I just finished reading the book Metaphysics by William Hasker. I was reading it for my own personal growth and to supplement a Christian point of view for my Philosophy of Mind class. This book really changed my understanding of what it means to be a Christian philosopher. I used to think that in philosophy I can assume what God reveals to us in the Bible as groundwork and then move on from there. I no longer take that view point. To do that is to study theology. Theology and philosophy are supposed to be different and I would just be replacing philosophy with theology. I honestly never understood the difference between them, but now I do. This is not to say that I stop believing what God has said in the Bible to be true but that I try to come to those conclusions using philosophical reasoning.
I believe that the Christian faith is capable to stand up against all logical attacks. God is a logically consistent God and no logically true argument can ever knock Him down. This is where I come in as a Christian philosopher. I set out to prove the existence and nature of God through philosophical reasoning. The reason why this is so important is that theology is studied by people who already believe in the existence of God according to His revealed Word but philosophy is studied by people with all kinds of worldviews. Some of these worldviews include the idea of a God and others exclude it.
Metaphysics is all about answering the question: what is the ultimate nature of reality? There are many different metaphysical points of view about reality of the world, humans, and God. Can we develop a Christian metaphysic? This is what Hasker says in response.
"There is no one metaphysical system which is definitely Christian, but rather a number of systems, ll of them more or less inconsistent with each other and all of them more or less adaquate to the content of Christian faith. But the fact that Christianity is a religion of salvation also suggests that in a sense no philosophical system can be fully Christian, because no philosophical system can express the unique content of Christianity."
This idea was hard for me to grasp because I have such a strong bias towards objective Truth and here it seems that Christians can hold different metaphysical beliefs and both still staying true to Biblical revelation about reality. When I think about this further I think I understand and it is humbling. Basically the Bible tells us a lot but not everything about the ultimate nature of reality.
What would make these Christian metaphysical theories Christian? Hasker responds to this with 3 things that a Christian metaphysic must have.
1. It must speak of God
2. It must speak of Creation by God.
3. It must speak of man as the image of God.
Is there at least some broad categories that all Christian metaphysics should fall into? Hasker points out that a Christian metaphysic must be theistic by nature and cannot be naturalistic, pantheistic, or panentheistic. This is because theism is the only one that acknowledges God's true character as Creator of the world and existing independently of His creation. Also a Christian metaphysic must adopt philosophical realism concerning the physical world.
An important note to end on is that no philosophical reasoning or human reflection can bring us the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. This is the limit of this discipline. The Apostle Paul expands on this in 1 Corinthians 2:4-8.
"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power. We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God's wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."
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Monday, February 26, 2007
Saturday, February 24, 2007
EVANGELISM: Partnering in God's Work on Campus
I recently have had very positive experiences doing conversational evangelism and I would like to share them. This year while being committed to conversational evangelism as a effective method of evangelism and continually teaching others about it I have done little of it myself this year. After York Moore's extremely encouraging and empowering training on evangelism a couple of weeks ago I was convicted that I needed to practice what I have been preaching. Mandy also had this conviction and committed to doing conversational evangelism with each of the servant leadership team members during our 1 on 1's.
Last Thursday Mandy and I met and were both very nervous but knew that we wanted to partner with God's work on campus. Once again fear set into my heart and I began thinking of all the excuses of why this wouldn't be a good idea and why there would be no one to talk to, but I was wrong. After a very encouraging time of prayer Mandy spotted a girl who was sitting alone eating and felt that would be a good person to ask.
We walked over and introduced ourselves, Mandy of course with her amazing gifts of compassion and gentleness, gave the introduction and asked if she would like to talk with us about her spiritual beliefs about Jesus. Her name was Abby and she said yes. Contrary to what I had thought in my head, she was very open to talking with us since we were open to her in what we wanted to talk about. After getting to know her a little I asked if I could share with her the Gospel of Jesus in a drawing. She said that was cool. And so I drew the bridge diagram and persisted to walk her through the full Gospel of Jesus and she intently listened to what I was sharing. I used the relevant information that she shared with us about herself and her spiritual background into the Gospel presentation. After that I asked her if she had heard this before and she wasn't really sure. She had heard bits and pieces of it. She then went on to say that she had gone through some kind of confirmation process. We weren't really sure where to go from there because she wasn't sure what to think. So we didn't push it we asked if we could pray for her and so we prayed for her. Then we exchanged information and she said she lives in Reinhard and wanted to get plugged in. So we got her information and passed it onto Ben, who is the Reinhard Community Group Leader.
