So Long Childhood, Hello Manhood

Proverbs 20:29 "The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their gray hair."

     I can remember vividly the first moment I saw a gray hair sprouted from my scalp, I was about 16; it was right in the front, though a needle in a haystack, the light beamed off of it to show it's presence. Since my hair is black is wasn't that hard to notice, but it did come as a shock: "I'm not supposed to get these until I'm older; what's the deal?" Fast forward to today, almost 23, more and more have sprouted along the sides and it's no longer hidden: T-rav's clearly got miniature patches of grays. In this particular proverb, Solomon shows the difference between the delights of a young man versus an older one: physical strength versus applied knowledge.

Bryan Chapell, I'm Confused...

You can now watch the five part video presentation of the PCA's sociological strategic plan for the future of the denomination as presented by Bryan Chapell. I am thankful that Scripture was not completely left out of this hour long presentation. A verse did actually make it in there at one point. What concerns me  the most about this video is the way that Chapell says, "In so many ways our motto as a denomination synthesizes our mission ideals and our history." While the motto is not actually an official part of the constitution of the PCA, Chapell treats it as having more authority than the Westminster Standards and the Book of Church Order.

Question: Can Christianity Exist if Jesus Did Not Resurrect?

John Dominac Crossan in the following video says it wouldn't affect his "Christian faith." Of course, this guy is one who denies the infallibility of Scripture, the deity of Christ, Christ's atonement for sin and the repentance & faith it requires, and so on. But what do the Scriptures say? Could Jesus be who he said he was if he didn't rise from the dead 3 days later? Should anyone read the Bible or even trust what it says if the resurrection was found to be a hoax?

A Good Thing Turned Bad

I have this book that contains daily readings from various C.S. Lewis works (A Year with C.S. Lewis), and this one struck me. This is a quote from The Screwtape Letters:

Thus is would be a good thing to make the patient decide that 'Love' is 'good' or 'bad'. If he is an arrogant man with contempt for the body really based on delicacy but mistaken by him for purity...by all means let him decide against love. Instil into him an overweening asceticism...If, on the other hand, he is an emotional, gullible man, feed on him the minor poets and fifth-rate novelists of the old school until you have made him believe that 'Love' is both irresistible and somehow intrinsically meritorious (you feel you have the right to have it). This belief is...an incomparable recipe for prolonged, 'noble', romantic, tragic adulteries, ending, if all goes well, in murders and suicides. (page 106)

With this particular of love, Screwtape explains how love can be misconstrued to 2 different extremes to harm an individual: the ascetic, and the "love-a-holic."

(1) The ascetic thinks of himself as not needing of love, and if any emotion, thought, desire, or pleasure arises, he thwarts it off as unnecessary or even to the extreme of beating himself up physically to make the desires go away.

(2) The "love-a-holic" feels that because he feels the desire to love, he will go to any extreme to make it happen. He will settle for any girl that winks her eye or blows a kiss. Nothing else matters but to obtain love; if it isn't reached, then he worries and worries, desperate to be satisfied, and could take him to the extreme of killing himself because that desire has got to be fulfilled.

How could this happen? What would push a man to push off love as if it's for sissies and hide his emotions? What would push a man to desperate measures just to get a girl to be attracted to and to love him? We must look at the source of where things first went wrong, and then from there look at solutions.

Adam and Eve, before the first sin, experienced a perfect relationship with God and with each other: no problems, no pain, no nagging, no loneliness. But, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God's command, at the first moment of sin and shame they were instantly frightened of another and God. One act of disobedience led to two breaches:

1. God and man were no longer intimate. A holy God could no longer dwell with unholy people.
2. Man and woman were no longer intimate. Now, every friendship and marriage experiences imperfection.

And with sin clogging our thoughts, minds, words, desires, things don't make sense in our world: the good we want to do--we don't do it, and bad we know we shouldn't do--we do it anyway.

"God is love, and in him is no darkness at all" - 1 John 1:5. When we look at how the Bible describes God, we see two things in this particular verse: He is loving, and He is holy. And this will lead the rest of what I'll say.

The supreme expression of love that God shows us is in the death of Christ and him being our substitute on the cross: "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation of our sins" - 1 John 4:10. The punishment that we deserve for our sin was placed on Christ at the cross, so that you and I would have a restored relationship with God through Christ. A relationship with God is the ultimate thing that must be settled here and now, and is the anchor of understanding love and how to deal with it. Do you have an intimate relationship with God through Christ? I recommend you read John and 1 John to clarify.

