Already Gone

If you have not read the book, you should.  The book that I am talking about is “Already Gone” by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer.  You may know of Ken Ham, he is the Answers in Genesis guy.  Well he commissioned a study of 20 something's who had stopped going to church and Britt Beemer is the guy who conducted the study, the book details the results. 

There were two results that I found very surprising. 

1.  61% of those no longer attending church regularly attended Sunday School as teens.  these 61% were more likely to not believe the bible, more likely to accept premarital sex and more likely to accept homosexuality as being normal than those who did not attend Sunday School.  The reasons behind this were many but the top two were that the bible had been taught as a story and not as fact, and that the Sunday School teachers were unable to answer questions like how did Noah get all of the animals onto the ark.  The kids were being told what to believe but not why. 

2.  Music has replaced the teaching of the Word of God in church services.  If any teaching was being given at all it was in the form of fluffy feel good, I’m ok you’re ok kind of junk.  People want to know that the Word of God is relevant.  If all that the preacher is giving is a pep talk or every service is another sermon telling the saved how to get saved, then you are just wasting their time, and yours.   

The Word of God contains the wisdom of the wise.  It is alive and powerful sharper than a two edged sword and it will change lives, but this only happens if it is taught.    

National Restoration

13 If I close the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence on My people, 14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. ^[1]

Although we cannot draw primary application to the church from this passage, we can draw a secondary one. While neither the church nor the United States have replaced Israel as God’s chosen people we are, as believers in Christ, His people. Just as Israel was judged for their falling away from God so too will we if we fail to act as “salt and light” in our nation.

Notice some things from the passage:

1. It is an “if, then” statement. If we do X then God will do Y.

2. The “if” portion did not say anything about protesting abortion, drugs, the sexual culture, or any other thing directed toward the lost.

3. The “if” portion did instruct believers to: Humble themselves, pray, seek and turn. This is a personal inner directed action on the part of believers.

4. The “then” portion describes what God will do.

5. The “then” portion describes two personal, inner results (restoration to fellowship and forgiveness) and one outer corporate or national result (national healing).

6. National healing is a result of believer’s right relationship with God and not from unbelievers being forced to act morally.

7. Believer’s living their lives in a right relationship with God (salt and light function) will result in a nation being blessed.

8. Believer’s not living their lives in a right relationship with God will result in judgment on the believers and by association upon a nation.

9. A right relationship with God depends upon internal attitudes not on external actions.

---

^[1] The Holy Bible : Holman Christian standard version. 2003. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.

Cease Striving…

“Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalm 46:10

Over the past few months I have been striving;  what should I be doing?  What should my goals be?  How can I serve God?  How can I recover from the mess that I got into a year ago?  I, I, I, I.

In the Amplified Bible this verse is translated “Let be, and be still and know…”  It reminds me of Chinese finger cuffs.  Once you are in them the more that you struggle the more stuck you become, when you relax and stop pulling then you can get them off.  That is kind of the idea expressed here. 

The word “know” is number 3045 in Strong's. יָדַע yāḏaʿ: A verb meaning to know, to learn, to perceive, to discern, to experience, to confess, to consider, to know people relationally, to know how, to be skillful, to be made known, to make oneself known, to make to know.
(Baker, W. (2003). The complete word study dictionary : Old Testament (420). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.)

This is the word used to describe the intimacy between Adam and Eve before the birth of a child. 

God wants to be known.  He has shown Himself, we only have to look.  When we get to know God then everything else will fall into place.  When we know God then we will see and understand His exaltation. 

Logos 4

God blessed me with some VA disability money so I took the plunge and upgraded to Logos 4 and I must say that I am moderately happy with it.  It is a huge learning curve from Logos 3.  I had to go online and watch the video tutorials before I started to pull my hair out.  But I am slowly learning it and am starting to like it 

...than he should think

" For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one." (Romans 12:3, HCSB)

I have been contemplating this verse for several months now and had even started an in depth study of Romans 12 in an attempt to get a better understanding of it. For awhile I had hit a wall in the study and had got to the point that I was avoiding it.
The wall that I had hit can be summed up in the concept of self esteem. Today we have a warped understanding of self esteem, when we hear that spoken of it has all of the negative connotations of the “I’m ok, you’re ok” movement. As Christians we understand that God tells us through Paul that (I’m paraphrasing) “there is no good thing in me”. And that is true; our righteousness is filthy rags in Gods sight. On the other hand that does not mean that we do not have value. Our value is that which God has placed on us and our self esteem is built around that value.
Self esteem could also be expressed as self respect. If one does not respect oneself then that person is opening themselves up to all kinds of false thinking and will get caught up in all kinds of ungodly things.
I recall a quote from Dr. James Dobson that went something like this “If I could give a gift to all of the girls in the word it would be a healthy dose of self esteem”. When I consider this quote in light of my observations of young ladies that frequented the Army bases that I have been stationed at I understand what he means. They did not respect themselves and had no concept of what real love was as a result they ended up debasing themselves in an attempt to obtain value. As a result of this the thought of a loving God was totally foreign to them. They simply did not have a frame of reference that could incorporate the thought of non-meritorious value.
In the army we had a saying “know yourself and seek self improvement.” This is part of “not thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to”. It is understanding your strengths and being humble enough to ask God to control them and knowing your weakness and allowing God to work through them. As we come to know God and apply that knowledge to how we see ourselves the result will be “I must decrease so that Christ can increase.” It is easy to say that Christ is everything and I am nothing, it is quite another thing to live that way.
My mind is still not settled on this. The more that I learn the less that I find that I know.

Where have all of the kids gone?

