Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

A Fundamentalist Nation?

A Fundamentalist Nation?


Gregory Koukl

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A poll of readers of the L.A. Times once showed that, in the area of abortion, prayer, in school, homosexuality and traditional family values, the majority of Americans agree with so-called “extreme fundamentalists.” 70% of Americans believe that the traditional family structure is always best; 76% favor prayer in public schools; 55% are against legalized abortion; 61% think that homosexual relations are always wrong. These are the views of the “radical right,” but these are also the views of a majority of rank and file Americans.

Let that bolster your confidence, the next time you’re being marginalized for your conservative moral values. The “radical right” isn’t so radical. It’s actually mainstream.

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©1999 Gregory Koukl. Reproduction permitted for non-commercial use only.
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Thursday, September 24, 2009

God Is Real

Romans 1:18-23 [ESV] "18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things."

There are many logical arguments for the existence of God. Many careful thinkers have done a lot of very good work to show logical and philosophical proofs for the existence for God. I am familiar with many of these, and maybe someday I'll explore some of them, but today I want to ask, are these arguments critical? I would answer no.

One of the aspects of God's creation is that it makes it clear that God is real, and that God did create everything. As we see in the Romans passage above, God has made Himself known in Creation. In fact, He has made it so clear that people who do not believe are without excuse.

The problem is that people do not want to believe in God as He is, yet they know that He is real, and so, thinking themselves to be wise, they conjure up all kinds of bizarre ideas of what God is like, or invest what can be clearly seen of God into silly objects that they make with their own hands, or worship the moon, or the sun, or trees, and so on.

While creation is sufficient to let people know that God is real, and shows enough for us to know much about Him, it certainly doesn't tell us all we need to know. Fortunately, God did not leave us hanging when it comes to what we need to know. He has spoken through His Word, the Bible.

Of all the religious ideas and books in the world, only the Bible is compatible with what we clearly seen in His creation. The problem is not that God has been ambiguous about what He has revealed about Himself, in fact, it is perfectly clear, and can be seen all around us, but people don't want to believe because they do not want to be responsible to Him, and do not want to give up their own unrighteousness, and so they suppress the truth, and either outright deny the existence of God at all, thereby attempting to make themselves into some form of god, or choose to worship some object or person instead of the one true God.

I'm not saying anything bad about those who have spent time thinking about all of the proofs that creation does offer of the reality of God. In fact, so many people are so deceived in this day and age that they often do not see the clear reality of God, and it may well help to have someone come along side and show it to them. What I am saying is that God is real, and that a person can know this very well and truly without ever hearing one of those arguments because the reality of God is clearly seen in His creation.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Here's The Thing

Acts 17:11 [ESV] "11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so."

2 Timothy 3:16-17 [ESV] "16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."

I think that too often when we search for truth, we allow our own conceits to color our conclusions. I can't tell you how many times I've talked to people who hold to one view or another, and the reason that they give for why they believe what they are putting forth is that it is what they were taught as a child, or it's what their Pastor says, or it's what thus and such a Bible teacher on the radio says. I'm not even getting into when those ideas are wrong at this point, but all of the reasons listed above are not valid reasons to accept something as Biblical truth. What we must do is study the Bible and see what it has to say, and that is the reason that we should always give for why we hold to what we believe. Even in a conversation with my wife the other night on a topic of Doctrine she said to me, "I know what you're saying is right, but it just seems strange and hard to understand because it's not what we were taught as kids growing up." So I don't dismiss the power of such things in our lives, believe me, in my own life and study of Scripture this has been a huge hurdle to overcome, which is why I thought it would be important to spend some time thinking about it today.

To begin with, let me say, my dad was a man who knew a lot about the Bible. He spent many hours reading it, and studying it, and had been to Bible school. He taught me many things, and most of them were true things, but even those things I must not simply accept because my dad taught them to me, rather I must search the Scriptures to see if these things are so. As I read and study the Word of God I have found that my dad certainly had much of his beliefs and teachings straight, but I have also found a few that do not line up with what the Scriptures actually have to say, therefore, in those areas, I must depart from what my dad taught me and go with the Bible, and I think he would wholeheartedly agree with that.

