atheism: REMIX a Review

I just finished reading the new book by Albert Mohler Jr., atheism: REMIX. While a short book it is full of information on what is called “The New Atheism.” As Mohler says in the book “The New Atheism is not just a reassertion of atheism. It is a movement that represents a far greater public challenge to Christianity than that posed by the atheistic movements of previous times.” (pg 12)

While there are many things that could be said about the book there were at least a couple things that stuck out to me. First were the eight hallmarks of the New Atheism that Mohler identifies. These are important for us to understand because in some ways they reveal that the atheists may be more perceptive of what the scriptures say than many professing believers today. Here are the eight hallmarks with my comments in italics and in blue:

1 - They have a new boldness in that the old atheists seems to have a sense of longing and a sense of loss but this is not true of the New Atheists. While in times past belief in God may have been seen as archaic and unneeded the New Atheists see it as dangerous to believe in a God. This is important to see in that it lets us see that there is little common ground when conversing with those that hold to this brand of atheism as they have as a goal of theirs rid society of any form of theism.

2 – They are clearer that they reject the Christian God of the Bible. The old atheists simply denied that a God could exist but the New Atheists see the specific God of the scriptures as being “untenable.” What I find interesting here is that while many try and avoid the obvious place of God in the midst of turmoil and Open Theisms attempt to save God from this issue the New Atheists seem to see that plain reading of Bible as God being intimately involved in trials and tribulations. So in some ways they see the text more clearly than many professing believers do. As Christians we need to deal with God and the problem of evil not by stripping God from scripture but truly dealing with the text and the mystery of how God is sovereign and bad things happen.

3- “The New Atheists explicitly reject Jesus Christ.” The reason being is that they recognize that Jesus is not a nicer version of God as so many professing Christians put forth but they see from the NT that Jesus is to be as rejected as the God of the OT. They also see that Jesus is restrictive in entry into heaven and thus they would reject Him for this as well. Again this is a place that all too many believers miss while the atheists seem to see the obvious. This is not new as fro the time of Marcion many have either purposefully or inadvertently tried to picture Jesus as something He is not. When it comes to the Atheist seeing the restrictivism of Jesus this is sort of amazing as there are far too many that claim Christ as savior that either do not see this or do not feel comfortable stating the obvious.

4-“The New Atheism is specifically grounded in the scientific argument.” They see that science in the end has to be able to explain everything and so “their commitment to the worldview of naturalism and materialism is absolute and nonnegotiable.” We as believers need to understand this worldview so that we understand why the New Atheists reject our arguments. I am not saying to change our arguments as many have tried to do but instead it is helpful to now their worldview and thus know from the beginning that we are placing answers before them that come from a worldview they reject. We are not to take of their world view but be firm in ours.

5- They do not tolerate moderate and liberal forms of beliefs. I found this interesting because the moderates and liberals have seemed to try and make palatable Christianity that in the end is obvious even to the atheist not Christianity as the Bible depicts. So the message to us is that the world sees a sham when it is put before them. They may dislike and even dispise true Christianity but they know what scripture plainly puts forth. They do not believe it but they see it clearly there.

6-The New Atheists see the need to rid ourselves of religious toleration. They see all religion as untenable and dangerous. Again, for years we have tried to make Christianity just part of a larger religious picture and sought after religious toleration but this will no longer placate the Atheist.

7-“The New Atheists have begun to question the right of parents to inculcate belief in their own children” An argument that John Dewey put forth in the early 20th century. As believers we need to be aware of this as this is the direction of the public school system. This is not a far flung idea but has been around for many years but as the leaders of academia, many of who would probably hold to some form of this New Atheism train the teachers and students of the years to come this idea will only become more prevalent.

8-They argue that to preserve human freedom “religion itself must be eliminated.” With many believers human freedom, what ever that is, drives everything as it does for the atheist. We need to regain a biblical understanding of freedom in light of the sovereign God revealed in His inspired word.

The other interesting thing to read was the various arguments against the New Atheists from professing believers that hold to some form of evolutionary thought to those that would be in the liberal fringes of belief, The interesting part is that while they argue against the New Atheism it seems clear that in their desire to have things their way they will not win the argument either. While all of the arguments they give attempt to try and show they have it figured out it seems that where they stray from scripture will be their down fall as in the end their footing is on sand and not the solid ground of God’s word.

I would recommend this as book to read. If for no other reason than understanding if you are looking at sending your children to public school or even to college you need to realize that the men and women mentioned in this book that hold to this New Atheism are influential in academia. Whether they would directly influence you children or they do it by those they influence who then teach your children that influence is there.

One last comment; I think that it is a desire to not seem foolish that cause so many of the problems when speaking to those that hold the beliefs, or some form of them, that this book reveals. By this I mean we have forgotten that the message of the cross is foolishness to those that are perishing (1 Cor 1:17-21) so should we really expect anything different than the responses these New Atheists place before us. Yes we need to provide an answer for the faith we have (1 Peter 3:15) but realize without the work of God on the person before you the cross is a foolish message but for His children it is a message of hope.

Around the Web and Blogosphere (8/18/08)

I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by the Saddleback Faith Forum.  At least for me, I saw the Obama I have already seen and it simply confirmed my views. As far as McCain I was pleasantly surprised by his answers.  As far as McCain though my basic skepticism of politicians will lead me to see if He holds to what he proclaimed in the meeting at Saddleback.  Actually, even tonight there are questions as to whether McCain would have a Pro-Choice running mate and if that would happen it would make a great difference in what I would do in November.  If you were not able to see the event you can read the transcript from CNN here.  You can also read some other comments at:

CampOnThis:  Rick Warren and the Saddleback Faith Forum

FIDE-O: Reaction to Civil Forum on the Presidency at Saddleback

AlbertMohler.com: Backtrack to Saddleback -- Secularists Not Pleased

 

Scott at These are the Generations of.. has some good insight into the Olympics and how they reveal worldviews in his post: Worldview Training in Everyday Conversation.

 

Voddie Baucham writes an article that looks at the question: Is Christianity a Religion?  He does a great job of showing that simply redefining religion is insufficient to deny its place as a religion.  Among other things he says: “The argument that Christianity is not a religion has many inherent problems.  Most importantly, this line of reasoning is at odds with the English language, the history of the church, and good old common sense.”

 

Albert Mohler in his post: "Rights Talk" in California -- Confusing the Same-Sex Marriage Issue lends some good insight into the same sex marriage issue facing California this coming November. 

Psalms: Sovereign Grace Music’s New Album

Sovereign Grace Music has come out with its latest album and it is, as expected, as well done as their other offerings. The latest album Psalms has music that relies on, you guessed it, Psalms for its content. There are a few songs that seem to rely more heavily on instruments and are louder than on their last two albums, from my untrained perspective, and thus I felt the music sort of took away from the vocals in some places. For me personally this is an important thing as if I find myself getting into the beat more than the words I am missing the most important part of the song. Don’t get me wrong I really liked even the more up tempo songs but since I really want to focus on the words this creates sort of conflict for me

This all said I still highly recommend this album as not all the songs are as up tempo as a few of them are and even then you can distinguish the words which are great as usual but then again they are using the words of scripture. I think out of their last albums I like the last one Come Weary Saints the best, followed by Valley of Vision (probably swayed by the fact I really enjoy the Valley of Vision devotional) and then this album.

