Archive for January 2011

On Wednesday Joel Osteen and his wife were guests on the Piers Morgan talk show on CNN. Many of you may know Joel Osteen for a number of reasons... pastor of the largest church in America... most well-known proponent of the prosperity gospel (heath & wealth... God wants you to be materially wealthy)... his avoidance of preaching on negative topics such as sin... etc.

But while I am strongly against the idea of our "best life now" I want to join other Christian leaders and bloggers in commending Osteen for his response to being put on the spot by Morgan during the interview.

When Morgan asked Osteen if he believed homosexuality to be a sin he responded by saying, "Yes I've always believed, Piers, the Scripture shows that homosexuality is a sin."

Not surprisingly Morgan was flabbergasted and immediately jumped into accusing Osteen of being judgmental.

Accurate or not, Christians are constantly accused of being judgmental. Whether it's our stance on homosexuality, headship & submission in marriage, women's roles in the church, or Jesus as the only way to God, the tag gets put on us all the time.

We must admit that sometimes the accusation is accurate. Jesus said, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged," (Matt. 7:1) and went on to speak of the danger of becoming hypocrites. If we're honest we should all admit that we've been guilty of this before.

But here Jesus is not saying 'Do not make any moral judgments whatsoever.' Otherwise how could we take statements such as, "Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right," (Luke 12:57) or, "Stop judging by mere appearances and make a right judgment," (John 7:24)? How could we stand our ground on things that were wrong versus things that were pure and holy?

I think the good lesson we can learn from Joel Osteen's response to Piers Morgan is that we should let the Word of God speak for itself and then stand behind it. In doing so we allow God to bear the responsibility of the moral judgment. And when others are offended we can simply reply that we are only following the words of God.

Do I wish every person ever born would go to heaven? Yes. Will it happen? God's Word says, "No." We need not worry what others think about us when we stand behind the Word of God. The only thing that concerns us is how God, the ultimate judge, will judge us on whether or not we remained true to what He has revealed to us in the Bible.

I'll leave you with a quote from Al Mohler that I thought was clarifying and enlightening on the issue...

"To Morgan, making any moral judgment amounts to judgmentalism. Of course, this leads logically to total moral insanity, since the only way to avoid being identified with judgmentalism is to make no moral judgments whatsoever — which no sane person can do."

This past week at church our preaching minister used a technique I've always found to be helpful and effective. He talked at length of the fact that we consistently judge others and use the phrase "those people." Then he ran down a laundry list of who "those people" might be - non-Christians, addicts, the sexually immoral, atheists, etc. He made the point that God loves all of these people and cares for them just the same. Then came the technique... he told us, "You are those people."

When he was speaking of "those people" before he turned it around most (if not all) of us were thinking about other people... not ourselves. But when he turned it around it hit everyone in the face and we all knew it was true.

In light of this I though it might be beneficial to share some suggestions that have helped me become better at listening to sermons. Hopefully they will help some of you.

1. Pray before the sermon

Not out loud... but just a silent, short prayer. Ask God to give you an open heart to understand and open eyes to see the truth. Ask the Holy Spirit to help enlighten you to the mystery of the gospel and the depth of teaching in the Word. Ask God to keep you humble - so that you're willing to admit your sins - so that you aren't tempted to think you know it all already - so that you can acknowledge your weaknesses and strive to become better.

2. When you hear the preacher talk about sin... always examine yourself... don't think about others.

We're all guilty of this one. The minute the preacher or pastor starts talking about judging others we start thinking about that one person we know who's the worst at that. When they talk about gossip a list of acquaintances pops up in our minds. It takes discipline, but each time you hear anything about sin try hard not to think of others and try even harder to apply it to yourself. No matter how confident you feel in your ability to avoid that sin there's still probably room for growth if you search your heart deep enough.

3. Say small prayers when you feel convicted

If you're heart is soft and the preacher is preaching the Word, this will likely happen every sermon. You'll feel convicted about something in your life... a nagging sin, an issue with a brother or sister in Christ, a friend who needs the gospel. When you feel this, say a short prayer asking God, right then and there, to work in that situation for his glory.

