My Conversation With Russell #2

I just know my 2 readers are waiting with baited breath as to what my second response was. So here it is. I asked him about his view of the nature of the New Covenant as opposed to the Old. I mentioned that his description of the coming Kingdom seems no different than the response of the people of God at Mt. Sinai. I made reference to the Exodus.

Exo 24:3 Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, "All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do!"

When he started to respond, I actually thought he might get the Gospel right...for a moment anyway. He started his response by saying that under the Old Covenant, the blood of bulls and goats did not accomplish what is needed. Jesus is a better sacrifice.

I said, "Great! What does this better sacrifice accomplish?" He said the law is now written on our hearts. "We now obey God better" seemed to be the answer.

So I asked him, "So the Good News is we now can obey God's law to achieve salvation? How does that square with Romans 3 which clearly states,

19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

He responded with silence. He had no idea how to answer such a question. Why is his response to God any different from the Hebrews' response under the Old Covenant?

Now for some odd reason, since I knew he was coming over, I decided to read Hebrews 8 in preparation for our discussion. It was at this point that I finally had the opportunity to present the Gospel.

I explained to Russell that Jesus is the Mediator of a better Covenant because His sacrifice actually takes away sin. I then explained to Russell that he was a law-breaker and that no flesh will be declared righteous by the deeds of the law. I explained his need for Christ and Christ's work in our behalf to be received by faith alone. I then read to him Colossians 2

When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

There it was in black and white. The legal debt of our sins against God is paid for by Christ. I explained that we must possess Christ's perfect righteousness imputed to us by faith alone. That it is by His perfect life we stand before God declared righteous.

He was clearly troubled by this viewpoint. "I just can't believe that. It seems to lead to easy believism."

Of course I then explained to him union with Christ and true saving faith as explained by the Apostle Paul in Romans 6. It seemed that in his 35 plus years as a Jehovah's Witness, he had never really heard of a Jesus that saves and saves sinners perfectly. It seems that he had never truly heard of his true need of a perfect savior.

It was at this point our conversation began to end. No trick up my sleeve would trick him to convert. Nothing I could say would persuade him to say some prayer. I could only trust that the Good News of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit could change this heart of steel.

I will continue to pray for Russell that he would have peace with God by the finished and sufficient work of Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian, I hope you would pray that prayer with me as well.

Freedom In Islam To Discuss Truth?

Baptist Press has reported:

During his sermon, Abdul Malik encouraged Muslims while trying to reassure Americans of their support for this country. "I want the American people to know: We love you.... America, this is our country. We are with you," said Malik, a New York imam who plans to move soon to Washington to serve as chief executive officer of Islam on Capitol Hill.

America "is one of the best places in the world to live," Malik said. "What we have done here today we couldn't do in any Muslim country."

Malik made it clear Islam would seek to make converts.

"America, I announce to you, it is my intention to invite your children to the worship of one God," he said. "It is my intention to remove every idol from every place -- nothing physical. It is a confrontation of ideas, because, brothers and sisters, the most powerful weapon you have in your hand ... is truth."

I am curious. If he is so confident in truth, why doesn't he go back to Saudi Arabia and call for a separation of Church and State? Why do the Saudis or any Islamic country not allow freedom of religion?

The answer is simple. Free and open discourse is not possible in Islam. I dare any Muslim or atheist or anyone else to go to a Muslim country and attempt to do what is often done in the West against Christianity. You might last 2 minutes?

My Conversation With Russell

My Jehovah's Witness friend, Russell, finally stopped by Saturday afternoon, and we had a very good visit. We sat on my front porch and the weather could not have been better. He began our conversation with talk about his farm which led to economics which led possible bad times which led to his view of eschatology. Knowing this is where Jehovah's Witnesses go (they are an end times cults group), I sat patiently listening and actually learning something new.

This past week I listened to a Dispensationalist talk about multiple resurrections starting with the Pretribulation Rapture and continuing on through the Millenium. Well, my JW friend had this particular Dispensationalist beat by a 100 times. I learned that there may be many many many resurrections during the millennial reign of Christ.

I also had my memory refreshed on the 2 tier or 2 class system of Christians. Instead of the carnal verses spiritual Christian though, Russell explained that there will be a ruling class of Christians who reign with Christ in heaven, and there will be the rest of humanity on earth that are ruled by the Kingdom of God. With this explanation he said that my question of eternal life from 1 John 5 is for the ruling class. This of course had many interpretive errors within such a claim, but I decided to be patient and wait for another opportunity to ask further questions.

