A friend of mine [we'll call him 'A'] sent out an email yesterday sharing the frustrating experience of another friend [we'll call - yes, you figured it out - 'B'], whereby a tree 'B' was seeking to take down in his back yard ended up coming down on his house. This, coupled with family struggles, both immediate and extended, led to 'A's seeing this as the latest attack of many by Satan on 'B' and his family.
This brings up an interesting, and I think important series of questions: Are we assigning too much credit to Satan? When should we just chalk up what happens in life to people(s)' own sinfulness (or to natural phenomenon)? Is there a danger in crediting Satan with certain activities and events? Is there danger in just blaming something on someone's sinful nature? And perhaps the most controversial question in the series, If God is sovereign, what is God trying to accomplish when He allows such things (that we might blame on Satan) to happen?
What do you think? Please feel free to share... I'm going away on vacation for a few days, so I won't be checking in for a bit, but let's hear your opinions and thoughts - extra points to those who can back them up with good and accurate Scriptural support.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Matthew 7: Judging Others
As part of the kingdom teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew presents Jesus as reinterpreting the Law, and teaching on the ethics of the Kingdom. In Matthew 7, Jesus presents a word-picture regarding judgment. Noting the sinfulness that each of struggles with, Jesus warns us to make sure we are relying on our own sense of right and wrong, or dispensing legalisms out of our own self-righteousness.
There is a needed insight that only comes from the Holy Spirit, where we must look at our brothers and sisters through eyes that acknowledge our own brokenness, and we can see them with compassion because we ourselves struggle with our own fallen nature and the impact we have upon ourselves. Rather, Christians need to understand the differences between accountability and judgment, and make ourselves vulnerable to the first and resist the second.
With accountability, we accept the words of others, and should resist all temptations for self-defense, when we fall short in some area, personal or corporate. With accountability comes a wise grace that speaks to the issue, not confusing the person with the issue. This grace speaks out of godly love, not some sentimental notion; rather, love, as described in the apostle Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, "does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres" (13:6,7). If this is the spirit in which we both bring and receive accountability, then we are fulfilling the law of God.
Judgment, meanwhile, is antithetical to love. It is about puffing ourselves up at the expense of the Other. It is not rooted in love. I'll say no more, as it is all quite obvious. The one thing I must point out, however, is our own perpetual struggle with accountability, and seeking to deflect it by accusing the one who brings it as judging us. To feel judged is not the problem. When such feelings crop up, and they will and they do, we must stop and ask why this is so - what is in my heart that I feel so defensive? - and then we must pray - whether it be a quick utterance or a time of confession - and then we must ask our Lord for ears to hear and eyes to see. Perhaps our gut reaction is rooted in "right"; that is, the person bringing the "accountability" is in fact judging us. But the question remains, do we trust God enough to bring that to the forefront of the minds in others, if not conviction in the heart of the one who attacks us? But perhaps they are right, but their method is sloppy, wrongly motivated, or framed by some off-centered view of us - does this justify self-defensiveness on our part? Absolutely not. Again, prayer is needed here, and cannot do us harm. We must pray for knowledge, wisdom, and discernment, all from our Heavenly Father, so that the Spirit may lead us in sifting through all that is said so that we might find the nugget of truth that will help us learn and grow.
Judgment is motivated by anger, bitterness, evil, or jealousy (or anyother anti-virtues!); and it seeks only to leave such poisons in its wake, whether we realize such intentions or not. Accountability sees you as God sees you, and hopes the best for you. It is motivated by humility - not that you or I has the proverbial answer needed, but that it is for the best that one comes to speak. It is done humbly, and, too, in prayer. Are you sensing variations on a theme? Prayer undergirds our entire faith journey, and no less so in this area. Only through a humble, God-dependent spirit, where we realize our own brokenness can we offer assistance and help through accountability, in love. Anything less is tempted by judgment.
There is a needed insight that only comes from the Holy Spirit, where we must look at our brothers and sisters through eyes that acknowledge our own brokenness, and we can see them with compassion because we ourselves struggle with our own fallen nature and the impact we have upon ourselves. Rather, Christians need to understand the differences between accountability and judgment, and make ourselves vulnerable to the first and resist the second.
With accountability, we accept the words of others, and should resist all temptations for self-defense, when we fall short in some area, personal or corporate. With accountability comes a wise grace that speaks to the issue, not confusing the person with the issue. This grace speaks out of godly love, not some sentimental notion; rather, love, as described in the apostle Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, "does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres" (13:6,7). If this is the spirit in which we both bring and receive accountability, then we are fulfilling the law of God.
