In a few days it will be Christmas. Though there is much speculation on when exactly Jesus was born, for all intents and purposes we celebrate his birth in December. Looking back a couple thousand years, Mary must have been quite ready to give birth to Jesus by now. She probably was not in the mood too travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem on a donkey, knowing she would soon deliver her baby. Joseph was probably not very happy either. He was probably worried about his wife and unborn son. Even though they knew that Jesus was a miraculous baby, there must have been the typical fears about whether Mary would survive the delivery. The gospels do not mention any midwives being present at the birth, so perhaps it was only up to Mary, Joseph, and a few animals to welcome God incarnate into the world.
There is so much mystery surrounding the incarnation, and it is something we often forget during the Christmas season. How is it possible for God to become a human embryo that grows and is subject to all of the limitations and problems that any other human baby has as it develops. When you think about it, Jesus faced all the prospects of mortality that all infants faced. He had had to be cared for and fed by his mother or else he would die. Mary is called the "theotokos," or the "god-bearer," in Christian tradition. We remember that Mary is not only carrying a full human being, but also the eternally existing God.
I was thinking earlier this morning about the reason for the incarnation. So often we simply treat it as a necessity that Jesus had to go through so that he would die and resurrect just so we can go to heaven. We so often view Salvation simply like a business exchange (i.e. Jesus draws up the contract on the cross, you pay God your faith, He gets you out of Hell in return), that we see the incarnation as simply the way Jesus shows up so that he can get to work saving us. However, I believe we need to look at the incarnation and the cross as so much more than that. In the incarnation, God truly becomes one of us, like so many have said. If we view the life and mission of Jesus as having simply no other purpose but to get us a "get out of Hell free" card, we need to remember that God could have done some cosmic payment in the heavenly realms that we would not even be conscious of. No, in the incarnation, God comes to live with the human beings he made and loves. God lives life like we do; he experiences the things we experience. God learns how to be a carpenter as he grows up under Joseph. God learns Torah in the synagogue with the pharisees. God smashes his finger with his hammer as he works. Though Jesus was never married, I imagine that he knew what it felt to be attracted to the young Jewish women he was around.
In the incarnation we have the God bridging the gap between humans and Himself. As the early theologian Athanasius said, "God became man, so that man might become gods." That's not to say we will become "gods" like the Mormons would have us believe, but that because of the incarnation human beings are being set on a path to be glorified. Humans are special creations of God. Jesus himself says in John 10:34 "Is it not written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'?" The doctrine of the resurrection of the saints says that we will be raised with perfect bodies one day and will live with God forever. The incarnation is God coming to live with us "on our own turf," so to speak, so that one day we might live with God on His. I wondered this morning about the idea of the incarnation if humans had not sinned. The Eastern Orthodox church believes that there still would be an incarnation. The Bible doesn't say, so it is all speculation. However, I believe that in some way there would have been an incarnation. I don't know what it would look like, but I do imagine that God the son would still have become human and lived among us. I do know that we would not have killed Jesus, but would have exalted him like we should have done in the first place. I imagine that the relational part of God is so great that the incarnation is a natural outpouring of his love. However, we will never know how things COULD be, but we know how things ARE. I think it is best to be thankful for the presence of God as a human being in Jesus as we celebrate this Christmas.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Prayer for Peace
This afternoon as I was reading my text on Martin Luther King Jr. and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, considering their examples of Christ-like care for the world, I was reminded of the dire situations the world is facing. While the world is full of wars right now, the peace of Christ is still alive in the hearts of his people. I decided to write a prayer that expresses a desire for the peace of Christ to come and rescue our world.
Loving and merciful God,
Who created all things well,
Who even in our sin has chosen to save us,
As your people we pray for your world.
For we are well aware of its groaning.
War is ravaging many parts of the globe,
Rumors of war are spreading as well.
Violence is in our cities and in our homes,
Violence is in your church and in us, your children.
We implore you, the Prince of Peace,
Who repaid no one evil for evil,
But taught us to turn the other cheek,
To forgive us our sins against you,
and to teach us to live like Christ.
We are your people, scattered among the nations.
Some of us live among the oppressed,
Some of us live among the oppressors.
We ask, Lord Christ, that as your people,
We will stand in solidarity with the downtrodden.
That we will be ministers of peace and justice.
That we will live true to the teachings of Christ,
And as your people show the world there is another way.
Establish your kingdom, Lord God,
Where suffering and violence are no more.
World without end.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Loving and merciful God,
Who created all things well,
Who even in our sin has chosen to save us,
As your people we pray for your world.
For we are well aware of its groaning.
War is ravaging many parts of the globe,
Rumors of war are spreading as well.
Violence is in our cities and in our homes,
Violence is in your church and in us, your children.
We implore you, the Prince of Peace,
Who repaid no one evil for evil,
But taught us to turn the other cheek,
To forgive us our sins against you,
and to teach us to live like Christ.
We are your people, scattered among the nations.
Some of us live among the oppressed,
Some of us live among the oppressors.
We ask, Lord Christ, that as your people,
We will stand in solidarity with the downtrodden.
That we will be ministers of peace and justice.
That we will live true to the teachings of Christ,
And as your people show the world there is another way.
Establish your kingdom, Lord God,
Where suffering and violence are no more.
World without end.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
The Woods of Doubt
Woods of Doubt
There are some woods through which we all must pass,
On the journey toward our home.
For on the other side of these woods of doubt,
Lies the city of Shalom.
The woods of doubt are dark and hostile;
They try to consume what we know is real.
Many have lost their way and perished,
But these woods must still be braved.
For on the other side,
Our anxiety will disappear.
For God appears as we find our way home;
At the city of Shalom.
