"Is the Bible Literally True?" - Implications in the Culture War

Can the Bible be taken literally? Is it authoritative?

These questions were raised last week in ABC's interview with President Bush. It was raised also by Newsweek in an article claiming the Bible could be used to argue for gay marriage.

Theologian and cultural commentator Albert Mohler has been at the forefront of this debate over the past week. Below are links to his resources in regards to the debate. They are highly commended resources .

Turning the Bible on its Head - Newsweek Goes for Gay Marriage

Al Mohler and Newsweek writer Lisa Miller square off on NPR's "Talk of the Nation"

"Is Creation Compatible with Evolution?" - A President Weighs In

An ABC Nightline interview with President George W. Bush this past Monday evening (12.8.2008) traversed the territory of the president's religious beliefs. Conservatives and Christians have long respected the president for his outspoken faith in God and Jesus Christ, even when those on the left would lambaste him, claiming his religion was being forced upon us and should not influence policy making. Though not an issue of policy, per se, the interview revealed something of President Bush's worldview that this evangelical found troubling.

From the transcript:

Asked about creation and evolution, Bush said: "I think you can have both. I think evolution can -- you're getting me way out of my lane here. I'm just a simple president. But it's, I think that God created the earth, created the world; I think the creation of the world is so mysterious it requires something as large as an almighty and I don't think it's incompatible with the scientific proof that there is evolution."

He added, "I happen to believe that evolution doesn't fully explain the mystery of life."

I appreciate the president's concession that he is "out of [his] lane." I would respectfully appeal to the president (whom I am convinced is a brother in Christ) and countless others who are misguided to believe evolution is compatible with Christianity. [NOTE: President-Elect Barack Obama has also made similar claims.

I will first note I am a student of theology not biology, so this blog is not going to bite off more than it can chew. But since this particular argument of science and religion occurs so often, as in this interview with our 43rd president, I will make a few assertations here as a young pastor and concerned cultural warrior.

I argue for the Bible's teaching that "In the beginning God created." Divine intelligence existed before the world was created, and this intelligence is the Creator and cause of all life. Even if we allow for some type of evolution process over time, there is no evidence to show that the process would even get started because for evolution to occur there must be an existing organism to evolve. To understand everything else, we must first realize that God created everything and gave loving mandates for how life should come about and exist.

Phillip E. Johnson of the University of California at Berkely writes, "Almost all illustrations of 'evolution in action' in textbooks or museum exhibits...involve no increase in complexity or appearance of new body parts or even permanent change of any kind. Small-scale, reversible population variations of this sort are usually called microevolution, although 'adaptive variation' would be a better term."

More from Johnson: "It is misleading to describe adaptive variation as 'evolution,' because the latter term commonly refers also to macroevolution...Charles Darwin assumed that macroevolution was merely microevolution extended over very long periods of time. Biology textbooks, museums, and television programs still teach people to make the same assumption, so that examples of macroevolution are used as proof that complex animals and even human beings evolved from simpler organisms by similar process."

Johnson affirms the greatest flaw of the theory of evolution "is that science has not discovered a process that can create all the necessary information" needed to coordinate the complex functions taking place in plants and animals. There is simply too much going on. Even Richard Dawkins, perhaps the most famous advocate of evolutionary theory flying in the face of religion, admits we're so biologically complicated that something had to initiate creation. He believes it to be ancient alien visitors.

Attesting to the theory of evolution also robs man of the imago Dei, or image of God that is imbued in each human being. This is fact affirmed by Scripture and science's own assertations of a necessary higher power. It is unfortunate the president and far too many other Christians have been dupped by supposed scientific evidence to the contrary.

Another disturbing statement from the president is that he prays to the same God as those with differing religious beliefs: "I do believe there is an almighty that is broad and big enough and loving enough that can encompass a lot of people."

So according to this, can Allah (or the god of any other religion) also be the Christian God?

No.

And, briefly, here's why: Theologically Muslims believe Allah to be "one God." They think the representation of God and Jesus in the Bible is in error and an affront to Allah. They would certainly not affirm the God of the Christians is the same and their Allah.

Evangelical Christians affirm a triune God who is one, but also three distinct personalities: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is unique among all religions and is not affirmed anywhere outside of the Bible and Christian theology. No other religion will accept God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as revealed in the Bible. The God of the Bible cannot be changed to any other "god" presented by any alternative religion. It is not the same God.

