Wow! I'm amazed at how many apparently intelligent people have suddenly become interested in my blog!
It's important, first of all, to understand my statements in my previous posting. The boundary lines that are clearly drawn in history are that those who do not accept Trinitarian theology are outside the framework of historic Christianity. That is simply objectively true. If you disagree with that statement, you simply are ignorant of the history of orthodoxy. There have always been dissenters, but they've never been considered part of the mainstream of orthodoxy.
Secondly, I made the statement that those who do not acknowledge that the Jesus of the Bible is their Lord are in grave danger. Paul's statement in Galatians 1:8-9 is very clear and pointed. He was clear that Jesus is and was fully God, and that to be outside that, and to proclaim another gospel, is to be accursed. Strong language, and dissenters must face it and deal with it.
Jesus said it best: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. . . ."All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
"I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:1,8-9)
Third, the councils that gave rise to the great creeds, primarily the Nicene creed, were ecumenical councils, and did not give rise to the unique (and erroneous) parts of Catholic theology. Thomas Oden, in his wonderful work "The Word Of Life," (HarperSanFrancisco, 1989) clearly lines out the record of the historic councils on the matter of Christology. You'll find it very helpful.
In the fourth place, this quote from Ivankum's last post points out in a glaring and obvious way the central falsehood in this matter:
It is Trinitarians that are not satisfied with the biblical explanation of who Jesus is. Demanding that I explicitly call Jesus God when the Bible does not is not yours or anyone else’s place to do and this is why after 25 years as a Trinitarian; the scales have been removed from my eyes.
I would simply call to your remembrance that Jesus calls Himself "the Alpha and the Omega" in Rev. 22:13. He received worship, which would have been blasphemous, He claimed God as His Father, which in the Pharisees' clear understanding made Him equal with God (John 5:16-20; John 10:25-33). Jesus did not refute these statements; rather, He accepted these words as an accurate assessment. There is so much New Testament evidence of Jesus' identity as God as to overwhelm the space required to state it all.
I have posted on our website at the International House of Prayer Northwest an excerpt from Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology on the Trinity and its necessity. You can access it by clicking here. Please read it, and may the Holy Spirit truly remove the scales from your eyes. Those who are blind and yet think they see are the most blind of all.
Gary Wiens
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Standing On Firm Foundations
Standing Firm On The Foundation Of Christ: Why It Matters What We Believe
I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine who raised an interesting question. It was this: “What are your ‘brick wall’ doctrines, and what are your ‘picket fence’ doctrines?” He and I were in an interesting dialogue about the chronology of events surrounding the return of Jesus to the earth to establish His Kingdom, and though we came to different conclusions about this particular topic, it was clear that this was a ‘picket fence’ discussion.
There are, however, certain things that are not ‘picket fences,’ but are indeed the ‘brick walls,’ the foundational truths upon which the Christian faith is established. These foundation stones are eternal and essential, and must be maintained in each generation if we are in fact going to call ourselves Christian. These are the bedrock belief systems that, if you change them, you can no longer honestly call yourself part of that company that makes up historic Christianity.
One of these ‘brick wall’ realities is the nature of God as a Triune Being, one God in three Persons, with each Person – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – being eternal, fully God, yet each with His own personality and role within the Godhead. Within this Trinitarian formula falls the nature of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son, the second Person of the Trinity, who existed with the Father as the Word (Logos), and who took on humanity when He was born of the Virgin Mary. He always has been fully God, before He was human, while He was on the earth in His first visit to the planet (the Incarnation), and now as the Heavenly Man in the Father’s presence as He awaits the timing of His return to earth.
This Jesus was the agent of creation, the unique Son of God, the One who holds all things together, in Whom is life itself. He is the one Mediator between God and man, and if you attempt to change His identity you are in grave danger. The New Testament tells us that in these last days many different “Christs” will be presented, but there is only one who is true, and who is worthy of our trust and confidence. Faith in another Jesus – one not presented in the Bible – will not be sufficient for relationship with God and hope for eternal life, no matter how sincerely that faith is held.
Jesus Himself raised the issue to His disciples when He asked the question, “Who do men say that I am?” Several answers were given, and then Jesus made it personal: “Who do you say that I am?” When Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” Jesus declared that Peter was blessed by the Father with supernatural revelation that could not come by reasoning process or by the instruction of men. Only the Spirit of God can show us who Jesus is by revealing Him in agreement with the Scriptures. If the revelation you have received does not square with the Jesus of the apostles and the Scriptures, you need to scrap that revelation and turn to the truth as quickly as possible. In 2 Corinthians 11:1-4 we are warned that through a deception similar to what happened in the Garden of Eden, our minds may be corrupted to believe in another Jesus, one that is different from the one presented by Paul and the other writers of Scripture.
