Wow...ok, I meant to post this Sunday...it's been a frustrating week.
Anyway, in the last post I discussed the importance of theology for our Christian walk. While I'm sure more could be said (in fact more has been said, many books have been written on the subject) I would like to move on and briefly discuss the importance of Apologetics to the Christian walk. I was doing research for an article when I stumbled across this website, the author's 'proofs' that God is imaginary are, by and large, not well thought out, nor well researched. However they don't have to be, the majority of the Christian church today knows little to nothing about the study of apologetics, while the proofs given on the website are a very poor example of arguments against Christianity, they still serve to sway young Christians who know little about their faith.
We are currently in the process of losing an entire generation of young Christians. According to George Barna (whose statistics I honestly find to be suspect much of the time...but statistics are statistics and even suspect ones can show us something) some 85% of teens leave the faith. While there are a great many reasons for this one of them is simply a lack of education in their faith.
In churches we tend to teach the surface material of scripture, the stories. We encourage youth to witness, to pledge themselves to Christ, to wait abstain from sex until marriage; all good things, and things youth certainly need to hear. However what we do not do is educate them on the why's:
Why is the bible trustworthy?
Why should I even believe in God?
Why is it important for me to live a holy life?
Why are my doctrinal beliefs important?
Why is Chrsitianity any more true than any other religion?
and the hows:
How do I deal with discrepincies within scripture, or between scripture and science?
How do I know that Christ is God, or even real?
How do I respond when my faith is challenged?
The study of apologetics forces us, as Christians, to think through our faith. As Christians we are responsible for explaining to others why we believe, why we have hope. However if our reasons are superficial that is what people will see when we witness, a superficial believer. The study of apologetics is about much more than being able to answer tough scientific, literary, or philosophical questions about Christianity when over-educated snobs ask said questions. Indeed, the true value, and the true joy, of apologetics is in challenging one's own faith. Asking yourself the hard why and how questions and then finding the answers.
This discipline is, I believe, especially important for youth who will, inevitablely, be challenged in this way at some point in their lives, probably sooner rather than later. The study of apologetics in now way discounts faith, in fact it strengthens one's faith and adds to it knowledge and, hopefully, understanding.
I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes, this was said by Galileo Galilei, "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended them to forgo their use."
Quote taken from: http://thinkexist.com/quotes/galileo_galilei/
Barna Statistic taken from: http://theworldfrommywindow.blogspot.com/2006/09/survey-question-summary-why-are-teens.html
Monday, February 16, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
The Importance of Theology
First of all let me apologize for not posting in so long, I have been very busy the last couple of weeks and haven't been online for more than ten to fifteen minutes at a time. It was originally my goal to update this blog at least once a week and I have not, I am sorry for that. Now, onto the post.
I live in Lynchburg, Va which had, I believe still has, the most churches per capita of any city in the US. However, even here with so many churches and a Christian University and at least two seminaries in the area, I find an extraordinary number of Christians who have no idea what they actually believe. Much of modern Christianity tends to downplay the importance of scholarly religion such as theology and apologetics, and at the same time build up the importance of faith, prayer, and daily practice of a few basic tenants. Now I don't want to come across as saying that such things are not important, I believe that daily prayer and bible study are incredibly important. I also believe that faith, both in God's greatness and in his goodness, are also very important (I personally struggle with the latter at times). However the study of scholarly Christianity such as theology and apologetics is equally as important.
Theology is the study of various aspects of who God is and what he does, it can be broken down into a number of various parts, but to put it simply Theology is the study of what we actually believe. Good theology is the study and collation of what the bible actually says about a variety of subjects and what doctrines we can deduce from what the scripture says. For instance, as Christians we believe in the trinity, that the father, son, and holy spirit are three persons in one divine being. However the word trinity is not found anywhere in scripture, nor is the phrase 'the father, son, and holy spirit are three persons in one divine being'. The doctrine of the trinity is a theological doctrine taken from the collation of what the bible says about the father, the son, and the holy spirit, and their relationship with one another.
