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Search A short one this week! Here’s classic thought-provoking quote from pastor and author Ray Ortlund:
“The danger we face is not that we become criminals, but rather that we become respectable, decent, commonplace, mediocre Christians. The temptations that really sap our spiritual power are the television, the banana cream pie, the easy chair and the credit card. The Christian wins or loses in those seemingly innocent little moments of decision.”
In light of what we read last week in Colossians 1:24-29, is Pastor Ortlund correct? Why or why not?
In case you haven’t been watching the international news this past week, the Pope has been touring the Middle East, making stops at a number of holy sites in Israel (he’s scheduled to be in Nazareth today).
Benedict XVI has not made many friends in the Islamic community since the day he was installed as pontiff, so this trip appears to be a politically correct “repair job” for the Vatican.
This week Al Mohler wrote an insightful article about the Pope’s controversial speech in Amman, Jordan. Now that Benedict is “making nice” with Muslims, he’s treading on the nerves of Jews and Christians! The Vatican hasn’t figured out that playing games with spiritual ideas is a foolish – and unproductive – path. How far the Roman Catholic Church has strayed from biblical truth!
Should Christians “respect” other religions?
The world we now know is marked by religious pluralism and the clash of worldviews. The modern world brings individuals and groups of different belief systems into both proximity and potential conflict. How should Christians respond when asked about this? Should Christians “respect” other religions?
Headlines throughout the world announced this week that Pope Benedict XVI, while visiting Jordan, spoke of his “respect” for Islam. The Vatican’s official transcript of the Pope’s comments at the Amman airport records him as saying:
“My visit to Jordan gives me a welcome opportunity to speak of my deep respect for the Muslim community, and to pay tribute to the leadership shown by His Majesty the King in promoting a better understanding of the virtues proclaimed by Islam.”
There are so many different angles to this situation. First, we have the spectacle of a Pope being received as a head of state. This is wrong on so many counts. Second, we have the Pope speaking in diplomatic jargon, rather than in plain and direct speech. Third, we have the Pope speaking of “respect” without any clear understanding of what this really means. Does the Pope believe that Muslims can be saved through the teachings of Islam?
Actually, he probably does — at least within the context of a inclusivism. The Roman Catholic Church officially teaches that Muslims are “included in the plan of salvation” by virtue of their claim to “hold the faith of Abraham.” In the words of Lumen Gentium, one of the major documents adopted at Vatican II:
“But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place amongst these there are the Mohamedans, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind.”
The same language is basic to the current official catechism of the church as well. Within the context of the document, this language clearly implies that Muslims are within the scope of God’s salvation. While the Roman Catholic Church teaches that Islam is both erroneous and incomplete, it also holds that sincere Muslims can be included in Christ’s salvation through their faithfulness to monotheism and Islam.
Thus, when the Catholic Pope speaks of “respecting” Islam, he can do so in a way that evangelical Christians cannot. Within the context of official Catholic teaching, the Pope can create a fusion of diplomacy and doctrine.
While evangelical Christians face a different context to this question, the urgency is the same. We are not playing a diplomatic role as head of state, but we are called to be ambassadors for Christ and his Gospel.
In this light, any belief system that pulls persons away from the Gospel of Christ, denies and subverts Christian truth, and blinds sinners from seeing Christ as the only hope of salvation is, by biblical definition, a way that leads to destruction. Islam, like every other rival to the Christian gospel, takes persons captive and is devoid of genuine hope for salvation.
Thus, evangelical Christians may respect the sincerity with which Muslims hold their beliefs, but we cannot respect the beliefs themselves. We can respect Muslim people for their contributions to human welfare, scholarship, and culture. We can respect the brilliance of Muslim scholarship in the medieval era and the wonders of Islamic art and architecture. But we cannot respect a belief system that denies the truth of the gospel, insists that Jesus was not God’s Son, and takes millions of souls captive.
This does not make for good diplomacy, but we are called to witness, not public relations. We must aim to be gracious and winsome in our witness to Christ, but the bottom line is that the gospel will necessarily come into open conflict with its rivals.
The papal visit to Jordan points directly to the problem of the papacy itself and to the confusion of Roman Catholic theology on this very point. To understand Islam is to know that we cannot identify Muslims as those who “along with us adore the one and merciful God.” To deny the Trinity is to worship another God.