There are some woods through which we all must pass,
On the journey toward our home.
For on the other side of these woods of doubt,
Lies the city of Shalom.
The woods of doubt are dark and hostile;
They try to consume what we know is real.
Many have lost their way and perished,
But these woods must still be braved.
For on the other side,
Our anxiety will disappear.
For God appears as we find our way home;
At the city of Shalom.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Country Music and the Psalms
I haven't written anything for awhile, mostly due to the fact that I have been tremendously busy these last couple months. However, tonight I managed to find a few spare minutes to write some stuff down. I sometimes get into a mood where I just want to listen to some sad country music. I'm not sure why, all the time. It's not as if I'm depressed or anything, there's just something about listening to sad country songs and spending some time in introspection.
I was thinking about sad country songs (or any other sad songs, for that matter), and how similar they are to a lot of the Psalms. Now, when we read the Psalms, I think we mostly like to read the ones that are very encouraging. Maybe the old favorite, Psalm 23, which arouses a deep comfort in the image of God as a shepherd. Or maybe when we've sinned we like Psalm 51 where David asks God's forgiveness for his affair with Bathsheba. I love those Psalms and the messages of encouragement they bring to me and everybody else when they read them. Tonight, however, I was thinking about some of the more depressing Psalms. The ones in which the Psalmist cries out for justice and vengeance on his enemies. The ones that sort of make us uncomfortable to read (For example, in Psalm 137, the Psalmist basically says "It's going to be great for the guy who throws your babies into the rocks and kills them!"). There are a lot of those Psalms that are really uplifting and encouraging, but there are also those that are just downright depressing or offensive. They are called the Imprecatory Psalms.
What do we make of these Imprecatory Psalms? I believe that all scripture is inspired by God and is useful for faith and practice, even these Psalms that do not necessarily leave me with a feelings of hope, forgiveness, and love for my enemies. Do these Psalms, such as Psalm 137, mean to say it is perfectly alright to wish evil upon everyone who wrongs me, or that it's fine to throw babies on rocks? Not at all. What these Psalms tell me is that God is big enough to handle our problems. What the Psalmists were feeling when they wrote these Psalms calling out to God to curse and destroy there enemies is something that each one of us is perfectly capable of feeling; most of us probably have felt that angry and upset at some point. That's part of being a human in this world that is still rife with sin. I watched a video clip of Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann discussing the Imprecatory Psalms, which I shall attach. He makes the point that Christians often don't use these Psalms because we Christians, of course, never ever feel the way the psalmists do. Right? However, in these Psalms which are depressing and angry, we have the psalmist being real with God. God is a God of truth. He is truth, and he loves the truth. The truth is, we people don't always feel we can tell the truth to God when it comes to how we are feeling about the problems of the world. However, God knows how we really feel, and what we really want. So why not be honest with Him?
Bringing this back to country music, many people I know say they don't like country music because it can be so depressing. It's all about you're woman leaving you, or it's about people getting depressed and drinking, they say. Of course, not all of it is, but there is a fair share of the music that does contain those elements. However, there is something therapeutic about listening to it at times. There is something about listening to a sad country song that just makes you feel better about your situation, whether it's bad or good at the moment. It gives you a kind of resolve to weather the next crisis. In other words, it connects with what is real in life at some level. The Imprecatory Psalms do the same thing. They're sad and make you wonder if the psalmist just went out and hanged himself after writing it, but it connects well with reality. You can relate to those feelings in the country music or the Psalms. Sometimes I just like to listen to sad songs and think. In the words of Elton John, "sad songs say so much."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDfzzJD8IpI
I was thinking about sad country songs (or any other sad songs, for that matter), and how similar they are to a lot of the Psalms. Now, when we read the Psalms, I think we mostly like to read the ones that are very encouraging. Maybe the old favorite, Psalm 23, which arouses a deep comfort in the image of God as a shepherd. Or maybe when we've sinned we like Psalm 51 where David asks God's forgiveness for his affair with Bathsheba. I love those Psalms and the messages of encouragement they bring to me and everybody else when they read them. Tonight, however, I was thinking about some of the more depressing Psalms. The ones in which the Psalmist cries out for justice and vengeance on his enemies. The ones that sort of make us uncomfortable to read (For example, in Psalm 137, the Psalmist basically says "It's going to be great for the guy who throws your babies into the rocks and kills them!"). There are a lot of those Psalms that are really uplifting and encouraging, but there are also those that are just downright depressing or offensive. They are called the Imprecatory Psalms.
What do we make of these Imprecatory Psalms? I believe that all scripture is inspired by God and is useful for faith and practice, even these Psalms that do not necessarily leave me with a feelings of hope, forgiveness, and love for my enemies. Do these Psalms, such as Psalm 137, mean to say it is perfectly alright to wish evil upon everyone who wrongs me, or that it's fine to throw babies on rocks? Not at all. What these Psalms tell me is that God is big enough to handle our problems. What the Psalmists were feeling when they wrote these Psalms calling out to God to curse and destroy there enemies is something that each one of us is perfectly capable of feeling; most of us probably have felt that angry and upset at some point. That's part of being a human in this world that is still rife with sin. I watched a video clip of Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann discussing the Imprecatory Psalms, which I shall attach. He makes the point that Christians often don't use these Psalms because we Christians, of course, never ever feel the way the psalmists do. Right? However, in these Psalms which are depressing and angry, we have the psalmist being real with God. God is a God of truth. He is truth, and he loves the truth. The truth is, we people don't always feel we can tell the truth to God when it comes to how we are feeling about the problems of the world. However, God knows how we really feel, and what we really want. So why not be honest with Him?
