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Monday, August 9, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Will it be Grace or Sin?
Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase? 2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life. (Net Bible)
Are we to remain in sin that grace may increase? I will bet your answer is of course not. No way does grace give license to sin. We have a clear obligation to stop sinning don’t we? We are Christians after all. We are about the job of putting to death the deeds of the flesh are we not? I take it you then agree with Paul’s, “Absolutely not!” No way should we continue to sin so that grace might increase period. But what does Paul mean when he continues with “How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Let me ask you. How can you live in sin if you have died to sin? You see Paul believes that to ask the question “are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase?” is absolutely absurd in face of what God has accomplished and provided to us.
For a moment let’s assume that I have an obligation to drive within the speed limit. The law sets the limit and sets out penalties for violating those limits. I am caught speeding and I get a ticket. I owe a fine and it is a big one. Before I pay the fine I die. Lucky me! What power does the law have over me? Now that I am dead it has no power at all. The courts don’t collect fines from dead men. How silly is that? If I was sentenced to death for a murder and I die before they put me in the electric chair, will they then try to electrocute me. No, you say. Absurd, you say. Paul agrees.
What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase? Paul is saying what an absurd question. You are dead. The law can no longer reach you and where there is no law, there is no sin. It is as though by some gracious act of Congress all the laws are set aside because you are in some way dead while still walking this earth. No Congress would be that gracious, but we can dream a little can’t we?
We have died those of us who have accepted God’s gracious gift of His Son. When we were baptized into Christ we were baptized into His death. We died and were reborn, not of the law, but of the Spirit into a new life, a life free from sin and free from the law that judges that sin. It was God’s grace that put us in this state of sinlessness and it is His grace that maintains us in that state where there is no longer any condemnation by God toward us. Sin cannot increase because it is grace that has put an end to the power of sin in our lives. “1John 3:9 Everyone who has been fathered by God does not practice sin, because God’s seed resides in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God.” (Net Bible)
Much of the time we Christians are not living the life Christ has provided for us. We walk in constant fear about every deed done, or not done. We judge our acts, are they worthy or not. We constantly plead with God to accept our behavior, or to forgive it. We hedge our life with rules and expectations, with activities and with obligations. We do our disciplines with a futile hope that we are pleasing to God and what does it get us? Certainly not more grace. Much of the time we feel that God has abandoned us. Our lives feel empty and futile. Where is the joy? Our joy has gotten swallowed by the curse of the law that we insist on living under. How can we who died to sin still live in it? Paul thinks such a state is absurd in the face of God’s grace through the Cross.
We read these verses and we get it backwards. Grace trumps sin every time. It is a done deal. When we read those verses as a challenge to stop sinning we deny God’s grace that has already put an end to the principle of sin in us. We are dead folks. We can’t get any deader as far as God is concerned. We died when Christ died and we died when we allowed Him to enter into our very being joining His life to ours. “It is no longer I who lives but Christ lives in me…” Do you get that? My actions, my thoughts, my life is directed by Christ Himself, not me. I may feel like I am in charge, but I am not. My flesh falls back on its old habits and I know that, and I also know that those habits have no lasting effect over my life. I am directed by God’s spirit and no longer by Satan’s. Grace has truly set me free from the life I lived before of sin and death.
Paul thinks us absurd when we confuse our life in Christ with the old life under the influence of Satan. He thinks our confusion about sin and grace is silly in the face of the real death we have experienced.
We are truly free of the law, we died. Let us live by God’s Spirit. Do the things you do and enjoy them. Live life knowing, that what you do and who you are, cannot be separated from Jesus Himself expressing Himself through you. You are dead to the law and the sin it empowers. You are alive in Christ and His Spirit that fulfills the law in you. Know the joy that only grace can bring.
Are we to remain in sin that grace may increase? I will bet your answer is of course not. No way does grace give license to sin. We have a clear obligation to stop sinning don’t we? We are Christians after all. We are about the job of putting to death the deeds of the flesh are we not? I take it you then agree with Paul’s, “Absolutely not!” No way should we continue to sin so that grace might increase period. But what does Paul mean when he continues with “How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Let me ask you. How can you live in sin if you have died to sin? You see Paul believes that to ask the question “are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase?” is absolutely absurd in face of what God has accomplished and provided to us.
