Opus 2026-318: Patriotism, American Style

I was just listening to a song that came up on my MP3 player.  The song was God Bless America.  It was done southern Gospel style.  It was very inspirational listening to it.

As I listened, I got to thinking about how we is Americans can sing this song, but we could make some very small changes possibly and allow anybody from another country to sing it about theirs.  I don’t say this to belittle the greatness of America in any way.  I don’t say that we should be praising other countries above our own.  Utopia does not exist, but the United States of America is as close as mankind has ever come.

At the same time I accept the fact that a citizen of Germany might be able to sing their national anthem, except for the fact that I think it’s title is Deutschland Uber Alles, which means Germany above all.  That sentiment I would reject.  But then again I’m not sure if that’s actually their anthem.  For that matter, this is not our national anthem, yet.  God bless America is not a statement that we are better than anybody else, although I think we are.  It is a statement calling upon Almighty God and His grace to extend that grace towards us.  I would be not particularly offended if we added a verse for each country in the world.  God bless Namibia.  God bless Uganda.  God bless China.  I have no trouble with that.  God’s grace and God’s blessing are big enough that nothing we say and hope for other countries belittles what we want Him to do for us.

So sing with joy in your heart as you call upon God’s blessing.  Rejoice with an awareness of what grace is all about.  Embrace our heritage.  Understand the foundations.  And God bless America.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-259: God Filters

I think we all would admit that there are large numbers of people who refuse to listen to what God is trying to tell them.  In Romans, Paul talks about how the glory of God is obvious in creation.  People, if they are listening, will see that there is something bigger than us, what we would call God.  Having said that they refused to listen to His clear statements in scripture and to the voice of the Holy Spirit, trying to guide their lives.

What I hadn’t thought about in those terms before, is that God may also have a filter where He does not listen to what we say.  I have often stated that God does not hear the prayers of the unrighteous.  I think we can document that in several places.  One place,

(Jer 7:16 KJV)  Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.

And even in the book of Proverbs, it seems to say that after a lifetime of thumbing our nose of God if we then decide to get desperate and calm on Him there’s a good chance He will thumb His nose at us.

(Pro 1:26-28 KJV)  I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.  Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

So I was thinking this morning about how grateful I am for the blessings of God and, the best way I can explain it is, I am emoted my feelings towards Him.  I have to believe that when I do that He picks up on that and I like to think it brings Him pleasure.  If that’s true, and it is a big if, God would also be receptive to the pain, agony and suffering of human beings.  Which brings me to the idea of filters.  I think it’s very easy to accept the idea that God filters out the agony that people go through when they are responsible for the agony.

Consider the difference between a masculine approach and a feminine approach.  Women tend to feel your pain.  Men want you to walk it off.  I mean that as a generalization, not a stereotype.  Women tend to be more into feelings and emotions.  Men tend to be into action and strength.  One of the problems we’re having in education and society is a whole is that it’s becoming feminized.  We’re more concerned about someone’s feelings than we are about whether they got the job done and did it right.

God is love.  We know that.  Words like loving kindness and mercy are common in the Old Testament.  The first part of the definition of love is patience, and if God is love than God is patient.  There are all indications that God wants to give people blessings and the joys of life.  There are even more indications that those people keep filtering out God’s directions and insist on going their own way.  Was Israel deported?  We all know it was.  The northern Kingdom was so evil that we don’t even know what happened to them.  The southern Kingdom seem to have enough of a remnant left that God brought them back later.  The reason for all this is their continued and repetitive insistence that their way was more important than God’s way.

So I would submit for today that yes, God filters out a lot of the pain and suffering that people go through.  There’s not much He can do for us if we refuse to respond.  He can make all kinds of offers, promises, procedures, priorities but if we don’t respond, there’s little He can do to solve our problems.

I for one want to do everything I can to make it so that God will be blessed by my obedience and my attitude.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-229: Blessing Not Luck

And it was definitely not skill.  I am referring to the recent attempt to take out President Trump. I read an article at American Thinker.

The article was analyzing the release of enhanced video from the scene.  The author describes how the perpetrator went into a room which should have been secured, but wasn’t, to assemble the shotgun he had under his coat.  While in the room a K-9 unit entered the room and then went on with no reaction.  When the shooter came out with the shotgun a group of security types down the hall saw him and “ran” the other way.

