Undeniably Lost Without God

"All that the Father gives to me will come to me."
-Jesus Christ


"I believe that nothing happens apart from divine determination and decree. We shall never be able to escape from the doctrine of divine predestination - the doctrine that God has foreordained certain people unto eternal life."
-Charles Spurgeon

This isn't easy.

Sometimes there isn't a very palatable way to explain God.

But God is very good. Eternally good. That's good ad infinitum.

Once when I was in high school, someone asked me if predestination was true. My response was that if predestination is true, and my actions don't matter, then why am I trying to do good? What's the point of following God's law at all if He's just going to do want He wants anyway?

I wish I had read the Bible instead of opening my dumb mouth. But I opened my mouth and I confirmed my rampant Arminianism to a tee.

I hope to affirm through these posts that predestination is true and that my actions do matter.

There are truly two reasons only why the idea of Predestination is hotly debated among Christians. Those reasons are because we naturally do not want it to be true. We want to choose. We want to commit to Him. We want to do something in favor of our Salvation. Secondly, we do not want a God who does not freely relinquish His control. We want our God to be of our making.

We want Him to be fair on our terms.

We want Him to love on our terms.

We want Him to save on our terms.

Reading the first post in this series we must come to a conclusion. That conclusion is that we as humans are sinful. And that our sinfulness separates from God. And that the wages of our sinfulness is our own death.

If we were to receive the just punishment for our sinful nature we would receive death.

Everybody.

No one can save themselves.

It would be to the praise of God's holiness and justice to sentence the entire human race to eternal death.

But obviously He doesn't do that. I am saved. I am sure of it. I am positive that God has saved me from my sins.

God is good.

So once I found out how terribly corrupt my human nature was I began to wonder. How does anybody "find" God.

If the Apostle Paul said that, "No one seeks God" and people are finding God, then it must follow that God sovereignly seeks sinners. One step further, He pre-ordained these particular sinners to eternal life. I could honestly stop here. The logic and reason make sense.

Everyone is a sinner.

Sinners can't save themselves.

God must save sinners.

Not all sinners are being saved.

God must save only some sinners.

But no theology may be accepted without Biblical evidence. So let's talk about what we know the Bible says about God.

God is absolutely, eternally Sovereign. He created this World and all that is in it. God has a plan for His creation. From the "foundations of the earth" He has set about accomplishing His will. I think this is the fundamental lesson we need learn about God. God has a plan. God is having no trouble at all accomplishing His plan.

God always wins.

Let's see what Jesus had to say about His Father.

"All that the Father gives to me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out...This is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day...No one can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day...It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe. This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."

It seems to me that Jesus is making a point here about God's salvation plan.

When I read this the first time with questions in my head about this subject, I felt like my head exploded. It was like, here I am, I've grown up in church, faithful attender for 18 years and I've never heard an explanation or a sermon on this passage. I felt way behind the times. Like 2,000 years behind.

I want to break this section down a bit, but let's start with what's going on and how it is that Jesus even got this crowd excited.

John 6 is a great chapter that is jammed to the brim with goodness and doctrine. It begins with Jesus feeding thousands of people with five loaves of bread and two fish. It became apparent, to many people there, that Jesus was indeed the Prophet sent into the world. They were so stoked, they wanted to make him king by force, but Jesus slipped away. Later the disciples are crossing the sea by boat, to Caperaum, and they're having a rough time of it due to a strong wind. Jesus walks out across the water and hops in the boat. The disciples were scared when He first appeared, but Jesus said, "Do not be afraid." So they were glad when He joined them. Then they appeared at the other side of the sea immediately. The next day a crowd of folks had searched Jesus out on the other side of sea at Caperaum. That's when Jesus starts getting serious about teaching truth to these bread and fish eating followers.

Let's get serious.

