tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3388875221723928732024-03-12T16:20:05.505-07:00David WisenChristopher Moeller (Moellerd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07178429547994878458noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-67594359113425286362013-11-27T09:24:00.000-08:002013-11-27T09:24:39.077-08:00Conflict - When to Avoid, When to Engage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilWOFyArr0ybGFeRegfBLhAryY5MeB0ATJJa2fnYdTrkSq4oNLR42nzPvtWER7lPYqG_vHN2i0_F4jno9Sfn8r_Ubzo2VCURVMeNPjytYKmKWyhuXHEPZmhenr-heXSkv8FixueP42zqs/s1600/Conflict+photo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilWOFyArr0ybGFeRegfBLhAryY5MeB0ATJJa2fnYdTrkSq4oNLR42nzPvtWER7lPYqG_vHN2i0_F4jno9Sfn8r_Ubzo2VCURVMeNPjytYKmKWyhuXHEPZmhenr-heXSkv8FixueP42zqs/s320/Conflict+photo.png" width="320" /></a></div>
I was recently preparing for a sermon from John 4 about Jesus and the women at the well. I listened to a sermon from James MacDonald from John 4:1-6, where Jesus avoided conflict with the Pharisees but engaged in the Jew/Samaritan conflict. Here are some principles to help you determine when to avoid conflict, and when to engage.<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><b><i>John 4:1-5<br />Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.</i></b></span><h1>
<span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-size: small;"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">"He left Judea and departed</span><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">again for Galilee."</span></span></span></span></h1>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;">Is Jesus
running away?</span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;">Let’s have interpretation
by voting.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;">How many people say Jesus is
not running away?</span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;">Incorrect.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></h1>
<h3>
<span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">ANSWER: He is 100% running away. Now I don’t know if Jesus actually physically
ran, but He is fleeing the scene. Jesus
is vacating the conflict. Jesus is
leaving. Jesus is letting go. <o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Proverbs [20:3], It is the wisdom of a man to stand aloof
from strife. <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><i>Proverbs [26:4]</i></span></span><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><i>, Do
not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him. </i></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<h2>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><u>When to Avoid Conflict:</u></span></span></h2>
<h2>
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">1.) When the opposition is longstanding and stubborn. </span></i></h2>
<h2>
<i style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Titus 3:9-11</span></span></i></h2>
<div>
<span style="color: #38761d;"><i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 14.2px;">Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 14.2px;"><b> </b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 14.2px;">controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 Timothy 2:23</span><br />
</i></span><div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When
it’s longstanding, think long and hard about whether today is the day to engage
with that.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
</div>
<h3>
<span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">“If you can’t pick the fruit, don’t bruise it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></h3>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<i style="color: #38761d; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 14.2px;">for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires.<b> </b>James 1:20</i></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 14.2px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 14.2px;">If beating the issue to death
isn’t getting it done, it’s time to try something different.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 14.2px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 14.2px;">It’s wise sometimes to stand aloof from
strife.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px; text-indent: 14.199999809265137px;">
<b><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2.) When it’s Personal.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></i></b></div>
<h3>
<span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">The
Pharisees weren’t coming after somebody else; they were coming after Christ and
His ministry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when the opposition is
personal, when they’re going after you, when they’re attacking you, maybe
that’s the time for you to be silent and let God defend you.</span></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><i style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">If possible, so far as it depends on you,</span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">live peaceably with all. </span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">Beloved, </span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">never avenge yourselves, but leave it</span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">to the wrath of God, for it is written,</span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">"Vengeance </span><span style="background-color: #faf4b3; text-indent: 14.2px;">is mine</span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">, I will repay, says the Lord." </span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">Rom 12:18-19</span></i></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Often, we
get real passive when somebody else is being maligned and then get up out of
our chair when we are attacked:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“How <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dare</i> she say that about me!<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Will you just trust God in that moment?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will you give that over to the Lord?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></h3>
<h2>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><i>3) When the opposition is unfair.</i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></h2>
<h3>
<span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Don’t run from criticism that’s fair—face into it; learn from it; and
humble yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
<h2>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><i>4) When the opposition is for God.</i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></h2>
<h3>
<span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">When the
opposition is what you’re doing for God?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s not something to face into.<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
<div style="min-height: 14px;">
<i><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">Now</span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"><b> </b></span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? </span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"><b> </b></span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. </span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">Have no fear of them,</span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"><b> </b></span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">nor be troubled, </span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"><b> </b></span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">but</span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"><b> </b></span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy,</span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"><b> </b></span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; </span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">yet do it with gentleness and</span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"><b> </b></span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">respect,</span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"><b> </b></span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">having a good conscience, so that,</span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"><b> </b></span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. </span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">For</span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"><b> </b></span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. </span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">For Christ also</span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"><b> </b></span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">suffered</span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"><b> </b></span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous,</span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;">that he might bring us to God,</span><span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"> </span>1 Peter 3:13-18</span></i></div>
<h2>
<u><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When You Should </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Face</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
Conflict</span></span></u></h2>
<h2>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><i>1.) When the person being wronged is not you.</i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jesus walks directly through Samaria to deal with the white hot racial tensions between the Samaritans and the Jews. There he finds a woman, by herself, at a well at noon. She has been shunned by her society for her adulterous way. Jesus reaches out to her and extends grace.</span></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">2.) When the issue at stake matters to God.</span></i></span></h2>
<h2>
<i style="text-indent: 14.2px;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:8-9</span></i></h2>
<div>
<span style="text-indent: 14.2px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The salvation of the Samaritans was not a minor issue. Racism was not a minor issue. These were not meaningless quarrels. Jesus engages in the battle.</span></span></div>
<div>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma; margin-bottom: 6.8px; margin-left: 6.8px; min-height: 14px; text-indent: 14.2px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<h2>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><i>3.) When the circumstances create proximity.</i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></h2>
<h3>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jesus
was on His way somewhere. He was traveling from Judea to Galilee. He could do what other rabbis did and cross the Jordan to avoid Samaria altogether. Instead, Jesus dealt
with this in a timely manner when the opportunity presented itself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6.8px; margin-left: 6.8px;">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>714</o:Words>
<o:Characters>4073</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Harvest Bible Chapel Spring Lake</o:Company>
<o:Lines>33</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>9</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>4778</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>14.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:NoTabHangIndent/>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>4.) When avoidance would make things worse.</i></span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Jesus could not avoid this issue without making matters worse. To bypass Samaria would have given his silent endorsement to the prejudice and contempt the jews gel for the Samaritans. </i></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">I'm praying for God to grow our wisdom about when to face into it or, and when to flee conflict.</span></span></h3>
David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-4372550197618552582012-03-26T06:51:00.000-07:002012-03-26T06:51:05.336-07:00Why did Christ Die?<br />
<br />
"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."<br />
Romans 5:8<br />
<div>
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div>
The gospel accounts of Jesus arrest, trials, convicton, and execution cast blame on several characters. The Roman soldiers were the ones who physically put Jesus to death, and while they are shown to be cruel, they were obeying orders - it was their job. Pilate ruled the region for Rome, and it wa his sentence that allowed Jesus to be taken to the cross. However, the gospel writers are careful to show that Pilate was convinced Jesus was innocent. Pilate does not want to take a side in the dispute surrounding Jesus, and comes up with four ingenious ways to avoid sentencing him. First, he send him to Herod, trying to transfer responsibility - but Herod sends him back (Lk. 23:5-12). Second, he agress to have him punished, with the hopes he can be frees (lk. 23:16,22). Third, he tried to have him released according to passover tradition, but the people demanded the release of Barrabas instead of their Messiah. Fourth, he argued his innocence and symbolically washed his hands of the matter. However, in the end, he gave in to the demands of the crowd because the crowd black-mailed him, threatening to bring to Cesaer the news that Pilate had failed to deal with another claiming to be king (Jn. 19:12).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Others were also guilty as we trace back the chain of Jesus' custody on the night he died. Jesus himself will say to Pilate: "The one who handed me over to you is guilty of the greater sin" (Jn. 19:11). Caiaphas, and the Jewish religious leaders share the blame. Jesus, over the course of his ministry, had exposed their greed and sinfulness. The felt threatened by Jesus. He undermined their prestige, their hold over the people, their own self confidence. Mark tells us they "handed over" Jesus to Pilate. They play a large part in the chain of blame.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Judas will forever be known as the betrayer. Some try to excuse Judas, saying he was a victim of predestination. The logic that since Jesus had to die, then someone had to betray him. They point to the passages which say Satan "prompted" Judas (Jn. 13:2), then "entered into him"(Lk.22:3) and John's statement that he was "doomed to destruction" (Jn. 17:12). However, this logic does not exonerate Judas of guilt. Mark record the words of Jesus: "woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born" (Mk 14:21). The blood of Jesus is on Judas' hands.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
While Pilate, Caiaphas, and Judas share guilt, Paul declares that the reason Jesus went to the cross is that "Christ died for us." This statement indicates we are also part of the chain of shame, but also that Christ went willingly to the cross. He didn't die "because" of our sin - He died "for" our sin. Paul's emphasis is on the fact that Jesus went intentionally and deliberately to the cross for us. All of us have sinned - we all bear responsibility for the cross. The cross exposes human evil, and at the same time reveals the thevine purpose to overcome the human evil thus exposed.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The cross enforces three truths. First, our sin is extremely horrible. Second, God's love is wonderful beyond comprehension. And finally, Salvation must be a free gift. When Christ victorously declared "It is finished" from the cross, he used the single Greek word "tetelestai", being in the perfect tense, meaning it has been and will forever remain finished."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Thank you Jesus for the cross!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-59879016827984411042012-03-25T11:44:00.001-07:002012-03-25T11:45:43.071-07:00The Symbol of the Cross<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: auto;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Religions become associated with the symbol that represents
what they believe. Buddhism is associated with the lotus flower. Judaism, the
star of David. The crescent symbolizes Islam. The early church used the symbol
of a fish (fish = “ichthys”), an acronym for “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior”
(“Iesus Christos, Theou Huios Soter”). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the last 2,000 years, the cross has come to be the
universal symbol for the Christian church. Other symbols could have been chosen
– a manger, stone, throne, or a dove.
