The Five Points of ...

It seems as though Christians often have a difficult time balancing grace and truth.  We seem to either deliver the truth with no love at all or compromise on the truth in the name of love.  Lovingly delivering the truth can be difficult.  While this extends to battles that we have with those outside the church (e.g. homosexuality, abortion), I believe that it is also true of battles that we have inside the church (e.g. age of the universe, Calvinism versus Arminianism).  I for one love spirited debate.  While I can be passionate about the points in a discussion, I don’t tend to get upset or emotional.  I merely seek the truth of the matter—I have to strive to remember to love.

In thinking along these lines, I considered a prayer that I had offered for my children’s salvation. I had asked that God would move in their hearts to bring them to a saving faith in His Son.  This prayer was offered in the presence of those whom I knew to be more of an Arminian persuasion.  While the prayer was genuinely from my heart, afterwards I reflected on this and wondered if my Calvinist leaning prayer would have caused any offense.  Upon reflection, it occurred to me that even when Arminians pray, they ask God to change circumstance and people, and this was all that I was asking.  This caused me to wonder what other areas of agreement that Calvinists and Arminians share.  The results are these Five Points of Agreement.

Under Construction

Ok.  I admit it.  I got a ticket.  We had made a trip to Arkansas for a funeral in April.  On the return trip to South Carolina through Alabama, I got to see blue lights in my rear view mirror.  Before I could even get my registration and insurance cards, Mr. State Trooper was at my window.  I rolled down the window and told him I was still getting my other information, but he informed me that my driver’s license was enough.  With my driver’s license in hand, Mr. State Trooper returned (nearly at a gallop) to his vehicle.  In no time at all, he returned with my ticket, talked me through the specifics, and returned to his car.  While I was still getting stuff back in order, Mr. State Trooper pulled out and returned to his hiding spot.

Why Eschatology?

So, since I am team teaching through 1 Thessalonians on Wednesday nights at my church, it seems like a good time to pick up my blogs on Christ’s return.  Before I turn to the substance of the discussion proper, I want to examine the reasons why eschatology (the science of the last things) is important for us to study.

First, it is in the Bible.  God thought it was important enough to make sure that it is in the Bible.  The main places are Daniel, Matthew, 1 Corinthians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and Revelation, but eschatology is found throughout the Bible.  As Millard Erickson says, if it is in the Bible, it is the Christian’s duty to read it, think about it, and meditate on it.

Second, our eschatology impacts our other doctrines.  If we have a misunderstanding about what happens in the end, we leave ourselves open to misunderstanding doctrines that pertain to the middle.

Freedom Isn’t Free

We’ve all heard this phrase, “Freedom Isn’t Free”, growing up.  Most of the time we associate this phrase with the lives that men and women have sacrificed for freedom throughout our nation’s history—from the Patriots of the Revolutionary War to the Snipers of Operation Enduring Freedom.

When the founders of our nation declared independence from England, they pledged their lives, treasure, and sacred honor.  I’m asking that you do the same for our country today.

To Read or Not to Read

Ok, I admit it. I read fantasy books. I also read other book genres, too, though. I enjoy stories in different formats as well: movies, musicals, and opera to name a few. I was recently asked by a young man in our church how I select books to read and books to not read. In other words, what’s my philosophy on narratives?

To begin with, we need to take a step back. There is only one real story—His Story (sometimes we call it history). If you know history, then you know that there are five key parts that can be represented by the five following words: God, Man, Jesus, Cross, Resurrection.^[1] History starts as every story starts, with a beginning and a problem. God existed timelessly and chose to create the universe, which included us. Our many-great grandparents messed everything up. This crisis needed to be fixed. God sent Himself (God the Son, specifically) to be victorious over our problem, sin. He did this on the cross. In doing so, He secured for us an ultimate happy ending with Him, enjoying Him forever.

It is my contention that all fictional stories beg, borrow, and steal from the real story. (Ok, nearly all stories, but I’ll explain that in a bit.) Think of the common story lines of love, self-sacrifice, heroic victory, powers used for good, good over coming evil, cleverly defeating your enemy, and on and on. All of these themes are rooted in our common shared story—history. It’s no wonder that all of the best selling stories revolve around one of these themes. When stories go against this grain, we often don’t enjoy them. Sure, they are sometimes lauded with “artistic acclaim”, but they leave the common man feeling empty inside (think Matrix sequels or some nihilist Oscar winning film). Even our “dark” stories are rooted in the story—just highlighting the other side of the tale. I believe that we love stories that align with reality, follow the pattern of the story, and present as virtuous God’s attributes.

