By R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Editor's Note: Last week's Supreme Court decision on partial birth abortion may or may not be a bellweather of things to come in the public debate over the unborn child's right to life. Still, Dr. Mohler's commentary provides thoughtful insight into the issues at hand and the language each side uses to describe them."
In an historic 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed the government’s right to ban the partial birth abortion procedure. The court reversed the rulings of six lower courts that had struck down the ban. The measure had been passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in 2003.
Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion. Kennedy has succeeded retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor as the most frequent “swing” vote among the nine justices. Kennedy also wrote the majority opinion in the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision—a decision that basically affirmed the court’s infamous 1973 decision legalizing abortion, Roe v. Wade.
The decision handed down, Gonzales v. Carhart was a stunning blow to pro-abortion forces because it represented the first time a specific abortion procedure had been successfully banned.
A closer look at the majority opinion reveals even more. Justice Kennedy acknowledged that, for many, even the most common abortion procedure is “a procedure itself laden with the power to devalue human life.” This is rather amazing language in itself, but Justice Kennedy then argued that the partial birth procedure “implicates additional ethical and moral concerns that justify a special prohibition.”
The explicit inclusion of this moral language marks a great achievement in this decision. So is the decision’s acknowledgement that “it seems unexceptionable to conclude some women come to regret their choice to abort the infant life they once created and sustained.”
Then, follow the progression of this argument:
“In a decision so fraught with emotional consequence some doctors may prefer not to disclose precise details of the means that will be used, confining themselves to the required statement of risks the procedure entails. From one standpoint this ought not to be surprising. Any number of patients facing imminent surgical procedures would prefer not to hear all details, lest the usual anxiety preceding invasive medical procedures become the more intense. This is likely the case with the abortion procedures here in issue....
“It is, however, precisely this lack of information concerning the way in which the fetus will be killed that is of legitimate concern to the State.... The State has an interest in ensuring so grave a choice is well informed. It is self-evident that a mother who comes to regret her choice to abort must struggle with grief more anguished and sorrow more profound when she learns, only after the event, what she once did not know: that she allowed a doctor to pierce the skull and vacuum the fast-developing brain of her unborn child, a child assuming the human form.”
Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts joined in Kennedy’s opinion. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas joined the decision, but issued a separate concurring opinion that included this bold assertion: “The Court’s abortion jurisprudence, including Casey and Roe v. Wade...has no basis in the Constitution.”
In an angry dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg declared the majority decision to be “alarming.” Most remarkably, she attacked the majority’s concern for the emotional health of mothers (due to the unique bond between mother and child) as “discredited.”
Here is her statement: “This way of thinking reflects ancient notions about women’s place in the family and under the Constitution—ideas that have long since been discredited.”
The acknowledgement of a unique bond between mother and child, born or unborn, is an “ancient” notion long since “discredited?”
Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, and Stephen Breyer joined Ginsburg in her dissenting opinion.
April 18, 2007, will go down in history as a landmark day in the struggle to recover human dignity and the sanctity of human life. This ruling is an important step toward that recovery—and we still have a very long way to go. There is reason to believe that this decision may be even more important than might first appear. After all, the majority opinion does recognize that for many citizens, any abortion is “a procedure laden with the power to devalue human life.”
Via Crosswalk.com
©2007 www.albertmohler.com, All rights reserved. Used by permission. Dr. Mohler, serves as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a theologian and ordained minister, as well as an author, speaker, and host of his own radio program, The Albert Mohler Program.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
Sixteen Months in Darfur
". . . when I stepped into the sweltering heat pulsating from the sun-baked tarmac of the Nyala airport in South Darfur, Sudan, I was totally ill-equipped and unprepared for what would soon become my life." ~ Jonathan Drake - "Sixteen Months in Darfur" (Pulpit Helps Magazine, March 2007). For the rest of this inspiring story of trial, challenge, and rethinking of "the way things are", click HERE. It's a three part series - just follow the links at the end of each to keep reading.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Life Together:
Small Groups and the Congregation Dynamic
by Justin Lonas
This is a follow-up to the post from 4/10 "Counting Heads or Changing Hearts"
Why is it that when Christians meet together under threat of arrest in communist China and other closed countries, they praise God with a fervor and unity seldom seen in the free environments of the West?
Why in America, where Christianity is freely practiced, do church members so often treat each other with a distrust and indifference that rivals worldly business competition?
If we want to reclaim our culture from the world’s value system and reach the lost for Christ, we have to begin by recapturing love for one another in Him. A powerful, relevant body is not a product of church size, financial assets, programs, influential members, or a prominent location. It is simply the outflow of brethren abiding in Christ’s command to love one another.
The Common Denominator
The first step to loving one another is remembering where we all came from. In First Corinthians 6:9b-11, Paul reminds us of the fact of our common redemption: “Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our Lord.”
We are all Christ-bought sinners! That’s the beauty of Christian community—our partaking in the church is not about our contribution, but about Christ’s uniting us through His blood. The sooner we take this truth to heart and put away the tacit segregations that divide us into “good,” “bad,” or “backslidden” categories, we can become a church ready for God to use. As C.S. Lewis put it through one of his characters in The Great Divorce, “That's what we all find when we reach [heaven]. We've all been wrong! That's the great joke. There's no need to go on pretending one was right! After that we begin living.”
Rejoicing in the Privilege
If we can’t live in love toward one another in the church—as 1 John 3:18 says, not “with word or tongue, but in deed and truth”—it’s no wonder that the rest of the world has serious doubts about the legitimacy of our faith. The first step to an effective witness is an abiding appreciation of our own fellow partakers in grace. That’s what has always made Christ’s teaching unique—He said that we would be known by our love for one another (John 13:35), not our achievements, adherence to morality, or relevance.
We need to experience a paradigm shift in the way we view our fellow believers and what it means to be a church together. German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer addressed this in his 1939 book, Life Together, stating that we should enter into Christian community “not as demanders but as thankful recipients.” He went on to say that “We thank God for giving us those who live by His call, by His forgiveness, and His promise. We do not complain of what God does not give us; we rather thank God for what He does give us daily.... It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians.” Bonhoeffer’s call to viewing membership in the Body of Christ as a privilege should wake us. That’s why oppressed believers can rejoice so vibrantly—they are acutely aware of the tremendous cost that Christ paid so that we may have intimate fellowship with Him and with each other! Here’s where it gets sticky, though—the issue is not some intangible philosophical concept about global church unity or an argument against the proliferation of denominations. This is about you and me and our local church bodies.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Working out the teaching of love for another “in deed and truth” to a congregation is a huge undertaking because the love John is speaking of only comes from Christ’s transformation of our hearts.
What does it mean to love in truth? In practical terms, we need to cultivate intentional, continual fellowship with those in our church, to the end of deepening our relationships to Christ and to one another. The “truth” aspect almost solely comes over time through devoted relationships that carry us beyond the one or two relatively “sanitized” church meetings each week (where we so often operate behind a façade of spiritual contentedness) and into our daily lives. If God is concerned about all of our lives, so should we as believers be concerned with the lives of our fellow men.
One of the best ways this is played out is through small groups meeting together regularly outside of Sunday worship services. Such gatherings over time give participants a chance to truly know each other, to cultivate relationships, sharpen each other’s knowledge of the Word, to practice the “one-anothers” of Scripture and, above all, to exhort one another to seek God’s glory. Intentionally meeting together is much more important in an era when many church members drive long distances to attend services—in other words, congregations aren’t necessarily a part of each other’s lives outside of church anymore, so we need to make the effort to bond together in Christ.
In bringing church members closer together in Christ, small groups also help in developing a church’s attitude toward the community at large. Often, groups in my church will start ministering to the people around them in practical ways that a more “organized” church program never could. By simply working toward a true fellowship with other Christians, we are awakened to the need to be the salt and light to everyone else around us as well.
Churches with vibrant congregational life beyond Sunday worship almost always have a more vibrant congregational dynamic on Sunday morning, too. These churches, by seeking to love one another, are often the most ready to respond to community needs, the most willing to reach out to non-believers, and the most willing to take bold steps for God. This fact is too important to ignore. Unless our congregations are willing to submit to one another in love and the common gratitude of redemption, the other aspects of our church life will not flourish. The privilege of communion with one another is a crucial aspect of God’s design for our time on earth; we forget that at our own peril. When we honor that, however, we draw closer to His will in our whole walk.
by Justin Lonas
This is a follow-up to the post from 4/10 "Counting Heads or Changing Hearts"
Why is it that when Christians meet together under threat of arrest in communist China and other closed countries, they praise God with a fervor and unity seldom seen in the free environments of the West?
