Tag: #Christianity

A Biblical Worldview Affects Every Area of Life

Model of a Biblical Worldview

Our thoughts, our actions, our priorities, and how we spend our time and money, are all very good reflections of our worldview.

Below is a list – developed over many years of trial and error and listening to God’s voice – of my own priorities, as I believe God has assigned them.

  1. My relationship with God
  2. My marriage
  3. Our family
  4. Our home and finances
  5. Church
  6. Community

What I am going to attempt to do is to build a biblical foundation for thinking about each of these areas of life, beginning with my relationship with God. I will do the same for each area in subsequent blogposts.

  1. My relationship with God

However, fewer understand that long ago, God stepped into history with a new paradigm – a new way of doing things (Jeremiah 31:31; 33:14-15).

I know that, above all, He is always for me (Romans 8:31; Psalm 23:6; 58:11; 97:11).

  • My relationship with God, because of my tender heart and clear conscience, will be characterized by boldness–the kind of audacity exhibited by little John-John Kennedy when he barged into the Oval Office to talk with the President of the United States, his father, John F. Kennedy. (Hebrews 4:16; 1 Timothy 1:5; John 15:7; 1 John 3:22; Psalm 37:4)
John-John and JFK

A chief (defining) characteristic of the new covenant is liberty vs bondage. (Galatians 2:4; 3:25; 5:1; John 8:32-34, 36; 2 Corinthians 3:17)

The Great Exchange
“The word ‘imputation,’ according to the Scriptural usage, denotes an attributing of something to a person, or a charging of one with anything, or a setting of something to one's account.” (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)

What is that inheritance?

No more condemnation. The “law of the Spirit” has made me free from the “law of sin and death.” (Luke 11:13; Romans 8:1-2)

God is for me, not against me. (Romans 8:31; Isaiah 54:17)

I am no longer a “sinner;” I am a saint who occasionally sins. (Romans 6:6-9,11-14; 7:17, 20; 12:2) This is not just semantics; I have a new, regenerated nature. (Romans 7:22; 2 Corinthians 5:17) Although I do not now have a “license” to sin (Romans 6:15), I do not want to, because it is no longer my nature to do so. (Romans 6:17-18, 22; 7:6)

Since the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead now dwells in me, He will also give me resurrection power in every area of my life. (Romans 8:11; Romans 6:4; Isaiah 60:1) I am going to be victorious in any situation in which I find myself. (Romans 8:37; 2 Corinthians 2:14; 1 John 5:4-5)

I believe that God “gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did,” (Romans 4:17) and that marvelous things are in store for me. (Romans 8:28; Ephesians 3:20; Jeremiah 29:11)

Even in adversity, I can hope in God’s grace to meet my need. (Romans 5:3-5; Romans 8:35) Abraham is my forerunner and example in this kind of belief. (Romans 4:18-20) Like him, I am fully convinced that what God has promised me -in the Scriptures, through preaching and teaching, and by various prophetic (rhema) “words” – He is also able to perform. (Romans 10:17; 1 Corinthians 14:26; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22; Romans 4:21)

  • Satisfaction – when the end of my life comes, I will not feel as though I had left anything “on the field,” (Romans 12:1-2), but rather, a deep feeling of having lived a fully and satisfying life (Ephesians 6:13; Psalm 91:16).

My relationship with God is the foundation of my Biblical Worldview.

Next week we will consider how a marriage built on that foundation is built to last (Matthew 7:24-27).

“A Republic, if you care to keep it.”

The Bible, Christianity & American Government, Chapter 9

Make us a king to judge us like all the (other) nations.”

1 Samuel 8:5
The King’s Crown

There’s a famous quote making it’s way around the Internet, about Benjamin Franklin being asked what kind of government the United States was founded to be. It is said that he replied:

“A Republic, if you can keep it.”

Our founding fathers knew that the history of republics was not good, and that they often tended to end in tyranny.