I learned a lot from this experience. Mainly that going for awhile without doing conversational evangelism brings back all my fears and doubts about it. I loved seeing God work through our conversation and Mandy and I got to partner in it. This never would have happened if we didn't have the boldness to go out of our comfort zones and act on our belief that God is at work in people's hearts. Conversational evangelism is an amazingly effective way to partner with God in His work and I love it!
Last Thursday Mandy and I met and were both very nervous but knew that we wanted to partner with God's work on campus. Once again fear set into my heart and I began thinking of all the excuses of why this wouldn't be a good idea and why there would be no one to talk to, but I was wrong. After a very encouraging time of prayer Mandy spotted a girl who was sitting alone eating and felt that would be a good person to ask.
We walked over and introduced ourselves, Mandy of course with her amazing gifts of compassion and gentleness, gave the introduction and asked if she would like to talk with us about her spiritual beliefs about Jesus. Her name was Abby and she said yes. Contrary to what I had thought in my head, she was very open to talking with us since we were open to her in what we wanted to talk about. After getting to know her a little I asked if I could share with her the Gospel of Jesus in a drawing. She said that was cool. And so I drew the bridge diagram and persisted to walk her through the full Gospel of Jesus and she intently listened to what I was sharing. I used the relevant information that she shared with us about herself and her spiritual background into the Gospel presentation. After that I asked her if she had heard this before and she wasn't really sure. She had heard bits and pieces of it. She then went on to say that she had gone through some kind of confirmation process. We weren't really sure where to go from there because she wasn't sure what to think. So we didn't push it we asked if we could pray for her and so we prayed for her. Then we exchanged information and she said she lives in Reinhard and wanted to get plugged in. So we got her information and passed it onto Ben, who is the Reinhard Community Group Leader.
I learned a lot from this experience. Mainly that going for awhile without doing conversational evangelism brings back all my fears and doubts about it. I loved seeing God work through our conversation and Mandy and I got to partner in it. This never would have happened if we didn't have the boldness to go out of our comfort zones and act on our belief that God is at work in people's hearts. Conversational evangelism is an amazingly effective way to partner with God in His work and I love it!
LOGIC: How to Evaluate a Logical Argument
We very rarely encounter formally stated logical arguments but very frequently encounter arguments being made calling themselves logical arguments. How is a person to evaluate the claim being made? In my major, philosophy, this is something that we focus on a lot. Following the rule of charity we should reconstruct someone's argument by putting it in general form. The rule of charity is that you should always try as best you can to reconstruct someone's argument before evaluating it.
All logical arguments are either deductive or inductive. Deductive logic is the easiest and most intuitive for people to understand. I believe that part of what it means to be human is to think rationally. I also believe that God built the ability to see logical truths into the human mind. Inductive logic has not been formalized and does not give us the precision accuracy that deductive logic does. Here is one of the easiest general forms for a 2 premise deductive logical argument
P1. If X then Y
P2. X
___________
C. Y
P stands for premise and they are numbered in sequential order. C stands for conclusion.
This is most basic type of deductive logical argument in general form. By adding premises and sub conclusions they get increasingly complicated.
When evaluating a logical argument you cannot dismiss the conclusion because you don't like it or it doesn't fit into the framework of your preconceived notions. It is the truth of the premises that give the conclusion its justification. So if you want to evaluate an argument you analyze the premises NOT the conclusion. If you can falsify one of the premises, which occurs when you show a counter example to the premise, then you can logically reject the conclusion. If any one of the premises can be shown to be false then the conclusion must be rejected because it relies on the truth of all of the premises for it to be justified as true.
This is very entry level understanding of deductive logic and I would encourage everyone to take a logic course to understand it better. For those of you at Clarion, enroll in Dr. Phillips Logic 1 class, he teaches at least 1 section every semester.