Troublesome Times Are Here

My pregnant wife woke up with some fluid discharge that didn’t seem normal.  Thinking that it wasn’t anything to worry about, we simply shifted schedules that morning.  I took charge of our youngest while she dropped off our older two at school.  From there she visited her OBGYN.  Bad news—her water had broke at 29 weeks and a day.  From this point forward, our life was turned upside down.  In an instant, Christmas plans were canceled, schedules were altered, and fears were aroused.  She was immediately admitted to a nearby hospital and then transferred by ambulance to a hospital better equipped to care for premature births.  Since that time, she has been under the watchful care of doctors and nurses who have prepared her and our baby for an untimely birth.  That was a week ago.  Thankfully, the baby is still in mother's womb and seems to be doing fine.

That’s it.  That’s the story.  But, I left out one key aspect—the body of Christ.  During this time, our brothers and sisters have been loving us.  Some spoke truth into our lives.  Some showed us mercy.  Some helped us.  Some encouraged us.  Many, many have prayed for us.  Words cannot express my debt of gratitude for how my wife and I have been loved during our ordeal.  One member was hurting, and yet all of the members felt that hurt and responded.

Where to Begin?

I’m interrupting my current interruption (yes, I promised a few more blogs on the tribulation, which I interrupted to talk about Santa Claus) to talk about the tragedy in Connecticut.

There are several questions that come to mind when something like this happens.   We all want to know why.  Why did he do it?  Why did God allow it?  Why does our culture have so much violent crime?  Then we turn to what.  What can we do to get justice?  What could we have done to prevent this?  What can we do to stop it from ever happing again?  What should we do with our own children?  What should we tell them?  What should we do for the families who he so devastatingly affected?

I do not know the answers to all of these questions.  I do have some very well organized thoughts about self defense in general, about guns in particular, and about the public policy that surrounds both of them.

Santa Claus, Santa Claus, Must Have Been Old Santa Claus

I’m not sure when it happened…sometime before I was born…but it did happen.  Santa swooped in and stole the starring role of the Christmas season.  Yes, Jolly Old Saint Nicolas is a thief—at least the Saint Nicolas that I grew up with.  My wife and I have decided not to do “Santa Claus” with our children.  Our decision bewilders many adults, and so I thought it might be helpful to write down our reasons.  Our reasons fall into two categories.  The first is more pragmatic while the second is more theological.  Both of our reasons have the same root cause: Santa Claus is a lie.

There, I said it.  Maybe you thought it was an innocent fairytale.  But when it is cut black and white, it is a lie.  I realize that not everyone who reads this blog will share my worldview.  I trust that no one who reads this blog will believe that Santa is real.  So, when we tell our children that there is a jolly fat man who rides a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer, makes toys in the frozen north, and delivers those toys to every child around the world in one night we are distorting reality.  We are bending our children’s perspective in an unhealthy way.

Faith…Working…through Love!

“Wow” is all that I can say.  I just read through Galatians again, studying it for class, and I stumbled on a real treasure of a jewel in this cave^[1]!

⁶ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. Galatians 5:6

For those unfamiliar, I’d like to give a very brief summary of the context of Galatians.  Paul visited the southern cities of Galatia and established churches predominantly made up of Gentiles (non-Jews).  After Paul left, other Jews (most likely non-Christian Jews) came persuading the Gentiles to now take on at least portions if not all of the Jewish law.  The motivations of these false teachers is somewhat unclear.  We know that the Gentiles believed that these burdens of the law were necessary to receive justification.  Paul scolds them to never believe gospel different from the one that Paul first preached to them, even if this new gospel were preached by himself or angels.  That is the basic lay of the land.  It is only six chapters; you can read it easily in one setting to get the rest of it.  Now what I want to concentrate on…

Faith

Working

through Love

On the Second Coming of Christ: 2a and 2b—or not 2b!

