In a New York Post online article entitled Meltdown of the climate ‘consensus’, the first line makes an assertion worth considering: “If this keeps up, no one’s going to trust any scientists.”

The article is specifically about the issue of man-caused global warming, and the notion that “the best scientists” are 1) not unified on the question, and 2) fighting among each other about which side is engaged in pseudo-science and downright public deception, and 3) loosing the confidence of the worldwide audience who are witnessing the confusion.

I , for my part, don’t know what to think. How could I? What do I know about the science, one way or another? What I am inclined to is a robust mistrust of the man-caused global warming crowd and their pronouncements because of their underlying assumptions and worldviews. However, I generally wonder whether the presuppositions and worldviews of the anti- man-caused global warming crowd are any better. More often than not – it seems more like a political debate and less of a scientific one anyway.

But what about the question posed earlier? Will people stop trusting scientists altogether? And what would be the result if they did?

The materialist assumptions that modern culture has about the nature of reality promotes a general trust of science as a more reliable arbiter and establisher of truth than religious authorities (e.g. the Christian Bible). If there is nothing authoritative outside of our material world that can give us truth, who better to provide authoritative pronouncements of truth than scientists (of all kinds)? Because our culture has not given up on its materialist worldview in favor of another – I think it unlikely that people will stop trusting scientists generally.

What about us Christians? Should we trust scientists?

As far as I’m concerned, science should be viewed as an important gift from God. It is a method that is used to help us learn things about God’s work of creation. It has provided a means of developing many technologies that have been good and useful in our world (as well as some pretty useless and poorly and sinfully used ones). However, not all that science determines to be true is indeed true. Further research, testing and analysis often over turn previously announced “scientific facts.” Science is not an infallible source of knowledge and truth – Therefore, it should not be treated as one. It must be remembered that rebellious men suppress the truth of God (both in the Bible and in creation) in their unrighteousness.

Thus, Christians can and should be scientists. Christians should receive with thanksgiving the gifts that God gives to us through the works of scientists. Christians should learn about the work of scientists to better understand our world, worship God more gratefully, and provide scientists with insight about what is being learned. Christians should reject any scientific claims that contradict the Scriptures. Because scientific truth claims are often later determined to be erroneous, Christians, therefore, should exhibit patience and let time and more scientific work help us to understand the truth of the specific claims. In other words, we cannot allow ourselves to be tossed about by every whim of scientific doctrine – but constant in faith and faithfulness; and exhibit biblical wisdom in the use of the products of the scientific endeavor.

An increasing healthy mistrust of “scientists” generally in our culture would be a good thing, in my opinion. They would be forced to limit their statements of truth, be more careful in their research and conclusions, and be less willing to engage in thinking more highly of themselves than they ought. We have such a mistrust of politicians, lawyers, etc – and I believe it does us a great deal of good by causing us to hold them accountable in significant ways for their truth claims. There are certainly good and godly men in all fields of human endeavor, but the works of both the godly and the wicked need to be tested by the truth of God’s Word – our final authority for all truth.

This just in from the Onion News Network (a favorite news organization of mine)

Same Sex Marriage

I have been considering lately the charge that Christians are homophobic, i.e. fearful of homosexuals. We shrink from the thought that we may be afraid of certain people, when in fact we are not. Still more, we cower from the accusation because we don’t want to be thought of as either unloving or wrongly discriminatory.

But it occurs to me that we are indeed homophobic to the extent that we are fearful of the danger that homosexual practices, politics and that general cultural acceptability of the lifestyle will undermine what God has established as good, honorable and His creation pattern for mankind. We can indeed say that we love homosexual people and desire their salvation and blessing – and do not have any fear that we will be somehow made unclean or unholy because of them. However, we can, in fear of God, be fearful of the consequences of the transformation of marriage into something that it was never designed to be, never has been in history and that can never provide a solid foundation for society.

Alastair Roberts has posted an article he wrote in light on the recent court decision that overturned California’s Proposition 8 that provided that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

The full article can be viewed here

The Confusing World of Modern Sexuality

When Rich  Bledsoe was with us at Family Camp he mentioned a paper he wrote: Sex and the City, which we have now placed on the RCC website.  It is an interesting piece of  biblical social commentary worth thinking about.

