agreement with His nature. In our finite minds, we try to judge God by our own standards. For instance, we try to hold God's love to our standard of touchy, feely love and therefore when God chastises us out of love, we assume that He is not being loving even though Hebrews 12:6 says: "That whom the Lord loves He disciplines". Habakkuk mistakenly associated God's usage of Babylon to capture Judah as God's approval of Babylon. God had previously (verse 11b) told Habakkuk that Babylon will still be held guilty. It reads, "But they will still be held guilty, they whose strength is their god". So God is still going to judge Babylon because their strength was their god. The Babylonians were known for their rampant idol worship. They worshipped gods that they had created with their own hands in their own likeness and image and they trusted in themselves as the source for their military and political greatness . In fact, in Daniel 4:30, we see the scene where Nebuchadnezzar is walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon and it reads: "The king reflected and said, 'Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?" The Babylonian's self-sufficiency and idolatry was their own destruction. God was going to use Babylon to accomplish His own purpose.
God does and can use evil people and their actions by turning it around for overall good. This does not mean that God condones evil or that He does not hate it, it just means that rather than let an evil situation jut end in utter tragedy, He will accomplish good out of it. He even uses evil people who think that they are acting alone that they are merely doing their own good pleasure. Because God is omniscient, He knows the evil intent of man's heart and in His foreknowledge, He knows the evil that man will do. So rather than violating man's freewill, God takes man's actions and accomplishes a good result of it all. This was exactly the case with the Babylonians. Even though God was using their evil actions to punish Judah, they were still storing up wrath for themselves and they would not go unpunished because they were still acting out of their own freewill. This is a very difficult topic and it's hard to comprehend how God can use evil for good, while at the same time allowing man freewill. That's why He's God and we're not and just because something is incomprehensible to us, doesn't mean it isn't so. We must remember the words in Genesis 18:25: "Shall not the Judge of the earth do what is right?". also, Romans 9:14 says that there is no injustice with God. It should also be pointed out that in His longsuffering, God does allow man to pursue their sinful desires. Even while they are indulged in sin, God's kindness is still leading them to repentance (Romans 2:4,5). The book of Habakkuk was written somewhere around 609 B.C and the Babylonians did not invade Jerusalem until 597 B.C. So God was warning Habakkuk some 12 or so years before they would be captured. Not to mention, the prophet, Jeremiah, had started prophesying about 18 years before Habakkuk warning Judah to repent because the Babylonian captivity was coming. Ultimately, God gets the glory because He was giving both Judah and Babylon time to repent. Though Judah, did not repent, God used the 70 years of captivity to turn their hearts back to Him. After the captivity, God allowed a remnant to return back to Jerusalem, where they rebuilt the city and dedicated themselves back to the Lord as a nation. In the meantime, the Babylonians had been overthrown and destroyed by the Medo-Persian Empire (538 B.C), and they would never again recover. So God used the time of captivity to restore His covenant people and ensured that Babylon would no longer be a threat to them. Psalm 137 was written during the time of the Babylonian captivity. It reveals how as the people were captives in a foreign land, they longed for the days that they were home and that they could praise the Lord in freedom. As they observed their present conditions, they were repentant and longed for home. Sometimes,we must go through a period of captivity so that we can truly appreciate and see the error of our ways and the grace of God. Verses 1 of Psalm 137 reads :"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion". Can't you hear the somber repentance in their song? After their return from captivity, there is another psalm recorded. The sadness and grief is gone and now the people are rejoicing because they have been restored to God. Psalm 126 reads: " 1When the LORD brought back the captive ones of Zion, We were like those who dream. 2Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with joyful shouting; Then they said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them" 3The LORD has done great things for us; We are glad. 4Restore our captivity, O LORD; As the streams in the South. 5Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. 6He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him". As we read the testimony of Judah's disobedience, the Babylonian captivity of Judah, Babylon's fall & Judah's restoration, we see the providential hand of God & how He does and can use evil to accomplish His purposes.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Desiring God
I have been reading an excellent book by John Piper called Desiring God. It was originally written in 1986, but was updated in 2003. It's a huge book, about 400 pages, and I have been plugging through it bit by bit for the past few months. The subtitle of the book is "Meditations of a Christian Hedonist" When we think of a hedonist, we think of an evil person whose sole purpose in life is their own self pleasure. However, Piper takes this term hedonism and adds a Christian flair to it. I admit that this book has challenged me in a lot of ways & challenged my view of the Christian life. But as I began to dig into the Scriptures & search for myself, I began to see how Piper arrives at his position, which I believe is the biblical position.
The Webster's definition of hedonism is the doctrine that the pursuit of pleasure or happiness is the highest good. Hedonism is something that has ruined ancient civilizations empires & cultures because the rampant greed, sexual deviation & immorality were all tools used to satisfy one's own pleasure, no matter the cost. But Piper teaches in his book that a Christian Hedonists is one who pursues total joy and pleasure in God. One of his most famous quotes is "God is most glorified when I am most satisfied in Him." Let me ask you a question. Aren't you turned off by a Christian, who expresses no joy & pleasure in God, but who are simply going through the motions, serving God with no desire? To me, that is an oxymoron. How can you serve God effectively with no desire & joy? However, many within the world of Christianity have bought into this. They serve God out of duty alone & there is no pleasure or joy in their worship or their service. Please, don't get me wrong. We are to serve God not because we want to, but because He is God & we are His creation & He sets the rules. We are to worship & serve Him first because we are commanded to. From the very beginning, God in Genesis 1:28 commands Adam to fill the earth with offspring and to be good stewards of the land & animals. So because we are His creation, we are obligated to obey the Creator. I want to make that point clear.