I finished reading the latest issue of Answers Magazine last night, it is the magazine put out by Answers in Genesis. They have recently conducted research into why young people in their 20’s are leaving the church. As a result of the research they have written a book called Already Gone in which they comment on this further. I have not read the book yet.
The research was conducted by America’s Research Group and they surveyed 1000 people aged 20-29 who had attended church as children but no longer did. Some of what they found was that 62% ether did not believe everything in the bible was true or did not know. (44% and 18% respectively) Of those who doubted 88% started doubting in middle school and high school. (40% and 44% respectively) Although the article did not give the percentages it stated that the research found that those who attended Sunday school were “more likely to think God used evolution to create human beings, premarital sex is acceptable and church is not relevant.”
Why is this so? The answer given is the lack of teaching apologetics. In other words as children they were taught what to believe but not why. They did not know why the bible is trustworthy. They did not have a basis for any belief other than “because I said so”.
The amazing thing that they found is that these 20 something’s were not hostel to Christianity they would be willing to listen if someone could explain it to them. The researchers found that what the respondents to the survey wanted from church was bible teaching, not music. They wanted proof that the bible is relevant.
This article got me thinking about how to tell if a church may have a problem in this area, so I came up with a few questions:
1. Can the average person in your church explain in a general way how we got the bible?
2. Can the average person in your church explain why that if Adam was not a real person then there is on salvation for the human race?
3. Can the average person in your church explain why Jesus had to be born of a virgin or he was not sinless?
4. Can the average person in your church explain Jesus had to die and why He had to be resurrected?
5. Can the average person in your church explain why there is suffering in the world?
6. Can the average person in your church explain at least a few of the 33 plus things that God does for the believer at the very moment of salvation? (See Chafer’s Systematic Theology Volume 3 page 234 and following)
7. Are the majority of the sermons preached telling Christians how to get saved?
8. Is the bible taught in a systematic way or does it appear to just be flop and stop?
9. Does the ministry team teach the Whole counsel of God, or are certain areas skipped because the average person just would not understand it?
10. Do the mature believer’s lives reflect what is taught, or is the majority of the church Sunday morning Christians only?
There are a lot more questions that could be asked but I think that 10 are enough for now.
By the way the respondents to the survey came from both conservative and liberal churches.

A few more thoughts on Job

1. There is no record of Job asking God to sustain him through his testing

2. Job's initial response to his temporal life situation was over-shadowed by his attempt at self justification

3. Job's friends did not seek to reorient Job from his self justification

4. What would have happened if Job would have asked God to sustain him through the trial instead of seeking to justify himself

5. What would have happened if Job's friends would have tried to help him instead of insisting that his problems were the result of sin

6. The only record of Job trying to alleviate his medical condition is of him trying to do it himself

7. There is no record of Job trying to seek out help during his time of testing, ether from God or man

8. Good intentioned people can cause great harm

Your Kingdom come.

The next thing that we must consider is the word hallowed it is a translation of the Greek word ἁγιάζω (G 37) hagiazō, hag-ee-ad´-zo; from 40; to make holy. (cer.) purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate:— hallow, be holy, sanctify.[1]
Do we hold the name of God holy? Or do we treat it with a familiarity, do we make it common?
John MacArthur says this in his book “Alone with God” quotes Martyn Lloyd-Jones: “What unworthy ideas and notions this world has of God! If you test your ideas of God by the teaching of the Scriptures you will see at a glance what I mean. We lack even a due sense of the greatness and the might and the majesty of God. Listen to men arguing about God, and notice how glibly they use the term. . . . It is indeed almost alarming to observe the way in which we all tend to use the name of God.” [2]
Perhaps if we really understood that we only have standing before God as adopted sons based on what Jesus Christ has done then we would hold the name of God in higher esteem.
"‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10, NASB95)
"ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου· γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς·" (Matthew 6:10, NA27)[3]
Your kingdom come orients us to at least three things:
1. God’s kingdom is not yet realized on earth.
2. God’s kingdom is to be sought.
3. The kingdom is God’s kingdom, not ours.

God’s kingdom is not yet realized on earth. In John 18:36 Christ clearly states “My kingdom is not of this world”. Christ is not working to create a theocracy. In his book “Alone With God” John MacArthur has this to say:
What concerns me most, however, is the open hostility that resentment with our nation’s leadership often fosters. When that attitude merges with the perspective that Christians ought to impact the culture by legislating morality, the church is severely diverted from its main purpose. Although changing our society by calling it back to a safer morality is a noble goal, that has never been Christ’s goal for His church.
The church has but one mission in this world: to lead people destined to spend eternity in hell to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and an eternity in heaven. If people die in a communist government or a democracy, under a tyrant or a benevolent dictator, believing homosexuality is right or wrong, or believing abortion is a woman’s fundamental right to choose or simply mass murder, that has no bearing on where they will spend eternity. If they never knew Christ and never embraced Him as their Lord and Savior, they will spend eternity in hell.[4]
The only thing that I would add to that is that the church also has the task of equipping the saints so that they can accomplish their main task of winning souls.
During our last election I recall hearing of a group of Christians who were urging people to vote for a certain politician biased on their belief that he would cause the nation to plunge deeper into moral decay there by hastening the return of Christ. Attitudes like this grieve me. Christ’s returning has more to do with the completion of the Bride than with circumstances of life on the earth.
God’s kingdom is to be sought. In Matthew 6:33 we are commanded to seek first His kingdom…, but what does that mean?
As church age believers we are not on a mission to usher in God’s kingdom on earth. Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20) and as such we seek a heavenly kingdom. The way that the heavenly kingdom is expanded is by adding to the bride of Christ, the church. In Revelation 6:9-11 we see that God appointed a set number of martyrs, from this we can infer that there are a set number of believers to be added to the bride of Christ. Once the bride is complete then God will send His Son to get His bride. The removal of the bride does not mean that the hope of salvation for the lost is gone, but instead, means that God is once again dealing with Israel, the purpose of the tribulation is the restoration of Israel.
In Matthew 6:33 there is a double seeking in view; the seeking of the kingdom, which in the case of church age believers is adding to the bride of Christ and the seeking of His righteousness. The seeking of His righteousness is the development of the believer from spiritual babyhood into adult children.
The kingdom is God’s, not ours. Too many times Christians seek to implement religious or political solutions on the world’s problems. Instead we need to realize that we are called to live our lives as unto the Lord. When we do this then others can see Christ in us and be drawn to God. When Christ is lifted up then He will draw all men to Him, (John 12:32).

[1]Strong, J. (1997, c1996). The new Strong's dictionary of Hebrew and Greek words (H8674). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[2]MacArthur, J. (1995). Alone with God. Includes indexes. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.
[3] Aland, B., Aland, K., Black, M., Martini, C. M., Metzger, B. M., & Wikgren, A. (1993, c1979). The Greek New Testament (4th ed.). Federal Republic of Germany: United Bible Societies.

[4]MacArthur, J. (1995). Alone with God. Includes indexes. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.

School

I may have to go to posting only once or twice a month. I have just been so overwhelmed by college; I had forgotten what it was like to take a 13 hour course load. And of course it is all fluff stuff like POLI SI, and Industrial psychology, biology and humanities.
Anyway I think that I am ahead enough to post two or three more times on a weekly basis then we will have to see what happens.

