Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (pt 2)

By Caleb Kolstad @ http://expositorythoughts.wordpress.com

How can we know what our God ordained roles and responsibilities ought to be? Before we answer that we need to look at few key issues.

The 1st Key Issue that we need to get is: Men and Women are equal in Value, Dignity & Personhood.

That is an absolutely foundational statement. I believe it is an important statement primarily because it accurately reflects the Word of God. The first book of Moses and the first book of the Bible is Genesis. Genesis 1:27-28 records, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. ²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

Who was created in the image of God? Was it just man? No, it was man and woman. What does it mean then to bear God’s image? At the very least it means we humans are relational, we have a spirit (eternal soul), we experience emotions, we have a moral conscience, we know and can worship God. Mankind was created with a will, with a soul, and with an intellect. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that we are different from all the other created things. Men and women are unique and special in God’s sight. Redemptive history proves this is so. Did you know that in some ways humans represent God? The fall, has of course, tainted many of the aspects mentioned above. Because men and women are created in the image of God we believe we’re equal in value, dignity, and personhood. The world would be a lot better place if people believed this.

So who did God bless in Genesis 1:28? He blessed both Adam and Eve and commissioned them to serve Him as co-regents of the garden. Man was to have dominion over the other created things. Technically speaking though it’s not a man’s world or a woman’s world, it is God’s world.

Male dominance and male superiority is a direct result of sin (not part of God’s divine plan). Some countries abort females as lesser creations (like in China). According to one recent Fox News report, infanticide (and abortion) is responsible for 60 million girls missing in Asia alone. Wanda Franz said, “Abortion is claimed to help women; obviously in these cases, females are the direct victims, because women in these cultures are not valued.” Unbiblical thinking normally leads to unbiblical behavior. Male dominance has lead to many unbiblical decisions such as men justifying rape or polygamy; husbands acting as little dictators; women being told they can’t go to school or vote because their an inferior gender.

The secular feminist movement is a result of sin as well. Unbiblical reactions to unbiblical behavior is still sin in the eyes of our Creator. The radical feminist movement has actually tried to abolish the family (as we know it) and has promoted among many things, lesbianism. These women believe the institution of marriage holds women in bondage. The evangelical feminist movement has tried to abolish any role differences between men and women in the home and in the church. We’ll talk more about this issue later on in our study. As complementarians we must be careful that we do not counter-react to all this folly with additional folly (and thus overreact and possibly sin).

One of the implications of Gen. 1:27 is that men and women are equally important & valuable to God. Our God-designed differences never imply that men are superior to women (or vice versa). We’re equals! Galatians 3:28-29 says, ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. This verse is often misapplied but it does confirm our first Key: men and women are equal in value and dignity. God choose to create both males and females. He choose to redeem both men and women; He gives spiritual gifts to both men and women; He gives unique talents to both men and women; He loves both men and women. The starting point is not to discuss all of our differences as men and women but to express our equality in the image of God (the same is true with race issues by the way).

One Para church organization provided a short explanation as to how this understanding should flesh itself out in our marriages: “In a marriage lived according to these truths, the love between husband and wife will show itself in listening to each other’s viewpoints, valuing each other’s gifts, wisdom and desires, honoring one another in public and in private, and always seeking to bring benefit, not harm, to one another.” Let us never forget that men and women are equal in value, dignity, and personhood.

This leads us into the 2nd Chapter of Genesis quite well. One author has rightly commented, “We cannot understand the gender debate among Bible-believing Christians without grasping this chapter’s significance.” Gen 2:18-25 is the counterpart of Gen 1:27-28. When one accurately interprets Genesis 2 a second key observation can be made: #2 Men and Women have different roles as part of the creative order. (to be continued)

Marriage -- There Is No Alternative

By Albert Mohler @ http://www.albertmohler.com

The fact that many young women are recapturing a vision of virginity until marriage has attracted a considerable amount of media attention. Media coverage has been devoted to books by authors such as Wendy Shalit and Dawn Eden and to programs encouraging sexual abstinence until marriage. The force of our cultural and moral revolution is immediately apparent in the fact that these developments are considered newsworthy. Since when did virginity make news?

These developments have also attracted detractors, and one of the most revealing critiques of the virginity movement comes from feminism. Writing in the current issue of The Nation, Nona Willis-Aronowitz suggests that these movements are efforts to turn back the achievements of the feminist movement and, at the same time, prove that feminism has not "finished its job."

After reviewing the new emphasis on virginity (especially Shalit's work), Willis-Aronowitz writes:

You have to be living under a rock not to notice that casual sex, once an expression of a subversive impulse, is now certifiably pop culture. Since the 1960s, sex--like everything from rock music to the psychedelic aesthetic--has been mainstreamed. But it's a dubious claim that these images and ideals are really breeding mindless sex machines. "If we have to choose between emotional repression and sexual repression...then a better trade-off seems to be fewer partners and more intimacy," concludes Shalit. But the idea that a woman who has lots of sexual partners forgoes her chance of finding "intimacy" and a "soul mate" is not only sanctimonious--it's just not true. Ninety-five percent of Americans have sex before marriage, so chances are a good number of the bikini-clad women making out with strangers at Cancun foam parties will be married with kiddies at the age of 30. The hookup culture isn't a sign of a loveless, commitment-free society--it doesn't even provide an alternative to matrimony.

Interestingly, Willis-Aronowitz concedes her own concern about some aspects of modern sexuality. She finds a 10-year-old girl in sexually provocative undergarments to be "undeniably creepy." Her own stomach "does sink a little when I see one of my peers woozily stripping her clothes off on a Girls Gone Wild commercial." She does not want Paris Hilton to be her daughter's role model.

At the same time, she sees the virginity movements as "retro," not progressive:

Shalit's so-called "rebels" amid our "pornified" culture may be technically raging against the mainstream, but they are surely just repackaging age-old ideas as defiance. They appear in the form of 16-year-old rappers preaching abstinence, Orthodox Jewish women getting married before even touching their husbands and a teenager getting her knickers in a twist over reading the word "[removed]" in her assigned reading. Most retro about the call for modesty is that it once again implies that women's actions are somehow responsible for men's. Since men simply cannot control themselves, poor things, women should shroud their bodies in cloth and desperately guard their virginity so as to quash men's dishonorable intentions. These are the strong, "empowered" women who will quell the supposedly adverse effects of our sex-saturated culture.

Willis-Aronowitz resists bringing morality into the conversation at all. Morality is itself quite retro in her world. Sex is about power and autonomy. Women have a right (even a responsibility?) to be as sexually adventuresome and promiscuous as men. It is all about power and "picking up on the element of fun that sexiness can bring to everyday life."

The most interesting part of Willis-Aronowitz's critique is her assessment that feminism has thus far failed in a central task -- that of providing a genuine alternative to marriage. Citing feminist theorist Ariel Levy, she argues:

The culture has not yet carved out a space for women to indulge their own fantasies rather than to fulfill those of men. Feminism has not finished its job; a version of nonmushy, nonmarital sex that makes women feel good about themselves is still hard to achieve.

