The Problem Of Legalism

"These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings" (Col. 2:22, NIV).
"They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules" (Matt. 15:9, NIV). 

Martin Luther realized the threat of Antinomianism and debunked it in his book, Against the Antinomians.  On the one extreme, there's the question of the Antinomian (anti-lawism or showing a distaste for the law) or libertine, on the other hand, we have the legalists.  They both are too obsessed with what right and wrong behavior is, not heeding the warning to watch our thinking and to be mature in our thinking and not infants (cf. 1 Cor. 14:20).  We are to be "renewed in the spirit of [our] minds."

Antinomianism suggests that since we are forgiven, we can live as we please, not as we ought.  Their slogan is: "Freed from the law, Oh blessed condition; now I can sin all I want and still have remission."  We are never granted carte blanche to live as we please or to do what is wrong.  We must not be like Israel that did that which was right in their own eyes (cf. Judges 21:25).  Antinomianism is nothing but moral liberty in Christ gone amok or plain moral laxity.

It is true that our faith is more than a list of dos and don'ts, and we are not under the law, but we are not lawless!  What did Paul say in Romans 6, but that we should not go on sinning, now that we are forgiven?  "Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more" (cf. Rom. 5:20); God will save the chief of sinners like Paul and that no one is too bad to be saved.  Christians do sin once saved (cf. Gal. 2:17) and perfectionism (entire sanctification) is unattainable this side of glory (cf. Prov. 20:9; Psalm 119:96), but we are not servants to sin as our master, but to righteousness, and are set free from its dominion.

We are all slaves to the power we choose to obey (cf. Rom. 6:16; 2 Pet. 2:19).  The point of being a Christian is being set free from our bondage.  We don't have the right to live in the flesh, but the power to live in the Spirit.  That's why "the letter kills and the Spirit gives life"--we must learn to walk in the Spirit in fellowship with our God.  We don't want to mimic the Pharisees who practiced the letter of the Law, without observing the Spirit.  What they were especially guilty of, is going beyond that which is written, as Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 4:4. Legalism is sheer spiritual tyranny and those who impose it are on a power trip and are control freaks.

Spiritual believers need no law, for they observe the law of the Spirit of life in Christ, but unbelievers know no law!  We must never major on the minors and become obsessed with a minor point or sin while avoiding major ones (cf. Matt. 23:23 where Jesus pointed out the Pharisees had neglected the heavier matters of the Law like justice, mercy, and faithfulness, cf. Matt. 23:23).   We ought to always respect the weaker brother's conscience and not be offensive, flaunting our liberty--we all should keep our convictions on disputable or questionable matters to ourselves and not publicize them.  We all have a right to an opinion on gray areas!

Grace, however, is not a license to sin and the Law still holds a place in our lives to be a mirror of ourselves, driving us to the cross, showing us we can't keep it and become convicted. But "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (cf. 2 Cor. 3:17).  We ought not to misuse liberty and take advantage of it, which would be a presumptuous sin!  By sinning we demonstrate our slavery, we don't prove our freedom.  We are free from sin, not to sin!  We are not under the Law but not lawless.

In sum, it's no use giving us a rule book, we cannot follow it!  The problem with legalism is that no perfect set of rules can be made and even if they could, man could not abide by it, for even the yoke of the Law was too heavy a burden for Israel--no list could be comprehensive enough and cover all the bases--we live under the easy yoke of God's will and abiding in Christ as we walk in the Spirit and fellowship.  The highest law is of love, and this can only be fulfilled in Christ! But God's Law is perfect and able to convert the sinner (cf. Psalm 19:7).

It's no use making up rules; we cannot keep them!   In the final analysis, the only way to avoid both extremes is the antidote of the Truth in the serious study of the Word of God.       Soli Deo Gloria!

Where Did God Come From?

"Can you fathom the mysteries of God?  Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?" (Job 11:7, NIV).
God is the "uncaused caused" or "unmoved mover" (causa prima or first cause in Latin), according to the Greeks of antiquity, viz., Aristotle.   
"The finite cannot contain (grasp) the infinite." classic axiom
"Tell me your certainties, I have enough doubts of my own." --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
According to the "Kalam cosmological proof" of God, everything that begins to exist has a cause, the cosmos began to exist, ergo it had a cause or Beginner.  

NOTE THE ILLOGICAL ASSUMPTION THAT EVERYTHING CAME FROM SOMETHING, WHICH WOULD BE THAT INFINITE REGRESS WAS POSSIBLE OR YOU COULD CROSS INFINITY!   WE MUST NOT ASSUME EVERYTHING WAS CREATED! 

Or, who made God?  Paul Little cites when Bertrand Russell asked, "Well, who created God?" and when no answer was forthcoming, he said, "My entire faith collapsed," according to his book, Why I Am Not a Christian.  The premise of the question is that everything came from something!  Everything that exists in time and space had a beginning because of the space-time continuum.  If we say that everything had a beginning, then there would be a time when nothing existed!  Then nothing would exist now!  By logic, something must have had no beginning and always was!  If that were not so, then nothing could ever exist, for out of nothing, nothing comes (ex nihilo, nihil fit in Latin).  Russell should have asked where he came from!

There is a problem of eternal regression or, in mathematics, the impossibility of crossing infinity--every chain of events must have a starting point (e.g., if I say God came from X, you would only ask, "Where did X come from?" and then, "Where did Y come from?" and so forth ad infinitum; soon we're at the end of the alphabet by analogy).  Nothing can be explained by an eternal link of cause and effect (passing the buck) by an infinite series of efficient cause.  At some point, the chain breaks down with a starting point, or it wouldn't exist.