The same thing goes for Pastors. Any Pastor that I have sat under has taught the Truth of the Word of God, otherwise I would not have stayed under his preaching. Still, men are fallible, and so, as with my dad, I must study the Bible on my own to make sure I am learning Truth, and not just taking the word of the Pastor for it. If you look at the context of Acts 17:11, which I placed at the beginning of this post, you will see that these Jews were being taught by the Apostle Paul, and being an Apostle of Jesus Christ, he taught with the authority granted to him by Christ, and yet these Jews are lauded for being diligent and checking the Scriptures to see if the things that Paul taught them were indeed true.

Now, I'm certainly not saying that you shouldn't listen to your Pastor, or a Bible teacher on the radio. I listen to my Pastor, and I listen to some other Bible teachers, and I do find great value in that, but it is the Word of God that matters, and if the teaching of any of these teachers strays away from the Bible, it is the Bible we must follow, and not the teacher. Two Pastor/Teachers that I personally like are John Piper and John MacArthur, though there are many other very good ones, I can't go into a list here, so let me just say what I like best about these two, and ask that you make sure it applies to any that you listen to. Both of these men are very upfront about the fact that their opinions do not matter, but that what matters is what the Bible says. While they both work very hard and are very diligent to explain the Bible correctly, they also understand themselves to be fallible men, and strongly encourage people to study on their own to make sure that they are being fed the Truth, and are not in error.

In fact, the same goes for the writings of the Reformers, or the early Church Fathers, and Theologians down through the years, much of what they have written has great value and can aide our understanding greatly, yet still we must measure their words against the plum line of Scripture so that we only affirm what is Biblical, and reject anything that is not.

In short, we must see that what we have been taught in the past, what has been held by the Churches, even beliefs going back many years, or what current teachers and preachers say is of no consequence if it doesn't stand up to the light of Scripture.

We must read the Bible. All Christians should be engaged in structured daily Bible reading. By this I do not mean that you must be on one of those "Read the Bible through in a year" daily reading schedules, though there is absolutely nothing wrong with them, they are not required. Structured Bible reading can be as simple as picking up your Bible and starting to read in Genesis, and reading every day until you hit the end of Revelation, and then start over back in Genesis. I personally like this method, but I'm fine with schedules if that's what it takes to get you to read every single page of Scripture in a reasonable amount of time. The key is DAILY Bible reading, not hit or miss. For many years I was just hit or miss myself, so I certainly don't condemn anyone, I know it can be hard, but it's more than worth it, and besides, if we truly love God, should we not want to read every single word of His revelation to us (over and over again)?

Second, we must Study the Bible. Reading through the Bible is the basis, and can be considered studying up to a point, but we must take extra time to dig deeper. This is where we spend some time reading passages repeatedly, and cross referencing with other related passages to draw out a fuller understanding of Doctrines and other Bible teachings. This is also where reading the writings of other teachers comes in, or listening to their teaching, once you have established a teacher as trustworthy, you can see what you can gain from their teaching, while still keeping in mind that it is the Bible, and not that teacher, that has the final say.

And finally, we must pray. Now, I know that some people, and some false religions, would misunderstand this point, thinking that they need only to pray that God will implant the knowledge directly into them, with no effort on their own. This is not something that God has promised us, and it is not what I am advocating here. What I am saying is to pray for Wisdom (See James 1:5). Pray that God will help you to have discernment, and will reward your diligent, and yes sometimes strenuous, effort with actual and true understanding and knowledge. And, lest I forget, we must pray also that God will help us to live what we learn, with love, so that we won't become simply a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal (1 Cor 13).

2 Timothy 2:15 [NASB] "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth."

Friday, September 4, 2009

A Note To Commenters

While it has always been, and still continues to be, my policy to allow comments, and engage people in discussion if they wish, I do have a few rules. Of course, you must be civil, no bad language and such. While it's not a hard and fast rule, I'd appreciate it if you'd get to the point. And most importantly right now, don't try to hock some book you've written or advertise your own blog (unless you are a personal friend and know that I endorse your blog) or I will reject your comment. So to the person who left a comment about my post a few days ago, I rejected your comment because you were trying to hock your book. I will be happy to engage you if you can follow my few simple rules. And yes, these rules are mine, I make them and I run the blog, so they are subject to change without notice, and I could have forgotten to mention something, but I don't think that I did.