Prayer Part 1

"With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints," (Ephesians 6:18, NASB95)
Prayer is our life line to God, the conduit through which we express our praise, our petitions and the understanding that we have of God. As baby believers we express our prayers toward God by means of the model prayer that Jesus gave in Matthew 6:9-13. As we grow our prayers become more intimate and more God focused than self focused.
We shall begin our study on prayer at Matthew 6:9-13.
"“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name." (Matthew 6:9, NASB95)
"Οὕτως οὖν προσεύχεσθε ὑμεῖς· Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς· ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου·" (Matthew 6:9, NA27)
The first thing that we need to notice is the term “our Father”.
Prayer should always begin with the recognition that God is our Father, the One who gave us life and who loves, cares for, provides for, and protects us. [1]
When man was originally created God gave them the work assignment of imaging God and part of that image is the father aspect of God. That imaging was to provide a basis for understanding God as the Father. That is one of the reasons that Satan attacks fatherhood and the family unit. With the destruction of the family unit and especially of fathers modern Christians have a distorted and broken idea of what it means to be a father or how a father acts.
In his article “The Father Heart of God” John Dawson outlines some of the reasons that God chose to use the family unit to teach the concept of “God the Father” by teaching parental authority, faithfulness, generosity, affection, attentiveness, and acceptance.
Psalms states: "A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, Is God in His holy habitation." (Psalm 68:5, NASB95) The word translated as “judge” can also be translated as “advocate”. The HCSB translates it as “champion”.
Psalms also states: "Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him." (Psalm 103:13, NASB95)
These verses give us insight into how God as the Father wants us to understand Him. If our fathers in the human realm do not measure up then we must turn to the bible to correct our understanding.

[1]MacArthur, J. (1995). Alone with God. Includes indexes. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.

Faith Part 2

God defines faith in Hebrews 11:1 " Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1, NASB95)
In order to understand what faith is we will have to look closely at Hebrews 11:1.

Definitions:
Ἔστιν δὲ πίστις ἐλπιζομένων ὑπόστασις, πραγμάτων ἔλεγχος οὐ βλεπομένων. [1]
1. πιστις: (G 4102) pístis; gen. písteōs, fem. noun from peíthō (G 3982), to win over, persuade. Faith. Subjectively meaning firm persuasion, conviction, belief in the truth, veracity, reality or faithfulness (though rare). Objectively meaning that which is believed, doctrine, the received articles of faith.[2]
2. ὑπόστασις: (G 5287) hupóstasis; gen. hupostáseōs, fem. noun from huphístēmi (n.f.), to place or set under. In general, that which underlies the apparent, hence, reality, essence, substance; that which is the basis of something, hence, assurance guarantee, confidence (with the obj. sense).[3]
3. ἐλπιζομένων: (G 1679) elpízō; from elpís (G 1680), hope. To hope, expect with desire.[4]
4. ἐλεγχος: (G 1650) élegchos; gen. elégchou, masc. noun from elégchō (G1651), to convict. Conviction. Metonymically, meaning certain persuasion[5]

I found this written in the Baker Encyclopedia Christian Apologetics:
People rightly refuse to believe without evidence. Since God created humans as rational beings, he expects them to live rationally, to look before they leap. This does not mean there is no room for faith. But God wants us to take a step of faith in the light of evidence, rather than to leap in the dark.
Evidence of truth should precede faith. No rational person steps in an elevator without some reason to believe it will hold him up. No reasonable person gets on an airplane that is missing part of one wing and smells of smoke in the cabin. People deal in two dimensions of belief: belief that and belief in. Belief that gives the evidence and rational basis for confidence needed to establish belief in. Once belief that is established, one can place faith in it. Thus, the rational person wants evidence that God exists before he places his faith in God. Rational unbelievers want evidence that Jesus is the Son of God before they place their trust in him.[6]
Allow me to illustrate. I may believe that a chair will support me if I sit in it. That belief does me no good until I marry that belief with trust and actually set in the chair. My faith (belief plus trust) that the chair will hold me up does not add to the chairs ability to hold me up but my trust in the chairs ability to hold me up demonstrated by my setting in it allows me to reap the benefit that the chair offers.
Faith that something is so does not make it so; it is only the expression of one’s belief that it is so. Let me explain. When I was growing up I knew someone that had a sister who loves to pick and eat wild mushrooms. She knew all kinds of facts about mushrooms, their types, when to pick them, how to cook them and so forth. One day she ate what she “knew” was a good mushroom, there was no doubt in her mind that it was an edible mushroom, and she nearly died, because it was not a mushroom. Her sincere belief nearly killed her. The point is that believing a lie does not make it so. It is the object of one’s faith that has merit, or lacks merit. Another way to illustrate this can be stated thusly. There is a chair and you wish to set down. You may gather facts about chairs and their construction, you may question an expert on chairs until you know as much as he does and you may come to the belief that the chair will hold you up, but until you set down all of your chair knowledge does you no good. Once you set down all of the knowledge that you have on chairs does not add one bit to the chairs ability to hold you, but had you not believed that the chair would hold you up and then sat down you would not have benefited from the chair. Just as true, though is that had you not believed that the chair would hold you up you would not have sat down. Also true is that just because you believed that the chair would hold you up until you actually sat down in it that faith did nothing for you.
Now let us apply this to Christianity. In order to believe in Christ one needs evidence about his claims, for different people different amounts of evidence are needed. But no matter how much evidence is provided at some point that person uses faith to provide the evidence that cannot be seen. In court this is called “beyond a reasonable doubt”. Another way of saying this is “based upon the evidence that I have seen I can believe that which I have not seen”.
The converse of this must now be considered. There are people who no matter how much evidence they are given choose not to believe. These are the people who move into the realm of “beyond an unreasonable doubt”. Not much can be done for these people except pray.
So far our consideration of faith has focused upon the aspect that relates to initial salvation, but what about after one is “saved”. What roll does faith play after one becomes a Christian?
"This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:2-3)
As we grow as Christians our faith grows and we learn to stop trying to “do it” on our own and let God work through us. After salvation faith is what allows us to choose to obey God’s commands for living even if we do not fully understand those commands. The rest of Hebrews 11 deals with “living” faith not “saving” faith.

[1]Aland, B., Aland, K., Black, M., Martini, C. M., Metzger, B. M., & Wikgren, A. (1993, c1979). The Greek New Testament (4th ed.) (579). Federal Republic of Germany: United Bible Societies.
[2] The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament.
[3] The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament.
[4] The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament.
[5] The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament.
[6]Geisler, N. L. (1999). Baker encyclopedia of Christian apologetics. Baker reference library (38). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.