Russell might well have asked, where did love come from?  Or, "Where did I come from?"  We discovered them, they were always there in God's mind and He revealed them to us.  God is love and love came from God, existing even before God expressed it in His creation. and salvation plan.  We are the expression of God, as being His icons, or created in the image and likeness of God. You may well ask, "Where did love come from, or where did justice come from?"  They certainly existed before being expressed.  Fair play existed before we have learned to express it in sports!  We don't create anything, but only discover what's already there!  A child may not understand this, but neither will an adult, for God's profundity is beyond our comprehension and we will never quite figure God out or put Him into a box.

If God came into being or began to exist, He would be captive to time and not eternal--God exists outside the time/space continuum.  Only that which is caused has a beginning.  Since God is eternal, He can have no cause and that's why He is the First Cause or as His name may be called "I CAUSE TO BE."  This is because God created the time-space continuum and is no slave to itit.  He exists independent of them.  Eternal, by definition, means no beginning and no cause.  The law of cause and effect says every effect must have a cause; God is not an effect and has no cause.  By the laws of non-contradiction and of causality, nothing can be its own cause or create itself!  But there can be an uncaused cause.  In other words, according to the law of causality, nothing just happens by itself! 

This is like saying that every event has a cause and everything that begins to exist has a cause.  God is not an event nor an effect and has no beginning, therefore no cause and cannot have come from anything.  God is the Beginner, and has no beginning, and couldn't have arisen from any cause or from anywhere.  R. C. Sproul says, "Being eternal, God is not an effect.  Since he is not an effect, he does not require a cause.  He is uncaused.  It is important to note the difference between uncaused, self-existent eternal being and an effect that causes itself through self-creation."

God is self-existent, needing no one, and nothing to exist--depending on only Himself.  God came from God--He is totally existent within Himself and fully satisfies all His needs by His very being.  We are all contingent creatures needing others, but God needs only Himself. If everything were contingent, dependent on outside forces, then nothing would be possible; ontologically speaking, something must be a necessary being for anything to exist in reality.  If God did need someone or something, that person or thing would be God!

All in all, there is can be no explanation for God's eternity and we cannot answer all questions--His thoughts are higher than ours, like the heavens from the earth (cf. Isa. 55:8-9).  We don't need all the answers to believe in Him though, and believing in God doesn't mean we have all the answers; however, we do have sound reasons for our faith. 

But no one has all the answers!  And we believe despite our doubts, but we can know the Answerer to our queries and doubts.  We will never understand many truths about God because we are finite and He is infinite and He has certain truths we are not capable of knowing--the secret things belong to the Lord and only that which is revealed belongs to us (cf. Deut. 29:29).   Our God, then, is transcendent or separate from creation as its Creator, and not subject to being created, formed, or emanated from anything or anyone.    Soli Deo Gloria!

It's Not About You!

To self-centered, selfish people it hasn't dawned on them that the world doesn't revolve around them.  This is part of growing up--Reality 101.  People don't exist to meet our needs!  You cannot love others when you're wrapped up in yourself.  We feel a disconnect and are not communicating when we focus on self.  Let's empty ourselves like Christ!  All of our thinking is distorted when self-centered, and we tend to think of "my way or the highway."  In other words, we become less tolerant. Sometime we must learn to stop running from our problems and difficult relationships, and reconcile---work things out!  God doesn't call us to be peace-keepers, but peacemakers; seeking to build bridges, not walls.

There are several ways we can discriminate or alienate, if we're looking, and the solution is to get our priorities right:  We are Christians first; human beings second; members of a family third; Americans fourth; citizens of a state fifth (as opposed to those who would say: "American by birth, Texan by the grace of God," or "Texan first, American second, and so forth), and finally members of a party, if any. Tribalism is the gut feeling that we have when we belong to a group, faction, or party that gives us pride and is wrong, as is party spirit.  This rating is not a cut-and-dried formula but a rough outline.

  When we meet people we disagree with, we are to treat them as fellow human beings, sometimes even as brothers in Christ, and learn that God puts them in our orbit to practice the first of the fruits of the Spirit, which is love. This priority is contrary to the America First doctrine or that we put America first in everything; this is much like the Deutschland uber Alles (Germany above all) campaign of Germany during two world wars. This leads to jingoism and chauvinism, or extreme patriotism at the expense of our values.  We must ask ourselves:  Where is our ultimate loyalty?

God has a plan for us if we submit and abide, but we must deny ourselves, put Him first and die to self, as "living sacrifices"--living for Him. The essence of humility is not thinking less of yourself, but of yourself less!  In order to say "Yes!" to Jesus, we must first say "No!" to self! We want God-confidence, not self-confidence!   Even our goals, ambitions, and priorities must be aligned with His.  Do you have great ambitions for yourself?  "Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them..." (Jer. 45:5, NIV). 

Selfish ambition is a fruit of the flesh, even though it's what makes the world go round, known as greed and envy.  Greed is not good, despite the movie Wall Street, and is a sin to be avoided--only godly ambition is acceptable to God--the desire to bring Him glory in all we do as Job One. Only in finding our true identity in Christ, setting our agenda in accordance with His will, and making an impact for Christ, will we see our true, rewarding importance in the mission He has given us--as we complete our marching orders--to make a difference for Christ in the world.

Nothing destroys churches like church politics or even party spirit--dividing into disputes about leadership or nonessential doctrine. We have more in common than divides us!  Identity politics, so prevalent today, is evil!  However, remember: The devil's strategy is to divide and conquer!   Even Christians tend to take their politics more seriously than their faith and will cut off fellowship on this basis.  Unfortunately, many believers focus on tribalism or identity with a party and owe their ultimate allegiance to it, like swearing an oath to a fraternity or club, and they will die for their political opinions, repeating the mantra:  "My party, right or wrong!"  "If you disagree with me, you're my enemy!   Don't they realize that God works through the body in toto and we need every part?  In the end, it's all about Jesus and how much glory we can bring to Him.