All logical arguments are either deductive or inductive. Deductive logic is the easiest and most intuitive for people to understand. I believe that part of what it means to be human is to think rationally. I also believe that God built the ability to see logical truths into the human mind. Inductive logic has not been formalized and does not give us the precision accuracy that deductive logic does. Here is one of the easiest general forms for a 2 premise deductive logical argument
P1. If X then Y
P2. X
___________
C. Y
P stands for premise and they are numbered in sequential order. C stands for conclusion.
This is most basic type of deductive logical argument in general form. By adding premises and sub conclusions they get increasingly complicated.
When evaluating a logical argument you cannot dismiss the conclusion because you don't like it or it doesn't fit into the framework of your preconceived notions. It is the truth of the premises that give the conclusion its justification. So if you want to evaluate an argument you analyze the premises NOT the conclusion. If you can falsify one of the premises, which occurs when you show a counter example to the premise, then you can logically reject the conclusion. If any one of the premises can be shown to be false then the conclusion must be rejected because it relies on the truth of all of the premises for it to be justified as true.
This is very entry level understanding of deductive logic and I would encourage everyone to take a logic course to understand it better. For those of you at Clarion, enroll in Dr. Phillips Logic 1 class, he teaches at least 1 section every semester.
Monday, February 19, 2007
EPISTEMOLOGY: A Descartes Joke
Credit for this joke does not belong to me but my friend Chris.
Descartes walked into a bar and the bar tender asked him if he wanted a drink. Descartes said "I think not" and then he immediately vanished in a puff of logic. ;)
Descartes is famous for his foundational belief called the cogito, which is "I think therefore I am". It is the only indubitable claim that we can know, which means it cannot be doubted, because when you try to doubt your existence you have to do it by thinking which proves that you exist. If you don't get it then ask me about it sometime.
Descartes walked into a bar and the bar tender asked him if he wanted a drink. Descartes said "I think not" and then he immediately vanished in a puff of logic. ;)
Descartes is famous for his foundational belief called the cogito, which is "I think therefore I am". It is the only indubitable claim that we can know, which means it cannot be doubted, because when you try to doubt your existence you have to do it by thinking which proves that you exist. If you don't get it then ask me about it sometime.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
EVANGELISM: The Invitation to the person of Jesus
In InterVarsity we talk a lot about doing evangelism as a natural outflow of our love for Christ and a step into maturity for the Christian. What is our mindset about sharing the Gospel? I confess that up until this point I have been treating Jesus Christ as a theological concept instead of real person. I have been acting as Jesus defense in the trial of life to all skeptics of His existence, divinity, and relevance to their lives.
The New Testament is full of examples of disciples of Christ given their testimony to the skeptics and the nonbelievers. Upon a fresher look at these examples I realized that somewhere along the way I forgot about Jesus role in evangelism. That I am not inviting someone only to subscribe to a set of intellectual beliefs but to the real and ALIVE person of Jesus Christ. York Moore, an IV evangelist, actually phrased this Truth better than I could by saying that God is inviting us to take part in the work His is already doing in the hearts of nonbelievers and skeptics all over the world.
These Truths of God already doing the work of evangelism and the person of Jesus Christ as who we invite people to meet, should change our mindset of evangelism. We should be excited about who God must have set up to talk with us about the most amazing Truth in the whole world. We should invite skeptics to wrestle with the claims of Jesus in the Gospels and to trust that the Holy Spirit is the one doing the convicting in the hearts of humans. This may seem simple to you but an amazing Truth to me that I have forgotten.
The New Testament is full of examples of disciples of Christ given their testimony to the skeptics and the nonbelievers. Upon a fresher look at these examples I realized that somewhere along the way I forgot about Jesus role in evangelism. That I am not inviting someone only to subscribe to a set of intellectual beliefs but to the real and ALIVE person of Jesus Christ. York Moore, an IV evangelist, actually phrased this Truth better than I could by saying that God is inviting us to take part in the work His is already doing in the hearts of nonbelievers and skeptics all over the world.
