November 2004

The Perfect PoMo Apology

  • Tim Challies
  • 11/19/04
  • 0

Like many other people, I was a little disturbed by the introduction to this week’s broadcast of Monday Night Football. If you happened to miss it, it featured the Eagle’s always-controversial receiver Terrell Owens and Nicollette Sheridan from the show Desperate Housewives. Sheridan was clad initially in a towel, but in an effort to persuade Owens not to take to the field but to instead spend time with her (hint hint), she soon dropped the towel and leapt into his arms. Owens made some comment about the team having to make do without him and that was that. It was provocative and was clearly lewd. It made many people upset. The NFL issued a statement saying that it was innappropriate for a broadcast and the network ABC has also subsequently apologized.

I was glad that my son wasn’t watching the game at that moment. While it was clearly inappropriate I can’t deny that there are far worse things to be seen on television - it’s just that football is usually family-friendly viewing.

The headlines on ESPN and NFL.com today announced an apology by Owens. In my view it is the perfect postmodern apology:

“I felt like it was clean, the organization felt like it was a clean skit and I think it just really got taken out of context with a lot of people and I apologize for that,” Owens said. “Personally I didn’t think it would have offended anyone and, if it did, I apologize.”

I’ll interpret that.

“In my system of morality I tought it was clean. Other people, in their old-fashioned views which are no more or less correct may have seen it otherwise. If any of those old fashioned people are offended, I apologize to them. But I don’t think it should offend you because it doesn’t offend me. But if it did anyways, I apologize.”

Note to Owens: that is not an apology. That is, at best, an explanation. Heck, it might be a legitimate one - he had no moral qualms with doing the spot and willingly participated. His apology is just silly and it can’t possibly make anyone who was offended feel better. A true apology is premised on true remorse, and clearly Owens has none. And again, that doesn’t bother or surprise me. What bothers me is that he gives us this silly, meaningless apology.

If it wasn’t 5:00 PM on a Friday afternoon I would take the time to make a spiritual connection here, showing that repentance before God indicates both a turning towards (an apology) and a turning away (an admission of guilt). But I smell a roast cooking and I need to make sure my wife doesn’t overcook it.

For those of you who disappear for the weekends, enjoy your days off. For the rest, perhaps I can finish this up tomorrow!

Emergent Church � Nothing New Under The Sun

  • Tim Challies
  • 11/19/04
  • 1

The November issue of Christianity Decay Today featured an article entitled The Emergent Mystique which examines the so-called emergent church. The subheading says The ‘emerging church’ movement has generated a lot of excitement but only a handful of congregations. Is it the wave of the future or a passing fancy?

The emergent church, knowing elsewhere as the emerging church seems to defy description. I have read long, drawn-out discussions where various members of this movement have tried to put together a working definition. Generally they were unable to agree on one. Andy Crouch, who wrote the article in Christianity Today, says the phrase emerging church captures several important features of a new generation of churches. They are works in progress, often startlingly improvisational in their approach to everything from worship to leadership to preaching to prayer. Like their own members, they live in the half-future tense of the young, oriented toward their promise rather than their past. But if their own focus is on what they are emerging toward, perhaps most surprising are the places they are emerging from. These churches are emerging from what they consider the dust and ashes of the failure of the modern age of Christianity and are emerging towards a new way of doing church church for the post-modern generation. Men whose names continually arise in discussions about the emerging church are N.T. Wright and Brian McLaren. The article in Christianity Today focuses on Rob Bell, who was influenced by both of these men, and began Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Bell is a young, trendy type of guy who probably could have made a good living selling cars. But at the age of twenty eight he planted Mars Hill and in just a few years has seen attendance swell to thousands of people every Sunday. He is known for doing just about anything to make a point in a sermon, even bringing live animals onto the stage with him or covering himself with a Jewish prayer shawl. He has tried to rediscover rabbinical preaching, eschewing traditional preaching methods.

In the interview Bell and his wife revealed how they began their journey away from traditional church. They tell how they became increasingly disillusioned with church, even the church they were running. But then the breakthrough came when they discover[ed] the Bible as a human product, as Rob puts it, rather than the product of divine fiat. The Bible is still in the center for us, Rob says, but it’s a different kind of center. We want to embrace mystery, rather than conquer it. It was only through their discovery that the Bible is a human product and not a book that was sanctioned or decreed by God that they were able to see things clearly. They continue, I grew up thinking that we’ve figured out the Bible, Kristen says, that we knew what it means. Now I have no idea what most of it means. And yet I feel like life is big againlike life used to be black and white, and now it’s in color.

