We Are All Theologians

"You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine" (Titus 2:1).
"Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain will accept doctrine"  (Isaiah 29:24).
"They were astonished at His doctrine: for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes [who footnoted and quoted the authorities]"  (Matt. 7:28,29).
"They devoted themselves to the apostles' doctrine, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer"  (Acts 2:42).
"Watch your life and doctrine closely..."  (1 Tim. 4:16).  BOLDFACE MINE.

Bear in mind that teaching is the same as doctrine, and theology or systematic theology is an organization of doctrines.  You cannot escape doctrine or you commit spiritual suicide.  Read on to see why.

Theology is not an abstract science, but the queen of sciences!   Theology is literally the study of God, while Christology is literally the study of Christ.  If you don't abide in the doctrine of Christ you don't have God (cf. 2 John 9).  If you believe in false doctrine you are a heretic if it is a major  (affirming the deity of Christ is a prerequisite for salvation,) it is a  necessary doctrine--we need to learn discernment and be orderly in our study and benefit from the scholarship of our church fathers--we don't have to start from scratch every generation---the church is Semper reformanda, or always reforming or improving; likewise our doctrine is Semper reformanda.   People sometimes refer to theologians in a derogatory manner, but I want to present them in a new light:

Where would our church be without the church fathers Athanasius, the Father of Orthodoxy, (or right doctrine), and Augustine the greatest theologian, arguably, that lived in the first millennium of church history?  We owe a debt of gratitude to giants such as John Calvin, who wrote Institutes of the Christian Religion, and Jonathan Edwards who began the Great Awakening.  To put things in perspective:  the well-known theologian Karl Barth was asked what was the deepest truth he had come across and he replied, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."  Now, I know theologians get a bad rap, but here's a case on their behalf, since I have been called a theologian myself too:

To quote my favorite theologian, R. C. Sproul:  "To reject theology is to reject knowledge, this is not an option for the Christian."  Also, we cannot reject theology per se, just because there exists bad theology.  "To reject all theology just because there exists bad theology is to commit spiritual suicide," says Sproul.  Theologian is not known to be a spiritual gift because, I believe, we are all potential theologians clerically and actual practical theologians by definition.  We don't avoid theology because we have a distaste for controversy either--we are to avoid godless controversy, not necessary ones.  What if Martin Luther had never nailed his Ninety-Five Theses on the Wittenberg Castle church (All Souls Church) in 1517 to initiate the Reformation?  The spirit of the Protestant is this:  I dissent, I disagree, I protest. Sproul goes on to say that you can have sound doctrine without a sound life, but not a sound life without sound doctrine--think about that!

In other words, you can excel in the study of doctrine and not know the Lord--it can all be in your head!  The presence of doctrine is necessary, but not sufficient--you must add the Holy Spirit.  Asserting that theology is not important is tantamount to saying:  "It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere."  However, I want to stress, that as Protestants, we are not at the mercy of church doctrine and have the right to interpret Scripture for ourselves, but with the right comes the responsibility to interpret it right and that means eliminating subjectivism.  We cannot fabricate our own truths because no "Scripture is of any private interpretation" (2 Pet. 1:20).

"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine" (2 Tim. 4:3).  I have just experienced this first hand at a Bible study tonight when the host said it was doctrine itself that turned him off to Christianity and he will have nothing to do with it.  What is doctrine, but teaching:  "All Scripture is profitable for doctrine..." (2 Tim. 3:16).  We all have our viewpoints and way of interpreting the Bible.  Doctrine in itself is a good thing but not an end in itself, but a means to an end and we are warned not to call good evil in Isaiah 5:20.  Knowledge of the Bible is necessary to spiritual health:  "You know not the Scriptures, nor the power of God"  (Matt. 22:29).

No one is perfectly objective except God, but have a school of thought or doctrine that we adhere to.  Examples are Arminian, charismatic, evangelical, Wesleyan, Reformed or Calvinistic, Catholic, ecumenical, and semi-Pelagian, among others.  There are the "freewillers" and the people who believe in predestination and election--that our destiny is ultimately in God's hands.  We all develop a system of doctrine and it grows as we mature in Christ.  One of the most basic doctrines we accept as Christians is the doctrine of the Trinity--so we are Trinitarians!   2 Tim. 4:3 can be translated:  "...Men will bail out theologically."

You are committing spiritual suicide and will never grow up if you ignore doctrine per se.  I'm not saying it is our goal to argue or debate doctrine, but we are to "study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needs not be ashamed."  We are trying to catch people ultimately and win them over, not win an argument. Why do we want to know God?  To know Him is to love Him!   There is a direct correlation between our knowledge of God and our love for Him.  Be not deceived: there is a difference between knowledge of God and knowledge about God.