Contentment in the Kingdom

A couple weeks ago I preached on Contentment in the Kingdom (Heb 13:5-6) at SGCF.  This was a difficult passage as contentment is one of those areas that I often suffer with.  I say “suffer with” because often I do not realize what I am going through is simply an issue with contentment.  If you are like me we often rationalize our disgruntlement as what might be mistakenly labeled as “righteous discontent”.  Now I do think there is a discontent that we are to have that is instilled by God but this is not what I am talking about.  The discontent that God gives is a discontent that helps us see that the world we are in is not all there is.  So there is a little irony in that we are to be content where God has us but there can still be discontent that helps to protect us from being all too easily satisfied with the world’s offerings instead of being content with God’s provision.

The discontent that we are not to have is when we begin to be more focused on our circumstances than God’s hand in them.  For example we may be unhappy with our job and begin to feel God wants us to move on. While this may be true we need to start at asking ourselves if I am content if God would keep me where I am.  So, while God may work in our lives to move us along and there may even come a time that He uses discontentment but I do not think this is the norm.  God desires us to be content in whatever situation we are in (Phil 4:11-12) and it is then that God may move us on.

For me at least this road to contentment starts right where I am. by seeing my situations and circumstances daily as being a result of the sovereign hand of God.  When I see God’s hand in the highs and lows I begin to see that the God that by His grace has called me to be one of His children only has what most glorifies Him and what is best for me.  Finding contentment in a world that thrives on creating discontentment is not easy but in the power of the spirit as a child of God we can be content.

I highly recommend reading Jeremiah Burroughs’ book The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.  This is one of those books that if you are not convicted while reading it you need to read it again.  Burroughs not only lets us see what contentment is but helps in revealing how God desires us to move towards contentment.  One of the things we need to realize is that the world sells that contentment comes by adding to our lives.  However to be content in the Kingdom of God often comes by subtraction, by removing from our lives instead of seeing what to add.  Again, I encourage you to read this book as Burroughs, through a great use of scripture, deals with a subject, contentment, many of us struggle with.

Augustine’s Confessions - FREE AudioBook

You can go to ChristianAudio.com and download this month’s free book: The Confessions of Saint Augustine by Augustine of Hippo by using the following Code : AUG2008. Yes it is free and all you have to do is sign up for a free account, did I say it was free. The books I have downloaded from here have been very beneficial and with the driving I do back and forth from work and home it is a great use of time rather than constantly listening to the babble on the radio.

Around the Web and Blogosphere (7/31/08)

You can download the HBC Missions 08 Conference sermons from here. I highly recommend these sermons as they are both encouraging and convicting. I had never heard Luis Sena or Conrad Mbewe (referred to by some as the African Spurgeon) before but they were both very good. Also speaking at the conference was Paul Washer who I heard before. The topic of the conference was Christian Imperialism and I am sure that title is as thought provoking as Piper’s Christian Hedonism. Just as with Christian Hedonism the word “Christian” before Imperialism makes all the difference. So listen to the Luis Sena and Conrad Mbewe describe what Christian Imperialism is and I am confident it will be difficult to disagree with their explanation, from scripture, of this term.



Grace Family Baptist Church is holding its 2nd Annual Family Integrated Church Conference "Semper Reformanda" October 10-12 at the Marriott Greenspoint in Houston, Texas. My family and I went last year and it was very good. You can get more information on the conference here.



Speaking of conferences; the Desiring God 2008 National Conference is coming up September 26-28. The conference theme is The Power of Words and the Wonder of God.

From John Piper: "This is one of the most unusual conferences we have ever conceived. My expectations are very high that its effect will be mind-sharpening, heart-humbling, mouth-seasoning, backbone-strengthening, and Christ-acclaiming. ......This conference is the overflow of my amazement at the significance of words."



Thanks to Erik, The Irish Calvinist, for linking to Travis Carden’s list of verses that deal with “Total Depravity” or (“Total Inability”).

From Travis: The doctrine of total depravity (or total inability) says that all men, as a consequence of the Fall, are born morally corrupt, enslaved to sin, at enmity with God, and unable to please Him or even of themselves to turn to Christ for salvation. (Thus the necessity of a gracious, unconditional election.)

Marriage in the Kingdom

As I prepared last week’s message at SGCF on Hebrews 13:4 titled, Marriage in the Kingdom, I realized at least two things. First, how I often fall short of living a life that honors marriage as God desires it to be honored. Second, how was I going to deal with the last part of this verse with children present and still be true to the passage?

Well first things first. The truth is we all fall short of honoring marriage as God would desire it to be honored. If you see Hebrews 13:1-6 as an extension of 12:28-29, as I do, and a call to acceptable worship in the Kingdom you quickly see that it is not just a matter of outward honoring. It is honoring God in our totality that makes our marriages or the marriage you may one day be in acceptable worship of God. We, and I know I do this, so often seek to please my wife, my children and myself in marriage but the first thing that should cross our minds is to ask if our marriages, including our views on marriage, are honoring to God who instituted marriage at creation.

This is not just about the outward acts, it includes them, but about how we view and what we believe about marriage. A look at the professing church would seem to say that marriage is taken lightly. Now many will protest “same sex marriage”, as they should, but then dishonor marriage with divorce, disorder in the home, incorrect views on the roles God has ordained for His people and a myriad of other views and actions. We even have a segment of the church that seems to be putting off marriage to a later date so they can meet their own needs. Of course there will be those called to singleness for a time and even some for life but scripture speaks of this being for the purpose of ministry and not making money, getting an education or any number of reasons usually given. To place marriage as a secondary institution dishonors God’s call in Gen 2:18 that it is not good for man, and by inference woman, to be alone.

As I said above, to me much of this stems from not asking the vital question that we should ask about everything we do, not just about marriage. That is to ask: How does what I believe and do honor God and is it acceptable as worship to God by God’s standards of acceptability? I do not see where we are specifically called to be creative in worship, by the way all of life for the believer is to be worship, but instead see a vast number of imperatives in scripture that dictate what God finds as acceptable worship to Him. So that this is not burdensome (1 John 5:3) scripture also gives a great number of indicatives that let us know that He empowers us to do all He commands. While I have only touched on a few things, of which I am sure some will disagree, I would hope that we would all step back when we are faced with issues such as marriage and not ask what I think is best but what does God say most honors Him.

As far as topic two and preaching on sexual immorality and adultery with children present. Being a church that sees all ages worshipping together as the biblical model one has to use discernment in how one words things and at the same time also be true to the text. To do this it becomes clear that you can find ways to word things that may otherwise lead to parents covering ears. One can just as easily speak of “the union of men and women outside of marriage” as to speak of “fornication.” My view is that the parents are to deal with these thorny issue and it is the preachers job to equip them to do so. Children may leave with questions and that is a good thing as then parents can take the role they are called to in rearing their children.