The author writes, An earlier generation of evangelicals, forged in battles with 20th-century liberalism, prided themselves on avoiding theological shades of gray, but their children see black, white, and gray as all equally unlifelike. They are looking for a faith that is colorful enough for their culturally savvy friends, deep enough for mystery, big enough for their own doubts. To get there, they are willing to abandon some long-defended battle lines.

It would seem from the article that the Bells have given up on trying to discern what the Bible really means; that their view of the human origins of Scripture have made them decide that the Bible is not a book God gave for us to pour over and study and do all we can to understand. Rather, it is a mysterious book that we can never really know. We have to let go of the black and white of past days the black and white of saying that we know what the Bible means and instead embrace color new, trendy ways of doing church. We have to embrace doubt and mystery.

If we cannot know God through His Word, then we have to find him in other ways. It is little wonder, then, that the emergent church is embracing mystical practices of days past. The labyrinth and Catholic mystics find their way into emergent worship. There is renewed emphasis on meditation and new methods of preaching. The Bible is taught as a guidebook, not as an authoritative manual for the Christian life.

I have no issue with worshipping God in new ways, provided those ways are Scriptural. I have no issue with different styles of delivering a message or having a pastor with two-tone hair. But when the emphasis of the church is removed from the Word of God and the focus is placed instead on mystery, on experience and on removing the old simply for the sake of removing it, I have to object.

And here we see that the emergent church is nothing new, for it merely harkens back to the continual cycle of the church. The Bible is rediscovered and soon left behind. The emergent church removes the emphasis from the Word, portraying it as too deep and mysterious to understand, and emphasizing instead mystery and doubt. Does this sound like anything we have seen in history?

Perhaps what is most tragic, or even ironic, about this movement is that many people involved in it believe they are doing something that is original, yet this simply is not the case. As the wisest man once said, there is nothing new under the sun. The emergent church proves this axiom to be true.

Total Depravity: Extent vs Degree

  • Tim Challies
  • 11/18/04
  • 1

This morning I decided that today I was going to write about man’s sinful condition, or as we says as Calvinists, man’s total depravity. Doing my rounds of other blogs this morning I noticed that Jollyblogger had written about this topic yesterday, so I thought I would take a slightly different approach and write about two types of depravity - depravity in extent and depravity in degree.

When we say that mankind fell in Adam, we affirm that as our federal head, Adam’s sin was passed on to all of us. Adam represented the human race, and when he decided to forsake God, he did so on behalf of all of us. This is similar to a head of state declaring war on another nation - his declaration means that each person within his nation, each person that he represents, is now at war with the foreign country. Job laments “Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman?” (Job 25:4) No one who has been born of man can escape this radically sinful nature. Nature tells us that like begets like; a dog can only give birth to dogs, not to cats or frogs or birds. Similarly a sinful person can only bring forth other sinful people.

Another affirmation we make in the Christian view of the fall is that there is a sense in which the first sin is ours in the same way in which it was Adam’s. While we did not actually take the piece of fruit and eat it, God foreordained our relationship to Adam long before Adam fell so that from the moment of our conception we are sinful. We are not innocent until we commit our first sin, but are condemned, sinful people from the moment our lives begin. Psalm 58:3 tells us that “the wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.” Before we are even born we are already sinful, and deliberately go astray as soon as we are able.

And so it is that humans are sinful from the moment life begins. But how sinful are they? We will turn to this now.

Calvinists speak of Total Depravity, a term that has often led people to confuse the issue. R.C. Sproul speaks today of radical corruption and others speak of radical depravity. I believe these issues clarify the matter, for by total depravity we do not mean that people are as depraved as they could possibly be. It is here that it is helpful to differentiate between extent and degree.

When we say humans are totally depraved in extent, we mean that their depravity has reached every part of their being. It extends to every part of them - their mind, body and spirit are all corrupt. When we speak of a total degree of depravity, we indicate that something is exactly as bad as it could possibly be so that there is not even a tiny bit of good left.