My point here is not to analyze what he said about the film or even cast stones at the Secret Service and White House security, although that needs to be done.  My point is to remind us that in pagan terms the only thing that keep the president from harm was “luck”.

I say “in pagan terms” because it is becoming clear that what is keeping President Trump vertical is not luck but the grace of God.  Blessings.  More than coincidence.  It certainly isn’t skill on the part of the Praetorians.  God has His hand on Trump.

This does not mean he is qualified to be your pastor.  It does not mean we should let our guard down.  It does not mean they will never succeed.  It means that we need to continue to call upon God and live righteous lives ourselves.  Trump is not the Messiah nor is he the Antichrist.  He is a tool that God is trying to use but we need to realize the success of Trumps efforts depends more on whether God’s people are living as salt and light than on the wisdom of his advisors.

So keep trusting.  Keep praying.  Live in repentance.  Be the faithful remnant that God will be preserving.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-195: Compromised or Counted

As I consider the big picture of life I eventually get down to my little corner of the world. To be honest I start there too often and don’t get beyond my fences often enough. The future is up for grabs while at the same time being in God’s hands. I am concerned for my grandchildren because I have had my big shot a life. I expect God to still use me but the time is limited.

When, and if, the time of persecution comes will I stand up and be counted or will I mumble and take a pass? As I look back at my life I can see examples of both. One I am embarrassed by and the other seems too rare. Ultimately I trust God to sort it out.

There are two different standards given to us and we need wisdom to know which to apply. On the one hand we have Jesus telling us to turn the other cheek. On the other hand we see Peter telling the governing authorities that he is going to do what God says rather than what they command. We are told to show love by being patient. We are also told to show love by rebuke and reproof. We are told that if we do not pass on the word of God for repentance that the blood of the sinner will be on our head.

It can get confusing. As I just said, I am counting on God to sort it out. God’s plan for the universe does not depend on my performance. I need to remember that. When I fail He will have an alternative and if all else ends up in the tank there is always the divine fiat that we saw at creation, “And God said….”

That is how grace works on a macro level and on my micro level. I have a heart that seeks to be perfectly obedient. I have a personality that leaves much to the promise of grace.

I wonder what today has in store for me.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-444: An Agent of Grace

This morning I was reading in Psalms and reveling in how the author was rejoicing in his God.  I also rejoice in my God.  It’s the same God.  He would’ve been confused by my talk about grace and how superior it was to the old covenant of the law.  You see to him the law was in reality a covenant of grace.

We have this idea, possibly because of Paul, that the law was terrible burden upon people. Really?  Being told not to lie, steal, fornicate, and covet is a terrible burden?  Cut me a break.  What you were looking at in the law is an owners manual on your new Lexus.  It’s instructions on how to make sure that you never have to make that phone call for a tow truck.

If you buy a new Lexus and you ignore the instructions given in the Owner’s Manual, your car is going to break down.  If you ignored the instructions, they may not fix it for free, but they will be willing to give you roadside service and tow you to a mechanic.  If the engine seizes up because you didn’t check or change the oil, whose fault is that?  You see the warranty information was there to give you carefree driving.  Even if they replaced your Lexus every time the engine froze, you would still end up being stranded out in the middle of the desert.

The instruction manual is there for your protection.  When you follow it, life is much better than when you ignore it.  Such is the law.  When people follow the guidelines given in the law of God, their lives are better, their children grow up and get jobs, their neighborhoods are more secure.  That’s where the United States was until recently.  Remember how you used to never lock your house?  Granted, most people didn’t actually believe in the God of the Bible, but they followed His rules and it worked.

As a Christian, I am not under the law.  I am under grace.  For the most part, I still tend to follow the law because God has a reason for the things that He expects of us.  Am I saved because of that?  No.  I am saved because of my faith in Jesus Christ.  However, the instruction manual is still in the glove compartment.  I can still check it to see how often I need to change my oil or if I need to rotate my tires.  I think of it as an agent of grace.  It’s something that God has given us to make life better . It is not a shackle.  It is a guard rail.

Ignore it at your own peril.  Remember the tow truck may take hours to get to you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-334: Course Correction

As we look at each one of the great teachers in the Bible, each dispensation if you would, they are not giving a totally new teaching, at least that’s not the point.  The point is that the people who are supposed to be following God, are wandering off on a tangent, and need to be brought back on task.

