"Has God said ...?"

 Doubt in its place can be a good thing:  "Tell me your certainties, I have enough doubts of my own"  (Goethe).
Skepticism goes all the back to the Greek philosophers of antiquity, so it is not new--they wondered about knowing anything at all.
David Hume, the extreme skeptic philosopher, was known for doubting the very possibility of miracles, saying they were a violation of natural law (thus personifying science):  He repudiated the idea of certainty.
Rene Descartes, the father of modern philosophy in an age of Rationalism, refused to believe anything unless provable: Cogito, ergo sum was all he could muster (I think, therefore I am).
Has anything ever not rung true to you?  Read on!

"It is to a man's honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel:  (Proverbs 20:3).
First three paragraphs are an introduction, disclaimer, and platform:

My goal herein is to provide a rationale for avoiding unnecessary conflict whether by specious (questionable and dubious) argument or even by cogent, rational assertion.  I'll attempt to keep the rhetoric at bay and won't engage in a war over ideas (the only war worth fighting at all costs is the gospel and constituent truths).  (Some argument is better suited to the open marketplace of ideas and not between loved ones.  If you can't say it in public, it might not be worth saying.)  This is based on personal experience and what the Lord has taught me, and is not intended to offend anyone.  We must be prepared to have an answer for the hope that is within us, yet with gentleness and respect according to 1 Peter 3:15; otherwise we lose by default and confirm them in their ignorance.  (Refutation and rebuttal ability are acquired skills through practice and are not as necessary as a thorough knowledge of the Word of Truth--knowing the Bible is more valuable than an education.)

This is my dialectic about being skeptical and putting skepticism in its place.  I am hoping to shun animosity and discord, but I have found it necessary to blog on this matter and not concede without saying my peace of mind and getting it off my chest about what I know something about.  In the final analysis, I hope you will ascertain your position and, if you disagree, be tactful, kind, and loving in your reaction, comment, or response (it is the spirit that something is done in that matters and is apparent).  A final word to the wise is sufficient:  An opinion is something you hold, but convictions hold you and you are usually willing to make sacrifices for them, to die for, that is, even the ultimate sacrifice itself.

In the so-called great quest or pursuit of truth and thirst for knowledge, I endeavor to make an intelligible discourse to delineate my stand on argumentation and skepticism (I believe there comes a time when we must make our position known and stand up for what we believe).  I intend to tone down the rhetoric and be as coherent and lucid as I am can.   Sometimes we are not presenting the offense of the cross, but being offensive and obnoxious jerks in our interpersonal intercourse.  I am aware that some of the great philosophers and theologians have declared that "all truth is God's truth," but in my nomenclature, the truth is divine revelation that changes lives and gives life to the soul.  All of us err on occasion as Augustine said, "If I err, I am."  Also, "to err is human...."  Finally, these views are what I espouse and subscribe to and I do not claim to be inerrant, or infallible, neither do I speak ex-cathedra, nevertheless,  I am articulating my own viewpoint.

You may recall that this is what Satan said to Eve when he so slyly introduced the concept of skepticism to her.  Some people are born skeptics and are naturally inquisitive or inquiring, even too curious or doubtful for their own good--there is a place for faith and all knowledge begins with it.  There are some things we ought to be skeptical about, like politicians who act out of expediency (Goethe said politics is a dirty business).  But there is a time and place for every matter under heaven and one should know when to be skeptical and put it in its place.

Gen. George C. Patton's book Patton's Principles:  A Handbook for Managers Who Mean it says we should "pick our fights" because there may be more to lose than to gain.  We can win an argument and lose a friend--I personally believe relationships are more important than showing off your debating skill.  Proverbs says, that a brother offended is harder to win over than a fortified city.  Sometimes wisdom tells us not to go there because we have more to lose than to gain.  Arguments can generate more heat than light and people are rarely won over by argument--you cannot argue someone into the kingdom, for instance.

R. C. Sproul says that the Bible forbids being argumentative, divisive, contentious, or judgmental.  This is true because Paul says in 2 Tim. 2:24 that "the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome [must not strive]."  We are peacemakers, not troublemakers, and one of the six things God hates listed in Prov. 6:19 is sowing discord (one of the fruits of the flesh listed in Gal. 5) among brethren.  I'm not saying we cannot disagree, but the Lord exhorts us to agree in the Spirit and be of one accord.  We can agree to disagree without being disagreeable, as the cliche goes--but this is a vital one too--we don't want to be known or pegged for being a contentious, contrary, or disagreeable person.

"Endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," Paul says in Ephesians 4:3.  A fellowship is when two fellows are on the same ship, so how can the fellowship be about two people trying to prove the other wrong (which is my definition of an argument)?  Usually, people stop seeking the truth and just get stubborn and step into a belligerent or attack mode, picking a fight, as it were, even judging and resorting to ad hominem attacks (insulting the person rather than the facts themselves)--and I am as guilty of this as the next guy.  Mea culpa!

It is beautiful when brethren get along in the Spirit and can calmly discuss matters without it escalating into something undesirable and uncalled for among believers.  Most tiffs are the result of misunderstanding j(a failure to communicate!) and especially of semantics or diction where we don't know where the other party is coming from.   The better we know someone, the more we know or should know, how to get a rise out of them, know how to push their buttons,  or what offends them--and to not go there.  There will be disagreements (Augustine's dictum, "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity" applies) and they are inevitable because we are human ("to err is human, to forgive divine").

We don't want to be "yes-men" or sycophants that encourage someone in their error.  An honest answer is a kiss on the lips according to Proverbs; that is to say, it is better to be honest sometimes, though the truth may hurt. Proverbs also say that the wounds of a friend can be trusted.  The truth can hurt, so we have to learn tact and be sensitive when necessary. We can do a person more of a favor sometimes by disagreeing and telling the truth as we see it!

There is a command to stand up for the truth (but this is only for absolute truth found in Scripture); Jude urges us to "earnestly contend for the faith" in Jude 4.  Jesus said that he didn't come to bring peace, but a sword, and to set a fire and he wishes it had already been kindled!  Families often divide on religion and Christ predicted this, but they need not do so on the basis of politics for example.   The rapprochement or reconciliation after a fight is harder than to avoid it in the first place and we have to learn to be tactful, sensitive, and political in family or friendship circles.  The truth is always fighting for, but only the Bible is called "truth."

Jesus claimed to be the personification or embodiment of truth itself (that means there is absolute truth)--other things may be true, but cannot legitimately be called truth--it is the truth that sets us free spiritually (John 8:32).   We are sanctified by the truth  (John 17:17), and Jesus purpose in coming was to" bear witness of the truth" as he gave the testimony to Pilate (John 18:37).  This is our calling and commission as Christians, not to turn people into our political persuasion, et alia.

The church has had many splits and factions because of contention (this is why there are so many denominations) and after the reformation contention arose because Catholics gave equal authority to tradition as to Scripture.  The best way to diffuse an argument is to admit you could be wrong!  Be the humble one who is not stubborn and seek the truth of the matter.  Paul says to Timothy:  "The man of God must not strive [quarrel] ...."  There is a place for debate now, which is another ballgame.  Like in the Senate chambers where a bill must be discussed and the pros and cons weighed.  The purpose of debate is to win and there is a moderator and judge to decide this--sometimes a vote transpires.  In an argument, the purpose shouldn't be to win, but to seek the truth, if one stays objective and has an open mind.  Remember, Satan is at work and his chief strategy is to divide and conquer.

