Over the past few weeks I have been given the opportunity to work alongside a Jehovah’s Witness. You can probably imagine the conversations we have engaged in during this time. Several of our talks have revolved around celebrating holidays, including Easter. For those of you that are unaware, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate holidays, including Easter. The reasons that my friend gave me for their abstaining from these celebrations were many, including that the days were originally pagan holidays and that they are full of pagan traditions. “Why, as a Christian, would I want to celebrate these things?” he asked. I responded, “Why, as a Christian, would I not want to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ?” The “Easter” holiday can be filled with many non-Christian concepts, if we allow it to. Yet, it can also be the most meaningful celebration of the year for us and our families if our focus is on the right things.
As homeschoolers we are attempting to disciple our children in the ways of the LORD. We are doing this through educating them in many different subjects and tying all of these subjects into the grand theme of Christianity. Well, Christianity is about the three days that we usually celebrate around the Easter weekend each year. In my home we make a big deal about the entire weekend because I believe that the events we are celebrating are the most important events in all of history. In fact, all of history centers on these events. Everything that ever happened before these three days pointed forward to them, and every moment since then points back at them. These three days are the climax of history, and not only history but also of science, of math, of literature, of thought. The very meaning of our existence is to glorify and enjoy God, yet this cannot be done apart from belief and trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This, therefore, is the unifying factor of all education, or at least it should be. Every subject is meant to point us to trusting in the Creator and Savior of all things: Jesus Christ. After all, what good is a knowledge of math apart from relationship with its Creator, and how can one have a saving relationship with math’s Creator apart from the crucifixion and resurrection? Science is the study and enjoyment of creation, but what good is the enjoyment of creation if our ultimate enjoyment is not found in creation’s Creator, which comes by way of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ? All of creation is given to us that we might make much of the Creator, that we would worship Him, yet for us to be able to do so me must go through the Way, Jesus Christ and him crucified. As Paul taught, “For I resolved not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”(1 Cor 2:2) It doesn’t mean he didn’t know anything else, but that this truth was the unifying factor of everything else he knew. Its what gave everything else meaning and was the ultimate purpose of all that he did. No wonder he proclaimed, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Gal 6:14)
This Easter season let us be reminded that the events which we celebrate are what bring meaning to homeschooling. As we commemorate Easter lets remember its centrality to our curriculum, to how we teach and what we teach, and ever glorify the wisdom and power of God displayed in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
First Things First
The story is told of Muhammed Ali that once, during the prime of his career, he was taking a flight over the Atlantic Ocean. During the flight the plane encountered some turbulence and the seatbelt lights came on. Everyone returned to their seats except for Ali, who continued to walk around the plane. A small female stewardess approached him and said, “Sir, you need to return to your seat and put on your seat belt for safety.” Ali, in his inimitable style, replied “Superman don’t need no seat belt!” To which the petite stewardess responded, “Superman don’t need no airplane either, so sit down and get buckled!”
I have only flown overseas one time in my life, and that when I was much younger, but I have heard it said that during the preflight safety instructions that are given to all the passengers that there are some specific instructions given to passengers flying with children. One of these instructions is that if the plane depressurizes and the oxygen masks are deployed, that the adult is to place their oxygen mask on themselves before attempting to help anyone else put theirs on, even their own children! I was shocked! I know I can go without oxygen for longer than my kids. They need it more than I do. That is our paternal instinct, to give to them first. Yet when I heard the explanation as to why this is done, it all made sense. You see, those little ones are dependent upon you and if you run out of oxygen then neither you nor they will get any oxygen in the end. You must be able to breathe and think coherently in order to help them breathe. They are helpless without you and you are helpless without oxygen, so therefore you must first get air in order to rightly care for them.
As homeschooling fathers, we have undoubtedly read the words of Deuteronomy 6 on how we are to raise our children. Most of us can probably even recite some of the words. “Teach them to your children when you sit at home, when you walk along the road…”. But what immediately precedes these instructions on teaching Gods Word to our children? Here is the passage:
“Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
What immediately precedes how we are to teach our children is the admonition that first, we must love and worship the Lord ourselves. First, we must breathe. We are to love God with all of our heart and soul and strength. We are to impress his commandments upon our hearts first. It becomes very easy to replace our own relationship with God with our children’s relationship with God. We put our efforts into seeing where they are, into leading them to God and yet we often neglect our own relationship with Him. We often judge how well we are doing in our relationship with God by looking at our children’s relationship with Him, We mistake this for personal closeness when in reality we are ignoring our own relationship and never giving full weight to our closeness with God.
Perhaps the largest stumbling block in my own life has been to make my children into idols, in the sense that I work so diligently and think so often about where they are heading and yet neglect my own relationship with God Himself. In essence, I am starving myself of oxygen. How can my children truly worship God if I am not? Men, our most important practice in life is worshipping God. It is what we were made for. We must grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ because He is our God and we are His people. First we must strive to love Him with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength because He is our Savior. When this is done then we will naturally teach and manifest to our children the true love of God.
I have only flown overseas one time in my life, and that when I was much younger, but I have heard it said that during the preflight safety instructions that are given to all the passengers that there are some specific instructions given to passengers flying with children. One of these instructions is that if the plane depressurizes and the oxygen masks are deployed, that the adult is to place their oxygen mask on themselves before attempting to help anyone else put theirs on, even their own children! I was shocked! I know I can go without oxygen for longer than my kids. They need it more than I do. That is our paternal instinct, to give to them first. Yet when I heard the explanation as to why this is done, it all made sense. You see, those little ones are dependent upon you and if you run out of oxygen then neither you nor they will get any oxygen in the end. You must be able to breathe and think coherently in order to help them breathe. They are helpless without you and you are helpless without oxygen, so therefore you must first get air in order to rightly care for them.
As homeschooling fathers, we have undoubtedly read the words of Deuteronomy 6 on how we are to raise our children. Most of us can probably even recite some of the words. “Teach them to your children when you sit at home, when you walk along the road…”. But what immediately precedes these instructions on teaching Gods Word to our children? Here is the passage:
“Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
What immediately precedes how we are to teach our children is the admonition that first, we must love and worship the Lord ourselves. First, we must breathe. We are to love God with all of our heart and soul and strength. We are to impress his commandments upon our hearts first. It becomes very easy to replace our own relationship with God with our children’s relationship with God. We put our efforts into seeing where they are, into leading them to God and yet we often neglect our own relationship with Him. We often judge how well we are doing in our relationship with God by looking at our children’s relationship with Him, We mistake this for personal closeness when in reality we are ignoring our own relationship and never giving full weight to our closeness with God.
Perhaps the largest stumbling block in my own life has been to make my children into idols, in the sense that I work so diligently and think so often about where they are heading and yet neglect my own relationship with God Himself. In essence, I am starving myself of oxygen. How can my children truly worship God if I am not? Men, our most important practice in life is worshipping God. It is what we were made for. We must grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ because He is our God and we are His people. First we must strive to love Him with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength because He is our Savior. When this is done then we will naturally teach and manifest to our children the true love of God.
Christmas Gifts
What is the measure of the goodness of a gift? How do we assess the value or goodness of the gifts that we give and are given? Is it the amount of money spent on the gift? Is it the amount of thought put into the gift? Is it the amount of time exhausted in the making or acquiring of the gift? Is it in how much the recipient wanted the gift? Is it how much time they will spend using it? All of these are factors but none of them determine the true value of a gift.
In the movie The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe there is a scene where Peter, Susan and Lucy meet Father Christmas. As they finish their time together Father Christmas gives each of them gifts, but the gifts seemed to me very unusual. He gives Lucy a dagger and a healing potion, Susan a bow and arrow and Peter a sword. These are probably not the gifts they were expecting from Father Christmas. Maybe the newest Barbie or a CD player, a Playstation or the latest thing to enter the market is what they were thinking and what they wanted. But he gives them these gifts. Why? Because these gifts were extremely useful in their love for and service to Aslan. They were gifts that equipped and aided them in making much of their King.
The true value of a gift is measured by how much that gift will help and support the recipient in making much of our King, Jesus Christ, forever. That, after all, is the highest, the greatest good and most valuable end in the entire world. When we think of the greatest gift ever given, what do we think of? The death of Christ. And what was the goal of this gift? “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” (I Pet 3:18) The ultimate goal of this most precious above all gifts was “to bring us to God”. So, too, with our gifts.
So what are these gifts? Are they swords and daggers? Maybe, maybe not. I did hear of something that we can give (and receive) that is so valuable that its “proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her. Length of days is in her right hand, in her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her.” Sadly, we can’t run down to the nearest Stuff-Mart or Get-a-Lot to buy her. On the bright side, with prayer we can buy gifts that either contain her or at least can impart a lot of her. She, of course, is wisdom.
As I examine Scripture it is apparent that wisdom is the most useful asset for bringing people to God. It is, therefore, the most important asset for life and we are implored to get it and to give it to our wives and children. “Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.” (Prov. 4:5-7)
So how? And what? Well, we must first know what aspects of wisdom we are most wanting our children to obtain, and then pick gifts that will develop this area of wisdom through engaging each child’s unique characteristics, thus developing them into godly adults. Therefore, gift giving will be different for everyone, but the key, in the end, is that our giving of gifts be a bestowal of wisdom, an imparting of the fear and love of God. These are the most valuable gifts of all.
In the movie The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe there is a scene where Peter, Susan and Lucy meet Father Christmas. As they finish their time together Father Christmas gives each of them gifts, but the gifts seemed to me very unusual. He gives Lucy a dagger and a healing potion, Susan a bow and arrow and Peter a sword. These are probably not the gifts they were expecting from Father Christmas. Maybe the newest Barbie or a CD player, a Playstation or the latest thing to enter the market is what they were thinking and what they wanted. But he gives them these gifts. Why? Because these gifts were extremely useful in their love for and service to Aslan. They were gifts that equipped and aided them in making much of their King.
The true value of a gift is measured by how much that gift will help and support the recipient in making much of our King, Jesus Christ, forever. That, after all, is the highest, the greatest good and most valuable end in the entire world. When we think of the greatest gift ever given, what do we think of? The death of Christ. And what was the goal of this gift? “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” (I Pet 3:18) The ultimate goal of this most precious above all gifts was “to bring us to God”. So, too, with our gifts.
So what are these gifts? Are they swords and daggers? Maybe, maybe not. I did hear of something that we can give (and receive) that is so valuable that its “proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her. Length of days is in her right hand, in her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her.” Sadly, we can’t run down to the nearest Stuff-Mart or Get-a-Lot to buy her. On the bright side, with prayer we can buy gifts that either contain her or at least can impart a lot of her. She, of course, is wisdom.
As I examine Scripture it is apparent that wisdom is the most useful asset for bringing people to God. It is, therefore, the most important asset for life and we are implored to get it and to give it to our wives and children. “Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.” (Prov. 4:5-7)
So how? And what? Well, we must first know what aspects of wisdom we are most wanting our children to obtain, and then pick gifts that will develop this area of wisdom through engaging each child’s unique characteristics, thus developing them into godly adults. Therefore, gift giving will be different for everyone, but the key, in the end, is that our giving of gifts be a bestowal of wisdom, an imparting of the fear and love of God. These are the most valuable gifts of all.
A Key Ingredient
Candy, glorious candy. As a child there were few things that ranked higher on my list of “things to do” than to eat candy. I remember vividly on one occasion I was rummaging through the kitchen drawers and cupboards when I saw, in the baking drawer, an entire bar of chocolate. I couldn’t believe my eyes! Being as wise as I was, I thought it best not to eat the chocolate bar right away, for my parents might be using it to make something for dinner during the week. So I sat back (rather impatiently) and waited. Days went by and then a couple of weeks. What fortune! They had forgotten about the candy bar in the drawer! I couldn’t just leave it there to go bad, so one day when I was craving something sweet I decided to put the chocolate bar out of its misery. Oh, how I carefully unwrapped it, savoring each tear of the packaging, I broke off the first chunk of chocolate goodness and delicately put it into my mouth…
Have you ever tasted unsweetened chocolate? ..........If you haven’t, then take my advice and don’t. It’s…well, it’s…not good. Why? Well, it isn’t because it’s not chocolate, because it is. The problem with unsweetened chocolate is that it is missing a key ingredient, without which it is truly dissatisfying and altogether disappointing.
The point is this, you can have everything it takes to make something wonderful, but if you leave out one key ingredient it might turn into something “not good”.
The same is true of homeschooling. There are thousands of households around Colorado and the nation that are homeschooling but many of these families are missing one of the key ingredients to make it a successful homeschool:FATHERS; fathers that are an active part of the discipleship of their children. Moms are doing a fantastic job of teaching their children and instructing them in righteousness, but if fathers are not a part of this instruction then the children in that home are missing a vital piece of their training. God has clearly stated in His Word that fathers are to play a major role in the discipleship of children, that they are to be the prophets (those who communicate God’s Word) of their homes, and that the father playing this role is a key ingredient to the success of those children.
So are you? I’m not asking if you come home every night, or if you even eat dinner with your family. These are great, but just being physically present is not enough. Are you spending time interacting with your children? What does this interaction look like? It could be spending 15 minutes doing math or grammar with the kids or reading a book to them. The practical outworking of this is different for everyone but what is common is that time is being spent connecting with your children, discussing with them the things that they are learning, asking them questions and teaching them the truth of God. The hours spent between the time you get home and the time your children go to bed are the most important hours of the homeschool day. How are they being spent?
Have you ever tasted unsweetened chocolate? ..........If you haven’t, then take my advice and don’t. It’s…well, it’s…not good. Why? Well, it isn’t because it’s not chocolate, because it is. The problem with unsweetened chocolate is that it is missing a key ingredient, without which it is truly dissatisfying and altogether disappointing.
The point is this, you can have everything it takes to make something wonderful, but if you leave out one key ingredient it might turn into something “not good”.