In some ways, it is an odd choice. The cross is a reminder of Jesus’
crucifixion. Crucifixion, though not invented by the Romans, was perfected
under their rule to become the cruelest method of execution ever practiced,
deliberately delaying death until maximum torture. Additionally, to the Jew,
crucifixion was a method of death cursed by God (Deut. 21:23).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The fact that a cross became the Christian symbol, and that
Christians stubbornly refused, in spite of the ridicule, to discard it in favor
of something less offensive, can only have one explanation. They believed the
centrality of the cross originated in the mind of Jesus himself. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jesus</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nearly one-third of each of the Gospel’s account of Jesus’
life is spent on the last week of His life, His death, and Resurrection. Mark’s
gospel records that Jesus, on three separate occasions, warns his disciples in
advance that he is headed to Jerusalem to suffer and die (Mk. 8:31-32; 9:31;
10;32-34). The gospels records at least eight more occasions where Jesus
alluded to his death. The Gospel of John records seven references to Jesus’
“hour”, and Jesus states in the garden: "Now is my soul troubled. And what
shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come
to this hour. Father, glorify your
name” (John 12:27-28). It is clear in the Gospels that Jesus knew he would die
– because of the hostility of the Jewish religious leaders and the Old
Testament prophesies. What is most clear is that Jesus was going to the cross
willingly. What dominated the mind of Jesus was not the living but the giving
of His life. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Apostles</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Paul Defined his gospel as the “message of the cross”; his
ministry as “we preach Christ crucified”. When contrasting the gospel to
worldly wisdom, Paul wanted to know nothing “except Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says that what is of “first importance” is
“that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was
buried, that he was raised on the third day” (1 Cor 15:3-4). Paul will go on to
say that He boasts in “nothing but the cross” (Gal. 6:14)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Peter begins his first letter by telling believers they have
been sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. Peter explains that Jesus died
as our substitute; “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we
might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been
healed”, and “For Christ also suffered
once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us
to God” (2:24;3:18). John, in his Revelation, introduces Jesus as “him who
loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood” (1:5). Twenty-eight time
John refers to Christ as the “Lamb”, signifying that he was slain as a
sacrifice and by His blood he has set sinners free.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The cross stands as the symbol of our faith. The
significance is not the symbol, but what it symbolizes: the central work of
Jesus was dying for us and suffering the wrath of God in our place. As Chris
Tomlin wrote:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Mighty, awesome, wonderful</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Is the holy cross</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Where the Lamb laid down His life </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
To lift us from the fall</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Mighty is the power of the Cross. </div>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-48327470235109098572012-02-11T07:09:00.001-08:002012-02-11T07:09:48.291-08:00The return of Jesus and the Day of the Lord<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
The return of Jesus Christ has a dual purpose. 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 states:</div>
<div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<i>This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to <b>repay with affliction</b> those who afflict you, and to <b>grant relief</b> to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.</i></div>
<i><a name='more'></a></i><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Jesus will bring relief to his followers, ending their afflictions and sufferings. For those who "<i>do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus", </i>Jesus comes with vengeance and judgment. The season of judgment is called the "Day of the Lord." In his letters to the Thessalonian church, Paul on two occasions connect the return of Jesus to the Day of the Lord. Paul in great detail in 1 Thessalonians 4 describes the return of Jesus, the great hope of the church.</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<i>For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thess. 4:15-18</i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Immediately, following this passage, we see this.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<i>Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the <b>day of the Lord </b>will come like a thief in the night. 1 Thess. 5:1-2.</i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
The church had been told about the return of Jesus, they asked the logical question when would these things be, and Paul continues to talk about the return of Jesus and the day of the Lord. Some try to unlink the discussion of Christ's return in chapter 4 and the day of the Lord discussion in chapter 5, but this is difficult because 1 Thessalonians 5:10 wraps up the discussion started in 1 Thessalonians 4:13.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Again, in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2, we see the return of Christ linked to the day of the Lord. Paul is refuting the false teaching that the Thessalonians have missed the return of Jesus. </div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<i>Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.</i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
While this appears clear, it becomes a problem if you believe the return of Jesus is at the beginning of the tribulation. The following verses describe the unveiling of Antichrist, which happens at the midpoint of the tribulation, and states that this will precede the return of Jesus and the day of the Lord.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<i>Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 2 Thess. 2:3-4</i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<i><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
The return of Jesus ushers in the Day of the Lord, when He will judge the world for their rejection of Him as messiah. Believers are told to look for the heavens to grow dark before Jesus returns, and Jesus return will be seen by all when He flashes into our atmosphere. The same signs in the heavens proceed the Day of the Lord. This is because the return of Jesus and the Day of the Lord are the same event, when Jesus returns and brings relief to His followers and judgment to the rest.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Which on are you? </div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Look at some of the following passages from the Old Testament which further describe the Day of the Lord.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<u>Isa 13:6-11<o:p></o:p></u></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Wail, for the <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">day of the LORD is near</span>! It will come <b><span style="color: red;">as destruction from the Almighty</span></b>. Therefore all hands will fall limp, And every man's heart will melt. They will be terrified, Pains and anguish will take hold of them; They will writhe like a woman in labor, They will look at one another in astonishment, Their faces aflame. Behold, the <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">day of the LORD is coming</span>, <b><span style="color: red;">Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it.</span> 10 <span style="color: blue;">For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light.</span> 11 <span style="color: red;">Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.</span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<u>Ezekiel 30:2-3<o:p></o:p></u></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
"Son of man, prophesy and say, "Thus says the Lord GOD,</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
"Wail, "Alas for the day!'</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
3 "For the day is near,</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Even <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">the day of the LORD is near;</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
It will be <b>a <span style="color: blue;">day of clouds</span>,<o:p></o:p></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span style="color: red;">A time of doom for the nations</span></b>.</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<u>Joel 1:14-15<o:p></o:p></u></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Consecrate a fast, Proclaim a solemn assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land To the house of the LORD your God, And cry out to the LORD. 15 Alas for the day! For <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">the day of the LORD is near</span>, <b><span style="color: red;">And it will come as destruction from the Almighty</span></b><span style="color: red;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<u>Joel 2:1-2; 10-14, 30-32</u></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">, For the day of the LORD is coming</span>; Surely it is near, 2 <span style="color: blue;">A <b>day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness</b>…</span> 10 <b><span style="color: blue;">Before them the earth quakes, The heavens tremble, The sun and the moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness</span></b><span style="color: blue;">.</span> 11 The LORD utters His voice before His army; Surely His camp is very great, For strong is he who carries out His word. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">The day of the LORD is indeed great and very awesome</span>, And who can endure it? 12 "Yet even now," declares the LORD, "Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; 13 And rend your heart and not your garments." Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness And relenting of evil. 14 Who knows whether He will not turn and relent And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a drink offering For the LORD your God?. <b><span style="color: blue;">30 "I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, Blood, fire and columns of smoke. 31 "The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood</span></b> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes</span>. 32 "And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD Will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those who escape, As the LORD has said, Even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<u>Joel 3:12-16<o:p></o:p></u></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span style="color: red;">For there I will sit to judge All the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full; The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!</span> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.</span> 15 <span style="color: blue;">The sun and moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness.</span> 16<span style="color: red;"> The LORD roars from Zion And utters His voice from Jerusalem, And the heavens and the earth tremble. But the LORD is a refuge for His people And a stronghold to the sons of Israel.</span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<u>Amos 5:18-20 (Warning to unrepentant Israel)<o:p></o:p></u></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Alas, you who are longing for the <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">day of the LORD</span>,</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
For what purpose will the day of the LORD be to you?</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span style="color: blue;">It will be darkness and not light;<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b>19<span style="color: red;"> As when a man flees from a lion<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span style="color: red;">And a bear meets him,<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Or goes home, leans his hand against the wall</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
And a snake bites him.</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
20 Will not the <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">day of the LORD</span> <b><span style="color: blue;">be darkness instead of light,<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span style="color: blue;">Even gloom with no brightness in it?</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<u>Zeph 2:1-3<o:p></o:p></u></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Gather yourselves together, yes, gather,</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
O nation without shame,</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
2 Before the decree takes effect --</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
The day passes like the chaff --</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Before the burning anger of the LORD comes upon you,</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Before the <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">day of the LORD'S</span> <b><span style="color: red;">anger</span> </b>comes upon you.</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
3 Seek the LORD,</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
All you humble of the earth</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Who have carried out His ordinances;</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Seek righteousness, seek humility.</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Perhaps you will be hidden</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
In the <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">day of the LORD'S</span> <b><span style="color: red;">anger</span>.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<u>Mal 4:5<o:p></o:p></u></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
5 "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">day of the LORD</span>.</div>
</div>
</div>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-80393917839853131062012-02-11T06:12:00.000-08:002012-02-11T07:14:52.262-08:00This generation will not pass awayJesus as entered Jerusalem, and is just days away from the Cross. The disciples come to Jesus and begin to ask Him about His return. He goes through a detailed list of things they are to watch for, describes His return, and then delivers this verse:<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, <b>this generation will not pass away until all these things take place</b>. Mark 13:29-31</i><br />
<i></i><br />
<i><a name='more'></a></i><br />
<br />
<div>
The statement is also recorded in Matthew and Luke. Considering Jesus spoke these word more than two thousand years ago, many have been confused by this statement. What did Jesus mean? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here are some possibilities:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Jesus was mistaken. </b>The generation He was addressing did pass away. While many believed that Jesus would return before John died (John 21:20-23), His return is still eagerly awaited by His followers. I won't waste time here - not a big fan of this option.</li>
<li><b>It actually happened</b>. Some would teach that the events prophesied in Mark 13 actually took place. This is the Preterist view of Eschatology, the study of the return of Christ. Indeed, some of the events Christ talks about, such has the destruction of the Temple in 70 a.d., did take place. However, not all that Jesus said would happen was fulfilled, specifically Jesus returning in power to gather his elect. Preterist rightly identify that part of the prophesy was literally fulfilled, then often allergorize the rest of the passage to make the argument that all of what Jesus said has taken place.</li>
<li><b>Near/Far fulfillment.</b> There is a concept in biblical prophesy called near/far fulfillment. Prophets often included a near fulfillment, and when the near aspect of the prophesy was fulfilled, it made the distant fulfillment more sure. This is true of Old Testament messianic prophesies. All OT prophesies regarding the Messiah were not fulfilled when Jesus came, but many were specifically and miraculously fulfilled. This gives us greater confidence that Jesus will fulfill all remaining messianic prophesies when he returns. </li>
<li><b>Jesus was giving Hope</b>. Jesus had just prophesied that before he returns, there would be turmoil on the earth, including false teachers, wars, and natural disasters (Mk. 13:3-8). Jesus continues and tells his followers that the will be persecuted and stand trial for their faith (Mk. 13:9-13) Jesus also promises that in the midst of these persecutions, the Holy Spirit will never abandon His followers. This persecution will progress until it is described as "<i>such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be</i>." Considering the atrocities we have witnessed in the last hundred years, including genocide and the Holocaust, this is quite a statement. Jesus continues, saying "<i>if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days." </i>Jesus is making a promise to His followers. While some will perish, all hope is not lost. God will not be defeated, and those who trust in Him will not be disappointed. He will return and gather his followers and his followers will not be exterminated. I believe the best way to view the phrase <i>"this generation will not pass away" </i>is to understand that Jesus was<i> </i>restating the promise that all would not be killed amidst this period of persecution. those who live through this testing can know with confidence, because Jesus said it, that His followers, the church, will ultimately prevail. <i>"This generation"</i> rightly refers to the generation that endures thus great period of persecution. The believer is called to endurance as proof that he is truly saved.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Mark 13:13</i></div>
<div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
<i>And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Matt 24:10-13</i></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
<i>If anyone has an ear, let him hear:</i><i> If anyone is to be taken captive,</i></div>
<div>
<i>to captivity he goes; </i><i> if anyone is to be slain with the sword,</i></div>
<div>
<i>with the sword must he be slain.</i></div>
<div>
<i>Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints. </i><i>Rev 13:9-10</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<i>For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For, </i><i>"Yet a little while, </i><i>and the coming one will come and will not delay;</i></div>
<div>
<i>but my righteous one shall live by faith, </i><i>and if he shrinks back, </i><i>my soul has no pleasure in him."</i></div>
<div>
