Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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On dealing with the chaos

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Weed ChaosThere are days when the dysfunction and brokenness of the world can be overwhelming. Gardens grow weeds, governments migrate toward tyranny and rejection of the moral law seems to be the order of the day. On top of all this I see my own tendency toward selfishness and rebellion. Everywhere I look I see chaos that results from the Fall.

In thinking about this today, a song lyric started running through my head:

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

These lyrics are from the song Behold the Lamb of God by Andrew Peterson which provide a needed reminder of the victory that has been won over the chaos around me and within me.

Yet, the Cross is on only the beginning of the victory. The third verse of the song provides the ultimate encouragement:

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

As Paul tells us in Romans 1:4, the resurrection is the proof that Jesus has the power to conquer the chaos.

When despair seems to be the logical response to all the problems we can see, it is then that we must choose to look beyond the chaos to see the risen Christ as triumphant. He is large and in charge and at some point in time will set all right.

Jesus himself told us,

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”” (John 16:33, ESV)

Jesus wins. I’m good with that.

Book Review: From God to Us by Geisler and Nix

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From God to UsDisclaimer

I was given a promotional copy of From God To Us Revised and Expanded: How We Got Our Bible with the proviso that I would write a review of the book. No stipulations were made as to how I would review the book or what I would write about it. This review is my own reaction to interacting with the material in the book.

Overview

From God to Us is broken down into four major sections with multiple chapters in each to deal with various aspects of the topic in that section. The four major sections are:

  1. Inspiration – How do we know the Bible has authority?
  2. Canonization – How did the Bible come to be accepted?
  3. Transmission – How did the manuscripts get to us and can they be trusted?
  4. Translation – A history of the translation of the Bible.

There is a wealth of information in each section. Anyone who is interested in understanding how the Bible as we know it came to be should take a look at this book. It answers many questions and provides evidence that the Bible can be trusted as a guide for belief and practice.

My Reaction

For me, this book’s primary value is as a reference book, one that I will refer to when I have occasion to respond to questions regarding the transmission of the Bible. For this purpose the book is invaluable with helpful charts and tables with information that speaks in support of the reliability of our Bible text.

Because of the wealth of information, I found it a bit overwhelming to sit and read the book. My difficulty is not because it is not well written (it is) nor because it is hard to understand (it isn’t). For me, reading this book is like drinking from a fire hose, there is too much to take in to do a cover to cover reading. I have to work through the material slowly to take it all in. This was especially true for me in the section on canonicity. But I must acknowledge that for those of a more scholarly nature or with more background in the subject material, this may not be an issue.

One of the things that will be helpful to the reader of this book is the indices in the back of the book. In addition to a subject index, there is also a person index and a Scripture index. The Scripture index I find to be particularly helpful in preparing for teaching on a particular passage of Scriputre, it makes it easy to find the place where that passage is mentioned in the book.

The bottom line

I would recommend that anyone who is interested in apologetics or in understanding the underpinnings of our faith should take a look at this book. It might also be helpful to those who are involved with youth who are questioning their faith or encountering teachers or professors who challenge the accuracy and authority of the Bible. Anyone who must prepare a presentation or teaching on the reliability of our Bible would also find this book invaluable.

I recommend that every student of the Bible should have a copy of this book in her or her library. You won’t regret having it there when questions come up about the reliability of the Bible.

Don’t be surprised by the tares

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Wheat and TaresIn Matthew 13:25-30, Jesus uses a parable to illustrate the fact that not everyone who attends church or claims to be a Christian is the genuine article. In the parable, we learn that an enemy has sown weeds (tares) in the wheat field to displace the good crop. The implication is that anything that is of value will be counterfeited for selfish ends and we should not be surprised when we find non-believers in our churches. This sounds so black and white and from God’s perspective, perhaps it is.

My experience in the church has shown me that even among believers there is “tarish” behavior. These are people who may have a genuine relationship with God, but are not following the Apostle Paul’s command to renew their minds (Romans 12:1-2) and grow. As a result, they remain stuck in their behavior and fail to progress in spiritual growth.

It is doubly concerning when these tarish Christians rise to positions of leadership and influence within the church. Too often leaders rise in the church because they are talented, driven or both. I have in mind a real church in a real city where a very gifted preacher took the primary leadership position from his predecessor who retired. The gifted preacher was not of sufficient character to be effective in leadership of that church but his talent masked this fact for a long time. But in the end, he left a swath of destruction within his family and within that church which could no longer be masked.

Now, you might argue that Jesus is using the tares to illustrate non-believers and this talented preacher certainly could not have been a non-believer. Yes, I’m certain that he had indeed made a profession of faith and it is likely that his theology was Biblical correct and well understood. Yet, James tells us that our faith is evidenced by our works and when a leader has a pattern of hurting people and leaves carnage behind him, one might not question his beginning in faith, but one certainly must question his continued growth.

I’m writing this because a good friend of mine is still reeling from the devastation that resulted from the imprudent selection of this man to be the pastor in that real church in a real city. I have a mixture of sadness and anger in response to this situation. In praying and thinking about this, I was reminded about the parable of the tares. In a sense God was saying to me, don’t be surprised by this. Also the parable teaches me that in addition to being unsurprised, I should also be aware that the Master Harvester has it under control, knows the situation and will respond accordingly.

The good news is that the existence of a thousand counterfeits does not nullify the existence of the real thing. There are many churches where the pastor and leadership team are seeking personal growth in their relationship with God and are seeking to lead others into that growth. While these genuine shepherds may not have the glitz, polish and dynamism that the great orators possess, a steady diet of teaching from such a man will provide for real growth. Meatloaf, string beans and potatoes may not have the pizzazz of sushi, filet mignon or pad thai, but the lack of pizzazz does not detract from its nutritional value.

Satan, the enemy who sows tares, will occasionally be lucky enough to get one of those tares into leadership. While this is regrettable, we should not be surprised. God certainly is not.

On beauty and worship

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Westminster-AbbeyAs I write this, I am a tourist in London, England.

I have toured many of the churches and historical sites and have had opportunity to learn much about the history of this great nation. The church buildings are magnificent; even the lesser known churches are beautiful edifices. Seeing all of them, I wonder what it was like to hear the church bells ringing all throughout London on a Sunday morning a century or two ago.

While I enjoyed touring the churches, my visits were a mixed bag for me. For example, one of the more disconcerting things that I encountered was a commemorative to Charles Darwin in Westminster Abbey. I hope that I will not offend anyone when I say this, but for me Westminster Abbey was more museum than house of worship. I was awed by the rich history of England as I toured, but little about what I saw around me pointed me to worship of God.

While I do not claim any knowledge of the eternal state of Charles Darwin’s soul, I do know that his legacy is one that should not be celebrated by the church. This is not because the church cannot participate in scientific discussion, nor is it because we do not have answers to Darwin’s stance against Christianity. Instead of celebrating Darwin’s accomplishments, we should be demonstrating that his there is evidence in support of the Christian concept of creation. To see the marble slab with Charles Darwins name on it in the church seems to indicate to the church aquiesces to the scientism of the current educational establishment.

I admit that the Abbey was indeed beautiful, arguably the most beautiful building I have ever seen. It was spectacular, but seemed to be more a testimony to the skill and power of men (and women) than it was a place of worship. Or, perhaps stated more rudely, it was a place to worship man and not God. I wanted to be induced to worship God, instead I was overwhelmed by a littany of names of great men and women.

My thoughts jump to the difficult relationship between the church and the arts. It seems that too often when we set out to create beautiful things what starts out as an act of worship of God ends up being the thing worshipped.

I was encouraged by one thing in my Westminster Abbey tour. On several of the statues and monuments, I saw spider webs. The spider is not overawed by the grandure of the Abbey, he just goes about doing what he was designed to do. Perhaps those spider webs were the only object in the Abbey created as a pure act of worship.

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