I hear many who are excited in our time because people like Glenn Beck are calling us to return to God and to Jesus for the restoration of our nation. That’s a good idea, but don’t go to Beck’s Jesus, for as a Mormon, he is talking about a different Jesus than the one the Bible speaks of. There are those who find it difficult to comprehend the Trinitarian teaching of the Scripture, so they change the nature of Jesus to make it more understandable. This is not acceptable! You end up with another Jesus, a different gospel, and leave yourself open to other levels of deception.
There are certain things to be passionate about, and this is one of them. I’m not talking about mindless acceptance – believe me, there is so much room for inquiry into the vast realms of the knowledge of the Son of God – but it must be inquiry within the boundaries, the ‘brick wall’ of the nature of Christ as revealed in the Bible. Though He is beyond comprehension, He will fascinate you and thrill you with the revelation of who He is as our Champion, our Prophet, Priest, and King.
Gary Wiens
I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine who raised an interesting question. It was this: “What are your ‘brick wall’ doctrines, and what are your ‘picket fence’ doctrines?” He and I were in an interesting dialogue about the chronology of events surrounding the return of Jesus to the earth to establish His Kingdom, and though we came to different conclusions about this particular topic, it was clear that this was a ‘picket fence’ discussion.
There are, however, certain things that are not ‘picket fences,’ but are indeed the ‘brick walls,’ the foundational truths upon which the Christian faith is established. These foundation stones are eternal and essential, and must be maintained in each generation if we are in fact going to call ourselves Christian. These are the bedrock belief systems that, if you change them, you can no longer honestly call yourself part of that company that makes up historic Christianity.
One of these ‘brick wall’ realities is the nature of God as a Triune Being, one God in three Persons, with each Person – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – being eternal, fully God, yet each with His own personality and role within the Godhead. Within this Trinitarian formula falls the nature of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son, the second Person of the Trinity, who existed with the Father as the Word (Logos), and who took on humanity when He was born of the Virgin Mary. He always has been fully God, before He was human, while He was on the earth in His first visit to the planet (the Incarnation), and now as the Heavenly Man in the Father’s presence as He awaits the timing of His return to earth.
This Jesus was the agent of creation, the unique Son of God, the One who holds all things together, in Whom is life itself. He is the one Mediator between God and man, and if you attempt to change His identity you are in grave danger. The New Testament tells us that in these last days many different “Christs” will be presented, but there is only one who is true, and who is worthy of our trust and confidence. Faith in another Jesus – one not presented in the Bible – will not be sufficient for relationship with God and hope for eternal life, no matter how sincerely that faith is held.
Jesus Himself raised the issue to His disciples when He asked the question, “Who do men say that I am?” Several answers were given, and then Jesus made it personal: “Who do you say that I am?” When Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” Jesus declared that Peter was blessed by the Father with supernatural revelation that could not come by reasoning process or by the instruction of men. Only the Spirit of God can show us who Jesus is by revealing Him in agreement with the Scriptures. If the revelation you have received does not square with the Jesus of the apostles and the Scriptures, you need to scrap that revelation and turn to the truth as quickly as possible. In 2 Corinthians 11:1-4 we are warned that through a deception similar to what happened in the Garden of Eden, our minds may be corrupted to believe in another Jesus, one that is different from the one presented by Paul and the other writers of Scripture.
I hear many who are excited in our time because people like Glenn Beck are calling us to return to God and to Jesus for the restoration of our nation. That’s a good idea, but don’t go to Beck’s Jesus, for as a Mormon, he is talking about a different Jesus than the one the Bible speaks of. There are those who find it difficult to comprehend the Trinitarian teaching of the Scripture, so they change the nature of Jesus to make it more understandable. This is not acceptable! You end up with another Jesus, a different gospel, and leave yourself open to other levels of deception.
There are certain things to be passionate about, and this is one of them. I’m not talking about mindless acceptance – believe me, there is so much room for inquiry into the vast realms of the knowledge of the Son of God – but it must be inquiry within the boundaries, the ‘brick wall’ of the nature of Christ as revealed in the Bible. Though He is beyond comprehension, He will fascinate you and thrill you with the revelation of who He is as our Champion, our Prophet, Priest, and King.
