Skimming Past Repentance

It's a pretty common occurrence in our home.  We will tell our children to do something and find a few moments later that the something has not been done.  In response, I usually ask them, "Why didn't you do what I told you to do?"  More times than not, they will avoid answering my question altogether and immediately begin doing the something.  

My tendency is to let this fly.  I mean, why not?  The ultimate goal is accomplished - they did the something right?  Wrong.  The goal is not to merely get the something done, but to get it done from an obedient heart.  We want to raise Christians not Pharisees.  When we simply allow our children to flip the proverbial switch from disobedience to obedience, we fail to teach them the most distinguishing and significant practice of the Christian life - repentance and faith.

We shouldn't fool ourselves though.  We do this too.  And it would not be completely incorrect to say that our children have learned it from us.  In our typical routine we listen to sermons, read books as well as our Bible.  After learning that we have been living some part of our lives wrongly, we make a decision to change.  It's pretty simple.  I was doing this wrongly, I need to do it rightly.  I resolve now to do it rightly.  Case closed.

While this recipe of living may produce a behaving community, it really produces a very superficial and critical pack of religious wolves.

Living wrongly may affect us, but it does not affect only us.  As Christians under the Lordship of Christ, our lives are deeply personal and moral.  Sin always affects someone else, especially our personal God.  Switching the obedient switch is like telling your spouse after you have committed adultery, "It's okay babe, I have listened to a sermon.  I won't do that anymore.  Let's hug."  All this does is communicate that we could care less about everyone but ourselves.  Everyone else is valueless - they don't matter.

When we slow down, however, to consider how we have deeply offended someone by our disobedient behavior, we communicate that they matter - that their life is valuable.  Before we take an obedient step with our feet, we must make a confessional statement with our lips.  When we repent, we acknowledge all of who they are and all of who we are.  We are not religious success stories, we are fallen sinners.

This repentance produces both deep humility and deep faith.  Taking the time to mourn our sin provides the context for understanding that our righteousness is as filthy rags.  This repentance forces us to look beyond ourselves for righteousness.  It causes us to reach for the One who is perfect in obedience and who alone can repair our fallenness.  Clinging to Christ this way is the way of repentance and faith.

When we skim past repentance we communicate that we are the ones that matter and that we can obtain righteousness in our own strength.  But when we repent and embrace Christ, we communicate that He is the One that matters and that we desperately need His strength to do anything at all.

Another Irony In Atheism

Science, these days, is often associated with materialistic naturalism. Science is empirical; that is, it relies on experiments, observations and calculations to develop theories as well as test them. Materialistic naturalism is a belief that material nature is all there is. There is a natural/material explanation for everything. There is nothing supernatural.

If something seems extraordinary or supernatural, the naturalist believes that there must be an explanation that falls within the natural realm.  In other words, even if God Himself were to come to earth in a miraculous way, the naturalist would deny the supernaturally of it.  He would still deny God.

In 1995, the American Natural Association of Biology Teachers stated the position which is generally held by major science organizations and educators:

“The diversity of life on earth is the outcome of evolution: an unsupervised, impersonal, unpredictable and natural process of temporal descent with genetic modification that is affected by natural selection, chance, historical contingencies, and changing environments.”

There is one huge problem with this. It is logically impossible to prove this position by using merely scientific means. I am not arguing for or against evolution at this time. I have done that other places. My purpose here is to point out the deep inconsistency that lies underneath the statements and beliefs of many modern scientists.

It is impossible to prove that everything is material in nature. Not only can this be disproven (laws of logic are real in the universe, but immaterial), but it most certainly cannot be scientifically proven. The universe is too large to empirically test the nature of it all. Further, it is impossible to state that all of nature has been material. We don’t have time machines. We cannot test things in the past.

To conclude, the naturalistic position is not a fact at all, but a philosophy that is believed or embraced by faith. As a matter of fact, many of the scientists that I have read or heard have not actually conducted the science themselves, but have only read other scientists' “findings.” I find it deeply ironic that they in turn look down upon Christians, who place their faith in the God-breathed Scriptures, while they place their faith in what a sinful man has written concerning his narrow and limited experience.

Raising Boys To Men Through Work

I have been reading a lot lately on raising men.  I have a 3 year old son.  I want to begin raising him to be a godly man.  One resource that I have found to be tremendously helpful is Doug Wilson's, Future Men.  In it Wilson discusses masculinity, fatherhood, sin, laziness, liberty and much more, all from a biblical perspective.  Scriptural references probably make up about fifteen percent of the entire book.

I was challenged and encouraged today when I read about laziness and work.  Wilson states:

We were created to work.  But when sin entered, God in His wisdom saw that thorns and thistles were now needed (Gen 3:17-19).  In His grace, God cursed the ground.  Just as the law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, so is the sweat of the brow...

And so this is why boys need to be taught and disciplined in physical labor.  Of course it is not an end in itself - the point should always be grace - but in the hands of wise parents, hard physical work is an important part of a boy's discipleship.  He needs to know what it is like to be exhausted, to have callouses on his hands, and to work when his body does not really want to anymore.  He needs this; God said so.

I was challenged because, in my own laziness, I'd rather pay someone to do most of the physical labor around my house.  But hired labor is not going to father my son.  I must repent of any laziness and faithfully work with my little boy.  I think I'll have him weed-eat this weekend!  Not really...