Respect is a problematic category. In the end, Christians must show respect for Muslims by sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the spirit of love and truth. We are called to love and respect Muslims, not Islam.
No doubt you’ve heard the discussion about our nation leaning toward socialism in recent months. Most of you would have a strong political and/or economic response to such an idea. But have you ever thought about socialism theologically?
Suppose someone proposes this set of questions to you: If Jesus commanded you to love your neighbor, why is socialism such a bad thing? Aren’t you Christians supposed to avoid materialism and help the poor? Didn’t the early church pool their resources and share everything? So why would you – as a Christian – be against socialism?
Christian thinker Patrick Lencioni recently responded to this line of questioning on his blog and I liked what he wrote.
Read on … and make sure you check out my additional thoughts at the bottom!
First, socialism just doesn’t work. At least not for very long. That’s because people are flawed and, outside of a family, a religious order, or a small group of friends, they will not continually work hard for the “greater good” if they do not receive the fruits of that work themselves. As an economics major in college, I learned that this theory had a name: “the free-loader effect.” It is the natural tendency of people to do less when they realize that they won’t see a proportionate increase in what they can get for it.
Over time – and this is an inevitable consequence of the free-loader effect – socialist societies experience decreasing productivity, risk-taking, and innovation, along with increasing tax rates, promises of government programs, and expectations from citizens about what they can get from those programs. When the economy inevitably falters under its own weight, those expectations cannot be met.
The second reason why I believe socialism is such a bad idea is very much related to the first, but much more important to me as a Christian: it diminishes the dignity of human beings. In socialist societies, individuals grow increasingly dependent on the government for their well-being, and less and less confident that they are capable of and responsible for themselves. This is an inevitable recipe for cynicism, fatalism and depression.
So what are we to do if we want to act on our desire to do good and make a difference? Work hard. Create jobs. Treat our employees with dignity and love. Give generously of our money and our time to our churches, respectable charities and directly to those in need. And demand that our government compassionately provide effective programs and services for those who are incapable of providing for themselves.
But we should never – ever – support a program, a tax or a proposal that makes us feel good but ends up making the lives of the people we are supposed to be helping, and the society in which they live, more difficult and dependent.
My additional thoughts …
Is the early church (Acts 2:43-47) an example of socialism in action? Remember the fundamental difference – those in the early church VOLUNTARILY shared their possessions with others whom they loved. They were not COMPELLED to do so by government. I admire anyone who voluntarily gives up his own possessions for the sake of another … that’s true charity which pleases God. But when government takes money from one man and gives it to another to “level the playing field,” it ceases to be charity at all.
Loving our neighbor (biblically) has little to do with funneling more money to them! When money is taken from a worker and handed to a non-worker, that’s not love. The Bible is clear on this: a man ought to work for his wages or expect not to eat (2 Thess 3:6-13).
Are there truly people in need of help? Of course! So let private citizens, privately-owned corporations, and charities give voluntarily from their hearts to those in need – THAT is loving your neighbor!
Can you believe this? Time magazine’s #3 on the list of 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now … “The New Calvinism!” Read on and share your thoughts …
10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now ~ #3: The New Calvinism
If you really want to follow the development of conservative Christianity, track its musical hits. In the early 1900’s you might have heard “The Old Rugged Cross,” a celebration of the atonement. By the 1980’s you could have shared the Jesus-is-my-buddy intimacy of “Shine, Jesus, Shine.” And today, more and more top songs feature a God who is very big, while we are … well, listen to The David Crowder Band: “I am full of earth/ You are heaven’s worth/ I am stained with dirt/ Prone to depravity.”
Calvinism is back, and not just musically. John Calvin’s 16th century reply to medieval Catholicism’s buy-your-way-out-of-purgatory excesses is Evangelicalism’s latest success story, complete with an utterly sovereign and micromanaging deity, sinful and puny humanity, and the combination’s logical consequence, predestination: the belief that before time’s dawn, God decided whom he would save (or not), unaffected by any subsequent human action or decision.Calvinism, cousin to the Reformation’s other pillar, Lutheranism, is a bit less dour than its critics claim: it offers a rock-steady deity who orchestrates absolutely everything, including illness (or home foreclosure!), by a logic we may not understand but don’t have to second-guess. Our satisfaction — and our purpose — is fulfilled simply by “glorifying” him.