On closer analysis, it is the new movements' focus on marriage that is her real concern. How fascinating that she would indict feminism for its failure -- for now -- to create "a version of nonmushy, nonmarital sex that makes women feel good about themselves."

So "nonmushy, nonmarital sex" is a goal of postmodern feminism? In reality, it is an old story.

Utopian ideologies have sought in vain for an alternative to marriage for centuries. Plato's original "Utopia" subverted marriage and the family in terms of the polis. Marxism defied the marriage covenant and sought to replace it with an ultimate commitment to the state. In its later stages, Nazi Germany redefined sexual morality in order to breed the "Master Race" without the constraints of marriage. The feminism of the sixties, we remember, looked to marriage and the traditional family as domestic "concentration camps."

Now, Nona Willis-Aronowitz wants feminism to create "an alternative to matrimony" -- a "version of nonmushy, nonmarital sex that makes women feel good about themselves."

Sorry, Ms. Willis-Aronowitz. It isn't out there. There is no alternative to marriage. History is littered with shattered experiments and the scarred lives of those who have believed otherwise.

_______________________

Wendy Shalit's work is cited here but not endorsed. Dawn Eden appeared as a guest on The Albert Mohler Program on January 9, 2007 with guest host Russell Moore and again on April 23, 2007 as my guest in the studio. Her book, The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On is a manifesto for the new movement.

Sermon Outline: 1 Peter 3:13-17 Living in a Hostile World

1) A Passion for Goodness (3:13)

Proverbs 16:7

2) A Willingness to Suffer—for Wrong and for Right (3:14, 17)

Revelation 2:10

1 Peter 2:15

3) A Devotion to Christ (3:15a)

4) A Readiness to Defend the Faith (3:15b)

Proverbs 26:4/Matthew 7:6

Proverbs 26:5

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Jude 1:3-4

1 Peter 1:3

Ephesians 4:15

Colossians 4:6

2 Timothy 2:24-26

5) A Pure Conscience (3:16)

Acts 24:16

Sunday Prayers

Adapted from Richard Baxter’s Puritan Non-Conformist liturgy of 1660:

Eternal, Almighty, and most gracious God: heaven is your throne, and earth is your footstool; holy and reverend is your name; you are praised by the angels of heaven, and in the gathering of your church on earth. Despite our unworthiness, you have invited us through our Mediator, Jesus Christ, to present ourselves and our prayers to you. Receive us graciously. Help us by your Spirit. Let us stand in awe of you. Put your law into our hearts, and write it on our minds. Let your word come to us in power, and help us receive it in love, with attentive, reverent, and teachable minds. Through your word, allow us to taste the flavor of eternal life. Make us fervent in prayer and joyful in praise. Help us serve you this day without distraction, that we may find that a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere, and that it is good for us to come near to God; through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Should Christian Kids Read 'Harry Potter'?

By Chuck Colson @ http://www.christianpost.com

If there’s a child in your house, then you probably know what’s going to happen when the clock strikes 12 tonight. The final Harry Potter book—Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—will be unleashed on the world.

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The big question that has millions of kids on edge: Will Harry live—or will he die?

But the big question many parents have is: Should their kids be reading novels about wizards and witches and magic?

A Christian expert on Potter mania says, “It depends.”

Connie Neal, a veteran youth pastor and mother of three, is the author of a book titled What’s a Christian To Do with Harry Potter? Neal says parents must use discernment in deciding whether to allow their kids to read Harry Potter. For example, kids with an unhealthy interest in the occult should probably not read these books. Other Christians believe their kids benefit from the moral lessons the Potter books teach.

Neal’s belief that it’s okay for Christians to read secular novels comes from her reading of the biblical book of Daniel. Daniel, you will remember, was a teenager when he was taken away from Jerusalem to live in exile in Babylon. There, he was taught the language and literature of the pagan culture. He studied at a school that trained Babylon’s magicians, astrologers, and sorcerers. The actual practice of sorcery and astrology was, of course, forbidden by God. But Daniel studied it well to understand it.

One day King Nebuchadnezzer called on his magicians and astrologers to interpret a dream; none could do it. In a rage, the king ordered that all of his wise men be put to death. Daniel asked to see the king, who then asked him, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” Daniel responded: “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery which the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.”

Daniel had immersed himself in his culture’s pagan literature in order to understand it. But, because of his deep devotion to God, he didn’t defile himself. As Connie Neal told BreakPoint, “God put Daniel in Babylon to be a light in the darkness—and he was. He was not afraid to read literature that resounded in the hearts of the people with whom he lived. He used his familiarity with this pagan literature to reveal the true and living God.” And Neal knows some kids who have done the same in our own post-Christian culture.

Now personally, I don’t recommend the Potter books. I’d rather Christian kids not read them. But with some 325 million of them in print, your kids will probably see them and hear others talk about them, and they’re probably going to read them anyway. So use this occasion to teach them to be discerning—like Daniel. Dare them to have Daniel as their role model, not Harry Potter.

And if your kids do enjoy Harry’s magical world, you should give them copies of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.

These books also feature wizards and witches and magic, but in addition, they inspire the imagination within a Christian framework—and prepare the hearts of readers for the real-life story of Jesus Christ.

"My New Dawn," Daniel Kirkley

Our Role in Others' Salvation

From http://www.desiringgod.org

The audio and video of Piper's messages from the DVD "Open Their Eyes" are now online. In the first message Piper considers these 5 questions:

1. What is the gospel?
2. What is lostness?
3. What is conversion?
4. What is the role of people in conversion?
5. What is the role of teaching in conversion?

And in the second message he looks at what doctrines are essential to teaching the whole counsel of God.

Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (pt 1)

by Caleb Kolstad @http://expositorythoughts.wordpress.com

I have been taking our young marrieds/singles class through a series on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Because things have been quiet around here i will post these notes here on E.T.

Besides the Word of God, I am going to be using many different resources. Namely, Wayne Grudem’s “Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.” Grudem’s “Evangelical Feminism & Biblical Truth.” Srauch’s “Equal-Yet-Different.” Duncan’s “Women’s Ministry in the Local Church.” MacArthur’s “Different by Design” to name a few. Before we jump into this Bible study we need to ask an important WHY question. WHY should we invest time on this particular subject? Why spend one or two quarters going over biblical manhood and womanhood? Here are a few answers right upfront (in no particular order):

#1. Because this subject is the source of much debate among the Christian community today.

An ongoing debate between Biblical complementarians & Evangelical feminists (egalitarians) continues to wage. Let me briefly define those seminary level descriptions for you. Complementarians teach that God created men and women as equals yet with different gender-defined roles. In short they say, men and women are fully equal in personhood, dignity, and worth but that God designed men and women to function in different roles (which in no way negates the later statement). Egalitarians teach that God created men and women as equals with no distinct role differences. In short, they believe that true equality requires equal ministry opportunities for both sexes. Egalitarians can also be referred to as evangelical feminists. I will refer to them using both titles.

Our church believes the Bible supports a complementarian view in regards to gender roles in the church and home. Much, much more will be said to support this position in the weeks to come. All that to say, this is often a hot button topic of discussion in Christian schools, churches, seminaries, and even in some Christian homes. I believe if you survey the Christian landscape you’ll agree this topic is both relevant and important.

