Occasionally I use a Friday article to take care of a few things that have been on my mind. I’m going to do that today.
A Media Junkie
Joe Carter is a media junkie. You can read about his media obsession right here. He took an inventory of his media consumption and found he reads “one daily newspaper, 12 magazines, and over 300 RSS feeds.” And even then he reads far more magazines than he subscribes to.
I do not subscribe to any newspapers, despite their best efforts to get me to do so. I think newspapers call more often than any other telemarketers trying to get me to subscribe. It must be desperate times. I subscribe to two magazines and intend to let both of them lapse when my subscriptions run out. I read People magazine when I forget to take a book when going to the doctor or for a haircut. I have found that newspapers and magazines are no longer a compelling source of information. I miss the analysis they provide, but see no other reason to subscribe to them anymore. I do, though, subscribe to 100 RSS feeds or so and I do enjoy skimming those headlines looking for nuggets of gold. Some I read for pleasure, some for information and some out of habit.
How do you consume media today? How much do you consume?
Dear America
Dear America. Please stop complaining about everything.
Sincerely,
Tim from Canada
(I mean, seriously, is there a country in the world that is greater than the U.S. but which breeds such discontent among its people?)
Keller, Chopra, Tolle
Tim Keller’s The Reason for God is, as predicted, rising up the bestseller charts. It’s currently #6 on the Amazon “Spirituality” chart (and #41 overall), sandwiched between Eckhart Tolle and Deepak Chopra. If Oprah hadn’t recently praised Tolle, taking several of his titles far up the charts, Keller would be higher still.
When I was traveling a couple of weeks ago, I was reading Keller’s book and was surprised to see how many people stared at the cover. A couple stopped short to stare at it, though I was on the phone at the time and couldn’t converse with them. But I’m thinking the book is going to be a great conversation starter. There is such a hunger for spirituality in our day and this book may held lead many people to the One they need.
Jesus in Love
As you may know, novelist Anne Rice recently returned to the Catholic Church and subsequently gave up writing about vampires in favor of writing a series of books on the life of Jesus. I just finished reading the second in this series, Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana. Like any dramatization of the life of Jesus, this one takes liberties and artistic license. It also gets many facts just plain wrong, something I’ll cover in my review next week. But in the meantime, it raised an interesting question.
Much of the story involves the relationship between Jesus, the year before he began his public ministry, and a young woman who wants to be married to Him. Jesus’s family cannot understand why He does not marry and neither does the community around Him. Rice (wrongly, I’m convinced) chooses to portray Jesus as only slowly coming to the realization of His deity, and Jesus is sometimes confused and conflicted by His human desires. He desperately desires to know the intimacy of love, but somehow knows that it is something He will have to forsake because of His unique calling. So this young woman begs Him to love her and He, with great pain, refuses her. This is one of the main plot lines in Rice’s second book.
So what do you think? Did Jesus ever fall in love? Could Jesus have fallen in love? Would His humanity allow Him to feel such things, or would His deity protect Him from a broken heart? Why or why not?
Comments (38) »
1. James Hakim
February 22, 2008
10:11 AM
I think that though Christ understood better than anyone the design and benefits of right, genuine marital affection and intimacy, He have refused to entertain a desire for it. All of His temptations were more severe than ours, because He understood more fully the desirability of desirable things. Here’s my thought process:
(1) His first love was the Father
(2) By 12, he had a full-orbed understanding of Himself
(3) This had to have included an understanding of the eternal church as His bride.
(4) As He was perfect in all ways as He grew, He would have matched right affection to right understanding—falling in love with the church throughout the ages more and more deeply.
(5) Knowing His bride, knowing His mission and its end result, knowing His identity as the federal Father of a new line of spiritual seed, Jesus’ “falling in love” in the sense in which I think you mean it is simply unthinkable.
Did His deity protect Him from suffering broken-heartedness? If you have a question about that, make Warfield’s The Emotional Life of Our Lord the next Thursday series!