For a moment let’s assume that I have an obligation to drive within the speed limit. The law sets the limit and sets out penalties for violating those limits. I am caught speeding and I get a ticket. I owe a fine and it is a big one. Before I pay the fine I die. Lucky me! What power does the law have over me? Now that I am dead it has no power at all. The courts don’t collect fines from dead men. How silly is that? If I was sentenced to death for a murder and I die before they put me in the electric chair, will they then try to electrocute me. No, you say. Absurd, you say. Paul agrees.
What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase? Paul is saying what an absurd question. You are dead. The law can no longer reach you and where there is no law, there is no sin. It is as though by some gracious act of Congress all the laws are set aside because you are in some way dead while still walking this earth. No Congress would be that gracious, but we can dream a little can’t we?
We have died those of us who have accepted God’s gracious gift of His Son. When we were baptized into Christ we were baptized into His death. We died and were reborn, not of the law, but of the Spirit into a new life, a life free from sin and free from the law that judges that sin. It was God’s grace that put us in this state of sinlessness and it is His grace that maintains us in that state where there is no longer any condemnation by God toward us. Sin cannot increase because it is grace that has put an end to the power of sin in our lives. “1John 3:9 Everyone who has been fathered by God does not practice sin, because God’s seed resides in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God.” (Net Bible)
Much of the time we Christians are not living the life Christ has provided for us. We walk in constant fear about every deed done, or not done. We judge our acts, are they worthy or not. We constantly plead with God to accept our behavior, or to forgive it. We hedge our life with rules and expectations, with activities and with obligations. We do our disciplines with a futile hope that we are pleasing to God and what does it get us? Certainly not more grace. Much of the time we feel that God has abandoned us. Our lives feel empty and futile. Where is the joy? Our joy has gotten swallowed by the curse of the law that we insist on living under. How can we who died to sin still live in it? Paul thinks such a state is absurd in the face of God’s grace through the Cross.
We read these verses and we get it backwards. Grace trumps sin every time. It is a done deal. When we read those verses as a challenge to stop sinning we deny God’s grace that has already put an end to the principle of sin in us. We are dead folks. We can’t get any deader as far as God is concerned. We died when Christ died and we died when we allowed Him to enter into our very being joining His life to ours. “It is no longer I who lives but Christ lives in me…” Do you get that? My actions, my thoughts, my life is directed by Christ Himself, not me. I may feel like I am in charge, but I am not. My flesh falls back on its old habits and I know that, and I also know that those habits have no lasting effect over my life. I am directed by God’s spirit and no longer by Satan’s. Grace has truly set me free from the life I lived before of sin and death.
Paul thinks us absurd when we confuse our life in Christ with the old life under the influence of Satan. He thinks our confusion about sin and grace is silly in the face of the real death we have experienced.
We are truly free of the law, we died. Let us live by God’s Spirit. Do the things you do and enjoy them. Live life knowing, that what you do and who you are, cannot be separated from Jesus Himself expressing Himself through you. You are dead to the law and the sin it empowers. You are alive in Christ and His Spirit that fulfills the law in you. Know the joy that only grace can bring.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
I am an American.
I am an American. What a simple statement. I was born in the USA. I happened to be born white. I grew up in a Christian home and accepted Jesus into my life around forty years ago. I grew up in Louisville, KY at a time when segregation was the norm. In college I joined with the NAACP demonstrations knowing intuitively that fellow human beings should not be treated the way I personally witnessed every day. I grew up a Democrat. Members of my extended family served in Congress, or ran for Governor of the State. I grew up having a sense that the environment was something to be honored and protected. Our family would talk "politics" regularly around the dinner table. Dad had an opportunity to buy a business. Mother would keep the books and they struggled to keep the business going despite literally flood and fire. They kept my brother and I well fed, schooled, clothed and loved. Yes I was born in the USA. I am an American. I was drafted into the Army after college. I met my wife while I served my two years as a "soldier". I had a good career as a chemist working for the Defense department for 35 years. We were blessed to have our own two boys. Yes I am an American. I grew up in a time where we learned our history and admired our founding fathers. Being an American meant something to me. It meant hope and opportunity and hard work and positive change in people's lives. It meant defending our freedom from the communist threat that was ever present and very real. My parents knew war. I was born in 1940 an ominous time to be an American, a time when the American way of life was defended with the blood of its men and women. I was born in the USA, what a blessing.