If theology is not studied and such doctrines are not clearly understood cults rise up, there have been a plethora of cults throughout the history of Christianity that arose because of a misunderstanding of one or two passages of scripture. One of the, currently, most well known of these is the Jehovah's Witnesses, which arose because of one man's attempt to show in what year Christ would return. Other cults have denied the deity of Christ, the humanity of Christ, the omniscience of God, the omnipotence of God, even the existence of the Holy Spirit. Lack of understanding about our Christian beliefs allows us to be 'blown about by every wind of doctrine'. Now this does not mean that every Christian should be a scholar of theology able to write books and publish scholarly articles. However, every Christian SHOULD have at least a passing familiarity with what they believe about God the father, Christ, the Holy Spirit, Sin, the place of the Church, the end times, angels, and demons and why they believe those things.
In an age of ever increasing knowledge and the ever increasing availability of knowledge it is essential to our witness as believers that we be able to intelligently, and coherently, articulate our beliefs to those who do not share them.
I live in Lynchburg, Va which had, I believe still has, the most churches per capita of any city in the US. However, even here with so many churches and a Christian University and at least two seminaries in the area, I find an extraordinary number of Christians who have no idea what they actually believe. Much of modern Christianity tends to downplay the importance of scholarly religion such as theology and apologetics, and at the same time build up the importance of faith, prayer, and daily practice of a few basic tenants. Now I don't want to come across as saying that such things are not important, I believe that daily prayer and bible study are incredibly important. I also believe that faith, both in God's greatness and in his goodness, are also very important (I personally struggle with the latter at times). However the study of scholarly Christianity such as theology and apologetics is equally as important.
Theology is the study of various aspects of who God is and what he does, it can be broken down into a number of various parts, but to put it simply Theology is the study of what we actually believe. Good theology is the study and collation of what the bible actually says about a variety of subjects and what doctrines we can deduce from what the scripture says. For instance, as Christians we believe in the trinity, that the father, son, and holy spirit are three persons in one divine being. However the word trinity is not found anywhere in scripture, nor is the phrase 'the father, son, and holy spirit are three persons in one divine being'. The doctrine of the trinity is a theological doctrine taken from the collation of what the bible says about the father, the son, and the holy spirit, and their relationship with one another.
If theology is not studied and such doctrines are not clearly understood cults rise up, there have been a plethora of cults throughout the history of Christianity that arose because of a misunderstanding of one or two passages of scripture. One of the, currently, most well known of these is the Jehovah's Witnesses, which arose because of one man's attempt to show in what year Christ would return. Other cults have denied the deity of Christ, the humanity of Christ, the omniscience of God, the omnipotence of God, even the existence of the Holy Spirit. Lack of understanding about our Christian beliefs allows us to be 'blown about by every wind of doctrine'. Now this does not mean that every Christian should be a scholar of theology able to write books and publish scholarly articles. However, every Christian SHOULD have at least a passing familiarity with what they believe about God the father, Christ, the Holy Spirit, Sin, the place of the Church, the end times, angels, and demons and why they believe those things.
In an age of ever increasing knowledge and the ever increasing availability of knowledge it is essential to our witness as believers that we be able to intelligently, and coherently, articulate our beliefs to those who do not share them.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Homosexuality Again
As I'm sure everyone knows by now President Obama has decided to allow homosexuals to serve openly in the military. This has caused quite a stir among some of my Christian friends and so I decided to respond to the new situation. Let me first reiterate that I believe that homosexuality is a sin, that it is condemned in scripture, and that it is undoubtedly wrong.
That being said, homosexuality is a sin, just like any other sin. Scripture clearly teaches that the consequence for all sin is the same, and that all sins are equal in the eyes of God. Romans 8, Colossians 1, and James 4 all teach that to engage in sin is to be hostile to or an enemy of God. Romans 1, 2, 3, and 9 tell us the punishment for sin and that God is preparing his wrath for the day when sin will be judged. In 1 Corinthians 6 homosexuality is placed alongside fornication, adultery, stealing, coveting, and drunkenness; and again in 1 Timothy 1 it is placed alongside lying, murder, patricide and matricide, kidnapping, and perjury.
