Category: Apologetics

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Becoming a Radical

An esteemed friend I have loved for many years recently stated that he was radicalized during COVID. His antennas became more attuned to the shenanigans of the state. Similarly, I think it is safe to say I have been radicalized in the academy of no-non-sense against leftist ideology. There were simply too many issues to test our theories. And every time I did the scientific experiment it ended with the same results.

But, of course, I was already a radical by the very nature of my affiliations and theological affinities. But practically, my expectations will be much of the same and more of the same and the same of more when it comes to specific institutions. I have no doubt many of these folks, especially those who cherish the Nicene Creed, are of good nature and take their trash out to the curb on Thursday nights, and I am also sure they have a sweet disposition towards their children, but I will no longer assume as I did once that they want biblical authority to permeate everything.

I believe that places like Christianity Today are not institutions of theological integrity. I firmly believe they wish to lead the Church in a direction that does not lead back to Machen and Van Til and Sproul but to Schleiermacher and mainline-ism.

Mark Galli’s recent statements that CT writers are more interested in the approval of the New York Times and other “respectable” magazines is an indication that the Billy Graham era is over and CT has become just another tool to propagate whatever is most classically unconservative. This has been true for some time, but sometimes institutions make themselves abundantly clear. Suffice to say, CT is headed towards oblivion, and the respect they think they will earn from MSNBC as whistleblowers for true orthodoxy will quickly evaporate.

I am desensitized to these cowardly attempts at respectability. I am no longer shocked or dismayed. I will join critiques of Mark Driscoll on a host of issues, but I will not accept that the best critics of Driscoll are leftist mainline female priests or ambulance chasing feminists or CT’s book awards. What these folks are looking for are examples of abuse anywhere to destroy conservative causes everywhere. While they may have good intentions, their telos is absolutely malicious. They do not lead to a “Jesus-loves-me-this-I-know-for-the-Bible-tells-me-so hermeneutic. Instead, they eagerly embrace critical hermeneutics to matters regarding race like classic liberalism welcomed higher criticism to the issues regarding inerrancy. They are seeking to domesticate Jesus, and in doing so, they domesticate his word.

Jesus has no patience for expertise religiosity and scribal law-making; he eagerly takes them apart for their cunning ways and fashionable statements. Our Lord eagerly overthrows their tradition-painted tables and mocks them in derision. The way to avoid this blabbering of foolishness is to stay close to those who share the sentiments of the healthy iconoclasts like Luther and Machen. Eat together. Laugh together. Eat at the table of our Lord together. Sing Psalms together, and on this latter point, I am not aware of any institution that sings imprecatory psalms that fall for this 1st grade understanding of ethics and politics. If we keep cultivating biblical authority in the little acts, we too will be radicalized towards more biblical fidelity.

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Three Ways to Frustrate Pagans

Since I am in a terrific mood, I want to give you some strategies to frustrate pagans, but the kind of strategies that require only basic faithfulness, not the varieties that demand you going out of your way to do something considered an irritant. Faithfulness is the most infuriating Christian virtue for Screwtape and his tribe. So, let’s begin with basic elements of this angelic enterprise:

First, go to church this Sunday like every other Sunday, but go especially prone to a happy disposition. Smile more and saturate yourself more in the life of the Church. Your presence on Sunday is an immediate affirmation that you prefer the culture of heaven above other competing cultures and that frustrates pagans because paganism by definition desires the world, the flesh and the devil.

Second, keep your kids close, but their imaginations closer. There will always be those who would love to conquer the worldview of your children, but I encourage you to fill the imagination of your child as an intentional strategy. Direct them to the words in the liturgy though they may not understand it, direct them to obedience though may still debate it, direct them to good music though they may not be able to sing it, and direct them to the kingdom for unto such belong the kingdom of heaven. The goal is to irritate pagans and nothing is more compelling as a strategy than planting seeds for a richer imagination in our little ones.

Finally, we ought to incorporate a desire to frustrate pagan thought by choosing to be discipled by the Scriptures. Keep the Bible first as the Word of God, as an interpreter of reality, as the tree of life, as the inerrant truth from heaven, as the light in the midst of darkness. Read it, but more than that, seek it after its words, language and grammar. Let it shape your greetings and console your fears. When you embrace the worship of the church, shape your child’s imagination, and put your trust in the written revelation of God, you irritate the pagans in our culture, but more importantly, you please your Lord.