Bringing this back to country music, many people I know say they don't like country music because it can be so depressing. It's all about you're woman leaving you, or it's about people getting depressed and drinking, they say. Of course, not all of it is, but there is a fair share of the music that does contain those elements. However, there is something therapeutic about listening to it at times. There is something about listening to a sad country song that just makes you feel better about your situation, whether it's bad or good at the moment. It gives you a kind of resolve to weather the next crisis. In other words, it connects with what is real in life at some level. The Imprecatory Psalms do the same thing. They're sad and make you wonder if the psalmist just went out and hanged himself after writing it, but it connects well with reality. You can relate to those feelings in the country music or the Psalms. Sometimes I just like to listen to sad songs and think. In the words of Elton John, "sad songs say so much."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDfzzJD8IpI
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Forgiveness vs. Justice
Recently I have been thinking about the concepts of forgiveness, justice and how they relate to Christian responsibility in the world. There is absolutely no question regarding the Christian imperative to forgive others. In fact Jesus, Himself tells us that if we do not forgive others God will not forgive us (Matthew 6:14-15). Forgiveness is a way of life for Christians. Because God has reconciled all things to himself and made peace with humanity (Colossians 1:20), the church is privileged to be working as God's ambassadors of His Kingdom. In 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 Paul writes "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation." Forgiveness and reconciling God's creation to Himself are deeply important to Him and to His church. The Church has been given the ministry of reconciliation, that is proclaiming that Christ has conquered the power of sin and made possible the restoration of a broken relationship with humanity. And what I mean by the church, is the same thing Paul means in his epistles; not just the institutional church, but every one of us who make it up. We are given the ministry of reconciliation. The gospel is for all human beings everywhere at all times and proclaiming it is the purpose of the church. As Christians, we simply cannot afford to carry any grudge or ill-feeling toward anybody anywhere, even when they have hurt us, our loved ones, or our way of life deeply.
I think of this because the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks are coming up within a few days. That was a day that many people believed changed the world permanently (However, Stanley Hauerwas makes the correct point that Easter was the only day that changed the world permanently. 9-11 was just another instance of the world's rejection of the gospel). The immense hatred and evil we saw displayed on that day against the United States of America and the Western world has sent us Americans and Westerners spiraling into a struggle against the forces of Radical Islamic terrorists. The question is, how are we as Christians supposed to carry out God's mission of reconciliation when our societies are at war.
I approach this subject with a very great deal of trepidation. Whenever one begins to talk of forgiving a group or country that has done terrible evil, their is the risk of being accused as being uncaring, unpatriotic, a pacifist, or a variety of other politically unpopular names. However, the point I am about to make is not based on a political ideology, but simply on what I believe the responsibility of Christian is, according to the command of Christ.
I have seen among Christians a great deal of animosity and fear toward Muslims. Of course, this makes a lot of logical sense. Among the general population that attitude is common. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the subsequent attempts at terrorism in the last several years have lent to us very good reason to be fearful of the enemies of our nation. However, being that we are at war against "Terror," attitudes of viewing the enemies of our nation as enemies of the body of Christ naturally creep in. This should not be so. I must also say I am as guilty as anyone else for developing and "us vs. them" mindset and falling short of Christ's command to forgive.
If as Christians we are required to forgive those who have sinned against us and to leave vengeance up to the Lord, we are required to forgive the terrorists. On September 11 this year, a Christian group in Florida will burn copies of the Koran, and that caused me to think. Has the church made a formal stand against Terrorism by saying "We forgive you?" In my own conversations about the current conflict, do I reflect the forgiveness I am required to give? Am I carrying out the mission of God's reconciliation in the world as the Bible commands? As the church, that is our role. We need to make a public stand before our friends and neighbors that we have forgiven the sins committed against our fellow countrymen.
Now I know the response to this will be "You're just saying we should let the terrorists do whatever they want and just keep on forgiving?" The answer is no. The terrorists have committed an offense against the nation we live in and it is justifiable, I believe, to go after the ones responsible. Romans 13 explains that the state is ordained by God to bear the sword as a way to keep the peace. As the ruler of the nation, the president or king has the charge to keep order within a lawless society. This involves the execution of justice against evildoers.
However, on the flip side, Romans 12 gives directions for the way Christians are to deal with their enemies. Christians are to repay evil with good, to leave room for the vengeance of God, and to defeat evil through love. It is in this way that Christians carry out the work of reconciliation. We imitate Christ, who defeated evil by Godly love. Therefore, as Christians, when we have a perceived enemy, we cannot treat them like an enemy. We must forgive and proclaim that forgiveness God has given the world through his son.
So in regards to forgiveness, justice, and the terrorist enemy, the answer is somewhat complex. We Christians are not only required to support the victims of the terrorists and the war on terror, but also to forgive the enemy that did so. We cannot in our hearts harbor un-forgiveness, even against such monstrous evil. We must pray for their conversion and remember that they are simply doing what the world does when it rejects the peace of Christ. In our conversation we must try to express our wish that they will be led to Christ. We must, when others are burning Korans say "We forgive you for the wrongs you have done."
As for Christians in the military or law enforcement, they are serving the state and its execution of justice. Nowhere in the Bible does it say a Christian cannot serve the state in such a way. But I do believe there is a way to execute justice and forgiveness at the same time. As a Christian one must forgive and not hold any ill-will against an enemy, but in the interest of keeping the peace the evil-doers must be put away. In fact, having Christians doing these jobs who are committed to following the commands of Christ could serve to make for a much more merciful and effective peace-keeping tool. Only what is necessary to restrain evil would be done. By the act of forgiving and loving one's enemies, much of the nastier horrors of war or peace-keeping could be avoided while still carrying out justice in the name of security.
