I hope many of you will go to the link below and read this post by Tom Ascol, the Executive Director of the Founders Ministry. Dr. Ascol provides some good insights into the recent Baptist Press article by SBC President Frank Page.
Enjoy!
http://www.founders.org/blog/2007/12/frank-page-on-calvinism-and-southern.html
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Thoughts on: "A Common Word Between Us and You"
Well I hope and pray that everybody has had or is having a great Christmas! My family and I had brunch with our best friends and enjoyed a time of fellowship and discussion. It’s always such a pleasure to get together with people who enjoy chatting about the Word! And what better day to spend chatting about the things of God than on the day we set aside to observe the birth of Christ? :)
My post today will be relatively short. I was going to wait until tonight to post anything else but as I read this afternoon about the open letter from Muslim clerics to Christians I could not help but sit down to write out these thoughts.
First of all, in case you have not heard, in October of 2006 about 138 Muslim clerics wrote the above-mentioned open letter in which they called, basically, for peace and unity of purpose with Christians. Now then, I’m all for peace with the Muslims among us, but unity? No. How can there be unity when there is no common theological ground between us? We must, out of obedience to the Bible, seek to convert the Muslim! So while we can reach out a hand in friendship to them, and while we can live in peace with them, we cannot have any type of ecumenical unity with them. After all, can we truly say that we love them if we don’t at least try and tell them about Jesus?
For those of you who are curious, the letter can be found at http://www.acommonword.com/
The reason I am writing this post right now is not because of the letter from the Muslims. It is because of the response by some who identify themselves as Christians. And to be completely honest, it is because of the presence of two specific names on the response: Rick Warren and Brian McLaren.
Rick Warren is someone I have had strong reservations about for a very long time. He is, in fact, one whom I would identify as a wolf among the sheep of God. That may sound harsh and judgmental but I can find no other way of referring to him in light of all he has done, whether it be his Purpose Driven drivel, his tolerance of sin among his tithe giving members (if you’re curious about this one, email me and I can get you information), or his basic endorsement of anti-life politicians (he recently allowed Hillary Clinton the use of his pulpit!). The fact that so many churches, especially SBC churches, embrace him as their guru is saddening and sickening at the same time…it shows just how much will be forgiven so long as attendance numbers are high…
Brian McLaren is a champion of the emergent movement, also among the latest evangelical fads. When discernment in the church is practiced so little, the church becomes filled with the blasphemy that oozes out of the emergent churches.
The reason it should shock us to hear of all these men signing the letter response to the Muslim call for peace and unity is because of the content of the letter itself. Compromise runs rampant throughout the letter…see for yourselves at http://www.yale.edu/faith/abou-commonword.htm
I will briefly point out one example. The letter begins with the following words:
"In this response we extend our own Christian hand in return, so that together with all other human beings we may live in peace and justice as we seek to love God and our neighbors…we want to begin by acknowledging that in the past (e.g. in the Crusades) and in the present (e.g. in excesses of the “war on terror”) many Christians have been guilty of sinning against our Muslim neighbors. Before we “shake your hand” in responding to your letter, we ask forgiveness of the All-Merciful One and of the Muslim community around the world. [emphasis mine]
Did you note whom these good Christians are asking for forgiveness? The “All-Merciful One”! In other words, Allah! They are using the language of Islam…but dear brethren, Allah and Jehovah are NOT the same! And unless you think this is not shocking enough, I tell you that the signers well understand what this means since later on in the letter we find the following:
"We find it equally heartening that the God whom we should love above all things is described as being Love. In the Muslim tradition, God, “the Lord of the worlds,” is “The Infinitely Good and All-Merciful.”
Do you grasp the significance? This letter acknowledges in its body that the phrase “All-Merciful” is well within the “Muslim tradition” understanding of whom their god is. And it is this god whom the men signing the document ask for forgiveness. Talk about selling out on your convictions.
Brothers and Sisters…read the letters and see for yourselves what is happening here. Does your church idolize men like Warren and McLaren? If so, start asking the tough questions and begin calling for a repudiation of their teachings! And above all, stay true to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Today is the day we celebrate His birth, don’t do it just as a tradition…do it out of love and appreciation for what He has done for us, and never compromise on His truths!
Amen?
My post today will be relatively short. I was going to wait until tonight to post anything else but as I read this afternoon about the open letter from Muslim clerics to Christians I could not help but sit down to write out these thoughts.
First of all, in case you have not heard, in October of 2006 about 138 Muslim clerics wrote the above-mentioned open letter in which they called, basically, for peace and unity of purpose with Christians. Now then, I’m all for peace with the Muslims among us, but unity? No. How can there be unity when there is no common theological ground between us? We must, out of obedience to the Bible, seek to convert the Muslim! So while we can reach out a hand in friendship to them, and while we can live in peace with them, we cannot have any type of ecumenical unity with them. After all, can we truly say that we love them if we don’t at least try and tell them about Jesus?
For those of you who are curious, the letter can be found at http://www.acommonword.com/
The reason I am writing this post right now is not because of the letter from the Muslims. It is because of the response by some who identify themselves as Christians. And to be completely honest, it is because of the presence of two specific names on the response: Rick Warren and Brian McLaren.
Rick Warren is someone I have had strong reservations about for a very long time. He is, in fact, one whom I would identify as a wolf among the sheep of God. That may sound harsh and judgmental but I can find no other way of referring to him in light of all he has done, whether it be his Purpose Driven drivel, his tolerance of sin among his tithe giving members (if you’re curious about this one, email me and I can get you information), or his basic endorsement of anti-life politicians (he recently allowed Hillary Clinton the use of his pulpit!). The fact that so many churches, especially SBC churches, embrace him as their guru is saddening and sickening at the same time…it shows just how much will be forgiven so long as attendance numbers are high…
Brian McLaren is a champion of the emergent movement, also among the latest evangelical fads. When discernment in the church is practiced so little, the church becomes filled with the blasphemy that oozes out of the emergent churches.
