Note that the Bible doesn't start out "once upon a time." But we have to commence somewhere! In the beginning what? That's the million dollar question! My premise is that God is the genesis of everything that exists and He's the reason for everything, truly being above and beyond. Athanasius said that "the only system of thought that Christ will fit into is the one where He is the starting point." This makes sense because the humanist wants to begin with man as the measure of all things and explain everything from there, even explain away God--dethroning Him, exalting man, giving him the glory and robbing God of just worship.
The Bible begins with the phrase "In the beginning God" for a reason: This is not just a way to begin the Bible or story of man, God and man's relationship with God, but the beginning of all logic and sense as we can know it. The opening verse shows God taking the initiative in reaching out to man in creation, revelation, and salvation. God has stepped into the time-space continuum and entered history on our behalf to rescue us!
You have to begin somewhere. Imagine if there was no beginning! What if everything was eternal and had always existed--scientists have disproved this, but wouldn't everything be perfect by now? They say that matter cannot be destroyed or created but only transferred to other forms. Someday scientists claim there will be a "heat death" of the cosmos when all usable energy is depleted., proving a beginning to the cosmos. But the Bible says that God created everything out of nothing, ex nihilo in Latin. Humanists want to explain away God and remove Him from life's equation and they don't see Him and His place in the big picture--glory to man in the highest as man makes a name for himself and gives himself all the credit.
Time by definition is the corollary of space and matter and is relative, and if matter and space didn't exist, neither would time. Time actually had a beginning at the Big Bang because that's when the cosmos began. God pulled the trigger and started it all into motion and therefore is outside the time-space continuum. He had no beginning and is, therefore, eternal and cannot have a cause, for He is not the effect of anyone or anything and needs no one for His existence, therefore being self-existent. There are only three possibilities for the beginning scenario: In the beginning God; in the beginning matter/energy; in the beginning nothing! Matter in its natural state is chaotic and without form and must be organized, just as the Bible says: "the earth was without form and void...." We must have an intelligent input to get to organized life as we see it today--for we observe intelligence!
Don't jump to the conclusion that everything had a genesis; we cannot say that everything had a beginning because then there would be a time when there was nothing and the axiom goes: ex nihilo, nihil fit in Latin or out of nothing, nothing comes! We could have nothing today if everything had a beginning! And so we conclude that God is that being that had no beginning and started the motion as the initiator.
The issue is whether mind precedes matter or matter precedes or is superior to mind. The reason is that the logical order is thinker, thought, action, object or creation. Matter or energy cannot create or organize itself for it is disorganized and needs the missing ingredient of intelligence to develop life and complexities. How can matter/energy/quanta be self-conscious on its own? Whence life forms? What we see today is highly complex forms of matter which would've required an intelligent design or Designer or Intelligent Input. This is referred to as the argument from design. Thought requires a thinker! That's where the Bible comes in: In the beginning, was the Word (Logos or expressed thought in Greek). Mind did, therefore, precede matter and not vice versa!
Now God has revealed Himself in general revelation so that everyone is without excuse to know of His existence. The Bible is not unhistorical, unscientific, irrational, unbelievable, incomprehensible, or unverifiable. If you dehistoricize it you destroy and discredit, for it's the only Scripture-based in fact, truth, and history and has never been disproved in any way. The resurrection, for instance, is a historical fact, and is the most attested fact in antiquity by various and multiple proofs: Luke said many infallible proofs. The point is that the Bible invites you to discover it for yourself and test to see if the Lord is good on your own. The proof of the pudding is in the eating! I don't have to prove the Bible, it proves itself, the skeptic can prove it by reading it with an open mind and willing spirit.
We don't commit intellectual suicide to believe in God's explanation of the beginning. It's actually the inception of all coherent, rational thought. In the final analysis, where you begin determines where you'll end up; taking God out of the equation only leads to chaos because cosmos minus logos or logic equals chaos or confusion! Soli Deo Gloria!
To bridge the gap between so-called theologians and regular "students" of the Word and make polemics palatable. Contact me @ bloggerbro@outlook.com To search title keywords: title:example or label as label:example; or enter a keyword in search engine ATTN: SITE USING COOKIES!