With that said, I also think that we miss out on the joy & blessing in obedience & serving God. Piper uses the illustration in his book of buying his wife flowers for their anniversay. If he comes home & hands his wife the flowers in a very distant, non interested way, then his wife is going to ask him what's going on. If his reply is well it's our anniversary & I had to get you flowers because I know that's what you wanted & I felt obligated to get them for you, how do you think she will feel? Wouldn't she prefer that he got her the flowers out of his love for her & it caused him great pleasure to be see her pleased? We can apply the same scenario to our worship & obedience of God. Do you think that it glorifies God more when we just go through the motions, just doing the right thing because we feel obligated to or that out of our immense love & joy in Him, it is our desire to bring Him glory through our obedience & service? We are commanded to worship the Lord in several different passages of Scripture including Exodus 20:3-6; Deuteronomy 6:13; 1 Chronicles 16:29; Psalm 29:2; Luke 4:8 & others. Psalm 2:11 states: " Worship the LORD with reverence and rejoice with trembling". So here we see the command to worship the Lord, but we also see rejoicing being a part of worship. Somewhere, we have lost this component of rejoicing in the Lord. In fact praising & worshiping God is associated more with singing a few songs & then sitting down than it is just taking time to reflect on the extreme, heartfelt joy & fulfillment that we have in God. Psalm 16:11b states: "In Your presence is fullness of joy;In Your right hand there are pleasures forever".
So many separate their service & obedience & worship of God from joy & pleasure. But I am convinced that the two go hand in hand. Many feel that they are only pleasing God if they are serving Him in sort of pious, self-sacrificial way. Please don't miss what I'm saying here. There is sacrifice involved. In fact in Romans 12:1, we are told to present our bodies as a living & holy sacrifice to the Lord. In Matthew 16:24, Jesus instructs His disciples: "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me". This is a crucial passage & is at the heart of the gospel. We must die to ourselves in order to follow Christ. But I think that sometimes, we forget to read the next verse, which reads: "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it". So in following Christ, yes we die to the old self-to our old fleshly desires and way of living- but that's not the end of the story.
It's only then that we find life! You see, there is new life in Christ. And this new life is meant to be lived out to the fullest. When one surrenders His life to Christ, the Holy Spirit takes residence within us & the Holy Spirit changes our heart & desires to be alignment with the will of God. So obeying Christ doesn't become something that you just have to do, but it becomes something that you earnestly want & desire to do. Ezekiel prophesied about this in the Book of Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 27 when he said: "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances". Many people on the outside looking in, don't see & hear this enough. God is not a killjoy. He's not just about taking away our fun, but in Him there is a new pleasure & desire that only He can fill, that doesn't compare to anything in the world. I don't do the things that I used to do because through the power of the Holy Spirit working in me, I don't want to do those thing anymore & I delight in righteousness. So in essence, we can enjoy serving God to the point where it doesn't feel like we're sacrificing anything, but we are actually serving Him out of the overflow of joy that He has deposited in us.
You see, God is not looking for people who serve Him & worship Him because it's just the right thing to do, but rather He's looking for true worshippers who delight in Him, who love His presence & whose deepest desire is to glorify Him. So we can enjoy worshipping God. We can enjoy serving Him. We can enjoy obeying Him. I once talked to a missionary from Kenya. She described her poor living conditions & the heartbreak of seeing children dying from AIDS. I commended her on her sacrifice, leaving everything behind to serve God's people across the globe. What she said back to me caught me off guard. She said that she didn't feel like she had sacrificed anything. It was her joy & desire to serve the Lord. In fact, she added that she couldn't think of anything else that she would rather be doing. This precious woman of God taught me a great lesson that day. Rather than focusing on what she left behind, she delighted in the privedledge of serving God & as result, she didn't feel like she had lost anything, but had actually gained more joy.
You see, you can worship God in vain. Infact, Jesus accused the scribes & Pharisees (the religious leaders) of this very thing. In Matthew 15:8 He says to them: "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the traditions of men." It's a scary thought to think that one can worship God in vain. When we are just going through the motions of worship, could it be that we are worshipping God in vain? If we don't truly enjoy, treasure & take pleasure in God, can we truly worship Him? If we were not to express joy in God, that would be the equivalent of saying that there is something else that satisfies me more than God.
In John 14:15 Jesus tells His disciples: "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments". So here Jesus equates our love for Him with our obedience to Him. If we truly love Christ as He commanded us to in Matthew 22:37 when we are told to love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind, then naturally we will obey Him. It will be our heart's desire to obey Him if we are loving Him in all of these areas. That's why behavior modification just doesn't work. It's easy to just throw Scriptures at someone & tell them not to do something. But obedience comes out of a deep love & desire for God. Ultimately, the truth is that those who don't walk in obedience, with an unrepentant heart, do not love the Lord no matter how much they profess to. They are like the scribes & Pharisees, who worshipped God with their lips, but their heart was far from Him. But for the one who truly loves God, he delights in obedience. He loves obedience. 1 John 5:3 states: "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome".
You see we can enjoy being loving to others. We can enjoy seeking the good of others over ourselves. We can love extending grace & forgiveness to others. This can only be accomplished by allowing God to change our heart so that our desires line up with His. God doesn't just love to see someone giving, but He loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). He doesn't just want us to extend kindness, but to love kindness (Micah 6:8). He doesn't want us to just endure persecution, but to rejoice and be glad in persecution (Matthew 5:12). I am so glad that Christianity is about more than a set of moral laws that we are to follow, but it involves a heart transformation by the living God so that we can continually live a life of joy & obedience in Him.
