 Springtime
I personally like cold weather so I enjoy the winter time. However, I also enjoy the changing of the seasons. I know that most people get enough of the cold dark days of the winter season pretty quickly. With all of that said, I think we can all rejoice that spring is here. Beautiful days of sunshine and warmth that beckon us to get outside and get active. This is a great time to begin new projects or reengage in interests or activities which are unavailable in the wintertime. I know that for teachers and students in the school systems this week of spring break is the kick off for the last weeks before the end of the school year. It is also the time of year when we begin anticipating the many fun adventures of the summer season. But as we think over all these things I want to consider some of the advantages of a good intentional break. Refresh Do you ever feel like you need a time of renewal and refreshment? I think that we all reach points when we need to be refreshed mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The Apostle Paul in several of his letters speaks about how the churches or individuals to whom he is writing have refreshed him in some way (Philemon 7;20). No doubt some of them had sent him material support for his life and ministry (Philippians 4:10-20). I am sure that these brothers and sisters had also been laboring in prayer for Paul so that he would have the spiritual stamina to continue the hard work of evangelizing and reasoning with both Jews and Gentiles about Jesus being the promised Messiah and only Savior for all of mankind (Acts 19:8-10). Restore Sometimes we do not simply need the page to be refreshed but for the system or network to be restored. Restoration involves returning something to its previous condition. Sometimes full restoration of homes or vehicles may actually be brought to a better than new condition. Asaph the Psalmist calls upon God to restore His people by looking at us with the radiant beauty of His glory so that we may be saved (Psalm 80:3;7;19). We are image bearers of God and are also in many ways glory reflectors. We are meant to reflect the amazing glory of God back to Him in praise, thanksgiving, fellowship, and love. This is what we have been made for as believers. Revive At the deepest level, what we as human beings need is to be revived. We need the new life that can only come by being born again and born from above. Jesus spoke of this in His evening chat with Nicodemus. Jesus pointed out that both perceiving and experiencing the kingdom of God required this new birth (John 3:1-8). Because His kingdom and covenant do not belong to this realm or this dimension of existence. The reality is that the lost and unconverted are welcome to look into and handle the kingdom of Christ, but they have no sight or life with which to experience the kingdom. The people in the graveyard or the morgue are free to rise up and live but they do not have the life to do so. Like the valley of dry bones only God can make them live (Ezekiel 37:1-14). This is true of all of us. Only the Holy Spirit can so apply the work of Christ to us such that the Father is pleased to reveal His Son to us and the Son is willing to reveal the Father to us so that we can be revived and live with the life of Christ. The amazing thing is that God is eager to give life to those who come to Him for it. The water of life is abundant and available. The invitation is extended from God and echoed from the church and the Spirit to everyone who will, COME, and receive the eternal life that God gives so graciously (Revelation 22:16-17)!
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 Eulogy
A eulogy is a good word or message usually delivered as a tribute for someone who has passed away. This week my wife’s aunt died. Today, the day this blog posts, we will be having her funeral service. Her name is Paulette Ball and she was a devoted believer in Christ and committed wife and mother. I am confident that there will be many joyful memories shared and the pain of grief brought by the separation between now and eternity. Of course, these times are made easier because of the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. The reality for us who are in Jesus is that death is not final for He has defeated the grave and will deliver us and the whole creation from death’s effects by His resurrection power (Romans 8:9-23). In this post, I would like to consider some of the things that are the legacy of Christians because of the gospel. Faith Because of the life transforming power of the Holy Spirit and gift of grace that has come to us in the message of the gospel, we as believers must acknowledge that the measure of faith given to us by God is a powerful legacy (Romans 12:1-5). It is remarkable that the gift of faith that is given to us by Jesus through the Holy Spirit then produces in us a real faithfulness which is powerful testimony to the transformation accomplished through the salvation we have in Jesus Christ. Notice it is not just faith but the faithfulness that sincere faith produces that becomes a witnessing legacy. Hope Paul instructs us as Christians, when facing the reality of the death of our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, that we would grieve with the confident hope that resurrection is a real promise for us from God (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14). We must remember that the Bible does not use the word hope to simply mean something that we wish will be true but rather to mean something that we know with confidence will be true based on the covenantal commitments and promises of God. God does not lie and cannot lie, so we can trust the prophecies and promises that He has given to us in the Scriptures. Love Paul tells us that the greatest of the legacies that remain for us as believers is love (1 Corinthians 13:11-13). Jesus reiterates to us that the greatest commandment is that we would love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and