So why should we invest time on this particular subject? #1. Because this subject is the source of much debate among the Christian community today and is an important issue for us to understand.

#2. Because the Bible addresses this subject in a number of different passages.

True Christians, in all places and in all times, have treasured the Bible because it truly is God’s Word. As Christians we acknowledge the authority of God over our lives. One of the ways we submit ourselves to Christ’s Lordship is by humbling ourselves before the Word of God. God’s revealed will for our lives is preserved for us in One Book and in one Book alone (2 Peter 1:3). The Bible is a lamp onto our feet and a light unto our path (Psalm 119). God expects that we diligently search out the Scriptures and that we seek to understand and apply it to our own lives (Acts 17:11). The Bible addresses this topic in both the Old and New Testaments so it’s important we study it and that we seek to apply it’s truths to our lives as well. Some of the key passages include Genesis 1-3, Ephesians 5, Titus 2, 1 Corinthians 7, Galatians 3:28, and 1 Corinthians 14.

Which leads us to #3: Because this teaching personally affects all of us in many different ways.

To make sense of this point, check out the Wayne Grudem’s attachment at the end of this handout. Much more will be said concerning this subject so please come this summer as often as you can. If you review the chart you’ll see how this mindset affects one’s behavior in many different ways. We probably won’t find ourselves on the extreme edges but we may uncover some aspects where we’ve drifted away from the Biblical center.

#4. Because teaching on this subject is normally full of heat but often very short on light.

I will try my best to clearly distinguish for you what the Bible teaches and what my personal opinions are. I will try and let you know what other people’s opinions are as well. Let’s be straightforward on this: Human opinions are normally take or leave it type things (E.G. How to best care for your lawn; Whether its wisest to buy a new car or to buy used cars; whether or not Pete Rose should be admitted into the Hall of Fame; Whether or not you should try and breast feed or use a baby formula; Whether or not one should vote for a Mormon politician, etc, etc). Some opinions are helpful and wise while others are just opinions. If we stay close to what the Scriptures teach concerning this topic we’ll be right on track.

I think it’s important for all of us to:

(A) Know what the key passages of Scripture are regarding this topic.

(B) Understand what the passages say.

(C) Meditate on how that understanding should affect our lives.

(D) By God’s grace, seek to implement change in our lives.

After we finish this series you should be able to answer the following questions: What are the biblical roles and responsibilities for both Christian men and Christian women? Is it permissible to ordain a female pastor? Can a woman teach or preach to other men? Other children? ladies? Why or why not? Were the author’s of Scripture ever sexist? Did Jesus contradict the prophets or the apostles in regards to this topic? How can we avoid the unbiblical extremes that often dominate this discussion? What does Biblical manhood really entail? What does Biblical womanhood mean? Why does this subject matter so much to God?

Is "Messianic Judaism" a Good Idea?

by Steven A. Kreloff @ http://teampyro.blogspot.com

A Note from Phil Johnson: Almost two years ago, I posted some remarks raising the question of whether Christians who drop the vowel points during the writing of G-d's name are really showing reverence to H-m. I pointed out that the practice actually seems superstitious and contrary to what Jesus taught about what it means to take the name of God in vain. It strikes me as an unwarranted intrusion of Jewish tradition which (in a way) impinges on Christian liberty. It has the look and feel of subtle Galatianism to me. Dan Phillips (long before we were blog-partners) tag-teamed off that post with a brilliant one of his own. It was one of Dan's early interactions with me which later led to his becoming a card-carrying PyroManiac. Anyway, many of the people most incensed with me about that post were involved in (or on the periphery of) the movement known as "Messianic Judaism." So at the time (was it really that long ago?) I asked my best friend, Steve Kreloff to weigh in on the subject of contextualization in Jewish cultures and the dangers of over-doing it. Steve sent me the following guest-post, which I have been holding ever since. I'm posting it today because in the wake of Frank's trilogy of Steve-Hays-style broadsides from yesterday, the torpor at the blog is almost palpable. So I asked Frank's permission before bumping his Flood-o'-arguments®. His reply: "Yeah, whatever. Who knew people with the gift of tongues had so little to say?" So, ladies and gentlemen, please meet the man who has remained my best friend in the world for the past 35 years, Steve Kreloff. Steve is the polar opposite of me in almost every way conceivable, except that we share a common faith in Yeshua Ha' Mashiach and a common commitment to the truth of His Word. Steve is a Jewish believer, having come to saving faith while in college. He has pastored Lakeside Community Chapel in Clearwater, FL., since 1981. He can be heard weekly (soon to be daily) on radio or via podcasting, thanks to Verse by Verse Ministries.

number of years ago, when my son was young, we attended a baseball game. Not only was my son a baseball fan, but he was also an avid collector of baseball cards. When we arrived at the ballpark, though, I noticed that he seemed more interested in looking at the pictures of the players on his cards than in watching the ball players on the field. In my astonishment I asked him, "Why are you looking at the pictures, when the real living players are standing right in front of you?"

What my son did with baseball cards and players, many Jewish Christians today do with their faith. Embracing a concept known as Messianic Judaism, these Jewish believers emphasize Old Testament laws and practices (such as dietary laws, feasts, and Sabbath days) as the way to please God. Yet Paul referred to these kinds of observances as "shadows" pointing to the reality of Jesus Christ (Col. 2:16, 17). The Old Testament presented many shadowy pictures of the coming Messiah in the form of ritualistic laws and ceremonies. These shadows were never intended to be a permanent fixture of Christianity. Along with the rest of the Mosaic Law, these pictures were designed by God to be "our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come we are no longer under a tutor" (Galatians 3:24, 25). Just as it is foolish for a someone to be enthralled with pictures of ballplayers rather than the players themselves, so it is inappropriate for messianic believers to focus on outdated pictures about Messiah rather than the reality of His presence.

This attraction to Old Testament messianic pictures is not new. The early church faced similar problems with Jewish Christians who had a difficult time pulling away from the many practices associated with Old Testament Judaism. In response to their reluctance to let go of their old religious ties, the writer to the Hebrews devotes his entire letter to presenting Jesus Christ as superior to a wide range of pictorial symbols found in Judaism (such as the high priesthood, Moses, the Old Covenant, and animal sacrifices). Instead of encouraging these Hebrews to remain within their comfortable religious practices, the inspired penman pleads with them to abandon these customs in favor of loyalty to Jesus Christ.

Although the Bible clearly defines the dangers of mixing Old Testament rituals with New Testament truths about Jesus (creating a legalistic form of Christianity), many Jewish believers continue to be attracted to forms and style of worship found in Messianic Judaism (i.e. messianic synagogues). In light of the popularity of Messianic Judaism, Jewish Christians should be aware of the unbiblical nature of this movement and the dangers involved in associating with it.

A Theological Danger

The greatest menace posed by Messianic Judaism is that, by encouraging its followers to diligently observe Old Testament laws, it obscures the foundational truth of Christianity, which is justification by faith in Christ. Though many within this movement are born again and would affirm that their salvation is based upon Christ's substitutionary atonement, yet their emphasis upon Old Testament ceremonial laws gives the distinct impression that the observing of these laws are necessary for salvation.