(Jn 11:33-36; Lk 13:34; Lk 19:41-42; Mk 14:34; Mt 27:46) … and perhaps the look He gave Peter at the third denial … and perhaps the implication of His manner when discussing the betrayer at the supper, etc.
Perhaps a more difficult question… can He now—in His glorified state—experience deep grief; and, if so, what a motivation to Christian godliness, that we might not grieve our Lord!
2. Scott Moonen
February 22, 2008
10:14 AM
Hi Tim. I don’t know how profitable it is to speculate about what is possible for Jesus. But we can profitably look at what we do know. It’s clear that Jesus had great human compassion for people, and I think we have examples of all personal kinds of love and affection and compassion except for erotic love. And I think too that we even have a sort of example of heartbreak in his weeping for Jerusalem; we see this of the Father too in some of the prophets, and also of the Holy Spirit in reference to grieving the Spirit.
A bit more speculative, perhaps, but simply living is sufficient to face lust, so I think it is probable that he faced that temptation as much as any man of his day, perhaps moreso given the company that he kept. What did it mean for Jesus to flee temptation?
3. mike rucker
February 22, 2008
10:14 AM
so… what did the human Jesus look like?
first, he certainly wasn’t tempted in every way that modern men are, regardless of how we read the bible. sexual temptation, the fashions of the day, billboards, TV, movies, websites, the internet, SI swimsuit issue, cheerleader competitions - he never had to face the constant onslaught that men face today. period. don’t argue with me - i’ll have to kill you.
and if he never had a family of his own, then his advice to me would basically fall on deaf ears because he wouldn’t have a clue what it’s like to live as i do with four women: my wife and three teenage daughters. and all that goes along with them. what does Jesus know about sharing a bathroom with teenage girls? and just exactly how many shampoos and conditioners do we have to have before we’ve got the right balance?
and he never had to deal with the pace of society as it is today. he never had to keep an outlook calendar or a day planner or get the car serviced or get the emissions checked or try to have a good work/life balance or pay bills on time or apply for a mortgage or get his credit history checked or watch the younger generation eat his lunch as he grows old in his pointless job…
in other words, if our bible study has given us an image of Jesus that makes us have to ask questions like, Did Jesus ever fall in love? and, Could Jesus have fallen in love?, then i would be hard pressed to identify which one - anne rice’s book, or the bible - is the real work of fiction.
mike rucker
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4. Mike Anderson
February 22, 2008
10:17 AM
As of this morning I subscribe to 257 RSS feeds (which I prune back on regular occasion so I don’t get buried), I get around 7 magazines, I have a bookmark that I click through to open a 5 news sources and skim the headlines every day, and I check del.icio.us/popular a few times a day to see what geeks like me are learning about today.
It’s important to balance this with good Bible study and time with in books by old saints. I’ve been working on Grudem’s Systematic Theology with a developing leadership group at church, reading a chapter from Strach’s Biblical Eldership and discussing every Wed. morning, meet with a group of guys on Tuesdays and discuss 10 chapters of the Bible that we read each week, and study for Community Group which is at our house on Mondays.
It’s amazing how much media gets feed to me everyday. It’s even more amazing after writing this that it feels normal to read all of this.
5. Nick Mitchell
February 22, 2008
10:18 AM
Whoa, Tim, I didn’t know you had a website. Does that mean you know html code? Sweet!
6. Scott Moonen
February 22, 2008
10:24 AM
Another thought. Since Christ’s bride is his church, human temptation along those lines is actually temptation to infidelity. And any heartbreak that he experiences is properly directed to Israel and the church, just as we see.
7. Tim Challies
February 22, 2008
10:26 AM
Hi Tim. I don’t know how profitable it is to speculate about what is possible for Jesus.
I agree with this statement. And in a sense, that’s really the point of all this. And it’s going to be one of the things I’ll be bringing out in my review of her book.