The reason it should shock us to hear of all these men signing the letter response to the Muslim call for peace and unity is because of the content of the letter itself. Compromise runs rampant throughout the letter…see for yourselves at http://www.yale.edu/faith/abou-commonword.htm
I will briefly point out one example. The letter begins with the following words:
"In this response we extend our own Christian hand in return, so that together with all other human beings we may live in peace and justice as we seek to love God and our neighbors…we want to begin by acknowledging that in the past (e.g. in the Crusades) and in the present (e.g. in excesses of the “war on terror”) many Christians have been guilty of sinning against our Muslim neighbors. Before we “shake your hand” in responding to your letter, we ask forgiveness of the All-Merciful One and of the Muslim community around the world. [emphasis mine]
Did you note whom these good Christians are asking for forgiveness? The “All-Merciful One”! In other words, Allah! They are using the language of Islam…but dear brethren, Allah and Jehovah are NOT the same! And unless you think this is not shocking enough, I tell you that the signers well understand what this means since later on in the letter we find the following:
"We find it equally heartening that the God whom we should love above all things is described as being Love. In the Muslim tradition, God, “the Lord of the worlds,” is “The Infinitely Good and All-Merciful.”
Do you grasp the significance? This letter acknowledges in its body that the phrase “All-Merciful” is well within the “Muslim tradition” understanding of whom their god is. And it is this god whom the men signing the document ask for forgiveness. Talk about selling out on your convictions.
Brothers and Sisters…read the letters and see for yourselves what is happening here. Does your church idolize men like Warren and McLaren? If so, start asking the tough questions and begin calling for a repudiation of their teachings! And above all, stay true to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Today is the day we celebrate His birth, don’t do it just as a tradition…do it out of love and appreciation for what He has done for us, and never compromise on His truths!
Amen?
Monday, December 24, 2007
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
"Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged Him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and struck Him with their hands. Pilate went out Again and said to them [the Jews], "See, I am bringing Him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in Him." So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, "Behold the man!" When the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him."
…So he delivered Him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is Called Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them….After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst." A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to His mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished," and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit."
(Summary of John 19:1-30)
You may well be thinking to yourself…”huh?” After all, tomorrow morning is Christmas
Day and here I am writing about the crucifixion of our Lord rather than His birth! Well
don’t fret too much…I’ll get there!
I thought it would be appropriate for us to look at this passage in John because if we are
to remember and celebrate the birth of Christ then we must keep in mind as we give each
other presents that this joyful day happened for a reason. Jesus was not born just so we
could give each other presents. If we focus on the materialistic aspect of the celebration
then we are no different than all of secular society and the unbelievers who are ignorant
of the significance of this day.
Brothers and sisters, WE must remember that Jesus came into the world for a purpose…and that purpose was to “seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10)
So as we contemplate the baby in the manger…as we consider the joy of Joseph and
Mary…imagine that beautiful Child, that adorable Baby wrapped up and lovingly held in
a mother’s arms; and read again the passage above. Because that sweet Baby came for
the specific purpose of dying that horrible death on the cross. Did you know that? Jesus came to die on the cross!
And guess what?
He did it willingly!
The only hesitation ever entertained by our Lord was the thought of bearing our sin, NOT our punishment. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Can you fathom that? I sure cannot! Yet the Word is clear on this point…One who knew no sin, BECAME sin…for our sake…so that we could become adopted members of the family and so that we would not have to be punished
for our sin!
So again…Jesus came to be our sacrifice. What a wonderful day indeed! What a gift we
have received from our Lord!
But you know what? Let’s make sure this is a gift we tell everyone we know about!
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in theinn.
(Luke 2:1-7)
…So he delivered Him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is Called Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them….After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst." A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to His mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished," and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit."
(Summary of John 19:1-30)
You may well be thinking to yourself…”huh?” After all, tomorrow morning is Christmas
Day and here I am writing about the crucifixion of our Lord rather than His birth! Well
don’t fret too much…I’ll get there!
I thought it would be appropriate for us to look at this passage in John because if we are
to remember and celebrate the birth of Christ then we must keep in mind as we give each
other presents that this joyful day happened for a reason. Jesus was not born just so we
could give each other presents. If we focus on the materialistic aspect of the celebration
then we are no different than all of secular society and the unbelievers who are ignorant
of the significance of this day.
Brothers and sisters, WE must remember that Jesus came into the world for a purpose…and that purpose was to “seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10)
So as we contemplate the baby in the manger…as we consider the joy of Joseph and
Mary…imagine that beautiful Child, that adorable Baby wrapped up and lovingly held in
a mother’s arms; and read again the passage above. Because that sweet Baby came for
the specific purpose of dying that horrible death on the cross. Did you know that? Jesus came to die on the cross!
And guess what?
He did it willingly!
The only hesitation ever entertained by our Lord was the thought of bearing our sin, NOT our punishment. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Can you fathom that? I sure cannot! Yet the Word is clear on this point…One who knew no sin, BECAME sin…for our sake…so that we could become adopted members of the family and so that we would not have to be punished
for our sin!
So again…Jesus came to be our sacrifice. What a wonderful day indeed! What a gift we
have received from our Lord!
But you know what? Let’s make sure this is a gift we tell everyone we know about!
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in theinn.
(Luke 2:1-7)
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Acts 18:7-17
Read Acts 18:7-17
One interesting note brought up by John Gill is that this man may have been the same man (full name Titius Justus) to whom Paul wrote a letter, the very short book of Titus that we find tucked between 2 Timothy and Philemon!
Regardless though, Paul enters his house and there preaches...and whether this Crispus came in to hear him or whether he overheard because of the closeness of the house to the synagogue...he believes and is saved...along with his family! And the testimony of his faith is used by God to bring in many other Corinthians to saving knowledge.