<i>But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. </i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><i>Heb 10:36-39</i></span></i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-8214223450322647852012-02-02T12:40:00.000-08:002012-02-02T12:40:32.708-08:00Heresy, Association, and Second-Degree SeperationThe <a href="http://www.theelephantroom.com/">Elephant Room </a> has created quite a stir over what degree of association is appropraite with people who hold to different biblical and doctrinal distinctives. This event has created divisions within conservative evangelical circles, with men I lean into for guidence as a pastor on both sides. <a href="http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2012/02/01/the-elephant-room-what-really-happened-and-how-things-could-have-been-different/">Justin Taylor</a>, <a href="http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2012/02/01/seven-thoughts-on-the-elephant-room-and-t-d-jakes/">Kevin DeYoung</a>, and others have written reviews. Others have been harsh in their critiques of the event, specifically the inclusion of T.D. Jakes in the discussions because of Jakes "heretical" views on the Trinity and alignment wih the prosperity Gospel movement. James MacDonald has<a href="http://jamesmacdonald.com/blog/?p=11089"> resigned</a> from the Gospel Coalition.<br />
<br />
I have little desire to blog into the storm of bloggers speaking into this controversy. I have attended both Elephant Room conferences, and my reflections on these events are as follows.<br />
<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><b>It is easy to be a critic.</b> God has blessed me with allowing me to spend time with some great leaders, both in ministry and in business. I am always reminded of a quote from Theodore Rooseveldt, that I first saw under the glass on the desk of my father-in-law, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/04/arts/robert-van-kampen-investor-and-bible-collector-dies-at-60.html">Robert VanKampen</a>: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."</span></i></span></li>
<li><b>It is hard to listen.</b> Before T.D. Jakes spoke a word, there was no way this could possibly end well. Sides were entrenched and while much was said, little was heard. T.D. Jakes is being labeled a "heretic" from both sides of the Trinity debate. Because so much attention before the event was focused on the Trinity issue, concerns over Jake's views related to prosperity and the Gospel were set aside discuss his position on the Trinity. Now the critique is focused on the lack of discussion on prosperity. Impossible to win when sides are already entrenched.</li>
<li><b>I love James MacDonald. </b>I count it a privilidge to call him a personal friend. I give much credit to him for my spiritual development. He has been a mentor. I think the thing I appreciate most about the Elephant Room is that James has been willing to take risks and absorb a wave of criticism to have influence over others, particularily young pastors. (I look back fondly at the first event when there was a ruckus of including Steven Furtick). It is hard to have influence from the critic's chair. Over our ten-year friendship, James has proven to be loyal while challenging me and helping me grow. James and I have had our differences - he never through me aside. He continues to influence because he has stayed in relationship with me when distancing himself would have been easier. </li>
<li><b>I am getting softer</b>. When I was younger, I was more sure that I knew everything. I was quicker on the draw, eager to fight. I have been challenged by James and the Elephant Room to respond not just to a man's words but also to the man, understanding who he is. In the process, I don't think my doctrine or my convictions have drifted, just my pride. Love does not require us to abandon beliefs, just listen before making judgments. </li>
</ol>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-17551086506105058522011-11-22T12:09:00.001-08:002011-11-22T12:52:37.488-08:00Praying for your cold, dark heart<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2n-Rso9RgROuOFqMZPd6hgLdCB7zAytcaWuEzZlrncfhEzu6mx1TD-edXJPB8J5bC-DgfdDe5WmpBsuA3Ybrkmqk_8m7DOjcup4iF3DWfCIXDCvaFXX5QgYugMcYtMzHu1VQa20NSRIY/s1600/cold_black_heart.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2n-Rso9RgROuOFqMZPd6hgLdCB7zAytcaWuEzZlrncfhEzu6mx1TD-edXJPB8J5bC-DgfdDe5WmpBsuA3Ybrkmqk_8m7DOjcup4iF3DWfCIXDCvaFXX5QgYugMcYtMzHu1VQa20NSRIY/s320/cold_black_heart.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." </b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>Mark 7:20-23</b></i></div>
<div>
<div>
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>The heart is deceitful above all things,</i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>and desperately sick;</i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>who can understand it?</i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>Jeremiah 17:9</i></b></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I am reminded of the horror movies where someone runs into the house, bolts all the doors, locks the windows, and closes the blinds to escape the Zombie, Vampire, Ooze, or whatever evil lurks outside. Just as they begin to feel safe, they realize they forgot to secure one entry point, and now the evil is inside the house (not vampires - they have to be invited in).</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Jesus words are clear - our sin comes from within. The world does not corrupt us - we corrupt the world. There is no outside force to blame for our failings. There is no way to run from the cause. There is little we can do to protect ourselves from the sin that lives inside us. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
What are we to do with this? Let me suggest some observations and application that comes from the fact we are declared by Christ to be rotten to the core.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<ol>
<li><b><u>There is no room for pride</u></b>. Pride is pointless when we realize that we are corrupt from within. </li>
<li><u><b>Legalism if foolish.</b></u> Our outward behavior cannot cure an inward disease.</li>
<li><b><u>Sin wants to Reign</u></b>. Sin hides within our very nature, looking to spread, plotting our overthrow. </li>
<li><u><b>Sin must be tamed</b></u>. Sin is not something to avoid. External hedges only serve to stave a beast that will not die. This said, we avoiding feeding our lusts, passions, and addictions, yet realize that the beast remains.</li>
</ol>
<div>
How does God look for us to respond to these hard truths? Look at the verses that follow those mentioned above:</div>
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>"I the Lord search the heart</i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i> and test the mind, </i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i> to give every man according to his ways,</i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>according to the fruit of his deeds."</i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>Jeremiah 17:10</i></b></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>"Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." </b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>And he said to her, "For this statement you may go your way.</b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>Mark 7:28-29</b></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Three quick truths:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<ol>
<li><b><i><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">God Knows</span></u>. </i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">He knows our hearts, our sinfulness. Religion tries to make God see us as righteous, deserving of His mercy. Religion tricks our minds into believing we deserve grace and mercy. Religion makes us ignore our inner condition. It is pointless.</span></b></li>
<li><b><u>Face Facts.</u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> The woman in Mark 7, never defends herself. Jesus has just called her a dog - she doesn't care. She asks for mercy in spite of her condition, not base off her goodness but because of Jesus' goodness. Seeing ourselves for what we really are drives us to repentance.</span></b></li>
<li><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><u><b>Die to Self.</b></u> It is an amazing truth that we can belong fully to God while sin still struggles within us. Being dead to self doesn't remove the sin from within, but it should draw us to grace, making us thankful to God that while sinners, he still loves us. Praise and blame are equally nothing to him who is really dead and buried with Christ. All praise is due Jesus - he alone is worthy. All blame is real, we deserve it. He bore the penalty in our place. </span></b></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-43763673019221054822011-11-11T08:24:00.001-08:002011-11-11T10:47:44.547-08:00Grace for Sandusky???<img height="426" id="il_fi" src="http://onwardstate.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/IMG_0114.jpg" style="padding-bottom: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" width="640" /><br />
<br />
I have watched the revelations surrounding Penn's State's football program with horror and sadness. This week, Jerry Sandusky, a former coach at Penn State and founder of Second Mile, a charity for underprivileged boys, was charged with 40 counts of criminal sexual assault. Over the last few days, Penn State's President (Graham Spanier), Athletic Director (Tim Curley), Sr. VP of Business (Gary Schultz), and legendary football coach Joe Paterno have either resigned or been terminated. I believe that this is just the beginning, and could lead to the resignation of the governor of Pennsylvania.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
I have read the grand jury report. It is sickening. The timeline of the crimes (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/09/penn-state-scandal-timeline-jerry-sandusky_n_1084204.html?ref=mostpopular) and the knowledge of so many without action is hard to understand.<br />
<br />
Jerry Sandusky has become the most hated man in America. Crimes against children create a rage and anger that burns from deep within our hearts. Last night on talk radio, I heard a journalist say:<br />
<br />
"What Jerry Sandusky did gets someone thrown straight into hell."<br />
<br />
That's when it struck me. Amidst all the hatred, disgust, and anger, we want to distance ourselves and convince ourselves that we are not like Jerry Sandusky. He is an animal. An entire football program and university is reeling from this man. Second Mile, the charity he founded, is trying to create space between who they are and this monster.<br />
<br />
People want blood. I have heard it suggested that hopefully in prison he will experience his crimes. Others suggest that Sandusky, like <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Andrew Markinson in <u>A Few Good Men</u></span>, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">end this with a gun in his mouth. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span></span>It is easy to be enraged with someone else's sin. The Sandusky's, Madoff's, and Hitler's are deservingly infamous for their actions.<br />
<br />
The problem: God puts us in line with them. The bitter truth is we are no different, capable of unthinkable atrocities against our Creator.<br />
<br />
If we were to find out next week that Jerry Sandusky had repented of his sin, hid in the shadow of the Cross and begged for God's forgiveness, would we rejoice?<br />
<br />
If we were called to do the unthinkable and advise God on the matter of Jerry Sandusky, how would we counsel? Would we plead for grace?<br />
<br />
Public outcry over hideous sins should bring us, the forgiven, back to our knees, thanking God for the Grace He has shown to us. David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-15273142105222743392011-11-04T08:59:00.000-07:002011-11-04T08:59:14.727-07:00What is your authority for "Truth"This article, originally posted on the church leaders.com website, is a great example of why Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids scares me. My comments follow the article.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 34px; line-height: 22px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span></b></span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><h1 style="color: black; display: block; float: left; font-size: 34px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 10px; width: 640px;">
Rob Bell's Replacement </h1>
<h1 style="color: black; display: block; float: left; font-size: 34px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 10px; width: 640px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 22px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><h1 style="color: black; display: inline !important; font-size: 34px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 10px; width: 640px;">
Speaks Out on Bell and Hell</h1>
</span></b></span></h1>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><strong>Editor's note:</strong><em> Shane Hipps, the teaching pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church, recently posted his thoughts surrounding Rob Bell's book and the issue of hell. The discussion about hell is still very important for the church today and we encourage you to share your thoughts in the comment section below--we also encourage you to be civil and use Scripture to back up your arguments. Tomorrow, we will feature a post on hell from Francis Chan. </em><br />
There is a lot of talk these days about heaven and hell. Recently, a handful of best-selling books have been published on this topic (<em>23 Minutes in Hell, Erasing Hell, Heaven Is for Real, God Wins</em>). Some of these are in direct response to Rob Bell’s book <em>Love Wins </em>(incidentally and ironically, a book almost entirely concerned with this life, not the next one).<br />
As a Christian who believes in the Bible and Jesus, I have found the intensity and certainty of the debate all very bizarre. It’s strange that so much passion and ink has been spilled over something that is all speculation.<br />
Here’s what I mean: If you died, took pictures, and came back to life again, then you would know with certainty what happens after death. Of course, you would only know what happens to you, not everyone else. But if you haven’t died, you can only speculate about what happens to you and everyone else.<br />
This speculation is perfectly fine. As long as we recognize these are only our beliefs. And beliefs by nature are not certain; they are faith based assumptions. That’s what makes them beliefs. Once you can prove them, they are no longer beliefs; they become a kind of knowing. And the funny thing is once you know, you don’t need to debate anymore.<br />
<div class="article_dont_miss" style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 17px; width: 250px;">
<h2 style="font-size: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.1em;">
Don't Miss</h2>
<ul style="font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 17px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<li style="font-size: 14px; list-style-type: disc; list-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/149569-tim-challies-love-wins-book-review.html" style="color: #294e86; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;" target="_self">Does a Loving God Send People to Hell?</a></li>
<li style="font-size: 14px; list-style-type: disc; list-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/149653-eugene-peterson-would-jesus-condemn-rob-bell.html" style="color: #294e86; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;" target="_self">Eugene Peterson: Would Jesus Condemn Rob Bell?</a></li>
<li style="font-size: 14px; list-style-type: disc; list-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.churchleaders.com/outreach-missions/outreach-missions-articles/145784-teaching-the-truth-about-hell.html" style="color: #294e86; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;" target="_self">Dan Kimball: Why Should We Talk About Hell?</a></li>
<li style="font-size: 14px; list-style-type: disc; list-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/149639-mark-driscoll-to-hell-with-hell_part1.html" style="color: #294e86; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;" target="_self">Mark Driscoll: 6 Questions on Hell</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
I have never died, so I don’t have a theological position on heaven or hell. I can only entertain theological possibilities. There is a big difference.<br />
I take a position when I know something with certainty. Almost always through direct experience. If someone pinches me, I don’t believe they pinched me. I know it. I experienced it. It doesn’t reside somewhere in my head. Nothing to debate. It happened.<br />
I consider a possibility when it’s something I don’t know. This is something I merely believe. Either because someone I trust told me, or the Bible seems to say it, or reason supports it. But until I’ve experienced it, this is only something I believe– a possibility. And possibilities should be held with an open hand, perhaps with some humility and even humor. Who knows, I could be wrong about what I believe?<br />
Now having said this, I’m only aware of one person who died, and I mean really died, like three days dead, and came back to life again. His name was Jesus. Upon his return from the dead, he didn’t believe anymore; now he knew. So if I wanted some indication about what happens after I die, I should probably pay attention to what he said after he came back from the dead.<br />
Here’s what he said about heaven and hell after his resurrection. Nothing. Nada. Zip.<br />
What did he talk about? Here’s just a sampling: He tells his disciples to make students of him (Mt 28:16), to share the good news of liberation in this life (Mk 16:9-20). He says, “Peace be with you,” and “I’m hungry.” (Lk 24:36-41) He says, “Receive the holy breath; now you can forgive sins.” (Jn 20:22) He says, “It’s me, really, touch my side” (Jn 20:27), and “The fishing is better on the right side of the boat.” (Jn 21:6) He says “Let’s eat” (Jn 21), “Feed my sheep; now follow me” (Jn21:18-20), and “Stop worrying about the future and the fate of other people; just follow me.” (Jn 21:22; Acts 1:7-8)<br />
Not exactly a systematic theology of the afterlife. Mostly, it’s a repeated invitation to trust and follow him and not worry about the future. Apparently, he is also hungry a lot. If anyone had the authority and credibility to provide a coherent-once-and-for-all description of exactly what happens after you die, it would be Jesus upon his return from beyond the beyond. But he didn’t. He didn’t even seem all that interested.<br />
If it were important to him, you’d think he would have written a book about it. Or preached a sermon or two. But he didn’t. After Jesus rose from the dead, he spends his time talking about this life.<br />
It would seem Jesus is more concerned with this life than the next. Perhaps we should be, too.<br />
<em>We only get one, and it’s short.</em> <img border="0" src="http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/files/endslug_533550574.gif" /><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<!--StartFragment-->
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><b>My Response:</b></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So let me get this straight: If I do not experience
something for myself, I cannot know whether it is true. And, because the
Gospels don’t specifically record any post-resurrection teachings of Jesus, any
pre-resurrection teachings should be considered less than definitive.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A couple comments:</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.75in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for,
the conviction of things not seen… 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. Hebrews 11:1,6</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.75in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Paul had some pretty definitive things to say
about what happens when you die: “But we do not want you to be uninformed,
brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who
have no hope.” Two groups: brothers and others. Two conditions: brothers have
no reason to grieve, others have NO HOPE. The important question to be answered
is: What determines a “brother” and an “other”? The next verse answers: “For
since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God
will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14.
