Mar 25, 2018 | Theology
In my previous post I explained how many of us miss what it means that we are forgiven of our sins because we only see it as being forgiven, and that’s it. As I said, since immersing myself in the Old Testament for several years, I realized that in the gospel God was literally saving us from himself. That’s why the gospel is such good news, such very good news. We rightly deserved his wrath and anger against our sin, the just wages of which is death. God could never have forgiven us simply because he wanted to without his justice being satisfied. That’s the way it is with any law that is broken, or any offense given; recompense must in some way be made. We live in a moral universe where right and wrong, good and evil, justice and injustice exist. Why would this moral dynamic not apply to the Creator of this universe.
One of the first things you’ll notice as you start reading the Old Testament is the serious nature of this thing called sin. Not even three chapters in and the whole thing goes to hell! Don’t eat of one tree, God tells Adam. All the rest, the whole of creation is yours to enjoy. But the devil tempts Eve (where was Adam?), she and Adam eat, and the rest is fallen history.
God tells Adam that the sentence for disobedience is death (“when you eat from it you will certainly die”), but when they ate they didn’t physically die right away. We get some sense of what kind of death this is from Adam and Eve’s response to “the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day”: they hid. This is what sinners by nature do; they want nothing to do with their judge, jury, and executioner. They, we, know, every one of us, that we are guilty. As I often say, we can’t even live up to our own standards, let alone those of a perfectly holy God. (more…)
Mar 17, 2018 | Theology
Every Christian knows that being forgiven from our sins is Christianity 101. But if you ask most Christians what it means to be forgiven from our sins, I would wager that very few could answer with any confidence. I think a common answer would be something like a tautology: well, being forgiven from our sins means we’re forgiven from our sins. This was kind of how I felt having attended a church for many years where a corporate confession was done weekly, and it was always announced after that our sins were forgiven. I always appreciated that this was included in every service because I don’t think it’s done in a lot of Evangelical churches, but I always wondered why it was never explained that there was more to the point than just forgiveness.
I didn’t realized just how much was missing until I heard Dr. Kim Riddlebarger, Pastor of Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim, CA, say on a White Horse Inn broadcast something I thought I already knew. Having a masters degree from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, I surely should have known it, and did, but for some reason it wasn’t at the forefront of my understanding of my relationship with God. Keep in mind that the key word in the phrase is almost invisible in most Evangelical circles. It is implied because of the centrality of the cross to our religion, but it is rarely spelled out. Dr. Riddlebarger simply said, and in passing:
God’s wrath is fully satisfied in Christ.
(more…)
Mar 10, 2018 | Culture
You can tell from the title of this post, that I won’t be running for political office anytime soon. What’s wrong with public schools? Why would I think they should be abolished? Many would call me crazy, but my argument is based on the first amendment to the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion . . .” The public schools have an established religion, the religion of secularism/agnosticism, and thus they are unconstitutional. On second thought, maybe I will run for office. That would be a great campaign slogan! But I’m deadly serious. The whole idea of public schools (i.e., government schools) in a pluralistic society is problematic. Why?
In a pluralistic society God must be bracketed as persona-non-grata (to keep the government appearance of neutrality to all the different religions and worldviews), so the schools are promoting a worldview that is hostile to Christianity, or any other religion for that matter. And the idea that government schools can be “neutral” to all religions and worldview is so obviously false it’s a wonder anyone has ever believed it. But believe it they have, and most still do. It’s not that the idea of a “secular” space in society that allows for people of all religions to get along by putting their religion on the shelf is a bad thing in itself. In fact, in most of our interactions with our fellow citizens it’s a very good thing. But the presumption that we could apply it to the education of our children is naive, dangerously so.
(more…)
Mar 4, 2018 | Theology
Skeptics are fond of mocking the idea that Jesus Christ had to die for our sins to reconcile us to God. Why can’t God, I’ve heard some of them say, and write, can’t God just forgive us. It can’t be that hard; we confess, he forgives, we’re good, right? No, it doesn’t work that way. If it did, our relationship to a holy God would be ground in his unpredictable whim, and nothing we could count on. Sort of like the God is Islam, who bears no resemblance to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I’ve done many things over the years to build into my children the plausibility of the Christian faith. Unless Christianity makes sense to them on a variety of levels, i.e., it’s plausible, why would I expect that they will embrace it when they leave mom and dad’s orbit? I wouldn’t. That’s why I’ve consistently explained to them how the crucifixion is at the center of our faith, and why it makes total sense in light of the reality we experience every day. How can I say that?
(more…)
Mar 2, 2018 | Theology
I often think of what a relationship with God means for me and those I love. I may be something of an aberration, but as far back as 12 or 13 years old I was wondering about my existence in this big vast universe and what it all means. Like many sinners (i.e., all human beings) I’ve always known I fall short, of what I was not always sure. But a favorite phrase of mine lo these many years later has become, we know we can’t even live up to our own standards, let alone a holy God. Why is that? Why do we all know we fall short? Maybe it’s because we actually do! Not a person on earth is immune to conscience, and we are all condemned by it. Even those who claim not to believe in God will admit they don’t live up to their own standards, but they will insist no real objective standards exist by which they can be judged. God’s word says differently.
Here is our dilemma vis-a-vis God: since we can’t live up to his standards, we are judged guilty, and the wages of what the Bible calls sin is death, both spiritual and physical. Like Adam and Eve after the fall, in our natural state when God comes “walking in the garden in the cool of the day,” we hide. By nature, we want nothing to do with our judge, jury, and executioner. The Apostle Paul says, by nature, by birth, we are enemies of God, and objects of his wrath. This is a problem, my friends, because we don’t seek to have a relationship with our enemies; we seek to defeat them, or run away. How can this problem be solved with our Creator? In a word, the gospel. What exactly is it, and how does it overcome the problem?
(more…)
Recent Comments