To ever find the truth we must admit we could be wrong, and that includes our politics. Everyone should ask themselves:  What if I am wrong?  We all accept something we cannot prove--a presupposition.  You cannot get to first base with some believers politically because their news sources are different and they have bought into a foreign or alien worldview, buying it hook, line, and sinker, and have sold out lock, stock, and barrel to some ideology, to the point of being fanatics about a party or politician; this is nothing but deifying a party or person and worshiping at the idol of politics--get over it, God is not a member of your or my party and He isn't even American!  The truth is in Jesus and when we get our eyes off Him we lose focus and go astray.

We must realize it's not about us and our happiness and fulfillment, but about God and our serving Him to His glory.  Some believers think life is about what God can do for them and it's about turning in their spiritual lottery ticket and having their best life now; au contraire, it's all about being vessels of honor, being used by God.  We were made to bring honor to Him, and any other goal is shortsighted and selfish--even selfish ambition--for the "chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever" (The Westminster Shorter Catechism).

We must yield control of our lives to His sovereignty and walk with Christ in His will, just as Christ's motto of life was:  "Thy will be done!" The ultimate prayer of relinquishment.   According to Nobel Prize winner Albert Schweitzer, "The only truly happy people are those who have learned how to serve."  Christ is so wonderful to behold that we are lifted in spirit as we get our eyes off ourselves. In sum, we find our purpose and fulfillment in Christ alone!   Soli Deo Gloria!

Seeing Our Own Sinfulness

"The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.  Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God"  (Rom. 8:7-8, NIV).
"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9, NIV). 
"... But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door.  Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it" (Gen. 4:7, HCSB)
"It is no use giving us rules of conduct; we cannot keep them." --John Stott
"In Adam's fall/ We sinned all" (The New England Primer, 1727). 

We all are born "in Adam" (as opposed to becoming "in Christ" upon salvation) or with "original sin" (the result of the first sin) inherited from Adam, by virtue of his being the representative head of our race and acting on our behalf when he disobeyed God. When Adam ate of the so-called "proverbial apple" it was the prototype or model sin:  "He spurned God's grace; contradicted His truth; rejected His authority; disputed His wisdom; repudiated His justice, and resisted His grace" (Author unknown). 

Sin is our birthright and a virus we all have inherited.   It has been defined by the Westminster divines as "any want of conformity to or transgression of the law of God."  By the way, it's "any thought, word, action, omission, or desire contrary to the Law of God" (Charlie Riggs of the BGEA) i.e., anything contrary to the nature of God--our Declaration of Independence from God--it's such a killjoy word for preachers but cannot be ignored without peril. It's our birthright and a virus we inherit.  We must be against it!

We must see our sinfulness to be saved and come to repentance.  The law was given to make us see our sin ("for by the law is the knowledge of sin," cf. Rom. 3:20).   It was never given to save us but to show us we need salvation. We don't know how bad we are, till we attempt to become good, and we cannot become good without knowing how bad we are--the solution to this catch-22 is knowing Jesus as our Savior.  This so-called doctrine of total depravity or more realistically, radical corruption. means our whole being--heart or emotions, mind or intellect, and will or volition--are corrupt and unable to please God--we're not utterly depraved or as bad as we can be. 

Even our reasoning powers and conscience are corrupt--spoiled by sin (cf. Titus 1:15).  We are stubborn, rebellious people whom God has to conform to do His will like a Potter working on clay.  G. K. Chesterton said tongue-in-cheek that this is the only doctrine "that can be proved."  "... [B]ut men loved darkness rather than light" (cf. John 3:19).

Our sinfulness becomes even more apparent to us as we get closer to God--the closer our walk, the more consciousness of sin. Peter exclaimed, "Depart from me O Lord, for I am a sinful man" (cf. Luke 5:8).  Samuel Rutherford said to pray for a hearty sense of sin, because "the greater sense of sin, the less sin."  The point of being bad is not that we are too bad to be saved, but never good enough to be saved--Isaiah 64:6 says "our righteousness is as filthy rags."  

In fact, where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more (cf. Rom. 5:20).  Let's not play the "let's compare game!"   It doesn't matter that we may be better than our neighbor--we all look like saints compared to Saddam Hussein, because God doesn't grade on a curve--we're all in the same boat of falling short of God's glorious ideal per Rom. 3:23.

This solidarity in Adam means we have a legacy of sin as our inheritance and we cannot escape our birthright.  We were born in sin, not born free!   Our wills were in bondage too, not free till we were freed in Christ upon salvation (cf. John 8:36)!  We cannot even save ourselves and don't even meet our own standards of good, as Ovid said, "I see better things and I approve them, but I follow the worst." But the whole point is that the greater we are forgiven, the greater our love, as William Jay of Bath said, "I am a great sinner, but I have a great Savior."

In Adam's fall, we all ceased to be good, though not ceasing to be human.  We all have a dark side or are like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde--we all have feet of clay or a vulnerable side no one sees.  The world thinks a man is basically good, but he is inherently evil and cannot please God--all he can do is sin.  People think this means we are as bad as we can be, but we are as bad off as we can be.  We are not as corrupt as possible, for God restrains sin, but our whole nature is corrupt.--total depravity, not utter depravity.  Why?  God can turn the wrath of man to praise Him (cf. Psalm 76:10).  We see goodness in light of evil and evil brings opportunity for good.  The good news is that no one is too bad to be saved, but grace abounds to the chief of sinners, as John Bunyan wrote (cf. Rom. 5:20).