The Webster's definition of hedonism is the doctrine that the pursuit of pleasure or happiness is the highest good. Hedonism is something that has ruined ancient civilizations empires & cultures because the rampant greed, sexual deviation & immorality were all tools used to satisfy one's own pleasure, no matter the cost. But Piper teaches in his book that a Christian Hedonists is one who pursues total joy and pleasure in God. One of his most famous quotes is "God is most glorified when I am most satisfied in Him." Let me ask you a question. Aren't you turned off by a Christian, who expresses no joy & pleasure in God, but who are simply going through the motions, serving God with no desire? To me, that is an oxymoron. How can you serve God effectively with no desire & joy? However, many within the world of Christianity have bought into this. They serve God out of duty alone & there is no pleasure or joy in their worship or their service. Please, don't get me wrong. We are to serve God not because we want to, but because He is God & we are His creation & He sets the rules. We are to worship & serve Him first because we are commanded to. From the very beginning, God in Genesis 1:28 commands Adam to fill the earth with offspring and to be good stewards of the land & animals. So because we are His creation, we are obligated to obey the Creator. I want to make that point clear.
With that said, I also think that we miss out on the joy & blessing in obedience & serving God. Piper uses the illustration in his book of buying his wife flowers for their anniversay. If he comes home & hands his wife the flowers in a very distant, non interested way, then his wife is going to ask him what's going on. If his reply is well it's our anniversary & I had to get you flowers because I know that's what you wanted & I felt obligated to get them for you, how do you think she will feel? Wouldn't she prefer that he got her the flowers out of his love for her & it caused him great pleasure to be see her pleased? We can apply the same scenario to our worship & obedience of God. Do you think that it glorifies God more when we just go through the motions, just doing the right thing because we feel obligated to or that out of our immense love & joy in Him, it is our desire to bring Him glory through our obedience & service? We are commanded to worship the Lord in several different passages of Scripture including Exodus 20:3-6; Deuteronomy 6:13; 1 Chronicles 16:29; Psalm 29:2; Luke 4:8 & others. Psalm 2:11 states: " Worship the LORD with reverence and rejoice with trembling". So here we see the command to worship the Lord, but we also see rejoicing being a part of worship. Somewhere, we have lost this component of rejoicing in the Lord. In fact praising & worshiping God is associated more with singing a few songs & then sitting down than it is just taking time to reflect on the extreme, heartfelt joy & fulfillment that we have in God. Psalm 16:11b states: "In Your presence is fullness of joy;In Your right hand there are pleasures forever".
So many separate their service & obedience & worship of God from joy & pleasure. But I am convinced that the two go hand in hand. Many feel that they are only pleasing God if they are serving Him in sort of pious, self-sacrificial way. Please don't miss what I'm saying here. There is sacrifice involved. In fact in Romans 12:1, we are told to present our bodies as a living & holy sacrifice to the Lord. In Matthew 16:24, Jesus instructs His disciples: "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me". This is a crucial passage & is at the heart of the gospel. We must die to ourselves in order to follow Christ. But I think that sometimes, we forget to read the next verse, which reads: "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it". So in following Christ, yes we die to the old self-to our old fleshly desires and way of living- but that's not the end of the story.
It's only then that we find life! You see, there is new life in Christ. And this new life is meant to be lived out to the fullest. When one surrenders His life to Christ, the Holy Spirit takes residence within us & the Holy Spirit changes our heart & desires to be alignment with the will of God. So obeying Christ doesn't become something that you just have to do, but it becomes something that you earnestly want & desire to do. Ezekiel prophesied about this in the Book of Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 27 when he said: "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances". Many people on the outside looking in, don't see & hear this enough. God is not a killjoy. He's not just about taking away our fun, but in Him there is a new pleasure & desire that only He can fill, that doesn't compare to anything in the world. I don't do the things that I used to do because through the power of the Holy Spirit working in me, I don't want to do those thing anymore & I delight in righteousness. So in essence, we can enjoy serving God to the point where it doesn't feel like we're sacrificing anything, but we are actually serving Him out of the overflow of joy that He has deposited in us.
You see, God is not looking for people who serve Him & worship Him because it's just the right thing to do, but rather He's looking for true worshippers who delight in Him, who love His presence & whose deepest desire is to glorify Him. So we can enjoy worshipping God. We can enjoy serving Him. We can enjoy obeying Him. I once talked to a missionary from Kenya. She described her poor living conditions & the heartbreak of seeing children dying from AIDS. I commended her on her sacrifice, leaving everything behind to serve God's people across the globe. What she said back to me caught me off guard. She said that she didn't feel like she had sacrificed anything. It was her joy & desire to serve the Lord. In fact, she added that she couldn't think of anything else that she would rather be doing. This precious woman of God taught me a great lesson that day. Rather than focusing on what she left behind, she delighted in the privedledge of serving God & as result, she didn't feel like she had lost anything, but had actually gained more joy.
You see, you can worship God in vain. Infact, Jesus accused the scribes & Pharisees (the religious leaders) of this very thing. In Matthew 15:8 He says to them: "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the traditions of men." It's a scary thought to think that one can worship God in vain. When we are just going through the motions of worship, could it be that we are worshipping God in vain? If we don't truly enjoy, treasure & take pleasure in God, can we truly worship Him? If we were not to express joy in God, that would be the equivalent of saying that there is something else that satisfies me more than God.
In John 14:15 Jesus tells His disciples: "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments". So here Jesus equates our love for Him with our obedience to Him. If we truly love Christ as He commanded us to in Matthew 22:37 when we are told to love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind, then naturally we will obey Him. It will be our heart's desire to obey Him if we are loving Him in all of these areas. That's why behavior modification just doesn't work. It's easy to just throw Scriptures at someone & tell them not to do something. But obedience comes out of a deep love & desire for God. Ultimately, the truth is that those who don't walk in obedience, with an unrepentant heart, do not love the Lord no matter how much they profess to. They are like the scribes & Pharisees, who worshipped God with their lips, but their heart was far from Him. But for the one who truly loves God, he delights in obedience. He loves obedience. 1 John 5:3 states: "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome".