These Truths of God already doing the work of evangelism and the person of Jesus Christ as who we invite people to meet, should change our mindset of evangelism. We should be excited about who God must have set up to talk with us about the most amazing Truth in the whole world. We should invite skeptics to wrestle with the claims of Jesus in the Gospels and to trust that the Holy Spirit is the one doing the convicting in the hearts of humans. This may seem simple to you but an amazing Truth to me that I have forgotten.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
METAPHYSICS: Is Life After Death Possible?
The following is a deductive argument for life after death being possible.
P1. Some individuals have survived the death of their body
P2. Actuality entails possibility
P3. There is no relevant distinction between myself and those individuals
_____________________________________________
C. It is possible that I can survive the death of my body
The evidence in support of premise 1 is the many accounts of near-death experiences that have been documented by doctors in hospitals, the resurrection of Christ, and many others.
Premise 2 is a simple logical truth that cannot be refuted.
Premise 3 is true for the near-death experience people. There is a major distinction between Christ and any of us in that He was God and man, while we are only human. In the other historical accounts of Biblical figures being resurrected like Lazarus and Dorkus there is no relevant distinction.
What I love about this argument is the skill of using premise 2. While the conclusion of the argument is not a strong Truth claim it at least leaves the door open for a deeper consideration of a spiritual world for the materialist. All you have to do is prove that at least 1 person in all of history has survived the death of their body and that makes it possible for it to be true for anyone else!
P1. Some individuals have survived the death of their body
P2. Actuality entails possibility
P3. There is no relevant distinction between myself and those individuals
_____________________________________________
C. It is possible that I can survive the death of my body
The evidence in support of premise 1 is the many accounts of near-death experiences that have been documented by doctors in hospitals, the resurrection of Christ, and many others.
Premise 2 is a simple logical truth that cannot be refuted.
Premise 3 is true for the near-death experience people. There is a major distinction between Christ and any of us in that He was God and man, while we are only human. In the other historical accounts of Biblical figures being resurrected like Lazarus and Dorkus there is no relevant distinction.
What I love about this argument is the skill of using premise 2. While the conclusion of the argument is not a strong Truth claim it at least leaves the door open for a deeper consideration of a spiritual world for the materialist. All you have to do is prove that at least 1 person in all of history has survived the death of their body and that makes it possible for it to be true for anyone else!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
INTERVARSITY: 10 Reasons Why I Love IVCF
1. Student Leadership. A core commitment of IV is that it is a student run fellowship on each campus. The great benefit of student leadership is that the students better understand the spiritual needs of the campus and it creates an indigenous group that reflects the Christian students of the campus. IV does not go around the country and have a cookie cutter mold that they make ever campus fit into. They have core commitments which are essential to a Christian fellowship but the specifics are formed by the student leaders of each chapter.
2. Women in Leadership. IV has the reputation of propelling women in positions of leadership without the student chapters and in the organization as a whole. This has been a place of growth for me since I have come to college but I have learned how the correct interpretations of leadership show that it is fully Biblical for women to take these positions. IV is at the forefront of this church issue and celebrates the gifts that Christian women bring to our chapters. I am personally serving on our chapters servant leadership team with 4 sisters in Christ. While I would love to have more men represented on the team I do not doubt God's gifting to my 4 amazing sisters in Christ.
3. Biblical Training. What thrust me into the vision and passion of our IV chapter was attending my first conference, Chapter FOCUS Week, at the end of my freshmen year. There I received amazing Bible expositions and practical tools to grow deeper in my faith and live it out loud back on campus. I can mark the milestones of my spiritual journey at IV conferences, because at each one God met me in a specific area of my life that I need to grow. These great training conferences included: School of Leadership Training, Global Projects, MAC Training, Urban Plunges, Urbana Missions Convention, Fall and Spring Conferences, and Chapter FOCUS Week.
4. InterVarsity Press. Being a logical minded person who loves to worship God with my mind I love to read books that grow my faith. IV Press is committed to publishing Bible centered teaching on specific issues of growth for the church. IV Press has a reputation of scholarly work. Christian scholars who want to publish there books come to IVP because they know they have an audience of college students and faculty and a history of scholarly publications.
5. Evangelism. The deeper I go into the leadership of IV the more I see a heart and passion for evangelism from people who have the gift and from those who don't. Since coming to Clarion this has been an area of huge growth for me. IV has taught me how important conversational evangelism and friendship evangelism is and the relevance to the college campus. On our campus IV is the Christian fellowship who is always pushing for more evangelism and is willing to be bold in proclaiming Truth in compelling ways to our campus.