In closing, I pray for President Bush and other brothers and sisters in Christ: that this shrewdly cast veil of deception through "science" would be lifted and God would be glorified all the more at the realization that He is ultimate Creator and man is the pinnacle of His creation. May we all marvel at the complexity and majesty of this truth even as a hurting, bitter, and unbelieving world refuses this most basic of truths.

***President Bush also commented in the same interview that he does not believe the Bible should be taken literally. I will write on this in the coming days.

'Spectacular Sins'

I must admit I took a roughly three-year break from reading John Piper. I had read so much of his printed work that I found myself beginning emulate his style, so I laid off soon after When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight For Joy helped jolt me into deeper spiritual truth and discipline that has carried on to this day. (That book has a reserved spot in my Top 10 books concerning faith).

And I may be adding another: I received a free copy of his most recent, Spectacular Sins (And Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ), at the Desiring God conference this Fall and found time to read it one day over the Thanksgiving holiday.

The book is classic Piper. And that is hardly to say the book, its prose or purpose, is stale. Anything but. Dr. Piper still moves the pen (so to speak) in such a way as to stir one's heart toward the deeper truths of the faith. In this case, his opening salvo is prophetic in telling his reader that the time's are changing and everything we as Christians have come to expect, be it creature comforts to cultural acceptance, is about to be ripped away as Satan grows more powerful.

He writes in the book's introduction:

The sources of this difficulty will be pervasive sin...Tragedies and calamities and horrific suffering and sinful atrocities should not take Christians off guard. 'Beloved, do not be surprised by the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you' (1 Peter 4:12). They are foreseen by God, and he foretold them for us to know. God sees them coming and does not intend to stop them. Therefore, it appears that they somehow fit into his purposes."

This is not comfort reading. You won't feel good reading this. But you will feel buttressed by essential understanding of how that which is intended for evil by Satan and fallen men is actually part of God's plan and purpose.

Shocking? Yep.
Hard to wrap your head around? Oh yeah.
Spiritually nourishing? ...like gallons of green tea to your soul. 

Piper describes in chapter 3 the reality of God governing every move of Satan:

"...God permitted Satan's fall, not because he was unable to stop it, but because he had a purpose for it. Since God is never taken off guard, his permissions are always purposeful. If he chooses to permit something, he does so for a reason - an infinitely wise reason because he is infinitely wise. How the sin arises in Satan's heart, we do not know. God has not told us. What we do know is that God is sovereign over Satan."

This theological truth has INCREDIBLE implications with how we view the sins of Satan, others, and ourselves. My own personal sin is permitted by God. For the same infinitely wise reason he permits Satan to roam the earth for a time, "he who is able to keep me from stumbling" (Jude 24) will however permit my stumbling sometimes because it will glorify His Son. God permits NOTHING that does not eventually lead to the glorification of Christ. And though I fall, I will rise (Micah 7:8-9) and no one will snatch me from the Father's hand (John 10:27-30).

Yeah. And that's just the surface of this barely-100-page read.

Piper then walks through several small chapters focused on spectacular sins from Scripture, including: Adam's disobedience, Joseph's being sold into slavery by his brothers, and Judas' betrayal of Christ Himself.

Chapter 5 is of particular interest to this writer, focusing on the pride of the people of Babel. As I wrote in a previous post, half the world's population now lives in cities; making urban missions the most important field for the harvest in the coming century. And Piper's theological treatment of the first metropolis is eye-opening:

"Then Genesis 11:1-9 drops the bomb on us. It wasn't obedience after all [to build the city]. The people weren't spreading to fill the earth. They were clustering. God came down and shattered their disobedience and made their clustering impossible. He confused their language and brok humanity into many peoples and languages."

Further:

"His will is not that we find our security in cities but in God whom we gladly obey."

He argues that God uses the sin of Babel to glorify His cause in the world: "We humans are far too evil to be allowed to unite in one language or one government. The gospel of the glory of Christ spreads better and flourishes because of 6,500 languages, not in spite of them."

I pray this short synopsis/review has whet your appetite to delve into the deep truth presented in this small volume. I highly commend it to you. With the times changing as rapidly they are and persecution of all types on the very near horizon, John Piper rallies the Kingdom army through presenting all-important Scriptural truth that will make you uncomfortable even as it comforts your soul. His admonition to readers of Spectacular Sins serves also to rattle you out of your complacency and challenges you to begin exploring the truth of how God works through even the most vile of sins: "Wimpy worldviews make wimpy Christians. And wimpy Christians won't survive the days ahead."