This said I think if you simply camp on the sexual issues at the end of 13:4 you will miss the point of honoring marriage. The writer of Hebrews is using an example of an area the professing Hebrews probably struggled with as they took on the societal norms that were around them. If we simply focus on the sexual area it is possible for someone that does not have a specific issue in this area to simply say “I have that wired” and tune out. But the truth is honoring marriage is much more encompassing than simply avoiding premarital sex and adultery. Yes we are to avoid this at all cost but if we do that but do not bring our families up in the fear and admonition of the Lord we have failed to honor God in marriage as well. If we avoid lust at all cost but as husbands do not care for our wives and be the head of the home as we are called to be we dishonor marriage. So as I thought about this passage it became much easier to preach as I realized to focus on the one area missed the point of the passage and for sure would miss the point important to the believers I minster to.

Well there is so much more involved in honoring marriage and I have very far to go to honor it as God desires. The good news, the great hope, is that the faith that brought us to the cross is the same faith that will enable us to do all that God commands. Yes we will look strange to the world around us obeying God’s commands but we are called to be pilgrims so let us be pilgrims.

Let us Honor marriage in the Kingdom

Is Your Church a Cruise Ship or a Battleship?

Thanks to James McDonald at Family Reformation who in his post, Choosing a Church, linked to the video below. We do have to ask ourselves if we seek after a church that is more like the Cruise ship or the battleship. The Cruise ship is so comfortable it is often a fight to not veer in that direction but we are not called to comfort but to battle and if we are to be a church that fights the good fight we need to be more like the battleship.

Around the Web and Blogosphere (7/15/08)

Thanks to Tony at The Shepherds Scrapbook for his post: Ferguson: Supporting the imperatives to holiness. In the post he relates a quote from Sinclair Ferguson on holiness that says:

“The great gospel imperatives to holiness are ever rooted in indicatives of grace that are able to sustain the weight of those imperatives. The Apostles do not make the mistake that’s often made in Christian ministry. [For the Apostles] the indicatives are more powerful than the imperatives in gospel preaching. So often in our preaching our indicatives are not strong enough, great enough, holy enough, or gracious enough to sustain the power of the imperatives. And so our teaching on holiness becomes a whip or a rod to beat our people’s backs because we’ve looked at the New Testament and that’s all we ourselves have seen. We’ve seen our own failure and we’ve seen the imperatives to holiness and we’ve lost sight of the great indicatives of the gospel that sustain those imperatives. … Woven into the warp and woof of the New Testament’s exposition of what it means for us to be holy is the great groundwork that the self-existent, thrice holy, triune God has — in Himself, by Himself and for Himself — committed Himself and all three Persons of His being to bringing about the holiness of His own people. This is the Father’s purpose, the Son’s purchase and the Spirit’s ministry.”
- Sinclair Ferguson, message from the 2007 Banner of Truth Conference, Our Holiness: The Father’s Purpose and the Son’s Purchase.

I know this has been my heart to make sure that when I preach of the imperatives to holiness that I also speak of the fact that for those that are His there is also the great hope that He has not only called for holiness but has equipped and works for that end in us. There is no real hope in imperatives to holiness without the corresponding indicatives that support them.



You can now download the introductory notes on Psalms from the upcoming ESV Study Bible: Introduction to The Psalms



At the Reformed Baptist Fellowship is an article entitled: Parachurch-So what’s the problem? While not all may agree with the assessment of the Parachurch it does bring up important questions as to their biblical warrant. In reading the comments it is clear that the question is not so much with regards to the needs of many of the Parachurch ministries that are out there but how does this idea apply to Missionary Societies of the past and today. My personal opinion, based on what I see in scripture, is that those ministries need to be under the auspices of a local church. They may have support from other sources to help them but they need to be accountable to a local church somewhere. An example of this is a Missionary ministry such as Heart Cry Ministries which is a ministry of First Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals, Alabama.



At the 9Marks website one of the articles from the July/August eJournal is: 30 Practical Ways For Pastors to Love Their Wives & Families. While I am sure there are other things that can be added and some that may need to be adjusted, I am not sure I can get up any earlier to do my quite time as I am already up at 4AM for work, these are a great place to start. As I read through them I had to say ouch a few times and realize that I may not be as proactive as I should be in caring for my wife and family.

Around the Web and Blogosphere (7/5/08)

Check out Doug Phillips’ (June Archives) and Scott Browns’ (Archives for June Pictures) blogs as there are great pictures from The 2008 Scotland Faith and Freedom Tour. One word of warning; if you look at these pictures too long you may experiecne "Travel Envy" which can only be dealt with by much prayer and fasting :)


Check out the side bar as there is a new link to the Joshua Project that updates daily to show a new unreached people group. This should help in praying for the nations and peoples we are so often uninformed about.


There is a new movie from the creators of Facing the Giants coming out September 26th called Fireproof. You can check out the trailer and other information on it at their website: Fireproofthemovie.com

This months free audio book at ChristianAudio.com is The Practice of the Presence of God (Unabridged) by Brother Lawrence. All that needs to be done to download this book for free is sign up for an account (also free) and then when ordering use the code: JULY2008

Last Couple Days to Enter Contest

Only a couple days left to enter the Reclaiming the Culture DVD contest from a previous post or you can enter here if you like. The deadline to enter for a choice of one of the DVDs from Vision Forums new Reclaiming the Culture DVD Series is 5PM(PST) on the June 29th with a winner to be chosen June 30th. Simply leave your name and I will announce the winner by July 1st. If you leave you e-mail now I will contact you or you will have to check back when the winner is announced.

Around the Web and Blogosphere (6/21/08)

James McDonald at Family Reformations writes: When the Village Raises Children. He reveals a Canadian court decision where the court overruled a fathers grounding of his 12 year old from the use of the Internet. We may say this would never happen here in the good ol’ USofA but do not be too sure. The initial court decision in California to outlaw Home Schooling reveals the heart of many, that those other than parents know what’s best for children. What may be more scary is that many believers seem to buy into this when it comes to such things as education and public school.


Richard Smith at The Spurgeon Blog has some good words to ponder on Evangelism in his post: The Love of God and Evangelism. We need to take care when we take part in evangelism that we present a God-centered God rather than the usually presented man-centered God.


Scott over at These are the generations of… links in his post, Home-schoolers threaten our Cultural Comfort, to an article from a secular paper on why so many hold those that home-school in contempt. Here is a link to the article: Home-schoolers threaten our cultural comfort. What is so sad is the number of professing Christians that dislike home schoolers but I fear it is because they have bought into a world-view that is much like if not the same as that mentioned in the article.


Don’t forget to enter the Reclaiming the Culture DVD contest on my previous post or you can enter here is you like. Deadline to enter for a choice of one of the DVDs from Vision Forums new Reclaiming the Culture DVD Series is 5PM(PST) on the June 29th with a winner to be chosen June 30th. Simply leave your name and I will announce the winner by July 1st. If you leave you e-mail now I will contact you or you will have to check back when the winner is announced.