Indeed, there are some within the messianic movement who teach that Jewish believers are obligated to observe all the Old Testament laws. They would in fact associate their salvation with keeping these laws. Yet, this was the very problem that Paul addressed in his letter to the Galatians. He sternly rebuked them for replacing the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith with a false gospel of salvation by law. He called their rejection of grace for law "a different gospel" (1:6) and a distortion of the gospel of Christ (1:7). For receiving such a perverted message he referred to them as "foolish and bewitched" (3:1). And those who preached such an erroneous message he called "accursed" (1:8, 9). He wrote, " . . . knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified"(Gal. 3:16).

Those within the messianic camp must consider the critical importance of affirming the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ. In keeping with the message of the New Testament, they should stop clinging to laws and practices that can never justify them before God.

A Ecclesiological Danger

One of the great truths of the New Testament is that the Body of Christ is made up of both Jews and Gentiles. It is an unbiblical concept to have a local church that is distinctively Jewish or Gentile (by necessity the early church in Jerusalem consisted of all Jews because the Gospel had not been presented to the Gentile world). Thus, the nature of messianic synagogues—with their unique Jewish distinctions—violates the very spirit of fellowship among believers of all backgrounds and cultures.

The Apostle Paul told the Ephesians that Christ has reconciled both Jews and Gentiles in one body through the cross (2:16). Through His death on the cross Jesus Christ abolished all the Old Testament ceremonial laws that made Jews distinct and separated them from Gentiles (2:15). As a result He has "made both groups (Jews and Gentiles) into one" by removing all spiritual distinctions between believers (2:14, 15). While maintaining ethnic and social differences, the Bible declares that "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28). By encouraging messianic synagogues, Messianic Judaism promotes division in the Body of Christ that is contrary to the teachings of the New Testament.

Rather than establish a distinct Jewish assembly, local churches should bring together both Jews and Gentiles in membership. To remove Jewish believers from Bible-believing churches is to essentially rob the Church of the richness of fellowship God intends Jews and Gentiles in Christ to enjoy. All spiritual fellowship should be based upon our relationship with Christ—not our former religious backgrounds.

An Evangelistic Danger

Adherents to Messianic Judaism believe that those identified with messianic synagogues make better witnesses to Jewish people than Gentiles from a Bible believing local church. However, the Apostle Paul told the Romans that his goal in ministering to so many Gentiles (he was the Apostle to the Gentiles) was to provoke Jewish people to jealousy (Romans 11:14). In other words, he felt that the best way to arouse Jewish interest in the gospel was through Gentile Christians. When Jewish people observe Gentile believers having a relationship with the Jewish Messiah and loving their Jewish Bibles, they often are provoked to a jealousy that eventually leads them to Christ.

Ironically, most Jewish Christians (including those within messianic synagogues) were led to Christ by a Gentile Christian. Messianic synagogues do a great disservice to the Jewish community by encouraging local churches to delegate Jewish evangelism to them. The Great Commission commands all believers to make disciples from all nations and nationalities—and this includes Jewish people. By believing that messianic synagogues are uniquely equipped as the sole experts in Jewish evangelism, local churches are in danger of neglecting their biblical responsibility to witness to Jewish people.

Jewish believers in Christ offer so much to the Body of Christ. They are often zealous and passionate about their faith in Messiah. Their presence and involvement in local churches, along with their Gentile brethren, testify to the world of the transforming power of the gospel of Christ.

Reference for this article came from: "Do We Need Messianic Synagogues? Biblical, Historic, And Pragmatic Issues" by Dr. William C. Varner (The Master's Seminary Journal-Spring 2003).

Steve Kreloff

Harry Potter: Anything of Value?

by Dan Miller @ http://www.sharperiron.org

At midnight tonight is the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. This seventh and final book about “the boy who lived” will be released about 10 years after the completion of the first book of the series. The books, of course, are wildly popular. As of this writing (July 16), more than 1.3 million copies of book seven have been pre-ordered on Amazon.com. In the first printing, 12 million copies have been reserved for the U.S. market alone.

Over the last several years, there has been great speculation regarding what will happen to Harry and his fellow characters. It has also been a period of concern for Christians regarding the appropriateness of children reading books that include magic. This summer, the speculation will be over, but the concern will continue. How should Christians regard these books?

I could easily write several papers on this series. First, we might consider whether the presence of “magic” in the books is objectionable. In this paper, I don’t intend to offer a conclusion about whether the reader should allow Harry Potter in his life and home. Instead, I hope to offer some information about material the books actually contain. The reader should use information about the books to make his own judgment about reading them.

It would be great to address the question of danger in the books. Dr. Kevin Bauder has already done that (The Christian and Fantastic Literature, Part 7, The Harry Potter Books), and I largely agree with him.

It’s possible that some of our members view Harry Potter as evil. That fact, in itself, would make an interesting discussion. Rowling does do some important things to place barriers between the magic in her books and that which her readers might find in the real world. But I have to say that I don’t think she does that as well as C.S. Lewis did. I would say that this aspect of the books earns Rowling a poor grade. It should give us caution, and because of it individuals might refuse to read the books, and many parents will not allow their children to read them. The magic does serve to make the series more interesting and colorful. But the stories are not about magic. They are about good versus evil. They are about making good choices and depending on help from good people.

It also would be appropriate to discuss the moral values of the books. Do they teach appropriate mores and taboos? Is wrongdoing punished? I won’t try to answer these questions here, but parents of children who read these books should understand how to discuss morals in the books. Harry undergoes positive character development in each story, and parents should be able to point that out to young readers.

This paper centers on the question of whether the series contains anything of positive value. Some have questioned whether the books have anything valuable to say. I believe the books have a lot to say. The most important thing about these stories is the way they echo the greatest story every told—the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you have viewed these books as evil, my statement might surprise you. J.K. Rowling is a member of the Church of Scotland. We would view the Church of Scotland as theologically liberal but one with some good basic creeds. Rowling has said that C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books are among her favorites. Rowling has said that she does not believe in magic or witchcraft, and she refuses to speak of her faith until after the series is published, saying that the revelation would give too much away in the plot of the last book.

In light of the above, before explaining the Christian symbolism, I need to make a couple disclaimers:

1. Rowling has not explained her faith. I am not claiming that these symbols are Christian. And I am certainly in no position to judge Rowling’s faith.

2. The books do give exposure to magic similar to what we find in our world. That and the moral questions should make us cautious. Therefore, I am not wholeheartedly endorsing these books. Nor am I recommending that everyone read them. What I do want to do is give information about the books. This way, Christians will be able to intelligently discuss the books and hopefully use those conversations to point others to Christ.

So how do these books echo the great story of Christ? And why would SharperIron readers care?

Spoiler Alert: The rest of this paper addresses events that occur in the first six books. I will be giving away endings. So if you want to read the books with a sense of mystery, not knowing what will happen next, you may not want to finish this paper.