6. IV Staff. Jesse, my staff worker, has had more of a positive impact on my spiritual growth that any other single person in my 5 years of college. Jesse continually challenges me in the areas that I am weak and encourages me in the areas of my strengths. All the IV staff that I have ever met at conferences love their job and love building up college students to be successful in leading their chapters. This has had such a positive impact on me that I have been called to participate in the ministry by going on staff. Jesse has now become more than just my staff worker but my friend as well.
7. Social Justice. I have not really thought much of my responsibility as a Christian to stand up and fight for social injustice in the world. I guess this comes from a very narrow view of my world being the world. Participating in IV conferences has taught me that I need to view my faith through the lens of AIDS, genocide, child sex slaves, and all other kinds of oppression. This is a relatively new area of growth for me but I am really open to it. I love how IV is so committed to putting hands and feet on Christianity and wanting to teach students how to use their position of privilege to stand up for the oppressed people who have no voice.
8. Racial Reconciliation. My personal growth in this area has only been in the past 2 years. Sadly this is an area that the Christian Church as a whole is very lacking in. IV is committed to the hard task of helping students of different ethnicities reconcile their differences and celebrate their diversity in Christian community. The IVP book More Than Equals is one of the best books written on the subject. This is a hard area of growth for me as a white person to admit that my former views were racist and that I need to be proactive in sacrificing my culture and comfort to go into the culture of other ethnicities and build them up not by making them assimilate into my culture but learning how to lift up their culture and bring it into the spotlight.
9. Vision. One of the most attractive things about IV for me is their vision to make world changers. It is so full of passion and identifies the strategic place that the university campus is. The top 1% of the worlds population graduate from college with a degree. These are the people who will run the businesses of the future, make the laws, publish books, educate our youth, and create tomorrow's media. In short, these are the people who will change the world for better or for worse in the future. The more that become Christians in college the more Christian workers who represent a Biblical worldview in the secular marketplace. Change the University and you change the world!
10. Inductive Bible Study. IV is fully committed to the inductive Bible study method. I had never heard of this kind of Bible study before and as I have learned that most people outside Bible college never hear of this study method. This method has truly revolutionized the way I understand and read the Bible. It completely reveals the Bible for all its wonderful mystery. It guards anyone who uses it from bad interpretations and shows the Bible's academic value. I love the inductive Bible study method, I have never learned so much in my spiritual growth prior to college then I have in the last five years of college at my inductive Bible studies. When done with a manuscript it makes you do the hard work of observing then in the context of community discover the riches it has to offer. I still love to look back over my manuscripts from the past 5 years of inductive Bible studies and see what I have learned.
2. Women in Leadership. IV has the reputation of propelling women in positions of leadership without the student chapters and in the organization as a whole. This has been a place of growth for me since I have come to college but I have learned how the correct interpretations of leadership show that it is fully Biblical for women to take these positions. IV is at the forefront of this church issue and celebrates the gifts that Christian women bring to our chapters. I am personally serving on our chapters servant leadership team with 4 sisters in Christ. While I would love to have more men represented on the team I do not doubt God's gifting to my 4 amazing sisters in Christ.
3. Biblical Training. What thrust me into the vision and passion of our IV chapter was attending my first conference, Chapter FOCUS Week, at the end of my freshmen year. There I received amazing Bible expositions and practical tools to grow deeper in my faith and live it out loud back on campus. I can mark the milestones of my spiritual journey at IV conferences, because at each one God met me in a specific area of my life that I need to grow. These great training conferences included: School of Leadership Training, Global Projects, MAC Training, Urban Plunges, Urbana Missions Convention, Fall and Spring Conferences, and Chapter FOCUS Week.
4. InterVarsity Press. Being a logical minded person who loves to worship God with my mind I love to read books that grow my faith. IV Press is committed to publishing Bible centered teaching on specific issues of growth for the church. IV Press has a reputation of scholarly work. Christian scholars who want to publish there books come to IVP because they know they have an audience of college students and faculty and a history of scholarly publications.