Going to Town - Why Urban Missions Are Key to the Spread of the Gospel

“…for I have many in this city who are my people.”
(God speaking to Paul upon his ministry in the city of Corinth – Acts 18:10)

“Human History will ever more emphatically become urban history.”
John Grimond, as interviewed by The Economist [London], June 2007.

How the World Went to Town

Human history did not begin in the metropolis. The ancient peoples’ lives were dominated by the need for food, most of which was found in the isolated rural areas. Only about 11,000 years ago did man begin to form what we would consider a village. Small communities gathered for the purposes of protection in larger numbers or geographic advantage provided by rivers or hills located near food sources. They also came together in community for spiritual purposes and joint worship. From this humble point on man’s maturation and expansion would forever be linked with the city. 

Over the past six millennia, the urbanization of man has progressed in ways unparalleled by any prior human history. The modern era has seen an unprecedented rise in the number of people living in urban areas, from only 3% of the world’s population in 1800 to the early 21st century numbers exceeding 50%.[1]  The Economist of London, a leading world news organization that conducts several important studies each year, published in May 2007 the findings that by year’s end over half the world’s population would be found in urban areas. This has since become reality. Over half the people on the planet now live in cities. “Wisely or not,” the reports authors write, “Homo sapiens have become Homo urbanus.”

Cities in the 21st Century

People still come to the modern city for the base reasons they did all those millennia ago: trade, camaraderie, education, medicine, and even worship. With modern advances, from medicines allowing folks to live longer than ever before to the intricate highway systems decreasing the distance between any desire, these quintessential requisites for an attraction to the metropolis have been further diversified in their demand and fulfillment. The small-town youth who leaves for the big city in search of their dreams only to have them dashed by the reality of citified hardship is a favorite among writers and a telling archetype in its own right and popularity.

Cities supply more jobs, forcing many to leave rural homes to find employment and livelihood in the city. All major political decisions take place in cities. Nearly all of the cultural norms and beliefs have their genesis the city, be it political activism or the latest fashion trends. An interesting observation on cities in this young century centers on the fact that many who move to the city, though they are surrounded by people, hardly know anyone or are known themselves. Sought or not, the city provides an incredibly effective anonymity. You can get away with almost anything. 

The past 50-year period of increasing city-dwellers “consists mostly of poor people migrating in unprecedented numbers…It is thus largely a phenomenon of poor and middle-income countires,”[2]  according to The Economist’s report. Because of this some of the greatest poverty on the planet is found in cities, as are increased crime rates and family hardships or abuse. On the other hand, “the rich world has put most of its urbanisation [sic] behind it”[3]  because the cultural elite completely dominate and control the urban landscape.

21st Century cities are still places of great corporate worship, albeit, worship of the culture and not of God. Albert Mohler writes, “When belief in God recedes, belief in culture takes its place, especially among elites. Secularism creates an opportunity for art and other cultural forms to claim transcendence, and the elites celebrate and venerate art in almost sacramental terms.”[4]

A Biblical View of the City
Cities mentioned in the Bible are rarely viewed in favorable light. This is often due to the presence of sin run rampant in these places and the majority of the citizens’ heart being far from the things of God. Sodom may be our first example of a city gripped in the vices of the world, where abominations such as rape and sodomy are seen as everyday occurrences and accepted as the norm. Even Jerusalem in the time of Christ was so sinful and far from seeking the heart of God that Jesus Himself wept over the city and it’s sin. Other biblical cities for which the biblical authors were concerned or called to judge: Ninevah, Tyre, Sidon, Babylon, Gomorrah, Corinth, and Rome.

The Bible observes that as sinful people gather to live an enclosed area they very often give themselves over to passions and lust of the world rather than to the things of God. When one considers the biblical and current illustrations of the city, we see there is reason from church history and our own experience to be wary of embracing the city as a place of deliverance, when instead it may be viewed as a vehicle for accelerated damnation.

Yet God still has a heart for the peoples of the cities. Jonah may be our first biblical model of the metropolitan missionary. Called to go to Nineveh, a city filled with pagans, Jonah was to preach the truth of God to its fallen inhabitants. This reveals God has a heart not just for the people of the countryside or those communities already centered around His Word, but on those great metroplexes of old in which there also dwelled many who were not yet of His sheep pen (John 10:16). Paul’s last major place of witness on his second missionary journey took place in the city of Corinth, where God confirmed to Paul in a vision that the preaching of Christ would have success because there were already people of God in the city and many more who would come to God through Paul’s ministry (Acts 18:9-10).


