Love, Wrath, Love, Wrath - Which one is it God?

NEWS FLASH !!!!!!!

July 24, 2009 7am est.

The A.P. confirmed today that recent reports claiming that the God of the universe had "undergone a radical change" have been proven false! There had been a recent, growing number of religious leaders who had been reporting that the God of the Old Testament (The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) was a God of wrath and judgment but had somehow mysteriously changed when he entered the time frame of the New Testament; that he no longer was engaged in wrath and judgment but had since decided to forgo the wrath/judgment thing, turning instead to a policy of love and mercy only. Upon intense investigation, however, it seems that God's nature is unchangeable and he appears to have displayed all four of the above characteristics from the beginning of time, continuing to the present day. There are also reports that God has set a day in the future when he will judge the whole human race but will, from then on, have no further need for judgement because the object of his wrath will no longer be present. It seems that his anger had been directed against a little talked about characteristic of man . . . sin. Stay tuned for more news as it comes in to our station.

Immutability: The doctrine of classical Christian theism that God can not change

This does not mean that he doesn't do different things or alter his actions but that his NATURE does not and can not change. The Bible says in Malachi 3:6 (Old Testament): "I the Lord do not change." and in Hebrews 3:8 (New Testament) "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

My purpose today is to tell you the whole story (at least a blog sized version). As I said in a previous post, there are mega-churches and many other churches as well that are preaching a God who loves ONLY and doesn't punish sin, a God who is interested more in our happiness than our salvation, a God who is interested in our self-esteem, a God who created heaven but not hell, in short, a God of their own liking, but not the God of the Bible. My goal is to not pick and choose the parts I like and dismiss or discard the parts that are offensive or scary to me. God is who he is!

Those who preach ONLY a God of the Law, one of judgment and wrath, a God of fire and brimstone do so usually in self-righteousness and have become modern day Pharisees. They forget that Jesus came not to save the righteous but sinners. God has shown us grace through his Son. We, in Christ, aren't "appointed unto wrath"

However, those who preach ONLY God's love, failing to share God's intense distain for sin or those who preach a gospel of universalism (ie. Everyone will go to heaven) are doing so against the clear teaching of scripture and are leading many to an eternity without God. Paul said, "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!" Bummer, huh!

So to prevent my own eternal condemnation, here is the whole story (condensed for your reading pleasure):

God's nature is revealed to us in the truth of his Word (The Bible) and it tells us that God is a God of love. He loved us enough to create us and prepare a place of perfection for us (Eden) but we (Adam and Eve initially but all of us in our actions and hearts) rebelled against God and have sinned. God is perfectly holy and can not tolerate sin. In fact the Old Testament reveals to us very vividly how serious God is about sin. You may recall that God wiped out the whole world (except Noah and his family) with a 150 day, world-wide flood and he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from heaven. Romans 6:23 tells us that "The wages of sin is death" and that, the often abrupt action of God against sin, is what the Bible labels "wrath". But, is God any less serious about sin in the New Testament? I think not! I would recommend that when you finish reading this post you watch the "The Passion of the Christ" then read the Book of Revelation.

The Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy describes God as a "Consuming fire" but the writer of Hebrews (in the New Testament) also says, " Our God is a consuming fire." God IS as serious about sin now as he was in the Old Testament. Paul wrote in Romans, "But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed."

But here is the GOOD NEWS, God sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for our sin. The Bible says that God's wrath was poured out on him. How crazy! How hard to imagine! Jesus, the one without sin, becoming sin for us. God himself being both the judge and the judged! "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." But look closely because it says, " . . . for those who are in Christ Jesus". That is where many churches fall dangerously short. If you are not in Christ Jesus, God is calling you home. You wouldn't be reading this if it weren't true!

You and I will never be good enough but Christ was. What God asks of us is that we turn from our sins (not that we become sinless, because we can't) and trust that what Jesus did on the cross was payment in full. The wrath goes away and grace comes in. Grace isn't deserved. It is a gift! This isn't written to scare people into the kingdom of God but to tell you how serious God is about sin but also how serious he is about his love for you and me. You've probably read or heard John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." That's where many pastors would stop. But, Jesus didn't! John 3:18 says, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." Jesus would never condemn anyone! "That is judgmental", we shout in protest!! But Jesus goes on in John 3:35-36, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." There is that nasty old word again, "wrath". Love, wrath, love, wrath, love, wrath . . .

So, which is it? The answer is BOTH. That is why the cross was the cross and not a spa. It was a place where justice was served, where penalties were paid. It was the electric chair or the gas chamber. It was a place of pain and of death. Don't let the fact that we wear it as jewelry rob it of its meaning. Both God's LOVE and his WRATH were revealed on that dark Friday on Calvary! In Christ you can have the former and be free of the later!