8. Brian @ voiceofthesheep
February 22, 2008
10:43 AM
Dear Tim from Canada,
Quit biting the hand that feeds you! You and I both know that, were it not for us “complaining” Americans, you would have virtually no audience for your blog, no Coke to drink (we invented it), no baseball to watch, no conferences to attend, and no customers for your business. We here in the good old US of A complain about everything because we are the chosen people, and we deserve better, just ask any of us!
Sincerely,
Brian from the state where your parents reside (not in Canada!)
9. Tim V-B
February 22, 2008
10:47 AM
“So what do you think? Did Jesus ever fall in love? Could Jesus have fallen in love?”
He was in love. With you and me. And in faithfulness to his bride, the Church, he eyes never looked elsewhere.
Was he ever broken hearted? “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!”
10. Barrett
February 22, 2008
10:59 AM
Tim,
I faced a question like the one posed about Jesus falling in love when my friends began to freak out about the Da Vinci Code. The idea that Jesus had a love on earth was easily swept away when I asked them how he could be married to Mary Magdelane and the Church at the same time. It is more complicated than that, of course, but we have to remember that Jesus was on a mission to purchase a bride.
As for media, I had a meltdown back in November from being overwhelmed by a whopping 30 RSS streams (not counting podcasts) and 15 magazine subscriptions. Now, I’m down to strictly 8 streams, and roughly 7 magazines, ranging from Family Handyman to Consumer Reports to Modern Reformation. I find that when I subscribe to too many feeds, and magazines, I feel like a failure until I’ve read every single post or every magazine cover-to-cover. That’s how I read. It is too much of a burden on me to keep up.
11. Bibliomaniac
February 22, 2008
11:15 AM
I read People magazine
Having read your blog for quite some time now, I would never have guessed this. I’ll have to see a picture to believe this. It’s such a divergence from everything else you read… : )
12. ReformedMommy
February 22, 2008
11:26 AM
While I certainly agree that it’s dangerous to speculate where the Bible doesn’t specify, is all this emphasis on Jesus being married to the Church taking us a little too far down the road to making him some kind of monk or eunuch? Surely if Jesus was fully man, as opposed to fully woman, with all of the hormones / parts etc. that being a man entails, he experienced the temptations of that side of his humanity as well, even if it didn’t take a 21st century form. If no, what hope is there for the teenage Christian boy struggling with all those things??
13. Jason Mcgibbon
February 22, 2008
12:01 PM
Keller, Chopra and Tollle.
I had someone make a comment to me and quoted Chopra. They were very taken with a quote from him that went something like… “How can you doubt the reality of reincarnation when you look into a baby’s eyes and see such wisdom.” I remember thinking that my baby had just tried to stick a penny in a wall socket and where was the wisdom there!
I hope you are right in that Keller’s new book will be a great conversation starter. I am looking forward to reading it myself. I have a feeling it will be far more fruitful than any Chopra I might read. Thanks for the heads up and the recomendation.
14. Melanie
February 22, 2008
12:15 PM
Jesus was tempted in every way, that’s what the Bible tells us. If he was not tempted to enter into a relationship with a woman then he was not tempted in every way. If he did not have sexual desires then he was not fully human, but the Bible tells us that he was fully human. The hope for anyone who struggles with lust is that Jesus overcame the temptations and did not sin. He can relate to our struggles, intercede for us and provide the way out. This is good news.
15. Mark
February 22, 2008
1:28 PM
On Keller’s The Reason for God,
Tim, you used to work at Starbucks, right? Well, I currently work there, and people always abandon books there. What if there were a mass campaign to drop copies of Keller’s book off at Starbucks across the nation? Just label it, “Free Book!” like all the other books there.
Just a thought.
-Mark
Note: Sorry for double post. I didn’t mean to post this in the Owen section. Admin, if you read this, you can delete the comment in the Owen section.
16. Kristina
February 22, 2008
2:00 PM
Media: 23 RSS feeds, Google News and Facebook for entertainment ;)
I’ve gotten rid of some RSS feeds, it used to be a lot more.