In the 1700’s, Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards invested Calvinism with a rapturous near mysticism. Yet it was soon overtaken in the U.S. by movements like Methodism that were more impressed with human will. Calvinist-descended liberal bodies like the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) discovered other emphases, while Evangelicalism’s loss of appetite for rigid doctrine — and the triumph of that friendly, fuzzy Jesus — seemed to relegate hard-core Reformed preaching (Reformed operates as a loose synonym for Calvinist) to a few crotchety Southern churches.
No more. Neo-Calvinist ministers and authors don’t operate quite on a Rick Warren scale. But, notes Ted Olsen, a managing editor at Christianity Today, “everyone knows where the energy and the passion are in the Evangelical world” — with the pioneering new-Calvinist John Piper of Minneapolis, Seattle’s pugnacious Mark Driscoll and Albert Mohler, head of the Southern Seminary of the huge Southern Baptist Convention. The Calvinist-flavored ESV Study Bible sold out its first printing, and Reformed blogs like Between Two Worlds are among cyber-Christendom’s hottest links.
Like the Calvinists, more moderate Evangelicals are exploring cures for the movement’s doctrinal drift, but can’t offer the same blanket assurance. “A lot of young people grew up in a culture of brokenness, divorce, drugs or sexual temptation,” says Collin Hansen, author of Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists. “They have plenty of friends: what they need is a God.”
Mohler says, “The moment someone begins to define God’s [being or actions] biblically, that person is drawn to conclusions that are traditionally classified as Calvinist.” Of course, that presumption of inevitability has drawn accusations of arrogance and divisiveness since Calvin’s time. Indeed, some of today’s enthusiasts imply that non-Calvinists may actually not be Christians. Skirmishes among the Southern Baptists (who have a competing non-Calvinist camp) and online “flame wars” bode badly.
Calvin’s 500th birthday will be this July. It will be interesting to see whether Calvin’s latest legacy will be classic Protestant backbiting or whether, during these hard times, more Christians searching for security will submit their wills to the austerely demanding God of their country’s infancy.
All politics aside, have you ever thought about how biblical principles might apply to our system of taxation in America? Blooger John Mark Reynolds of The Scriptorium has … see his article below.
Love Your Neighbor and Don’t Tax Him
Moral men have a duty to help their neighbors, but nobody has the right to force other people to help.
Jesus told a story of a Good Samaritan who crossed difficult social and cultural barriers to provide relief to an injured man. This is a good model for our own behavior. We should help the hurting neighbor even if he is a pariah in our community. Moral behavior is most valuable when it is not easy to do. The temptation is to avoid doing our moral duty by ignoring it or passing off the dirty work to somebody else.
The Scroogish Samaritan ignores his moral duty to help his neighbor. He assumes everybody should care only for self and destroys common culture by his selfishness.
The Statist Samaritan forces everybody else to help the injured man and so gains a cheap feeling of virtue, but undermines any real virtue.
The Scrooge believes that it is enough for “a man to mind his own business” and forgets that he is tied to the fate of everyone else in his common culture. History shows prosperity cannot last when it is dependent on the hopeless poverty of others. It is immoral to allow such an unjust system to survive. Even in a perfectly just society, it would be useless to lecture the hurting about their mistakes before dealing with their pain.
It is true that you should teach a man to fish and not just give him a fish, but before teaching him to fish he has to be fit to learn. You cannot teach a starving man to fish. First, give him a fish. Second, teach him the skills that will give him the ability to become a giver of charity and not just a receiver. The goal of any charity is to allow the man who receives it to also be able to gain the astounding blessings of being a giver.
Sadly, it is so much more blessed to give than to receive that the Statist Samaritan tries to give all the blessings to the state. He loves the state and so wishes to turn everyone’s appreciation for charity to it.
Not surprisingly charity that is coerced does harm to everyone. The injured party may be helped at first, but only at the cost of doing injustice to others. Taxing Peter forces Peter to help Paul, often does little for Paul, and almost certainly will make Peter resent Paul. Peter should help Paul, but making him do it will teach both men bad lessons. The taxed feels resentment as the object of his charity lacks a human face—he gives his coerced taxes to faceless bureaucracy—and the recipient becomes the ward of government.