The same is true of homeschooling. There are thousands of households around Colorado and the nation that are homeschooling but many of these families are missing one of the key ingredients to make it a successful homeschool:FATHERS; fathers that are an active part of the discipleship of their children. Moms are doing a fantastic job of teaching their children and instructing them in righteousness, but if fathers are not a part of this instruction then the children in that home are missing a vital piece of their training. God has clearly stated in His Word that fathers are to play a major role in the discipleship of children, that they are to be the prophets (those who communicate God’s Word) of their homes, and that the father playing this role is a key ingredient to the success of those children.
So are you? I’m not asking if you come home every night, or if you even eat dinner with your family. These are great, but just being physically present is not enough. Are you spending time interacting with your children? What does this interaction look like? It could be spending 15 minutes doing math or grammar with the kids or reading a book to them. The practical outworking of this is different for everyone but what is common is that time is being spent connecting with your children, discussing with them the things that they are learning, asking them questions and teaching them the truth of God. The hours spent between the time you get home and the time your children go to bed are the most important hours of the homeschool day. How are they being spent?
Goals
I recently read a letter written many years ago from a father to his children. The words are striking, convicting and, most of all, inspiring. I share some of them with you here.
“You cannot doubt, my children, that your parents love you. In all your recollections, we have a witness to this. We have, as you know, done everything to promote your welfare, and so far as was compatible with this object, your pleasure also. We have never denied you a gratification which our duty and ability allowed us to impart; and if at any time we have been severe in reproof, even this was an awful form of love. We have spared no expense in your education: in short, love, an intense love... has been the secret spring of all our conduct towards you; and, as the strongest proof and purest effort of our affection, we wish you to be partakers of true piety.
…Genuine love desires and seeks for the objects on which it is fixed the greatest benefits of which they are capable; and as you have the capacity to serve, and enjoy and glorify God by true religion, how can we love you in reality, if we do not covet for you this high and holy distinction? We should feel that our love had exhausted itself upon trifles, and had let go objects of immense, infinite, eternal consequence, if it were not to concentrate all its prayers, desires, and efforts in your personal religion.
Almost every parent has some one object, which he desires, above all others, on behalf of his children. Some are anxious that their offspring may shine as warriors; others, that theirs may be surrounded with the milder radiance of literary, scientific, and commercial fame. Our supreme ambition for you is, that whatever situation you occupy, you may adorn it with the beauties of holiness, and may discharge its duties under the influence of Christian principles. Much as we desire your respectability in life, yet we would rather see you in the most obscure, and even menial situation, provided you were partakers of true piety, than behold you on the loftiest pinnacle of the temple of fame, the objects of universal admiration, if, at the same time, your hearts were destitute of the fear of God....
You must be aware, my dear children, that all our conduct towards you has been conducted upon these principles. Before you were capable of receiving instruction, we presented ceaseless prayer to God for your personal piety. As soon as reason dawned, we poured the light of religious instruction upon your mind, by the aid of familiar poetry, catechisms, and conversation. How often have you retired with us, to become the subjects of our earnest supplications at the throne of grace! You have been witnesses of our agony for your eternal welfare. Have we not instructed, warned, admonished, encouraged you, as we laid open to your view the narrow path which leadeth to eternal life?” 1
What are the goals that we have set up in our home schools? What are the highest pursuits of our love for our children? True love for our children, and all true education, has as its ultimate end that we prepare and equip our children to be able to make much of Jesus Christ in word and deed.
1 John Angell James, The Christian Father’s Present to His Children
“You cannot doubt, my children, that your parents love you. In all your recollections, we have a witness to this. We have, as you know, done everything to promote your welfare, and so far as was compatible with this object, your pleasure also. We have never denied you a gratification which our duty and ability allowed us to impart; and if at any time we have been severe in reproof, even this was an awful form of love. We have spared no expense in your education: in short, love, an intense love... has been the secret spring of all our conduct towards you; and, as the strongest proof and purest effort of our affection, we wish you to be partakers of true piety.
…Genuine love desires and seeks for the objects on which it is fixed the greatest benefits of which they are capable; and as you have the capacity to serve, and enjoy and glorify God by true religion, how can we love you in reality, if we do not covet for you this high and holy distinction? We should feel that our love had exhausted itself upon trifles, and had let go objects of immense, infinite, eternal consequence, if it were not to concentrate all its prayers, desires, and efforts in your personal religion.
Almost every parent has some one object, which he desires, above all others, on behalf of his children. Some are anxious that their offspring may shine as warriors; others, that theirs may be surrounded with the milder radiance of literary, scientific, and commercial fame. Our supreme ambition for you is, that whatever situation you occupy, you may adorn it with the beauties of holiness, and may discharge its duties under the influence of Christian principles. Much as we desire your respectability in life, yet we would rather see you in the most obscure, and even menial situation, provided you were partakers of true piety, than behold you on the loftiest pinnacle of the temple of fame, the objects of universal admiration, if, at the same time, your hearts were destitute of the fear of God....
You must be aware, my dear children, that all our conduct towards you has been conducted upon these principles. Before you were capable of receiving instruction, we presented ceaseless prayer to God for your personal piety. As soon as reason dawned, we poured the light of religious instruction upon your mind, by the aid of familiar poetry, catechisms, and conversation. How often have you retired with us, to become the subjects of our earnest supplications at the throne of grace! You have been witnesses of our agony for your eternal welfare. Have we not instructed, warned, admonished, encouraged you, as we laid open to your view the narrow path which leadeth to eternal life?” 1
What are the goals that we have set up in our home schools? What are the highest pursuits of our love for our children? True love for our children, and all true education, has as its ultimate end that we prepare and equip our children to be able to make much of Jesus Christ in word and deed.
1 John Angell James, The Christian Father’s Present to His Children
The #1 Subject
There were many subjects that we all learned in school, but, without a doubt, we all had our favorite subject, the one we looked forward to more than any other. Mine was math. That was the high point of the schooling day for me (other than recess, lunch, and going home). Even though we are “all grown-up” now, we probably haven’t changed much. I would bet we all still have our favorite subjects, the ones that we like to teach our children. I decided that in our homeschool I would teach…(you guessed it)… math. But as important as math is, this is not the most important time in school. Neither is history, nor science, nor English, and not even Bible.
There is a time in our home(school) that far outweighs any other: family worship. The high point of not only our homeschool, but the high point of our home, is the worship of God. Our children learn the acts of God (a.k.a. history) not just to have knowledge, but so that they might worship the God that has acted. Our children learn about the world that God has created (a.k.a. science) so that they will worship the God that created the world. So what could be more important, at the end of each day, as our families have learned all these things about God and His world, than to put flesh to this knowledge and to lead our families in the worship of the God that they have learned about?
Family worship is the time when the leader of the home brings all of those in the home together to say, “This is what today was about. We did what we did today, we learned what we learned today… so that we might make much of our King”. And then he bows his heart and worships at the feet of King Jesus. This is the leaders role. This is our role. We do not have to be a theologian, a philosopher or a mathematician. We do not have to have a complete knowledge of the Bible or have memorized the 23rd Psalm. All that is required for us to lead our families in this most-important of all activities is simple obedience. All we have to do is bow our heads and our hearts and worship a God Who loves us and our families more than we could ever know.
There is a time in our home(school) that far outweighs any other: family worship. The high point of not only our homeschool, but the high point of our home, is the worship of God. Our children learn the acts of God (a.k.a. history) not just to have knowledge, but so that they might worship the God that has acted. Our children learn about the world that God has created (a.k.a. science) so that they will worship the God that created the world. So what could be more important, at the end of each day, as our families have learned all these things about God and His world, than to put flesh to this knowledge and to lead our families in the worship of the God that they have learned about?
Family worship is the time when the leader of the home brings all of those in the home together to say, “This is what today was about. We did what we did today, we learned what we learned today… so that we might make much of our King”. And then he bows his heart and worships at the feet of King Jesus. This is the leaders role. This is our role. We do not have to be a theologian, a philosopher or a mathematician. We do not have to have a complete knowledge of the Bible or have memorized the 23rd Psalm. All that is required for us to lead our families in this most-important of all activities is simple obedience. All we have to do is bow our heads and our hearts and worship a God Who loves us and our families more than we could ever know.
At the Center
The hummingbird whistles by, searching for its food as the fire crackles in the brisk morning air. Dew gathers slowly on the pine needles, and the steam rises silently from the slow-moving river as the sun crests the horizon. I take in a deep, refreshing breath of the new mountain air as the kids begin their day scampering up and down the wooded hills and my wonderful wife begins a soon-to-be tasty breakfast. What is this about? It’s about God.
I love camping. Actually, I love camping with my family. I love the sounds, the smells, and the smiles. I love rafting down the Platte, sleeping in a tent, and roasting marshmallows by the fire. Why do I love these things? I love them because through them my heart fills with awe and appreciation for God.
Over the last several years I have encountered a wide spectrum of experiences. I have spent many weekends enjoying the outdoors with my family and many weekdays hanging sheet metal from ceilings. I have spent hours upon hours contemplating the preconditions of thought, science and morality and then turned around and taken in the beauty of a Pikes Peak sunset with my family close by my side. I have listened to the glorious songs of praise from beloved saints and run the bases during an evening softball game. In the midst of all of this came this realization: None of these wondrous things are ends in themselves. Not a one. Not nature, nor fire, not food, not even family. All of these things are means, means to an end: worshipping God. It’s all about God. All of these experiences are gifts, echoes of the Excellency of God, given to delight myself in the One who gave them. It is so easy to turn gifts into idols and make them the ultimate objects of our affection, but only when those things serve to draw us nearer to God do they become all that they were meant to be. They all serve to give our souls greater satisfaction in the only truly satisfying thing: God Himself.
All of life must always be to this end. All that we do with our families and in our homeschools must have this as its ultimate goal: That God would be the final and ultimate object of our affections. That is what it means to be God-centered. Everything that we do should add to the awe and hunger of people for God as His’ majesty is more fully revealed. This summer make it a point to enjoy your family, creation, and, most of all, the God that gave them to you.
Soli Deo Gloria!
I love camping. Actually, I love camping with my family. I love the sounds, the smells, and the smiles. I love rafting down the Platte, sleeping in a tent, and roasting marshmallows by the fire. Why do I love these things? I love them because through them my heart fills with awe and appreciation for God.
Over the last several years I have encountered a wide spectrum of experiences. I have spent many weekends enjoying the outdoors with my family and many weekdays hanging sheet metal from ceilings. I have spent hours upon hours contemplating the preconditions of thought, science and morality and then turned around and taken in the beauty of a Pikes Peak sunset with my family close by my side. I have listened to the glorious songs of praise from beloved saints and run the bases during an evening softball game. In the midst of all of this came this realization: None of these wondrous things are ends in themselves. Not a one. Not nature, nor fire, not food, not even family. All of these things are means, means to an end: worshipping God. It’s all about God. All of these experiences are gifts, echoes of the Excellency of God, given to delight myself in the One who gave them. It is so easy to turn gifts into idols and make them the ultimate objects of our affection, but only when those things serve to draw us nearer to God do they become all that they were meant to be. They all serve to give our souls greater satisfaction in the only truly satisfying thing: God Himself.
All of life must always be to this end. All that we do with our families and in our homeschools must have this as its ultimate goal: That God would be the final and ultimate object of our affections. That is what it means to be God-centered. Everything that we do should add to the awe and hunger of people for God as His’ majesty is more fully revealed. This summer make it a point to enjoy your family, creation, and, most of all, the God that gave them to you.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Christ in Christmas
I hope you and yours have a wonderful Christmas season with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at the center of all of your activities. This will undoubtedly be another remarkable Christmas season. Remarkable in the sense that there will be many businesses and governmental institutions that will once again try to extricate Christ from Christmas as well as multitudes of Christians that will demand that we keep Him in.
I praise the Lord for the work that will be done this holiday season to return Christ to His rightful place in Christmas. As I pondered this work the thought occurred to me that perhaps the reason so many of us will rise up is because this is one of the last bastions for Christianity in a culture that has been secularized. I fear that the problem isn’t that the culture isn’t saying “Merry Christmas” or that the secularists are attempting to remove Christ from Christmas, but it’s the fact that they already have removed Christ from the rest of culture. America has already secularized most of reality, and so what’s left other than “holy days” like Christmas and Easter? From their viewpoint, if we as the Church have already surrendered Christ’s lordship over the rest of creation then at some point we will eventually yield on Christmas.
How have we surrendered to secularism everywhere else? By not proclaiming the Lordship of Christ over ALL things! Jesus is Lord of far more than Christmas and is the central focus of much more than a single holiday. Jesus is Lord of ALL, in him all things consist and find their meaning (Acts 17:28; Heb 1:3). But I have yet to hear the church rise up and proclaim “Keep Christ in Calculus!”, or to see a church billboard read: “Keep Christ in Chemistry”, or a Christian radio talk-show host declare, “Jesus is Lord of literature!”. Yet this is exactly what we have to do, and have not done. We need to shout it from the rooftops that Christ is the beginning of all wisdom and knowledge, (Col 2:2,3) that He is King over the entire universe and that Christ is as central to Calculus, Chemistry and Civics as He is to Christmas (Col 1:16,17).
Many years ago, before you and I were ever born, secularists like Rousseau, Voltaire and Dewey began to remove Christ from academia. Back then, when Christ was still understood to be central in all creation, they began the campaign to remove Christ from education, attempting to separate things created from their Creator. Well, needless to say, the church bought into it. We bought secularisms’ idea of “neutrality”, that there are subjects out there that are morally and religiously “neutral”. “Christ has nothing to do with math. You can know math apart from any mention of Christ”, said they…and we believed it! And then we began to parrot their words and train our children this way. Even now many homeschooling Christians teach their children subjects like math and English and many other subjects without any mention of Jesus. Yet, Jesus made math and language, science and government. If you believe the Bible then you must acknowledge that Christ is the reason not just for the season, but for everything that was, is or ever will be. He is the one that brings all things meaning, and all things were created by Him and for His glory (Prov. 16:4). How then can anything be religiously neutral or religiously free? It can’t. All things are by their very nature religious for these very reasons, and a right understanding and application of any and all subjects, holidays and events can only be found in reference to Christ.