Harry’s story begins when he is one year old. Voldemort, the villain of the series, tries to kill the infant Harry, but Harry’s mother blocks his first attempt when she throws herself in front of Voldemort’s killing curse. This loving self-sacrifice provides the most powerful “magic” in the books. It gives Harry the protection he needs to survive the second curse Voldemort aims at him.

Each book in the series has a plot of its own, but all books follow a predictable pattern for Harry’s final conflict. At the end of each year, Harry descends to a place associated with hell or death, calls for help or makes a statement of faith (usually), dies (either nearly or figuratively), is helped by something or someone in the story (a picture of Christ), and is raised again.

I have included a chart of these event below. Though I created this chart from memory, John Granger, author of Looking for God in Harry Potter and other works concerning the first four books of the Harry Potter series, has previously discussed much of it. I am in debt to him for some of the symbolism here.

	The Philosopher’s Stone*	The Chamber of Secrets	The Prisoner of Azkaban	The Goblet of Fire	The Order of the Phoenix	The Half-Blood Prince
Descent and Death	Harry goes down past the three-headed dog, through Devil’s Snare (i.e., into hell). There he battles Voldemort, who tries to kill him, but Dumbledore comes to the rescue.	Harry goes down to the lair of the serpent, the Chamber of Secrets. There, while defeating the serpent, Harry is pierced by a poisonous fang.	Harry goes down to the lake by the forest, where he is attacked and nearly killed by dementors.	Harry goes to a graveyard. There he battles Voldemort, who again nearly kills him.	Harry goes down into the Ministry of Magic. Some of the battle occurs in the “death room.”	Harry goes down to a lake, which is filled with the dead. There he is nearly killed and added to the dead of the lake.
Christ Picture	1) The Philosopher’s Stone It transforms base metals into gold. It produces the elixir of life. It is “blood-red.” 2) Dumbledore He is aloof throughout most of the books. While not consistently depicting God, he does at times seem to depict a child’s idea of God.	Fawkes, the Phoenix He dies and is resurrected. He has healing powers. (See Clement, ch. 25-26 and Turtullian)	1) A hippogriff Having the hind of a horse (lord of land) and the front of a griffin (lion-eagle, lord of sky), the hippogriff depicts the human-divine nature of Christ. Harry hears the hippogriff being killed. But after an amazing turn in the plot, we discover that the hippogriff was not actually killed. Plot-wise, he is resurrected. 2) Harry’s patronus Patronus is Latin for “one like the Father.”	Fawkes He is heard in the song that comes from the wands. The wands contain tail feathers from Fawkes.	Fawkes	Dumbledore Before they escape from the lake, a basin of horrible liquid must be drunk. As Dumbledore drinks 10 cups of liquid, he reacts as though he feels pain and guilt. Dumbledore dies soon after this. His last words to Harry are, “I am with you.”
Call for Help or Expression of Faith	Harry’s purpose in entering the final conflict of the book is to keep Voldemort from getting the stone.	It is Harry’s expression of faith in Dumbledore that brings the aid of Fawkes.	To draw near the hippogriff, Harry must humble himself by bowing before him. Harry’s patronus is produced by Harry’s statement of belief, “expecto patronum” (“I am expecting one like the father”). The word expecto may be found in the second to last line of the Nicene Creed.		In Harry’s final confrontation with Voldemort, Harry’s love for his friends protects him.
Help from the Christ Picture	Dumbledore rescues Harry in the presence of the philosopher’s stone.	Fawkes pecks out the deadly eyes of the serpent, removing that sting of death.	Harry’s patronus takes the form of a stag. It defeats the dementors, saving Harry’s life.The hippogriff carries Harry up and away from the forest/lake.	Fawkes’ song encourages Harry and weakens Voldemort.	This time he gives his life to save Harry and Dumbledore.	Dumbledore drinks the cups of guilt (?). He then makes fire, which allows them to escape.
Help from Others	Ron and Hermione help Harry overcome various obstacles.	Harry is given a sword from Godric Griffindor, one of the school’s founders. Godric lived long ago; the exact time is unknown.	Ron and Hermione are again by Harry’s side.	Echoes of Harry’s father and mother distract Voldemort while Harry escapes.	Multiple members of the Order of the Phoenix fight on Harry and Dumbledore’s behalf.	Multiple members of the Order of the Phoenix fight on Harry and Dumbledore’s behalf.
Ascent	After driving off Voldemort, Dumbledore carries Harry up to the hospital wing. Harry awakens three days later.	Fawkes carries Harry back up out of the chamber.	The hippogriff carries Harry up to the highest tower, where they set the “prisoner of Azkaban” free.	Harry is returned to the school from the graveyard.	Dumbledor’s magic brings Harry up and out of the “death room” and the Ministry of Magic.	Dumbledore and Harry escape from the lake of the dead and return to the castle.

^{*The Philosopher’s Stone was published in the United States as The Sorcerer’s Stone.}

So why should SharperIron readers care about Harry Potter? Why not just ignore the series? Perhaps we should make use of the current popularity of these stories. We should say to our friends and acquaintances, “Do you know why the books are so good? They are good because they are echoes of an even better story—the true story of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Many are interested in the series, even if they aren’t fans. We should see the popularity of Harry Potter as an excellent opportunity to speak about our faith in a different and culturally relevant way.

I do not mean that I think we should use Harry Potter to explain the gospel on a general basis. I mean only that the books can give us a point of contact. With it, we can bring up the subject of Jesus Christ by connecting with something some people like.

Again, don’t take this article as an endorsement of the books. I like them, and I have greatly enjoyed trying to figure out what comes next. I’ll go on record with only one prediction: Sadly, Hagrid will die.

I am interested to see where Rowling goes in her seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. But tonight will also be somewhat sad—the greatest interlibrum of my lifetime will be over.

^{Dan Miller is an ophthalmologist living in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He received a B.S. in Premed from Bob Jones University in 1991 and an M.D. from The University of South Carolina School of Medicine in 1995. He serves as youth leader and board member at Cedar Heights Baptist Church, also in Cedar Falls. He has been happily married to Jenny since 1992. His opinions are not necessarily those of his church or SharperIron.}

Glorying in Humiliation

From Tim Challies @ http://www.challies.com

Over the past few days I've been reading Girls Gone Mild, the new book by Wendy Shalit. Shalit's first book, A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue was published seven years ago and caused quite a stir. Shalit, an orthodox Jew, made the audacious claim that the sexual revolution may not have been entirely beneficial for women. She decried the lack of modesty this revolution has brought about and, according to TIME defended "compellingly, shame, privacy, gallantry, and sexual reticence." Of course many people, and feminists in particular, were disgusted with the book and ruthlessly mocked her. Her second effort, Girls Gone Mild Shalit investigates a new movement that seems to be growing in strength and is being led by young people. It is a movement back to modesty and back to an understanding of womanhood that is somehow feminine.

It is not just Christians who are aghast at our culture's view of womanhood. The sexual revolution has produced a generation of girls who are brazen in their sexuality. We've come to a time when girls are offered the choice between being brave and sexual or timid and modest. Culture teaches that it is acceptable to wait to engage in sexual practices as long as you feel you are unprepared. It is those who are comfortable with their bodies who flaunt their nakedness while those who hide their bodies are ashamed. Hence it is the weak who wait and the strong who engage. And countless numbers of girls are engaged, even from a young age.