The Challenges of Hebrews 12:12-14

This past week on the Lord’s Day at SGCF we looked at Hebrews 12:12-14 (The Path of Perseverance) which tells us that which we should do in light of the exhortations given in 12:1-11. The truth is we need to go back to Chapter 11 as well as it is only then that we see that the only way to do what we are called to do is “by faith” as those in Chapter 11 modeled for us. Just has been the case with all of Hebrews it places challenges before us that we all too often read over too quickly.

In V12 we are told to “lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees.” This tells us a few things but most of all it tells us that the pilgrimage we are on as believers is one where weariness and struggles will exist. But, the encouragement, gotten from 12:1-11, is that God is the one that has ordained those trials for our benefit and is the one that will strengthen us to persevere. The Christian pilgrimage is fraught with hazards but they are hazards placed by God for our growth and He is also the one that will sustain us and keep us in the midst of those trials. This is a great hope as we can then see that in the midst of any situation that God has not abandoned us. He may be correcting us or strengthening us but He is still there moving us towards holiness.

Then in V13 we are told to make straight paths so that we and others that are struggling will not stumble. This is a great verse because it speaks of our responsibility for our walk as well as that of other believers, especially in our particular community of faith that God has placed us. In our highly individualistic age we are so prone to see scripture for what it says to me, about me, and for me but there is so much more. God has given us the local church so that as we travel on our pilgrimage we can know we are not alone and that we are to work together to persevere to the final reward. We are to encourage others and even realize that we may face trials that are simply bestowed on us to encourage others by our walk , “by faith,” through the trial.

Next in V14 we are told to strive after peace and holiness. It is so great that these are together because it sets the limits to how far we can go for peace and that is it cannot hinder our striving for holiness. The word strive is one of intensity as if one were hunting a prey. The goal is that we strive and the encouragement is that when faced with those that are difficult to be at peace with we can know God has put them there for His glory and our growth towards holiness. So we are to strive for peace, it may not come but it will not be because we have not tried.

We are also to strive for holiness which is a virtue that I think many do not contemplate enough, I know I do not. But if we see this verse in light of 12:1 we see that we are to put aside whatever gets in the way of our pursuit of holiness. Of course we will not achieve perfect holiness this side of glory but we are to pursue it never-the-less. How would our lives change if we asked a simple question when faced with choices: “How will this choice hinder or increase my holiness.” I know for me this makes for some choices that seem strange in our culture today. But I would challenge us to try this and to take heed to 12:1 and do all we can by the power of the spirit to put aside whatever it is that hinders our pursuit of holiness.

The challenge of Hebrews is that it is not simply a book about a group of 1st century believers struggling with faith choices. It is a living and real sermon for us today in a culture that at every turn seeks to have us deny the Gospel. We may not see our actions as so just as the Hebrew believers probably did not, that is until they heard Hebrews. The call is for us to heed the message that Christ is to so hold our affections that all we do is to reflect that and anything that hinders that reflection is to be done away with. Let us, “by faith,” seek after holiness so that God gets the Glory that only he deserves.

Pilgrim’s Progress Free Audiobook Download

This month’s free download at ChristianAudio.com is Pilgrims Progress. Simply by signing up, its free, you can download this unabridged audio book for free. The coupon code is: JUN2008

Around the Web and Blogosphere (6/07/08)

Philip Ryken blogs on the upcoming ESV Study Bible. Ryken says:
I look forward to seeing the whole ESV Study Bible when it is finished, and to studying its notes more carefully. But what I have seen so far leads me to believe that Crossway is producing the apotheosis of the study Bible.

And here is the definition of “apotheosis.”



Richard Smith has an article at The Spurgeon Blog entitled: The Glory of God Who Loves Himself. He says:
The true Gospel is that there is hope that God will save based on grace which has its cause within the God who loves Himself. The true Gospel is that there is hope that this God will have mercy and will change the heart of the sinner so that it now loves Him rather than itself.


Mark Dever at the 9Marks Blog writes on the use of video in corporate worship: When Seeing Doesn't Help Believing: Videos "in Church".



At Doug Phillip’s blog there is a list of articles dealing with a number of important issues: Vision Forum Articles on Life, Babies, and Biomedical Ethics.



Don’t forget to enter the Reclaiming the Culture DVD Contest on my previous post

Reclaiming the Culture DVD Giveaway.

Thanks to Vision Forum for once again allowing me to offer a free DVD. The free DVD will be your choice of one of the 7 DVDs from the Reclaiming the Culture DVD Collection.

All you need to do is leave a message that you would like to be entered in the contest. I will take entries until 5PM on June 29th and will contact the winner on the 30th to get a shipping address, so leave your e-mail address. This giveaway is limited to the 50 States, Canada and those in the US Armed Forces. Once I get the winners shipping information and DVD choice I will forward it Vision Forum and they will get the DVD to you in about 3 weeks.

You can watch clips from the collection here.

Here is the list of the DVDs in the collection:

The Promise: The Beauty and the Power of the 5th Commandment
What is Biblical Femininity?
Training Dominion-Oriented Daughters
Foundational Elements of a Godly Estate
Providential Nexus of Jamestown and Plymouth
We Cannot But Speak
Guerilla Apologetics for the Glory of God





You can also click below if you would like to go to the Vision Forum website to see other items they have to offer.

God’s Loving Discipline, Yes Loving!!

As I was studying for last Sunday’s sermon at SGCF on Hebrews 12:3-6 (God's Loving Discipline-Part 1) I kept wondering how much people’s lack of understanding of discipline affects their correct understanding of these verses. When I say this I am not speaking of unbelievers but of believers or at the least professing believers. In a day and age where states seek to pass law against spanking and people see discipline of children as “stifling their creativity” what do you do with a passage that speaks of discipline as that which we are to be thankful for?

Keep in mind that the author speaks of discipline in two manners: that of correction for sins we have done and that which is simply to build us for what He has planned and are not specifically tied to particular sins. So discipline covers a wide gamut of things in our lives. The goal of discipline is to disciple and train us to be the men and women of God we are called to be. It is to move us to holiness so that we become more holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:13-16, V16 cites Lev 1:44).

The writer of Hebrews continues on to encourage his audience to endure the race before them and that the struggles that they will encounter are of the God. Even including those struggle that lead to the shedding of blood (12:4). With the popularity of such beliefs as “Open Theism” this is obviously an area of struggle for many. How can a “loving” God allow, or even ordain, that which is painful for His children some, if not many, will say. Well V6 says why; because he loves His children and by the way all of His children are disciplined. In using a quote from Prov 3:11-12 the writer is also making a vital connection with the past and letting those he is applying this to, including us, realize God is working as He always has. God’s having always worked this way is why the “cloud of witnesses” in V1 are so vital to the Hebrew believers and us, they too have been through this at the hands of the Lord.

One needs to always keep in mind when reading Hebrews that this message, or sermon, to the Hebrew believers was meant to encourage, exhort and bring hope. Yes, to know God is intimately involved in our trials is to bring hope. The alternative is hopelessness, in that if God is simply a reactor to trials what type of God is that. A God that is not part of our struggles and is not the ordainer of them may seem comforting for a short time until you realize that there is then no purpose to what goes on in our lives.