Jesus begins to make the distinction between regular ol' bread and the bread of life that comes from God. The people were quite on board with this idea at first. They said, quite politely, "Sir, give us this bread always." But when Jesus said explicitly that He was the bread of life, that's when the people began to grumble. Their biggest problem was not with God being Sovereign over salvation, they understood that. They took issue with Jesus being the bread sent from God for salvation. These days, we don't have nearly as much issue with Jesus being sent by God and Jesus Himself being God, we have more issue with God's sovereignty over salvation. Let's dig into this most divisive teaching...

Jesus said, "All that the Father gives me..."

So right off the bat Jesus makes a distinction between those given to him by God and those who are not given to him by God.

Further He says, " ...will come to me."

So Jesus teaches that those given to him by the Father will come to him.

And later, "And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all He has given, but raise it up on the last day."

So the people given to Jesus by God, will come to Jesus, and Jesus will lose none of them.

Jesus says, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him."

Now this makes perfect sense in combination with the idea that we are so very corrupted by sin that we do not seek God.

God Himself must draw us to Christ. God gives us to Christ. When God gives us to Christ, we go to Christ. When we go to Christ, we are raised up on the last day.

God always wins.

Let's rewind the tape back to Moses and the exodus from Egypt.

Here's a little scenario where Moses and Aaron are going back and forth to Pharaoh trying to get Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of slavery and to the land God had promised them. Moses is operating under strict instruction from God on how to do this. Basically the two guys, Moses and Aaron, are going to Pharaoh and telling him that if he doesn't let the people go under some certain stipulations, God's wrath and power will be made known through a series of nasty plagues. Nasty plagues. You've got blood for water, frogs, gnats, flies, dead livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and finally, all firstborn of Egypt, man and beast, were killed. Then later, as Pharaoh and the Egyptian army chase the people of Israel across country, God drowns the whole army in the Red Sea. Nasty.

Let's examine Pharaoh. He was a stern and terrible leader. He was fairly tough on his own Egyptians, but he was hell to the Israelites. The Israelites were slaves in Egypt. They were not allowed to offer worship and sacrifices to the LORD and they were pretty much just making bricks and stuff all day. They had wicked daily quotas to meet and when Moses was stirring things up the slave labor got worse the for Israelites. It was a tough time.

But God had a plan to accomplish concerning Pharaoh. Pharaoh existed only to show the might, power, and glory of God. This is same reason we exist. God's will is not bound by His creature's will. God has purposed Himself to be free with His creatures. So different vessels (creatures) get different uses.

Like I said, Pharaoh was quite sinful. His heart was full of nothing but sin all the time. So Pharaoh wasn't used against his will, but his will was used for the glory of God. Explain?

If you read through the book of the Exodus in the Bible you will read about some exchanges between Pharaoh and Moses. Moses would go to Pharaoh and say, "Thus says the LORD, let My people go or I will afflict you with a plague of ____. Pharaoh would not relent. It says, Pharaoh hardened his heart. It actually mentions a number times in the English Standard Version of the Bible, either that Pharaoh's heart was hardened or that Pharaoh hardened his heart or that The LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart. Here's the countdown:

2 Times - Pharaoh hardened his heart.

5 Times - Pharaoh's heart was hardened.

5 Times - God hardened Pharaoh's heart.

1 -Time - God will harden Pharaoh's heart. And He did.

What are we to make of this?

I believe it would be an error to say that God looked down the corridor of time and saw Pharaoh's evil heart and made His plan accordingly. This would be an error because the Apostle Paul quite explicitly states the opposite. Paul said in his famous letter to the Romans,

"For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." So then He has mercy on whomever He wills and He hardens whomever He wills."

God's plan with His creature Pharaoh, was to raise him up, to harden his heart, and make him a display of God's power to the Israelites, and to the world. Pharaoh had no problem with this. Pharaoh was born sinful. His desires were evil all the time. God's perfect Justice is satisfied in His dealing with Pharaoh, while God's perfect Love is satisfied in His dealing with the people of Israel.

These are just two examples in Scripture where the sovereignty of God is displayed in detail. There are so many places in Scripture where God makes his power known. I could easily write for an eternity and not exhaust fully the richness and detail that is God's sovereign control over His world.

