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After some time of preparation this week I was able to deliver my sermon today in Communication Lab. My text was Deuteronomy 30:11-20. I received some positive feedback and some helpful comments. There is still much work to be done.

In Deuteronomy 30:19 God makes a sovereign promise. He calls heaven and earth as His witnesses. In the words of Gary North:

In this covenant lawsuit, God’s witnesses for either the prosecution or the defense were heaven and earth: the creation. He is the creator of heaven and earth. God is sovereign in His court. ^a

The covenantal promises or curses were not to be revoked because God’s witnesses could not lie, since they reveal what the Creator desires. The promises were real and concrete. God leaves no room for a supposed neutrality; only life or death.

1. North, Gary. Inheritance or Dominion: An Economic Commentary on Deuteronomy, Chapter 70 on Life and Dominion  (back)

The text of Moses under the inspiration of God the Spirit presents a message often forgotten in our society. It presents to us the ultimate claims of God. The message as the Reformers claimed is perspicuous. Life or death? What will it be? The author of Deuteronomy summarizes all of life under two categories. Covenantal obedience to the God of Israel brings life and covenantal disobedience brings death. But where then do we search to find the ways of obedience? Is it under the earth or above the skies? The text tells us it is near. Much nearer than the atheist would ever expect, in fact so near that they are without excuse. Therefore, choose life. ^a

1. Deuteronomy 30:19  (back)

The Sabbath is a day of great joy to me. It was not always so! In the past it served as a day to glorify my own desires.  ^a Over the years God has given me a new vision of the Sabbath, not as a day of drudgery, but of pure rest.

This day we heard the people of God sing with great joy. Our confession was simple but yet profound:

O Divine Lawgiver, I take shame to myself for open violations of Your law, for my secret faults, my omissions of duty, my unprofitable attendance upon means of grace, my carnality in worshiping You. I confess and bewail my deficiencies and backslidings: I mourn my numberless failures. I have light enough to see my darkness, sensibility enough to feel the hardness of my heart, spirituality enough to mourn my want of a heavenly mind; but I might have had more, I ought to have had more. You have always placed before me an infinite fullness, and I have not taken it.

I was reminded that God has placed all His riches for us to enjoy and to grow in our walk, and yet, we spit on His promises and despise His Holiness. May God grant me eyes to experience His infinite fullness in Christ Jesus.

1. Isaiah 58:13-14  (back)

My neighbor, Maria McBride, 77, died on Thursday afternoon at the hospital. She and her husband have been lovely neighbors since our arrival here in Orlando. We have had many meals together, and have shared many long conversations. Both Marie and her husband have been a source of great joy. Marie was always deeply concerned about our well-being and was always making sure I picked up the trash can and bring it back into the garage after the trash was taken. Every time I pick up the trash can I will remember her smile.

Maria was a deeply catholic woman. I remember several times conversing with her about her faith. One time I took the advantage to question Maria and her husband about what role works play in their salvation. Both seemed confused and were unsure how to respond. At that time, I quickly pointed them to Ephesians 2:8-9 and told them that though works were necessary, only grace can save. I pray Marie truly trusted Christ.

Marie was a charming lady. She enjoyed a Scotch every afternoon and was a fanatic Braves fan. She loved life even amidst so many health problems. I will truly miss her.

Yesterday, I spent some time with her husband, who is deeply grieving. Please pray that I would minister to him during these difficult times.

In Arthur Holmes’ Ethics: Approaching Moral Decisions, he summarizes three bases of obligation. These three are a) Obligation as self-imposed, b) Obligation as imposed by people, or c) Obligation imposed by God. Let me summarize these three positions.

Obligation Is Self-Imposed

The greatest advocate of this position was the existentialist philosopher Jean Paul Sartre. Since Sartre denied the existence of God, this idea of self-imposed obligation was a natural consequence. ^a Since man is not created in the image of God, then he is under the responsibility to create his own image. Hence, any idea of obligation or ethical demand, is entirely self-imposed.

Obligation Is Imposed by People

This is the more tenable position in modern society. The society is the one who determines obligation. Some have called this the “Social Contract Theory”. In other words, these obligations stem from society at large; they are outside ourselves. This position is usually framed this way: “We are part of a society, individuals cannot be a law unto themselves, otherwise we would have anarchy. Therefore, society is to establish laws.” In our modern political language, this would be equivalent to the concept of democracy. That is, the majority rules or the voice of the people is the voice of God. In this position, though somewhat more acceptable than the first, morality or obligation may change within societies after a certain time. What is unreasonable today, may be reasonable tomorrow in accordance with society’s dictates. ^b

Obligation is Divinely Imposed

Holmes summarizes this simply when he writes, “We ought to do what God wills.” ^c This position assums that there is an absolute God who created heaven and earth and all that is within them, and that human beings are reflective of this God in what is called the Imago Dei. This presupposition asserts that obligation is settled and does not change. Though this position may be held by different religions, since all religions claim to serve a deity of some sort, only the Trinitarian Christian position speaks of humanity as Imago Dei. That is, only Christianity teaches that we are made to reflect God’s image. We are in other words, image-bearers, imitators of God’s purity. We are to reflect this God, and consequently to obey Him.