Consider Moses updating the message of Abraham.  Abraham was called and given a promise that his seed would be a blessing to the world.  There wasn’t much more at that time except the ritual of circumcision.  I would suggest that Abraham was aware of Noah and the basic expectations of what has come to be known as the seven laws of Noahide.  The problem emerged when the children of Israel moved to Egypt and spent 400 years.  During that time they became slaves and my theory is that they forgot all about the God of Israel.  Moses had his work cut out for him.  That is why God gave him the law.  There were the moral and theological aspects of the law such as are found in the Ten Commandments.  There were also instructions on how to live like civilized human beings such as the banning of marrying your sister and basic sanitation.  Consider the difference between Christian culture today and pagan culture when it comes to the value of human life.  The groundwork was laid in the law.  

The lessons of Moses were constantly ignored until you get to David and Solomon.  That brings us the teaching that is done in the Psalms and Proverbs.  David is constantly praising the law.  He refers to righteousness and the loving kindness of God.  He prepares the way for Solomon to build the temple.  People seem to need physical things and now they had a place to worship Yahweh.

After David you had Solomon who started well but degenerated back to the level of the Canaanites by the time he died.  The history of the Northern Kingdom of Israel is one failed king after another.  In the South with Judah you had a mixed bag but the general tenor seemed to be that the people were constantly going back to the pagan gods and rejecting the standards of God.  The message of the prophets was a constant attempt to get them back on track.  The captivity got them to focus but they turned to legalism and ritual rather than the living God who called them.

Then we have Jesus.  Note that Jesus said he did not come to destroy but to fulfill.  We hear that but we don’t understand what He was facing.  Judaism had become Rabbinical.  The Rabbis were very serious and disciplined but they were locked into the Talmud rather than the scripture.  The oral law was superior to the written law.  They knew what the law of Moses said.  They knew about David.  In spite of that they kept adding new nooses to the law by adding to the Talmud with their interpretations.  We see it today in the fact that practicing Jews reject the idea of a cheeseburger.  Why?  Because the Bible says not to cook a baby goat in its mother’s milk.  What does that have to do with a cheeseburger?  In reality nothing, but in Rabbinical Judaism, everything.  

Jesus called Israel back to God and claimed to be the Messiah who would fulfill the law and the prophets.  As a reward He was crucified.  The church was born on Pentecost and began the journey of faith again.  Then we come to Paul.

Consider Paul with his teaching on grace.  He wasn’t negating everything before that.  He did not come up with something totally new.  He was getting the church back on track.  There was almost immediately a trend back to embracing the law instead of living by faith.  A group of Christians called Judiasers were teaching that Gentiles needed to be circumcised.  If allowed to continue it would have expanded to the whole law again.  Paul and the others we have in the New Testament could not allow that.  They were refining, and focusing what it meant to believe, and the eternal God and His son Jesus.

And all of my prior teaching, he said, focused on the Resurrection, because without the resurrection everything was empty.  We are now on the other side of the cross, the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit.  We now have it all.  As the angry parent yelled to his rowdy children down stairs, “Don’t make me come down there again.”

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-207: Two Words

Tradition has its place.  I think it’s almost the unforgivable sin to begin playing Christmas music before the Thanksgiving meal.  That is a tradition in our home.  It is a tradition because I declared it myself.  I declared it so because my family had already decided that was the way it would be.  Still it is a tradition.

Life is full of traditions.  Some are silly, some deeply meaningful.  We need to always keep in mind, though, that traditions are the result of past habits, not necessarily based upon divine decree.

Which brings me to my “deep thoughts”.  I am thinking of salvation, and two keywords involved in that.  Both of them are found in this passage,

Ephesians 2:8 (KJV) For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

The two words are “Grace” and “faith”.  You may be familiar with the Greek here.  Grace comes from charis and faith comes from pistis.  The problem comes when we accept blindly traditional interpretations of how these words relate to each other, and to the other word, which is  “gift”.  The problem for me is that tradition says that grace is extended in a way that has nothing to do with our desire and is totally irresistible.  That same tradition says that faith is nothing dependent upon our choice, but is given to us by God.