When we pass our moral duties over to the state, we lose the power to do charity ourselves, turn an act of charity into coercion, and give the state too much power. People are habituated to look to the state to meet their needs and not their communities, churches, and family. This weakens every non-state institution and risks tyranny.
Forced charity is inefficient because it rarely distinguishes between worthy and unworthy attempts at charity. By cutting everyone a check or putting everyone in “one size fits all” programs it is radically inefficient and often harms the giver and the recipient. The government takes a slice of the money in order to maintain the program. Often the program itself will outlive its usefulness, but keep using tax money. The closest thing to immortality ever created by humankind is a government program.
Forced charity is bad for us because in removing our liberty to choose between goods it makes us perpetual dependents. No good person wants to be perpetually dependent on his neighbor, because his neighbor has a face and knows him. It is much easier to become a perpetual dependent on the government, because the government is faceless.
Christianity and natural law teach that good men and women should help each other. This charity is best when it is private and not coerced. American popular culture would be wise to celebrate the Samaritan and stop holding up as heroic the conspicuous consumers, Scrooges, or Statists.
The following article is one week late, but still very relevant. It asks a great question … a question which (unfortunately) confuses a whole lot of people. Does God have a vested interest in who wins a football game? Who does He help if people on both sides of the field are praying? Does the “better Christian” or the one who prays “harder” get blessed with a win? Does He care at all? This is a secular article written by a reporter at NBC Sports and I’ve included just a portion of his piece … but it should spark some theological reflection …
Does God care who wins the Super Bowl?
Many stars carry their faith with them to the field, and controversy follows
“If God is for us, who can be against us?” — Romans 8:31
Does God care who wins? Of course He doesn’t.
Unless He does.
After all, who knows what He cares about? Who knows if He is even a He or a She or a Who Am? Or if He even is.
Does God care that Kurt Warner, the quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals, is more likely to be spotted carrying his bible than his playbook? Does God care that Ben Roethlisberger, Warner’s counterpart in Super Bowl XLIII this Sunday, used to adorn his armbands with the letters “PFJ”, an acronym for “Playing For Jesus” (The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback stopped only after the NFL fined him for violating its uniform policy)?
Does God care? Beginning two millennia ago with St. Paul, the author of the quote atop this page, Christian evangelists have traveled the world spreading the gospel of Jesus and courting controversy. They still do so today. It’s just that many of the most famous ones also happen to play quarterback.
Last month, Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford became only the second sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy. Less than 10 seconds after taking the podium, Bradford, speaking before a national television audience, declared, “First, I need to thank God. He’s given me so many blessings. … Without him I’d be nowhere. We’d all be nowhere.”
Colt McCoy, the quarterback who finished second in the Heisman voting, would lead Texas to a Fiesta Bowl win three weeks later. McCoy, who points skyward after every touchdown pass he throws, began his postgame comments by thanking “my lord and savior Jesus Christ.”
Tim Tebow, the Florida quarterback who won the Heisman in 2007 and led the Gators to the national championship earlier this month, uses his eye black to post scripture verses (Phil. 4:13 or John 3:16). In the moments before the Heisman was announced in December, Tebow unabashedly reminded Bradford and McCoy whom to credit, no matter who won. “I just said give credit to God and represent for him,” Tebow said. “I really tried to (stress) that the whole time. I talked to them two or three times about it.”
But what if a player thanked another deity?
“Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking. It’s nothing to brag about. And those who preach faith and enable and elevate it are intellectual slave holders, keeping mankind in a bondage to fantasy and nonsense.” — Bill Maher, “Religulous”
Gregg Doyel of CBSSports.com recently wrote, “Tebow’s religion is seen as good because it is the religion of the majority. But it’s not the religion of everybody. It’s exclusionary, and just because you share Tebow’s faith, that doesn’t mean you’re right.”
And Doyel, by the way, is both a Christian and a Gator alum. His objectivity is not in question.
“Exclusionary?” says Herb Lusk. “That’s a pretty foolish statement. Does the guy that does the Funky Chicken after scoring, does he exclude me?”