Why in America, where Christianity is freely practiced, do church members so often treat each other with a distrust and indifference that rivals worldly business competition?
If we want to reclaim our culture from the world’s value system and reach the lost for Christ, we have to begin by recapturing love for one another in Him. A powerful, relevant body is not a product of church size, financial assets, programs, influential members, or a prominent location. It is simply the outflow of brethren abiding in Christ’s command to love one another.
The Common Denominator
The first step to loving one another is remembering where we all came from. In First Corinthians 6:9b-11, Paul reminds us of the fact of our common redemption: “Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our Lord.”
We are all Christ-bought sinners! That’s the beauty of Christian community—our partaking in the church is not about our contribution, but about Christ’s uniting us through His blood. The sooner we take this truth to heart and put away the tacit segregations that divide us into “good,” “bad,” or “backslidden” categories, we can become a church ready for God to use. As C.S. Lewis put it through one of his characters in The Great Divorce, “That's what we all find when we reach [heaven]. We've all been wrong! That's the great joke. There's no need to go on pretending one was right! After that we begin living.”
Rejoicing in the Privilege
If we can’t live in love toward one another in the church—as 1 John 3:18 says, not “with word or tongue, but in deed and truth”—it’s no wonder that the rest of the world has serious doubts about the legitimacy of our faith. The first step to an effective witness is an abiding appreciation of our own fellow partakers in grace. That’s what has always made Christ’s teaching unique—He said that we would be known by our love for one another (John 13:35), not our achievements, adherence to morality, or relevance.
We need to experience a paradigm shift in the way we view our fellow believers and what it means to be a church together. German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer addressed this in his 1939 book, Life Together, stating that we should enter into Christian community “not as demanders but as thankful recipients.” He went on to say that “We thank God for giving us those who live by His call, by His forgiveness, and His promise. We do not complain of what God does not give us; we rather thank God for what He does give us daily.... It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians.” Bonhoeffer’s call to viewing membership in the Body of Christ as a privilege should wake us. That’s why oppressed believers can rejoice so vibrantly—they are acutely aware of the tremendous cost that Christ paid so that we may have intimate fellowship with Him and with each other! Here’s where it gets sticky, though—the issue is not some intangible philosophical concept about global church unity or an argument against the proliferation of denominations. This is about you and me and our local church bodies.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Working out the teaching of love for another “in deed and truth” to a congregation is a huge undertaking because the love John is speaking of only comes from Christ’s transformation of our hearts.
What does it mean to love in truth? In practical terms, we need to cultivate intentional, continual fellowship with those in our church, to the end of deepening our relationships to Christ and to one another. The “truth” aspect almost solely comes over time through devoted relationships that carry us beyond the one or two relatively “sanitized” church meetings each week (where we so often operate behind a façade of spiritual contentedness) and into our daily lives. If God is concerned about all of our lives, so should we as believers be concerned with the lives of our fellow men.
One of the best ways this is played out is through small groups meeting together regularly outside of Sunday worship services. Such gatherings over time give participants a chance to truly know each other, to cultivate relationships, sharpen each other’s knowledge of the Word, to practice the “one-anothers” of Scripture and, above all, to exhort one another to seek God’s glory. Intentionally meeting together is much more important in an era when many church members drive long distances to attend services—in other words, congregations aren’t necessarily a part of each other’s lives outside of church anymore, so we need to make the effort to bond together in Christ.
In bringing church members closer together in Christ, small groups also help in developing a church’s attitude toward the community at large. Often, groups in my church will start ministering to the people around them in practical ways that a more “organized” church program never could. By simply working toward a true fellowship with other Christians, we are awakened to the need to be the salt and light to everyone else around us as well.
Churches with vibrant congregational life beyond Sunday worship almost always have a more vibrant congregational dynamic on Sunday morning, too. These churches, by seeking to love one another, are often the most ready to respond to community needs, the most willing to reach out to non-believers, and the most willing to take bold steps for God. This fact is too important to ignore. Unless our congregations are willing to submit to one another in love and the common gratitude of redemption, the other aspects of our church life will not flourish. The privilege of communion with one another is a crucial aspect of God’s design for our time on earth; we forget that at our own peril. When we honor that, however, we draw closer to His will in our whole walk.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Boasting . . .
What does it mean to boast in Christ?
It certainly has nothing to do with "overcoming" or "living the victorious Christian life". It probably doesn't even have anything to do with "Christian service" or "worship" as commonly understood today. It's really not even anywhere near the discussing of our spiritual experiences with one another or speaking of what "Jesus has done for/taught me" of late or of shouting out a "praise" in the prayer-request session (as I have at points past fuzzily understood it).
Boasting in Christ must simply mean one thing (though it's rather multifaceted) - the total amelioration of self into the person and message of the Lord. It means realizing the utter (and oft-repeated) truth of Galatians 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." It means daily arising and remembering that it's not about me; remembering to pray as John the Baptist that Christ would increase and I would decrease. It means remembering that I offer nothing to God that wasn't already His; that any and all good that comes through me flows from His grace.
"I will not boast in anything;
Folks, it ain't about us!
It certainly has nothing to do with "overcoming" or "living the victorious Christian life". It probably doesn't even have anything to do with "Christian service" or "worship" as commonly understood today. It's really not even anywhere near the discussing of our spiritual experiences with one another or speaking of what "Jesus has done for/taught me" of late or of shouting out a "praise" in the prayer-request session (as I have at points past fuzzily understood it).
Boasting in Christ must simply mean one thing (though it's rather multifaceted) - the total amelioration of self into the person and message of the Lord. It means realizing the utter (and oft-repeated) truth of Galatians 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." It means daily arising and remembering that it's not about me; remembering to pray as John the Baptist that Christ would increase and I would decrease. It means remembering that I offer nothing to God that wasn't already His; that any and all good that comes through me flows from His grace.
As Paul says in II Corinthians 10:17-18, "But 'He who boasts is to boast in the Lord.' For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends."
The last verse of "How Deep the Father's Love for Us" by Stuart Townend puts it further into the simplest of terms:
"I will not boast in anything;
No gifts, no power, no wisdom.
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward?
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer.
But this I know with all my heart:
His wounds have paid my ransom."
Folks, it ain't about us!
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Counting Heads or Changing Hearts?
By Justin Lonas
One of the primary factors that defines who we are at Pulpit Helps is our focus on small churches, implicitly or explicitly. It’s what makes us unique.
In truth we shouldn’t be as unique as we are; small churches represent a massive demographic that is largely untapped by the Christian publishing industry. According to a 2003 Barna Group poll, approximately 60 per cent of American Protestant churches have fewer than 100 people in attendance each Sunday (while only 2 per cent attract 1,000 or more), and just over 40 per cent of American churchgoers attend those small churches.
In an era where numerical (and financial) growth seems to be the driving force behind most churches’ development, however, small churches are often viewed as inferior, unsuccessful, and even unspiritual. Because they lack the programs and services of larger congregations, they are often stereotyped as irrelevant. This is, more often than not, an untrue indictment. Still, many churches (large and small) have taken it to heart, leaving many small churches thinking that they must grow or die.
We need to ask ourselves why our first instinct for a church or ministry that starts and begins to fill a successful role is to expand it. As a society, we feel as though anything that is not growing is automatically receding. While this may be true in terms of business and finance, the same measurements cannot be applied to dealings with people.
Think back to the Great Commission. Christ’s command was to make disciples. As I brought out in an article in the February issue (“Remembering the Great Commission”), the sense of the command is that it is a process, not an event. We can’t allow a focus on church size to supplant our true mission. There is a great temptation to focus on rapid and highly visible numerical growth instead of the gradual and internal nature of disciple-making. When we hold up growth as the higher goal, we believe it’s somehow better to reach a large number of people at a cursory level than it is to reach a few very deeply and effectively.
The small church is uniquely equipped to make a move away from prevalent “dog & pony show” methods of growth and focus on cultivating a Christian community that builds real disciples.
