Apr 24, 2020 | Theology
In this unique time, to say the least, of an over-hyped pandemic (no doubt about that at this point), work and what it accomplishes, private property, is increasingly being seen for what it is, essential. How perverted is it when government tells us what is essential and what isn’t when it comes to providing for our families. Every job is essential! I’m reminded during this time how precious is our Christian faith and worldview, and the Jewish religion that gave it birth. In a book I referenced in my last post, How Christianity Changed the World, the author discusses private property as a uniquely Christian invention that goes back to our spiritual forebearers who brought us the law, the Ten Commandments. Nowhere in Scripture does God say such a thing as “private property” exists, but it is assumed everywhere, and two of the ten reflect that it is the God-given, natural order of things: 8, you shall not steal, and 10, you shall not covet. That which is stolen or coveted belongs to someone else, it is theirs, they own it, and have a right to it before God. The profound implications of this are difficult to overstate. (more…)
Apr 19, 2020 | Theology
Given that many Americans are unemployed through no fault of their own, and are chomping at the bit to get back to work, a few thoughts on Christianity and the dignity of work are appropriate. I’m currently reading How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin J. Schmidt, and making my way through the chapter on “Labor and Economic Freedom Dignified.” I recently wrote about how Christianity transformed the world into which it was birthed, and in due course gave us the modern world and its myriad blessings. As I said, the Christian roots of these blessings are completely ignored today, and no more so than in the area of work. I’ve known about the importance of the Christian influence on work for a long time, but it struck me as I read this chapter how radical a notion it was that work was actually dignified just by being work. (more…)
Apr 12, 2020 | Theology
These trying times are a reminder that the most important question of human existence came from a Jewish Rabbi 2,000 years ago: “But who do you say I am?” Jesus of Nazareth, objectively the most influential human being who ever lived, is himself life’s ultimate question mark. In the context of the time it was an explosive question, both for Jews and Romans, but for very different reasons. Jews had been waiting for their Messiah for 400(!) years. They had been enslaved by one nation after the other, and fully expected the God who had rescued their forefathers from slavery in Egypt, would send another savior to rescue them again. Romans, on the other hand, were not about to let some mythical Messiah figure of these strange and rebellious people threaten the hard won Pax Romana, earned through so much blood and warfare. There had been false alarms before, dynamic figures who claimed Messianic credentials, but nothing, at all, like Jesus of Nazareth. He was nothing like anyone expected, friend and foe alike. Let’s look at the context of the question from Matthew 16: (more…)
Apr 9, 2020 | Apologetics
Given we are celebrating this week the most important event in human history, and given mortality is on everybody’s mind, it is a good time to reflect on the very long term, which would be forever. Providentially, I’ve been making my way through I Corinthians 15 the last week, probably the most important chapter in all of the Bible because it credibly affirms that event, the resurrection of Christ. The Apostle Paul tells us that the implication of Christ’s resurrection has eternal implications for those of us who trust its salvific meaning, the resurrection of the dead. If Christ was raised from the dead, so will if; if he did not, neither will we. He did, and we will! As I argued in my previous post, we have every reason to be confident this is true. In this final section of the chapter, Paul gets into detail about what exactly our resurrected bodies will be like, although for us words can hardly capture the reality.
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Apr 4, 2020 | Plausibility
Since I’m working my way through I Corinthians 15, and since tomorrow is Palm Sunday, and Easter next, I want to share my thoughts on the event that, completely in every way, changed everything. The following is from verses 12-22
Paul has established the essence of the gospel in a short creed he received not long after his conversion, that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and raised on the third day, all according to the Scriptures. The gospel is rooted not only in historical events, but in those events predicted in the history of Israel found in the Jewish Scriptures. The apostles of course got this from Jesus who told them after his resurrection that the whole Old Testament is about him, and from Acts through Revelation they consistently teach and preach him as the fulfillment of Israel’s history. They did not make this up, as skeptics and critics insist they did. Indeed, without the gospel the Old Testament and Israel’s history doesn’t make any sense at all! And without the Old Testament and Israel’s history the gospel doesn’t make any sense at all either! (more…)
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