Did God actually say?

The first words of the devil recorded in the Bible form the question, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?'" Casting doubt on the reliability of God's word (misinterpreting it to boot), this question has reverberated in the hearts and minds of people everywhere throughout history.

How do we know that God has spoken? Can we trust any sacred writings to actually contain the inspired, infallible, and inerrant word of God? Even if we grant that God has spoken, how can we be sure that the Bible of all books contains the word of God? Finally, if we grant that the Bible is the word of God how can we be sure that all of the Bible is God's word?

The Bible has a simple answer to this question,

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."

In other words, the Bible simply states that it is the inspired, infallible, and inerrant word of God because it says so. The Bible itself is the greatest proof of its own reliability. You might look at that and say that it is no proof at all; but that is only because you've already made up your mind that the Bible is not the inspired, infallible, and inerrant word of God.

People have raised tons of objections about the reliability of the Bible throughout history. Some have compared it with ancient mythology. Others have pointed out its antiquated worldview. Many have fished out "inconsistencies" throughout the text. More recently people have tried to revive the long dead Gnostic religion by co-opting the Bible with extra-Biblical writings like the so called "Gnostic Gospels". There are tons of reasonable, academically honest, and historically accurate responses to these objections (a subject for another post). But in my experience there is a fundamental belief driving every intelligent point and counter-point that anyone can make about the Bible.

I love the way that Bryan Chapell put it in his message at the Gospel Coalition conference in Chicago this past Wednesday:

"The danger with believing that part of the Bible is true and part of it is not and we'll just make our judgment as we go through is that ultimately there will be that moment of darkness in your life, in which you will cry out into the darkness, 'doesn't somebody have a word of truth for me greater than my own understanding?!' And the only voice that will echo back in the darkness is your own. Because you have become the word of God, the judge of it and the only one supplying wisdom. God says, 'I rescued you from that.'"

Our popular culture often demonizes those who live with the belief that God has spoken through the Bible. People who actually believe that the Bible is the word of God are often portrayed as intolerably self-righteous and judgmental people. Sadly and ironically the Bible declares that is precisely the sort of attitude from which Jesus came to rescue us.

The Bible declares that those who believe in the Bible need to be saved by God just as much as those who do not believe in the Bible. We all have been duped by the greatest myth of all: that God has not actually spoken (see Tim Keller's excellent message on the Gospel as "The Grand Demythologizer" from the same conference). Yet God did not remain silent. God reached down through the Holy Spirit and inspired fallible fallen people to write down the infallible and inerrant Divine Word. Then as if that were not enough, God came down to speak to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ. God did all this to rescue us from the darkness.

"On Fire" and Burnt Out

All it took was three consecutive baskets. Three consecutive baskets, and your player was "on fire" in the '90s arcade classic, "NBA Jams." A player "on fire" could run faster (unlimited turbo), block more shots, and make more baskets. Kids across the country (including the short Asian kid who grew up to write this blog) were able to live out their dreams in this video game.

Christians sometimes talk about being "on fire" for God. This usually refers to an experience of unusual religious excitement, a deep emotional sense of the closeness of God, and sudden radical life change demonstrated in tangible life decisions. Christians "on fire" for God feel like they can do anything, spiritually speaking.

When I first came to believe in Jesus, I lived to be "on fire" for God. Being "on fire" was evidence to me that God is real. It helped me feel good about myself. No matter how much I struggled with living for God during the week, I could count on the religious experience of being "of fire" to help me feel like I was still a good person.

The problem was that being "on fire" did not really change me at all. It did not make me really love God any more throughout the week. It did not help me understand God. It did not help me love others more. In fact, it really made me obnoxious and judgmental more than anything else. If people who are "on fire" for God scare you, I would have really freaked you out back in high school. Worst of all, when the fire was smothered by the bleak realities of life, I grew bitter, cynical, and burnt out. There is something about the pursuit of a life "on fire" for God that can be as fanciful and self-absorbed as playing NBA Jams (fun for a video game, but harsh for life).

During the 1800s a wave of revival was sweeping the country, and people who wanted to live lives that were "on fire" for God were walking down the aisle to sit on an "Anxious Bench" where a preacher would pressure them to change their lives. John Nevin wrote about this new wave of religious excitement that was sweeping the church during the 19th century in his book The Anxious Bench. A harsh critic of this movement, Nevin observed:

"Religion is not regarded as the life of God in the soul that must be cultivated in order that it may grow, but rather as a transient excitement to be renewed from time to time by suitable stimulants presented to the imagination."