Times have changed and not for the better. In my seventy years I have seen the devastating effects of simple decisions our country has made. As a society we have rejected the sanctity of life, we have moved faith from our daily discourse and we have rejected the founding principles that have made this country unique in this world. Environmentalism has become a cult that rejects truth for a narrative that is both arrogant and simply wrong. We live in a post modern world and we see that expressed most vividly by the Democratic Party. This is not the America I knew growing up. Our values are changing and not for the better. Over the years I have moved away from my Democratic roots. That move has been correlated to the Democratic Party's move away from our Christian heritage and our principles established by our founding fathers. I am a conservative pure and simple. Someone has said that you don't know what freedom is until you have lost it. We are losing our freedom.
I woke up one day and it was gone. I no longer made decisions for myself and my family; I had a new consultant looking out for me. That consultant was my Government. No longer could I speak publicly about my faith in Jesus. My Government told me that I was being intolerant with such speech. I spoke out for the unborn and lamented the loss of life by abortion. I tried to have a dialogue about the sanctity of life, but my Government said that I was being oppressive to women's rights and that I was intolerant. I spoke out when I saw that the global warming science was not science, but propaganda. I spoke out against its intent to control the world's economy. My Government called me a denier and accused me of being closed minded, not a scientist at all. My Government insisted that consensus would rule, not common sense. I spoke out against "Health Care Reform" and my Government called it "hate speech" and I was accused of being a raciest and I was accused of fomenting acts of violence. My Government made those accusations because I dared oppose them with common sense objections and rational argument. I joined the Tea Party to express my frustration with This Government and I was called a "Tea Bagger" a sexual slur by my Government and accused of fomenting racial hatred and violence. My Government will now decide the degree of medical care I get. I will be taxed to the hilt so that I no longer control my income; the Government does that for me. My Dad's business will fail because of the tax burdens placed on it. I will have to rely on Government for my personal well being. That is not the Government our Founders envisioned. My way of life will be forever changed by an oppressive out of control Government and it will all be done for my best interest. Thank you very much, but I reject that form of Governmental intrusiveness to the core. I grew up in America and I know better.
The truth is mightier than the sword and I know that because I grew up free in America. My weapon is prayer something my present Government will never understand at least as it stands today. I grew up in an America practicing my faith and I will practice that faith to my last dying breath. The Government will never take that away from me. I reach out to a God who is over all and who is all powerful to protect and to preserve each and every one of us who call upon His name. This new America, this new hope and change cannot stand. It is doomed to failure. It will destroy lives, it is doing that even now, and it will destroy what I know as America. That is its intent. I will do what I can to slow that process, perhaps stop that process. I will speak out no matter what my Government says I am a, bigot, homophobe, tea bagger, raciest, denier, Bible clinger, war monger and more. What profound lies.
I will call upon the Lord who is my strength and my shield. Ours will not be violent opposition to tyranny it will be a spiritual one. I know the end of the story. It isn't pretty, but God does win in the end. In Christ we have already won. We live in a new world. It will be a stormy one. We are headed toward economic and social unrest that we have never experienced before. Inflation is coming. Unemployment will increase. The dollar may collapse. People will struggle to keep food on the table and to keep their families safe. Is that too bleak a picture? It doesn't have to happen, but we need to stand up against what is happening to our country before it degenerates to something like anarchy. The window of opportunity is closing fast. If you value your freedom, if you hold fast to what it is to be an American then pray. The America I was born in may not be the America I die in. For now prayer is our mightiest weapon. Pray!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The Doctor will see you now. (Faith)
Pretend that I am a Doctor. I am not but humor me for a moment. You will soon find that I am not the kind of doctor you would ever want to treat you. You come to my office with low potassium. Your health, your ability to live depends on your getting that potassium. Without potassium your heart will soon stop and you will die.
I, as your doctor, suggest that you take a potassium pill once a day. This simple act will assure you a long and healthy life. You refuse. You have an aversion to pills and you just will not take them no matter what good they might produce. I then suggest that you have a banana once a day. That would be a good substitute for not taking the pill. You inform me that you hate bananas and no matter what good they will do you will not eat them.