Brothers know Jesus. But wait, Paul, writing under the authority of the Holy
Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21) is not qualified to comment since he
has not died. Really?</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.75in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>“The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation
1:1, 22:16) is a fairly lengthy post-resurrection discourse on the subject of
heaven and hell.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When determining what is true and trustworthy, God’s Word
trumps experience, opinion, and popularity. I am reminded of Jesus’ words: “And
he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they
will repent.' He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets,
neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"
Luke 16:30-31</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
David Wisen, Pastor, Harvest Bible Chapel Spring Lake</div>
<!--EndFragment-->
</div>
</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</b></span><br />
<br />David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-62126920113529931082011-11-01T17:07:00.000-07:002011-11-01T17:07:26.036-07:00David Wisen: Investment Manager<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFKwNWT4qNZF7cTa2wF34xQ337UMpaJ36scwP_VeicW4osdCYbT8rbl3hES_BwH8dT7rE4Jxmk8auSSrUK2bM__XIIhes76yhCnGHwnGmabOruwvTnawgaGaWjN-aAU8qwhwqgR0HIHIU/s1600/IMG_0286.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFKwNWT4qNZF7cTa2wF34xQ337UMpaJ36scwP_VeicW4osdCYbT8rbl3hES_BwH8dT7rE4Jxmk8auSSrUK2bM__XIIhes76yhCnGHwnGmabOruwvTnawgaGaWjN-aAU8qwhwqgR0HIHIU/s320/IMG_0286.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I alway struggle answering the simple question: "What do you do"? I have worn several different hats and been involved in several businesses, and over the past 20 years the answer to that question has included analyst, stock/commodity trader, real estate developer, baker, and president of the Van Kampen Group. Add to that husband, father, coach, elder...and now Pastor. For the past five years, my business card has simply listed my title as "Bondslave of Jesus Christ". This created a platform for my testimony in the business community. Now that I am a pastor, I think I am going to use reverse logic and refer to myself as an "Investment Manager". I am beginning to realize that the roles of managing money and pastoring are similar in many ways. For instance;<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<ol><li><u>I am entrusted with something of Great Value.</u> For years I was responsible for dollars. I would make investments with the objective of creating additional wealth. For years, I would check Asian markets before breakfast, read whatever research I could find, and go to bed checking market futures. As a pastor, the dollar has been replaced with people. Acts 20:28 says "Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood." I have been entrusted with something of highest value - the thing Jesus died for. I am held accountable for how I manage this investment. That is why I wake up praying for our church. I bear the weight of delivering the Gospel. I share the pain of those I counsel. I used to be responsible for hundreds of millions - the stakes are much higher now. </li>
<li><u>The Opportunity for Profits are Greatest when Markets are Volatile.</u> My first day trading in the commodity pits in Chicago occurred in October, 1987. It was the monday following what became known as Black Friday, one of the worst days in market history. I have invested through the S&L crisis of the '80's; the "go-go" '90's; the tech crash of 2000; 9/11, and the real estate crash of 2007. Markets, like life, have their ups and downs, and the successful investor is most active when markets are most volatile. Because prices are moving rapidly, the opportunity to make money is accelerated. The same principle is proving true in my role as pastor. I have to be available to people when they are in the crisis. These are the moments where my investment into people can pay the largest dividend. Sometimes, life's storms create a season where people's receptiveness to the truths of God's Word is amplified. Crisis creates opportunity and to be an effective pastor I need to be aware of these moments and seize the opportunity. </li>
<li><u>The Harvest is Unpredictable. </u>The first real estate deal I made was my most profitable. Often, the years where I earned the lowest return were the years I worked the hardest, and vice-versa. I would battle through difficult markets, with little to show for my efforts. Then, the markets would unexpectedly turn, and I would be positioned to reap the fruit that was sown in the difficult season. As a pastor, I have little ability to see which lives I am impacting and when the Holy Spirit will grip someone's heart. I am called to enduring faithfulness - God controls the harvest. There is great comfort in that.</li>
<li><u>The Act of Investing Creates Investment Opportunities.</u> Often, being active in investments leads to new opportunities. Someone would see a real estate development we were involved in and contact us with another potential deal. I would invest in a stock and while I was reviewing the position I would look at other companies in the same business segment. This would sometimes help me identify even better investments. As a pastor, I sometimes invest into one life and realize that the investment in discipling that person leads to a greater opportunity with a family member, friend, or co-worker. The fruit of our efforts might make a slight impact in our "target", but be used by God in ways we could have never anticipated. </li>
<li><u>My Performance is Measurable</u>. When I was responsible for investing dollars, it was easy to measure my performance. Each year, the return I earned was reduced to a percentage, with the profits earned divided by the funds invested. My return could easily be compared to the S&P 500, Bond yields, and other indices to evaluate my performance. To my knowledge, there is no indices that measure the performance of a pastor. My "performance" cannot be evaluated by attendance, baptisms, or percentage of people involved in small groups. That said, my performance is quite measurable. It is not defined by comparing it to some standard, it is measured by the Standard-Giver. 1 Peter 5:1-4 says: "So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight...being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory." My performance will be accurately measured because the one measuring is All-Knowing, Almighty God. Having my performance determined by comparing my return to an index creates accountability. Giving account to God for those He has entrusted to my care creates fear and soberness.</li>
</ol>I was always thankful for the trust that was shown when I was entrusted with funds to invest. How much more should this be true when Jesus has entrusted to me His Church. That is a perspective worth remembering.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<ol><li></li>
<li></li>
</ol>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-65412844252288169652011-10-06T04:46:00.000-07:002011-10-06T06:11:37.664-07:00"He Changed My Life"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJVwL5tGNNnk7hbL3S3luala0RKWApXl94y567jcVMwEZF4u548pJuu3cj2L3h0dgsR4XUr2aRcSmf5gSVf5QbdnKXgioIZznTDgdtXQt4lNcRJw5h3Yb-LmavJJXvOYMzu1NkrXDAuQk/s1600/t_hero.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJVwL5tGNNnk7hbL3S3luala0RKWApXl94y567jcVMwEZF4u548pJuu3cj2L3h0dgsR4XUr2aRcSmf5gSVf5QbdnKXgioIZznTDgdtXQt4lNcRJw5h3Yb-LmavJJXvOYMzu1NkrXDAuQk/s320/t_hero.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important." Steve Jobs, 2005.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<br />
Last night a man who changed my life lost his battle with cancer. I wish I could have met him.<br />
<br />
As I was packing up and heading to work this morning, I grabbed my case ("man purse") which contains my MacBook Pro, my IPad, and usually my IPhone. I have already searched the house for my IPhone - I hope it's at work.<br />
<br />
I graduated college in 1986. Steve Jobs had invented "Lisa", the first graphical computer interface to use a mouse, in 1983. I went to work for a real estate firm outside Chicago, and the month I arrived personal computers were for the first time being placed on employees desk. Advantage young guy. Although I had never used a computer, I didn't have to re-learn old ways of doing things. By 1989, in what now feels like a previous, I had started my own computer consulting business.<br />
<br />
In the 1990's, I was one of the first to own the Newton, a personal manager. I came with a stylus, and could somehow read my handwriting. It wasn't Newton's fault I proved unmanageable.<br />
<br />
I switched to Mac computers kicking and screaming. I was a PC guy, and couldn't understand why I would pay more for a machine with less "processing power". The result - goodbye viruses, hello home network that works. For some reason, the PC programs I use to trade stocks and and study the Bible run faster on my Mac and they don't crash. It's Voodoo. <br />
<br />
Last Sunday, I preached from my IPad for the first time. All my notes on the screen - sliding my finger to turn the pages. The ESV Bible is downloaded and with two clicks I switch from my notes to the text. Genius.<br />
<br />
Today, at church, I will listen to music on iTunes. I downloaded it from the iTunes Store. While writing, I am listening to a James MacDonald sermon on iTunes. Apple is my homepage. Sermon prep requires me to use my iMac, iPad, and iTunes.<br />
<br />
Next week, I will trade in my iPhone 3G (assuming I can find it) for the new iPhone 4S. The 4S has a new feature called Siri, which allows me to talk to my phone rather than on my phone. Who needs friends?<br />
<br />
Tomorrow, all my data will live on something called iCloud.<br />
<br />
I will watch Apple stock today - it will be interesting to see how the market responds to the loss of the company's visionary. What is next for Apple?<br />
<br />
More importantly, what is next for Steve Jobs. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 says: "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep (dead), that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope." In one verse, all of mankind is divided into two groups: Brothers and Others. "Brothers" we are told, will be raised with Jesus, their Savior, and there is no reason to grieve when they die. "Others" have "no hope" - it is that clear-cut.<br />
<br />
What determines which group you belong to - are you a "brother" or a "other". The next verse makes this clear: "For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again". Brothers believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Brothers understand that without Jesus, they stand condemned before a Holy God. Brothers understand that it has nothing to do with how brilliant or successful you life may have been. It is not about you - it is about Jesus.<br />
<br />
In what I have read, there is no indication Steve Jobs knew Jesus. If this is true, for all his vision, leadership, success, charm, and greatness, he has no hope. Heart-breaking.<br />
<br />
Do you know Jesus?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 40px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.05em; font-style: italic;">No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.</em><em style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.05em; font-style: italic;">— </em><em style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.05em; font-style: italic;"><strong>Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Speech</strong></em></ul><br />
<div><br />
</div>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-77229969897706728972011-10-04T09:27:00.000-07:002011-10-04T09:27:40.570-07:00The Law and Grace<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">One of the things that makes me smile as the pastor of a new church is the diversity of people and the different backgrounds they bring to our church. This past Sunday night our church had a fall picnic - about 300 people attended. We had an inflatable obstacle course for the kids, the adults played soccer and bag-toss, and we cooked up burgers and brats. On Monday morning, I received a call from a man questioning if this was a proper activity for a Sunday. </span></div><a name='more'></a>He is from a conservative church and family background, and this would have been frowned upon because of honoring the Sabbath ("Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work." Exodus 20:8-10) His question was without malice, sincerely asking what is the right way to honor the Lord's Day. I decided to answer through a blog post because I believe this type of question will come up again at our church and I wanted people to understand my thought process on how I make decisions in these matters.<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Things to consider in regard to the Sabbath (and other issues where Christian liberties are in question):<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .15in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.15in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">What did Jesus Do</span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">?</span></b><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> The issue of what was allowable on the Sabbath was a disputed issue throughout Jesus' ministry. Look at the following passages:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .15in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.15in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. Luke 6:7<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .15in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.15in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. 2 And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. 3 And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?" 4 But they remained silent. Luke 14:1-4<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .15in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.15in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see." 16 Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. John 9:13-16<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .15in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.15in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath." Matthew 12:1-3<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">In each of these instances, Jesus held his ground and in the process communicated something far greater: His Gospel superseded the Law. The purpose of the Law was to lead us to Christ by condemning us and causing us to despair of our own “righteousness”. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Calvin said: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .3in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">“The Law is contained in precepts, it threatens, it burdens, it promises no goodwill. The Gospel acts without threats, it does not drive one on by precepts, but rather teaches us about the supreme goodwill of God towards us.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The conflict over the Sabbath was a tangible example that Jesus was bringing good news beyond what the Law could ever provide.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .15in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.15in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">What did Jesus Say?</span></u></b><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Listen to what Jesus says in regard to the Sabbath:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .15in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.15in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath." Matthew 12:6-8<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .15in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.15in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">"Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Matthew 12:11-12<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .15in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.15in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath." Mark 2:27-28<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .15in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.15in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>23 If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? John 7:22-24<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Jesus clearly teaches that he is not subject to the Law in regards to the Sabbath, and through association with Him, His disciples are free to heal and pick wheat on the Sabbath as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .15in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.15in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">What do the other New Testament writers Say?</span></u></b><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The new testament authors, writing their instruction to believers who were establishing the early church, also give instruction on this matter:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .15in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.15in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. Romans 14:5-6<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .15in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.15in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. Galatians 4:9-11<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .15in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.15in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Colossians 2:16-18<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .15in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.15in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. Galatians 3:23-26<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .15in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.15in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Some Conclusions:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .4in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.3in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The purpose of the law was to show us our sinfulness and point us to the need of a Savior – Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .4in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.3in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">How one observes the Sabbath today is up to one’s conscience. We are not to regulate how other observe it – others are subject to God, not our convictions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .4in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.3in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Jesus’ Gospel did not make the rules easier – it makes them more difficult. He no longer wants us to set aside one day, He wants everything we do to be set aside for His glory. He wants us to consider everything we do to be sure that Jesus of Lord over our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .4in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.3in;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Our desire to be obedient is no longer based of being good enough, it is out of gratitude for what Jesus has done for us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">For those interested in a deeper look at how the Law and Grace interact – the following post is a great resource: <a href="http://theresurgence.com/2011/04/06/the-law-the-gospel">http://theresurgence.com/2011/04/06/the-law-the-gospel</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><!--EndFragment-->David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-44259055762346483322011-09-29T11:54:00.000-07:002011-09-29T11:54:36.201-07:00Four Reasons not to fight with the PenOne of my favorite websites is The Gospel Coalition. It has a wonderful collection of sermons (40,000+) sortable by topic, preacher, or Scripture reference. It also has a blog that can be a wonderful resource. This Spring, when Rob Bell's book <u>Love Wins</u> was released, the Gospel Coalition published several worthwhile reviews/responses/critiques to Rob's position. Reviews to note: Justin Taylor. and Al Mohler.<br />
<br />