But that is not all. As girls become increasingly sexual at an increasingly young age, they also become aggressive. Girls have long been taught that traditionally feminine qualities such as niceness and gentleness are a sign of weakness. Girls are encouraged to be tough, to stand for their perceived rights. And girls do this. Bullying among girls has become commonplace in schools. The term "bullycide" has been coined to describe people, and often girls, who are driven to suicide by bullying.

Girls are being mean because their parents and teachers are teaching them to be mean. Adults are telling the children that it is the aggressive who will inherit the earth. The girls who are nice will be trampled on and will be left behind. Girls are also seeing meanness modeled for them in their entertainment. In discussing this topic, Shalit provided an interesting quote from none other than Erika Harold, who was Miss America 2003 and who is now studying law at Harvard. "A profound statement from a beauty pageant winner," you ask? Read on.

We live in a culture where reality TV is pervasive, and we're entertained by other's humiliation and by pulling on people's weaknesses and watching a weak person be embarrassed; and I maintain that's the cause--glorifying humiliation of others--not being good. With bullying it's about thinking you have the right to devalue other people, and there are some people who think people should just toughen up, grow up. But bullying, I think, is a much more pernicious problem than that. If people don't value other people, they just see it as acceptable to bully other people.

In February, just as a new season of America's favorite program began, I wrote about American Idol and how it so masterfully combines our culture's twin obsessions with exhibitionism and voyeurism. I thought back to this article yesterday as I read the quote by Erika Harold. I thought again of William Hung who, perhaps more than anyone else, typifies the victims of reality television. Hung is well, just not a very good-looking guy (we'll leave it at that). He may have thought that he was talented enough to make an impact at American Idol but the cold reality, as we all saw, was that he was utterly untalented as both a singer and dancer. Yet he passed through two levels of auditions and was given the stage in front of the judges where he was promptly humiliated and rejected. He was brought back later in the season for a special "Uncut, Uncensored and Untalented" episode where he performed again. He even released a series of three albums, all featured his horrendous singing. He was a joke and we all laughed at him, not with him.

Last night I thought about other reality programs. I flipped through the TV Guide lately to see what reality programs are available right now. There is Hell's Kitchen where a chef with a serious anger problem screams at potential chefs; there is Big Brother, where people compete to be the last person standing in a house filled with cameras; there is American Inventor where people try to create the next big product and America's Got Talent where thousands compete in a national talent show with a million dollar prize. And then there is some horrendous show who's name escapes me where young women and older women compete for the attention of a sleazy bachelor. A popular gameshow, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? puts "average Americans" up against a group of 5th graders in a quiz show format. Those who cannot beat the children (and to this point, as I understand it, no one has) the contestant has to look into the camera and say, "I am not smarter than a 5th grader!"

The common thread with all of these shows is that they glory in humiliation. Some are worse offenders than others, but anyone who has seen the commercials where Chef Ramsey screams obscenities at chefs in Hell's Kitchen or who has seen advertisements of older women in anguish after being outfoxed by a younger woman on that ugly dating show will realize that the humiliation is as much the attraction as is the challenge of the show. I suspect as many people watch Hell's Kitchen to watch the outbursts as they do because they find the cooking interesting.

What is wrong with us? Why is it that we glory in the humiliation of others? Would we be as interested in these shows if they were merely about talent or about fascinating plots? I don't think we would. I think we are attracted to them precisely because they humiliate other people. We are attracted to them, at least in part, because they give us the opportunity to feel better about ourselves at the expense of others. "I may not be a good singer, but at least I'm not as bad as him. I may not be able to carry a tune, but at least I'm not delusional enough to go and audition for the show!"

Aileen and I have been reading and studying James together and we've been talking about the fact that the Bible is clear that what comes out a person is a sure indication of what he puts in. This is true physically, emotionally and spiritually. What we allow into our hearts and into our minds necessarily impacts our lives. We may not be able to exhaustively examine our own hearts, but we can surely look to what comes out of us and see in that what we've been putting into our hearts.

It is impossible for us to revel in the humiliation of other people and not begin to see ramifications in our own lives. Bullying is a problem in schools today and it stands to reason that one of the causes of this behavior is children imitating what they see on television. The adults in these shows humiliate and belittle one another and the children take this as an example of acceptable human behavior. You and I may not be prone to bullying, but if we enjoy watching other people be humiliated, what does that say about us? And, of equal importance, how is that beginning to manifest itself in our lives?

Dear mom, stop telling me I'm smart. Love, Johnny

by Harrison Scott Key @ http://www.worldmagblog.com

The Self Esteem Movement is as old as John Dewey (and just about as useful), and one of its subdivisions, the Praise Your Kids All the Time Movement, has just taken a hit, according to New York Magazine.

According to a survey conducted by Columbia University, 85 percent of American parents think it’s important to tell their kids that they’re smart. In and around the New York area, according to my own (admittedly nonscientific) poll, the number is more like 100 percent. Everyone does it, habitually. The constant praise is meant to be an angel on the shoulder, ensuring that children do not sell their talents short.

But a fascinating recent study (for all those who teach, homeschool, have children, or want to) says that telling children they're smart leads often to apathy, while telling them they worked hard leads to eventual triumph. For kids, Smart is innate and unmalleable, but Effort is controllable. Give them the perception of control, and they will begin to exercise more of it.

There's a lot about cheating here, too:

Students turn to cheating because they haven’t developed a strategy for handling failure. The problem is compounded when a parent ignores a child’s failures and insists he’ll do better next time. Michigan scholar Jennifer Crocker studies this exact scenario and explains that the child may come to believe failure is something so terrible, the family can’t acknowledge its existence. A child deprived of the opportunity to discuss mistakes can’t learn from them.

The conclusions to all this, it seems, is that the single best ingredient for success is the one thing that all of us can cultivate: persistence. I like to call it faith.

Read the rest of it here.

The Perfect Pastor?

From JHG@http://www.inlightofthegospel.org

The perfect pastor is one who preaches exactly fifteen minutes, but who shares with his people the wisdom of the ages. He condemns sins but never hurts anyone’s feelings. He works from 8 am to midnight and is also the janitor. He makes $75 a week, wears good clothes, buys good books, drives a good car, and gives $30 a week to the church. He is 26 years old and has been preaching for 30 years. He is above all else, handsome. He has a buring desire to work with teenagers, and spends all his time with older folks. He smiles all the time with a straight face, because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his work. He makes 25 calls each day on parish members, yet spends all his time evangelizing to the unchurched, and is always in his office if and when needed.”

Leave me out of this fantasy world…

Warning … (2)… the quote you are about to enjoy is extremely hot!

From http://spurgeon.wordpress.com

———-

Taken from the very end of Wells’ book, God in the Wasteland (Eerdmans: 1995). …

Grow Your Church By Asking People to Leave

by Kevin D. Hendricks @ http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com

Craig Groeschel at LifeChurch.tv has an interesting series of blog posts on getting people to leave your church. It seems completely counter-intuitive, but it makes sense. If people aren't moving your church forward, they're dead weight (which is kind of scary--am I dead weight?). And it's not just about helping your church, it's also about helping those people find the church for them.