17. Barrett
February 22, 2008
2:01 PM
Mark,
That’s not a bad idea!
18. Scratchin the Surface
February 22, 2008
2:17 PM
Very interesting - I read the first book and am thrilled to see even a short review of the second. Like you, I think she made for a good ‘read’ but got a lot wrong. Could Jesus have fallen in love? Scripture tells us he felt everything we feel, so I have to assume he at least felt the same emotions we go through in any love relationship, the longings, the hurts and heartaches, disappointments, etc. Romantic love? I don’t know but that deep love for another person - I think he likely allowed God to put him through the whole gamut while he was here on earth. I’ll look forward to coming back here for your full review, and to see what others have to say.
19. rebecca
February 22, 2008
2:45 PM
Could Jesus have fallen in love? I’d say yes, since he was like us in every way except sin.
Would he have fallen in love? Don’t know, but I doubt it. The question probably falls in the category of idle speculation anyway.
20. fred
February 22, 2008
3:15 PM
I am with you Rebecca. Would’a, could’a should’a. Yes all and no all. What is and can never be. Jesus wasn’t married, or at least we have nothing to prove He was. Paul’s stance on marriage may be insight. Not all people have the sexual desire or even that sort of intimate relational desire that others have that it becomes so very important. Most of us will look at this through the lens of our own desires and that is opinion. By the way, how many angels can be on the head of a pin?
21. Josh M
February 22, 2008
3:22 PM
Like Barrett I feel compelled to read absolutely everything of any site I’m tracking which led to something like a meltdown sometime last year. I shifted 9 of my news sources (I think I dropped 3 or 4 others) over to be widgets on my Google homepage and glance at those a couple times a day, only following particularly interesting headlines/summaries. I still have 75 feeds in my reader, 5 of which are podcasts and 14 are webcomics. 15 of my feeds are nearly dead, not having updated in more than three months. When pruning feeds, I keep those that consistently link to the same things I highlight from other noisy feeds (for instance, I pruned JT knowing your “A La Carte” catches most of what I’m interested in from there).
I read Boundless every day, occasionally read TableTalk, and have a trial subscription to Christianity Today that I might keep.
Josh “Trin”
22. Jeri
February 22, 2008
3:30 PM
“Fall in love;” I’d have to say no. We can’t imagine the inward sufferings of the heart our Lord endured in His time on earth. But surely He never “fell” into anything, including love!! We know that He loved children and families and it seems only right that as a man, He would have longed for that sometimes. But He set His face like flint…no helpless “falling” there. And He wouldn’t have “decided” to be in love, would He, as He knew His mission did not include marriage.
That doesn’t mean He didn’t care especially for certain people, as He did for Mary, Martha and Lazarus. But it’s so hard for us to imagine the purity of a special affection with no sin involved, and that would include no leading the one loved into any sinful feelings or behavior, that I don’t think we have a word or phrase to describe that, other than just “love.” Jesus was very man, but He was at the same time very God.
23. James Hakim
February 22, 2008
4:05 PM
Tim, it looks like there are many here who do not know the difference between temptation and concupiscence. Have you posted on this, or would you be willing to tackle it in the future?
Folks, the desire to sin is itself a sin! It’s not a temptation. Temptation is our knowledge of the availability of sin to us.
Jesus was not fallen. “Tempted as we are” does not at all mean “with our bents,” for the bents themselves are sinful!
In my comment, I said in anticipation of this misunderstanding: Jesus understood the desirability of desirable things better than anyone else, because He appreciated them more than anyone else.
But His being more sorely tempted than any of us goes beyond just His more intimate knowledge of the desirability of things. Jesus also had more power to fulfill those desires than anyone else has ever had. It seems that we could benefit from some reflection upon the hypostatic union and its implications for how Christ was tempted.
But Jesus never, not once, was inclined to obtain them sinfully. If Jesus ever desired to do one wrong thing, then there is no hope for anyone with lustful thoughts or any other kind of sin, because every one of us would be dead in our trespasses without hope of life.