However, when their isn't a major topic to discuss, the blogs can begin to create infighting. Case in point: the debate over multi-site churches. Today's post by Thabiti Anyabwile: Multi-Site Churches Are from the Devil (<a href="http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/thabitianyabwile/2011/09/27/multi-site-churches-are-from-the-devil/">http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/thabitianyabwile/2011/09/27/multi-site-churches-are-from-the-devil/</a>) is not constructive in settling this issue or leading to open discussion on the matter. Reading through this post, I was reminded why I don't like to respond to people through e-mail - I would much rather settle disagreements face to face.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
1.) I am terrible at reading tone. When I receive a e-mail, I struggle understand whether the person writing is being sincere or sarcastic. By not seeing their face or hearing their voice, it is harder for me to understand their intent. In a dispute, this can create a mistaken conclusion and escalate the issue.<br />
<br />
2.) I bully when I write. First I summarize the other person's position. Sometimes I do this accurately, other time I set up a "straw-man" and restate their position a little differently. Then I attack my summary of their position. I do this uninterrupted, building steam as I go. It is not until I am through and have pressed "send" that the other party has the ability to interrupt and say "That's not what I meant at all." By this point, I have probably said more than I wished. Written words are hard to pull back.<br />
<br />
3.) Responding via e-mail and Facebook delays the consequences of your communication. It is the difference between dropping a bomb from the drone you are flying over Iraq from your computer-screen in Arizona and having to look a man in the eyes when you pull the trigger (analogy - not first-hand knowledge).<br />
<br />
4.) Written disputes are hard to forgive. There is a written record. Last week I was rummaging through some old files and came across some written correspondence I had long forgotten. Seeing the words on paper brought old emotion to a boil that should have been left in the past.<br />
<br />
If you find yourself in a dispute, settle it in person. If you find it is easier to organize your thoughts on paper, bring the paper with you to the face-to-face meeting. The pen can be sharper than a sword. So can the tongue. Learn to say " I was wrong - will you forgive me" and keep short lists of offenses.David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-26400663251081813792011-09-24T14:11:00.000-07:002011-09-24T14:11:42.697-07:00Great Sources of Spiritual foodIn all of human history, there has never been a time when so much good preaching is available and making such little difference.<br />
<br />
If you are someone who struggles to be in the Word consistently, let me recommend some of the places I lean on for strong Biblical insight. The pastors listed below are usually strong on Biblical interpretation, and the websites listed contain good content. I have tried to arrange the pastors by style, depending on what you are looking for.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
Pastors - Great Communicators - Applicational Teaching<br />
<br />
<ol><li>James MacDonald - Harvest Bible Chapel - <a href="http://www.jamesmacdonald.com/">http://www.jamesmacdonald.com/</a></li>
<li>Matt Chandler - The Village Church - <a href="http://thevillagechurch.net/">http://thevillagechurch.net/</a></li>
<li>Mark Driscoll - Mars Hill Seattle - <a href="http://pastormark.tv/">http://pastormark.tv/</a></li>
<li>Steven Furtick - <a href="http://www.stevenfurtick.com/">http://www.stevenfurtick.com/</a></li>
<li>Kevin Deyoung - University Reformed Church - <a href="http://www.universityreformedchurch.org/teaching/sermons.html">http://www.universityreformedchurch.org/teaching/sermons.html</a></li>
<li>Alstair Begg - Parkside Church - <a href="http://www.truthforlife.org/">http://www.truthforlife.org/</a></li>
</ol><div>Pastors - Deep Waters</div><div><ol><li>Tim Keller - Redeemer Presbyterian Church - <a href="http://www.redeemer.com/">http://www.redeemer.com/</a></li>
<li>John Piper - Bethlehem Baptist Church - <a href="http://www.desiringgod.org/about/john-piper">http://www.desiringgod.org/about/john-piper</a></li>
<li>John MacArthur - Grace Community Church - <a href="http://www.gty.org/">http://www.gty.org/</a></li>
<li>Al Mohler - President, Southern Seminary - <a href="http://www.albertmohler.com/about/">http://www.albertmohler.com/about</a></li>
</ol><div>Blogs/websites to keep you informed</div></div><div><ol><li><a href="http://thegospelcoalition.org/">http://thegospelcoalition.org/</a> - contains 40,000+ sermons sortable by topic/passage, reviews new books, written by reliable sources.</li>
<li><a href="http://theresurgence.com/">http://theresurgence.com/</a> - collection of blogs, book reviews, and ministry best-practices.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.harvestbiblefellowship.org/">http://www.harvestbiblefellowship.org/</a> - everything Harvest.</li>
</ol><div>Hope this is helpful and encourages you to be in the Word.</div></div>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-3332658863048893352011-09-23T09:14:00.000-07:002011-09-23T09:15:35.308-07:00How a Pastor Celebrates.Several people have commented this week that I should be on cloud nine. This past Sunday was an exciting week at our church, with dozens being baptized and several making new commitments to follow Jesus. As the week comes to a close, I was looking back and reflecting on the week - you might be surprised how a pastor celebrates.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<ol><li>Reads FaceBook. Sunday night at youth group someone mentioned that I should check out FaceBook - there was a buzz about what happened in the morning service. Reading the various posts and responses was refreshing. I'm not a big FaceBook fan/follower, but to see this forum used to share enthusiasm for what God was doing was really cool.</li>
<li>Prays. I am fully aware that spiritual warfare is real. Whenever someone makes a step forward to follow Christ - you know that they will find themselves under attack. I have prayed through the list of people who were baptized daily, know that the commitments they have made will be challenged.</li>
<li>Gets Excited. Excited for the young pastors, one of which said: "I have never seen people so excited to come to church." Excited for young adults, whose one small group has grown from 14 to 37. Excited to see the miracle of restored marriages. Excited to see children follow their parents commitment to Christ. </li>
<li>Gets Nervous. </li>
</ol><ul><li>For next Sunday's service - we have to do it all over again. I was at my desk Monday morning, working on the next sermon.</li>
<li>For discipleship. I meet with the other pastor's, making sure that we are following up with people - that discipleship is in place.</li>
<li>For Purity. After seeing God move so powerfully, I find myself examining my life to make sure there is nothing unconfessed that could hinder what God is doing.</li>
</ul><div>I really enjoy being a pastor.</div>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-60957216500330005852011-09-15T05:10:00.000-07:002011-09-15T06:49:59.265-07:00Five Signs your Church is Gaining Traction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbl4uApnvimtJ24BH5bwrfN-Fv3r2bcfaUpqKq3px7xR8xCeVIrga4h6Gw_ajXndfr8L2BXRyl04WgHfxC94rlatK9PY9Rl6KEEvvlMdB7O0xcyIiLr__06aJfLCXtSBJlLJGFt-y8kSQ/s1600/GET-TRACTION-FINAL-150x150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbl4uApnvimtJ24BH5bwrfN-Fv3r2bcfaUpqKq3px7xR8xCeVIrga4h6Gw_ajXndfr8L2BXRyl04WgHfxC94rlatK9PY9Rl6KEEvvlMdB7O0xcyIiLr__06aJfLCXtSBJlLJGFt-y8kSQ/s1600/GET-TRACTION-FINAL-150x150.jpg" /></a></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">1.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>The Ministry is Messy</u></b>. Everyone wants to be part of a missional church, whatever that means. We long to attract the masses, baptize new believers until were pruny, be forced to expand by explosive growth (for examples, see TheVillageChurch.org or Elevationchurch.org). Praise God for stories of blessing like these! However, no matter the size of your church, it will never sustain its mission (think Great </div><a name='more'></a>Commission) without a commitment to discipleship. Real transformation takes discipleship, and discipleship is hard work. Discipleship is messy. It involves people committed to getting involved in each other’s lives. There is no shortcut. You deal with sin, with sorrow, and are taxed by disappointment. Men like Matt Chandler and Steven Furtick can attract the masses with their incredible ability to share the Gospel, but the credit for the success of their ministries belongs to the people within their ministry committed to discipleship. The small group leaders, campus pastors, children’s ministry workers, and counselors and coaches who roll up their sleeves each week providing hope, loving the unlovable, and reflecting Jesus.<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><br />
</u></b></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> </span><u>You are Consumed with the Gospel</u></b>. Your primary focus is communicating to people their need for repentance. That trying harder, being better, looking the part, giving more is futile. That it’s not about right or wrong, innocent or guilty, good or bad – it is about being forgiven. Your heart breaks for the people burdened by the weight of religion, trying to earn God’s favor. You're grieved by the lives scarred by decades of sin. You're energized by the prayer of the repentant, who understand that they merit God’s favor only when they realize they cannot merit it – that Christ already accomplished all they need. Your greatest joy is in the face of the forgiven, and obedience that is the result of gratitude for the work of Jesus on their behalf. Discussions of style, form, music, and preference mean nothing. Preaching the Cross of Jesus becomes the sole passion of your heart.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">3.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>You feel Inadequate</u></b>. You become painfully aware that you are not up to the task that God has called you as a pastor. You are convinced you cannot shepherd on your own. You wake up and want to pray – praise, help, strength, patience – all of it. You ask others to pray for you. You are scared that the sin and shortcomings in your own life will impact the effectiveness of the entire ministry. You thank for the privilege of being used by Him. Your amazed at what He is doing. <br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><br />
</u></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>You are under Attack</u></b>. You have opposition. And the fight is not where you expected. It is from other churches. It is amongst your own people. It is so bizarre that you know it is spiritual warfare. Effective ministry and persecution are inseparable friends. People look at your ministry and say you must feel blessed – and you feel like your being kicked. You look to the example of Jesus and bear the offense for the sake of the Gospel.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">5.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>You love your People</u></b>. All of it. The egomaniac – you know He needs Jesus. The ministry hijacker – God is using him to focus your efforts. The perpetually needy – God is teaching us patience and showing us what we must be like to a holy God. The liberal and the legalist – we are forced to learn love in all things. You and your wife laugh in quiet moments, looking at the odd pieces God is pulling together to build His church. You find yourself feeling their joys and sorrows. You pray for your people – and rejoice at what God is transforming. And you love that God is transforming you in the process.</div>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-6891862871248115702011-09-15T04:55:00.001-07:002011-09-15T07:10:51.994-07:00A visit with my Mom<h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 22px/normal 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; position: relative;">A Visit with my Mom</h3><div class="post-header" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div class="post-header-line-1"></div></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-1832134013601216774" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 546px;"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQXOqlG8n1o2O3h9kr5OmMGds2fFrpUIMzfIFPU_ed1u5yyjmH30tCyuNCC8b2ZwftElpC2Ns8ubicMEc-Gd-6_O2oTWGVtkdZ_Si4u9HEyXPHx3alDGe28mVxbvIz3rUSQaCV5qWAjDc/s1600/nursing-home.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #2288bb; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQXOqlG8n1o2O3h9kr5OmMGds2fFrpUIMzfIFPU_ed1u5yyjmH30tCyuNCC8b2ZwftElpC2Ns8ubicMEc-Gd-6_O2oTWGVtkdZ_Si4u9HEyXPHx3alDGe28mVxbvIz3rUSQaCV5qWAjDc/s320/nursing-home.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976562) 1px 1px 5px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; border-width: initial; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px; position: relative;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I visited my mother today. She was sleeping when I walked in her room. I sat quietly in a chair watching her sleep.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=338887522172392873&postID=689186287124811570" name="more"></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">Life can be most cruel when your body outlives your mind. Her children have watched her become more helpless over time. She struggles to communicate, cannot stay with conversations, and at times becomes frustrated and agitated. This is not her - dementia has taken its toll. As I sit, I remember little of past conversations or lessons taught. I remember a woman who grieved with those who grieved and rejoiced with those who rejoiced. She was simple in many ways, but she was faithful. She was faithful to a husband who could be difficult. She was faithful to children who could disappoint. She was faithful to her church: preparing meals, organizing funerals, teaching children, bearing slights. A lifetime of “you before me” – caring for her family, her church, serving her God faithfully. Faithful trumps brilliance.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I pause for a moment and thank God for her condition. While I wish she knew my kids (she would have loved to hear Calvin preach), and I could express my love, I know that the current limitations have lessoned the sting of losing her husband – her daughter. I thank God that this is “temporary, light affliction” – and look forward to an eternity where there is no more sorrow, or tears, or suffering, or disappointment. I am reminded of the long-reaching effects of sin, and I am filled with a sense of urgency not to waste the days or “waste my suffering.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Her eyes open and she says, “Oh, wow!” She cannot tell you who I am – but she knows I am someone special. Our visit is limited by language – we hold hands and she smiles. She yawns and drifts in and out of sleep, each time awaking and saying, “Oh, wow!” I gently let go of her hand and try to time my exit for when she is asleep. I kiss her forehead and whisper, “I love you”, and leave for what I expect will be the last time.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">As I drive away, I am limited by language to express my love for the mother who prayed with me as a child and led me to Jesus.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div></div><div class="post-footer" style="background-color: #eeeeee; border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: -2px; margin-right: -2px; margin-top: 20px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px;"></div>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-25371268356642823432011-06-21T18:31:00.000-07:002011-06-21T18:31:47.444-07:00John Piper - Why he is so lovedJohn Piper, maybe more than any other pastor today, has made a huge impact on a generation of younger pastors. Sometimes when I read his books, it seems like it takes him ten pages to say what could be said in two sentences. Sometimes when I listen to his sermons, I find myself wishing I was listening to a more <br />
<a name='more'></a>entertaining communicator. And then I see a small clip like the one below and I remember. I remember that I have heard him speak just once in person and I can remember the whole sermon. And I remember that everytime I hear him speak, I get excited about the things of God. Have a listen.<br />
<br />
http://thegospelcoalition.org/resources/video/What-Is-The-Gospel---John-PiperDavid Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-13054230187938106332011-05-10T15:39:00.000-07:002011-05-10T15:39:58.719-07:00Great article about being a wife by a wife<h1 style="color: black; font-family: LeagueGothic, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0em; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Once again, as soon as I am done preaching on a topic - a great article on the issue is released. The great thing about this article - it is written by a women. It creates more credibility than if I were to say the words.<a name='more'></a></span></span></h1><h1 style="color: black; font-family: LeagueGothic, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 4em; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0em; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</h1><h1 style="color: black; font-family: LeagueGothic, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 4em; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0em; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Being a Wife Is All About Jesus</h1><div id="post_meta" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><cite><a href="http://theresurgence.com/authors/pastor-dave-kraft" style="color: #ba0000; cursor: pointer;">Jennifer Smidt</a></cite> <strong>»</strong> <a class="category" href="http://theresurgence.com/categories/god" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #cccccc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px 5px; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 0.9em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">God</a> <a class="category" href="http://theresurgence.com/categories/family" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #cccccc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px 5px; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 0.9em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Family</a> <a class="category" href="http://theresurgence.com/categories/marriage" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #cccccc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px 5px; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 0.9em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Marriage</a> <a class="category" href="http://theresurgence.com/categories/complementarian" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #cccccc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px 5px; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 0.9em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Complementarian</a> <a class="category" href="http://theresurgence.com/categories/mutual-submission" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #cccccc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px 5px; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 0.9em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Mutual Submission</a></div><div id="text" style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 85px; padding-right: 85px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="" class="full_bleed" height="402" src="http://cdn.theresurgence.com/files/2011/05/10/wife.jpg?1305052143" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; display: block; float: left; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-left: -115px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: auto; text-align: center;" width="720" /></div><div class="callout" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 5px; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: initial; border-top-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 5px; color: #777777; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.4em; font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 40px; margin-left: -25px; margin-right: -25px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 20px;"><a class="lbsBibleRef" data-reference="1 Peter 3.1" data-version="ESV" href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/1%20Peter%203.1" style="color: #ba0000; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">1 Peter 3:1</a> Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Any woman who has turned to the Bible for an understanding of what it is to be a biblical wife has encountered this verse. Like an old familiar friend, we strive to know its meaning and go about applying modern-day relevance to this command.