Gary Wiens
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The Need For The Father's Voice
If there is one thing that we are living under in these days, in terms of difficulties that are spelled out in the Scriptures, I believe it is the curse of Malachi chapter 4. This section of the Bible declares that a very important spiritual dynamic must be released as the present age comes to a close, or else we will find ourselves in a boatload of trouble. Malachi says that the spirit of Elijah must be released, the effect of which will be to turn the hearts of fathers and children toward one another in an expression of reconciliation and healing. If that dynamic does not happen, there will be a curse that will strike the land. That curse is the reality of our day – the brokenness of relationship between children and fathers, and even more significant, the brokenness of connection with God, Who is the ultimate Father with Whom every person must be reconciled.
Here’s why this need for the Father’s voice is so profound. Every individual is defined by the input that comes to them through significant other voices, most profoundly, the voice of the father. As much as we may protest in our current state that we are autonomous, that it is up to us to validate and authenticate our own existence, it is simply not true. The history of every individual is filled with voices that define us, some positive, some negative. Every individual has an internal awareness that they ought to be someone special, that someone ought to care about them, and that someone authoritative must declare their worth to them so they can step into their destiny.
I recently read an article about Tony Dungy, who is a Christian, and a former NFL football player and Super Bowl winning player and coach. He is having a profound impact in the lives of a number of visible athletes, speaking into their lives as a father-figure, helping shape and define their self-images so that they can live effectively. The reason that Tony is successful at this is because Christians believe that we can have a relationship with the ultimate Father, Who is the creator God. This Father God thought all these individuals up in the first place, defined them, and set before them a journey of discovery into the identity that would resonate with how He made them to live.
Without a relationship with God, there is no hope of connecting with true identity, since He alone holds the information, and He alone has the ability and willingness to communicate that information with truth and trustworthiness. What we have done in our culture is insisted that our young people come from nothing – there is no Father’s voice out there, we’re all here by chance, and it’s up to us to make something out of our lives. As long as we validate and authenticate our existence by what we do, all is well.
The problem with that is that there is no value system in such a culture that gives a reference point concerning whether that authentication process is good or bad. There can be no good or bad, because we’ve eliminated the reference points of truth by which good or evil can be measured. Therefore, the gang-banger and the missionary are equally valid, because no one can say whether their choices are right or wrong – just that we happen to prefer one over the other.
Thankfully, the universe does not really operate like that. There is a God Who is infinite, personal, and good, and Who communicates truthfully about important things like destiny and purpose. He is speaking continually – through nature, through the Scriptures, through His Son Jesus Christ – and anyone who desires to hear Him can begin to learn how. This God meets the need of every human being, because His is the Father’s voice that we long to hear. Those who listen to Him can not only discover the meaning of their own lives, and begin to walk it out, but can also listen on behalf of others – like Tony Dungy for Michael Vick and others. Any human father or mother or sibling or friend or acquaintance or total stranger can listen for the voice of God, and speak truth over the life of a child, a friend, or a stranger. God desires relationship, and is quite willing to speak to His friends about others that He loves so they might be drawn into the same relationship.
When these friends of God listen, and then speak according to what the Father reveals, the words resonate with the inherent reality that each person holds inside their secret heart. If they will listen, the voice of the Father will awaken them to life and reality, and the curse will begin to be reversed.
All this is possible because of what God did through His Son, Jesus Christ – the One the Bible talks about. But that’s a topic for another day.
Gary Wiens
Here’s why this need for the Father’s voice is so profound. Every individual is defined by the input that comes to them through significant other voices, most profoundly, the voice of the father. As much as we may protest in our current state that we are autonomous, that it is up to us to validate and authenticate our own existence, it is simply not true. The history of every individual is filled with voices that define us, some positive, some negative. Every individual has an internal awareness that they ought to be someone special, that someone ought to care about them, and that someone authoritative must declare their worth to them so they can step into their destiny.
I recently read an article about Tony Dungy, who is a Christian, and a former NFL football player and Super Bowl winning player and coach. He is having a profound impact in the lives of a number of visible athletes, speaking into their lives as a father-figure, helping shape and define their self-images so that they can live effectively. The reason that Tony is successful at this is because Christians believe that we can have a relationship with the ultimate Father, Who is the creator God. This Father God thought all these individuals up in the first place, defined them, and set before them a journey of discovery into the identity that would resonate with how He made them to live.
Without a relationship with God, there is no hope of connecting with true identity, since He alone holds the information, and He alone has the ability and willingness to communicate that information with truth and trustworthiness. What we have done in our culture is insisted that our young people come from nothing – there is no Father’s voice out there, we’re all here by chance, and it’s up to us to make something out of our lives. As long as we validate and authenticate our existence by what we do, all is well.
The problem with that is that there is no value system in such a culture that gives a reference point concerning whether that authentication process is good or bad. There can be no good or bad, because we’ve eliminated the reference points of truth by which good or evil can be measured. Therefore, the gang-banger and the missionary are equally valid, because no one can say whether their choices are right or wrong – just that we happen to prefer one over the other.