Both of these traditions are grounded in a commendable emphasis on the sovereignty of God.  God is God.  He will not be manipulated by us.  We cannot “earn” His love or blessings.  The problem is interpreting that to mean that He becomes a robotic force that makes random choices.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The biblical concept of God is that He is a person and that He responds to us as persons.  He wants to forgive.  He wants to save.  It is His will that everyone to be saved.  If He is sovereign, and that it is His will, you would think that everyone would be saved, but such is not the case.  Your understanding of grace and God must make allowance for the fact that He has a living being response to us as living beings.

In the same way, we cannot come to faith in the absence of divine strength.  The natural man has no interest in the things of God.  The blessing is that God has extended, through his Holy Spirit, the ability to respond to Him.  It is not an overwhelming force, such as the kind of gift of faith that makes us believe, but it is the gentle reinforcement that makes it possible for us to believe if we choose to.  This choice is key to God extending His grace towards us.

On both sides, we have real personalities.  They respond to each other, or not, if that is the choice of the human individual.  That is the essence of free will, we have been created in the image of God.  He has given us the ability to respond.  After that, it’s up to us to follow the inclination of our heart.

Don’t let the logical tradition hold you back from the offering of God.  At the same time don’t feel that you were totally powerless to respond if that is your choice.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-036: The Grace Card

I think possibly that the library card is an excellent example of how grace works in salvation.  We think of being saved by grace and that is a gift of God.  This is true.  The same basic statement could be made about your library card.  I think that salvation has a lot in common with your library privileges.

We tend to think of a library card as being free.  It is a gift from whatever government agency issues the card.  As a general rule, we don’t stop to think about the fact that someone had to build the library, stock it with books, and hire people to work there.  I think most people feel like the library just appears out of unicorn dust like they do every other government service.  The truth is that someone has to pay or there is no library.  In the case of your library, it’s paid for by taxes, which means you pay it.

Salvation is more like me going to another jurisdiction, and getting a library card in an area which I do not pay taxes.  In this case, someone else pays the price of the card.  That’s more like salvation.  It depends on someone else paying the price for my sin.  In this case it’s Jesus.  So let’s just go with the idea that my library card is free.

What is necessary for me to get a library card?  One library that I have a card from will give you a card as long as you live in Texas.  Others require certain ZIP Codes.  Some require you to live specifically within the city limits.  The point is there are requirements on getting it and you have to apply.  Unlike ballots that the Democrats want to supply, they are not mailed out to everyone.  They are available.  They are not automatic. That is in sync with the idea of salvation by grace.

So far you probably are with me, but here’s where my reform readers will part company.  The big question in my life ,or at least in my mind is, what does it take to keep the card functioning?  Understand, nowadays library cards are not issued on forever basis.  Every card that I have communicates with me roughly once a year.  They are not looking to revoke my privileges or, in a sense to remove my salvation, they are simply wanting to know if I am still on board.  Do I still consider myself a part of the library community?  There are no additional fees, but they do check my address to make sure that it’s really me.  Simple stuff.  Within the reach of every library card holder.  If I don’t respond or if I tell them no thanks, my library card is canceled and my privileges are revoked.  It is totally up to me.  It is my choice.

I think that’s a good example of how salvation works as we walk down the life that comes after being saved.  God is not going to cast us out into the darkness, like He did the man with the inadequate wedding clothes.  Jesus didn’t die on a cross to see how many people He gets into hell.  At the same time, Jesus doesn’t consider His sacrifice just kind of a cheap bit of laughter material, because nothing is expected of us.  We have the statement and Peter,

(2Pe 3:9 KJV)  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

At the same time Paul is constantly telling us, and reminding us that we need to keep living a righteous life.

So if you haven’t done so, apply for a card at your local library.  If you haven’t done so express you believe in Jesus and have your sins forgiven and get your spiritual library card signifying that you were a member in good standing of the body of Christ.  And make sure that you keep it up-to-date.

The cost is already been paid.  The price was beyond your reach.  It has been paid.  That’s what makes it something that is available to you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-030: An Act of Grace

As I try to define the word “grace”, I find that there are constant insights. This morning as I was worshiping and moving into my time of thanksgiving, I started, as usual, with an awareness of Jesus, and what it meant to come to earth.

Philippians 2:7 (KJV) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

Philippians 2:6-7 (LSB) 6 who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men.