A wise old preacher and good friend of mine once said, "I'm only delivering the mail.". I pray that I delivered it faithfully and that God continues to work in your heart and in mine. Don't forget that God's nature doesn't change. The God of ancient Israel is the same as the God of Livingston, Montana and your home town today.

Peace,

David

Did Science Kill God?

"In the beginning God Created . . . "

Then came Charles Darwin who, in 1859, published his book "On the Origin of Species". In it he proposed his theory of evolution based on survival of the fittest and natural selection. Organisms evolve by undergoing spontaneous mutations, a very small number of which may be beneficial to their survival. Because those lucky few organisms now have a selective advantage, they pass on their genes while the others die off and the species then "evolves". Cool! Woolly mammoths become less woolly as "global warming" causes the ice age to end and wallah, we have the circus elephant. Animals can adapt to their environment as it changes but supposedly thay can even change from one species to the next. Darwin didn't know how life began in the first place and expected future investigation to find a plethora of examples of transitional species in the fossil record (Like an elephant with the tail of a whale or a lizard with little wing buds). Neither has been found.

Regardless, a few years later, Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher declared, "God is dead."

Well? Is he? Is God effectively "dead" because science and philosophy have made him obsolete? Is it possible for any rational human being in 2009 to believe in an all knowing, all powerful, creator God? Is faith in God more of a leap than faith in the spontaneous, random development of "life" and its subsequent evolution to its present state? I'd like you to be open to the truth regardless of where it leads. If God didn't create (or design) and we are truly random molecules that have gotten significantly more organized by time and chance then it changes everything. If those that have used Darwin's theory to kill God are right then we are no more valuable, no more important, and no more significant that an ice cube. If God did create and the Bible is true then we are accountable (but loved) by him and the world better look up.

Like I said in my previous post, I am a scientist. There was a time when I believed that life began in the "primordial soup" of the cooling earth and a few chemicals gathered into a little genetic material which began to self replicate and then a little bacteria popped out. A billion or more years later humans are flying to the moon and have developed weapons that could destroy the earth from which we evolved. I lived like I wanted to live and God couldn't tell me what to do or how to live because he either didn't exist or at a minimum wasn't really involved. I wasn't accountable to anyone greater than myself. I certainly didn't take a critical look at what I was being told by science but what is WAY more important is that I didn't take a critical look at myself. It was much safer for me to be content being a more evolved monkey in a society of evolved monkeys. I was thus a product of my instincts and environment. If I did wrong, it wasn't really my fault. It was instinct. We are survivors and my goal was to be one of the fittest then pass on my highly advanced genes to the next generation. Actually, if we are just chemicals without a creator then there really is no absolute right or wrong anyway. We can decide for ourselves what is "good" and what is "bad". Sorry, this is a topic for another day. Back to creation.

Do I, as a Christian, need to open my skull and drop my brain into a large box outside the church as I walk in on Sunday or can I reconcile my biblical worldview with the scientific evidence. I think I can do the later and I am not alone.

Doctor Ben Carson is one of the world's best pediatric neurosurgeons. He graduated from Yale and then the University of Michigan Medical School. He gained national attention for leading the team that separated conjoined twins that were joined at the back of the head. He has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and is now the director of pediatric neurosurgery are Johns Hopkins University. Ben Carson believes in the creation story.

In the 1970's Dr. Francis Collins was a scientist and an atheist. In medical school he was faced with life and death every day and a patient once asked him, "What do you believe doctor?". He began to search for answers. He said, "I had to admit that the science I loved so much was powerless to answer questions such as 'What is the meaning of life?' 'Why am I here?' 'Why does mathematics work, anyway?' 'If the universe had a beginning, who created it?' 'Why are the physical constants in the universe so finely tuned to allow the possibility of complex life forms?' 'Why do humans have a moral sense?' 'What happens after we die?' (Watch Francis Collins discuss how he came to believe in God ). Francis Collins is now the director of the Human Genome Project whose task has been to map out the 3.1 billion letter code of the human DNA code. Francis Collins believes in a creator God.

Look, I have come to the place where I realize that I can't convince you of the existence of God by intellectual might. I can't wrestle you to the ground with my copy of Genesis. That is not my intent today. But, I do realize one thing that the bible tells me to be true, "The Gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing." It was foolishness to me when I was drowning in my own sin. But I also know that the Holy Spirit of God can make the most ardent atheist the most faithful believer. My intent is to give you a moment of pause. To ask you to stop for a second and think. To look at life around you and inside of you. To set aside what you'd like to be true or what you believe to be true and say, "I want to know what IS true." If you need to follow the scientific evidence then by all means do so but do it to its logical end. Chicago tribune journalist Lee Strobel did that in an attempt to disprove the Bible and the historical Jesus and he is now Christian and an passionate sharer of the Gospel. Be careful because you may end up the same. If you already are a believer I pray that your faith was nudged just a bit higher today. I don't have the space here to put forth an argument against Evolution and for Creation or "Intelligent Design" but PLEASE feel free to ask me in the comments section of this post and I will give you plenty to keep you busy.