The Great Commission Includes Cities
Christ did not intend His disciples of any age to neglect the urban centers of the world when He issued the Great Commission. In fact, if you look at the model of Christ’s ministry, He often went into the places where people gathered (the temple, etc) to open the Scriptures and teach from them. Paul and other apostles followed this model in their own ministries. Just as what happens in cities dictates the direction of culture and society, so to does the advancement of Christ’s kingdom in the cities serve to increase the number of true worshippers serving the one living God.


Rising to the Challenge of the Cities
In his article, “The Challege of the Cities,” Roger S. Greenway defines several challenges faced by those who would pursue urban mission.The first being that of the extreme poverty often found in cities that calls the missionary to consider proclaiming “the gospel of God’s love and [demonstrating] the Gospel in a practical way.” 

There is also racial, ethnic and cultural diversity to consider, so the urban missionary may have to adapt quickly to any number of cultural differences or religious pluralism. While some missionaries may wish to give attention to one group, they must be prepared to reply to others who have no religion or whose felt needs are unlike those of their preferred people group within the city. 

Greenway also reports that there is a shortage of workers in the city because “many missionaries are so disturbed by the noise and traffic in cities, the pollution, social problems, crime and crowded housing, that they prefer to work in rural areas.” Also, there is a major practical issue of the higher cost of living and survival in the city.[5]

These matters must be considered prayerfully by any who would minister in the city. As with any kind of evangelism, we begin to reach the cities by providing the need of every human heart: salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. While not discounting outlying and unreached villages far away, there is an urgent need in the next quarter-century to target the ever-increasing cities for Christ. The cities should send the missionary heart soaring because these metropolitan areas represent the world in microcosm. In some cases hundreds of cultures, nationalities, and religions can be found within blocks of each other. With this in mind, the church as a whole must give great attention to the urban areas if we are to continue impacting a seemingly shrinking world with the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ. For as the cities go, so goes the rest of the world.

----------------------------

[1] Staff. “The World Goes to Town,” The Economist [London], 3 May 2007.
[2] Staff. The World Goes to Town.
[3] Staff. The World Goes to Town.
[4] Mohler, R. Albert. “The Great Challenge of the Cities – ‘The World Goes to Town.’” 4 June, 2007. http://albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=954
[5] Greenway, Robert S. “The Challenge of the Cities,” in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, 553-558. Paternoster, 1999.

DOWN FOR THE COUNT: ...But Not Out. How the Men of God Begin to Rescue Male Intimacy from the Homosexual Agenda

PART 2 of DOWN FOR THE COUNT: How the Homosexual Agenda Delivers a Near-Knockout-Punch for Male Friendship.

--------------------------------

We've briefly defined a crisis in Part 1. Let's now have a blog-length look at the solution, men.

I'm addressing all you gentlemen directly because it is only from your godly leadership, approach, and passion that we will be able to affect any change in the perceptions of male friendship and make a difference in the lives of men who struggle with same gender attraction and a society that is increasingly accepting it as the norm.

For us to get up, dust ourselves off, and make progress in combating the homosexual agenda, we have to model healthy, intimate, God-honoring male friendships. Set the example for your sons and other men by following the example of David and Jonathan found in 1 Samuel 18 - 24.

Selfless love conquers sexual perversion.
David and Jonathan were committed to one another and were fearless in expressing these sentiments:"...the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul...Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul." (1 Samuel 18:1, 3)

There is a selflessness in pure, God-centered male friendships that will never exist in a homosexual relationship. Homosexuality is not about selfless love, but is, at its core, a selfish act concerned with worshiping the form of someone who mirrors your own self/body. Though soul ties are made in any type of sexual encounter, a knitting of souls is something completely, wholly and holy set apart.

Real men don't need sex to relate to one another. They need the common bond of Jesus Christ. I imagine as Jonathan listened to David explain to Saul how God strengthened him to face the giant Goliath something was stirred in Jonathan's spirit. He saw in David a heart much like his own and initiated a covenant of friendship and brotherhood, expressed in words of loyalty and actions of selflessness and esteem.

Charles Spurgeon perhaps stated this connection between men of God best:
"Whenever I find a man in whom the spirit of God rests, the Spirit in me leaps to hear the Spirit in him, and we feel that we are one."