As I was thinking about this, the phrase “act of grace” came to my mind.  Who Jesus was, and what Jesus did was only within the parameter of the power of God.  And it occurred to me that that is one of the aspects of grace.  True grace is something that only God has the power to administer and distribute.

My basic understanding of grace is “ God’s love in action”, as opposed to the popular one of “undeserved merit”.  The incarnation is definitely an example of God’s love in action as it laid the foundation for salvation.  While I acknowledge the undeserved aspect I don’t think that is the key idea to focus on.

May God’s Grace be active in your life.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-013: Solar Grace

As I sat in the dark, focusing on the glory of God, I paused to read a Psalm like I do every day. Today was Psalm 134.  In there I came across this verse,

Psalm 134:2 (KJV) Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD.

My thinking immediately went to that word sanctuary and trying to place how that word could be used in a Psalm written before the temple was built.  The text does not say this Psalm was written by David, so we have no reason to believe it had to be written before the temple was built, but I still wanted to look into that.

So I looked into the meaning of the word sanctuary, and found out that actually a better translation would be holy place or sacred spot.  The word is translated holy much more often than it is translated sanctuary.  As an example, here is the first place the word appears in the Old Testament,

Exodus 3:5 (KJV) And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

Our Hebrew word here is translated as “holy.  So you can see where I realize this could have been written before the temple.

As my mind continued down, it’s rabbit trail, which I believe is often guided by the Holy Spirit, I got to be thinking about how we use the word sanctuary.  For us as Protestants, and I believe even as Catholics, the sanctuary is that large room where people gather together to worship.  That led me to think about worship services, historically, and how the Catholic Church and later the liturgical churches would offer up the host as a part of what we call communion or the Eucharist.  The theology of this has gone through many steps, depending on your denomination, but in the Catholic Church, at least the idea was that you were offering up the body and blood of Jesus.  One protestant pastor, who was virulently anti-catholic, claimed this was a sacrilegious re-crucifying of Jesus, and keeping Him in perpetual agony.

I am not as anti Catholic.  My understanding is that they believe there is spiritual merit, or grace, given by taking of this host.  This turned my thinking to the meaning of grace.

Grace is a wonderful concept.  A beautiful word in the Bible, but I believe it is grossly misunderstood.  The popular definition of grace is unmerited favor.  I cannot accept that because it says Jesus grew in grace, and if it is unmerited, then Jesus was not God and the verse is nonsense.  In other words, walking with God and His grace is not a matter of Him giving us an unlimited credit card that we can us to charge anything we want.  It doesn’t even work with the idea of having a credit card where there’s a limit but if we apply we can raise the limit.  I got to thinking about modern technology.

Grace is like a modern electric commuter train that runs on electricity.  If you’ve been around them, you noticed that they have these arms that reach out and connect to the power line above them.  Thus they are constantly supplied with what they need at the moment.  They don’t have batteries to store it up.  They don’t have an electric tank.  They have a constant source of power.  If we ever get the technology, a better illustration might be having a solar panel on the top of a car that powers everything you need to do on a constant basis.

Of course solar batteries only work when the sun is up.  For your car, that would be a problem.  If we’re talking about spiritual power being radiated from the son of God, and it is no problem because God is always extending his power in his grace.

Spiritually we are there.  Technology is still trying to catch up.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-267: Yes, You Can

As I was reading in Psalms, I came across a passage that seemed to imply the free will of man.

(Psa 36:9-10 KJV)  For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.  O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.

For those of you who are concerned about salvation, coming through grace from God and not from our own works, you will find verse 9 encouraging.   It is very clear that David considers God as the source of his salvation and his “life”.

On the other hand, look at to whom He is extending that salvation.  Notice that it is people who know Him, people who have His righteousness in their hearts.  Now, if they need God’s “fountain of life” extended towards them, then there is still a lack.  But if God is extending it towards those who are already seeking it, free will is very important.

Nothing can water down the truth, that we cannot deserve our own salvation.  There is nothing that we can do within our power, except for trusting and obey, to make ourselves sin free.  Only Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross could offer up a sufficient price for our sin.  That concept is a done deal and is consistent through scripture.