Thankfully, the universe does not really operate like that. There is a God Who is infinite, personal, and good, and Who communicates truthfully about important things like destiny and purpose. He is speaking continually – through nature, through the Scriptures, through His Son Jesus Christ – and anyone who desires to hear Him can begin to learn how. This God meets the need of every human being, because His is the Father’s voice that we long to hear. Those who listen to Him can not only discover the meaning of their own lives, and begin to walk it out, but can also listen on behalf of others – like Tony Dungy for Michael Vick and others. Any human father or mother or sibling or friend or acquaintance or total stranger can listen for the voice of God, and speak truth over the life of a child, a friend, or a stranger. God desires relationship, and is quite willing to speak to His friends about others that He loves so they might be drawn into the same relationship.
When these friends of God listen, and then speak according to what the Father reveals, the words resonate with the inherent reality that each person holds inside their secret heart. If they will listen, the voice of the Father will awaken them to life and reality, and the curse will begin to be reversed.
All this is possible because of what God did through His Son, Jesus Christ – the One the Bible talks about. But that’s a topic for another day.
Gary Wiens
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Can Hope Be Real?
It’s early on a Saturday morning, and I’m wide awake when I should be sound asleep. I had some stuff rolling around in my head, and so I decided the best thing to do would be to get it written down so I can do what any self-respecting male would do on a rainy Saturday morning – get some more sleep!
Here’s the biggest problem we face in our culture, in my opinion. We have trained our young people for several decades now to think of themselves as nothings that come from nowhere and who are going nowhere. We have systematically eliminated any knowledge of God from our school systems, preferring to talk about the religion of evolution that tells us we mysteriously appeared by chance over a great amount of time, with no purpose or definition that impels us to greatness. By the way, I call evolution a religion because it takes a great deal more faith to believe its foolish claims than to look at the evidence of a beautiful, elegant universe and realize that there is no way it could just appear out of nothing. Someone personal, infinite, and intelligent had to design it and start the whole thing rolling. You cannot live consistently with the belief system that tells you that you came from nothing, that you have no meaning, and that you’re going nowhere.
Everything inside us screams at us that the opposite is true. We instinctively know that someone ought to notice us, someone ought to be paying attention, someone ought to be telling me that I’m worth something and that I can have an impact in life. Instead, we tell our children that they don’t matter, that abortion is one of the great cures of human ills, that mother earth is more important than they are (remember to be “green” and don’t leave any carbon footprint that might disturb the polar bears or the little tadpole that swims in a mountain stream!). Then we are totally surprised when some young person believes the message, and realizes that the only thing that makes any sense in the worldview that we’ve thrust upon them is to end everyone’s pain – mostly their own – by killing as many as you can before you kill yourself. Nihilism is the only logical conclusion of the worldview that dominates our culture today. If we come from nowhere, and are going nowhere, what’s the point anyway? I would eat, drink, and be merry, but the pain is too great, so I’ll destroy myself and take as many with me as I can.
This is the death culture of the young generation, and it is unthinkably tragic to someone like me. It’s tragic because I have a totally different worldview than the one I’ve described. My life matters, and so does yours, because there is an infinite, personal, beautiful Someone out there who thought me up, who designed me, who speaks to me about my identity and purpose, and who infuses His own life into me so that I can live up to His vision of who I am. This Someone is God, and because He is there and is communicating, my life has meaning. I can know who I am to Him, and I can know who you are to Him. Therefore, you can mean something to me, and I can relate to you in love because I have received the love that He has for me.
I can know these things because this God has spoken and continues to speak. He is personal, so He has communicated personally. He is intelligent, so He has created me with intelligence and with the ability to hear Him and to understand what He says. Though the information He gives me is not exhaustive, it is true. There is mystery to be sure, but the mystery is not nonsense. The mystery is a realm of wonder that is available to me by the Spirit of God, if I will seek Him on His terms. Since He created me, He has the right to set the terms of our relationship. He has spoken consistently and truthfully over the ages, and His truth is made real to the human realm because He lived it out personally on the earth in His own Son, Jesus Christ.
This line of thinking is no leap of faith into a realm of mystical imaginings. These things have been revealed by the Spirit of God through the ages to human beings who wrote them down. Their message is consistent and it fits human life as it really is. Jesus is not an ideal to be copied, He is a real person who is also God, and who proved His divine-human connection by living perfectly, dying in my place and yours, and rising again from the grave in a human body. The great prophets of the world’s religions all have burial sites – only one of those sites is empty.