So during this Christmas season let’s not just fight to keep Christmas, but let’s fight to recapture the territory that has been stolen. Let’s teach our children that through a simple mathematics equation or a complex calculus proof we can see the mind of God. Let’s teach them that history is the manifestation of God’s perfect providence. Let’s show them why science works, why logic is logical, and why the world operates in the manner that it does. Let’s proclaim to our dear little ones and to the world that “the earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains!” (I Cor 10:26). Let’s show the world that in Christ is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and that Christ is King of not only Christmas but of Civics, Chemistry and Calculus as well!
I praise the Lord for the work that will be done this holiday season to return Christ to His rightful place in Christmas. As I pondered this work the thought occurred to me that perhaps the reason so many of us will rise up is because this is one of the last bastions for Christianity in a culture that has been secularized. I fear that the problem isn’t that the culture isn’t saying “Merry Christmas” or that the secularists are attempting to remove Christ from Christmas, but it’s the fact that they already have removed Christ from the rest of culture. America has already secularized most of reality, and so what’s left other than “holy days” like Christmas and Easter? From their viewpoint, if we as the Church have already surrendered Christ’s lordship over the rest of creation then at some point we will eventually yield on Christmas.
How have we surrendered to secularism everywhere else? By not proclaiming the Lordship of Christ over ALL things! Jesus is Lord of far more than Christmas and is the central focus of much more than a single holiday. Jesus is Lord of ALL, in him all things consist and find their meaning (Acts 17:28; Heb 1:3). But I have yet to hear the church rise up and proclaim “Keep Christ in Calculus!”, or to see a church billboard read: “Keep Christ in Chemistry”, or a Christian radio talk-show host declare, “Jesus is Lord of literature!”. Yet this is exactly what we have to do, and have not done. We need to shout it from the rooftops that Christ is the beginning of all wisdom and knowledge, (Col 2:2,3) that He is King over the entire universe and that Christ is as central to Calculus, Chemistry and Civics as He is to Christmas (Col 1:16,17).
Many years ago, before you and I were ever born, secularists like Rousseau, Voltaire and Dewey began to remove Christ from academia. Back then, when Christ was still understood to be central in all creation, they began the campaign to remove Christ from education, attempting to separate things created from their Creator. Well, needless to say, the church bought into it. We bought secularisms’ idea of “neutrality”, that there are subjects out there that are morally and religiously “neutral”. “Christ has nothing to do with math. You can know math apart from any mention of Christ”, said they…and we believed it! And then we began to parrot their words and train our children this way. Even now many homeschooling Christians teach their children subjects like math and English and many other subjects without any mention of Jesus. Yet, Jesus made math and language, science and government. If you believe the Bible then you must acknowledge that Christ is the reason not just for the season, but for everything that was, is or ever will be. He is the one that brings all things meaning, and all things were created by Him and for His glory (Prov. 16:4). How then can anything be religiously neutral or religiously free? It can’t. All things are by their very nature religious for these very reasons, and a right understanding and application of any and all subjects, holidays and events can only be found in reference to Christ.
So during this Christmas season let’s not just fight to keep Christmas, but let’s fight to recapture the territory that has been stolen. Let’s teach our children that through a simple mathematics equation or a complex calculus proof we can see the mind of God. Let’s teach them that history is the manifestation of God’s perfect providence. Let’s show them why science works, why logic is logical, and why the world operates in the manner that it does. Let’s proclaim to our dear little ones and to the world that “the earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains!” (I Cor 10:26). Let’s show the world that in Christ is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and that Christ is King of not only Christmas but of Civics, Chemistry and Calculus as well!
Youth Pastors Needed
EXTRA!!! EXTRA!!!
Huge shortage in Colorado!
Huge shortage in Colorado!
I just heard that there is an enormous need in the state of Colorado and you might just be one of the people that can fill that position. The position that is open is that of Youth Pastor. STOP! Don’t walk away! I know you might not think you are qualified for this position, but that’s why there is such a shortage. You might actually be just the man for the job.
Here are the qualifications…
1) You must be the father of at least one child.
2) You must love your child/children.
3) You must own a Bible and must know how to read.
4) You must live in your house.
If you meet these qualifications then you are perfect for the position.
Here is the job description:
1) You are to teach your children about God. That’s right. That God that you worship, talk about Him with those kids and do it whenever you get a chance.
2) Teach these children God’s ways. Yep, open up that Book filled with Gods instructions to us and to them and say, “This is what God says”.
3) Now this is key…teach these children what you believe.
Okay, that’s about it. Oh, one last thing…this is to be done with your children. Don’t let someone else do it for you.
The pay… the eternal reward of knowing that you invested in your children, that you taught them about God and how to worship God. Knowing that you had a hand in who they have become and in what they believe is a greater reward than any amount of money.
Oh, and by the way, you don’t need to sign up for the position because you already have the job. If you are a father then you are a youth pastor. God has called every father to pastor his children because their father is far more qualified than anyone else!
Here are the qualifications…
1) You must be the father of at least one child.
2) You must love your child/children.
3) You must own a Bible and must know how to read.
4) You must live in your house.
If you meet these qualifications then you are perfect for the position.
Here is the job description:
1) You are to teach your children about God. That’s right. That God that you worship, talk about Him with those kids and do it whenever you get a chance.
2) Teach these children God’s ways. Yep, open up that Book filled with Gods instructions to us and to them and say, “This is what God says”.
3) Now this is key…teach these children what you believe.
Okay, that’s about it. Oh, one last thing…this is to be done with your children. Don’t let someone else do it for you.
The pay… the eternal reward of knowing that you invested in your children, that you taught them about God and how to worship God. Knowing that you had a hand in who they have become and in what they believe is a greater reward than any amount of money.
Oh, and by the way, you don’t need to sign up for the position because you already have the job. If you are a father then you are a youth pastor. God has called every father to pastor his children because their father is far more qualified than anyone else!
Are They Worth It?
I recently had a conversation with a father who was thinking about placing his children back into the public school system. The reason he gave was that homeschooling was very draining on he and his wife. I believe what he was saying. The homeschooling choice is not an easy one because it comes at great expense. There is the financial expense of the different curriculums that we use, and there is the enormous cost of our time. And then there are the emotions, the emotions that might drain us the most because relationships are messy and hard and we are forced into those relationships with our children because of all that time spent with them. So my friend was right. Homeschooling takes a toll on all of us (especially our wives), yet I have found that with great expense comes greater reward. How often have you gotten something truly worth keeping without it coming at a great expense? It reminds me of the parable of the pearl merchant. “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matt 13:45-46)
Yes, homeschooling is costly, but look at the pearl…the hearts and souls of our children. If you are anything like me, then there is nothing you want more than to see your children love God, to walk with Him and to see them keep unspotted from the world. Yet this pearl requires that they know Who God is, What He has done, how they are to love Him, and how His truth permeates every aspect of reality so that they, in turn, can love God in every aspect of reality. And what parent doesn’t want their children to honor them, to respect them and most of all to love them?
Yet how will this occur if a majority of their waking hours are spent with peers in a system that teaches anything but a love for God? The beauty of homeschooling is that we can teach our children the whole truth of God as we sit at home and as we walk along the road, as we lie down and as we rise up. We can show them how the truth of God affects all of reality and how they can love God in every part of life because we are there to walk with them through it. Yes, it takes time, and a lot of it. Yes, it is emotionally draining. But aren’t our children worth it?
Yes, homeschooling is costly, but look at the pearl…the hearts and souls of our children. If you are anything like me, then there is nothing you want more than to see your children love God, to walk with Him and to see them keep unspotted from the world. Yet this pearl requires that they know Who God is, What He has done, how they are to love Him, and how His truth permeates every aspect of reality so that they, in turn, can love God in every aspect of reality. And what parent doesn’t want their children to honor them, to respect them and most of all to love them?
Yet how will this occur if a majority of their waking hours are spent with peers in a system that teaches anything but a love for God? The beauty of homeschooling is that we can teach our children the whole truth of God as we sit at home and as we walk along the road, as we lie down and as we rise up. We can show them how the truth of God affects all of reality and how they can love God in every part of life because we are there to walk with them through it. Yes, it takes time, and a lot of it. Yes, it is emotionally draining. But aren’t our children worth it?
The Principal
When I was a kid there was nothing that brought more terror to my heart than the thought of having to go to the principal’s office. If that happened I knew I was in trouble and something terrible was going to happen to me. In my eyes the principal was the enforcer, the cop, judge, and jury, the end-of–the-line. Believe it or not, this was not the principal’s primary role in the school. The principal was the leader. His job was to provide the vision of what the school was trying to achieve and then to ensure that everything that happened within the walls of the school worked toward those goals. But we homeschool. We don’t have a principal, or do we?
Dads, we are called by God to be the leaders of our home, and, therefore, our homeschool. In other words, we are called to be the principal. We are the ones that are to decide what the goal of our homeschool is. What end are we trying to accomplish through our children’s instruction? What do we want our children to become? In a word, what is our vision? Our wonderful wives labor hour after hour, day after day, but to what end? What is the final product that we are trying to achieve through our school? Our job as the leader of our home is to provide this vision, God’s vision for our children.
We must provide a clear picture of what our homeschool is for, of what God is wanting our children to become. Is the goal having well-informed, godly children that will impact the world for the kingdom of Christ? Is the goal to equip our children with the tools they need to enter the mission field? Or maybe it is teaching how to love God, how to love their neighbors as themselves, and how to keep themselves pure and undefiled from the world. Whatever the vision is, you and I must grab hold of the vision that we believe God has for our children and communicate it to them and to our wives. They must know where they are going if they are ever going to get there. We all must have a goal in sight to know if what we are doing is moving us toward the goal or away from it.
How do we do this? We get on our faces before God and pray and read His Word, and ask Him for vision. He might lead some of us to a particular verse, and for others He might cause a purpose statement to pop into our heads. It is different for all of us, but what we have in common is that God wants us to know and to communicate this vision to our families. Catch the vision, unite your home around it and watch the mighty work that God does!
Dads, we are called by God to be the leaders of our home, and, therefore, our homeschool. In other words, we are called to be the principal. We are the ones that are to decide what the goal of our homeschool is. What end are we trying to accomplish through our children’s instruction? What do we want our children to become? In a word, what is our vision? Our wonderful wives labor hour after hour, day after day, but to what end? What is the final product that we are trying to achieve through our school? Our job as the leader of our home is to provide this vision, God’s vision for our children.
We must provide a clear picture of what our homeschool is for, of what God is wanting our children to become. Is the goal having well-informed, godly children that will impact the world for the kingdom of Christ? Is the goal to equip our children with the tools they need to enter the mission field? Or maybe it is teaching how to love God, how to love their neighbors as themselves, and how to keep themselves pure and undefiled from the world. Whatever the vision is, you and I must grab hold of the vision that we believe God has for our children and communicate it to them and to our wives. They must know where they are going if they are ever going to get there. We all must have a goal in sight to know if what we are doing is moving us toward the goal or away from it.
How do we do this? We get on our faces before God and pray and read His Word, and ask Him for vision. He might lead some of us to a particular verse, and for others He might cause a purpose statement to pop into our heads. It is different for all of us, but what we have in common is that God wants us to know and to communicate this vision to our families. Catch the vision, unite your home around it and watch the mighty work that God does!
Unity
I remember the first time I discovered that my wife and I disagreed about something. Actually, I don’t remember what it was that we disagreed about, but what I do remember was that I was crushed. We were already married and only now had I discovered that she didn’t believe something that I did, and furthermore, that she still wouldn’t believe it even after we discussed it at length! What was to be done? Well, get a divorce of course. Isn’t that what we are supposed to do when we discover that we have differences in thought or in practice from others? Isn’t that what people in the church do every time they have a disagreement that they cannot ultimately resolve?
Through the centuries Christians have divided over a multitude of issues, from differing ideas on communion, the millennium, the rapture, tongues, and even the amount of water that should be used in baptism, to what television programs they watch (or if they watch any at all)! And because of these disagreements many of those within the church have either broken fellowship with those they disagreed with or worse. Worse? One such instance was the disagreement over the mode of baptism that raged in the Church of Scotland many years ago. One side passionately held to the belief that baptism is to be done by immersion, while the other side believed, just as passionately, that it was to be done by sprinkling. The disagreement in the church elevated to the point where they began to shoot one another over the issue! They were willing to murder their brother in Christ over their disagreement with them on how much water to use in baptism!
Now don’t get me wrong. It is rare that brothers go to blows over disagreements anymore, but how common is it for brothers to stop fellowshipping with others because they disagree with them doctrinally (and by “doctrinally” I am not meaning essential issues of the Christian faith like the deity of Christ, the virgin birth or salvation by faith alone). The differences in doctrine that cause this division can be, and often are, relatively minor issues. Now I certainly believe that most of these people think that they are defending the truth. Most of these people think that they are worshipping God the way He has commanded. Most of these people have a high regard for the truth of Scripture and its application in life, as every Christian ought to. But, I believe, the divisions that occur do not do so because of differences in doctrine or in practice, but because of lack of character in the ones holding those doctrines. Division and discord occur within the body of Christ because of our lack of love, our lack of kindness, our lack of goodness and faithfulness and our inability to be long-suffering. We divide ultimately because our desire to be right is greater than our desire to love our brother.
Let me illustrate…
Shortly after I was saved I became aware of the fact that many of the things I believed about Christianity were not true. I was full of all kinds of misconceptions and ideas about God and salvation and the rest. It took me several years of studying and learning before I assured myself that everything I believed about Christianity was right. I had studied it all and knew what was true, what was false and how to lead others to the truth. The problem was that not everyone was compelled to change their minds by my astounding intellect, knowledge of the Scriptures and persuasive argumentation. Of course it then became impossible for me to worship with such arrogant, prideful people who refused to change their views when they were so obviously wrong. After all, ones beliefs affect their worship and their maturity, and if they did not have right doctrine, like I did, then their worship was impure and they were terribly immature.
Then one day my eyes were opened to see that part of what I had believed about the rapture was wrong, and so I, being humble as I was, changed my belief and then assured myself that now I possessed the whole Christian truth. Then shortly after that I discovered that what I believed about predestination was wrong, and after that I realized that much of what I perceived the love of God to be like was incorrect, but all along I knew, even though I was oftentimes wrong, that I was always right.