Now to find the truth you must go with the flow (the direction of evidence and argument) and be willing to admit you are wrong (before you can be educated, you must admit your ignorance), which you may be, because no one has a monopoly on the truth and has cornered the market so that they have the right to be intolerant of disagreement.  "Behold how pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity" (Psalm 133:1).    The best way to discuss a matter is to have it based on the truth, which is Scripture, and use the Bible to back up your ideas.  "Then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me..." (Psalm 119:42).  Jesus also quoted Scripture to defeat Satan:  He said, "It is written...."

When you disagree it may be wise to just change the subject and pursue it no further--it may not be worth the argument or being disagreeable about--people's feelings get hurt even if we are just being ourselves or telling the truth--sometimes the truth hurts and we are not being tactful--we may also be hypersensitive ourselves and carry our feelings on our sleeves--we should be ready to take anything our friends dish out in confidence that they love us and are not perfect.  We are all "works in progress" and will make mistakes--no one can say he has arrived at perfection.

In summation:  Keep it in check and under restraint--don't ever knowingly and willingly jeopardize a close and meaningful relationship!    Soli Deo Gloria!

Critique Of The Blame Game

Premise:  God is the sole, ultimate, First Cause of the universe.  You need to see the Big Picture!
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk...then your light will rise in the darkness..." (Isaiah 58:9).

God is sovereign through Providence, but cannot be charged with wrongdoing or be responsible for evil, though He uses secondary causes as vessels of dishonor to accomplish His will and even turn curses into blessings ("The wrath of man shall praise thee," says Psalm 76:10).  Joseph said, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good" (Gen. 50:20).

You have to go back to the Garden of Eden to see how Operation Fig leaf started and the blame game began.  Eve blamed the serpent, Adam blamed Eve!  Today we cannot put the culpability on them, not only because Adam was the head of the race, but we would've done likewise--it was such a representative sin that all are guilty of.  God is our judge then, and we are not His:  God is the moral center of the universe, not us!  He is accountable to no one.  All creatures owe accountability to their Maker.

"Every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything" (Hebrews 3:4) [one proof text referring to God's primary causation and being called the First Cause].  Nothing can be its own cause no more than its own creator-but it is possible for something to be self-existent and have no cause logically, scientifically, and theologically.  God had no beginning and needs no antecedent cause because of not being an effect.  We conclude that something must be "uncaused" or self-existent for anything to exist today because there couldn't have been a "time" when nothing existed--there would be nothing now (ex nihilo, nihil fit or out of nothing, nothing comes; an ancient axiom). [So cites R. C. Sproul concerning Immanuel Kant's proofs for God.]

God micromanages the universe from the smallest molecule to the largest galaxy to be under His care and control.  He even orchestrates history to turn out the way He wills it and has never lost control or given up His throne to Satan, though he is the ruler of this age under the limiting restraint of God and cannot do anything apart from divine permission.  Everything is going according to Plan A and there is no Plan B.  

He merely uses everything and everyone as His tools and vessels of honor and dishonor to accomplish His good pleasure and glorify Himself.   For instance, you look at all the evil in the world and wonder why God hasn't done anything about it:  Well, God made you--what is your excuse?  If God were to eradicate all evil from the universe no one would be left--so He has to work with evil to glorify Himself.  No one ever does anything that he doesn't want to (he always does what seems good for him at the moment) and God never makes someone do what they don't want to do:  That would be coercion or determinism and like being forced to do something against your own will--God doesn't interfere with your free will in this respect [however, ultimately He can change your beliefs and make a believer out of you at will by His sovereignty over all]; however, our will is only a small part of our decision-making process:  for instance, our nature given by God (sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, melancholic, etc.); our environment; our family; our genes; our education, et al.

Daniel 4:35; cf. Job 9:12, says:  "Who can stay his hand, or say to him:  'What hast thou done?'"  John Wesley used to read the newspaper and when asked why:  "So I can see what God is doing in His world."  Yes, He's got the whole world in His hands.  If you want to start blaming someone, there's enough to blame in you--a good place to start and to also pray for the corporate sins of the nation or body.   When Daniel prayed in chapter 9 he confessed "the sins we have done," to paraphrase him.

There is a vast difference between a link or correlation and a cause:  The former cannot be proved, and the latter can and is without a doubt.  Smoking used to be linked to cancer, now it is a known cause!   Diet soda and obesity are linked, but not yet proved to be the cause.   Freud saw a link between religion and neurosis.  We are too apt to jump to the conclusion and believe what we want to after only examining the evidence that we are prone to believe.

I regard to causation and assigning blame or credit, there are other mistakes in thinking apropos:   The mistake in diagnosis is the so-called "common-factor fallacy."  One merely looks for something in common and assumes that it is the cause.  He drank water and aspirin, water and a laxative, water and a sleeping pill:  Water must be making him sick.  Reality is usually more complicated than a simple formula.  People don't use proper empirical methods or analytic thinking such as induction and deduction.  [In deduction we deduce particulars from universals and go from effect to cause; while in induction we find generalized or universals from the particular or go from the effect to the cause or the converse,  a posteriori reasoning (or after the fact) is going by experience, and a priori (before the fact) are by logic or inference like Sherlock Holmes used to do.]

To this day the basis of logic dates to Aristotle who formulated its laws, and all knowledge is on the premise of logic and that there is reason or logos behind the cosmos.  The enemy of science is chaos according to R. C. Sproul and we must assume order and design in the universe to study it.  Bear in mind:  There would've been no science had not Christians believed in a rational universe governed by a universal reason to be discovered and applied.  Science is the daughter of Christianity.

When we look at the evidence we look at chief indicators and what is major and minor because not everything has equal causation.  I am referring to the law of causality or cause and effect which says that everything that begins to exist or has a beginning must have an antecedent cause. Nothing happens by itself!  Who is the Beginner?  The Big Bang must have someone who fired it and set it off to motion and programmed it with all the universal constants, such as the force of gravity, charge of the electron, and speed of light, among almost fifty other ones, i.e., the fine-tuning of the cosmos.

In troubleshooting one always checks out the obvious first!  Experience and wisdom to use your knowledge are next in line--it usually is not a matter of sheer brilliance or an epiphany or serendipity! There isn't always a smoking gun or obvious indicator of what's wrong--the culprit may take trial and error and elimination of variables one by one in a controlled situation.

God had no beginning, and therefore no cause because He is not an effect and has always existed as the "uncaused cause."  It has been said that to discover the truth you must eliminate the impossible, and whatever is left, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. God is totally uninfluenced by man and does not need Him as the unmoved mover.

Where am I going with this?  God is also sovereign over salvation (Rom. 5:21).  Faith is the key to knowledge; we understand through faith!  Faith is the means by which we are saved by grace alone and not merit--it is a gift whereby God quickens faith within us.  It is God's gift to us, but we have to believe ourselves--God doesn't believe for us!   Faith began to exist in us and had an external cause which Reformed theologians call "irresistible grace."  An example of God doing something else that is irresistible that is an analogy is when you see a pretty girl that you can't resist and it is your hormones, genes, and nature that were God-given that made you feel that way.  [God was in charge of that, not you. N.B. that you can cause something in a negative way by withholding influence or action or withdrawing guidance or grace!  This is what God does in "judicial hardening" like what He does to reprobates who reject Christ and harden their own hearts.]

But you did nothing against your will and you weren't forced to like this attractive girl that just happens to be your type!  Get the big picture of God in your belief system or worldview.  Our virtue is God's gift to us, not our gift to Him.  Get the equation with respect to the fact that all good things come from God (James 1:17).