Judgment, meanwhile, is antithetical to love. It is about puffing ourselves up at the expense of the Other. It is not rooted in love. I'll say no more, as it is all quite obvious. The one thing I must point out, however, is our own perpetual struggle with accountability, and seeking to deflect it by accusing the one who brings it as judging us. To feel judged is not the problem. When such feelings crop up, and they will and they do, we must stop and ask why this is so - what is in my heart that I feel so defensive? - and then we must pray - whether it be a quick utterance or a time of confession - and then we must ask our Lord for ears to hear and eyes to see. Perhaps our gut reaction is rooted in "right"; that is, the person bringing the "accountability" is in fact judging us. But the question remains, do we trust God enough to bring that to the forefront of the minds in others, if not conviction in the heart of the one who attacks us? But perhaps they are right, but their method is sloppy, wrongly motivated, or framed by some off-centered view of us - does this justify self-defensiveness on our part? Absolutely not. Again, prayer is needed here, and cannot do us harm. We must pray for knowledge, wisdom, and discernment, all from our Heavenly Father, so that the Spirit may lead us in sifting through all that is said so that we might find the nugget of truth that will help us learn and grow.
Judgment is motivated by anger, bitterness, evil, or jealousy (or anyother anti-virtues!); and it seeks only to leave such poisons in its wake, whether we realize such intentions or not. Accountability sees you as God sees you, and hopes the best for you. It is motivated by humility - not that you or I has the proverbial answer needed, but that it is for the best that one comes to speak. It is done humbly, and, too, in prayer. Are you sensing variations on a theme? Prayer undergirds our entire faith journey, and no less so in this area. Only through a humble, God-dependent spirit, where we realize our own brokenness can we offer assistance and help through accountability, in love. Anything less is tempted by judgment.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
some quick thoughts concerning Philippians 1:3-11
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me.
8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
I'm guilty - first some confession (it's supposedly good for the soul) - because for some time now - at least three weeks - I've only picked up and read my Bible during Sunday morning worship. So today, after several well-meaning thoughts, I realized that the only way I was going to "pick up" a Bible and read it while it is still called 'today' would be if I went online to www.BibleGateway.com, and, well, read.
So I thought I would "open" to the apostle Paul's letter to the Christians in Roman colony of Philippi. One only need read the first several verses to get a true sense of just how much Paul loved these brothers and sisters in the faith. When I read these words, I feel encouraged. And something else... I want to pray like this. I want to pray like this for the Christians I know; for the Christians that I've met; for the Christians I've done ministry with; for the Christians that I read or hear about through news articles, emails, or conversations. I want to regularly pray with this kind of passion, and mean it.
I know what it's like to pray with this kind of passion and purpose. When one so prays in the very Spirit of God, there is no care for time, and no temptation to want to bring it all to an end. In the end, it's about praying in love, God's love, that is the very power that first brought us into such a relationship as we have, first with God, and second with one another. I thank God for these writings. I thank God for pouring His Holy Spirit out upon and into Paul, and for Paul's joyful obedience, even in the midst of persecution and pain. May we pray with such love and thanksgiving, even as we praise the God who made all of this possible.
Go ahead... pray Paul's words above... just insert one or more names of fellow Christians, brothers and/or sisters in the faith, whom you give thanks for everytime you think of them... go ahead and pray for them right now... I am.
7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me.
8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
I'm guilty - first some confession (it's supposedly good for the soul) - because for some time now - at least three weeks - I've only picked up and read my Bible during Sunday morning worship. So today, after several well-meaning thoughts, I realized that the only way I was going to "pick up" a Bible and read it while it is still called 'today' would be if I went online to www.BibleGateway.com, and, well, read.
So I thought I would "open" to the apostle Paul's letter to the Christians in Roman colony of Philippi. One only need read the first several verses to get a true sense of just how much Paul loved these brothers and sisters in the faith. When I read these words, I feel encouraged. And something else... I want to pray like this. I want to pray like this for the Christians I know; for the Christians that I've met; for the Christians I've done ministry with; for the Christians that I read or hear about through news articles, emails, or conversations. I want to regularly pray with this kind of passion, and mean it.
I know what it's like to pray with this kind of passion and purpose. When one so prays in the very Spirit of God, there is no care for time, and no temptation to want to bring it all to an end. In the end, it's about praying in love, God's love, that is the very power that first brought us into such a relationship as we have, first with God, and second with one another. I thank God for these writings. I thank God for pouring His Holy Spirit out upon and into Paul, and for Paul's joyful obedience, even in the midst of persecution and pain. May we pray with such love and thanksgiving, even as we praise the God who made all of this possible.