that we would love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:35-40). So often, I think that people believe that God’s commands are essentially about restricting the things that we can or should do but in reality everything is about what we ought to do and get to do. We are called to love God and love one another. All the prohibitions and restrictions are because those things are not serving the ultimate goal of loving God and His image bearers. Actually those things that are against the law of Christ are actually ways of not loving God or others at all. As we remember Paulette Ball the emphasis will certainly be on how she loved God and His people well and even more so on how Jesus loved her so well. This is ultimately the legacy of every genuine Christian. If we love Him, we will obey Him because His commandment to us at its core is that we will love Him (1 John 5:1-3)!  Parenting
When my wife and I were just beginning our parenting journey, we met a family who were just finishing the school years with their youngest child. Their children ranged from 18 to maybe 22. These young people were very impressive. They possessed maturity, manners, and dignity that is rarely seen among peers in that age range. This family was one of the first homeschool families I had ever spent significant time around and definitely the only homeschool family that I knew with adult children. This was significant because as we considered what the education of our own children would look like, they provided a positive example of what the outcome could be. However, the reason that I am telling you about this family is not because of the example of homeschooling. These were committed Christians who sought to honor the Lord with the stewardship of raising their children. I began to try to pay attention to the lessons that I could learn from them. One day, I heard from the father one of the most important principles that I have tried to employ in raising my sons. He said something like this, “We didn’t raise boys, we raised men.” Of course this principle also applies to raising daughters to be mature women, but in this post I want to focus on some keys that must be instilled in sons if we are to raise men in the modern age. Humility First, we must teach our sons to possess a kind of humility that will push them to strive to live for a real purpose, cause them to recognize blessings with genuine gratitude, and allow them to have a heart ready to receive grace from God (1 Peter 5:5-6). This kind of humility is modeled after Christ and will only be achieved through the work of the Holy Spirit (Philippians 2:1-13). As Christian parents, we ought to make it our priority to use both the instruction and the culture in our home to lead our sons to be humble men. Honesty Next, we must train our boys to be honest men. One of the greatest deceptions of sin is that we come to believe that the only way to succeed or prosper is through deception. The reality is that our children are not a blank slate when they are born into this world. Since they are the children of sinners, they will have to be taught how to deny the impulse to deceive and instead practice truth telling, especially when it is difficult. Our children must be taught that while lying may appear to be a shortcut, honesty is a sure path for the long road to life. Blessing really is promised for the honest (Proverbs 24:26) while judgment awaits all liars (Revelation 21:7-8). Hard Work If we are going to train our sons to be men then we must give them the gift of a strong work ethic. For far too long the motto to work “smarter and not harder” has been misused and misapplied. I think that when this phrase was first brought into common usage the idea was to work smarter so that one could be more productive and efficient. But I am afraid that for many years, maybe even decades, the idea has become that the goal is to avoid hard work. But the scripture would certainly give us clear instructions that we should work hard (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12). Honorable Finally, we must instill in our young men a sense of honor and respect. It is important for them to learn that people who give honor and show respect become people who receive honor and respect. It is an interesting irony that the boastful and arrogant people who so often demand to be respected are the least honorable while the humble and dignified people seem to attract true respect (2 Timothy 2:20-22). So parents, let me encourage you to keep the goal in mind. Whether your children are eight months old, eight years old, or eighteen years old; you are not raising children, you are raising men and women!  Default Settings
How do we understand the world around us or interpret the information that we receive? Understanding and interpretation demand that we have some fixed points from which we anchor our basic understanding of things, so that we can then decode the meaning. For instance, when learning a language one must learn the system of symbols and how those symbols or letters come together to convey meaning. The understanding of this meaning allows one to decode the more complex structures which form ideas and concepts. A Biblical Worldview I think that when most of us hear the terminology of a Biblical worldview we probably mean a worldview shaped by the Bible. While I think that as believers it is of vital importance that we understand reality according to the revelation of God in the Scriptures, we must first understand the Scriptures. So, before we concern ourselves with what kind of worldview the Bible will form in us, we should be seeking to have a Biblical worldview. Meaning the view of the world into which the revelation was given. This is the historical and cosmological worldview of the original audience. I believe that we as modern readers often miss the point of what God was and is doing in the world because we are blinded by our sterile scientific modern