About Me
- Karl Broberg
- I am a born-again Christian, who is Reformed, but also charismatic, spiritually speaking. (I do not speak in tongues, but I believe glossalalia is a bona fide gift not given to all, and not as great as prophecy, for example.) I have several years of college education but only completed a two-year degree. I was raised Lutheran and confirmed, but I didn't "find Christ" until I was in the Army and responded to a Billy Graham crusade in 1973. I was mentored or discipled by the Navigators in the army and upon discharge joined several evangelical, Bible-teaching churches. I was baptized as an infant, but believe in believer baptism, of which I was a partaker after my conversion experience. I believe in the "5 Onlys" of the reformation: sola fide (faith alone); sola Scriptura (Scripture alone); soli Christo (Christ alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (to God alone be the glory). I affirm TULIP as defended in the Reformation.. I affirm most of The Westminster Confession of Faith, especially pertaining to Providence.
Thursday, May 23, 2019
Monday, May 20, 2019
But None Of These Things Move Me
"... God left him to himself [withdrew Himself], in order to test him and to know all that was in his heart" (2 Chron. 32:31, ESV). ["God left him to test him" in NIV].
"God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. They are God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world." --C. S. Lewis
"If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you'll be at rest!" --Corrie ten Boom
"Jesus is not one of many ways to approach God, nor is He the best of several ways, He is the only way." --A. W. Tozer
As the Apostle Paul said in Acts 20:24, "None of these things move me," so we must learn to bear the cross Christ has given us for the sake of the Name. Our cross is not the problems everyone commonly has, but what happens because we name the name of Christ and how that affects us; e.g., persecution. But we can know the peace of God despite this cross. God never promised us a bed of roses and Reality 101 is that we will be involved in the angelic conflict. We are not meant to become stoics who think that the aim in life is to grin and bear it, but we are to show our attitude that we see purpose in all circumstance due to Providence and are assured of Christ's presence through the affliction--and many are the afflictions of the righteous (cf. Psa. 34:19).
We rejoice in our sufferings (cf. Rom. 5:3) without getting a martyr's complex or thinking that the more we suffer, the holier we are. It is through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom of God (cf. Acts 14:22). All believers will experience tribulation, adversity, and affliction to produce character and Christlikeness: "We know that these troubles produce patience. And patience produces character" (Rom. 5:3, NCV).
Having read the novel by Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage, I realize that the seasoned believer, the one who has matured through adversity and has had his faith tested and passed with flying colors, doesn't wear the faith as a badge of honor, for it's a gift--not something we conjure up of our own effort or doing (we don't achieve it, we receive it!). We don't need self-esteem or self-confidence but we must cultivate God-esteem and God-confidence! We go through these trials for our own good to strengthen and confirm our faith. No believer is exempt, and Christ was honest enough to warn us. He didn't exempt Himself and our crosses pale in comparison! |
Job is the example of suffering par excellence in Scripture, whereby we cannot comprehend its full meaning since we are finite beings. God doesn't owe us an explanation! He never explains Himself to Job, but just reveals Himself. Someone has said, "God is too wise to make a mistake, too kind to be cruel, and too deep to explain Himself!" In the meantime, there is an angelic conflict going on behind the scenes. We may ask, "Why?" but God says, "Who?" We must learn to keep focused on Christ and not get tripped up by Satan. It was John Milton who wrote, "Who best can suffer, best can do." Our faith is more precious than silver or gold and we must know if it's genuine and can stand the test of time and affliction or adversity. It's for our sake, not God's sake, that we must be tested--we must have confidence that we have faith!
We must realize that the same sun melts the butter, hardens the clay! We either become bitter or better by tribulation! We all have a crucible to carry and must realize that without a cross there's no crown! We tend to wonder why bad things seem to happen to good people (as Harold Kushner's book ponders), but then again, there are no good people in God's estimation! We should be asking why do good things happen to bad people? Scripture says that we are privileged to suffer for Christ and this comes with the territory! Job faithfully proclaimed: "... When he has tried me, I will come out as gold" (Job 23:10, ESV). A word of encouragement is that even Christ learned obedience by what He suffered (cf. Heb. 5:8).