Go ahead... pray Paul's words above... just insert one or more names of fellow Christians, brothers and/or sisters in the faith, whom you give thanks for everytime you think of them... go ahead and pray for them right now... I am.
Friday, July 20, 2007
the passing of a Saint
While I've not formally read any of his publications, I've read a few journal articles by Brevard Childs. Last December I had read 'Invitation to Dogmatic Theology' by Paul McGlasson, which caught my attention, giving me great food for thoughts - McGlasson had been a student under Childs at Yale, and it was Childs who had penned the forward to the book. And with these thoughts in mind, I was greatly saddened to find out that a few weeks ago Brevard Childs died after some illness.
Rather than give you the run myself, you can go to D. R. Driver's site and understand the significance of Child's work: http://homepage.mac.com/dnadriver/research/bschilds.html. Needless to say, Childs did for Biblical Studies in the early 1970's what Karl Barth did from 1918 on. His biblical theology, while having declined in "popularity" in the last ten plus years, recaptures for those of us who understand the tension inherent when we pick up the Scriptures - words of mere men, while at the same time the radical revelation of God in Jesus Christ. Childs Canonical Approach to reading and interpreting Scripture had caused consternation among some, and appreciation among others. May the Lord raise up more faithful men and women to serve His glory!
Rather than give you the run myself, you can go to D. R. Driver's site and understand the significance of Child's work: http://homepage.mac.com/dnadriver/research/bschilds.html. Needless to say, Childs did for Biblical Studies in the early 1970's what Karl Barth did from 1918 on. His biblical theology, while having declined in "popularity" in the last ten plus years, recaptures for those of us who understand the tension inherent when we pick up the Scriptures - words of mere men, while at the same time the radical revelation of God in Jesus Christ. Childs Canonical Approach to reading and interpreting Scripture had caused consternation among some, and appreciation among others. May the Lord raise up more faithful men and women to serve His glory!
Monday, July 16, 2007
mid-July already???
Okay, they say the older you get the faster time flies by... this is true, which is to say, you've experienced this for yourself. Time is tick, tick, tickin' away, time's just tickin' away.
There's so much I want to say - er, write. This past week I started my studies in intro to Hebrew - the reading and writing right to left thing is pretty cool for this lefty! - got to see my oldest brother-in-law, Rex (yes, he's 51 jahren!), home on R&R from serving with the U.S. Army on a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) peace-keeping mission (doesn't that sound kind of paradoxical?) in Kosovo - spent time with my third oldest brother-in-law, Rob, his wife, Sunmi, and their nine children, ranging in age from 20(?) to four(?) - hung out with some friends from Narb Pres I've not seen in a few weeks as part of a birthday party for a woman in our small group. And what else??? There's got to be more... I've continued to read Barth's Church Dogmatics, I/1, as well as Chesterton's Orthodoxy. I'm reminded that I've got to dust off and finish David Well's God in the Wasteland, as well as restore my self-respect and complete Augustine's City of God. A couple of weeks ago, I gave in to the need to read something that was neither for a class, nor about God/Bible/Theology, etc., etc., ad nauseaum - can't remember what it was titled, but it was a Harry Turtledove sci-fi/alternate universe book about Earth being invaded by reptiles known as 'the Race', all during 1942 World War Two. It was interesting, but I have to say, it had the weakest ending - I was disappointed. But the book was entertaining enough. I was going to read Luther's Table Talk, but I decided if I was going to take Hebrew seriously, Luther had to go back to the township library, to be picked back up at a later date.
Regarding blogging, I've had a most interesting time dialoging with someone who read my posts - 'homosexuality is not "gay"'. What was encouraging most was not that I convinced this person that I was right - they did not agree with my position or arguments - rather, it was a good, respectful dialog. While I totally feel and believe that what I understand about this particular issue is both biblically/theologically correct, I definitely don't feel any real responsibility to convince this person of the merits of my argument. In fact, I believe in a sovereign God, who will reveal Himself to whom He chooses. Now, don't read a caveat into what I'm saying. I also believe that each and every believer needs to be ready to give a reason for the truth we hold to. We are not to be milk-toast believers, door-mats eagerly waiting to be stepped on and walked all over. We are to be ready to engage in, and argue in a respectful manner, the realities of the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Most times, either one side or the other (insert any issue or group) lets it get ugly; and when it's the Christians who are getting ugly, it ends up distorting or ruining the message of Jesus. While we are stewards of the divine mystery, we are not the arbiters of truth, justice, and the American way, so to speak. If we have any power, it is purely and only derived from God - it is God's power - and therefore, it is our responsibility to use or wield it as He directs, and never to purposely blow anyone out of the proverbial water. The dialog I shared with my anonymous conversation partner was an encouragement to me to keep on sharing my thoughts, and to make sure I know full-well what I believe and why.