Love men rightly and affectionately, bearing each other's burdens.
And as soon as the boy had gone, David rose from beside the stone heap and fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. And [David and Jonathan] kissed one another and wept with one another, David weeping the most. (1 Samuel 20:41)

There is an emotional intimacy displayed between these two men whose friendship has been affected by events outside of their control. Jonathan's father, Saul, has vowed to kill David. The two men must now part. And they are unafraid to display their innermost feelings and affection in a healthy display.

Men need to be unafraid to put an arm around a comrade's shoulder. Brothers should greet one another firm embraces. My own uncle, an army sargeant, kisses the side of my head each time I see him. Men in battle often hold one another when the fight is done. This is a necessary action of affection stretching all the way back to the Greek catharsis, in which men would attend tragic theater to weep and hone their emotions. This helped them on the field of battle face their fears and grieve healthily after battle's end.

Jonathan empathized with his covenant brother because he loved David's heart as much as his own. The two men had been through much at this point. But now more than ever, David, the man who would be King of Israel, needed strong arms to hold him and cry with him. It was healthy, it was intimate, it was God-honoring, and it even now flies in the face of a culture trying to sexualize any affection between men. It makes a statement still today, as will your example make in the life of the man you would call 'friend.'

There are many other aspects and examples to pursue and parse here. But blogs are meant to be snacks, not full-course meals. I pray you have been inspired and challenged by these scribblings to stand up and fight: fight for the men in your life, fight for true friendship, fight a warped agenda by setting an example that impacts individuals and changes lives.

We can do this, men. Decide today to take a stand and we can do this.

-------
RESOURCES

Part 1 is linked above.

If you are reading this and wish to further explore the subject, I commend you the following article. It is exquisitely written and very thorough: A Requiem for Friendship: Why Boys Will Not Be Boys and Other Consequences of the Sexual Revolution

If you are a man struggling in the area of same-gender attraction, I would direct you to an online ministry called Living Hope.

DOWN FOR THE COUNT: How the Homosexual Agenda Delivers a Near- Knock-Out Punch for Male Friendship -- PART 1

"Aw, dude! They're gaaaayy!"

That was the near-exclamation I heard a few years ago at a midnight screening of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. It came from behind me in the darkened theater during a tender scene where friends Sam and Frodo held each other and cried as they said their final goodbyes. I was annoyed at the college guy's comment but not shocked at the immaturity or allegation leveled at the hobbits. Though there were a few snickers from his Frat Pack, most of the audience, I think, chose not to acknowledge him vocally (much in part to the arresting storytelling onscreen). But I don't think my fellow audience members dismissed the comment in their minds.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who had this kind of experience at Lord of the Rings. Anthony Esolen, an English professor at Providence College writes in his exceptional article, A Requiem for Friendship: Why Boys Will Not Be Boys and Other Consequences of the Sexual Revolution, of the same thing happening when he watched the movie.

I've noticed similar reactions at the mention David and Jonathan's deep friendship (beginning in 1 Samuel 18). When I was younger I sometimes felt shamed to say this was one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament because people would say D & J were gay lovers. But even a teenaged, theologically young Jared Steven Musgrove was pretty sure the Bible wasn't propagating THAT. But many were making arguments to the contrary. Rembrandt's rendering of Jonathan going to comfort David at Horesh (1 Samuel 23:15-18) is used in this wrongful argument because it shows David in a submissive position before his friend. (In reality , he was showing honor to his friend).

Friendship: The Love That Can No Longer Speak Its Name
Call it the Brokeback Effect even though it's been going on long before that particular piece of 'cinema' was released in 2005. Now any time the culture sees two men embracing or enjoying the other's company our cultural conditioning kicks in and we question in our mind their intentions. It's why a college-aged camp counselor can't comfort a crying kid by hugging him (He might be feeling him up!). It's why we're suspicious if we see an adult male helping a little boy in a public restroom (He may be a pedophile!). It's why two guys sitting across from each other at Starbuck's having a serious talk raises eyebrows (They might be on a date! I've actually had to deal with this one personally while having coffee with a buddy). There's no such thing anymore as "we're friends" between men. It can no longer be that simple and pure. Our culture now demands there be MUST something scandalous when two men are alone together.

How did we get to this point?