Of course I had to ask how does one get into the ruling class or paradise on earth. His response was that we need to have faith in God and to do what he commands. Over time we will be trained and become more and more like Christ and become perfected. In other words, we must cooperate with God's grace by our free-wills to inherit the earth.

I responded in two ways (the second in the next post). First, I noted to him that his view of God's grace, man and his sin, and faith is fundamentally the same as Rome's view. His response was simple, "That doesn't matter."

Of course it doesn't matter. For the Watch Tower doesn't possess the Gospel either. When you have a man-centered view of salvation, you start with the imperative to get to the indicative. Or you start with obeying God in order to achieve being perfected. The Gospel is completely backwards from this view.

I asked him many times during our conversation, "What is the Good News?" For him, it was the coming of God's rule or Kingdom. For in his view, man is not a dead sinner that needs the breath of God to raise him from the dead to new life in Christ. For him, man is not a lawbreaker needing to be punished legally by a holy God. For him, substitutionary atonement leads to easy believism. Instead salvation is an offer or a chance to obey by faith.

So once again, free-will or even a semi-pelagian view is foundational to man's religions, whether they be Rome, many Evangelical churches, or the Watch Tower Society.

Fred Malone To Speak on the Five Solas

Once again I am amazed at my pastor. This year's Reformation Weekend (Oct 30th - Nov 1st.) at First Baptist Church, St. Francis, will have as its guest speaker, Fred Malone.

A short bio from The Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies,

Dr. Malone is a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary with an M. Div. (1974) as well as Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with a Ph. D. (1989). He has served as pastor of First Baptist Church, Clinton, LA, since 1993. He also serves on the Founders Ministries Board and the Administrative Council of the Association of Reformed Baptist Churches in America. Dr. Malone has retained membership in the Evangelical Theological Society for many years. His publications include The Baptism of Disciples Alone as well as many articles. He is happily married to Deborah for almost 40 years, having has three grown children and three grandchildren.

He will be speaking on the Five Solas of the Reformation. If you are able to come, please do!

Click here for location.

Global Warming At the UN

Open Market.org has an interesting article that interacts with President Obama's speech in the area of Global Warming.

“More frequent drought and crop failures breed hunger and conflict in places where hunger and conflict already thrive.”

Reality: there is no upward global trend in major droughts. Reversals in large-scale cycles have meant that the southward march of the Sahara Desert into the Sahel has been reversed in recent years and the Sahara is now shrinking.

I would add another reality. The number one reason people are starving is because of dictators. Although there are cultural factors that keep people living in the past and using outdated methods of agriculture, dictators have taxed people for generations and kept them in poverty. This leads to constant revolts and "banana republics".

To blame the American way of life for causing bad weather which in turn causes starvation is more evidence that this is not about Global Warming or the environment. This is all about anti-capitalism. One only need to look at the enemies of the Left-wing Democrats and their rhetoric against capitalism.

As I asked my son the other day, "Have you ever heard of a missionary coming back from a foreign country saying, 'Their way of life is so much netter than ours.'?"

The evidence for capitalism's success is right in front of our faces. Just walk out the front door of your house and look around.

The only Global Warming being caused by human beings is the hot air being blown around at the UN.

Prove It #4 Miracles and Science

So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”

Throughout the Gospels we see Jesus performing many miracles. These miracles were "signs" pointing to something other than the miracle. In other words, miracles are not an end in themselves, but point us in the direction of Jesus Christ.

On one occasion, Jesus performs a miracle and the author tells us of two different interpretations of the one event. Jesus casts out a demon and here is the latter response from Mark 3.

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”

So why does this take place? Why would some see Jesus as the Messiah and others see Jesus as a false prophet? Jesus offers us an explanation with Lazarus and the Rich man recorded in Luke 16.

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 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.’”

If you remember, Dan Barker wanted Dr. White to prove the existence of God using Dan's presuppositions that don't allow for the Christian God to exist. Basically, Dan wanted a miracle done in front of him that he could scientifically verify (yet if he could verify it using the scientific method, then how could it be a miracle?). Yet several times Mr. Barker explained that everything has a naturalistic explanation. In other words, Mr. Barker has defined the existence of God to be impossible because his worldview can not allow it. There is no room for God's revelation to us in Dan's world.