It seems strange now, I must admit, that even though everything I believed was right that I was continuing to revise and change my belief system. Yet the one thing that never changed was that I was absolutely persuaded that I possessed the whole truth of Christianity and that anyone that did not hold to what I believed was wrong.
Though doctrine is about truth, how we deal with others over doctrine is about character, and our character affects our worship of God as much as our doctrine does. Did it ever occur to us that walking in mercy and humility rather than in self-righteousness and arrogance is the very point behind these doctrines and practices that we cling to?
It appears that we have forgotten that these doctrines which we hold to so tenaciously are given to us so that we will love the Lord our God with all our heart and love our neighbor as ourselves. But rather than standing upon them to do this we use them as a platform to not associate with our neighbor, to look down on them, and to gossip about how ungodly they are for not believing what we do, which in turn affects our worship of God. If I then approach the altar of God with the satisfaction of knowing that I used the correct amount of water in baptism, and yet have ought in my heart against my brother, will my worship be acceptable? Will I be able to boast before God that I was right and that my brother was wrong about this one thing? Will the Almighty applaud my correct doctrine and yet ignore my arrogant self-righteous boasting about my being right? Will He delight in the fact that my being right about this issue has caused me to dislike and disassociate with my brother? Or perhaps God wants me to love my brother despite our differences. Isn’t the way of Christ to lay down our lives for our brothers, not to lay down our brother’s life for the justification of our beliefs?
You see, our worship of God is not limited to a couple of hours on Sunday mornings. All of life is worship. Therefore, the way I worship God moment by moment is by striving to do his will moment by moment in all of the details of life. My life is an act of worship, and when I love my wife as Christ loved the church I am worshipping God, I am pursuing God, I am glorifying God. Our primary worship of God is then done in the context of our relationships with others, be it our wives, our children, our parents or siblings, unbelievers and our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is why loving our neighbors is so important. It is how we manifest our love for God in the details of life.
True doctrine has one purpose and one purpose alone, and that is for us to love God. Our tendency is to love our doctrine of God more than we love God Himself, and to boast in (what we think is) our right doctrine of God, forgetting that the truest manifestations of these doctrines are humility and loving our neighbors as ourselves. True doctrine manifests itself in righteous living, and a fruit of righteous living is living in unity with the brothers that we disagree with. Therefore, true doctrine lived-out manifests itself not in division but in unity, not in malice but in love.
Doctrinal and practical differences will always arise in the church. It is inevitable. We will all eventually find something to disagree about. Yet if we think about it, true biblical unity never included the idea of perfect doctrinal agreement, because if it did then we have never had true biblical unity in the history of the church! Rather true unity was, and is, brothers and sisters in Christ that love one another, that carry one another’s burdens, that comfort and exhort one another, and that lay down their lives for one another in spite of their differences, be they few or many.
Most of the time we consciously avoid building relationships where these conflicts will occur, and we are the worse off for it. We in the church have followed after the culture of selfishness and pride, and so we enter into relationships keeping a fixed distance between us, and when conflict arises, no matter how insignificant, we break those relationships. We avoid and/or break fellowship with other believers for just about every conceivable reason and intentionally keep from building relationships with brothers that differ from us in thought or in practice. Because of this we are a shallow people, a people of little patience, a judgmental people, a people of pride. Rather than displaying the fruit of the Spirit through working hard on relationships and struggling to love one another through conflict, we simply go the other way, and, in so doing, affirm ourselves in our unbiblical, unloving pride. Why do we do this? Because we lack character, we lack the fruit of the Spirit.
Doctrine that does not manifest itself in the fruit of the spirit is practically useless. If we want a true test of our doctrines, the best test might be in placing ourselves in the midst of people that disagree with us. Then we will see whether these beliefs produce love, joy, peace, long-suffering, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control or whether they breed pride, contentions, anger, jealousies, and fits of rage.
If we live out right biblical doctrine we will find ourselves in strong biblical relationships where our love for one another surpasses our differences. Our doctrine lived-out will produce deep, intimate relationships with our brothers, where we are open to change, where we accept reproof and correction, and where we sharpen one another. These relationships will address difficult issues of lifestyle and of doctrine. They will produce in depth biblical discussions where both brothers will vehemently defend their beliefs and then patiently and humbly listen to their brothers defense of theirs. And at the end of such conversations the brothers will love one another and be more dedicasted to one another than before the conversation began, even if, in the end, they had to agree to disagree. In the end, true doctrine will cause you to love your brother more than your need to be right. In the end, true doctrine will produce humility, it will produce love, it will produce trust around our common Savior and God, and it will draw everyone involved to love God more.
Paul put it aptly, “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
Through the centuries Christians have divided over a multitude of issues, from differing ideas on communion, the millennium, the rapture, tongues, and even the amount of water that should be used in baptism, to what television programs they watch (or if they watch any at all)! And because of these disagreements many of those within the church have either broken fellowship with those they disagreed with or worse. Worse? One such instance was the disagreement over the mode of baptism that raged in the Church of Scotland many years ago. One side passionately held to the belief that baptism is to be done by immersion, while the other side believed, just as passionately, that it was to be done by sprinkling. The disagreement in the church elevated to the point where they began to shoot one another over the issue! They were willing to murder their brother in Christ over their disagreement with them on how much water to use in baptism!
Now don’t get me wrong. It is rare that brothers go to blows over disagreements anymore, but how common is it for brothers to stop fellowshipping with others because they disagree with them doctrinally (and by “doctrinally” I am not meaning essential issues of the Christian faith like the deity of Christ, the virgin birth or salvation by faith alone). The differences in doctrine that cause this division can be, and often are, relatively minor issues. Now I certainly believe that most of these people think that they are defending the truth. Most of these people think that they are worshipping God the way He has commanded. Most of these people have a high regard for the truth of Scripture and its application in life, as every Christian ought to. But, I believe, the divisions that occur do not do so because of differences in doctrine or in practice, but because of lack of character in the ones holding those doctrines. Division and discord occur within the body of Christ because of our lack of love, our lack of kindness, our lack of goodness and faithfulness and our inability to be long-suffering. We divide ultimately because our desire to be right is greater than our desire to love our brother.
Let me illustrate…
Shortly after I was saved I became aware of the fact that many of the things I believed about Christianity were not true. I was full of all kinds of misconceptions and ideas about God and salvation and the rest. It took me several years of studying and learning before I assured myself that everything I believed about Christianity was right. I had studied it all and knew what was true, what was false and how to lead others to the truth. The problem was that not everyone was compelled to change their minds by my astounding intellect, knowledge of the Scriptures and persuasive argumentation. Of course it then became impossible for me to worship with such arrogant, prideful people who refused to change their views when they were so obviously wrong. After all, ones beliefs affect their worship and their maturity, and if they did not have right doctrine, like I did, then their worship was impure and they were terribly immature.
Then one day my eyes were opened to see that part of what I had believed about the rapture was wrong, and so I, being humble as I was, changed my belief and then assured myself that now I possessed the whole Christian truth. Then shortly after that I discovered that what I believed about predestination was wrong, and after that I realized that much of what I perceived the love of God to be like was incorrect, but all along I knew, even though I was oftentimes wrong, that I was always right.
It seems strange now, I must admit, that even though everything I believed was right that I was continuing to revise and change my belief system. Yet the one thing that never changed was that I was absolutely persuaded that I possessed the whole truth of Christianity and that anyone that did not hold to what I believed was wrong.
Though doctrine is about truth, how we deal with others over doctrine is about character, and our character affects our worship of God as much as our doctrine does. Did it ever occur to us that walking in mercy and humility rather than in self-righteousness and arrogance is the very point behind these doctrines and practices that we cling to?
It appears that we have forgotten that these doctrines which we hold to so tenaciously are given to us so that we will love the Lord our God with all our heart and love our neighbor as ourselves. But rather than standing upon them to do this we use them as a platform to not associate with our neighbor, to look down on them, and to gossip about how ungodly they are for not believing what we do, which in turn affects our worship of God. If I then approach the altar of God with the satisfaction of knowing that I used the correct amount of water in baptism, and yet have ought in my heart against my brother, will my worship be acceptable? Will I be able to boast before God that I was right and that my brother was wrong about this one thing? Will the Almighty applaud my correct doctrine and yet ignore my arrogant self-righteous boasting about my being right? Will He delight in the fact that my being right about this issue has caused me to dislike and disassociate with my brother? Or perhaps God wants me to love my brother despite our differences. Isn’t the way of Christ to lay down our lives for our brothers, not to lay down our brother’s life for the justification of our beliefs?
You see, our worship of God is not limited to a couple of hours on Sunday mornings. All of life is worship. Therefore, the way I worship God moment by moment is by striving to do his will moment by moment in all of the details of life. My life is an act of worship, and when I love my wife as Christ loved the church I am worshipping God, I am pursuing God, I am glorifying God. Our primary worship of God is then done in the context of our relationships with others, be it our wives, our children, our parents or siblings, unbelievers and our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is why loving our neighbors is so important. It is how we manifest our love for God in the details of life.
True doctrine has one purpose and one purpose alone, and that is for us to love God. Our tendency is to love our doctrine of God more than we love God Himself, and to boast in (what we think is) our right doctrine of God, forgetting that the truest manifestations of these doctrines are humility and loving our neighbors as ourselves. True doctrine manifests itself in righteous living, and a fruit of righteous living is living in unity with the brothers that we disagree with. Therefore, true doctrine lived-out manifests itself not in division but in unity, not in malice but in love.
Doctrinal and practical differences will always arise in the church. It is inevitable. We will all eventually find something to disagree about. Yet if we think about it, true biblical unity never included the idea of perfect doctrinal agreement, because if it did then we have never had true biblical unity in the history of the church! Rather true unity was, and is, brothers and sisters in Christ that love one another, that carry one another’s burdens, that comfort and exhort one another, and that lay down their lives for one another in spite of their differences, be they few or many.
Most of the time we consciously avoid building relationships where these conflicts will occur, and we are the worse off for it. We in the church have followed after the culture of selfishness and pride, and so we enter into relationships keeping a fixed distance between us, and when conflict arises, no matter how insignificant, we break those relationships. We avoid and/or break fellowship with other believers for just about every conceivable reason and intentionally keep from building relationships with brothers that differ from us in thought or in practice. Because of this we are a shallow people, a people of little patience, a judgmental people, a people of pride. Rather than displaying the fruit of the Spirit through working hard on relationships and struggling to love one another through conflict, we simply go the other way, and, in so doing, affirm ourselves in our unbiblical, unloving pride. Why do we do this? Because we lack character, we lack the fruit of the Spirit.
Doctrine that does not manifest itself in the fruit of the spirit is practically useless. If we want a true test of our doctrines, the best test might be in placing ourselves in the midst of people that disagree with us. Then we will see whether these beliefs produce love, joy, peace, long-suffering, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control or whether they breed pride, contentions, anger, jealousies, and fits of rage.
If we live out right biblical doctrine we will find ourselves in strong biblical relationships where our love for one another surpasses our differences. Our doctrine lived-out will produce deep, intimate relationships with our brothers, where we are open to change, where we accept reproof and correction, and where we sharpen one another. These relationships will address difficult issues of lifestyle and of doctrine. They will produce in depth biblical discussions where both brothers will vehemently defend their beliefs and then patiently and humbly listen to their brothers defense of theirs. And at the end of such conversations the brothers will love one another and be more dedicasted to one another than before the conversation began, even if, in the end, they had to agree to disagree. In the end, true doctrine will cause you to love your brother more than your need to be right. In the end, true doctrine will produce humility, it will produce love, it will produce trust around our common Savior and God, and it will draw everyone involved to love God more.
Paul put it aptly, “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility
It has often been said that people who teach that God is sovereign and that man is still responsible for his actions are sending mixed signals. To tell you the truth, sometimes I feel that way too, yet I believe that this is due to our inability to communicate or understand clearly rather than that the two positions are mutually exclusive.
What is the relationship between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility? Well, it is to a large part a mystery, for the secret things belong to God (Deut 29:29), and yet the part that is not a mystery is what has been revealed to us in Scripture. Here is my understanding of what the Scriptures teach us about the subject, as best as I can explain it.
Truth #1 – God has complete power over all things in creation.
The Bible teaches us that God is all-powerful or sovereign. This means that nothing comes to pass that He does not allow to come to pass. Nothing is beyond His power. All things happen according to what He has determined beforehand should happen.
Isa 43:1313 "Indeed before the day was, I am He; and there is no one who can deliver out of My hand; I work, and who will reverse it?"
Isa 46:9-11 “Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,' Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it."
Isa 45:77 - "I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.'
Isa 48:3- "I have declared the former things from the beginning; they went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it. Suddenly I did them, and they came to pass."
Isa 14:24 -“The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, "Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand:”
Prov 19:21- “There are many plans in a man's heart, nevertheless the LORD'S counsel-- that will stand.
Prov 16:33 -“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.”
Ps 135:5-7 - “For I know that the LORD is great, and our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the LORD pleases He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep places.”
Ps 115:3 -“But our God is in heaven; he does whatever He pleases.”
Ps 33:10-11 -“The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.”
Dan 4:35 -“All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; he does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, "What have You done?"
Job 42:2- "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.”
Lam 3:37-38 -“Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed?”
1 Chr 29:11-12 -“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.”
Eccl 3:14 “I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.”
Eccl 7:13 -“Consider the work of God; for who can make straight what He has made crooked?”
Matt 10:29 -"Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will.”
Eph 1:11 -“In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,”
Truth #2 - All men choose according to their own desires and are held accountable for those decisions.
The Bible also teaches us that all men are held accountable for the decisions that they make. Each of us will be judged according to our obedience to the revealed will of God (the law and gospel as revealed in the Scriptures). We are the ones that make our own decisions according to the greatest desires of our hearts and are therefore totally culpable for those decisions.
James 2:12 -“So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.”
2 Thes 1:8 -“In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Rom 2:12 -“For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law.”
2 Cor 5:10 -“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
Rev 22:12 -"And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.”
Rev 20:12 -“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”
Col 3:24-25 -“knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.”