</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><h2 style="color: black; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.6em; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0em; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 30px;">It Starts with, "Likewise"</h2><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">All too often, we skim over the most important piece. We jump straight to the slightly heavy-feeling task of defining wife, submission, and the subsequent implications for our lives. We do not stop to consider the <em style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.05em; font-style: italic;">likewise</em>.</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Likewise changes everything. It means similarly; in like manner. 1 Peter 2 discusses Jesus’ mission, life, and death -- so that becoming wife is even possible. Who he is and what he has done paves the way for women to be wives. Often, we look to the Proverbs 31 woman alone for our template of female godliness. We are tempted to think, “She was the wife who did it all. Let’s copy her”.</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><h2 style="color: black; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.6em; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0em; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 30px;">It’s All About Him, Not Her</h2><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Jesus alone is our means, our model, and our motivation for biblical wife. And yes, I do realize he wasn’t a woman. Peter is telling us ladies that as Jesus subjected himself to obedience and suffering, we must likewise place our hope and purpose into the hands of the Father to be wives at all. He exchanged our sin for his righteousness so we could offer something of his love and selflessness in our marriages. </div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><h2 style="color: black; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.6em; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0em; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 30px;">Mine before Mrs.</h2><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">We belong to Jesus. God calls us to be his daughters as the core identity of our womanhood. For some, he will call to become wife in addition, but never in competition, to that identity. Being a godly wife flows from being a committed daughter<strong>.</strong> </div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><h2 style="color: black; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.6em; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0em; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 30px;">4 R’s for the Biblical Wife</h2><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Reason: Worship</strong></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="lbsBibleRef" data-reference="Genesis 1.27" data-version="ESV" href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Genesis%201.27" style="color: #ba0000; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">Genesis 1:27</a> tells us we are, male and female, created in the image of God. Our sole reason for living is to reflect the image of our Father in worship of Him alone. <a class="lbsBibleRef" data-reference="John 4.23" data-version="ESV" href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/John%204.23" style="color: #ba0000; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">John 4:23</a> lays out the call, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” As women and as wives, we are to pour out our lives in worship to the King.</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Role: Helper</strong></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The role woman was given by God in <a class="lbsBibleRef" data-reference="Genesis 2.18" data-version="ESV" href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Genesis%202.18" style="color: #ba0000; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">Genesis 2:18</a> is helper. It is the Hebrew word <em style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.05em; font-style: italic;">ezer</em> which God also uses for himself in Psalms, John, and Hebrews. Helper is not a second-class position. It is a high calling accepted with humility and confidence. We are not vying with our men to “arrive” someday as something other than what we were called to be -- a support, advisor, comfort, and friend to our husbands.</div><blockquote style="color: #ba0000; font-family: LeagueGothic, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5em; font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 30px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 0px;"><big class="open" style="color: black; float: left; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 6em; height: 30px; line-height: 0em; margin-bottom: -60px; margin-top: 50px;">“</big><div style="font-family: LeagueGothic, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5em; font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">A marriage license and a sparkling ring do not automatically transform a woman into a wife who honors God.</div><big class="close" style="color: black; float: right; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 6em; line-height: 0em; margin-top: 10px;">”</big></blockquote><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Response: Submission</strong></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Submission is the heart response of a godly woman who has put herself under Christ and her husband. It is an act of the will carried out joyfully and willingly because she recognizes the gift of grace she has received. Submission is the single-most precious place of safety and freedom that a woman could ever know. Deep belief and complete trust in Jesus to sustain a wife makes submission to even the most difficult man possible.</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Responsibility: Respect</strong></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="lbsBibleRef" data-reference="Ephesians 5.33" data-version="ESV" href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ephesians%205.33" style="color: #ba0000; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">Ephesians 5:33</a> urges wives to see to it that we respect our husbands. It is a command and not a suggestion. It is our responsibility to communicate respect in our words, tone of voice, attitudes, and actions. True respect for our husbands will spring out of a hear that rejoices in the grace we as wives have received and the grace that we know our husbands need. They desire your respect; they <em style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.05em; font-style: italic;">need</em> Jesus. The most respectful posture you can take as a wife is one of grace -- the same grace offered to you in your time of need.</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><h2 style="color: black; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.6em; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0em; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 30px;">In Christ Alone</h2><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">We try to muster up submisson, respect, and help for our men without humbly recognizing this thing called wife is made possible by Jesus alone. A marriage license and a sparkling ring do not automatically transform a woman into a wife who honors God. The grace offered and the righteousness bestowed at the cross is what makes you a godly wife who willingly subjects herself to her husband. Dying to yourself because the Savior died for you is the call for the biblical wife. Your marriage will thrive because of life found in Christ; recognizing your daily need for a Savior and dependant upon his righteousness alone.</div><div><br />
</div></div>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-18832295980054949342011-05-09T14:42:00.000-07:002011-05-09T14:42:46.346-07:00Killing off Marriage<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #363636; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br />
<h1 class="post-title" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #363636; font-family: LeagueGothicRegular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Murphy's law at work again! Why is it the moment I am done studying a topic (marriage), I find a bunch of new resources on the topic.</span></h1><h1 class="post-title" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #363636; font-family: LeagueGothicRegular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 48px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a name='more'></a></h1><h1 class="post-title" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #363636; font-family: LeagueGothicRegular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 48px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
</h1><h1 class="post-title" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #363636; font-family: LeagueGothicRegular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 48px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Killing Off Marriage? Dr. Ablow Reports — You Decide</h1><div class="post-excerpt" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #717171; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Marriage is so essential to human happiness and to the organization of human society that it simply cannot be ignored or denied.</div></div><div class="post-date" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Monday, May 9, 2011</div><div class="post-content" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 24px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.albertmohler.com/files/2011/05/101451620.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #eb7b02; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-21187" height="199" src="http://www.albertmohler.com/files/2011/05/101451620-300x199.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-width: initial; float: right; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 6px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></a>Dr. Keith Ablow thinks that marriage is “a source of real suffering for the vast majority of married people.” As a matter of fact, that is only one of the accusations Ablow hurls against marriage before eventually calling for its demise. Marriage, he insists, is a dying institution — and he celebrates its death.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">Few might know or care of Ablow’s thoughts on the matter but for the fact that he is a psychiatrist and a member of the “Fox News Medical A-Team.” FoxNews.com recently published his assault on marriage, and the essay is sure to gain attention.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ablow begins by quoting actress Cameron Diaz, who recently asserted that marriage is a “dying institution.” She added this comment: “I don’t think we should live our lives in relationships based off old traditions that don’t suit our world any longer.” Well, maybe that says a lot about her own world of experience and influence, but it is a breathtakingly audacious statement. It also reflects a view held by many among the intellectual and cultural elites, among whom marriage has been seen as a retrograde institution for some time.<span id="more-21186" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div><div class="section related-blogs" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #e6e6e6; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(215, 215, 215); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(215, 215, 215); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(215, 215, 215); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(215, 215, 215); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 248px;"><h2 class="section-title" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 54, 54); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #363636; font-family: LeagueGothicRegular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">RELATED POSTS</h2><ul style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(54, 54, 54); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.albertmohler.com/2006/08/09/its-always-a-disaster-young-people-on-marriage/" rel="bookmark" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #363636; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Permanent Link: “It’s Always a Disaster” — Young People on Marriage">“It’s Always a Disaster” — Young People on Marriage</a></li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.albertmohler.com/2009/12/14/guarding-the-heart-from-adultery-killing-opportunity/" rel="bookmark" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #363636; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Permanent Link: Guarding the Heart from Adultery: Killing Opportunity">Guarding the Heart from Adultery: Killing Opportunity</a> (Audio)</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.albertmohler.com/2008/04/02/marriage-and-the-glory-of-god/" rel="bookmark" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #363636; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Permanent Link: Marriage and the Glory of God">Marriage and the Glory of God</a></li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.albertmohler.com/2006/06/08/marriage-ministry-and-credibility/" rel="bookmark" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #363636; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Permanent Link: Marriage, Ministry, and Credibility">Marriage, Ministry, and Credibility</a></li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.albertmohler.com/2006/03/09/why-not-privatize-marriage-heres-why/" rel="bookmark" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #363636; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Permanent Link: Why Not Privatize Marriage? Here’s Why">Why Not Privatize Marriage? Here’s Why</a></li>
</ul></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Keith Ablow adds his hearty approval to Cameron Diaz’s indictment of marriage, adding that he is “not certain marriage ever did suit most people who tried it.”</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">He elaborated:</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em>From what I hear in my psychiatry office, and from what I hear from other psychiatrists and psychologists, and from what my friends and relatives tell me and show me through their behavior, and from the fact that most marriages end either in divorce <a class="kLink" href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/05/06/dr-keith-ablow-cameron-diaz-right-4-reasons-marriage-dying-institution/#" id="KonaLink0" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #eb7b02; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></a>or acrimony, marriage is (as it has been for decades now) a source of real suffering for the vast majority of married people</em>.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">The physician claimed the mantle of a healer in diagnosing the epidemic consequences of humanity’s most enduring institution: “As a healer, I can’t help looking askance at anything that depletes energy, optimism, mood and passion to the extent that marriage does. It is, without a doubt, one of the leading causes of major depression in the nation.” Note his concern for “energy, optimism, mood and passion” — as if these constitute the greatest needs or aspirations of humanity. Dr. Ablow may be a psychiatrist, but a quick look at his books indicates concerns more in line with pop psychology.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">The doctor diagnoses the ills of marriage with four arguments. First, he asserts that “the involvement of the state in marriage has been a colossal mistake.” Governmental involvement “debases” marriage, which is properly a religious institution. Government involvement renders marriage “sterile, linked to legislation and weighted down with legal implications that are psychologically suffocating.”</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">He adds this: “Smart, aware people feel consciously or unconsciously disempowered from the moment they say, ‘I do.’” Really? Just because marriage is a legal institution? This is sheer nonsense, of course, and it is a very unintelligent argument as well. Marriage is granted legal recognition precisely because it is a public declaration with public meaning. The law, he says, should not distinguish between single and married persons (or, he offers as well, three cohabitating people), and individuals or couples could merely go to lawyers for contracts as needed.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">That would lead to legal, moral, and cultural chaos. If the state were to “have no role in marriage, whatsoever,” it would simply mean that the government has decided to call marriage by some other name. Given the realities of human life, some standardized means of recognizing privileged relationships is a necessity. No civilization exists without it. This is true even in societies that separate the religious and legal definitions and authorizations of marriage. There is no major society that exists without marriage, and those rare movements in history that sought to eliminate marriage led to disaster.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">Secondly, Ablow argues that marriage is dying because of the invention of oral contraceptives. Brace yourselves for this one. “Once human beings understood that they could express themselves emotionally, romantically and sexually without necessarily creating multiple families and perilously dividing their assets, the psychological pain of living without sexual passion (even by choice) was significantly intensified.” If you are looking for a prime example of the psychiatric subversion of all morality, look no further.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">Keith Ablow is arguing, quite straightforwardly, that The Pill offers a chemical means of allowing adultery, and that this is liberation for humanity. Marriage, in his view, kills sexual passion. “The vast, vast majority of men and women, in fact, are no longer physically attracted to their spouses after five or ten years (that’s being kind),” he says. “If they have seen one another most of that time.”</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">He doesn’t stop there. Few “normal people” maintain sexual interest in a marriage, he insists. “Human beings just are not built to desire one another once we have flossed in the same room a hundred times and shared a laundry basket for thousands of days.”</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">Third, and most inanely, Ablow argues that marriage “inherently deprives men and women of the joy of being ‘chosen’ on a daily basis.” No kidding. He argues that the vows of marriage deprive us of the experience of being chosen by our spouse every single day. Most married people “have to wonder whether their spouses really want to stay, or simply don’t want to go through the hassle of leaving.”</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">This argument is not only nonsensical, but it makes us wonder if Dr. Ablow has any real understanding of human beings. Does he really believe that — even if marriage were to disappear as a legal institution — men and women would re-decide their most intimate relationships and commitments every day, free to come and go without emotional pain and complication? Seriously?</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">Finally, Dr. Ablow argues that marriage is being undermined by hypocrisy. In his words: “The fact that millions of Americans take vows to stay in marriages for life, then leave those marriages — once, twice, maybe three times — has so trivialized and mocked those vows that many silently chuckle to themselves while listening to them.”</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">Well, now he is on to something real and important. No one can seriously doubt that this kind of hypocrisy is indeed weakening marriage both as an institution and as a personal commitment. But, in a strange way, the hypocrisy accidentally affirms the importance of marriage and the marital vows. Even those who break their marital vows do so after affirming in public what marriage <em>ought</em>to be and was always meant to be. The answer to hypocrisy is moral correction and a return to integrity in making and keeping the sacred vows of marriage. We do not solve the hypocrisy of the liar by rejecting the very idea of truth.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">Coming to the end of his argument, Dr. Ablow insists that the end of marriage is “only a matter of time now.” Marriage is passing away, and we should plan for “what might replace it.” His great goal: “We should come up with something that improves the quality of our lives and those of our children.”</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">We can only wonder at the audacity of a man who champions the impermanence of relationships, argues that couples cannot long remain attracted to each other, celebrates the sexual liberation from marriage made possible by The Pill, declares marriage “a source of real suffering for the vast majority of married people,” and then calls us to something better for our lives and those of our children.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">The current controversies over marriage, oddly enough, affirm what Dr. Keith Ablow denies. Marriage is so essential to human happiness and to the organization of human society that it simply cannot be ignored or denied. Of course, there are those who want to deny the obvious — apparently even on the “Fox News Medical A-Team.” Keith Ablow’s assault on marriage is a sign of our times — and an embarrassment.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;">Original Post: http://www.albertmohler.com/2011/05/09/killing-off-marriage-dr-ablow-reports-you-decide/</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 21px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