So let us remind ourselves to forgive those who terrorize us and our fellow citizens. It is hard, it is scary, but it is the mission of a Christian. Let us pray for the gospel to go out to all the world. Let us reveal in our speech the forgiveness of Christ to all men. Let us remember that justice is to be carried out with compassion. After all, God gave us not justice, but mercy in the cross and requires us to do the same.
I think of this because the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks are coming up within a few days. That was a day that many people believed changed the world permanently (However, Stanley Hauerwas makes the correct point that Easter was the only day that changed the world permanently. 9-11 was just another instance of the world's rejection of the gospel). The immense hatred and evil we saw displayed on that day against the United States of America and the Western world has sent us Americans and Westerners spiraling into a struggle against the forces of Radical Islamic terrorists. The question is, how are we as Christians supposed to carry out God's mission of reconciliation when our societies are at war.
I approach this subject with a very great deal of trepidation. Whenever one begins to talk of forgiving a group or country that has done terrible evil, their is the risk of being accused as being uncaring, unpatriotic, a pacifist, or a variety of other politically unpopular names. However, the point I am about to make is not based on a political ideology, but simply on what I believe the responsibility of Christian is, according to the command of Christ.
I have seen among Christians a great deal of animosity and fear toward Muslims. Of course, this makes a lot of logical sense. Among the general population that attitude is common. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the subsequent attempts at terrorism in the last several years have lent to us very good reason to be fearful of the enemies of our nation. However, being that we are at war against "Terror," attitudes of viewing the enemies of our nation as enemies of the body of Christ naturally creep in. This should not be so. I must also say I am as guilty as anyone else for developing and "us vs. them" mindset and falling short of Christ's command to forgive.
If as Christians we are required to forgive those who have sinned against us and to leave vengeance up to the Lord, we are required to forgive the terrorists. On September 11 this year, a Christian group in Florida will burn copies of the Koran, and that caused me to think. Has the church made a formal stand against Terrorism by saying "We forgive you?" In my own conversations about the current conflict, do I reflect the forgiveness I am required to give? Am I carrying out the mission of God's reconciliation in the world as the Bible commands? As the church, that is our role. We need to make a public stand before our friends and neighbors that we have forgiven the sins committed against our fellow countrymen.
Now I know the response to this will be "You're just saying we should let the terrorists do whatever they want and just keep on forgiving?" The answer is no. The terrorists have committed an offense against the nation we live in and it is justifiable, I believe, to go after the ones responsible. Romans 13 explains that the state is ordained by God to bear the sword as a way to keep the peace. As the ruler of the nation, the president or king has the charge to keep order within a lawless society. This involves the execution of justice against evildoers.
However, on the flip side, Romans 12 gives directions for the way Christians are to deal with their enemies. Christians are to repay evil with good, to leave room for the vengeance of God, and to defeat evil through love. It is in this way that Christians carry out the work of reconciliation. We imitate Christ, who defeated evil by Godly love. Therefore, as Christians, when we have a perceived enemy, we cannot treat them like an enemy. We must forgive and proclaim that forgiveness God has given the world through his son.
So in regards to forgiveness, justice, and the terrorist enemy, the answer is somewhat complex. We Christians are not only required to support the victims of the terrorists and the war on terror, but also to forgive the enemy that did so. We cannot in our hearts harbor un-forgiveness, even against such monstrous evil. We must pray for their conversion and remember that they are simply doing what the world does when it rejects the peace of Christ. In our conversation we must try to express our wish that they will be led to Christ. We must, when others are burning Korans say "We forgive you for the wrongs you have done."
As for Christians in the military or law enforcement, they are serving the state and its execution of justice. Nowhere in the Bible does it say a Christian cannot serve the state in such a way. But I do believe there is a way to execute justice and forgiveness at the same time. As a Christian one must forgive and not hold any ill-will against an enemy, but in the interest of keeping the peace the evil-doers must be put away. In fact, having Christians doing these jobs who are committed to following the commands of Christ could serve to make for a much more merciful and effective peace-keeping tool. Only what is necessary to restrain evil would be done. By the act of forgiving and loving one's enemies, much of the nastier horrors of war or peace-keeping could be avoided while still carrying out justice in the name of security.
So let us remind ourselves to forgive those who terrorize us and our fellow citizens. It is hard, it is scary, but it is the mission of a Christian. Let us pray for the gospel to go out to all the world. Let us reveal in our speech the forgiveness of Christ to all men. Let us remember that justice is to be carried out with compassion. After all, God gave us not justice, but mercy in the cross and requires us to do the same.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
John Piper on the "End Times"
Misgivings About Hal Lindsay’s “Planet Earth”
Download:
By John Piper March 1, 1974
I have no doubts about Hal Lindsay’s faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, nor do I doubt that God uses his lecturing to bring people to Christ. I talked with one Campus Crusade girl who told me how she had been changed by such a talk on prophecy. Nor does he take any doctrinal position which would cause me to break off fellowship with him as a brother in Christ. Nevertheless, I have strong misgivings about the basic attitude toward the future which his book The Late Great Planet Earth contains and fosters. Besides that, I disagree with many of his single points of interpretations which falsely construe the New Testament texts.
I. The Basic Attitude Toward the Future
Lindsay and thousands with him have a desire “to pinpoint the time” (p. 51). For them “it is of paramount importance to identify the time…” (p. 60). Their desire is to fit current and future events together “into a precise pattern of predicted events” (p. 80, my italics). This, I believe, is an unhealthy attitude in our churches. Why?
1. The more detailed one attempts to map out the future, the more inferences one must make which are not explicit in the Scripture. Therefore, the tendency of the imagination to fill the gaps increases and the probability of erroneous calculation grows.
