Adoption is Thicker Than Blood

For many, adoption is a concept that is difficult to fully understand.  Most people have a surface level view that is typified in most Hollywood renditions -- a child is raised by his adoptive parents but one day he meets his "real" parents, i.e. his bioloical or birth parents.  It seems to be human nature to elevate the importance of biological parents over adoptive ones.  Some are more tactful than others, but deep down everyone harbors this prejudice.  I used feel this way up until I became an father by adoption.

The Bible teaches that followers of Christ are adopted into God's family (Romans 8:15, Ephesians 1:5).  Christians are aware that adoption is a beautiful picture of how God relates with us, but just like with earthly adoption most Christians have a shallow view of what it entails.  It is an abstract concept that doesn't make God's mystery of redemption any clearer.  My intent is to help you understand the power of adoption in both natural and supernatural aspects.  As with all things, however, we can only appreciate the natural in light of God's supernatural revelation.

As I've already said, I used to tacitly believe that being a parent by blood carried greater weight than being one by adoption. Adopting was always on my heart to do, but I thought that it would be later in life after we have "our own" children.  Biblically speaking, however, this elevation of blood genealogy is a sin.  By blood my father is Adam from whom I've inherited sin and rebellion against God (1 Corinthians 15:21-22).  That rebellion defines every fabric of my being, much like how inherited DNA defines the makeup of biological children.  Spiritually I was born a child of Adam, separated from God and unable to change my sinful rebellion.

But God...in His love and mercy...chose to adopt me into his family.  He chose me before I was born. He did not wait until after I was born to see if I was nice enough, smart enough, and without any defects.  He did not wait to choose me until I chose Him first.  He chose me to be in His family before He even created the world (Ephesians 1:4-5).  By His own choice He gave me His Holy Spirit, turned my heart, and received me into His arms when I came to Him in faith.  God brought me into His family through a covenant blood of Jesus Christ -- a covenant that He will forever honor.  By doing so, He rescued me from my biological inheritance of death and granted me His supernatural inheritance of heaven (Acts 26:18).  I now call God my Father instead of Adam (Galatians 4:6).  God is my father by His choice, and He exercised His choice by adopting me.  Choice is thicker than blood.

Once I understood this I had to repent for my sinful devaluation of myself as a father by adoption.  Just as God chose me before I was born, so I chose my son before he was born.  I did not wait until he was older to see what kind of boy he would be...I chose to love and father him irregardless of anything he would do, postivie or negative.  He bears my name and will receive my inheritance.  I chose to bring him into my family through a covenant with him -- a covenant ratified by a judge that I will never break.  My choice to be his father is thicker and stronger than any blood lineage.  The example of my adoption by God the Father erases any doubt or insecurity of my role as an earthly father by adoption, irregardless of what a godless society may believe.  Because adoption explicitly entails choice, adoption is thicker than blood.

How Do You Know? Knowledge By Revelation

Knowledge is something we really take for granted. We use the phrase, “I know (fill in the blank),” but have you ever stopped to think about how you know it? This is especially important when it comes to whether or not you’re a Christian.

Two forms of knowledge that are frequently cited by atheists are empiricism and rationalism. Empiricism holds that the only things that can be known are those which can be detected by our senses – seen, tasted, touched, felt, and heard. It has several presuppositions, some of which include that senses can be trusted, that they accurately relay information about the world around us, that they are the only faculties that can do so, and that the physical (material) world is all that exists. An extension of this is the belief that science (i.e. the scientific method) is the only source of knowledge since it (only) tests for things that can be verified with our senses. (Interestingly this also assumes the validity of the scientific method which itself cannot be tested by anything.)

Rationalism, on the other hand, holds that the only way to know anything is through logic and reason. In other words, we can only say we know something if our propositions are true and our reasoning process is valid – i.e. if our conclusions can be rightly drawn from the premise(s). This method also has its own presuppositions, including the validity of logic itself and the existence of non-physical/immaterial things like laws of logic, propositions, and the mind (atoms don’t evaluate arguments and form conclusions, they just move where they’re pushed. Consequently we must have an immaterial mind if we say we rely on reason for knowledge).

If done correctly, empiricism and rationalism can give us glimpses of knowledge. But can we always trust our senses? Do we always properly think through something to draw the right conclusion? Obviously the answer to both of these questions is no. There must be another way we can know things, and that is by revelation.

Revelation simply means the revealing of something previously unknown or unrecognized.  If you stop and think about it, there are many things that we know based on revelation.  The easiest example is love – I know my wife loves me because she tells me so.  Her revealed love is also substantiated by empirical knowledge (a warm embrace) and rationality (her actions are consistent with her profession).  It is only in light of her revelation that the empirical and rational evidences make sense.  The empirical and rational evidences are important, but I can only know she loves me because she tells me.

Knowledge is not simply a belief…it is a justifiably true belief.  To know something by revelation requires the revealer to be an authority on the matter in question.  My wife’s friends and family could tell me she loves me, but they are not adequate authorities.  Only my wife, in charge of her own heart and feelings, has the authority I can trust to know that she loves me.  Let’s call this revelation by authority.

Another example of how revelation by authority works in my life is the existence of black holes.  While one may say they can be empirically measured and rationally discerned from the data, I personally could never know they exist because I don’t have access to the measurements and don’t understand the calculations.  Stephen Hawking, however, does have such capabilities.  And since he has proven to be a reliable authority on black holes, I personally can know they exist because I trust his revelation concerning them.