5. Evangelism. The deeper I go into the leadership of IV the more I see a heart and passion for evangelism from people who have the gift and from those who don't. Since coming to Clarion this has been an area of huge growth for me. IV has taught me how important conversational evangelism and friendship evangelism is and the relevance to the college campus. On our campus IV is the Christian fellowship who is always pushing for more evangelism and is willing to be bold in proclaiming Truth in compelling ways to our campus.
6. IV Staff. Jesse, my staff worker, has had more of a positive impact on my spiritual growth that any other single person in my 5 years of college. Jesse continually challenges me in the areas that I am weak and encourages me in the areas of my strengths. All the IV staff that I have ever met at conferences love their job and love building up college students to be successful in leading their chapters. This has had such a positive impact on me that I have been called to participate in the ministry by going on staff. Jesse has now become more than just my staff worker but my friend as well.
7. Social Justice. I have not really thought much of my responsibility as a Christian to stand up and fight for social injustice in the world. I guess this comes from a very narrow view of my world being the world. Participating in IV conferences has taught me that I need to view my faith through the lens of AIDS, genocide, child sex slaves, and all other kinds of oppression. This is a relatively new area of growth for me but I am really open to it. I love how IV is so committed to putting hands and feet on Christianity and wanting to teach students how to use their position of privilege to stand up for the oppressed people who have no voice.
8. Racial Reconciliation. My personal growth in this area has only been in the past 2 years. Sadly this is an area that the Christian Church as a whole is very lacking in. IV is committed to the hard task of helping students of different ethnicities reconcile their differences and celebrate their diversity in Christian community. The IVP book More Than Equals is one of the best books written on the subject. This is a hard area of growth for me as a white person to admit that my former views were racist and that I need to be proactive in sacrificing my culture and comfort to go into the culture of other ethnicities and build them up not by making them assimilate into my culture but learning how to lift up their culture and bring it into the spotlight.
9. Vision. One of the most attractive things about IV for me is their vision to make world changers. It is so full of passion and identifies the strategic place that the university campus is. The top 1% of the worlds population graduate from college with a degree. These are the people who will run the businesses of the future, make the laws, publish books, educate our youth, and create tomorrow's media. In short, these are the people who will change the world for better or for worse in the future. The more that become Christians in college the more Christian workers who represent a Biblical worldview in the secular marketplace. Change the University and you change the world!
10. Inductive Bible Study. IV is fully committed to the inductive Bible study method. I had never heard of this kind of Bible study before and as I have learned that most people outside Bible college never hear of this study method. This method has truly revolutionized the way I understand and read the Bible. It completely reveals the Bible for all its wonderful mystery. It guards anyone who uses it from bad interpretations and shows the Bible's academic value. I love the inductive Bible study method, I have never learned so much in my spiritual growth prior to college then I have in the last five years of college at my inductive Bible studies. When done with a manuscript it makes you do the hard work of observing then in the context of community discover the riches it has to offer. I still love to look back over my manuscripts from the past 5 years of inductive Bible studies and see what I have learned.
Monday, February 12, 2007
LAW: The Slippery Slope of Selective Obedience
I was talking with my friend Steve and someone made a comment about how Dr. Rourke wouldn't let anyone jaywalk on the streets of Washington, D.C. while we were there for the March for Life. Then Steve asked me, do you know why he doesn't do that? I wasn't sure, then Steve responded explaining how Dr. Rourke has a conviction that as a Christian he cannot pick and choose which laws to break and which to obey, because it becomes a slippery slope of continually making compromises that start out small and eventually end in ruin. How interesting!
This of course got me pondering over this concept. Should this be a standard by which all Christians should follow?
About 2 years ago my best friend and former roommate, Greg, was convicted about his use of illegal software and collection of illegal media. He uninstalled all the illegal software and deleted the install files and deleted his illegal media. This really fascinated me because just 2 years earlier during our freshmen year Greg was hording all of the illegal software he could find and even bragging about how large his collection got. This is a dramatic change my friends. Myself and Niki (now his beautiful wife) were surprised that he would do such a thing. I remember thinking how it seemed unnecessary and breaking such a small law wasn't hurting anyone.
Was Greg's collection of illegal software and media hurting anyone? Was his action of deleting it unnecessary?
For as long as I have known him, my missionary friend Sam, was always a gentle and compassionate man of God. He was also known for never going above the speed limit (even if it meant being late) when driving. I heard many of my friends from home make comments about how he is really extreme in his convictions, especially about obeying the speed limit.
Is Sam being extreme by not breaking the law? Since when did obeying the law become extreme to Christians?
I cited these 3 examples because I can think of many Christians who break all these "unnecessary" laws very frequently. To those it applies, why do you do it? Why do I do it? I break all 3 of these examples just about everyday. The sad thing is that no one has ever called me out on it except for Greg, who one day asked me why do I still have illegal software and media on my computer? I had no answer for him because I knew I was breaking the law on purpose. He didn't mention it anymore. He didn't have to, because I knew I was wrong.
Why do so many of us in the Body of Christ purposefully break these laws? We should be challenging each other to do better. The only example we find of Jesus breaking the laws are when the violate God's Word. The Pharisees twisted many of God's laws into keeping a set of rituals instead of worshiping God. These are the only times that Jesus breaks the law, because they violated the law of God in the Torah. The same is true for the Apostles. Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin in Acts 5 and were commanded to not preach in the name of Jesus. They broke this law because it went against God's commands. It is not documented anywhere in Scripture where anyone broke a law other than if it was contrary to the will or commands of God.
How many of us, Christians, would call Jesus extreme today? Not because of his teachings or times when he did purposefully break the laws but for all the times he obeyed them?
I agree with Dr. Rourke that we are setting ourselves up for a slippery slope to fall down when we pick and choose which laws to obey. Imagine if a non-Christian called you out on it, you would look as stupid as I did when Greg asked me the question. We would be hypocrites. Any Christian who does this would also wash out the foundation of the moral standard that God holds for us.
The more I learn about God and grow closer to Him, the more I am beginning to see how consistency in all areas of my life is what He wants. This is true Lordship of Jesus Christ. If you break even the smallest law that is not against God's will or Word, you are sinning. This includes me.
Since I want to purge my life of all sin so that I can run faster to Jesus and be more effective witness I am deleting all my illegal media. I have already deleted my illegal software. I am also going to follow the example of brother Sam and only drive the speed limit. I hope that you will follow my example as I am trying to follow Jesus, like my awesome brothers Dr. Rourke, Greg, and Sam.
This of course got me pondering over this concept. Should this be a standard by which all Christians should follow?
About 2 years ago my best friend and former roommate, Greg, was convicted about his use of illegal software and collection of illegal media. He uninstalled all the illegal software and deleted the install files and deleted his illegal media. This really fascinated me because just 2 years earlier during our freshmen year Greg was hording all of the illegal software he could find and even bragging about how large his collection got. This is a dramatic change my friends. Myself and Niki (now his beautiful wife) were surprised that he would do such a thing. I remember thinking how it seemed unnecessary and breaking such a small law wasn't hurting anyone.
Was Greg's collection of illegal software and media hurting anyone? Was his action of deleting it unnecessary?
For as long as I have known him, my missionary friend Sam, was always a gentle and compassionate man of God. He was also known for never going above the speed limit (even if it meant being late) when driving. I heard many of my friends from home make comments about how he is really extreme in his convictions, especially about obeying the speed limit.
Is Sam being extreme by not breaking the law? Since when did obeying the law become extreme to Christians?
I cited these 3 examples because I can think of many Christians who break all these "unnecessary" laws very frequently. To those it applies, why do you do it? Why do I do it? I break all 3 of these examples just about everyday. The sad thing is that no one has ever called me out on it except for Greg, who one day asked me why do I still have illegal software and media on my computer? I had no answer for him because I knew I was breaking the law on purpose. He didn't mention it anymore. He didn't have to, because I knew I was wrong.
Why do so many of us in the Body of Christ purposefully break these laws? We should be challenging each other to do better. The only example we find of Jesus breaking the laws are when the violate God's Word. The Pharisees twisted many of God's laws into keeping a set of rituals instead of worshiping God. These are the only times that Jesus breaks the law, because they violated the law of God in the Torah. The same is true for the Apostles. Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin in Acts 5 and were commanded to not preach in the name of Jesus. They broke this law because it went against God's commands. It is not documented anywhere in Scripture where anyone broke a law other than if it was contrary to the will or commands of God.