It think it's because healthy, intimate, and God-honoring male friendships have become so foreign to us that when we see them with skin on we automatically assume scandal. We're so scandal-sensitive that impropriety is that with which we are most familiar. We're trained to look for it around every corner by media and an overarching society of suspicion quickly losing its ability to conceive of anything truly pure and good. Most men have never been through battle and blood with a buddy the way Frodo and Sam or David and Jonathan experienced. And because of this, wedded with the increasing call for acceptance of "the love that dare not speak its name," men are alone and confused and afraid.

ALONE

Men are alone mostly because no one's shown us a healthy way to have friends. Many of our fathers made it without friends, why can't we? I would answer simply that it just doesn't work. And we men know that instinctively. We are made to be friends with other men and share deep spiritual things from our hearts. But because of a lack of modeling on this and a fear that we'll be labeled "gay," we isolate ourselves and don't develop a substantial relationship with any man.

CONFUSED
A growing percentage of boys are being forced to ask sexual questions at far too early an age. With porn of all types rampant and free on the Internet, it's really no surprise many guys are exposed to sexuality in all forms before many of them even hit puberty proper. They're called "gay" on the playground only so many times before they may start thinking that maybe they are. Parents provide a PC in their son's bedroom and online they go "exploring." In my experience speaking with college men who have been very open and honest with me about this, gay porn is a growing entry drug into a lifestyle men were never meant to enter. This pollutes their ability to invest healthily in friendship with other boys and creates relational deficiencies whether the porn is straight or gay.

AFRAID
This fear I mention sums up several points in this article and plays out in two major ways : 1) the boy attracted to girls is afraid he'll be labled "gay" if he seems to be close friends with any other boys. Or, 2) the boy may be feeling like he's attracted to other guys and fears getting close to any of them, or is afraid he'll be "found out."


Wrapping Up the Part 1
There are more directions and avenues we could explore. And I have here made some broad statements for sake of brevity. The purpose of this writing is not to do an in-depth article but to begin a conversation. In Part 2 I will set out to provide some helps for picking ourselves up off the floor and fighting back against an agenda that would rob men of God's gift of friends.

See you in a few weeks for Part 2.

RESOURCES
If you are reading this and wish to further explore the subject, I commend you the above article I mentioned. It is exquisitely written and very thorough: A Requiem for Friendship: Why Boys Will Not Be Boys and Other Consequences of the Sexual Revolution
If you are a young man struggling in the area of same-gender attraction, I would direct you to an online ministry called Living Hope.

Comparing Preachers

I've become consciously concerned as of late at the propensity of our podcasting generation to critique the preachers and sermons of their own church against those they religiously listen to on podcast.

Podcasting sermons on the web is a brilliant and amazing avenue to share biblically-centered preaching to those who may not otherwise be able to attend a service. It's encouraging to the believer who has to commute and would rather spend his transit time growing in grace and knowledge than learning lyrics to pop ditties that won't survive the decade. And that is only one example of why I am grateful for podcasted preaching. 

But I fear what it becomes for many of us who listen regularly is an avenue for comparison to the preaching we hear in our own congregations on Sundays. I've observed a few ways this works itself out, the first being the most common:

1. The podcaster is so enamored with the podcasted preacher that he then unfairly holds (whether consciously or subconsciously) his home pastor to the same standards of a John Piper or John McArthur or Mark Driscoll, failing to recognize those men shepherd specific congregations with express needs first and foremost; and if it goes unchecked, this attitude may further harden the well-intentioned mind and heart to a failure recognize and encourage the strengths and ministry of his own pastor's preaching and how it fulfills the spiritual needs of his local church. 

2. Playing off the feelings of the first point, the sermon critic becomes so to the point that he fails to plant himself at any local congregation and become what C.S. Lewis referred to as a "church connoisseur" who flits from church to church, sampling every sermon against what he considers his competently cultured taste buds. Fewer places do I see this more than collegiate Christians or seminarians who cut their teeth on Matt Chandler and refuse to join any church that isn't The Village. This attitude is unbiblical and displays an immature understanding of the function of the local church in the life of the believer living in an area in which ministry can and should be done.

3. As a natural outgrowth of all of the above, the radical Christian podcaster decides no local church will suit his acquired tastes or standards and decides to pursue a 'private spirituality' apart from a local body of Christ. His weekly feast of five podcasted sermons from the most popular preachers will suffice for his sanctification...

Wrong. 

The natural digression displayed above is one I've seen more often than I would have thought possible. The attitude behind it is one of unabashed pride in the form of snobbery. It also betrays in the offender an immaturity in grasping the essential place of the local church body (and its lead pastor) in the continued march to maturity in Christ.