Jesus teaches us from this text that man is not morally neutral. Miracles will not convince those who "are not of God". The Word of God is united. If a man rejects Moses and the prophets, then he will not be able to accept Christ. In other words, if a man will not accept God's revelation through His prophets, then neither will they accept the ultimate revelation of God in Christ. All of God's revelation is united and points to Christ.

The basis for Christianity's Good News is the resurrection from the dead. We primarily know as Christians that the Gospel is true because Jesus was raised from the dead. As Paul explains to us in Romans 1.

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ...

If you are looking for a miracle, then God has provided. God has raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead. God has demonstrated that Jesus is the Savior of the world through His resurrection. If you will not believe Jesus was raised from the dead, then neither will you believe if one of your own relatives were raised from the dead.

So I plead with you dear sinner to abandon your prideful man-made world of limited reason and look to the Words of Moses and the prophets and the Apostles. See your true need and repent and turn to the resurrected Christ.

Prove It #3 The Fall of Man

I wanted to offer a few passages that support the Biblical view of man. In Genesis chapter 3 we read of the fall of man into sin after being warned of the consequences in chapter 2.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Man in his original state was to represent the image of God fully and maturely. He was to fill the earth and the glory of the Lord was to be seen in man's relationship with God. However, we see both Adam and Eve rejecting God's provision for them and instead decide to attain eternal life on their own terms. Therefore chapter 3 ends with this revelation about the relationship between God and man:

22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

I have no doubt that man does not want to be eternally punished for his sin in Adam. I have no doubt that most of us think this is unfair. I have no doubt that if granted the opportunity, mankind would attempt to take from the tree of life, but he would only do so to live unto himself and for selfish gain.

If you notice carefully, the text tells us that it was God who removed man from His garden. It was God who placed a guard to prevent access to the tree of life. It was God who put man to death by removing man from the source of life.

We must be thankful that God has not ended man's existence at that moment. God is patient and long suffering with man. Yet at the same time, we see in this text man's rejection of God and his unwillingness to come to God on God's terms. As Adam responded to God, so today we respond in the same way.

But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

We know God exists. We also know He is our judge and that we have sinned before Him. Instead of humbling ourselves and facing the truth, we hide our nakedness and seek to clothe ourselves with our own righteousness. We instead attempt to bring God's justice under our own. We do as the Apostle Paul writes so clearly in Romans 1,

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

How may the Christian prove the existence of God to a creature that will pervert the revelation of God at every turn? How shall we prove the true God when man establishes and makes all kinds of other gods...gods of his own imaginations? The Christian can't. The Christian is to take the revelation of God as the basis of calling men to repentance. We must recognize that in the garden man died. It is the Gospel proclaimed in the power of the Spirit that is able to take dead sinners and raise them from the dead.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

This does not mean we preach the Good News in a mechanical or impersonal way. This does not mean the Christian should not try to reason with man. As Paul says elsewhere,

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

In conclusion, man is made in the image of God. He is able to reason and think. But the Christian is to remember that he is not dealing with a morally neutral man. The Christian is to rely not in his methodologies nor his powers to persuade. He is to rely on the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Quote For the Day

I thought this paragraph from Dennis Johnson's commentary on the third horse in the book of The Revelation further reminds us of the judgments of this age as opposed to the judgment in the age to come.

There is, however, a limit to this judgment, as there is to all God's providential judgments as long as God's patience delays final judgment (2 Peter 3:9, Rom 2:3-4). Limitations of various kinds distinguish restricted, anticipatory expressions of the wrath of the lamb throughout history from the unrestrained display of His judgment at the end of history. Here famine affects grains but does not harm oil or wine. The rider of the fourth horse will be able to inflict death over only 1/4 of the earth (Rev 6:8). At the sounding of the first four trumpets fiery plagues will fall on 1/3 of the earth, sea, rivers and springs, and sky (8:7-12). This feature of limited judgments is an interpretive key and an encouragement to besieged churches. When we see in John's visions restrained and partial judgment, we are being shown symbols of the course of ordinary history between the comings of Christ. The dangers ad disasters that shatter and dismantle arrogant , Rome civilizations (in John's day, Rome), which are symbolized in the four horsemen and most of the trumpets, are the Lamb's providential instruments of prewrath wrath and prejudgment justice, foreshadowing the end when God's victory over His enemies will be total. As Christians see societies crumble and collapse, our response should not be terrified alarm, as though our security were bound up with a fragile human network of law and order, but anticipation and confidence: the Lamb is now on the throne, with God's plan for history firmly in hand.