Lusk’s reference may be somewhat dated, but he is uniquely situated to engage in this debate. The pastor of the Greater Exodus Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Lusk is also the team chaplain for the Philadelphia Eagles. Thirty-two years ago, as a running back for the Eagles, Lusk took a pitchout from Ron Jaworski at Giants Stadium and ran 70 yards, untouched, to the end zone. Arriving there, Lusk took a knee and forged his legacy: He was the first NFL player to kneel in prayer after scoring a touchdown.
“I thanked God,” said Lusk, who had actually begun the practice while at Long Beach State. “I said a prayer of thanks that I was able to use my talents to the best of my abilities. The referee looked at me, like, ‘Give me the ball.’”
And yet, what if some Cardinal or Steeler were to be named Most Valuable Player come Sunday and lead off his interview in front of the entire world, by saying, “I’d just like to thank L. Ron Hubbard and the church of Scientology?” Or, “I’d just like to express gratitude to my dark lord Beelzebub?”
That might give NBC’s sideline reporter a moment’s pause, no?
Would such a sentiment be blasphemous? To whom? To proponents of Christianity, perhaps, but certainly not to proponents of the First Amendment.
The following blog was written by Dan Philips of Pyromaniacs … it’s a pretty strong commentary on the condition of today’s church pulpit. What do you think … has he overstated his case? Or is he right on the money?
Carpe Diem, preacherdude!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat in an assembly and thought this: Dude, this critical moment, with these assembled people, on this your one shot — and you do that with it?
Let me unpack.
To me, as a preacher, one of the most stirring, throat-grabbing-and-shaking passages in the Bible is the one that starts this way: “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom … (2 Timothy 4:1). What? You charge me with what? I’m sitting up, wide-awake, alert, holding my breath. With an attention-getter like that, what is the apostle going to say.
Next verse: PREACH THE WORD!
There it is. That is our defining task. That is what we must do.
There may be pastoral activities that are nice, and even complementary — but this is not one of them. This is a must. This is definitional. This is non-negotiable. Fail at this, and you fail at pastoral ministry.
So, this guy gets up in the pulpit, right? He’s got all these people, these immortal souls, literally one heartbeat away from an irreversible eternity, and he … does what?
This is the critical moment. These people have re-arranged their calendars. They’ve altered their schedules. They’ve said “No” to every activity but this. They’re just sitting there. Most or all of them are quiet. You’ve got a minute to grab their attention, and fix it on something. What do you do?
Maybe there are 5 people, maybe there are 500 or 5000. Maybe you’ve got 5 minutes, maybe you’ve got 50. Doesn’t matter. What do you do?
This may be the only time they’ve been in a church, about to hear someone who claims to believe the Word, the Gospel. Maybe they’re there because a friend or relative has prayed for them for months, for years, for decades. Finally, they’re in a church, intending to listen to whatever a Christian preacher is about to say. It is literally a critical moment, a moment of crisis, of judgment. Angels attend! The Triune God is there! Endless ages will reverberate with the impact of what happens next. These people are accountable, you are accountable. All eyes are on you.
What do you do? What do you do with that priceless, pivotal, unbearably freighted opportunity?
I can tell you what some do.
This one guy — he tells jokes. Now, anyone who’s heard me preach knows I’ve no problem with humor in the service of a Biblical message. The Bible does it, Spurgeon did it, I do it.
But that isn’t the aim here. That isn’t the purpose. No, these are jokes with the sole purpose of making the joker look cute and clever and witty. “Oh, please — like me,” these jokes wail. “Love me. Think I’m cool!” The audience chuckles, and has a good time. Some of them go off to Hell chuckling.
Then there’s this other guy, who gets up and chats. He shares, he randomly free-associates. Word flow, unfiltered, from imagination to mouth. He poses questions to which he offers no answer. Then he shrugs and wanders on. People leave with no “Thus says the Lord” to challenge their thinking and point them to Christ.
Yet a third fellow tells stories, as if Garrison Keillor were his model for preaching rather than Isaiah or Paul, Wesley, Whitfield, or Spurgeon. They are stories of which the only point is the story itself, or the cleverness of the storyteller. They serve the end of entertaining the audience, or provoking its admiration, or filling time inoffensively. They’ll go off to Hell, or to shame Christ, with a nice story in their ears.
