Monday, May 31, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Suicide Vs. Martyrdom
Last week we were watching one of those TV dramas, and they had captured a terrorist, and one of the Federal Agents asks the terrorist what the difference is between a suicide bomber and a martyr, and when the terrorist hesitates he tells him that it was a trick question, that there really is no difference because, basically, both are dead in the end.
This got me to thinking, is that really true? Of course the answer is no. I do understand that both are dead in the end, but far from making them the same thing, that is their only point of contact.
What is drastically different between a suicide bomber and a true martyr is the fact that the bomber has chosen to kill him/herself for the purpose of killing other people, while the true martyr is killed by others, through no direct action of their own, for the purpose of faithfulness. That is to say that a suicide bomber chooses death and destruction over life, while the true martyr chooses faithfulness over life. For the suicide bomber there is no choice but death, mayhem and murder, for the true martyr there is no choice but faithfulness, even if it ends up leading to death.
You see, the suicide bomber has chosen to kill themselves, and is trying to kill as many other people at the same time as they can. The true martyr, on the other hand, does not seek death, rather they have chosen faithfulness, and whenever there is a way to both be faithful and live, they will choose that every single time, however, when saving their own life would require that they forsake their faithfulness, they are willing to die, but they do not seek for that death.
Regardless of the propaganda from the radical Muslim circles, or the left wing media types, suicide bombers are not martyrs. Rather, they are killers. Degenerate murderers, and nothing more. There is a nobility in true martyrdom, there is nothing noble in blowing oneself up to murder innocent people.
This got me to thinking, is that really true? Of course the answer is no. I do understand that both are dead in the end, but far from making them the same thing, that is their only point of contact.
What is drastically different between a suicide bomber and a true martyr is the fact that the bomber has chosen to kill him/herself for the purpose of killing other people, while the true martyr is killed by others, through no direct action of their own, for the purpose of faithfulness. That is to say that a suicide bomber chooses death and destruction over life, while the true martyr chooses faithfulness over life. For the suicide bomber there is no choice but death, mayhem and murder, for the true martyr there is no choice but faithfulness, even if it ends up leading to death.
You see, the suicide bomber has chosen to kill themselves, and is trying to kill as many other people at the same time as they can. The true martyr, on the other hand, does not seek death, rather they have chosen faithfulness, and whenever there is a way to both be faithful and live, they will choose that every single time, however, when saving their own life would require that they forsake their faithfulness, they are willing to die, but they do not seek for that death.
Regardless of the propaganda from the radical Muslim circles, or the left wing media types, suicide bombers are not martyrs. Rather, they are killers. Degenerate murderers, and nothing more. There is a nobility in true martyrdom, there is nothing noble in blowing oneself up to murder innocent people.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Amazing Grace
Some time ago I found the Movie "Amazing Grace" for a very good price, and so I bought it, as I had heard some very good things about it, but it ended up taking quite some time to get around to watching it. The other night I remembered that the movie was sitting unopened on the shelf, and so my wife and I put it in and watched it.
I have to say, this was a very good movie. Very moving, and well worth the watching. I don't want to spoil any part of the plot, but I will say that if you haven't seen this movie, you should certainly either rent or buy it as soon as possible. I do not believe you could possibly regret it.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Discernment Part 3 (Conclusion)
The answer then is to know the truth. You must become so familiar with the Truth that you immediately know when you are being exposed to a lie. Any lie.
This is an old illustration that has been used in Sermons for many years, and as it turns out, it’s actually true. Did you know that when Government agents (in the US it’s the Secret Service) are being taught to recognize counterfeit money, they do not study counterfeit money to learn what is wrong with it. Rather, they study, and are taught, all about real money, and how to recognize that, so that when they are presented with counterfeit money, they know it immediately. Recognizing that money is fake becomes easy, not because they know everything about fake money, or how fake money is made, but because they know real money so well that they simply cannot be fooled. That is the key for us regarding truth as well. We do not need to understand everything about false teachings, we simply need to know the Truth.
I’m not saying that it’s wrong to ever know anything about a false teaching, certainly it’s somewhat helpful to know something about the most commonly taught errors. Also, God may call you to minister among a certain group of people (ie. Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims etc.) and knowing what they believe could be helpful in your ministry, but in general, it is knowing the Truth that will make all the difference.
This is an old illustration that has been used in Sermons for many years, and as it turns out, it’s actually true. Did you know that when Government agents (in the US it’s the Secret Service) are being taught to recognize counterfeit money, they do not study counterfeit money to learn what is wrong with it. Rather, they study, and are taught, all about real money, and how to recognize that, so that when they are presented with counterfeit money, they know it immediately. Recognizing that money is fake becomes easy, not because they know everything about fake money, or how fake money is made, but because they know real money so well that they simply cannot be fooled. That is the key for us regarding truth as well. We do not need to understand everything about false teachings, we simply need to know the Truth.
I’m not saying that it’s wrong to ever know anything about a false teaching, certainly it’s somewhat helpful to know something about the most commonly taught errors. Also, God may call you to minister among a certain group of people (ie. Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims etc.) and knowing what they believe could be helpful in your ministry, but in general, it is knowing the Truth that will make all the difference.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Discernment Part 2
The dangers of buying into false teachings are many and diverse. I can lead to everything from simple misunderstandings, to an unfulfilling Christian life, to false “gospels” which do not lead to Salvation.