Systematic theology is an orderly view or presentation of the doctrines of the Bible.  Do you believe Jesus is God--that is basic doctrine and fundamental theology or "study of God" literally.  The childish believer or immature one balks at learning the deep things of God.  The man of God must hold the deep things of the word with a clear conscience (cf. 1 Tim. 3:9).  The milk of the Word is for the baby believer, but solid food or meat is for the mature or the one who discerns good and evil (cf. Heb. 5:14).

The point I'm trying to make is that we are all theologians, it's just what kind of theologian we are! You cannot escape theology or a system of theology--we all understand the Bible in a different light and one part of the body cannot say to the other that he isn't needed.  We need theologians and we are all theologians and this is no contradiction because the word has different nuances of meaning.   Theology is necessary to maturity, but not sufficient.  We can just study theology and not apply it and it will leave us cold.  We need theology but we also need to go beyond it so that we don't put God in a box and say, "I like to think of God as a ...."   We need to apply it and use it to interpret the Word.  If you believe you are saved and cannot lose your salvation you will interpret the Bible in a completely different light than if you aren't sure of your salvation or if you think you can lose it.          Soli Deo Gloria! 

Is God Fair?

Jacob was paranoid:  "All these things are against me"  (Gen. 42:36).  Job had his time of being appalled at his circumstances and sudden disaster:  "My worst fears have come upon me."  But Paul said of his sufferings:  "But none of these things move me" (Acts 20:24).  We must never give up the faith that "If God can be for us, who can be against us?"  They must come because the same hammer breaks the glass, forges the steal, the same sun melts the butter, hardens the clay--we either become bitter or better through the crucible of suffering or the school of hard knocks because God never promised us a bed of roses.  Hardship or Reality 101 is part of the divine curriculum.

But don't break faith or lose heart--God loves us as His children and discipline means we belong to Him ("Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep thy Word," says Psalm 119:67).  God's grace is not only necessary but sufficient for us ("My grace is sufficient for thee," says 2 Cor. 9:8).  Believers have always inquired, "Why do bad things happen to good people?"  [There are no good people!]  Let's see why the Bible says, "...Can anyone say to Him, 'What hast Thou done?'" (Dan. 4:35).

Life is unfair, just look at what happened to Jesus.  But don't jump to the conclusion that God is ergo unfair.  It doesn't necessarily follow, as I intend to show.  The question should not be, "Is God fair?" but are you fair? Who do you think you are?  Do you trust yourself and your standards enough to judge the whole earth?  God is fair is a given and a no-brainer to any person of faith--but we have a struggle when the trial, tribulation, suffering, adversity or temptation happens to us personally, don't we?  Like when Job's comforters reprimanded him that he had preached to others, and now trouble comes to him and he can't take it (cf. Job 4:3ff  "See how you have instructed many...but now trouble comes to you and you are discouraged....").

God sees the big picture and we only see our own little world!  Who has the advantage?  To get specific, is it fair that Jesus had to die?  Even the objective onlooker realizes he suffered a great injustice at the hand of Rome, yet God is fair and decreed that this should this; He does not tolerate sin but remains holy, and untouched by sin,  We tend to put God in a box, like saying, "I like to think of God as a ...."  Luther said to Erasmus:   "Your thoughts of God are too human."  There is always more to God than we can apprehend!  "The finite cannot grasp the infinite", the Greeks said.

Job was told, "Canst thou by searching find out God?"   There is no "higher law" that God must obey:  He is a law unto Himself--autonomous!   Only He can set aside His laws.   God wants to see if we will trust Him through thick and thin when the chips are down.  Let the chips fall where they may, God is in control! He does what is right, He never does what is wrong, because all wrongdoing is a sin.

"How can God be just, and the Justifier?"  The Bible says God's ways are unfathomable and inscrutable and no one can discern His ways, "as the heavens are higher than the earth" (cf. Isaiah 55:9; Rom. 11:33).  ("How unsearchable his judgments and His paths beyond tracing out.")  We sometimes cry out for justice, but do we really want to get what we deserve?  Or do we want mercy and grace?  Some will receive justice from God, and others mercy and grace (mercy is not getting what you deserve--judgment; grace is getting what you don't deserve--eternal life), but no one will receive injustice. 