Finally, when you've been through a trial with the Lord, you have a certain fellowship of suffering (of having been there and done that with the body of Christ per Phil. 3:10) and you can use it to help others in their time of testing and trial. The God of all comfort comforts us so that we can comfort others in their time of need--but we don't want to be like Job's comforters who judged him! The best we can do is to be there for them and offer consolation and sympathy. "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15, ESV). Soli Deo Gloria!
"We must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God," (cf. Acts 14:22).
"God left him, to try him, to know all that is in his heart," (cf. 2 Chron. 31:22).
"He speaks to them in their affliction," (cf Job 36:15, NIV).
"God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. They are God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world." --C. S. Lewis
"If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you'll be at rest!" --Corrie ten Boom
"Jesus is not one of many ways to approach God, nor is He the best of several ways, He is the only way." --A. W. Tozer
As the Apostle Paul said in Acts 20:24, "None of these things move me," so we must learn to bear the cross Christ has given us for the sake of the Name. Our cross is not the problems everyone commonly has, but what happens because we name the name of Christ and how that affects us; e.g., persecution. But we can know the peace of God despite this cross. God never promised us a bed of roses and Reality 101 is that we will be involved in the angelic conflict. We are not meant to become stoics who think that the aim in life is to grin and bear it, but we are to show our attitude that we see purpose in all circumstance due to Providence and are assured of Christ's presence through the affliction--and many are the afflictions of the righteous (cf. Psa. 34:19).
We rejoice in our sufferings (cf. Rom. 5:3) without getting a martyr's complex or thinking that the more we suffer, the holier we are. It is through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom of God (cf. Acts 14:22). All believers will experience tribulation, adversity, and affliction to produce character and Christlikeness: "We know that these troubles produce patience. And patience produces character" (Rom. 5:3, NCV).
Having read the novel by Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage, I realize that the seasoned believer, the one who has matured through adversity and has had his faith tested and passed with flying colors, doesn't wear the faith as a badge of honor, for it's a gift--not something we conjure up of our own effort or doing (we don't achieve it, we receive it!). We don't need self-esteem or self-confidence but we must cultivate God-esteem and God-confidence! We go through these trials for our own good to strengthen and confirm our faith. No believer is exempt, and Christ was honest enough to warn us. He didn't exempt Himself and our crosses pale in comparison! |
Job is the example of suffering par excellence in Scripture, whereby we cannot comprehend its full meaning since we are finite beings. God doesn't owe us an explanation! He never explains Himself to Job, but just reveals Himself. Someone has said, "God is too wise to make a mistake, too kind to be cruel, and too deep to explain Himself!" In the meantime, there is an angelic conflict going on behind the scenes. We may ask, "Why?" but God says, "Who?" We must learn to keep focused on Christ and not get tripped up by Satan. It was John Milton who wrote, "Who best can suffer, best can do." Our faith is more precious than silver or gold and we must know if it's genuine and can stand the test of time and affliction or adversity. It's for our sake, not God's sake, that we must be tested--we must have confidence that we have faith!
We must realize that the same sun melts the butter, hardens the clay! We either become bitter or better by tribulation! We all have a crucible to carry and must realize that without a cross there's no crown! We tend to wonder why bad things seem to happen to good people (as Harold Kushner's book ponders), but then again, there are no good people in God's estimation! We should be asking why do good things happen to bad people? Scripture says that we are privileged to suffer for Christ and this comes with the territory! Job faithfully proclaimed: "... When he has tried me, I will come out as gold" (Job 23:10, ESV). A word of encouragement is that even Christ learned obedience by what He suffered (cf. Heb. 5:8).
Finally, when you've been through a trial with the Lord, you have a certain fellowship of suffering (of having been there and done that with the body of Christ per Phil. 3:10) and you can use it to help others in their time of testing and trial. The God of all comfort comforts us so that we can comfort others in their time of need--but we don't want to be like Job's comforters who judged him! The best we can do is to be there for them and offer consolation and sympathy. "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15, ESV). Soli Deo Gloria!