So lets apply this to Christianity.  God has revealed Himself to us in generalities through nature and in specifics through communication over the centuries with His prophets.  Jesus of Nazareth affirmed the Hebrew collection of revelations (a.k.a Old Testament) and solidified His authority for further revelation by performing miracles and rising from the dead.  Furthermore, the apostles also had authority because they personally knew Jesus before and after His resurrection, and they confirmed their authority by miracles.  This collection of revelations is known today as the New Testament.

It is because of God’s revelation that I can confidently say that I know God exists, that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that I have a personal connection to Him.  God’s revelation also teaches me a number of other things, including the dual nature of the universe (material and immaterial), the existence of objective morality, and the purpose of all creation, just to name a few.  Only after I accept knowledge through God’s revelation does everything else make sense – my empirical and rational knowledge about myself, the universe, morality, and reality finally fit together into a cohesive system.  Without God’s revelation, however, our bits and pieces of knowledge may be useful but end up being inconsistent and arbitrary when combined together as a system.  As in the example of my wife’s love, empiricism and rationalism can only give glimpses of our world and (if one is willing to admit it) its Creator.  Only the Creator Himself has the authority we can trust to fully know and understand our world, His ways, and ourselves. 

The key question then becomes “what is your authority?” As a Christian, one submits to God’s authority as He revealed it to man and is recorded in the Bible. Non-Christians reject God’s authority and supplant it with something else. Over the years they have tried to use their minds, senses, or a combination of both. Honestly, though, non-Christians place themselves as the ultimate authority – they will be the judge of what they claim as acceptable knowledge using a combination of methods that they deme as worthy to achieve their desired conclusion. This rejection of God’s authority for our own was the first sin ever committed and it is the one sin shared by all of humanity today.

There are many things you know already that are based on the authority of someone else.  If you haven’t already done so, I urge you to open the Bible and ask your Creator to reveal some knowledge to you today.  You might be surprised at what you learn and find yourself wanting more!

Understanding John 15:7 & 16:23

Have you ever wondered how the apostles John and Peter could so confidently say to the lame beggar "get up and walk" in Acts 3:6?  Furthermore, have you ever wrestled with Jesus' promise in John 15:7 and 16:23 that if we abide in Him and ask anything in His name He will do it?  I personally have always had trouble reconciling these clear promises of Jesus to answer prayer with the reality of Him not always doing so.  Maybe I'm not abiding enough?  Maybe I'm not asking correctly or believing enough? 

Such confusion and self-condemnation inherently comes when we interpret Jesus' promises in John 15:7 and 16:23 to mean that He is talking to us today.  This is the way I've always heard these verses taught -- usually they are pulled out of context and used to support the larger notion that Jesus obliges Himself to answer our prayers if they are in the right form.  Recently, though, I discovered that this is a wrong interpretation of these verses.  They do not apply to us today.  While that may sound disappointing at first, it is actually liberating and has actually strengthened my faith in the Scriptures.

Let me start by stating the difference between Scriptural interpretation and application.  Interpretation is the meaning that the passage of Scripture is trying to convey.  It is a function of the historical and Biblical context, the original audience, the literary form (hyperbole, poetry, parable, narrative, etc.), and of course the words used.  Application is simply how we apply the passage's meaning to our every day experiences.

What then is the proper interpretation of Jesus' promises in John 15:7, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you," as well as similar promises in John 14:14, 15:16, and 16:23? We must first examine the context -- who is Jesus speaking to?  He is speaking to the eleven disciples who would soon become His apostles, Christ's officially sanctioned witnesses who would spread the Gospel after His ascension.  It was to these men, and these men only, to whom Jesus obliged Himself to answer every prayer offered in His name.

This was critical since these men would later use miracles as a confirmation of their apostolic authority (2 Cor 12:12).  Let's use the previous example of Peter and John -- they weren't "led" by some intuition, or "received a word" to go heal the beggar.  They saw an opportunity to glorify Christ and they confidently took it, knowing their prayer would be answered because Jesus promised it would be.  These men claimed to carry God's message and their miracles affirmed their authority.

The fact that this promise is for the apostles and not for me does not dwindle my faith; rather, it increases it.  No, I can't claim that Jesus is obliged to answer my prayers if I do everything correctly.  But I do have more confidence in the authority of the New Testament and the apostles who originally proclaimed it, based on the historical accounts of their miraculous signs in Jesus' name.  My faith is strengthened in their Gospel message.

Now, although Christ's promises in John 14-16 do not apply to us today, the principles and application contained therein still do.  We are commanded to abide in Christ (15:4-6), keep His commandments (14:21), pray in Jesus' name (16:24), etc.  We also learn a lot about the role of the Holy Spirit (14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-13), God's love for His followers (14:23), God's promise of eternity for believers (14:1-3, 16:22), the tribulation we will face as believers (16:33), etc.

Knowing that Jesus' promises in John 14-16 are not for me is a relief -- I am no longer confused and disappointed in God when my prayers go unanswered, even when I try my hardest to abide and pray.  John 14-16 still has a lot of valuable instruction for me that I hope to grow in.  And I'm at peace knowing that Christ entrusted the founders of my faith with His promises and affirmed their authority with signs and wonders. 

Peter's Tips For Fruitful Christianity

Faith and Maturity

Wow, I apologize for the long hiatus. Let's get back to it!

Candy and I were priviledged to be under the teaching of a wise Sunday School teacher on Easter morning. As part of our lesson we read a passage out of 2 Peter 1:5-9. Within the context of the lesson, the verse was meant to illustrate that our growth in our Christian life is a process. That process will result in fruitful success if certain qualities are developed within us. Peter indicates that these qualities are successive and are built upon each other. To paraphrase, faith is the foundation of the Christian life; upon faith we are to develop moral excellence, then knowledge, then self-control, then perseverence, then godliness, then brotherly kindness, and then finally love.