Bledsoe contrasts the great ancient cities with the great city of God, the New Jerusalem and their respective sexual commitments and activities. At the base of his comments is the presupposition that it is important for us to think about cities because “the entire planet is “metropolizing. Everywhere, human  beings are leaving their rural roots and are moving into the city.”

He says that, biblically, cities are portrayed as and symbolized as women. “Both of the cities at the Bible’s end are feminine, and  both are symbolized by women…The first city [in Revelation] is Babylon the Great who becomes the Whore of  Babylon [metaphorically, Jerusalem]. The second is the new Jerusalem who becomes the Bride of Christ…The power of sexual relationship, and the fact of metropolis belong together. The city is the great trysting place, the place of renewal or destruction of relationship, the place where souls and bodies are  bought and sold, or where truth and fidelity create new life.”

What is so helpful in this article is the assertion that “the sexualization and exclusiveness of marriage was the gift of the Torah and  of Judaism…the model for both parenting and for marriage as found in the Old Testament is found in Jehovah’s relationship to Israel and Jerusalem as Father and finally as Husband. All peoples model themselves on their gods, and Israel likewise modeled herself on he God she belonged to.”

As post-Christian society has emerged in the West, corresponding Christian sexual morality has been receding as a foundation for cultural morality. Christian ethics is being replace by pagan “polymorphous sexuality” that is reflective of ancient worldviews and practices. And just as Christianity has always been intolerant of other religious and ethical systems, so too, modern society is increasingly hostile toward both Christ and Christian morality. Just as most ancient pagan cultures used sex as an expression of their religious commitments and cultus, so too, modern cultures use sex as an expression of liberation from Christianity.  Again,  Bledsoe:

Both of these cities (in Revelation: Babylon the Great and the New Jerusalem) are now active historical powers…Real cities in the real world partake of the reality of both of these cities right now…A city that worships like Babylon the Great, will be a city that models its sexual relationships after the harlot and the beast and the kinds. A city that worships as a part of the new Jerusalem will model its marital covenant after the Bride and her Husband.  The question is which city will dominate in any given city in the world in which we live. One city is corrupt..and is under judgment…given to destruction. The other city is the city of the glory of God and the glorified humanity…where ultimately all human potentialities are fulfilled…The first city is marked by sexual debauchery…the second is marked by fidelity and love in the bonds of marriage.

He goes on to demonstrate that any culture that lacks sexual discipline and commitment to monogamous marriage will be unable to sustain their cultural energy and creativity, resulting in weakness and decline. True cultural greatness requires moral and intellectual discipline and focus that is undissipated by meaningless and distracting sexuality. Without a committed and future oriented sexuality – no culture has any meaningful  future to anticipate.

This year at our annual Reformation Covenant Church Family Camp we have the privilege of having both James B. Jordan teaching us about worship music and Rich Bledsoe as our keynote speaker.  I will post some thoughts throughout the week about some of his comments.

06/14 Rich Bledsoe – #1

Rich Bledsoe

Two Great Enemies of the Christian faith are Islam and Euro-Socialism (which thankfully is collapsing in on itself). Rich considers his calling to be learning to speak the gospel into the Euro-Socialist contexts where it is manifested.

Rich referenced 1 Cor. 14:18 (&19):

“I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all; yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.”

The point he made is that Paul traveled from culture to culture throughout the Roman world and was able to speak with a tongue that could be understood – He was probably one of the most cosmopolitan man at that time, with experience crossing cultural barriers that was empowered by the Holy Spirit to accomplish the mission Jesus gave him. The tongues could very well have referred to actual spoken languages, which Paul spoke more than anyone by the Spirit. Rich Bledsoe indicated that, at least by implication, it could also refer to having the ability to  speak into a foreign or strange culture. It is the ability to understand the way people think sufficiently communicate meaningfully.