Don't try to hold your pastor to any other man's standards, no matter how good you think they may be. It's an attitude akin to holding your wife to the standards of other women in media. The pastor of your local congregation is fashioned for a specific ministry in that community. Instead of driving two hours to attend a church for the sermonizing, try finding a local, Bible-believing congregation in which you can serve and not just pew-sit (or podcast in your jammies). Bible-saturated preaching is essential, this we know. But so is establishing relationships with fellow believers for the purpose of sharpening and discipleship. Be involved with what God is doing through believers in your area. Just like those pastors and church members in the local congregation, He has you in this place for such a time as this. 

Responding to Election Anxiety

I read this article back in June just before my wedding and realized I was a candidate for 'news fatigue.' I suppose my entire generation is at risk, according to the report, but I find myself especially susceptible during this absorbing political season. 

We have to be careful, though, friends. Balance your news with the Word of God. When I don't I not only get news fatigue, I also get gloomy about the future. And that is unacceptable for a child of the King who has the hope of Heaven. I will confess, however, as election anxiety creeps in I begin to somehow start putting faith in people (yikes) and (Lord, forgive me) politicians (who are often the lesser of two evils). 

But in my time with the Lord this morning I was reminded of an important truth in my reading through Proverbs: 

"The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will." 

--Proverbs 21:1

I am thankful that I serve the Sovereign of the Universe, who is actively involved in the affairs of men, bringing history to a God-glorifying apex. No matter the outcome, this election will not throw off the plans of God the Father. It was sweet to be reminded of this promise and I'm carrying it with me into this November 4th  and beyond. 

The Friends You Need

Not long ago a close friend of mine commented on another close friend of mine: "How did you fall in with him?" (Isn't it always fun to bridging two friendships together?) 

I didn't have an answer. "I just did," I guess. "Divine providence?" 

Ever sat around in your group of friends and have a moment? An epiphany of sorts that though you may have prayed for friends, you never could have conjured up this group in a million years. I feel this way often when I reflect on my friendships. 

There are men in my life whose presence defines friendship. Many of them I consider my own family ... my brothers. I always say to Jenny that should God grant us children, they'll have about 8 uncles. 

These are the friends for whom I prayed for years as a teenager. They're the friends I wanted, but even moreso, they're the friends I needed. 

Each one balances me and enhances me as a man of God in ways I could not have provided myself in any other way. I think there have been moments of humility where I felt undeserving of such friends, and then there have been moments where I pause, wondering how, out of all the people in all the world, I ended up with THESE people...

But that's who I got and I'm stickin' to 'em. And I'm proud of each of them. I'm even more grateful to God for them.It just confirms to me that You don't get the friends you want, you get the friends you need. 

You can read about just a few of these men in an earlier post. 

'Spiritual Depression' Happens to Us All

If you've been a believer for any amount of time, you're familiar with the feeling.

It's like your...off, somehow. You're not connecting with God for some reason, even after you've asked Him to search your heart and reveal to you any unconfessed or secret sin. You are praying your guts out. You read your Scriptures hoping to feel real again.  Your relationships with people may be going well, but you don't feel connected to anyone. There's no reason to be in a desert but you are anyway.

And you are not alone. Not by a long shot.

It is spiritual depression, the subject of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' classic, "Spiritual Depression: It's Causes and Cure." And it will affect us all at one point or another. Actually, probably several points. 

A few months ago I realized something in me was...off. I couldn't explain it or understand it. It felt familiar but not. I kept thinking I had done something to get myself into this desert. There seemed to be no reason for feeling in a funk. My first sign of hope came from Scripture, specifically from the transcript of Christ's temptation in the desert in Luke 4. I noticed Jesus was "led by the Spirit in the desert." He didn't do anything to get himself there. The Holy Spirit led the Lord Himself into the desert for a specific purpose. Much of my spiritual journey in this season is shared in my recent sermon over Luke 4:1-15 at NBC this past July. 

I began to learn I was not alone in facing spiritual depression. "The fact remains," writes Lloyd-Jones, "that there are large numbers of Christian people who give the impression of being unhappy. They are cast down, their souls are 'disquieted within them', and it is because of that" the late London minister calls attention to the subject in this collection of hard-hitting, refreshing sermons.