As humans it is our wont and our want to differentiate between sins. Drunkenness is worse than lying, but not as bad as kidnapping. Adultery is worse than fornication but not as bad as stealing. However scripture makes no such differentiation when speaking from the eyes of God, it is only in our human willfulness that we find the need to say, 'see, I'm better than him so I'm ok.' As Christians we often fail to understand that sin is sin to God, the one is the same as the other, whether it is a little white lie or mass murder, they are the same. I am just as much a sinner as the man next door, and the man on death row. Our human judgments have nothing to do with the effects of sin on my spiritual life and my eternal state.
However, in American Christianity (I cannot and so will not attempt to speak for Christianity outside of the United States) we have made a few sins the scapegoats for all sinfulness, while other sins go unnoticed. Homosexuality tops the list for many Christians as one of the most heinous sins possible, along side the viewing of pornography, child molestation, and murder. We tend to look at these sins and, while many Christians may not admit it even to themselves, see them as irredeemable.
On the other hand we have allowed divorce to become the norm, often not even seen as being sinful. We take offense at many cultural cuss words while the name of God is openly taken in vain (which both Exodus 20:7 and Deuteronomy 5:11 tell us God will not fail to punish.) The American church as a whole has adopted a very unhealthy understanding of what is and is not sin and it has lead us to treat certain sins much more harshly than we should and other much more lightly. A man that I deeply love and respect made a comment about President Obama's decision that pained me greatly on this point. This man declared that he could not, in good conscience serve in the American military if homosexuals were allowed to serve openly. I wanted to ask him if he would be willing to serve beside men and women that he knew were liars, or gossips, or adulterers, or any of the other sins listed above. 'What is the difference?' I wanted to ask, what is it that makes homosexuality so much worse than any of these?
Now please do not misunderstand me, I am not arguing that we should lie down and accept the homosexual agenda that is so obviously at work in this country. However we, as American Christians, desperately need to reorient our view of sin and of sins. American Christians must come to an understanding of the open sinfulness that is so rampant throughout our churches and address it more directly instead of simply directing all of our vehemence against those few sins that it is socially correct to abhor and condemn. I make this simple request, let us begin to see sin, all sin, as sin and treat it as such, instead of singling out certain sins for special hatred.
That being said, homosexuality is a sin, just like any other sin. Scripture clearly teaches that the consequence for all sin is the same, and that all sins are equal in the eyes of God. Romans 8, Colossians 1, and James 4 all teach that to engage in sin is to be hostile to or an enemy of God. Romans 1, 2, 3, and 9 tell us the punishment for sin and that God is preparing his wrath for the day when sin will be judged. In 1 Corinthians 6 homosexuality is placed alongside fornication, adultery, stealing, coveting, and drunkenness; and again in 1 Timothy 1 it is placed alongside lying, murder, patricide and matricide, kidnapping, and perjury.
As humans it is our wont and our want to differentiate between sins. Drunkenness is worse than lying, but not as bad as kidnapping. Adultery is worse than fornication but not as bad as stealing. However scripture makes no such differentiation when speaking from the eyes of God, it is only in our human willfulness that we find the need to say, 'see, I'm better than him so I'm ok.' As Christians we often fail to understand that sin is sin to God, the one is the same as the other, whether it is a little white lie or mass murder, they are the same. I am just as much a sinner as the man next door, and the man on death row. Our human judgments have nothing to do with the effects of sin on my spiritual life and my eternal state.
However, in American Christianity (I cannot and so will not attempt to speak for Christianity outside of the United States) we have made a few sins the scapegoats for all sinfulness, while other sins go unnoticed. Homosexuality tops the list for many Christians as one of the most heinous sins possible, along side the viewing of pornography, child molestation, and murder. We tend to look at these sins and, while many Christians may not admit it even to themselves, see them as irredeemable.
