Talking vs. Doing

Posted on June 21, 2023 by admin

A great deal of emphasis of our Christian faith is to have the correct doctrine and we should.  However, as we have repeatedly stated in this blog, salvation is more than just a belief system, it is action.  In chapter 16 of my book, The Renovation of Our Soul, we quote several Christian leaders throughout the centuries since the time of Christ who express similar ideas.

In the last blog, we introduced Fénelon, an archbishop in France in the 17th century, and he expresses the same idea.

“Oh, how we deceive ourselves when we suppose that we are growing in grace because our vain curiosity is being gratified by the enlightenment of our intellect.” [1]

“Our great aim should be . . .to devote ourselves to living.  Let’s learn to talk less and do more without caring whether anyone sees us or not.” [2]

“You already have more knowledge than you can use.  You would do better to put into practice what you already know.” [3]

So let us follow Fénelon’s advice and practice what we claim to believe.

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[1]   Fénelon.  Let Go.  New Kensington, PA:  Whitaker House, 1973, p. 23.

[2]   Fénelon.  pp. 22-23.

[2]   Fénelon.  p. 23.

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Let Go and Let God

Posted on June 5, 2023 by admin

A friend of mine gave me the book, Let Go by Fénelon.  My initial reaction was that I really did not want to read it but when I saw it was written by an archbishop in France in the 17th century, my interest level changed.

My hesitation to read this book was because I have heard the expression “Let go and let God” used as an excuse for Christians to evade their responsibility.  While the Bible does teach God is sovereign and controls all events on our world, it also teaches we have free will and can change our world through the actions we take.

We Christians seem to have a problem with seemingly conflicting ideas in the Bible.  We go to one extreme or the other while not doing the hard work of reconciling what the Bible teaches.

We addressed one such Biblical conflict in my first book, The Renovation of Our Soul.  There we examined the several different ways the Bible said we could be saved.  If you don’t want to purchase my book, my blog of March 17, 2011 (yes, this blog is that old) gives several Biblical passages that illustrates this point and will start your research.

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[1]   Fénelon.  Let Go.  New Kensington, PA:  Whitaker House, 1973.

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Fruit of the Spirit

Posted on May 14, 2023 by admin

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. (John 15:8 ESV)

Bruce Wilkinson states in his book that he once interpreted, as many of us have, the above passage in John as saying we must evangelize, convert others to Christianity, if we are to please God.  However, Wilkinson has determined the Bible uses the terms “fruit” and “good works” interchangeably.  While evangelism is part of our good works it is only a part. [1]

The Bible states the type of fruit we bear indicates the type of person we are, what we are like in our soul.  A healthy vine produces good fruit and a diseased vine produces bad fruit (Matthew 17:7).  And then there is that verse from Galatians which clearly states that the fruit of the Spirit is:

. . .love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 ESV)

As we have consistently stated in this blog, salvation of more than a belief system.  It is God working with us to change our soul so he produces the “fruit of the Spirit” in our lives.  Our evangelism is simply telling others, as we travel about the world, what God has done for us (Matthew 28:19).

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[1]   Bruce Wilkinson.  Secrets of the Vine.  Colorado Springs, CO:  Multnomah Books, 2001, pp. 20-21.

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Idle Hands

Posted on May 4, 2023 by admin

“Idle hands are the devil’s workshop” is an old saying of which we all are familiar.  Some think it is based upon Proverbs 16:27-29 although most translations would not render that meaning.  It has been a familiar saying for centuries because it has an element of truth.

A character in Charles Dickens’ novel David Copperfield, Mr. Wickfield, has a different view of this saying

Satan finds some mischief still, for busy hand to do.  The busy people achieve their full share of mischief in the world, you may rely on it.  What have people been about, who have been the busiest in getting money, and in getting power, this century or two?  No mischief? [1]

Regardless of our station in life, the Bible has our tendencies pegged.  “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?  (Jeremiah 17:9 ESV).

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[1]   Charles Dickens.  David Copperfield.  Kindle Edition, chapter 16, Loc 3928.

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Lady Be Good

Posted on April 26, 2023 by admin

Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.

For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them. (Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 ESV)

The truth of the above statement by Solomon is illustrated by the story of the WWII B-24 bomber Lady Be Good.  Lady Be Good and her crew went on their first bombing run to the coast of Italy from their base in Libya in north Africa.  On their way back, they became disoriented, thought they had encountered a head wind which would put them over the Mediterranean Sea when actually they were flying into the Sahara Desert.   Running out of fuel, they bailed out when they were 440 miles from their home base.  Lacking good maps of that area and not knowing precisely where they were, they started to walk north.  Having little food and water, they made less than 100 miles toward their goal before they succumbed to the desert. [1]

What did the crew of Lady Be Good do to deserve such a fate?  Did God ordain that they perish in this manner?  Or does the day we die and how we die depend upon “time and chance”?  They were caught up in a war they did not start.  They were very inexperienced with the aircraft they were flying and with the territory in which they were flying.  And it cost them their lives.

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[1]   Dennis E. McClendon.  The Lady Be Good.  Blue Ridge Summit, PA:  TAB/AERO Books, Inc., 1962.

Posted in God's Sovereignty | Leave a comment

The thousand-mile war is a war most have not heard of but it was of crucial importance to the US winning World War II in the Pacific.  This was the war that was waged in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands.

When Dolittle’s raiders bombed Japan, the Japanese did not know they had launched from an aircraft carrier.  The Japanese thought they had launched from a land base in the Aleutian Islands.  So the Japanese had to divert some of their forces from the south Pacific to protect their northern islands.  The US was building air bases in the Aleutians to carry out bombing raids on Japan so the Japanese concern was prudent.

The Japanese had an offensive as well as defensive reason for establishing bases in the Aleutians–they would have had the ability to bomb the defense industries on the west coast.  The Japanese did capture and set up bases on two of the Aleutians—Attu and Kiska. The only US territory the Japanese ever captured but they never did launch any air raids on the continental US.

The weather was a huge factor with the cold, rain, clouds, fog, ice, and wind inflicting as much damage on both the Japanese and US armies and navies as the combatants inflicted on each other.  [1]

So why did this particular aspect of WWII interest me?  At the very tail end of WWII, my dad, Elbert, (who just celebrated his 96th birthday this past week) served on the Aleutian island of Adak.  The fighting was long gone by the time my dad reached Adak except for the battle with the weather.

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[1]   Brian Garfield.  The Thousand-Mile War.  New York:  Ballantine Books, 1969.

Posted on April 10, 2023 by admin | Leave a comment

Can Science Prove God’s Existence?

Posted on April 3, 2023 by admin

Recently I finished reading a book by Eric Metaxas entitled Is Atheism Dead?.  I had read another book by Metaxas about Bonhoeffer.  Metaxas is a good writer so when I heard about this book it was a given I would read it.

Metaxas’ thesis is that the current findings in science point to a creator.  One example is The Big Bang theory which states the universe began as a single point and has been expanding ever since so it had a beginning there must have been a creator.  A second example is that science shows that we live in a Goldilocks universe.  For example, if the earth was any smaller, the magnetic field of the earth would be weaker which means the solar wind would strip away the earth’s atmosphere.  If the earth was any larger, it would have a more powerful gravity which means water, methane, and carbon dioxide could not escape our atmosphere which means our atmosphere would be so thick we could not breathe.  Metaxas gives many other examples of our universe and solar system being so fine-tuned that the possibility of our universe happening by chance is extremely remote. [1]

The problem with relying on science to prove the validity of God’s existence is that science can change.  The scientific method of developing a hypothesis, testing that hypothesis, revising the hypothesis based upon test results, and then repeating the process means that even well established “scientific facts” can be in error if new data contradicts.  For example, astronomers find the oldest stars have only a third as much lithium as the Big Bang theory predicts. [2]   Now maybe astronomers will figure out why this discrepancy exists within the framework of the Big Bang theory or maybe they will need to develop an entirely new theory for the existence of our universe.

It will be interesting over the next few years to see if science continues to develop evidence for a creator God without realizing it.

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[1]   Eric Metaxas.  Is Atheism Dead?.  Washington, D.C.:  Salem Books, 2021.

[2]   Ken  Croswell.  “The Lithium Problem”.  Sky and Telescope, May 2022, p. 21-25.

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Counsel and Might

Posted on March 26, 2023 by admin

I just keeping running across what the Bible says about wisdom and understanding.  In previous blogs we have discussed passages from Proverbs and Job.  The latest is from the prophet Isaiah in which he describes the attributes of the Messiah.

And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.  (Isaiah 11:1 ESV)

In addition to the attributes of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord (which we have discussed in previous blogs), this passage adds counsel and might.  The Spirit gives advice and the strength to do what needs to be done.

This same Spirit from God which Isaiah describes is the same Spirit that Jesus promised to send us (John 16:5-15).  So we have access to all the attributes of God’s Spirit.

Christianity is not just an emotional based religion.  God is concerned with our entire being, our entire soul—our intellect as well as our emotions.  God is fact based.  God focuses on reality.  We have access to an intelligence that is beyond our comprehension.  So why would we not utilize this resource?

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Wisdom and Understanding

Posted on March 17, 2023 by admin

Job 28 is a very interesting and poetic chapter.  It describes the technology and effort humans utilized during Job’s time to find, mine, and refine silver, gold, iron, copper, and precious stones.

In Job 28, Job contrasts the human search for material wealth with their search for wisdom and understanding.  Most humans do not know or understand the value of wisdom and understanding nor do they  know where to find them.  Wisdom and understanding are far superior in value to silver and gold but any entity living or dead can only say “We have heard a rumor of it with our ears” (Job 28:22 ESV)

But God knows because he created our world and he simply tells us:

And he said to man, “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.” (Job 28:16 ESV)

“Fear of the Lord” does not mean we are to be in terror of God but our attitude should be of awe, reverence, devotion.  Everyone understands what evil is because the Holy Spirit convicts the world of righteousness (John 16:8)

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Is Christianity Anti-Intellectual?

Posted on March 10, 2023 by admin

Some might consider the Christian worldview to be anti-intellectual.  Why?  Because according to the dictionary definition an anti-intellectual is someone who “is opposed to or hostile toward intellectuals” and  the modern theories associated with them.  An anti-intellectual also “believes that intellect and reason are less important than actions and emotion in solving practical problems and understanding reality”.

Now Christians do oppose certain modern worldviews and theories but by no means do they oppose them all.  Also, Christians do emphasize faith as opposed to reason and logic in determining what is true.  I Corinthians 2:5 states our beliefs do not rest in the wisdom of men.  Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as the “assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen”.

However, one can argue Christians are not anti-intellectual because the Bible constantly teaches we are to get understanding and wisdom. (Proverbs 3:13, 5:1, 8:1, 16:16).

“Understanding” is to perceive, to become aware of, to identify by means of the senses, to grasp, to comprehend the meaning of.  Proverbs is telling us to seek out knowledge and to make sure we fully grasp the implications of that knowledge.

“Wisdom” is to have the ability of discernment and the ability to judge what is true or right.  The Hebrew word also implies being skillful at a particular task..

Should not our definition of intellectual apply to anyone seeking knowledge about the reality of our existence and the ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood in what we learn.  Does it matter if we different methods and arrive at different conclusions.  Should not we appreciate a diversity of ideas?  We all are finite which means our current knowledge is not complete and at times it is in error.  As a result, we need assistance in our search for truth.  As Christians we turn to God.

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