As your doctor I feel an obligation to assuring your health. I know what is best for you and I am determined to see you get proper treatment. I ask if you are averse to taking a shot. You reply that you have no problem taking a shot at all. I give you the shot. It produces in you a great craving for bananas. It is quite a permanent craving that you will live with the rest of your life. You cannot go a day without a banana. I present you a nice ripe banana and you eat it eagerly.
For eating the banana I commend you. I heap lavish praise on you for doing what is good for you and for being obedient to my instructions about eating bananas satifying your need for potassium. My commendation is profuse and very lavish.
You look at me as if I was out of my mind. You are being praised for something you have no power over. You can not help yourself. The doctor may as well being praising himself. He is the one that made you like the banana.
What is wrong with this picture? Why does the doctor lavish praise on his patient for something that the patient cannot resist doing because I as the doctor made him do it in the first place. I can see why the patien is upset at this point. He is now doing things he never wanted to do in the first place and he is receiving praise for that behavior even though he cannot resist doing what he is doing. Yes he will live longer and better, but he is being made to do so.
Heb 11:1-13 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (2) For by it the people of old received their commendation. (3) By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (4) By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. (5) By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. (6) And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (7) By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. (8) By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. (9) By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. (10) For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. (11) By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. (12) Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. (13) These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
Under Calvin’s theology man cannot please God in anyway. Man is totally unable to approach God. Faith is only expressed by a person that has been given that capacity by God through regeneration, through rebirth. God is like the doctor above who produces a desire in his patient that did not exist before he treated him.
The Hebrews passage above speaks about people being commended for their faith. These were people of the Old Testament. They lived before Christ had come and before the cross had been endured. They expressed faith and acted in obedience before the Holy Spirit had come to fill those who would follow Jesus. “(13) These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.”
Why did God commend them for something they could not do? Why did God commend them for actions that He was producing in them? Why did God commend them for faith that only God could produce according to Calvin? Doesn’t that seem as silly as the commendation the doctor gave his patient above? It is silly because faith is not produced by God.
Faith is a capacity that is in man. God is commending them for their using their faith, something they possess and can exercise on their own without having been born again. They could not be born again if verse 13 is true. They died in faith, not having received the things promised. The things promised that the Hebrew writer is talking about is clear, it is Christ the better way. It is the New Testament Gospel of salvation in Christ.
Faith is not something that is created by being reborn as Calvin teaches, it is a capacity that God has preserved in man so that man can respond to the Gospel. Faith does not come from rebirth it come from hearing the good news of salvation in Christ.
Rom 10:4-17 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (5) For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. (6) But the righteousness based on faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) (7) or "'Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). (8) But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); (9) because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (11) For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." (12) For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. (13) For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (14) How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (15) And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" (16) But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" (17) So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Faith comes by hearing, it does not come by being regenerated as Calvin claims.
I, as your doctor, suggest that you take a potassium pill once a day. This simple act will assure you a long and healthy life. You refuse. You have an aversion to pills and you just will not take them no matter what good they might produce. I then suggest that you have a banana once a day. That would be a good substitute for not taking the pill. You inform me that you hate bananas and no matter what good they will do you will not eat them.
As your doctor I feel an obligation to assuring your health. I know what is best for you and I am determined to see you get proper treatment. I ask if you are averse to taking a shot. You reply that you have no problem taking a shot at all. I give you the shot. It produces in you a great craving for bananas. It is quite a permanent craving that you will live with the rest of your life. You cannot go a day without a banana. I present you a nice ripe banana and you eat it eagerly.
For eating the banana I commend you. I heap lavish praise on you for doing what is good for you and for being obedient to my instructions about eating bananas satifying your need for potassium. My commendation is profuse and very lavish.
You look at me as if I was out of my mind. You are being praised for something you have no power over. You can not help yourself. The doctor may as well being praising himself. He is the one that made you like the banana.
What is wrong with this picture? Why does the doctor lavish praise on his patient for something that the patient cannot resist doing because I as the doctor made him do it in the first place. I can see why the patien is upset at this point. He is now doing things he never wanted to do in the first place and he is receiving praise for that behavior even though he cannot resist doing what he is doing. Yes he will live longer and better, but he is being made to do so.