Sunday, May 19, 2019
Neither Were They Thankful
"Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy" (Psalms 107:22, NIV).
"But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you..." (Jonah 2:9, NIV).
"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and grateful" (Col. 4:2, NIV).
"Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" (Rev. 7:12, NIV).
"I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD" (Psalm 116:17, KJV).
They knew God but didn't give Him thanks and for this reason, God darkened their foolish heart. We are responsible for the light God has given us or we will be judged accordingly. Thanksgiving is a sacrifice to God (cf. Psa. 50:14) and praise is another sacrifice to God (cf. Heb. 13:15) that we can offer God as a way to gain entree into His divine throne room and presence. "Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise..." (Psa. 110:4, KJV). That seems to stipulate a formula for getting into the spirit of worship and prayer. They are juxtaposed in this verse and go hand in hand--thanksgiving for what He's done or will do and praise for who He is and how He reveals Himself in glory.
You can be sure that an ingrate is not filled with the Spirit, neither knows it, for this is a basic lesson of spirituality we all learn to mature in the faith. But a lot of ingratitude is habitual and a matter of nurture and upbringing; i.e., it might be the parents who didn't bring them up right! As Romans 1:21 equates the two and says, "they glorified him not as God." Gratitude and praise go together to comprise an act of worship that we owe God as creatures, knowing that He is alone is worthy of our worship. We ought to be so thanksgiving oriented that we are grateful that someone thanks us for kindness rendered in Christ's name-it should make our day! But we should remember that our tasks in the Lord are often thankless tasks!
Paul targets thanksgiving as the right mental attitude in his epistles: "Giving thanks always for all things unto God..." (Eph. 5:20, KJV); "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Phil. 4:7, KJV); "In everything give thanks" (1 Thess. 5:18, KJV); "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts ... and be ye thankful" (Col. 3:15, KJV). This is stated as the will of God for us. He wants us to learn to see the silver lining behind every cloud and to learn that all our adversity and affliction is Father-filtered and will work together for our good (cf. Rom. 8:28).
The amazing example of having the right attitude of gratitude in dire circumstances is when Paul and Silas were in prison and sang joyfully unto the Lord. No one can take away our attitude and that's why we must cultivate this as a sure way to stay focused on God. Paul demonstrates his attitude of gratitude in prison writing Philippians by opening with thanksgiving.
Gratitude is not the ultimate proof of faith per se but is the sign of a right mental attitude (cf. Col. 4:2; Psa. 100:4). God condemns ingrates: "... for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience" (Eph. 5:6, ESV). Nowhere in Scripture are gratitude and faith equated, correlated, or juxtaposed as a measure or keynote of each other; however, faith and obedience are in Hebrews 3:18-19, NASB, as follows: "And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief" (cf. Heb. 4:6, 11). Some translations mistranslated these verses and put in "unbelief" instead of "disobedience." James 2:18, NIV, says, "... and I will show you my faith by my deeds."
But the NASB and ESV are more literal and use what is functional equivalence; i.e., word for word translations not thought for thought. Faith and obedience are eternally equated in Romans 1:5 and 16:26 (that they might "come to the obedience that comes from faith," cf. NIV) and in Acts 6:4, "They were obedient to the faith."
Also, note that Dietrich Bonhoeffer said quite dogmatically, "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes." These two are definitely equated in the Word. Doctrinally speaking, the only proof of faith is obedience just as Christ admonished that if we love Him we will obey Him. Thanksgiving, even praise, can be signs of faith but not the ultimate litmus test, but obedience is the plumbline (cf. John 14:21). We don't have the law to obey but are measured by our obedience to the will of God (we are free in Christ but not free from God's will!), which is an easier yoke and we have the Spirit which bears witness with our spirit to give us peace. Clearly, obedience is the test: "... Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams" (1 Sam. 15:22, NKJV).
Jesus made it clear love would be the telltale sign of the believer (cf. John 13:35) and the world would know we are Christians by our love. Love is the distinguishing trait of our faith and its greatest contribution in charity, outreach, missions, evangelizing, and labor. Faith is what pleases God and its expression is love: "... The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love" (cf. Gal. 5:6, NIV). Soli Deo Gloria!