(As promised…)

Excluding Revelation, there are three main passages that detail the coming of the Lord.  I list them below:

¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. ¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. ¹⁵ For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

⁵⁰ Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. ⁵⁵ O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:50-55

²⁴ For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ Behold, I have told you in advance. ²⁶ So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. ²⁷ For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. ²⁸ Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
²⁹ “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. ³¹ And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. Matthew 24:24-31

It seems as though all three of these passages are describing the same event.  Further, Revelation clearly states that the martyrs of the Tribulation will receive their new bodies after the Tribulation during the first resurrection.  If this is a separate event from the events described above in 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians, then there are three resurrections: church, tribulation martyrs, and the dead.  Revelation clearly speaks of only two resurrections: living (elect) and the dead (lost).

So if all four passages (Matthew, 1 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians, and Revelation) are speaking about the same event and if Matthew and Revelation peg this event as following the Tribulation, then the “rapture” must really just be the resurrection of the elect. But, if the rapture occurs before the end of the Tribulation, Christ must come back twice.  Nowhere does scripture state that there is a third coming of Christ (or a third resurrection).  Most Pre-tribbers and Mid-tribbers simply break these returns of Christ into part 2a and part 2b.  Part 2a is to be Christ’s spiritual return; part 2b His physical return.

On the Second Coming of Christ: New Bodies?

(Okay, I know that I promised "2a and 2b—or not 2b!".  But when I sat down to write it, "New Bodies?" came out first.  Don't worry, "2a and 2b—or not 2b!" is still going to be written.)

I Thessalonians describes the moment that we are taken to be with Jesus:

¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. ¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. ¹⁵ For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

There is great number of things that I want to say here, but in order to keep these blogs short and concise, I will limit myself to one note—an oddity.

I Lift My Eyes Up

(A short break from the “On the Second Coming of Christ” series.  Look for “Part 2a and 2b—or not 2b” soon!)

The opening lines of Psalm 121 are very familiar to us as they have been used in a popular song:

¹ I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
² My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121

Now, it is obvious what the Psalmist is telling us to do: trust in the Lord.  BUT, to is not altogether obvious to our 21st century eyes what the Psalmist is telling us not to do.  Recall that the Bible often judges the righteousness of the kings of Israel and Judah based on how they handled idolatry.  Here is an accounting of Josiah:

On the Second Coming of Christ: The Antichrist

And the second is like unto it…Some of you may cry foul on this blog stating that it is the same reason as the first blog.  I see it as similar but different.   The last blog was about a general readiness for the end times.  Here we get to greater detail.

Both Jesus and Paul go into great detail describing the antichrist for believers.  Here’s an excerpt from Jesus’ Olivet discourse:

On the Second Coming of Christ: Be Prepared??

I plan to write a few blogs describing my thoughts on Christ’s return.  If you are a non-Christian, you are welcome to read on, but realize that this is an “in-house” debate.  By that I mean that I’m not trying to be persuasive to nonbelievers but addressing believers directly.  Ok now that that is out of the way…

The average Christian today believes in a plotline that would closely mimic that of “Left Behind” for the second coming of Christ.  I don’t.  I happen to believe that the rapture is the resurrection and that the resurrection is coincident with Christ’s physical, bodily return to earth after the Tribulation has occurred.

A Social Media Conversation on Abortion

A few days ago I saw an article describing a woman who aborted twins late during her pregnancy because they were girls.  I linked to that article and posted an argument with abbreviate words due to Twitter's 140-charater limit.  Below I’ve rewritten the post without the original abbreviations:

Killing a human without proper justification is wrong. Abortion kills a human without proper justification. Abortion is wrong.

My Twitter account is linked to my Facebook account.  Here is a copy of the conversation that followed from this post:

Samson a Terrorist?

A recent caller to Greg Koukl’s Stand to Reason radio show asked if it was ever okay to commit suicide in order to kill your enemies.  He then went on to draw comparisons between Samson and the 9/11 hijackers.  Such an argument can deliver much rhetorical force.  Indeed there are several similarities between Samson and the hijackers.  First, they both prayed before the onset of their actions.  Both took actions knowing that their deaths were certain.  Both killed around 3,000 people with their actions.  Yet Samson is viewed as a hero while the hijackers are viewed as villains.  What gives?  Is this a case of a double standard?