Instead we are to see God, as the writer of Hebrews sees Him, as the architect of all that happens first for His glory then for our good, by the way they coincide for His children and that is the point behind V11. So what may “seem” painful now, and they are truly painful from a temporal perspective, will be joyful when God produces in us what He desires and ultimately when we get to glory. Our foresight is forever getting shorter and that is why the smallest pain is often seemingly unbearable. Unlike in times past when life was generally more hash our pain threshold, so to speak, is much lower.

This passage is also not about getting through trials and pain by gritting our teeth and plowing on. It is as James says in 1:2 to be counted all joy when we face trials since when seen in light of Hebrews 12 it is proof of God’s love for us. Let us thank God for the love He shows us as His children in disciplining us and working in us to make us holy. Thank Him for His work in us to make us useful instruments in His hands. Let us truly “cuont it all joy” when we face all kinds of trials.

Another Update on Subway Contest

Although I could not find the Subway/Scholastic apology myself AFA has checked into it and has a copy on their website: Subway apologizes to home scholars. Thanks to Paul at Vaughnshire Farm for letting me know about this response.

Lay Aside Every Weight - Hebrews 12:1-3

This past Lord’s Day I preached on Hebrews 12:1-3 (Sermon: Exhortations for the Christian Pilgrimage) and the study for this passage was to say the least convicting.  I think we often read this passage, I have, and do not stop to contemplate what “lay aside every weight” really means.  What I think you will find if you take time to stop and pray about it is that these four words are asking believers to make radical decisions about how we go about our Christian pilgrimage.

Since verse one separates “every weight” and “sin” we need to as well and to look at both areas.  Most will easily agree that we need to put aside sin in our Christian walk, or in this case run.  But what are we to do with this idea of excess “weight?”  Well the idea, in taking from the analogy of being in a race, is to put aside or take off what ever will hinder one from the goal of finishing the race they are in.  I would even say that it is not just about finishing but finishing in such a manner that we most glorify God by our manner of running.

With this in mind what does it mean for a believer to “lay aside every weight” or some translations may say “hindrance.” This is not simply about listing specific sins to stop because we have seen the author has set sin as a separate area.  When it comes to hindrances the issue becomes more convicting because there are many things that are not in and of themselves a sin but that get in the way of our Christian walk. 

How often when deciding on what we are to do we contemplate how a particular action will affect our walk?  Many times we do things that not only may lead us to sin but we also do things that simply take time away from what we should be doing.  In a race one puts aside everything that will hinder their run and in our Christian walk we should do the same.  Again it is not just about running but running in a God glorifying manner.

One area that I struggle with and I am sure many others do is in the area of entertainment.  I quite often am good at justifying that I just need to relax but what I find is that a short time of relaxation leads to more time relaxing at the expense of time with God.  Our preoccupation with entertainment seems to be more about escapism than relaxation and renewal.  Should we not get to a point where time with God is the renewal and relaxation we require.  So, while some entertainment may not specifically be a sin if it is interfering with our time with God and doing what God desires of us we need to put it aside.

There are many things that on the surface may seem good but can end up being detrimental to our walk. When areas such as these show themselves we need to make adjustments and lay aside what needs to be laid aside.

I guess my call is for us to better look at what we do.  Not in light of what everyone else does but in light of how it affects our walk in the eyes of God.  In doing this we need to ask if what we are doing takes from God’s glory and if it detracts from our progress towards holiness.  This may, or I should say will, lead to making decisions that will result in us looking different from the world around us.  But being a Christian is to be a pilgrim and pilgrims do not look like those around them.

So re-read Hebrews 12:1-3 in the context of all that is around it and then stop to meditate and pray about the things you do and ask if there are things that need to be laid aside.  Are we not only running the course that God has set before us but are we running it in a manner that God gets all the glory.

Subway Update

I received an e-mail today that made me think that I may need to be clearer on my previous post with regards to the Subway Writing contest that does not allow Home Schoolers to participate.

For me the contest is not a discrimination issue with regards to legalities as I realized Subway is private company and could make the contest for whatever group they like. The issue is more about letting others know that homeschoolers are often singled out for no apparent reason other than a personal bias, in this case a corporate bias. From a Christian perspective if we homeschool for biblical reasons, rather than simply academic reasons, we should not find this bias surprising.

I think that often we as believers rely too much on such things as the constitution, not bad in and of itself, as the Bible tells us to rely on Him, and by extension His Word, and by doing so we will in the end be singled out as every other believer has been in history. Jesus Christ was singled out for doing the Father's will so why should we expect different treatment.

This does not mean we as believers should not seek to have influence in laws and government but I think we do have to be careful not to end up relying on that rather than God, the one who even allows those that lead us to do so.

Subway Contest Prohibits Home School Children

I was forwarded an e-mail that links to a writing contest that Subway is having for students PreK-6. What is interesting and disturbing is the restriction at the bottom of the entry that says:

Contest is open only to legal US residents, over the age of 18 with children in either elementary, private or parochial schools that serve grades PreK-6. No home schools will be accepted (I put this in bold to highlight it)

I would encourage you to write them a note to ask why they would restrict Home School students from their contest. You can send comments here.

While my family don't have children in this age group and would probably not enter this contest if we did it does show a blatant disdain for home schoolers. In a time when there is increasing acrimony towards Home Schooling it is good for others to know of things such as what Subway is doing.

Here is whatI have written to them:

I would like to air my concern and surprise that you would exclude home school students from your writing contest. A brief look at history would mean that you would also exclude the following authors that were all home schooled in some manner: Hans Christian Anderson, Mark Twain, George Bernard Shaw, Irving Berlin, Charles Dickens, C.S. Lewis. Not only were these authors along with others homeschooled but so have many other great men and women in the past and present.

By singling out “Home School” as excluded for your contest you are displaying that you have some bias against this group of people. You do not restrict the contest from private school and parochial school students but you deny home school students the opportunity to enter an seemingly otherwise open competition.

As a public company I am sure you accept money for sandwiches and other foods from home schoolers so why not stories written by home school students. I would ask that you please reconsider your restrictions and allow students to be able to freely enter your contest no matter where they are schooled.

Thank you for your time,
Tony Konvalin

I have added an update to this post to clarify some things as far as how I view this issue: Subway Update

Around the Web and Blogosphere (5/25/08)

Keep the Steven Curtis Chapman family in your prayers as they lost their five year old daughter this last week.



Paul at Vaughnshire Farm writes on Big Oil, Big Government, Big Profits, Big Contributions and Big Tax Cuts.



At the American Vision site they write on Voddie Baucham and Bruce Shorts resolution at the next Southern Baptist Convention Annual meeting. Their resolution urges parents in California to withdraw their children from public schools. Voddie Says:

“What do the California school administrators and California legislators have to do to children before people say enough is enough?” he asks. “Do they have to start eating children before we finally say we’ll pull them out of those schools? Because so far they have done some of the most radical, unspeakable things as it relates to the training of these children, and parents still have not woken up. And what’s worse, the church seems to be asleep on these issues,”

Here is a link to Voddie Baucham's blog post on this subject: John Wesley on Education



James McDonald writes in The Abortion President? about Senator Obama’s views on abortion. Also be sure to watch the video.