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The Art of Engaging Others with Questions

If a young man or woman wishes to be engaging, friendly, and edifying, then let him ask questions. If there is one trait that enrages me in our present generation is their ability to talk about themselves as the source of all knowledge and wisdom and their inability to be curious, uninterested in anyone’s life but their own. Jesus asks 307 questions in the Gospels. Some of them were meant to trap false leaders in their deceit, but many of them were meant to engage others, to reveal compassion for others, to enter into the story of others.

The culprit for much of this is the segregation of ages in a worship service. If the expectation is that our children can only commune or converse with those who share the identical life interests of their age-group, then, what is there to ask of an older saint or even someone younger? The habits of conversational exclusion happen early on, and our goal as parents and parishioners is to engage them often and keep them as much as it is possible at our table–metaphorically and literally. In our home, we have three separate tables to accommodate our guests. The adults sit at the larger table and the children are spread between the other two. But at times, we try to incorporate our oldest children (10 & 12) into the adult table so they can hear and engage and grasp that what they have to say ought never to be the controlling factor in any gathering among friends.

Additionally, we can begin by teaching children to learn and show curiosity for the stories of others by asking for their stories, which most are more than eager to share. This habit teaches them that there is no unknown guest in the home and that everyone is worth engaging at some level. As a test, you can train your children to ask one question about their guest or host. Write it down and be ready to ask them about where they were raised, what they enjoy reading, and other questions fitting their age and capacity. Humans learn by asking first, so that they may teach later. Develop the skills of good questions and you will be engaged for life. Those who don’t ask doth think too highly of themselves or lack the capacity to be good observers and prophets in society. Ask and you shall receive. As one novelist observed: “The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.” What do you think?

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The “Horses and Chariots” Principle

One of the critical concerns and critiques about a church people that is/are too political is that we would violate the “horses and chariots” (Psalm 20:7) principle. The principle means that we move too quickly to trust in messianic suits. There is validity to this concern. I want to first express my desire to preserve the biblical principle, and then I want to add a few caveats.

Living in a patriotic environment like the south can be beneficial in many ways. There are, however, factors which make the patriotic ethos harmful to the church. Among them is the exaltation of national causes over kingdom ones. There are times in church history where the two overlap quite nicely like a colorful mosaic in a Constantinian palace, but then there are those times in which the two need to be far apart: as distant as Simon from Garfunkel. Those bridges over troubled waters are not meant to be crossed lest confusion arise.

I have argued over the years that the christianization of the American civic calendar is too close to the abyss and can endanger the health of the church. I have also argued that 4th of July parties, Memorial Day gatherings and even that notorious purveyor of evil, Columbus, should be celebrated as wildly as one wishes. I am not against hotdogs in the backyard or in the park, but I am Bucerian when it comes to my sacraments. I take my loaf fat and puffy and my wine red like crimson. In short, I don’t want my earthly politics mixing with my heavenly liturgy. When that happens, flags sneak into the holy places and Tim Tebow ends up pronouncing the benediction. No, thank you.

Perhaps the central way to avoid the primacy of the civic calendar is to allow an alternative calendar to take its place in the church. For the Christian, the church calendar is that alternative calendar. I grant that it is a monumental battle uphill, but overall, we are making some good progress and lest I forget, “And also with you.”

We should be really careful to distinguish Zion from Central Park in how we do our exegesis. Our interpretation does not serve the cause of country, but country submits to interpretation and dogma. And our dogma is all pronounced on Sunday morning for everyone to see. As Nancy Pelosi once gloriously said, “Good morning. Sunday morning!”

And if one wants to preserve that heavenly trip on the Lord’s Day, he would do well to keep it the LORD’s DAY and not an extension of our favorite cable news. This leads me to observe that when people demur the liturgical year calling it “yuck” or some other philosophical variation, but declare how tasteful it is that sister Diane sang “God bless America” on the most holy week of July the 4th, that, ladies and gentlemen, is when you know they have violated the “horses and chariots” principle. They have galloped their way into it faster than sweet tea into a 7-11 Big Gulp.