Thanks.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Self Esteem: The Anti-Gospel

Romans 3:9-19 [ESV]
9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:

"None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one."
13 "Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive."
"The venom of asps is under their lips."
14 "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."
15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known."
18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

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This is the description of unredeemed humanity. Every one of us either falls into this category now, or if we are counted among the redeemed, we were in this category until such a time as we joined the ranks of the redeemed. However, this is not the message you would get in today's world. Even some of our Churches have become bastions of Self Esteem, telling everyone that they are good just the way they are.

Pretty much everywhere you look people are pushing the Self Esteem message. And people are buying it. How many times have we seen interviews with people where they are asked about their religious views, or if they go to Church, and the answer that they come up with is something along the lines of, well, I don't worry about all of that stuff, I'm basically a good person. The question is, are you good enough?

If you look at verse 20 above, you will see that they answer is clearly no. "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." This means that we cannot be good enough. God's standard is absolute perfection, something that we can never attain. Since no human can be justified by the works of the law, then why did God give the law in the first place? It was to let us know what sin is, and to give us an understanding that we cannot be good enough to rescue ourselves from sin's condemnation.

Romans 3:23 [ESV] tells us, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," while Romans 6:23 tells us what that means, "For the wages of sin is death." This does not leave us without hope, as Romans 6:23 ends, "but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." [ESV] But only through Jesus Christ can we be saved from death. Of course, in this instance death refers to eternal separation from God in Hell, not immediate physical death, otherwise the human race would have ended in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve first sinned.

It was Jesus Christ, God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, that came to Earth and took on human flesh, and lived a completely perfect and sinless life, and then, on the Cross of Calvary bore the penalty for the sins of everyone who would ever believe, paying the price that we could never pay, and redeeming His sheep to himself. So, through understanding that we are sinners and deserving of eternal punishment in Hell, and having Faith in Christ alone to save us from our sins, and that He paid that price which we could never hope to pay, even in all of eternity, we can have eternal life, in Heaven, with God. This is because when we are redeemed, the perfect righteousness of Jesus is applied to us, just as our sin was applied to Him on the Cross.

The problem is that first part. You must understand that you are a sinner. If I never came to the point where I realized that I am a dirty rotten sinner, totally undeserving of Grace, and totally unable to be good enough on my own, or to redeem myself from my sin, then I would never understand that I have something to be saved from. If I have "healthy" Self Esteem, as we are constantly told that we need, I will not be able to believe this, and will be unable to trust Christ to save me, since I would think that I was "basically a good person," and that I had nothing to be saved from.

It would do us well to remember Isaiah 64:6, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." [KJV] And even Paul, who was an apostle of Jesus Christ, and wrote several of the books of the New Testament (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) said in Romans 7:24 [ESV] " Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" Of course he knew exactly who would deliver him, but he was making clear that on his own he would be utterly without hope, even going so far as to call himself "wretched!" Building up our Self Esteem will blind us to this truth, and that will keep us from Salvation and doom us to eternal Hell.

Far from building Self Esteem in people, and especially children, Churches should be engaged in seeing that people have an accurate view of themselves, and understand their utter sinfulness and utter hopelessness apart from Jesus. We should be making sure we understand coming just the way you are does not mean that you are good enough, it just means that there is nothing that you need to do in order to turn to Jesus. You don't have to stop sinning before Jesus will take you. Turning from your sin is something that happens at the point of Salvation, not something that you must do in order to "qualify" for Salvation. And, even after one comes to Christ, the battle against sin is not over. Even though we must war against sin, we will not win the victory in this life. Even after redemption it is still not our own righteousness that will save us. We all need an accurate self image, and an understanding that we are dirty rotten sinners, and absolutely not able to please God on our own.

This is why I call Self Esteem the Anti-Gospel.