</div></div>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-74865459501933335282011-05-09T14:28:00.000-07:002011-05-09T14:28:01.087-07:00Nine Myths about Sex<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">The following article gives some useful information about what people believe about sex and marriage. I am throwing it on the blog for reference purposes. I find it interesting, after spending the last two weeks studying and preaching on marriage, that every time the world comes up with a "better way" to do relationships, you end up with a lot of unsatisfied people.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="" name="more"></a></span><h1 style="color: black; font-family: LeagueGothic, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 4em; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0em; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;">9 Myths About Sex & Relationships Among Emerging Adults</h1><div id="post_meta" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><cite><a href="http://theresurgence.com/authors/bj-stockman" style="color: #ba0000; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">BJ Stockman</a></cite> <strong>»</strong> <a class="category" href="http://theresurgence.com/categories/marriage" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #cccccc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px 5px; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 0.9em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Marriage</a> <a class="category" href="http://theresurgence.com/categories/dating" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #cccccc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px 5px; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 0.9em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Dating</a> <a class="category" href="http://theresurgence.com/categories/worldviews" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #cccccc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px 5px; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 0.9em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Worldviews</a> <a class="category" href="http://theresurgence.com/categories/body" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #cccccc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-left-radius: 5px 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px 5px; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 0.9em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Body</a></div><div id="text" style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 85px; padding-right: 85px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="" class="full_bleed" height="402" src="http://cdn.theresurgence.com/files/2011/05/08/10myths.jpg?1304916272" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976562) 1px 1px 5px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1px; border-width: initial; display: block; float: left; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-left: -115px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: auto; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px; text-align: center;" width="720" /></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Social researchers Mark Regnerus and Jeremy Uecker expose nine myths about sex and relationships among emerging adults in America (ages 18-23) in their book, <em style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.05em; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/PremaritalSexinAmericaHowYoungAmericansMeetMateandThinkaboutMarryingHardcover/dp/0199743282/?tag=theresurgence-20" style="color: #ba0000; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Premarital Sex: How Young Americans Meet, Mate, And Think About Marrying</a></em>. What follows are their myths:</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Myth: Long-term exclusivity is a fiction</span></div><ul style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 40px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://cdn.theresurgence.com/images/bullet.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 10px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;">Truth: Half of all marriages last a lifetime, and extramarital affairs are not as common as assumed.</li>
</ul><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Myth: The introduction of sex is necessary in order to sustain a fledging or struggling relationship</span></div><ul style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 40px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://cdn.theresurgence.com/images/bullet.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 10px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;">Truth: The quicker sex enters a relationship the sooner the relationships fails, and most relationships fail.</li>
</ul><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Myth: Boys will be boys. That is, men can’t be expected to abide by the sexual terms that women may wish to set. You may not want the double-standard to be there, but it’s there</span></div><ul style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 40px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://cdn.theresurgence.com/images/bullet.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 10px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;">Truth: Women may enjoy sex as much as men, but they do not think and feel the same way about it. Generally they “set higher standards for their relationships.”</li>
</ul><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Myth: It doesn’t matter what other people do sexually; you make your own decisions</span></div><ul style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 40px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://cdn.theresurgence.com/images/bullet.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 10px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;">Truth: The actions and attitudes of others affect your decisions: “if a critical mass of men and women enjoy an extended series of sexual relationships and expect sex fairly promptly within them, it becomes quite difficult for a minority to do otherwise.”</li>
</ul><blockquote style="color: #ba0000; font-family: LeagueGothic, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5em; font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 30px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 0px;"><big class="open" style="color: black; float: left; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 6em; height: 30px; line-height: 0em; margin-bottom: -60px; margin-top: 50px;">“</big><div style="font-family: LeagueGothic, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5em; font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It is emotionally challenging for women to engage in casual sex and to experience a broken sexual relationship.</div><big class="close" style="color: black; float: right; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 6em; line-height: 0em; margin-top: 10px;">”</big></blockquote><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Myth: Porn won’t affect your relationships</span></div><ul style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 40px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://cdn.theresurgence.com/images/bullet.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 10px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;">Truth: Because more and more men are viewing porn regularly it “cannot but shape sexual market dynamics.” And studies have shown that the tandem of porn and masturbation actually<em style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.05em; font-style: italic;"> "reduces the value of intercourse”</em> because it is much more physiologically satisfying than masturbation alone. “Porn becomes easier, and so must women (on average).”</li>
</ul><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Myth: Everyone else is having more sex than you are</span></div><ul style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 40px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://cdn.theresurgence.com/images/bullet.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 10px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;">Truth: You are less conservative than you think –"most still overestimate how much sex is actually going on around them." The authors write about this phenomena of pluralistic ignorance, “it happens when individuals within a group begin to believe that their own <em style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.05em; font-style: italic;">private</em> attitudes, beliefs, or judgments are more conservative and rare than the <em style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.05em; font-style: italic;">public</em> norms they see displayed by others.”</li>
</ul><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Myth: Sex need not mean anything</span></div><ul style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 40px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://cdn.theresurgence.com/images/bullet.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 10px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;">Truth: This myth can occur broadly between the sexes, but exists especially among women. It is emotionally challenging for women to engage in casual sex and to experience a broken sexual relationship.</li>
</ul><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Myth: Marriage can always wait</span></div><ul style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 40px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://cdn.theresurgence.com/images/bullet.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 10px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;">Truth: Most emerging adults still want to get married – eventually. They put off marriage for years and years and thus the marriage market “does not grow deeper and more impressive with age.” Thus, the authors encourage “men and women who’ve met someone who is ‘marriage material’ to think twice before rejecting the notion that they’re just not ready yet.”</li>
</ul><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Myth: Moving in together is definitely a step toward marriage</span></div><ul style="font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 40px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://cdn.theresurgence.com/images/bullet.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 10px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font: normal normal normal 1em/1.75 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;">Truth: In most cases, cohabitation does not last. “It overwhelmingly leads to either marriage or breakup within a few short years.” It is also more advantageous to men than to women as it gives them “more stable access to sex, without the expectations or commitments of marital responsibilities.”</li>
</ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 29px;">Original Link:http://theresurgence.com/2011/05/09/9-myths-about-sex-relationships-among-emerging-adults</span></div></div>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-61289554496647303652011-05-09T14:15:00.000-07:002011-05-09T14:15:14.139-07:00Dying Churches = Revival of FaithI am very grateful to be involved in a young church that is growing, seeing people commit their lives to Christ and responding to the Gospel. I am also glad to be part of a fellowship of churches that is growing and planting new churches throughout the world.<br />
<a name='more'></a>I realize that we are in the minority position. Around the country and within our own community, churches are struggling with declining attendance, disinterest, and lack of fruitfulness.<br />
<br />
This interesting thing is this - this might actually be good news for Christianity and revival. I have attached a link from a discussion by Tim Keller (theological "rock star") where he argues that much of what is dying away is actually the "Mushy Middle" - clarifying the lines between the churches that preach the Gospel and the world that rejects it.<br />
<br />
I am reminded of Revelation 3:15-16:<br />
<br />
<br />
I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.<br />
<br />
<br />
Take a look.<br />
<br />
http://theresurgence.com/2011/05/05/the-death-of-the-mushy-middleDavid Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-90706401264484164352011-04-21T11:19:00.000-07:002011-04-21T11:19:19.929-07:00The Roots of Bad Theology<h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font: normal normal normal 22px/normal 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; position: relative;">The Roots to Bad Theology</h3><div class="post-header" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div class="post-header-line-1"></div></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5646286104437609849" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 466px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Seldom does bad theology spring up all by itself. I remember years ago there was an issue that made a stir in our community: Mars Hills church in Grand Rapids had decided to have women elders. Now there are a lot of churches with women elders and while I disagree with their decision, this is not some earth-shaking issue. However, what was interesting was why Mars Hill had made this decision.<a name='more'></a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="" name="more"></a>Rob bell, their pastor, was grasping onto an new way of looking at scripture called the Redemptive Hermeneutic, made popular by William Webb in his book: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis</u>. In essence, the redemptive hermeneutic teaches that if you can see trajectory (who defines?) on how an issue is treated in the Old Testament verses the way it is treated in the New Testament, we have the liberty to carry that trajectory forward into our current culture. One of the examples Webb cites in his book is the role of women: OT=possession, NT="Love your wives", current culture=equal in all aspects. See, the issue wasn't women elders - it was how they got there. The problems with this hermeneutic include:</span><br />
<br />
<ul style="line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 2.5em; padding-right: 2.5em; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">trajectory is subjective - who get to decide when and how far to go.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the idea of absolute truth is gone - it is in the eye of the person deciding trajectory</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">in all of this, there is a message behind the message (sound familiar) - anyone who holds to the traditional teachings of the Bible has fallen behind God's intended, progressive nature of His revelation. </span></li>
</ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was looking through my files at home and came across the notes from a class I taught in 2006, spelling out the dangers of the redemptive hermeneutic. I closed that class with the comment: "It will be interesting to see where all this leads."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was wrong. It's not interesting - it's just sad.</span></div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #35383c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span id="ctl00_MainSection_lblTitle" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 24px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #35383c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span id="ctl00_MainSection_lblTitle" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 24px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #35383c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span id="ctl00_MainSection_lblTitle" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 24px;">Rob Bell’s Unbelief in His own Words</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #35383c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #35383c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span id="ctl00_MainSection_lblDate" style="color: #999999; font-size: 11px;">Monday, April 18, 2011</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #35383c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #35383c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #35383c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #35383c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span class="blogLinks" id="ctl00_MainSection_lblContent"></span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="5"><tbody>
<tr><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; font-size: 15px;"><em>“I have as much in common with the performance artist, the standup comedian, the screenwriter, as I do with the theologian. I'm in an odd world where I make things and share them with people." </em>--<a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles_of_faith/2009/09/rob_bell.html" style="color: #003366; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" title="Rob Bell on faith, suffering, and Christians"><strong>Rob Bell</strong></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="Rob Bell" height="191" src="http://www.gty.org/media/images/Rob-Bell-Part-2-Small-1.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976562) 1px 1px 5px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: black; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: black; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: black; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; float: left; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px;" title="Rob Bell’s Unbelief in His own Words" width="200" />Rob Bell’s denial of eternal punishment goes hand in hand with a warped view of the gospel. No wonder. Each error fuels and exacerbates the other. Eliminate every hint of punishment for sin; ignore the wrath of an offended deity; dismiss the demands of divine justice, and you abolish any need for the gospel.</div><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The only hell that exists in Bell’s theology is a state of mind or an earthly experience of suffering that Bell says God wants eliminated. But it’s up to us to live rightly in order to end whatever hell on earth we might suffer. By living the right way we can exchange our earthly hell for a strikingly earthbound sort of heaven.</div><br />
<blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Rob Bell, <em>Velvet Elvis</em>, 148: </strong><em>"</em>When people use the word <em>hell,</em> what do they mean? They mean a place, an event, a situation absent of how God desires things to be. Famine, debt, oppression, loneliness, despair, death, slaughter--they are all hell on earth. Jesus' desire for his followers is that they live in such a way that they bring heaven to earth.</div></blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In that same paragraph, Bell ridicules the notion that the anguish of eternal hell is a greater and ultimately more serious problem than the afflictions of this present life.</div><blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">What's disturbing is when people talk more about hell after this life than they do about Hell here and now. As a Christian, I want to do what I can to resist hell coming to earth."</div></blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In Bell’s view, the reason eternal hell is nothing to be concerned about is because full reconciliation is already accomplished for everyone. Again, all people have to do is live accordingly:</div><blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Rob Bell, <em>Velvet Elvis</em>, 83: </strong><em>This reality, this forgiveness, this reconciliation, </em><strong><em>is true for everybody</em></strong><em><strong>.</strong></em><em> Paul insisted that when Jesus died on the cross he was reconciling ‘all things, in heaven and on earth, to God. This reality then isn’t something we make true about ourselves by doing something. It is already true. Our choice is to live in this new reality or cling to a reality of our own making.”</em><em></em></div></blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In other words, the only remedy for Bell’s hell is something like the power of positive thinking. First of all, we must stop thinking of ourselves as sinners:</div><blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Rob Bell, <em>Velvet Elvis</em>, 130: </strong>“I can’t find one place in the teachings of Jesus, or the Bible for that matter, where we are to identify ourselves first and foremost as sinners.”<em></em></div></blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em></em></div><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Furthermore, Bell suggests this notion that universal reconciliation is “already true” means Christians should not make any differentiation between believers and unbelievers:<em></em></div><blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong><em>Velvet Elvis</em></strong><strong>, 167: </strong>If the gospel isn’t good news for everybody, then it isn’t good news for anybody.</div><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">And this is because the most powerful things happen when the church surrenders its desire to convert people and convince them to join. It is when the church gives itself away in radical acts of service and compassion, expecting nothing in return, that the way of Jesus is most vividly put on display.</div><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">To do this, the church must stop thinking about everybody primarily in categories of in or out, saved or not, believer or nonbeliever. Besides the fact that these terms are offensive to those who are the “un” and “non”, they work against Jesus’ teachings about how we are to treat each other. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor, and our neighbor can be anybody. <strong>We are all created in the image of God, and we are all sacred, valuable creations of God. Everybody matters.</strong>To treat people differently based on who believes what is to fail to respect the image of God in everyone. As the book of James says, “<em>God shows no favoritism</em>.” So we don’t either.”</div></blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Bell therefore attempts to shift the emphasis from <em>personal </em>salvation for sinners, to an ambiguous emphasis on this vague hope of universal restoration:</div><blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Rob Bell and Don Golden, <em>Jesus Wants to Save Christians</em>, 179: </strong>“Jesus wants to save us from making the good news about another world and not this one. Jesus wants to save us from preaching a gospel that is only about individuals and not about the systems that enslave them. Jesus wants to save us from shrinking the gospel down to a transaction about the removal of sin and not about every single particle of creation being reconciled to its maker.”</div></blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">He turns faith on its head:</div><blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Rob Bell, <em>Velvet Elvis</em>, 124–25: </strong>“Who does Peter lose faith in? Not Jesus; he is doing fine. Peter loses faith in himself. Peter loses faith that he can do what his rabbi is doing. If the rabbi calls you to be his disciple, then he believes that you can actually be like him. As we read the stories of Jesus’ life with his talmidim, his disciples, what do we find frustrates him to no end? When his disciples lose faith in themselves…. God has an amazingly high view of people. God believes that people are capable of amazing things. I’ve been told I need to believe in Jesus. Which is a good thing. But what I’m learning is that Jesus believes in me. I have been told that I need to have faith in God. Which is a good thing. But what I am learning is that God has faith in me.”</div></blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">All those quotations are from sources that have been in print for years. These are not new opinions being floated by Bell for the first time. So when <em>Love Wins</em> denies the heart of the gospel message, as Kevin DeYoung points out below, why should we be surprised?</div><blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Kevin DeYoung, </strong><strong><a href="http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/03/14/rob-bell-love-wins-review/" style="color: #003366; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" title="“God Is Still Holy and What You Learned in Sunday School Is Still True: A Review of Love Wins”">“God Is Still Holy and What You Learned in Sunday School Is Still True: A Review of Love Wins”:</a></strong><strong> </strong>Bell categorically rejects any notion of penal substitution. It simply does not work in his system or with his view of God. “Let’s be very clear, then,” Bell states, “we do not need to be rescued from God. God is the one who rescues us from death, sin, and destruction. God is the rescuer” (182). I see no place in Bell’s theology for Christ the curse-bearer (<a class="lbsBibleRef" href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Gal.%203.13" style="color: #003366; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Gal. 3:13</a>), or Christ wounded for our transgressions and crushed by God for our iniquities (<a class="lbsBibleRef" href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Isa.%2053.5" style="color: #003366; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Isa. 53:5</a>, <a class="lbsBibleRef" href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Isa%2053.10" style="color: #003366; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">10</a>), no place for the Son of Man who gave his life as a ransom for many (<a class="lbsBibleRef" href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Mark%2010.45" style="color: #003366; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Mark 10:45</a>), no place for the Savior who was made sin for us (<a class="lbsBibleRef" href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/2%20Cor.%205.21" style="color: #003366; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">2 Cor. 5:21</a>), no place for the sorrowful suffering Servant who drank the bitter cup of God’s wrath for our sake (<a class="lbsBibleRef" href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Mark%2014.36" style="color: #003366; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Mark 14:36</a>).</div></blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Ultimately, all of this goes back to Bell’s view of the Bible. Having rejected biblical authority, Bell has set himself up as his own authority.</div><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Bell has never affirmed the Protestant principle of <em>sola Scriptura</em>.</div><blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Rob Bell, <em>Velvet Elvis</em>, 67–68: </strong>“It wasn’t until the 300s that what we know as the sixty-six books of the Bible were actually agreed upon as the ‘Bible’. This is part of the problem with continually insisting that one of the absolutes of the Christian faith must be a belief that “Scripture alone” is our guide. It sounds nice, but it is not true. In reaction to abuses by the church, a group of believers during a time called the Reformation claimed that we only need the authority of the Bible. But the problem is that we got the Bible from the church voting on what the Bible even is. So when I affirm the Bible as God’s Word, in the same breath I have to affirm that when those people voted, God was somehow present, guiding them to do what they did. When people say that all we need is the Bible, it is simply not true. In affirming the Bible as inspired, I also have to affirm the Spirit who I believe was inspiring those people to choose those books.”</div></blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Thus, he sees the Bible as merely a human book.</div><blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Andy Crouch, </strong><strong><a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/november/12.36.html" style="color: #003366; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" title="“Emergent Mystique,” Christianity Today (Nov. 2004)">“Emergent Mystique,” Christianity Today (Nov. 2004):</a></strong><strong> </strong>The Bells started questioning their assumptions about the Bible itself<strong>–</strong>“discovering the Bible as a human product,” as Rob puts it, rather than the product of divine fiat. “The Bible is still in the center for us,” Rob says, “but it’s a different kind of center. We want to embrace mystery, rather than conquer it.”</div><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“I grew up thinking that we’ve figured out the Bible,” Kristen says, “that we knew what it means. Now I have no idea what most of it means. And yet I feel like life is big again–like life used to be black and white, and now it’s in color…”</div></blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Consequently, he has no problem ignoring certain parts of Scripture and reimagining others.</div><blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Charles Honey, </strong><strong><a href="http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/2005/08/Velvet-Elvis-Author-Encourages-Exploration-Of-Doubts.aspx?p=2" style="color: #003366; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" title="“‘Velvet Elvis’ Author Encourages Exploration of Doubts,” Religion News Service (Aug. 2005)">“‘Velvet Elvis’ Author Encourages Exploration of Doubts,” Religion News Service (Aug. 2005):</a></strong><strong> </strong>The Bible itself, he writes, is a book that constantly must be wrestled with and re-interpreted. He dismisses claims that "Scripture alone" will answer all questions. Bible interpretation is colored by historical context, the reader's bias and current realities, he says. The more you study the Bible, the more questions it raises. "It is not possible to simply do what the Bible says," Bell writes. "We must first make decisions about what it means at this time, in this place, for these people."</div></blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">As a result, Bell is comfortable distorting clear gospel passages, so as to escape the unmistakable meaning of the passage. For example, when asked about the narrow gate in <a class="lbsBibleRef" href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Matthew%207.13%E2%80%9314" style="color: #003366; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Matthew 7:13–14</a>, Bell responded with this novel interpretation:</div><blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Rob Bell, Interview with Lisa Miller (March 2011):</strong> “I think it’s a great passage because the things in life that matter take incredible intention. And I think it’s a passage ultimately about intention and the power of devoting yourself to something and to somebody. . . . Jesus—I think—is speaking of all the different ways that we lose the plot of what it means to be human. So there was a very real, political climate that He lived in and a number of people said, ‘The thing we are to do as faithful people of God, we are to pick up swords and we are to fight the Romans.’ And He’s like, ‘Okay, the sword thing? We’ve tried that. Let’s reclaim what it means to be a light to the world.’ And He takes them all the way back into their history, which was a narrow way, so I think it works.”</div></blockquote><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Excerpts like those and many others only reiterate the point that Rob Bell’s gospel is completely antithetical to the true gospel of historic Christianity.</div><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Why would we be surprised at the stance he takes in <em>Love Wins</em>?</div><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="John MacArthur (Grace to You)" height="41" src="http://www.gty.org/media/images/Signature-John.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976562) 1px 1px 5px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px;" title="John MacArthur (Grace to You)" width="193" /></div><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">John MacArthur<br />
Pastor-Teacher</div><div style="color: #35383c; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">origional post:http://www.gty.org/Blog/B110418</div><div><br />
</div></div>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-90596924042187948832011-04-19T08:49:00.000-07:002011-04-19T08:49:44.019-07:00Rob Bell - Cover of Time?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">As a pastor in West Michigan, I have wondered over the past few weeks just how big the controversy is surrounding Rob Bell and his book "Love Wins". Being "in the neighborhood", it is hard to tell if this issue is as big a deal in the bigger world of Christian Evangelicalism. However, Rob making the cover of Time Magazine, the week of Easter no less, appears to remove any concern I may have that this is a local issue. Consider, in the past week:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="" name="more"></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><ul style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 2.5em; padding-right: 2.5em; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;">The Gospel Coalition, a non-domoninational gathering of 5,000+ conservative Bible believing leaders, re-arrainged their conference schedule to add a forum to address the issue.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;">John MacArthur, a Bible teacher, pastor and author way out in California, has turned his full attention to the issues raised in Love Wins, as evidenced by a series of blogs on his website, including <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Rob Bell: a Brother to Embrace, or a Wolf to Avoid?</u>(h</span></span>ttp://www.gty.org/Blog/B110412). John has spent his life defending the accuracy, authenticity, and authority of God's Word. If this is in the center of his radar, we can be assured that this is a big deal.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;">Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Seminary, has found himself in the eye of this storm. His rebuttal to Rob's book was well-constructed, and Al's position has meant he is in the battle, quoted several times by the author of the Time article.</li>
</ul><div style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Some may recall I preached a response to Love Wins several weeks ago. My point: By failing to preach hell and holiness, the church has cheapened the gospel and opened the door for this type of false teaching. I am saddened by the whole mess. However, I am also more determined to preach the Gospel ("Jesus in my Place") at every opportunity. This week, while studying for Easter, I was reminded of this wonderful verse in Luke. Jesus, after his resurrection, appeared to Cleopas and a companion has they traveled from Jerusalem to Emmaus, discussing the events surrounding Christ's death and resurrection. Here is the account - pay special attention to verse 27.</div><div style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><div>Luke 24:13-35</div><div> That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, "What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" 19 And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. 22 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see." 25 And he said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" 27 <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: yellow;">And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.</span></div><div><br />
</div><div>28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29 but they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other,<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: yellow;">"Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?" </span>33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. </div><div><br />
</div></div><div style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">The challenge is straightforward: Each time we open the Bible, in each passage and every message, bring the Gospel to the center with boldness.</div>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338887522172392873.post-63363826672227942492011-04-18T19:39:00.000-07:002011-04-18T19:39:07.420-07:00Woe to the Pharisee in me.One of my favorite chapters in the gospels is Matthew 23. Jesus, using direct and creative language, jabs at the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. My favorite lines include:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<ul><li>You travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.</li>
<li>You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!</li>
<li>You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.</li>
<li>You are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.</li>
<li>You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? </li>
</ul>Jesus left little doubt what his true feelings were towards the Pharisees. But why the outburst? I used to think this chapter was there for my benefit - for me to use as a defense for my sarcasm and direct speech - but I'm pretty sure that line of reasoning is a stretch. Or maybe Jesus had become frustrated with the constant questioning and criticism He received by the religious leaders throughout his ministry. But upon close reflection, I don't think that Jesus is speaking out of frustration in Matthew 23. Jesus would have understood that the Scribes and Pharisees were serving a purpose in the redemptive story - their hatred of Jesus would lead to him being crucified - and paying the price for our sin. I can think of three reasons Jesus spoke so harshly to the Scribes and Pharisees, and there is something to be learned in each case.<br />
<br />
<ol><li>Jesus was in the last few days of his earthly ministry. Could it be that Jesus was so committed to do the will of the Father that he was willing to incite his opponents to action, knowing it would lead to His arrest and eventual crucification, paying the price for our sins? Could it be His outburst at the pharisees was for our benefit, my benefit, after all? </li>
<li>Jesus outburst in Matthew 23 gives us a view of how much Jesus hates religion. Religion is trying harder to be better to earn my way to God's favor. Religion stands in stark contrast to the Gospel: Jesus in my place. Our behavior has nothing to do with our salvation - the better we understand this, the more our salvation will drive us to our knees, and our behavior will be changed out of gratitude.</li>
<li>Matthew 23 closes with some of the most tender words Jesus ever uttered: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!" Jesus was deeply grieved that the "religion" of the pharisees had managed to lead a nation astray. A religious system of works keeps you very busy, and in that busyness you may find you miss the opportunity to see your Savior.</li>
</ol><div>Matthew 23 remains one of my favorite chapters. I am grateful my salvation is based on Jesus' works, not mine.</div>David Wisenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04233093554853619767noreply@blogger.com0