For example, the once very successful Dutch Republic, formed in 1588, had declined and decayed until it had all but disintegrated by the time of the American founding. And in their own history, their ancestors had formed a republic named the English Commonwealth, in 1649, but it had only lasted for 11 years, until 1660.

But the primary example that the founding fathers looked to – which had been the model for all later republics – was the Roman Republic, which lasted 482 years, but it ended tragically in 60 years of civil wars and the rise of the dictator, Julius Caesar.

Julius Caesar

Why do republics fail?

In pondering this question, I was drawn back once again to a study of the world’s very first tyrant, Nimrod (first referenced in Genesis 10:8).

“Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth.” (the Hebrew word used here is “gibôr“).

Genesis 10:8
Gibor = "strong, mighty, impetuous" (Genesius' Hebrew Lexicon)
Impetuous = "acting or done quickly and without thought or care," (Bing) marked by impulsive vehemence or passion (or) by force and violence.." (Merriam-Webster)

God had commanded mankind to spread out and take dominion over the earth, but instead the people congregated together in a city and started dominating each other, and Nimrod was the worst of them.

So, why do people follow tyrants?

An article in Psychology Today claims that people hunger for “strong parental figures,” and that they are afraid to take responsibility for their own lives, preferring instead to stay on the sidelines, and “let someone else run the show,” even though the people they follow are often “narcissistic,” “calculating,” and “cruel.”

Do you think that is true? That people are afraid to take responsibility for their own lives, and that they would rather follow the directions of someone else, even if they have demonstrated themselves to be narcissistic and cruel?

That’s exactly what the Bible says that the ancient people of Israel did, although they were warned against it.

“‘This is how a king will reign over you,’ Samuel said… ‘He will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage… He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves…'”

1 Samuel 8:11-18

When told that George Washington had turned down an offer to become America’s first king, King George III of England said: “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”

But the people who rule our country today have little resemblance to George Washington.

The Psychology Today article goes on to say this about tyrants:

“They tend to have a blend of narcissistic and antisocial personality disorder traits such as a lack of empathy, grandiosity, thirst for power and control, lying and deceit, indifference to conventional laws or rules or morality, and more.”

Psychology Today, February 2, 2017

It remind us of a warning by one of the Founding Fathers, James Wilson of Pennsylvania:

“Sir, there are two passions which have a powerful influence on the affairs of men. These are ambition and avarice; the love of power, and the love of money. Separately each of these has great force in prompting men to action; but when united in view of the same object, they have in many minds the most violent effects. Place before the eyes of such men, a post of honour that shall be at the same time a place of profit, and they will move heaven and earth to obtain it… And of what kind are the men that will strive for this profitable pre- eminence, through all the bustle of cabal, the heat of contention, the infinite mutual abuse of parties, tearing to pieces the best of characters? It will not be the wise and moderate; the lovers of peace and good order, the men fittest for the trust. It will be the bold and the violent, the men of strong passions and indefatigable activity in their selfish pursuits. These will thrust themselves into your Government and be your rulers.”

James Wilson, Constitutional Convention of 1787

In Chapter 3 of our book, we talked about God’s plan for self-government, and the wise advice for doing so from Thomas Jefferson, Alexis de Tocqueville, and William Penn.

Back in the 1970’s and 80’s there was an old album cover that was pretty popular.

Keith Green‘s “No Compromise”

The artwork on the cover of the album depicts the scene where Haman, the Prime Minister of the Persian Empire is passing by, and everyone is bowing down to him – everyone but one man named Mordecai, and Haman tried to have him killed.

Some years earlier, another man named Daniel, had to disobey the king of his day, and his political enemies tried to have him killed.

And when that same king went to throw them into a fiery furnace, Daniel’s three friends replied:

“If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, Daniel 3:17-18

William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, once said:

“Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.”

And in our third chapter, we quoted from Thomas Jefferson’s 1787 Notes on the State of Virginia, where he wrote:

“Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.”