Faith is the instrumental cause of justification, but God is the primary cause who planned it, authored it, accomplished it, executed it and applied it on our behalf.  Faith is a gift and not a work as Romanists believe (it would be a basis for merit, as they maintain one must have).  It is the work of God that we believe according to John 6:29: "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent."  Acts 18:27 says that we "believed through grace."  It has been granted us the ability to believe according to Philippians 1:29.  We have received a like faith according to 2 Peter 1:1.

Why faith then?  Faith is the beginning of all knowledge and some philosophers deny the certainty of any knowledge, but only probability.  They say, "All truth is relative."  This statement is nonsensical because it would make itself also relative and to have no value as a truth claim.  In fact, "All truth is God's truth" and the gift of God as John 8:32 says:  "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free."  Jesus came to "bear witness of the truth" (John 18:37).  The so-called assertion that truth is relative and not absolute is the prevalent idea currently among the elite of academia.  ("You can know nothing for sure.")  [I refer to Allan Bloom's book, The Closing of the American Mind.]  What may be true for you, and not for them:   No wonder Pontius Pilate said, "What is truth?"  A common greeting: "What do you know for sure?"  Tell them that Jesus is alive and well.  We believe in order to understand according to Aristotle and not vice versa.  We are seekers of truth with a capital T. It is true regardless of who believes it or objectively true and absolutely true for all times, peoples, cultures, situations, et al.

Our faith must be tested by fire:  it is more precious than silver or gold.  The same sun melts the butter hardens the clay.  In all of Job's troubles, he did not charge God with wrongdoing but was patient in affliction.

Faith is the thing that pleases God according to Hebrews 11:6 and it takes faith no matter what your position; in fact, it takes more faith to deny God and Christ than to affirm Him (you cannot disprove a universal negative and say there is no God with certainty--it is an act of faith--Norman Geisler says he doesn't have enough faith to be an atheist. You cannot disprove God either--both stands take faith!

It takes more faith to deny God than to believe in Him because he more questions and fewer answers to account for.   No one has all the answers, but you don't need all the answers to believe; you merely go in the direction of the preponderance of the evidence like any legitimate jury would.

Is there proof for faith to be based on?  There is such a phenomenon called "properly-basic belief" whereby the proof is in the pudding--taste it and see for yourself that God is Good, and don't just take my word for it! Psalm 34:8 says:  "Taste and see that the LORD is good...."  Jesus can be experienced and Christianity is not just some pie in the sky faith that has no relevance.  When we invite Christ into our hearts we experience Him and He lives in our hearts; we love Him with our hearts and it's not all in our heads.   Jesus lives in our hearts but this feeling and experienced is based on objective historical fact (the resurrection of Christ the basis)--it is not a totally subjective and personal feeling, but one shared and given a testimony of.

In conclusion of the matter in question about believing God no matter what:  We should start the blame with ourselves and realize that God is still in control and rules over the nations.  As Dostoevsky said, "If there is no God, all things are permissible."  In other words, there is no one to blame and there is no such thing to contemplate.  Wycliffe's tenet that "all things come to pass of necessity" means that we are not to question God's wisdom and sovereignty.   Soli Deo Gloria!

One Day At A Time...

By definition "time" is only a corollary of space and matter/energy and is part of God's creation; therefore God is sovereign over it, not bound by it, nor defined, or limited by it--it is irrelevant to Him!  Let's perceive reality from the divine viewpoint!  That is to say:  Put God in the equation!  You don't see the Big Picture apart from Him!

I used to like the TV show of that title in the '70s and it is a valid philosophy even for unbelievers--psychiatrists would acknowledge this too.  I'm not saying that reminiscing has no place in our lives, but where our daily focus is.  Remember the TV series "Happy Days?"  People tend to think of the olden days as the good old days, and Solomon warned us against doing this in Eccles. 7:10 saying: "Do not say, 'Why were the old days better than these?'"  God has "set eternity in the heart of man" (we have the unique ability that animals don't have to anticipate the future, but a side-effect is that we also can worry about it!) but we are not meant to live oriented only for the "here and now." "Where there is no vision, the people perish," according to Proverbs 29:18 and we must look ahead in making plans, but not in presumption or preoccupation.  ("Commit whatever you do to the LORD, and He will establish your plans.")  "There is a proper time and procedure for every purpose under heaven."  "He makes everything beautiful in its time," so it is said:  Go by God's timetable, not yours!

"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom" (Psalm 90:12).  The older we get, it seems like time is more of the essence (Ernest Hemingway said,  "Time is the thing we have the least of.").  Time goes faster and the birthdays even are a blur. Tempis fugit (time flies).   The Bible says, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deut. 33:25).  Our life is but a "vapor" that vanishes! Like the grass that withers!

Depression is rampant today: It is mainly caused by people living and dwelling on the past; misinterpreting the present; and anticipating the future.  But we should always remember the words of wisdom:  Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not yet given to us, so why not live today!  We get ahead of ourselves and make plans thinking that tomorrow is guaranteed, but we are to live one day at a time and commend the future to God's care. "Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth" (Proverbs 27:1).  Jesus taught us to pray to "give us this day our daily bread" for a reason.  Psalm 118:24 says:  "This is the day that the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Some people do the extreme of just living for the "here and now" and "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die [quoting 1 Cor. 15:22, ESV, cf. Isaiah 22:13]."  This philosophy dates back to antiquity and Democritus who espoused us to seek "man's fulfillment in the here and now of this world."  We are to live each day to the fullest, but in light of eternity, doing God's will--which is revealed one day at a time, i.e., we don't know God's will for our whole life like a rolled-out revealed agenda.  "My times [future] is in thy hands"  (Psalm 31:15).

We trust God for the future and make our plans "but the LORD establishes [our] steps" (Prov. 16:9). Since we are given one day at a time and live it one day at a time let us heed the advice of Matthew Henry:  "Live each day as if it were your last."  If you aren't prepared to die, you are not prepared to live; for it is in the fear of death that the devil holds people captive to do his will. No one is guaranteed tomorrow!  However, seeing the spiritual dimension gives you a whole new outlook.

Providence is manifest:  "A man's steps are from the LORD; how then can man understand his way?" (Prov. 20:24);  "I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps" (Jeremiah 10:23); "Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established"  (Prov. 16:3).  God is never frustrated and we do not ever interrupt His plans according to Ephesians 1:11 which says:  "[We are being] predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will." Daniel 4:35 says:  "...none can stay his hand, or say to him, 'What doest thou?'"

God orchestrates history and "...he does whatever he pleases"  (Job 23:13).  From God's perspective there is no time element; for He is outside, not defined, nor limited by the time-space continuum which He created for us:  This means He is all-wise (pansophic) and we must trust Providence and not try to think we can predict or see the future.  Hindsight is always 20/20 and we are all geniuses at this, so we shouldn't feel guilty and regret the past as believers.

It is time to take inventory and assess our way of life:  Are we getting what we expected and what we want out of life--life is empty without God in it (enthusiasm means putting God into it).  Nature abhors a vacuum and boredom indicates a lack of purpose and fulfillment and humans are known for this propensity whereas animals aren't.   Socrates said that the "unexamined life is not worth living."  The Latin saying carpe diem or seize the day is pertinent!  In summary:  There is no Plan B, but everything is going according to God's glory and being cognizant of Providence gives us great faith and patience in everyday events.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Should Christians Argue?

"Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone ..." (2 Tim. 2:24-25).


It's been wisely said that it's better to debate a matter and not settle it than to settle it without debate.

R. C. Sproul says the Bible states we are not to be "divisive, contentious, argumentative, or judgmental;" I might add: As brethren--it is unfruitful and doesn't work to the benefit of the body. We are to seek unity and to be one in the Spirit and in agreement as much as possible (cf. Eph. 4:3).   "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God"  (Matthew 5:9).  We may be called to restore a fellowship and be mediators or go-betweens.   We don't want the reputation of being troublemakers.