Only this worldview gives any hope to humanity. Only this gospel is internally consistent, with the ability to withstand any scrutiny. Only this reality sets personal, holy love at the base of everything else, and then gives the power to live in that love with all who will receive it. Only this Biblical worldview explains mankind as it is today – broken and filled with rebellion, not living according to the design of the Creator. Only this message tells us there is real forgiveness, a real way out of despair, and a real hope for a glorious eternal future. There is no other hope but that which is given to us in the Bible, the Word of God, lived out by the Man Jesus Christ, who still lives and who is preparing to return to the earth to take ownership and leadership of the planet and the people He loves.
More later. GW
Here’s the biggest problem we face in our culture, in my opinion. We have trained our young people for several decades now to think of themselves as nothings that come from nowhere and who are going nowhere. We have systematically eliminated any knowledge of God from our school systems, preferring to talk about the religion of evolution that tells us we mysteriously appeared by chance over a great amount of time, with no purpose or definition that impels us to greatness. By the way, I call evolution a religion because it takes a great deal more faith to believe its foolish claims than to look at the evidence of a beautiful, elegant universe and realize that there is no way it could just appear out of nothing. Someone personal, infinite, and intelligent had to design it and start the whole thing rolling. You cannot live consistently with the belief system that tells you that you came from nothing, that you have no meaning, and that you’re going nowhere.
Everything inside us screams at us that the opposite is true. We instinctively know that someone ought to notice us, someone ought to be paying attention, someone ought to be telling me that I’m worth something and that I can have an impact in life. Instead, we tell our children that they don’t matter, that abortion is one of the great cures of human ills, that mother earth is more important than they are (remember to be “green” and don’t leave any carbon footprint that might disturb the polar bears or the little tadpole that swims in a mountain stream!). Then we are totally surprised when some young person believes the message, and realizes that the only thing that makes any sense in the worldview that we’ve thrust upon them is to end everyone’s pain – mostly their own – by killing as many as you can before you kill yourself. Nihilism is the only logical conclusion of the worldview that dominates our culture today. If we come from nowhere, and are going nowhere, what’s the point anyway? I would eat, drink, and be merry, but the pain is too great, so I’ll destroy myself and take as many with me as I can.
This is the death culture of the young generation, and it is unthinkably tragic to someone like me. It’s tragic because I have a totally different worldview than the one I’ve described. My life matters, and so does yours, because there is an infinite, personal, beautiful Someone out there who thought me up, who designed me, who speaks to me about my identity and purpose, and who infuses His own life into me so that I can live up to His vision of who I am. This Someone is God, and because He is there and is communicating, my life has meaning. I can know who I am to Him, and I can know who you are to Him. Therefore, you can mean something to me, and I can relate to you in love because I have received the love that He has for me.
I can know these things because this God has spoken and continues to speak. He is personal, so He has communicated personally. He is intelligent, so He has created me with intelligence and with the ability to hear Him and to understand what He says. Though the information He gives me is not exhaustive, it is true. There is mystery to be sure, but the mystery is not nonsense. The mystery is a realm of wonder that is available to me by the Spirit of God, if I will seek Him on His terms. Since He created me, He has the right to set the terms of our relationship. He has spoken consistently and truthfully over the ages, and His truth is made real to the human realm because He lived it out personally on the earth in His own Son, Jesus Christ.
This line of thinking is no leap of faith into a realm of mystical imaginings. These things have been revealed by the Spirit of God through the ages to human beings who wrote them down. Their message is consistent and it fits human life as it really is. Jesus is not an ideal to be copied, He is a real person who is also God, and who proved His divine-human connection by living perfectly, dying in my place and yours, and rising again from the grave in a human body. The great prophets of the world’s religions all have burial sites – only one of those sites is empty.
Only this worldview gives any hope to humanity. Only this gospel is internally consistent, with the ability to withstand any scrutiny. Only this reality sets personal, holy love at the base of everything else, and then gives the power to live in that love with all who will receive it. Only this Biblical worldview explains mankind as it is today – broken and filled with rebellion, not living according to the design of the Creator. Only this message tells us there is real forgiveness, a real way out of despair, and a real hope for a glorious eternal future. There is no other hope but that which is given to us in the Bible, the Word of God, lived out by the Man Jesus Christ, who still lives and who is preparing to return to the earth to take ownership and leadership of the planet and the people He loves.
More later. GW
Monday, January 11, 2010
Something Is Out There! How Come?
I want to thank Fishcleaner for his/her thoughtful comments on my last posting. I fully agree that it is not sufficient for us Bible-believing followers of Jesus to merely talk to ourselves in congratulatory tones, affirming that we have kept the faith, but to have no reasonable explanation for why that’s important or possible. So, in the next several entries, I’m going to try to lay out a reasonable basis for the hope I have in the God that the Bible talks about, in the Jesus of the New Testament, and in the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish God’s purposes in a way that will mean maximum benefit and blessing for all who give themselves to Him. Let’s begin!