But let's finish on a really "up" note.

Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus...

"...He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of his will..."

God showed us through Pharaoh.

Jesus explained it to us.

Paul assured us of it.

God's will is made known in the election and predestination of His saints. His love is poured out on His elect in a way that no man can measure. Paul says God is rich in mercy. He said God has loved us with a great love. He made us alive when we were spiritually dead. We, who could not choose Him, have been chosen by Him. His love and mercy abound. He has taken dead dumb slaves and set them free. Free to love Him. Free to serve Him. Free from the slavery of our sins and set apart for glory with Him in the Heavenly realm.

Good ad infinitum.


Coming Soon: Part 3. Love Of Christ So Rich And Free.

Totally Unfamiliar With My Own Sin

"So she took of it's fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate."
-Genesis 3:8



"Wretched man that I am! Who will save me from this body of death?"
-The Apostle Paul

I remember talking about it.

Before I believed it.

I talked about it.

But mostly I talked about things like the old "age of accountability" and "how much sin is too much sin?" and "if a Christian commits suicide does he go straight to hell?"

You ever ask that one?

You ever hear about someone making it to heaven "by the skin of their teeth"?

I mean, you know, just barely. Like, if that guy had committed one more sin he would've been toast.

So inevitably, the conversation becomes a discussion of "how far is too far?" Once I'm a Christian, when does God say, "That's enough. Too much sinning. You've back-slidden too far. Repent once more or be doomed. Rededicate your life or lose your salvation. You choose."

You would think if anybody needed to rededicate their life, it would have been King David. Humble beginnings but God raised him up, blessed him and made him king. Then while David is enjoying the high life, he has sex with Uriah's wife. Then he sends Uriah into battle to die. And Uriah died. Do you think if David had slipped on a banana peel and died at the moment he had murdered another man after sleeping with that man's wife, do you think he would have died with sin in his heart and gone to hell?

If you had asked me that 10 years ago, I honestly do not know exactly what I would've told you. I would have certainly said something about it being "a tricky situation" or spouted something about not judging another man's heart in an effort to not have to answer.

But let's talk about sin itself.

David himself said something about sin that completely changed my view of sin. He said,

"For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." (psalm 51:3&5)

It seems to me that David had an idea about the fall of man that I didn't have. That idea was about the curse of sin itself.

I had previously thought people were born basically pretty good. We pop out cooing and being cute till one day...boom...we become accountable for our actions. And overnight our lives change. Sin is corrupting us. Tempting us. Now, if we hit our brother and then lie to our parents about it, God is mad at us. And we are held accountable. That's where we get the idea of an "age of accountability". It's just a terrible way to say, "at this age, God begins to judge you".

I don't think this is what David was talking about. David understood that he was sinful from birth. He said so. "Behold, I was born in iniquity. In sin I was conceived." This did not mean he was born out of wedlock or that he was the bastard son of a man on the move. It means he was born with sin in his heart.

He was sinful from conception.

This was his condition.

Let’s go to the Garden of Eden.

When God created Adam and Eve He gave Adam the job of tending the garden. Eve had the job of Adam’s companion and help-mate. This was a good job. I imagine it was quite a satisfying vocation.

Adam and Eve had one rule. Do not eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. He said as soon as you eat of it you shall surely die. God didn't mean "instant death from the poison apple", but that physically they were going to grow old and die. Also, their soul's suffered a kind of instant spiritual death.

For the first time, a human felt shame.

Regret.

The garden didn’t feel the same way after that.

What God meant was that through this sinful act, sin would enter the world. When Adam and Eve committed that sin, sin's curse distorted everything. The world became warped. Ever wonder why work isn't tending, it's toiling? Sin. Ever wonder why it hurts to bear children? Sin.

The societal decline was instant. After eating that fruit, Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden. They went to toil the ground and bear children. The effect of sin entering the world was so fierce that the first family was extremely dysfunctional. Their first child killed his little brother.