Consider the illustration of three glasses of water. The first glass contains clean, pure water and represents Adam in his perfect state before the Fall. Now consider a second glass which contains this same clean, pure water. We can put one drop of deadly poison in that glass and it renders that entire glass poisonous so that if you were to drink it, you would quickly drop dead. That one drop extended to every part of the glass even though the entire vessel is not filled with poison. This represents humans after the Fall. While they are not wholly corrupt, the corruption they do have extends to every part. And finally consider a third glass which is filled entirely with poison. From top to bottom there is nothing but deadly poison. This represents Satan, who the Bible portrays as being absolutely corrupt so there is no good left whatsoever, but this does not represent humans here on earth. Humans are not as depraved as they could possibly be. We must note that sinful men who have been cast into hell will also be in this state where they are wholly depraved.

One might ask, then, why God has allowed men who are corrupt in extent not to be corrupt in degree. The reason we find in Scripture is simply that God is merciful. Had He not intervened every human would indeed be corrupt in extent and degree. If every person in the world were as filled with sin as he could be, the world would be uninhabitable, filled with murderers, thieves and all manner of evil. Thankfully God has allowed even sinful men to avoid being wholly corrupt. There are several means He has given to do this.

Conscience - Every human being has been given a conscience, an inner working which helps restrain the desire to do evil. Paul writes in Romans 2 “…their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.” (verse 15)

Government - God has put civil authorities in place to restrain men from evil. Furthermore, He has given them the authority to dispense justice and punishment. Romans 13 verses 1 through 5 speak to this. “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake.”

Fear of Death - Humans have a natural fear of death. Every man-made religion emphasizes the necessity of doing good so that we can store up a treasure of good deeds to supposedly sustain us in the life after death. Hebrews 2:14-15 reads “[Jesus] likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (emphasis mine)

Society - People are also restrained by the desire to appear good before their friends, families and society in general. Doing good is generally valued highly enough that people seek to attain to some degree of goodness.

That is the Christian view on depravity. All humans are corrupt in extent - every part of us testifies to our imperfection, but thanks be to God, not in degree. And before us lies a decision. God tells us that when we die we can anticipate either becoming perfected, so once again we will be like that glass of water that is crystal clear, free from any poison of corruption or being cast out of His presence where we will become like that glass of poison, as corrupt and evil and filled with hate as we could possibly be. Which will you choose?

Album Review - I See Things Upside Down

  • Tim Challies
  • 11/17/04
  • 0

Many people wondered what Derek Webb was thinking when he abandoned his position as co-leader of Caedmon's Call, a band that was routinely playing before crowds of 2000 people, to strike out on his own. After all, why would he abandon security and a regular paycheck to do his own thing? On this album he gives the answer: Webb sees things upside down. In "What is Not Love" he tells us that "what looks like failure is success and what looks like poverty is riches." To do what he felt God wanted him to do he had to leave the security of Caedmon's Call.

Webb's first album, "She Must And Shall Go Free," was a necessarily harsh but loving call to the church to return to the purity of the gospel. He pulled no punches in describing the church's current state and how God must feel about her. The album was well-received by some but disliked by others. Some stores even refused to sell it. Webb followed the album with a series of house shows where he played in intimate settings of 20 to 50 people, sitting in a living room, playing his songs and just teaching others what God had taught him. He released an album called "The House Show" that allowed anyone to experience one of these shows. And now, a year later, he has released his next studio album, "I See Things Upside Down."

This album is clearly different from his previous ones. The sound is more polished and even includes plenty of synthesized sounds and organ backgrounds. It kicks of with "I Want A Broken Heart," a haunting song with all sorts of background noise that describes his condition before God. He moves on to the country-inspired ballad "Better Than Wine" which sets The Song of Solomon to music. From there he moves to a bigger sounds in "The Strong, The Tempted & The Weak" and then to the slower "Reputation" and "I Repent" which we first heard on "The House Show." Other notable songs are "We Come To You," written by Aaron Tate - a stirring ballad that clocks in at just over 8 minutes, the bulk of which has no lyrics and "Lover Part 2" which is a haunting, beautiful song that picks up where "Lover" left off in the first album.

It is difficult to define the musical style of this album. I suppose "atmospheric rock" would be an appropriate title. It certainly deviates from the pop music of Caedmon's Call and doesn't have nearly as much of the folk feel as his previous album. The most obvious instrumental change in this album is the amount of keyboards Webb uses. "She Must And Shall Go Free" was almost entirely guitar-driven where on this album many of the songs were clearly written for the keyboards. According to his web site he will be supporting this album with a full-band tour and that is clearly a necessity with these new songs, many of which simply wouldn't work with only a guitar.