4. Take some notes but not a ton

Taking notes is good. In fact it's great, especially if you go back later and search through Scripture to find more verses on a topic, or if you write yourself a reminder about something in your life to change, or if you want to talk to a friend or spouse about what was said after the service. But incessant note-taking during the sermon can rob you of a worship experience. That's right... listening to a sermon is a worship experience! It's a chance for you to learn something new about our amazing God and to marvel at Him for it. This not only takes paying attention, but also investing your emotions into what is being said. You will miss out on this if your head is down and you're writing the entire sermon.

5. Listen critically

Hopefully you go to a church where the preacher is committed to the authority of Scripture and refuses to speak any words that would go against God's inspired word. But human beings are fallible. I'm not trying to talk you into losing trust in your minister or pastor. I'm simply challenging you to become like the Bereans in Acts 17:11 who, "examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." Luke calls this "noble character" and it is something we should practice as well.

6. Turn "distractions" into thanksgiving

Many people hate when babies start to cry during a sermon, or when a child behind you is acting up and a parent is trying to deal with them. In these moments don't let Satan use these moments to draw you away from God. Instead use them to draw near to God in thanksgiving. Thank God in your heart for babies being present in your congregation and the fact that they are healthy enough to cry. Thank God for children and parents who are persevering through the battle of parenthood trying to shape their child in the will of God.

I've thought this way in the past. Maybe you have too. Maybe you think this way now. This post is not a rebuke but a challenge and an encouragement.

I've known many people (and this includes myself) who have thought that apologetics (defending the faith) was just "not for them" so they didn't spend time seeking out knowledge for defending the claims of the Bible to others. That is, until they had a close friend, co-worker, or family member challenge them with a question they couldn't answer. Then apologetics quickly become something they were very interested in. And rightfully so.

Situations like these have a way of allowing us to see the practical and very important reasons that apologetics are vitally important. When someone poses a tough question that we can't answer it makes us wonder why anyone believes it the way we do. It helps us to understand that atheists, Buddhists, Mormons, Muslims, and others won't be attracted to the Bible unless we can give them strong reasons to be.

Recently I read a blog post titled What If Richard Dawkins Showed Up To Sunday School? [Richard Dawkins is a renowned atheist known for vehemently opposing Christianity, and a very intelligent man in many respects.] In the article the author gave numerous examples of common questions Dawkins poses to Christians to try and disprove the Bible. While the author noted that all of the questions are answerable if only we take the time to study up, I must admit reading some of them made me feel quite nervous.

What if someone asked me that question and I couldn't answer? This is a very real and valid concern. But the solution is not to throw our hands up in the air and simply say, "Oh we just have faith." God never asks us to have faith without giving us valid reasons to put our trust in him. And this kind of answer surely won't convince the intellectual atheist questioning our faith. The solution is to do the leg-work, study our Bibles, do some research, and find the answers to the tough questions. Then we will "be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have." (1 Peter 3:15)

So as a Christian, don't wait until that situation arises where someone stumps you with a question. Don't put off learning about apologetics until you're forced to. Study now. Read the whole Bible. Wrestle with the hard parts. Search out answers to your lingering questions. Read good books by people like William Lane Craig, Lee Strobel, and Josh McDowell. Start getting prepared now so that when the time comes you will be able to give an answer (1 Peter 3:15). After all, that verse is a commandment from God, isn't it?

As a Christian in a culture that is morally declining more and more each day it seems, it is now more crucial than ever for us to seek to see culture events through the eyes of God. This means understanding long-term moral consequences of decisions made today. This week I read about two such decisions and the moral ramifications are frightening.

This past week an article printed in The Columbus Dispatch announced that the Student Council at Ohio State University wants to prohibit religious groups on campus (such as campus ministries) from excluding homosexuals from leadership positions. Here’s a quote from the article…

“This week, an advisory council that includes representatives of the undergraduate, professional and graduate student governments will ask Javaune Adams-Gaston, vice president for Student Life, to drop an exemption that allows certain groups to deny membership to those who don't share their ‘sincerely held religious beliefs.’”

What this means is that if someone who openly practiced homosexuality wanted to be a leader in your organization and you excluded them from that position on the basis of sexual orientation alone your group would be punished by the University. This is extremely disheartening on multiple levels.