May Giveaway at Challies.com

Click the banner below to enter this months giveaway, a $200 Shopping Spree at Monergism.com, from Challies.com.

Faulty Theology in Songs

I was listening to the radio today, maybe that was my first mistake, and heard some words to a song by Kutless called Run. I had to listen hard as I could not believe the words I heard. Here are some of the words from the song that was playing:

Why do you run why do you hide oh don't you know I
just, just want to be with you

Looking down from above as you watch TV
Wondering why, why you're ignoring me
Do you remember, remember when I came to you and you loved me
And I'm waiting for you, And I'm waiting for you

Why do you run why do you hide oh don't you know I
just, just wanna be with you, to be with you
Hey, why do you run why do you hide oh don't you know
I just, just wanna be with you, to be with you...

Whatever happened to the love, the love you had for me
When you first came to me
Don't you know that I died, I died so I could be with you, forever
And I’m waiting for you, And I'm waiting for you

As I heard this song I wondered what Jesus it was speaking about as it reflects a needy Savior who is helpless and in need of a friend. Christ did not die so He could be with us forever but died so sinners could come before the Father. So a disobedient obstinate people could come and worship the God of all creation. A basic reading of Hebrews, let alone the rest of scripture, revels a Savor quite different from the Jesus of this song.

What is disconcerting about songs such as this is that some will get their theology from words such as these. They will get their understanding of Jesus from words that speak nothing of what scripture says about the savior rather than taking the necessary time to read the true source of truth.

This also speaks to the necessity of the church taking preaching and teaching seriously. It is only when we instill a firm theological base that songs such as this will be seen for what they are. Songs such as this are the result of a church that delivers milk instead of meat.

This is also a lesson for parents to make sure they listen to what their children are hearing. Just because a song sounds good and Jesus or God is mentioned is not enough as the theology of the music, and all music has a theology, will influence ones children if they are not firmly grounded in the truth. My prayer is that the church will raise up families that raise up children that will discern the error of songs such as these themselves.

Around the Web and Blogosphere (5/14/08)

You can download a sample of the new ESV Study Bible on the ESV site as they have the Introduction to Luke. They are also giving a 35% discount on pre-orders.


At the Surgeon Blog there is a good article on being God-Centered: God is not Man-Centered. In the article Richard Smith makes the excellent point that unless we see God as God-Centered we will invariably have a Man-Centered God. This will in the end affect all that we do as it will make our evangelism man-centered, our discipleship man-centered and our worship man centered, among other things. People will often proclaim in their speech to be God-Centered but their theology played out in life, orthopraxy, will end up being anything but if they do not start with a God-Centered God. I would even go so far as to say that over time ones orthopraxy, or lack thereof, will have the effect of changing ones beliefs as we try and mold them to the practices we partake in. So in all things we need to keep a focus on a God-Centered God as all we do should flow out of this.


Mike Ratliff at Possessing the Treasure writes on the loss of a focus on personal holiness in; Strange Fire. When we loose sight of our place in Jesus Christ as priests we loose sight of living as priests are called to live.


And by the way did I mention the new Sovereign Grace Music CD is out: Come Weary Saints :) Just another reminder as I have listened to this CD quite a few times and it is very good. Again, not simply for the music but more so for the content.

Come Weary Saints – Sovereign Grace Music’s New CD

I just received the new Sovereign Grace Music’s CD: Come Weary Saints. As usual it is excellent. I have long enjoyed their music and while they do a fine job with the musical side of things it is the words that capture my heart. Even the description from their website drew my interest, see below. So often we sing in such a way as to lead the world to think being a believer leads to a life devoid of sorrow and pain. However a cursory reading of scripture will reveal something quite contrary to that. Believers we will get weary and suffer but we can find joy in the being able to go to our heavenly Father through the Son. Here is how SGM describes this album:

As Christians, we know that our greatest problem—separation from God—has been solved. Jesus Christ, the only Savior, has taken our sin upon himself, enduring God’s wrath in our place and rising from the dead to assure us of our forgiveness.

But all our problems don’t end when we turn to Christ. We still get sick. Marriages end. Children die. Our plans, great or small, are disrupted. We grow weary in the battle.

Scripture assures us that God is sovereignly using our difficulties as tools to make us more like his Son. “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Ro 5:3–5) While we know these things are true, in the midst of our hardships we can lose perspective. Problems can loom large, and our hopes can grow dim.

Come Weary Saints is an invitation to redirect your focus to the God whose love has been forever demonstrated at the cross of Calvary. As you listen to these songs, may your faith and joy in the Savior be strengthened for the challenges you face, now or in the future.

You can also download a free song from the new album here. I highly recommend this CD as well as a previous release of theirs, Valley of Vision.

Here are words from the song As Long As You Are Glorified; you will not find words such as these many places:

Verse 1
Shall I take from Your hand Your blessings
Yet not welcome any pain
Shall I thank You for days of sunshine
Yet grumble in days of rain
Shall I love You in times of plenty
Then leave You in days of drought
Shall I trust when I reap a harvest
But when winter winds blow, then doubt

Chorus
Oh let Your will be done in me
In Your love I will abide
Oh I long for nothing else as long
As You are glorified

Verse 2
Are You good only when I prosper
And true only when I’m filled
Are You King only when I’m carefree
And God only when I’m well
You are good when I’m poor and needy
You are true when I’m parched and dry
You still reign in the deepest valley
You’re still God in the darkest night

Bridge
So quiet my restless heart,
quiet my restless heart
Quiet my restless heart in You

Around the Web and Blogosphere (5/1/08)

Voddie Baucham has a good article on Barack Obama and abortion: BARACK OBAMA: A WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING. People can call it “a CHOICE” but it is only a choice on one side of the ledger.


Thanks to Erik at the Irish Calvinist in pointing me to this video. What Piper says is so true and even for us that agree with him we need to always be aware of what we preach so that we do not preach the world rather then the WORD.






Mark Chanski writes an article entitled: Jesus the Lone Refuge in which he speaks of Christ as the only way. This is not popular in our pluralistic anything goes age but it is what the Bible teaches and what we need to proclaim. I was thinking the other day that if our biblical views are well accepted in the world we either have unbiblical views or we are not expressing them correctly and completely. Scripture and history shows us that the exclusivity of Christ is a thorn in the side of the world and if we do not expose that thorn in our preaching and evangelism then we may be falling short of the full message of the Gospel.



Here is this months free book from ChristianAudio.com: Martin Luther: In His Own Words (Unabridged). All that you need to do is to put the following code, MAY2008, in when you order the MP3s.

From ChristianAudio.com:
Most all Christians know the name Martin Luther. Less familiar, however, are his words. This compilation of many of Luther's most important writings serves as an excellent introduction to those new to Luther. It also provides a fresh medium for people familiar with his writing.

Challies.com Book Giveaway

Here is this months book drawing from Challies.com. You can click here or on the banner below to enter.