One last quote, from Werner Heisenberg (a Nobel Laureate in Physics for the creation of quantum mechanics):

"The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you."

Drink up!

Peace,

David

Examine the Evidence - What do you have to lose?

"Daw-gone-it, who took my cell phone charger?!! I always put it by the phone in the kitchen."

"I don't know honey. I haven't seen it", my wife says with a slight roll of her eyes.

"Well, I wish people wouldn't touch things that don't belong to them!"

I then spend an hour interrogating my wife and children as to the whereabouts of my cell phone charger because I believed with all of my heart that I left it in its usual spot. Frustrated, I gave up prideful and angry. A couple days later I was in the basement and my eye caught site of a black cord leading up to the top of the bistro table. Oh yeah (blushing) I plugged it in there when Ivor and I met last week. My bad. Pride, the mother of all sins!

I know that many of you who are reading today are believers but I also know that many are not. I'm going to ask those of you who are skeptical regarding the existence of God, the inspiration of the Bible, the resurrection of Jesus, and many other Christian beliefs to set aside your pride for a moment and open yourselves to the slim possibility that you might be wrong, that maybe you didn't actually leave the cell phone charger in the kitchen like you thought you did. What do you have to lose? Jesus said, "Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it." Luke 17:33 Could it be possible that giving up isn't really giving up at all? Hmmmm?

I'm a scientist. I have a Bachelors of Science degree in biology with a chemistry minor, I have two doctoral degrees and a partridge in a pear tree. Sorry, that last part just came out so easily I didn't have the heart to delete it. So how in the world could a guy like me believe in an eternal God, in the Genesis creation story, in Jonah being swallowed by a big fish, in the virgin birth of Jesus, and in the resurrection? The honest answer is that I came in the back door. God humbled me, allowed me to be broken, and then when I had nowhere else to go he opened my eyes and I experienced him. OK, that doesn't settle well with many of you but the next part might. When I came to believe I then had to reconcile what I knew to be true in my heart with what I thought to be true in my head. I had to examine the evidence!

I'm going to ask you to do the same. If you don't believe, are you doing so because of a lack of evidence or because you have never really examined the evidence? Have you really looked critically at the possibility of "life" coming from non-living chemicals, the spontaneous, random formation of the genetic code and it's ability to reproduce itself (had to from the beginning or it never would have gone past day one). Have you looked at the complexity of the human eye (not just the one but the two in perfect position and function to allow for depth perception). Have you seen the birth of a baby, a butterfly emerge from a cocoon, a queen bee guarded by drones, or the structure of lamanin (the stuff that holds us together)? Have you examined the sixty-six books of the Bible written by more than forty men over the period of nearly 1600 years or just written it off as rubbish? Have you looked at the life of Jesus and the lives of his followers both before Jesus' death and after? Here is a little appetizer: All of the Apostles except John were martyred for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. After Jesus' crucifixion they were hiding from the authorities but the day after they saw him ascend to heaven they hit the streets without fear. Would they have willingly given their lives (Peter crucified upside down) if they knew that what they were sharing was a lie? Doubtful.

Are you ready for the challenge? It's risky because if, in the end, you come to believe then you suddenly become accountable to the God who made you. If, in the end, you are right in your doubts then your life is random, you have no more value than a flea or an lump of coal, and death is the final word.

Here is the challenge:

1) Even if you aren't sure God exists, ask him in the quiet of your own mind to reveal himself to you and to open your spiritual eyes. You have to want to know truth or it will just be words. I know it might seem futile but give it a whirl.

2) Follow me over then next two weeks as I look at the Bible and it's accuracy, fulfilled prophecy, and power to change lives. I will also shed some light on the religion of Evolution which requires more faith than the religion of God.

3) Take a real hard look at life (yours and all of the life around you) and reevaluate your world view. Let the chips fall where they may. Science is following the evidence to its logical end.

I can tell you that my pride, my desire to be my own god, my desire not to be held accountable for my sins, and my desire to pursue pleasure was the stone wall that stood between me and my eventual faith in God. It wasn't really my science but my heart.

Over the next couple weeks I will introduce you to neurosurgeons, astrophysicists, and other learned people who realized that the more they came to see the remarkable complexity of life and of the universe the more they believed in the One who created it.

