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“Raise [your] affections to God and heavenly things. Now meditation differs therein from study and ordinary methods of thought which have not the Love of God or growth in holiness for their object… Dwell upon [Christ and the Scriptures], even as the bee, which hovers over one flower so long as it affords honey. But if you do not find wherewith to feed your mind, after a certain reasonable effort, then go on to another consideration, only be quiet and simple, and do not be eager or hurried.”
— Francis de Sales’ (1567-1622)
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Loading ...The Mercy of God in the Old Testament
Posted on August 12th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Bible Study, Evil and Suffering, Spiritual Growth, doctrine.
I continue to search for brief articles pointing out the true God of the O.T. A friend and fellow physician who has an AMAZING website has a GREAT article summarizing key points: 1. God of O.T. is merciful; 2. God of O.T. NEVER killed innocent people 3. God of O.T. ALWAYS asked/pleaded with people to repent.
I have also cut and pasted it for you here:
The Mercy of God as Found in the Old Testament
by Rich Deem
Introduction
Jonah and God’s Mercy
Most Christians know Jonah as the reluctant prophet who was swallowed by a whale in order for God to convince him to go to Nineveh. Atheists often get caught up in the whale part of the story, not realizing that the story reveals that the ancients believed that God was merciful, although, at time, they often wished He hadn’t been.
Rich Deem
According to Richard Dawkins, Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is “jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”1 Absent from any of Dawkins’ description of God is His mercy. People tend to think of the God of the Old Testament as cruel and unforgiving, whereas the God of the New Testament is seen as the God of mercy, who sent Jesus to atone for the sins of the world. The Old Testament prophets were always warning the people about the wrath of God should they stray from the path of righteousness. However, what is usually ignored by atheists is God’s mercy for those who did repent of doing evil. Yes, God judged many people groups, but not before warning them.
Jonah and God’s mercy?
For those of you who only remember the whale part of Jonah’s story, here is a brief synopsis to get you a better background about Jonah. God called Jonah to travel to the city of Nineveh to warn them about their impending judgment, because of their wickedness.2 Jonah had different ideas, and attempted to flee from God by paying for passage on a foreign ship.3 However, God was not amused and sent a violent storm.4 The sailors were terrified and eventually figured out that Jonah was the cause of their endangerment, which he eventually admitted to them.5 Jonah was thrown overboard and God directed a great fish (or whale – the Hebrew is not that specific) to swallow Jonah and take him to the shore.6 Once expelled from the whale, Jonah decided to do what God had originally requested and travelled to Nineveh to preach repentance from their evil.7
A number of Christians assume Jonah was reluctant to go to Nineveh because they were known for their cruelty, and he feared for his life. However, the account gives a different reason why Jonah did not want to go. Jonah actually wanted God to judge the city of Nineveh and kill all their inhabitants. He was disappointed that the king and the people repented of their evil and were spared from God’s judgment.8 In fact, Jonah was so angry with God that he asked God to kill him.9 After that conversation, Jonah left the city and sat outside of it hoping that God would still destroy the city.10 God caused a plant to grow overnight to give Jonah shade during his watch, but then caused the death of the plant the next day. Jonah was furious about the plant.11 God pointed out that Jonah’s priorities were completely messed up, since he was more concerned about a plant that gave him shade than the fate of 120,000 souls in Nineveh:
Then the LORD said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?” (Jonah 4:10-11)
So, it was clear to Jonah that God was merciful and He would reconsider His judgment of evil if the people repented.12 Since Jonah wanted no part in God’s mercy, he tried to avoid following God’s instructions to warn the people.
Did God warn others?
Atheists would like you to believe that the God of the Old Testament just randomly killed people for no good reason and without warning. It turns out that atheists often don’t present the entire stories about God’s judgment. For example, in the greatest story of judgment, God sent a flood to kill all humanity except Noah and his family. However, Noah preached to the people of the coming judgment during the 100 years he was building the ark.13 In another famous example, God destroyed the cites of Sodom and Gomorrah, because of their evil. In fact, all the men of Sodom (including both young and old) attempted to rape the two angels who came to warn Lot of the impending judgment.14 Although warned,15 the men attempted to harm Lot, but were prevented when the angels caused them all to become blind.16 In many lesser known stories, God warned the people prior to executing judgment. Some of these warnings were heeded17 and others not,18 with the expected consequences. God’s own people were often recipients of God’s judgment, when they refused to heed His warnings.19 Here is a short list from the writings of the prophets:
| Prophet | Warning to | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Isaiah | Judah | Judgment |
| Jeremiah | Judah | Judgment |
| Lamentations | Jerusalem | Judgment |
| Ezekiel | Jerusalem, Tyre, Egypt | Captivity in Babylon |
| Hosea | Israel | Judgment |
| Joel | Tyre, Sidon, Philistia | Judgment |
| Amos | Israel | Judgment |
| Obadiah | Edom | Judgment |
| Jonah | Nineveh | Repentance |
| Micah | Israel | Judgment |
| Nahum | Nineveh | Judgment |
| Habakkuk | Judah | Judgment |
| Zephaniah | Judah | Judgment |
| Zechariah | Tyre, and other cities | Judgment |
It is a well known principle that God regularly warned people of impending judgment and He personally indicated that He would relent if they changed their ways.12 So, the atheists’ idea that God killed people without warning is false.
Does God kill the innocent?
Did God kill any innocent people along with the evil ones? In the two most famous examples of God’s judgment discussed above, the text clearly says that all the people God killed were evil.20 When God was about to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham asked God if He would destroy the cities if there were 50 righteous people in them.21 God said no. Then Abraham asked the same question if there were 45 righteous people. Every time he dropped the number and got the same answer. The fact is that God would not have destroyed those cities if there were any righteous people in them. The few righteous who were in those cities He warned ahead of time to get out.22 In another example, Abimelech, king of Gerar, took Abraham’s wife because he lied saying that she was his sister.23 However, God prevented Abimelech from sleeping with her and warned him in a dream. Abimelech heeded God’s warning and was spared from death.23 Eliphaz the Temanite, in his discussions with Job, acknowledged that God did not judge the innocent with the guilty, but that those who act sinfully will incur God’s judgment.24 So, God does not destroy the righteous along with the evil.
Conclusion 
In numerous instances, atheists cite the Old Testament for examples of where God killed “innocent” people. However, the texts show that the innocent are not judged, but only the guilty. In addition, virtually always, the guilty individuals were warned ahead of time about their sin. Jonah is often known as the reluctant prophet, although the reason for his hesitation was not due to the cruelty of Nineveh, but because he feared its people might repent and God might spare them. Jonah wanted God to kill all the people of Nineveh, but feared His mercy. So, Christians are not the only people who often seem to want to see God judge people for their evil, rather than praying for their reconciliation with God. Jonah reveals that God was known for His mercy even in Old Testament times. Even though God is merciful, His mercy extends only to those who heed His words of warning. There is no toleration for evil in God’s kingdom, so those who insist on testing God’s resolve toward sin will find themselves judged, and incarcerated in God’s jail.
Jesus Versus Jehovah: Understanding the Violent God of the Old Testament in Light of the God of the Cross
Posted on July 29th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Bible Study, Evil and Suffering, doctrine.
I have had several posts regarding God of OT vs. God of NT issues (post #1, post #2, Post #3). Here is a recent post from Greg Boyd’s blog on this issue (it sounds like he is going to write a book on the topic).
Do Miracles Really Happen?
Posted on July 13th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Sermons, Spiritual Growth, doctrine.
A guest speaker at Rockharbor shares his thoughts on the book of Acts, the early church, and it’s emphasis on the miraculous.
I am continually challenged to wake up and open my eyes to the reality of the miraculous. What are your thoughts?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Imagine: Using our Minds and Imaginations to Grow Closer to God Part 2
Posted on June 24th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Book Reviews, Evil and Suffering, Healing, Prayer List, Sermons, Spiritual Growth, Vital Signs of Healing, doctrine.
Enjoy sermon #6 in the Animate Series by Greg Boyd
Here is an excellent book that helps with prayer life and using imaginitive exercises to grow closer to God:
Animate Sermon Series by Boyd (This is the link to notes on the Series)
Celebration of Disciplines by Foster (This is an AMAZING book on spiritual disciplines. It is filled with GREAT quotes from Christian disciples and with practical ways to grow deeper with Christ. It is a How To on prayer, Bible study, fasting, etc. Below is an excerpt from the book.)
mediation exercise: “The following is a brief exercise to aid you in “re-collection” that is simply called “palms down, palms up.” Begin by placing your palms down as a symbolic indication of your desire to turn over any concerns you may have to God. Inwardly you may pray, “Lord, I give to you my anger toward John. I release my fear of my dentist appointment this morning. I surrender my anxiety over not having enough money to pay the bills this month. I release my frustration over trying to find a baby-sitter for tonight.” Whatever it is that weighs on your mind or is a concern to you, just say, “palms down.” Release it. You may even feel a certain sense of release in your hands. After several moments of surrender, turn your palms up as a symbol of your desire to receive from the Lord. Perhaps you will pray silently: “Lord, I would like to receive your divine love for John, your peace about the dentist appointment, your patience, your joy.” Whatever you need, you say, “palms up.” Having centered down, spend the remaining moments in complete silence. Do not ask for anything. Allow the Lord to commune with you, to love you.”-Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
Finally I end with a quote from Francisco whose devotion, passion, and focused imagery inspires and transforms our often lifeless faith. Try starting your day with Jesus WAITING for YOU to take each day as a unique adventure!
“When I wake up every morning, Jesus is waiting for me.”-Francisco
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Imagine: Using our Minds & Imaginations to grow closer to God Part 1
Posted on June 24th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Book Reviews, Evil and Suffering, Healing, Prayer List, Sermon Notes, Spiritual Growth, Vital Signs of Healing, doctrine.
I have placed 1 of the 8 sermon series on this post because it is so important for Christians in the U.S. to come back to the early church practices of prayer, meditation, and using ALL of our sense and especially using our imagination/minds.
As a western physician, my brain is entirely left without a right. The use of imagery in prayer and in our walk with Him could transform our faith if we took the time to practice these exercises.
As a former atheist, I am quick to put distance between myself and God when life is going smoothly and to be filled with doubt when life is going rough. These sermons inspire and challenge all of us to use our minds/imaginations to grow closer to Him.
Animate Sermon Series by Boyd (This is the link to notes on the Series)
As always share with us your thoughts.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Is there really a satan? PART 3
Posted on June 7th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Bible Study, Evil and Suffering, Sermon Notes, Sermons, Spiritual Growth, doctrine.
This is the 3rd part of a 3 part series on the Biblical foundation of the spiritual truth of the demonic, the evidence of the demonic, and some evidence of the demonic learned from experience and C.S. Lewis. Uberlumen has chosen this 3 part series because we in the western world have lost site of the demonic. As one friend has said: Don’t you think satan is real if Paul wrote about him? Part of our Christian growth and walk must acknowledge the truths that we don’t like to think about and that we put into question in our society.
“The commonest question [I am asked about The Screwtape Letters] is whether I really ‘believe in the Devil.’
Now, if by ‘the Devil’ you mean a power opposite to God and, like God, self-existent from all eternity, the answer is certainly No. There is no uncreated being except God. God has no opposite. No being could attain a ‘perfect badness’ opposite to the perfect goodness of God; for when you have taken away every kind of good thing (intelligence, will, memory, energy, and existence itself), there would be none of him left.
The proper question is whether I believe in devils. I do. That is to say, I believe in angels, and I believe that some of these, by the abuse of their free will, have become enemies to God and , as a corollary, to us. These we may call devils. They do not differ in nature from good angels, but their nature is depraved. Devil is the opposite of angel only as Bad Man is the opposite of Good Man. Satan, the leader or dictator of devils, is the opposite, not of God, but of Michael.
I believe this not in the sense that it is part of my creed, but in the sense that it is one of my opinions. My religion would not be in ruins if this opinion were shown to be false. Till that happens–and proofs of a negative and hard to come by–I shall retain it. It seems to me to explain a good many facts. It agrees with the plain sense of Scripture, the tradition of Christendom, and the beliefs of most men at most times. And it conflicts with nothing that any of the sciences has shown to be true.”-C.S. Lewis, The Joyful Christian, pg 145
“One of the things that surprised me when I first read the New Testament seriously was that it talked so much about a Dark Power in the universe–a mighty evil spirit who was held to be the Power behind death and disease, and sin. The difference is that Christianity thinks this Dark Power was created by God, and was good when he was created, and went wrong. Christianity agrees…this universe is at war.”-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
“…so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”-2 Cor. 4:16-18
As C.S. Lewis has pointed out in his ‘essential Christian reading’ book: The Screwtape Letters in which a young demon is mentored by his ‘uncle’ demon:
“Dear Wormwood…Your man has been accustomed, ever since he was a boy, to have a dozen incompatible philosophies dancing about together inside his head. He doesn’t think of doctrines as primarily ‘true’ or ‘false’, but as ‘academic’ or ‘practical’, ‘outworn’ or ‘contemporary’, ‘conventional’ or ‘ruthless’. Jargon, not argument, is your best ally in keeping him from the Church. Don’t waste time trying to make him think that materialism is true! Make him think it is strong, or stark, or courageous–that it is the philosophy of the future. That’s the sort of thing he cares about…your affectionate uncle [demon]…Screwtape”
I also learned a great deal from a book on spiritual warfare titled: The Invisible War by Chip Ingram
I also came across a very interesting and thought provoking article from Greg Boyd’s Blog where he discusses with a scientist the idea that there is too much evil for the kingdom of darkness NOT to exist…
Please share your insights with us.
Is there really a satan? PART 2
Posted on June 5th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Evil and Suffering, Sermon Notes, Spiritual Growth, doctrine.
This is the 2nd of 3 part series on the Biblical foundation of the spiritual truth of the demonic, the evidence of the demonic, and some evidence of the demonic learned from experience and C.S. Lewis. Uberlumen has chosen this 3 part series because we in the western world have lost site of the demonic. As one friend has said: Don’t you think satan is real if Paul wrote about him? Part of our Christian growth and walk must acknowledge the truths that we don’t like to think about and that we put into question in our society.
PART 2: Here are a podcast and a blog site by a missionary friend of mine who experiences the angelic and demonic daily in his ministry (we experience them daily as well but just live lives unaware of them).
- The reality of the demonic: a podcast from a missionary in the middle east
- The reality of the demonic (part 2) by same missionary
- Here is a brief story of the demonic from the same missionary
I have also come across some stories from my friend Mike Erre. In his book about the Kingdom: Death by Church, he points out that we must shift our understanding of the kingdom, the Bible et al by taking a warfare worldview–the world is truly at war between evil and good.
I know Mike to be very analytical and ‘western’ in his mindset. So when Mike shares his personal experiences with the demonic on pages 104-106 of his book, I know that these stories are true, accurate, and VERY real. I remain a healthy (or unhealthy?) skeptic without my own personal experiences with the demonic although I am thankful, and I have had several unexplainable experiences with the angelic and likely the demonic (without knowing it! which is the problem–it happens all the time, all around us but we have been duped into disbelief).
What are your thoughts on this subject? Please leave comments.
Is there REALLY a satan? PART 1
Posted on June 5th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Evil and Suffering, Sermons, Spiritual Growth, doctrine.
This is the 1st of a 3 part series on the Biblical foundation of the spiritual truth of the demonic, the evidence of the demonic, and some evidence of the demonic learned from experience and C.S. Lewis. Uberlumen has chosen this 3 part series because we in the western world have lost site of the demonic. As one friend has said: Don’t you think satan is real if Paul wrote about him? Part of our Christian growth and walk must acknowledge the truths that we don’t like to think about and that we put into question in our society.
PART 1: The Biblical foundations of this spiritual truth. We live between a clash of 2 kingdoms. Enjoy this sermon by Mike on the Biblical truth of the kingdom of darkness.
As always please share with us your thoughts by leaving a comment below.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Book Club
Posted on June 4th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Book Reviews, doctrine.
A few of us took a book club organized by one of my mentors. It was 6 Christian classics each year with audio commentaries. It was AMAZING. For those of you who have asked about the books, here is the list. They are ALL worth reading but I have put my summary opinion. (*=good read; **=must read) Anyone have any other opinions who have read these books please share with us by leaving a comment below:
Year #1
Confessions by Augustine
Of the Imitation of Christ by Kempis**
Here I Stand by Bainton*
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners by Bunyan
Purity of Heart by Kierkegaard*
The Screwtape Letters by Lewis*
Year #2
Reading the Scripture with the Church Fathers by Hall*
How the Irish Saved Civilization by Cahill*
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs*
The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Burroughs
Holiness by Ryle**
How Should We Then Live? by Schaeffer
How can YAHWEH be perfectly good and just and yet command extermination?
Posted on May 26th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Bible Study, doctrine.
What is up with the Old Testament God? He seems so different than the God of the New Testament (i.e. Jesus)? Or does He? I have been told that Jesus mentions hell more? And Jesus certainly showed righteous indignation (turning over the money changer’s tables in the temple) not to mention His clear disapproval of hypocrisy (i.e. Pharisee’s behavior).
Recently the topic of OT vs. NT God has come up. There are 2 articles written by Paul Copan (a philosopher who is able to distill down knowledge better than most of his peers). These 2 articles and this brief summary by Ken Samples hopefully will shed some light on the topic.
1. Is Yahweh a moral monster? by Paul Copan
2. Yahweh wars and the Canaanites by Paul Copan
3. How can Yahweh be perfectly good and just and yet command extermination? by Ken Samples
HOW CAN YAHWEH BE PERFECTLY GOOD AND JUST AND YET COMMAND EXTERMINATION?
Kenneth Richard Samples
Richard Dawkins, the world’s most famous atheist, asserts that the God of the Old Testament is “a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser.”1
Yahweh, the Hebrew name of the personal God of Israel in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures, reveals himself to be the Creator of heaven and earth. As the one true Lord, he is an infinite, eternal, and morally perfect personal deity. Historic Christianity identifies Yahweh as none other than the Triune God who is more specifically unveiled in the New Testament as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Tension arises when examining the Scriptures. The Bible reveals God to be perfectly good (Psalm 145:8-9) and perfectly just (Deuteronomy 32:4) in the very nature of his being. However, the Old Testament states that God personally commanded the army of the Hebrews to destroy the Canaanite nations.
During the conquest of Canaan, God commanded the following to the Hebrews:
“When the LORD [Yahweh] your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy” (Deuteronomy 7:2).
“However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes” (Deuteronomy 20:16).
In response to this frightening divine command, the Hebrew army carried out the following:
“They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys” (Joshua 6:21).
How can this seemingly brutal genocidal command be reconciled with God’s perfect goodness and justice?
Moral Justification for God’s Command
The following seven points help provide the moral context and justification for Yahweh’s command to destroy the Canaanites:
- While God doesn’t always reveal all the details concerning his sovereign decisions, Scripture indicates that God’s moral will flows from his perfectly good and just nature. Therefore God has morally sufficient grounds for his commands even if those reasons are not fully revealed to humankind. However, in this specific case some of those reasons are evident.
- God’s command to destroy the Canaanites was motivated by his intention to preserve Israel from the deep moral corruption that would have inevitably resulted through cultural assimilation with the pagan nations. God’s wrathful justice upon the Canaanites resulted in an act of mercy (protection) upon the Israelites. Therefore God’s command to destroy an entire people group nevertheless constituted a moral good.
- The Canaanites were a morally decadent and reprobate people. Archaeological discoveries have revealed that they practiced such moral abominations as temple prostitution, child sacrifice, and bestiality.2 And for hundreds of years they consistently ignored God’s call to repent of their wicked ways (Genesis 15:16). In God’s eyes they were beyond moral rehabilitation.
- Life in the ancient Near-Eastern world was extremely brutal. And the Canaanite nations viewed the Israelites as their enemies. In this context of warfare among nations God’s command to destroy the pagan peoples was a necessary act of war.
- God, as the sovereign creator and sustainer of life, has the prerogative to take life at his just discretion (Deuteronomy 32:39; Job 1:21). Because the cosmos belongs to the Lord, he has the ontological right to do as he wishes with his creatures. His only constraint is his moral nature. God is therefore in a different moral category of being than his creatures. He is the ultimate judge of all things. As Christian philosopher Paul Copan notes: “Like Narnia’s Aslan, Yahweh, though gracious and compassionate … is not to be trifled with.”3
- God’s order to exterminate the Canaanites was not a command to murder (to take human life without just cause). Rather, it constituted a command of capital punishment on a grand scale and therefore reflected a retributive form of justice (the punishment matched the crime).
- The divine command for the Hebrew army to destroy the Canaanites took place in a unique historical and biblical context. This was not a common or normative event in the life of God’s people. Yahweh is compassionate and patient and remains, in spite of this act, a God of mercy (Exodus 34:6).
Why Such Utter Devastation?
Yet while God had just cause to destroy the Canaanites for their wicked ways, was it necessary to kill all life? Couldn’t the innocent children have been preserved?
Unfortunately, the abominable evil of the Canaanite society had polluted the children as well.4 God, who knows the thoughts and intentions of people (Hebrews 4:12), knew that if these children had been allowed to live they would have inevitably infected God’s people with terrible iniquity. The Hebrews had to be “preserved” because they were the very people from which the Messiah would emerge. Additionally, it may be that God took mercy upon these children and granted them divine acceptance in the next life. God’s compassion is deep and wide even in the midst of temporal judgment.
An important lesson to be learned from this great and terrible event is that God loves his people and he will take extreme measures to protect them from moral and spiritual ruin (Romans 8:28).
References:
1. Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006), 31.
2. Gleason L. Archer Jr., A Survey of Old Testament Introduction (Chicago: Moody, 1964), 261.
3. Paul Copan, “Is Yahweh a Moral Monster?” Philosophia Christi 10, no. 1 (Summer 2008), 31.
4. Ronald A. Iwasko, “God of War,” in Christianity for the Tough-Minded, ed. John Warwick Montgomery (Minneapolis: Bethany, 1973), 99-107.
Part 4: Does suffering show us God?
Posted on April 28th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Evil and Suffering, Sermons, Spiritual Growth, doctrine.
This is the 4th of a 5 part series that we did at Pathways Church. Bucky does a powerful job of sharing the uniqueness of Christianity and the power of the cross to help us during our suffering. Evil and suffering is a topic of great concern to all of us. We have a history of posts on this important topic that you can review by simply scrolling down and looking to the right to see under the categories section: Evil and Suffering link.
As always, please share your thoughts with us.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Men’s Group April 22, 2009: Calvary Road
Posted on April 22nd, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Men on the Path, Sermon Notes, Spiritual Growth, doctrine.
Men on the Path will be starting one of the most impactual books that I have done: Calvary Road by Roy Hession
We have ordered copies for anyone who doesn’t have a copy yet. There is also a great study guide/work book which you will enjoy to augment Calvary Road book.
Join us for this life changing book on the TRUE message of the cross: brokenness & belovedness.
Our first meeting today was a review of the Preface & Introduction. You can review the questions and teaching points, and thought provoking teaching and discussion time. We wrestled with our hearts that are both broken and beloved.
We would LOVE your thoughts on the mystery of Scripture stating that our hearts are ‘wicked’ but as Christians, Jesus dwells within our hearts….
Further resources:
Waking the Dead by John Eldgridge
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Uniqueness of Human Capacity to Express Malice
Posted on March 15th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Evil and Suffering, doctrine.
Enjoy this very interesting and brief post from Reasons to Believe Blog:
One of the cornerstone doctrines of the Christian faith is that humans alone among all life-forms on Earth are sinners. According to the Bible, all humans and only humans are born with the propensity to commit evil acts. That being the case, it should not be difficult for scientists to develop tests to confirm or deny this essential teaching of the Christian faith.
A team of evolutionary biologists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology recently performed such a test.1 The team put chimpanzees in cages where the chimps could withhold food from other chimpanzees by pulling on a rope. The researchers found that the chimpanzees would not withhold food from their compatriots out of pure spite. They would only do so, in a statistically significant manner, in response to a chimp that stole its food.
Interestingly, if a human stole its food and gave it another chimp, there was no significant response toward the chimp that received the food. Also, the team made no attempt to test whether or not chimpanzees would engage in “altruistic punishment” (punishing fellow chimpanzees who stole food from other chimpanzees with whom they had no social contact), though they hinted that they would do so in a future study.
The research team concluded that spiteful behavior appears to be unique to the human species. Only humans will engage in malicious behavior toward their compatriots for no other reason than the fact that they want to hurt someone. The team also commented on humanity’s flip side, namely, that only humans will engage in “pure altruism” (self-sacrificial acts performed to reward or rescue another human being with whom no social context has ever existed or could ever possibly exist). The team thus confirmed the Bible’s repeated commentaries on the state of humanity: uniquely evil among all life on Earth but also uniquely righteous.
- Keith Jensen, Josep Call, and Michael Tomasello, “Chimpanzees Are Vengeful But Not Spiteful,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 104 (August 7, 2007): 13046-50.
Is there a place called Hell? Greg Boyd’s view
Posted on January 21st, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Evil and Suffering, Spiritual Growth, doctrine.
Greg Boyd once again challenges us to learn to carefully look at what Scripture teaches us. In this sermon he shares his thoughts about eternal damnation–hell. He seems to be what I might call a ‘partial’ annihilist. Please share your thoughts about Boyd’s view on hell.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
An atheist’s observation on Christianity in Africa
Posted on January 13th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Spiritual Growth, Vital Signs of Healing, doctrine.
What an amazing witness to Christ! They will know us ONLY by our ACTIONS. May we be MORE Christ-like! Unfortunately, the next missionary field may be the U.S. that is filled with members from the church of Laodicea (see Revelation 3)
please share your thoughts about this article!
December 27, 2008
As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God
Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa’s biggest problem – the crushing passivity of the people’s mindset
Before Christmas I returned, after 45 years, to the country that as a boy I knew as Nyasaland. Today it’s Malawi, and The Times Christmas Appeal includes a small British charity working there. Pump Aid helps rural communities to install a simple pump, letting people keep their village wells sealed and clean. I went to see this work.
It inspired me, renewing my flagging faith in development charities. But travelling in Malawi refreshed another belief, too: one I’ve been trying to banish all my life, but an observation I’ve been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my world view, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God.
Now a confirmed atheist, I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.
I used to avoid this truth by applauding – as you can – the practical work of mission churches in Africa. It’s a pity, I would say, that salvation is part of the package, but Christians black and white, working in Africa, do heal the sick, do teach people to read and write; and only the severest kind of secularist could see a mission hospital or school and say the world would be better without it. I would allow that if faith was needed to motivate missionaries to help, then, fine: but what counted was the help, not the faith.
But this doesn’t fit the facts. Faith does more than support the missionary; it is also transferred to his flock. This is the effect that matters so immensely, and which I cannot help observing.
First, then, the observation. We had friends who were missionaries, and as a child I stayed often with them; I also stayed, alone with my little brother, in a traditional rural African village. In the city we had working for us Africans who had converted and were strong believers. The Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world – a directness in their dealings with others – that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall.
At 24, travelling by land across the continent reinforced this impression. From Algiers to Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic, then right through the Congo to Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, four student friends and I drove our old Land Rover to Nairobi.
We slept under the stars, so it was important as we reached the more populated and lawless parts of the sub-Sahara that every day we find somewhere safe by nightfall. Often near a mission.
Whenever we entered a territory worked by missionaries, we had to acknowledge that something changed in the faces of the people we passed and spoke to: something in their eyes, the way they approached you direct, man-to-man, without looking down or away. They had not become more deferential towards strangers – in some ways less so – but more open.
This time in Malawi it was the same. I met no missionaries. You do not encounter missionaries in the lobbies of expensive hotels discussing development strategy documents, as you do with the big NGOs. But instead I noticed that a handful of the most impressive African members of the Pump Aid team (largely from Zimbabwe) were, privately, strong Christians. “Privately” because the charity is entirely secular and I never heard any of its team so much as mention religion while working in the villages. But I picked up the Christian references in our conversations. One, I saw, was studying a devotional textbook in the car. One, on Sunday, went off to church at dawn for a two-hour service.
It would suit me to believe that their honesty, diligence and optimism in their work was unconnected with personal faith. Their work was secular, but surely affected by what they were. What they were was, in turn, influenced by a conception of man’s place in the Universe that Christianity had taught.
There’s long been a fashion among Western academic sociologists for placing tribal value systems within a ring fence, beyond critiques founded in our own culture: “theirs” and therefore best for “them”; authentic and of intrinsically equal worth to ours.
I don’t follow this. I observe that tribal belief is no more peaceable than ours; and that it suppresses individuality. People think collectively; first in terms of the community, extended family and tribe. This rural-traditional mindset feeds into the “big man” and gangster politics of the African city: the exaggerated respect for a swaggering leader, and the (literal) inability to understand the whole idea of loyal opposition.
Anxiety – fear of evil spirits, of ancestors, of nature and the wild, of a tribal hierarchy, of quite everyday things – strikes deep into the whole structure of rural African thought. Every man has his place and, call it fear or respect, a great weight grinds down the individual spirit, stunting curiosity. People won’t take the initiative, won’t take things into their own hands or on their own shoulders.
How can I, as someone with a foot in both camps, explain? When the philosophical tourist moves from one world view to another he finds – at the very moment of passing into the new – that he loses the language to describe the landscape to the old. But let me try an example: the answer given by Sir Edmund Hillary to the question: Why climb the mountain? “Because it’s there,” he said.
To the rural African mind, this is an explanation of why one would not climb the mountain. It’s… well, there. Just there. Why interfere? Nothing to be done about it, or with it. Hillary’s further explanation – that nobody else had climbed it – would stand as a second reason for passivity.
Christianity, post-Reformation and post-Luther, with its teaching of a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God, unmediated by the collective, and unsubordinate to any other human being, smashes straight through the philosphical/spiritual framework I’ve just described. It offers something to hold on to to those anxious to cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates.
Those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st-century global competition must not kid themselves that providing the material means or even the knowhow that accompanies what we call development will make the change. A whole belief system must first be supplanted.
And I’m afraid it has to be supplanted by another. Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete.
Brennan Manning #4: Abba’s Child
Posted on January 8th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Bible Study, Evil and Suffering, Sermons, Spiritual Growth, Vital Signs of Healing, doctrine.
This is part 4 of 4 in the Brennan Manning speaking series from Mariners Church in 1996. It is AMAZING! I have been sharing these lectures with men from my men’s group for years, and they ALL have been AMAZED and changed by his beautiful insights, humor, and stories. If you haven’t heard him speak or read any of his books please start NOW.
Some of my favorites:
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Brennan Manning #3: My Journey with Jesus
Posted on January 5th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Bible Study, Evil and Suffering, Men on the Path, Sermons, Spiritual Growth, Vital Signs of Healing, doctrine.
This is part 3 of 4 in the Brennan Manning speaking series from Mariners Church in 1996. It is AMAZING! I have been sharing these lectures with men from my men’s group for years, and they ALL have been AMAZED and changed by his beautiful insights, humor, and stories. If you haven’t heard him speak or read any of his books please start NOW.
Some of my favorites:
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Start the New Year with a Resolution: A Daily Devotional
Posted on January 3rd, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Bible Study, Book Reviews, Men on the Path, Spiritual Growth, doctrine, marriage.
Now is the time to start a yearly devotional. It is imperative to our walk with Christ to be in a devotional daily. The secret to the best devotionals? Reading the Bible (And if you do this every year, one way to motivate you to keep going is to read through the Bible in a different translation than one that you usually read e.g. New Living Translation, New American Standard, God’s Word, to name a few):
1. The Discipleship Journal has several options (I am doing this one this year) AND I am using a different Bible translation: Holman Christian Standard Bible AND I am reading the Bible using The Apologetics Study Bible which is excellent for those with a lot of questions.
2. A One Year Bible is a great way to go
A few GREAT options for those who want to do a daily devotion but not read through the Bible:
1. The One Year Book of Church History (I just finished this one, and it was AMAZING! I HIGHLY recommend it.)
2. Promises by Bill Bright (I did this one years ago. It is excellent, but I think it is out of print.)
3. Our Daily Bread: You can download it to your PDA, read it online, or order a paper copy. (I have done this one for years, and it is simple, concise and FREE! They will send you a free copy FOREVER–even tracked me down when I moved across the country!)
4. The One Year Book of Bible Prayer is another great option.
5. walkthru.org has a eDevotion that is sent to you via email, and they have some GREAT paper devotionals
(Their Daily Walk will walk you through the Bible in a year, and their Closer Walk will walk you through the New Testament in a year–both are excellent.)
Finally there are some GREAT audio options:
1. The Bible Experience (you can buy on itunes via audiobooks or at their website) I have bought the book of John and the Psalms and listened through it. They are VERY good.
2. The Bible Podcast is a FREE audio version of the Bible that is also excellent.
It doesn’t matter what you do as much as doing SOME form of daily devotion. Ideally you are reading the Bible daily.
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Brennan Manning #2: Relentless Tenderness of God
Posted on December 30th, 2008 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Evil and Suffering, Sermons, Spiritual Growth, Vital Signs of Healing, doctrine.
This is part 2 of 4 in the Brennan Manning speaking series from Mariners Church in 1996. If you haven’t heard him speak or read any of his books please start NOW. It is AMAZING! I have been sharing these lectures with men from my men’s group for years, and they ALL have been AMAZED and changed by his beautiful insights, humor, and stories. If you haven’t heard him speak or read any of his books please start NOW.
Some of my favorites:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
A Christmas & New Years Truth from Ephesians 1
Posted on December 27th, 2008 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Sermons, Spiritual Growth, Value, doctrine.
Paul teaches in his letter to the Ephesians that we are ALL blameless, beloved, and eternally adopted by God through Jesus Christ. Listen to this brief summary of his teaching, and share your thoughts about this revolutionary teaching from Paul.
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