cosmology. Throughout the Old Testament we see God many times referring to how judgments including many things that we would consider natural phenomena are meant to show the judged people that He is Yahweh (the LORD). One example of this is in Exodus 14:4, in this place God tells Moses that He will make the Egyptians know that He is the Lord by overthrowing them in the Red Sea. But how would the Egyptians be able to interpret the drowning of the army in the sea as proof that Yahweh is the true and greatest God? Of course this is not a natural event, but God does use the elements of nature such as the wind to accomplish this amazing deliverance of His people and destruction of the Egyptian army. The only way that the Egyptians would have been able to comprehend this event as the proof of the greatness of the God of the Isrealites would be for the people of that time to have a worldview that assumed the radical and meticulous control of the world and events such that their circumstances would prove that Yahweh is the greatest God! Many people today often scoff when some tragedy strikes and believers point out that this may be God’s judgment but if we would believe the Bible then we should consider the judgment and warning of greater judgment a part of the Biblical worldview. Even Jesus used tragedies to point the people to the danger that they were in if they continued to sin and did not turn to God in faith (Luke 13:1-5). If we are truly going to believe the conclusions about truth, salvation, and the promises of eternal life contained in the Bible then we also must believe the framework from which those conclusions emerge. This does not mean that we must deny knowledge of how God has made and ordered the world which we have learned from careful observation and technological advancement. But we must not forget that behind the natural observation of these things God is working supernaturally to bring about His will and glorify His holy name. We must be on guard against becoming so secular, critical, and sceptical that we will not believe the things the Bible clearly and plainly says. Remember, even the Gospel message itself which consists of the reality that God paid for the sins of people both Jews and Greeks through the scandal of Jesus’ death on the cross, that this salvation was confirmed through His victorious resurrection from the dead, and finally, that this hope is available to anyone of any ethnic background through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul says that to the Jews this message is an unbelievable scandal and to the Greeks it is a foolish fairytale (1 Corinthians 1:18-24). But this is the Gospel that God has revealed and the only hope of the Christian (1 Corinthians 15:1-11). I would urge you not to be captivated by the carefully crafted fictions of the modern worldview, but rather receive the instruction of the word of God and rest in the hope and promises that are founded on His word.  Artificial Intelligence
Have you heard of the singularity? This is a concept that I probably can’t explain clearly enough on my own so I’m going to get some help. Grok which is the AI tool which is a part of the X platform gives this synopsis of the singularity. In the context of Artificial Intelligence, the "singularity" refers to a hypothetical future point where AI surpasses human intelligence, leading to an exponential, uncontrollable advancement in technology and profound changes to society that are difficult to predict or comprehend. Chat GPT gives a similar definition: The AI singularity refers to a hypothetical future point when artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence, leading to rapid, uncontrollable technological growth. At this stage, AI would be capable of self-improvement, making advancements beyond human comprehension or control, potentially transforming society in unpredictable ways. You will notice that both of these summaries seem to highlight that this point in the future will bring unpredictable outcomes. Chat GPT also pointed out that there is disagreement among the tech community over whether this point will ever be a reality. However, most people in this field do see it as inevitable given the pace and scope of current technological and information progress. If this is true, the question that you may be thinking about is when will this happen? However, maybe we should consider instead how we might understand these things in light of the revelation of God in scripture. Dystopia Many leaders in the cyber/tech world have publicly acknowledged fear about the possible negative consequences of these types of technologies. Men such as Elon Musk have actually stated that artificial intelligence is more dangerous, or at least will be more dangerous, than nuclear weapons to the safety and stability of human existence. Some of these techno prophets foresee a world where the machines have become the masters. Now for the Bible we must ask what type of expectation does the Lord give about the future of His people and His church? Some of this depends on your perspective about the Scripture. If you believe that the Bible prophesies about terrible tribulation still to come in the future of the church, then you will most likely interpret the progress of these technologies as the setup of the implementation of the dark days that you believe the Bible forecasts for us. Optimism However, if instead you believe that Jesus is now reigning on His glorious throne while He is putting all His enemies under His feet (1 Corinthians 15:25-28). Then you maybe more optimistic about the possibilities that Jesus may employ these technologies in His service to spread the message of the gospel and destroy all His enemies. The technologies may not be God’s means of judgment, but rather His means of conquest for His kingdom. Again, if you understand the Scriptures to be teaching that at least for believers the promises are not for suffering but rather glory then you could interpret these things as a means to the display of that glory. Also it could be that many of the allusions to the ending of pain and problems given in the Bible are not only reserved to heaven or a future kingdom but to this life and kingdom. The End is Sure Of course nothing is as important as understanding the Bible correctly. But, regardless of if we see the story of Scripture as a means that God will use to bring about tribulation and judgement or to bring blessing and prosperity, we should all be able to agree that ultimately we will dwell forever with our God and our Lord Jesus Christ in the new heavens and the new earth with no more pain, sorrow, or troubles, but only the perfection and righteousness of God’s glory on display (Revelation 21).  Over Priced