The Mediator did not fail. The lamb was slain in an innocence that included not a single concupiscence. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!
24. jurisnaturalist
February 22, 2008
4:39 PM
I like Rich Mullin’s explanation, “There were pretty maids all lined up in a row, but you did not have a place to take them so, you did not take a wife, because you did not have a home…”
25. Anne Rice
February 23, 2008
12:32 AM
Guys, thank you for your attention to my new book, but in it, Jesus does not “fall” in love. It is an orthodox and Scripturally accurate response to the Da Vinci Code. You’re welcome to see some of the advance comments on my website. In the book, Jesus is indeed tempted in every way, and does indeed express the emotions that the gospels tell us He experienced. As for getting things wrong, I am truly curious as to what you are going to find here, if anything, that is inaccurate. Extensive and scrupulous research went into this book, and prayer and meditation played a large part in my preparation for it. . Again, I thank you for your interest, and I ask you not to rush to judge a book you haven’t read. Thank you, Anne Rice.
26. carissa
February 23, 2008
1:47 AM
eek. i simply can’t imagine subscribing to/reading that much mediated information. even if it’s spaced out over a week’s rotation or so… how much information do we need? i can’t see how it’s it’s necessary or even healthy… i don’t have any specific reason just now, other than i’m somehow repulsed by the idea. but if godly people are doing it - well, i’m not questioning anyone’s godliness because of it. i’m only wondering (sincerely), when is enough enough?
i’m glad tim keller’s book is making some sort of an imprint already. i hope to read it and eventually buy a few copies.
interesting that you take issue with Jesus’ “realization” that he was divine, rather than innate knowledge. i’m sure many would side with you. but now, i’m just not as sure. at any rate, i do think he certainly had the capacity to fall in love. he must have naturally found certain women attractive. still, i think emotional attachment (falling in love) is enough of a conscious act that, like marriage, Jesus would not have chosen it. i don’t think the question “would his deity protect him” is the one to ask, though. i do not think our Lord pulled the deity card as a safety net for when his humanity was too weak to hold up. rather, he showed perfect human obedience, for our sake and our righteousness - “to the point of death - even death on a cross!”
27. ReformedMommy
February 23, 2008
4:02 AM
Anne -
This discussion compelled me to pull out my just-arrived issue of World magazine (a Christmas gift that I’m enjoying more than I thought I would!) to read the excerpt published there. It feels like your series is part of a wave of scholarly and popular effort to reexamine the humanity of Christ and to think deeply about the way He manifested His humanness, yet without sinfulness. I personally have been blessed and comforted when I have contemplated and studied these things recently.
But there is a lot that makes it an uncomfortable and difficult process, too. Considering, as I did recently when I took my young daughter to the BodyWorlds exhibition several months ago, Jesus’ physical body and the limitations and challenges it placed on Him is somewhat possible, as we live and move in the same form that He did (men even more so than women). But our minds and spiritual hearts are different, even when given His mind through the Holy Spirit, and in the very worst of ways. The excerpt I read indicates that you write from Jesus’ perspective in the first person at least part of the time, having Him say and think things based on your own research and creative process, as well as Scriptural study. But given our inherent sinfulness, that process will inevitably be affected, and perhaps in places cause the Jesus of your book to say or think things that are in fact sinful. That’s an uncomfortable thing to consider, especially when from what I read, you write so much more skillfully than Dan Brown or even, praise God, guys like Tim LaHaye.
I will be really interested to read Tim’s review. If you read the one that he did earlier this week, hopefully you’ll see how hard he works to be gracious and careful.
On a personal note, I listened to an interiview you did with the WhiteHorse Inn radio program a few months ago, and was so moved by your story. I look forward to seeing what God does in and through you in the years to come. God bless you.