Still another gent weaves a blurry tapestry of vague, gauzy religious sentiments that could equally have been preached by a Unitarian, a pantheist, a New Ager, a Mormon, a Christian Scientist, or a secular motivational speaker. Nobody’s offended. Nobody. People like him, they think he’s clever. Well, good. Because that was his goal: to be liked. Mission Accomplished. He has his reward. They like him … until eternity dawns, and they see how miserably he failed them. But for now, nobody’s offended or upset.
Well, not everybody is not offended or upset. If I’m sitting there, you can lay good money I’m offended. You can bet I’m sitting there fuming, and internally shouting these words: “You had that pulpit, these people, this opportunity — and you did that with it? What, in the name of all that’s holy, were you thinking? You may never see these people again! Nobody may ever see them again! That may have been your one opportunity — and you do that with it? Why did you even get up there? Why are you even a pastor?“
Once again … it is a crucial moment. Vast ages of eternity hold their breath.
What do you do with it?
Preacherdude: best to ask yourself that question now, before it is asked of you on that Day.
I often warn you on Sundays about the pitfalls of always trying to fit “the American way of life” into the Kingdom of God. As much as I love this country – and I thank God regularly for her – there are times when these two ideals cannot be reconciled. We need to be aware of this fact.
In response to some recent statistics about Americans’ perspective on heaven and hell, Dr. Al Mohler wrote the following blog article on this subject. It’s critical that we understand the trend here, because it has a direct impact upon our strategies for evangelism. Read on …
The American Experience & the Death of Evangelism
Every culture and civilization embraces a certain set of assumptions about life, truth, significance, and what it means to be human. Without these shared assumptions, common life would be impossible. Individuals within these societies may not give much active thought to these common assumptions, but their decisions, expectations, and general dispositions reflect the presence of these assumptions. Out of these assumptions an entire way of life emerges.
In America, an identifiable “American way of life” rules as an operational worldview for many persons – perhaps even replacing more fundamental convictions. “The American way” involves, among other things: patriotism, a sense of fair play, equality, personal autonomy, and limitless opportunity. We expect each other to respect these assumptions and ideals.
But, is God accountable to the American way?
Responding to a recent report from the Barna Research Group indicating that Americans Christians are increasingly unwilling to believe that their non-Christian neighbors are going to hell, Boston College sociologist Alan Wolfe explained:
“It’s just part of a 200-year working out of ideas about personal autonomy and equality that are sort of built into the American experience. The notion that someone is going to burn in hell because they have their own beliefs is just not resonant within our larger political ideals.”
Wolfe suggests that Americans are confusing the American experience with the ways of God. Americans generally assume themselves and their fellow citizens to be unconditionally autonomous, free to make and remake themselves, and thus the unfettered captains of their own souls.
Americans are not sure what to do with ideals of equality and fairness, but we are generally certain that equality and fairness are the right categories to employ, regardless of the idea or context. People who think themselves autonomous will claim the right to define all meaning for themselves. Any truth claim they reject or resist is simply ruled out of bounds. We will make our own world of meaning and dare anyone to violate our autonomy.
The same research report indicates that a majority of American Christians pick and choose doctrines, more or less on the basis of those they like as opposed to those they dislike. This certainly explains a great deal about the current shape of Christianity in American today. Specifically, it points to at least one fundamental reason that so many Christians – including a significant number who claim to be evangelical – no longer believe that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. That reason: Eternal punishment in hell is not consistent with “the American experience” or “the American way.” The God of the Bible, in other words, does not act in ways consistent with what many people consider to be American ideals. Sending people to hell is just not fair.
The Bible never claims that God acts fairly, of course. Fairness is the best we mortals can often hope to achieve. We want our children to learn to play fairly and each child learns all too quickly to cry out, “No fair!”
But God does not claim to be fair. The God of the Bible is infinitely greater than we are. He is faithful, just, holy, merciful, gracious, and righteous. A morally perfect being does not operate at the level of mere and faulty human fairness, but at the level of his own omnipotent righteousness. We hope to make things fair. God makes things right.