So what do we do to keep from falling into these errors? How do we stop ourselves from buying into false teachings? The answer is quite simple.
First, however, let me start with what the answer is not. The answer is not that we must know every false teaching, that would be totally impossible. There are simply too many for us to be able to know them all. You could quite literally study these false teachings morning, noon and night for an entire lifetime and never cover all of them, much less learn all of their weaknesses and why it is that they are wrong. Since the fact of the matter is that anything that is not the Truth of God is a lie, the lies abound to a nearly unimaginable extent.
So what do we do to keep from falling into these errors? How do we stop ourselves from buying into false teachings? The answer is quite simple.
First, however, let me start with what the answer is not. The answer is not that we must know every false teaching, that would be totally impossible. There are simply too many for us to be able to know them all. You could quite literally study these false teachings morning, noon and night for an entire lifetime and never cover all of them, much less learn all of their weaknesses and why it is that they are wrong. Since the fact of the matter is that anything that is not the Truth of God is a lie, the lies abound to a nearly unimaginable extent.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Discernment Part 1
As I look around me I notice huge problem in our Churches. I see a lot of very passionate people, with good hearts, wanting to do the right thing, and with absolutely no discernment whatsoever.
Discernment is defined as; “Keenness of insight and judgment.” [Discernment. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved April 26, 2010, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/discernment]
Yes, it is critical for us to be discerning, to judge what we hear, and what we are taught, so that we may be sure that what we are holding fast to is the truth of God, and not the unholy musings of fallen men.
Certainly we know that the Pastors and Teachers in our Churches should be on the lookout for such things, but all the more committed to teaching the truth to the people of God so that they will know the truth and not be led astray by false teachers. In Ephesians 4:11-16 Paul says, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” [ESV]
However, the responsibility does not fall to them alone; we all share together in the responsibility to study God’s Word and to know the truth so that we are not “carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” There are a few reasons for this. One is that our teachers simply cannot teach us everything, and especially not all at once. That kind of instruction takes time, especially when getting to the real depth of truth that is revealed to us in the Bible. Another reason is that these people are human, and no matter how careful they are, there is still the possibility of error, no matter how hard they try, it is possible for them to teach something wrong. Further, there are some who really have no care for the truth, but are themselves pushing “human cunning” rather than the truth of the Word of God.
This is something that scripture does warn us about (see Jude, 2nd Timothy 2) and instructs us that we must be on guard against such things.
Discernment is defined as; “Keenness of insight and judgment.” [Discernment. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved April 26, 2010, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/discernment]
Yes, it is critical for us to be discerning, to judge what we hear, and what we are taught, so that we may be sure that what we are holding fast to is the truth of God, and not the unholy musings of fallen men.
Certainly we know that the Pastors and Teachers in our Churches should be on the lookout for such things, but all the more committed to teaching the truth to the people of God so that they will know the truth and not be led astray by false teachers. In Ephesians 4:11-16 Paul says, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” [ESV]
However, the responsibility does not fall to them alone; we all share together in the responsibility to study God’s Word and to know the truth so that we are not “carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” There are a few reasons for this. One is that our teachers simply cannot teach us everything, and especially not all at once. That kind of instruction takes time, especially when getting to the real depth of truth that is revealed to us in the Bible. Another reason is that these people are human, and no matter how careful they are, there is still the possibility of error, no matter how hard they try, it is possible for them to teach something wrong. Further, there are some who really have no care for the truth, but are themselves pushing “human cunning” rather than the truth of the Word of God.
This is something that scripture does warn us about (see Jude, 2nd Timothy 2) and instructs us that we must be on guard against such things.
Monday, April 26, 2010
The ESV MacArthur Study Bible
I am very excited to report that I have learned that the MacArthur Study Bible with the text of the English Standard Version [ESV] will be released on August 31st of 2010.
John MacArthur has been the Senior Pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California for over 40 years. He can be heard daily on his radio program, Grace to you (www.gty.org), all over the world. Some years ago now he brought his decades of Bible study, Pastoral Ministry, and all of the books that he has written to The MacArthur Study Bible. Up until now it has been available with the text of the New King James Version or the New American Standard Bible, both of which are excellent. With around 25,000 footnotes explaining virtually every passage of Scripture, The MacArthur Study Bible has been a treasure and a big help to many people.
In 2001 Crossway books introduced the English Standard Version of the Holy Bible. You can read the translation philosophy and some explanation at www.esv.org but in short it is an essentially literal translation of the Bible, highly accurate and trustworthy, yet also readable and accessible to common people.
A couple of years ago (more or less) while listening to the Grace To You radio program I heard John MacArthur say that he was planning to put out the MacArthur Study Bible in ESV, and I was very excited to hear it. Sadly, that was the last I had heard of it until I stumbled across the news on Facebook, of all places, just the other night.
Wonderfully, the excellent text of the English Standard Version is finally meeting up with MacArthur's decades of in depth Bible Study and teaching. This is a must have for all Christians who long to understand the Bible in a deeper way.
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