Heb 11:1-13 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (2) For by it the people of old received their commendation. (3) By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (4) By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. (5) By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. (6) And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (7) By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. (8) By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. (9) By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. (10) For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. (11) By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. (12) Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. (13) These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
Under Calvin’s theology man cannot please God in anyway. Man is totally unable to approach God. Faith is only expressed by a person that has been given that capacity by God through regeneration, through rebirth. God is like the doctor above who produces a desire in his patient that did not exist before he treated him.
The Hebrews passage above speaks about people being commended for their faith. These were people of the Old Testament. They lived before Christ had come and before the cross had been endured. They expressed faith and acted in obedience before the Holy Spirit had come to fill those who would follow Jesus. “(13) These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.”
Why did God commend them for something they could not do? Why did God commend them for actions that He was producing in them? Why did God commend them for faith that only God could produce according to Calvin? Doesn’t that seem as silly as the commendation the doctor gave his patient above? It is silly because faith is not produced by God.
Faith is a capacity that is in man. God is commending them for their using their faith, something they possess and can exercise on their own without having been born again. They could not be born again if verse 13 is true. They died in faith, not having received the things promised. The things promised that the Hebrew writer is talking about is clear, it is Christ the better way. It is the New Testament Gospel of salvation in Christ.
Faith is not something that is created by being reborn as Calvin teaches, it is a capacity that God has preserved in man so that man can respond to the Gospel. Faith does not come from rebirth it come from hearing the good news of salvation in Christ.
Rom 10:4-17 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (5) For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. (6) But the righteousness based on faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) (7) or "'Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). (8) But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); (9) because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (11) For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." (12) For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. (13) For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (14) How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (15) And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" (16) But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" (17) So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Faith comes by hearing, it does not come by being regenerated as Calvin claims.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Total Inabilty
Ron Hossack has a clear article that presents his rejection of the TULIP of Calvin’s theology. The article is found here http://www.biblefragrances.com/studies/tulipHossack.html
I grew up a Presbyterian learning the Westminster confession at a young age. Many of the principles contained in the confession bothered me then and they bother me now. Calvin took Augustine theology as the basis for his own theology. He wrapped this theology in his contemporary understanding of Sovereignty. Arminious his student later defended Calvin’s theology but ran into a problem when confronted by those opposed to his teaching. They presented to him some strong Biblical arguments that seemed to undermined what Calvin had taught. Arminious then did a study and came up with a Biblical argument against Calvin. He formulated his argument in five statements. After his death a council was called to resolve the stark differences between Calvin and Arminious. Both men had died and neither were alive to argue for themselves. The council was politically stacked in Calvin’s favor. The Arminian support actually left the council and never defended their position because of the unfair rules imposed against them. The Council produced counter points to the Arminian position known today by the acronym TULIP. All but the last point of the TULIP present a Biblical concept prefaced by an adjective.
T - Total Inability;
U - Unconditional Election;
L - Limited Atonement;
I - Irresistible (efficacious) Grace; and
P - Perseverance of the Saints."
It is fascinating to me that the nouns in these phrases are Biblical while the adjectives are not. When you discover that truth the system begins to unravel. Taking liberally from the article sighted above I will demonstrate what I mean.
The Total Inability or as it is sometimes called the Total Depravity of man has as its basis the ideal that man cannot save himself. There is nothing in man that can appeal to God for his salvation. Man cannot produce any work, any devotion, any thought or activity that will earn his good standing before God. Even God’s law is not a means for salvation because man is not capable of keeping that law. This is an absolute Biblical truth. So man has an inability associated with his fallen, sinful state that can be traced back to the Garden of Eden and Adam coming under the influence of a spirit other then God’s. That is a spirit belonging to Satin that presented Adam with the lie that he could be like God, that he could discern what was good and what was evil. Only God can change the fallen state of man. That, as we know, is the Gospel, the good news found in the saving grace of God in Christ. It is only in God’s work of the Cross that man can be set free from his sin and the death that it produces. It is only in Christ’s death and resurrection that we can have new life, be born from above, in a way that brings us into eternal relationship with God. Again this is Biblical truth.
What is not true is that man is totally depraved or that man is totally incapable of responding to God. The T in tulip infers that man has no desire for God. Man will not seek God on his own in anyway unless God changes man first. We move from man’s inability to produce his salvation to a state in which he will not even seek his salvation, not from his own work, but even from God’s gracious gift. We move from man’s unwillingness to accept God’s offer of salvation to man’s total inability to even consider such an offer. This is so blatantly unscriptural that it boggles the mind.