2. The stress on the present course of events attracts a great deal of attention from fascinated Christians, for, as Lindsay says, “People have been obsessed [from the beginning of time] with the desire to know what is going to happen in the future” (p. 11). The description of a particular sequence of current events as a manifestation of God’s faithfulness to his predictions creates an emotional and intellectual connection between the Christian’s faith and the events around him. The result, too often, is that the ups and downs of his life of faith are caused by the fluctuations of world affairs and his ability or inability to fit these into a complex eschatological pattern.
Since speculation increases as one constructs his “precise pattern” of world events, therefore, the more one sets his hopes on this particular pattern taking place, the more fragile and liable to frustration this hope will be. (That people do in fact tend to set their hopes on their calculations of future events is evident from how “spiritually turned on” some people get when they can fit a new current event into their scheme. The Six-Day War was a “spiritual high” for many a calculator.)
God will surely remain faithful, but we may well miscalculate. Lindsay thinks prophecy is becoming clearer as the end approaches, but Paul still says we know only in part and I think this is also true of the future course of events.
3. When a person thinks he knows exactly what role a nation is going to play in God’s battle plan, which must all take place within the next 15 years (cf. p. 54), then he tends to think less responsibly as a citizen who is to pray for all rulers (1 Timothy 2:2) and seek peace with all men (Romans 12:18). He loses interest in such things as trade agreements, arms talks, currency stability, world food problems, etc.
In short, the effort to combat injustice and suffering in the world seems nonsense since we know what the fate of most nations will be anyway and that it all must happen very soon. This is, in part, the result of closing a chapter with the empty and misleading admonition: “We should be living like persons who don’t expect to be around much longer” (p. 145).
It is sadly ironic that the predictions of the prophets thus have the effect of nullifying the great commands of the prophets: to “do justice and love kindness and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8); “to hate evil, love good and establish justice in the gate” (Amos 5:15); “to hold fast to love and justice and wait continually for your God” (Hosea 12:6); “to cease to do evil, to learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:16-17).
I know Lindsay’s book has this effect because I met a hippie-type fellow and his wife passing through Munich on their way from Kansas City to Israel as missionaries who told me how they had been captivated by this kind of calculation of the future, but later were so convicted about their attitude toward the powers of the world that they had to confess their sin and ask for repentance.
4. This is the most important: among those who calculate about the time and sequence of the coming events and who try to give detailed descriptions of how it will be, there is, I think, a fundamentally wrong focus, a dislocation of our “blessed hope.” Throughout the New Testament the all-important focus of our hope is personal fellowship with God and our Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 21:3; 1 Peter 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:17; Philippians 1:23; John 14:3).
The hope of the Christian springs from an intense love of his God and Savior (1 Peter 1:9) so that he says with the psalmist, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:25-26).
But for the calculator of the end times this all-important personal focus of our hope gets blurred in a mass of secondary (often speculative) details. What is the effect of Lindsay’s forecasts on the hope of the believer? What becomes important when one gets caught up in the mapping out of the future? This: “The big question is, Will you be here during this seven-year countdown?” (p. 137). That is not “the big question” in the New Testament. The big question in 1 Peter , for example, is, Will we be willing to share the sufferings of Christ in order that we may rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed (4:13, cf. 14-18)?
The one who maps out the end times tends to focus his hope on things (the escaping of bad things and the receiving of good things), not on the all-important “with the Lord.” This dislocation of hope is not always intended; it is something that can happen almost unconsciously in a group or in a church which becomes infatuated with thinking about how it will all take place.
When our future perspective becomes chronological instead of theological, then faith is endangered. For faith is nurtured not by fitting tomorrow’s headlines into a probable scheme, but by being rooted in the faithfulness of God manifest in the death and resurrection of our Lord and by hoping in him alone (1 Peter 1:21), whatever may come. “In thy presence there is fullness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures forever more (Psalm 16:11).” That is our blessed hope.
II. Single Points of Interpretation
I must resist the temptation to go into every detailed exegetical problem I see in Lindsay’s approach. To yield to such a temptation would involve me in a similar preoccupation with calculation. There is too much to be learned from God’s Word for faith for me to let it become a source book for the construction of battle maps (pp. 155 and 159) and time tables. Therefore, I will only mention briefly four points of disagreement.
1. The anticipation of a pre-tribulation rapture (ch. 11) is, I believe, not only an erroneous inference from the New Testament (an inference because nowhere is the coming of our Lord explicitly divided into two events), but also could be the cause of a great apostasy. Lindsay says (p. 144) with mild sarcasm that he will have to say to some of his post-tribulationist friends on that day, “I told you so friend!”
I wonder if he has considered how many people’s confidence in the mercy of God will be shattered when times of great tribulation come upon them from which they thought God would deliver them? Then Christ may say to Hal Lindsay, “Why didn’t you tell them so, friend?” As Peter Beyerhaus wrote in the April 13, 1973 issue of Christianity Today, “The widespread teaching of a rapture that dodges this serious reality must be refuted as a dangerous distortion of New Testament eschatology” (p. 56). The reasons for this view are laid out clearly in Dr. Ladd’s The Blessed Hope (Eerdmans, 1966).
While it is not decisive for what one believes, it is good to know that “we can find no trace of pretribulationism in the early church; and no modern pretribulationist has successfully proved that this particular doctrine was held by any of the church fathers or students of the Word before the nineteenth century,” (Ladd, p. 31). It was not asserted until the beginning of the nineteenth century, when through an “utterance” it was thought to come from the Spirit in a Plymouth Brethren meeting (cf. S. P. Tregelles, The Hope of Christ’s Second Coming, 1864). It has found amazing acceptance in America and England largely because of the Scofield Reference Bible.