Keep in mind the words of Paul in verse 6, "your blood be upon your own heads."
The Bible quite clearly teaches the doctrine of human responsibility! Nobody is SENT to hell by God...they choose to go there! Acting in full accordance with the nature they have, they willingly reject God and stupidly jump into the fires of hell!
I mention this because we must stop to consider the ways of God here...Crispus was ruler of the synagogue! A man with authority and whose words and decisions would greatly impact the synagogue...Imagine this if you will: here is a man that we must assume is well versed in Scriptures...a man of knowledge...and he believes!! What excuse do the rest of the Jews have if one of their leading men converts? NONE!!
Therefore, they are without excuse for rejecting the precious truth of the Gospel!
Crispus, incidentally, had a very rare honor in that he was one of the few people whom Paul baptized (1 Corinthians 1:14)!
v9-10)
It is probable that Paul was in danger here...that the Jews were pretty upset over the conversion of one of their chief men and laid the blame directly at his feet...
And Paul receives a vision from the Lord...and what a promise he receives as well!
Was Paul afraid of the crowds? He will not be harmed is what he is told...
Did Paul perhaps consider moving on already? He is told to be bold and not to be silent...
Did Paul think nobody would pay attention? He is told that Jesus has many people in the city!
"I have many people in this city"
You can choose to believe, wrongly, that Jesus meant there were so many Believers in Corinth that they would protect him from harm...
But what the Word is saying here is that Paul was to be bold in preaching BECAUSE God planned a work in this city...there were those for whom there was an appointment with the grace of God...and so God forbid Paul to remain silent! There was a harvest in Corinth and it MUST be brought in!
Matthew Henry:
"though [Corinth] be a very profane wicked city, full of impurity, and the more so for a temple of Venus there, to which there was a great resort, yet in this heap, that seems to be all chaff, there is wheat; in this ore, that seems to be all dross, there is gold. Let us not despair concerning any place, when even in Corinth Christ had much people."
Brothers and sisters...if there is any comfort to be had when we encounter opposition to the preaching of the Word of God, it is that God has His people everywhere! When the time comes that we stand before our Living God there will be people from "all nations, tribes, peoples, tongues," all of them standing before the throne! Revelation 7:9
Having received such a vision and such a promise, Paul stays in Corinth for a VERY long time...and for all its faults, we well know that a church is established in this city!
v 12)
Enraged, probably because of how many people were being converted to the faith, Paul is brought before the proconsul of Achaia...once again likely dragged to this place. And it bears mentioning here that now Paul knew that he was being used mightily by God, for he is provoking people to anger!! :)
But notice the reaction of Gallio...what cares he for the internal struggles of a conquered people? Rome cared about one thing: keep the tribute rolling in and don't try and rebel!
So even though Paul is ready to give a defense, Gallio dismisses the case!
A word here: note verse 13: "this fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law."
Even though Gallio lightly dismisses the charges here...there would be a time when Rome would not react such to this charge against the followers of Christ.
Later on there would be rumors of cannibalism...of drinking blood, of sacrificing children, of sexual perversions...all of these aimed against the Christians...but none would upset the power of Rome more than the refusal to say that the Emperor was a deity!
So even though at this time the Christians are persecuted by people...it has not yet reached the point of official, state sanctioned persecution. That will come later.
But look now at verse 17:
Here we see the apathy of Rome at work. Gallio would not prosecute Paul when falsely accused, but neither would he intervene when Sosthenes is beaten by the Greeks before his very judgment seat!
Why beat on poor Sosthenes?
Likely, after the dismissal of charges against Paul, he was taken to safety by his followers...so the crowds turned against someone known to be a Christian...Sosthenes.
This is conjecture on the part of the commentators, of course, but it seems to fit the bill. Sosthenes is referred by Paul in his letter to the Corinthians as a brother...
Matthew Henry:
"As for the Greeks that abused him, it is very probable that they were either Hellenist Jews, or Jewish Greeks, those that joined with the Jews in opposing the gospel and that the native Jews put them on to do it, thinking it would in them be less offensive. They were so enraged against Paul that they beat Sosthenes; and so enraged against Gallio, because he would not countenance the prosecution, that they beat him before the judgment-seat".
It was not an easy thing to call yourself a Christian in these early times!
One interesting note brought up by John Gill is that this man may have been the same man (full name Titius Justus) to whom Paul wrote a letter, the very short book of Titus that we find tucked between 2 Timothy and Philemon!
Regardless though, Paul enters his house and there preaches...and whether this Crispus came in to hear him or whether he overheard because of the closeness of the house to the synagogue...he believes and is saved...along with his family! And the testimony of his faith is used by God to bring in many other Corinthians to saving knowledge.
Keep in mind the words of Paul in verse 6, "your blood be upon your own heads."
The Bible quite clearly teaches the doctrine of human responsibility! Nobody is SENT to hell by God...they choose to go there! Acting in full accordance with the nature they have, they willingly reject God and stupidly jump into the fires of hell!
I mention this because we must stop to consider the ways of God here...Crispus was ruler of the synagogue! A man with authority and whose words and decisions would greatly impact the synagogue...Imagine this if you will: here is a man that we must assume is well versed in Scriptures...a man of knowledge...and he believes!! What excuse do the rest of the Jews have if one of their leading men converts? NONE!!
Therefore, they are without excuse for rejecting the precious truth of the Gospel!
Crispus, incidentally, had a very rare honor in that he was one of the few people whom Paul baptized (1 Corinthians 1:14)!
v9-10)
It is probable that Paul was in danger here...that the Jews were pretty upset over the conversion of one of their chief men and laid the blame directly at his feet...
And Paul receives a vision from the Lord...and what a promise he receives as well!