You see we can enjoy being loving to others. We can enjoy seeking the good of others over ourselves. We can love extending grace & forgiveness to others. This can only be accomplished by allowing God to change our heart so that our desires line up with His. God doesn't just love to see someone giving, but He loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). He doesn't just want us to extend kindness, but to love kindness (Micah 6:8). He doesn't want us to just endure persecution, but to rejoice and be glad in persecution (Matthew 5:12). I am so glad that Christianity is about more than a set of moral laws that we are to follow, but it involves a heart transformation by the living God so that we can continually live a life of joy & obedience in Him.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Faith or Reason?
In our culture and in times past, there has been a complete misunderstanding of what faith and reason are. Skeptics and atheists accuse Christians of having a blind faith, in which there is no reason involved. On the other hand, many Christians have bought into this phenomena & accept that their faith does not involve reason either. What we have in our culture is a false dichotomy between faith and reason. The truth is that faith and reason are not meant to be separated, but actually compliment one another. For example, someone may choose to believe something that isn't reality. In this case, they have divorced their faith from their reason and are in danger of being labeled mentally ill. For example, if someone was to tell you that they believe that tomorrow morning, they are going to wake up as a frog, then you would think that they were absolutely absurd. Even though they truly believe that this will happen, their faith in this situation does not line up with reason. We must be aware that what we choose to believe may not always be true to reality. So with this is mind, can we really discuss religion and faith in the context of reason and knowledge? Many Christians would say "no", but I emphatically say "yes" and that is what this post is all about.
Christians need to be aware of not only what they believe, but how they think. I am convinced more and more that in this post-modern world that we live in today, that it is imperative that Christians are good thinkers. The Christian faith holds a heritage of stellar philosophers, scientists and theologians such as Clement of Alexandria, Augustine, Origen, Thomas Aquinas, Karl Barth, G.K Chesterton, C.S Lewis, Isaac Newton, Francis Shaeffer and many others. So today there is no need to shy away from thinking. Many times, when people within Christendom or outside have honest doubts about the Christian faith, they are dismissed and just told that they have to "believe" more. My husband, Devin, experienced this quite a bit growing in a Christian home, in which no answers were provided to his questions about science and the Bible. As a result, as a teenager, he walked away from the faith. We shouldn't just disregard people's honests about the faith . This is a sign that they are actually thinking- something that many Christians have forgotten how to do. I think somewhere we have forgotten our rich heritage of Christian thinkers & think that somehow if people probe too much, that they will find that the claims of Christianity are unreliable & dismiss the faith altogether. But in actuality, if people objectively research their doubts against Christianity with the evidence, they will find that the evidence actually confirms the claims of Scripture. Truth is on our side!
What we are going to discuss falls under the category of epistemology. Epistemology is just a big word that philosophers use when discussing human knowledge. It deals with questions such as what can we really know? How do we know anything with certainty? What is the difference between faith and reason? These are important questions, especially in the melting pot culture that we currently live in. There are very consequential effects on a society if these questions are not legitimately answered. I think that our schools, universities and the secular humanists have done a poor job of answering these questions, but so has the Christian community. As a result, our society has deteriorated. These are also difficult subjects to discuss, but I will do my best.
Let's start with propositional statements. These are statements that are either true or false. Then you also have poetical truth. A parable, myth or a fantasy would fall under this category. For instance, if someone makes up a story, although it's fictional, it may have some some aspects of reality to it. Although there may be good moral truth being taught, the details of the story are not meant to be taken as logically true. In religion, you have both, propositional statements and you have poetical truth. Some people make the huge mistake of thinking that religion is all poetical truth. For instance, there are liberal scholars who don't believe that the historical and scientific claims of the Bible are necessarily true, but believe that we should only focus on the spiritual lessons being taught. For example, they may say whether or not King David was an actual historical figure is irrelevant, the most important thing is that we learn something from his life that we can apply to our own life. This view just reduces the Bible to an unreliable, fantasy book from which we can learn some good life lessons from rather than a real book, with real historical figures and events. Then there are some who just read the Bible as a historical document ignoring the spiritual aspects that God has outlined in His Word to change our lives from the inside out. The point here is that we can't reduce religion to just a set of propositional statements or to just a set of poetical truths, because both are involved.
Most people cannot reconcile what we can know with what we may believe & I admit this is a difficult arena to investigate; however, it is one that we must investigate nonetheless. Knowledge is obtained through observation and experience. It's what happens when we process information using our five senses. In an earlier post, I discussed empiricism. In empiricism, the viewpoint is that "seeing is believing" so direct knowledge as processed through our five senses is the only "real" knowledge. As I exposed in the earlier post,(How do we arrive at Truth), empiricism is necessary for daily living, but it does fall short. With empiricism, we would have to dismiss any knowledge of things that we have not directly seen, touched, tasted, heard or smelled. So such things as gravity, electricity, radio waves, the wind, love, joy and goodness would be excluded. As I stated, empiricism is vital because we have to be able to process sensory information, but the minute that we make any kind of value judgment based on the knowledge that we have gained through our senses, then we have left the arena of knowledge and entered into the arena of belief.
Belief also relies on observation and experience, but it also adds common sense based in human reason. What happens with belief is that receive knowledge through our senses and then based on that knowledge, we evaluate and come to a judgement using common sense. In belief, the senses, the mind, the will and heart are all used to convince us that something is true. I will use the example that I'm alone walking in the woods & I hear a rustling and growling noise behind some bushes. Using knowledge, I can hear the growling & rustling and see the bushes moving. Though I haven't seen anything with my eyes, but based on what I do know, using belief, I can conclude that there is some sort of animal behind those bushes, that could potentially harm me, and that for my own safety, I need to run. Now I could be completely wrong, maybe that's just one of my friends behind the bushes making growling noises to scare me. So in all honesty, my beliefs could be wrong. But based on the knowledge that I gained, that was the best possible explanation. So you can see in this silly illustration how knowledge and belief both compliment each other. We use both when making decisions on a daily basis. Belief goes deeper than knowledge. You have to use your faculties: your mind, will and emotions to come to a judgment based on the knowledge that you've received. To get to the truth in a matter, you must employ both knowledge and belief or reason and faith. In the arena of religion, this is especially true because otherwise, you will end up with some very unbalanced views and theologies as we see around us everyday. When we really ponder this subject on a practical level, we realize that there is really so little that we know, but so much that we believe. For instance, when I arrive at work every morning, I park my car in the parking deck. When I lock the doors and go into the building, I believe that when I leave work at the end of the day that my car will be there in that spot. I don't go out to the parking deck every hour to see if it's still there. Another example, is when one morning I got on I-77 headed to work, but there was very dense fog, so much so that I couldn't see the road ahead of me. But even though I couldn't see the road ahead of me, I still came to the conclusion that the road has not ended, and it continued. The fact is that most of what we think we know, we really believe.