A life in pursuit of being "on fire" for God is really not a life that requires faith in God at all. Dressed in the guise of religion and spirituality, being "on fire" for God is really neither about trusting God nor pleasing God; it thrives from a deep desire to trust in ourselves and to please ourselves.

There is Good News for people burnt out from the pursuit of a life "on fire" for God (or for other things that we would place in God's place). There is someone who gives us a reason to have hope when we can find no more reasons to have any hope in ourselves. The Gospel declares to us that God is "fired up". In fact, he is a consuming fire who will burn away everyone who fails to measure up to his moral perfection. Yet in Jesus Christ, this same God has delivered us from ourselves and made us part of a world without end by sending his Son to suffer and die in our place on the cross and rise again to eternal life. If we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself.

In a world filled with "how to" messages that leave us feeling guilty, worn out, inadequate, or obnoxious, self-righteous, and judgmental; God gives us a Savior. The life of faith in Jesus Christ really does change our lives. But Jesus does not change us through fleeting excitements. Jesus works slowly and steadily in the hearts of those who believe in him through their set-backs and backsliding, calling them through his Word again and again to turn away from themselves and trust on him. This is "the life of God in the soul that must be cultivated in order that it may grow." This life comes from the careful study of Jesus' words in the Bible in the church - a community of broken people that he calls to himself so they may build one another up in the Gospel and exalt their God and Savior.

Waiting on God

My three year old daughter prayed for me today. Here's how it all went down:

Anna: Why are you coughing daddy?
Me: Because I'm sick.
Anna: Did Abraham (my son) make you sick?
Me: I think so.
Anna: Why are you sick?
Me: I think Abraham made me sick.
Anna: How come? Did God make you sick?
Me: Anna, do you want to pray for me?
Anna: Ok.

She prayed a sweet simple prayer of faith as only a three year old can pray:

"Dear God, thank you for the father, thank you that you made us and take care of us, help daddy feel better. In Jesus' name, Amen."

About thirty minutes later:

Anna: How come you're still coughing dad?
Me: Because I'm sick Anna.
Anna: But I prayed for you!
Me: Oh Anna, when we pray we have to wait for God. We don't tell God what to do when we pray, we ask him to help us in the way that is best for us and sometimes that means that God will do something in our lives that we don't even understand.
Anna: Oh, ok.

I have to admit that I can identify with Anna's frustration. I often wonder what God is doing with my prayers. I am constantly tempted to treat God like an almighty butler who is sleeping on the job. The problem with looking at God like a lazy butler is that this puts us in the awkward, ridiculous, and ultimately disastrous position of managing God. So when God is slow to answer our prayers we naturally think of how we can manage him better.

We may try to manage God by "motivating" God into answering our prayers: "O, God if you hear my prayer I will give you a big bonus in my obedience! I will live for you and glorify you and serve you! I will be good to my wife and children. I will try really really hard to get to church on time."

Or we may try to manage God by "threatening" God into answering our prayers: "God please show me that you are real by hearing my prayer. I'm finding it hard to believe in you. Please show me that you exist by confirming what an important person I am."

Looking at God like a lazy butler will destroy our prayers, in fact it will destroy us altogether. Prayer like this is really not prayer at all, it is management; and it will leave us tired, worn out, disappointed, frustrated, bitter, self-righteous, and feeling condemned. This kind of faith in God is really not faith in God at all. It is faith in ourselves, and it will cut us off from the source of life, leaving us defenseless to stand judgment before him without representation.

The Good News of the Bible is not the message of a God who waits on us (like a butler); it is the message of the joy we can find in waiting on God.

Waiting on God means that when we have no hope in ourselves, we can still hope in God. Waiting on God means that when our lives don't make sense, we trust that God is still wise (his understanding is unsearchable). Waiting on God means that even when we feel like fainting from weariness, we trust that God will renew our strength with perpetual life and vigor: we will run and not be weary, walk and not faint.

The Good News is that this eager expectation that we can have in God is itself a free unmerited gift from God; for we can wait, trust, and hope in all these things because of Jesus alone. Because we who trust in Jesus have been freed from the law of sin and death, we can wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies, and wait for it with patience.

He is Risen!

Jesus Lives And So Shall I

Jesus lives, and so shall I.
Death! thy sting is gone forever!
He who deigned for me to die,
Lives, the bands of death to sever.
He shall raise me from the dust:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, and reigns supreme,
And, his kingdom still remaining,
I shall also be with him,
Ever living, ever reigning.
God has promised: be it must:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, and by his grace,
Vict'ry o'er my passions giving,
I will cleanse my heart and ways,
Ever to his glory living.
Me he raises from the dust.
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, I know full well
Nought from him my heart can sever,
Life nor death nor powers of hell,
Joy nor grief, hence forth forever.
None of all his saints is lost;
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, and death is now
But my entrance into glory.
Courage, then, my soul, for thou
Hast a crown of life before thee;
Thou shalt find thy hopes were just;
Jesus is the Christian's Trust.