Last week the news was reporting that President Trump had ordered the Treasury Secretary to stop making pennies. The penny costs about 3.6 cents to manufacture. This means that the government is losing money with every penny that is minted. This is also true of the nickel coin. I believe it costs 13.77 cents to make a single nickel. The point is clear that it doesn’t make sense or cents to keep minting these low value coins. Several factors have led to the devaluing of these coins, not the least of which is the inflation of the U. S. economy. However, maybe this reality should cause us to take stock of our lives and consider the costs that go beyond mere dollars and cents. Time is Money In the wisdom of King Solomon that is recorded in Ecclesiastes we have much reflection on both the brevity and value of time (Ecclesiastes 3). Time is of such great value for several reasons. One reason is that you can never get back any moment that has passed. That moment is gone forever. Even if you live one hundred and fifty years you cannot actually make up for lost time. Another element is that time is finite. The current existence that you have will come to an end. Even if you are young and live to an old age the point is still true that time is running out. Often when we are young it is easy to feel as though time is an overflowing cup, but the reality of the fact that life will not go on forever is soon established. It is also important to note that we do not know how much time we have. Could you imagine how you would live if you were given a debit card and told that all the money you would ever have is on the card for your whole life but you did not know the beginning balance and you could never check the current balance? It would certainly be an interesting thought experiment but that is how we are when it comes to time. We could live for many decades more or we could be drawing our last breath at this very moment. If you were in your last moments, then can I ask you to consider two questions? First, are you content with the life that you have lived? Did you do or even attempt to do the things that you wanted or that you believe are truly important? Are your relationships with family and other people in a good place? There are probably a thousand more ways you could consider this idea of contentment. My second question is are you ready? I don’t mean are you ready to leave behind your family or have accomplished all your goals, I mean are you ready to face death? Are you ready to stand before God? The scripture is clear that we all have an appointment with death and after that an appointment with judgment (Hebrews 9:27-28). That judgment will only go one of two ways. Option one is that we will stand before God on the record of our own action either evil or righteous. The problem is that even if you think that you have done more good than bad the judgment is not a scale but rather a proof. God will not weigh in a balance your good and bad deeds, but rather seek to prove your life to see if it is perfect. In this case, the standard is perfection and the penalty for any impurity is destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9=10). Count the Cost The second option for how things can go on the day of judgment is that those whose debt of sin has been paid by another can be proved based on the perfection and indestructibility of His life. The Scripture is also clear that everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ will not be condemned or put to shame. We are rescued by His payment for our sin on the cross and we are rewarded by His righteous life credited to our account. But Jesus urges us to be careful to count the cost of our discipleship (Luke 14:25-33). If we are not willing to renounce all that we have apart from Christ then we cannot have the life offered to us by Christ. Christ freely offers us eternal life but to receive it we must let go of everything else so our hands are empty. Salvation is free, in the sense that, we could not do anything to earn it and there is no price that we could pay for it. However, being brought into the family of God will cost us being a part of the brotherhood of the world (Ephesians 2:19). Being included in the kingdom of light means we are not citizens of the realm of darkness (Colossians 1:9-14). Becoming true worshippers of God means that we are not worshippers of idols (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10). Coming into fellowship with Christ and His people means that we are not participating with demons (1 Corinthians 10:14-21). Being included in the living body of Christ means that you are not a part of the dead corpse of sin (Romans 7:4-6). Lastly, being wed to Christ as His bride the church means that we do not belong to this world because of Jesus’ saving grace (Revelation 21:1-11).  Ordered Loves
