Endangered Species

     You know something I think is interesting?  How Darwinian evolutionary scientists will gripe, moan, and use tax dollars to protect or study species which are endangered or extinct.  If you’ve read Darwin, you’ll know that the overlying philosophy of why species come and go is “survival of the fittest.”  There is some truth to this, but have you ever asked why those weak species evolved in the first place?

     Today I was reading about two species of sharks in the Gilbert Islands who had been fished until they no longer lived in the area.  Ecologists were all worried about their existence as they always are.  But I ask myself, if scientists (particularly ecologists) are so hell-bent on justifying evolution, why do they care what happens to a species?  As pertains to human interaction with ecology, if we are only higher-order mammals, why do they care what we do to the earth?  If there is no God who is love, why should anyone be concerned about the preservation of a universe for people who will be left after we are cold and dead?

     Have you ever thought that their concern for the earth may be biblical?  It started with the command given to our first parents, Adam and Eve.  “And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” (Genesis 1:28)  God put it in the heart of mankind to subdue, take care of, and have dominion over creation.  As such, man is a steward with an ingenious mind, who is to make wise use of what God has made.  Because we are made in God’s image, mankind makes things, figures things out, and has an innate inclination to take care of the Universe.  This is a good explanation for why we have modern medicine, huge buildings, various energy sources, cars, modern farming methods, and prolific amounts of food.  It’s only because of the presence of sin, that those technologies are misused or withheld from being shared with others.  Sin is also the reason science makes a god out of what the Living God has made, often at the expense of the human beings who were intended to benefit from it.

     That misguided liberal ecologist may be going overboard oftentimes, but as pertains to taking care of the world, he or she is only instinctively doing one of the things they were made to do.  The other thing is to be in a relationship with God, and Jesus is the only way the ecologist (or anyone else) can have that too.  God is in control, regardless of how species come and go.  But only a relationship of love in submission to God in Jesus Christ will outlast this temporary earth.  

Join us for Wednesday Student Night as we talk about biblical poetry!  Snack supper at 6:30 in Covenant Hall.

Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Starbucks

     I'm a trial subscriber to Christianity Today because I've always felt that it gives a snapshot of the evangelical church catholic.  It's always been an ecumenical magazine as its origins were ecumenical, coming out of the "fourth" American Great Awakening at the end of the 1940's and beginning of the 1950's.  It was a much more conservative time.  Revivals were sweeping the Northeast and West through Billy Graham's and others' work.  Biblical morality was an accepted societal norm, and any deviance to that sin was something to be ashamed of and kept in the closet.  People were broken as many had done things during wartime that they would never have done had they been stateside.  They had sinned, they knew it, and they wanted freedom from their guilt and shame.
     Today is a different age.  Sin is something not just to be accepted as civil liberties, but it is to be embraced and celebrated.  How does the church deal with these issues?  Church magazines like to address these, some out of protest to changing society, while some deal with the challenges of sharing the gospel, and maintaining the purity of the visible church.  Christianity Today does have articles which address those things, but they also have some that push past the envelope of biblical orthodoxy.  Women ordination, for instance.  Like the Arminian understanding of soteriology accepts some scriptures but disregards others, the same gets done with gender roles which are explicitly stated in the scripture.  It's no wonder we've had problems with open theism and accepting homosexuality in the church.  A lot of inch-length concessions will turn into a mile.
     If one's Christian conscience will not permit him or her to embrace sin, that person is considered bigoted, intolerant, and unprogressive.  Many denominations of Christianity will say the same thing.  In America the church's militant strength is being whittled down to a small remnant, like Gideon's army.  History has proven that a little can do a lot as revival in our redemptive history is cyclical.  When it comes to wicked government there are no worries either.  There may not be a Constantine in our lifetime, but they do happen.  Like Manasseh, Nero, Pope Leo X, and even our current president, there will be antagonists to the gospel of Jesus.  But Jesus remains our champion and still has not relinquished control of His kingdom.  He's still in control.  Even still, come quickly Lord Jesus!
     I was reading an article in my magazine last night about the liberal/LGBTQ boycott of Chick-fil-A last summer.  I was entertained by Antoine Dodson, a homosexual, who would not give up his Chick-fil-A regardless of the biblical conscience of its CEO.  Chick-fil-A doesn't support political/social organizations, by the way.  Sadly, Starbucks wants my business, but on their terms as they will give money to organizations who are antagonistic to a biblical conscience on marriage.  Chick-fil-A never told a LGBTQ person to not give their restaurant patronage.  But Starbucks told shareholders to sell their stock if their religious conscience commands them to believe what the Bible says about marriage, and not support the company's decision to support LGBTQ beliefs.  Islam will kill you for being LGBTQ, yet no liberal dare says anything to them about their beliefs!  I'll love an LGBTQ person because Jesus first loved me, and want to see them freed from sin (any sin) like He freed me.  Too bad that's such a hate crime, that a business doesn't want someone's money anymore because they respect the rules made by the God who made marriage.  Regardless of how I'm treated, I'll love them anyway.
     By the way, the bakery who wouldn't make a cake for a lesbian wedding missed a dynamite opportunity to develop a gospel inroad/rapport with other sinners who need Jesus.  I can't say if she was wrong to do so (she was following her conscience), but we can't be afraid of developing gospel-winning relationships with the lost, particularly homosexuals.  That's true homophobia.  Fight to keep the church pure, but engage sinners like ourselves in the market.  Like them, we're beggars.  We just know how to tell them where we found bread!
     Starbucks is such an artistic, intellectual, and comfortable place to engage in dialogue as most of the time one has to share a table with someone they don't know.  But I do have a conscience and can't justify giving money to a company who will support organizations who seek to deny me my civil liberties.  I reckon now I'll have to go share the Gospel with everyone in the highways and byways of diners, truck stops, Krispy Kreme, and Dunkin Donuts.