Rom 2:5-11 -“But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who "will render to each one according to his deeds": eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness-- indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.
Matt 16:27 -"For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works”
Isa 3:10-11 -"Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him.”
Truth #3 – God is not the author of evil.
The Bible also teaches us about the holiness of God. God hates sin. He cannot look upon sin. He does not commit sin nor does He tempt anyone to sin.
Job 34:10 -"Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to commit iniquity.” (Job 34:10)
Hab 1:13 -"You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.”
Zeph 3:5 -“The LORD is righteous in her midst, he will do no unrighteousness. Every morning He brings His justice to light; he never fails, but the unjust knows no shame.”
Ps 34:15-16 -“The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.”
Ps 5:4-5 -“For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; you hate all workers of iniquity.”
James 1:13 -“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”
1 Pet 1:15-16 -“but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."
Hence, we have three concurrent biblical truths. They are all true all the time and they are not mutually exclusive but coalesce perfectly with each other in God’s world. How do these truths coalesce? Some say that we cannot grasp how they work together and form one truth. They say by faith we must just accept them all as absolutely true because God’s Word teaches them and we are to live by faith in the belief of all of them. This may well be the case.For others that is not good enough. We all tend to long for some explanation of how these truths are in harmony with one another rather than contradictory. For these I proffer my best attempt at an answer:
God’s will is always perfectly accomplished in these various possible ways:
1) Since God knows each man perfectly, He directs all things so that we will choose to do exactly what God wants us to do. This way we are accountable, because we are choosing according to our own desires. We are acting on the intents of our own heart. God, knowing those intents and desires perfectly, then arranges the events of life so that we act on those intents in the given situations, thus fulfilling His perfect sovereign will. This way, in the end, His will is perfectly accomplished (sustaining His sovereignty), we make our choices alone (sustaining our responsibility), and God is wholly sinless (sustaining His holiness). One instance of this in Scripture is the story of Joseph and his' brothers. The familiar ending to the story is "But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." (Gen 50:20) Or…
2) Since our whole person is corrupted by sin, God graciously imparts new good desires within our hearts so that we make the right decision. God, in His great love and mercy, changes the inclinations of our hearts so that we desire to do good more than evil, and thus fulfill His sovereign decree when that sovereign decree is for us to do that good. This way, in the end, God’s good, pleasing and perfect will is still done (sustaining His sovereignty), we still choose according to the greatest desires and intents of our hearts (sustaining our responsibility), and God is wholly righteous (sustaining His holiness). One instance of this in Scripture is in Ezra.Ezra 1:1 – “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing”. Here we see that God stirs the heart of a king so that His (Gods) will would be fulfilled. The king still chose according to His desires, yet it was Gods will that was perfectly accomplished by the stirring a mans heart.
The final and ultimate example of this truth is found at the cross.
Acts 2:23 - "Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death”
Acts 4:27-28 -"For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.”
In these verses we see that the sinful actions of men, from those of Herod and Pilate, to those of the multitudes in the crowds, and Judas, were all to accomplish God’s purpose. All of these men sinned and will be held accountable for their sin (ie “lawless hands”), yet their sin was what God had “determined” beforehand to be done.”
How perfect and glorious is the unity of divine sovereignty and human responsibility! I do hope that this has clarified things a bit. God is great! He is the holy King of the universe. All authority in heaven and on earth are His. At the same time, we are accountable to this King for obeying His rule and submitting to His authority. In the end we can trust Him with absolute confidence because He will bring everything to pass that is His GOOD, PLEASING and PERFECT WILL, which is consequently good, pleasing, and, yes, perfect for us! Hallelujah and Amen!
What is the relationship between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility? Well, it is to a large part a mystery, for the secret things belong to God (Deut 29:29), and yet the part that is not a mystery is what has been revealed to us in Scripture. Here is my understanding of what the Scriptures teach us about the subject, as best as I can explain it.
Truth #1 – God has complete power over all things in creation.
The Bible teaches us that God is all-powerful or sovereign. This means that nothing comes to pass that He does not allow to come to pass. Nothing is beyond His power. All things happen according to what He has determined beforehand should happen.
Isa 43:1313 "Indeed before the day was, I am He; and there is no one who can deliver out of My hand; I work, and who will reverse it?"
Isa 46:9-11 “Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,' Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it."
Isa 45:77 - "I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.'
Isa 48:3- "I have declared the former things from the beginning; they went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it. Suddenly I did them, and they came to pass."
Isa 14:24 -“The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, "Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand:”
Prov 19:21- “There are many plans in a man's heart, nevertheless the LORD'S counsel-- that will stand.
Prov 16:33 -“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.”
Ps 135:5-7 - “For I know that the LORD is great, and our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the LORD pleases He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep places.”
Ps 115:3 -“But our God is in heaven; he does whatever He pleases.”
Ps 33:10-11 -“The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.”
Dan 4:35 -“All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; he does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, "What have You done?"
Job 42:2- "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.”
Lam 3:37-38 -“Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed?”
1 Chr 29:11-12 -“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.”
Eccl 3:14 “I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.”
Eccl 7:13 -“Consider the work of God; for who can make straight what He has made crooked?”
Matt 10:29 -"Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will.”
Eph 1:11 -“In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,”
Truth #2 - All men choose according to their own desires and are held accountable for those decisions.
The Bible also teaches us that all men are held accountable for the decisions that they make. Each of us will be judged according to our obedience to the revealed will of God (the law and gospel as revealed in the Scriptures). We are the ones that make our own decisions according to the greatest desires of our hearts and are therefore totally culpable for those decisions.
James 2:12 -“So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.”
2 Thes 1:8 -“In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Rom 2:12 -“For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law.”
2 Cor 5:10 -“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
Rev 22:12 -"And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.”
Rev 20:12 -“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”
Col 3:24-25 -“knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.”
Rom 2:5-11 -“But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who "will render to each one according to his deeds": eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness-- indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.
Matt 16:27 -"For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works”
Isa 3:10-11 -"Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him.”
Truth #3 – God is not the author of evil.
The Bible also teaches us about the holiness of God. God hates sin. He cannot look upon sin. He does not commit sin nor does He tempt anyone to sin.
Job 34:10 -"Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to commit iniquity.” (Job 34:10)
Hab 1:13 -"You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.”
Zeph 3:5 -“The LORD is righteous in her midst, he will do no unrighteousness. Every morning He brings His justice to light; he never fails, but the unjust knows no shame.”
Ps 34:15-16 -“The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.”
Ps 5:4-5 -“For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; you hate all workers of iniquity.”
James 1:13 -“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”
1 Pet 1:15-16 -“but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."
Hence, we have three concurrent biblical truths. They are all true all the time and they are not mutually exclusive but coalesce perfectly with each other in God’s world. How do these truths coalesce? Some say that we cannot grasp how they work together and form one truth. They say by faith we must just accept them all as absolutely true because God’s Word teaches them and we are to live by faith in the belief of all of them. This may well be the case.For others that is not good enough. We all tend to long for some explanation of how these truths are in harmony with one another rather than contradictory. For these I proffer my best attempt at an answer:
God’s will is always perfectly accomplished in these various possible ways:
1) Since God knows each man perfectly, He directs all things so that we will choose to do exactly what God wants us to do. This way we are accountable, because we are choosing according to our own desires. We are acting on the intents of our own heart. God, knowing those intents and desires perfectly, then arranges the events of life so that we act on those intents in the given situations, thus fulfilling His perfect sovereign will. This way, in the end, His will is perfectly accomplished (sustaining His sovereignty), we make our choices alone (sustaining our responsibility), and God is wholly sinless (sustaining His holiness). One instance of this in Scripture is the story of Joseph and his' brothers. The familiar ending to the story is "But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." (Gen 50:20) Or…
2) Since our whole person is corrupted by sin, God graciously imparts new good desires within our hearts so that we make the right decision. God, in His great love and mercy, changes the inclinations of our hearts so that we desire to do good more than evil, and thus fulfill His sovereign decree when that sovereign decree is for us to do that good. This way, in the end, God’s good, pleasing and perfect will is still done (sustaining His sovereignty), we still choose according to the greatest desires and intents of our hearts (sustaining our responsibility), and God is wholly righteous (sustaining His holiness). One instance of this in Scripture is in Ezra.Ezra 1:1 – “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing”. Here we see that God stirs the heart of a king so that His (Gods) will would be fulfilled. The king still chose according to His desires, yet it was Gods will that was perfectly accomplished by the stirring a mans heart.
The final and ultimate example of this truth is found at the cross.
Acts 2:23 - "Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death”
Acts 4:27-28 -"For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.”
In these verses we see that the sinful actions of men, from those of Herod and Pilate, to those of the multitudes in the crowds, and Judas, were all to accomplish God’s purpose. All of these men sinned and will be held accountable for their sin (ie “lawless hands”), yet their sin was what God had “determined” beforehand to be done.”
How perfect and glorious is the unity of divine sovereignty and human responsibility! I do hope that this has clarified things a bit. God is great! He is the holy King of the universe. All authority in heaven and on earth are His. At the same time, we are accountable to this King for obeying His rule and submitting to His authority. In the end we can trust Him with absolute confidence because He will bring everything to pass that is His GOOD, PLEASING and PERFECT WILL, which is consequently good, pleasing, and, yes, perfect for us! Hallelujah and Amen!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Only God Can Prevent Forest Fires part 2
“Only you can prevent forest fires.” –Smokey the Bear
Smokey was wrong. I could do everything within my might to prevent forest fires and yet they could still occur. Try as I might, I cannot prevent lightning from striking in the middle of the forest, or any other “natural” beginning points to forest fires. Neither can I control whether or not someone else carelessly or even intentionally starts a fire. I wasn’t there when Terry Barton started the Hayman fire. There is no way I could have prevented that forest fire unless God had redirected my path to cross with the hers that day. This is why the sovereignty of God is so important. Despite all of my efforts, I cannot control what happens in this universe, but there is Someone who does! To know that nothing occurs by random happenstance but that everything is a part of His glorious plan is the cornerstone of Christianity. To know that everything that enters my life is from the loving hand of God is the core of trusting God. To know that what other people intend for evil only comes about when God intends it for good is the backbone of faith. "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.” (Gen 50:20)
But is this what Smokey meant? Was he implying that each of us is almighty and that we all have the power, like God, to prevent forest fires? Obviously not. Was Smokey saying that we are supposed to be running our fool heads off trying to find anyone being careless with fire? Again, no. Should each and every one of us be out there spending all of our waking hours watching for lightning strikes in the middle of the forest? I think not. I believe what Smokey was saying was, “You are responsible, as much as lies within your power, to keep from starting forest fires.”
What Smokey was saying is that each of us is responsible for not starting a forest fire. We are to follow the rules of the land and the law of God so that our actions are not the cause of a forest fire. Now if this is what Smokey really meant, was he right? Since only God can prevent forest fires are we really accountable for any of our actions in the process of fulfilling His sovereign decree? Will God judge Terry Barton for wrongdoing since He did not prevent her from starting the fire? Absolutely, because within the parameters of divine sovereignty lies human responsibility. Divine sovereignty and human responsibility are like two sides of a coin. You cannot have one without the other. The Bible teaches both with equal ultimacy. Though from all eternity God decrees all things that come to pass, we are still accountable for the choices we make. We are obligated before God to do what He commands, and are responsible for those choices. Could God change those choices? Of course He could. Could He change our desires? Again, yes. (Phil 2:13; ; Prov 16:33; 19:21; 21:1; 2 Chron 30:12; Rev 17:17; Ezra 6:22) Yet the fact remains that we still act on our desires, we still choose from our heart to act in the way we do. The fact that it fulfills God’s eternal decree does not release us from our duty to obey Gods commands. Man is still responsible because He is still acting on his desires.
The arsonist of the Hayman fire is accountable and responsible for every choice she made that day. She acted according to her desires and thoughts and sinned, both against God and against the civil authorities and against everyone else who was affected by the fire. She disobeyed the civil authorities[1] and, therefore, disobeyed God that day. “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.” (Rom 13:1-3)
We must understand that God did not make the arsonists choices for her. In the same way, God does not make our choices for us. “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.” (James 1:13) "Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to commit iniquity.” (Job 34:10)
When we sin God simply allows us to act out our own sinful desires. We are the ones acting. We are the ones choosing according to the thoughts and intents of our hearts. Therefore we are responsible. The fact that God determines the course of all things so that our choices are in accordance with His sovereign decree does not at all diminish our responsibility for making those choices. Let me say that again. The fact that God determines the course of all things so that our choices are in accordance with His sovereign decree does not at all diminish our responsibility for making those choices.“In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.” (Eph 1:11) The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, "Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand.” (Isa 14:24) We are not accountable for determining the course of all things, but we are accountable for the choices we make in our own lives. Therefore we are not accountable for knowing Gods sovereign decree but we are accountable for knowing and obeying His revealed will: the law of God and the gospel of God. By this standard we will be judged. “So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.” (James 2:12) “In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thes 1:8) “For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law.” (Rom 2:12) “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Cor 5:10)
Therefore, each of us is responsible for not starting forest fires insofar as it is within our power, and each of us will be held responsible by God for our individual obedience, or lack thereof, in this realm. The same is true of every area of jurisdiction that God has placed us over. Whether it is our own personal prayer and study life, our obedience to the civil magistrate, our stewardship of finances, the spiritual leading of our families, our preaching of the gospel, or any other of the myriad of responsibilities God has given us, we are held responsible for our obedience to all that He has called us to.God is sovereign over all things and we are responsible for all of our actions. This is the truth of Scripture and therefore what we must believe. Conscious of this truth, we must now realize that we will be judged by how we respond to it.
There are really only two responses to the truth of divine sovereignty and human responsibility:1) We can worship God for Who He is and obey His Word …or 2) We can despise Him for being sovereign and rebel against His authority.Worship and obedience is the only true and biblical response to the sovereignty of God. This is Gods call to us whenever we have greater revelation of Who He is.