On the other hand we have allowed divorce to become the norm, often not even seen as being sinful. We take offense at many cultural cuss words while the name of God is openly taken in vain (which both Exodus 20:7 and Deuteronomy 5:11 tell us God will not fail to punish.) The American church as a whole has adopted a very unhealthy understanding of what is and is not sin and it has lead us to treat certain sins much more harshly than we should and other much more lightly. A man that I deeply love and respect made a comment about President Obama's decision that pained me greatly on this point. This man declared that he could not, in good conscience serve in the American military if homosexuals were allowed to serve openly. I wanted to ask him if he would be willing to serve beside men and women that he knew were liars, or gossips, or adulterers, or any of the other sins listed above. 'What is the difference?' I wanted to ask, what is it that makes homosexuality so much worse than any of these?
Now please do not misunderstand me, I am not arguing that we should lie down and accept the homosexual agenda that is so obviously at work in this country. However we, as American Christians, desperately need to reorient our view of sin and of sins. American Christians must come to an understanding of the open sinfulness that is so rampant throughout our churches and address it more directly instead of simply directing all of our vehemence against those few sins that it is socially correct to abhor and condemn. I make this simple request, let us begin to see sin, all sin, as sin and treat it as such, instead of singling out certain sins for special hatred.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Misquoting Jesus
I have been reading the book Misquoting Jesus by Bart D. Ehrman recently, and I swear I thought it was name Misquitoing Jesus for the longest time. I have to say that I am personally not a fan of the book so far. Ehrman's scholarship is good (not great but good given that it was written for a non-academic audience, however the fact that the vast majority of his citations come from previous books he has written rather than other scholars concerns me.) However he freely admits at the beginning of the book that he traded in his faith for academic acceptability early one.
This fact is evident throughout the book as he attempts to pick apart the Christian scriptures and the doctrines of inerrancy (that scripture was an accurate report of events in its original autograph and divinely protected until today) and authority (that scripture is authoritative for life and godliness). While he does a good job of pointing out several of the larger problems with the doctrine of inerrancy in particular, he fails to understand that there may be purposes at work beyond his current understanding.
I seem to find this problem quite often, both among unbelievers, and among believers, as well as in my own life. As humans we tend to want to believe that we can understand anything. If something is outside of our understanding then it must be wrong, or false. As I said in my last post I am going through some difficult times, my first response to this was "God, why are you letting this happen?" It didn't make sense and, being human, I doubted God's goodness and his willingness to help. It was quite some time before I was able to accept that God had a purpose in allowing this to happen that I simply didn't understand.
The same is true for Ehrman here, he sees something that he can't explain and his first reponse is "God must be wrong." If it doesn't make sense to him then the problem must be in the text or in the faith, not in him, if something doesn't fit into his worldview then it must be the world's problem, not his own. I would encourage anyone reading this book to read it with a grain of salt because of these issues and some issues of unsupported scholarship and vague claims that appear in the book.
This fact is evident throughout the book as he attempts to pick apart the Christian scriptures and the doctrines of inerrancy (that scripture was an accurate report of events in its original autograph and divinely protected until today) and authority (that scripture is authoritative for life and godliness). While he does a good job of pointing out several of the larger problems with the doctrine of inerrancy in particular, he fails to understand that there may be purposes at work beyond his current understanding.
I seem to find this problem quite often, both among unbelievers, and among believers, as well as in my own life. As humans we tend to want to believe that we can understand anything. If something is outside of our understanding then it must be wrong, or false. As I said in my last post I am going through some difficult times, my first response to this was "God, why are you letting this happen?" It didn't make sense and, being human, I doubted God's goodness and his willingness to help. It was quite some time before I was able to accept that God had a purpose in allowing this to happen that I simply didn't understand.
The same is true for Ehrman here, he sees something that he can't explain and his first reponse is "God must be wrong." If it doesn't make sense to him then the problem must be in the text or in the faith, not in him, if something doesn't fit into his worldview then it must be the world's problem, not his own. I would encourage anyone reading this book to read it with a grain of salt because of these issues and some issues of unsupported scholarship and vague claims that appear in the book.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
What Does It Mean To Be A Christian In Hard Times?