By the way, the title of this entry is on a shirt at Dunkin Donuts.  It has nothing to do with the subject of this blog.  This is also a personal blog, so don't get mad at anyone I'm friends with because of it.

Made This Way

     Yesterday I was looking through a copy of the Navy Times (trade magazine) and was troubled by the many changes that have taken place in my Navy/Marine Corps in the past five years alone.  By comparison, a less important issue to the non-sea service that weighs greatly with Navy Chief Petty Officers like myself, was the abolition of the time-honored tradition of Chief Petty Officer’s Initiation.  Over the past two decades it has become less of the fraternity/hazing ritual it once was, but after 120 years, this sacred Navy tradition has ended.
     Obviously, sequestration is a hot-button topic with many programs being cut which are important to recruiting, training, and retention of quality warriors.  One of the bigger issues is the proliferation of sexuality in what once was a military which focused on professional war-fighting.  In this particular Navy Times, I saw at least four articles focusing on some form of sexuality in the military work force.  If there was this much discussion of sexuality of any persuasion in the corporate world, somebody would be getting sued.
     I am a Christian.  I fear God because He is worthy of my respect and obedience.  I also love Him because He irresistibly compelled me to submit to and love Him.  Because I was conceived a sinner, I had no choice but to be a sinner.  In a nutshell, I was made this way.  Not made to be a sinner, but ended up that way because of original sin.  I was born a sinner and justly deserving of God’s wrath and displeasure.
     God created and commanded that sexuality be conducted and enjoyed within the institution of the marriage of a man and woman.  So, any form of sexual expression outside of those parameters, is contrary to God’s Word which He says is wrong, sin, a perversion, worthy of His wrath and displeasure.  I’m not talking about particular forms of sexual expression that don't meet biblical standards – all of them that don't.  You can hate me for what I believe, but your argument is not with me – it’s God.
     To concede to a sinful lifestyle because “I was made that way,” is not excusable by God.  The Bible says so.  We’re all conceived in sin and we all have our pet sins that we are comfortable with and cherish.  But the only way we learn to hate sin is to love Jesus.  “But I don’t love Jesus,” one might say.  That is a logical statement for someone who has not been changed forever by the Gospel.  Because God chose me particularly, despite my wickedness Jesus justified me on the cross.  Because He rose from the dead, my sin no longer has complete power over me.  Furthermore, because “I was born this way,” in sin, His Holy Spirit had to irresistibly change my love of even my pet sin, and make me want to forsake sin, love, and obey Him.  I didn’t choose Him; He chose me.  When He changed me, I had to and wanted to love Him.  Jesus saved me from all my sins.
     So just as, for example, a homosexual (or any other kind of sinner, for that matter) may claim that he or she was born that way, I have to say that I was irresistibly made to hate my sin (even though I still sin).  I once hated God.  But even though I was Jesus’s enemy, He still died for me.  His Holy Spirit made me love and obey Him.  Special interest groups may hate me because of it, but I can’t help it.  I’ve been made this way.

No Comprendo

     The last couple of weeks we've looked at the authority and authenticity of Scripture, so this week we're going to ask if we can really understand the Bible.  The Bible makes some big claims, and the God who inspired it has the authority to hold us accountable to it.
     I grow weary of being considered bigoted about social issues.  But, when the God of the Bible says in His word that something is wrong, it's not me they should be mad at.  I've just learned to trust the God who reveals sin in the law, and then justifies me by faith in Christ because I can't keep it.  But since they can't see God, nor do they believe He is who He says He is, they take it out on His followers and blame us because we trust Who they don't like.  Jesus said it would be this way, so it shouldn't come as a surprise when they hate our guts.
     I finished my latest book on Jonathan Edwards last week and was once again convicted that I fall woefully short in my spiritual disciplines.  With me it's cyclical how I follow God.  My daily scripture reading is consistent, but just about anyone can read.  My issue is genuine, heartfelt love for Christ.  Why is it that Edwards sees Jesus as beautiful, but I don't have the same impression?  Edwards would spend thirteen hours a day in his study, much of that time in prayer.  He would take long walks or horseback rides, associating the beauty around him with the beauty of its Creator.
     I read the Bible (I've read it cover to cover on several occasions), but do I really understand it?  When I read the Law (I'm in Numbers right now), do I see Jesus in it, or am I just thankful that I don't have to keep that ceremonial law like ancient Israel did?  I want to see Jesus.  I want Him to be as beautiful to me as He is to Edwards right now.  I not only desire to live coram deo (before the face of God), but want to feel the warmth of His presence in His word, in my heart, and the creation all around me.