“All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. ‘Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’” (Matt 11:27-29)
“The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.' For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word,”(Acts 4:26-29)
“So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth." Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?" But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?" Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?… if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved…For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."… I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Rom 9:16-21; 10:8,9,11; 12:1-2)
So what will my response to the sovereignty of God be? Will I hate Him for being Almighty? Will I rebel against the whole counsel of His Word? Will I despise His authority and thereby reject the King of the universe? Or will I praise and worship Him for His greatness? Will I obey Him because He is worthy to be obeyed? Will I present my body as a living sacrifice in light of His might?
I pray that each and every one of us will respond to God in the same way Nebuchadnezzar did when Gods sovereignty was revealed to Him:“And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; he does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”(Dan 4:34-35)
[1] We are to obey the civil magistrate “in the Lord”, which means that insofar as they do not violate the law or commands of God we are to obey them.. But if the civil magistrate oversteps its jurisdiction and makes laws that violate the commands of Scripture, we are to follow God.
Smokey was wrong. I could do everything within my might to prevent forest fires and yet they could still occur. Try as I might, I cannot prevent lightning from striking in the middle of the forest, or any other “natural” beginning points to forest fires. Neither can I control whether or not someone else carelessly or even intentionally starts a fire. I wasn’t there when Terry Barton started the Hayman fire. There is no way I could have prevented that forest fire unless God had redirected my path to cross with the hers that day. This is why the sovereignty of God is so important. Despite all of my efforts, I cannot control what happens in this universe, but there is Someone who does! To know that nothing occurs by random happenstance but that everything is a part of His glorious plan is the cornerstone of Christianity. To know that everything that enters my life is from the loving hand of God is the core of trusting God. To know that what other people intend for evil only comes about when God intends it for good is the backbone of faith. "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.” (Gen 50:20)
But is this what Smokey meant? Was he implying that each of us is almighty and that we all have the power, like God, to prevent forest fires? Obviously not. Was Smokey saying that we are supposed to be running our fool heads off trying to find anyone being careless with fire? Again, no. Should each and every one of us be out there spending all of our waking hours watching for lightning strikes in the middle of the forest? I think not. I believe what Smokey was saying was, “You are responsible, as much as lies within your power, to keep from starting forest fires.”
What Smokey was saying is that each of us is responsible for not starting a forest fire. We are to follow the rules of the land and the law of God so that our actions are not the cause of a forest fire. Now if this is what Smokey really meant, was he right? Since only God can prevent forest fires are we really accountable for any of our actions in the process of fulfilling His sovereign decree? Will God judge Terry Barton for wrongdoing since He did not prevent her from starting the fire? Absolutely, because within the parameters of divine sovereignty lies human responsibility. Divine sovereignty and human responsibility are like two sides of a coin. You cannot have one without the other. The Bible teaches both with equal ultimacy. Though from all eternity God decrees all things that come to pass, we are still accountable for the choices we make. We are obligated before God to do what He commands, and are responsible for those choices. Could God change those choices? Of course He could. Could He change our desires? Again, yes. (Phil 2:13; ; Prov 16:33; 19:21; 21:1; 2 Chron 30:12; Rev 17:17; Ezra 6:22) Yet the fact remains that we still act on our desires, we still choose from our heart to act in the way we do. The fact that it fulfills God’s eternal decree does not release us from our duty to obey Gods commands. Man is still responsible because He is still acting on his desires.
The arsonist of the Hayman fire is accountable and responsible for every choice she made that day. She acted according to her desires and thoughts and sinned, both against God and against the civil authorities and against everyone else who was affected by the fire. She disobeyed the civil authorities[1] and, therefore, disobeyed God that day. “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.” (Rom 13:1-3)
We must understand that God did not make the arsonists choices for her. In the same way, God does not make our choices for us. “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.” (James 1:13) "Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to commit iniquity.” (Job 34:10)
When we sin God simply allows us to act out our own sinful desires. We are the ones acting. We are the ones choosing according to the thoughts and intents of our hearts. Therefore we are responsible. The fact that God determines the course of all things so that our choices are in accordance with His sovereign decree does not at all diminish our responsibility for making those choices. Let me say that again. The fact that God determines the course of all things so that our choices are in accordance with His sovereign decree does not at all diminish our responsibility for making those choices.“In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.” (Eph 1:11) The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, "Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand.” (Isa 14:24) We are not accountable for determining the course of all things, but we are accountable for the choices we make in our own lives. Therefore we are not accountable for knowing Gods sovereign decree but we are accountable for knowing and obeying His revealed will: the law of God and the gospel of God. By this standard we will be judged. “So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.” (James 2:12) “In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thes 1:8) “For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law.” (Rom 2:12) “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Cor 5:10)
Therefore, each of us is responsible for not starting forest fires insofar as it is within our power, and each of us will be held responsible by God for our individual obedience, or lack thereof, in this realm. The same is true of every area of jurisdiction that God has placed us over. Whether it is our own personal prayer and study life, our obedience to the civil magistrate, our stewardship of finances, the spiritual leading of our families, our preaching of the gospel, or any other of the myriad of responsibilities God has given us, we are held responsible for our obedience to all that He has called us to.God is sovereign over all things and we are responsible for all of our actions. This is the truth of Scripture and therefore what we must believe. Conscious of this truth, we must now realize that we will be judged by how we respond to it.
There are really only two responses to the truth of divine sovereignty and human responsibility:1) We can worship God for Who He is and obey His Word …or 2) We can despise Him for being sovereign and rebel against His authority.Worship and obedience is the only true and biblical response to the sovereignty of God. This is Gods call to us whenever we have greater revelation of Who He is.
“All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. ‘Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’” (Matt 11:27-29)
“The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.' For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word,”(Acts 4:26-29)
“So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth." Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?" But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?" Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?… if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved…For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."… I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Rom 9:16-21; 10:8,9,11; 12:1-2)
So what will my response to the sovereignty of God be? Will I hate Him for being Almighty? Will I rebel against the whole counsel of His Word? Will I despise His authority and thereby reject the King of the universe? Or will I praise and worship Him for His greatness? Will I obey Him because He is worthy to be obeyed? Will I present my body as a living sacrifice in light of His might?
I pray that each and every one of us will respond to God in the same way Nebuchadnezzar did when Gods sovereignty was revealed to Him:“And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; he does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”(Dan 4:34-35)
[1] We are to obey the civil magistrate “in the Lord”, which means that insofar as they do not violate the law or commands of God we are to obey them.. But if the civil magistrate oversteps its jurisdiction and makes laws that violate the commands of Scripture, we are to follow God.
Only God Can Prevent Forest Fires
Do you remember Smokey the Bear? He was an icon in my youth. I would watch the television commercials throughout the week as they showed how easily forest fires could be started by minor acts of carelessness. Then, at the end of each one, the wise old sage bear would appear, point his finger at me, and with that deep, gruff voice declare, “Only you can prevent forest fires!”
Our family’s favorite campsite lies in a small area along the Platte River that is surrounded by the devastation of the Hayman fire. Whenever we drive through the remains of the once abundant forest I think about Smokey. I think strange things like, “ If Smokey had been there he could have prevented this forest fire!”
Smokey wasn’t there that day, but God was. Couldn’t God have prevented the Hayman fire? Of course He could have. He is all-powerful. As I think about the omnipotence of God, it becomes apparent that there are multiple billions of ways He could have prevented or snuffed-out that fire.
First, Gods power extends over nature. He has complete supremacy over every bit of natural creation. “With moisture He saturates the thick clouds; he scatters His bright clouds. And they swirl about, being turned by His guidance, that they may do whatever He commands them on the face of the whole earth.” (Job 37:11-12) The rocks, trees, wind and flames do whatever God commands. That day God could have sent rain to douse those first flames…or He could have simply caused the flames to immediately die out…or He could have changed the magnitude of the wind so that, instead of igniting the fire, it would have snuffed it out…or He could have changed the direction of the wind so as to cause the smoldering paper to land on a patch of dirt… or He could have stayed the wind altogether…or…or…or.
At any moment God could have commanded those flames to halt or even to cease. Yet God willed that they continue. They burned as hot as God dictated, as high as God decreed, and as far as God directed them. From before it began to its very last moments, the fire did only what Gods power and wisdom allowed it to do.
This, though, is only the beginning. God could have prevented the fire numerous other ways. A simple red-light could have kept the arsonist from that fateful moment…or a misfiring sparkplug, a loose wire, or a crack in the cylinder under the hood of the truck…or for the engine to stall, or for a flat tire to occur. God is, after all, almighty over spark plugs and engines and stoplights. “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever He pleases.” (Ps 115:3) "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.” (Job 42:2)
God also could have prevented the Hayman fire by changing the arsonist’s path. Yes, God is even almighty over the mind, emotions, and will of men.” A man's heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.” (Prov 16:9) “There are many plans in a man's heart, nevertheless the LORD'S counsel-- that will stand.” (Prov 19:21) “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; he turns it wherever He wishes.” (Prov 21:1)
Our Almighty God could have changed any one of a thousand thoughts, desires or circumstances in the arsonist’s life that day. He could have allowed her to be sick that morning or to leave the house at a different time. He could have steered her heart to go to a friend’s house, or a bar, or a church instead of into the forest. God could have changed the arsonists desire to set fire to a letter by reminding her of Smokey the Bear! He could have planted new desires within her heart, desires to do something righteous given the particular circumstance. He could have planted different thoughts in her mind or given her different emotions; any one of them changing her course that dreadful day.
God could also have moved the hearts of any number of other people to direct them into the path of the arsonist so that she would not have done what she did. “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure, calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it.” (Isa 46:11) He could have stirred a friends heart to drive over to the arsonists home before she left, or a neighbor, or just caused them to call her on the phone. He could have caused someone to mistakenly dial the arsonist’s phone number, hence altering her path. He could have caused her boss to have her work in the office that day, or to go somewhere other than she did. Yet in the counsel of His’ will God determined that everything would happen exactly the way it did.
Why rehash a catastrophe from several years ago? Simply to point out that every event, no matter how colossal or seemingly insignificant, past, present, and future has occurred, and will continue to occur under the providence of the Almighty power of God. Only God can prevent forest fires and only God can allow forest fires to rage. The same is true of tsunamis…and hurricanes…and tornados…and wars…and roadside bombs…and airplanes crashing into buildings…and starvation…and famine…and looting…and murder…and rising gas prices…and falling stock indexes…and sin…and sickness…and unbelief. God is in control. He is almighty. There is no part of creation that acts independently of Him. There is nothing outside of or beyond His power. God is able at all times and in every way to direct His creation in whatever paths He chooses. All creation does the will of its King, from the electron to the supernova, the angels and the demons and even Satan, the smallest child to the greatest ruler.
Rest assured, for this King is none other than King Jesus. This King that controls all things loves us with a greater love than we could ever imagine! How comforting and peace infusing this is! What hope can be gained, what assurance is to be had knowing that whatever comes into our lives is coming from the hand of this loving, almighty King! The One that gave His own life for us, to make us His people, is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the One that has all authority in heaven and on earth, and that works all things together for our good! We can look at all of the events of our past and all that the future holds and know that this King is the one who is bringing it about through His good, pleasing and perfect will! Trust King Jesus and the works of His hands, for He is good!
Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. (I Chron 29:11-12)
Our family’s favorite campsite lies in a small area along the Platte River that is surrounded by the devastation of the Hayman fire. Whenever we drive through the remains of the once abundant forest I think about Smokey. I think strange things like, “ If Smokey had been there he could have prevented this forest fire!”
Smokey wasn’t there that day, but God was. Couldn’t God have prevented the Hayman fire? Of course He could have. He is all-powerful. As I think about the omnipotence of God, it becomes apparent that there are multiple billions of ways He could have prevented or snuffed-out that fire.
First, Gods power extends over nature. He has complete supremacy over every bit of natural creation. “With moisture He saturates the thick clouds; he scatters His bright clouds. And they swirl about, being turned by His guidance, that they may do whatever He commands them on the face of the whole earth.” (Job 37:11-12) The rocks, trees, wind and flames do whatever God commands. That day God could have sent rain to douse those first flames…or He could have simply caused the flames to immediately die out…or He could have changed the magnitude of the wind so that, instead of igniting the fire, it would have snuffed it out…or He could have changed the direction of the wind so as to cause the smoldering paper to land on a patch of dirt… or He could have stayed the wind altogether…or…or…or.
At any moment God could have commanded those flames to halt or even to cease. Yet God willed that they continue. They burned as hot as God dictated, as high as God decreed, and as far as God directed them. From before it began to its very last moments, the fire did only what Gods power and wisdom allowed it to do.
This, though, is only the beginning. God could have prevented the fire numerous other ways. A simple red-light could have kept the arsonist from that fateful moment…or a misfiring sparkplug, a loose wire, or a crack in the cylinder under the hood of the truck…or for the engine to stall, or for a flat tire to occur. God is, after all, almighty over spark plugs and engines and stoplights. “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever He pleases.” (Ps 115:3) "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.” (Job 42:2)
God also could have prevented the Hayman fire by changing the arsonist’s path. Yes, God is even almighty over the mind, emotions, and will of men.” A man's heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.” (Prov 16:9) “There are many plans in a man's heart, nevertheless the LORD'S counsel-- that will stand.” (Prov 19:21) “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; he turns it wherever He wishes.” (Prov 21:1)
Our Almighty God could have changed any one of a thousand thoughts, desires or circumstances in the arsonist’s life that day. He could have allowed her to be sick that morning or to leave the house at a different time. He could have steered her heart to go to a friend’s house, or a bar, or a church instead of into the forest. God could have changed the arsonists desire to set fire to a letter by reminding her of Smokey the Bear! He could have planted new desires within her heart, desires to do something righteous given the particular circumstance. He could have planted different thoughts in her mind or given her different emotions; any one of them changing her course that dreadful day.
God could also have moved the hearts of any number of other people to direct them into the path of the arsonist so that she would not have done what she did. “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure, calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it.” (Isa 46:11) He could have stirred a friends heart to drive over to the arsonists home before she left, or a neighbor, or just caused them to call her on the phone. He could have caused someone to mistakenly dial the arsonist’s phone number, hence altering her path. He could have caused her boss to have her work in the office that day, or to go somewhere other than she did. Yet in the counsel of His’ will God determined that everything would happen exactly the way it did.
