My friend Kylan expressed a reasonable doubt of my post from the last few days regarding the errors of the American Evangelical church. “You assume too much in the common mans heart”

My contention in a nutshell is that we ought to preach the Truth that God has revealed as a call for self judgement, not a call to judge God, as is the common practice. We ought not sell God, we ought to sell repentance. as making God into an entity to be judged makes God into something less than God.

The Post-Modern mantra of “There is more than one truth” is true to a certain degree. The caveat however is that all of the truths except for the real one are sinful self-justifying counterfeits. Man steps into the role reserved for God and shapes his own reality. He creates a reality that justifies the actions that he wants to take. He creates a reality that allows him to do what he wants to do and not feel badly about it. We write our own “knowledge of good and evil”

I believe that every man knows that he does this. My friend disagrees.

I base my theory on Romans 1:18-23

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 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. 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. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
(Romans 1:18-23 ESV)

Based on this passage, I do believe that reality is plain to all people, because God has shown it to them. Yes, we do suppress the truth. That is what Sin is. And if we continue doing it long enough we will become fools who think we are wise. The passage continues to tell us that God will give us over to our lusts.

As we walk further and further down the path of unrighteousness, it becomes harder and harder to go back. We invest everything into our worldview and our perspective. Repentance means throwing away most everything we know and starting over from scratch. Most choose to continue in their self-deception and layer lies upon lies to protect themselves from the truth. So to a degree Kylan is right. Somebody may be so entrenched in the layers of lies that they don’t really recognize that they are deceiving themselves. But they are still deceiving themselves. Every time the plain truth pops up and contradicts their reality, They are faced with a choice — They can either deny the truth, or recognize that their reality is based on an illusion. Denying the truth changes nothing, so there really is only one hope. The road to destruction will lead where it leads no matter where you convince yourself it is taking you.

My contention is that we need to celebrate what God has made plain to every human heart. We need to call people back to their reality, and ask them to repent of their suppression of the Truth. When people are futile in their thinking it is not terribly effective to ask them to think more.

It is that “Claiming to be wise” part that the evangelical church is refusing to ask people to repent from. We encourage people to submit God to the test of their wisdom. When we do such things, Wisdom becomes the ultimate authority, not God. We have exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal man, Human wisdom.

What we do when we use such a method is that we ask people to work God into their reality. The sinful self-created, self-justifying false reality. To add him as a layer in their web of lies that define their reality.

God, on the other hand, is asking us to repent of our false-godhood, shed our false reality and instead work ourselves into His authentic reality.

In the Sermon on the Mount, we saw Christ use a more proper teaching method. He would say “You have heard it said” insert human wisdom here , “but I say to you” insert God’s wisdom here . He put human wisdom on trial, and authoritatively diminished it. As Christians can follow Christ’s teaching model, but we also have the advantage of extending it using Him as an example. We can say “You have heard it said” insert human wisdom here, “but God says to you” insert God’s wisdom here “And Christ demonstrated this by” insert example from the Gospels here.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” Prov 14:15

When we sell what is right as what seems right we are to a certain degree encouraging man to pursue what seems right, which may or may not be what is right.

Wrestling With An Angel from Brian Patton on Vimeo.

My post from yesterday ruffled a feather or two..

To be clear, I don’t have a problem with “The Case for Christ”,  apologetics, or reason.

The problem I see is this:

In America we have a real problem with submission to authority.  (Especially those of us out west)  The younger generations have a real problem with accepting truth at all.  They do not want to be oppressed by truth, they want truth to be submissive to the individual will. “Oh it’s so nice that you have discovered YOUR truth”

When we try to explain how God fits nicely under somebody’s idol (In this case reason and individualism)  We mis-portray God.  Even if we describe his characteristics perfectly accurately, and nothing we say is false, we are omitting something that is so critical to the nature of God that what we are describing winds up not really being God.

Reason submits to Truth, Truth does not submit to reason.   And God is Truth.

If you speak  Truth, reason will come around.  If you start from reason, and attempt to construct Truth from reason, you will only get the postmodern truth, not the real truth, and those can be very different things..