Craig gives an example where he preached on the church's vision trying to get everybody on board. If people weren't on board with the vision, he asked them to find another church. He even offered brochures from 10 other churches he knew and recommended. It was a serious challenge and 500 people ended up leaving. Most people would freak out at that thought. Not Craig:

The next week, we had about 500 new seats for people who could get excited about the vision. Within a short period of time, God filled those seats with passionate people. Many of those who left our church found great, biblical churches where they could worship and use their gifts.

Everybody won!

That's why I sometimes say, "You can grow your church by asking people to leave."

Craig focuses on making leaving a church a graceful option and a positive thing and not the bitter experience it often is.

Or for a, uh, slightly different perspective, there's Mark Driscoll from his book Confessions of a Reformission Rev:

"The church is a body, and one of the most important parts is the colon. Like the human body, any church body without a colon is destined for sickness that leads to death." (page 131)

The Myth of Non-Doctrinal Christianity

From http://against-heresies.blogspot.com A very penetrating thinker has observed, "When you hear anyone say 'Away with creeds,' you know that what he really means is 'take mine.'" Everyone has a creed. There is not a single exception. And we live according to what we really believe. How foolish then the prejudice against doctrine. Much of it is based upon ignorance.

Edward Roberts, quoted in Ligon Duncan (ed.), The Westminster Confession into the 21st Century, p. 24

Harry Potter

http://www.christianitytoday.com

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and last book in J. K. Rowling's best-selling series, will be released to crowded bookstore Potter parties on July 21. As with the last six volumes and four films, there will be hand wringing and discussion not just over the quality, but whether it encourages witchcraft or Christian values. Since 1999, Christianity Today and its sister publications have been discussing the content of the books, along with questions of whether—and more importantly how—the books should be read by children and parents."

For and Against Potter

Why We Like Harry Potter
The series is a 'Book of Virtues' with a preadolescent funny bone.
A Christianity Today editorial | posted 1/10/2000

Matters of Opinion: The Perils of Harry Potter
Literary device or not, witchcraft is real—and dangerous.
By Jacqui Komschlies | posted 10/26/2000

Opinion Roundup: Positive About Potter
Despite what you've heard, Christian leaders like the children's books.
By Ted Olsen | posted 12/13/1999

Harry and Frodo

Books & Culture Corner: Saint Frodo and the Potter Demon
The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter series spring from the same source.
By Michael G. Maudlin | posted 02/18/2002

Weblog: Frodo Good, Harry Bad
Harry Potter has magic. Lord of the Rings has magic. Harry Potter has wizards, dark evil, and an unlikely hero who overcomes obstacles with friendship and courage. So does Lord of the Rings. Yet reactions from conservative Christian critics have not been so similar.
By Todd Hertz | posted 12/28/2001

News

Parents Push for Wizard-free Reading
Bestsellers now under fire in some Classrooms.
posted 1/10/2000

Let Harry Potter Conjure Up 'Gospel Magic,' Says Christian Magician
Andrew Thompson and others agree that some Christians have a false understanding of what Harry Potter is about.
By Cedric Pulford in London | posted 12/18/2001

Potter's Field
Harry doesn't always make money magically appear.
By Ted Olsen | posted 11/15/2001

Reviews

Somewhat Wild About Harry
It's well nigh impossible to hate the warm-hearted Harry Potter. A review of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
By Douglas LeBlanc | posted 12/28/2001

Virtue on a Broomstick
The Harry Potter books, and the controversy surrounding them, bode well for the culture. A review of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
By Michael G. Maudlin | posted 9/7/2000

Books about the Books

Harry Beasts
The animal symbols in Potterdom are powerful pointers to Christian reality.
An excerpt from John Granger's Looking for God in Harry Potter | posted 07/15/2005

The Dick Staub Interview: Connie Neal
The author of The Gospel According to Harry Potter talks about leading a friend to Christ through the wizard hero.
posted 11/18/2002

Movies

Has the Pope Condemned Harry Potter?
Cardinal Ratzinger's letters raise questions about whether the Vatican has a "position" on Potter.
by Jeffrey Overstreet | posted 07/18/2005

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The Prisoner of Azkaban is perhaps the most emotionally complex of the Harry Potter stories to date
Review by Peter T. Chattaway | posted 04/23/2004

Film Forum: Christians Critics Split on Second Harry Potter
Harry Potter's return in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Re-ignites debate among religious press reviewers.
by Jeffrey Overstreet | posted 11/21/2002

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Christianity Today Movies did not review this film, but here's what other critics are saying …
compiled by Jeffrey Overstreet | posted 10/31/2002

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Is the big-screen Harry Potter as delightful as the one in the book? And should you be worried about his witchcraft? Critics and viewers respond.
Review by Jeffrey Overstreet | posted 11/21/2001

Film Forum: Wary About Harry
Is the big-screen Harry Potter as delightful as the one in the book? And should you be worried about his witchcraft? Critics and viewers respond to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
By Jeffrey Overstreet | posted 11/21/2001

From Our Sister Publications

I Like Harry Potter
I was wondering about the Harry Potter movies. If I don't practice what is in the movies, is it OK to watch them just as entertainment?
by Mark Matlock | Campus Life, June/July 2003

Surrounded by Sorcery
10 ways to protect kids in an occult-filled popular culture
by Connie Neal | Today's Christian, September/October 2001

How to Handle Harry
Millions of Harry Potter books are dog-eared. Video games and fan Web sites abound. Kids are wearing the clothing and carrying around the merchandise. So how do we handle Harry Potter with our kids and their friends?
by Connie Neal | Today's Christian Woman, Nov/Dec 2001

Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?

By John MacArthur @http://www.sfpulpit.com

As Christians we must understand that whatever opposes God’s Word or departs from it in any way is a danger to the very cause of truth. Passivity toward known error is not an option for the Christian. Staunch intolerance of error is built into the very fabric of Scripture. And tolerance of known error is anything but a virtue.

Jesus clearly and unashamedly affirmed the utter exclusivity of Christianity. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Obviously, that sort of exclusivity is fundamentally incompatible with post modern tolerance.

Truth and error cannot be combined to yield something beneficial. Truth and error are as incompatible as light and darkness. “What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-16).

We can’t tell the world, “This is truth, but whatever you want to believe is fine, too. It’s not fine. Scripture commands us to be intolerant of any idea that denies the truth.

Lest anyone misunderstand, I’m not defending dogmatism on any and every theological issue. Some things in Scripture are not perfectly clear. But the central teachings of Scripture (in particular, those things related to the way of salvation) are so simple and so clear that even a child can understand.

Those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed, for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them. (Westminster Confession, 1:7).

All the truth that is necessary for our salvation can be easily understood in a true way by anyone who applies common sense and due diligence in seeking to understand what the Bible teaches. And that truth — the core message of Scripture -is incompatible with every other system of belief. We ought to be dogmatic about it.