A couple of weeks ago, Vice President J. D. Vance stirred up some headlines by talking about the need for us to understand that it is right and appropriate for people to love some people more than other people. I’m not completely sure of the specifics of the context in which he was speaking, but I thought this might be a helpful subject for us to think about, especially today. The concept is called in Latin “Ordo Amoris” meaning “the order of loves.” This is not actually a difficult concept. For example, I love babies. I have always loved babies. However, when my own children were born the affection that I had for them as infants far exceeded the general feelings I have for all babies. It is right for us to have priority and loyalty in the way that we love the people in our lives. No Favorites But someone might argue that we are not supposed to be partial. Partialism is a very serious sin (James 2:1-12). The difference is that the sin of partialism is the bias of showing mercy or favor for certain classes of people while extending those favors or benefits to others for selfish or greedy reasons. The sin of partialism is rooted in unjust judgement not the proper prioritization of affection. Our Loves So what should be the order of loves for us as believers in Jesus Christ? I think that it will serve us best if we work our way from the least to the greatest or from the outside in. So we might start with the fact that as redeemed image bearers we should have a kind of general love for all of humanity that is motivated by our Biblical view of creation. By this statement I mean that we ought to have a genuine care and concern for the well being and flourishing of all people. After all this is a part of our motivation to get the gospel out to every people group so that they may be saved. Of course this kind of care is not the kind of personal attachment and connection that we usually mean when we use the term love but it is a kind or category of love. But the commands of King Jesus will not leave the relatively unknown masses of humanity and proceed directly to those close and compatible relationships that we endearingly refer to as “loved ones.” The next category in the order of loves for the Christian is our enemies. Remember, Jesus taught us that in the economy of His kingdom we must love our enemies, pray for our persecutors, and endure all sorts of hardships and inconveniences for the conversions of our enemies (Matthew 5:38-48). Next, we ought to love those who are lost and known to us. By this I am saying that we ought to have a genuine burden for the salvation of lost people in our own community, especially those who we know personally. These may not be close relationships but our concern for them must be more than just local or civic pride. These people, whose faces and names we know, will one day be with us in glory or separated from God forever in hell. So we ought to be motivated by that severe reality to have a true compassionate heart for these folks (1 Corinthians 9:20-23). Next, we ought to have a special love for our own extended family members and friends, especially those who are believers. It is not tribalism to have a bond with those who are a part of your own family. These are your people and in the providence of God they have an enduring connection to you, your past, and your life. Now, you may have thought that I missed a category. Bro. Eddie, should we love the church and especially our local church? Yes we should! But I am placing that above our extended family. Outside of our closest family members and of course our spouse, our brothers and sisters in the church should be our closest community. These are the people with whom we have entered into a covenant of love and devotion (John 13:33-34). The New Testament texts are too numerous to mention. But Jesus loves His church and so must we (Ephesians 5:25-32). Next, we ought to prioritize our love for our immediate family. Primarily, I am referring to our children and our spouse. Parents, God has blessed us with children and we ought to love them with the same nurture, instruction, discipline, and merciful grace that God has for us. In this way we love them well and point them to Jesus in a healthy and constructive way (Ephesians 6:4). But above every other human relationship on the planet we must love our spouses. As noted above this covenant relationship is a picture of Christ’s relationship with his church. Husbands, we must sacrificially love our wives just as Jesus sacrificed for us. Also, wives you must respect and submit to your husband as worship to God. This is pleasing to God and a powerful testimony to the gospel. God’s Love God also has an order to His love. Many people wrongly conclude that God is required to love all people in the same way. However, in the Bible, it is clear that God does not love everyone the same. He loves people according to the relationship He has chosen to establish with them. The Bible tells us how God has instrumentally extended His love to the peoples of the world through the work of Jesus on the cross for the salvation of all believers (John 3:16-17). However, the Bible is also clear that God loves His people in a special way (Ephesians 1:3-6). Jesus not only established this relationship but carries it through to glorification (Romans 8:29-39). Finally, God loves God! What I mean is that the highest, best, purest love is the love of God and it is perfectly expressed between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit! The connections and distinctions with the one being of God and between the three persons of God are difficult to express accurately because of the limitations of our human facilities. But let us make no mistake, the best and highest love is both the love of God and love for God! Happy Valentine's Day!  Ambiguity