As I pondered the application of this passage, it dawned on me that faith, albeit foundational and essential, is only the beginning of a successful and fulfilling Christian life. Looking back at our time under Word of Faith teaching I remembered the constant emphasis on faith. It seemed that the sole purpose of the Christian life was to have enough faith so as to be comfortable and never have any problems. Faith was the subject of every sermon, every Bible study, every application. It always seemed unfulfilling and shallow, but at the time I could never give a concise explanation as to why. After studying this passage, though, I found my answer.

Pastors, churches, and Christians who focus so much of their Biblical study and teaching on faith are depriving themselves of a well-rounded Christian life. Faith is both the genesis and the sustenance of our journey towards sanctification, but Christians who seek to solely develop their faith end up neglecting other important qualities that should also accompany sanctification. At best the result is Christian immaturity; at worst the result is disillusionment with Christianity and withdrawal from corporate fellowship.

2 Peter 1:5-9 teaches us that there is a lot more to being a fruitful and victorious Christian besides faith. To be fruitful and useful to God takes more than just my "receiving" it or "claiming" that I am so; it requires diligence on my part to also grow in moral excellence, knowledge, perseverence, and love.

Now comes the hard part...my actually doing it.

By His Stripes We Are Healed - Isaiah 53:5

I am going out on a limb here by sharing my views on this verse. I know I run the risk of offending some of you, so I ask at the outset for grace to make my argument. I want to share with you why I believe this passage is misquoted by Christians to “claim” physical healing, believing that Christ was scourged for our physical health. It’s not my intent to debate whether or not God miraculously heals today. I believe that He does and there are Scriptures to prove that – I just don’t believe Isaiah 53:5 is one of them.

There are two common ways that I’ve heard this verse interpreted. The first is what I call the “face-value” interpretation and is used by those who claim this verse for physical healing. It draws on the fact that the Hebrew words for “healed” means literally that – physical healing. The second interpretation is to spiritualize what healing really means. They like to cite Luke 4:18 (and its origination in Isaiah 61:1) where Jesus says he comes to heal the brokenhearted, as well as Psalm 147:3 which says “[God] heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds”. Consequently, the healing implied in Isaiah 53:5 is not a literal physical healing, but rather some kind of emotional or spiritual healing in our soul, or in our relationship to God, or something akin to that.

These two interpretations both have serious flaws. Both interpretations pull this verse out of its larger context and try to apply a meaning to it that is not found within that context. The face-value interpretation has serious theological implications – if Christ underwent scourging and crucifixion for the forgiveness of my sins and my physical health, if I get sick, should I not also doubt my forgiveness, too? How can my forgiveness be complete but my physical health incomplete if the same sacrifice paid for both? Furthermore, the spiritualized interpretation to me seems lacking in credibility. While it is a bona fide Biblical teaching that Jesus heals our broken hearts, it is a stretch to draw this interpretation out of the context of Isaiah 53:5 which has to do with sin and iniquity rather than sadness and loneliness.

So then what is left? Well, I believe there is a solid case for this passage of Scripture being interpreted as a figure of speech called a metaphor. A metaphor is “a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable” (Wikipedia). This explains how a word like “healed” can be literally understood while meaning something apart from physical healing. This is at least an equally valid interpretation of Isaiah 53:5 since it takes into account the greater context of sin and forgiveness found in the entire passage. If this was an isolated occurrence of sickness and healing being used as metaphors, I would understand your skepticism about this interpretation’s validity. However, this is not an isolated occurrence in Scripture.

“Sickness” and “healing” are commonly used metaphors in Scripture for sin and forgiveness, respectively. Therefore, this passage in Isaiah 53:5, as well as in its greater context, illustrates how Christ’s sacrifice on the cross paid the penalty for our sin and reconciled our relationship to God. Let’s give a brief overview of how this figure of speech is used elsewhere in Scripture. While I don’t claim this to be an exhaustive treatment of the subject, I do believe there are enough verses to make a solid case for this interpretation. I will only write out select verses so you for illustrative purposes – I encourage you to look them all up before passing judgment on this interpretation.

Sickness is used as a metaphor in the following verses: Isaiah 1:5-6, “Where will you be stricken again, as you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head there is nothing sound in it, only bruises, welts and raw wounds, not pressed out or bandaged, nor softened with oil.”; Psalm 38:10, “There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation, there is no health in my bones because of my sin.”; Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”. Also see Micah 1:9, Hosea 5:13, Jeremiah 10:19, and Jeremiah 13:19-20.

Healing is used as a metaphor for forgiveness in the following verses: Isaiah 19:22, “The LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to them and will heal them.”; Isaiah 33:24, “And no resident will say 'I am sick'; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.” Also see Jeremiah 17:14, 2 Chronicles 30:18-20, Isaiah 3:7, Isaiah 6:10, and Jeremiah 46:10-12.