Some Questions to Ponder

I was thinking the other day about all of the preconceived ideas we have and how often if we really delve into them we find they are not grounded in scripture but the world that surrounds us. Over time I will probably comment on some of these but for now I simply bring them up to think about.

1) Why is it frowned on for a family to have lots of children, and I do not simply mean more than two?

2) Why is it assumed that one is automatically to go to college after High School?

3) Why is it seen as absurd to some that a girl would decide to prepare for marriage rather than college?

4) For that matter where did the concept that everyone has a right to go to college start?

5) While I am on the question of education when did IQ begin to be the ends of education?

6) Where does the concept of marrying later so as to get done all one can while single come from?

7) Why is it seen as strange by so many if ones children do not spend inordinate amounts of time playing video games?

8) Where did the idea of people needing peer groups come from, especially for children and teens?

9) Why is one looked on with questioning if ones children do not partake in organized sports?

10) Why is there such a pull for people to have their children educated in public schools?

11) Why is valuing the biblical model, as presented in scripture, of the family seen as outdated?

As Christians we are called to be pilgrims and different from the world around us but all too often, and I am guilty of this, we begin to assume the presuppositions and mindset of the world that surrounds us rather than those of scripture. This begins when we spend more time consuming the world’s offerings rather than feeding on the Word of God.

I pray these questions are ones that get us to think about how we come to their answers rather than simply to answer them. It is when we question how we come to conclusions that we best see what our world view is.

Around the Web and Blogosphere (4/25/08)

You can go to the Together for the Gospel web site and down load the messages for free. If you want the panel discussions you can get them at the Sovereign Grace Ministries site. I have listened to the first five messages and as usual they were great.


Over at Unashamed Workman Colin Adams has written The Seven Commandments of Illustrations. I will have to go and check my sermon for this week. Truth is these are very good guidelines to be thought of when preparing a sermon.


At the Banner of Truth Geoff Thomas writes on Limited Atonement. This is often a hot topic with many people but if anything this article should help those that disagree better understand what Limited Atonement.


Coming in October of 2008 is the new ESV Study Bible. I have way too many bibles already but I may have to break down on this one. I have the Reformation Study Bible which I really like but this may be different enough to warrant adding it to my wish list. I highly recommend the ESV as it reads very well and from what I can tell it is faithful to the original languages. You can also read more about the ESV from Scott head at These are the Generations of…. in his post: Thoughts on Bible versions and a plug for e-Sword. By the way I also use e-Sword and it is a great study tool.

More on Expelled – A Clash of World Views (Updated)

Well we did make it to see Expelled: no intelligence allowed and was pleasantly surprised at how well the film was done. It did a very good job of contrasting world views, hence my own sub title above for the movie. Many others will give much more detailed reviews as I do not remember all of the names and comments. The whole motif of the Berlin Wall that represents the wall that Darwinian Evolutionary thought in academic institutions has set up to keep out any competing ideas was very well done. I can see how this will inevitably infuriate people but while it may make people angry it is very much the truth if one simply opens their eyes to what is going on.

However it is very obvious that academia has a world view (atheistic/Darwinian) that it does not want to relinquish. They appear to be willing to do what ever it can to hang on to the reins of academia. In a setting such as universities, not to mention public schools, that often tout themselves as places of “Free Thinking” they are anything but that.

A number of the interviewees, specifically Richard Dawkins, let the cat out of the bag, if it was not out already, that the main goal in all of this is to do what ever is needed to deny God. Dawkins goes as far as rather believing in aliens or some other form of life “seeding” earth rather than admit to the possibility of there being a God. However he never answered, at least in the clip shown, where the aliens would have come from other than he felt they had to also come through some evolutionary process.

All in all I would recommend this movie and I have heard in a comment to one of the reviews that the DVD will have much more footage of the interviews. This is not a religious or even Christian movie and does, I think, a good job of making sure that the message is that academia is locking out freedom of thought. While the topic of God was not avoided a number of the IDers interviewed were agnostics or would have at least not held to a Christian view of God. So this movie simply portrays the clash of world views and that for now one world view, academia’s Darwinian thought, hold the keys and does not want to let other in to play.

On the negative side as with any documentary, especially one aimed also as entertainment, there has to always be some healthy skepticism about editing. Michael Moore is probably not alone in editing footage to put people in the light they desire them to be and portray a message that is desired. With Expelled we need to make sure that we do not simply take Ben Stein’s version of things as sufficient. We should take the given data and place it alongside other data and see what results. Also, personally, the added breakaways to extraneous footage to make a point was for me not necessary but I realize it was part of the entrainment side of things.

Here area a few more reviews of the movie

American Vision: Expelled: The Movie—Part 1 & Expelled: The Movie - Part 2
Parchment and Pen: Expelled: Evolution vs. Intelligent Design - A Review
The Constructive Curmudgeon: Break Down the Wall: A Movie Review of "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed"
He Lives: Expelled, the Review
Pulpit Magazine: Expelled

Reviews of Expelled

Here some reviews of the movie Expelled:
Triablogue: Expelled: A Brief Movie Review & First Impressions on Expelled
Bock’s Blog: Interesting to See Reviews on Expelled April 18.08
Answers In Genesis: Expelled Reviewed
CampOnThis:  Expelled: ....... no intelligence allowed 

Now I admit that the above reviews do not include the many anti-Expelled reviews on the internet, just Google “Review of Expelled.” I simply put some on that I ran across that seemed to be fair reviews and gave an overview of the film. As with many documentaries there will be those that do not like what they see and will thus write not so glowing reports of the film while those that like the outcome of movie often write elaborated reviews. So I chose the four above and while there are many more out there these should give a feel for the movie.

Now some thoughts on the movie, or better yet its premise, that I admit I have not seen yet.

I am not sure if I will see the movie at the theaters as they cost so much and with 5 people to pay for there is a side of me that asks if this is a good use of the funds available. Also, I am sure as with most movies of this type I will probably be left wanting. I think the premise is good, that the academic world is not really open to free thinking, but I pray that Christians do not again see this as some great, or even the greatest, witnessing tool sent by God. All too often Christians seem to think that every movie or other entertainment event that somehow has Christian overtones, or undertones, is such an event. Truth is from what I have seen and heard the focus is mainly on evolutionary thought versus Intelligent Design (ID) and I do not think that ID is the answer to the evolutionary debate. Yes, I do believe there is an intelligent designer but why can we not simply call Him God. Disguising God by some other name such as “Intelligent Designer” seems to sort of be a bait and switch and an attempt to get a foot in the door but is it necessary. What ID does is simply say that we as Christians can play on the scientific community’s court and to their rules and here is how we see creation by your standards. True the people in academia who own the court do not like to play with others the truth is until we as Christians lose the fear of simply saying that even though there is plenty of proof of what we believe the only proof we truly need is the infallible word of God we will always be fighting an uphill battle. The reason for this being that the scientific community will invariably continue to change the rules to meet their needs and until God changes their hearts they will not believe, in a saving manner, simply based on good argumentation.