28. RANDY HURST
February 23, 2008
10:17 AM
TIm, what a timely smattering of topics during this season of Lent. Refraining from media indulgence and pollution..what a great idea for something to “give up” for a season or more. Chastising we whinny, over-rich Americans, ibid. Just be careful not to whine to much about the whiners. Debating the implications of a fully Human / fully God Jesus… again the heart of our contemplation. I have been reading “The Reason for God”. It sits on top of my desk and in this secular setting also gets looks…but so far no questions. Hopefully my visitors will be spurred and I too will get opportunities to share the glories of the gospel. I rejoice in Anne Rice’s conversion from themes on the taking of blood by vampires to the one whose blood was shed for our salvation. Be careful in your critique of Anne’s fiction, lest you are also ready to take literary scalpel to Dante and Milton. Fiction is imagination… much like the speculative folderal that is so common in blogger comments.
29. diane
February 23, 2008
10:47 AM
Reformed Mommy, Thank you for such a gracious response to Anne Rice! It was very kind. :)
30. anne Rice
February 23, 2008
2:08 PM
Dear Reformed Mommy — The challenge facing me as the author of these books is immense. The first chapter of The Road to Cana makes clear that Jesus is both human and Divine and that He can draw on His infinite knowledge at any time. The book presents Him choosing to experience our humanity out of love. —- Yes, I do write about Him in the first person and this is a daring level of realism, but my theological commitment to Him as God and Man is total. —- The attempt of the book is to make this believable for those who don’t believe it —- that the God Man walked among us for over thirty years on this earth; that He did not come down
Sinai with a tablet in His hand, rather He was born, actually born as a baby amongst us. I am in love with the Incarnation and with the Hypostatic Union. Please, I beg you, take a look at some of the comments by clergy on this new book that are on my website. I thank you for your very sensitive and substantive response and for the good points that you raise, Anne Rice, Rancho Mirage, California.
31. Kyle
February 23, 2008
3:49 PM
Anne-
I really like what you are trying to do in showing how humanity mixes with the Divine in Jesus and the line between sin and desire (Note: I’ve only read the World Magazine excerpt and seen some of your comments, but I am very curious about the rest). I’m always skeptical about adding fictional events to Jesus’ life, but I like what I’ve seen you do so far.
1) I like that Jesus slowly grows in the knowledge. He has the ability to know everything (since he is God), but doesn’t use it (Matt 24:36) and thus is free to learn, be confused, etc. (Side question: could Jesus have made mistakes in math problems as a kid?) For those of you who don’t like the idea of Jesus slowly coming to understand his Divinity I ask you if you think Jesus consciously knew who he was from the moment of birth (or in the womb)? I don’t get the impressions baby’s have any real concrete thoughts yet, so if Jesus was like all other infants then at some point it would have to become conscious knowledge.
2) I like that Jesus is actually tempted and not just “theoretically tempted” with him never feeling the desire. It seems we tend to do what the Pharisee’s used to do and try to “build a hedge around the law” to avoid any sin. By doing so we call things sins that really aren’t sins (like desires and temptations) and then we have to imagine Jesus without those in fear of blasphemy. I think it is incredibly dangerous to err on either side. Either we err and blaspheme his deity or we err and blaspheme his humanity. From what little I’ve seen I like the efforts you’ve made to try and walk the middle without skimping on either side.
I’ll have to read more to comment more on how well it works in the book, but I thank you for your efforts.
32. anne Rice
February 23, 2008
4:04 PM
Kyle, I think your comment is right on. —— We know Jesus was God and Man, and is God and Man now. But we don’t know how it played out day in and day out. However the gospels do show quite a range of emotion. One point I’d like to make: medieval mystery plays wrote lines for the Lord; and mini series about Jesus write lines for Him to speak too. Even our beloved Mel Gibson put scripted lines in the mouth of his Jesus, in order to “bring him to life” for an audience. Rembrandt painted Jesus a certain way. All artists take a risk when they seek to represent the Lord. I don’t think my effort is fundamentally any different. And! I think we need Christian now, vital Christian art on all levels. Especially orthodox art that reflects our faith. I’ve sought to write a highly realistic novel combining elements of history that I haven’t seen brought into a life of Jesus. I am eager for feedback. Anne Rice.