Over and over Scripture describes mans unwillingness to receive God’s free gift. Never does it describe mans inability to receive that gift. The article sighted above does a good job of presenting this Biblical truth. I will give one example. (John 5:40), "You will not come to me, that you might have life." It is about ones willingness not about ones inability. It is about the fact that you will not come. It is not about the concept that you cannot come.
The Gospel is a free offering to man. The Gospel is a dialogue from the Word (logos) who became flesh, who dwelled among us and who presented compelling proof of who He was and what he was to bring to man. The Bible always presents man as persuadable and God as the presenter of truth, the pursuer of man.
The Calvin understanding of Total Inability distorts Scripture, including God’s call, the meaning of being reborn, mans response-ability to God, the fundamental meaning of faith and its source and much more. The more I know about this theology the more disturbed I become.
I grew up a Presbyterian learning the Westminster confession at a young age. Many of the principles contained in the confession bothered me then and they bother me now. Calvin took Augustine theology as the basis for his own theology. He wrapped this theology in his contemporary understanding of Sovereignty. Arminious his student later defended Calvin’s theology but ran into a problem when confronted by those opposed to his teaching. They presented to him some strong Biblical arguments that seemed to undermined what Calvin had taught. Arminious then did a study and came up with a Biblical argument against Calvin. He formulated his argument in five statements. After his death a council was called to resolve the stark differences between Calvin and Arminious. Both men had died and neither were alive to argue for themselves. The council was politically stacked in Calvin’s favor. The Arminian support actually left the council and never defended their position because of the unfair rules imposed against them. The Council produced counter points to the Arminian position known today by the acronym TULIP. All but the last point of the TULIP present a Biblical concept prefaced by an adjective.
T - Total Inability;
U - Unconditional Election;
L - Limited Atonement;
I - Irresistible (efficacious) Grace; and
P - Perseverance of the Saints."
It is fascinating to me that the nouns in these phrases are Biblical while the adjectives are not. When you discover that truth the system begins to unravel. Taking liberally from the article sighted above I will demonstrate what I mean.
The Total Inability or as it is sometimes called the Total Depravity of man has as its basis the ideal that man cannot save himself. There is nothing in man that can appeal to God for his salvation. Man cannot produce any work, any devotion, any thought or activity that will earn his good standing before God. Even God’s law is not a means for salvation because man is not capable of keeping that law. This is an absolute Biblical truth. So man has an inability associated with his fallen, sinful state that can be traced back to the Garden of Eden and Adam coming under the influence of a spirit other then God’s. That is a spirit belonging to Satin that presented Adam with the lie that he could be like God, that he could discern what was good and what was evil. Only God can change the fallen state of man. That, as we know, is the Gospel, the good news found in the saving grace of God in Christ. It is only in God’s work of the Cross that man can be set free from his sin and the death that it produces. It is only in Christ’s death and resurrection that we can have new life, be born from above, in a way that brings us into eternal relationship with God. Again this is Biblical truth.
What is not true is that man is totally depraved or that man is totally incapable of responding to God. The T in tulip infers that man has no desire for God. Man will not seek God on his own in anyway unless God changes man first. We move from man’s inability to produce his salvation to a state in which he will not even seek his salvation, not from his own work, but even from God’s gracious gift. We move from man’s unwillingness to accept God’s offer of salvation to man’s total inability to even consider such an offer. This is so blatantly unscriptural that it boggles the mind.
Over and over Scripture describes mans unwillingness to receive God’s free gift. Never does it describe mans inability to receive that gift. The article sighted above does a good job of presenting this Biblical truth. I will give one example. (John 5:40), "You will not come to me, that you might have life." It is about ones willingness not about ones inability. It is about the fact that you will not come. It is not about the concept that you cannot come.
The Gospel is a free offering to man. The Gospel is a dialogue from the Word (logos) who became flesh, who dwelled among us and who presented compelling proof of who He was and what he was to bring to man. The Bible always presents man as persuadable and God as the presenter of truth, the pursuer of man.
The Calvin understanding of Total Inability distorts Scripture, including God’s call, the meaning of being reborn, mans response-ability to God, the fundamental meaning of faith and its source and much more. The more I know about this theology the more disturbed I become.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
What a world!