This is a question I've been asking myself lately. Some of you know that I have been going through difficult times lately, both financially and emotionally. I have tried to write about this several times now and haven't been able to, always rewriting posts to be about some other, non-personal subject. I think this is because I'm honestly not entirely sure how to answer this question. We all, I especially, want to be respected. I like to be viewed as the teacher, the one with all the answers. However this is a question that I struggle with. Obviously we rely on God for everything, this is easy to say when one knows how it will be provided. 'I rely on God for my rent payment' and he provided through my paycheck. As a child I might 'rely on God' for my food and clothing and he provided through my parents. I find that he still provides through my parents much more than I would like.
However, it is much more difficult to say 'I rely on God for my rent payment' when I'm really not sure where its going to come from. It is painful to realize that my faith often extends only as far as the reach of my arm. I wish I could say that I never fail in faith, that I am always confident that God will provide whatever I need, but the knowledge in my mind all to often fails to reach my heart. I 'know' that God will provide, just as I 'know' that he has me here for a reason, God knows my path before I walk it and he knows the currents of my heart before they ever shift. However, what I know so often fails to inform what I believe, while I 'know' that God will provide for my needs I look at my checking account and think 'I am so screwed.' The knowledge and the belief fail to meet one another.
I find this frustrating to no end because, much as I try, I am often at a loss for how to correct it. I do believe that I am growing, or at least I hope, but my struggle if far from over. So I ask, what does it mean to be a Christian in hard times? Am I really any different from anyone else dealing with these difficulties? I know that I should trust God, rely on him and know that everything works out for God for those who love him and do his will. However I find that when I look at my bank statement, or my credit card bill, or any of my other bills, my faith often fades away and is replaced by desperation.
However, it is much more difficult to say 'I rely on God for my rent payment' when I'm really not sure where its going to come from. It is painful to realize that my faith often extends only as far as the reach of my arm. I wish I could say that I never fail in faith, that I am always confident that God will provide whatever I need, but the knowledge in my mind all to often fails to reach my heart. I 'know' that God will provide, just as I 'know' that he has me here for a reason, God knows my path before I walk it and he knows the currents of my heart before they ever shift. However, what I know so often fails to inform what I believe, while I 'know' that God will provide for my needs I look at my checking account and think 'I am so screwed.' The knowledge and the belief fail to meet one another.
I find this frustrating to no end because, much as I try, I am often at a loss for how to correct it. I do believe that I am growing, or at least I hope, but my struggle if far from over. So I ask, what does it mean to be a Christian in hard times? Am I really any different from anyone else dealing with these difficulties? I know that I should trust God, rely on him and know that everything works out for God for those who love him and do his will. However I find that when I look at my bank statement, or my credit card bill, or any of my other bills, my faith often fades away and is replaced by desperation.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Submission
I know, I know, I promised to post about the Justice of God and I will...eventually...I think...but I keep getting sidetracked.
I was thinking yesterday about how submission has become a bad word in our society. As Americans we are taught that we are to be free and independent, which all too often translates to arrogant and selfish. However the idea that we are supposed to submit ourselves to the authority of another is...distasteful, to say the least. However submission is a very important teaching in scripture. We are to submit to the government (Rom. 14 and Titus 3), we are to submit to one another (Eph. 5), and women are to submit to their husband (also Eph. 5, and 1 Peter). Most importantly we are to submit to Christ, this is taught continually throughout the New Testament. The word most commonly translated submit (or be subject to) holds the meaning of submitting to one of greater authority (the exception to this is where Christians are commanded to submit to one another where a different word is used that holds the idea of willingly submitting to one of equal or lower authority).