Numerical growth can be a good thing, too, when it happens for the right reasons. From 1998-2006, I attended a Christian & Missionary Alliance church in North Carolina that grew from around 250 to 1,200 in weekly attendance in a matter of 3-4 years as the pastor made a decision to be less focused on “doing church” and more focused on sound, exegetical, expositional preaching and missions. The church never did anything specifically directed at “growth”—the pastor faithfully preached the Word and people came in the midst of the spiritual growth of our members.
Such Spirit-directed growth should be our only desire in terms of church size. Any growth pattern aimed simply at increasing a church’s numbers instead of a comprehensive focus on the spiritual health of the body can lead to stagnation and a loss of vision. People that come to a church that’s reaching out to them won’t stick around if the “advertised product” isn’t delivered. Sustained growth requires a commitment to the Word and to the church community.
We need to let that pattern of growth in Christ determine our outreaches, programs, services, etc. How we understand the importance of church growth will ultimately determine how we approach many areas of the Christian walk. If missions is about head-counting, then we don’t need to be actively involved when we hear such encouraging reports from the field. It’s enough to give occasionally and pray when we remember to. If evangelism and discipleship is about head-counting, distributing tracts, street preaching, and big-tent meetings out to have conquered the world for Christ long ago.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case. We have to be committed to Christ and let our numbers rise and fall as He moves people. If we are faithful to His model of disciple-making, our numbers won’t matter.
While I do want to encourage our readers in small churches, we also have to remember that just because a church is small doesn’t mean it’s fulfilling its role as a community of disciple-makers. Whether your church has 50 members or 5,000, the success of your ministry has to hinge on how well you’re following Christ’s example (i.e.—how the fruits of the Spirit are worked out in your congregation). Is your church going to be in the business of counting heads or of changing hearts?
One of the primary factors that defines who we are at Pulpit Helps is our focus on small churches, implicitly or explicitly. It’s what makes us unique.
In truth we shouldn’t be as unique as we are; small churches represent a massive demographic that is largely untapped by the Christian publishing industry. According to a 2003 Barna Group poll, approximately 60 per cent of American Protestant churches have fewer than 100 people in attendance each Sunday (while only 2 per cent attract 1,000 or more), and just over 40 per cent of American churchgoers attend those small churches.
In an era where numerical (and financial) growth seems to be the driving force behind most churches’ development, however, small churches are often viewed as inferior, unsuccessful, and even unspiritual. Because they lack the programs and services of larger congregations, they are often stereotyped as irrelevant. This is, more often than not, an untrue indictment. Still, many churches (large and small) have taken it to heart, leaving many small churches thinking that they must grow or die.
We need to ask ourselves why our first instinct for a church or ministry that starts and begins to fill a successful role is to expand it. As a society, we feel as though anything that is not growing is automatically receding. While this may be true in terms of business and finance, the same measurements cannot be applied to dealings with people.
Think back to the Great Commission. Christ’s command was to make disciples. As I brought out in an article in the February issue (“Remembering the Great Commission”), the sense of the command is that it is a process, not an event. We can’t allow a focus on church size to supplant our true mission. There is a great temptation to focus on rapid and highly visible numerical growth instead of the gradual and internal nature of disciple-making. When we hold up growth as the higher goal, we believe it’s somehow better to reach a large number of people at a cursory level than it is to reach a few very deeply and effectively.
The small church is uniquely equipped to make a move away from prevalent “dog & pony show” methods of growth and focus on cultivating a Christian community that builds real disciples.
Numerical growth can be a good thing, too, when it happens for the right reasons. From 1998-2006, I attended a Christian & Missionary Alliance church in North Carolina that grew from around 250 to 1,200 in weekly attendance in a matter of 3-4 years as the pastor made a decision to be less focused on “doing church” and more focused on sound, exegetical, expositional preaching and missions. The church never did anything specifically directed at “growth”—the pastor faithfully preached the Word and people came in the midst of the spiritual growth of our members.
Such Spirit-directed growth should be our only desire in terms of church size. Any growth pattern aimed simply at increasing a church’s numbers instead of a comprehensive focus on the spiritual health of the body can lead to stagnation and a loss of vision. People that come to a church that’s reaching out to them won’t stick around if the “advertised product” isn’t delivered. Sustained growth requires a commitment to the Word and to the church community.
We need to let that pattern of growth in Christ determine our outreaches, programs, services, etc. How we understand the importance of church growth will ultimately determine how we approach many areas of the Christian walk. If missions is about head-counting, then we don’t need to be actively involved when we hear such encouraging reports from the field. It’s enough to give occasionally and pray when we remember to. If evangelism and discipleship is about head-counting, distributing tracts, street preaching, and big-tent meetings out to have conquered the world for Christ long ago.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case. We have to be committed to Christ and let our numbers rise and fall as He moves people. If we are faithful to His model of disciple-making, our numbers won’t matter.
While I do want to encourage our readers in small churches, we also have to remember that just because a church is small doesn’t mean it’s fulfilling its role as a community of disciple-makers. Whether your church has 50 members or 5,000, the success of your ministry has to hinge on how well you’re following Christ’s example (i.e.—how the fruits of the Spirit are worked out in your congregation). Is your church going to be in the business of counting heads or of changing hearts?
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Living in the Tension of Death: Lessons from the Three Days in the Grave
By Amanda Held
We will never be able to experience Good Friday as the disciples did. We can call it “Good” Friday because we know the end of the story- that in three days, Jesus was alive again.
I never realized until someone pointed it out to me that the disciples had absolutely no hope of resurrection in their minds. Because they we so dense, (as dense as I am most of the time) and did not understand the teachings of Jesus concerning His death, the crucifixion seemed to be the end of the story, the failure of the Messiah, of maybe even God Himself. For years, they had given their lives for this man and His purpose. And now it was over and utterly unsuccessful.
I remember my grandfather’s funeral, the finality of it all. Nothing in me entertained the possibility of him climbing up out of that coffin. We laid flowers and drove away, never to see him again. Such is death.
Our inability to recognize and live in the knowledge of the end of the story, failure to see the big picture—this, in my opinion, is what usually lies at the heart of our despair. The disciples were lost, caught up in the darkness and hopelessness of the moment. Like them, blind to the wonderful work God is doing in His own time, I am a slave to the immediate. What is going on, what I am feeling in this immediate moment, often takes on the guise of eternality. It looms and threatens with the lie that this is all there is, that my whole life will be this way. It becomes my entire story.
I often wonder why God waited those three days. Wasn’t Jesus simply aching to get out of that grave? Perhaps God wanted to teach the disciples something about living in the tension of uncertainty. They needed to learn trust the hard way, needed to learn how to find hope in a hopeless situation. Indeed, they were completely shocked by the resurrection, as shocked as I would be if my grandfather came walking through the door.
It was so unbelievable to them that Thomas even insisted on touching the scars before he accepted it. I, too, am astounded when God works miracles in my life, when He resolves difficult situations, or brings me out of sadness. I get so caught up in the fear of the moment that I can’t even believe it when the storm clears. The thing is, He never does it on my time or in the way I would have expected. You see, God has a much greater purpose than my comfort and a much better story to tell with my life than one of ease and profit.
This Easter, I encourage you to consider the Saturday between Crucifixion Friday and Resurrection Sunday. Perhaps it is very familiar to you. Perhaps it is much like the place you are walking through right now in your life. What does God have to teach you before He rolls that stone away? Most of all, remember that you know the end of the story.
He is risen! There is victory in Christ!
We will never be able to experience Good Friday as the disciples did. We can call it “Good” Friday because we know the end of the story- that in three days, Jesus was alive again.
I never realized until someone pointed it out to me that the disciples had absolutely no hope of resurrection in their minds. Because they we so dense, (as dense as I am most of the time) and did not understand the teachings of Jesus concerning His death, the crucifixion seemed to be the end of the story, the failure of the Messiah, of maybe even God Himself. For years, they had given their lives for this man and His purpose. And now it was over and utterly unsuccessful.
I remember my grandfather’s funeral, the finality of it all. Nothing in me entertained the possibility of him climbing up out of that coffin. We laid flowers and drove away, never to see him again. Such is death.
Our inability to recognize and live in the knowledge of the end of the story, failure to see the big picture—this, in my opinion, is what usually lies at the heart of our despair. The disciples were lost, caught up in the darkness and hopelessness of the moment. Like them, blind to the wonderful work God is doing in His own time, I am a slave to the immediate. What is going on, what I am feeling in this immediate moment, often takes on the guise of eternality. It looms and threatens with the lie that this is all there is, that my whole life will be this way. It becomes my entire story.