Grace and mercy are a form of non-justice, but not injustice--there is a nuance of meaning that you must realize here.  Karma is disproved by Christ's sufferings--He certainly didn't deserve what He got at the hand of Rome.  God tempers His justice with mercy and only give the evil-doer his due or just dessert, and not beyond what strict justice would demand--God is not cruel. Remember, God is not obligated to be merciful, just because He was merciful to one and we have no claim on His mercy and cannot demand it, but can only accept it as a gift by grace through faith in Christ.

People instinctively think that when something goes wrong that God is unfair.  They don't think they could possibly be reaping what they have sown.  Even Job didn't accuse God of wrong-doing and accepted evil at the hand of God as well as a blessing.  What is fair is the question, not is God fair.  For Abraham said, "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?"  We don't judge God, he judges us!  We don't have some standard of right and wrong and see if God measures up!

What God does is fair by definition because God is fair, period, no if's, and's, or but's.  Today they say that art is what an artist says is art!  It is similar with God.  We say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder too.  But God said all creation was good after He created it and we are not to object to His standards.  R. C. Sproul says, "God is therefore never arbitrary, whimsical, or capricious, He always does what is right." Amen!  Amen!  He never acts out of character but is always true to Himself.

Because there is no immediate retribution, we tend to think we have gotten away with something--But God is only giving us space to repent and judge He will--either in Christ or at the Great White Throne Judgment at the Last Day.  We want revenge sometimes but must not take the law into our own hands but trust God and  His using the government to get the job done.  "Vengeance is mine, saith the LORD."  No one gets away with anything.  What seems like God being unfair is often just suffering the consequences for our own foolishness or sin!   Either they are disciplined by God as believers and their sins are judged on the cross, or they pay for their own sins in the final judgment for all eternity.  The point is this:  Something is fair because God says so--to have some other standard other than this self-attesting one would be to appeal to some standard higher than God.  For instance, if I said, common sense should be the standard, because that's just common sense.  (This is circular reasoning when we appeal to the source we are using as proof itself.)

Now in Psalm 73 Asaph bemoans the prosperity of the wicked--a common complaint against God.  But Psalm 17:14  says that some people's reward is in this life ("...whose portion is in this life")  and the rule still applies that they sow the wind and reap the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7).   We tend to think that if someone gets something, that we also deserve it.  If God saves one person, for instance, He is not obligated to save another--He could have elected to save no one!  Remember and keep faith in the goodness of God and the profundity or incomprehensibility of God--we cannot figure Him out and never will!

In the economy of God, it pays to trust God and it is more blessed to give than to receive, but also the laws of reaping what you sow and the promised rewards to people who are industrious and work hard are in effect despite being a believer or not.  God blesses some people in all ways, but all in some ways, because of common grace given to all--"God is good to all, and His compassion is over all creation" (Psa. 145:9).  God doesn't know how to be anything but good.  The proof of the pudding is in the eating--"Taste and see that the Lord is good," says Psalm 34:8.  God is good all the time! (Neh. 1:7).   Soli Deo Gloria!

Did YOU Repent?

"Don't you realize that the kindness of God is meant to lead you to repentance?" (Rom. 2:4).
"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation" (2 Cor. 7:10).
"...In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength"  (Isaiah 30:15).

When we hear a sermon that dares to mention the killjoy word of "repent" (some preachers don't mention downer or bummer words like sin and repentance because they're after the big crowds and they don't want to offend anyone); we never seem to apply it to ourselves--"God doesn't let sin slide," my pastor says!  Repentance is a mandate or imperative for all.   There is ultimate retribution, though not always immediate, either in this life or at the Great White Throne Judgment and in eternity (like my pastor says, "You must personalize it; it doesn't come by osmosis!")  We must realize it is meant for us in particular--we too readily apply the message to others or think that we know someone else that should hear it.  The goal is to always apply it first to yourself, then you may qualify to apply it to others.

Providence leads us to believe that God meant for us to hear this, not others to point the finger at. The good preacher has already applied his sermon to himself and knows that he is preaching to himself too, not just for his health or to apply to others--there is accountability and he is judged more strictly.  [There comes a time of awakening when we realize that God is speaking to us personally and we finally get it, like realizing for the first time that Christ died for you!]  God is holy and has no dealing with sin; however, He has done something about it:

We answer the call of John the Baptist and Jesus:  "Repent: for the Kingdom of God is at hand!" (Matt. 4:17).   Jesus also admonished:  "...Unless you repent, you shall likewise perish" (Luke 13:5). Ezekiel says, "Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin" (chapter 18, verse 30).  "God commands all men everywhere to repent"  (Acts 17:30).