Sickness and healing are used together as metaphors for sin and forgiveness in the following verses: Jeremiah 8:21-22, “For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken; I mourn, dismay has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored?”; Isaiah 57:17-19, “’Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him; I hid My face and was angry, and he went on turning away, in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners, created the praise of the lips. Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near’, says the LORD, ‘and I will heal him.’”; Jeremiah 33:6-8, “Behold, I will bring to it [Jerusalem] health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace of truth. I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and will rebuild them as they were at first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me.” Finally, the best one for last -- Jeremiah 30:12-17, “For thus says the Lord, ‘Your wound is incurable and your injury is serious. There is no one to plead your cause; no healing for your sore, no recovery for you. All your lovers have forgotten you, they do not seek you; for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the punishment of a cruel one, because your iniquity is great and your sins are numerous. Why do you cry out over your injury? Your pain is incurable. Because your iniquity is great and your sins are numerous, I have done these things to you. Therefore all who devour you will be devoured; and all your adversaries, everyone of them, will go into captivity; and those who plunder you will be for plunder, and all who prey upon you I will give for prey. For I will restore you to health and I will heal you of your wounds’, declares the LORD, ‘because they have called you an outcast, saying ‘It is Zion, no one cares for her’”.

The greatest commentary on Isaiah 53:5, however, is given by the apostle Peter. In 1 Peter 2:24, right after he says that “[Christ] bore our sins in His body on the cross”, he quotes Isaiah by saying “for by His wounds you were healed.” I’ve heard Word of Faith preachers cite this verse as proof for their physical healing interpretation of Isaiah 53:5, but doing so is scripturally dishonest. Physical healing is not what Peter is talking about here – sin and forgiveness is. And Peter rightfully uses Isaiah’s metaphor to drive home his point.

So what is my point in all this? It is to offer a biblically sound interpretation for Isaiah 53:5 that is an alternative to the commonly held interpretation which is used to claim physical healing through Christ’s atoning sacrifice. Properly understood, this passage illustrates our sinful condition and how His crucifixion satisfied God’s wrath so we could be forgiven. This passage should not be cited as proof that Christ’s crucifixion guarantees physical health as part of the New Covenant. To do so is to misapply this portion of Scripture. Preachers and televangelists who proof text this verse and use it as a bedrock for their health and wealth gospel build a heterodox theology and thereby confuse many who trust in their authoritative style of teaching.

That’s all I got to say about that! Let me know what you think. Blessings to you all.

Marriage Encounter

It has been three weeks now since Candy and I went to the Marriage Encounter Weekend sponsored by the Assemblies of God. It was a wonderful time! And I can honestly say that our marriage is richer now for it, too. Candy and I had both been in a spiritual funk the last 2 years, and this was an excellent opportunity to reconnect with each other and with Christ. It was not “group therapy” or anything like that. Rather, the time was equally split between listening to presenters in a whole group setting and writing love letters to each other and dialoging about various topics. Most of all, the weekend reminded us of why we fell in love with each other and showed us what we needed to do to nurture and grow that love for the future.

Personally, I came to grips with some things that I have been dealing with for quite some time, and I was made aware of some things Candy had been wrestling with recently, too. Through letter writing and dialoging, however, Candy and I were able to grow closer and better understand each other’s needs. By the end of the weekend I felt a renewed sense of purpose for our marriage and love for Candy, but I also felt somewhat overwhelmed. You see, I realized on a much deeper plane how lovely and special Candy truly is. I also realized how precious her heart is and how great the responsibility is for me as her husband to guard and protect her heart. When I also considered my inadequacies as a man, though, this seemed like a lofty mark that I was doomed to miss at some point. Our culture, and specifically the Church of Jesus Christ, is littered with the ruins of failed marriages. How could I be sure that I would be the husband that Candy needs and deserves?

As I pondered this, Philippians 4:13 came to mind: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” I realized that as long as I stay submitted to Christ, the life of Christ in me would ensure that I am a loving, serving, and committed husband. In and of myself, I don’t have the capacity to be a good husband. However, as I submit to the authority of Jesus Christ and let the Holy Spirit challenge and change me, He empowers me to be the man that He’s called me to be. Galatians 5:15 says, “…walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”

Candy is a wonderful woman and I am very thankful to God for our marriage. I am thankful, too, for Marriage Encounter, because through it our love has been rejuvenated and equipped for the future. And, most of all, I am thankful to Jesus Christ, for I know that a successful marriage is possible by His power in our lives.

Conversations With a Spiritist - Part II

Last time I shared with you some of the beliefs of a sweet little old lady I met in an airport who was a spiritist, i.e. someone who communicated with spirits. I questioned her on how she knew about spiritual truths, and her knowledge was based on her own relativistic opinion rather than the objective authority of Jesus Christ as revealed to us in Scripture. She mentioned a couple times about “the light of Christ” and its importance in discerning spiritual truth, but she could not explain this concept as anything more than just recognizing that Jesus was some really enlightened spiritual guy. Her view of Jesus was a typical New Age one – that Jesus realized His divinity and showed us how we could all become like God. When I responded that her view of Jesus differs from what is given to us in the Bible, she quickly pointed out that the Bible has been altered many times over the centuries and it cannot be trusted. When I told her about the solid textual evidence of the Bible’s authenticity and how we can be sure that what we have today is what the authors really wrote in the first century, she fell back on her relativistic “inner knowing” that told her the Bible was wrong.

As our boarding time was approaching I sensed a pause in our conversation and an opportunity to share the Gospel. I asked her why Jesus came to Earth. In line with what she already shared, she said that Jesus came to show us how to be spiritual people and to show us the way to God. I then asked if she would let me share what the Bible said about Jesus’ mission and she quietly nodded her head. I told her about mankind’s sin, his rebellion against God, the punishment we all deserve in Hell for our rebellion, that Jesus came and purposefully died in our stead and took our punishment upon himself on the cross, that He rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God, and that eternal life in heaven is promised to all who give their life to Him.