I often wonder why God waited those three days. Wasn’t Jesus simply aching to get out of that grave? Perhaps God wanted to teach the disciples something about living in the tension of uncertainty. They needed to learn trust the hard way, needed to learn how to find hope in a hopeless situation. Indeed, they were completely shocked by the resurrection, as shocked as I would be if my grandfather came walking through the door.
It was so unbelievable to them that Thomas even insisted on touching the scars before he accepted it. I, too, am astounded when God works miracles in my life, when He resolves difficult situations, or brings me out of sadness. I get so caught up in the fear of the moment that I can’t even believe it when the storm clears. The thing is, He never does it on my time or in the way I would have expected. You see, God has a much greater purpose than my comfort and a much better story to tell with my life than one of ease and profit.
This Easter, I encourage you to consider the Saturday between Crucifixion Friday and Resurrection Sunday. Perhaps it is very familiar to you. Perhaps it is much like the place you are walking through right now in your life. What does God have to teach you before He rolls that stone away? Most of all, remember that you know the end of the story.
He is risen! There is victory in Christ!
Friday, March 16, 2007
God-in-a-Box?
By Bob Gerow
We’ve all heard it. Many of us have used it. Most of us think we know what it means. “It” is the leadership buzzword of our day: “Out of the box.” It even came up our recent planning for a pastor’s conference! Oddly, and perhaps a bit irreverently, the question was posed this way. “What does it mean to let God out of the box?”
Being somewhat analytical, my first response was to ask what the “box” was. My conclusion was that the “box” is the awkward combination of what we theologically hold to be true about God, and the understanding of God that our behavior betrays. We preach a correct theology about God, but we live with a God of our own making.
The dangers that accompany such divided loyalties are subtle. We hardly notice that imploring God’s favor soon becomes a hope that things will go our way. Divine comfort easily becomes a salve to address our felt needs. We grow comfortable with the assumption that the will of God will always be suitable to our temperament and interests. We embrace God’s promises as cozy reassurances that fit the ups and downs of our days. Rather than embracing the Giver on His own terms, we have unwittingly re-crafted Him into a source of “all that we think we need.” We have limited God by making Him useful and manageable. We have designed a theologically correct, but false, image of God, and have become idolaters!
(Don’t tune me out. I’m not exempt. I’m speaking to myself as well!)
I found a quote from J. C. Ryle (1816-1900) that describes our condition: “True faith does not depend merely on the state of man's head and understanding, but on the state of his heart. His mind may be convinced. His conscience may be pricked. But so long as there is anything the man secretly loves more than God, there will be no true faith. The man himself may be puzzled and wonder why he does not believe. He does not see that he is like a child sitting on the lid of his box and wishing to open it, but not considering that his own weight keeps it shut.”* What I find is that the “box” does not enclose God; it encloses me and is of my own making!
So, how do I pry open the box that encloses me? If you’ve read Isaiah 40:18-31, the next verse provides the first answer: “Be silent before me …” (41:1).
The first thing I need to do is to let God speak on His own terms. I must quit trying to describe Him only in terms I can manage or grasp. If His ways and thoughts are higher than mine (Isa. 55:8-9), who am I to try to comprehend Him fully?
Consider also Ecclesiastes 5:2: “God is in heaven; you are on earth, so let your words be few.” Or Isaiah 30:15, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.” What about Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God.” I once asked my seminary professor about the Hebrew in that verse. His response was to quote his then four-year-old son, who rendered it: “Don’t Move! Don’t you know that I’m GOD?”
So, the silence is not just about who speaks, but about getting out of His way! God must be allowed to be who He is and do what He does without my input! The agenda, it appears, is all about Him! He needs no help from me. Look at the second part of that verse in Psalms: “Be still! Know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations!” (46:10).
Once again, this sentiment is not without parallel in Scripture. God had been frustratingly silent, yet Job’s bitter complains are met with: “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me!” (Job 38:2-3). God never answered Job’s questions. Job himself never sees the whole picture. But he does see God on God’s own terms, and steps out of the way to let God be God.
What does this have to do with your daily work and mine? A lot of leadership is about describing the future, and challenging people to go there. It’s not about doing all the work, but about making sure the important work gets done.
Push open the lid of your box, and step out into the presence of God as He really is. Let your own heart, and the hearts of the people whom you shepherd, get a glimpse of a future that none of us can fully fathom. You can’t create a sunset, but you can call attention to it for others to enjoy with you. You can’t possibly define, predict, manage or comprehend God, but your life and ministry can certainly point in that direction so that others can stare in wonder with you.
Life can be frustrating and messy. The God you serve can seem shrouded in silence and mystery, and His providences can appear to be marshaled against you. You may not get many of the answers you hope for. You may have a plateful that seems impossible to manage.
Stepping out of the box can be a risky business. You feel you have turf to protect, but see it slipping away. God As He Is inspires fear and wonder. He can be frightening! As C. S. Lewis noted, Aslan, after all, “is NOT safe, but He is GOOD!”
What a sunset!
Robert H. (Bob) Gerow, M.Div., is an administrator in AMG’s Development Office and oversees Pulpit Helps.
*www.studylight.org, February 14, 2007.
We’ve all heard it. Many of us have used it. Most of us think we know what it means. “It” is the leadership buzzword of our day: “Out of the box.” It even came up our recent planning for a pastor’s conference! Oddly, and perhaps a bit irreverently, the question was posed this way. “What does it mean to let God out of the box?”
Being somewhat analytical, my first response was to ask what the “box” was. My conclusion was that the “box” is the awkward combination of what we theologically hold to be true about God, and the understanding of God that our behavior betrays. We preach a correct theology about God, but we live with a God of our own making.
The dangers that accompany such divided loyalties are subtle. We hardly notice that imploring God’s favor soon becomes a hope that things will go our way. Divine comfort easily becomes a salve to address our felt needs. We grow comfortable with the assumption that the will of God will always be suitable to our temperament and interests. We embrace God’s promises as cozy reassurances that fit the ups and downs of our days. Rather than embracing the Giver on His own terms, we have unwittingly re-crafted Him into a source of “all that we think we need.” We have limited God by making Him useful and manageable. We have designed a theologically correct, but false, image of God, and have become idolaters!
(Don’t tune me out. I’m not exempt. I’m speaking to myself as well!)
I found a quote from J. C. Ryle (1816-1900) that describes our condition: “True faith does not depend merely on the state of man's head and understanding, but on the state of his heart. His mind may be convinced. His conscience may be pricked. But so long as there is anything the man secretly loves more than God, there will be no true faith. The man himself may be puzzled and wonder why he does not believe. He does not see that he is like a child sitting on the lid of his box and wishing to open it, but not considering that his own weight keeps it shut.”* What I find is that the “box” does not enclose God; it encloses me and is of my own making!
So, how do I pry open the box that encloses me? If you’ve read Isaiah 40:18-31, the next verse provides the first answer: “Be silent before me …” (41:1).
The first thing I need to do is to let God speak on His own terms. I must quit trying to describe Him only in terms I can manage or grasp. If His ways and thoughts are higher than mine (Isa. 55:8-9), who am I to try to comprehend Him fully?
Consider also Ecclesiastes 5:2: “God is in heaven; you are on earth, so let your words be few.” Or Isaiah 30:15, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.” What about Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God.” I once asked my seminary professor about the Hebrew in that verse. His response was to quote his then four-year-old son, who rendered it: “Don’t Move! Don’t you know that I’m GOD?”
So, the silence is not just about who speaks, but about getting out of His way! God must be allowed to be who He is and do what He does without my input! The agenda, it appears, is all about Him! He needs no help from me. Look at the second part of that verse in Psalms: “Be still! Know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations!” (46:10).
Once again, this sentiment is not without parallel in Scripture. God had been frustratingly silent, yet Job’s bitter complains are met with: “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me!” (Job 38:2-3). God never answered Job’s questions. Job himself never sees the whole picture. But he does see God on God’s own terms, and steps out of the way to let God be God.
What does this have to do with your daily work and mine? A lot of leadership is about describing the future, and challenging people to go there. It’s not about doing all the work, but about making sure the important work gets done.