Revelation reminds us that there is a purpose in the events in history and that all things are uder the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I am very thankful that God's final judgment has been delayed. So while we may witness terrible judgments in this present evil age, as Christians, we know these judgments shall soon pass and give way to the final judgment and the age to come.

Prove It #2 The Fool Hath Said

Right from the outset, debating atheism is a tall task for the Christian. The reason is simple but easily overlooked. We live in a culture that has been heavily influenced by philosophical Naturalism and Materialism. Since most of us have grown up going through the public school system, we naturally think the way we were taught. We have been enlightened to think that everything has a naturalistic answer.

Some of us may remember those old Scooby Doo shows. The premise of those shows is that even though things may appear to be supernatural, they are really not. If you listen to Dan Barker's arguments, even things that we know to have been "intelligently designed" is really just a part of the natural realm. So my writing this post is really just a part of the natural worldview. This post is just a product of evolution because the chemicals in my brain caused me to spill these so-called thoughts on to my keyboard.

The problem at the core is that the Naturalist can not justify any of these premises nor can they justify their worldview with their worldview. Naturalism by definition is irrational because it is circular.

For instance, Barker demanded Dr. White should prove God's existence using the scientific method (something that was implied in his arguments). However, how does Barker justify the scientific method? Did he prove the scientific method using the scientific method? Is the method just an evolutionary construct of his brain and other brains might construct something different? Using Barker's own assumptions, would not brains of the past that saw the existence of God necessary be just as valid as his own since they were brought about by evolutionary mechanisms?

What if in the future, the scientific method is rejected by everyone? How could he argue against those living in the future since evolution produced such thinking?

When the Christian decides to defend the Christian faith against atheism, he must recognize that we are not merely arguing evidence. We must challenge the presuppositions and worldview of the atheist. As Scripture says,

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

This must be our starting point. This is not negotiable. The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."

The fool who says there is no God is a fool not because he is unintelligent, but because he is made in the image of God and lives in a fashion that contradicts what he says. For example, if I were in college and I dropped a term paper on the floor on the way to class, and an atheist walks by later and sees it, he does not say, "What an accident of nature." Instead he opens the paper and looks for the author so that he might return it to its owner.

Why might he do this? Because first he recognizes intuitively that the paper has an author. He never tries to prove this to himself using the scientific method. He doesn't use transcendental arguments or naturalistic ones. He doesn't borrow from the information theory. He doesn't use the "irreducible complexities" explanation. He just knows without even thinking that the paper has an author.

Second, he feels a moral obligation to return the paper. This may only be explained by the Christian worldview. It may only be explained by the truth that man is made in the image and likeness of God.

Of course in the end, you might say that I am being circular. It is true that there must be an ultimate authority and so ultimate authorities are inherently circular. Yet it is not circular to start with God. For I am not proving God. As a Christian I may only demonstrate the truth of the Trinitarian God as the basis for all reality. As a Christian I recognize I am a creature. To cut myself off from my Creator is to cut myself off from the true source of knowledge and life.

Therefore the Christian must engage atheism without cutting himself from the revelation of God, both in creation and Scripture. Only then will he be able to press against the atheist mind his true need.

Prove It

For several years I had a coworker that repeatedly asked me to "Prove it." Prove Christianity is true was his daily chant. In response, I would ask him as to what standard I had to meet in order to "prove it"? To which he responded with nothing. The floating standards or impossible standards of unbelievers is a difficult challenge.

Recently, Christian apologist, James White, debated atheist, Dan Barker, over whether or not the Triune God Lives. At one point in the debate Barker raised the typical argument that if God wants us to believe in Him, why doesn't He just reveal Himself in a way that science can verify His existence. In fact, he claims to have greater wisdom than the God of Christianity in that he would have done things better. You can get the debate here. (You may also get Doug Wilson's debate with Dan over the same topic for free here.)

Over the next couple of posts I'd like to attempt to answer that question from a different perspective than in ways I have answered it in times past.