First the University itself is acting discriminatory if they enforce this decision because they are essentially saying only groups who have no leadership qualifications regarding morals can be University organizations. Caitly Nestleroth, president of OSU’s Christian Legal Society wisely noted that forcing a group to allow anyone to lead would be like forcing “College Democrats to accept Republican members or allowing a carnivore to lead a group of vegetarians.”

The second reason this is disheartening is brought forth in the second decision I read about.
This week on his blog, Al Mohler wrote a story about a couple in Great Britain who own a bed and breakfast. Here’s a quote from his blog on the situation…

“Peter and Hazelmary Bull own a bed and breakfast hotel in Cornwall. In September of 2008, a homosexual couple requested a single bed and was denied that accommodation by the Bulls. The couple sued, and this week a judge found the Bulls guilty of discrimination under Britain’s Equality Act of 2007.”

This situation is very similar to that of the decision forthcoming at OSU. Only this time the judgment has been made, and the comments of Judge Andrew Rutherford are very concerning.

“These laws have come into being because of changes in social attitudes.” He continues, “It is a very clear example of how social attitudes have changed over the years for it is not so very long ago that these beliefs of the defendants (the Bulls) would have been those accepted as normal by society at large. Now it is the other way around.”

What scares me about these comments is the idea that it’s perfectly acceptable to change established laws simply because culture changes their “social attitudes.” So if culture slowly decides to morally accept murder, as they have homosexuality and gay marriage, laws will change accordingly to allow murder! Don’t believe me? It’s already happened with abortion. It is very sad that the following things are happening right now in our culture (with no sign of turning back)…

1. All morals are becoming relative – there’s no outside standard (like the Bible) to say what is wrong or right
2. Government is basing their laws not on what is right or wrong, but on what culture decides

This is an extremely scary one-two punch that we must fight as Christians.

This upcoming semester at seminary I'm enrolled in Sexuality & Marriage, a class where we will examine the Bible's view on things such as sex, gender, having children, marriage, etc.

To gain my Master's degree in Theology from seminary I'm required to do what's known as a Course Embedded Research Project (CERP) which is basically a mini-thesis. This is an in-depth research paper on a topic of my choosing related to a course that I'm taking.

I've finally decided that I will be writing this paper in my Sexuality & Marriage class on the topic of birth control and family planning. This is a topic that hits close to home as my wife and I are expecting our first child in April and we have many other friends our age that have just recently been married and are making personal decisions on birth control.

My goal in the paper is two-fold. First I want to analyze whether or not family planning of any kind is biblical. We always hear of people who think it's wrong to use any form of birth control or even decide when to have children. I want to make an honest and objective attempt to see what the Bible has to say about the issue and if indeed we can make a case one way or the other. Second I want to analyze each popular form of birth control to see if there would be ethical concerns as to the science behind their performance - particularly in regards to abortion.

I feel I'm in a very interesting position to go through this study at this stage in my life because I honestly don't feel I'm predisposed to desire the outcomes of my study to be one way or the other - and this leads to the main point I want to get across in this post.

It is a sad reality but many times when we study the Bible for an answer to a particular question we come into our study already desiring one outcome over another. For example an extreme animal rights activist (notice I said 'extreme'... I don't think being an animal rights activist is a bad thing) might interpret the creation story in a way that equates human beings with animals in God's created order because they don't want to give any grounds to those who would mistreat animals in any way.

These preconceived ideas and existent desires often cause us to commit the error of eisogesis - reading your preconceived beliefs into the Bible rather than objectively pulling the existent truth out of the passage you're reading (exegesis). The best Bible interpreters are the ones who minimize eisogesis and consistently practice disciplined exegesis.

Here are some practical tips to keep yourself from committing the error of eisogesis:

Interpret using context. Don't lift a verse out of Scripture by itself.
Compare the passage you are interpreting to everything else the Bible has to say on the subject. Then try to harmonize.
Don't interpret alone... that's dangerous. Interpreting Scripture in community allows others to correct errors you couldn't see yourself (this happens to all of us!).
Consult friends/ministers/commentators of different denominations for help... aka get out of your bubble.
Pray for humility.
Never be more committed to a denomination or philosophy than you are to God and His Word!

BTW... sorry but I'm not giving a committed stance on birth control or family planning in this post. I do however plan to share my findings at the end of the semester after I've done the research for my CERP paper. So keep your eyes open if you're interested... and remind me if I forget!

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