Push open the lid of your box, and step out into the presence of God as He really is. Let your own heart, and the hearts of the people whom you shepherd, get a glimpse of a future that none of us can fully fathom. You can’t create a sunset, but you can call attention to it for others to enjoy with you. You can’t possibly define, predict, manage or comprehend God, but your life and ministry can certainly point in that direction so that others can stare in wonder with you.
Life can be frustrating and messy. The God you serve can seem shrouded in silence and mystery, and His providences can appear to be marshaled against you. You may not get many of the answers you hope for. You may have a plateful that seems impossible to manage.
Stepping out of the box can be a risky business. You feel you have turf to protect, but see it slipping away. God As He Is inspires fear and wonder. He can be frightening! As C. S. Lewis noted, Aslan, after all, “is NOT safe, but He is GOOD!”
What a sunset!
Robert H. (Bob) Gerow, M.Div., is an administrator in AMG’s Development Office and oversees Pulpit Helps.
*www.studylight.org, February 14, 2007.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Keeping on Keeping on . . .
I'm sure everyone noticed that there were no posts on this site between November 30, 2006 and March 7, 2007.
I'd like to apologize for that lapse and announce our commitment to faithfully update "Point of View" in the future. I'm imposing a one post per week minimum, and hopefully and even fuller schedule.
Naturally, we'll keep our commitment to preventing at all cost any lazy or unbiblical thinking out of this space, except for purposes of analysis & commentary on our world.
Thanks for your patience, and happy reading!
I'd like to apologize for that lapse and announce our commitment to faithfully update "Point of View" in the future. I'm imposing a one post per week minimum, and hopefully and even fuller schedule.
Naturally, we'll keep our commitment to preventing at all cost any lazy or unbiblical thinking out of this space, except for purposes of analysis & commentary on our world.
Thanks for your patience, and happy reading!
Friday, March 09, 2007
More from Wilberforce . . .
This is a quote from Wilberforce's book referenced in the last post concerning the unwillingness of most Christians to study the Bible with intellectual rigor (i.e. - to love the Lord with all our minds):
"It were needless to multiply arguments in order to prove how criminal the voluntary ignorance of which we have been speaking must appear in the sight of God. It must be confessed by all who believe that we are accountable creatures, and to such only the writer is addressing himself, that we shall have to answer hereafter to the Almighty for all the means we have here enjoyed of improving ourselves, or of promoting the happiness of others. If, when summoned to give an account of our stewardship, we shall be called upon to answer for the use which we have made of our bodily organs, and of our means of relieving the wants of our fellow-creatures; how much more the the exercise of the nobler faculties of our nature, of invention, memory, and judgment, and for our employment of every instrument and opportunity of diligent application and serious reflection and honest decision! And to what subject might we in all reason be expected to apply more earnestly than to that wherein our own eternal interests are at issue? When God of his goodness hath vouchsafed to grant us such abundant means of instruction, in that which we are most concerned to know, how great must be the guilt, and how awful the punishment of voluntary ignorance!
"And why are we in this pursuit alone to expect knowledge without enquiry, and success without endeavor? The whole analogy of nature inculcates a different lesson; and our own judgments, in matters of temporal interest and worldly policy, confirm the truth of her suggestions. Bountiful as is the hand of Providence, its gifts are not so bestowed as to seduce us into indolence, but to rouse us to exertion; and no one expects to attain to the height of learning or arts or power or wealth or military glory, without vigorous resolution and strenuous diligence and steady perseverance. Yet we expect to be Christians without labour, study, or enquiry! This is the more preposterous, because Christianity, being a revelation from God, and not the invention of man, discovering to us new relations, with their correspondent duties, containing also doctrines, motives, and precepts peculiar to itself; we cannot reasonably expect to become proficients in it by the accidental intercourses of life, as might might learn insensibly the maxims of worldly policy or a scheme of mere morals."
(A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, in the Higher and Middle Classes of This Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity, pp. 99-100)
Ouch.
"It were needless to multiply arguments in order to prove how criminal the voluntary ignorance of which we have been speaking must appear in the sight of God. It must be confessed by all who believe that we are accountable creatures, and to such only the writer is addressing himself, that we shall have to answer hereafter to the Almighty for all the means we have here enjoyed of improving ourselves, or of promoting the happiness of others. If, when summoned to give an account of our stewardship, we shall be called upon to answer for the use which we have made of our bodily organs, and of our means of relieving the wants of our fellow-creatures; how much more the the exercise of the nobler faculties of our nature, of invention, memory, and judgment, and for our employment of every instrument and opportunity of diligent application and serious reflection and honest decision! And to what subject might we in all reason be expected to apply more earnestly than to that wherein our own eternal interests are at issue? When God of his goodness hath vouchsafed to grant us such abundant means of instruction, in that which we are most concerned to know, how great must be the guilt, and how awful the punishment of voluntary ignorance!
"And why are we in this pursuit alone to expect knowledge without enquiry, and success without endeavor? The whole analogy of nature inculcates a different lesson; and our own judgments, in matters of temporal interest and worldly policy, confirm the truth of her suggestions. Bountiful as is the hand of Providence, its gifts are not so bestowed as to seduce us into indolence, but to rouse us to exertion; and no one expects to attain to the height of learning or arts or power or wealth or military glory, without vigorous resolution and strenuous diligence and steady perseverance. Yet we expect to be Christians without labour, study, or enquiry! This is the more preposterous, because Christianity, being a revelation from God, and not the invention of man, discovering to us new relations, with their correspondent duties, containing also doctrines, motives, and precepts peculiar to itself; we cannot reasonably expect to become proficients in it by the accidental intercourses of life, as might might learn insensibly the maxims of worldly policy or a scheme of mere morals."
(A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, in the Higher and Middle Classes of This Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity, pp. 99-100)
Ouch.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Amazing Grace
I saw the film Amazing Grace over the weekend. This powerful tale of courage in the struggle to do the Lord's will against the tide of human opposition should be a must see for all Christians. William Wilberforce's example of being fully devoted to God & fully active for Him in this world strikes a contrast with the private faith of the masses and their public accession to all things worldly. We could (and should) learn a lot from God's use of this man to accomplish His purposes.
Yesterday, I found a book by Wilberforce in AMG's library. This particular copy was printed in Scotland in 1846 - the 10th edition of the book (the original was published in 1797), carrying an introduction by "Daniel Wilson, D.D., Bishop of Calcutta". The work's title: A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes in this Country Contrasted with Real Christianity. Wilberforce's stinging indictment of nominal Christianity still rings as true as ever. It's been often reprinted in the past two centuries, most recently under the title A Practical View of Christianity. I encourage you to read it when you get a chance.
All that said, the following is an article in a recent issue of WORLD magazine on the topic that says better than I could the rest of what I'd like to share. Most of the quotes from Wilberforce in the article are taken from the aforementioned book. Enjoy.
Humble courage
William Wilberforce reasoned with opponents but did not rant at them by Marvin Olasky
William Wilberforce reasoned with opponents but did not rant at them by Marvin Olasky
You'll probably hear something about William Wilberforce this month, because an important 200th anniversary is coming. On Feb. 23, 1807, the double-decade determination of Member of Parliament Wilberforce finally brought results when the House of Commons voted to abolish the British slave trade. Year after year, voted down, he had not responded bitterly, and this time the other MPs stood and gave three hurrahs as Wilberforce bowed his head and wept at the culmination of his long battle.
Others are cheering in 2007. Washington, D.C., has a Wilberforce Forum, under Chuck Colson's auspices, and that organization plus the Trinity Forum sponsored Wilberforce Weekends last month. A major film biography of Wilberforce, Amazing Grace, is scheduled to hit theaters across the United States on the bicentennial, Feb. 23. A documentary, The Better Hour: William Wilberforce, A Man of Character Who Changed The World, is scheduled for television broadcast this fall in the United States and the United Kingdom. Members of the state legislature in Alaska have a Clapham Fellowship, named after the British group Wilberforce headed.
Furthermore, John Templeton is funding a national essay contest on Wilberforce for U.S. schoolkids: It's scheduled to begin in September 2007 with awards coming in spring of 2008. I hope students will learn about Wilberforce's theology, including his complaint about those who "either overlook or deny the corruption and weakness of human nature. They acknowledge there is, and always had been, a great deal of vice and wickedness [, but they] talk of frailty and infirmity, of petty transgressions, of occasional failings, and of accidental incidents. [They] speak of man as a being who is naturally pure. He is inclined to virtue."