But what I also see consistent through scripture, but widely denied by theologians of all camps, is this idea that there can be a desire for the things of God that comes from my heart, and not just from the gift of faith.  I believe that Psalms at least teaches that we can have a desire for the things of God on our own initiative.  What I am seeing is that some people are, by their own choice, inclined toward evil, and some people are inclined toward righteousness.

Feel free to disagree.  If you disagree, you have to somehow work out these two verses.  You also need to go back to the beginning of the Psalm where David goes into great detail about the planning that goes into the evil that surrounds us.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-181: Grace

(Exo 33:13 KJV)  Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.

When you read this out of context, it sounds like a glorious New Testament idea.  How wonderful to know His grace, how wonderful to follow, wonderful to be His people.  What doesn’t show up in the context is that this is immediately after Moses was given the law on the mountain.  Not only was it given to him by God once, but he had the carve it out by hand himself a second time.  I think the law was fresh in his mind.  I think he knew what it contained, and what it said.  And yet here we have him talking about grace, and about knowing God.

The New Testament focuses on grace.  Actually, Paul focuses on grace.  Jesus never mentioned it.  Paul’s emphasis is scripture.  But we need the balance of the entire Bible, and we need to realize that the law is not evil if we take it in the way in which it was intended.

It would also be good for us to realize that the grace talked about here is the same grace that we find in regard to Noah.  People like to talk about Noah, finding grace in the eyes of the Lord.  

(Gen 6:8 KJV)  But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

It would seem that Moses also had found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  I sometimes wonder if Paul ever read his Old Testament in the original Hebrew, or whether he just listened to what the rabbis told him and quotes from the Talmud.  Grace was not a new discovery that he made.  He simply took a truth that was being ignored and brought it into the light.

Grace and peace.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-086: Grace and justice

Christians often talk about “free” grace.  To non-Christians that seems irrational and they are right.  Grace does not really set aside justice.  It only appears that way.  Justice was met on the Cross.  Your sin was paid for.  Grace simply takes that expression of justice, and applies it to your situation, based upon your faith in Jesus.

Don’t get it confused.  Grace is not free.  It cost Jesus.

The idea that grace is free is really confusing to people.  God is just, period, and being a just God means that sin must be paid for.  So you just cavalierly tossing it off by saying you are forgiven would not be justice.  God’s attribute of justice demands payment.  And he made that payment.

Don’t get them confused.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-147: We Call It Sin. We Believe in Forgiveness

I don’t believe I have ever watched the programs of the Duggar family.  I don’t know that I have ever read any of the articles about them.  My wife has and people I know have, but I have not.  I have not been involved so I don’t feel “betrayed”.  I have continued that pattern with the recent feeding frenzy of the Christ-hating media.  I have read a few posts and filtered it through my unemotional mind and heart.

My basic response to what I am hearing is:  I am glad you God-deniers are learning about forgiveness and grace.  We are sinners.  Some sins are worse than others.  All can be forgiven.  God has an open door policy to people who will repent.  No one in the Christian community is trying to say that what happened does not matter or was a good thing.  What we should be saying is that it has been dealt with and is no longer an issue.

From what I have read, the Duggar family responded to this as Christians should respond to sin in their midst.  It was not ignored or swept under the rug.  They were confronted with sin and dealt with it.  Experts, authorities and all relevant people were brought in.  Confession was made, counseling was given, forgiveness was extended and restoration was made.  It was not broadcast from the rooftops because it did not effect the rooftops and because it would have done nothing but sold a few newspapers and exercised a lot of self-righteous tongues.

To bring all this out now is like rejecting the Catholic church because Peter denied Jesus.  I have not read all that is out there.  If I read it in the secular press I would treat it like I do most of what they put out.  If the New York or Los Angeles Times tells me it is noon and the sun is up, I will go outside to check.  When they get all scandalized at a teenage sin from years ago I remember that they still have not been forthcoming about the frolicking of JFK or WJC.  They were both adults and neither one of them confessed or repented, let alone got counseling.

So when I read about scandal I consider the source.  These media types are people who think that nudity is free speech, homosexuality is normal, abortion is a right, global warming is more dangerous than ISIS and serious Christians are terrorists.  There problem here is not that they are scandalized by sin but that it is a chance to scandalize the Christian faith.

They need to get a life or a Bible and we need to get another source of news.

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-204: Glucose and Grace, part 2 of 2

How do the Law and grace weave a canopy of salvation?