Satisfaction in the Sufferings of Christ

When you first saw the title to this post did you think of your satisfaction or the satisfaction of God? The cross speaks to the Mick Jaggers and Keith Richards of the world, offering true satisfaction. But it is not the kind of satisfaction that we ordinarily look for in our lives. We live our lives looking for personal satisfaction. The cross is foremost about the satisfaction of God.

The Biblical account of the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross is a peculiar answer to our needs and problems. It only makes sense when we see our lives as part of a greater story, which does not begin with us, but with God. The Bible begins, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth". God does not exist for us, we exist for God. There on the cross, in his agonizing death on our behalf, Jesus accomplished the very thing we were created to do: bring God satisfaction. In our place, Jesus gave his Father perfect obedience and bore the full weight of the punishment we deserved for our disobedience. There on the cross, God was satisfied.

In his book The Economy of the Covenants between God and Man, Herman Witsius writes about the agony Christ this way:

"This exceeding trouble and agony did not arise only from the sympathy of the soul with the body, nor from the mere horror of impending death; it was something else that afflicted the soul of Christ, namely, his bearing the sins, not of one, but of all the elect; he had beheld the awful tribunal of God, before which he was presently to appear, in order to pay what he took not away; he saw the Judge himself, armed with all the terrors of his incomprehensible vengeance, the law brandishing all the thunders of its curses, the devil, and all the powers of darkness, with all the gates of hell just ready to pour in upon his soul: in a word, he saw justice itself, in all its inexorable rigour, to which he was now to make full satisfaction; he saw the face of his dearest Father, without darting a single ray of favour upon him, but rather burning with hot jealousy in all the terrors of his wrath against the sins of mankind, which he had undertaken to atone for. And withersoever he turned, not the least glimpse of relief appeared for him, either in heaven or on earth, till with resolution and constancy he had acquitted himself in the combat. These, these are the things, which, not without reason, struck Christ with terror and amazement, and forced from him his groans, his sighs, and his tears."

There is unexpected satisfaction to be found in the suffering of Christ; for there on the cross God is not only satisfied with Jesus; he is also satisfied with all who seek forgiveness by believing on Christ as their God and Savior. This is not some inner satisfaction that comes from being numb to the world or to the problems that surround us, or from perfect calm and zen-like peace in our lives. It is not the empty promise of consumerism to give us satisfaction in things. It is not even ultimately the hope of a better world (although by changing our lives, it makes us into better neighbors to people near and far). This satisfaction does not begin with us; it begins with God. It flows from the promise that for Jesus' sake God is satisfied with us; that he desires good for us; and that he will take us from this world to live with him forever one day.

The Selective Amnesia of Jesus

"From this we conclude that he had no regard for himself; as he clearly affirms, 'For their sake I sanctify myself'. For he who gave away the fruit of his holiness to others testifies that he acquired nothing for himself. And this is indeed worth noting: to devote himself completely to saving us, Christ in a way forgot himself."

- John Calvin

I wake up thinking about myself, my comfort, my problems, and my needs. Even when my thoughts are turned to others, to my wife, my children, and my church, I am trying to be a good husband, a good father, a good pastor who will be appreciated by those I love and serve. The moment my wife complains to me, or my children disobey me, or my parishioners criticize me I lose my motivation to love them. Deep down I have a sneaking suspicion that I matter more than them. In fact, the greatest thing that gets in the way of my own devotion to God is this attitude rooted in the corruption of my soul (which the Bible calls my sinful nature) that convinces me that I matter more even than God.

Jesus forgot himself completely. He had nothing to gain from his life in this world but the unbearable anguish of his body and soul on the cross. The source of all life forgot his life. The righteous one forgot his merit and innocence.

Jesus forgot himself, but he did not forget his Father who sent him. There on the cross, Jesus brought glory to his Father, accomplishing the work he had been given. His Father would forsake him on the cross, yet this did not diminish his love for his Father or his commitment to fulfilling his Father's will; it added fuel to his fiery determination to bring his Father glory.

Jesus forgot himself, but he did not forget the people he was sent to save. There on the cross, Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. His own people would abandon him, yet this did not diminish his love for them or his commitment to redeem them from their sins with his own life; it added fuel to his fiery determination to save his people.

Now that I have seen him crucified and risen for my salvation I can never forget how Jesus forgot himself for me. For even when I forget him he will not forget me.