2. Lindsay’s treatment of Matthew 24 in general (cf. p. 53) is improper, for, instead of letting the text speak for itself out of its own situation, he imposes on it a structure which he has deciphered elsewhere. For example, he arbitrarily refers the fig tree to the nation of Israel (Matthew 24:32ff) and postulates that on May 14, 1948 the fig tree put forth its first leaves.
Then, of course, it follows from these two assumptions that “this generation” (Matthew 24:34) refers to the generation from 1948 on. This is not exegesis; it is speculation and it makes nonsense out of Jesus’ words for those who were listening to them there on the Mount of Olives.
There are other and better ways to understand Jesus’ words here, but Lindsay never mentions them and gives his ideas as gospel truth.
3. On page 173 he violates his own hermeneutical principle stated on page 50 by changing the clear “natural” meaning of “clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62; Revelation 1:7; cf. Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27) into “myriads of believers.” He omits the text reference here (as he does at other trouble spots) so it’s hard to check him out.
This is not a major issue; it just shows where a speculative orientation to the future leads and how even Lindsay will abandon his hermeneutical guidelines in order to add another detail to the vivid drama of the end times.
4. His last paragraph (p. 188) represents inexcusable ignorance by a man with a seminary education. “Maranatha” (1 Corinthians 16:21—again he doesn’t give a reference) does not mean “the Lord is coming soon.” It is a Greek transliteration of the Aramaic for “Lord, come!” It is probably the Aramaic behind the prayer in Revelation 22:20, “Come, Lord Jesus.”
It is a comparatively small thing when one calculates a “precise pattern of predicted events,” for to do this and even to believe it, one need not even be redeemed. “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name…?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me you evildoers!’” The one who enters the kingdom will be “the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21-23).
Download:
By John Piper March 1, 1974
I have no doubts about Hal Lindsay’s faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, nor do I doubt that God uses his lecturing to bring people to Christ. I talked with one Campus Crusade girl who told me how she had been changed by such a talk on prophecy. Nor does he take any doctrinal position which would cause me to break off fellowship with him as a brother in Christ. Nevertheless, I have strong misgivings about the basic attitude toward the future which his book The Late Great Planet Earth contains and fosters. Besides that, I disagree with many of his single points of interpretations which falsely construe the New Testament texts.
I. The Basic Attitude Toward the Future
Lindsay and thousands with him have a desire “to pinpoint the time” (p. 51). For them “it is of paramount importance to identify the time…” (p. 60). Their desire is to fit current and future events together “into a precise pattern of predicted events” (p. 80, my italics). This, I believe, is an unhealthy attitude in our churches. Why?
1. The more detailed one attempts to map out the future, the more inferences one must make which are not explicit in the Scripture. Therefore, the tendency of the imagination to fill the gaps increases and the probability of erroneous calculation grows.
2. The stress on the present course of events attracts a great deal of attention from fascinated Christians, for, as Lindsay says, “People have been obsessed [from the beginning of time] with the desire to know what is going to happen in the future” (p. 11). The description of a particular sequence of current events as a manifestation of God’s faithfulness to his predictions creates an emotional and intellectual connection between the Christian’s faith and the events around him. The result, too often, is that the ups and downs of his life of faith are caused by the fluctuations of world affairs and his ability or inability to fit these into a complex eschatological pattern.
Since speculation increases as one constructs his “precise pattern” of world events, therefore, the more one sets his hopes on this particular pattern taking place, the more fragile and liable to frustration this hope will be. (That people do in fact tend to set their hopes on their calculations of future events is evident from how “spiritually turned on” some people get when they can fit a new current event into their scheme. The Six-Day War was a “spiritual high” for many a calculator.)
God will surely remain faithful, but we may well miscalculate. Lindsay thinks prophecy is becoming clearer as the end approaches, but Paul still says we know only in part and I think this is also true of the future course of events.
3. When a person thinks he knows exactly what role a nation is going to play in God’s battle plan, which must all take place within the next 15 years (cf. p. 54), then he tends to think less responsibly as a citizen who is to pray for all rulers (1 Timothy 2:2) and seek peace with all men (Romans 12:18). He loses interest in such things as trade agreements, arms talks, currency stability, world food problems, etc.
In short, the effort to combat injustice and suffering in the world seems nonsense since we know what the fate of most nations will be anyway and that it all must happen very soon. This is, in part, the result of closing a chapter with the empty and misleading admonition: “We should be living like persons who don’t expect to be around much longer” (p. 145).
It is sadly ironic that the predictions of the prophets thus have the effect of nullifying the great commands of the prophets: to “do justice and love kindness and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8); “to hate evil, love good and establish justice in the gate” (Amos 5:15); “to hold fast to love and justice and wait continually for your God” (Hosea 12:6); “to cease to do evil, to learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:16-17).
I know Lindsay’s book has this effect because I met a hippie-type fellow and his wife passing through Munich on their way from Kansas City to Israel as missionaries who told me how they had been captivated by this kind of calculation of the future, but later were so convicted about their attitude toward the powers of the world that they had to confess their sin and ask for repentance.
4. This is the most important: among those who calculate about the time and sequence of the coming events and who try to give detailed descriptions of how it will be, there is, I think, a fundamentally wrong focus, a dislocation of our “blessed hope.” Throughout the New Testament the all-important focus of our hope is personal fellowship with God and our Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 21:3; 1 Peter 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:17; Philippians 1:23; John 14:3).
The hope of the Christian springs from an intense love of his God and Savior (1 Peter 1:9) so that he says with the psalmist, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:25-26).