This will be short. I just wanted to note the decision of our President to forgo any White House activites for the National Day of Prayer. He has opted to "pray in private". I simply note this decision an one more step towards removing spiritual things from our public life. How far from our Judeo/Christian roots are we willing to go. At what point will our Government begin to actively oppose religeous expression. It's sad.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
These Times
This past week has been something hasn’t it? If you are retired like I am and dependent on your investments for your standard of living you face a pretty certain adjustment in the days ahead. We have experienced the worse decline in the stock market in history and our portfolios reflect it. Unfortunately that adjustment may not be over and certainly the recovery time is quite unknown. It is easy to pass this off as something that will soon pass, but the severity of the event and the reaction by governments all over the world say that this is may last for a time.
Scripture informs us that there will be a time of sorrows. Some say we are in those times. Some Christian prophets have pointed towards this financial melt down in very specific terms for years.
These times test our Christian resolve and demonstrate as nothing else could where our true loyalties lie. Have you found yourself focused on your losses and their devastating effect or have you had a sense of the Lord and His presence in you during this time of testing? I have to admit that I have experienced both. I have lamented the losses we have accrued (only paper losses at this point), but I have also been conscious of Christ in me and that my small “fortune” is not where my security lies. I believe Jesus is in both our desire to preserve our storehouse and our knowing that He is the source of all things in our lives. Mourning our losses is a real emotion that I am certain the most dedicated among us is feeling. Being a Christian in hard times does not demand that we deny our humanity.
The fact is that the harder the times the closer we draw to the Living God who indwells us. The negative feelings and events help us to see all the more the power of God in our lives. His Spirit brings to us comfort and wisdom and even joy in times that seem absolutely hopeless and impossible.
You will hear all kinds of “Christian” advice over the next weeks and perhaps months. Job got a lot of advice also. Very little of it helpful. Most of the advice we get can be dismissed with a smile and a nod as regurgitated religious speak.
Pray for wisdom in the coming days. True Christianity is far simpler than what you will be hearing. God does not desire sacrifices or any of our good works, he desires vessels in which to dwell and through which He can act. Remember you are always and forever near God because He is in you.
As we move forward accept your emotions your fear and anger and loss. Above all do not condemn yourself for these troubles. And while you work through your feelings look for Christ to manifest himself in ways that will surprise and delight you.
Perhaps there is a new move of the Spirit coming. It will be manifested in ways we have never seen before. If indeed these are times of sorrows, then we are ever closer to the coming of our Lord.
May the Lord bless you mightily in these times that test us.
Scripture informs us that there will be a time of sorrows. Some say we are in those times. Some Christian prophets have pointed towards this financial melt down in very specific terms for years.
These times test our Christian resolve and demonstrate as nothing else could where our true loyalties lie. Have you found yourself focused on your losses and their devastating effect or have you had a sense of the Lord and His presence in you during this time of testing? I have to admit that I have experienced both. I have lamented the losses we have accrued (only paper losses at this point), but I have also been conscious of Christ in me and that my small “fortune” is not where my security lies. I believe Jesus is in both our desire to preserve our storehouse and our knowing that He is the source of all things in our lives. Mourning our losses is a real emotion that I am certain the most dedicated among us is feeling. Being a Christian in hard times does not demand that we deny our humanity.
The fact is that the harder the times the closer we draw to the Living God who indwells us. The negative feelings and events help us to see all the more the power of God in our lives. His Spirit brings to us comfort and wisdom and even joy in times that seem absolutely hopeless and impossible.
You will hear all kinds of “Christian” advice over the next weeks and perhaps months. Job got a lot of advice also. Very little of it helpful. Most of the advice we get can be dismissed with a smile and a nod as regurgitated religious speak.
Pray for wisdom in the coming days. True Christianity is far simpler than what you will be hearing. God does not desire sacrifices or any of our good works, he desires vessels in which to dwell and through which He can act. Remember you are always and forever near God because He is in you.
As we move forward accept your emotions your fear and anger and loss. Above all do not condemn yourself for these troubles. And while you work through your feelings look for Christ to manifest himself in ways that will surprise and delight you.
Perhaps there is a new move of the Spirit coming. It will be manifested in ways we have never seen before. If indeed these are times of sorrows, then we are ever closer to the coming of our Lord.
May the Lord bless you mightily in these times that test us.
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