How Sweet It Is!

     I started a new book this week by one of my favorite authorities on Jonathan Edwards.  It's A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards by George Marsden, and it is very short in comparison to his much larger work on Edwards, which I had to read for a seminary course.  Spiritually, I can identify with Edwards in regards to his struggle with assurance of salvation.  The presence of sin in one's life can cause one to doubt that a real change has taken place in his or her life.  One should never compare his or her experience with another's, but Edwards' sins really seem trifling compared to my own.  I guess anyone comparing themselves to another can say the same.
     I've written about it a few times before, but Edwards' sermon abbreviated A Divine And Supernatural Light really speaks to me.  In it, he uses the example of honey to distinguish the difference between knowing about God and really knowing God.  I love honey.  I like to use it in so many ways.  But I like good honey.  I can tell the difference between the kind you get in the little bear bottle, a packet at Chick-Fil-A, and good, locally harvested honey.  Guess which one I like.  If you understood my distinctions between the types of honey, you'd assume I know something about honey.  I know that Walmart gets theirs mostly from Argentina, that the most common pollen for commercial honey comes from clover, and that homegrown honey has insect parts in it that has to be refined out before it can be used in recipes.  What good does all this knowledge about honey do for me?  If I've never tasted it, then I really don't know honey.  Until I've tasted its goodness, I can't appreciate its lingering sweetness and ability to adhere to the foods that I want influenced by it.
     In our study on God's Word, we can learn a lot about the God who wrote it.  However, unless we really know the God behind His word, we don't really know God.  God has allowed us to really know Him because he has stooped to our level in the person of Jesus Christ.  By putting on flesh and blood, He has given us someone who has been through humanity, so we can relate to Him and really know Him.
     This Wednesday we'll be learning about the external evidences for the truth of the Bible.  Without the God who gives it authority however, it's just another thing we can know about God.  But, if we are in a relationship with the God of the Bible, it tells us so much more than an ordinary volume of words can tell us.  The Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ reveals it to us and lets us not just know about God, but really know Him in the sweetness of His Son, Jesus Christ.

No Perfect Truths?

     "What is truth?"  This is what Pontius Pilate asked Jesus when he was brought before him to determine if Jesus should be crucified or not (John 18:38).  Today the only accepted truth is what you want to believe.  This of course, makes NO logical sense!  How can truth be anything but what it is . . . absolute?  If truth is subjective (what you think it is) then can it be real truth?  Is the world flat if I want to believe it is?  If you say there is "no absolute truth," you're making an absolute statement which contradicts itself, because truth, by its very nature, has to be objective (absolute; meaning it has a standard or rule which makes it so).  "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" (John 14:6)  Now that's an absolute statement!
     In the song "Unobstructed Views" by Death Cab for Cutie, the lyrics are as follows:  "There's no eye in the sky/Just our love/No unobstructed views/No perfect truths/Just our love."  The first time I heard this song, I immediately recognized the worldview which is one of denial.  But, denying that God exists, isn't going to make Him go away, nor the truth of His Word.  In a later track on the album "Codes and Keys" called "St Peter's Cathedral," the song laments the waste of such a grand structure for the worship of a god which doesn't exist.  The composer repeats over and over again, "there's nothing past this."  This of course, is what he wants to believe because without the eyes of faith (which has to be given to him by God Himself), he really can't knowingly say there is no afterlife.  It's funny to me that one has to make an absolute statement when denying the existence of absolutes.
     This Wednesday, we'll open our study at Christ Church youth group asking the question, "What makes the Bible unique?"  Those of us who know God in Christ, not only believe that absolute truth exists as the standard set forth in the Bible, but because the Holy Spirit has opened our eyes in regeneration, we know that it is the absolute TRUTH.

Little Graces

This weekend was just about more than I could bear.  I already had to rewrite the schedule for this month due to one of my TAC officers' drill weekend, but I promised two of them time off this weekend, one's family member passed, and another is in the hospital with a condition he's been suffering from for over a week.  Turns out it was more serious than a muscle pull.

This morning I had to get up before most everyone else and take a cadet to Alcorn State University for his ACT.  One of the TAC's came in to cover the dorm for me last night and so I was prepared to move into the dorms for tonight so he could carry out his plans for the weekend.  When I returned to the dorm, he casually but frankly told me he had decided that he was not going to go through with his weekend plans because it would leave us in an extreme bind.  I'm deeply humbled; and tired.  It's been hard to keep myself composed after that.  What do you say when someone shows you kindness that you don't deserve?  It's uncomfortable knowing you owe someone so much.  I think this is how I'm supposed to feel toward God in Christ for all He's done for me.

I already don't get to spend as much time with my family, but thanks to that TAC officer, I'll get to spend some with them this weekend.  Prior to this, I was feeling sorry for myself that I don't get enough time with my boys.  God shut me up and gave me a lot of perspective.