To conclude, this is an excellent album, both musically and lyrically and I heartily recommend it. As we have come to expect, Webb presents an original and inspiring view of the church. He continues to challenge the church to be more like Christ intended her to be. If you are a fan of his music you will definitely want to add this to your collection. If you have not heard Webb before, this is an excellent opportunity to discover one of the best artists in Christian music. Pick this one up; you won't regret it.

Experience The Labyrinth (Insert New Age Music Here)

  • Tim Challies
  • 11/16/04
  • 2

When I hear the word “labyrinth” I immediately think of that awful movie from the 80’s starring David Bowie. If you grew up in the 80’s I’m sure you remember it - the one that launched that career of Jennifer Connelly and brought so much pleasure to so many young girls (it seems the girls liked the movie more than the boys).

Of course, and unfortunately, labyrinth also has a religious connotation, as it describes an ancient but recurring technique of supposedly experiencing God. Many ancient cathedrals had labyrinths built into their floors and going through this labyrinth while meditating on the proper things at the proper time was supposed to bring great spiritual enlightenment. And since these bad habits of the past seem to continue to haunt the church of the present, the labyrinth is finding new life. I wish I could say it was held to only the lunatic fringe, but it is gaining popularity even in evangelical circles.

A version of the labyrinth is currently being sold by Group Publishing. Other versions are available. To catch a glimpse of what the labyrinth offers, you can check out Youth for Christ’s site and take a few minutes to go through their exceptionally-poorly designed Flash labyrinth. They recommend you take off your shoes (I suppose the labyrinth must be holy ground) and allow yourself 40 minutes. While you go through you will be serenaded with new age music and slow, deliberate narrative. Don’t be fooled by the Bible quotes in the first station - you won’t hear much more Scripture on your journey. Instead you will hear things like:

You are out in space
Floating, weightless, calm and secure
Seeing things clearer than ever before

Watching the earth
Listening to its uninterrupted stream of noise
From the silence of infinite space

From here there are no visible countries
It’s not like a map or a globe
There are no lines for territories
No colours to mark out countries, historical separations, human definitions…
Just rock, sea, forest and desert
Evolving, eroding, reforming, colliding

Life, death, birth, turning -
Movements and currents
Massive and caught up in the energy of creation

You are looking for signs of ownership but none are visible
You are looking for clues of permanence
But all is slowly changing
To who does this all belong?
Who has the right to claim its power, plunder its resources?

You are out in space
Breathless and patient
Awe-struck and motionless in front of this big, blue, bright ball
This great glittering, god-filled gift
This unbounded blessing you can only call
Home

In the palm of your hand you hold a small seed

This seed contains all the information needed to reproduce its own kind

You plant the seed in some soil

As you do so, feel the moist earthiness of the soil

Think of the darkness the seed experiences before it can spring to life -
on the brink of creation there is darkness

As you plant the seed you are participating in one of the greatest mysteries of the cosmos -
you are co-creating with God. Together you give birth to life.

As the seed grows and flowers it is a symbol of your love and care of nature, creation, of the planet, of home.

Profound, isn’t it? Through that experience I was able to plant a seed and participate in one of the greatest mysteries of the cosmos - creating heresies with God. Together we gave birth to utter, complete, unadulterated nonsense. And I guess I am supposed to feel better for it.

If you are uncomfortable listening to the ongoing music and narrative, you can go to this site and read the narrative free from any new age droanings in the background. It is shocking. It bears a much closer resemblance to the religions of the East than the teachings of the Bible. Listen to this: “Mary was also given a challenge. She was asked to carry The Word, the pulse of the cosmos within her. She literally carried God into the world. Mary said yes and changed the course of history - took a gamble on the divine, flouted the odds.” Strangely, I don’t remember Mary being given a choice. Did God offer her a deal and ask that she ponder it for a while? No, He told her that she would be found with child and that was that. Sure she submitted to God’s will and showed a great display of faith, but her “yes” did nothing to change the course of history! Is Jesus the pulse of the cosmos? What is this nonsense?

The labyrinth is described as a place of “meditative prayer” and “contemplative prayer” - two concepts that have been largely absent from Protestantism until recent days when the teaching of Catholic mystics like Nouwen and Manning have found wide acceptance by evangelicals. Today such concepts, which might involve chanting a single word for 20 minutes or deliberately turning off one’s mind, are considering effective ways of deepening one’s walk with Christ - or at least appealing to those who have no use for the church.