She sat there silent for a few seconds and then got up to use the restroom. I was so nervous that I was shaking – I had never done anything like that before! I have always been pretty shy about sharing the Gospel because I don’t like offending people. I didn’t know if she was going to come back or if she was going to avoid me from here on out. So, after I used the restroom I returned to see her sitting back in her old seat with my former seat still vacant. “What the hay,” I thought, “why not try sitting back down by her?” To my surprise she did not get up and walk away, but instead continued with our previous small talk. She then shared a few more of her spiritual encounters before we began to board. I never talked to her again after that, and she did not make eye contact as I passed her on the plane. Please keep praying for her, that she will be protected from the Evil One and that her eyes will be opened to the Truth.

Please understand that I am not trying to sound as if I am some great evangelist or that this was easy. In hindsight there are a lot of things that I should have said or could have said better. One example is that I wish I would have asked her to test the spirits – try reading the gospel of John out loud and see if the spirits try to stop her. I would expect them to be quite unhappy about her reading the Truth.

I suppose it will always be the case that we could have said more in these situations. We just have to remember that it is the Holy Spirit who draws the heart and not our eloquence or persuasive arguments. Paul boasted that he knew nothing apart from Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 2:1-2). Apologist Greg Koukl likes to say that his goal is not to win converts in these situations; rather, he wants to leave a stone in their shoe – leave them with something to think about that makes them question what they believe. I hope to see this sweet little old lady in heaven someday, as I hope to see all of you, too.
Until next time,
Chad

Conversations with a Spiritist - Part I

Wow! During my last business trip my final connection home was held up in Denver due to flight delays. While I sat at the gate catching up on email an elderly lady sat down one chair away from me. We began to talk about the towns in Kansas we both were familiar with and about some of the places she has lived over the years. When she mentioned that her daughter sees the angel of death, I started paying more attention. Then she began talking about how she interacts with spirits and about the vast unseen spiritual world. It was then that I realized I had better shut off my computer and seriously engage this sweet little old lady about the truth.

It would take hours to unpack everything she talked about – things ranging from reincarnation to the lost city of Atlantis. There are a few main things that I focused on, however, and I would like to share them with you in this blog and in the next. First, I asked her how she knew if the spirits she communicates with are good. She admitted to the existence of evil spirits (which I will hereafter refer to as demons), but she was quite confident in her ability to discern between the two. Her means of discernment was based solely on how she felt inside. “You just know on the inside when something is true, when they are good spirits,” she said repeatedly. I challenged her on this subjective view of spiritual truth. I told her that Jesus Christ, as the risen Son of God, is the only one with the authority to speak on such matters. One should only rely on His objective teaching of spiritual truths instead of our personal subjective judgment. Since Satan masquerades as an angel of light, you cannot be sure if you truly are speaking to an angel or demon. Scripture alone contains the proper teaching on the spiritual world, and our limited, sin-influenced personal feelings can easily be deceived and manipulated by demons.

Another belief she had was that all religions serve the same god. This was a softball and an easy one to refute. I asked her why God would contradict Himself – why would He say Jesus is His Son and not His Son at the same time? Christianity (Jesus is God’s Son) and Islam (Jesus is not God’s Son) cannot both be true (this is the logical law of noncontradiction). This stumped her until she pulled out the “true for me, true for you” card. She promptly used a rose as an example – that she could believe it is a wonderful flower but I could hate it because I was allergic to it. Yes, I agreed that this was an illustration of the subjective quality of liking something, but regarding an objective truth such as color, could the rose be both red and yellow at the same time? The rose would either be red or not red – it could not be both, regardless of how much we each believed both to be true. This also seemed to stump her as well.

In my next blog I will share about her view of Christ and her response to the Gospel. I was reminded after this encounter that our command as Christians is not to win arguments but to win souls. There were a lot of things that I could have countered, but I tried to focus on such elemental beliefs as knowledge and truth during the short time we had together. Please pray for this dear old lady, that she would be delivered from Satan’s deception and be brought into the love and truth of Jesus Christ.

Sorry for the Silence

I want to apologize to you all for my long silence in this blog. Thank you to everyone who has spent their valuable time visiting this site -- I am humbled and I greatly appreciate your interest. I have been very busy with work lately, and consequently much of my free time has been spent with my wonderful wife. She is truly a God-send and I am very thankful that we have each other in this life. I love her very much!

I must confess that I grew somewhat discouraged knowing that not many people were reading this blog. The recent upsurge in views, however, has been refreshing and I am excited to share with you some things that have been on my mind. I would also like to answer any questions you may have regarding Christ, apologetics, or theology. I don't know it all by any means, but there are plenty of resources out there that we can find the answers together.

As always, to God be the glory. Until next time,
Chad

God's Work In My Life

There have been many times in my life when I have questioned God. The questions often arise during times of pain and suffering. Basically, I’m wondering “why?” During my most recent stroll through the valley of pain and despair, one question was posed to me that made me stop and think. The question was this – how has God worked in my life? I would like to share with you how I came to answer this question.

Now I am not a person who has ever had a vision or dream from God. Nor have I ever had a tangible miracle occur in my life. I have not had an impossible prayer answered in an extraordinary way that could only be explained by God’s intervention. So, to answer this question I first turned to other prayers that have been answered in one way or another. These entailed prayers and subsequent blessings of a wonderful wife and marriage, completing my graduate schooling, my wife and I getting our current jobs, etc. Such examples illustrated the indirect working of God in my life since my wife didn’t beam down out of heaven (although she is quite angelic), my diploma didn’t materialize on my office desk, and so on. To cite such instances as examples of God working in my life, however, requires a presuppositional view of God’s sovereignty in these matters. In other words, in order to cite my wonderful wife as evidence that God worked in my life I must first believe that God is sovereign over every area of my life and that He orchestrated our meeting and sustains our marriage.