A scientist who holds his hypothesis more dearly than his data, is not a scientist at all.    If we give the person holding the postmodern hypothesis only data that appeases them, we are not leading them to the Truth, we are only leading them to believe a less-wrong lie.  In order for them to get to the Truth the wrong hypothesis must die.

A seeker who is not willing to have their hypothesis defeated isn’t really a seeker yet.  It is actually condescending and disrespectful to spin your truth in a way that it is unoffensive to the person who really needs to be offended.  If they continue on the road of their hypothesis, it is invariably going to go where that road leads.    I have always thought that it is best to tell them where that road leads, so that when they arrive, they will say “Gee, he was right. Perhaps I ought to go back and  look at the rest of what he had to say a bit more carefully”

Like I said yesterday,  God overcomes all of this bad methodology and changes hearts in spite of our inadequate methods.

Is that it brings the “Case for Christ” before the “seeker” and then calls for him (or her) to pass judgement on God.

This approach leaves the “seeker” sitting on the exact throne that he needs to get off of.  This system then applauds him (the seeker)  for fulfilling his sinful role.  (Judging God)

But really, it is God who sits on the throne.  His light reveals his truth about us.  We are the proposition to be tested, He is not.   At our heart of hearts we know that we are deceiving ourselves into thinking we are okay.   God illuminates our lies, and calls us out of our lies and into truth.  God is Truth.  He is not a proposition.

And if you get this wrong  –  If you portray this wrong, you are not portraying God accurately.  It is like we point a flashlight at the wall, point to it and ask the seeker “This is what the light of God is like, Do you like??”  When the light of God is more like the Sun.  It isn’t even comparable.  It isn’t the same thing.  God doesn’t have a switch.  He illuminates everything.  You can’t point him.  The person who accepts the flashlight has not necessarily accepted the Sun.

I am fairly certain that is what is broken.   Thankfully, God is almighty enough to overcome our bad methods.   He saves sinners in spite of our inadequate efforts.  It is a miracle.   And a miracle it should be.

Update:   I further explain and clarify this topic here.

Of course the buzz of the world is Harold Camping’s failed rapture prophecy about last weekend.

I think that Mr Camping did sincerely believe what he believed.  I don’t think he made all of this hullabaloo to make a name for himself or anything of that sort.  He had a theory, he searched the bible for evidence in support of that theory.  He found so much evidence of what his itching ears wanted to hear, that he believed it was irrefutable and “Guaranteed”

That is the danger of eisegesis.  This is the practice of reading your own idea into the scripture.  You search for what you want to hear and ignore all the evidence to the contrary, and you get exactly what you want to hear.

On my trips down to California, I hear it on the Calvary Chapel radio stations all of the time.  A preacher will be preaching through Revelation, and he will say something like this:  ” Do you see what it doesn’t mention here?  It doesn’t mention the Church.  You know why?  Well, this shows that  by this point, the Church has been raptured, and is no longer on the earth”

Really?  Perhaps it doesn’t mention the Church because it doesn’t mention the Church?

Yes, a skilled orator can make an argument for his viewpoint out of absolutely nothing.   And to the undiscerning ear that shares the viewpoint doesn’t even see what is happening..  They just have their faith magnified, despite the absolute lack of evidence.

The critics of Mr. Camping annoy me  because they do the same thing in rebuttal.   Everyone goes to Matthew 24:36 Where Jesus says “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only”   Yes it is nice to have a verse in support of your case..  But it is dangerous to take Jesus’ warning that “no one knows” (now) and turn it into “No one knows” (ever).   Especially when a few verses back in verse 33 says “So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.”

Prooftexting will always be a sure-fire method of strengthening your faith in whatever you want to believe.

If you want to challenge Mr. Camping you must go deeper than that.   Is Mr. Camping’s argument based on scripture?  Yes.  Did Christ have the same scripture?  Yes.  (For the most part)    Did Christ know the date?  No.  (Now we can use Matt 24:36)  Is Mr. Camping a better biblical scholar than Christ?  No.  So that leaves us with the New Testement verses that Mr. Camping cites.  Do they really say what he is saying they are saying?  Or is he making them say what he wants them to say?    Well that is up to discussion.  I tend to think that if the flood was a seven day warning and 7 days was 7000 years, Christ would have known.