For those of you who are already believers I hope that this will further strengthen your faith as well as help you in your commission to make disciples. The Bible says in 1 Peter 3:15 "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."

You've also probably noticed that this site has undergone some recent changes. We hope you like the new look. If you get this blog via email subscription take a second and visit the blog page. We also have two audio podcasts on our main site "i61project.org". Come and visit. The podcasts as well as some of Ivor's music is available in the "media" section.

Peace,

David

Don't just ride the bus. Look out the window. You might be on the wrong road!

Today I am going to go WAY out on a limb and it may send many of you running far away never to return. But before you do, I’d like to ask you to at least make it all the way to the end of this post and then ask yourself, “Did he say anything that wasn't biblical?” If you believe the words of the bible then you need to do some serious reflection. Ask yourself, “Can I pick and choose the parts I like and ignore or set aside those I don’t?” “Am I really a Christian or am I just going through the religious motions?” If you’re still doubtful regarding the validity of the Bible or are not a believer then stick around for a few more weeks and we’ll do our best to change that.

Jesus the fair skinned, blue-eyed guy with long flowing hair and a gentle voice walks the streets of Jerusalem repeating the words, “Peace, love, happiness, and prosperity”. He loves you and is your “friend”. He wants to show you a “better way to live”. He came to bring peace to the world and unite people of all religions and teach us tolerance. He wants to take your ten-dollar donation "seed" and multiply it into a thousand dollars so you can prosper. We’re all “children of God”.

Hogwash! Is that too strong? Maybe, we’ll see.

Comfortable people sit in an air-conditioned arena with posh stadium seats (complete with a holder for their grande, half-skim, caramel latte with extra whipped cream) to hear what their itching ears want to hear. Articulate, handsome, and charismatic preachers bask in the applause and the accolade of the people and their books sit atop the best-seller list for weeks at a time. They preach a “Jesus-lite”, watered down, palatable version of the gospel leaving out anything that might offend or cause people to walk out or cease to “dig deep” into their wallets during the offertory. Meanwhile tens of thousands of people who do "church" are still dead in their sins and don’t know it or care not to admit it. They are riding down the road to destruction and the “church” is driving the bus.

Let’s listen to the words of the real Jesus of Nazareth:

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword . . . Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:34-38

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14

“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ . . . There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.” Luke 13:24-28

“For God so loved the world that he gave one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life . . . whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:16-18

Fire and Brimstone? No, just the rest of the story. The Gospel is "Good News" only because it is an answer for the bad news! So much to say and so little space! Here is the Gospel as clearly as I can put it forth. We are born with the seed of sin and are by nature, separated from God. (go back and read the “Veil” post). God is loving and compassionate but he is also holy and just. Justice demands a penalty and punishment for sin. The Bible says the penalty for sin is death and eternal separation from God in a place the prepared for Satan and his fallen angels – Hell. (sorry, his words not mine) God provided an answer for the sin problem and that was a substitute, someone to take our place, to take our punishment. God sent his Son Jesus (fully man and fully God, sinless, and willing to die for us). He was crucified, died, and buried. He rose from the dead on the third day, conquering death. When we gain or take a hold of that gift by faith in Jesus Christ then his righteousness is transferred to our account. We can’t do it by works or by “being good people”. When we trust Christ, God sees us as having no sin and therefore no condemnation. The Apostle John said “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children not born of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” David, did John mean that we aren’t all “Children of God”? Yes, that IS what he meant. He was saying we are all Gods creation but not all his children. We, by faith in Jesus are adopted into his family. We are “born again”. We have “eternal life”. We are made “new creations”. We therefore have “no condemnation”.

Faith is not a head-knowledge or intellectual assent like “Yeah, I believe that Jesus existed.”, but a reliance on him as your only hope. It is not gained by joining a church, signing a piece of paper, or walking forward for an altar call (although it could happen then for sure). It is not acquired by repeating a prayer. It is not the result of perfect church attendance or singing in the church choir or playing drums for the praise team. It is not acquired when your parents had you baptized as babies. It isn't the result of graduating from the seminary or buying a fish sticker for your minivan. It IS acquired by realizing your sinfulness and your need for a Savior. It IS acquired by repentance (the acknowledging of and turning away from sin). It is acquired by trusting in Jesus Christ as your substitute on the cross. Like I said last week, God is not interested in making you happy, comfortable, or rich. He is interested in your life! Not just the short one here on earth but more importantly, the eternal one after.

One last thing: Trusting in Christ is not a guarantee of a life of bliss here on earth and may, in some ways, bring some additional trials and persecution but it is LIFE itself and does guarantee an eternity of perfect peace with the God who made you. I share today not as one who is judging or self righteous but as one who knows his brokenness and his need. Hope you stick around until next week.

In Christ's Love, David