What if Hitler really believed in Jesus?

A common objection to the unconditional forgiveness offered in the gospel is that it is unjust. When public figures who have been embroiled in scandal and criminals caught in their crimes alike conveniently "find Jesus" we can't help but be skeptical.

Thirty years after Vietnam invaded Cambodia and toppled the Khmer Rouge, a totalitarian communist government that had slaughtered some 1.7 million of its own people, the Kingdom of Cambodia, backed by the United Nations, has begun a War Tribunal to prosecute surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge.

The first defendant in these tribunals is Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch. He was the leader of Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh. It is estimated that somewhere between 14,000-17,000 men, women, and children were tortured and killed under his rule. I visited Tuol Sleng last August (2008), and the mere thought of that place still brings a sickening feeling to the bottom of my gut.

The evidence is stacked against Duch. In fact, he has supplied most of the evidence himself. He has admitted his guilt. He has provided (and is providing) additional evidence about the atrocities perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge. He has expressed remorse for his crimes, even apologizing directly to the victims who suffered under his leadership. And he has been a professing believer of Jesus since 1995.

As tempting as it would be to question his profession of faith, I want to take this for granted here. Given that he genuinely believes in Jesus, what would justice and forgiveness look like in his trial? Can there be forgiveness for a person who has committed such heinous crimes against humanity?

As I read this news I thought of one of my favorite movies, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". In the course of escaping a chain gang, Pete and Delmar came upon a congregation of new converts who were being baptized in a river, and they impulsively joined them. As they drove away from the scene in their stolen car, the two "forgiven" bandits began arguing the merits of their baptism with their skeptical friend, Ulysses. The dialogue goes like this:

Pete: The Preacher said it absolved us.

Ulysses: For him, not for the law. I'm surprised at you, Pete, I gave you credit for more brains than Delmar.

Delmar: But they was witnesses that seen us redeemed.

Ulysses: That's not the issue Delmar. Even if that did put you square with the Lord, the State of
Mississippi's a little more hard-nosed.

Ulysses is arguing for two separate forms of justice and forgiveness: "the Lord's" and "the State of Mississippi's". Forgiveness by the Lord does not necessarily lead to being absolved by the State. Likewise, condemnation by the State does not necessarily lead to condemnation by the Lord.

This seems to be the clear teaching of the Bible as well. The gospel extends unconditional forgiveness and reconciliation with God through faith in Jesus Christ. Here justice is vindicated by the cruel condemnation of Jesus on the cross for the crimes against God committed by the sinner:

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:1-2)

Yet at the same time, the Bible extends a different form of justice executed by civil authority, which is based on good conduct (not faith in Jesus):

"For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer." (Romans 13:3-4)

These two forms of justice do not contradict one another because, although both come from God, they are administered in two very different kingdoms: the former from the Divine Kingdom (that lasts forever); and the latter from the Civil Kingdom (that does not last forever).

There is great power in this Biblical message of the two forms of justice and forgiveness administered in the civil and Divine realms. Here, there is safety and justice for a civil society, yet also redemption for the most hardened of criminals.

Ulysses Everett McGill said, "the State of Mississippi's a little more hard-nosed" but he had it backwards. Is it harder to receive absolution from a human tribunal with a finite knowledge of evidence that proves your guilt, or from God who has infinite knowledge of evidence that proves your guilt? Is it harder to receive forgiveness from a fellow flawed human being(s) administering flawed human laws, or from the perfect God who created and rules the universe?

The Bible extends the greater mercy under more strenuous standards of justice. That is the wonder of the cross. In a world where all sorts of crimes are perpetrated by people against one another, there is a place of true healing for both victims and guilty perpetrators in the cross. Only the cross can give a guilty human being the strength of character to willingly accept the full judgment of the law for his/her crimes out of love for society, country, and the good of the human race. Only the cross can give victims the strength of character to willingly forgive those who have hurt them.

I am not sure where the trial of Duch will lead. But I am praying for such healing in the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Reluctantly testing the waters of the blogosphere

Does the internet really need another blog? I've pondered this question ever since I discovered the post-modern phenomenon of blogging in early 2000. Here's my conclusion: there is little if anything on the internet that is truly needed. So after silently reading the blogs of others, I'm taking the plunge and dipping my toe into the blogosphere.

Here, I hope to publicly reflect on the journey out of the Shadow-Lands. It is my conviction that this journey begins and ends through faith in Jesus Christ. Yet folks of all faiths and backgrounds are welcome here. Through the course of these reflections, I hope to touch upon theology, Biblical interpretation, culture, politics, philosophy, history, and literature.

So does anyone have any tips for a newbie blogger?