33. Barbara
February 23, 2008
7:14 PM
Does it not make sense to think that Jesus would look at his female contemporaries just as we (healthy adults) look at children? We see their beauty, but there exists a natural boundary; the crossing of which would never enter our minds.
We are His children. He came to rescue us and never wavered from that purpose.
34. anne Rice
February 25, 2008
12:21 AM
Barbara, I think you have it exactly right. There must have been a boundary He would never cross. He was sinless and He knew what He had come to do. His capacity for love was and is infinite. —- I do think however that there is a value to writing about Our Blessed Lord as a “real man.” I think God in His Three Persons transcends gender. But the Lord who walked on earth with us was truly a man and subject to all the temptations of a man. Too often holy pictures present him as “feminine” and soft, and I never trust those images of Him. His lovingkindness to women —- to so many for whom He worked miracles, and His stopping to comfort Mary Magdalen on the very day of His resurrection deeply moves me. Obviously He died for women as much as He died for men. But I think His own masculinity, His own true gritty and day to day humanity on Earth is some times lost in art and tradition. That He was and is Divine as well as human is beyond question, of course. Anne.
35. Josh
February 25, 2008
2:12 PM
Dear Tim
Please stop complaining about how much Americans complain. Its not going to affect it much either way…
P.S. I like this whole civil exchange thing thats happening here with Anne Rice’s book. Thats a blog novelty.
36. Dennis
February 26, 2008
1:02 AM
Tim:
I am an American living overseas and it amazes me how much my fellow Americans complain. When my children complain I remind them of Numbers 11:1. If a nation complains does it arouse the Lord’s anger?
37. Don
February 26, 2008
11:31 PM
I agree with Josh. The civility of the folks on your blog amazes me. I really enjoy reading your blog, Tim.
I was reading John MacArthur’s “Our Awesome God” the other day in the plane and it turns out the lady next to me was a Christian and we were able to chat a little bit and she was able to share with me how her son was just diagnosed with brain cancer. It was quite cool to see how God uses simple things like traveling on a plane to encourage us.
38. Richard
February 27, 2008
2:30 PM
For Kyle, who says we “call things sins that really aren’t sins (like desires and temptations) and then we have to imagine Jesus without those in fear of blasphemy.”
I have a hard time with this when our desire for and temptations for evil are out of the sin in our hearts, our concupiscience, and then we read that “when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin”. (James 1:14-15) Jesus said that if we look on a woman with lust in our hearts, we have committed adultery (Mat 5:28). Those are thoughts only, not actions. As RC Sproul says, we are not sinners becasue we sin, but sin becasue we are sinners. It is our hearts that are sinful, at the root we are fallen and unable to do good or to “change our spots” (Jer 13:23). It is the corrupt tree that can not bear good fruit (Mat 7:18), and all these evil things come from the heart (Mark 7:21-23).
Jesus was indeed tempted in every way in which we are, except His temptaions are external. He alone was good as He told the rich young ruler. If His temptations were internal, it would be sin already. So, immersed in the same world of sin as we, in the midst of the same physically alluring woman, His heart is not evil so as to look at her as an object of sexual gratification. If He did as this novel sugests, then by Jesus’ own rules, He was not without sin, and then we would all be without hope.
Don’t kid yourself, if you are tempted and have evil thoughts, it is evil and it is sin that we all struggle with until the day we see Him, then we will be like Him. Purifed in His power, cleansed from these evil desires, and upheld sinless in His power to remove that concupiscience from us.
I can not believe that Jesus grew into an understanding of His deity, as one who beleives He had the beatific vision, and being born apart from Adams’ sin, He was certainly qualified to walk with God without the separation that we are born with. I struggle with these kinds of novels, becasue so many Christians spend more time reading them than the word, and then get confused as to what is Truth and what is fiction. They tend ot harbour false views of God, that as a bible study teacher I have to try to lovingly correct. But that is my quirk.