Was Paul afraid of the crowds? He will not be harmed is what he is told...
Did Paul perhaps consider moving on already? He is told to be bold and not to be silent...
Did Paul think nobody would pay attention? He is told that Jesus has many people in the city!
"I have many people in this city"
You can choose to believe, wrongly, that Jesus meant there were so many Believers in Corinth that they would protect him from harm...
But what the Word is saying here is that Paul was to be bold in preaching BECAUSE God planned a work in this city...there were those for whom there was an appointment with the grace of God...and so God forbid Paul to remain silent! There was a harvest in Corinth and it MUST be brought in!
Matthew Henry:
"though [Corinth] be a very profane wicked city, full of impurity, and the more so for a temple of Venus there, to which there was a great resort, yet in this heap, that seems to be all chaff, there is wheat; in this ore, that seems to be all dross, there is gold. Let us not despair concerning any place, when even in Corinth Christ had much people."
Brothers and sisters...if there is any comfort to be had when we encounter opposition to the preaching of the Word of God, it is that God has His people everywhere! When the time comes that we stand before our Living God there will be people from "all nations, tribes, peoples, tongues," all of them standing before the throne! Revelation 7:9
Having received such a vision and such a promise, Paul stays in Corinth for a VERY long time...and for all its faults, we well know that a church is established in this city!
v 12)
Enraged, probably because of how many people were being converted to the faith, Paul is brought before the proconsul of Achaia...once again likely dragged to this place. And it bears mentioning here that now Paul knew that he was being used mightily by God, for he is provoking people to anger!! :)
But notice the reaction of Gallio...what cares he for the internal struggles of a conquered people? Rome cared about one thing: keep the tribute rolling in and don't try and rebel!
So even though Paul is ready to give a defense, Gallio dismisses the case!
A word here: note verse 13: "this fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law."
Even though Gallio lightly dismisses the charges here...there would be a time when Rome would not react such to this charge against the followers of Christ.
Later on there would be rumors of cannibalism...of drinking blood, of sacrificing children, of sexual perversions...all of these aimed against the Christians...but none would upset the power of Rome more than the refusal to say that the Emperor was a deity!
So even though at this time the Christians are persecuted by people...it has not yet reached the point of official, state sanctioned persecution. That will come later.
But look now at verse 17:
Here we see the apathy of Rome at work. Gallio would not prosecute Paul when falsely accused, but neither would he intervene when Sosthenes is beaten by the Greeks before his very judgment seat!
Why beat on poor Sosthenes?
Likely, after the dismissal of charges against Paul, he was taken to safety by his followers...so the crowds turned against someone known to be a Christian...Sosthenes.
This is conjecture on the part of the commentators, of course, but it seems to fit the bill. Sosthenes is referred by Paul in his letter to the Corinthians as a brother...
Matthew Henry:
"As for the Greeks that abused him, it is very probable that they were either Hellenist Jews, or Jewish Greeks, those that joined with the Jews in opposing the gospel and that the native Jews put them on to do it, thinking it would in them be less offensive. They were so enraged against Paul that they beat Sosthenes; and so enraged against Gallio, because he would not countenance the prosecution, that they beat him before the judgment-seat".
It was not an easy thing to call yourself a Christian in these early times!
"Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell
ISBN (10): 031026345x
I have intended to put this review up for some time now and here it is. A little background first though…Rob Bell, author of this book, is the founding pastor of Mars Hill church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
I first heard of Rob Bell at a church I used to attend, where his Nooma videos were shown (Nooma is a play on the Greek pneuma, which means spirit). The videos were quite disturbing to me and I decided to find out more about them and their creator. It turned out that Bell is part of a movement commonly referred to as the emergent church, a movement that embraces the idea that we cannot really know what Scripture teaches and that to say you know what it teaches is arrogant. That, I know, is a very simplistic explanation for it but it’s all I’m willing to do at the moment. If you want to know more, just Google the term and you’ll find out much more about it, including the fact that Rob Bell and Brian McLaren are some of the bigger proponents and defenders of the movement.
At any rate, my intention was to read the entire book and write up a lengthy review of it, but in only the first couple of chapters I grew tired of it and nauseated by its theme.
Philippians 4:8 tells us that “whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is anything praiseworthy- meditate on these things.”
With this admonition weighing heavily on my mind, I decided to stop reading the book and concentrate my energies on something else! I am still writing a mini-review because I know there are those out there who might wonder what is so bad about the book. I will tell you because I too am one of those people…I identify with Thomas because of this; being myself the type of person that would have said, “prove it.”
To begin with, I confess that I read the book with a prejudiced mind, already knowing plenty about Rob Bell and his videos and being far less than impressed by them. So bear that in mind as well…I make no apologies for it.
Rob Bell states very clearly in the beginning of the book that he believes we must always be reforming the faith. He cites Martin Luther and the other reformers as examples of this and then identifies himself with them (though they would beg to differ I think). He then takes the idea of always reforming to the extreme by saying on page 012 that he does “not mean cosmetic, superficial changes like better lights and music, sharper graphics, and new methods with easy-to-follow steps. I mean theology: the belief about God, Jesus, the Bible, salvation, the future. We must keep reforming the way the Christian faith is defined, lived, and explained.”
Though Bell thinks he’s a successor of those worthy men that brought about the Reformation, his goal is really to overturn all that they actually taught. He would find no adherents among the men who fought and died for the idea of “sola scriptura” since he disdains those who hold to the Word as truly authoritative.
He says, for example, “Jesus at one point claimed to be the “way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus was not making claims about one religion being better than all other religions. That completely misses the point, the depth, and the truth.”
Hmmm….Is that true? Jesus did not mean that all other religions were false? He was not speaking of eternal life here? I don’t know dear reader…why don’t you turn to the Bible and read John 13-17? Then decide whether or not Jesus wasn’t talking about how to be saved!