Sin has been our downfall and we must be reminded of our old sin nature or it will dominate.  "Sin wants to destroy you, but we must not let it" (cf. Gen. 4:7, CEV).  We need to renounce sin in ourselves and turn from it first to have discernment. "The absurd," according to Albert Camus, "is sin without God"--we must become aware of sin to repent of it; that's why knowledge and admission of sin is the missing ingredient (Whatever Became of Sin? by Karl Menninger, MD).

We are all guilty of rebellion, independent attitudes, lawlessness, godlessness, injustice, unbelief, iniquity, and all manner of transgression and unrighteousness--these are all evil violations of God's person and nature.  D. James Kennedy says the law was given to show us we don't keep it, the "law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul" (cf. Psalm 19:7). The Law doesn't convert us or save us, it measures and convicts us! 

In the final analysis, we all must exclaim to God as Paul did, "What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Cf. Rom. 7:24).  He answers his own question:  "Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Cf. Rom. 7:25).   The higher law Christians adhere to is the law of love, which is done willingly and gratefully.   Soli Deo Gloria!   

Love Is Our Biggest Asset To Share

"What the world needs now, is love, sweet love; it's the only thing that there's just too little of..." -- a folk song of the 60s
"All you need is love .. Spread the word, the word is love!" --song lyric from The Beatles
"How these Christians love one another." --Celsus, second-century Greek philosopher
"Love makes the world go round." --song lyric from 1961 Broadway play Carnival!
"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:35, NIV).
"We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19, NIV).
"But children, let us not love with words or speech but with action and truth" (1 John 3:18, NIV).
"Once you've experienced it [the love of God], you want to pass it on!" --famous gospel song

Atheist philosopher Bertrand Russell said that "... what the world needs is more Christian love."  He was right that only Christianity is the faith with compassion.  How many hospitals and relief organizations have been founded by infidels?  It was the Christians who came to the rescue at the "killing fields" of Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge persecutions and atrocities post-Viet Nam.  The Eastern faiths recognize only karma as justice and believe people are to work out their own problems and suffer the results of their own evil and sin, which is some iron-clad law known as karma, working like cause and effect.  Mother Teresa Calcutta, now canonized by Rome and who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, was only allowed to work with the "untouchables" of India because the elite or upper castes didn't care about them and had written them off.

There are basically three religions thriving in India (Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism), with only a minority of Christians, who face persecution most everywhere, though the apostle Thomas founded a church there that still exists.  The best way to reach out to these pagans is to show them what they lack and what Christ has to offer: love.  Only Christianity is a faith of love and believes God is love; Muslims reject this kind of deity and the consequence is that the Golden Rule is also rejected because there is no reason to love the "infidel" or non-Muslim. 

The church needs believers filled with the Spirit and with the love of Christ to show what Christ can do in transforming souls.  Love is the first of the fruits of the Spirit and this means all Christians know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge through the Spirit. " It costs so little to teach one to love, and so much to teach them to hate," according to Father Flanagan, founder of Boys Town in Omaha, NE.

The point is that missionaries must start young, reaching out to the youth, who represent the future, and are not so committed to the traditions of the ancestors, but are impressionable and teachable.  If you want to change a nation for Christ, the younger generation must be reached and seeds planted. God's Word will not come back void (cf. Isa. 55:11).  Mother Teresa was right in her devotion:  Christ has no hands but ours to do His work, no voice but ours to speak up for Him, no ears but ours to listen for Him, and no feet but ours to go for Him.  We also have the mind of Christ to implement His will and to out-think the enemy. 

God wants to do a mighty work but He has chosen to use the church, not angels.  If we cannot go, we must be committed to sending and preparing, and even supporting those who will go.  Truly "God's love has been poured out into our hearts" and we are Christ's "ambassadors" and representatives of it on earth in real time 24/7.  (Cf. Rom. 5:5).

When we realize that the harvest is ready (cf. Matt. 9:37-38) and abundant like Jesus promised and predicted, we are all the more committed to the cause of the Great Commission.  The Lord of the Harvest is reaping and sending and calling missionaries to the mission field.  All Christians are given a part in this commission and must spread the Word to the best of their abilities, with their spiritual gift--we are all men and women on a mission!   The point is to start where we are--bloom where we are planted and let God promote us--and He will if we are willing.  I've heard it said that we should be willing to go anywhere, as long as it's forward to manifest this love--the greatest expression of love we can share is to preach the gospel in Jesus' name.  

Discipleship entails following Jesus wherever He leads us and no one knows the will of God for his entire life ahead of time, or where God may send him.  Look at Abraham, not knowing where he was going, but stepping out in faith.   The Christian life takes faith and walking in the Spirit on a daily basis through all life has to offer.  Christ's love has no ebb and flow like ours does, and we are given this agape or divine love in Christ in order to share with the world. The point is that no one knows where Christ will lead him if he's obedient to the heavenly calling.  One may join the military not knowing where he'll be deployed and God will use him, or his occupation may force moving to new locals to plant seeds.  All God asks is for us to be willing and obedient. As Mother Teresa said so eloquently: "It's not what you do, but how much love you put into it that matters."

But we must set our hearts upon finishing the mission given us ("my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace," (Acts 20:24, NIV).  We must not pawn the mission off on our brother, but seek the gift we have and be faithful to it, so the Lord will indeed say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."  We all have a part in this great work and no believer is diminished.   God doesn't want our achievements; He wants our obedience; to obey is better than sacrifice per 1 Sam. 15:22.  We must not disparage some one's gift or look down on him for we all must be faithful to what we are given.  We all share in the mission:  some go; some send; some prepare; some teach; some support;  some pray!   Soli Deo Gloria!

