Check This Out

In the midst of all of the debate over our government in the passing week I feel it's important for Christians to take a God centered approach to the situation. Check out this blog post from my brother in Christ, Jeff Tilden.


http://www.meneatburritos.com/2010/03/god-is-bigger-than-american-government.html

Love or Fear?

Today, during a little bit of class discussion time in my public speaking class this morning, we were talking about ethics in regards to speeches. We were asked to give some historical instances of times when speakers have been unethical in public speaking. Some of the obvious ones that came up were Hitler and other dictators in history, but a person brought up religion, Christianity specifically, and using a fear of hell to gain followers.

Now, I won't spend too much time here, seeing that I'm typing this from my phone, but I feel that this is an issue that needs to be addressed in today's Christian "culture". Too often I've seen some "hellfire and brimstone" type preaching, especially growing up traditional Southern Baptist. Much of the time this has been done in a way that strikes fear into people, where people don't come to have a relationship with Christ, but save their own skin, or just cover their bases. This is obviously not how we are called to spread Christ, but in trying to come away from that I fear we still, as a whole, are still missing the boat.

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love."- 1 John 4:18

We are not called to guilt, or strike fear in people, to repent and follow some rules, but to show people how a real relationship with Christ will change their life and outlook. We can't go and not tell people of the reality of hell, like many modern churches do, but on the reverse side, we can't go around saying "repent or burn" either. We must preach the love of Christ, that he wants a relationship with us, but at the same time, in a manor of love, be real with people.

Good Enough?

Earlier today I was driving and saw a bumper sticker that read, "Born OK... the first time". Now, I've seen this before and my typical reaction is to cast the thought to the side, not really caring about their atheist beliefs. But today there was a different thought process when I came upon this bumper sticker.

I began to think about this statement, "Born OK... the first time," and I thought of the horrifying reality of the people in this world that believe that. Not only atheist, who believe in no afterlife, but many studies and surveys have shown that most people believe in heaven, in one form or another, and many believe that generally "good" people go there. In my own experiences, I've met many people who believe in God, and that as long as they don't kill anyone, I hear that the most, that they are going to heaven. No mention of Jesus or the fact that all man is sinful.

From the atheist to those that believe in some type of God, people think that man is generally good. The fact of it is, everyone has the capacity to be evil, and when left to their own devices, out of the public eye, we revert to this in one way or another. In this we see that man is sinful, born into a world that tries to rationalize the fulfillment of fleshly desires, slowly deceiving us as we creep further into it. This has been shown in social experiments, such as the Stanford Prison Experiment. The reality of sin is so prevalent in our world, yet people try to rationalize it to say they are good people.

Always remember the truth of scripture. That in Christ we are saved, not by anything we have done to try and be good enough, but through his sacrifice our sins are atoned for.

"And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,..." - Colossians 1:21-22

Check This Out - St. Patrick

Being that this is one of my favorite holidays, I wanted to point everyone towards a great article on the real man, Saint Patrick. I wanted to make my own post on St. Patrick, but why when someone else has already done a fine job of it. The article, written by Mark Driscoll, highlights the missionary to the Celts. Take a look at the man who's namesake is our Americanized holiday where we pick on old Irish stereotypes, or if you are like me, it's a good day to look at your heritage (that being the reason it's one of my favorite holidays).

I am a servant of Christ to a foreign nation for the unspeakable glory of life everlasting which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. – Patrick


http://theresurgence.com/Vintage_Saints_St_Patrick

Check This Out

A great article explaining the "New Calvinism" by an Acts 29 Pastor in Texas, Jonathan Dodson.

A good quote from the article, "There is much more continuity between the New Calvinism and John Calvin than with some of his followers. However, what essentially remains the same is the soteriological core—God's sovereign grace in redeeming broken sinners, which has been popularly captured by the TULIP acronym: total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints (limited atonement appears to be more negotiable among the New Calvinists)." The last statement being true in my case.

http://theresurgence.com/message_of_resurging_calvinism

A Word to the Wise

Wisdom…, it’s something we look at, strive for, yet few seem to grasp what true wisdom is. The end of James 3 teaches us that true wisdom is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” This is the wisdom from above, or from God in other words. James also teaches us that there is another type of wisdom in this world.

“But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.” – James 3:14-16

See, many leaders in our world feel they have wisdom, but take a quick look at their motives. Many, though not all, have some selfish motive behind their so-called wisdom. This is shown throughout history in many different stories of corruption. Countless occasions of people not doing what is best, but most profitable for themselves. People often rely on their own discernment, revealing the corruption of the flesh, rather than discernment from above, which is always good, as described in James.

Another aspect of Godly wisdom is the comprehension of the things of God. So often we try to engage our minds, striving to understand the mysteries of God. Scientists try so hard to understand the workings of nature, developing theory after theory. We as Christians even try to understand things that may not be fully clear to us, though the Bible teaches us that we should try to comprehend these things by the wisdom of the spirit, not of the wisdom of the world.

“For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 2:11-16

"The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him…" That statement right there sums it up. When we try to comprehend the things of God by our own understanding we fail, but through the spirit God reveals them to us.

Time and time again I find myself learning more and more. Even when I begin to feel I have some understanding, God reveals through his word new thoughts and ideas and I am completely in awe of the vastness of God. Strive to seek out the wisdom from above, not the so called “wisdom” of this earth, for not only understanding, but discernment in all things.