On page 026 we find the following passage:
“What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and archeologists find Larry’s tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was really just a bit of mythologizing the Gospel writers threw in to appeal to the followers of the Mithra and Dionysian religious cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births? But what if as you study the origin of the word virgin, you discover that the word virgin in the gospel of Matthew actually comes from the book of Isaiah, and then you find out that in the Hebrew language at that time, the word virgin could mean several things. And what if you discover that in the first century “born of a virgin” also referred to a child whose mother became pregnant the first time she had intercourse?…Could a person still love God? Could you still be a Christian?…if the whole faith falls apart when we reexamine and rethink one spring, then it wasn’t that strong in the first place, was it?”
What do you think of that one?
The reference to the spring, by the way, is an analogy Bell uses of a trampoline…he says that doctrines are like the springs on a trampoline and they help you to understand God but they are not the point…the point is the jump (page 022). In other words the experience is what matters…not the doctrines!
Oh I don’t know…I think I’ll stick to 2 Timothy 3:16 on this one, you know, where it says that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine…”
And while we are on the point of Scripture being inspired, should we try and remember that the virgin birth is not JUST a spring but a foundational Truth of the faith? Yeah…I think we should! If Bell thinks Christianity can exist without it he is wrong. You see, if we truly believe what 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, then we must assume that includes passages like Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-35.
Guess what?
These passages affirm a literal virgin birth! So regardless of what kinds of questions Bell comes up with, and regardless of his repetition of what are by now common and tiresome attacks upon the doctrine of the virgin birth, his faith is the one that needs to be tested for validity and strength because no true believer can possibly entertain the thought that the virgin birth is anything other than a foundational Truth of the faith.
Bell takes pains to assure his readers that he “affirms the historic Christian faith, which includes the virgin birth…” but then he makes the comment cited above about the strength of ones faith if the spring is reexamined.
Allow me to say before moving on…we do NOT reexamine the virgin birth…we do NOT reexamine the Trinity! We study the Word to find out what it true and we affirm what is taught there, but to reexamine these truths with an eye towards rethinking them is what used to be called heresy. I don’t know…does anyone think differently?
Well, I still have pages and pages of notes but I just do not have the stamina any longer…I think I will go study the Bible now! My final thought on this book is that it is dangerous in the sense of how many people will embrace what it teaches. The true Believer will read it and set it aside, being warned about the wolf among us. But so many others will be drawn into a false sense of faith and die in their sins…and that is truly sad. To me, as I read the parts I did, what made me sad was to think of how many people I once respected actually look to Rob Bell as an inspiration…our Lord truly said that many will one day refer to Him as Lord and He will say He never knew them!
You have been warned brothers and sisters.
“…the time will when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers ; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4
I have intended to put this review up for some time now and here it is. A little background first though…Rob Bell, author of this book, is the founding pastor of Mars Hill church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
I first heard of Rob Bell at a church I used to attend, where his Nooma videos were shown (Nooma is a play on the Greek pneuma, which means spirit). The videos were quite disturbing to me and I decided to find out more about them and their creator. It turned out that Bell is part of a movement commonly referred to as the emergent church, a movement that embraces the idea that we cannot really know what Scripture teaches and that to say you know what it teaches is arrogant. That, I know, is a very simplistic explanation for it but it’s all I’m willing to do at the moment. If you want to know more, just Google the term and you’ll find out much more about it, including the fact that Rob Bell and Brian McLaren are some of the bigger proponents and defenders of the movement.
At any rate, my intention was to read the entire book and write up a lengthy review of it, but in only the first couple of chapters I grew tired of it and nauseated by its theme.
Philippians 4:8 tells us that “whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is anything praiseworthy- meditate on these things.”
With this admonition weighing heavily on my mind, I decided to stop reading the book and concentrate my energies on something else! I am still writing a mini-review because I know there are those out there who might wonder what is so bad about the book. I will tell you because I too am one of those people…I identify with Thomas because of this; being myself the type of person that would have said, “prove it.”
To begin with, I confess that I read the book with a prejudiced mind, already knowing plenty about Rob Bell and his videos and being far less than impressed by them. So bear that in mind as well…I make no apologies for it.
Rob Bell states very clearly in the beginning of the book that he believes we must always be reforming the faith. He cites Martin Luther and the other reformers as examples of this and then identifies himself with them (though they would beg to differ I think). He then takes the idea of always reforming to the extreme by saying on page 012 that he does “not mean cosmetic, superficial changes like better lights and music, sharper graphics, and new methods with easy-to-follow steps. I mean theology: the belief about God, Jesus, the Bible, salvation, the future. We must keep reforming the way the Christian faith is defined, lived, and explained.”
Though Bell thinks he’s a successor of those worthy men that brought about the Reformation, his goal is really to overturn all that they actually taught. He would find no adherents among the men who fought and died for the idea of “sola scriptura” since he disdains those who hold to the Word as truly authoritative.
He says, for example, “Jesus at one point claimed to be the “way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus was not making claims about one religion being better than all other religions. That completely misses the point, the depth, and the truth.”
Hmmm….Is that true? Jesus did not mean that all other religions were false? He was not speaking of eternal life here? I don’t know dear reader…why don’t you turn to the Bible and read John 13-17? Then decide whether or not Jesus wasn’t talking about how to be saved!
On page 026 we find the following passage:
“What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and archeologists find Larry’s tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was really just a bit of mythologizing the Gospel writers threw in to appeal to the followers of the Mithra and Dionysian religious cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births? But what if as you study the origin of the word virgin, you discover that the word virgin in the gospel of Matthew actually comes from the book of Isaiah, and then you find out that in the Hebrew language at that time, the word virgin could mean several things. And what if you discover that in the first century “born of a virgin” also referred to a child whose mother became pregnant the first time she had intercourse?…Could a person still love God? Could you still be a Christian?…if the whole faith falls apart when we reexamine and rethink one spring, then it wasn’t that strong in the first place, was it?”
