Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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A test for idolatry

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Farm GateGod is in the idol smashing business. Scripture and experience show this to be true. Much of the Old Testament is taken up with the story of Israel falling into idolatry and God confronting that idolatry through the prophets and the judgment of the surrounding nations.

The first two of the Ten Commandments deal with the issue of idolatry:

“You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.” (Exodus 20:3–4, NASB)

Few of us in Western Civilization literally bow down before an image and practice what we would consider idol worship. But that does not acquit us from the charge of idolatry. The decent into idolatry is subtle and can go unnoticed.

How then can we know when we are falling into idolatry?

When you find yourself thinking, “if only I had _____, then I would be happy,” it is likely that you are falling victim to idolatry. The blank will be filled by different things at different times, but if it is a person, place or thing other than God, it is idolatry.

Why would God be so hard on those who succumb to idolatry? I believe it is because God understands better than we do that the person, place or thing to which we look for fulfillment will eventually disappoint and frustrate us.

In a fallen world, things break or get used up, places have their bad points and people will eventually disappoint you. Even the best of us experiences failure, bringing disappointment to those we love. For this reason, God seeks to reorient our focus on himself, because he is the one person who will never disappoint us.

Perhaps this is why Jesus tells us that those who mourn are blessed. When we understand that creation is fallen and we participate in and contribute to that fallenness, mourning is the proper response. A line written by Wendell Berry about his farm illustrates this.

“My aim has been to go against its history and to repair the damage of other people. But now a part of its damage is my own.”

When we have this proper sense of mourning, then it will be less likely that we will fall into idolatry. With this corrected perspective, it will be easier to realize that God is the only person who will never disappoint us. Perhaps this is why the Apostle Paul tells us that “when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.” (1 Corinthians 13:10)

May the perfect come soon.

Responding to the Dinesh D’Souza controversy – 4 things to keep in mind

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Dinesh D'SouzaI am not writing to condemn or defend Dinesh D’Souza. The facts in this case will eventually come out and I am not willing to invest the time to work through the details, nor do I trust all of the available sources of those details. I hope that as a Christian, Mr. D’Souza has someone to whom he is accountable and no matter what he did or did not do, he will grow as a result.

In response to the stories in the news, I offer some thoughts on a framework for developing a response:

  1. All human leaders fail. In small ways or big, all leaders will eventually fail. This is just as true for Christian leaders. There is danger in putting Christian leaders on a pedestal, expecting too much from them and being disappointed when they do not meet our expectations. We cannot expect perfection. So when a Christian leader falls, it should not rock our world to the point where we doubt the truth of Christianity.
  2. God chooses to use flawed men to accomplish his purpose for humanity.  Or more correctly, God chooses to use us in spite of our flaws. The failure of men, even men of high standing, cannot derail God’s plan.
  3. Christian leaders should be held to the standard of Scripture. The qualifications for Christian leadership are found in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. When the qualifications for leadership are not met, then it is appropriate to have that leadership role taken away. Christians should not knowingly sit under the leadership of anyone who does not meet the qualifications for leadership that the Apostle Paul outlines.
  4. Every leader has the opportunity for repentance and restoration. God uses broken people who have experienced failure. Peter denied his Lord. The Apostle Paul was a murderer. David was a philanderer and a murderer. Moses had anger issues. Abraham got caught lying to a king (twice). Yet, God used all of these men to play significant roles in the advancement of His agenda. We cannot write off any leader as a total failure.

We cannot use the excuse that everyone has flaws to give a leader a pass when he fails. The failure must be addressed. But, it must be addressed with the goal of repentance and restoration.

My prayers are with Mr. D’Souza, The King’s College and those men who can speak into Mr. D’Souza’s life. No matter what actually happened, the controversy has created a storm around the college and her former president. All involved will need wisdom and grace.

Drinking from a fire hose – four good apologetics blogs to follow

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Fire HoseSometimes the internet is like taking a drink from a fire hose. There are so many good writers who provide helpful information that one has to learn to be selective; there is too much to take in.

Therefore, to narrow it down a bit, I thought I would take a few minutes to provide a list of four blogs I follow and why I think that you should follow them also.

  1. The Poached Egg. Greg West does a fantastic job of scouring the internet and finding some of the best material on Christian Apologetics available. This blog provides links to helpful articles and interesting quotations. Greg can be found on Twitter @thepoachedegg.
  2. Christian Apologetics Alliance Blog. The CAA is a group of writers committed to articulating and defending a Christian world view. The contributors to the blog come from a variety of educational backgrounds and have different interests, thus providing a sampling of what is going on in apologetic thought today. You can follow the CAA blog on Twitter @apolalliance
  3. The Thinking Christian. This is one of the first apologetics blogs I found and have been following it for a few years. Tom Gilson is the author of the blog and he consistently challenges his reader to be what the title implies, thinking Christians.
  4. Apologetics315. One of the best features of Apologetics315 is the interviews that Brian Auten does with noted apologetic writers and thinkers. These interviews are available as Podcasts and MP3 downloads. Brian is an excellent interviewer, asking great questions. Brian also provides other helpful links on the site to resources for those who are interested in increasing their knowledge of Christian apologetics. You can follow Brian on Twitter @apologetics315.

There are many other good apologetics sites but these are four that I regularly follow and read. If you have an interest in Christian apologetics, please check out these four blogs, I do not think you will be disappointed.

When the heavens are silent

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Stormy Heavens
Image via Wikipedia

While Jesus ascended to Heaven the angels said to the Disciples, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky?” (Acts 1:11) This is good advice that we sometimes fail to follow. We stand waiting, looking to Heaven for guidance and sometimes it seems that all that is returned is silence. We pray and wonder if anyone is listening.

Evangelicals often join in with secular news media in ridicule of those who find the image of Jesus in a piece of toast, the Virgin Mary in a salt stain or some other manifestation of divine revelation. Yet, the desire to hear directly from God remains. We can laugh all we want about how gullible these people seem to be but if we are honest, we must admit that it would be so much easier if God contacted us directly to let us know how to proceed.

Why would a loving God seem to allow us to muddle on so when it would be much easier if he just sent a prophet or an angel to spell out how we should go about life?

One thought that strikes me as I consider this question is that the danger in granting our wish for direct intervention is that we might then view God as a glorified vending machine. Our desire is to put in the requisite coins, push the proper button sequence and get what we want. Scripture and experience indicate that God does not work this way.

Perhaps his silence is sometimes intended to teach us that he is in control. What better way to learn obedience than to struggle on doing the right thing even when there is no apparent payback? Like the Karate Kid, we may not see how the discipline of waxing cars will pay off in the upcoming tournament. If we are doing the right thing only to get an immediate reward, disappointment is a very real possibility. Nowhere in Scripture is such a reward promised.

Scripture teaches us that there is a reward for obedience, but that reward may not come in this life. The author of Hebrews 11 tells us that all of those listed in what is sometimes called the “Faith Hall of Fame” operated with the understanding that the payoff was not to be expected immediately. They were desiring “a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16).

Be encouraged that even when God seems to be far away, even when all the wrong people seem to be reaping rewards, even when we get a bad result from doing the right thing, God remains in control. God may be silent, but he is not unobservant. He may not be seen, but he sees.

If we are discouraged, we should lengthen our view. Near sightedness will cause us to give up hope prematurely. Doing the right thing always pays off in the end. Remain steadfast and unmovable (1 Corinthians 15:58).

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