By way of definition, this is the way I see it, for the purpose of this post:  Arguing is when we purposely strive to show that someone is wrong or misinformed.  The word has negative connotations for some and they refuse to have anything to do with them.  We may just be calmly debating back and forth and just asking and answering questions; it doesn't necessarily mean we are raising our voices or getting vociferous.  We should always be tactful and sensitive, all the more when we know someone.  The pitfall is when an innocent argument leads to a quarrel and worse yet a feud or permanent cleavage in a relationship.  Simple inquiries or debates can escalate into full-blown quarrels if we are not vigilant and careful.  Arguments per se are not taboo for the believer--it is one methodology of exposing truth or falsity.

To arrive at the truth you must be willing to admit you may be wrong:  the quickest way to diffuse an argument is to say, "Then, again, I may be wrong!"  That's because there is no such thing as total objectivity apart from God, and neither of the participants may be right.  As part of our image of God, we all have an inner sense of right and wrong and we always end up appealing to some standard and we end up arguing.

Notice it says "foolish and stupid arguments."  John Stott (one of the 100 most influential people in the world one year) wrote the book Christ the Controversialist.  "To avoid controversy is to avoid Christ" according to R. C. Sproul.   Christ was no stranger to controversy and dared to challenge the system with clever logic and even answering a question with a question.  Some controversies are godly and necessary; otherwise, we would not be able to refute heresy and false teaching.  But there is a difference between being contentious, argumentative, and starting arguments, and after the truth in a methodical spiritual manner.  Are we seeking to heal or hurt is the question; are we seeking the truth on a godly issue or are we being argumentative and challenging someone.

 Remember that relationships are the most important thing, not how clever we can be to outwit our win an argument.  You can win an argument and lose a friend.  Some people are familiar with each other may just know how to pull each other's strings.  Christianity is not about how smart we are but our relationship with the living God, largely manifested by our fellowship with fellow believers, especially if they are family.  It is a good thing to avoid unnecessary family tiffs.  But if it is about Christ then God says that Christ will even split a family.  Matthew 10:34 says that He came not to bring peace, but a sword!

Our debate skills (and I was on the debate team and even judged debates, so I am qualified to comment here) are not on the line in our friendships and family ties. We aren't debating our brethren in the Lord on personal matters,  and we should restrict debate to where it belongs:  politics and issues of doctrine that are paramount to the church.   We don't try to one-up our brothers and sisters or get into the habit of comparing or bragging.  "Love doesn't brag," but in a family it is understood (it is more like "news" and we believe they want to know it) that there is a place for sharing things with family members and to brag on each other--this is not the time of bragging it is talking about. What is good is when we took someone else's horn or brag about them and they don't have to do it.  We really shouldn't toot our own horn according to the Bible.

"As far as it is possible, be at peace with all men, "says Romans 12:18.  This means that we keep the peace the best we can,  and not see if we can ruffle some feathers and stir up a lively or contentious conversation that has no positive fruit. Sometimes it is easy for more educated people to see an opportunity to pick apart the brains or conversation of those less in the know or clued in (don't  "wow them with your scholarship" as Chuck Swindoll has written).  Do everything in love and seek harmony and peace, not division!  Sometimes it is tempting to let the steam out of one's balloon or deflate their ego; but Scripture says clearly to "rejoice with those who rejoice," (Rom. 12:15a).

I can remember an example when someone was really excited that our team won, and I commented that it was against a losing team:  I was not rejoicing because he replied that a w is still a w.  What this means is that if someone is happy about something that we should not find reasons for them not to be happy and bum them out and show the negative side.  If one hears good news, we don't seek the bad news somewhere hiding in the shadows.

Case in point:  Suppose brother A says that his town was chosen as the best town in the state to live and he was celebrating the good news and maybe even bragging a bit, but only to close family and friends whom he knew.  And brother B was very skeptical and challenged his "fact" and wanted to know the source of such info. What if he didn't know and interpreted B's skepticism as doubting his "word" and calling him "naive" or "gullible."  What I'm saying is that it is far better and more Christ-like to say something like:  "That's very good for your town and I'll bet you're glad you live there now!"  This sounds far more positive and constructive to a good relationship. People do take a lot of pride in the places they live and could take it as a personal offense to question their belief in it being a good place to live.

Where am I going with this and what's the conclusion of the matter?  Let's say that we must learn to pick our battles: George C. Patton wrote a book Patton's Principles: A Handbook for Managers Who Mean It.  In other words, choose an argument that is worth something and you may have something to lose or gain spiritually by.  It is not worth just arguing just for the sake of arguing just to see who wins!  We must try to stay positive and rejoice with those who rejoice and not always present the pitfalls or negative side which may bum them out!  We may even have the skills of a lawyer, but that doesn't entitle us to use them haphazardly or recklessly on family and friends if we want to stay in fellowship.  Soli Deo Gloria!

So, Are You A Sinner?

"If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar" (1 John 1:10).
"For everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness, sin is lawlessness" (per John).
"And who fain would serve Thee best
Are most conscious of wrong within."
John Stott:  "It is no use giving us rules of conduct; we cannot keep them."

That's a loaded question and not so easily expounded upon. First of all, according to R. C. Sproul, the renowned Reformed theologian, we are all sinners in that we sin and we sin because we are sinners, we are not sinners because we sin (i.e., we are born with the inclination to sin or with the cards stacked against us). We are born in sin (Psalm 51:5 says, "Surely, I was sinful at birth....")  You could say we lie because we are natural born liars and we don't become liars when we tell our first lie.

We are deeply flawed and radically corrupt and deformed in our heart, mind, and will by depravity, and are inherently evil, not basically good, as humanists assert.  My pastor says that God no longer "classifies us as sinners [though we really are]."  He also says, "Sin no longer defines us."  This means that we are above it and God no longer holds it against us (Psalm 32:2 says, blessed are those "whose sin the LORD does not count against them."

This may also seem like a trick question:  Either way, you answer it, you can be refuted!  N.B. that the Bible calls Christians "saints" and sinners are generally referred to those who are lost in their sin and not overcoming it. An exemption is Gal. 2:17 calling Christians sinners ("...we ...find ourselves also among the sinners").  We are no longer slaves to sin, nor under its power as believers.  We don't have the right to live in the flesh because we are forgiven, but the power to live in the Spirit.  Martin Luther, the renowned theologian, and pastor who inaugurated the Reformation said that we are at the same time sinners and just.  God reckons us as just as righteous as Christ because He sees us in Christ as our position.  In the Bible, when it calls people "sinners" it is generally referring to the lost or the unjust--that doesn't mean Christians aren't sinners who have reached "perfectionism" or "entire sanctification" (cf. Psalm 119:96 says, "  To all perfection I see a limit;" Prov. 20:9 says, "Who can say, 'I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin'?"

The titanic struggle that Christians have is to overcome sin; even pagan writer Ovid wrote that he "sees the better things and approve them, but he follows the worst:"  This is exactly what Paul was referring to in Romans 7 when he said that nothing good dwells in him and said, "I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it but is sin living in me" (Rom. 7:15-17).

The key to conquering sin, and we are more than conquerors in Christ, is to keep our eyes on Jesus and stop trying so hard--but learn to trust!  The more we try to stop sinning in our own strength, the more enslaved we become, because we are reinforcing it (my pastor says).  Some good ideas to avoid sin is to keep busy, especially in the work of the Lord, and to think of things of good report and of virtue as Phil. 4:8 says.   There's always a way of escape according to 1 Cor. 10:13 and we never have to sin anymore.