Faith Part 1

"And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6, NASB95)
What is faith?
I recall a story of a young boy who was asked what faith is by his Sunday school teacher; he replied that “faith is believing something that you know is not true.”
In his work “He is There and is not Silent” Francis Schaeffer tells the following story in order to clarify the meaning of faith.
“One must analyze the word faith and see that it can mean two completely opposite things.
Suppose we are climbing in the Alps and are very high on the bare rock, and suddenly the fog shuts down. The guide turns to us and says that the ice is forming and that there is no hope; before morning we will all freeze to death here on the shoulder of the mountain. Simply to keep warm the guide keeps us moving in the dense fog further out on the shoulder until none of us have any idea where we are. After an hour or so, someone says to the guide, “Suppose I dropped and hit a ledge ten feet down in the fog. What would happen then?” The guide would say that you might make it until the morning and thus live. So, with absolutely no knowledge or any reason to support his action, one of the group hangs and drops into the fog. This would be one kind of faith, a leap of faith.
Suppose, however, after we have worked out on the shoulder in the midst of the fog and the growing ice on the rock, we had stopped and we heard a voice which said, “You cannot see me, but I know exactly where you are from your voices. I am on another ridge. I have lived in these mountains, man and boy, for over sixty years and I know every foot of them. I assure you that ten feet below you there is a ledge. If you hang and drop, you can make it through the night and I will get you in the morning.”
I would not hang and drop at once, but would ask questions to try to ascertain if the man knew what he was talking about and if he was not my enemy. In the Alps, for example, I would ask him his name. If the name he gave me was the name of a family from that part of the mountains, it would count a great deal to me. In the Swiss Alps there are certain family names that indicate mountain families of that area. In my desperate situation, even though time would be running out, I would ask him what to me would be the adequate and sufficient questions, and when I became convinced by his answers, then I would hang and drop.
This is faith, but obviously it has no relationship to the other use of the word. As a matter of fact, if one of these is called faith, the other should not be designated by the same word. The historic Christian faith is not a leap of faith in the post-Kierkegaardian sense because He is not silent, and I am invited to ask the adequate and sufficient questions, not only in regard to details, but also in regard to the existence of the universe and its complexity and in regard to the existence of man. I am invited to ask adequate and sufficient questions and then believe Him and bow before Him metaphysically in knowing that I exist because He made man, and bow before Him morally as needing His provision for me in the substitutionary, propitiatory death of Christ”.[1]
Albert Barns in his “Notes on the Bible” stated:
A belief that there is such a place as London or Calcutta, leads us to act as if this were so, if we have occasion to go to either; a belief that money may be made in a certain undertaking, leads people to act as if this were so; a belief in the veracity of another leads us to act as if this were so. As long as the faith continues, whether it be well-founded or not, it gives all the force of reality to what is believed. We feel and act just as if it were so, or as if we saw the object before our eyes.[2]
Webster defines faith as “firm belief in something for which there is no proof” [3]
Is that how we are to live the Christian life? Just believe with no basis for that belief? For some Christians that is exactly how they choose to live, but that is not how God wants us to live out our Christian lives.
God defines faith in Hebrews 11:1 " Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1, NASB95)
In order to understand what faith is we will have to look closely at Hebrews 11:1.

[1]Schaeffer, F. A. (1996, c1982). The complete works of Francis A. Schaeffer : A Christian worldview. Westchester, Ill.: Crossway Books.
[2] Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible, Albert Barnes
[3]Merriam-Webster, I. (2003). Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary. Includes index. (Eleventh ed.). Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, Inc.

Back to school

Last Thursday I returned to school as a full time student for the first time in 22 years. I must say at the outset that I love being a student almost as much as I love teaching. One of the classes that I am taking is a biology class and it is steeped in evolution.
Now I understand that evolution can be applied in two major senses, micro and macro. Micro evolution is, or evolution on the small scale is demonstrable and in most cases true. An example of micro evolution would be dog breeding. Mate dog A with dog B and get new breed of dog C or get a dog of the same breed as the other two with a specific trait. While on the other hand macro evolution, which has never been demonstrated, is on the large scale; for example, a dinosaur changing into a bird.
After the first class I was conflicted as to what I should do and Saturday morning God provided the answer through a post on the AIG Blog. That article has given me insight into how to attend the class and answer questions without compromising my beliefs.

Thoughts on Job

I finished reading Job again a few days ago and I have decided to jot down a few thoughts that I have on the book.
1. God Himself describes Job as a man of “perfect integrity”. (Job 1:8)
2. With perfect integrity comes maxim testing.
3. Job’s testing provided opportunity testing for his wife and friends.
a. Job’s wife became overwhelmed with the details and circumstances of life.
b. Job’s wife failed to function as his helper.
c. Job’s only recorded response to his wife’s inability to orient to God was a rebuke.
d. Job’s friends intended comfort.
e. They became a source of greater testing.
4. Job’s wife and three of his four friends failed their test.
5. In seeking to justify himself to his friends Job lost perspective on his relationship to God.
6. Job’s loss of perspective led to an attitude of “I am righteous, who are You, God, to treat me this way?”
7. God, through the use of Job’s fourth friend and by direct questioning, reoriented Job to a correct creature/Creator perspective.
8. Job was humble enough to repent and confess his sin (Job 42:1-6).
9. Job’s humility was further tested by having to pray for his three friends (Job 42:7-8).
10. Job reaped temporal blessings for passing spiritual testing (Job 42:10-17).
11. Job’s demand for an explanation was never answered.
12. Job’s life was on display before man and angels.
13. Satan’s desire was to destroy Job.
14. Job was under God’s protection and Satan needed permission to approach him.
15. God set limits on what Satan could do.
16. Job’s testing lasted only as long as necessary to accomplish God’s design.
17. Job did not have any written bible or the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
18. Job was a gentile.

How we are to function in Christ.

Justification is the act by which God gets us out of sin (legally). Sanctification is the process by which God gets sin out of us (actually).[1]
"So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:12-13)
Once we become believers in Christ God provides us with assets that allow us to function in Christ. The focus of our study will not be on those assets but instead on the function.
1. Faith: this allows us to utilize the assets provided to us.
2. Prayer: allows us to commutate with God and express our understanding of His will. It also allows us to become partakers in the work of other Christians that we may never meet.
3. Bible study: allows for our mind to be renewed.
4. Brotherly love: provides the basis for our interaction with fellow Christians.
These are not all of the areas that we function in, but only the basic ones. As we develop the basic functional areas God will guide us to the specific functional areas for us. An example of a specific functional area would be the spiritual gift that we receive at the moment of salvation.
For teaching on the assets provided to us at salvation I recommend the teaching on Salvation Grace Blessings as taught by Pastor Cliff Beveridge.

[1] Systematic Theology Volume Three, p 217, Dr. Norman Geisler.