In lieu of Christ's redeeming love, we see the perfect expression of love--so how does this apply to the ascetic and to the love-a-holic?

(1) The ascetic must realize he has made an idol out of himself, pride, and that the desire to love and be loved isn't a bad thing. Men, you can be honest about your emotions with other guys, and noticing the beauty of women isn't a sin (unless it's wrongful lust). Women, this goes for you too: be open with other women, and if you're looking for a godly man, nothing wrong at all--same warning though.

(2) The love-a-holic must realize he has made an idol out of himself also, pride and love are worshiped and not God. Instead of looking to God for his ultimate sources of security, significance, and satisfaction, he looks to himself (this applies to the ascetic also). It is more important that he feel loved from an individual rather than God. Men and women, we must realize that we were created for the primary reason to glorify God and enjoy Him forever--He is our utmost treasure. Only in Him can you really find the love you are looking for. God has given us friendships and marital relationships, but they can never surpass or become more important than our relationship with Him.

I hope this was clear, if not let me know and I'll elaborate more.

T-rav
Colossians 1:17 "And is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Before It's Too Late

(Kind of wrote this in the style of a hymn)

If today you took your last breath,
and came face to face with death,
would you go straight to the Father,
to enter into heav'nly rest?

The passions of the world
fool you, only make you blind:
eat, drink, be merry--
for tomorrow you die.

God knows every careless
word, thought, and deed;
would you come to the Savior
to be washed and made clean?

Your righteous deeds are filthy
rags before the throne of God;
this gift of salvation
cannot by you be bought.

You have two major problems:
one bad record, one bad heart;
with this come hell's separation
from which you cannot depart.

You are dead in trespasses,
you hide your eyes from grace;
come and taste the living waters,
won't you rise and seek His face?

God commands you twofold:
repent and believe;
I know you're heavy laden,
cry out for this grace that's free.

Your life's but a mere mist,
think hard of what I've said;
please look up, see Jesus
before it's too late.

Endurance Through Trials

It is without a shadow of a doubt that the recent months and weeks have brought various kinds of trials: economical, physical, and spiritual. And, it is also true that many of us forget to tap into the storehouse of God's comfort found abundantly in His Word. We can become so boggled down with life's aches and pains that our eyes are taken off of Christ and we look horizontally on the earth for solutions and relief. And in addition, we forget the Fatherly hand behind it all.

In Peter's first epistle, endurance through trials is a dominant theme. It is addressed to those who have been scattered abroad to different regions, living in exile because of persecution. But we see right away from the second verse onward comforting words from someone who knew trials personally: Peter's faith was tested when he walked on water (Matt. 14:22-33), he defended the Gospel before the Sanhedrin and was threatened (Acts 4:1-31), and was imprisoned twice (Acts 5:17-42;12:1-19). And what we find in 1 Peter is a disciple of Christ sending comfort from which the comfort he himself received during hardship (2 Cor. 1:3-7). I would like to show just three things Peter mentions to comfort these believers.

In verse 2, Peter introduces the Trinity at work: God the Father foreknew these elect exiles, the Holy Spirit has sanctified them, and Jesus Christ sprinkled his blood for their obedience to him. We can endure any trial because the Godhead three-in-one is active in our life.

Secondly, in verses 3-5 Peter reminds the believers that they have been born of God "to a living hope;" Christ was raised from the dead, and so their dead hearts are now alive because of God's mercy. Their new birth in Christ is secure because "by God's power [they] are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." And so our rebirth gives us the assurance of God's guardianship from salvation to future glory.

Thirdly, in verse 4 Peter teaches them about a promised inheritance they will receive that awaits them in heaven. In biblical times, it was important for the inheritance to be passed down from father to his children; Peter says that our Father has for us "an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven..." This inheritance is a sure reward and will never go away, unlike earthly possessions. As adopted sons, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, we have a priceless inheritance--we get God, and an eternity with Him.

I've only scratched the surface; Peter goes on with numerous theological points and exhortations, I encourage you to read into it. And I pray that having read this you have been encouraged. So in conclusion, remember that God is at work and is ever present with His children: you were foreknown before the foundation of the world, Christ paid for your sins on the cross, the Holy Spirit has given you new birth, and an inheritance awaits you.