What do you think of that one?
The reference to the spring, by the way, is an analogy Bell uses of a trampoline…he says that doctrines are like the springs on a trampoline and they help you to understand God but they are not the point…the point is the jump (page 022). In other words the experience is what matters…not the doctrines!
Oh I don’t know…I think I’ll stick to 2 Timothy 3:16 on this one, you know, where it says that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine…”
And while we are on the point of Scripture being inspired, should we try and remember that the virgin birth is not JUST a spring but a foundational Truth of the faith? Yeah…I think we should! If Bell thinks Christianity can exist without it he is wrong. You see, if we truly believe what 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, then we must assume that includes passages like Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-35.
Guess what?
These passages affirm a literal virgin birth! So regardless of what kinds of questions Bell comes up with, and regardless of his repetition of what are by now common and tiresome attacks upon the doctrine of the virgin birth, his faith is the one that needs to be tested for validity and strength because no true believer can possibly entertain the thought that the virgin birth is anything other than a foundational Truth of the faith.
Bell takes pains to assure his readers that he “affirms the historic Christian faith, which includes the virgin birth…” but then he makes the comment cited above about the strength of ones faith if the spring is reexamined.
Allow me to say before moving on…we do NOT reexamine the virgin birth…we do NOT reexamine the Trinity! We study the Word to find out what it true and we affirm what is taught there, but to reexamine these truths with an eye towards rethinking them is what used to be called heresy. I don’t know…does anyone think differently?
Well, I still have pages and pages of notes but I just do not have the stamina any longer…I think I will go study the Bible now! My final thought on this book is that it is dangerous in the sense of how many people will embrace what it teaches. The true Believer will read it and set it aside, being warned about the wolf among us. But so many others will be drawn into a false sense of faith and die in their sins…and that is truly sad. To me, as I read the parts I did, what made me sad was to think of how many people I once respected actually look to Rob Bell as an inspiration…our Lord truly said that many will one day refer to Him as Lord and He will say He never knew them!
You have been warned brothers and sisters.
“…the time will when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers ; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Genesis 1:1
We had the boffer group again today and we had 10 kids come out to fight in the cold! We had a great time and I came away unscathed...except for the fat lip my son gave me when my face got in the way of a sword swing from him! Oh well...such are the risks we take when we take up the sword! :)
Today's lesson was on Genesis 1:1 and I really enjoyed discussing this one with the boys...we had some good comments and some good discussion! For all of you dads who couldn't come, I would encourage you to come on out and spend some time...it is a great time for us as men to spend some quality time with our sons and other men, that they might see how Christian men interact and also be encouraged by the presence of godly men. I have a great time fighting with all of the boys but would not mind some other men being present to help me fight them off! :) Seriously though...any of you who read this should feel free to come join their sons...the fighting is fun but the devotion time is exhilirating too!
Anyhow...here is today's lesson:
Read Genesis 1:1
When we think of God and whom He is, we often forget to look at this part of Him…His role as the Creator! Look with me real quickly at Job 38:1-11
And then, we find the clincher in Isaiah 48:12-13
Little brothers…the revelation we see in these passages is the uniqueness of God!
Ask) What does it mean to say that something is unique? (discuss)
There is nobody like God…and nobody could have done what God has done in creating the heavens and the earth…if anyone says anything different than this then they are lying to you and you should not listen to them!
There are those who would teach that God was once a man like us…and that those who believe as they do will someday be gods themselves! This is blasphemy pure and simple!
Let us look now at what we can learn from our chosen verse:
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
In this verse alone we can learn much…someone tell me some of the thing that we can learn (discuss)
1. We learn that God is eternal: there is a beginning to all things around us…but God existed before that beginning! He stands outside of time. This is something our human minds are incapable of totally understanding…but God has always existed! Our Triune Lord is not a creation…He always has been just as He is. (remember what we spoke about before? If He always has been as He is then it is not possible that at one time He was a man just like us except in the Person of Jesus Christ!)
2. We learn that atheism is false (here I borrow from Henry Morris): You will note that the writer of this verse does not first explain God because there was no need to! This was written during a time when everyone believed in God or a god…only in our so-called advanced age has the idea of God as false been so largely embraced! Yet Psalm 14:1 says what? (discuss)
3. We learn that evolution is false: God created…not random chance and not some pool of gooey stuff! And if God created, then it is not all some accident! No…out of nothing, God made everything! And just so we don’t get confused, God does not just tell us that He made all things, but in the remainder of the chapter as well as in chapter two, we are told exactly how He created! And how did He do it?
Let us close in prayer.
Today's lesson was on Genesis 1:1 and I really enjoyed discussing this one with the boys...we had some good comments and some good discussion! For all of you dads who couldn't come, I would encourage you to come on out and spend some time...it is a great time for us as men to spend some quality time with our sons and other men, that they might see how Christian men interact and also be encouraged by the presence of godly men. I have a great time fighting with all of the boys but would not mind some other men being present to help me fight them off! :) Seriously though...any of you who read this should feel free to come join their sons...the fighting is fun but the devotion time is exhilirating too!
Anyhow...here is today's lesson:
What Creation Teaches us about God
Saturday
December 8th, 2007
Saturday
December 8th, 2007
Read Genesis 1:1
When we think of God and whom He is, we often forget to look at this part of Him…His role as the Creator! Look with me real quickly at Job 38:1-11
God is asking a rhetorical question here…could anyone else have done what I have done?