The usual purpose of communication is to relay information clearly. However, many times our communication may not be as clear as would otherwise be intended. One reason that we may not be communicating clearly is because we are ourselves unsure of the exact point that we desire to share. Another reason that our conversations or dialogues may result in uncertainty is because of the way that we are communicating. We can all very easily slip into patterns where we are being too vague. We can also disrupt our communication by over sharing so much that the important details or points are lost in the avalanche of content. All of these reasons for unclear communications result from unintended consequences. Manipulation But sometimes the reason that communication is unclear is not unintentional. Often liars and con artists will lace their speech with subtle inferences that make you think they mean one thing when they actually mean something very different. This slight distinction in expression is meant to manipulate honest people to do or think or agree to something that they would not agree to if they understood the concept accurately. This is often the case with polls and surveys. The people making the questions can almost guarantee the desired outcome of the research if they manipulate the way the questions are asked of the participants. This kind of nefarious communication is not the result of an innocent miscommunication but rather a deliberate attempt to deceive. The purpose is to influence people to act or answer contrary to their actual desires. Meaning But the subtle addition can also be used to help persuade the listener to hear out a clear presentation. When seeking to share or receive truth we must remember the genuine reality in a real universe are not always simplistic concepts. This means that often the communication of truth will involve the use of nuance and proper tone to convey both the meaning and the importance of many concepts. We must not come even to Scripture with an attitude that is unwilling to acknowledge the necessary nuance to understand and interpret the things written for us. For example we must know that the Scripture was written not to us but to the audience of the time. This important point is crucial to understand the meaning of the things recorded in the Bible. It is also necessary to understand that the Bible is a book of progressive revelation. This means that as more of the truth was revealed by God it explains and clarifies earlier revealed truths which at the time may have seemed incredible and cryptic but in light of later revealed truth these things fit together perfectly. There is a symbiotic relationship between these passages. Take for example the writings of the prophets in the Old Testament and the prophecies of Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament. We must understand the context and setting of the Old Testament prophecies to correctly interpret the things in a book like Revelation which uses those same images, but you must also have Revelation to rightly understand the fulfillment of the visions that the prophets beheld. Foundation Our understanding of our Christian faith and hope of eternal life is not something that was uploaded to our brain or downloaded to our hearts at our conversion. Rather God has chosen to allow us to get to Him and His will through written revelation. Our status as citizens in Christ’s kingdom and members of God’s household is defined through the foundation that we have in the apostles and prophets with Jesus Himself being the cornerstone (Ephesians 2:19-22). This reference to the foundation means the message they handed down to us in the page of Holy Scripture. So let's look diligently into every line and precept that we might correctly interpret even the nuanced points so that we may know, love, and obey God all the more (Isaiah 28:10-17).  Fantasy
Do you believe in dragons? How about unicorns? Most people consider these and many other creatures the inventions of myth and legend. Some ferocious and amazing creatures have come from the imaginations of mere men. Consider the whole worlds devised by men such as Tolkien and Lewis, or even more so the whole universe created by George Lucas and those who have contributed to the Star Wars franchise. Most modern people who have been heavily influenced by bias toward scientific surety have cultivated a kind of rationalistic skepticism about the fantastic claim from the ancient past. However, as Christians we are not materialists. What I mean is that while we do believe that there is consistency in the universe based on the way that God made the universe to conform to natural laws and patterns which He determined. We also believe that beyond this physical dimension is a realm even more real than those things that we can now touch and feel and see. This means that as believers we must not be so quick to assume that those things that our materialistic neighbors have attributed to myth do not really exist. Defending Dragons In the book of Job, when the Lord Himself is answering back to Job about his grasp of reality and truth, He references a couple of amazing creatures. First, God Himself describes a great beast named Behemoth (Job 40:16-24). From the description the animal sounds like what our modern experts would call a Brontosaurus. Of course this poses a problem because Paleontologists today would say that the Brontosaurus is a ‘prehistoric’ beast, but if these animals are prehistoric how would God have been able to reference it as an example for Job if Job had no experiential knowledge of the creature? Another issue is if one takes an atheistic view that the Book of Job is simply a man made production then how did these ancient people know what a dinosaur looked like so as to be able to describe it so accurately? It would seem that the simplest answer is that the Behemoth which we call Brontosaurus did coexist with humanity from the beginning of creation and in the days of Job. The second creature is far more unbelievable. This one is a gigantic sea monster with scales like armor, unimaginable power, and breath of fire. Now that description that I just gave you sounds like a fairytale dragon but it is a very accurate summary of the Bible’s description of the beast called Leviathan. I would like to encourage you to go read Job 41 and see if my summary is accurate. Leviathan sounds like a dragon. Now some people, even serious and sincere Bible scholars, would point out that Job is written in the genre of wisdom literature and