Christianity Is Good Psychology...

"There is something about the way God is that is like the way we are." --J. P. Moreland and Scott Rae  

"Psychologist, heal thyself." --Joyce Milton  

"If there is no God, all things are permissible." -- Dostoevsky 

"... [A]nd [God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul"  (Gen. 2:7, KJV).
Remember the Greek antiquarian axiom:  Know thyself!  

NB:   PSYCHOLOGY IS THE STUDY OF THE SOUL BY DEFINITION.  

The Christian faith is a school of psychology, in fact, a better one than pop or even traditional psychology, and it is a competing one for the hearts and minds of Christians, some of whom feel alienated from the church and don't find solutions in its traditions and teachings.  Too often Christians seeking psychological counseling just have unresolved personal problems and aren't obedient believers repenting of their sins and being accountable--the troubled souls need guidance and support for the social maladjustment.  But psychology is starting to realize the importance of accountability and of making choices again, which is a kind of recognition of sin, the ultimate irresponsibility. The point is that without God there is no sin and we are not accountable!

The fact is that only the church offers answers to all the ultimate questions and dilemmas of man, and psychology focuses on behavior, dodging the bullet.  Psychology is supposedly the study of the soul or psyche, but it has reverted to studying and modifying behavior.  They don't have the big answer to what's wrong with us but focus on diagnosis and so-called self-help therapies. We instinctively sense something is awry with our condition.  William Kirk Kilpatrick concludes, "The real test of a theory or way of life, however, is not whether it can relieve pain but what it says about the pain it cannot relieve."  Why is it that religious people are known to be less stressed than nonbelievers?

Christian psychology, which seems like an oxymoron, focuses on positive psychological hygiene, as well as avoiding bad, destructive behavior.  We are supposed to cease to do evil and learn to do good.  Don't just avoid sin, but do the right thing and live right.  According to Christian psychologists, most mental illnesses don't really exist, but they are over-diagnosed to people who have emotional problems with life adjustment and coping in the real world.  They have not learned to hack Reality 101.  (Modern psychology doesn't know any answers to life's problems and issues, such as the meaning and purpose of life, where we came from, where we're headed, and why we are here.)  They study behavior but cannot define human nature and don't know what makes us human--the image of God!

Every rational person knows about the existence of good and evil, and has eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Adam, but most people still think man is basically good, while Christianity is counter-cultural and says we are basically and intrinsically evil and corrupt through and through--no one escapes corruption and is pure in God's eyes.  This raises a red flag when they cannot account for the evil in the world and don't even have a definition for it.  But Paul said, "Wretched man that I am, who will rescue me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24).  We must know ourselves as the Greeks admonished, and the picture isn't pretty.  A famous Christian philosopher remarked:  "What is wrong with the world?  I am, sincerely yours, G. K. Chesterton."  Christianity gives us dignity and makes us accountable and oriented toward reality, and isn't a cop-out or escape.  Christianity is the only worldview that adequately answers all the ultimate questions plaguing mankind.

Christianity is unique too:  the problem is sin, Christ is the answer!  Man is plagued by real guilt (not a guilt-complex a la Freudian psychology) and needs forgiveness and freedom from guilt which can only be realized in spiritual renewal and salvation.  We are each individually responsible to God and accountable and will be judged as to what we did with our gifts from God.  Christianity doesn't give us the freedom to live as we want, but the power to live as we ought and sets us free from the bondage of sin's power over us. We were born in bondage not born free!  Only in Christianity is there meaning in suffering and the guilt problem is dealt a final blow and resolved for good so that it doesn't dog a person the rest of his life.

We are in the image of God, having intellect, will, emotion, intuition, conscience, etc., and must seek the good and moral choice, as well as avoid the evil one:  Doing the right thing while avoiding bad behavior as well.  We all have human traits of wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence to name a few of the known 52 virtues delineated in Scripture.  The goal is not to pinpoint blame or to point the finger, but to bring healing through reconciliation to God.  Only then will we realize what makes life worth living.      Soli Deo Gloria! 

How Does Knowledge Puff Up?

"Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding" (Jer. 3:25, NIV).  
"... How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?" (Prov. 1:22, NIV).
"Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid" (Prov. 12:1, NIV).  
"The wise store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin" (Prov. 10:14, NIV).
"... We know that 'We all possess knowledge.'  But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.  Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know" (1 Cor. 8:1-2, NIV).

1 Cor. 8:1 says that "knowledge puffs up, but love edifies."  Paul also warns in 1 Tim. 6:20 that there is "knowledge falsely so called."  Why is it that Hosea says that the "people perish for lack of knowledge" and that those "without knowledge will come to ruin"?  There must be a valid knowledge that God wills us to possess.  Point to ponder:  Scripture isn't anti-intellectual or anti-intellect.  It's not the intelligence or the knowledge that offends God and others, but the arrogance so often accompanied with it.  We must cater to intellectual honesty or integrity, but not pander to intellectual arrogance.  Job challenged God without proper knowledge and needed to be clued in.  He found out that no one has a monopoly on knowledge, wisdom, understanding, or truth.

It is said of sophomores (wise morons) in college that they are wise guys because they have enough knowledge to be dangerous or are half-educated.  When you think you have all the answers, like a youth rebelling against parental authority, you don't know as you ought to know.  It is said that all knowledge begins in faith and we cannot find a knowledge of the truth unless we are willing to admit we are wrong!  Because no one is infallible and can't stand corrected at times.  It is no shame to love wisdom and knowledge--philosopher means love of wisdom--because true believers have an innate love of the truth and unbelievers reject the truth (cf. 2 Thess. 2:10; Rom. 2:8).