How God sees us in Christ.

God presently sees us “in Christ”. Once we believe in Christ for salvation then we are considered justified to God. “Justification is an instantaneous, past act of God by which one is saved from the guilt of sin-his record is cleared and he is guiltless before the Judge (Rom 8:1).”[1]
To help us understand this we must consider Romans 3:23-26. Justification is a judicial act where by God, on the basis of the finished work of Christ, declares us not guilty. Because of this declaration God is able to place us in Christ and begin to work on us in order to conform us to the image of Christ. This allows God to maintain His perfect justice, and righteousness while still being able to deal with us as sons.
God is able to do this because Christ functioned as a propitiation for sin. This means that the sacrifice that Christ made was acceptable to God; because it was acceptable God is able to impute our sins to Christ and impute Christ’s righteousness to us. This imputation allows all of the legal charges against us to be cleared and in the court of heaven we are moved from the docket of the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15) to the docket of the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10). The difference between these two judgments are that those at the Great White Throne will have their deeds examined in order to prove that they were not effective to save them; whereas at the Judgment Seat of Christ the motives behind the deeds will be used to assign rewards.
At no time throughout this processes does who we are or what we have done count for anything. (Isaiah 64:6) We have no standing before God apart from Christ. In Christ, however, by yielding to the Holy Spirit we can let God accomplish much (Philippians 4:13).

[1] Systematic Theology Volume Three, p 235, Dr. Norman Geisler.

Churches

Last week I wrote about the altar call my thoughts on it were sparked by a song by Casting Crowns. Today I have read an article on the AIG web site titled “Today’s Youth—Walking Away from Truth”. It chronicles how young people today are abandoning Christianity once they enter college. It makes the point the young adults have not been given a basis for their belief.
I grew up in a Southern Baptist church; I went to church each Sunday morning and some Sunday and Wednesday nights. Every Sunday morning and most Sunday nights the pastor would spend 30 to 40 minutes explaining to a group of Christians how to get saved. This came after about 20 minutes of singing with some prayer thrown in for good measure.
Sunday school was for bible stories until we became high school aged then it turned to dealing with the issues that we faced daily. Wednesday night usually had more in depth teaching.
The main emphasis of this church was getting people saved.
After I got married I was introduced to what are called Doctrinal churches. These are independent churches that teach the bible, usually one or two books at a time verse by verse and dealing with subjects as they come up. For example the church that I attend now finished the book of 1st Corinthians with a total of 693 hours of teaching.
The main emphasis of this church is equipping believers to function in their Christian life.
In the church that I grew up in I learned how to get saved and that once I was saved I would always be saved. At the church that I attend now I have learned that there is a Christian life after salvation and before glorification.
I had a few friends while I was in college who were pastors. Some had gone to seminary some had not. Of the ones who went to seminary they all told me how they had taken classes on preaching in which they were told to keep their messages simple, “three points and a poem” so to speak. They had classes on church history and doctrine but were encouraged not to teach that once they had their own church because the common people would be board and would not understand. I think that this attitude comes from wanting to draw in and keep the largest number of people that one can. Looking back now I cannot remember any Baptist preacher who was satisfied with the number of people in his church. They were always setting numeric goals or having a high attendance Sunday. I wonder what would have happened if they would have just Sheppard the flock of God among you and let God give the increase.

Altar Call

Casting Crowns has a song called “The Altar and the Door”, it is a very good song and it started me thinking about the altar call and the church that I grew up in.
I grew up in a small town Southern Baptist church in Commerce Oklahoma and like other protestant churches in the U. S. and the altar call is a prominent feature of each service. Practically speaking it was a pointless exercise.
Let me explain. When the invitation was given at the end of a service people who were concerned about the state of their Christian life or their lost estate would come to the front for prayer and counseling. What usually happened though was when they came forward what they got was a quick prayer and a card to fill out then they would stand next to the pastor and people would come by and extend the right hand of fellowship. As a young man in high school this is the help that I got whenever I came forward seeking answers to the problems facing me. I had friends who attended other churches and they got the same treatment or worse. I remember one friend who was repeatedly drug to the altar and told to repent. That led him to reject all things to do with God and salvation.
I found an article written by Keith Green that explains the history of the altar call:
“the altar call was invented only about 150 years ago. It was first used by the American evangelist, Charles Finney, as a means of separating out those who wanted to talk further about the subject of salvation. Finney called the front pew "the anxious seat" (for those who were "anxious" about the state of their souls) or "the mourner's bench." Finney never "led them in a prayer," but he and a few others would spend a great deal of time praying with and giving specific instruction to each, one by one, until finally, everyone was sent home to pray and continue seeking God until "they had broken through and expressed hope in Christ," as Finney would say.The early Salvation Army, going a bit further on Finney's innovation, developed what they called "the penitent form" or "the mercy seat." After a rousing time of singing and preaching, they would invite any sinner present who wanted to confess his sins to God and repent, to come to the front, and they would be prayed for individually. I have met a few older Christians who used to attend some of these early meetings, and they said that sometimes people would stay there all night, and on a few occasions, even a few days, weeping and confessing their sins with broken hearts. There were always some who would stay right there to instruct them further, encouraging them to make a clean sweep of sin from their lives.”[1]

D. L. Moody used the altar call in his revivals and I found this in an article online:
“One time, just before the great Chicago fire, he gave a message and then told the audience to think about making a commitment to Jesus and then come back the next week; however, the next day the fire took many of their lives.”[2]
After that he always gave an altar call at the end of his meetings.
The church that I attend now does not use the altar call instead the pastor lets the Word of God as it is taught in each class to do the counseling and if someone has a question or is struggling with something then they are encouraged to speak with him or one of the deacons in a setting where they get more than just a few moments.
The altar call was a good idea and used correctly it still is a good idea, but if all it is is a quick prayer, a card and a handshake then it is not just a waste of time it is dangerous.

[1] What's Wrong With the Gospel? Section 2: "The Added Parts" by Keith Green
[2] Dwight Moody God's Just Do It Man Author unknown http://www.washingtonubf.org/Resources/Leaders/DwightMoody.html

How God sees us apart from Christ.