This book has been an oasis for me.  I especially appreciate that Lloyd-Jones distinguishes that there are certain personalities who are hard on themselves, given to unhealthy instrospection. This kind of insight pervades the book. He writes,

"Some of us by nature, and by the very type to which we belong, are more given to this spiritual disease called spiritual depression than others. We belong to the same company as Jeremiah, and John the Baptist and Paul and Luther and many others. A great company! Yes, but you cannot belong to it without being unusually subject to this particular type of trial." 

Further:

"You cannot isolate the spiritual from the physical for we are body, mind and spirit. The greatest and the best Christians when they are physically weak are more prone to an attack of spiritual depression than at any other time and there are great illustrations of this in the Scriptures." 

Lloyd-Jones defines in his book an important and vital issue most Christians face but never really define or defeat because they are blinded to it. I'm thankful for this volume and give it the highest recommendation I can. 

You Are Not Special.

Recent events in friendships and ministry have prompted much thinking centered on the subject of what drives us to think we are any better than the next fella and can “get away with it.”

Smart, smart people fall for this trap all the time:

“Just once won’t hurt.”

“This is the last time, I swear. No more.”

“I understand this better than other people.”

“I can control it.”

“It won’t affect my friends.”

“My wife won’t find out.”

Oh yes. I know you, dear reader. Well enough to know that if some of these exact statements haven’t crossed your mind verbatim (which they most likely have) then the spirit of them is one with which you are at acquainted on a first-name basis.

Whether it’s too much meth, masturbation, meds, Mountain Dew, fetishism, homoeroticism, Michelob, emotional red light specials, M&M's, your modem or misappropriation, WE ARE ALL GUILTY of thinking we’re special…that we can overthrow addictions we’ve seen conquer all other takers.

“But I’m different.”

Bull.

Forget all those self-esteem workshops you got in elementary school where you sang about how unique and unrepeatable you are as a person. Your addictions don't know that tune.

You’re not ANY different. You are a human being with the same tendencies, capacities, scars, emotional needs, physical desires and aptitude for addiction as the next guy. Your poison may be different than your BFF’s (you’ll pick one corresponding to your specific personality and pain), but the outcome will be the same across both boards.

“But I’ve studied this stuff. It was my major in college. It’s my job now. I know all the signs.”

How many doctors self-medicate and become addicts? How many cops/criminologists are morally crooked? Ever heard of a porn-addict pastor? Think of your high school guidance counselors and how many divorces they’d been through.

Still think you’re the exception just because you’ve surrounded yourself with knowledge? That BA, 3.99 GPA means jack squat in this arena, pal.

"I'm offended!"

Me too! I was taught in D.A.R.E. to consider myself incredibly crunk! The truth has a way of kicking you to the curb as far as presuppositions go.

Self-Esteem Generation, listen up: You don't deserve a sno-cone after losing that account. No free Saf-T-Pop because you got a paper cut (closest you get is sucking on said lacerated finger). Your mom is not on her way to tell your boss off because he passed you over for promotion (he didn't get the memo about you being "gifted and talented"). There are no trophies or white ribbons for "participating" in life.

And as far as your dirty little secrets go...they're not any more dirty or little or secret than any other sinner's.

Now I've devastated you. What next?

“For real, just yesterday I told God this would be the last time. Ever. No going back.”

It’s a start, I guess. But let’s be honest in admitting cold turkey is never that easy. Depending on the depth of your addiction, it could take you years to thrash the habit. And it’s probably something you’ll spend a lifetime vigilantly guarding against and keeping at bay. If you just got out of drugs, awesome. But know the prediliction to them has been ingrained in you – possibly for years depending on the length and depth of your habit. That’s just the way things are this side of Heaven: we are imperfect beings in imperfect flesh. We can train our bodies for bad. And because we’re so good at working out our sin natures, old habits die hard. Very hard. You won’t achieve any lasting, true victory over your demons under your own power. Your self-control is shot unless it is steeped in Holy Spirit.

The first step in maintaining victory over any stronghold is realizing how vulnerable you are. You are not special. You have flesh crawling all over you that looks for every opportunity to destroy your spirit. And that’s the story of every human being.

Overcoming addiction and its ilk is directly related to you submitting to the fact that you’re just not that big a deal. One of the key factors in people who are mentally disturbed is their complete and utter self-absorbtion (try that one on for size…)

So get over yourself. See in the Scriptures that we’re all of us accosted and marred by sin. Just because you shut the door to shoot up and the teenage girl is beginning to show means nothing. You’re both in need of a Savior. Get over yourself, press into Christ, and start being truly exceptional in the only lasting work: furthering the Kingdom of God.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:1-10