Repentance is not a one-time action, but a continual one,  according to Martin Luther first thesis in his 95 theses that he put on the castle church (All Souls Church) at Wittenberg, Germany, in 1517, to proclaim and initiate the Protestant Reformation.  We are to live in the attitude of repentance. Repentance is literally (from the Greek metanoia, (literally "afterthought or to think after") means really to change. to turn--in fact in the Old Testament it is translated usually as "turn") to do an about-face, a 180-degree turn, a U-turn, or about-face from sin to God.  It is the flip side of faith and the two go together like a horse and carriage, as it were.  The result will be a new attitude towards sin, a desire to obey and please God, and love for the brethren, et alia.

By definition, we are told to renounce sin, but Billy Graham says we must also renounce sins (plural).  "...That they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus" (Acts 20:21).  "Repent and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit"  (Acts 2:38).  You cannot have saving faith without genuine repentance, and vice versa.  True repentance is not just an attitude adjustment, but demonstrated in deeds fit for repentance ("...That they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds" (Acts 26:20).  Just because God hasn't judged a sinner yet, doesn't mean He won't take action if we don't repent--He is just and must judge.  No one gets away with anything, but God is giving the sinner "time to repent" or space to repent, you might say.

I lived a long time in the church before ever hearing about repentance and it was the missing link in my walk to restore me after I had sinned and backslid.  In some places in the Bible, it stresses to have faith, in others, like Luke 24:47 merely mentions repentance for salvation:  "And repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all generations."  Acts 11:18 says, "...So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."   Acts 5:31 also:  "...That he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel."  Martin Luther, in contrast, saw Romans 1:17, and it opened his eyes to faith as the way:  "...The just will live by faith."  It is a story "from faith to faith."

"Repentance and faith go hand in hand," says Billy Graham [they can be distinguished but not separated.  And so there are two ways to look at salvation--some need to be reminded to have faith and others to repent.  "Therefore, being justified by faith, we peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1).  Sproul says we either demonstrate believing repentance or penitent faith, whichever way one looks at it.   Soli Deo Gloria!

How Should We Address The Most High?

"...I write to you, dear children because you have known the Father"  (1 John 2:13).  Act and pray like you know Him!  We invoke the name of the Father who is on the throne ruling in heaven and can call Him Lord and God, but we have the sole privilege of also calling Him "Father."  We should never invoke the names of saints or "The Blessed Mother or Virgin Mary."  Only God hears prayer!
"To You who hear prayer, to You all men will come"  (Psalm 65:2).  The vital thing is that we know the one we are praying to and have a relationship with Him.

I have been around a lot in different so-called Christian circles and have heard many types of prayer. My earliest recollections are of going to a charismatic Bible camp and everyone praying to Jesus.  I told them that I pray to the Father like Jesus told us to.  They thought I was a kook.  I'm not saying that Jesus doesn't hear prayer, but that in the Lord's Prayer the precedent is to pray to the Father in heaven.  They can point to the example of the first martyr Stephen praying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."  But I don't see any conflict of interest or contradiction at all--of course, He can receive our spirits upon our demise.   Show me one legitimate example of a prayer in the New Testament to Jesus,  We are to pray to the Father (our spirits cry out, "Abba, Father"), in the name of Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit--that's the formula.  And so we should pray to the Father, plain and simple.

Pentecostals that I have been around prayer to the so-called "Father-God" and this moniker or title is nowhere to be found in Scripture.  Of course, we assert the deity of the Father and any suggestion otherwise is heresy and damnable.  But why give God a nickname that seems to have an exclusive mindset that you are "in."  They don't seem to accept you unless you pray like them.  For this reason, I refuse to pray to the so-called "Father-God," not that I deny Him, but I don't see any precedent. Let's simply pray to the Father and there will be no reason to be critical.  Jeremiah 3:19 says, "...I thought you would call me 'Father'..."

Jehovah's Witnesses pray to Jehovah and believe sincerely that that is His real name--actually God has no name that we can comprehend and also many names, but His covenant name is "I AM WHO I AM"  or "I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE." "I AM THAT I AM."   I don't pray to Jehovah for this reason, I don't want to be in solidarity with a cult.   Jesus said to Mary, "I go to My Father, and to your Father."  He is our Father and corporate prayer should address Him so.