It is tragic, isn’t it? When did the Bible stop being enough? Why are believers turning away from the Word, and turning instead towards mysticism and attempts to know and experience God apart from His complete revelation of Himself. And when did we lose sight of the preaching of the gospel as they way to reach the lost? Throughout history people have rejected God and rejected our best efforts to convince them to accept Him. Changing our methods to more closely mimic the world’s will do nothing to change the fact that the number of those who hate God will always outnumber those who love Him.

Avoid the labyrinth and any other method that might seek to convince you that you can know and experience God apart from His Word. Immerse yourself in the Word and God will speak to you with clarity, conviction and power!

Levelled

  • Tim Challies
  • 11/16/04
  • 0

I rarely get sick, but this morning I woke up at the way-too-early hour of 3:00 to find myself aching, coughing and oozing. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since this is prime Canadian cold season and each of the people who live under this roof have already had a visit from the bug. I spent the hours before the sun rose watching reruns of the now defunct Mike Bullard Show and other mindless shows and am now trying to make something of my day. I tried writing and it just plain didn’t work, so instead I present you with a Blog-About - links to some other good things that are happening in the blogosphere.

Jollyblogger is tackling the 5 points of Calvinism and has begun an introductory study. He is an able teacher and I’m sure he will present them very well.

Rebecca lists the top ten reasons to live in the Yukon. To me it is about as effective as listing the top ten reasons to have a lobotomy. I love Canada, but am content to stay in the more southern parts of this great nation. Still, I guess it might not hurt to experience ice fog just once…

TulipGirl has a link to an investigative report on the preposterous teachings of Gary Ezzo. It wouldn’t hurt to familiarize yourself with the man and his Babywise teachings since you are sure to run across it sooner or later if you spend enough time in the church.

Leslie is blogging her way through Tozer’s excellent little book The Pursuit of God. If you don’t have the book, you really ought to. Grab yourself a copy and read along with Leslie!

And finally, I continue to consider BlogExplosion and am near the point where I can draw conclusions. I think it is safe to say, though, that it really drives very little meaningful traffic. There is no incentive to actually read or look at the content of a site other than giving the surfer something to do for 30 seconds. Furthermore, there are just too many blogs that are uninteresting, so even if one does take the time to read it is likely the site will pose no interest. This second problem will likely be resolved as the numbers of users grow and surfers are given the ability to filter the sites they see (beyond the current “bad word” filter - they will add a topical one). At this point I have had somewhere a little north of 2000 visitors from BlogExplosion (I spent $9 on credits just for the sake of the experiment) and have seen no noticeable increase in commenters in the forums - the only real measure I can have other than the numbers that visit. So my evaluation so far is that BlogExplosion is a great idea, but one that is flawed, perhaps beyond fixing.

And now I’m going to go catch a few Z’s before home church!

Witnesses & Witnessing

  • Tim Challies
  • 11/15/04
  • 0

Today I spent some time thinking about being a witness for God. Witness has a couple of meanings, and both of them are applicable to the Christian life. The first meaning is "One who can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced: a witness to the accident." According to this definition, a witness is one who is able to give a firsthand account of something that person has experienced. As believers we are all able to bear witness to how Christ has worked in our lives. The second meaning is "One who is called on to testify before a court." This sense is a little bit different in that it speaks of those who are called to testify. Believers are called to testify, not before a court, but before the entire world what God has done for us. We are to be witnesses to the Lord by going to the world to testify what He has done, and part of this will include sharing what we have seen, heard and experienced.

In recent months there have been several court cases that have received plenty of media attention - celebrities such as Kobe Bryant and Michael Jackson have found serious charges leveled against them and Scott Peterson attained celebrity status after murdering his wife. One thing I have noticed in reading about these cases is the value of a good witness - not just any witness will do. A good witness is of much greater value. So what makes a good witness?

In my view, and I admit that with so limited a knowledge of law, it may be quite a limited view, I have seen that a good witness needs to have at least two elements:

  • A consistent story - A good witness is one whose story is consistent. He does not give a testimony and then later change or retract part of it. Nothing is more damaging for a case than when a witness changes his story or when his story falls apart under critical examination.
  • A consistent life - While it may seem unfair, the witness' life and lifestyle are often called into question. When people examine the life of a witness they want to see a consistent life. A person with a track record of offenses and lawsuits immediately loses credibility.

Having thought about this I was forced to ask myself what kind of witness I am for the Lord. When I am called upon to bear witness for what the Lord has done in my life, do I have a consistent story? Am I able to explain how God has worked in and through me and can I provide an able defense for my faith? And do I live a consistent life - a life that, when it falls under closer examination, will show that I have credibility and that I live what I claim to believe?

Another observation I have made about witnesses is that they will often face brutally critical examination as the defense seeks to discredit them. It seems the Kobe Bryant case was dropped after the examination of the principle witness - the accuser - showed that she had very little credibility. The defense team did everything they could to dig up dirt on the woman and to portray her in the most negative light possible.

Believers live under this close scrutiny. When we claim to be children of God we immediately invite others to pay close attention to our lives and to determine for themselves if we are merely "talking the talk" without "walking the walk." Most Christians can think of shameful times in their lives when an unbeliever has questioned them about some habits or practices that clash with their claim to be Christians. Too often we have been discredited by a close examination of our lives and have been left to deal with shame and remorse.

To be honest, I began to ponder the concept of witness when I thought about what many Christian bloggers and authors write about. It is not unusual to read about R-rated movies in Christian books and to have Christian bloggers write about TV shows that clearly have some inappropriate content. I have seen some of these movies and may watch some of the shows, yet do not write about them on this site. Why? I don't do it because I feel it discredits me as a witness as it does not allow me to hold to a consistent story. Somehow I have allowed myself to believe this was appropriate.

Having examined what a witness is, I realize I have been hypocritical, for, as we just saw, an effective witness must also have a consistent life. If I want to be a good witness I need to avoid not only writing about such things, but also avoid exposing myself to them. Perhaps if I am watching those movies and shows I should just write about them rather than hide them away and pretend I am above them. It is difficult being a good witness and it is easy to become pharisaical about it. Yet God calls us to complete purity - partial purity still involves some level of impurity that discredits our witness.

God make me pure, so I can be the most effective witness for You!

Eschatalogical Ramblings

  • Tim Challies
  • 11/14/04
  • 0

Of the 600+ articles I have written over the past couple of years, I don’t think a single one has been about Eschatology (which refers to the doctrine of the last days). There are a couple of reasons for that. First, it is a subject that some people love to discuss and consider absolutely essential to a strong faith. These people usually hold to a premillennial view and it seems they somehow equate a belief in the Rapture with a strong faith. The second reason is that I simply have never studied it in enough depth to be able to do it justice.

If I had to take sides I would place myself in the camp with the amillennialists, believing that Jesus’ second coming will not be preceded by a rapture and so on. In other words, the millennium spoken of in Revelation 20 is to be understood figuratively and refers to the time between Christ’s ascension and His second coming (which is to say the time we are in now). I hold to this view mostly because it was the one I was raised with and I have never had it satisfactorily refuted. I guess if I really had to defend my position I’d have to admit that I’m what my pastor calls a “pan-millennialist” in that I’m just trusting it’s all going to “pan out” in the end. In the end it really comes down to the fact that I have never set aside the time to study this issue, one in which I really have little interest compared to many of the other issues facing me as a believer. Maybe it is just that I don't see how a belief in one doctrine or the other will impact my walk with Christ. But I digress.

I did not create this post to argue about such things, though perhaps at some point I’ll write a series of articles about eschatology and then we can all enter into a long fight which will aggravate everyone but convince no one! The real reason I am writing this is that during some idle time today I picked up volume 3 of Charle Hodge’s inconceivably huge series on systematic theology and found myself reading about premillennialism. I found it interesting that in a book written in 1873 premillennialism was evidently a belief held by only a minority. I assume this to be true as it rated only a few paragraphs in the extensive section on eschatology.

Hodge levels several charges at premillennialism. Here are his leading objections against it:

  • It is a Jewish doctrine, which is to say it is founded on Jewish doctrine, not Christian.
  • It is inconsistent with the Scriptures in that it teaches only believers will rise from the dead when the Lord appears; whereas the Bible teaches that all men will rise.
  • The Bible teaches that when Christ comes all nations will appear at His bar for judgment. Premillennialism teahces that the final judgment will not occur until after the millennium.
  • The Scriptures teach that when Christ comes the second time without sin unto salvation, then the Church shall enter on its everlasting state of glory. Premillennialism teaches that believers will be introduced into a merely worldly kingdom rather than heaven.
  • It is inconsistent with the Bible’s representation of the glory and blessedness of departed saints to assume that at the resurrection they will be brought down to a lower state of existence, having been downgraded from heaven to earth.
  • It is inconsistent with the Scripture’s account of the nature of the kingdom of Christ on earth.
  • It disparages the Gospel.
  • It requires inconsistency and conflicting conclusions regarding various prophecies and dates.