Possibly an example might be the place of overeating and obesity in relation to diabetes.  From what I have read, if you have the diabetic gene you have a strong tendency toward coming down with diabetes.  Gluttony, eating the wrong foods and lack of exercise can bring it on sooner or more severely.  How does overeating effect someone without the diabetes gene?  There are consequences, yet they do not get diabetes.  At least they don’t get it easily.  I am not convinced it can’t happen.  They may instead have a heart attack, cancer, stroke or who knows what else but they won’t get diabetes.  They may die from complications but from a different origin.  They definitely won’t be healthy. 

This could illustrate the tension between the Law and grace.  There is a reason for the Law.  Lack of obedience will make a difference.  It can cause serious complications in our lives.  It is possible that lack of discipline does not send us to hell.  It will ruin our lives. 

Just as eating in moderation leads to a more pleasant life, living in obedience will lead to more joy and peace.  As an Arminian and not a Calvinist, I think it is more important than that, but at the least for one of Reform theology it should still make a difference.

Live in obedience.  Why take a chance?

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-203: Glucose and Grace, part 1 of 2

Warning to sceptics, pagans and unbelievers:  This is an excursion into speculative theology.  If that really, really bores you, come back tomorrow.

I was thinking about how Christians say we are under grace, not Law.  We say this because we recognize that our salvation comes as a gift of God.  It is not something we earn.  Some try to use this as license to behave without restriction.  Paul faced that in the early church.  Some people were saying that if they sinned more and they were saved by grace it would multiply the amount of grace and that would be good.  So they encouraged people to sin.  You realize when you read this that crazy sophists have been around for a long time.

Paul responded to these people. 

(Romans 6:1-2 KJV)  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Grace did not destroy the Law.  Remember the words of Jesus.

(Matthew 5:17 KJV)  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Grace did not make righteous living unnecessary.  There has always a conflict in Christian circles about the place of righteous living which is a way of saying the Law is important.  All would agree it is a good thing in general but some seem to think it is optional.  What is the place of law when you live under grace?  Do you need to follow the rules?

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2012-66, Monday Pulpit: I Am an Older Son

I have been thinking about the older son, the one in the parable of the Prodigal Son.  Our pastor has been dealing with the parable and Alistair Begg mentions it regularly.  I have a confession to make.  I really can’t relate to the younger son.  I have always been a goody-two-shoes.  I was the kind of guy that mothers would trust with their daughters.  And they were right.  People would call and get my parents out of bed to ask if I was home yet.  There children were with me.  If I was not home then they knew that all was well because I would not let them get into trouble.  Get the picture?

I still needed to come to face my sin.  Watching “The Passion of the Christ” reminded me of how dirty I was in the eyes of God.  Jesus went through that for me to be forgiven and I was one of the good ones.

So I take it personally when people rank on the older son.  He gets a lot of bad press based on theological systems that are not justified in the Bible.

Go back and read the interaction between the father and his sons.  Most people accept that the father represents God.  Most people can see the younger son as one who rebelled and came back to the father asking for forgiveness.  We see repentance and forgiveness.  So far, so good.  The problem comes when they get to the older son and spend their time calling him a Pharisee and a legalist.  It is always implied that he is a hypocrite who thinks he is saved by works and is really outside the kingdom.

Three things stand out to me.  If you don’t have a Bible handy, shame on you, but let me give you the key verse.

(Luke 15:31 KJV)  And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.

First, he is addressed as “Son.”  Notice he is not called a “white washed wall” or a “serpent” or any of the other word pictures available.  He is a son.

Second, the father says that the older son is always with the father.  This does not sound like rejection or condemnation.  It sounds like a reminder.

Third, the father says that everything he has belongs to the older son.  Does Jesus ever say this about the Pharisees?  I don’t think so.

So we have a “son” who is “always with the father” who “owns everything the father has.”  I can live with that.

The lesson for us older sons is to get our attitudes in check and be willing to accept people back into the family when they repent.  It is to hope that they repent.  It is also to lighten up and enjoy all of the benefits of the kingdom.