I know of a brother who always prays to "O God, in heaven."  I have been taken aback by figuring this out.   Naturally, there is a God in heaven, but nowhere in the Scriptures does anybody pray to this God as named.  It is simply not biblical and some are sticklers about being aligned with the Word of Truth so that no one can say anything to judge us.  The above name person sounds like he doesn't know his God very well, that he prays to such a generic title for God.  Muslims can pray to a God in heaven and claim Allah is just His name.  No legitimate religion gives the stamp of approval to such a prayer.  Why not pray to God using His covenant name.  Only Christians can pray to the Father, angels cannot address God this way!  We are part of God's family and have the "privilege" to pray using this name for God.

Now there are Old Testament prayers that don't pray to the Father:  But they didn't quite grasp God as their Father yet and the revelation wasn't made manifest until Jesus came.  They always thought of God as their Father but dared not presume to be too friendly or familiar with God.  But this is what God wants:  that we should feel comfortable and familiar with God and pray freely in the Spirit.

To conclude, you might think I'm being too picky or splitting hairs and this is not important, but the proof is in the pudding and I have found God answering my prayers since I have called upon the name of the Lord and address Him as He desires--i.e., Father--a familial and familiar formula.  Jesus is the one who laid down the law and gave us His example to emulate, as it were, not me.   It's a matter of reverence and devotion:  "Come, my children, and listen to me;  I will teach you the fear of the LORD"  (Psalm 34:11). Let's not be lax in our prayer life!    Let's err on the side of caution and obedience. Note that I am not saying that something is true because it works, but if it's true it will work.  (TM works, but is not true, for example.) [The modern test of an idea according to John Dewey is not whether it's true, but whether it works!  That's pragmatism.] Soli Deo Gloria!

Broadcasting Your Sins/Giving Testimonies

I can't be too dogmatic on this subject because there are earnest, sincere believers who beg to differ. When testimonies are given, some redeemed sinners glorify their past to make it sound like they are the worst sinner since Paul.   I don't see any biblical precedent for this.  But they may be quoting Psalm 107:2 in the TNIV which says, "Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story."  I don't want to hear about someone's dirty past or graphic illustrations (some people have "virgin" ears and don't need to hear your sins!);  these sins aren't fit for the mixed company or polite society.

The verse actually says, "Let the redeemed of the LORD say so...." Let them have the opportunity to speak up for Jesus and stand up for the Lord.  "Stand up, stand up for Jesus!"   God has thrown all of our sins into the depths of the sea and behind His back, never to be remembered again--why remind God of them?  Don't keep dredging them back up every time you tell your testimony.

We can tell our testimonies without getting specific and naming our sins (this opens the door to gossip and judging in the body).   We do this by describing the way our life was before Christ, upon meeting Christ, and after Christ.  (E.g.,  I had an empty, confused, aimless life until I had peace and purpose in living I found in knowing Christ as my Lord and Savior!)  I don't want to discourage someone from "coming clean" but this is more a step in redemption and salvation than in giving testimony.  We should remain on a positive note and explain how others can find Christ and know Him for real themselves--the window of opportunity or open door doesn't stay that way for long.            Soli Deo Gloria!

Why I Believe the Bible

Did you know that there are twenty-six books in the world that claim to be Holy Scripture (the Brahman Vedas, the Buddhist Canon of Sacred Scripture, the Qur'an, the Bhagavad Gita (The Song of the Blessed One), the Pearl of Great Price,  the Book of Mormon, the Zoroastrian Zend-Avesta, et al. However, the Bible is the only one with predictive prophecy!  Remember, Deut. 18:18 says that the test of a true prophet is 100 percent accuracy or the death penalty!  "If they speak not according to this Word, they have no light in them" (Isa. 8:20).  Note that there is something very peculiar and unique about Jesus:  He doesn't quote the authorities but relies on His own authority and spoke like no man had ever done!   The Qur'an has one instance of a self-fulfilling prophecy when Mohammad predicts he'll return to Mecca!  Only God can predict the future and God (in Isaiah) challenges any other "god" to tell the future.  There are over 2,000 fulfilled prophecies in the Bible, not just a few lucky guesses.  Jesus Christ Himself fulfilled over 300!

Archaeology has repeatedly confirmed the OT tradition and many have set out to disprove the Bible and with over 25,000 sites recovered there still is no contradiction.  Like Jesus said, "The rocks cry out!"   Historically, the Bible has been verified, and even though secular historians are usually given more credibility than the Bible, they have yet to disprove anything in the Scriptures!  For example, Luke has been discovered to be one of the best historians of antiquity.

Also, science has failed to contradict the Bible, even though the French Academy of Science declared fify-one scientific facts that controverted the Bible in 1861, now not one of the so-called facts is believed--the Bible was right!.  There is no contradiction between the science and Scripture and where the Bible does make a scientific statement of fact, it is correct, even if ahead of its time.  The Bible is not a scientific textbook, said Galileo, but a book of salvation--however, where it does state a scientific statement it is correct and never proven wrong.

The Bible is self-attesting,  (over 3,000 times it says, "Thus says the LORD" or its equivalent) [no other sacred writing does this--they don't dare!]  Scripture is its own Supreme Court, its own interpreter, and commentator.   It is believed because it is believable unless you have the presupposition that miracles just don't happen! Ancient peoples didn't doubt the reality of miracles, just what they meant.  The writers are not inveterate or consummate liars, but credible witnesses--the credibility of a demon is not to be established and this only stands to reason!  The test of their veracity was they the Apostles went to their death without recanting--death was their test!  "For we did not follow cleverly devised myths or fables when we made known to you the Word of Truth but were eyewitnesses of His majesty"  (2 Pet. 1:16).   "Thus saith the LORD" or its equivalent) which means it assumes you believe it and doesn't appeal to some higher power or authority.  It proves and verifies itself.  If you appealed to science, for instance, science would have higher authority than God!

The Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit and is therefore inerrant and infallible in its original manuscripts.  None of these are extant--we rely on copies.   An interesting fact is that there are over 5,000 Greek manuscripts available to test the veracity of Scripture, while we only have ten good copies of Caesar's Gallic War or of the History of Herodotus.  There is no comparison, yet no one doubts the authenticity of these documents.  There is more proof for the resurrection of Christ than for any other fact in antiquity.  It is the most attested and variously supported fact if the era!  Doubting Jesus' historicity is unsound and yet scholars don't dare doubt the historicity of Caesar or Alexander the Great.

The Bible is like a caged lion--you don't have to defend it, it can take care of itself.  People who criticize it usually haven't read it!   The Bible can convict a person if he has an open mind and is willing to do God's will he shall know whether it is of God.  Jesus said, "If a man is willing to do His will, he shall know whether the doctrine is of God or whether I speak on my own authority" (John 7:17).

D.L. Moody said, "I know the Bible is inspired because it inspires me."  The works of Shakespeare can be entertaining and educating, but only the Bible can transform the soul. The proof of the pudding is in the eating:   "The Word of God is alive and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of joints and marrow, of soul and spirit, and it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart" Hebrews 4:12).  Soli Deo Gloria!

Why Study the Bible?

 "Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing shall cause them to stumble" (Ps. 119:165).
"If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction" (Ps. 119:92).
"I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil" (Ps. 119:162).


The discipline of teleology is the study of the purpose or design of things and unbelievers don't like to hear that there is a purpose behind the universe or creation, but that it is just a big cosmic accident of the forces of nature.  For instance, the so-called design of earth (Anthropic principle) is perfectly fit for human habitation--is that an accident?  This is one of the proofs for the existence of God, that it seems obvious to the objective person that there is a purpose for everything--telos, or purpose, is anathema to the secularist.  Case in point:  the purpose of dirt is to grow grass; the purpose of grass is to feed cattle; the purpose of cattle is to nourish man--this is where the equation breaks down, because we can't agree on the purpose of man without religion entering the picture and then we see the big picture.  The three questions:  where did we come from? Why are we here?  And where are we going?

Now, the question at hand, why study the Bible?   It should not be an academic issue or discipline to entertain us (like in a trivia game) or increase our knowledge, but to change our lives.  During the Enlightenment gentlemen used to have the hobby of discussing theology, the queen of sciences,  among themselves to pass the time--it was assumed everyone had a working knowledge of the Bible and could take part.  Having a great knowledge about the Bible is not necessarily a compliment, because the Pharisees did too--it's what you apply that counts with God!  Knowledge about the Bible is a prerequisite to knowing the Bible; it is necessary, but not sufficient to know God--the goal.

"Knowledge puffs up, but love [is what] edifies," according to 1 Cor. 8:1.  But this is the kind of knowledge that doesn't contain discernment or wisdom, knowledge of God (cf. Hos. 4:1,6)  "A people without discernment ["understanding" in NIV]   perish" (Hos. 4:14).   One of the worst sins is knowledge without character, according to Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, because it is a fact that knowledge can be dangerous and a little knowledge is worse than none.  Half-educated people are more dangerous than illiterate ones. What you know ought to be so!   Some people know just enough to be dangerous.  Don't get me wrong--ignorance is not bliss, but we must be careful to see Bible knowledge as a means to an end, and not the end itself.  It's not a contest to see who the most about the Bible--knowing the Bible is different and knowing and loving the Author is the paramount goal.  More knowledge equals more responsibility too!

We are not to compare or commend ourselves with others because accumulated knowledge can be a byproduct and just because someone knows a lot doesn't mean that is the goal.  Knowledge is a tool for the preacher and part of his trade and he is to teach others to become independent of him and learn to fend for themselves, as it were, and someday know how to study on their own--because they love the Bible, not because they want to get smart.  The Bible is sufficient to teach us everything we need to know to live a victorious Christian life and grow into a mature believer, producing much fruit.  The Bible is also known for its clarity because its main message is clear to the simple-minded and hidden from the "wise" out of the wisdom of God, because of the condition of their heart and will.

You can't teach someone to love the Bible--he must practice it and apply it himself to learn this and he will learn gradually to appreciate it.  He has to grow into this.  One should learn to study the Bible so that he can get "Aha!" moments or epiphanies  (I can remember the exact day when God opened the Scriptures to me and I couldn't stop reading them)  One can then sense  God is speaking to Him, because this is the way God has promised to reach out to us and speak to our needs.  "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth"  (2 Tim. 2:15, KJV).

With the privilege of interpreting Scripture, comes the responsibility to do it right and not to fabricate our own truths!  The Word also "equips" us for every good work (2 Tim. 3:17)!  We should all be able to say with the psalmist,  "O, how I love Thy Law, it is my meditation all the day"  (Ps. 119:97).   Soli Deo Gloria!

Making Time For God...

The Navigators taught me about setting a specific time each morning to hear from God, through prayer and Bible meditation.  They taught me that God would keep His part of the appointment but I must keep mine.  If we fail to find God during the day it is not His fault--we must seek Him early to find Him ("O, that I knew where I might find Him [says Job 23:3]") or you may not find Him all day!
When you wonder about the whereabouts of God, it is you that moved!

That's the secret--start your day off with Jesus.  Martin Luther would pray for hours to open his day, and if he was busy, he would pray all the more.  Prayer is a reliable time-saver and investment. This is the joy of abiding in Christ and being in fellowship with Him through the day, but there are other factors to consider and enter into the equation that may trip us up and they are as follows:

We all seem to live hectic schedules and sometimes people seem to be an interruption of "our" time (words like "interruption" and "bother" shouldn't even be in our lingo).  I don't think Jesus ever felt interrupted but made time for people in their time of need.  We don't want to disoblige someone on purpose, of course, but it is nice to know that they affirm their friendship by saying they can be "bothered" 24/7 if we ever need them.  We don't want to give God the leftovers of our money, and this is a way that we don't give Him the leftovers of our time.  We have decided to drop all and follow Jesus, as sit were, and this is an application to that.  Love is spelled T-I-M-E and a person feels wanted and loved when we give them our time, a valuable commodity and resource.

Being busy is not a virtue, in fact, if the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you busy.  We shouldn't relegate others to our convenience but should be willing to make a sacrifice.  Love is sacrificial.  We should seek another's audience, for instance, at their convenience, not ours, to be polite--"Please return the call at your leisure!"  It's one thing to take advantage of some one's generosity, and another to be in sincere need.  I like to give the benefit of the doubt and would rather err on the side of letting me be taken advantage of.

We all have priorities in our relationships, but Jesus said to love our neighbor (the person in need)--He didn't think He'd have to tell us to love our family, which is only normal, and even the heathen do that.  When we shrug a person off and refuse to give him attention we can make him feel like a persona non grata.  That means they can feel like a nobody and it affects the self-image of a person, among other things as a natural consequence.  Sometimes God puts an unlovely person or challenging person in our path to see if we really do love--this is real "tough love."

In conclusion, I'm not saying we should be a doormat or let ourselves get taken advantage of on purpose, but be apologetic, courteous, and humble in declining any opportunity that we cannot meet, since, in view of Providence, God allowed this to happen and there must be a time and purpose behind it.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Do You Belong?

Many believers or nominal believers attend or go to churches and think that is all there is.  God wants you to belong, not just attend, and there is more than a subtle difference!  Members, not just attendees (people committed to the body and having taken the leap of faith publicly).  You must realize first that the church is a family and must have committed members who need and rely on each other as a family who is there for each other.  Actually, our church family should be closer than our physical family, if they don't believe it.  I, myself, never felt that I belonged (though I did feel I belonged to my former church as the church greeter) until I was inducted into my church and went through the initiation process (accepting the authority of the leadership, even giving my personal testimony to the body. (I think of Paul telling Timothy that he gave a good testimony in the presence of  many witnesses).   I was given the "right hand of fellowship" and felt an acceptance that I couldn't express in those words before.

Many people go to a mega-church which is more of a "crowd" than a church--you can be invisible (not what is meant by the "invisible church")  in that kind of church and nobody knows you are there or not  (how can you make an impact like this?) if you don't make some extra effort to make friends, that is. It is more difficult, if not impossible to have the sort of "family orientation" or feelings that should represent the body of Christ.

Many mega-churches are that way because of the reputation of a preacher (ironic since Christ was more interested in quality than quantity)  and the church can be, but isn't always mind you, a personality cult, that will fade away after the preacher passes on.   The church I go is not dependent on the preacher to hold it together--it is the fourth or fifth oldest church in Minnesota and has withstood six church splits and has survived, even as a Baptist church, which has a lot of negative connotations to us Minnesotans--those legalists and backsliders!

You must ask yourself, "Do you just attend?" or "Do you belong?" because there is a difference.  The church is an organism, not an organization and that means it should be alive and interactive, and not just people following the leader or taking orders like in a corporation or military outfit.  The church is not a dictatorship but a union of believers who need each other and work together as a body with Christ as the head, not any one person (Christ is in all believers!).  Try to think of the progression as follows: believe, belong, become!  If you want to become what Christ wants you to be, you must first be a believer, then you must belong.

To sum it up in a sentence:  Only in a family can you have what the church aims to do:  Have accountability, intimacy, unity, common goals, growth, and bonding or fellowship.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Do You Love The World-system?

Note that "God so loved the world [its people]," but I'm talking about the evil world-system dominated and controlled by Satan and what it has to offer in competition with God, not a blessing of His, for all good things come from the Father.

Watchman Nee wrote a famous book Love Not the World, and he was right if you want to be spiritual and walk with Jesus if you do love the world, the love of Father is not in you!  John said, "Love not the world, neither the things of the world," in 1 John 2;15 (this is a command, not advice or a suggestion!).  What is he talking about? The big three:  the pride of life, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of life.   The world, or should I say, Satan, has a lot to offer to compete with what God has to offer.  Mainly, power, prestige, fame, fortune, entertainment, popularity, security, and many other things that a person may get (though not wrong in themselves, but can be misused).  If you love money, you will never have enough and that goes for any idol too, if you love it, you won't have enough.  When you've had too much of the devil's delicacies, you lose your appetite for the things of God!  The mindset on the flesh is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life!  (Cf. Rom. 8:6).

It's all right to watch TV, for example, if one has priorities (and one follows Paul's principles or standards laid down in Phil 4:8: "Whatever is true, noble, right...think on these things..." and doesn't let it rule or dominate his time or energy and become a god or what is really an idol, breaking the first of the Ten Commandments.  "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me!"  If you don't feel in the mood to pray after watching too much TV, perhaps the devil has done his damage and won over your heart, which should belong to God--He wants you, and to be number one in your life--God is a jealous God and will tolerate no rivals.  This doesn't mean other things don't have importance in your life, but that God is of first importance.  That's why Paul says a soldier doesn't get involved in civilian affairs, because of a conflict of interest.  The closer you walk with Jesus, the more perceptive you get to the devil trying to trip you up with what he has to offer and to get your attention--he knows your weaknesses too.

Now, let me make a point, that the more mature you get, the more responsible you are and God requires more of you.  He doesn't expect a child to be as discerning as an adult.  "Just a closer walk with Thee" should be our prayer.  The goal, according to Richard of Chichester, is to "love Christ more dearly, to know Him more clearly, and to walk more nearly!"  The more we feed our soul and spirit, the more sensitive it becomes--the nature that you feed (your carnal or your spiritual one) is the one that will dominate your thinking and behavior--the dog that gets fed the most usually wins the dogfight.

Sin is addicting as well as alienating and it enslaves just as it estranges.  It is like smoking making people dislike you and you being addicted to something you cannot stop--nip it in the bud and you won't be tempted.  It is far easier to resist the initial temptation to sin than all the consequences and results that follow suit when it spirals out of control.  Don't let your habits become gods, but ask God to set you free--"If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).  What do you think Jesus was talking about when he said people would "die in their sin?"

Just don't neglect feeding your spiritual self, because the consequences of neglect are severe and tragic.  Note that "[God] who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment" (1 Tim. 6:17) means there are blessings from God and every good gift comes from God (cf. James 1:17).   Every day the battle starts all over and we must die daily and rededicate the day to Him--Live one day at a time, as it is written, "This is the day that the LORD has made, let us be glad and live today" (Ps. 118:24).  Soli Deo Gloria!