Clearly Hodge thought it unscriptural, but what is more interesting, is that he clearly did not consider it a theory with a great following or I assume he would have given more time to a refutation. If he had foreseen that it would have become the predominant view among Christians he likely would have dedicated more time to it.

And…In case you are interested, I believe Hodge was a postmillennialist.

Yassar Arafat - A Christian Response

  • Tim Challies
  • 11/13/04
  • 0

By now we all know that Yassar Arafat is dead, and as Christians we know that he has gone to meet his Maker. There is no reason to doubt that he has already been consigned to an eternity of facing the wrath of God which burns against sin. How do we, as Christians, react to this?

I have read some rather disturbing articles over the past few days where the authors took delight in his suffering, expressing great pleasure that he was in hell, facing an eternity of torment. While he was an exceedingly evil man and one who deserves all that is coming to him, we should not rejoice in his suffering, for to do so is to indicate that we believe we aren’t quite as bad as he is. But for the grace of God, there go I. As believers we know that it is only God’s grace that we have been constrained from being as bad or even worse than him. And of course we know that we deserve the same punishment he is receiving.

We should not rejoice in another man’s suffering. If we are to rejoice, let us rejoice in God’s justice. God Himself rejoices in His justice. While He gets no pleasure from suffering, He does get pleasure from the execution of justice in which He increases His glory.

So if we rejoice, we must rejoice in God’s justice. But rejoice also in God’s grace which has been extended to those who are His. It is through His grace that Christ fulfilled His need for justice on our behalf.

Saturday Ramblings

  • Tim Challies
  • 11/13/04
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The BlogExplosion experiment continues. It certainly has brought a lot (and I do mean a LOT) of traffic to this site. While a lot of the people who came by took the time to respond to the first poll I posted here, fewer have responded to the second. If I had to guess I would say probably about 24 to 30 percent of the visitors from BlogExplosion read or skim the top article on the page of a blog but still leave right around the 30 second time limit (the minimum allowed to earn credit for the visit). I am guessing that in the end BE will prove to be a decent way of bringing in traffic, but not bringing in “good” traffic, which is to say traffic that is actually interested in the content. In their FAQ they do mention that eventually they may give surfers the ability to “filter” the sites they visit to they visit, for example, only blogs that are based on sports or religion. I will say that BE is far better than most of the similar programs which are open to all sites, not just blogs, for they are generally filled with nothing but sites selling illegal software, pills and so on.

And while I’m on the subject, thanks to those who have rated this site (except for the two of you who gave it a 1). For a while yesterday it was apparently rated in the top 5 overall (5 out of 3000 ain’t bad). It has slipped a bit now, but another couple of 9s or 10s would but it back on the list, I think. And yes, feel free to take that as a hint. I’m shameless!

I haven’t read more than 2 pages of a book all week. The family has been sick (one case of bronchitis, one of some similar infection and one bad cold) and I just have been up in the night hunting down cough medicine, refilling humidifiers and so on. When I’m tired I just can’t read, especially when the book is as heavy as The God who Justifies by James White. It seems we are on the road to recovery so hopefully I’ll be able to jump back in my tomorrow or Monday. I don’t think I’m going to get through my 50 books this year!

A couple of days ago I picked up I See Things Upside Down by Derek Webb. As I expected, it is an excellent album - one of the best I’ve gotten in a while. It seems a lot of music, and perhaps this is more true of Christian music than mainstream, sounds the same these days. There just seems to be a lack of originality. You certainly can’t fault Webb for this. His album is original both in content and style and like his previous albums, is an experience. I’ll have a review of it next week. While I picked up that I noticed Caedmon’s Call’s new album was on sale so I got that one as well. It is very different from what they have done in the past as it has a “world” feel, but is very good. I recommend both of these albums.

Recently I read and reviewed The Word of God in English by Leland Ryken. Just yesterday I read an interview with John MacArthur who called it a “slam dunk” in the battle to defend literal translations. If you read my review, you know I agree with him. It is definitely a good read and will change the way you think about the Bible.

And now it’s time to get some lunch and get the kiddies ready for nap time (and quiet time if they aren’t going to nap). Have a great weekend!