A sign of a truly wise man is that he's hungry for the truth and is a permanent student in the school of Christ, ever increasing and growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord.  Sir Francis Bacon, Christian philosopher, scientist, mathematician, said that "knowledge is power," echoing Prov. 24:5 that says we increase strength with our increase of knowledge.  Getting back to the sophomore analogy:  we never really graduate from the school of Christ we have matriculated in and are permanent students of the Book and the more we learn the more we realize we don't know, but that we have merely scratched the surface.  A student entering college thinks he knows something, then gets somewhat overwhelmed, then he becomes a wiseguy thinking he knows it all and is "educated," but then gets humbled and finds out how ignorant he is, and hopefully, he will see graduation as only the beginning of his search for the truth and not the endpoint of it.   It is said of the true student of Christ that he has a thirst for the truth and knowledge because "all truth meets at the top" (acc. to Aquinas) and "all truth is God's truth" (acc. to Augustine).

There is a spiritual gift of knowledge and God grants a spirit of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding so that we all can become wise men and counsel others to the truth.  The wise are known as those who are hungry for the truth, while the fool feeds on trash.  The lips of the wise disperse knowledge according to Prov. 15:7.  We are commanded to add knowledge to our virtue in 2 Pet. 1:5.  We must never forget that according to Prov. 1:7 all knowledge is contingent and begins with a fear of the Lord; for without God's knowledge and revelation, we could know nothing for certain.  "To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness..." (Eccl. 2:16, NIV).  CAVEAT:  If we have all knowledge and not love we are nothing; one must keep the main thing the main thing and realize that the aim and focus are to use our knowledge wisely, for the inclination of man is to increase in knowledge and not know how to use it to God's glory.  That's why Peter warns us not to be unfruitful in our knowledge (2 Pet. 1:8).  Solomon also realized the importance of acquiring knowledge from God to be able to lead Israel.

Solomon noticed that too much knowledge can be a grief and bring sorrow, but that is only when it's not focused on Christ and not oriented to the glory of God and one has no God-centered purpose in learning but is only learning for its own sake or for the wrong motives--knowledge is not an end in itself, but a means to an end!   "But since you excel in everything--in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you...." (2 Cor. 8:7, NIV).  Daniel is the patron saint of those of the knowledge of the system, and the priest is to guard and preserve knowledge for he is the messenger of the Lord (cf. Mal. 2:7).

Likewise, we ought to avoid the presence of the fool, the one in whom we don't find the words of knowledge.  Never forget that true knowledge of the Lord is real understanding and wisdom and something to boast in (cf. Jer. 9:24).  Remember that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and therefore one must commit to a serious, lifelong pursuit of it to keep from conceit, lest we become like Job who "spoke without knowledge" and his words had no insight, thinking he knew it all per Job 34:35. An example of foolishly using knowledge is to be a showoff or to parade it or to endeavor to "wow" people with our scholarship or higher learning when we need to meet people where they are and connect with them at their level--no one likes the know-it-all.

Some knowledge is too wonderful (cf. Psa. 131:1) for us because of our human limits (cf. Psa. 139:6).  A sign of the last days is that according to Daniel 12:4 "knowledge shall increase," but this is the unwise use of it and referring to a technical advance of civilization, not true godly knowledge, which doesn't increase but remains to be discovered anew in each generation.  I believe we are going backward in this category!  Caution:  Ignorance is not bliss, and it's ignorance that binds us not knowledge.   In sum, we all need to know the value of knowing the scoop, but we need to add a cup of discernment with it to keep it in perspective and ourselves properly oriented to reality and the main thing that counts--love.   ("I desired the knowledge of God ... more than burnt offerings" (Hos. 6:6, NIV).    Soli Deo Gloria!

The Heavenly Quest

Man has been on the quest for paradise on earth, much more in the afterlife ever since the dawn of time. God implanted this idea, it is not of our creation or imagination.   But this has meant different strokes for different folks!  Man is not invariably pure spirit, nor is he spiritually pure or meant to be a spirit--we will have spiritual bodies in heaven, but they will be bodies like Christ's, nonetheless, that can live in other dimensions so as to walk through walls, and probably eat without gaining weight!  No man is so spiritual he can worship God forever, unceasingly ad nauseam; however, there are angels assigned to this task and they are privileged to be so close to God, not cursed to praise God in worship songs forever!  Watching reruns of Green Acres would be hell on earth to me!  We all have our dreams and nightmares of eternity.  But one thing for sure, we will be fulfilled and filled with joy everlasting knowing and praising God, even in our work and labors.  

There is a multitude of ways to worship God and we will find ways to bring Him glory in all we do in our heavenly estate and an eternal home in the heavenly city of the New Jerusalem.  People who are extremely musical wish they could enjoy music all day, and there are Christians who listen to Christian radio and think they are worshiping God all-day-long--this is passive, and worship is active or something that takes effort. Both work and play can become worship!  God is the receiver and recipient of worship in the Spirit and not ourselves--we find our fulfillment in worshiping God in the way we are hard-wired, but certainly to worship in spirit and in truth. 

Personally, I wish I was so spiritual I could sing praises to Him night and day, but I don't think that level of spirituality is possible in the flesh.  People say that heaven is not a perpetual church service, and I hope not, because God can be worshiped in so many ways besides that.  But we should never put down some one's idea of what heaven would be to them because no one will be disappointed.  The Christian life is not about walking in the glow of a transforming experience the rest of your life nor about living in a perpetual high on Cloud Nine to be no earthly good.