Suppose you wake up some morning in a philosophical mood, and take a step out your front door. The first thing that you would ask yourself in this reflective moment is this: “Is there anything out there?” I mean, is there stuff out there that really exists, that’s not imaginary or just an illusion. In simple terms, if I walk out in my yard and take steps toward that tree next to my driveway, will I actually bang into it and get a bloody nose, or will I just pass through it as though it were a mist?
The answer to your question has to be “yes, there really is something out there. I can see it, I can feel it, and I have to deal with its presence when I back my car out of the driveway, or I’ll have a big problem and a bad day.” Once that first question is answered, it demands the second question: “How did what is there get there?” Did it just mysteriously appear, or was there some sort of agent that produced that reality? Now remember, when you ask that question, you have to deal with everything that is actually there – the whole line-up of things that exist, including nature, people, beauty, evil, poverty – how did what is there get there?
People who really believe in materialistic evolution insist that everything that’s out there came out of nothing. I mean, nothing nothing. You can’t start with something like primordial ooze, because then you still have the question, how did that get there? People can try to explain with all kinds of complex sentences how something came out of nothing, but the simple fact is that it cannot be explained. You can’t get something from nothing. There has to be something eternal and infinite behind the something that is temporal and finite.
The question gets more complicated when you realize that part of what is out there is you. A person, one among many. You have this thing called a “personality,” the unique dimensions of you that make you who you are. You are a personal entity, with feelings, emotions, thought patterns, physical realities, relational and physical needs – so how did you, the personal you, get here? (I’m not asking a biological question!) Since you and I are personal beings, which is a higher order of being than if we were not personal, it must mean that whatever entity was behind the whole thing is personal as well, because you can’t get something personal from something that is not personal. For example, if you come home from school or work one day, and find a letter on your table that communicates something to you, you assume it is from someone, not from something. It’s a personal note or gift, and cannot possibly have come from a non-personal entity. Even if the letter was computer generated, somewhere, somehow there was a person behind it!
So, it’s more reasonable to assume that the eternal and infinite entity that started the whole process is also personal, because only that assumption can explain what is actually out there. Remember your old high school science experiments that taught you that water cannot rise higher than the level of its source. In the same way, personal beings could not possibly have arisen out of an impersonal source. To believe that would take more faith, more suspension of disbelief, than to believe that something personal, in other words, Someone was behind the beginning of it all. The most reasonable explanation for what is really out there is that there is a personal, infinite Someone who thought it all up and caused it to exist. That has to be the starting point.
We’ll go farther next time.
GW
Suppose you wake up some morning in a philosophical mood, and take a step out your front door. The first thing that you would ask yourself in this reflective moment is this: “Is there anything out there?” I mean, is there stuff out there that really exists, that’s not imaginary or just an illusion. In simple terms, if I walk out in my yard and take steps toward that tree next to my driveway, will I actually bang into it and get a bloody nose, or will I just pass through it as though it were a mist?
The answer to your question has to be “yes, there really is something out there. I can see it, I can feel it, and I have to deal with its presence when I back my car out of the driveway, or I’ll have a big problem and a bad day.” Once that first question is answered, it demands the second question: “How did what is there get there?” Did it just mysteriously appear, or was there some sort of agent that produced that reality? Now remember, when you ask that question, you have to deal with everything that is actually there – the whole line-up of things that exist, including nature, people, beauty, evil, poverty – how did what is there get there?
People who really believe in materialistic evolution insist that everything that’s out there came out of nothing. I mean, nothing nothing. You can’t start with something like primordial ooze, because then you still have the question, how did that get there? People can try to explain with all kinds of complex sentences how something came out of nothing, but the simple fact is that it cannot be explained. You can’t get something from nothing. There has to be something eternal and infinite behind the something that is temporal and finite.
The question gets more complicated when you realize that part of what is out there is you. A person, one among many. You have this thing called a “personality,” the unique dimensions of you that make you who you are. You are a personal entity, with feelings, emotions, thought patterns, physical realities, relational and physical needs – so how did you, the personal you, get here? (I’m not asking a biological question!) Since you and I are personal beings, which is a higher order of being than if we were not personal, it must mean that whatever entity was behind the whole thing is personal as well, because you can’t get something personal from something that is not personal. For example, if you come home from school or work one day, and find a letter on your table that communicates something to you, you assume it is from someone, not from something. It’s a personal note or gift, and cannot possibly have come from a non-personal entity. Even if the letter was computer generated, somewhere, somehow there was a person behind it!