Wilberforce contrasted that view with "the humiliating language of true Christianity. From it we learn that man is an apostate creature. He has fallen from his high, original state. . . . He is indisposed toward the good, and disposed towards evil. . . . He is tainted with sin, not slightly and superficially, but radically, and to the very core of his being. Even though it may be humiliating to acknowledge these things, still this is the biblical account of man."
His realistic view of man allowed him to deal with many kinds of disappointment—including the agonizing one that many of his initially reform-minded parliamentary colleagues gave in to political lures. As a young man Wilberforce was one of 40 MPs called the Independents who covenanted "not to accept a plum appointment to political office, a government pension, or the offer of hereditary peerage." And yet as years went by, only Wilberforce and one other stuck to that resolution. (Sounds like the Republican Revolutionaries of 1994.)
His realism also helped when he faced sharp attacks. James Boswell, famed now for his biography of Samuel Johnson, wrote of Wilberforce, "I hate your little whittling sneer./ Your pert and self-sufficient leer . . . begone, for shame,/ Thou dwarf with big resounding name." (Wilberforce stood only five feet tall.) Other famous writers, including Lord Byron, also wrote hit pieces. But Wilberforce did not respond in kind. Instead of speaking of his own accomplishments, he often said that one line of prayer summarized his only hope: "God be merciful to me a sinner."
Wilberforce emphasized teaching about Christianity but not imposing it, and wrote that Christians should "boldly assert the cause of Christ in an age when so many who bear the name of Christian are ashamed of Him. Let them be active, useful, and generous toward others. Let them show moderation and self-denial themselves. Let them be ashamed of idleness. When blessed with wealth, let them withdraw from the competition of vanity and be modest, retiring from ostentation, and not be the slaves of fashion."
He proceeded boldly but not arrogantly, knowing that he could commend belief but not command it. He stated, "The national difficulties we face result from the decline of religion and morality among us. I must confess equally boldly that my own solid hopes for the well-being of my country depend, not so much on her navies and armies . . . as on the persuasion that she still contains many who love and obey the Gospel of Christ. I believe that their prayers may yet prevail."
Amen.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Tomorrow is December 1, and in America the Christmas season has been underway for over a week. The commercialism surrounding the holiday is enough to make me sick. I thought holidays were a time of rest, spiritual reflection, and family reunion. We tend to get so busy caring for our family and friends (by way of shopping for gifts, preparing food, etc.) that sometimes we fail to slow down enough to ask why we do the things we do this time of year.
The other night, I happened to turn on the television to see "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on ABC. This simple children's film provides a powerful social commentary. In telling the story of Charlie Brown's search for true meaning amid the contemporary over-comercialized, over-produced interpretation of the holiday, it speaks volumes. The climax involves Charlie shouting "Can't someone tell me what Christmas is all about?" Then Linus, security blanket in hand, trots to the microphone in the school auditorium and recites verbatim the story of Christ's birth from Luke.
That brilliant understatement shouts the truth to a world deaf with materialism. Christmas is a time when we should pause and reflect on the magnitude of what happened in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago. That should motivate us to prayer, discipleship and a renewed commitment to the truth, not to a harried few weeks of indulgence.
The other night, I happened to turn on the television to see "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on ABC. This simple children's film provides a powerful social commentary. In telling the story of Charlie Brown's search for true meaning amid the contemporary over-comercialized, over-produced interpretation of the holiday, it speaks volumes. The climax involves Charlie shouting "Can't someone tell me what Christmas is all about?" Then Linus, security blanket in hand, trots to the microphone in the school auditorium and recites verbatim the story of Christ's birth from Luke.
That brilliant understatement shouts the truth to a world deaf with materialism. Christmas is a time when we should pause and reflect on the magnitude of what happened in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago. That should motivate us to prayer, discipleship and a renewed commitment to the truth, not to a harried few weeks of indulgence.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Post-Election Thoughts on God's Sovereignty
Well, the Democrats did what all their cronies in the mainstream media have said they would do for months now in taking over Congress. As a conservative, I should rightfully be disappointed in the outcome (or with the ability of the American people to fall for rhetoric), but I'm a little more optimistic about this loss for a variety of reasons.
1.) Hats off to the Dem's strategy - they successfully made Iraq and the President an issue in some otherwise very locally focused contests. That, in itself, didn't do it, though. For the other half of the picture, they had to paint themselves as equally conservative on social issues in order for the voters to buy their take on foreign policy. They did this admirably too (particularly in Indiana & Pennsylvania), running pro-gun, pro-life (but anti-war) candidates in traditional Republican strongholds. That's all well and good - they've got their majority and their committee chairs (honestly the only scary part of the deal). Because, however, they used a bunch of more conservative candidates, they'll have to put the social issues to rest because they really don't have a pro-abortion, etc. majority. They can wield some actual power in terms of foreign policy and taxation (okay, so that's scary too), but not on the stateside liberal agenda. Plus, we still have the veto on our side.
2.) This is a good wakeup call for the Republicans. It's told them that they can't count on conservatives to vote for them if they don't stick to conservative policies when they get to D.C. I'm glad this happened now, because it was bound to happen sometime. Now there's enough time to reorganize and present a more chaste, honest, and winsome party to run a good race for the presidency in '08. Additionally, the Dems have 2 years to make some real progress and prove that they actually can govern, not just complain. Otherwise, they'll get the boot right back.
3.) This isn't that disappointing because it isn't that abnormal. The congress historically changes hands in some form every 12-14 years. The founding fathers designed the House of Representatives to work as a barometer of the will of the people (hence why it turns over every two years) and the Senate as a more nationally focused, discerning body with less immediate turnaround (hence why senators serve six years and no state elects both of its representatives in any given election). The people, at this juncture, want a better strategy on protecting us from terrorism (i.e. - not involving ourselves in nation-building and instead forging cohesive alliances with other Western powers to be on the defensive), and that's what the House now reflects.
4.) Okay, so there is an obvious downside, too. I don't think the republicans anticipated losing the Senate as well. This kind of dual oversight is a bit much on the checks and balances - the Bush administration will be forced to walk on eggshells with everything they do for the next two years or risk investigation and/or impeachment. Additionally, the president's social agenda is out the window now - no pro-life legislation or judicial nominees will clear the capitol for a while. Look for the rest of Bush's presidency to be focused on getting out of Iraq, repairing relations with other world leaders, and attempting to stabilize Iran and North Korea enough to build credentials for the next Republican presidential nominee.
5.) Finally, I think Nov.7 should have served conservatives with a reminder that God is in control, no matter what we think (or try to solve on our own) down here. We have to remember not to put undue faith in finite men to plan our future. No political system is going to usher us into a "Christian" world - that's just flat out non-Biblical. Government is ordained by God to keep the peace so that we don't all kill each other, and a little turnaround every so often helps keep that system fresh and working. That doesn't mean I'm not already trying to figure out what it will take to orchestrate a conservative resurgence next time, though . . .
1.) Hats off to the Dem's strategy - they successfully made Iraq and the President an issue in some otherwise very locally focused contests. That, in itself, didn't do it, though. For the other half of the picture, they had to paint themselves as equally conservative on social issues in order for the voters to buy their take on foreign policy. They did this admirably too (particularly in Indiana & Pennsylvania), running pro-gun, pro-life (but anti-war) candidates in traditional Republican strongholds. That's all well and good - they've got their majority and their committee chairs (honestly the only scary part of the deal). Because, however, they used a bunch of more conservative candidates, they'll have to put the social issues to rest because they really don't have a pro-abortion, etc. majority. They can wield some actual power in terms of foreign policy and taxation (okay, so that's scary too), but not on the stateside liberal agenda. Plus, we still have the veto on our side.
2.) This is a good wakeup call for the Republicans. It's told them that they can't count on conservatives to vote for them if they don't stick to conservative policies when they get to D.C. I'm glad this happened now, because it was bound to happen sometime. Now there's enough time to reorganize and present a more chaste, honest, and winsome party to run a good race for the presidency in '08. Additionally, the Dems have 2 years to make some real progress and prove that they actually can govern, not just complain. Otherwise, they'll get the boot right back.