The weakness of the above line of reasoning is common.  In fact, many make the same mistake when comparing the religions of the world.  They assume that if a few things, people, or systems have some commonality then they are basically the same.  All too often, however, a vast gulf of differences divides the things, people, or systems being compared in spite of the similarities.  It is the differences that count.

In the case of Samson, his nation was at open war with the Philistines.  He was a prisoner of that war.  He was already tortured (in the real sense—not how we use that word today) by having his eyes burned out.  The men and women who were killed were his captors and his open enemies.  Samson’s actions were therefore justified.  In fact, they would fall in line with Code of Conduct used by men and women of the armed forces today.

On the other hand, the hijackers were not at open war with America.  They were not captives but free men.  They had not be tortured or wronged.  The men and women they murdered were innocent civilians.  There can be no justification for their actions.

Do not be deceived by a few similarities.  It is the differences that count!

Post Script:  One must be careful while reading the Bible not to turn a descriptive passage into a prescriptive passage.  Whether it is ultimately right to pray for God's help during a "suicide mission" isn't answered by the account of Samson in the book of Judges.  This account simply describes what happened.

"Good" Nontheists?

A new advertising campaign by the Coalition of Reason (CoR) began recently in Little Rock.   These ads are a part of a nationwide campaign that has used the same and similar ads on buses and billboards across America.  The Little Rock ad asks, “Are you good without God? Millions are.”  The statement seems simple enough on the first read, but clarity is needed.  What is meant by the phrase “without God”?  It is possible that CoR uses this phrase to convey “without a belief in God who does actually exist”.  It is doubtful, however, that this interpretation is correct.  “Without the existence of God” is more likely what is intended.  If that is the case, then further questions need to be asked.  What does CoR mean by “good”?  Who gets to decide what is “good” and what is “bad”?  Their website (accessed on 12 October 2011) states that the ad campaign’s purpose is simply to make those of a nontheist* persuasion aware that there are others of like mind in their area.  If this was truly the only purpose for the campaign, one must ask why they do not simply use another version of their ads that states “Don’t believe in God? You’re not alone.”  The use of the Little Rock version indicates that CoR is also attempting to make a statement to the general public.  CoR’s ad is making the claim that nontheists abide by a recognized standard of ethics.  In order for this to mean anything worth saying, this recognized standard must be substantive, not merely a changeable standard of preference.

Evil: An ongoing problem. Part 5 of ??

In my last blog I discussed the origin of evil, but the following questions may still be asked.  Why does God allow evil to persist?  Couldn't He just stamp it out?  Again I'm going to subdivide persistent evil into two categories.  Most philosophers lump pain and suffering in with evil.  I'm going to treat them as a separate category.  I'm specifically referring to pain and suffering as a result of a lack of food or water, disease, stubbing your toe, getting sunburned, etc.  The second category will consist of your run of the mill evil acts (which also bring about some level of pain and suffering).

Evil: Just Desserts. Part 4 of ??

I've made the point in my previous blogs that the problem of evil can only be assessed by theists as evil points to a standard which points to a standard giver.  So while the problem of evil may exist for atheists, their world view does not give them the resources to required to wade into the problem.  That makes this problem an "in house" problem.
So, what do we who are "in the house" do about this problem?  How do Christians deal with evil and suffering?  I'd like to split this into two topics.  The first is the origin of evil; the second the persistence of evil.  Let's start with the origin of evil as I think that is the most difficult hurdle.

Evil-o, Evil-o! Wherefore art thou Evil-o? Part 3 of ??

So, what is evil? Where did it come from? Did God allow evil to exists? Could He have stopped evil from existing? What makes rape wrong and telling the truth right?

I heard Ravi Zacharias on his radio broadcast define evil as the absence of good resulting in a violation of God's purpose. I rather like this definition. But, before we delve into the opening questions or define evil further, let's review syllogisms. I'm sure you heard this one:

P1) All men are mortal.
P2) Socrates is a man.
C) Socrates is mortal.

For a syllogism to be meaningful it has to fulfill two conditions. First it must be logically consistent. In other words, the conclusion must logically follow from the premises. Second, the premises must be true. If these two conditions are met, then we are forced to take the conclusion. Looking over the above syllogism, we note that it seems to both have logical consistency and true premises. Let's test this out by playing a little switch-a-roo: