Questions I'm Asking Myself Right Now

Why are people so threatened by clear thinking? I try to simply, clarify, define the problem so that a solution can be reached. But it's those very things which everyone else wants to resist. If not clarity, what then? What alternative is there? How can any fruit come from a discussion if there is no clarity and precision? Clarity is necessary, but everyone seems to find it offensive.

Why does no-one else think properly? They repeat themselves, double back on themselves, forget the point of what they're trying to say. They don't have the ability to edit out those things they want to say that don't relate to the point - they don't go from point A to B, without making points C, D, E and F along the way - a very messy way of thinking. Not linear, not logical, not clear; over-complicated, verbose and repetitive.

Is there any person I can be honest with without them getting offended? I'm not convinced. If people can't handle my thoughts, how can they handle my feelings? Am I not then alone?

Will anyone understand?

One True Gospel in a Sea of False...

Acts 2:31-39 (emphases mine):

[David] foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, 'The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.' Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. 

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off,  everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself."

 With every week that passes, I discover yet another area in which the true, biblical gospel has been undermined. Whether among my peers at university through the teachings of professors or prominent liberal and post-modern theologians, or through common, even prevailing, modern-day versions of the gospel which leave out the most basic requirements of salvation according to the Bible.

Furthermore, with every week that passes, I become more enamored with the examples of men like Charles Spurgeon, John Calvin, and above all Martin Luther, men who declared war on false gospels and preached the true gospel with such fervor - men who were not hindered by niceness or propriety in their attacks on the false gospels and false preachers which poison Christian thinking.

So here, rather than try to answer every single false gospel, which is an impossible task, I will simply affirm the true gospel as I find it in the Scriptures. And, unless convicted by Scripture and plain reason that I am wrong, I will stand with the likes of Spurgeon, Calvin and Luther and declare war on any and all gospels which oppose, deny, or contradict these teachings.

Above, I quote Acts 2 with several phrases emphasized. I want to take each of those phrases in order to make a few key points:

1. Whom you crucified - Peter has just finished preaching to a large Jewish crowd on the Day of Pentecost. He has recited the prophecy of Joel concerning the "last days", and told the people that Jesus Christ has fulfilled it. Then, after asserting that Jesus Christ is the long-expected Messiah, he then turns to the crowd and tells them that they have crucified this Messiah. "You have spent your lives waiting for the Christ. I tell you now that he has appeared - and you killed Him!" Ouch. This is where the gospel begins - with an assertion of human sin - and not as a means to another end - that is, we don't teach that we need Jesus to improve our lives, but sin stands in the way. No, sin is the one and only problem which a gospel preacher need address. 
2. Cut to the heart - the response of the crowd is to be cut to the heart, caught under the crushing weight of their sin. How could they not? They killed the very one they had been waiting for. How could they escape the judgment of God? This is their motivation to become Christians. 
3. What shall we do?  - so they ask the Apostles what they have to do to escape the judgment of God. Their question is the one which I want to answer - "What shall we do to be saved?" Or, even simpler, "How do we become Christians?" 
4. Repent... - Peter gives two commands to them. The first is to repent. Even as they are crushed under the weight of their sin and the righteous judgment of God, they are commanded to repent - to turn from sin, to plead mercy, just like the tax collector in the temple, beating his chest and saying, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner!" (Luke 18:13).
5. ...and Be Baptized. - Interesting. What immediately follows repentance in Peter's admonition? Not "believe". Not "ask Jesus into your heart". Not "pray this prayer after me". Peter commands them to be baptized. I won't belabor the point at this juncture, as it is a matter of further study for me at the moment, but evidently, in preaching the gospel one also preaches baptism - Peter gave the command to be baptized before they had become Christians, in the same breath as "Repent", which is how you become a Christian. 
6. Everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself - The promise is not for everyone, but everyone who believes, whom God calls to himself. Notice the limitation of the last phrase - everyone whom the Lord our God calls. Implication - those who do not respond have not been called. That is, the call of the gospel is not to "believe that Jesus died for you". The gospel is, "Jesus died to save all those who believe. Therefore, believe!" The promise of the gospel is offered to all, but it is not for all - it is only for those who believe, who have been called. Furthermore, notice whose prerogative is the focus - everyone whom God calls. God is the one who calls. Salvation is the Lord and of His will - not human free will. An appeal to the free will of humans has no place in the preaching of the gospel. To preach the gospel is to preach the doctrines of grace, and of human inability. It is the sufficiency of Christ to save, and not the sincerity of human response to Him, which works salvation. 

The call of the gospel is to Repent and Believe. A gospel presentation which says different than this is not scriptural. May God unify his Church under one banner - the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Is Honesty Always the Best Policy?

I've come to question the common catchphrase, "honesty is the best policy" in the last while, because it seems to me that very people have the emotional strength to handle my honesty.

What I mean is,  I'm often asked "what I think" about this or that. Sometimes this puts me in a difficult position - my truly honest opinion will likely offend or hurt them, but I can't honestly answer the question otherwise. The only other alternative is to avoid the question either through clever deflection (which never seems to work) or through outright refusal - which makes people more curious than before.

Some examples - a friend recently asked me for a discussion about Rob Bell - creator of the NOOMA video series and author of Velvet Elvis and other books. Anyone who knows me is aware that I think Rob Bell is a heretic - and I don't mean that to be hyperbole, I honestly believe he preaches a false gospel that leads people to hell. My friend and I began the discussion at the appointed time, but it started out as shooting the breeze, life updates, etc, as if she was avoiding the topic of Mr. Bell. When I finally broached the subject of Rob Bell with her, the conversation quickly went downhill. She had asked for this conversation, remember; and not only that, but she had done so in a way which sounded like she almost agreed with me and saw where I was coming from. Yet, when we talked and I reiterated my opinion on the subject, she became angry and upset, going so far as to call me an "arrogant prick" at one point.

Then this morning, in a church staff meeting, when my pastor kept using the phrase "planting a seed", I started cringing every time it was used. I realized very quickly that I hated that phrase. Someone else in the meeting asked about the phrase, so I mentioned I had a distaste for it. My pastor asked me why, so I gave him my honest opinion - essentially, I thought the phrase was utterly needless "Christian-ese". The discussion continued for a while, and at one point my pastor mentioned that he was feeling a bit defensive (since I had challenged a phrase which he held dear and used often). Now, I respect my pastor and his opinion. And I might be wrong about "planting seeds". But once again, I was asked my opinion, I answered truthfully, and someone got upset (almost).

So, what to do? I'm an opinionated person, and I love debates, discussions, arguments. Honestly, it's where I thrive, and it's how I learn. By forcing others to justify their beliefs while being forced to justify mine, I believe both parties come to better understanding of an issue. But most people can't seem to handle the kind of blunt honesty and air of definiteness that I have (I don't describe myself thus on my own authority - many other people have said that to me). They don't understand that the moments when I appear to be trying to attack and destroy someone's beliefs are the moments which I am most willing to learn - I want to be challenged, argued with, even attacked, with a sound, reasoned defense. That is how I learn.

But not everyone learns that way - in fact, in talking with my pastor, it seems most people in the world don't operate that way. It may sound foolish to most people, then, when I say that that fact is mind-boggling to me: it is so normal to shut my personal emotions down and operate on a purely logical level. The fact that most people can't understand where I'm coming from when I do this has always baffled me, and now I understand a bit more why.

By God's Grace, may I continue to fight for what I believe, but do so in a way which people are willing to receive.

Tearing Down Strongholds

Defend the Bible? Would you defend a Lion? Loose him; and let him go!

Charles Spurgeon 

I used to think that if you were clever enough, if you gave enough evidence, if your logic was sound enough, if you won every debate, that you could argue unbelievers into the Kingdom of God.

Boy, was I wrong!

Case in point, today I read a post by Christian apologist Ray Comfort, which simply states his burden to lead atheists away from hellfire. It seemed such a benign post to my sensibilities, and yet there was an overwhelming number of negative comments, atheists trying to logically de-construct Ray's post, his beliefs, and his ministry.

I felt sorry for all this unwarranted criticism from those whom Ray is actually labouring to save, so I felt moved to respond. Up until even just a few months ago, I would've engaged in intellectual debate and tried to logically de-construct their logical deconstructions line-by-line. But, as I've learned, that would've led to nothing but my own frustration and their further hardness of heart.

So I simply quoted John 3:18-20, and said that the atheists involved didn't actually want the evidence for the existence God that they were screaming for; they wanted an excuse to continue sinning, and they should instead repent of their sin and trust Christ. That is the truth. That is what the Bible says about them. And that is all I needed to write.

Charles Spurgeon said that Scripture was a lion - it doesn't need protecting, it just needs someone to open its cage. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10 that

the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

To destroy arguments against God, you need divine weapons. What can these be except those Paul lists in Ephesians 6: truth, righteousness, the readiness of the gospel, faith, salvation and, our only offensive weapon, the Word of God?

The Bible is the only thing we have that can ultimately lead someone to reject their unbelief and repent of their sins. No-one can be intellectually forced to believe. They can only be convicted of sin by the words of the Bible and the Holy Spirit. Debate is good and apologetics are good, but only the Word of the Lord can save.

I love arguments. But may I love preaching the Word even more.

Who knows how people will receive my comment. It will probably be hated, or simply ignored. But it was the truth, and that is all that needs to be said.