"But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you..." (Jonah 2:9, NIV).
"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and grateful" (Col. 4:2, NIV).
"Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" (Rev. 7:12, NIV).
"I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD" (Psalm 116:17, KJV).
They knew God but didn't give Him thanks and for this reason, God darkened their foolish heart. We are responsible for the light God has given us or we will be judged accordingly. Thanksgiving is a sacrifice to God (cf. Psa. 50:14) and praise is another sacrifice to God (cf. Heb. 13:15) that we can offer God as a way to gain entree into His divine throne room and presence. "Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise..." (Psa. 110:4, KJV). That seems to stipulate a formula for getting into the spirit of worship and prayer. They are juxtaposed in this verse and go hand in hand--thanksgiving for what He's done or will do and praise for who He is and how He reveals Himself in glory.
You can be sure that an ingrate is not filled with the Spirit, neither knows it, for this is a basic lesson of spirituality we all learn to mature in the faith. But a lot of ingratitude is habitual and a matter of nurture and upbringing; i.e., it might be the parents who didn't bring them up right! As Romans 1:21 equates the two and says, "they glorified him not as God." Gratitude and praise go together to comprise an act of worship that we owe God as creatures, knowing that He is alone is worthy of our worship. We ought to be so thanksgiving oriented that we are grateful that someone thanks us for kindness rendered in Christ's name-it should make our day! But we should remember that our tasks in the Lord are often thankless tasks!
Paul targets thanksgiving as the right mental attitude in his epistles: "Giving thanks always for all things unto God..." (Eph. 5:20, KJV); "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Phil. 4:7, KJV); "In everything give thanks" (1 Thess. 5:18, KJV); "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts ... and be ye thankful" (Col. 3:15, KJV). This is stated as the will of God for us. He wants us to learn to see the silver lining behind every cloud and to learn that all our adversity and affliction is Father-filtered and will work together for our good (cf. Rom. 8:28).
The amazing example of having the right attitude of gratitude in dire circumstances is when Paul and Silas were in prison and sang joyfully unto the Lord. No one can take away our attitude and that's why we must cultivate this as a sure way to stay focused on God. Paul demonstrates his attitude of gratitude in prison writing Philippians by opening with thanksgiving.
Gratitude is not the ultimate proof of faith per se but is the sign of a right mental attitude (cf. Col. 4:2; Psa. 100:4). God condemns ingrates: "... for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience" (Eph. 5:6, ESV). Nowhere in Scripture are gratitude and faith equated, correlated, or juxtaposed as a measure or keynote of each other; however, faith and obedience are in Hebrews 3:18-19, NASB, as follows: "And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief" (cf. Heb. 4:6, 11). Some translations mistranslated these verses and put in "unbelief" instead of "disobedience." James 2:18, NIV, says, "... and I will show you my faith by my deeds."
But the NASB and ESV are more literal and use what is functional equivalence; i.e., word for word translations not thought for thought. Faith and obedience are eternally equated in Romans 1:5 and 16:26 (that they might "come to the obedience that comes from faith," cf. NIV) and in Acts 6:4, "They were obedient to the faith."
Also, note that Dietrich Bonhoeffer said quite dogmatically, "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes." These two are definitely equated in the Word. Doctrinally speaking, the only proof of faith is obedience just as Christ admonished that if we love Him we will obey Him. Thanksgiving, even praise, can be signs of faith but not the ultimate litmus test, but obedience is the plumbline (cf. John 14:21). We don't have the law to obey but are measured by our obedience to the will of God (we are free in Christ but not free from God's will!), which is an easier yoke and we have the Spirit which bears witness with our spirit to give us peace. Clearly, obedience is the test: "... Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams" (1 Sam. 15:22, NKJV).
Jesus made it clear love would be the telltale sign of the believer (cf. John 13:35) and the world would know we are Christians by our love. Love is the distinguishing trait of our faith and its greatest contribution in charity, outreach, missions, evangelizing, and labor. Faith is what pleases God and its expression is love: "... The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love" (cf. Gal. 5:6, NIV). Soli Deo Gloria!
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