He Himself then gives us the answer through the prophet Isaiah. Look with me at the following passages:
Isaiah 43:10-13
Isaiah 44:6-8
Isaiah 45:5-7
He Himself then gives us the answer through the prophet Isaiah. Look with me at the following passages:
Isaiah 43:10-13
Isaiah 44:6-8
Isaiah 45:5-7
And then, we find the clincher in Isaiah 48:12-13
Little brothers…the revelation we see in these passages is the uniqueness of God!
Ask) What does it mean to say that something is unique? (discuss)
There is nobody like God…and nobody could have done what God has done in creating the heavens and the earth…if anyone says anything different than this then they are lying to you and you should not listen to them!
There is but one God, there is but one Creator! God alone is All Powerful…God alone is Sovereign and stands supreme!
There are those who would teach that God was once a man like us…and that those who believe as they do will someday be gods themselves! This is blasphemy pure and simple!
Let us look now at what we can learn from our chosen verse:
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
In this verse alone we can learn much…someone tell me some of the thing that we can learn (discuss)
1. We learn that God is eternal: there is a beginning to all things around us…but God existed before that beginning! He stands outside of time. This is something our human minds are incapable of totally understanding…but God has always existed! Our Triune Lord is not a creation…He always has been just as He is. (remember what we spoke about before? If He always has been as He is then it is not possible that at one time He was a man just like us except in the Person of Jesus Christ!)
2. We learn that atheism is false (here I borrow from Henry Morris): You will note that the writer of this verse does not first explain God because there was no need to! This was written during a time when everyone believed in God or a god…only in our so-called advanced age has the idea of God as false been so largely embraced! Yet Psalm 14:1 says what? (discuss)
No matter how intelligent they seem…those who doubt there is a God are fools! So do not be intimidated by someone’s education or knowledge…if they do not know God then we know what God says of them right? There is an example I’d like to point out to you…Nietsche was a man who declared the death of God! Yes indeed, he is from whom the quote “God is dead” comes from. But you know what? He died. He died a crazy man! At the end of his life, Nietsche was insane. And God still sits on His throne! The foolish words of a foolish man did not cause our Master to fall off His throne any more than a single ant could ever hope to move us even one inch by pushing on us!
3. We learn that evolution is false: God created…not random chance and not some pool of gooey stuff! And if God created, then it is not all some accident! No…out of nothing, God made everything! And just so we don’t get confused, God does not just tell us that He made all things, but in the remainder of the chapter as well as in chapter two, we are told exactly how He created! And how did He do it?
He spoke and there was;
He molded with His hands and breathed life into man.
This helps us see how foolish are those who would compromise with the “knowledge” of the world and say that God created through evolution! No…God does not allow for this explanation at all…He created!
Let us close in prayer.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
The Nativity Story
New Line Cinema
2006
Those of you who know me well also know that I do not like films that depict Jesus Christ, mainly because I do not think films do justice to that which the Scripture reveals to us but also because I get an uncomfortable feeling that I am walking on the line and coming close to a violation of the Second commandment. The movie that most arouses my ire, of course, is “The Passion of the Christ,” that Mel Gibson production that was more an ode to Catholic traditions than to the Word. About the only redeeming thing that movie holds (in my humble opinion) is the bloody depictions of the whippings and the crucifixion…but as I’ve written in another post, the Word of God alone should be sufficient to strike our hearts with love and awe at what Jesus did for us on the cross. And yet, I do not judge my brothers and sisters for watching the film. I will never watch it, and my sons will have to wait until they leave the family home if they wish to see it, but to each his or her own! I do, however, reserve the right to have my own opinion as well!
Anyhow, back to the subject at hand…and another disclaimer! There is a movie that came out in 2003 called “The Visual Bible: The Gospel of John” which from all reports is supposed to be a great Protestant representation, by which I mean faithful to Scripture. I will probably never watch it due to my own personal biases, but if someone MUST watch a mere man portray our Lord, then at least I can say that they should watch that one rather than the one approved by the Vatican.
About a month ago I watched “The Nativity Story.” Mainly because my sons had watched it with some dear friends of ours and I wanted to see whether I should address any misleading aspects of the film. I watched the movie on my computer with my Bible in front of me and my notebook ready! Anyhow, I must confess that I was impressed by it and while I cannot go so far as to say everyone should watch it, I thought it was well done. Obviously there was much speculation in the movie, for the actual narrative in the Word does not a two hour movie make! The speculation, however, was extra-biblical though certainly not UN-biblical. We all speculate on matters where the Bible remains silent…like wondering how Mary felt carrying our Lord in her womb…or what Joseph might have thought as he beheld his wife and her baby. Nothing wrong with that. But how does this movie do as far as Scriptural accuracy and proper portrayal of the main characters?
The movie does a good job of positively portraying the biblical characters and as I’ve already mentioned it gives us a peek into what Mary and Joseph MIGHT have thought as they went through all of the experiences they did.
What kind of people were they?
There is a scene, during the annunciation, when Mary kneels to the angel Gabriel…and she is not rebuked by him. She is not told not to kneel before a messenger nor is she told to never bend the knee to him again. However, her kneeling does NOT necessarily imply worship. Kneeling before a king, for example, does not imply worship so much as acknowledgment of power. In any case, I was bothered by this scene but cannot say for sure that the film makers intended to show Mary worshipping an angel.
In another scene, Mary is traveling to visit Elizabeth and along the way some men are seen running as they attempt to escape from the soldiers of Herod. The men are aided by other Jews who block the path to prevent the Herodian troops from catching the runners. The crowds shout out their trust that Messiah will come to deliver them from such oppression…I thought this scene did a good job of demonstrating exactly what it was the Jews of that age were expecting; a conquering, temporal, political redeemer rather than the Savior that was in their midst (within the womb of Mary).
A few other powerful scenes in the film include:
When Zechariah is struck dumb in the holy of holies
When Mary’s family finds out she is pregnant
There is also a scene where Joseph and Mary are sitting around talking…wondering what it will be like to be parents to the Son of God. Joseph wonders whether he will ever be able to teach anything to the child and Mary wonders at what point they will know that He knows that He is the Son of God…as I watched this scene I could well imagine them having had such a conversation in real life…for how could they not!