And so, here it is ... mid-July already. And there's so much I want to blog about, and don't have the time... I'm trying to get all the "paper-work" ready for my two master's theses for Palmer, which I will begin research and reading for come the beginning of September. I'll also be T.A.ing again for Dr. Don Brash in his Systematic Theo 1 class - which he has shared will include some more lecturing time. Very happy to hear that! Anyhow... fam is coming from Reno in the last days [of August, that is]. My tour-guide-barbie sister, happy-go-lucky brother-in-law, moody teenage angst-filled nephew, and barbie-wanna-be neice. For a week. Sounds like the recipe!!! Did I mention last days?!?
There's so much I want to say - er, write. This past week I started my studies in intro to Hebrew - the reading and writing right to left thing is pretty cool for this lefty! - got to see my oldest brother-in-law, Rex (yes, he's 51 jahren!), home on R&R from serving with the U.S. Army on a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) peace-keeping mission (doesn't that sound kind of paradoxical?) in Kosovo - spent time with my third oldest brother-in-law, Rob, his wife, Sunmi, and their nine children, ranging in age from 20(?) to four(?) - hung out with some friends from Narb Pres I've not seen in a few weeks as part of a birthday party for a woman in our small group. And what else??? There's got to be more... I've continued to read Barth's Church Dogmatics, I/1, as well as Chesterton's Orthodoxy. I'm reminded that I've got to dust off and finish David Well's God in the Wasteland, as well as restore my self-respect and complete Augustine's City of God. A couple of weeks ago, I gave in to the need to read something that was neither for a class, nor about God/Bible/Theology, etc., etc., ad nauseaum - can't remember what it was titled, but it was a Harry Turtledove sci-fi/alternate universe book about Earth being invaded by reptiles known as 'the Race', all during 1942 World War Two. It was interesting, but I have to say, it had the weakest ending - I was disappointed. But the book was entertaining enough. I was going to read Luther's Table Talk, but I decided if I was going to take Hebrew seriously, Luther had to go back to the township library, to be picked back up at a later date.
Regarding blogging, I've had a most interesting time dialoging with someone who read my posts - 'homosexuality is not "gay"'. What was encouraging most was not that I convinced this person that I was right - they did not agree with my position or arguments - rather, it was a good, respectful dialog. While I totally feel and believe that what I understand about this particular issue is both biblically/theologically correct, I definitely don't feel any real responsibility to convince this person of the merits of my argument. In fact, I believe in a sovereign God, who will reveal Himself to whom He chooses. Now, don't read a caveat into what I'm saying. I also believe that each and every believer needs to be ready to give a reason for the truth we hold to. We are not to be milk-toast believers, door-mats eagerly waiting to be stepped on and walked all over. We are to be ready to engage in, and argue in a respectful manner, the realities of the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Most times, either one side or the other (insert any issue or group) lets it get ugly; and when it's the Christians who are getting ugly, it ends up distorting or ruining the message of Jesus. While we are stewards of the divine mystery, we are not the arbiters of truth, justice, and the American way, so to speak. If we have any power, it is purely and only derived from God - it is God's power - and therefore, it is our responsibility to use or wield it as He directs, and never to purposely blow anyone out of the proverbial water. The dialog I shared with my anonymous conversation partner was an encouragement to me to keep on sharing my thoughts, and to make sure I know full-well what I believe and why.
And so, here it is ... mid-July already. And there's so much I want to blog about, and don't have the time... I'm trying to get all the "paper-work" ready for my two master's theses for Palmer, which I will begin research and reading for come the beginning of September. I'll also be T.A.ing again for Dr. Don Brash in his Systematic Theo 1 class - which he has shared will include some more lecturing time. Very happy to hear that! Anyhow... fam is coming from Reno in the last days [of August, that is]. My tour-guide-barbie sister, happy-go-lucky brother-in-law, moody teenage angst-filled nephew, and barbie-wanna-be neice. For a week. Sounds like the recipe!!! Did I mention last days?!?
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