It is important to realize how bad of a sinner we are and that we have no hope of saving ourselves, but throw in the towel and give up the ship to Christ as one's captain.  We don't realize how bad we are till we try to be good, and, conversely, we can't be good until we realize how bad we are.   This is a catch-22 to reflect on.  We are not as bad as we can be, but are as bad off as we can be--even Hitler loved his mother and wasn't as bad as he could have been and he is considered by many to be the paradigm of evil along with Judas.

This is God's estimation of man, not man's estimation of man!  Our sin, no matter how much or how little is enough to condemn us, because to God sin is like antimatter to matter.  I am grateful that even though I am a great sinner, I have a great Savior!  I just keep short accounts and "move on" as my pastor says.  I don't live in the past.

The devil accuses you of sin, but the Holy Spirit does an open and shut case against you and there is no argument.  We all have feet of clay and have weaknesses not readily apparent. But God doesn't grade on a curve!   Jesus sees through the veneer and exposes our dark side that we want to hide--He is the only one that really knows us better than we know ourselves even.  God doesn't grade on a curve!  Yes, we are bad, but not too bad to be saved!  We are never good enough to be saved, in other words, but bad enough to need salvation:  ironically, some people don't even want to admit they are sinners because they "haven't done anything that bad."

We often compare ourselves with others who seem worse and get proud:  "Compared to Saddam Hussein I am a saint!"  We may think of ourselves as just a "run-of-the-mill" sinner, but we should be comparing ourselves to Christ who is the express image of His glory and the divine standard:  "Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48).  Caveat:  God doesn't grade on a curve;  the standard is is perfection, the test is direction!

Well, what is the biblical definition of sin?  In the study of hamartiology sin is from the Greek word hamartia, a marksman's word for "missing the mark."  It is suggested that one shoots at a target and misses the bull's eye.  When one misses achieving this standard he "sins."  There are both sins of omission and commission.  When God says in negative terms:  Thou shalt not, and we do, it is a sin of commission  When we fail to do God's will and leave something undone, which we should have done, it is also sin--this is a sin of omission.  Having a mind and willpower makes us able to sin.  Basically, sin is nonconformity to the law of God, anything not of faith, when we know the right thing to do, and fail to do it, any transgression, trespass, or perverted act.

Some things may be sin for one brother and not another.  We can sin against a brother (cf. 1 Cor. 8:12), but basically all sin is against God and only His forgiveness brings salvation from past, present, and future sins.  Any act of unbelief is a sin according to 1 John 5:10.  Sin is also lawlessness according to 1 John 3:4.  The Anglican Book of Common Prayer adds: "leaving undone that which I ought to have done."

However, Jesus internalized sin (the Pharisees had "externalized" sin by reducing it to what can be seen by men like fasting; eating kosher; ceremonial washing; et cetera), saying that "out of the heart proceed evil thoughts."  It is not a matter of having clean hands, but a clean heart to be pure in God's eyes.  "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7).  Sin is a disease or an illness and we cannot say we have a little sin no more than we can say one is a little pregnant!  In short, when we sin against God, we violate His nature and holiness; when we sin against man, we violate his humanity and dignity as a human in the image of God, according to R. C. Sproul.  He goes on to say that all sin is an act of treason to overthrow God.  I have heard it said, that sin is "man's declaration of independence from God."

It is a grave mistake to rename sin with pretty names to be less offensive like:  shortcomings, errors, mistakes, habits, vices, et cetera.  Billy Graham says that this is like relabeling a poison and calling it the Essence of Peppermint, which would make it more dangerous to the kids.  The closer you get to God the more aware you are of sin:  Samuel Rutherford said, "Pray for a lively sense of sin, then you'll have less sin."   Great saints have often discounted their holiness and downgraded themselves out of humility:  John Bunyan wrote Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners."  Paul called himself "the chief of sinners."  A good definition from Charlie Riggs is "any thought, word, omission, action, or desire contrary to the Word of God."  The whole purpose of the law is to make us cognizant of our sin not to be a way of salvation, or a code to live by for good measure--we are incapable of keeping it:  "For by the law is the knowledge of sin"  (Rom. 3:20, Phil.).  The Law measures us, it doesn't save us!

To become Christians we must be willing to turn from sin (repentance) and turn to God (through faith in Christ by grace).  We need not only to be against sin in theory but renounce sin and any individual sins God has laid on our hearts.  [Believers are still sinners, by the way, according to Gal. 2:17. and John says in 1 John 1 that "if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us in v. 8.] We need to repent of all our sins, not just the ones we don't like and keep our pet sins. Legalists see sins and not sin (God can make us a new person with a victory over it by putting a new man in the suit, not a new suit on the man):  Our problem is the old sin nature, or our sinful flesh or carnal man.  We must be changed (passive case) from the inside out (i.e., God does it!).  This is due to our solidarity in Adam and what's known as "original sin" (therefore sin is universal (termed the universality of sin) and the common-held belief that nobody's perfect--as they say, "To err is human."

We don't try to be the Holy Spirit and convict people of their sins, that's the role of the Holy Spirit alone.  In due time He will show them the error of their ways:  thus we have so many Christians doing what we wouldn't because they haven't matured to our level yet.  It is the consensus that we all grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Pet. 3:18).  We go from glory to glory and increase in Christ-likeness as we grow and mature according to 2 Cor. 3:18. ("...we are transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory....").

Albert Camus said that "the absurd is sin without God."  This is true:  if there is no God, there is no absolute value system and everything is only relative.  No one can say with certainty that something is a sin.  We need a divine standard to appeal to:  some call this "natural law"--this is what convicted the Nazi war criminals who claimed they only obeyed the law of the "Fatherland."  We all have a conscience and an innate sense of right and wrong which makes us culpable for our sin.  Dr. Karl Menninger wrote a famous book: Whatever Became of Sin?  Even psychiatrists are starting to use the word again and think that "God" may have a point!

There is a very well-known preacher of a megachurch that refuses to preach on sin because he regards it as a "killjoy word."  I recall Calvin Coolidge, the man of few words, coming home from church and his wife asking him what the sermon was about:  "Sin."  "What did he say?" "He was against it!"  If  I make any point, I want you to be sure that God cannot tolerate sin in His presence (Satan was booted out of heaven) and His eyes are too pure to behold evil (Hab. 1:13). God is just and must do something about the sin question.

But God is love and also gracious and has found a way out of the dilemma.  The gospel message is that God has solved the sin problem through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.  If we truly repent of our sins and receive Christ as our Lord and trust Him as our Savior we will be delivered and rescued from the coming wrath or calamity of God (1 Thess. 1:9).    Soli Deo Gloria!

Does God Seem Too Small?

J. B. Phillips wrote the book Your God Is Too Small.  And Martin Luther replied to Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam that his God is too small too, in that he said, "Your thoughts of God are too human!"

J. I. Packer says he hears often:  "I like to think of God as the great Architect (or Mathematician or even Artist)."  "I don't think of God as a Judge," "I like to think of him simply as a Father."  This is a prime example of putting God in a box or limiting God who is infinite and cannot be defined.

We don't define or label God (He only can do this), but He can do that to us.  Like a psychiatrist that labels a patient as manic-depressive, Jesus cannot be labeled by a shrink; he is too balanced and normal!  It is obvious that Christ was in full possession of His faculties, even though He claimed outright deity:  His teachings are not the rantings and ravings of a madman.  "Canst thou by search find out [figure God out] God?"  (Job 11:7).  There is always more to God than we apprehend, and we will be learning about God and getting to know Him throughout eternity (the finite cannot contain(or grasp) the infinite, the Greeks said).