3.) This isn't that disappointing because it isn't that abnormal. The congress historically changes hands in some form every 12-14 years. The founding fathers designed the House of Representatives to work as a barometer of the will of the people (hence why it turns over every two years) and the Senate as a more nationally focused, discerning body with less immediate turnaround (hence why senators serve six years and no state elects both of its representatives in any given election). The people, at this juncture, want a better strategy on protecting us from terrorism (i.e. - not involving ourselves in nation-building and instead forging cohesive alliances with other Western powers to be on the defensive), and that's what the House now reflects.
4.) Okay, so there is an obvious downside, too. I don't think the republicans anticipated losing the Senate as well. This kind of dual oversight is a bit much on the checks and balances - the Bush administration will be forced to walk on eggshells with everything they do for the next two years or risk investigation and/or impeachment. Additionally, the president's social agenda is out the window now - no pro-life legislation or judicial nominees will clear the capitol for a while. Look for the rest of Bush's presidency to be focused on getting out of Iraq, repairing relations with other world leaders, and attempting to stabilize Iran and North Korea enough to build credentials for the next Republican presidential nominee.
5.) Finally, I think Nov.7 should have served conservatives with a reminder that God is in control, no matter what we think (or try to solve on our own) down here. We have to remember not to put undue faith in finite men to plan our future. No political system is going to usher us into a "Christian" world - that's just flat out non-Biblical. Government is ordained by God to keep the peace so that we don't all kill each other, and a little turnaround every so often helps keep that system fresh and working. That doesn't mean I'm not already trying to figure out what it will take to orchestrate a conservative resurgence next time, though . . .
Friday, October 20, 2006
Voting In Support of Marriage - Attitude and Action
The cultural debate over the definition of marriage always heats up when elections roll around, and the 2006 midterms have proven to be no exception. In addition to candidates for office kicking the issue around as a campaign tool, eight states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin) are putting the issue directly to voters in the form of constitutional amendments protecting marriage as the union of one man and one woman only.
In the wake of the repeated defeat of a federal marriage amendment in Congress, the states have taken it upon themselves to protect the values of their people. To date, 20 states have already passed amendments banning same-sex marriage, most by comfortable margins.
As Christians go to the polls next month to cast ballots for our values (and/or those who espouse them), we should know why we support what we do—we need to know the difference between standing for what we believe instead of simply against what we do not.
Other life issues on the ballot are fairly clear. Abortion is the killing of a human being created in the image of God, something no follower of Christ should ever condone. In essence, the marriage debate should fall into the same terminology, but seldom does.
It seems as though God created the institution of marriage to reflect His image. Jesus, ending the Pharisees’ legalistic discussion about divorce in Mark 10:6-9, quotes God’s original plan from Genesis and adds a little extra punch. He says, “But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
God wove into His creation two different expressions of His image—He created male and female human beings to more fully explain His nature to finite man. God is our provider and protector as surely as He is our comforter and nurturer. In marriage, we see an allusion to the Trinity—“one flesh” exercising together the different aspects of God’s image. Marriage should be an earthly picture of the unity, harmony and purpose that God has within Himself.
In addition, we are all familiar with God’s choice of marriage to represent the way he relates to His children. Ephesians 5:22-33 lays out the extended metaphor—the incredible passion of a husband for his wife on their long-awaited wedding night is but a reflection of the ardor of Christ’s love for us! Taking it a step further, the intimacy in a Godly marriage that drives out sin and fear is held up as a picture of the process of sanctification that Christ works in us.
On the whole, marriage is designed by God to give Him honor and glory; it is part of the story of His nature and His plan for creation.
This is why the defense of marriage in the public sphere is important. Our rationale for voting in support of such amendments should follow from this. If we view such things negatively (as triumph over homosexuals) instead of positively (as a preservation of God’s image on earth), are we really honoring the Lord as we should? The issue is about promoting God’s design for love, not about promoting ourselves as better than those who oppose it (Romans 3:23 should remind us that we’re no better than any other sinners—it is only by the grace of Christ’s sacrifice that we are held clean).
Romans 12:17-18 says, “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” As the country becomes ever more divided over this and other issues, it is more and more difficult for us to follow this directive. Standing in support of marriage for the right reasons is indeed one way to do this.
As we speak with a common voice by voting on November 7, let’s remember that it was Christ’s forgiveness and not the Pharisees’ condemnation that changed lives. We can stand for truth and condemn the institutionalization of sin without ceasing to extend the love and forgiveness of the Lord to individual sinners. Let’s vote for marriage out of God’s goodness in our hearts, and not out of spite for those who haven’t discovered His grace.
Posted by Justin Lonas
In the wake of the repeated defeat of a federal marriage amendment in Congress, the states have taken it upon themselves to protect the values of their people. To date, 20 states have already passed amendments banning same-sex marriage, most by comfortable margins.
As Christians go to the polls next month to cast ballots for our values (and/or those who espouse them), we should know why we support what we do—we need to know the difference between standing for what we believe instead of simply against what we do not.
Other life issues on the ballot are fairly clear. Abortion is the killing of a human being created in the image of God, something no follower of Christ should ever condone. In essence, the marriage debate should fall into the same terminology, but seldom does.
It seems as though God created the institution of marriage to reflect His image. Jesus, ending the Pharisees’ legalistic discussion about divorce in Mark 10:6-9, quotes God’s original plan from Genesis and adds a little extra punch. He says, “But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
God wove into His creation two different expressions of His image—He created male and female human beings to more fully explain His nature to finite man. God is our provider and protector as surely as He is our comforter and nurturer. In marriage, we see an allusion to the Trinity—“one flesh” exercising together the different aspects of God’s image. Marriage should be an earthly picture of the unity, harmony and purpose that God has within Himself.
In addition, we are all familiar with God’s choice of marriage to represent the way he relates to His children. Ephesians 5:22-33 lays out the extended metaphor—the incredible passion of a husband for his wife on their long-awaited wedding night is but a reflection of the ardor of Christ’s love for us! Taking it a step further, the intimacy in a Godly marriage that drives out sin and fear is held up as a picture of the process of sanctification that Christ works in us.
On the whole, marriage is designed by God to give Him honor and glory; it is part of the story of His nature and His plan for creation.
This is why the defense of marriage in the public sphere is important. Our rationale for voting in support of such amendments should follow from this. If we view such things negatively (as triumph over homosexuals) instead of positively (as a preservation of God’s image on earth), are we really honoring the Lord as we should? The issue is about promoting God’s design for love, not about promoting ourselves as better than those who oppose it (Romans 3:23 should remind us that we’re no better than any other sinners—it is only by the grace of Christ’s sacrifice that we are held clean).
Romans 12:17-18 says, “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” As the country becomes ever more divided over this and other issues, it is more and more difficult for us to follow this directive. Standing in support of marriage for the right reasons is indeed one way to do this.
As we speak with a common voice by voting on November 7, let’s remember that it was Christ’s forgiveness and not the Pharisees’ condemnation that changed lives. We can stand for truth and condemn the institutionalization of sin without ceasing to extend the love and forgiveness of the Lord to individual sinners. Let’s vote for marriage out of God’s goodness in our hearts, and not out of spite for those who haven’t discovered His grace.
Posted by Justin Lonas
Friday, September 29, 2006
We're So Average
Aim Low. This would serve very well as our national motto. Worse yet, it could be the motto of most Christians today. Perhaps it is even my personal goal. In so many aspects of life, we choose to reach for the lowest common denominator; we do the shoddiest job with the least amount of effort; we choose inaction over involvement. Excellence has become subservient to convenience.
The most obvious reason for the decline of excellence is the increase of cultural laziness. If you value doing nothing over doing things to the best of your ability, it’s no wonder that the quality and quantity of your achievements will plummet. Apathy is an easy alternative to caring. Passion is a noble goal, to be sure, but it takes effort (which is often a synonym for giving up free time, sleep, and comfort). Nine times out of ten, most of us will choose to shirk involvement simply because of the effort it takes to enter the game.
Walker Percy in his 1961 novel, The Moviegoer, nailed this problem before it was nearly as widespread as it is today. “Our civilization has achieved a distinction of sorts. It will be remembered not for its technology nor even its wars but for its novel ethos. Ours is the only civilization in history which has enshrined mediocrity as its national ideal.”
Is that all there is to it, though? Do we underachieve simply because it is the easy option?