Standing in grace,
T-rav

Contemporay vs. Traditional Worship: What's the Real Issue

We've come to a point in time when a lot of churches will focus their sermons and worship not on the Word of God, but rather how it makes the individual feel. So instead of God being the center of our worship services, He becomes secondary to our emotions. Our goal is not "God be glorified," it is "I want to experience emotions and feelings that make me feel good."

So the question should not be whether or not a worship service is "contemporary" or "traditional." Is it God-centered? Is the worship and sermon outlined by what the Bible says or emotion-driven? We should be singing songs, hymns, and spiritual songs that are based on the Word of God: which weeds out the theology of Jesus being someone's homeboy and removes the confusion of whether or not a certain song is about a girlfriend or Jesus.

The Outside Looking In

I just recently came across an opinion section of the New York Times that was titled Religion and Women. I saw it on my Google News page with a 2-sentence theme to the section: "Religions derive their power and popularity in part from the ethical compass they offer. So why do so many faiths help perpetuate something that most of us regard as profoundly unethical: the oppression of women?" While I do strongly disagree with the suppression of women, I figured this would have a liberal's spin on Christianity and how he thinks it's intolerant towards women...and sure enough I was right. Here's a link to the news article

It is unfortunate that so many people will use portions of Scripture to justify numerous ungodly things, like Westboro Baptist displaying a "God Hates Fags" sign on the street corner, or blowing up abortion clinics, or treating women like second-class citizens. But does the Bible really promote the suppression of women like this guy Nick Kristof thinks?

He first quotes Jimmy Carter and talks about how he hates the suppression of women, that religion contributes to this wrongdoing. Interestingly enough, Jimmy Carter also pushed that women should be pastors and leaders in the church, in which the Scriptures do forbid but the justification for that will be explained later on (and it isn't because women are inferior).

I'll be honest and blunt here: non-Christians seem to love passing judgment on the Christian faith, while if we try and defend our position we get called intolerant and told not to judge people...interesting paradox. True, biblical Christianity is almost never what is truly critiqued by those not in the faith, and this leads to many misconceptions as to what Christianity is and is about. And of course they don't believe in the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture, which is why they scoff and laugh at certain parts (which they take out of context and twist to suit their own passions).

For example, this Kristof guy quotes part of 1 Timothy 2, and has no idea of the model of how the church here on earth should be run. He says "The New Testament quotes St. Paul (I Timothy 2) as saying that women 'must be silent.'" And he just leaves it there, doesn't mention the context or anything...and so any reader of this guy might say, "Oh he's right, it does say that, and therefore Christianity is intolerant and oppressive." I'd be willing to say this is academic dishonesty since he obviously didn't do his homework on this section of Scripture, and since he also didn't quote the entire verse. It's not saying women aren't ever to speak; Paul said, "Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness." Paul is instructing Timothy as to how the church must be run, and here he is telling the women that if they disagree with some doctrine, that they are to ask their husbands rather than just blatantly argue and disagree.

Kristof goes on to say "In fairness, many scholars believe that Paul did not in fact write the passages calling on women to be silent." Oh really? Interestingly enough, the apostle Peter had something to say about this sort of thing:

[15] And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, [16] as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. [17] You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. [18] But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. - 2 Peter 3:14-18

It wasn't but a few decades when people were misusing the Scriptures that Paul wrote, so it's no surprise that men are doing it today...and for scholars to just say, "Oh Paul didn't really write that" is not because of historical authenticity but rather from personal emotions and feelings. They think he could not have written that because it's divisive. Scripture isn't the issue here, it's non-Christians thinking that they know how to interpret the Bible. Read 1 Corinthians 2 and Paul says that those who aren't saved don't have the Spirit of God in them, and therefore can't understand the things of God because they're spiritually discerned. (They probably hate that portion on the Bible too, maybe Paul didn't write that either)

Okay, I'm done talking about the article, and now I'm gonna wrap this up.