So at the end of the day I will probably rent the movie when it comes out and I do think that it may be a good place to begin conversations but let us not see it as the panacea for evangelism as was done with so many things to precede it. Also, it is good that the world, whether they buy into it or not, see the often one sidedness of the academic institutions our tax dollars often pay for.

By the way I would imagine that my unashamedly young earth views would probably be laughed at by both sides as many IDers seem to not see it as viable.

Christian Contentment

In reading this month’s 2008 Puritan Reading Challenge book, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs, I was struck by a point with regards to The Mystery of Contentment.

Burroughs in Chapter 2- point two: A Christian comes to contentment, not so much by way of addition, as by way of subtraction (pg 45) says: “

“That is his way of contentment, and it is a way that the world has no skill in. I open it thus: not so much by adding to what he would have, or to what he has, not by adding more to his condition; but rather by subtracting from his desires, so as to make his desires and his circumstances even and equal.”

How true this is for me. When I become discontent with my circumstances I immediately think of all that that needs to be added to bring contentment but it never does. Rarely if ever do ask myself if I need to change my desires. Burroughs is so right that we need to seek after the heart of God and make sure our desires are aligned with His.

Burroughs quotes another author on page 47 as saying: "The way to be rich is not by increasing wealth, but by diminishing our desires." The issue is that we need to seek after godly contentment and not contentment as defined by the world around us.

This, however, does not mean a Christian will never be discontented as Burroughs touches on in Chapter 2 for the first point (page 42): "It may be said of one who is contented in a Christian way that he is the most contented man in the world, and yet the most unsatisfied man in the world; these two together must needs be mysterious." The point being that while we are content in Christ being in this world should leave us with a manner of discontentment that will only be met when we are spending eternity with God at the time of our final rest.

So let us not allow the world to impose its desires and lead us to a discontentment that is not pleasing to God. But at the same time let us foster an understanding that this is not all there is and thus have a godly discontentment with the world around us. The truth is we are to be content with God but discontented with the world. Our contentment with God is to grow daily as we walk with Him and as we walk with Him in our pilgrimage in the world our discontentment will invariably grow as we long for eternity with Him.

Around the Web and Blogosphere (4/10/08)

Charley at HomeDiscipling Dad has some good thoughts on the whole issue of being “Peer Dependent” in his post: Peer Dependent or God Dependent?



Over at the Reformed Baptist Fellowship they link to a great message on the Lords day by Alistair Begg. You can go to Truth For Life and listen to it on line, here, or sign up for the Podcast and listen to it for free, here. If you sign up for the Podcast you will also be able to get the other messages on the Sabbath. I am looking forward to listening to the other messages as the one I have linked to above was the last in the series on the Sabbath.



There is a good quote over at Unashamed Workman on preaching from Philip Ryken’s new book entitled City on a Hill. Ryken says:

“What ministers are to do is preach the Word - that is, the Word of God. A faithful minister does not preach the latest news. He does not preach his private opinion, his personal experience, or his political agenda. He does not even preach his own theological tradition, although of course he does preach within it, insofar as his system of doctrine is derived from Scripture. What he preaches is God’s eternal, infallible Word, as written in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.”




Thanks to Fide-O for linking to this, below is a video on Oprah that is not overly long and it definitely gives a good view into Oprah’s beliefs. What is scary about all of this is the number of Christians that watch her. Watch the entire video and you would be hard pressed to say she is a Christian as she does not hold to any orthodox beliefs that that I can tell. As far as the book that is spoken of at the end I do not know anything about it but I would agree with the title and that is “Drink the Kool-Aid” of Oprah.

Updated SGCF Website

I just finished redoing the church website using iWeb.

You can check it out here:  Sovereign Grace Christian Fellowship.

Around the Web and Blogosphere (04/4/08)

Tom Ascol has a funny video form when he spoke at a conference in Brazil: Every Interpreters Nightmare. As he explains the funny part starts about 1:45 into the video. This does show how we need to be careful of using idioms as many will not get the connection to what we are trying to convey, “If you get my drift.”

After finishing March’s Puritan book in the 2008 Puritan Reading Challenge, The Godly Man’s Picture by Thomas Watson I would highly recommend it. But this comes with the warning that you need to be prepared to be convicted as Watson pulls no punches as to what God desires of His people. But he does so in a manner that will lead one to seek to truly be the man or woman God has called them to be. This is a book replete with scripture to show that God has not hidden what He desires but it is plainly there for all to see, in His Word.

Justin Taylor from Between Two Worlds linked to a good article by Michael Gerson: Osama’s Abortion Extremism. This article reveals that while abortion may not be the most pronounced topic for Obama he does have views on the subject and his voting record would show that he even supports partial birth abortion by his opposition to the ban on such a vile act.

This looks like an interesting movie: Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed with Ben Stein. The movie reveals the strangle hold Darwinian thought has on the educational system. While I think, I have not seen the movie, that the focus is on the exclusion of Intelligent Design from our intuitions of higher learning the bigger picture is that those that hold an evolutionary opinion of origins are so fearful of being found lacking in substantiation for their beliefs that they close the door on any other thought as to the origins of man. The trailer is here.

Called to be Pilgrims

What is it about the world that so draws us to itself? As I read through scripture it is clear that we are called to be pilgrims in this world as we journey to our final destination, the better country, a heavenly one (Heb 11:16). Many passages look at the believer as a sojourner, an exile and a stranger in the world. The picture is that what God calls us to is not to find our home here but to see our place as our final destination

Passages in scripture that speak to believers as sojourners:
Gen 23:4 - Abraham refers to himself as a sojourner and foreigner
Gen 47:9 - Jacob calls himself a sojourner
Psalm 39:12 - David refers to himself as a sojourner
Phil 3:20 – Paul speaks of where our true citizenship resides, in heaven
1 Peter 1:17 – Peter refers to the believers as being in exile
1 Peter 2:11 – Paul in urging believes to be honorable refers to them as sojourners and exiles

This is not a call to remove ourselves from the world but as the puritan Thomas Manton said; “We cannot get out of the world when we please, but we must get the world out of us.” We are to do the work that God has for us to do while He has us here but not let the world take up residence in our hearts. My fear is that too many have become comfortable in this world and allowed it to impinge on the work we are to do in glorifying God.

We should ask ourselves; “if the things of this world were removed and all that was left was God, His Word and His people would we be satisfied. This question is important because if we were to truly live as that which most pleases God would we not give up much of what the world offers and be left with the God, His Word and His people.

The end result is that we as believers should look different from the world around us. This is not a forced difference but one that results from simply living as God dictates in His word. As we live to glorify Him we will stand out in this world and in so doing we will be the light we are called to be. As much as we try and think that we need to look like the world to reach it is would seem that is the difference in us that God uses to draw people to Himself.

In scripture we simply see people living as God dictates in His Word and God drawing people to them. Nowhere do we see “Ex-Gladiators for Christ” or “Former Pharisees for Christ” but we see people changed by the Spirit to be simply Christians. But, today we have so many groups that seem to portray all that is to change is ones viewpoint but in reality when we become a believer we become a new person (1 Cor 5:17).

So let us be the pilgrims we are called to be and not let the world steal our affections.