Christians need to be aware of not only what they believe, but how they think. I am convinced more and more that in this post-modern world that we live in today, that it is imperative that Christians are good thinkers. The Christian faith holds a heritage of stellar philosophers, scientists and theologians such as Clement of Alexandria, Augustine, Origen, Thomas Aquinas, Karl Barth, G.K Chesterton, C.S Lewis, Isaac Newton, Francis Shaeffer and many others. So today there is no need to shy away from thinking. Many times, when people within Christendom or outside have honest doubts about the Christian faith, they are dismissed and just told that they have to "believe" more. My husband, Devin, experienced this quite a bit growing in a Christian home, in which no answers were provided to his questions about science and the Bible. As a result, as a teenager, he walked away from the faith. We shouldn't just disregard people's honests about the faith . This is a sign that they are actually thinking- something that many Christians have forgotten how to do. I think somewhere we have forgotten our rich heritage of Christian thinkers & think that somehow if people probe too much, that they will find that the claims of Christianity are unreliable & dismiss the faith altogether. But in actuality, if people objectively research their doubts against Christianity with the evidence, they will find that the evidence actually confirms the claims of Scripture. Truth is on our side!
What we are going to discuss falls under the category of epistemology. Epistemology is just a big word that philosophers use when discussing human knowledge. It deals with questions such as what can we really know? How do we know anything with certainty? What is the difference between faith and reason? These are important questions, especially in the melting pot culture that we currently live in. There are very consequential effects on a society if these questions are not legitimately answered. I think that our schools, universities and the secular humanists have done a poor job of answering these questions, but so has the Christian community. As a result, our society has deteriorated. These are also difficult subjects to discuss, but I will do my best.
Let's start with propositional statements. These are statements that are either true or false. Then you also have poetical truth. A parable, myth or a fantasy would fall under this category. For instance, if someone makes up a story, although it's fictional, it may have some some aspects of reality to it. Although there may be good moral truth being taught, the details of the story are not meant to be taken as logically true. In religion, you have both, propositional statements and you have poetical truth. Some people make the huge mistake of thinking that religion is all poetical truth. For instance, there are liberal scholars who don't believe that the historical and scientific claims of the Bible are necessarily true, but believe that we should only focus on the spiritual lessons being taught. For example, they may say whether or not King David was an actual historical figure is irrelevant, the most important thing is that we learn something from his life that we can apply to our own life. This view just reduces the Bible to an unreliable, fantasy book from which we can learn some good life lessons from rather than a real book, with real historical figures and events. Then there are some who just read the Bible as a historical document ignoring the spiritual aspects that God has outlined in His Word to change our lives from the inside out. The point here is that we can't reduce religion to just a set of propositional statements or to just a set of poetical truths, because both are involved.
Most people cannot reconcile what we can know with what we may believe & I admit this is a difficult arena to investigate; however, it is one that we must investigate nonetheless. Knowledge is obtained through observation and experience. It's what happens when we process information using our five senses. In an earlier post, I discussed empiricism. In empiricism, the viewpoint is that "seeing is believing" so direct knowledge as processed through our five senses is the only "real" knowledge. As I exposed in the earlier post,(How do we arrive at Truth), empiricism is necessary for daily living, but it does fall short. With empiricism, we would have to dismiss any knowledge of things that we have not directly seen, touched, tasted, heard or smelled. So such things as gravity, electricity, radio waves, the wind, love, joy and goodness would be excluded. As I stated, empiricism is vital because we have to be able to process sensory information, but the minute that we make any kind of value judgment based on the knowledge that we have gained through our senses, then we have left the arena of knowledge and entered into the arena of belief.
Belief also relies on observation and experience, but it also adds common sense based in human reason. What happens with belief is that receive knowledge through our senses and then based on that knowledge, we evaluate and come to a judgement using common sense. In belief, the senses, the mind, the will and heart are all used to convince us that something is true. I will use the example that I'm alone walking in the woods & I hear a rustling and growling noise behind some bushes. Using knowledge, I can hear the growling & rustling and see the bushes moving. Though I haven't seen anything with my eyes, but based on what I do know, using belief, I can conclude that there is some sort of animal behind those bushes, that could potentially harm me, and that for my own safety, I need to run. Now I could be completely wrong, maybe that's just one of my friends behind the bushes making growling noises to scare me. So in all honesty, my beliefs could be wrong. But based on the knowledge that I gained, that was the best possible explanation. So you can see in this silly illustration how knowledge and belief both compliment each other. We use both when making decisions on a daily basis. Belief goes deeper than knowledge. You have to use your faculties: your mind, will and emotions to come to a judgment based on the knowledge that you've received. To get to the truth in a matter, you must employ both knowledge and belief or reason and faith. In the arena of religion, this is especially true because otherwise, you will end up with some very unbalanced views and theologies as we see around us everyday. When we really ponder this subject on a practical level, we realize that there is really so little that we know, but so much that we believe. For instance, when I arrive at work every morning, I park my car in the parking deck. When I lock the doors and go into the building, I believe that when I leave work at the end of the day that my car will be there in that spot. I don't go out to the parking deck every hour to see if it's still there. Another example, is when one morning I got on I-77 headed to work, but there was very dense fog, so much so that I couldn't see the road ahead of me. But even though I couldn't see the road ahead of me, I still came to the conclusion that the road has not ended, and it continued. The fact is that most of what we think we know, we really believe.