If we do, however, keep the work of the church first, then we are free to deliberate about politics all the way to thy kingdom come, which incidentally is where all politics should start: in the context of the kingdom. The fact that I may find Bosolnaro charming and Trump’s antics really effective at times does not mean I put too much effort into politics; it simply means that I have done my duty on the Lord’s Day and cannot help myself from opining about the orange man in the White House. The “horses and chariots” principle only applies when you take the glory of the Lord away from the church and confuse it with whatever happens in D.C.

Further, my care for political implications stems precisely because there is a certain order to things on earth, and even though I may make a few wrong chess moves on the way, it doesn’t mean I don’t checkmate my opponent in the end, especially if we commit together to trusting in the name of the LORD our God first. So, no, don’t confuse my political interests with belittling the role of the church or the salvation of Jesus. In fact, I don’t think I am trusting in sturdy animals to guide me into victory, I think I am distrusting them the right way and using them just right; thanks for asking.

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True Truth

Francis Schaeffer’s line “true truth” was coined as a result of the pluralistic culture of his day which has in many ways engulfed our present society. Schaeffer was referring to a truth that is objective and not relativized by one’s preferences. The Gospel is true truth. The Church’s peculiarity stems from her unique perspective on objective claims.

There are times when a church can speak a truth, but speak it so subtly and unwillingly that the congregation embraces a certain level of skepticism. As Leslie Newbigin observed,

“As long as the church is content to offer its beliefs modestly as simply one of the many brands available in the ideological supermarket, no offense is taken. But the affirmation that the truth revealed in the gospel ought to govern public life is offensive.”

There is a kind of preaching that is so subtle, that rumor has it, a camel accidentally found its way through the eye of a needle right before the pastor concluded his point. Parishioners said it was a sight to behold. Another rumor was that the arguments were filled with so many nuances that they died on the way home.

In our day, debating the truth claims of Scriptures is paved with great intentions. But the end result is a Gospel that ceases to offer that potent claim, but is now a powerless declaration that Jesus can be Lord, but He may not be necessarily interested in the job description.

Schaeffer was right. Simple truth has its genesis in the One who claims to be the way, truth, and life. This three-fold declaration is not up for debate. Pluralism, religious pluralism, is an impossibility for you can only serve one master.

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What does it mean to fear God?

I receive at least a few questions daily from readers of my blog and my Facebook posts. The latest one I received came from an atheist who could not understand why Christians talk about fearing God. After all, the concept of fearing God seems dreadful. I took the time to reply with an important distinction:

I will try to give a brief reply, and then as time allows can follow-up in the future.

The Bible talks about this concept of fear over 350 times, which means it is a really crucial part of God’s revelation. Often in the English language, when the word fear is used, it speaks of fright or danger. If I fear something, I am undoubtedly afraid of that thing or that person. But the Bible is a lot more complex than that.

The best direction to make this explanation clear is to think of it in two ways:

The first is servile fear. Imagine being enslaved in a torture chamber, and you are continually living as if your tormentor is coming back to torture you; you are living in daily anxiety for what is going to happen to you next. This is not the fear the Bible speaks of when it says that we are to fear God and keep his commandments.

The second is filial fear. The word fear has to do with reverence or showing respect. The word filial has to do with sonship. It’s where we get the concept of family. Imagine you live in a home with a very loving set of parents. When you know you are loved, your deepest desire is to please those who love you so dearly; your actions will always weigh towards honoring them with all your heart, soul, and strength. The fear of a child towards a loving parent is not the fear of someone living in prison, but the fear of someone who would hate to disappoint those who love them. In short, to fear is to revere and show great respect.

So, for a Christian to fear God is to know you are loved beyond anything you could ever imagine; that you are more worthy than any precious jewel and that no matter what others may think of you, God loves you infinitely more than you could ask or think. We fear God because we would hate to disappoint a God who gave his only Son to save us. We only truly fear

I trust this is helpful.

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Back to Basics: Community

Times like these when the Christian faith is being attacked means that our pursuit of community will need to intensify. We will need to form closer bonds and deeper relationships with one another. Those who are often content being alone will discover very soon that the only voices who tolerate your basic dogmas are those who share the values and virtues of the faith. Choose ye this day!