But for the calculator of the end times this all-important personal focus of our hope gets blurred in a mass of secondary (often speculative) details. What is the effect of Lindsay’s forecasts on the hope of the believer? What becomes important when one gets caught up in the mapping out of the future? This: “The big question is, Will you be here during this seven-year countdown?” (p. 137). That is not “the big question” in the New Testament. The big question in 1 Peter , for example, is, Will we be willing to share the sufferings of Christ in order that we may rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed (4:13, cf. 14-18)?
The one who maps out the end times tends to focus his hope on things (the escaping of bad things and the receiving of good things), not on the all-important “with the Lord.” This dislocation of hope is not always intended; it is something that can happen almost unconsciously in a group or in a church which becomes infatuated with thinking about how it will all take place.
When our future perspective becomes chronological instead of theological, then faith is endangered. For faith is nurtured not by fitting tomorrow’s headlines into a probable scheme, but by being rooted in the faithfulness of God manifest in the death and resurrection of our Lord and by hoping in him alone (1 Peter 1:21), whatever may come. “In thy presence there is fullness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures forever more (Psalm 16:11).” That is our blessed hope.
II. Single Points of Interpretation
I must resist the temptation to go into every detailed exegetical problem I see in Lindsay’s approach. To yield to such a temptation would involve me in a similar preoccupation with calculation. There is too much to be learned from God’s Word for faith for me to let it become a source book for the construction of battle maps (pp. 155 and 159) and time tables. Therefore, I will only mention briefly four points of disagreement.
1. The anticipation of a pre-tribulation rapture (ch. 11) is, I believe, not only an erroneous inference from the New Testament (an inference because nowhere is the coming of our Lord explicitly divided into two events), but also could be the cause of a great apostasy. Lindsay says (p. 144) with mild sarcasm that he will have to say to some of his post-tribulationist friends on that day, “I told you so friend!”
I wonder if he has considered how many people’s confidence in the mercy of God will be shattered when times of great tribulation come upon them from which they thought God would deliver them? Then Christ may say to Hal Lindsay, “Why didn’t you tell them so, friend?” As Peter Beyerhaus wrote in the April 13, 1973 issue of Christianity Today, “The widespread teaching of a rapture that dodges this serious reality must be refuted as a dangerous distortion of New Testament eschatology” (p. 56). The reasons for this view are laid out clearly in Dr. Ladd’s The Blessed Hope (Eerdmans, 1966).
While it is not decisive for what one believes, it is good to know that “we can find no trace of pretribulationism in the early church; and no modern pretribulationist has successfully proved that this particular doctrine was held by any of the church fathers or students of the Word before the nineteenth century,” (Ladd, p. 31). It was not asserted until the beginning of the nineteenth century, when through an “utterance” it was thought to come from the Spirit in a Plymouth Brethren meeting (cf. S. P. Tregelles, The Hope of Christ’s Second Coming, 1864). It has found amazing acceptance in America and England largely because of the Scofield Reference Bible.
2. Lindsay’s treatment of Matthew 24 in general (cf. p. 53) is improper, for, instead of letting the text speak for itself out of its own situation, he imposes on it a structure which he has deciphered elsewhere. For example, he arbitrarily refers the fig tree to the nation of Israel (Matthew 24:32ff) and postulates that on May 14, 1948 the fig tree put forth its first leaves.
Then, of course, it follows from these two assumptions that “this generation” (Matthew 24:34) refers to the generation from 1948 on. This is not exegesis; it is speculation and it makes nonsense out of Jesus’ words for those who were listening to them there on the Mount of Olives.
There are other and better ways to understand Jesus’ words here, but Lindsay never mentions them and gives his ideas as gospel truth.
3. On page 173 he violates his own hermeneutical principle stated on page 50 by changing the clear “natural” meaning of “clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62; Revelation 1:7; cf. Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27) into “myriads of believers.” He omits the text reference here (as he does at other trouble spots) so it’s hard to check him out.
This is not a major issue; it just shows where a speculative orientation to the future leads and how even Lindsay will abandon his hermeneutical guidelines in order to add another detail to the vivid drama of the end times.
4. His last paragraph (p. 188) represents inexcusable ignorance by a man with a seminary education. “Maranatha” (1 Corinthians 16:21—again he doesn’t give a reference) does not mean “the Lord is coming soon.” It is a Greek transliteration of the Aramaic for “Lord, come!” It is probably the Aramaic behind the prayer in Revelation 22:20, “Come, Lord Jesus.”
It is a comparatively small thing when one calculates a “precise pattern of predicted events,” for to do this and even to believe it, one need not even be redeemed. “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name…?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me you evildoers!’” The one who enters the kingdom will be “the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21-23).
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Still Not Marriage
Today, as many of us know, a Supreme Court judge in California overturned Proposition 8. The state voted on Proposition 8 in November of 2008, determining that the state can only recognize marriage as between two heterosexuals. This was a bill that the citizens of California had already voted on previous to the 2008 election and was overturned by Supreme Court judges as it was today. On a political level, this is simply outrageous that one judge can overturn what the people voted as law. However, my aim in this post is not to address the politics and the misuses of power that we are witnessing in this event. Rather, what I would like to do is examine how we Christians are to view this apparently disturbing turn of events.
If this second instance of a judge ignoring the will of the people has taught the church anything, it has been the well-needed reminder that the body of Christ cannot put any hope in politics for the preservation of and/or change to godly values in the society God places us in. The church, by definition, is not a kingdom of this world, and therefore cannot expect the kingdoms of the world to do things that are compatible with the Kingdom of God. While God has ordained earthly governments to keep the peace and provide stability within society (Romans 13), governments are made up of human beings who are lost in sense and tend to reject the offer of peace and godliness that God makes available to humankind through Christ Jesus. When people are lost in sin, we should not be surprised when governments try to legitimize sinful lifestyles or break their own laws (as in the case of the judges overruling the will or the people). If the church is going to try to affect the world, our hope simply cannot be in our votes. While I believe we should vote for the most godly options when we have the chance, we must realize that unless the minds and hearts of the people living on this planet are changed toward Christ, godly values will not prevail. The judge overturning something we worked so hard to pass should remind us that we cannot create change through the powers of this world.