I have to be honest and say that in the midst of my valley of pain such examples seemed very weak to me. Would these examples really mean anything to an unbeliever who doesn’t acknowledge God at all? A lot of unbelievers have good marriages, nice families, good jobs, etc. To them, it was their own ability that acquired these things. Why would it not be the same for me? After all, it could have been my good looks and charm that won my wife over; it could have been my own intelligence that earned the diploma; it could have been our successful careers that lead to our new jobs. Even though these are arrogant statements and do not represent what I believe, nevertheless they do have equal explanatory power. Or, perhaps my understanding of God’s sovereignty is mistaken. Maybe He doesn’t have any control over the events of my life, in which case the latter reason would explain all of what I was crediting to God.

After some more consideration, though, I was able to find one proof of God’s working in my life that could not also be explained by my own abilities. That evidence is my coming to faith in Jesus Christ. You see, in the midst of my valley I saw how rebellious towards God that I really could be. My flesh wanted nothing to do with God; I was willfully defiant and angry towards Him. There is nothing in my natural self that would or could seek after God. That experience reminded me that apart from His work in my heart by the Holy Spirit, there is no way at all that I would even want to love Christ. Romans 3 clearly outlines the depths of my rebellion prior to His grace. My wanting to follow God is the one thing that could not be equally explained by my own abilities. My coming to faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior is the one undeniable proof of God’s working in my life.

The job, the diploma, even my wonderful marriage are just transitory and earthly. There have been Christians who have lived and experienced absolutely none of these things, let alone any miracles. Yet, God still undeniably worked in their lives by changing their hearts, calling them out of their rebellion, and answering their cry for help. That is the one thing no person has the ability within themselves to do. And now I have a much greater appreciation to Christ for my salvation – the undeniable proof of God’s love for me and His activity in my life.

A Wrong View of Faith

During a recent business trip I had the opportunity to sit next to a real American hero on the airplane. She was one of the National Guard soldiers who were wounded at the Ft. Hood shootings in Texas a while ago. She was wearing a bracelet with the names of her fellow soldiers who died in the assault, and she herself was still recovering from being shot three times.

Our discussion eventually turned to religion. Among other things, she talked about her faith in God and about her conversion from Catholicism to a mainstream Protestant denomination, which will remain nameless at this time. She chose this denomination specifically because it did not dogmatically follow certain teachings of Scripture, but rather was “open to discussion” about those issues that were important to her. She described her denomination’s approach to doctrine with the following analogy – Faith can be pictured as the seat on a stool, which is supported by three legs – Scripture, Tradition, and Discussion. All three of these, she said, need to be weighed in deciding matters of theology. I challenged her on this, but as usual I didn’t think of the best questions to ask until after we parted. With your patience I would like to share this rebuttal with you now.

Building on her analogy of Faith as a stool, let’s visualize this analogy as being drawn on paper. One of the first things that is obvious is that the stool is not resting on anything. Rather, it is just floating in midair. Since we are not on a spaceship, this stool must be resting on something. What is it? What are the legs of Scripture, Tradition, and Discussion resting on? In other words, what is the underlying authority that judges the conflicting claims that may arise between these three?

It should be pretty clear by now that the floor on which this Faith analogy rests is Human Autonomy. In this model, each person is allowed to study the Scripture, Discuss it, and compare it with Tradition to determine theological truth. If I appeal to Scripture for a theological truth claim, then she could simply explain it away with Discussion to reach a view of God that appeals to her. I hope you can see the relativism that this model produces. There can be no definite “right” or “wrong” view of God since man is the ultimate authority in judging what is true about Him and what He has really said about Himself. Furthermore, if God has revealed something to man in Scripture, it can be trumped by Discussion and/or Tradition by the one who is autonomously judging the claim in question. You may recognize this as the original sin of man, where Adam wanted to be arbiter of good and evil instead of God.

Let’s contrast this with another analogy that represents Biblical Christianity. Faith is still represented as a stool, but its three legs are Tradition, Discussion, and Church Government (I just needed a third leg, so this sounded good!). The floor, then, is Scripture instead of Human Autonomy. In this model, all elements that constitute Faith are governed by the objective revelation of God in His Scripture. Scripture serves as the arbiter and judge in matters of dispute between the three legs, not human opinion. This is the only model that accurately reflects the God of Scripture who claims to be the objective authority in all matters relating to Himself.

I am still praying for that hero I met on the airplane. I am not questioning her faith, her relationship to God, or her sincere devotion to Him. Rather, I am questioning how she knows what she knows about Him, which is something we all must deal with. We could have debated the surface issues we disagreed about, but that would have been uproductive given her misunderstanding of Faith. Rather, we must dig deeper to find out why she believed what she believed, in hopes of showing her the problems inherent with her beliefs.

Presuppositions for All

A presupposition is an underlying assumption that influences a particular set of beliefs. Webster’s defines a presupposition as something that is supposed beforehand or that is required beforehand as a condition. Therefore, a presupposition is an assumption that is required before anything can be concluded. You’re probably asking, “what does this have to do with apologetics and Christianity?” Well, I’m glad you asked that! It has everything to do with it.