I think Alan Wolfe is on to something really important here, and Christians should think carefully about what he is saying. The Holy One of Israel, the ruler of all and the sovereign of universe, is not to be judged by his own sinful creatures by the standard of fairness. Doctrines ruled to be “unfair” are cast aside and overridden by our cherished cultural assumptions. Evangelism will die the thousand deaths of cultural awkwardness.
As much as Christians in this blessed nation should respect and cherish our democratic ideals and system of government, we must keep ever in mind that the Kingdom of God is ruled by a higher and infinitely more perfect law and system of governance.
Be warned: God is not running for office, and heaven is not a democracy.
Next Tuesday is Inauguration Day where Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. It’s a patriotic moment … a day for Americans to come together and celebrate our constitutional framework and our country’s long-held traditions. But as you probably know, there is already a divisiveness brewing. There is an undercurrent of conflict surrounding the religious tone of the planned ceremony. Two very different religious figures have been invited to participate … Pastor Rick Warren and Bishop Gene Robinson.
There seems to be little doubt that our nation is divided … red states/blue states and Republican/Democrat. But you can add to that list a growing chasm over the authority of Scripture between people who claim to know Christ and represent Christianity. In the coming days you’ll hear a lot of news pundits and so-called religious experts comment on the appropriateness of the inauguration proceedings. You will hear talk of “inclusion” and “tolerance” and “unity.” And no doubt those of us holding to Scriptural authority will be painted by some as “exclusive” and “intolerant” and “divisive.” Be warned … this battle is only going to get nastier in the coming years.
The following article is from Al Mohler’s blog … it will give you some background on what Bishop Gene Robinson plans to say at the inauguration ceremony. It’s hard to believe, but this seems to be the path our nation is traveling right now. Read on …
The Idol of our Many Understandings
President-elect Barack Obama promised to make his inaugural events the most inclusive ever – and he is making good on his promise. Just over two weeks after gay rights activists condemned his choice of Saddleback pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the ceremony itself, the President-elect and his inaugural committee announced the choice of Bishop Gene Robinson, the openly-homosexual Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, to open the mass event at the Lincoln Memorial with prayer.
The event Bishop Robinson will open with prayer will be a huge opening rally featuring major entertainment figures and a mass gathering on the mall. Artists invited to perform at the event include Bono, Stevie Wonder, and Bruce Springsteen, along with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington.
The choice of Bishop Robinson is not a complete surprise, since the President-elect had met with the bishop during the campaign. Of course, Bishop Robinson is one of the most controversial figures in the entire history of the Episcopal Church. Controversy over his election has led to a schism in his church and a rupture that threatens to unravel the world-wide Anglican Communion.
One interesting facet of the controversies over Warren and Robinson is the fact that the inclusion of the one does not placate the critics of the other. Homosexual activists are still angry over the choice of Warren to deliver the invocation on January 20. A host of others will be offended by the choice of Bishop Robinson. These two responses illustrate the depth of the divide over the issue of homosexuality. The question cuts to the heart of issues including biblical authority and the very nature of humanity. Representation is undoubtedly symbolic, but Rick Warren and Gene Robinson represent radically divergent worldviews. They are not two very different representatives of one religion – they are two very symbolic representatives of two very different religions.
That point is made clear courtesy of Bishop Robinson. Consider this section of the report in The New York Times:
Bishop Robinson said he had been reading inaugural prayers through history and was “horrified” at how “specifically and aggressively Christian they were.”
“I am very clear,” he said, “that this will not be a Christian prayer, and I won’t be quoting Scripture or anything like that. The texts that I hold as sacred are not sacred texts for all Americans, and I want all people to feel that this is their prayer.”
Bishop Robinson said he might address the prayer to “the God of our many understandings,” language that he said he learned from the 12-step program he attended for his alcohol addiction.
Keep in mind that this man is the Bishop of New Hampshire for the Episcopal Church. He is “horrified” by the character of previous inaugural prayers as “specifically and aggressively Christian.”
We can be fairly sure that, for Bishop Robinson, “specifically” and “aggressively” mean more or less the same thing. A review of most recent inaugural prayers reveals virtually nothing that could be fairly described as “aggressive” and remarkably little that can be described as “specific.”
The bishop’s comments reveal just about everything one needs to know about his theology. He pledges that “this will not be a Christian prayer” and he “won’t be quoting Scripture or anything like that.” No, nothing like that.