Critiques

Since this is a simple introduction to theories of obligation, allow me to make a few observations. The first theory teaches that the “ought” is self-imposed. The supposed strength of this position is that each of us live in different islands. We are captains of our faith and determiners of our fate. In our own island, we decide what is right and wrong. We are autonomous creatures derived from some evolutionary process. No one can make claims of authority over another, because each person is an authority in and of himself.

This position is pervasive in our society and it dies everyday. It dies because, at every instance, someone is making some imposition upon you. Whether it be at work, school, or at home, no human being, no matter how individualistic he feels today, can escape the obligation of another upon you. In order to be consistent with this position it would require total rebellion from all sources of authority. Certainly, this would lead to punishment from society at large, and it is likely you will spend your days as you intended, not in an island, but in a prison cell.

The second position teaches that the “ought” is socially imposed. This is much more reasonable than the first one. Its greatest strength is that we are not individuals, but part of a particular society. The society, made up of individuals make up the obligations.

The serious deficiency of this position is that it too denies God. Even though some Christians claim to hold to some modified version of this, ultimately this position does not rest on the absolute authority of God, but on the absolute authority of society. In this sense, society itself becomes god. But how are we as people to deal with the ever-changing philosophies of society? How are we to deal with the changing worldviews that occur when large masses from other societies come to this country? There really is no answer. Though today we may reject Militant Islam, ^d what is to say that the majority some years from now will make Islam the religion of the land? This position is open to many unexpected situations.

The third position, is of course the Biblical one. Obligation must by definition be divinely imposed. If it is not imposed, it suffers the consequences of the previous two. However, this does not answer all questions pertaining to technological advances, the threat of nuclear weapons and so on. Because the question then is, By what standard? What is the standard that all people must follow? Is it some ethereal version of natural law, which has been so pervasive during the Scholastic period? Or is there something more concrete. The answer is, there is something more concrete and that is God’s special revelation. ^e Today, the idea that we are to follow a definite source of authority is absurd. When our society treasures tolerance, except toleration for Christian morals, it is hard indeed to believe that this position can ever have any hold in our society. But yet, this is our goal and our message. This is what Arthur Holmes calls, “a theonomous ethic.” ^f All ethics and grounding for obligation comes from God, who is the Sovereign imposer.

1. In the last 30 years, atheists have attempted to find some sort of universal obligation in order to deal with the inescapable consequences of this position  (back)
2. One needs only consider the issue of homosexuality. This practice was considered a capital crime only 100 years ago, but now it is considered acceptable and intolerance towards it, may lead to jail time  (back)
3. Holmes, Arthur. Ethics: Approaching Moral Decisions, pg. 74  (back)
4. Though in my opinion all Islam is militant  (back)
5. Deuteronomy 4:4  (back)
6. In Holmes’ case, he is not referring to theonomy per se, though I strongly believe it is the only consistent position within a divinely imposed ethic  (back)

C.S. Lewis would have been appalled by modern contemplations of heaven found in Christian bookstores. Some see John’s measure in the end of Revelation[1], and assume that the author is interested in conveying an exact dimension. Liberals on the other hand despise and mock any version of heaven since the literal descriptions thereof have more in common with fairy tales than an actual place. Though these perspectives may be slightly different, they all suffer from one similar problem–literalism.

No Biblical thinker will deny the legitimacy of a real heaven, where real people will walk in real places. However, the danger in interpretation is that genres are often overlooked. Take for example, the apocalyptic dimensions of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Anyone familiar with such language will immediately assume that it is rarely if ever used literally.[2]

According to Lewis, we cannot understand these to be literal but symbolic. To assume that these descriptions were literal betrays a fundamental principle of Hermeneutic. The early fathers understood such and so did the Reformers. Lewis has a few words for those who attempt to make the text the unthinkable:

People who take these symbols literally might as well think that when Christ told us to be like doves, He meant that we were to lay eggs.[3]

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[1] Revelation 21:15-21

[2] Consider the usage of numbers such as 144,000 in Revelation 7.

[3] Mere Christianity, pg. 123.

New challenges are ahead of me and by God’s grace He will sustain me through these difficult months ahead.

This category will provide links of the most recent events in America and the world. It will focus on issues concerning politics, religion, World events, and others. It will be updated when possible. Blog links will also be added.

February 2nd, 11:53AM – 14 killed in tornadoes in Central Florida.

January 31st, 9:43AM – Which translation has sold the most? Check it out!

January 30th 10:46AM – Two new books proving Global Warming is Natural, not caused by humans. Is this just too obvious for two books? Continue reading “News Links in the month of January”

I am now taking a short break from my reading of J. Douma’s excellent work on the Ten Commandments. All of this is to prepare myself for the Ethics exam in a 8 days. I have much more reading to do.

The Lord granted a marvelous day of worship yesterday. The singing was beautiful, the preaching was Biblical and challenging and the Lord’s Supper was administered. In the afternoon, we joined a group of other believers. We ate together and spoke on the topic of Christian fellowship using Maurice Robert’s essays on Christianity published by Banner of Truth.