If you are a younger son, welcome back.  Those of us who never left are glad to have you.  Now give me a plate and dish up some of that fatted calf that really belongs to me but the Father has decided to share with you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-363, I Am Not a Burr Grinder

I was enjoying an Alistair Begg sermon on the way to work and then he took off on the Calvinist understanding of grace.  The first few sentences were good.  We are saved by grace, through faith.  Every believer knows the reference:

(Ephesians 2:8 KJV)  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

No believer can argue that.  It is a plain, clear statement.  We cannot earn our salvation.  We can never deserve it.  No Arminian, Roman Catholic or Orthodox believer who understand their own theology would disagree with that.  The problem is using that truth as a springboard for the mantra that nothing we do makes any difference.

Let me try to illustrate my problem.

I have come to enjoy a good cup of coffee.  In fact I enjoy many good cups of coffee.  I don’t claim to be a coffee snob.  As I tell my kids when they ask why I drink it, “I may not know what a really good cup of coffee is but I can tell when it is really bad.”  So I experiment but don’t base my life on it.

Recently, as part of my ongoing experiment, I found a burr grinder that I could afford.  A burr grinder chews up the coffee beans between gears or grinding surfaces instead of chopping them with whirling blades.  It gives a consistency to the coffee.  The grinder I got has about twelve settings from fine to course.  It has a hopper on the top for the beans and you can set it for how many cups to grind for.  It is a fun toy.  Now for the punch line:  Calvinists think of themselves as burr grinders.

The machine can do nothing on its own.  It just sits there.  When the Great Coffee Maker decides to make coffee, He puts in a precise amount of beans and sets the dials.  He then presses the button and wala, out comes ground coffee.  The coffee grinder has nothing to say about it.  It has nothing to say about the type of beans, the coarseness of the grind or how many cups are being made. 

I could live with that.  It gives a glorious picture of God’s love and provision, but....  What about the poor coffee grinder in the next house where the owner likes tea instead.  Through no fault of the grinder it gets thrown in the trash or put in a yard sale.  That is where this idea breaks down for me.  If I assume I am one of the ground (elect) I am happy, but what if I am not and want to be?  I hate being just a wannabe.  To me the picture doesn’t fit with verses like,

(John 3:16 KJV)  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Notice the “whosoever.”  And it is totally opposed to,

(2 Peter 3:9 KJV)  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Notice that God is not “willing” that anyone perish.  Yet the road is narrow and few will find it.  There has to be an understanding that gives God and glory but allows us free will.

Am I just setting up a straw man?

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-321, Monday Pulpit: Means of Grace

Actually this should be called Thursday Pulpit because it was stirred up at the Wednesday evening service.  The pastor has been going through a series on basic beliefs.  The emphasis on this occasion was the place of scripture. 

About half way through he said something that made me want to say, “I knew that.”  True, but I had not stopped to consider it.  I don’t know if they were his words or a quote from a book he was using.  Either way it is not original to me.  He said we “should regard the study of Scripture as a means of grace like baptism or the Eucharist.”  We don’t look at the sacraments as means of grace like they do in the Catholic church but I understood what he meant.

When we study the Word it opens doors for the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts, minds and souls.  It becomes an avenue of grace.  This clicked in for me.  This is why my morning times of worship and study have been such a blessing to me.  It is not an empty ritual, it is a “means of grace.” 

I like that.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-272, Driscoll on Seekers

Mark Driscoll made another interesting comment in his conference talk.  He said that Calvinists talking about being “seeker friendly” is strange since they don’t believe in “seekers.”  He pointed out that it is more a case of the Holy Spirit going out and chasing down rebels than people coming to Jesus.

He was speaking tongue-in-cheek and making his point by the humor of honesty.  He portrays presenting the gospel as simply putting the truth out there so that those who have already been chosen can respond.  It is like being at a lottery and announcing the winning ticket number.  You may have bought a ticket but a cousin of the organizer somehow ended up with the big reward.  The joke seems to be on all the other people who showed up thinking there was something there for them.

I am sorry.  This view of the sovereignty of God makes Him a clown trying to invent games to amuse Himself.  It starts at a worthy, Biblical place and turns an eternal truth into a cruel game.  Of course the people who preach this the strongest assume that they are of the elect.  They are always rejoicing at being chosen.  It is kind of like going into a cancer ward and rejoicing loudly about being healthy.

The Gospel is for everyone.

(John 3:16 KJV)  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Jesus clearly stated that eternal life was offered to “whosoever” not “who-so-chosen.”

homo unius libri