Mr Camping was wrong.  Sincerely wrong.  If the rest of the Christian church uses his same methods, they too will be sincerely wrong.

It occurred to me that our walk with God is a lot like an improvisational Jam session.    God calls us to some form of obedience, and we respond according to our particular personality, courage and faith.

Sometimes we do something exactly like he is calling us to.   Sometimes we only take a half step instead of a full one.  Sometimes we negotiate by doing something else that is kinda like what we are being asked to do.    God then responds with more beautiful music..  Be it gentle discipline, encouragement or celebration.   If we ignore him altogether, often God plays the same convicting notes over and over until we respond.

One of the dangers that comes with a lot of the Christian literature and teaching out there today is that it tries to provide us with a script — a few pages of sheet music that we can use to respond to God.  While the music may be good, we need to be careful that we are not playing a cover song of James Dobson, Dave Ramsey or Bill W..   Their song may be a good source of wisdom and may be totally sound biblical advice, but we need our song to be our song.

Moreover, Good wisdom is a distraction if it isn’t rooted in and subservient the Gospel.  We don’t follow Jesus to get a stronger family, financial peace, or liberation from addiction.  We get a stronger family, financial peace and liberation because of Jesus, who he is, and what he did for us.

It is the Gospel that changes everything, not some set of behaviors that we can follow like an actor reading a script.

So,  are you playing a cover song? Or an original?  Is your song a duet in response to God? or are you playing response songs totally irrelevant to his call?

You know what is really interesting?  Near Death Experiences (NDE).  What do you think of the reports of people who died and then came back (i.e. were resusitated)?

I take these reports with a grain of salt. The Apostle Paul claimed to have experienced such a thing, and I tend to believe him.(2 cor 12:2) But there are many others who claim such a thing and I think they are full of poop. The devil usually has a good counterfeit for anything real. So the fact that somebody has an experience does not necessarily mean that they have the truth. So, I would not necessarily dismiss such reports, but I would certainly compare them to scripture and use discernment.

Ask me anything

Studied and taught 2 Chronicles 20 this weekend….  Sorry, but there is no audio   (Evil cellphone recorder failed me.)

I used to love that story.   Then I tried to teach it, and I love it less.

The gist of the story is that a massive army is approaching Judah, and King Jehosaphat and the nation prays to God, remembering His promises, and calling on Him to fulfill them.   They get the following response:

And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the LORD to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you.”
(2 Chronicles 20:15-17 ESV)

God’s people remembered His promises to them.  The called on Him and the response they got was “the battle is not yours but God’s”

Certainly there are a lot of biblical examples of God’s people trying to accomplish His promises on His behalf.   Abraham and Hagar tried to fulfill God’s promise.   Jacob and Rebecca tried to connive God’s promise into fruition by lying to Isaac.

None of these human efforts thwarted God’s promises,  but they did make some mighty impressive messes.

I do wonder if a deeper understanding of theology would lead us to a place where we recognized that most of life’s battles where our attempts to gain something that God promised to give anyway?   Perhaps we are assuming that the call to the battlefield is a call to arms, when it may be a call to spectate.   God wants us to see what He is doing.

The call to spectate is a call to worship.   It isn’t entirely passive.   We have to take our eyes off of our idol and place our eyes on God.   He calls us to witness.. That means we love as He loved.  We forgive as He forgave, we provide generously for others has He has provided generously for us.  But it isn’t our battle, it is His.  We get to watch and cheer in worship.

My thesis for the talk was that many of life’s battles do not actually belong to man, but the belong to God.   We are not called to fight — That is legalism.   We are not called to surrender — That is antinomianism.   We are called to worship.    We let go of our idols and see what God puts in their place.   Victory is found in worshiping the God that makes the impossible possible.

Too often we boil our theology down way too far.   “God is Love” or “God has a plan for your life” are true, but they are by no means complete.   If we understand God’s promises, we will understand which battles belong to God, and that will give us peace.