Not everyone can be like Paul, with the ability to move from one culture to another with equal ability to effectively present the gospel. But God does want all of us to cross boundaries and to speak into people’s lives (tongues) in ways that we are not necessarily used to. These boundaries or cultural and relational barriers can be as foreign as China, or as near as across the street. Piercing through the boundaries and barriers can  be as simple as developing relationships with people in a church across the street in another denomination, getting to know a public official or some foreign students or immigrants. As we come to successfully learn to speak the tongue of those on the other side of the boundary – we will see God’s Spirit stir up faith in them. And when that happens – all kinds of things can change, even riots can be started (as with Paul 13 times in the book of Acts).

Here is a wonderful statement by James Jordan (of Biblical Horizons) on Christian education. Not surprisingly, he emphasized that the goal of Christian education is to training children to be worshipers of God. There is a Biblical Horizons blog that Jim and other members of Biblical Horizons post their thoughts for wider circulation.

Jim will be joining us this year at our Reformation Covenant Church Family camp.

In an article from CNSNews.com we get this interesting report of Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House of Representatives) on May 6, 2010 addressing the Catholic Community Conference on Capitol Hill:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says she believes she must pursue public policies “in keeping with the values” of Jesus Christ, ”The Word made Flesh.” Pelosi, who is a Catholic and who favors legalized abortion, voted against the ban on partial-birth abortion that was enacted into law in 2003.

Notice here how she expresses herself in the video of her address to a Catholic audience. Make any sense to you?

My dear wife sent me this link to Nancy Wilson’s recent blog post in Femina: Courtship In the Air. In this post she links to two other posts by her husband, Doug Wilson, from which he suggests 21 Questions to prospective suitors and prospective wives. These are great questions and well worth remembering when your time comes to ask them!

David and Kathy's Wedding

I have advocated a “courtship”  model (whatever that means)  of approaching marriage, and have found that the whole discussion seems to invite more questions than it answers. I still think it is a helpful discussion because it causes people to think more self-consciously about how we can help our children think about the future as they prepare for marriage, what kind of relationship we hope to have with them during the process of finding and deciding on marriage, and help them to be wise and godly as they choose their spouse.

Many years ago after a long conversation with some friends about that I think about courtship I wrote a paper called an Outline of the Journey to Marriage. I have gone over it with my children to help us talk about various issues related to courtship. I don’t believe this is “THE” way to do courtship; I don’t believe there are scriptures that can be used to support every point I made; I don’t think it is for every family. But I do think there may possibly be some reasonable and wise ideas that some folks may find useful.

In a provocative blog post, Anthony Bradley, raises penetrating questions that I wanted to pass on. He writes:

The secret to the PCA’s multi-year decline may be primarily external to a denomination that is losing its ability to connect and lead an American culture that is increasingly multi-ethnic and non-white, as many are now arguing. The internal issues of new generations, missional emphasis vs. traditionalists, and so on may, in fact, be more tangential to a larger external reality: the PCA primarily appeals to a dying demographic and is, therefore, being left behind by global Christianity. Is the PCA’s cultural captivity to white, Western culture (including Southern white culture) going to make it increasingly irrelevant to a global Christian world that is primarily African, Asian, and Latin American?

Unfortunately, his questions are directed to his denomination, the PCA – a focus I would like to expand to all of North American Protestant Christians. It would seem to me that we, at Reformation Covenant Church, and in our denomination, the Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches, and most of the churches in our land need to be asking themselves similar questions.

The Next Evangelicalism

Bradley uses Soong-Chan Rah’s book, The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity as a basis for his comments, and to to answer this question, “Is the PCA being held hostage by white, Western (and Southern) cultural captivity?”

As the gospel goes out into the world over time – Christ, by His Spirit, transforms people, institutions, social structures and whole cultures in ways generally unanticipated by those preaching the Word. Christ confronts our biases, misapprehensions of the truth, prejudices and hard-heartedness as we clash with new problems and new opportunities.

While I like Bradley’s desire to sensitize us to the need to see the world differently than we often do, like so many other helpful missional/missions tends books, he tends to reduce the problem to a power struggle between the establishment and the disenfranchised, between the rich and poor, between white people and all the other races, between the West and East, etc. As if it’s possible, by sheer force of will, the reforming of minds and social structures, to just move into an age without such cultural divides in the church.