The same word is used of slaves when they are commanded to submit to their masters. It is also clearly taught that we are the slaves of Christ. However the meaning here is not commonly understood in American society. When we think of slavery we think of black slavery in early America, which was a horrible thing. However this scriptural idea hearkens back to the idea of the Bond Slave in the Pentatuech. In Hebrew slavery slaves were released at certain intervals (every seven years I believe), however if a slave trusted and loved his master he could chose to continue his slavery. To do this he would place his right ear on the door post and allow his master to pierce it with an awl. This meant that he was willingly entering into a lifelong slavery to his master. This is the relationship that the New Testament draws on when it speaks of the Christians submission to Christ and (in my opinion) the wives submission to the husband.
The slave (or Christian) trusts his/her master (Christ) so much that they willingly give up their freedom in order to be the slave of his/her master. The term speaks of a total submission to the will of another. As Christians we are to be totally and completely submissive to the will of God in every way, a difficult task to accomplish, but what is required of us.
In marriage women are to be totally submitted to the will of their husbands (am I gonna get it for saying that), and husbands are to put the needs of their wives above their own. Anyone who is married needs to read all of Eph. 5 22 to the end of the chapter. Take it apart and look at what it actually requires. The wife is to submit herself to a man who is to ALWAYS act in her best interest (not best interest does not mean what she wants, but instead what she needs) as a picture of the relationship between the Christian and Christ. And the husband is to always act in the best interests of his wife, as a picture of Christ's sacrifice to the church. The submission that scripture teaches is not a negative thing, instead it is a beautiful willingness to give all that one is to another whom one trusts completely.
I was thinking yesterday about how submission has become a bad word in our society. As Americans we are taught that we are to be free and independent, which all too often translates to arrogant and selfish. However the idea that we are supposed to submit ourselves to the authority of another is...distasteful, to say the least. However submission is a very important teaching in scripture. We are to submit to the government (Rom. 14 and Titus 3), we are to submit to one another (Eph. 5), and women are to submit to their husband (also Eph. 5, and 1 Peter). Most importantly we are to submit to Christ, this is taught continually throughout the New Testament. The word most commonly translated submit (or be subject to) holds the meaning of submitting to one of greater authority (the exception to this is where Christians are commanded to submit to one another where a different word is used that holds the idea of willingly submitting to one of equal or lower authority).
The same word is used of slaves when they are commanded to submit to their masters. It is also clearly taught that we are the slaves of Christ. However the meaning here is not commonly understood in American society. When we think of slavery we think of black slavery in early America, which was a horrible thing. However this scriptural idea hearkens back to the idea of the Bond Slave in the Pentatuech. In Hebrew slavery slaves were released at certain intervals (every seven years I believe), however if a slave trusted and loved his master he could chose to continue his slavery. To do this he would place his right ear on the door post and allow his master to pierce it with an awl. This meant that he was willingly entering into a lifelong slavery to his master. This is the relationship that the New Testament draws on when it speaks of the Christians submission to Christ and (in my opinion) the wives submission to the husband.
The slave (or Christian) trusts his/her master (Christ) so much that they willingly give up their freedom in order to be the slave of his/her master. The term speaks of a total submission to the will of another. As Christians we are to be totally and completely submissive to the will of God in every way, a difficult task to accomplish, but what is required of us.
In marriage women are to be totally submitted to the will of their husbands (am I gonna get it for saying that), and husbands are to put the needs of their wives above their own. Anyone who is married needs to read all of Eph. 5 22 to the end of the chapter. Take it apart and look at what it actually requires. The wife is to submit herself to a man who is to ALWAYS act in her best interest (not best interest does not mean what she wants, but instead what she needs) as a picture of the relationship between the Christian and Christ. And the husband is to always act in the best interests of his wife, as a picture of Christ's sacrifice to the church. The submission that scripture teaches is not a negative thing, instead it is a beautiful willingness to give all that one is to another whom one trusts completely.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Adds
I have several adds up on this site, however some of the adds that have been posted are agaisnt my personal views. If you see an add on this site that you find offensive, or that you believe does not corrospond with the views that I am sharing please let me know. Please put a comment on one of my recent posts letting me know that the add was on the site, please tell me the nature of the add, what was advertised, and the url that the add takes you to when clicked on so that I can block it. I would very much appreciate all of your help in this because the adds on the site rotate and I don't always know what goes up.
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