So, it’s more reasonable to assume that the eternal and infinite entity that started the whole process is also personal, because only that assumption can explain what is actually out there. Remember your old high school science experiments that taught you that water cannot rise higher than the level of its source. In the same way, personal beings could not possibly have arisen out of an impersonal source. To believe that would take more faith, more suspension of disbelief, than to believe that something personal, in other words, Someone was behind the beginning of it all. The most reasonable explanation for what is really out there is that there is a personal, infinite Someone who thought it all up and caused it to exist. That has to be the starting point.
We’ll go farther next time.
GW
Friday, January 8, 2010
Emergent Celebration or End of the Age Foolishness?
I just watched an interview on a website called “TheOoze.com,” which is one of the main reference points for those engaged in the Emergent Church conversation. I’m one who has come lately to this dialogue, having recently read and been impacted (stimulated and disturbed at the same time) by a book entitled “Why We’re Not Emergent” by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. The subtitle is intriguing: “By Two Guys Who Should Be.”
I was stimulated by the book because I’m one who firmly believes that God is really there, and that He has really spoken to us truthfully and without error through His written Word – the Bible – and ultimately through His own Son, the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. These two guys also believe that, and therefore we have a solid basis for communication, because words can have meaning only so far as they refer to a solid basis of objective, propositional truth. The book was disturbing to me because through their writing I was exposed to the thought processes of some who are giving leadership to the emerging/Emergent church movement. So, I decided to go to the source and see for myself, thus ending up at TheOoze.com.
It’s a very attractive website, with all kinds of interesting links and connections, video clips, and visually appealing design. Even though I’m an old guy, I’m totally interested in the young adult generations, and the media presentations and language that appeal to them. However, this morning when I watched the interview between Spencer Burke, who authors much of the stuff on the site, and Tim King, an author and publisher, I was appalled to the point of disbelief and even anger.
These two guys were talking about downplaying discussions concerning the end of the age (which they called “doomsday scenarios”), and instead the need to move past our theologies to embrace the mystery of the unknowable God, who has given us pointers to Himself (though He apparently cannot be found) through all religious systems, not just Christianity. Burke and King were speaking with great relief about finally transcending our formative theological patterns, renouncing the need to convert others, and moving into the exhilaration of true dialogue and celebration with those of differing belief systems, kneeling humbly before the feet of mystery, seeking together to find the unknowable God.
This is malarkey. There’s a more contemporary term that would be totally accurate, but I’m enough of a traditionalist to confine that term to mostly private muttered syllables emerging at times of personal frustration, for example, on the golf course.
First of all, God is not unknowable. Though we do not have exhaustive truth concerning Him (since He is infinite there is still plenty of mystery to go around), He has communicated truthfully and accurately concerning Himself through His Word and through the person of Jesus. His Word is truth, and Jesus is the absolutely accurate representation of that truth in human form. Jesus was pretty exclusive in His claims and demands. He stated that He is the only way to the Father. He commanded His followers to know Him and obey Him. He gave us of His Spirit so that we might have the power to live like He lived, and He commanded us to make disciples of all the nations, teaching them to observe everything He taught His followers. Jesus alone provided necessary forgiveness and the power to be transformed, and He clearly stated that to refuse Him is to refuse the Father, who is God.
The only reason God seems to be unknowable to men like Burke and King is that they have turned their backs on the One who makes Him known, seeing Jesus only as a model for living, and not as the Living One who encounters us by His Holy Spirit to reveal truth about Himself and His Father to us. This kind of stuff is poison for the mind and soul, and if it is read or listened to at all, please approach it with a clear filter of truth in place. The journey they are on is one that leads to death, and they need to encounter the Jesus of the Bible, repent, and be saved.
GW
I was stimulated by the book because I’m one who firmly believes that God is really there, and that He has really spoken to us truthfully and without error through His written Word – the Bible – and ultimately through His own Son, the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. These two guys also believe that, and therefore we have a solid basis for communication, because words can have meaning only so far as they refer to a solid basis of objective, propositional truth. The book was disturbing to me because through their writing I was exposed to the thought processes of some who are giving leadership to the emerging/Emergent church movement. So, I decided to go to the source and see for myself, thus ending up at TheOoze.com.
It’s a very attractive website, with all kinds of interesting links and connections, video clips, and visually appealing design. Even though I’m an old guy, I’m totally interested in the young adult generations, and the media presentations and language that appeal to them. However, this morning when I watched the interview between Spencer Burke, who authors much of the stuff on the site, and Tim King, an author and publisher, I was appalled to the point of disbelief and even anger.