Recent controversies over praying in the name of Jesus Christ will not be a factor here. Instead, the bishop said he might address his prayer to “the God of our many understandings” – an expression calculated to be vague.
“The crisis in the Church of England,” wrote Clive James in The Dreaming Swimmer, “is that too many of its bishops, and some would say of its archbishops, don’t quite realize that they are atheists.”
The “God of our many understandings” is a confused composite – a very postmodern idol. Clive James is quite right about the theological crisis of unbelieving bishops – but you need go no farther than New Hampshire to find an example.
Happy New Year! At the risk of “bringing you down” today, I want to share some recent data which highlights the challenges we face as a church in 2009. You and I are part of a disappearing group in American culture … Christians who trust the Word of God when it describes the only true path to salvation.
It begs the questions … as we face greater pressure to compromise, will you and I remain resolute on this issue? Are we willing to hold the line and become increasingly criticized and marginalized in the coming years?
The following article is from Al Mohler’s blog …
Are American evangelicals abandoning the exclusivity of the Gospel? A new report out from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life suggests that many evangelical Christians are, at the very least, badly confused about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
As Cathy Lynn Grossman of USA Today reports:
“Most American religious believers, including most Christians, say eternal life is not exclusively for those who accept Christ as their savior, a new survey finds. Of the 65% of people who held this open view of heaven’s gates, 80% named at least one non-Christian group - Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists or people with no religion at all - who may also be saved …”
The report indicates that 52% of those belonging to churches and denominations that teach that Jesus is the only way of salvation reject that teaching.
More from USA Today:
“Christian believers who named at least one non-Christian faith that could lead to salvation included 34% of white evangelicals, even though evangelical doctrine stresses that salvation is possible only through Jesus. Higher levels of church attendance made some difference, particularly among white evangelical Protestants. But an overall majority (54%) of people who identified with a religion and who said they attend church weekly also said many religions can lead to eternal life. This majority included 37% of white evangelicals, 75% of mainline Protestants and 85% of non-Hispanic white Catholics.”
This survey cannot easily be dismissed. The specificity of the responses and the quality of the research sample indicate that we face a serious decline in confidence in the Gospel. When 34% of white evangelicals reject the truth that Jesus is the only Savior, we are witnessing a virtual collapse of evangelical theology.
There is also additional cause for concern. As Cathy Lynn Grossman reports, “Pew’s new survey also found that many Christians (29%) say they are saved by their good actions; 30% say salvation is through belief in Jesus, God or a higher power alone, which is the core teaching of evangelical Protestantism; and 10% say salvation is found through a combination of behavior and belief, a view closer to Catholic teachings.”
I was interviewed for the USA Today story and expressed my concern:
“Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, calls the findings ‘a theological crisis for American evangelicals. They represent at best a misunderstanding of the Gospel and at worst a repudiation of the Gospel.’”
And:
“Overall, the new findings are ‘an indictment of evangelicalism and evangelical preaching,’ said Mohler. ‘The clear Biblical teaching is that Jesus Christ proclaimed himself to be the only way to salvation.’ Mohler sees behind the statistics the impact of pluralism and secularism in U.S. society and the challenge of facing family and friends with ‘an uncomfortable truth.’ We are in an age when we want to tell everyone they are doing just fine. It’s extremely uncomfortable to turn to someone and say, ‘You will go to hell unless you come to a saving knowledge of Jesus,’” Mohler says.
As I told USA Today, this report reveals that a good number of those who attend evangelical churches either misunderstand or repudiate the Gospel. The New Testament reveals not only that Jesus claimed to be the only way to the Father [see John 14:6] but also that the Gospel of Christ is the only message that saves [see Romans 10]. This claim has been central to evangelical conviction – at least until now.
I am confident that much of this confusion can be traced to the superficiality that marks far too many evangelical pulpits. The disappearance of doctrinal understanding and evangelical demonstration can be traced directly to the decline in expository preaching and doctrinal instruction. A loss of evangelistic and missionary commitment can be fully expected as a direct result of this confusion or repudiation of the Gospel.
This new survey should be received with great concern. Will it awaken today’s generation of evangelicals to the catastrophe before our eyes?
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