Once Adam and Eve fell in the garden of Eden, the entire world was thrown into confusion and is tainted with sin. Adam and Eve were created to have a perfect relationship with God, yet they disobeyed Him and caused every human being to be born with a sinful nature. God created animals, with humans being in complete control of them--ever wondered why animals attack people now? May seem weird, but the fall in Genesis 3 is the answer. Humans were to have dominion over every thing on earth, to be in complete control of it all, but that's been lost. Since things aren't perfect here anymore, we're all subject to various frustrations. No relationship here on Earth will be perfect, and this is why many numerous people find fault with how the Christian woman is supposed to act when it comes to marriage. Read Ephesians 5 and you'll see that in fact the husband is given more instruction than the wife. The wife is to submit (love and respect) her husband, while the husband is to love her and lay down his life to her. So there is submission on both parts, just like every Christian is called to submit to one another out the reverence of Christ.

Please read everything in context, especially the Bible, before you start making unwise, uneducated statements, Christians and non-Christians.

Solid Preaching--Where Are You? (A Plea for Pastors, A Wake-Up Call for Laymen)

This audience for this note is twofold: preaching ministers, and Christians who sit and hear preaching (which should be all).

If one day God grants me to have children, one thing I look forward to is reading to them. Children love stories. Let's say one night I read them Green Eggs and Ham. They know the story from beginning to end, since it's rather short. But let's say they want to hear it again the next night...imagine if I continued reading them the book, not from cover to cover, but rather I told them topics that the book brings up and use parts to show how it fits. And imagine I did this every single time they wanted to hear it...they would be bored after awhile, and would soon just say, "Daddy, let me just the read it myself."

Unfortunately, in our time, most preaching our day has become simply topical--taking an idea, and then just going to the Bible to prove it. Now, is there anything wrong with this method? No, because if a pastor wants to talk about prayer, he can go to various scriptures to talk about it. But, what's become of our day is taking this method to the extreme...in some churches this method happens every single Sunday--and just like my little example in the beginning, I believe it eventually just bores the listeners.

In his autobiography, George Muller said "The expounding of the Scriptures is in general more beneficial to the hearers than if, on a single verse, or half a verse, or two or three words of a verse some remarks are made, so that the portion of Scripture is scarcely anything but a motto for the subject." Here's what I'm trying to get at:

I heard a pastor in Georgia use 1 Corinthians 2:9 as his text for the sermon "But, as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.'" And he used this text to talk about why we should be passionate about life. Now, go and read all of 1 Corinthians 2--you will not find Paul talking about why we should be passionate about life--but you will find Paul discussing the work of the Spirit:

• verses 1-5: Paul is telling them he didn't preach to them with eloquent speech to try and seduce them into believing the Gospel, but it was the Holy Spirit speaking through him.

• verses 6-16: Paul explains the wisdom that comes from the Spirit. Christians gain understanding, wisdom, and are led by God through the work of the Spirit. Those who aren't Christians do not have the Holy Spirit, and thus cannot understand the things of God.

Now how in the world does a pastor think he can he get his congregation passionate about life, yet use the Bible incorrectly to do so? Everything in me wanted to go up to the pastor and explain why I believe he misused the Scriptures...but I think I was too hot-headed at that particular moment and didn't want to say anything I'd regret and/or hurt a fellow brother. But this type of preaching is just wrong, and this is when topical preaching is too relaxing.

Preachers, please refrain from this and look at every verse in context to make sure that you are applying them correctly. Everyone else, be on guard to make sure what you're hearing from the pulpit is actually biblical. Acts 17 records a particular people group, Bereans, examining the Scriptures to see if Paul and Silas were teaching correctly. Let us all have the mindset of the Bereans.

Random Quotes on My Mind

"The moment we think we have ourselves figured out, we'll then come upon a unturned stone to find more things wrong."

"The intelligence of an individual can measured by the amount of books versus movies that one owns."

"Knowledge that forsakes wisdom is like a empty bookshelf--it serves no purpose."

"A Christian that doesn't believe in the eternal security of the believer struggles with wondering whether or not his/her behavior is ever good enough to match God's standards--since His standard is perfection, you'll be living the rest of your life pretty uneasy. Christ died on the cross to set you free, not to keep you enslaved in your own mind and pride."

"I used to always think that when the Jews put together and worshiped that golden calf, that it was the dumbest form of idolatry ever created and I'd never do something like that. But 3 years ago I glanced at my shoe collection, along with all the other lusts of the flesh and eyes...I'm no better than they were."

"One who is never Christ-like when alone puts on a show when around others."

"I hope no one gets his/her theology from 'Bruce/Evan Almighty.'"

"If America comes to the point where it's a hate speech to tell them Christ is the only way, I'll be doing prison ministry the rest of my life...or I'll just move to Thailand for good."