However, the question remains, how are we Christians supposed to handle this? I think the most important thing to remember is that marriage is a man and woman making a commitment before God to live together permanently and to pour love into each other, two becoming one flesh as God Himself is three in one. The image of God, according to the first Chapters of Genesis exists in our distinct male and femaleness. That image of God is complemented in marriage. Homosexual relations, like premarital relations, are simply off limits in God's eyes. The good news about this is that even if the state recognizes homosexual unions, it still is not marriage in God's eyes. The Godly model of a family is still preserved simply because homosexual "marriage" can never be godly anymore than premarital heterosexual sex can be godly.
Another thing we must remember is that a constitutional amendment is not going to stop the misuse of sex! I do not believe that because gay marriage is legal, will everyone suddenly begin engaging in homosexual behavior. What will change is something on the couples' tax forms (something that I'm not sure is really all that relevant). However, the homosexual lifestyle will end up being promoted as a valid alternative in public schools. What that means is that Christian students will have yet another worldly lifestyle being promoted as good. Our public schools are not places to learn sexual ethics anyways, and for the simple fact that they are being run by people without Christ. We would do well to remember that Christianity came into a world full of Roman sexual immorality. The issues regarding sexuality today are not new. Many of the Christians in Corinth, according to Paul, had lived lives of sexual immorality (I Cor. 6), before coming to Christ. We are not unprepared.
What I would like to do in ending this post is to reaffirm the fact that God loves homosexuals. The sin of homosexuality is no worse than any other sin. Jesus paid for all sin at all time and is fully capable of cleansing everyone who comes to him. As Christians we cannot pick on homosexuals or homosexuality. We need to love them as Christ loves us in our sin. We need to be the kind of Christians a friend who is struggling with homosexuality can come out to. We need to love and support those of us who struggle with it while maintaining our Christian standards. It is my personal belief that rather than going on the campaign trail and trying to change the law again (which will be overturned again), our Christian mission would be best carried out by doing the work of spreading the gospel. Find the nearest person who is homosexual and be their friend. Love them like Jesus. Hang out with them, help them paint their house or mow their grass. Win them to Christ because he loves them.
If this second instance of a judge ignoring the will of the people has taught the church anything, it has been the well-needed reminder that the body of Christ cannot put any hope in politics for the preservation of and/or change to godly values in the society God places us in. The church, by definition, is not a kingdom of this world, and therefore cannot expect the kingdoms of the world to do things that are compatible with the Kingdom of God. While God has ordained earthly governments to keep the peace and provide stability within society (Romans 13), governments are made up of human beings who are lost in sense and tend to reject the offer of peace and godliness that God makes available to humankind through Christ Jesus. When people are lost in sin, we should not be surprised when governments try to legitimize sinful lifestyles or break their own laws (as in the case of the judges overruling the will or the people). If the church is going to try to affect the world, our hope simply cannot be in our votes. While I believe we should vote for the most godly options when we have the chance, we must realize that unless the minds and hearts of the people living on this planet are changed toward Christ, godly values will not prevail. The judge overturning something we worked so hard to pass should remind us that we cannot create change through the powers of this world.
However, the question remains, how are we Christians supposed to handle this? I think the most important thing to remember is that marriage is a man and woman making a commitment before God to live together permanently and to pour love into each other, two becoming one flesh as God Himself is three in one. The image of God, according to the first Chapters of Genesis exists in our distinct male and femaleness. That image of God is complemented in marriage. Homosexual relations, like premarital relations, are simply off limits in God's eyes. The good news about this is that even if the state recognizes homosexual unions, it still is not marriage in God's eyes. The Godly model of a family is still preserved simply because homosexual "marriage" can never be godly anymore than premarital heterosexual sex can be godly.
Another thing we must remember is that a constitutional amendment is not going to stop the misuse of sex! I do not believe that because gay marriage is legal, will everyone suddenly begin engaging in homosexual behavior. What will change is something on the couples' tax forms (something that I'm not sure is really all that relevant). However, the homosexual lifestyle will end up being promoted as a valid alternative in public schools. What that means is that Christian students will have yet another worldly lifestyle being promoted as good. Our public schools are not places to learn sexual ethics anyways, and for the simple fact that they are being run by people without Christ. We would do well to remember that Christianity came into a world full of Roman sexual immorality. The issues regarding sexuality today are not new. Many of the Christians in Corinth, according to Paul, had lived lives of sexual immorality (I Cor. 6), before coming to Christ. We are not unprepared.
What I would like to do in ending this post is to reaffirm the fact that God loves homosexuals. The sin of homosexuality is no worse than any other sin. Jesus paid for all sin at all time and is fully capable of cleansing everyone who comes to him. As Christians we cannot pick on homosexuals or homosexuality. We need to love them as Christ loves us in our sin. We need to be the kind of Christians a friend who is struggling with homosexuality can come out to. We need to love and support those of us who struggle with it while maintaining our Christian standards. It is my personal belief that rather than going on the campaign trail and trying to change the law again (which will be overturned again), our Christian mission would be best carried out by doing the work of spreading the gospel. Find the nearest person who is homosexual and be their friend. Love them like Jesus. Hang out with them, help them paint their house or mow their grass. Win them to Christ because he loves them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)