I have enjoyed the rise of Jon Bones Jones in the MMA world.. I think I have watched every one of his UFC fights. The doubters have been loud, but the doubters have always been wrong.. Now he sits as the UFC light heavyweight champ, and the doubters have moved their doubts from his fighting capability to his marketability. This article sums it up pretty well

The article contends that you need three things in order to succeed as a MMA revenue draw. I will address those contentions below.

1. Bad Boy Presence

Jones is not a bad boy outside of the ring. He is pretty definitively the opposite, and goes out of his way to be such. What is going to make Jones great isn’t that he is going to be popular within the current fan base. He is going to be successful by expanding the fan base to the non-bad-boy market. Kinda like Tiger Woods expanded the market for Golf to the non-old-fogey market.  I am sure that Michael Jordon expanded the market for the NBA as well.

Secondly, Actions speak louder than words. And nobody can say that this guy is not a bad boy.

I think the Shogun fight probably doubled the length of his highlight reel.

2: The Ultimate Fighter
I don’t buy it. Sure it has made some stars. But I don’t think GSP was hurting for PPV buys before he went on the show. Moreover, if Dana White thinks it will help – Jon Jones will be on TUF.

3: Feuds
Jon Jones doesn’t need to make feuds of his own. The feuds will come to him. Case 1, Rashad Evans. Everyone is trying to blame Jon Jones for the fact they are fighting. I don’t think the defending champ should take a lot of leeway to turn down fights. If Jon Jones where only to defend his belt against people who he thinks he can beat, and he can pick and choose – then he may very well not be the champ at all.. Rashad Evans is the one who wants the belt, and he is the one who had the leeway to turn down the fight. If anyone knows how to beat Jones, it will be his training partner, Rashad.

Finally, if you where to read through the comments, you will see a significant disdain for Jones’s “Faux Humility” As a Christian, I find this reaction quite interesting, because it should apply to all of us.

Jones’ humility is an interesting case study, and it will be interesting to see if he can maintain it. Jon Jones knows that his 8 ’4 reach and his 6′ 4 frame is not the work of Jon Jones. He understands that that is why in large part he keeps winning. He gives credit to God with every win. He gives credit to his coaches, and he gives credit to his family. He is by no means close to a perfect human being, but neither are the “bad boys” who are mocking him.

I love the videos where he talks about his need to beat the weakness out of himself. This is what true Christian humility is. It isn’t lack of confidence. It is acknowledging the source of your strengths (God), the source of your weaknesses (sin), and submitting to the idea that your weaknesses need to be put to death.

Anyway, there are still legitimate doubts about weather Jon Jones is ready for all of this. Rashad Evans may very well be able to show the world how to beat Jones. (something nobody else has ever been able to come close to demonstrating) But I bet all of the MMA fans are going to want to see his next fight — and perhaps some non MMA fans. My wife is interested in watching him, for what that is worth.

In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that many Christians blindly support the secular state of Israel, and that this position ignores quite a bit of scripture.

The obvious retort is to go to Genesis 12:3 and point out that God’s Promise says “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse”

My response is “who is you?” The answer is Abraham. Much of the controversy between Jesus and the Pharisee’s dealt with Jesus linking back to the promises made to Abraham. The Pharisees loved the promises to Moses, but they where a little less keen on the promises to Abraham. All of the promises made to Abraham also applied to the nation of Israel, as they where a subset of Abraham’s offspring.. But in the very same verse Gen 12:3 the promise continues “and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” God’s promise to Abraham was for Israel, but it was also for all of the peoples of the earth.

All of the people of the earth are blessed through Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate owner of the promise “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse” This isn’t “replacement theology” as some would like to demonize it. God’s promises to Moses where generally conditional. God’s promises to Abraham where not. On a corporate level, the nation of Israel failed to keep it’s side of the Mosaic covenant, and as such, God’s promises are coming true for them. More on the curse side than the blessing side, unfortunately for them.

Thankfully however, the Abraham covenant was on a personal level, not a corporate level. Everyone who by faith submits to the rightful king is a inheritor of the promises to Abraham. (Romans 4) So there is neither Jew nor Greek in the kingdom of God. It is open to all who profess faith.

The book of Romans chapters 9-11 does indicate that the nation of Israel will come back to faith in the end. I don’t think we are there yet.