Why rehash a catastrophe from several years ago? Simply to point out that every event, no matter how colossal or seemingly insignificant, past, present, and future has occurred, and will continue to occur under the providence of the Almighty power of God. Only God can prevent forest fires and only God can allow forest fires to rage. The same is true of tsunamis…and hurricanes…and tornados…and wars…and roadside bombs…and airplanes crashing into buildings…and starvation…and famine…and looting…and murder…and rising gas prices…and falling stock indexes…and sin…and sickness…and unbelief. God is in control. He is almighty. There is no part of creation that acts independently of Him. There is nothing outside of or beyond His power. God is able at all times and in every way to direct His creation in whatever paths He chooses. All creation does the will of its King, from the electron to the supernova, the angels and the demons and even Satan, the smallest child to the greatest ruler.
Rest assured, for this King is none other than King Jesus. This King that controls all things loves us with a greater love than we could ever imagine! How comforting and peace infusing this is! What hope can be gained, what assurance is to be had knowing that whatever comes into our lives is coming from the hand of this loving, almighty King! The One that gave His own life for us, to make us His people, is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the One that has all authority in heaven and on earth, and that works all things together for our good! We can look at all of the events of our past and all that the future holds and know that this King is the one who is bringing it about through His good, pleasing and perfect will! Trust King Jesus and the works of His hands, for He is good!
Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. (I Chron 29:11-12)
A Letter to Fathers
“My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.” Prov 23:26
Several months ago a friend came to me for counsel. With a heavy heart and many tears he explained to me how he felt completely detached from his son. Though only seven years old, his son and he had drifted apart and his son never came to him with any problems, or concerns, for guidance, or for affection. What had happened? He loved his son and wanted to be close to him, yet as time passed they grew further and further apart. Why didn’t his son feel close to him or trust him anymore?
One thing is for sure, it didn’t happen overnight. This was a long process of a son gradually having his heart hardened toward his father. Why? Because he needed, but wasn’t getting, his father’s time. This man’s son needed his father. He needed his father to teach him how to be a man. He needed his father to teach him how to pray and read his Bible. He needed his father to teach him how to shoot a bb gun and to go hiking with. He needed his father to read to him stories and to teach him how to be godly. He needed his father’s time.
Each day we come home we have expectant little boys who have waited all day to see us. We are their heroes. We are their role models. They can’t wait to spend time with us. They want to be close to us and they want for us to show them what life is all about. They don’t need money or toys; they don’t need video games or a television. What they need, and what they really want, is us. They are desperate for our time. They are desperate for our attention.
Odds are that you are away from home 40+ hours a week. That means that the majority of your sons’ learning and activities are with mom. As wonderful as this is, it is not enough. Our sons need our time. They need to learn how to be godly men, and unfortunately they will not learn it from mothers. They can learn a lot, but to learn to be godly men they must look to a godly man, they must spend time with their fathers to show them how to be godly. They must spend time with us to know those things that men do: how to lead, how to work with their hands, and how to do those things that God has called men to do. They won’t learn it from mom. They need to learn it from us. If we do not model manhood for them, they will still learn it, but it will be someone else’s idea of manhood. Is that what we want? Do we want our sons to be like someone else?
I bet you, like me, want your sons to be like you, to stand on your shoulders, to be godly Christian men. The question then arises, “What are we willing to do to accomplish this?” My friend wanted his sons heart, but wasn’t willing to expend the time and energy that it takes to win that heart. How much are our sons worth? Are they worth spending time with when all we feel like doing is crashing on the couch after a long-days work? Are their hearts worth the sacrifice of our personal peace and affluence in order to teach them and train them in the ways of God? Having our son’s heart is costly. It will cost all of us time, and sleep, and our beloved television programs. It may cost us giving up a Saturday of baseball, or a Monday Night Football Game. But aren’t they worth it? Aren’t their souls worth anything we could possibly give?
There isn’t a boy but wants to grow manly and true at heart
And ev’ry lad would like to know the secrets we can impart
He doesn’t want to slack or shirk or haven’t you heard him plead?
He’ll follow a man at play or work if only a man will lead
Where are the men who’ll lead today, sparing an hour or two?
Teaching the boy the game to play just as a man should do
Village and slums are calling “Come!” here are the boys indeed
Who can tell what they might become if only a man would lead
Where are the men to lend a hand, echo it far and wide
Men who will rise in every land, bridging the great divide?
Nation and flag and tongue unite joining each class and creed
Here are the boys who would do right, but where are the men to lead?
SDG, Jason(Poem by 19th century pastor)
Several months ago a friend came to me for counsel. With a heavy heart and many tears he explained to me how he felt completely detached from his son. Though only seven years old, his son and he had drifted apart and his son never came to him with any problems, or concerns, for guidance, or for affection. What had happened? He loved his son and wanted to be close to him, yet as time passed they grew further and further apart. Why didn’t his son feel close to him or trust him anymore?
One thing is for sure, it didn’t happen overnight. This was a long process of a son gradually having his heart hardened toward his father. Why? Because he needed, but wasn’t getting, his father’s time. This man’s son needed his father. He needed his father to teach him how to be a man. He needed his father to teach him how to pray and read his Bible. He needed his father to teach him how to shoot a bb gun and to go hiking with. He needed his father to read to him stories and to teach him how to be godly. He needed his father’s time.
Each day we come home we have expectant little boys who have waited all day to see us. We are their heroes. We are their role models. They can’t wait to spend time with us. They want to be close to us and they want for us to show them what life is all about. They don’t need money or toys; they don’t need video games or a television. What they need, and what they really want, is us. They are desperate for our time. They are desperate for our attention.
Odds are that you are away from home 40+ hours a week. That means that the majority of your sons’ learning and activities are with mom. As wonderful as this is, it is not enough. Our sons need our time. They need to learn how to be godly men, and unfortunately they will not learn it from mothers. They can learn a lot, but to learn to be godly men they must look to a godly man, they must spend time with their fathers to show them how to be godly. They must spend time with us to know those things that men do: how to lead, how to work with their hands, and how to do those things that God has called men to do. They won’t learn it from mom. They need to learn it from us. If we do not model manhood for them, they will still learn it, but it will be someone else’s idea of manhood. Is that what we want? Do we want our sons to be like someone else?
I bet you, like me, want your sons to be like you, to stand on your shoulders, to be godly Christian men. The question then arises, “What are we willing to do to accomplish this?” My friend wanted his sons heart, but wasn’t willing to expend the time and energy that it takes to win that heart. How much are our sons worth? Are they worth spending time with when all we feel like doing is crashing on the couch after a long-days work? Are their hearts worth the sacrifice of our personal peace and affluence in order to teach them and train them in the ways of God? Having our son’s heart is costly. It will cost all of us time, and sleep, and our beloved television programs. It may cost us giving up a Saturday of baseball, or a Monday Night Football Game. But aren’t they worth it? Aren’t their souls worth anything we could possibly give?
There isn’t a boy but wants to grow manly and true at heart
And ev’ry lad would like to know the secrets we can impart
He doesn’t want to slack or shirk or haven’t you heard him plead?
He’ll follow a man at play or work if only a man will lead
Where are the men who’ll lead today, sparing an hour or two?
Teaching the boy the game to play just as a man should do
Village and slums are calling “Come!” here are the boys indeed
Who can tell what they might become if only a man would lead
Where are the men to lend a hand, echo it far and wide
Men who will rise in every land, bridging the great divide?
Nation and flag and tongue unite joining each class and creed
Here are the boys who would do right, but where are the men to lead?
SDG, Jason(Poem by 19th century pastor)
Of Evolution and Alka-Seltzer
Imagine you are watching a debate between an evolutionist and a creationist. The evolutionist stands and gives his 15-minute opening argument on why you should believe that mankind evolved over millions of years from primordial goo through the zoo and finally to you. He presents a rather extensive array of facts that he says point to the obvious truth of evolution. He talks about fossils and science and energy and the rest, hoping to persuade you, the listener, that it is more reasonable, indeed, more intelligent to believe that you have evolved than that you were somehow created by supernatural fiat. He rests his case, gets a round of applause from the audience and sits down. The moderator presents the creationist to you and the creationist opens with the following argument…
“ Thank you Mr. Moderator. Thank you to all who have come here tonight to weigh this subject, for it is not just a subject, it is the subject that will decide everything else about how we think about ourselves and how we live out our lives. And thank you to my opponent tonight, for agreeing to this debate and for spending the last fifteen minutes illustrating the truth of special creation by arguing for the belief of evolution. Now how can I say this? He just stood up here and presented all kinds of evidence that he believes to be in favor of evolution and against the idea of special creation, so how can I say that he, in so doing, has proven special creation? Simply, because my opponent has attempted to persuade us of something. In attempting to do so he has appealed to many different aspects of man, aspects that cannot be explained by evolution. He has made appeal to your mind. He has assumed, as I have, that those of you sitting out there, listening to this debate are rational, intelligent, cogent beings that are capable of making decisions about what is true and what is not. He has assumed that you all are capable of drawing rational conclusions based upon the arguments presented. He has also made appeal to your senses to accurately intake and communicate to your minds the pictures, sounds, and other data that comprised his case. And he has made an appeal to your ability to choose. He has assumed that you and I are capable of choosing to believe in one of these two ideas, of changing our minds based upon his abilities to persuade you or at least based upon the evidence’s force to compel you into believing one of these ideas while rejecting the other. In making these appeals, in assuming these truths, he has proven beyond any doubt that 1) evolution cannot be true and 2) that special creation must be true. Let me elaborate by addressing the first area I mentioned.”“To do this I want to introduce you to someone named Al. Now I might be stretching the rules of debate a little bit by bringing up someone else, but I needed him to illustrate this point for you. So would everyone give Al Kaseltzer their undivided attention.”
At this point he pulls out of his pocket two Alka-Seltzer tablets and drops them into a glass of water, puts a microphone up to the glass and sits down. 10 seconds pass, twenty, thirty, forty-five, a minute, and then two. Finally he stands and continues…
“Thank you Al. I want to ask those of you in the audience, ‘As we watched Al plop and listened to him fizz, did you come out with a better understanding of our origins from that fizzing? No? As you listened to the sounds emanating from the container did you think that they were insightful, intelligent, meaningful sounds that were communicating valid ideas that correspond to your origins?’”
“At this point you might be thinking that I’ve totally lost it, but before you dismiss me as completely whacked let me ask you this. From an evolutionary scheme what is the difference between Al, myself and my opponent tonight?”
“Evolutionary theory would have you believe that the human race evolved over many millions of years from random chemical interactions combining to finally form you. In other words, you are just a mistake. Actually, we can’t even say a mistake, for mistake assumes original intent. There is no intent, no purpose, or thought, or meaning or plan. According to evolutionary theory you are just a random conglomeration of time, chance, matter and chemical combustion. Hence, so is your mind. Your brain is the accumulation of millions of years of unguided, unintended chemical processes. If this is the case then what in the world makes you think that my opponents mind, or yours for that matter, is a reliable guide that gives meaningful insights and has accurate interpretations of laws of logic and physical phenomena? How is his brain, or mine, or yours, any different from the Alka-Seltzer? The Alka-Seltzer is purely a set of chemicals combusting; excreting gas. So, too, your brain is just random set of chemicals combusting, excreting “brain gas”. In evolution thought is simply the gaseous excretions of the chemical combustions of the goo in your head. So what makes these gaseous excretions intelligent or meaningful? If our brains are just random conglomerations of electro-chemical reactions, how is it any different from any other electro-chemical reactions? What makes one chemical reaction “intelligible thought” while another “unintelligible”? One chemical reaction “logical” while another is “illogical”? One personal and meaningful while another impersonal and meaningless? Whether they come from a container made of glass or of skin and bone, they are all just gaseous excretions.”
“Lets change the metaphor slightly. How is the bodily excretion we call thought any different from any other chemical excretion from your body? They are both just chemicals doing what chemicals do and chemicals reacting the way chemicals react. What makes one more logical than another? In evolution how is cognition any different from flatulation? According to evolution your intestines are the accumulation of millions of years of random chemical reactions, just as your brain is. So what, per se, is the difference between the gaseous excretions of the two? What is the difference between brain gas and intestinal gas? I ask my opponent to explain the qualitative difference between the two excretions from the evolutionary point of view. When did the brain go from just another set of chemicals that excretes what it does to a thinking, reasoning machine where the gas is now intelligent? Are our intestines the same intelligent machine? They came about in the same way as the brain did! Just multiple chemical reactions accumulating over time to make it what it is. So why trust the one for rationality and not the other? Actually, the real question is why trust either of them? They are, after all, unintended, unguided, meaningless happenstances of time. Your brain was designed to think the same way your intestines were designed to think and the Alka-Seltzer was designed to think. They weren’t. They all are just chemicals passing gas. “
“So from the standpoint of evolution, what is intelligence and how does it differ from non-intelligence, one random chemical reaction versus another? How does anyone make that distinction in an evolutionary world? When does the gas become intelligent or rational? How does this occur? What transpires for something to all of a sudden, one Friday afternoon at 3 pm, transform from just another gas to an intelligent, meaningful thought? Was that a chemical reaction? If it was then how is it any different from any other? What made that one intelligent? You end up in the same boat. In the evolutionary worldview there is no basis for intelligence, logic, or rationality. Thought is not meaningful but random. It is neither controlled nor categorized. So too all the concepts interpreted in thought like logic, rationality, sense perception and knowledge of the external world and history. In evolution rational thought and irrational thought are the same. They are both gaseous excretions. Gases doing what gases do. There is no difference between the two. How, then, can we compare thoughts? How can we have this debate? If all thoughts are merely gaseous excretions then all thoughts are equally valid. How can we say that one excretion is true while another is false? Right as opposed to wrong? Logical versus illogical? They are, after all, merely gaseous excretions. Would we say that it’s right for copper to expand when it is heated or wrong for oil and water to separate? It would be like me shaking up a bottle of Pepsi and then asking all of you to determine whether it was right or wrong for the Pepsi to fizz the way it did. That would be nonsense, because the Pepsi just does what it does because it is natural for it to do so. So how can my opponent assert that one belief is true while another is false or make the claim that it is right or wrong for a particular gas (thought or belief) to excrete from the brain when it is natural for it to do so? In evolution there can be no right or wrong thoughts, ideas, or beliefs, just chemicals doing what chemicals do.”