The Next Christendom

It seems to me that the problems raised by Bradley (and others) are not going to be solved by the benevolence of the leaders of the existing Christian social structures, and just stepping aside or placing non-white, non-western and non-traditional men into leadership in our churches and denominations. The real transformation that we all hope for will happen when these non-white, non-western and non-traditional men become recognized as such good leaders and so important to the life of Christ’s Body that we all desire them lead the Church into new and important directions. What the church needs to pray for is the day when God raises up men of such inspiration and influence that everyone looses all interest in an ecclesiastical affirmative action program.

Historically, the leadership of the Church passed from the Jerusalem Jewish-Christians to the more prominent leadership of Gentile Christians. God raised up, over time, more competent men from other cultures to succeed the initial Jewish leadership. It did not happen because the Gentiles sought to have the Jews relinquish leadership – It happened because God provided the Body of Christ with the men that were needed to move the church forward at that time in history.

For the same thing to happen in our time, it seems to me that what needs to happen is several things:

• We need to labor to have a more global perspective.
  • We need to learn progressively more about what God is doing in various parts of the world (there are many books and resources now available to help with this)
  • We need to meet and fellowship with international believers locally
  • We need to discover meaningful ways to provide help to Christians around the world
  • We need to discover who the prominent people God is using in various parts of the world and learn about what they are teaching and doing for the Lord. These may be the futures leaders God will give us.
• We need to be more prayerful, both privately and in corporate worship, about the world.
  • Pray for Christians in various parts of the world
  • Pray for persecuted Christians
  • Pray for Churches by city, nation, region and people groups
• We need to build relationships with people different than those we normally associate
  • Associate with, and learn to love and appreciate those of different races, classes and social standing
  • Associate with, and learn to love and appreciate those outside of our own narrow Christian traditions and circumstances
  • Work cooperatively with other local churches to produce more of a “city church” or “regional church” that is inclusive of various orthodox traditions, denominations and theological perspectives.
  • Be willing to learn from those who are bringing challenging insights to us, even if it is not done in the most edifying way, or with the best theological or philosophical reasoning.
    • Sometimes we just need to hear people, letting them speak freely, so that we can learn what their concerns are so that we can consider how to best minister and serve them.
    • We need to avoid, when we disagree with folks like Bradley and others, reacting badly (one person’s reaction to Bradley was: “Personally, I think the guy is a racist pig!  It’s reverse racism.” Not, in my opinion either humble or helpful!). This kind of reaction closes off further discussion and the sharing of ideas and visions, and actually perpetuates existing problems thoughtlessly and tragically.

On top of all of the economic difficulty in Greece, the Greeks are also now experiencing a plague reminiscent of the Egyptian plague of Frogs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSvPb0_NLU4

As with all such things – this should be viewed as a reminder not to be hard-hearted like the ancient Egyptians. Rather than just have a bit of a laugh (which I did), ignoring it or writing off this small symbol of God’s continuing judgments in the world – we must trust the Lord and obey His word in all things.

Hopefully Europe and the United States will turn to Jesus – our only hope in this world and the next.

Okay, I couldn’t resist making another political post – This is too fun to keep to myself. This will be most humorous for people that are somewhere near my age (nearly 50) – During that golden age of 60-70 television – Dragnet.  It was  a serious drama that had comedic moments – and now it is viewed as a humorous (almost a police spoof show) with seriously outdated moralism. Combine that with the plan of our President to reform the American health care system (now the law of the land), and voila, you have more fun than one blogger is supposed to have.

I’m not normally one to post my thoughts on political and economic issues. Although I do have opinions about these matters, most of the time I think they aren’t worth much because these issues are generally far more complex than my little pea brain can make sense of.  But, because I have been asked so often lately about what I think about the economy, here goes!