No wonder post-modernism, which prides itself on being tolerant of every competing world-view, is nonetheless hostile to biblical Christianity. Even the most determined post-modernist recognizes that biblical Christianity by its very nature is totally incompatible with a position of uncritical broad-mindedness. If we accept the fact that Scripture is the objective, authoritative truth of God, we are bound to see that every other view is not equally or potentially valid.

There is no need to seek middle ground through dialogue with proponents of anti-Christian world-views, as if the truth could be refined by the dialectical method. It is folly to think truth given by divine revelation needs any refining or updating. Nor should we imagine that we can meet opposing world-views on some philosophically neutral ground. The ground between us is not neutral. If we really believe the Word of God is true, we know that everything opposing it is error. And we are to yield no ground whatsoever to error.

On Reading

By: Josh @ http://www.desiringgod.org

Christians are people of the book: God purposely chose the medium of typography to deliver his revelation to us. In that book, we are commanded to love God with our hearts and our minds (Matthew 22:34-40). This gives Christians a clear command to use their intellects — to be, in other words, a kind of intellectual.

Reading is one of the best ways to develop our minds. It can help us to know God and ourselves, gain vicarious experience, increase our perception and imagination, train our minds to think critically and logically, and teach us self-discipline. (For more on this, see Neil Postman's excellent Amusing Ourselves to Death.)

But we have a problem: our culture is becoming aliterate. We have the ability to read but not the desire. Or maybe some of us have the desire but not the time. We make time to watch television and surf the Internet for the latest triviality, but we can't seem to make the time to sit down and read for an hour.

Christians should be readers. We should read and meditate on the Bible, of course, but we should also read theology. Good theology systematizes and explains the Bible in ways we would be pressed to come up with on our own. Few of us are a Jonathan Edwards, John Owen, J. I. Packer or John Piper, and we would be wise to learn from them.

Most of us know we should read the Bible and theology. But what about other subjects, like literature, history, biography, science, and culture? And what about books by non-Christians? I think we should read widely, and yes, that includes reading non-Christians. John Calvin thought so too:

Therefore, in reading [non-Christian authors], the admirable light of truth displayed in them should remind us, that the human mind, however much fallen and perverted from its original integrity, is still adorned and invested with admirable gifts from its Creator. If we reflect that the Spirit of God is the only fountain of truth, we will be careful, as we would avoid offering insult to him, not to reject or condemn truth wherever it appears. In despising the gifts, we insult the Giver.... Nay, we cannot read the writings of the ancients on these subjects without the highest admiration; an admiration which their excellence will not allow us to withhold. But shall we deem anything to be noble and praiseworthy, without tracing it to the hand of God? (Institutes II.ii.15-16)

God has set up the world so that even non-Christians can find truth. I've learned truth from Christians and non-Christians. We can't expect non-Christians to have sound theology, but they are some of the best authors in other subjects. If we reject their Spirit-given insights because they are non-Christians we, as Calvin says, "insult the Giver."

C. S. Lewis was a voracious reader. From reading Surprised by Joy, one has the impression that he read pretty much everything by the time he was fifteen. But this was the secret to his success. The reason he could communicate truth so clearly was because he lived many lives through reading. He considered subjects from a diverse perspective through reading widely. I can think of none better to give us a final exhortation to make use of God's great gift of reading:

Those of us who have been true readers all our life seldom fully realise the enormous extension of our being which we owe to authors. We realise it best when we talk with an unliterary friend. He may be full of goodness and good sense but he inhabits a tiny world. In it, we should be suffocated. The man who is contented to be only himself, and therefore less a self, is in prison. My own eyes are not enough for me, I will see through those of others. Reality, even seen through the eyes of many, is not enough. I will see what others have invented….

[I]n reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do.

For Further Reading

• Desiring God's recommended reading
• John Piper: "A Compelling Reason for Rigorous Training of the Mind"
• John Piper: "The Ripple Effect of the Word"
• John Piper: "Books That Have Influenced Me Most"
• Justin Taylor: "Recommended Reading on Christian Engagement in Culture"
• My recommended reading

Theology Q&A's: Does Prayer Change God's Mind?

Does God actually listen to the prayers of people and
then respond by doing something that they asked for?
Here's a more difficult question: does prayer actually change God's mind? They seem simple, but there is some 'heady' theology behind those questions. It underscores the need for theological study. That's why it's always so sad to hear today's trendy church leaders putting-down the study of theology. Well in this short audio clip, RC Sproul answers those questions, plus tells you two additional things that you must know about prayer.

Before you listen to this 8 minute MP3, take note of what your answers are to those questions, then afterwards - tell us how you did in the comments below. Again, the questions are:

1) Does prayer change things?
2) Does prayer change God's mind?

Always remember that your theology and doctrine will impact your practice; you can't just divorce yourself from those things, nor can you afford to minimize those things, as we so often hear from today's pastors, such as this one:

"There's a danger in thinking Christianity is just a head thing. We can fall into the trap of listening to good messages, learning a lot about the Bible, and studying up on our doctrine, and forgetting that there is more to playing in the game than just memorizing the playbook. While these things are important, they are not the main thing. Some of the most useless Christians out there are also the smartest. We must not forget that Christianity is also a heart thing. It's not just what we know, it's a relationship with God. I believe it's possible to know God. I've seen students be more on fire for God than those who grew up in the church. Why is that? Because spiritual maturity isn't measured by age...it's more of a heart thing."

He's right of course, about Christianity not being just a head thing, but he's wrong to rank "head things" lower on the list. After all, it is our understanding of truth that moves our heart and hands. Or to borrow his analogy, nobody even gets on the field without knowing some crucial things from the playbook. It's also wrong to suggest that spiritual maturity is measured in zeal; that's the subject of a video that's posted here on Old Truth. We've had "on fire" students pass through here who were full of zeal, and yet were unable to explain what the incarnation was or tell us the significance of the resurrection. Zeal without knowledge.

Wanting to be funny, another popular pastor today stereotyped those who put a very high-priority on doctrine and theology by saying that they do "an in-depth Bible study on the goat in the book of Leviticus" and referred to such time-wasting people as "licking the lint out of their navels".

Leaders like that should not degrade or downgrade these important things, but should instead realize that every pastor is called to be a theologian. I wonder how many of them today have actually thought long and hard about the questions on this audio never mind being able to answer them accurately. They are very theological questions after all, and yet - they are questions that impact our understanding of something very practical.

This audio is from Sproul's "Lord's Prayer" series and his teaching entitled
"Thy Kingdom Come".

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More Old Truth Audio Files:

• 06/03/07 - Addressing Our Culture w/Reformed Christianity
• 05/28/07 - Don't Make The Church Mars Hill, Go There Instead
• 05/07/07 - Old Truths versus The Quest For 'Something New'
• 04/27/07 - Lost and Found: The Fear of The Lord
• 03/13/07 - Goofy Eschatology That Sproul Wants Left Behind
• 02/26/07 - Escape That Local Church with Poor Teaching
• 01/26/07 - Help! My Church Has Gone Postmodern
• 12/22/06 - Not Our Buddy: A Call To Revere God's Holiness
• 12/07/06 - "Hell is Complete Separation From God"
• 12/06/06 - How Could Heaven Be Joyful if Family Are in Hell?