“Yet my opponent has assumed that those listening here tonight are rational. He has assumed that some beliefs are truer than others, some thoughts more valid than other thoughts. He holds that there is a distinction between rational and irrational thought and that one view of the origin of man is more rational than another. He believes that his argument is somehow more valid than Al Kaseltzer’s argument, but please explain to me how this is possible when they are both just chemicals passing gas? He thinks that the excretions from the random chemicals in his head are superior to the excretions of the chemicals in the glass of Alka-Seltzer, but how can this be true in evolution? He believes that the laws of logic and standards of rationality extend beyond individuals. He believes that you, in the audience, are capable of making meaningful decisions based upon his arguments, or he wouldn’t have come. But from an evolutionary standpoint how are the random chemical combinations of your brains any better suited to think and to reason than the chemical combinations of the Alka-Seltzer? Yet, if my opponent had been asked to come and attempt to persuade 200 glasses of Alka-Seltzer that they evolved over millions of years do you really think he would have shown up? Obviously he believes himself and all of you to be much more than random impersonal non-rational masses of matter.”
“ In short, he has assumed special creation in order to persuade you of evolution. By his doing so, he has demonstrated for all of us that evolution cannot be true as well as demonstrating the self-evident truth of special creation. Not only has he assumed this great truth, but so have all of you. Everyone who came tonight to weigh these issues has assumed the specially created intellect of their minds, even if they, up to this point, have believed in evolution. None of those who came tonight thought that you would just be watching soda fizz. You came expecting a meaningful dialogue and transferal of information from intelligent beings. You assumed that my opponent and I were more than just random impersonal chemicals passing gas, as testified to by the immediate distinction you made between the noise coming from the Alka-Seltzer and the noise emanating from the debaters. You have presupposed truths particular only to special creation in order to weigh the subject of evolution.
You have also assumed yourself to be far more than random impersonal non-rational masses of matter, or you would never have shown up nor would you bother to attempt to think anymore. Had you been truly convinced of evolution and followed it to its inevitable conclusion then you would have long ago decided that the pursuit of truth and rationality was an exercise in futility. Yet you are all still here! You are all still trying to come to reasonable conclusions about our origins. You are still attempting to use your intellect as well as your senses because somehow you know that you are far more than just chemicals, that your thoughts are far more than just brain gas.
This is why special creation is self-evident, because it must be assumed for us to think that we are thinking or trust that we are trusting or reason that we are reasoning. You must assume your minds rationality in order to do any other thought, and therefore must assume special creation. It is also self-evident because, as we all now realize, that if it were not for special creation we would never be able to think about evolution or our origins. There would never be theories to analyze, thoughts to ponder, or ideas to believe because without the special creation of your mind there would be no theorizing, thinking or believing at all; just chemicals passing gas.You have heard of the famous proverb of Rene Descartes, “Cogito ergo sum.” “I think therefore I am.” Actually it ought to be, “I think therefore I was specially created”. That is the necessary conclusion, because if you were not specially created, if your mind is nothing more than chemicals passing gas, then there is no reason to think that you are thinking nor to trust that your thoughts have any correspondence to reality. But since your mind is specially created to make rational decisions and intelligent choices you can reasonably believe that you are able to make rational decisions and intelligent choices.
In summation, evolution undermines rational, meaningful thought. Evolution is therefore self-refuting because it eliminates any possibility of knowing anything, including knowing whether or not evolution is true.Special creation is the only system that can uphold rational, meaningful thought. Therefore, special creation is self-evidently true. It must be assumed in order to think about anything, including thinking about our origins and evolution.So once again I would like to thank my opponent for proving my point by making distinctions in thoughts and beliefs and by believing himself and everyone listening to be intelligent, rational thinkers thus disproving evolution and proving special creation. And I would like to further thank him for any rebuttal he may offer, for it too will prove my argument by once again appealing to your specially created intellects.”
Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh, what a relief it is.
“ Thank you Mr. Moderator. Thank you to all who have come here tonight to weigh this subject, for it is not just a subject, it is the subject that will decide everything else about how we think about ourselves and how we live out our lives. And thank you to my opponent tonight, for agreeing to this debate and for spending the last fifteen minutes illustrating the truth of special creation by arguing for the belief of evolution. Now how can I say this? He just stood up here and presented all kinds of evidence that he believes to be in favor of evolution and against the idea of special creation, so how can I say that he, in so doing, has proven special creation? Simply, because my opponent has attempted to persuade us of something. In attempting to do so he has appealed to many different aspects of man, aspects that cannot be explained by evolution. He has made appeal to your mind. He has assumed, as I have, that those of you sitting out there, listening to this debate are rational, intelligent, cogent beings that are capable of making decisions about what is true and what is not. He has assumed that you all are capable of drawing rational conclusions based upon the arguments presented. He has also made appeal to your senses to accurately intake and communicate to your minds the pictures, sounds, and other data that comprised his case. And he has made an appeal to your ability to choose. He has assumed that you and I are capable of choosing to believe in one of these two ideas, of changing our minds based upon his abilities to persuade you or at least based upon the evidence’s force to compel you into believing one of these ideas while rejecting the other. In making these appeals, in assuming these truths, he has proven beyond any doubt that 1) evolution cannot be true and 2) that special creation must be true. Let me elaborate by addressing the first area I mentioned.”“To do this I want to introduce you to someone named Al. Now I might be stretching the rules of debate a little bit by bringing up someone else, but I needed him to illustrate this point for you. So would everyone give Al Kaseltzer their undivided attention.”
At this point he pulls out of his pocket two Alka-Seltzer tablets and drops them into a glass of water, puts a microphone up to the glass and sits down. 10 seconds pass, twenty, thirty, forty-five, a minute, and then two. Finally he stands and continues…
“Thank you Al. I want to ask those of you in the audience, ‘As we watched Al plop and listened to him fizz, did you come out with a better understanding of our origins from that fizzing? No? As you listened to the sounds emanating from the container did you think that they were insightful, intelligent, meaningful sounds that were communicating valid ideas that correspond to your origins?’”
“At this point you might be thinking that I’ve totally lost it, but before you dismiss me as completely whacked let me ask you this. From an evolutionary scheme what is the difference between Al, myself and my opponent tonight?”
“Evolutionary theory would have you believe that the human race evolved over many millions of years from random chemical interactions combining to finally form you. In other words, you are just a mistake. Actually, we can’t even say a mistake, for mistake assumes original intent. There is no intent, no purpose, or thought, or meaning or plan. According to evolutionary theory you are just a random conglomeration of time, chance, matter and chemical combustion. Hence, so is your mind. Your brain is the accumulation of millions of years of unguided, unintended chemical processes. If this is the case then what in the world makes you think that my opponents mind, or yours for that matter, is a reliable guide that gives meaningful insights and has accurate interpretations of laws of logic and physical phenomena? How is his brain, or mine, or yours, any different from the Alka-Seltzer? The Alka-Seltzer is purely a set of chemicals combusting; excreting gas. So, too, your brain is just random set of chemicals combusting, excreting “brain gas”. In evolution thought is simply the gaseous excretions of the chemical combustions of the goo in your head. So what makes these gaseous excretions intelligent or meaningful? If our brains are just random conglomerations of electro-chemical reactions, how is it any different from any other electro-chemical reactions? What makes one chemical reaction “intelligible thought” while another “unintelligible”? One chemical reaction “logical” while another is “illogical”? One personal and meaningful while another impersonal and meaningless? Whether they come from a container made of glass or of skin and bone, they are all just gaseous excretions.”
“Lets change the metaphor slightly. How is the bodily excretion we call thought any different from any other chemical excretion from your body? They are both just chemicals doing what chemicals do and chemicals reacting the way chemicals react. What makes one more logical than another? In evolution how is cognition any different from flatulation? According to evolution your intestines are the accumulation of millions of years of random chemical reactions, just as your brain is. So what, per se, is the difference between the gaseous excretions of the two? What is the difference between brain gas and intestinal gas? I ask my opponent to explain the qualitative difference between the two excretions from the evolutionary point of view. When did the brain go from just another set of chemicals that excretes what it does to a thinking, reasoning machine where the gas is now intelligent? Are our intestines the same intelligent machine? They came about in the same way as the brain did! Just multiple chemical reactions accumulating over time to make it what it is. So why trust the one for rationality and not the other? Actually, the real question is why trust either of them? They are, after all, unintended, unguided, meaningless happenstances of time. Your brain was designed to think the same way your intestines were designed to think and the Alka-Seltzer was designed to think. They weren’t. They all are just chemicals passing gas. “
“So from the standpoint of evolution, what is intelligence and how does it differ from non-intelligence, one random chemical reaction versus another? How does anyone make that distinction in an evolutionary world? When does the gas become intelligent or rational? How does this occur? What transpires for something to all of a sudden, one Friday afternoon at 3 pm, transform from just another gas to an intelligent, meaningful thought? Was that a chemical reaction? If it was then how is it any different from any other? What made that one intelligent? You end up in the same boat. In the evolutionary worldview there is no basis for intelligence, logic, or rationality. Thought is not meaningful but random. It is neither controlled nor categorized. So too all the concepts interpreted in thought like logic, rationality, sense perception and knowledge of the external world and history. In evolution rational thought and irrational thought are the same. They are both gaseous excretions. Gases doing what gases do. There is no difference between the two. How, then, can we compare thoughts? How can we have this debate? If all thoughts are merely gaseous excretions then all thoughts are equally valid. How can we say that one excretion is true while another is false? Right as opposed to wrong? Logical versus illogical? They are, after all, merely gaseous excretions. Would we say that it’s right for copper to expand when it is heated or wrong for oil and water to separate? It would be like me shaking up a bottle of Pepsi and then asking all of you to determine whether it was right or wrong for the Pepsi to fizz the way it did. That would be nonsense, because the Pepsi just does what it does because it is natural for it to do so. So how can my opponent assert that one belief is true while another is false or make the claim that it is right or wrong for a particular gas (thought or belief) to excrete from the brain when it is natural for it to do so? In evolution there can be no right or wrong thoughts, ideas, or beliefs, just chemicals doing what chemicals do.”
“Yet my opponent has assumed that those listening here tonight are rational. He has assumed that some beliefs are truer than others, some thoughts more valid than other thoughts. He holds that there is a distinction between rational and irrational thought and that one view of the origin of man is more rational than another. He believes that his argument is somehow more valid than Al Kaseltzer’s argument, but please explain to me how this is possible when they are both just chemicals passing gas? He thinks that the excretions from the random chemicals in his head are superior to the excretions of the chemicals in the glass of Alka-Seltzer, but how can this be true in evolution? He believes that the laws of logic and standards of rationality extend beyond individuals. He believes that you, in the audience, are capable of making meaningful decisions based upon his arguments, or he wouldn’t have come. But from an evolutionary standpoint how are the random chemical combinations of your brains any better suited to think and to reason than the chemical combinations of the Alka-Seltzer? Yet, if my opponent had been asked to come and attempt to persuade 200 glasses of Alka-Seltzer that they evolved over millions of years do you really think he would have shown up? Obviously he believes himself and all of you to be much more than random impersonal non-rational masses of matter.”
“ In short, he has assumed special creation in order to persuade you of evolution. By his doing so, he has demonstrated for all of us that evolution cannot be true as well as demonstrating the self-evident truth of special creation. Not only has he assumed this great truth, but so have all of you. Everyone who came tonight to weigh these issues has assumed the specially created intellect of their minds, even if they, up to this point, have believed in evolution. None of those who came tonight thought that you would just be watching soda fizz. You came expecting a meaningful dialogue and transferal of information from intelligent beings. You assumed that my opponent and I were more than just random impersonal chemicals passing gas, as testified to by the immediate distinction you made between the noise coming from the Alka-Seltzer and the noise emanating from the debaters. You have presupposed truths particular only to special creation in order to weigh the subject of evolution.
You have also assumed yourself to be far more than random impersonal non-rational masses of matter, or you would never have shown up nor would you bother to attempt to think anymore. Had you been truly convinced of evolution and followed it to its inevitable conclusion then you would have long ago decided that the pursuit of truth and rationality was an exercise in futility. Yet you are all still here! You are all still trying to come to reasonable conclusions about our origins. You are still attempting to use your intellect as well as your senses because somehow you know that you are far more than just chemicals, that your thoughts are far more than just brain gas.
This is why special creation is self-evident, because it must be assumed for us to think that we are thinking or trust that we are trusting or reason that we are reasoning. You must assume your minds rationality in order to do any other thought, and therefore must assume special creation. It is also self-evident because, as we all now realize, that if it were not for special creation we would never be able to think about evolution or our origins. There would never be theories to analyze, thoughts to ponder, or ideas to believe because without the special creation of your mind there would be no theorizing, thinking or believing at all; just chemicals passing gas.You have heard of the famous proverb of Rene Descartes, “Cogito ergo sum.” “I think therefore I am.” Actually it ought to be, “I think therefore I was specially created”. That is the necessary conclusion, because if you were not specially created, if your mind is nothing more than chemicals passing gas, then there is no reason to think that you are thinking nor to trust that your thoughts have any correspondence to reality. But since your mind is specially created to make rational decisions and intelligent choices you can reasonably believe that you are able to make rational decisions and intelligent choices.
In summation, evolution undermines rational, meaningful thought. Evolution is therefore self-refuting because it eliminates any possibility of knowing anything, including knowing whether or not evolution is true.Special creation is the only system that can uphold rational, meaningful thought. Therefore, special creation is self-evidently true. It must be assumed in order to think about anything, including thinking about our origins and evolution.So once again I would like to thank my opponent for proving my point by making distinctions in thoughts and beliefs and by believing himself and everyone listening to be intelligent, rational thinkers thus disproving evolution and proving special creation. And I would like to further thank him for any rebuttal he may offer, for it too will prove my argument by once again appealing to your specially created intellects.”
Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh, what a relief it is.
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