What is venality?

venality = "openness to bribery or corruption" (dictionary.com)

One thing that Mordecai, Daniel, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego definitely had in common is that they were not open to corruption. They were incorruptible, in the same way that George Washington was incorruptible. If we want to be able to stand against tyranny, and against manipulation – even when your government is telling you otherwise, we have to take responsibility for our own lives.

Second Chronicles 7:14 says:

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

God is ready to heal our land. Are we ready to do our part?

Isn’t Time for Another Miracle?

The Bible, Christianity & American Government, Chapter 8

“The Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them.”

Judges 2:16

The word translated here as “judge” should be understood in the sense of deliverer (see Judges 3:9 & 3:15)

deliverer = "a person who saves someone from a painful or bad experience" (Cambridge Dictionary)

Based on that definition, you can probably think of times when our country was in trouble, and then someone seemed to be raised up -sometimes out of nowhere – specifically to lead the country through that difficult time.

Between 1776 and 1797 – for example – George Washington led the nation through it’s War for Independence, and became the First President of the United States.

David McCullough, in his famous book – 1776 – wrote this about Washington:

“Without (his) leadership and unrelenting perseverance, the (American) revolution almost certainly would have failed.”

1776: The Illustrated Edition by David McCullough, 2007, p. 230
General George Washington at Trenton

And in our own century there have been numerous cases of this, most notably John F. Kennedy in the Cuban Missile Crisis of October, 1962, when the President of the United States single-handedly “stared down” the Soviet Union when they attempted to to place nuclear missiles in Cuba.

Another example was when, in December of 1980, President-elect Ronald Reagan advised Iran not to wait for his inauguration to release the 52 American hostages they had been holding since November 4, 1979, to the demoralization of our whole country. And that sadness was turned instantly into joy when, just moments after the former actor became the became the 40th President of the United States, Iran complied. To appreciate the magnitude of this event on the American psyche, one only needs to watch Disney’s wonderful production of the 2004 Kurt Russell movie, Miracle.

Miracle

As we, in 2021, look around us, at the trouble our nation is in, we can be tempted to feel hopeless, even desperate. But we can take a lesson from the people of ancient Israel.

“When the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer…”

Judges 3:9

“When the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for them…”

Judges 3:15

Benjamin Franklin once said:

“Have we now forgotten that powerful Friend?  Or do we image we no longer need His assistance?”

Benjamin Franklin, address to the Constitutional Convention, 1787

And the Apostle Paul told us that we have been born in America at this particular moment in time for a reason, so that we would

“Seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him…”

Acts 17:27

Yes, times are difficult, and yes, most of the institutions of our society are failing and falling down around us. It’s time to “cry out” to the Lord for a deliverer, and believe that He will provide one.

Here is the word of the Lord for today:

“God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did…” (Romans 4:17)

God governs in the Affairs of Men

History is the Life-Blood of a Free People

The Bible, Christianity & American Government, Chapter 7

The book of Exodus opens this way:

“The children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.”

Exodus 1:7

400 years earlier, Joseph had saved Egypt from destruction during the seven years of famine.

But, during those 400 years:

“There arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.”

Exodus 1:8

It is never a good idea to forget your history.

England had experienced a religious reformation and had grown to be a world power under King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I.

But everything changed in 1603, when the King of Scotland also became – for the first time – the King of Great Britain (and thus the King of England). He didn’t know much about English history (such as King John and Magna Charta). He didn’t know much about the Rights of Englishmen, nor did he care.

King James I

When people (like the group we know as the “Pilgrims”) chose to separate from the Church of England, King James had some unkind words for them.

“I shall make them conform or I will harry them out of the land or else do worse” 

King James I (1603-1625)

And that is exactly what he did.

“For some were clapped into prison, others had their houses beset and watched, night and day, and hardly escaped their hands.  And most were feign to flee and leave their houses and habitations and their means of livelihood.”

William Bradford, Of Plimouth Plantation, 1630

You see, King James believed in something called “the Divine Right of Kings,” and that his power as the King over England was absolute (meaning that it could not be questioned).