I was also encouraged and so thankful for my father, who regularly woke me up on Saturdays to help him work around the house.  As a teen, these were less than desired times.  Sleeping was preferable to building a deck or fence.  But, looking back, those times were deeply satisfying.  Much of what my dad taught me remains with me to this day.  For the most part, I can work with my hands.  This was given to me by a father who loved me enough to teach me about work.  Thanks Andy for being such a great father.

The Rest of the Rest (8/26/11)

Throughout the week I tend to read and come across a lot of miscellaneous stuff.  I can't comment or write on it all, so I have decided to pile it up during the week and give it all to you on Saturdays.  I will call it "The Rest of the Rest."  Enjoy.

Buy this today:  
- PRo's new album, Dying to Live is now available!  I was going to list all of the songs that I thought were really good; but after listening to the whole album for a few days now, I'd have to list every single song.  PRo is rough, doctrinally sound, real, transparent, honest and gospel-centered.  I recommend it highly.

Parenting: 
- Tim Challies posts Ten Tips for Teaching Kids here.
- Carl Truman gives some great wisdom and advice on teaching the Trinity to our children.

Apologetics:  
- This is a great post by Mike Robinson on Van Til's Christian Theism and evidences.  Yes, Van Til did believe in the use of evidences.

Funny:  
- I hope you don't mind CR that I hyperlinked your post.  I just thought it was hilarious.

Social Issues:  
- Here is a great article on economics from a biblical perspective.
- Here is another good article on the music industry.

Misc:  
- Steve Jobs steps down as Apple CEO.
- Debunking Sharks' Bad Reputation.  This was a fascinating article about how Great White Sharks aren't really all that bad.  This crazy guy goes free diving with them.  The pics alone are worth taking a look.

Sorry Sir Charles, This is Hilarious!

This is absolutely hilarious!!!  Especially since I am from Auburn and vaguely remember watching Sir Charles play college ball.

Rescued By A Man With Down Syndrome

The article I read and wrote about the other day concerning the Danish attempt for a "perfect" society, has really affected me.  The pragmatic attempt to rid society of the so-called burden of down syndrome must be identified as nothing other than wickedly evil.

The wickedness of the philosophy, I am sure, was communicated with polite, and politically correct language.  But the message must not be lost.  There is nothing new under the sun.  If people inconvenience us in any way, or cost us money, they should die.  We have the right to not be bothered with having to care for other individuals.

But as I wrote in my post, this goal will implode upon itself and turn the moral table up-side-down.

I went to Wal-Mart yesterday to get some groceries for an event that we were holding in the community.  I didn't get a buggy.  I didn't think I needed one.  While I was on my way to get my items I passed by a man with down syndrome.  The article about the Danes immediately refreshed in my mind.  I kept walking.

As I piled the groceries up and tried to configure them under each arm, it was obvious that a cart would be a good idea.  But I attempted to make it to the checkout counter anyway.  About fifty paces later, the pack of cookies began to fall off of the top of my stack. So I shifted.  Then the pack of drinks started to slip from underneath my other arm.  It was becoming obvious that I wasn't going to make it.  One mother and daughter passed by and giggled.  Others simply walked by while everything was coming undone.

Then I felt the box of chips in my hand become lighter.  I also noticed the pack of drinks was being taken from underneath my arm.  As I looked to my side, I was blindsided.  The man with down syndrome noticed my struggle and immediately came to help me.  He walked with me to my destination.  Then he shook my hand, smiled, and went back to shopping with his mother.

If there is anything that resembles perfection in society, that was it.  As the "perfect" people walked by, it was the "imperfect" one who rescued me.

We Must Have Faith In Order To Reason

From the beginning people have tried to authorize the Word of God.  We see this with Eve in the garden as well as the Enlightenment thinkers of the 18th century.  Today, it is the air we breathe.  We believe ultimately in the human reason's ability to critically examine God's Word with such accuracy, completeness and judgment, that we can make an objective decision concerning its validity.  If it is, we will believe it.  If it is not, we will not.

Sure, we may have the right and the ability to do this with other forms of literature as well as other historical documents.  One thing we cannot do, however, is lump the Scriptures into the same pile with all other literary works.  It's not the same.  By its very nature, it is authoritative.  Again, we may not authorize that which is ultimately authoritative.  We must humbly recognize and embrace its intrinsic authority as we read and interpret what it is saying to us.

Here is a great comment from Willem VanGemeren on the place of faith in the interpretation of Scripture:

The study of the Bible is unlike the study of any literary or religious text.  It presupposes a personal faith and calls for a commitment of one's whole being.  Out of concern for the authoritative claim of the BIble in in light of Judeo-Christian traditions through the centuries, the student of the Bible can and must appropriate the Bible with a faith commitment.  

This assumption has two implications.  First, one does not arbitrarily dismiss the testimony of the Fathers, Reformers, Puritans, or any other conscientious readers of the biblical text.  We are part of a historical continuum.  Knowledge has not begun with us, nor will it cease with us...Second, Christian students of the Old Testament must pass by the cross of Jesus Christ on their return to the Old Testament, and as such they can never lose their identity as a Christian...the fundamental error of critical scholarship is found in its common assumption that the goal of exegesis is objectivity.

VanGemeren goes on to note that the study of the Scriptures as a whole must begin with the presupposition that the Testaments witness to the one purpose of God with His people.  The Scriptures are a witness about Someone who has done something.

After all, if Christ had not done "something," no one would be able to think at all.  We are wholly and subjectively dependent upon Christ for everything we do or think.  It is the height of arrogance to think that we can think rightly about Him apart from Him (Jn 15) - to authorize Him without His authority.