We all have presuppositions. They are starting points for everything we believe about the nature of God, the nature of reality, how we know what we know, and how we are to live our lives. You may not believe that you have such presuppositions – that you don’t “assume” anything, and that everything you believe can be carefully explained by something else. On the contrary, I challenge you to explain something you believe that does not first rely on a set of assumptions. For example, no scientific experiment can be done without a pre-existing set of conditions. Moreover, the scientific method, which governs the entire experiment, must be assumed beforehand to be true. What tests have been done to prove the scientific method? One must also assume the cause and effect nature of the universe to be true. Otherwise no experiment could be repeatable. One must also presuppose that the human senses are reliable in recording the experiment, and that the human mind is capable of using logic and reason to come to a conclusion based on the results. You see where I’m going with this…

Christians, atheists, and everyone else has fundamental presuppositions regarding the nature of God, nature of reality, how we know what we know, and how we are to live our lives. As Christians we must be aware of our presuppositions. First and foremost, we assert that God exists, and the record of His personal revelation of Himself to mankind is found in the Bible. The Bible, which is the Word of Christ, is self-validating and is the basis for knowledge, morality, and reality. We believe that knowledge begins with Jesus Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossian 2:3). Any knowledge that does not presuppose the Word of Christ will ultimately end in confusion (Proverbs 1:7). For example, only Christianity can give solid grounding for trusting our senses, and for the use of reason and logic to evaluate propositions.

In terms of morality, only Christianity can account for the presence of universal and objective moral standards that all men know to be true in their heart of hearts. Therefore, the commandments of God, both explicit and implicit, are the absolute standards for human morality. Without this objectivity, morality crumbles under the shifting sand of relativism (who says, for example, that murder is wrong?). And finally, in terms of reality, Christianity affirms both the material and immaterial, the physical and non-physical. Therefore, Christianity accounts for the human conscience and for the innate questions about life after death. Christianity also accounts for the physical nature of the universe – its fine tuning to harbor life, the uniformity of nature (which is what allows for the repeatability of experiments), and the presence of fixed physical laws.

When one’s presuppositions do not begin with Jesus Christ and His Word, however, his own set of presuppositions will eventually contradict each other and be shown to be arbitrary in their grounding (an example of this is in my blog “Bad Religion?”). Only when he repents of his rebellion and turns to Jesus Christ for forgiveness will he be able then to coherently explain such things as reality, morality, and knowledge. How about you? Have you asked Jesus Christ to be your Lord? If not, I encourage you to do so. Please, accept God’s offer of peace and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Otherwise, you will have to pay the penalty for sin yourself.

Bad Religion?

Recently my wife and I were enjoying lunch together at a nice sandwich shop when I saw a young man wearing a provocative T-shirt. It bore the words “Bad Religion” and had a red circle and hash over a cross. At first I was indignant at his overt slam on my Savior. After a little bit, though, I began to wonder about what he believed and why he believed it. It’s perfectly natural for people to rebel and hate Jesus Christ – I did up until He saved me and opened my eyes.

He left shortly afterwards with his friends, so I was unable to talk with him about his beliefs. If I had the opportunity, though, I would have liked to ask him a couple questions. If you would be so kind as to indulge me, I would like to share my questions with you now.

My first question would have been, “What standard of morality are you using to call Christianity ‘bad’?” For him to say that anything is “good” or “bad” implies that there are moral truths. There are things that we can all agree are evil – incest, murder, extortion, rape, etc. Christianity can call these things evil because God declares them to be. In other words, morality is grounded in the objective character of God. The atheist, however, has no such grounding. Atheists rely on subjective morals, i.e. “it’s OK for me but not for you” morality. For example, I would suspect that this young man would claim that sex outside of marriage is a subjective moral decision – it depends on what the person wants to believe. Would not his declaration of Christianity’s immorality be just as subjective? If his moral standard is true, he has no reason to be so vehement against Christianity because it is just a matter of personal taste.

So to conclude my first point, the young man explicitly believes in morality based on the wording on his shirt. If pressed, he would have to admit his moral standards are subjective and have no weight in a real world application.

Secondly, I would like to ask him, “Why is Christianity so bad?” He would probably cite such evils as the crusades, Salem witch trials, the Inquisitions, etc. (As a side note, these charges have to do with murder, which is declared as evil in Christianity. Notice how the atheist has to borrow from Christian morality to argue against it, since his moral standard would allow murder as a matter of personal taste.) This is a common charge against the validity of Christianity. If Christianity is false because of the evils that so-called Christians have committed, then atheism must also be false. Atheists such as Hitler, Stalin, Pol-Pot, and Mao Tse Tung have killed far more people than any so-called Christians have. Using this line of reasoning, then, atheism must also be false.

There is a second flaw to this argument, however, and it is a logical one. It is called the ad hominem fallacy, or an argument “against the man.” It is when someone attacks the person rather than rebutting the person’s argument. To say Christianity is false because Christians do bad things is an ad hominem fallacy. It does nothing to nullify the truth claims of Jesus Christ or the New Testament. On the contrary, Christians doing bad things is consistent with the New Testament, since much of the epistles are devoted to teaching and correcting Christians who have made choices that were inconsistent with their faith.

I wish I would have had (or made) the opportunity to visit with the young man who was so opposed to Christianity. I would have liked to question him on what he believes and why he believes it. Maybe he would not have responded the way I’ve postulated here. But, then again, maybe he would. If so, the truth claims of Christianity would stand firm against his weak arguments against it.

God is Not Fair

"God, you're not fair!"

This has been a common complaint from my lips at various times in my life. We all know bad things happen to "good" people, and often times good things happen to "bad" people. Funny how we always think of ourselves as good, never deserving of the misfortune that inevitably comes upon everyone at one time or another on this earth. This is where we as Christians may feel betrayed by God. "God", we may say, "I've obeyed you, sought you with all my heart, and want to glorify you with my life. Why am I dealing with [fill in the blank] while Jeff, who doesn't care about you at all, doesn't have any problems? You're not fair!"