So is the Christian faith a rational faith? Yes, it is. I believe that if we objectively look at the evidence around us- God's creation, the reliability of the Bible, as well as the evidence in history, archaelogy and science, that the most rational explanation is that there is a God, that Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh and that He has revealed Himself to us in Holy Scripture. I also believe that it takes more faith to be an atheist than to be a Christian. Some would say that we can't know that God exists because we haven't seen Him. I would answer that by agreeing that I can't "prove" to you that God exists. However, the goal of scientific research is to arrive at the most reasonable explanation for something. When I reiew the First & Second Laws of Thermodynamics, the fact that life can't come from non-life, that matter can't come from non- matter, that the universe had a beginning, the amazing design & fine-tuning of the universe & the presence of objective moral values in all mankind, the most reasonable explanation points to the fact that there is a Creator, who is outside of time and space.
But while the Christian faith is a rational faith, it can't be reduced to just rationalism. If that were the case, it wouldn't be a faith at all and we would all be own our gods because we could know everything within the grasp of our own human reason. The Christian perspective contains things that can be verified & mysteries. It contains things that we can know for sure & things that just leave us in awe & wonder. The truth is that God is infinite & we are finite. So the finite can not fully grasp the infinite. But God has revealed Himself to us through His creation & through the Bible. The great news about Christianity is that we don't have to close our eyes to reality. Because we serve a real God, who has revealed Himself to us in a real way, then we don't have to check our brains at the door when we begin to look into the truth about God & the Bible.
If Christianity is to grow, believers must learn to also engage others' mind as well as their heart. In light of science, history and archaeology, Christianity stands the test. We must be able to present Christianity in a real way, not in a mystical, mysterious way, but in way that engages both the mind & heart. Otherwise, Christianity will be viewed as unrealistic, which it is quite the opposite. If Christianity only involved reason with no faith, then we would not be open the grandeur & absolute power & awe that our Lord inspires. On the other hand, if we had a faith with no reason, then there would be nothing attainable in our faith. We couldn't know anything for sure. That's why both are vitally important. I would like to leave you with a quote by Blaise Pascal:
"If we submit everything to reason, our religion will have no mysterious and supernatural element. If we offend the principles of reason, our religion will be absurd and ridiculous."
If Christianity is to grow, believers must learn to also engage others' mind as well as their heart. In light of science, history and archaeology, Christianity stands the test. We must be able to present Christianity in a real way, not in a mystical, mysterious way, but in way that engages both the mind & heart. Otherwise, Christianity will be viewed as unrealistic, which it is quite the opposite. If Christianity only involved reason with no faith, then we would not be open the grandeur & absolute power & awe that our Lord inspires. On the other hand, if we had a faith with no reason, then there would be nothing attainable in our faith. We couldn't know anything for sure. That's why both are vitally important. I would like to leave you with a quote by Blaise Pascal:
"If we submit everything to reason, our religion will have no mysterious and supernatural element. If we offend the principles of reason, our religion will be absurd and ridiculous."
-Source used: Answering the Big Questions about God by Jim Thomas
Friday, August 17, 2007
Timeless Hymns
I love old hymns. Don't get me wrong...I really like the new worship songs too. But there is just something refreshing about those old hymns. They are so power packed with those foundational truths of the Christian faith. They are so focused on Jesus and the cross and how salvation was all the work of God & how we were so undeserving. A lot of times with the newer songs, they are more about our feelings about God, which can in a sense be distracting & take the focus off of Christ. Sometimes, by the lyrics, it's hard to discern whether these newer artists are singing to holy God or to their girlfriend or boyfriend. But both the old & new have their place. I didn't grow up in church, but I know there's a lot of people who did, who only sang hymns growing up & they now seem "old" to them. But I guess since they are actually new for me, the beautiful & foundational truths, such as the holiness, power, majesty & love of God in the hymns are just breathtaking. They are just so doctrinally rich & rooted in Scripture & they almost always come back to the Cross. There is also this welcoming expectation of Heaven & Christ's return. Just reading the words, chokes me up. And there are some contemporary worship songs that are so powerful & do the same for me. Every now & then, my husband & I will pull out the hymnbook & sing to the Lord. Below are the words to some of my favorite hymns:
I Stand in Awe
You are beautiful beyond description, Too marvelous for words.
Too wonderful for comprehension, Like nothing ever seen or heard.
Who can grasp your infinite wisdom? Who can fathom the depth of Your love?
You are beauiful beyond description, majesty enthroned above.
And I stand, I stand in awe of You. I stand, I stand in awe of You.
Holy God to whom all praise is due, I stand in awe of You.
How Great Thou Art
O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds Thy hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder. Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee; How great Thou art! How great Thou art!
And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I can scarce take it in; That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee; How great Thou art! How great Thou art!
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim; my God, how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee; How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee; How great hou art!c How great Thou art! Hoew great Thou art! How great Thou art!
Old Rugged Cross
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old rugged cross, where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, Till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.
O the old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me; For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above to bear it to dark Calvary. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, Till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.
In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, A wondrous beauty I see; For twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify me. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross. Till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.
To the old rugged cross I will ever be true; It's shame and reproach gladly bear. Then He'll call me someday to my home far away, where glory forever I'll share. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross. Till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.
I Stand in Awe
You are beautiful beyond description, Too marvelous for words.
Too wonderful for comprehension, Like nothing ever seen or heard.
Who can grasp your infinite wisdom? Who can fathom the depth of Your love?
You are beauiful beyond description, majesty enthroned above.
And I stand, I stand in awe of You. I stand, I stand in awe of You.
Holy God to whom all praise is due, I stand in awe of You.