"The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit." (Psalm 5:5-6, NASB95)
"But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear." (Isaiah 59:2, NASB95)
These verses give us a rather good look at how God sees man apart from Christ. You might think that you are a rather good person and that surly God will overlook your shortcomings. That is not true. God is a holy God and expects the same from us. Dr. Geisler stated it perfectly in his Systematic Theology:
“From a theological stand point, sin is anything that falls short of God’s perfect moral nature. Paul wrote that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) God said “I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy” (Lev. 11:45). It is plain, then, that the ultimate objective standard is God’s absolute moral perfection, and anything that falls short of it is sin.” [1]
Sin in its most basic definition means to miss the mark. (Hebrew חָטָא chata H2398 and Greek ἁμαρτάνω hamartanō G264). And missing the mark has consequences. In a game of darts missing the mark means having a lower score and perhaps loosing the game. In our relationship to God missing the mark means separation from Him in hell. Hell is basically, forever being alone with no check on all the desires of your heart and with no way to fulfill those desires.
Why cannot God overlook sin? He makes the rules, so why does he not just choose to overlook our sin?
It is because of His perfect nature that He cannot. To overlook our sin would be a violation of his perfection. While it is true that He is perfect love, He is also perfect righteousness, and perfect justice. In order to deal with our sin without destroying His perfect nature God had to come up with a plan that satisfies His justice and righteousness.
If God’s standard is perfection and our best is far short of perfection, then what hope is there for us?
If you got a really good running start and tried to jump the Grand Canyon, you would have a very bad day. If on the other hand there were a bridge you could walk across then you would be able to cross. Jesus Christ is the bridge between God and man.
Only perfection could satisfy God’s justice and righteousness. Christ offered His perfection to mankind in the only way that would be available to all; by the means of faith. God’s view of a person changes when they believe in Christ. His justice and righteousness are satisfied and He is free to have a relationship with that person.

[1] Systematic Theology Volume Three, p106, Norman Geisler.

Verse Three

Part one:
Verse three
For through the grace given to me…
Λέγω γὰρ διὰ τῆς χάριτος τῆς δοθείσης μοι…
What grace was given to Paul? To understand this we need to look at Paul’s beginning. We first encounter Paul (Saul) in Acts 7:58 as he watches the robes of the ones stoning Stephen. In chapter 8 we see that Paul (Saul) not only agreed with what they were doing but became the Christians chief persecutor. We next see Paul (Saul) in Acts 9 leaving for Damascus with letters to arrest followers of the Way. In verse 4 we see that Paul (Saul) meats Christ. After this we are introduced to Ananias. I want you to notice what God tells Ananias, But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Acts 9:15-16 (NASB95)
The next thing that we need to see about Paul is found in 2 Corinthians 6:4-10. This is a list of the grace given to Paul and it is the basis for Paul to “prove what the will of God is”. Notice in the list of things that Paul went through that God was always faithful. By the time that Paul wrote Romans he had already written 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, and Galatians. The church at Rome would have been familiar with at least one or two of these books if not all of them. So what Paul is saying here is “because I have found God faithful do this thing”.
not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think
μὴ ὑπερφρονεῖν παρʼ ὃ δεῖ φρονεῖν
What is being spoken of here is a self assessment. It used to be known as a proper self esteem, but self esteem has grown to mean self love so I hesitate to use that term. Instead think of it as a self assessment based upon experience. To understand this we will need to consider:
1. How God sees us apart from Christ.
2. How God sees us in Christ.
3. How we are to function in Christ.
4. How that functioning enables us to grow.
5. The assets provided to us for growth.
6. How we properly assess that growth.
7. The outcome of growth.
All of this must be considered so we can think about ourselves with sound judgment. Once we understand this then we will know where we stand in our relation to God, to others and to ourselves.

Self Concept

As we begin this next section (verses 3-8) we shall do so in three parts. Part one is verse three, part two is verses four and five and part three will be verses six through eight.
We need to understand that the truth in these verses build upon and are possible because of our understanding of verses one and two. As we begin to understand our place in God’s plan and begin to act upon His will our understanding of ourselves will become clearer. This understanding grows over time; it is not an all at once kind of thing.
One last thought before we begin, our self concept is not all about us. It is a correct understanding of our place in Christ. If one tries to find oneself outside of Christ the only thing that that will be found is a shell filled by the world. If one tries to find oneself within Christ then true self will be found.

So that you may  prove what the will of God is

Now we come to the purpose clause, in other words this tells us why we are to do the previous things. The purpose is to prove, what is being proven is the will of God and the will of God is good, acceptable and perfect.
The word translated as prove is δοκιμάζειν. In order to understand it we will need to look at a few other verses where it is used. I had to look through several lexicons before I settled upon the one with the best definition and that is from Louw and Nida.
LN 27.45 δοκιμάζωa; δοκιμήa, ῆς f; δοκίμιονa, ου n; δοκιμασία, ας f: to try to learn the genuineness of something by examination and testing, often through actual use—‘to test, to examine, to try to determine the genuineness of, testing.’[1]
The first verse that we need to look at is Luke 12:56. It occurs twice in this verse and in the NASB is translated analyze and in the HCSB as interpret. The main point of the verse is that they can see the evidence and come to a rational conclusion (the first part of the verse) or they can see the evidence and come to an irrational conclusion (The last part of the verse). In both cases it involves a consideration of facts to reach a conclusion.
The next verse we shall consider is Romans 1:28. Here the NASB translates it at see fit and the HCSB as think it worthwhile. Once again we have a consideration of evidence, the rejection of a rational conclusion and here I want to notice the consequence. God gave them over to a depraved mind (NASB) worthless mind (HCSB). The word used is ἀδόκιμον; this is a negation of δοκιμάζω in the adjective form. In other words God removes their ability to reach a rational conclusion. I have experienced this myself while I was under discipline. And in my case it not only involved the inability to reach a rational conclusion in certain areas it included the inability to understand why others could not reach the same conclusions that I did. Only now after being restored to God can I see how irrational that I was.
So the idea that we have being expressed here is consider the evidence and reach a rational conclusion about the will of God. Based upon the evidence the conclusion that one will reach is that it is that the will of God is good acceptable and perfect (NASB), good, pleasing and perfect (HCSB). It is not my intention to go into a full study of the will of God right now, but I do want to say that when someone begins seeking God’s will they will find that it is good, pleasing and perfect. It is also something that must be pursued starting with the things that are revealed in God’s word before He will begin to reveal specific things to that person.

Summation:
I hope that verse one and two have impressed upon you that everything begins with a right relationship with God. It involves orienting yourself to God and His plan and adjusting yourself accordingly. Do not expect God to adjust to you; once you stop trying to adjust God to your way of thinking then and only then can God begin to adjust your self concept. As God makes this adjustment He will do so slowly and in His time and in such a way as to bring the maximum glory to Christ.

[1]Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996, c1989). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament : Based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition.) (1:331). New York: United Bible societies.