"With God nothing shall be impossible," (Luke 1:37).  But God cannot be God, or do something against or contrary to His essence or nature.  God is logical; therefore, we have math and reasoning ability and we can reason with God.  Can God make 1 + 1 = 3?  No, that is not a question of the omnipotence (God is almighty) or plenipotence of God, but a matter of arithmetic!  Can God make a stone too big to lift?  No!  No matter how you answer the question, you are limiting God.

In the same reality, an immovable stone, and an unlimited force cannot exits--it's that simple (either way God would cease being God and there are certain things God has decided not to do).  God is so so big that everything is small to Him!   His love is so great that no detail or trivia is too small (like the number of the hairs on your head or the lighting of a sparrow.  Conversely, nothing is too big for God, since he is bigger than everything.

Don't ever think that some request you have for God is a "bother" or too insignificant to waste God's time (God does not live in the time-space continuum and time is irrelevant to Him!).  Just because something hasn't happened before doesn't mean it cannot happen--there's always a first time.  Don't ever get discouraged by statistics or odds, such as in recovery from illness!

How else do we limit God and make Him out to be too small?  You cannot limit the attributes of God!  For instance, you cannot say that God cannot forgive suicide or some heinous sin (even Judas could have been forgiven and Hitler could have had deathbed repentance)--that is limiting the love and mercy of God.  With God, forgiveness is a matter of quality, not quantity.   If we limit God in any way our God is too small.

Putting God in a box is the third way to have a small God:  Whenever you say, "I like to think of God as so and so."  Einstein thought of God as a mathematical mind and superior reasoning power revealed in the universe.  Some people like to think of God as a sentimental old Grandfather who dotes on us and spoils us, even being slightly senile and permissive.  Other's think of God (and they did this in antiquity) that God is like us, only more so--in other words he also lusts and just has superhuman strength like Zeus. and Hercules his son. The philosophers were embarrassed at their mythical gods.  Some people merely say, "I like to think of God as a mean Judge or a good Father.  Remember that we are imago Dei or in the image of God and we must be less than Him and not vice versa.

Examples to ponder:  The Indians thought of God as a Great Spirit in the sky.  The Romans thought Jews were atheists because they worshiped a God they couldn't see and was just in their imaginations or mind.  We could say God is Mr. Nice Guy and just think that God is always nice and never stern or strict, but a pushover and easygoing as it were.  We have a saying in Minnesota that we call something "Minnesota nice." Jonathan Edwards, initiating the Great Awakening, in 1741 preached the sermon:  "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry [God is also love] God."   I understand that God defines what nice is, but we tend to put God in a box when we go "beyond that which is written" and make our own definitions of God:  It is true that God is love; God is light; God is true, God is love, et cetera, because these expressions are biblical.  Be aware that when we say, "God is good," we are to also realize that Romans 11:22 says, "Behold therefore the goodness and severity [sternness] of God."  That is, never one at the expense of the other or compromising the other. [Emphasis mine.]

It is a sin to presume on God's nature:  "God will forgive me, for that's His business," it has been said. When we know something is a sin and deliberately insist on doing it, it is presumptuous and willful sin and David asked God to keep him from this in Psalm 19:13 says, "Keep me from willful sin  (presumptuous sin)."  I do not believe in the doctrine of "entire sanctification" or perfectionism wherein we no longer willing sin and can say, unlike the apostle Paul, that we have "arrived."

Finally, because we are the offspring of God, as Paul said in Acts 17:28 saying, " ... As some of your poets have said, 'We are His offspring.'''  What this implies is that there is no evolution--we have devolved and gotten worse, not better.  God is greater than man because  He created us and you have to be greater than something to create it.  We are in His image implies that we alone can communicate with God and are made for Him and His pleasure.

Another way we limit God is to take one attribute at the expense of the others and believe in a just God, but not a loving and merciful God. Note that mercy is withholding justice or what is due, and grace is going beyond and giving what we don't deserve, instead of our due (which is justice).   You cannot always say that God shows justice to everyone because He withholds it in mercy and grace in some of His choosing, but He is unjust to no one!  Not showing justice or non-justice is not injustice and the Supreme Judge has this right at His discretion,  We can say that God is just, but not justice epitomized!  The Bible says not only that God loves, but that He is love (this is the very essence of His character and the Bible doesn't say He has love either).  It doesn't say God is goodness, but that He is good; there is a nuance of meaning here to recognize.   To reiterate:  Having mercy and showing grace are not forms of injustice! We say that the holiness of God regulates His attributes and keeps them in balance to that we cannot put God in a box:  God is infinite by definition!

Some people like to think of Jesus as the nice one, the Father as the stern one, and the Holy Spirit as the mysterious one!  Jesus said that if we have seen (beheld) Him, we have seen the Father.  To believe is to see, not to see is to believe ("But we see Jesus..." (Hebrews 2:9). What Jesus meant is that He is the ikon or image of God and everything we need to know or see is in beholding Him "Look to Me and be saved," (Isaiah 45:22).  There is nothing "un-Jesus-like" in the Father and so forth; one is not "nicer" than the other or has more of the attributes:  They are co-equal, co-eternal, and co-existent.  They all have the same essence even though they are different persons and we say there is merely one God and we must find God's will and seek God's glory.  (Soli Deo Gloria!)

In summation, if we limit God, we are limiting ourselves and what we can become in Christ, who is the ikon, the image of God (cf. Col. 1:15).   Soli Deo Gloria!

Father-filtered Tragedy

"We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22).
"Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you enter various trials"  (James 1:2).


DISCLAIMER:  I DO NOT CLAIM TO HAVE A COMPLETE ANSWER TO MAN'S SUFFERING, IN FACT, NO ONE, NOR ANY RELIGION, DOES.

Good quotes:
Lord Reith said, "I do not like crises, but I do like the opportunities they provide."
"Within every adversity there lies a possibility" (Robert Schuller).

Jesus never said we'd be exempt from evil or tragedy in our lives; he didn't exempt himself, did He?
Suffering, trials, temptations, adversity, and discipline inevitably comes to all believers in Christ as part of our pruning and maturing process.  What good would an untried faith be?  Some people get mad at God and blame Him when something bad happens:  remember Job's wife who told him to "curse God and die" after losing all ten of his progeny.  "Should we accept good from God, and not trouble."  Nothing happens to us without God's sovereign permission; he is just using the devil as the instrumental means to accomplish his greater glory.  We can be assured that God will not bring into our lives anything that we cannot handle; he just trusts some more than others!

What happens to us reveals what kind of person we really are; the same sun melts the butter, hardens the clay!  It's not so much about what happens to you as to what happens in you.  Our experience is a combo of this interaction and what we learned in the so-called school of hard knocks.  Notice that we hear about tragedy around the world and never people cursing God on the media--they are usually humbled and realize that without danger there would be no courage.  We shouldn't say, "How can God be so mean?"  "No one can  stay His hand or say to Him, 'What are you doing?'"

Our reaction says more about us than about God.  You either become bitter or better in the tragedy they call life or Reality 101. It's not what happens to you, but in you!   Don't you want to find out what you are made of and more importantly, who your friends are?  Charlie Riggs says that adversity builds character and Christlikeness.  Our crosses to bear are nothing compared to His!  We are compared to silver refined in a crucible.  If we know the why of our suffering we can endure almost any how, said Viktor Frankl, the Viennese Psychiatrist captured and tortured by the Nazis.