poetry in the Hebrew text. Therefore, these folks would say that we must consider that the description may not have been meant to be taken literally. This is worth considering but I would argue that since God is using these beasts as an object lesson they must be real creatures. Also, while some of the description could possibly be hyperbolic, the underlying reality would still have to be true. Even more important to our understanding of the Bible is that we as believers must cultivate a presupposition that assumes the reliability of the Bible. So that even when it comes to believing in dragons we are first committed to believe God as we seek to understand what he has revealed. I want to be clear. I am not saying that you have to conclude that Job is describing a dragon like Lancelot fought in the tales of Camelot. I am saying that we as believers must believe what God has said to the best of our ability, to understand and comprehend it. If you are convinced that the creature is only a literary device used by God to convey His point through Hebrew poetry, then ok as long we are not assuming that the Bible couldn’t be telling us about an actual dragon because we know those don’t exist. With our God nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37). Another Dragon The Bible does tell us about another dragon and this one is very real. In Revelation 12, John saw a great red dragon. This dragon was destructive, devastating, and dangerous. In John's vision the dragon is clearly seeking to destroy Christ and is set against Him even from His birth and before (Genesis 3:15). In verse 9 of Revelation 12, this dragon is identified as the ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan. Now, this text is clearly symbolic, but the evil enemy is absolutely real. But the story of the Bible is the story of the hero who vanquishes this greatest of all villains and rescues His fair, beautiful, and pure maiden who becomes His glorious bride. And they lived happily ever after! Now read Revelation 19-22 with the view of this last sentence)  Sanctity
This past Sunday was the day set aside to pray and advocate for the end of abortion in our country. Of course, we should always be praying for righteousness to prevail in our land, but this date commemorates the passage of the Roe v. Wade decision and the millions of babies that have died because of that decision. Thankfully, that policy was changed through the Dobbs decision. However, babies are still dying because even with changed laws the reality is many people still want to murder their children. There could be many reasons that people might put forward for why this is the case but in this article I would like to argue part of the problem in the hearts of people willing to have abortions began in the home life of these individuals. The Culture of Death Maybe you have heard the language of the culture of death. It really does seem like abortion is a sacred ritual of the modern progressive atheistic movement. No doubt it is a sacrament in the religion of theism just as baptism is a precious ordinance of Christians. Now they would not claim that death is the goal but rather the autonomy of the woman. In this worldview for the woman to be free she must be able to choose to terminate the child for any reason so that she is not unwillingly burdened. This is about both unburdening her body of the effects of pregnancy and childbirth as well as her lifestyle of the accountability and responsibility of parenthood. For most of us who are opposed to abortion it is extremely difficult to understand that they are not concerned about the baby because the preferences of the woman supersede any rights of the child. For many years we have thought that was simply because these people do not believe or acknowledge that the baby is a person. I’m sure that many scared and ignorant young women have been manipulated into this horrific choice by that logic. However, I think even when they understand and know that the baby is a person there is an even more heartbreaking subconscious denial that explains how so many of these women have consented to such an evil act. The Life of the Family Many of those who are supportive of abortion are those who do not have strong bonds with their own families. This means that the reality that they are killing their own children is not as impactful for them because they do not have the inclination which adds personal value to those in close relationship to them. To put my point simply these women do not think of the baby as their own child. I think that the hyper individualistic nature of our modern society has eroded the bonds of family commitment that have been the glue of society from the beginning of creation. Now we should not assume that this is only a modern problem because even the first pair of siblings exhibited this kind of animosity and rivalry as the older brother Cain selfishly murdered his brother Abel. But notice, in Cain’s response to God regarding his brother, we see this same breakdown of familial bonding. Cain says to God in Genesis 4:1-16 , “Am I my brother’s keeper?”. Cain is not actually denying his murderous sin but he is denying his bonded responsibility to his brother. I am arguing here that when mothers knowingly consent to the destruction of their children, especially for the sake of hedonistic convenience, the same evil rebellion of Cain is manifest again in our own day. So what can we do to protect our grandchildren from being murdered by their parents? Well their parents are our children so I would like to suggest some Biblical principles that just might save our grandchildren. First, we must teach our children to obey us so that they will be obedient to God (Hebrews 12:5-11). Second, we must show our children genuine affection and love (Titus 2:3-4). Finally, we must not provoke our children to anger and discourage but instead bring them through a loving mixture of exhortation, encouragement, and rebuke (Ephesians 6:4). |