If we sharpen the focus a bit, we might notice that laziness isn’t the core of the issue. If lethargy is our collective goal, what principles in our culture back it up? Peeling back the layers of our indifference forces us to confront things we’d rather not. Laziness may not be admirable, but it’s an acceptable excuse for apathy. What if we were to discover, however, that we are lazy because we fear losing what we love?
Doubtless, our cultural pursuit of the mediocre is tied to our national attitude of risk aversion. We will step up to the plate occasionally, provided that we can be totally assured of not losing a thing. If caring involves risk (which drawing near to people and/or putting all your effort toward a goal often does), we’d rather sit it out.
So self-protection becomes the pedestal of apathy. We can stand by this because it is the natural goal of man to manipulate his environment for his preservation and comfort. We still haven’t reached the bottom of the matter, though. We value comfort because our possession of it means that we are in control of our lives. If we step outside of our private fortresses to do what we need to in any given situation, we open ourselves up for the realization that something outside of our control could bring us down. Our pride is the ultimate foundation of our indifference. We don’t care because we don’t want to realize the truth that we are not in ourselves the only thing that matters in this life.
Where do we go from here? The accusation has been levied, the editorial finger points back at me with more fervor than I care to tolerate but tomorrow is another day that will require of me things that I would rather not do (or at least not do well).
I find it hard to believe that the lack of concern about issues, the lack of concern for others, the lack of concern for excellence and the desire to avoid tough issues is indicative of the hearts of Christians. At our core, don’t we really care deeply about most things? Our selfish pride allows us to persevere in our intentional indifference.
There is a Navajo proverb that says “You cannot wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.”
Addressing a problem that all of us have and precious few of us acknowledge is not easy. I’m not suggesting that we throw caution to the wind and put our whole selves into everything we can get our hands on. We would then be just as uncaring because we couldn’t give any one person or thing the attention they merit. I merely want to care enough to keep us from becoming, as Percy prophesied, “the most sincere Laodiceans who ever got flushed down the sinkhole of history.”
Monday, August 28, 2006
Perhaps the most frustrated people I speak with are those of you who are
getting Pulpit Helps but do not want them. A surprisingly large number of
you are not even churches. At one time, your residence housed a church
secretary or a pastor and despite your diligent efforts for years, you are
unable to even stem the tide of "junk mail." Please know that Pulpit Helps
does not want to be a part of your junk mail problem.
You can e-mail me at subscriptions@pulpithelps.com to have your name removed
from our list, but obviously, Pulpit Helps is only a tiny portion of the
problem. There is another company that can more completely solve your
problem, and they are Direct Marketing Association. Their web address is
dmaconsumers.com. They are basically a "do not mail" list and I understand
you can give them your name and address once to enjoy drastically reduced
amounts of mail for up to 7 years.
Naturally, if you're not getting Pulpit Helps and you'd like to be, give us a shout as well!
getting Pulpit Helps but do not want them. A surprisingly large number of
you are not even churches. At one time, your residence housed a church
secretary or a pastor and despite your diligent efforts for years, you are
unable to even stem the tide of "junk mail." Please know that Pulpit Helps
does not want to be a part of your junk mail problem.
You can e-mail me at subscriptions@pulpithelps.com to have your name removed
from our list, but obviously, Pulpit Helps is only a tiny portion of the
problem. There is another company that can more completely solve your
problem, and they are Direct Marketing Association. Their web address is
dmaconsumers.com. They are basically a "do not mail" list and I understand
you can give them your name and address once to enjoy drastically reduced
amounts of mail for up to 7 years.
Naturally, if you're not getting Pulpit Helps and you'd like to be, give us a shout as well!
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Mail Chauvinism?
Every month, I get a few phone calls from subscribers that did not receive their issue. It's just part of doing business and mailing 50,000 items each month.
In August, however, we seem to have had a few more phone calls than usual. My printer assures me everything went smoothly with the mailing, so I don't know where the breakdown has occurred. Perhaps one link in the post office chain is weak this month - who knows.
Rest assured if you did not get your copy, getting a backup is as simple as e-mailing subscriptions@pulpithelps.com or calling 1-800-251-7206.
Thank you,
Lisa
Subscription Services
Pulpit Helps Magazine
In August, however, we seem to have had a few more phone calls than usual. My printer assures me everything went smoothly with the mailing, so I don't know where the breakdown has occurred. Perhaps one link in the post office chain is weak this month - who knows.
Rest assured if you did not get your copy, getting a backup is as simple as e-mailing subscriptions@pulpithelps.com or calling 1-800-251-7206.
Thank you,
Lisa
Subscription Services
Pulpit Helps Magazine
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Digital Edition Troubles
Well, I've just had my first encounter with the now infamous "Pulpit Helps Digital Edition." While navigation became easier as I learned the various button functions, the overall impression that this version left me can be distilled into one word - cumbersome.
Still, It was very nice to be able to access all of the content (the look and feel of the print edition, rather than simply the static text that you can read at www.pulpithelps.com) online. Another nice feature was the ability to click on the ads for a direct link to each advertiser's website. Perhaps in the future, we'll be able to make it easier for you to access and navigate. We don't want to keep something that doesn't help anyone. One thing is for sure - we'll find out the easiest way to wade through it all and tell you the most user-friendly way to take in the same PH you know and love in a whole new way.
What do you think? Have any of you had a chance to try out the digital edition? Just click the comment tab below and let us know what you're thinking!
Still, It was very nice to be able to access all of the content (the look and feel of the print edition, rather than simply the static text that you can read at www.pulpithelps.com) online. Another nice feature was the ability to click on the ads for a direct link to each advertiser's website. Perhaps in the future, we'll be able to make it easier for you to access and navigate. We don't want to keep something that doesn't help anyone. One thing is for sure - we'll find out the easiest way to wade through it all and tell you the most user-friendly way to take in the same PH you know and love in a whole new way.
What do you think? Have any of you had a chance to try out the digital edition? Just click the comment tab below and let us know what you're thinking!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
In effort to keep up with our changing readership, we've decided to institute a weblog, or "Blog", to facilitate communication between you, our subscribers, and the editorial staff.
We are here for your benefit! The magazine, the website, everything - all exist to provide you with a combination of services you cannot receive in one place from any other source. You've all learned to rely on Pulpit Helps for Sermon Starters, Illustrations, and advice from those more experienced in the ministry. Now that we are more fully a subsidiary of AMG International, you'll be able to find resources to connect your church to short term mission opportunities, updates on the work of the Gospel around the globe, and so much more.
We no longer simply want to "feed" you information. We want to create a much more interactive publication that gives the reader more freedom to choose what goes in. We want to provide material that sparks discussion and prompts you to study and learn. We are committed to equipping you to be Christ's Ambassadors (as described in II Corinthians chapter 5) to your congregation, Sunday School class, and the world at large.
With this new blog (which will be updated frequently), you can have access to the "gears turning in our brains" as we plan out each month's print edition. We'll post articles and/or ideas for your enjoyment, and you can post insightful comments that will be read daily by us and then appended to each entry for the rest of the readership to benefit from.
We hope that this generates a good response because we believe that it could be a wonderful tool to give us easy access to your changing needs and desires as we work to make PH an invaluable resource to your ministry!
We are here for your benefit! The magazine, the website, everything - all exist to provide you with a combination of services you cannot receive in one place from any other source. You've all learned to rely on Pulpit Helps for Sermon Starters, Illustrations, and advice from those more experienced in the ministry. Now that we are more fully a subsidiary of AMG International, you'll be able to find resources to connect your church to short term mission opportunities, updates on the work of the Gospel around the globe, and so much more.
We no longer simply want to "feed" you information. We want to create a much more interactive publication that gives the reader more freedom to choose what goes in. We want to provide material that sparks discussion and prompts you to study and learn. We are committed to equipping you to be Christ's Ambassadors (as described in II Corinthians chapter 5) to your congregation, Sunday School class, and the world at large.
With this new blog (which will be updated frequently), you can have access to the "gears turning in our brains" as we plan out each month's print edition. We'll post articles and/or ideas for your enjoyment, and you can post insightful comments that will be read daily by us and then appended to each entry for the rest of the readership to benefit from.
We hope that this generates a good response because we believe that it could be a wonderful tool to give us easy access to your changing needs and desires as we work to make PH an invaluable resource to your ministry!
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