How Great Thou Art
O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds Thy hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder. Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee; How great Thou art! How great Thou art!
And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I can scarce take it in; That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee; How great Thou art! How great Thou art!
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim; my God, how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee; How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee; How great hou art!c How great Thou art! Hoew great Thou art! How great Thou art!
Old Rugged Cross
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old rugged cross, where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, Till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.
O the old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me; For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above to bear it to dark Calvary. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, Till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.
In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, A wondrous beauty I see; For twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify me. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross. Till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.
To the old rugged cross I will ever be true; It's shame and reproach gladly bear. Then He'll call me someday to my home far away, where glory forever I'll share. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross. Till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.
Monday, August 13, 2007
How do we arrive at Truth?
On the day of Jesus' crucifixion, in John chapter 18, we see an interesting exchange. Pilate is questioning Jesus' about His identity because he is trying to determine if Jesus is worthy of death. After Jesus reveals to Pilate that he is a King, He tells Pilate why He came into the world. John 18:37 reads: "You say correctly that I am a king For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." Pilate responds with a question that I think that we all have asked at one time or another in our lives. In verse 38 when he responds: "What is truth"?
Many today are still on the hunt trying to define what truth really is. There are three main approaches that people tend to employ when dealing with the subjects of knowledge and how we can arrive at the truth. For the sake of argument, I am not including relativism, which is the belief that there is no absolute truth and that truth is relative to each individual person. So for instance, what is true for me, may not be true for you. Not to go down a rabbit trail, but this is a self refuting statement because I as a person have no bearing on what is & what is not. For instance, whether or not I want to admit it or not, the sky is blue. You may want to think otherwise, but that has no bearing on the fact that the sky is blue. For the purpose of this discussion however, we will focus on the three perspectives that do point to the fact that there is absolute truth and that we can know truth.
The first method that people employ when dealing with the subjects of knowledge and truth is rationalism. Rationalism holds to the view that knowledge starts in the human mind. There is an emphasis on thinking and ideas because after all, our minds are the source of all truth. Rationalism falls apart; however, because there is a built in assumption that our minds have the capacity to know everything. In other words, if we can't think it with our minds, then it can't really be. Therefore, there is no such thing as the unknown. The unknown simply represents those things that we have not explored with our minds yet. This view fails miserably because things don't exist merely because we can invent them with our mind. For example, gravity was not discovered by Sir Isaac Newton until the 1600's, but does that mean that gravity did not exist before then? Certainly not. Rationalism is a good tool for daily living, but are we willing to ultimately say that no truth exists outside of us? Truth and natural laws exists regardless of our awareness of them or lack thereof.
The second method that people employ when dealing with truth and knowledge is empiricism. Empiricism can be summed up with the phrase "seeing is believing". In other words, all that we can know is what can be determined by the use of our senses- what we see, hear, feel, taste and touch. Scientific experiments start from this perspective. However, this method is also limited because we can't reproduce events from the past. Neither can we see these events occurring. For example, none of us were around to see the Revolutionary War take place, but no one would question its' occurrence because of the historical evidence. But if I was applying the empirical method in this case, then I couldn't be certain that the Revolutionary War actually occurred because I wasn't actually there to see it happen. As I stated earlier, scientists approach experiments from an empirical perspective. Don't get me wrong, this is highly effective in dealing with observational subject matter (things that we can observe today in nature or in a laboratory). However, when dealing with forensic science (when scientists try to determine what happened in the past), empiricism falls short. Not to get off on another rabbit trail, but it's amazing how some scientists, who hold strongly to the empirical model, try to make dogmatic claims about the theory of evolution, when they were not around the supposed billions of years ago to see these supposed chemicals supposedly randomly arrange themselves together into a self-replicating molecule that supposedly was the spark of all life. There is a bit of hypocrisy there. Anyway, empiricism is useful, but ultimately it falls short, because truth then is limited to what we can see, hear, touch, taste and smell. Again, this leaves no room for the unknown or the past.
The third perspective is what is known of as revelatory knowledge. This would describe the Christian view of knowledge. This view holds that truth does exist outside us and is revealed by Someone also on the outside. You see, God is a transcendent Being, which means that He exists above and beyond His creation. However, rather than remain outside, He has penetrated within His creation to reveal Himself to us. No one can ultimately know truth until he knows the Revealer of truth.There are two clear ways that God has revealed Himself to mankind. The first is through general revelation, which is through nature. Romans 1:20 declares: "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse". So through His creation, we can clearly see that there is a Creator. Secondly, God also reveals Himself more specifically in His Word, the Holy Bible. Ultimately, we can not know truth apart from God's revealed Word about Himself. When I say this, I am not saying that people can't know anything apart from God's Word. For instance, even atheists know that 2+2=4. So one can know bits of truth, even if they do not read God's Word. However, to know ultimate truth, the foundation on which to build one's life, you must come to realization of who Jesus Christ is & be in His Word. In John chapter 5, there is an exchange going on between Jesus and the Pharisees, who were the religious leaders of that day. They were trying to use the Scriptures to condemn Jesus for healing a crippled man on the Sabbath, but Jesus said to them in verses 39-40: "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life". Luke 24:27, takes place after Jesus' resurrection and it reads: "Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures". So the Scriptures testify of Jesus Christ from the Old Testament prophets' declaration in anticipation of His arrival to the Gospels, where the Word actually became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14), to the Epistles, where we are taught as a church how live as His holy dwelling place to the book of Revelation, where we look forward to His Second Coming. So Jesus has clearly revealed Himself in His Word, but in order to know Him, we must know His Word.