I have increasingly been coming to the conclusion that the United States is not really coming out of its economic woes, and may be in for a good deal worse decline than we have seen to date. Unemployment has remained high, foreclosures on houses continue to increase, banks continue to fail or are taken over by the FDIC, money for loans to businesses remain difficult to acquire and, most of all our governmental decisions have continued to, in my view, be unwise. We are not reducing spending – and we now have incredibly high budget deficits, and our debt continues to grow. The Federal government is not renewing a number of tax cuts – which means tax increases in the not too distant future, and tax increases are not only already here but most assuredly are ready to dramatically increase even further. Most States seem to be following the same patterns – refusing to cut expenses and raising taxes (with some notable exceptions and here).

Today in USA Today we read about disturbing trends in the economic transitions in the private and government sectors:

Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year, a USA TODAY analysis of government data finds.

At the same time, government-provided benefits — from Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs — rose to a record high during the first three months of 2010.

But most of all, I am convinced that the financial implications of the Health Care reform will exacerbate all of these unwise patterns, with unforeseen (to supporters) consequences that will be both surprising and destructive. At the same time that we are moving more self-consciously into the welfare state mentality, European nations are coming to grips with the consequences of their welfare policies over the last 50-60 years. Michael Weissenstein, in an online article, “Fiscal crises threaten Europe’s generous benefits,” provides interesting details of the problems for Europeans. He writes:

The system known as the European welfare state was built after World War II as the keystone of a shared prosperity meant to prevent future conflict. Generous lifelong benefits have since become a defining feature of modern Europe.

Now the welfare state – cherished by many Europeans as an alternative to what they see as dog-eat-dog American capitalism – is coming under its most serious threat in decades: Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.

The financial impact of the Health Care reform has not really been felt by the American economy at all yet. When we compound the existing problems we are facing with the undoubtedly heavier burden that will be imposed on the economy by the massively increased taxes, fees, charges and “investments” – I foresee a very different and oppressive economic world than we now see.

The Christian Response: Faith and Singing

Now, of course we can hope to see a repeal of the new Health Care Law. Rasmussen reports that 63% Favor Repeal of National Health Care Plan. No doubt that this would be a good thing.

But, as in the days of Habakkuk (which I encourage all who trust the Lord to read and understand), God’s judgments in the world are confusing and sometimes frustrating. Our response must the same as it was for the faithful Israelites of old: “The righteous will live by faith” (Hab. 2:4; Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38). Yes – God brings His judgments in history, and yes the righteous will suffer at times along with the wicked. But the righteous will find life on the other side of judgment if he remains steadfast in faith. Those who trust in themselves, in political leaders, in social programs and international agreements will not either understand what God is doing, and more likely, will neither praise Him for it nor trust Him through it.

Habakkuk came to understand that he must not only trust God in faith, but he also found in this truth a cause to sing (Hab. 3:16-19). When God calls us to worship each Lord’s Day – we sing His praises. In doing so He, by His Word and Spirit, gives us the faith and understanding to trust Him during troubling times.

Here are my Bible lessons on the book of Habakkuk

I have self-consciously taken care not to be too theologically controversial on my blog.  There are many reasons for this:

1. If anyone reads my blog at all (an unlikely possibility), my goal is for them to get a warm and fuzzy feeling, know me and mine better, and be encouraged in the faith.  Of course I want to be a resource (however meager) for edification and illumination, Bible study and Christian thinking. But most of all – I want to have fun!
2. Too many people write things on their blogs that they would be entirely unwilling to say to people face to face. With as many biblical admonitions to be careful in ones use of their tongue (and by extension their fingers) – It is clear that much of the Christian blogosphere is a biblical illustration of the proverb: “Where there are many words, sin is not far off” (Proverbs 10:29).
3. Blogs are generally not a very good format for theological “discussion.”  While some people are helped by an impersonal, academic forum online – when a blog degenerates into anger, bitter argumentation it ceases (in my opinion) to be edifying. Even on the internet we need to walk worthy of our calling (Ephesians 4).
4. There are some blogs that I follow that are very important and helpful to me (especially Peter Leithart’s) in my studies. May God proliferate those blogs that both edify and educate!

Blogging to the Glory of God?