How many of us, Christians, would call Jesus extreme today? Not because of his teachings or times when he did purposefully break the laws but for all the times he obeyed them?
I agree with Dr. Rourke that we are setting ourselves up for a slippery slope to fall down when we pick and choose which laws to obey. Imagine if a non-Christian called you out on it, you would look as stupid as I did when Greg asked me the question. We would be hypocrites. Any Christian who does this would also wash out the foundation of the moral standard that God holds for us.
The more I learn about God and grow closer to Him, the more I am beginning to see how consistency in all areas of my life is what He wants. This is true Lordship of Jesus Christ. If you break even the smallest law that is not against God's will or Word, you are sinning. This includes me.
Since I want to purge my life of all sin so that I can run faster to Jesus and be more effective witness I am deleting all my illegal media. I have already deleted my illegal software. I am also going to follow the example of brother Sam and only drive the speed limit. I hope that you will follow my example as I am trying to follow Jesus, like my awesome brothers Dr. Rourke, Greg, and Sam.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
HISTORY: How should Christians view History?
As a person with a history minor and being a Patriot of my beloved America's history, I often look for what Christians have done in history. Recently it has occurred to me how we should not be afraid of history. There is no historical fact or discovery that has or will ever discount God. When I grasped this concept ever further it came to me how we need to embrace this. We may be living in one of the most anti-Christian era's in recent history but the past can never change. Even if God is erased from the current public eye, as long as accurate history is taught and written about then the great Christians of the past who made their zeal for Christ known publicly cannot be denied.
This is where our first hurdle comes into focus. For those of us who have taken history classes we know how each historian has a biased (for good or for evil) and often attempt to rewrite history, we call this historical revisionism. It is not new, it is Satan's oldest trick in the book. Remember what the serpent said to Eve in the Garden? "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" Satan was attempting to rewrite history, to retell the rules God has laid down in a different way.
What does this mean for the Christian now? Firstly, this means that we need Christian historians who will make sure the great cloud of witnesses for Christ who have gone before us are not forgotten. That their stories and impact on secular and church history not go untold. Here is an example in American History of what I am talking about. The Puritans who came over on the Mayflower and founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony had deeply Biblical convictions. So much so that when writing the Mayflower Compact they cited the reason for settling America was to advance the Christian religion in the new world and see it grow. Currently there are versions of this document in school text books that purposefully cut that part out, calling in unnecessary to the story. What is that? That is the purposeful attack on historical Christianity by contemporary atheists and secularists.
Secondly, this means that Christians now need to make their faith known in the public sphere. So that they can affect what is going on now but also that they will be recorded in history as among the Christians who dramatically improved his country for the better.
The atheist must fear history because it is His Story, the Christian only has to tell the Truth with nothing to fear.
This is where our first hurdle comes into focus. For those of us who have taken history classes we know how each historian has a biased (for good or for evil) and often attempt to rewrite history, we call this historical revisionism. It is not new, it is Satan's oldest trick in the book. Remember what the serpent said to Eve in the Garden? "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" Satan was attempting to rewrite history, to retell the rules God has laid down in a different way.
What does this mean for the Christian now? Firstly, this means that we need Christian historians who will make sure the great cloud of witnesses for Christ who have gone before us are not forgotten. That their stories and impact on secular and church history not go untold. Here is an example in American History of what I am talking about. The Puritans who came over on the Mayflower and founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony had deeply Biblical convictions. So much so that when writing the Mayflower Compact they cited the reason for settling America was to advance the Christian religion in the new world and see it grow. Currently there are versions of this document in school text books that purposefully cut that part out, calling in unnecessary to the story. What is that? That is the purposeful attack on historical Christianity by contemporary atheists and secularists.
Secondly, this means that Christians now need to make their faith known in the public sphere. So that they can affect what is going on now but also that they will be recorded in history as among the Christians who dramatically improved his country for the better.
The atheist must fear history because it is His Story, the Christian only has to tell the Truth with nothing to fear.
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