One day while I was thinking about this statement, it dawned on me what I meant by God not being fair. I actually was accusing God of not being just. If God was just, he would see my righteous desires and reward them with the absence of troubles, whereas unbelieving Jeff would have to pay for his willful rebellion. Through this, though, God has taught me a valuable lesson about His justice and mercy.

I should not be so quick to call for God's justice. You see, it would have been perfectly just for God to send me straight to hell for my sins. God did not have to save me from His wrath - He would have been fair to let me suffer the due penalty for my rebellion. Thankfully, though, God also excercises mercy with His justice. He decided, out of love, to send His Son Jesus to pay the penalty for my sin, thereby satisfying God's justice while at the same time extending His mercy to me as an undeserving sinner. He chose to save me out of no merit of my own, but rather because of His sovereign decision.

So when I look upon the fortune of unbelievers and compare that to my misfortune, I have no right to say "I deserve [fill in the blank]!" In actuality, the only thing I truly deserve is the fire of hell. The earthly fortunes of unbelievers are only temporary; unless they repent, their good times will quickly be forgotten in hell. I find myself actually pitying the unbeliever who has no regard for God because of his good fortune in this life.

In conclusion, we should not be so quick to say God is not fair and call for His justice. We must remember what we truly deserve for our sins. No, God is not equal in how He apportions His blessings. The Bible says that He sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous (Matthew 5:45), implying that God does not withhold His blessings based upon how "good" somebody may try to be. But I should not complain about His unfairness, because if He wanted to be truly fair (and excercise His justice), I would have my ticket for hell in hand. Our misfortune as Christians in this life is only temporary, and it will be used by God to shape us into Christ's image (Romans 8:28-29), and our perseverance through the trials will result in greater reward in heaven.

Word of Faith Overview

"Word of Faith" is the name of a brand of Christian doctrine also known as the "Prosperity Gospel" or the "Health and Wealth Gospel." As one who has sat under that teaching for a season in my life, I feel that I can accurately summarize what it teaches without misrepresenting it. I've provided a quick summary of the doctrine below.

At the outset I want to say that this is not a criticism of those who are Word of Faith Christians themselves. Many of our dear Christian friends are Word of Faith and we deeply love them. Nor am I saying that they are not Believers, and I am not calling Word of Faith a heresy. I simply wish to outline the doctrine and let you decide as to its orthodoxy.

The basic tenants of Word of Faith are as follows:

1. It is God's will (His desire) that mankind be free from the curses caused by sin, e.g. sickness, poverty, despair, and various ills, in this present life.


2. Jesus Christ's death on the cross and His resurrection (His atonement) purchased the victory over sin and thus with it the victory over the above mentioned ills, too.


3. Salvation from our sins comes by faith in Christ. Likewise, salvation from sickness, poverty, and demonic oppression in this life also results from our faith.


4. God wants to give us these good things (health, prosperity, deliverance), but will not do so if we are disobedient (in sin) and/or if we don't have enough faith for them to come to pass.


5. Therefore, if we have anything bad happen in our lives, it is because we either are in sin or we don't have enough faith for it to happen.


6. God is powerless to do anything in our lives until those two criteria are met. In the meantime, Satan runs roughshod over Christians trying to keep them from meeting these criteria.

I hope you have picked up on some of the errors in the points above. Each point has some truth and some error in it. It is not my intention to go into great detail about them this in this blog, since entire books have been devoted to this issue. Rather, I just want to point out the logical conclusion of this theology in #5. This leaves many Word of Faith Christians disillusioned when they're doing everything they possibly can to love and obey God, and yet suffering still comes upon them. There is a great deal of condemnation associated with this teaching for anybody that doesn't "have it together."

I invite any discussion from my Word of Faith friends on the points above. Perhaps at some point I will devote blogs to each point in an effort to shine the Light of the Word on them and to bring Biblical balance to them.

Until next time,

ChadDA

Begging the Question of Authority

Begging the question is a term for the logical fallacy where one assumes to be true the very point that he is making an argument for. In essence, the person uses his conclusion as a premise. A commonly used example of this fallacy is meant to discredit Christianity. It goes as follows:


"The Bible is true because God wrote it. The Bible says that God exists. Therefore, God exists."


We as Christians need to be aware of this logical fallacy when we justify God's authority by citing the Bible. When we as Christians are confronted with this, however, we must be quick to point out that the Unbeliever faces the same problem about their ultimate authority, too.


For example, the rationalist (who believes human reason is the ultimate authority) will use reason and logic to justify their claim. In effect, they open their "bible" of human reason to justify reason as their ultimate authority. Furthermore, the atheistic scientist who believes that the emperical scientific method is their ultimate authority must first assume the scientific method to be true, and then cite emperical evidences derived from the scientific method to validate the authority of the scientific method.


The point is this: all ultimate authorities must validate themselves. This is true regardless of what you claim your ultimate authority to be. Whatever you use to test something is your ultimate authority. If most people (including Christians) are honest with themselves, they would find that their own autonomous reason is their ultimate authority. They will only accept certain Biblical claims as valid so long as it doesn't infringe on their personal view of God and morality. They will only accept logical arguments that come to the same conclusions that their "common sense" affirms. They will only accept emperical evidence that doesn't challenge what they already believe about the world. This propensity for man to be his own ultimate authority is innate in all of us and goes back to our ancestor Adam.


In conclusion, Christians are not alone when they beg the question and cite the Bible to justify God as the ultimate authority. To say Christians defy logic with this reasoning is to also admit the accuser does it as well. Everyone must do the same thing in regards to their ultimate authorities!