Not too many steps between taking fruit, and taking someone's life.

Cain wasn't taught to murder. He didn't watch violent movies or play Grand Theft Auto on his PlayStation 2. He was born under the curse of sin.

It was his condition.

Fast forward to David.

David was "a man after God's own heart." Yet David was born cursed and sinful.

The effect of this curse is the same today. I see it in myself.

I was born sinful...

So were you...

So were all of us. Every person starting with Cain (minus Jesus), has been born with sin corrupting his heart. So how bad is this corruption?

This corruption is best characterized with one word.

Inability.

We can't do it. We try to do good. But we can't. Even the things that seem good. Those things are tainted by sinful desire. Why is it that what we want to do is the wrong thing? It's because sin is in our heart. We do the wrong thing because we want to do the wrong thing. And when we want to do the right thing, we still find ourselves constantly doing the wrong thing.

Why do you suppose the Apostle Paul cried in anguish, "Wretched man that I am! Who will save me from this body of death?" Paul knew his problem. He said once in a letter,

"For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me."

Catch that at the end? He said, "sin that dwells within me."

The corruption of this sin is strong enough to make us want to do evil. You don't have to teach us. We know all about it from the get-go. And it separates us from God. We are far away.

Paul says we are dead in our sins.

There's an old metaphor that gets tossed around that speaks of our situation as sinners. It is said we are drowning in sin. We can barely even keep one nostril above the surface. We're treading water, gasping for breath, looking for help, going nowhere because of the ocean of sin in our hearts.

I don't believe this for a second.

I believe we are stone cold dead on the bottom of that ocean. Lifeless, rotted, eaten by sea creatures with no ability to move at all.

Hopeless in ourselves. Desperate and dead.

Paul said,

"Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned..."

We're all guilty. We've all done it. We were all born with it.

What does this say about our relationship with our Creator? What happened to us when were kicked out that garden? How badly does this sin separate us from a holy God?

On this Paul doesn't mince words. He said,

"For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God."

What are we supposed to do? This is quite the hopeless situation. How can somebody believe after reading these things that people are "basically good"? Paul quotes the Old Testament saying that no one is righteous.

Not one.

No one understands.

No one seeks God.



Coming Soon: Part 2. Undeniably lost Without God

 

An Introduction

"A careful study of the Bible would convince many people that it is a very different book than what they assume it to be."

-Loraine Boettner

"I don't want another dedication. I don't want another invitation. I just wanna know that I'm Yours."
-Paul Carpenter

I've wanted to write a bit about my journey into Orthodoxy for some time. Since I started writing things here, the desire has been quite nagging. So this is my attempt. This is where I will discuss the changes and shifts in my worldview. I'm not talking about my conversion to Christ. I'm talking about how my perspective concerning this conversion changed. There are a few people who would be interested to know how I can explain my beliefs and how I came to understand soteriology from the reformed perspective.

So over the next few weeks I will be posting 5 blog entries. Each dealing with a certain bit of theology that shook my doctrine to it's core. I hope to explain why my theological box got completely dumped out, and how (through the grace of God) I examined each piece, adjusted for Biblical accuracy, and then placed back in the box that is my brain. I know I'm no longer a Charismatic in the popular sense of the word. But I also hope it's understood that I believe "charismata" is essential to the Christian faith. I will say from the outset that I have many friends and family in many different denominations and I have nothing but the utmost respect and appreciation for each denomination. I believe there are certain attitudes and ideas found in them that could inform many in my own tradition.

But the issue is God.

Who He says He is. His relationship with His creation. And the salvation He provides for His children. He is truly a good God. Worthy to be worshiped. May His kingdom come on earth.


Coming Soon: Part 1. Totally unfamiliar with my own sin.

Calvinism and Alice in Wonderland

My better half and I finally made it to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D. I enjoyed this movie. I felt like it was fun and dark and had plenty of that creepy secret sauce Tim Burton injects into his films. The 3D experience was decent at best. The last 3D movie I saw was Spy Kids 3D. Alice in Wonderland was quite a bit better. I still think the technology for 3D has some ways to go before it's truly a worthwhile experience. Though I must admit that the 3D glasses have improved greatly. I found that sometimes the 3D image was quite fantastic and nicely done. Other times it seemed to completely fall flat. The effect being so poor that it took away from the movie itself. During a scene very early in the film I noticed a pixalated green-screen pop in view at the base of Alice's father's neck. It only happened in that one shot. But it was one more thing that distracted me causing my disbelief to lose it's suspension. Also, sometimes the action was a bit too fast for the 3D effect to really have an effect, so it seemed lost at times. I'm not fully sold on 3D yet. Stu Maschwitzhe said, "How exactly is 3D "immersive?" Is there stuff behind me? Should I turn around? You know what's immersive? Good movies."

As for the story...

This was a good movie. I didn't care that it didn't follow the original story. In fact, I'm glad it didn't follow the original story. I liked this story. It reminded me of a certain theology I believe. You see, Alice falls down a hole after being drawn to that hole by a Rabbit. She finds herself being told who she is, what she's there to do, and how she's going to do it. Of course, Alice's natural reaction is to reject the notion that she is who they say she is, and that she will do the things they say she will do. For the next hour and a half we watch as Alice is "circumstantially" placed in situations that drive her toward the goal that is laid out before her. The entire time she is making decisions that she believes are contrary to the path that leads to her slaying the dreaded beast, Jabberwocky.

I don't believe Alice is Jesus, or that the Jabberwocky is Satan or even Sin. I just think this was colorful movie that dealt fairly with the idea that we all believe this is "our dream" and we can do whatever we want but that in the end, if we're honest, we can look back on our life and see the work and guidance of something else. This is Calvinism as I believe it.

I am called to an end.

Daily, I make decisions concerning my life. I decide whether or not I will go to this town or that town and if I will do business there. Yet, I also say, "Only if the Lord wills shall I do these things."

Do not misunderstand me. I am no more a robot or a puppet anymore than Alice is in her dream. But whatever happens and wherever I go, The Lord must receive the credit for all of it. This is, I assure you, His world. Nothing goes on in His world beyond or outside of His control.

Alice was shown a scroll that quite specifically laid out Wonderland's history and her slaying the Jabberwocky. Alice then goes "her own way" only to find herself facing the Jabberwocky in the end. I propose had she studied that scroll, she would have seen her own rebellion, her decisions, and the path that led to the end (of the movie). I think if we saw a scroll of our lives, we might shudder and reject the notion that God would direct our actions. We might run in the other direction. We might say repeatedly, "This is my dream. I decide the end." But, in the end, if we were to see the details of that scroll, we would find our situations and decisions written down. We would see that God has worked out every detail in favor of His glory and our good (if you are a Christian. If not, seek Christ. The work He has done on the sinner's behalf redeems every portion of sinner's sin who puts their faith in Him. That is truly good).

I recommend the film. The 3D experience is truly not necessary, but it's novel. You choose.

Or do you?

* I must admit that the preview for Tron looked mighty good.

Communion by Persecution

Last night at my church's Bible Study, we looked at some verses in 1 Peter 4. Specifically we looked at verses 12-19.

There were a couple of comments I wanted to make regarding Christian Persecution. A couple of things I find to be somewhat overlooked in conversation today.

But let's talk about persecution as we experience it today.

For most of us (at least most of you reading this), we don't really experience persecution. This, I believe, is for two reasons.

1. We live in a wonderful part of of the world that allows us to worship, or not worship, as we see fit. North America is truly free in regards to freedom of worship.

Sure, we have talking heads on every news channel with an opinion on what is right or wrong regarding the presence or absence of God in various institutions (school, government, work-place, etc.). There are name-calling activists in every camp. But Christopher Hitchens, or whoever, is probably not knocking on your door and hitting you in the face, shooting your child, and taking your Bible.

2. We don't talk about God very often.

We don't want to offend people. We think, well, I'm not going push my ideas on anybody. I'll let them learn through a relationship with me. I agree. They ("they" being the person who does not share your Christian worldview) should learn that way. Your life should testify to the greatness and glory of God.

But so should your voice. Your voice should be the primary means of spreading the Gospel. Your voice should be trained to boldly speak the truth of God in any appropriate situation. I say "appropriate situation" because there are times when it would be disrespectful. An argument with a co-worker about the next project proposal would be a bad time. Gentleness and respect is the key. And when I say "key" I don't just mean that gentleness and respect will illicit the best response (though it will), I mean that God is most glorified through right-actions. Gentleness and respect is the key to glorifying God in conversation.


So if we're being vocal about our faith in a gentle and respectful way, regularly in our lives, we may encounter backlash. Name calling. Contempt. You may get shunned. Not Invited. Excluded.

But you are not alone.

And this is what I want to talk about. Communion by persecution.

Dr. Nelson D. Kloosterman said a few things that caught my attention regarding this section of 1 Peter 4.

"Every Christian following in (Christ's) steps can expect abuse and affliction for His sake...Rather than be surprised or bewildered, persecuted Christians should practice joy....The basis for this joy is not the persecution itself, but participation and bonding with Christ...In their suffering God's children experience His presence, not His absence." (italics mine)

I found this to be very encouraging. When we are mocked for our
stupid,
un-scientific,
intolerant,
fun-hating,
societal non-conforming,
sexually inexperienced,
boring,
trite,
uneducated,
devolved,
troglodyte ways...

we are suffering with our Saviour. When we are shunned by the world, we are accepted by Him. When a Christian meekly presents the truth about God and is laughed at, Yahweh is present. You may be alone, but you are never alone. Your suffering increases your closeness to Christ.

So count it all joy.

Manly Dominion - Book Review

Some number of years ago I read the book Wild At Heart by John Eldridge. I'm sure you've heard of it. It's one of those slightly annoying "stop being a sissy and be a man" type of books for Christian men. After I got over the fact that Eldridge related everything to hunting and grunting, I enjoyed the book. I will now grant that it's better than "slightly annoying." But I feel no need to recommend it to any male reader interested in Godly man-hood.

I have since discovered a different book by a thoroughly reformed author. His name is Mark Chanski. He wrote a book called Manly Dominion. Already, by the title alone, you can see that it's on a different level than "Wild At Heart". Where "Wild At Heart" related manly life to adventure and danger and fairy-tale stuff, Manly Dominion is full of actual advice that packs quite the pragmatic punch.
Anyway, the advice is so practical and relevant (even to my situation where I'm not allowed to work, the manliest of all things, due to my immigration status), that I thought I would tell a few friends about it regardless of whatever step in life they are.

My one reserve: In the beginning of the book Chanski sings the praise of George W(MD's?) Bush. That irritated me.

1. Because I dislike George Bush and his word inventing ways.
2. Because I think it's sloppy to praise such a polarizing figure. If he wanted to raise the American flag of leader worship he should have praised John Adams, who nearly always chose the higher, better, more honest way in regards to his country even when nobody liked him. If we can say anything about Bush, it's that honesty and open-ness were not his strong points.
3. Maybe modern politics should have stayed out. Then nobody could be irritated about anything. He could have just as easily praised Obama for sticking to his guns in a racially charged presidential bid. (only problem? Published August 22, 2007. So we didn't know Obama was going to go all the way. But praising Obama would have irritated me too. But maybe I'm too irritable.) Okay. Done. That's for a different blog on a different day with different themes.

ANYWAY, that's really my only negative critique.

As reformed people, we're quite familiar with the concept of ignoring the "quivers in our livers" when it comes to decision-making. Chanski pulls no scriptural punch in making sure we understand why we believe this. His chapter on providence found (even) me wanting for biblical Christian decisiveness in certain situations. Either way I was reading this and smiling at his words, and highlighting some of them, and re-thinking some things I got used to thinking.

So I began pondering about my youth all the way to my ripe adulthood. I haven't been very manly all the time. At least not by conventional (worldly) standards.

By the conventional standard, one only has to look at me and see I'm no threat. What, with my skinny-jeans and v-neck shirt and scarf around my neck it's easy to see I project the image of a soft-spoken wimpy sissy man. But manliness has nothing to do with skinny-jeans and scarves and everything to do with biblical principles.

If I read your book about manhood and you tell me life is like football or big game hunting I'm likely to throw your book across the room in protest because, "You don't know me." (The author Donald Miller gives account of doing this very thing the first time he tried to read Wild At Heart. You can read about that in Miller's own book To Own A Dragon.) But, if you use the Bible and it's own metaphors for our existence (put on your armor, slay the enemy), then, well, okay...you got me there.

Time to suit up.

I'm not interested in condensing Chanki's book into blog form so you can read this and then say "Cool...that sounds good". I want you to read it. It's challenging. It's inspiring. It caused me to want to lead my household in manner pleasing to God. It made me want to do away with Cheeto's eating, channel surfing, slothfulness when I know I could spend an extra 30 mins talking with my wife while she prepares dinner (or ¡gasp! even help her).

It made me want to be where my church was. If there is Sunday School I want to be there. Bible study? Be there. And not just myself, but to encourage my household to faithfully support the church. Nay...to order my household to support the church and pursue Godly endeavors.

Someday (Lord willing) I'll have children. And they're gonna crap on stuff. And keep me awake. They'll probably break things that I thought were very important material possessions. That's going to tick me off and teach me Godly principles at the same time. (nothing quite like learning a lesson grudgingly) But having received biblical parenting advice via Mark Chanski I've never been more excited about it.

Manly Dominion. Sounds scary? Maybe not. Kinda in-yo-face. But it's absolutely necessary for the Godly man. We've been feminized and metro-sexualized and told to follow. Told to step aside. It's time to follow Christ. Then step in front, and lead by His example.

*Please read my wife's blog. It's interesting to read about her own journey into Biblical womanhood.

**And if you're a woman interested in your own journey into Biblical Woman-hood I recommend Mark Chanski's book Womanly Dominion.

***There is nothing wrong with a man who maintains a good skin-care regimen. So if you kinda fall into the metro-sexual stereotype, then I say, boldly lead your family in a good skin-care regimen.

The Separation of Church by Age.

There is an article in Relevant Magazine addressing age separation in churches. The first half of the article deals with young people, the second half with old people, and the whole thing is wrapped up by pointing us, not toward The Bible as inspiration, but to a modern business model as a possible guide. I'll grant that the article was not written to answer any questions, but merely to ask questions. Hopefully, we can come up with the right answers to these provoking questions.

I'll assume at this point you went back to read the article so you know a little better where I'm at.

So there are questions raised about the appropriateness of age/situation based programs and services in the modern church. Here's my favorite quote:

" I don’t know what happens, but we get lost when we transition from middle school ministry to high school ministry, from high school ministry to college ministry, from college ministry to single adult ministry, from single adult ministry to the young married ministry, etc. For those of you who are fortunate enough not to slip through the cracks, you end up spending your church life exclusively in relationship with people who are just like you. And relationships formed over a lifetime with people who are just like you is, honestly, a form of self-worship."

I found that to be (somewhat surprisingly) an honest and hard-hitting critique. Then they spend a couple paragraphs bashing the oldies for not incorporating the "new" in effort to appeal to the younger generation. Okay...maybe I'm still with it, maybe not, but the real problem begins at the end of the article. My least favorite quote:

"Creps admits the most troubling part of the research he did for his book (Reverse Mentoring) was discovering how open people in the secular market—in technology, culture and business—have been to insight from younger generations and how slow the Church has been to follow suit. He points to examples in business literature where companies like Texas Instruments, General Electric and Proctor & Gamble advise inviting the ideas and leadership of younger people. Creps goes on to say that “Christian literature doesn’t begin to point this out [as necessary] until the 21st century.”