The important point is that we will all be fulfilled and spiritually joyful and content in our realization of heaven--God will let no one down.  The important thing about thinking of heaven is that it helps us to live in light of eternity, to get proper focus, and put things in perspective.  We are but pilgrims just passing through and have spiritual green cards that we will one day exchange for a heavenly occupation and residence.  This life is but a dress rehearsal or prelude to heaven and every note we strike sounds a chord that will vibrate into eternity.

Many Christians think we are here to get the American dream realized: education, culture, standard of living, and freedom, but these will find us fleeting fulfillment, and they only get our focus off Christ the center of our attention and what it's all about--bringing Him glory and living for Him, enjoying Him in the process.  Christ came to give us eternal life and a more abundant one, even in the here and now, and this life, which is not probationary, beginning at salvation and cannot be forfeited by sin, for Christ is our intercessor when we do and holds onto us and won't let go nor give up on us (cf. Phil. 1:5).

The joy we share in Christ now is but a preview of our heavenly, beatific vision.  Many believers get a misconception of the real life in Christ by focusing on musical megastars, who perform before large crowds, and consequently believe they should imitate them or emulate them as living the ideal Christian life by virtue of their gifting in the Spirit--we all need to be ourselves and look to Jesus as our Supreme Exemplar and not to any man as personifying the Spirit--as an ideal of spirituality, or as being spiritual giants.

One thing heaven is not is monotony or routine:  Is there anything you could do without ceasing, ad infinitum without getting bored or out of your comfort zone?  If you love reading, would you love to read forever?  Nothing is mundane or perfunctory in heaven! There may be routines but no monotony.  Even if you enjoy preaching, eating, or even singing, you wouldn't want to engage it forever; for we are hard-wired for work (though some think work is a curse--not in heaven!) and productivity; diversity is the stuff of life and we ought not to strive with our Maker (cf. Isaiah 45:9)!

We are not self-deceived like Muslims believing in a Paradise is of man's own imagination and "wine, women, and song" or having "seventy virgins," but we believe heaven is far more surreal than we can envision with our limited senses and intellects--the finite cannot contain the infinite.    Soli Deo Gloria!  

The Antiestablishment Christian

"Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities [powers that be in KJV], for there is no authority except that which God has established" (Rom. 13:1, NIV). 
"What can the righteous do, when the foundations are destroyed?"  (cf. Psalm 11:3).  

People are against the establishment and even resent authority and authority figures for that matter, especially the government, but note that all authority is ordained by God and we ought to obey except when in conflict with Scripture. Government is not a necessary evil, according to Augustine, but necessary because of evil.  There are even people who are against the church as part of the establishment but for Jesus and don't see any contradiction.  Jesus, according to Humanist historian Will Durant, was the greatest revolutionist in history.  Jesus was antiestablishment par excellence!  The church is not an institution or an organization, but an organism--a living relationship and fellowship of believers on a mission.  There is a difference between establishment and institution that we should beware of.  You don't have to be for the establishment, or the system, to be in favor of the institution of government per se, or its branches.

The establishment may include a police force that profiles illegally, for instance, and you are against it.  This is why we protest to show our disdain for the status quo and don't have to accept injustice and inequity. Jesus did a lot to overthrow the establishment of the Pharisees and Sadducees but posed no viable, practical threat to Caesar.  He was a threat to the Pharisees turf and influence.  You could say he upset the religious apple cart!  Jesus was a controversialist and wasn't afraid to take a stand for what was right and to condemn the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.

It is not good to be a troublemaker; Paul had this reputation as "ringleader" of the Way, and also Elijah, who was "the one who troubled Israel".  But heresies must come to show who is approved and this does not give us free rein to be divisive, contentious, argumentative, nor judgmental--instead, we are to be peacemakers, sometimes standing in the gap and reconciling opponents.

Note that God has ordained and established the institutions of family, church, and government and we ought to be in submission to them as appropriate (cf. Rom. 13:1).  We can be against a certain leader and still be for the institution for which he stands, i.e,. respect for the office, not the officeholder.  We are not to ever become revolutionaries to overthrow the government for Christ, so as to usher in the kingdom, but that doesn't mean we cannot be reformers and heroes of our cause.  We have no social commission to "reclaim America for Christ."   We must stand up for our faith and not only declare our Christian colors but fly them proudly. We must not lose by default!    And we must maintain law and order in society and faith in the institutions or the powers that be, for if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? (cf. Psalm 11:3).

The rule of law was first expounded by Rev. Samuel Rutherford in his book, Lex Rex, or "the law is king." We believe in the rule of law, not men!  It upset the whole royal landscape.  We are not to be a nation of men ruling but laws ruling. No one being above the law and equally subject to it ("equal justice under the law"). Any form of the perversion or miscarriage of justice or its corruption is forbidden by God.  It seems sometimes like what James Russell Lowell said, "Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne."

Christians have no right to wreak havoc on the social order or to support an uprising or revolution, even if they disagree with the "system."  We must limit the powers of government leaders as Lord Acton warned:  "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely."  If we disagree, we not only have the right to protest in civil disobedience but the mandate as long as it is concordant with the God's will and Word.

This is supposedly a constitutional republic and that means it abides by the rule of law and no one is above it.  These very concepts of justice and judicial precedent are being challenged as our president demands to see the evidence against him and to investigate the investigators of himself as the target.  This is all unprecedented.  It's been the tradition that the law is king, not the king and even the king must obey and submit to it.  We are a nation of laws, not of men, which would give us a highly whimsical and capricious government. 

You don't have to agree with the system to be for the preservation of our institutions.  Christians have no right to wreak havoc on the social order and to create or fuel chaos or anarchy, on the other hand, we are salt and light and to be of positive influence.  Christians should care a lot more about preserving our institutions than getting their agenda accomplished, no matter how noble in intent (results and unwanted repercussions matter too).  We must beware of authoritarianism, which can devolve when the checks and balances of the branches of government are dysfunctional.   