So why do bad things happen to good (There are no good people!) people [A more appropriate question would be:  Why do good things happen to bad people?]?  Good also happens to bad people! Who's to say how much is too much or decide what is fair; God is the judge of what is fair, and He is our judge, and we not His.   "The He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me I shall come forth as gold," says Job 23:10.  God never promised us a bed or roses or a rose garden either.  However, we can rest assured of the promise:  "All things work together for good, to them that love God...."  As the crucifixion proved, God is able to make the most diabolical of events turn out for the good (e.g., Acts 2:23; 4:28).

It might be helpful to realize that if you are suffering it might be so that others won't have to, and if you aren't, it's because others have!  "We rejoice in our suffering..." (Rom. 5:3).  I like Philippians 1:29 to sum things up:  "For it has been granted unto you, not only to believe in Him, but to suffer for His sake."

Pertinent are two verses relating to God as the sole primary cause of the cosmos and using agents to accomplish His will in a voluntary manner:  Amos 3:6; Isaiah 45:7, and if one studies Job he will realize that evil from Satan must get permission from the Father--N.B. that God didn't answer Job's questions, but revealed Himself to him to humble him; God doesn't have to answer to man.  Soli Deo Gloria!

To Whom Do You Pray?

DISCLAIMER:  I recognize only one true God in three persons and one essence, known as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  But in some cases praying to one's own idea of God is unbiblical in corporate prayer, even though I realize that God hears and answers all the prayers of the saints.

"For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father"  (Eph. 2:18, HCSB).

Jesus didn't just give suggestions in the Sermon on the Mount on how to pray, but directives (by the way, I will mention in passing that Jesus was the first person in the Bible to teach us how to pray!).  He called God the following each more than once:  Father, Our Father in heaven, your Father, your heavenly Father and each is appropriate and scriptural.  Note that in the Old Testament it wasn't considered "wrong" to pray to "God" because they had less light, but Jesus showed us the way to the Father.

Don't pray like an Old Testament saint, or like an angel or servant of the Lord, but like a child of God!  When we address God in a nondescript, generic way such as "O God in heaven" it seems we don't really know God too well.  God wants us to call Him Father (the Christian name for God,  N.B. that I am primarily speaking of corporate, not private prayer).  "I thought you would call Me Father" (Jer. 3:19).  When Jesus felt alienated or estranged from His Father He called Him "My God."

 It is the same with your parents; would you think of calling them anything but Mom or Dad?  That's unheard of; well, we are in the family of God and have the privilege to address God as Father and claim our sonship and honor and accept His Fatherhood.  Gal. 4:19 says:  The Spirit cries out, 'Abba, Father.  Christians should just naturally call God this because the Spirit leads them to, and it shows an intimacy with the Almighty.  When Jesus called God His Father, the Pharisees got mad because He was making Himself equal with God, but Jesus said to Mary after His resurrection:  I am going to My Father and your Father.

Jesus made the promise in John 14:14 that if we ask anything in His name He will answer it; Jesus also hears prayer, but His primary focus is on interceding and the Holy Spirit's to put our words into groaning which cannot be uttered.  It is not wrong, per se, to pray to Jesus, but note that He Himself taught us to pray to His Father.

Only after Pentecost can the believer now boldly approach the throne of grace to the Head Honcho      (the Most High) and get access into God's dimension, another world, as it were.  We enter into God's very presence--His dimension!  "Let us boldly approach the throne of grace...."  (Heb. 4:16).  The angels are not in the family of God like we are and are not the children of the Heavenly Father. In summation, go to the top of the Most High, as they say.  No one comes to the Father, except through Jesus the Son.   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Self-help Craze And Trap

Are you addicted to the manifold self-help books available (I mean to improve the real you, not educate about computers or something) and it seems like there's no end in sight?  Solomon says in Eccl. 12:12 this:  "...Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body."  You will never read everything and know it all, you have to narrow it down and prioritize and decide what is paramount to you.  Solomon had found out what knowing it all was like and it didn't bring happiness:  Some believers actually study the Bible only because they have an inner desire "to know it all."

It has been said that a Victorian Englishman is a self-made man who worships his Creator.  However, Isa. 26:12 says, "...all that we have accomplished you have done for us...."  Deut. 8:17 says that God gives us the power to get rich;  Proverbs says the way of man is not in himself; the Psalms say, "The course of my life is in Your power."  Jeremiah says the way of man is not his own, he does not direct his steps.

It's a never-ending vicious circle or merry-go-round that you can't get off.  You must see where you are going to have a purpose and be like Jesus:  A man on a mission!  We have a big God and all things are small to Him, and nothing is too small for His love--so trust Him to teach you.  If you don't learn from the Bible, you will learn from the school of hard knocks!  We don't want to go there--been there and done that!  This is all on the premise that we are able to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and are our own island and develop our own karma.

God doesn't need another intellectual, he needs some faith ("When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?").  Jesus often said, "Where is your faith?"  Some were commended for having great faith!  We need faith that will move mountains today.  We can walk on water by faith if it is God's will!


Jonathan Edwards (Christian)  and Horace Mann (Unitarian) had their heyday, but according to the humanist John Dewey,  the test of the truth of an idea is whether it works!   This is sheer pragmatism and not biblical, but many fall for it. Did you know that Buddhism and the Eastern sects are gaining momentum nowadays because they seem to work?  TM works!  Yoga works!  Many will give sober and believable testimonies, to boot.  Then what's the problem?  Things can be wrong and still work--that doesn't make them true!  Jesus is the truth and He works because He's truth, He isn't truth because He works!

You have to understand the concept of absolute truth (that some things are always wrong, and some things are always right--whether someone believes them or not).   The world today believes in "relative truth" saying that something might be true for you, but not me!  Pilate asked Jesus at one of His trials:  "What is truth?" Romans mocked at the idea that something could be universally true for everyone--they believed each tribe or country had its own religion or truth.  Wouldn't it had been interesting if Pilate had waited around for Jesus answer?  Jesus said He came to bear witness of the truth and those who are of the truth hear Him.

When you have the gift of spiritual discernment you can tell a lie and know something is not of God. You can discern spirits and learn how to "test the spirits."  Remember Satan masquerades as an angel of light and parades in a robe of righteousness to impress people with his charisma and charm.  He masks the lies in with enough truth to be dangerous!  Self-help books are like that:  They get your focus off of Christ and on yourself.  We don't need self-esteem, but God-esteem.

True humility is not focusing on yourself at all and as soon as you think you're humble you're not! Only Moses and Jesus were called humble or meek in the Bible.  What they do is maybe even quote the Bible (they know enough to be dangerous!) to mislead the flock and deceive the elect, if possible. They don't dare downgrade the Bible in so many words, but their goal is to get you in love with their book and lose love for the Word.  It's okay to read godly books that are from teachers you trust, or entertaining books or history that have nothing to do with what I'm talking about.

If they can deceive in one area it means they may not have any qualms about leading you astray (misery loves company) and they may feel they're getting a feather in their cap by gaining a convert.  They proselytize, as it were.  They're no different from the Christian sects who do it and don't get their own converts but go into another church territory where the seed has been planted, and they bedevil and entice with seductive books and interesting reading.

The goal is not to see how much you know, but who you know!  The Bible was not written to increase our knowledge, but to change our lives.  No one was the same after meeting Jesus, they had to make a moral decision and couldn't remain neutral.  There is a vast difference between knowing the Word, and knowing the Author!  You can only be wise by knowing God and finding God.  The Bible is meant to lead you to God, not tell you about Him.  It helps in your relationship with Him, not to satisfy your curiosity!  Always remember what Jesus said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free" (John 8:32). And "If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).