In a time not too far from now (unless God changes the cultural forms and fixtures of the day), Christians will be compelled to either lose friendships or keep their opinion to private conversations. Some Christians will quietly give up their convictions in order to fit in and avoid conflict. But those who are faithful will seek communities with a shared mission who does not take Christ lightly nor his calling flippantly.

Christians will be called back to their first love in a more intense and genuine way and seek the old rituals that made Christendom what it is: hospitality, friendship and the Eucharistic life. These things which have lost its vigor and practice in the Church will become once more the things that identify her and allows her to sustain an authentic Christian witness.

If the cultural forces continue to move away from the authentic values of the Church, members will have to see the community as an alternative city fully ready to provide counter-cultural measures that build the Church once again. We will have to restore our sense of the good by loving one another and surrounding ourselves with a Creed that cannot be torn by the mobs but that is embraced by a genuine community of believers.

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Interview with Gary Demar on Apologetics

On this interview at Kuyperian Commentary, we discuss the latest work from American Vision: Against All Opposition: Defending the Christian World View by the late Greg Bahnsen. We talk a bit about the labor of presuppositional apologetics and the renewed interest in defending the faith. Gary was a close friend of Greg’s which makes the discussion more intimate and interesting.

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In Honor of Ravi Zacharias

I grew up in an evangelical environment prone to altar calls and conversionism. The Church’s primary function was evangelization which meant I was not steeped in theological discourse/dialogues in my early years. It was, however, sometime in my late teens that I began to think deeply about the faith. By that time, my father had died, and I was in a foreign country. In the evenings, I retreated to a room in a Pennsylvania home built in the 1920s.

The owner of the house was a delightful older woman who often went to bed around 8 pm, leaving my curious mind to pursue the only form of technology available to me, an old radio. I looked forward to those evenings because of two constant voices. The first was from a native of the same state by the name of Robert Charles Sproul, and the other was the inimitable voice of a man born in the southern city of Chennai and raised in the northern city of Delhi by the name of Ravi Zacharias.

I loved R.C. and had the pleasure of meeting him on several occasions and sharing with him how beneficial those evening lectures were to me as a young thinker. On the other hand, I never had the joy of meeting Ravi to tell him just how beautiful his words were to me, how salient his exhortations were, and how his stories affected me at a personal level.

As the years went by, I lost touch with his ministry, but any moment his name popped on some headline, I was quick to peruse. When Ben Shapiro interviewed him, I couldn’t wait to hear his prose and eloquent patterned speech. He was a powerful force in the kingdom of Jesus.

In some ways, he was the more eloquent continuation of Walter Martin’s legacy going to Mormon tabernacles and hostile university settings to proclaim Jesus. Ravi was charming in his delivery but dogmatic in his proclamation of Jesus. I recall watching a video where an obtuse young man stepped up to the microphone. He belabored the point and couldn’t conceive why Christians like Ravi were so concerned about objective truth. “What are you afraid of subjective moral reasoning?” he asked pompously. Ravi got up from his chair and simply asked, “Do you lock your doors at night?” The audience immediately grasped the power of that question. We take action because it has objective consequences. And Ravi was a master of making the objective clear.

“The gospel is a story. It is a true story. It is for the world…It celebrates my origin and points me to my destiny,” he once wrote. Now, Ravi has reached his destination. He now sees face to face the One to whom the story pointed. Well done, Ravi! Rest in peace.

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Jesus is the Resolution to our Paradoxes

In his book “All things Considered”, G.K. Chesterton writes that “some people laugh through their tears while others boast that they only weep through their laughter.” There are moments in life when laughter and tear flow paradoxically side by side. And I think this is a metaphor for life. Life is not divided easily into moments of laughter and moments of tears.

And without Someone who puts those tears and laughter into perspective, we are of all people most to be pitied. Life is incomprehensible without the Person of Jesus Christ. A world apart from Jesus, the Messiah, is a world where paradox reigns; but in a cross-shaped world, our dilemmas and enigmas find resolution in Jesus. We may not know why things happen the way they do, but Jesus invites us to taste the answer with one another in worship and life together.