So what was the answer to Pilate's question. What is truth? Jesus tells in John 14:6 that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. and no one can come to the Father, but through Him. You see, how we approach the subject of truth holds eternal consequences. It determines where we will spend eternity. My prayer for you is that you may know the truth and that the truth will set you free. I would like to close with words of one of Jesus' last prayers recorded in John chapter 17. He is praying on behalf of his disciples because He is about to be arrested, murdered and they will be alone, but He had been faithful to teach them the words of Scripture during their three year journey together. Verse 17 reads: "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth". His Word is truth. If you've never studied God's Word, I challenge you to do so. As you read the pages of Holy Scripture and as the Holy Spirit illuminates your understanding, you'll come face to face with the real Jesus. If you don't know Jesus, please take the time to read my testimony, which is a few posts down, where I share how I came to know the truth. God bless ya!!!
Sources used: Min. Theologian by Rick Cornish
Many today are still on the hunt trying to define what truth really is. There are three main approaches that people tend to employ when dealing with the subjects of knowledge and how we can arrive at the truth. For the sake of argument, I am not including relativism, which is the belief that there is no absolute truth and that truth is relative to each individual person. So for instance, what is true for me, may not be true for you. Not to go down a rabbit trail, but this is a self refuting statement because I as a person have no bearing on what is & what is not. For instance, whether or not I want to admit it or not, the sky is blue. You may want to think otherwise, but that has no bearing on the fact that the sky is blue. For the purpose of this discussion however, we will focus on the three perspectives that do point to the fact that there is absolute truth and that we can know truth.
The first method that people employ when dealing with the subjects of knowledge and truth is rationalism. Rationalism holds to the view that knowledge starts in the human mind. There is an emphasis on thinking and ideas because after all, our minds are the source of all truth. Rationalism falls apart; however, because there is a built in assumption that our minds have the capacity to know everything. In other words, if we can't think it with our minds, then it can't really be. Therefore, there is no such thing as the unknown. The unknown simply represents those things that we have not explored with our minds yet. This view fails miserably because things don't exist merely because we can invent them with our mind. For example, gravity was not discovered by Sir Isaac Newton until the 1600's, but does that mean that gravity did not exist before then? Certainly not. Rationalism is a good tool for daily living, but are we willing to ultimately say that no truth exists outside of us? Truth and natural laws exists regardless of our awareness of them or lack thereof.
The second method that people employ when dealing with truth and knowledge is empiricism. Empiricism can be summed up with the phrase "seeing is believing". In other words, all that we can know is what can be determined by the use of our senses- what we see, hear, feel, taste and touch. Scientific experiments start from this perspective. However, this method is also limited because we can't reproduce events from the past. Neither can we see these events occurring. For example, none of us were around to see the Revolutionary War take place, but no one would question its' occurrence because of the historical evidence. But if I was applying the empirical method in this case, then I couldn't be certain that the Revolutionary War actually occurred because I wasn't actually there to see it happen. As I stated earlier, scientists approach experiments from an empirical perspective. Don't get me wrong, this is highly effective in dealing with observational subject matter (things that we can observe today in nature or in a laboratory). However, when dealing with forensic science (when scientists try to determine what happened in the past), empiricism falls short. Not to get off on another rabbit trail, but it's amazing how some scientists, who hold strongly to the empirical model, try to make dogmatic claims about the theory of evolution, when they were not around the supposed billions of years ago to see these supposed chemicals supposedly randomly arrange themselves together into a self-replicating molecule that supposedly was the spark of all life. There is a bit of hypocrisy there. Anyway, empiricism is useful, but ultimately it falls short, because truth then is limited to what we can see, hear, touch, taste and smell. Again, this leaves no room for the unknown or the past.
The third perspective is what is known of as revelatory knowledge. This would describe the Christian view of knowledge. This view holds that truth does exist outside us and is revealed by Someone also on the outside. You see, God is a transcendent Being, which means that He exists above and beyond His creation. However, rather than remain outside, He has penetrated within His creation to reveal Himself to us. No one can ultimately know truth until he knows the Revealer of truth.There are two clear ways that God has revealed Himself to mankind. The first is through general revelation, which is through nature. Romans 1:20 declares: "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse". So through His creation, we can clearly see that there is a Creator. Secondly, God also reveals Himself more specifically in His Word, the Holy Bible. Ultimately, we can not know truth apart from God's revealed Word about Himself. When I say this, I am not saying that people can't know anything apart from God's Word. For instance, even atheists know that 2+2=4. So one can know bits of truth, even if they do not read God's Word. However, to know ultimate truth, the foundation on which to build one's life, you must come to realization of who Jesus Christ is & be in His Word. In John chapter 5, there is an exchange going on between Jesus and the Pharisees, who were the religious leaders of that day. They were trying to use the Scriptures to condemn Jesus for healing a crippled man on the Sabbath, but Jesus said to them in verses 39-40: "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life". Luke 24:27, takes place after Jesus' resurrection and it reads: "Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures". So the Scriptures testify of Jesus Christ from the Old Testament prophets' declaration in anticipation of His arrival to the Gospels, where the Word actually became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14), to the Epistles, where we are taught as a church how live as His holy dwelling place to the book of Revelation, where we look forward to His Second Coming. So Jesus has clearly revealed Himself in His Word, but in order to know Him, we must know His Word.
So what was the answer to Pilate's question. What is truth? Jesus tells in John 14:6 that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. and no one can come to the Father, but through Him. You see, how we approach the subject of truth holds eternal consequences. It determines where we will spend eternity. My prayer for you is that you may know the truth and that the truth will set you free. I would like to close with words of one of Jesus' last prayers recorded in John chapter 17. He is praying on behalf of his disciples because He is about to be arrested, murdered and they will be alone, but He had been faithful to teach them the words of Scripture during their three year journey together. Verse 17 reads: "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth". His Word is truth. If you've never studied God's Word, I challenge you to do so. As you read the pages of Holy Scripture and as the Holy Spirit illuminates your understanding, you'll come face to face with the real Jesus. If you don't know Jesus, please take the time to read my testimony, which is a few posts down, where I share how I came to know the truth. God bless ya!!!
Sources used: Min. Theologian by Rick Cornish
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