In Summation, the thing to think about in self-help is this:  Who is getting the glory?  Soli Deo Gloria!  (To God alone be the glory!)  God is jealous when we seek other sources than Him to save us or help us where He has made a way in Christ.  These self-help gurus make a lot of money and have a lot of fame, and they have had their reward in this life.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Are You In A Movement?

Let me make this clear to start:  I am against movements.  Many have come and gone in the church and some more influential and misleading than others:  Some even rather harmless, but all wrong and not of God, regardless.  There are many so-called movements prevalent today or remnants of old ones remaining:  Keswick Movement, Perfectionist Movement, Neo-Pentecostal Movement, the charismatic movement, conservative-right political movement, WWJD, (or even WWJT) known as the "what would Jesus do?" movement [I am not against the imitation of Christ as Thomas a Kempis wrote his famous, widely read book, My Imitation of Christ--this is another ballgame], the "Church of What's Happening Now" movement, the one that isn't defined or named is when believers think God wants them to hang around sinners, like the Pharisees accused Jesus of doing.

Scripture says to choose your friends carefully in Proverbs 12:26 and Paul say that bad company corrupts good morals in 1 Cor. 15:33.  The thing you have to look at is who was calling them sinners (the evil Pharisees who were blind) and we are all sinners and if Jesus wasn't our friend where would we be now?   But hanging around them is different and Jesus is our friend when we were his enemies, right?  We are not Jesus and need to be careful with whom we spend our time; however, this does not mean that we need to fear man ("The fear of man proves to be a snare," says Prov. 29:25).

As an illustration, when you get saved it means you should witness to your circle of friends, not go to the local tavern and hang around expecting God to open the door for you--they will influence you more than you influence them and the devil has you right where he wants you.  If you must go there go with a fellow believer for support; Jesus sent them out in groups of two.  You are not some one's friend if you don't witness to them and they will accuse you and blame you for all eternity if you don't at least try!  Jesus didn't condone sinners in their sin, nor did He get tainted, because He couldn't; you can be!

We worship Jesus because of what He could do as the God-man.  Evil company should make us feel uncomfortable and uneasy like it did Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah--don't get callous and insensitive!  "Come out from among them and be ye separate, and I will accept you," says the Lord. (I blogged about this Sept. 7, 2014).  This was meant to be derogatory but remember:  Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.  He told the woman who sinned:  "Go and sin no more."  He didn't condone nor participate in sin--he didn't party like one of the guys!

What's wrong with WWJD? Most Christians know their Savior in a very shallow manner--they know the Scriptures a bit, but knowing Christ comes with maturity and the searching for Him is the main business of the Christian life and begins at salvation, not ends (it's better to concentrate on obeying Him than trying to be Him).   Firstly, they don't really know what Jesus would do, they just imagine it.  They might know what their mother would do if she is a Christian, that is, but they can only guess what Jesus would do.  Would he be a teetotaler?  Would he ever speed?  There are difficult questions and God gives us the liberty to have our own conscience and like it says in 1 Cor. 6:12:  "All things are permissible, but I will not be mastered by anything."  "Mama told me not to come" is a popular rock lyric. Another:  "Mama said, 'You better shop around.'"   I've heard it said, that you should always question authority, but never mother!

What's on earth is so bad about the Neo-Pentecostal movement?  They teach unsound doctrine for number one, though I admit most of them have their heart in the right place and that is important, but false teachers like to be mostly right and add a little error to deceive and the element of truth makes it palatable.  We are commanded to teach a sound doctrine as teachers (Tit. 2:1).  This movement is in competition with and even infiltrates other churches and steals sheep or proselytize by impressing them that there is "something more or missing in their experience" just like Paul was admonishing the Colossians to be aware of (mysticism, asceticism, and legalism).

The Perfectionists started with John Wesley who thought you could reach a stage of willful or unintentional sin as a mature believer or that you "have arrived."  Even Paul didn't claim such:  "I do not claim to have laid hold of it yet..." (Phil. 3:12).  The psalmist says he has seen the limit of all perfection in Psalm 119:96.  Proverbs 20:9 says:  "Who can say, 'I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin'?"

The Keswick movement is still alive via Andrew Murray's writings and devotional classic by Oswald Chambers My Utmost For His Highest."  Reading that book, I came across many doctrinal errors and whether you believe this or not, he believed in a second blessing and this is very controversial and not traditional (I blogged about this in "Where is Oswald Chambers Coming From?").  Chambers believes in perfectionism and what's called the "entire sanctification"  He believes that tongues are the initial "initial evidence validation" of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  The point is that most people are ignorant of his erroneous teaching and fall for his balderdash and pious talk.  He makes a dangerous dichotomy between discipleship and salvation and doesn't seem to understand just how to become a Christian in the first place!   (I blogged on this March 3, 2014).

What's wrong with the "church of what's happening now?"  They have been led astray by Satan's masquerading as an angel of light like the rest and are on side issues away from the Bible.  They may be into the latest prophecy rage on the Internet or something else like blood moons that tickles their fancy. J. Vernon McGee was orthodox in that he entitled his study: "Back to the Bible."  The devil wants the church to get away from the Bible and doesn't deny that it's important, just not paramount!

It is better to be a "cloistered" church that sticks to the Bible (after all the Bible is all we need for spiritual growth and is not only necessary but sufficient).  They may have coffee shops in their church and a bookstore and many extra-biblical activities that get away from the Bible, like overeaters anonymous and whatnot.  So what is the latest fad, they wonder.

What's wrong with the Evangelical right?  The Pope tries to dictate politics and make members vote according to his understanding!  Most black churches are in the so-called Christian left!  First of all, not all sincere and knowledgeable believers are in agreement politically:  This does a grave disservice to Christ by labeling him politically, when He is beyond description and defies analysis.  People are going to judge Christianity by a party and Jesus is not a member of any party!  You cannot put God in a box, nor limit God!

The charismatic movement is more subtle in that it infiltrates even the Roman Catholic Church and many denominations while not having one of its own.  Basically, if you believe that the gift of tongues is a bona fide gift, you are charismatic!  Most churches today are either considered mainline denomination (which is in the state of near heresy and apostasy, losing members rapidly), the evangelical wing (like most Baptists or those who are actively "saving" people and spreading the gospel and not the so-called social gospel (which is a misnomer).  The charismatic tend to make a dichotomy among believers and make them think they are missing out; this makes them have spiritual wanderlust and they eventually leave their home church and become spiritually vulnerable.

A true church will get you into the Word and make it paramount; teaching sound doctrine devotedly.
The church is the body of Christ, not the parachurch or the electronic church.  Watching TV is no substitute for one-on-one, accountability, and fellowship.  I'm not suggesting that we don't need these organizations, because they do serve a purpose; Chuck Swindoll says that if you drink of only one fountain, you lose your perspective: however, there is some pastor out there that is just right for you right where you are spiritual. We need to stay connected and in touch spiritually and not become lone ranger type believers who are doing their own thing.

We are all entitled to opine (to have our own opinions), but not to have our own facts, and fabricate at will.  Many preachers have a personal agenda many a church has an extra-biblical program that they want to promote.   Causes are not taboo, individuals can do whatever they get called to do:  Look at William Wilberforce devoting himself to the end of slavery!   We can even have a political agenda that is self-serving, but we do not have the right to label it as "Christian."

The church needs a wake-up call:  It's okay to hand out bread, but put the gospel in its rightful place--don't get caught turning stones into the bread like Jesus was tempted to do!  "Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?" (1 Cor. 14:8).  Don't get converted to a cause or movement, but to Christ!   In conclusion, the only movement I want to be in is (Christ) the fulfilling of the Great Commission, which ought to be the main business of the church and its raison d'etre--don't forget our Marching Orders!  Soli Deo Gloria!