The worst scene for me, and it only lasted for a few seconds so even now I don’t know exactly what I saw…but it was when Joseph and Mary make their way into a city. This woman takes Mary by the hand and appears to read her future. As I said, the scene lasts seconds and from Mary’s puzzled look it is clear she herself doesn’t submit in any sense to what might have been a palm reading, but I found the scene totally unnecessary and I’m sorry that it was included. Without being able to read the script I cannot say what the director’s intention was with this scene but, again, it lasted all of 3 seconds so the reader must determine for him/herself whether to watch or not watch the film. I would not dare say to someone “don’t” because I myself am not sure what happened in that scene, and as I’ve said, the scene is pretty clear that Mary in no way sought nor approved of what the woman did to her.
This being December and with all of us preparing to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, I know many will turn to this movie. All I want to say is that I exhort every one of you, if you choose to watch the film, that afterwards you go to the Gospels and read them. Even though it was almost midnight when I finished watching the film, I stayed up an extra hour ‘cause I couldn’t stop reading! May the Lord bless each and every one of you and may you have a wonderful Christmas Day!
2006
Those of you who know me well also know that I do not like films that depict Jesus Christ, mainly because I do not think films do justice to that which the Scripture reveals to us but also because I get an uncomfortable feeling that I am walking on the line and coming close to a violation of the Second commandment. The movie that most arouses my ire, of course, is “The Passion of the Christ,” that Mel Gibson production that was more an ode to Catholic traditions than to the Word. About the only redeeming thing that movie holds (in my humble opinion) is the bloody depictions of the whippings and the crucifixion…but as I’ve written in another post, the Word of God alone should be sufficient to strike our hearts with love and awe at what Jesus did for us on the cross. And yet, I do not judge my brothers and sisters for watching the film. I will never watch it, and my sons will have to wait until they leave the family home if they wish to see it, but to each his or her own! I do, however, reserve the right to have my own opinion as well!
Anyhow, back to the subject at hand…and another disclaimer! There is a movie that came out in 2003 called “The Visual Bible: The Gospel of John” which from all reports is supposed to be a great Protestant representation, by which I mean faithful to Scripture. I will probably never watch it due to my own personal biases, but if someone MUST watch a mere man portray our Lord, then at least I can say that they should watch that one rather than the one approved by the Vatican.
About a month ago I watched “The Nativity Story.” Mainly because my sons had watched it with some dear friends of ours and I wanted to see whether I should address any misleading aspects of the film. I watched the movie on my computer with my Bible in front of me and my notebook ready! Anyhow, I must confess that I was impressed by it and while I cannot go so far as to say everyone should watch it, I thought it was well done. Obviously there was much speculation in the movie, for the actual narrative in the Word does not a two hour movie make! The speculation, however, was extra-biblical though certainly not UN-biblical. We all speculate on matters where the Bible remains silent…like wondering how Mary felt carrying our Lord in her womb…or what Joseph might have thought as he beheld his wife and her baby. Nothing wrong with that. But how does this movie do as far as Scriptural accuracy and proper portrayal of the main characters?
The movie does a good job of positively portraying the biblical characters and as I’ve already mentioned it gives us a peek into what Mary and Joseph MIGHT have thought as they went through all of the experiences they did.
What kind of people were they?
There is a scene, during the annunciation, when Mary kneels to the angel Gabriel…and she is not rebuked by him. She is not told not to kneel before a messenger nor is she told to never bend the knee to him again. However, her kneeling does NOT necessarily imply worship. Kneeling before a king, for example, does not imply worship so much as acknowledgment of power. In any case, I was bothered by this scene but cannot say for sure that the film makers intended to show Mary worshipping an angel.
In another scene, Mary is traveling to visit Elizabeth and along the way some men are seen running as they attempt to escape from the soldiers of Herod. The men are aided by other Jews who block the path to prevent the Herodian troops from catching the runners. The crowds shout out their trust that Messiah will come to deliver them from such oppression…I thought this scene did a good job of demonstrating exactly what it was the Jews of that age were expecting; a conquering, temporal, political redeemer rather than the Savior that was in their midst (within the womb of Mary).
A few other powerful scenes in the film include:
When Zechariah is struck dumb in the holy of holies
When Mary’s family finds out she is pregnant
There is also a scene where Joseph and Mary are sitting around talking…wondering what it will be like to be parents to the Son of God. Joseph wonders whether he will ever be able to teach anything to the child and Mary wonders at what point they will know that He knows that He is the Son of God…as I watched this scene I could well imagine them having had such a conversation in real life…for how could they not!
The worst scene for me, and it only lasted for a few seconds so even now I don’t know exactly what I saw…but it was when Joseph and Mary make their way into a city. This woman takes Mary by the hand and appears to read her future. As I said, the scene lasts seconds and from Mary’s puzzled look it is clear she herself doesn’t submit in any sense to what might have been a palm reading, but I found the scene totally unnecessary and I’m sorry that it was included. Without being able to read the script I cannot say what the director’s intention was with this scene but, again, it lasted all of 3 seconds so the reader must determine for him/herself whether to watch or not watch the film. I would not dare say to someone “don’t” because I myself am not sure what happened in that scene, and as I’ve said, the scene is pretty clear that Mary in no way sought nor approved of what the woman did to her.
This being December and with all of us preparing to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, I know many will turn to this movie. All I want to say is that I exhort every one of you, if you choose to watch the film, that afterwards you go to the Gospels and read them. Even though it was almost midnight when I finished watching the film, I stayed up an extra hour ‘cause I couldn’t stop reading! May the Lord bless each and every one of you and may you have a wonderful Christmas Day!
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