Truth

I have been thinking a lot about truth lately. Can truth be known? Is truth exclusive? Does truth depend upon ones point of view?
The first step is to define truth. Truth is what corresponds to its referent. Truth about reality is what corresponds to the way things really are. Truth is “telling it like it is.” This correspondence applies to abstract realities as well as actual ones. There are mathematical truths. There are also truths about ideas. In each case there is a reality, and truth accurately expresses it.[1]
The next step is to define non-truth. Falsehood, then, is what does not correspond. It tells it like it is not, misrepresenting the way things are. The intent behind the statement is irrelevant. If it lacks proper correspondence, it is false.[2]
Allow me to illustrate. 1+1=2. The statement “1+1” corresponds to the statement “2” that makes this a true statement. If we change the statement to 1+1=4 then we end up with a “false” or “untrue” statement. This is because the statement “1+1” does not correspond to “4”. This concept also holds true for non math applications it is just simpler to illustrate using math.
Another way to illustrate this is:
Suppose that I bought a six pack of beer took it home, set down on my couch and proceeded to drink five of them. At some point after this my wife comes home and smells the beer on my breath and asked me “How many beers have you drunk?” At this point I decide that “truth” is defined as “what works for me” not as “that which corresponds to its referent”. And I reply “two”. Now this “truth” works for me because she will not be mad at me for drinking too much, but this “truth” has a drawback. Let us suppose at this point my wife looks in the fridge and sees a six pack container that contains one, not three, beers. This is what I call the point where that which works for me meets that which corresponds to its referent and since two does not correspond to five empty slots in the six pack container the truth that worked for me did not work for her and now I am sleeping on the couch.
In the illustration above the truth that worked for me was not just “non-truth” but was in fact a lie. What made it a lie was intent, not merely the statement being factually inaccurate but the deception behind the inaccurate statement. For example 2000 years ago the people who taught that the earth was flat were not telling a lie, they were making a truth claim based upon inaccurate data. The statement was still false but not necessarily a lie. By the way believing that the earth was flat did not make it so. The earth was just as round then as it is now. The point being that sincere belief in a non truth does not impact reality only the way in which one interacts with reality. This leads us to some interesting conclusions. The sincere belief that the world is flat will not adversely impact your ability to live on the earth. The sincere belief that the container of sulfuric acid is water will. The point being that holding a “sincere belief” has no merit.
Truth claims are the basis for belief. Belief is how we function in life. Everything that we do or do not do is based on what we believe. Permit me illustrate. This morning I took a shower. Before I turned on the water I held the belief that turning the knob would cause water to flow. I held this belief because I have prior experience with doing this; I also have a vague understanding of how water gets to my shower from the water facility in our town. If I did not believe that water would come out when I turned on the fixture then I would not have turned the knob. My belief that water would come out when I turned on the knob was based upon the truth claim that if I pay my water bill then the city will not turn off my water. This truth claim is valid because paying ones water bill corresponds to receiving water. In this case a valid truth claim plus belief equals action resulting in a non-smelly me. The knowledge that I held in this matter, namely prior experience and a vague understanding of my towns water delivery system had no impact upon the fact that when I turned the knob water came out. In other words my belief had no merit. The merit was in the object of my belief. My knowledge had no impact upon the ability of the object of my belief to perform its function; conversely if I had a lack of belief that also would not have impacted the ability of the object of my lack of belief to perform its function.
Let me illustrate. A soldier is driving on a road in Iraq. The soldier has been told that there are no IEDs on the rout that he is traveling. The soldier believes the report. An IED explodes as he passes it on the road. All of the facts that led to the report that there were not any IEDs did not impact the truth that there was one. The belief in the report did not impact the truth that there was one. If truth were subjective in any way then the report would have negated the IED from existence.
Truth is exclusive. Non- truth is inclusive to the point that it only excludes that which corresponds to the referent. Permit me to illustrate. 1+1=2 is true because it corresponds to its referent. If =2 is that to which the statement refers any statement that does not correspond to =2 is not true.
That is all well and good but what does any of this have to do with Christ?
Jesus made the claim that He is the way, the truth and the life… (John 14:6). This is a truth claim and a claim of exclusivity. This statement can only be valid if truth is knowable and exclusive. Truth can only be knowable if it corresponds to its referent. If truth corresponds to its referent then truth is exclusive. If truth is exclusive then Christ is the way, the truth and the life.
[1]Geisler, N. L. (1999). Baker encyclopedia of Christian apologetics. Baker reference library (742). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.
[2]Geisler, N. L. (1999). Baker encyclopedia of Christian apologetics. Baker reference library (742). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.

Romans 12

I intend to return to the Romans study on Monday, unless of course, God changes my mind between now and then.
More than likely I will only be posting the Romans study on Mondays, I may try to post twice a week, but as I am preparing to start school at Texas State San Marcos my time will become even more limited.

Battle Drills

What is a battle drill? In the army we have what are called battle drills. They are actions that are taken for a given situation and they are well rehearsed so that they become second nature. Examples of battle drills would be react to contact, react to indirect fire or clear a room. An example of actions to be taken would be get down, seek cover, and return fire. These actions are rehearsed to the point that they become reflexive in the situation that they were intended for.
In our Christian walk we should develop battle drills to combat situations that we encounter. For example, if one has a problem with anger memorize verses that deal with anger, rehearse them, and make them second nature. That way when a situation arises where one could become angry those verses come immediately to mind.
One of the first actions in any battle drill that we develop to deal with our weakness should be pray. Ask or strength and guidance to deal with the temptation. If we fail the test then we utilize 1 John 1:9 and move on from there. If we are not in fellowship we will not pass any test.

Conclusion

As believers in Jesus Christ we are in a war. If we do not learn to put on our armor and use the weapons of our warfare then we will become casualties or be taken prisoner by the enemy.
In 2 Corinthians 10:5 we read “we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,” are you taking every thought captive or are your thoughts taking you captive?
Are you serving as a soldier? Or are you AWOL from the conflict?

Was physical death a result of Adams fall?

"God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This food will be for you, for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth—everything having the breath of life in it. ⌊I have given⌋ every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. Evening came, and then morning: the sixth day." (Genesis 1:29-31, HCSB)
1. From the passage above we can clearly see that plant death existed before the fall.
2. If plants and their fruit did not die then they could not be eaten and digested.
3. From the passage above we can clearly see that the function of eating was for food, not for pleasure.
4. The purpose of food is to sustain life.
5. From this we can infer the potential, but not the necessity for human and animal death.
6. No prohibition to eating meat was recorded; only the positive statement of plants being what is intended to be eaten. God did not give the positive command to eat meat until Noah and after the flood.
7. If animals, birds and insects did not eat meat before the flood then when one of them died they could only be removed from nature by roting as there could be no scavengers.