One website says:

“James’s great failure as an English king stemmed from his inability at first to perceive wherein the English assembly differed from the Scottish Parliament, and from his unwillingness to accept the differences when at last he became aware of them.”

In fact though, the problems didn’t end with James I. They went on for many years, with struggles between various kings and Parliament, until the English Bill of Rights was signed into law in 1689. But that only came after the King at that time (James II) fled the country, which became known as The Bloodless Revolution!

When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, he wasn’t writing it from within the bubble of the current events of his time. He was writing it from within the context of the hundreds of years of history since King James and the Pilgrims. And not only that, he was writing it from within the context of the ancient rights of his ancestors going all the way back through history to Magna Charta.

That is the our heritage as American citizens, and we would do well to remember it.

Christianity, Christmas & Capitalism

The Bible, Christianity & American Government, Chapter 5:

The Grain of Egypt

“Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: ‘Behold, in my dream I stood on the bank of the river. Suddenly seven cows came up out of the river, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. Then behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and gaunt, such ugliness as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt. And the gaunt and ugly cows ate up the first seven, the fat cows. When they had eaten them up, no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were just as ugly as at the beginning. So I awoke. Also I saw in my dream, and suddenly seven heads came up on one stalk, full and good. Then behold, seven heads, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them. And the thin heads devoured the seven good heads. So I told this to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.'”

Genesis 41:17-24

“Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, ‘The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do…'” (Genesis 41:25)

“The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are seven years; the dreams are one. And the seven thin and ugly cows which came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty heads blighted by the east wind are seven years of famine. This is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. Indeed seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt; but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will deplete the land. So the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe. And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.“

Genesis 41:26-32

God knew that a famine was coming upon Egypt, and God warned Pharaoh ahead of time.

Why do you think He did that?

In the New Testament–in 2 Peter 3:9–God tells us that He is “not willing that any should perish…”

In fact, in another place, it tells us:

“Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

Matthew 6:26

And the apostle Paul, quoting from a classic Greek poem, Phaenomena, by the Greek poet Aratus, alluded to the “Father-heart” of God:

“For we are also His offspring.”

Acts 17:28

The Bible characterizes the relationship between our Father in heaven and Economic Theory here on earth in this way:

“God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.”

Psalm 46:1

And as we have illustrated in previous chapters, this was the Economic worldview of William Penn, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson–in fact it was part of the Judeo-Christian tradition that our country was built on (see our book, Let’s Think Together [available on Amazon], p. 14).

Moses on the U.S. Supreme Court building

Yet, today, some people are trying to move our country away from this tradition. Today, some people want to move, instead, toward creating a Secular State. And they want to build this Secular State upon the Doctrine of Socialism, which may be considered–like the movements that led to it (Unitarianism and Transcendentalism)–to be a Christian heresy.

heresy = "belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious  doctrine (especially Christian)." (Bing)

Some people today claim that, “The ideas of early American socialism evolved out of Christian thought.” But that is very much a misunderstanding of Biblical Teaching.

There is no question that Jesus cared about the poor. He began His earthly ministry by quoting from the book of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah:

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed…”

Luke 4:18

And later, He taught:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:3

And:

‘“When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Luke 14:12-14

Jesus obviously taught that we should take care of the least among us (Matthew 25:40).

But nowhere did He indicate that we are under some kind of compulsion–religious or governmental–to give to others. In fact, He taught the opposite:

“Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?”

Matthew 20:15

And the apostle Paul confirmed this:

“So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Second Corinthians 9:7

A wonderful illustration of this is found in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Scrooge and Tiny Tim

At first, Ebenezer Scrooge is described as:

“A tight-fisted hand at the grindstone… A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!

A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, 1843, 165th Anniversary Edition, p. 3

And when two philanthropic business men stop by his office to ask for a charitable donation for the poor and destitute, Scrooge responds:

“Are there no prisons? …And the Union workhouses? …Are they still in operation?

And when they they reluctantly agree that they are, Scrooge goes on to say:

…Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course… I am very glad to hear it.”

A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, 1843, 165th Anniversary Edition, p. 3

There is no question that Scrooge started out as a hard man. Yet at the end of the story, the much-changed Scrooge is described this way:

“To Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old City knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough in the good old world… And it was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge…”

A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, 1843, 165th Anniversary Edition, p. 11

Did a government program change Scrooge? Did the Home Office or the Metropolitan Police have to force him to change his ways?

Take a look at another, similar example from the Bible:

“Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.”

Luke 19:1-2

And when he met Jesus, he changed–very much like Ebenezer Scrooge.

The Bible says:

“Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.'”

Luke 19:8

No one had to coerce Zacchaeus. An experience with Jesus changed his heart. And he didn’t need a government to “redistribute” his wealth. He did it himself, and he did it willingly.

About three hundred years ago, a minister named Jonathan Edwards, commonly referred to as “America’s greatest theologian,” preached his way through the “Great Awakening” in colonial America. His preaching is known to have resulted in “faintings, uncontrollable weeping, and screaming,” and a number of people reacted against it by separating themselves from what they called “revivalist emotionalism.” Alternatively, they established what became “the liberal wing of Christianity,” which morphed, first, into Unitarianism, and then, Transcendentalism. This is where the modern understanding of “Political Liberalism” (in the sense of social reform) began.

Early socialist experiments were Brook Farm (1841), New Harmony (1825), The Rappite Community (1815), and the Oneida Community (1841). All failed. But the Utopian Socialist dream is still alive, and Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are representatives of it.

American citizens are free to support their ideas if they so choose. But, let us not try to justify it with any half-baked nonsense about attributing such notions to the Bible or to Christ Himself. That they are not free to do.

Also available as a podcast at Apple Podcasts or Podbean.

Also available on YouTube.

See our book on Worldviews.

While the ark was being prepared

Noah’s Ark

The earth was filled with violence in Noah’s day, but the Bible tells us that “God’s patience waited” (1 Peter 3:20).

Why did God wait? What was He waiting for?

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

2 Peter 3:9

Why was the ark being prepared?

Noah’s Ark

God, contrary to what you might have heard, is kind.

It has always been God’s desire to give people a means of escape, if they would simply take advantage of it.

“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man (like all that we have been horrified to see played out in the news in 2020) was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart (like tyranny, resistance to civil and public health authorities, selfishness, disobedience, lying, deceiving, conspiring, greed, racism, murder, scheming, rioting, looting, and anarchy) was only evil continually.  And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”

Genesis 6:5-6

One site, called The Hope Project, says: “The phrase, ‘And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth,’ could be understood in a number of ways…So what is this verse saying to us? …To say that God was sorry and that He grieved in His heart shows us that God has emotions… In the original text the phrase, ‘He was grieved in His heart,’ literally reads, ‘He was grieved to His heart.’  In other words, God looked on the evil in the world and was grieved ‘all the way to His heart.’  One version of the Bible (the NIV) translates this verse, ‘His heart was filled with pain.’ …If God is infinite, then how far is it to the depth of His heart? How big is His heart? How much grief would it take to fill God’s heart? …God knew He was going to hurt this deeply as a result of creating man, and He did it anyway. And not only that, He did it exactly the way He intended to do it. But why would God do such a thing?”

The Bible tells us that:

“God is love…”

1 John 4:8

A.W. Tozer writes:

“The love of God is one of the great realities of the universe, a pillar upon which the hope of the world rests. But it is a personal, intimate thing, too. God does not love populations, He loves people. He loves not masses, but men. He loves us all with a mighty love that has no beginning and can have no end.”

A.W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy

The Bible tells us the following:

  • Noah was told to build the ark three hundred cubits (450 feet) long, fifty cubits (75 feet) wide, and thirty cubits (45 feet) high.
cubit = "about 18 inches" (Bing)

In his book, God’s Plan: What Every Christian Should Know, Dan Malczewski writes:

“This is a gigantic boat! Only some of the modern luxury liners have dimensions greater than this.”

Dan Malczewski, God’s Plan: What Every Christian Should Know

The Bible also refers to Noah as a:

“preacher of righteousness…”

2 Peter 2:5

To whom did he preach? His friends, his neighbors, the families of his daughters-in-law. How did it go? Did many people listen to Noah?

The Bible doesn’t say.

However, we have an account of a similar event, when Lot warned his in-laws to leave the city of Sodom with him:

“So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, ‘Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city!’ But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.”

Genesis 19:14

And we know that only Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives were saved.

“A few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.”

1 Peter 3:20

One website, “Answers in Genesis,” says:

“When the door to the Ark was shut, there was room for many more people.”

Paul F. Taylor, “Noah the Evangelist,” March 29, 2007

So why didn’t more people get on the ark?

I recently saw an interesting movie version of the story of Noah’s ark that was made in 2014. What I found unique in this film was that Noah’s own sons originally thought Noah was being foolish by building the ark..

The Bible says:

“God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.”

1 Corinthians 1:27-28

Today people are claiming that Jesus may be coming back soon, to “Rapture” the church.

The Rapture

What does the Bible say?

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

“Let no one deceive you by any means; for (the Day of the Lord) will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.”

2 Thessalonians 2:3-7

What do you think about these things? Do you think of it all as just foolishness?

What if you’re wrong?

What if you’re wrong?

I believe in Christ, but why should I believe the Bible?

The Greatest “Story” Ever Told?

“I knew that the cross was simultaneously, the point of greatest suffering, the point of death and transformation, and the symbolic centre of the world”

Jordan Peterson, 12 Rules for Life

“Who is Jordan Peterson?” you may ask.

The New Yorker magazine calls him, “one of the most influential—and polarizing—public intellectuals in the English-speaking world” (as a matter of fact, he’s actually a Canadian professor).

I, myself, am only just learning about Peterson, but so far I find him to be one of the most interesting, engaging, and provocative speakers of our generation

He clearly points out the overall positive effect that Christianity has had on the world, writing: “Christianity elevated the individual soul, placing slave and master, commoner and nobleman alike on the same metaphysical footing, rendering them equal before God and the law. It’s nothing short of a miracle.” Yet, he does not claim to be a Christian, nor to believe that the Bible is true.

The obvious question, then, seems like it should be, Is it?

I think it is. Why?

  1. I have chosen to believe that Jesus is who He said He was.
    • Remember that C.S. Lewis wrote: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell.”
    • Matthew 26:63-68, where the high priest accuses Jesus of blasphemy for saying He was the Messiah
  2. Jesus considered the Bible to be the “Word of God.”
    • John 10:35, where Jesus said that the Hebrew “Scriptures”could not be “broken”(the Greek word translated here as “broken” is lyō , which Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines as “to annul, subvert; to do away with; to deprive of authority.”
  3. The New Testament was written by Jesus’ friends and relatives and people who knew them personally.
    • What I find very compelling about these writings is that they often include many instances of Jesus “apostles” doing many uncomplimentary things.

Accepting Jesus as the long-awaited Jewish Messiah (and therefore, the Christ) allows one to find the epistemology, ontology, and even the cosmology of the Bible to be clearly stated, understandable, and comprehensive.

The Bible as “True truth” should be able to stand up against all scrutiny, historically, prophetically, doctrinally, ethically, and morally.

‘I began with a mind unfavorable to it [Acts], …but more recently I found myself often brought into contact with the Book of Acts as an authority for the topography, antiquities, and society of Asia Minor. It was gradually borne in upon me that in various details the narrative showed marvelous truth.’

St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, By Sir William Mitchell Ramsay, 1896

Simon Peter, a man who knew Jesus well, often considered the leader of the early church, once wrote:

“For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

2 Peter 1:20

This is actually from a very interesting portion of the New Testament:

“For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,’ we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:16-21

So what problem are you having with the Bible? If you believe in Christ, but not the Bible, then why?