These two guys were talking about downplaying discussions concerning the end of the age (which they called “doomsday scenarios”), and instead the need to move past our theologies to embrace the mystery of the unknowable God, who has given us pointers to Himself (though He apparently cannot be found) through all religious systems, not just Christianity. Burke and King were speaking with great relief about finally transcending our formative theological patterns, renouncing the need to convert others, and moving into the exhilaration of true dialogue and celebration with those of differing belief systems, kneeling humbly before the feet of mystery, seeking together to find the unknowable God.
This is malarkey. There’s a more contemporary term that would be totally accurate, but I’m enough of a traditionalist to confine that term to mostly private muttered syllables emerging at times of personal frustration, for example, on the golf course.
First of all, God is not unknowable. Though we do not have exhaustive truth concerning Him (since He is infinite there is still plenty of mystery to go around), He has communicated truthfully and accurately concerning Himself through His Word and through the person of Jesus. His Word is truth, and Jesus is the absolutely accurate representation of that truth in human form. Jesus was pretty exclusive in His claims and demands. He stated that He is the only way to the Father. He commanded His followers to know Him and obey Him. He gave us of His Spirit so that we might have the power to live like He lived, and He commanded us to make disciples of all the nations, teaching them to observe everything He taught His followers. Jesus alone provided necessary forgiveness and the power to be transformed, and He clearly stated that to refuse Him is to refuse the Father, who is God.
The only reason God seems to be unknowable to men like Burke and King is that they have turned their backs on the One who makes Him known, seeing Jesus only as a model for living, and not as the Living One who encounters us by His Holy Spirit to reveal truth about Himself and His Father to us. This kind of stuff is poison for the mind and soul, and if it is read or listened to at all, please approach it with a clear filter of truth in place. The journey they are on is one that leads to death, and they need to encounter the Jesus of the Bible, repent, and be saved.
GW
Monday, January 4, 2010
Welcome to Papa'sEyes
I suppose I feel a bit presumptuous entering the blogging world, because it means that I'm assuming there's someone out there that might care what I think about things. But there are some things I really care about, and one of those things is the choices that people make as they are finding their way from day to day.
I'm one who believes that we don't need to simply stumble along in the journey, looking sideways to fellow-travelers who have no more idea of where they're going and how to get there than we do. Instead, I believe that there is a Father in heaven who cares profoundly who we are and how we're doing along the way. He loves us deeply and personally, and is so very willing to talk with us about anything that concerns us.
Because of this deep love for us, the Father sent One who has gone before us through all the twists and turns of life, who navigated perfectly because He was led by the Spirit of His Father. That One who has gone before us is Jesus - the One the Bible talks about. He is God, but He lived on earth as a man filled with the Holy Spirit, following His Father's will, and providing for you and me a perfect model of how to live, along with the power to live that way.
In addition to the leadership of Jesus, there is this whole company of people who have followed Him through history, whose journey was directed by the Spirit of Jesus. These people actually arrived successfully at their intended destination, taking notes along the way that are really helpful to us. The Bible calls this group "a great cloud of witnesses" (the book of Hebrews, chapter 12 verse 1), people whose spirits are very much alive and well, and whose writings serve us well as guideposts along the way.
So, I hope you'll check in with me here from time to time. My hope is to provide some trustworthy reference points, since without them it's hard to know if you're even on the right road, let alone getting to where you want to go.
More soon. Blessings on you!
I'm one who believes that we don't need to simply stumble along in the journey, looking sideways to fellow-travelers who have no more idea of where they're going and how to get there than we do. Instead, I believe that there is a Father in heaven who cares profoundly who we are and how we're doing along the way. He loves us deeply and personally, and is so very willing to talk with us about anything that concerns us.
Because of this deep love for us, the Father sent One who has gone before us through all the twists and turns of life, who navigated perfectly because He was led by the Spirit of His Father. That One who has gone before us is Jesus - the One the Bible talks about. He is God, but He lived on earth as a man filled with the Holy Spirit, following His Father's will, and providing for you and me a perfect model of how to live, along with the power to live that way.
In addition to the leadership of Jesus, there is this whole company of people who have followed Him through history, whose journey was directed by the Spirit of Jesus. These people actually arrived successfully at their intended destination, taking notes along the way that are really helpful to us. The Bible calls this group "a great cloud of witnesses" (the book of Hebrews, chapter 12 verse 1), people whose spirits are very much alive and well, and whose writings serve us well as guideposts along the way.
So, I hope you'll check in with me here from time to time. My hope is to provide some trustworthy reference points, since without them it's hard to know if you're even on the right road, let alone getting to where you want to go.
More soon. Blessings on you!
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