Since when is the church instructed to study the ways of the world and follow suit? I thought that the new trend in churches was to abandon the mega-church/seeker movement. You know, the church-as-a-business trend.

So why are we again studying business models? Where is the Bible? Isn't that our instruction? Isn't that our guide? I found it hard to believe that throughout the course of the article the Bible isn't mentioned one time. It also doesn't address the church as a place for family. Just a place for you...or maybe not you, if you don't like what you see/hear.

Now, when I talk about "see/hear", I'm not referring to doctrinal disputes, or questions of theological importance. If you're at a church espousing some heretical view, by all means, flee for your sake and your family's spiritual well-being. Find a solid church that presents the person and work of Jesus Christ without reserve and in a manner pleasing to God.

But, see? This is my issue...The church is never to be self-serving on an aesthetic level. It is to be soul-serving on a spiritual level.

I've been having a grand time commenting back and forth with the other folks who have read the article and have something to say about it. The problem is that most of these folks merely tell of some personal situation where the church failed to meet their aesthetic standard. Allow me to quote myself:

"That's a sad story, but it causes me to wonder what were those young adults placing their faith in? Why did the church "experience" for them need to be so self-serving? You said yourself that as soon as the "music", "ministry", and "programs" were gone, so were they. The issue, I think, is that music, ministry, and programs will never be able to replace the true work of the Holy Spirit through the means of the Gospel presented through the sound preaching of the Word. If a church faithfully proclaims the Gospel, presents sound doctrine by exegetically preaching the Bible, thoughtfully administers the Sacraments, and approaches the throne with reverence and awe, I'm inclined to not give a hoot about the volume level of the music or the variety of programs."

The saddest part of some replies I've gotten to my call to return to the Gospel-as-standard has been to equate "Gospel-standard" with "Gaither Style". So the discussion always descends to the level of "style". Never ascending to the level of "substance". Allow me to quote myself again in response to another comment:

"Though I've given no comment on my personal musical tastes I will say that The Gaither's do not produce music that I find particularly interesting nor helpful (some of my opinion is based on style) . I will say that in a worship service I don't believe the style matters nearly as much as the lyrical content. You wanna rock in church? Ask yourself a couple questions. Is it edifying? Is it distracting? Where is your attention? Are you thinking about your heart's response to the words you sing? Are you interested in that guitar solo? I am all in favor of modern music in church. I am also in favor of traditional music in church. But I am most in favor of intelligently singing the wonder and works of God in a manner that is reverent and truthful. If a person wants to go "Gaither style" in The Lord's worship, they should ask the very same questions. But I truly think a style discussion is a surface level discussion. The Psalmist worships in his style, the Reformer's in their style, and the Hillsong's in their style. I have found songs, hymns, and Psalms in every style that I like. But I like them, because they say something meaningful. Not because they sound a certain way.
I just think that age/situation based groups should, at the very least, join the whole community every Sunday for corporate family Worship."

Is this hard to understand? The church is not a place to make our unsaved/tattooed friends feel comfortable. They should feel uncomfortable. The church is about Jesus and until they become "about Jesus" it shouldn't make any sense to them.

But what about our tattooed friends who ARE Christians? Did one show up at your church? Then you better not stare at them like they are some circus freak. Because if you do, you are doing nothing but going back to the "style" over the "substance" of their heart. Respect that Christ, through the Holy Spirit has done a genuine work in the heart of the young/modern.

The older generation is called wise counsel and they are to be respected and learned from.

And hey, the kids are okay.

But the Gospel is what is important.

So "seek" a church that presents the Gospel faithfully every Sunday. Forget what you think this should look like or sound like or feel like. Remember the multitude of instruction we have in the Bible and let that be your guide, and don't let your style influence your substance, but let your substance influence your style.

*NEW ADDITION - If you are interested in promoting the Church service as a place for families to come together I recommend this excellent article from John and Noel Piper.