It's our right to protest or to do civil disobedience when the government demands unjust or immoral laws be obeyed--we must obey God and not man in these cases.  But we are to be model citizens otherwise and not a liability to our nation's success and prosperity.       Soli Deo Gloria! 

Ethical, Or True Lies?

My premise is that there may be times when one has no choice but to lie because the person doesn't deserve the truth and the truth does more damage in the final result.  Numbers 23:19 says God is not a man that He should lie--implying men lie!   Note that even Paul was apologetic and insisted he wasn't lying in Rom. 9:1 and Gal. 1:20.  In Col. 3:9, where it forbids lying to each other, this is referencing the body of Christ in context.  We ought to be in sync with the Holy Spirit and walking in the light so as not to lie to the Holy Spirit per Acts 5 when Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead. The warning in Revelation is to those who "love and practice lies."  Job interestingly denies lying to his comforters' faces.   We ought to be in the habit of practicing the truth not lies, but there are always exceptions to the rules.  God cannot lie (cf. Heb. 6:18; Titus1:2) but it's impossible for man not to lie!

Eph. 4:15 does say to "speak the truth in love" (and speak "lies" in love too!), but sometimes the truth often hurts and should be shirked--it's never warranted to insult or use hate speech.  We never have the prerogative to be judgmental, divisive, critical, argumentative, nor contentious in our speech or conversation. Don't ever cast a slur on your fellow man.  Note that when the Bible speaks of "truth," it's mainly specifying Scripture (cf. John 17:17)--i.e., speak the Word of God in love, not to stir hatred.  Many believers become legalists; but it is written: "do not go beyond that which is written" (1 Cor. 4:6).  What does this mean?

We can interpret the Ninth Commandment as prohibiting and forbidding false testimony in court that would damage some one's reputation and change the verdict, what is verboten here is meant to apply to that but it is elaborated further in Scripture and people have generally believed all lying, even nonintentional ones or white lies, which only are made to keep from hurting one's feelings, are patently, unequivocally wrong.  We ought never blatantly to tell falsehoods to our neighbors but what about our enemies--do they deserve the truth?  "Do not be overrighteous ... why destroy yourself?" (Eccl. 7:16, NIV).

We as believers in Christ are not "under the law" (cf. Rom. 6:14) and operate or function under a higher law at work--the law of love, and if it serves to love our neighbor better by covering up the truth or letting a misrepresentation go, then the higher law overrules.  What if telling the truth would lead to the death of your wife?  Even Abraham lied about his wife being his sister, which technically was a half-truth!  What if it meant compromising the safety of thousands of persecuted Jews during the Holocaust--when papers were counterfeited?  What if a Nazi asks you if you are harboring Jews or know their whereabouts like Corrie ten Boom did?  What if you are undercover as a mole or counterespionage agent and your concealed identity and falsehoods must be secretive?  What about the pleasantries of greetings when we cover up our malady and say, "I'm fine," when we're not in a good mood and you want to avoid pity or attention.  You may feel you don't owe them the truth concerning your privacy--it's none of their business.  There are many ethical dilemmas that one may have and the best advice is to pray that you enter not into temptation. (Plead the Fifth!). For instance, either you tell a lie, or your daughter gets raped?  We are not culpable for coerced acts done non-voluntarily.

The moment of truth is not when we are challenged to admit the truth to an adversary but when we are honest to God at the time it would cost us something if we are honest, e.g., reveal some secret fact about yourself or others.  We need to get away from making such high ethical standards for our selves that we can never achieve and end up falling into a rut of self-defeat and failure, resulting in low self-image or esteem, ultimately leading defeated lives spiritually.  I know that God abhors a (habitual, uncontrollable, pathological) lying tongue (per Prov. 6:16f), but everyone is a liar according to Romans 3:4.  Technically anyone who ever told a lie is a liar then and that includes believers, for there is one God of truth.

Technically, you could say Jesus "lied" when He was on the road to Emmaus and he led on or "pretended" or made like He was going on farther ahead or playing along with their notion of the situation.  If you want to get technical, this is one sin that there are literally dozens of ways to commit it and we all do unbeknownst to ourselves. The truth is that we are only judged according to our awareness of truth and knowledge, and anything done in faith is not sin, and only if we know the right thing to do and fail to do it, is it sin.  The kind of liar that God says is an abomination and He abhors is deliberate and habitual and even pathological, not occasional or necessitated.

Any man that claims he's never lied or doesn't do it is a liar by definition--he's self-condemned and doesn't know his own nature. A real liar is one who commits to lying as a way of life like a con artist, not a person who has found it necessary to lie.  George Washington said he couldn't tell a lie, which was a lie!  Mark Twain was more honest in saying he could tell a lie, but wouldn't!  In determining the morality of a "lie" one must examine the motive (cf. Prov. 16:2), the desired effect, and any fallout, byproduct, or unintended consequences and results (cf. Deut. 32:29), which we are held accountable for--we don't believe just because a person's motives were pure or he did it in love, that he is justified.

What is the real crime, is not just telling a little lie, but living a big one?   It's not a contest to see who can be the most honest or reveal the most secrets, sort of like comedians do when they joke about themselves--be relevant and appropriate!   What matters in the long run, is that you are on the side of the truth and don't suppress it, namely ("true truth," as Francis Schaeffer called it) and listen to the truth--God's Word is Truth! (Cf. John 18:27; Rom. 1:18).  So, who do you want as your confidant? (Cf. Psalm 25:14).  Soli Deo Gloria!