Blogogetics

Giving an apologia (defense) for the faith we have

Archive for September, 2008

The Death of Celebration

Sep 30

Posted by Thomas Moller in General Info | 1 Comment

Originally written Mar 18, 2005

I have had a few months to reflect on the tsunami that killed upwards of 250,000 people in Southeastern Asia . I have heard sermons, read obituaries, and seen images that evoked a range of emotions. I have talked to people that tell me we should celebrate the life of the deceased and not dwell on the death. And I have attended a memorial in the past with this same sentiment. The memorial service was celebrating the life of a former college professor of mine who died prematurely and in “celebration” the service was held on the beach at one of his favorite surf spots. I suppose this memorial service was intended to be a kind of subtle reminder of the new day we all have as we reflect on another’s death. I have also heard the plaintive conversation between a mother and her child:

    “Mommy, do you and Daddy love me?”
    “Of course we love you, Honey! Why do you ask?”
    “I was just wondering who will love me when you die.”

That child was asking a much deeper question than most of the commentaries and analyses I have read over the deaths that occurred that December 26, 2004 . That child did not realize the existential angst behind the question and if asked about the feelings that provoked the question that child would not be able to tell you why he asked that. He only knew, at that moment, he was scared of being alone. I know, because that child was me.
Read the rest of this entry »

Personal Worship

Sep 23

Posted by Luke Shiras in Worship | No Comments

The following are notes from a study I did about Personal Worship. We were looking at the tree analogy of roots, trunk and branches (study, affections, and fruits). More specifically, I was looking at how within each of these are three aspects; personal, social (small/intimate group) and corporate (church). Many of my notes come from Directory for Worship with some additional notes from Experiencing God Through Private Worship

Worship
William Temple defined worship this way, “To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, and to devote the will to the purpose of God.” (Psalm 29:2, 1 Chronicles 16:29) The word worship comes from the old Anglo-Saxon word “worthship”. It literally means to attribute or ascribe worth to some one. It carries the idea of declaring the object of worship as being worthy of honor. The Greek word in the New Testament that is most often translated “worship” is the word “proskuneo.” This word means to “kiss the hand of one in a token of reverence, also by kneeling or prostration to pay homage.” The second most common word is “sebomai”, this word means “to revere”. Other words are used, but these are sufficient to teach us that the Bible sees worship as an act of honoring God because of His great worthiness to be honored. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

God, Creation and Evolution

Sep 20

Posted by Duane Smets in General Info | No Comments

Introduction: the purpose of this teaching is three-fold:

1) to demonstrate that belief in the theory of evolution does not prove God does not exist and one can believe both in the theory of evolution and God at the same time.
2) to demonstrate evidence for the existence of God as creator which does not require or exclude the theory of evolution.
3) to demonstrate specific scientific difficulties with the theory of evolution.

I. A Compound Argument for the Existence of God

A. “Why is there something rather than nothing?”
> when we look around the room we begin to realize that for everything we see there is a chain of cause and effect relationships that got them there.
B. the problem of “infinite regression”
1. we cannot infinitely keep tracing the effects and their causes there must be a starting point, one cause that started it all. an uncaused cause.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ,

Kicked out of the Garden

Sep 15

Posted by Luke Shiras in Our Sin Nature | No Comments

There are so many things I am thankful for; my wife, fellowship, a job, family, getting kicked out of the Garden of Eden…

Yes, I am thankful for getting kicked out of the Garden. Sure it was probably the most beautiful place on Earth, plenty of food to eat, running around naked without a care in the world and not having to worry about being mauled by a bear…But we had to go ahead and screw that up, didn’t we? When I say we it comes from the fact that we are as guilty as Adam when it comes to the fall of man.

God gave us one simple rule – “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen 2:17). But as is our sinful nature, we had to follow our desires – not God’s. So there we are, butt naked – ashamed, sinning in front of God and everybody, wondering how we can get out of this mess we’re in. I know – we’ll hide – no, blame the woman – no… blame God.

Yeah…about that…

OK, the jig is up. You sinned and you got busted. What’s the first thing any good parent does? Yep, “you’re grounded” only this time, its literal: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life” (Gen 3:17). So you’ve sinned and got caught, were grounded and you feel real bad about it. Now what?

Well most parents tend to take care of the immediate problem; in this case God makes garments of skin for Adam and his wife (Gen 3:21). This way they won’t freeze their little tooshies off while they’re out there working the land. But now comes the best part…they get kicked out of the Garden.

You’re probably wondering why it’s so good to get kicked out of the Garden. In order to understand that, lets back up a little bit, shall we? God said “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen 2:16-17) Did you catch that? I’ll repeat for you just to be sure… “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” And I’m pretty sure we’re not talking about a physical death but rather a spiritual one. So to see if you’re paying attention…

How many trees were forbidden? (Just the one)
Are you sure? (Yep)
So they could eat of any other tree in the Garden, right? (right!)
Alright, just so long as we’re on the same page.

Now I want to talk to you about tough love, better known as, God’s gracious mercy. And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” (Gen 3:22) This is the part you need to understand. This is why God banished man from the Garden. Not only that, but he placed cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the Tree of Life. I think He means it. But did you catch it? Did you make the connection? “Lest…he live forever” Now I ask you, what’s wrong with that? Who wouldn’t want to live forever?

“For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Not a physical death but a spiritual one. And the only escape from our sinful nature, our spiritual death, is to leave our earthly bodies and be united with Christ. That’s kind of hard to do when you’re immortal. Spending eternity, just the way you are, with your frail little body, your beer gut and thinning hair (and that’s just the ladies – ba-daa-dum). Imagine having to live through all the wars, famines, and droughts, fires that have plagued mankind throughout history. Living day in and day out in a world of unsaved people who have no fear of death, which is often the only thing keeping them in check. I don’t see being kicked out of the Garden as punishment for our disobedience, but as a gift to save us from ourselves. We could easily have toiled in the Garden just as much as outside of it, but no, that wasn’t the point.

We already know that God does things that are in our best interest according to His purpose. We may not like it at the time but we often see how the difficulty and the struggle have made us a better person, a better Christian, later in our lives. Like most of our struggles, we can only see how it is at the time of difficulty and how it goes against what we had planned for ourselves and not for the glory of God. The only way we can stop being sinful creatures is when we join the Father in Heaven upon the physical death of our bodies and our spirit filled hearts. Only then will we be happy, and the Garden of Eden will pale in comparison, and for that, I am eternally thankful for the banishment.

Tags: , , , , ,

The Church and the Parachurch

Sep 8

Posted by Sam Shin in General Info | 3 Comments

THE CHURCH AND THE PARACHURCH

There’s an old hand gesture that children do to describe the church. It goes like this: “Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the doors and see all the people.” It’s funny how children’s rhymes can sometimes carry deep meaning. Indeed, the church is much more than a building, it’s a community. Edmund Clowney writes: “According to the Bible, the church is the people of God, the assembly and body of Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.” It is a reflection of the old covenant community now realized as a new community, in essence a new covenant community. Peter describes the people of this new community as “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” (1 Pe. 2:9). The church is God’s vehicle to bring His Kingdom to the world.

The question is, “What does God’s church look like?” If it is about the people, how is it displayed and how is it formed? We hear terms like “universal” and “local,” “church” and “parachurch,” and many of these phrases can be quite confusing. Also, what model represents the biblical understanding of the word “church”? Many of these issues were dealt with in Phase 3, Week 8 of membership so we will be narrowing the subject to the church-parachurch relationship (so there will be much cross-referencing to this earlier work now known as P3W8).
Read the rest of this entry »

The Problem of Pigs

Sep 2

Posted by Thomas Moller in General Info | No Comments

“Whither is God?” he cried; “I will tell you. We have killed him—you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? …. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.”

From “The Madman”, Friedrich Nietzsche in “The Gay Science” #125

I have been trying to build the case that if we cease believing in a moral law-giver our beliefs and actions will be pragmatic and practical where individuals will not believe in nothing but rather they will believe in anything. Our values and beliefs therefore, will ultimately reside on Wall Street, gazing into the pool of Narcissus, rather than in Wisdom, bathing in the ocean of Grace . So humans may have value if it informs our pride and pads our pocketbook and just as easily lose that value if we deem the cost too great or our chests too flat.

To rightfully establish a moral right requires a moral Maker but moral rights cannot be separated from moral obligations and this is where the modernist tension lies. Former Yale Law Professor Arthur Leff brilliantly illustrates this tension between moral rights and moral obligations.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Performance Optimization WordPress Plugins by W3 EDGE