"The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”" (Genesis 2:15-17, HCSB) "
וּמֵעֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע לֹא תֹאכַל מִמֶּנּוּ כִּי בְּיוֹם אֲכָלְךָ מִמֶּנּוּ מוֹת תָּמוּת׃“(Genesis 2:17, AFAT)”
and of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou dost not eat of it, for in the day of thine eating of it—dying thou dost die.’" (Genesis 2:17, YLT)
but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you may not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, dying you shall die. (Genesis 2:17, LITV)
"ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ ξύλου τοῦ γινώσκειν καλὸν καὶ πονηρόν, οὐ φάγεσθε ἀπ̓ αὐτοῦ, ἧ δ̓ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ φάγητε ἀπ̓ αὐτοῦ, θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖσθε." (Genesis 2:17, LXX)
1. Out of ten different translations only Young’s Literal Translation, The Literal Translation of the Bible and the Septuagint translate the Hebrew as “dying you will die”.
2. The literal Hebrew words used are “dying you will die”, not “you will surly die”
3. “You will surly die” is a legitimate translation of the Hebrew, although I still think that “dying you will die” is the better translation.
4. The fact and necessity for plant death was established from Genesis 1:29-31
5. In order to understand the consequences of disobedience Adam would have to understand the concept of death.
6. The death in view here is both spiritual and physical death, with the emphasis being on spiritual death.
7. The thought being conveyed in Gen. 2:17 is “dyeing physically you will die spiritually.
8. Adam clearly understood the command and the consequences.
9. My understanding of this is not settled and is open to modification.

My conclusion is, based upon my understanding of the text, that the potential, but not the necessity for physical death existed before Adam sinned and that as a result of the fall both the potential and necessity of physical and spiritual death resulted. Only believers in the rapture generation will not have the necessity of physical death.

How we fight

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Our fight is in two arenas, we fight through prayer and we fight by our outward witness. When we are tested we hold up and give glory to God. Others will see this and as they see our lives they may come to God consciousness. And perhaps we would then be able to share the gospel with them.
In Matthew 5:44 we read “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”
Through prayer we can participate in battles occurring all over the world, or right here in our own back yard.
How do we know what to pray? Study Gods word and as you do you will learn how and what to pray. Attend prayer meetings and you will discover needs of others. Become partakers in their struggles and rejoice in their victories. And allow them to do the same for you.
As we become transformed by Gods word our actions to others will start to change as will our reactions to them. I recall hearing about a meeting between a pro-abortion and an anti-abortion leader. I do not recall their names. What I read was from the pro-abortionist’s perspective. She had stated that when she met with her adversary she expected fire and brimstone, but instead that person shared the gospel with her and that she found that person to be genuinely concerned about her as a person. Perhaps if more Christians were like that we would make more headway against this world

The Sword

and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
A sword is both a defensive and offensive weapon. With it you can block the blows of the enemy and with it you can strike the enemy down. In Hebrews 4:12 we read “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” We see that it is able to get into the inner most being.
We see how the sword of truth is used in Matthew 4:4-11. Notice that the tempter came in a time of weakness and made his attack. Notice also that each attack was met with the word of God. The tempter also used the word in a miss application but that was turned aside by rightly dividing the word and comparing scripture with scripture. In the end the tempter left in defeat. But we see in the parallel account of this in Luke 4:4-13 the tempter only left until a more opportune time. As long as we are alive the battle is not over.

The Helmet

And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION
As believers we are saved from the penalty of sin, the power of sin and ultimately from the very presence of sin.
The first stage of salvation is called justification, salvation from the penalty of sin. Justification is an instantaneous, past act of God by which one is saved from the guilt of sin- his record is cleared and he is guiltless before the judge. [1] We can see this in Romans 8:1. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. In other words we are freed from our past. This is also the basis by which God can have fellowship with us.
The second stage of salvation is called sanctification, salvation form the power of sin. Unlike justification, sanctification is not an act of God declaring us righteous; rather, it is a continual process in the present by which God is making us righteous. [2]
Because of sanctification it is no longer necessary that we sin. Before salvation we did not have a choice as to whether or not we sinned. After salvation we can choose to submit to God and allow him to change us or we can choose to submit to the old sin nature and return to what we once were. If we choose the old sin nature then our fellowship with God is broken. We utilize 1 john 1:9 to return to fellowship. If we choose not to return to fellowship then we fall under divine discipline.
The third stage of salvation is called glorification. Unlike justification (which saved us from the past penalty of sin) and sanctification (which is saving us from the present power of sin) glorification is the future act that will save us from the very presence of sin.[3] This can be seen in Revelation 21:1-4.

[1] Dr. Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology Volume Three p 235.
[2] Dr. Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology Volume Three p 237.
[3] Dr. Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology Volume Three p 241.

The Shield

in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Why is faith a shield? To understand this we must consider Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” The word for faith is πίστις (4102) and means to win over persuade. Faith. Subjectively meaning firm persuasion, conviction, belief in the truth, veracity, reality or faithfulness (though rare). Objectively meaning that which is believed, doctrine, the received articles of faith.[1] Faith is a weighting of the evidence, both for and against and reaching a conclusion based on that evidence. So we see that faith is an orientation to reality. But what is reality? Reality is what is actually real, not what we think, or perceive as real. Let me give an example: for thousands of years people thought that the earth was flat, that was perceived reality. What was the biblical view of reality at that time? For that we turn to Isaiah 40:22 “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.” (Emphasis added) So much for perceived reality. It took science a thousand years or so to catch up with the bible.
The Greek word for assurance is ὑπόστασις (5287) and it means to place or set under. In general, that which underlies the apparent, hence, reality, essence, substance; that which is the basis of something, hence, assurance guarantee, confidence.[2] This assurance comes from faith, not wishful thinking, but faith based on proven reality.
Consider Proverbs 30:5 “Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. “ Faith is a shield because of who our faith is in. Faith in the wrong thing, no matter how sincere is useless. Let me illustrate. I once knew a man whose sister loved fresh picked mushrooms. She knew which ones could be eaten and which could not. One day she ate what she was convinced was a save mushroom to eat. It nearly killed her. Afterwards, if you ask her she would still tell you that she believed it was a safe mushroom to eat. Despite that belief she nearly died. Her faith was useless.
As our trust in God grows we are able to turn aside the enemy’s attacks. Faith is like a muscle though; if you do not use it then it withers. You cannot ignore God every day then expect to be able to trust Him to deliver you in your time of need.

[1] The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament
[2] The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament