R.C. Sproul's Blog, page 496

Twitter Highlights (1/13/13)

Here are highlights from our various Twitter accounts over the past week.

Death taketh all from us-honors and riches, and strength, and life; but it cannot take God and Christ from us (T Manton)

— Ligonier Academy (@LigonierAcademy) January 8, 2013

We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private. —C.S. Lewis ligm.in/13cL2YW

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) January 8, 2013

...the more godly we are, the more devout we will strive to be and the more painfully aware of our sin we will be. —R.C. Sproul

— Reformation Trust (@RefTrust) January 9, 2013

We lost a paradise by sin, and have gained a heaven by the cross (Stephen Charnock).

— Tabletalk Magazine (@Tabletalk) January 10, 2013

"...the evidence from science is...that a fetus is a living human person prior to birth." —R.C. Sproul ligm.in/Xefj9n #abortion

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) January 10, 2013

Natural man’s sin is precisely this: He wants the benefits of God without God Himself. —R.C. Sproul

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) January 11, 2013

Morning Devotions @ Ligonier Ministries instagr.am/p/UWVwQ1Cast/

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) January 11, 2013

You can also find our various ministries on Facebook:

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Pro-Choice: What Does It Mean?

What is the substance of the pro-choice position? If a woman says that she personally would not have an abortion but does not want to deny someone else's right to do it, on what grounds would this woman hesitate to get an abortion? Perhaps she simply wants to have as many babies as possible and doesn't anticipate ever facing an unwanted pregnancy. Maybe this person thinks a fetus is a living human being or is not sure about the fetus' status. Perhaps she believes that the fetus is a living human being but does not want to impose this view on others. Here we reach the crux of the pro-choice position. Is the right to choose an absolute right? Do we have the moral right to choose what is morally wrong? To ask such a question is to answer it.

Again, every law enacted limits or restricts someone's choices. That is the very nature of law. If we do not wish to restrict other people's choices through legislation, we must stop legislating and cease voting. I think that most people will grant that freedom of choice is not an absolute freedom. No human being is an absolute law unto himself. Unless we are prepared to buy into an ethical system of pure relativism by which law and society become impossible, we must flee as the wind from the proposition that the individual is autonomous. To move from the abstract into the concrete, I wonder whether pro-choice activists object to laws protecting their personal property rights? Does the thief breaking into a home to steal someone's television have the inalienable right to make that choice? Does a man have the right to choose to rape a woman? These extreme examples make it obvious that freedom of choice cannot be considered an absolute right.

No unborn baby has ever had the right to choose or deny its own destruction. —R.C. Sproul

At what line must freedom of choice end? I believe it ends where my freedom of choice steps on another person's inalienable rights of life and liberty. No unborn baby has ever had the right to choose or deny its own destruction. Indeed, as others have said, the most dangerous place in the United States for a human being is inside the womb of a woman. For millions of unborn babies, the womb has become a cell on death row. The inmate is summarily executed without benefit of a trial or a word of defense. This execution literally involves being torn limb from limb. Is this description too graphic? Is it too emotionally provocative? No. It would be only if the description were untrue.

The right to choose, as sacred as it may be, does not carry with it the arbitrary right to destroy a human life. This is as much a miscarriage of justice as it is a miscarriage of a human baby.

For millions of unborn babies, the womb has become a cell on death row. —R.C. Sproul

What is it about the freedom to choose that makes it so precious? What provoked Patrick Henry to cry, "Give me liberty or give me death"? Certainly we desire some self-determination, and the idea of living under external coercion is abhorrent. We are thinking creatures, and we value our freedom to make choices. Most of us would hate being imprisoned, but even in a maximum-security penitentiary, a person's right to choose is not totally stripped away.

It is this principle of self-determination—having a say in my own condition and future—that is brutally denied to every unborn, aborted child. I had no say in my mother's decision whether to have an abortion or to carry me to term. My entire life was in her hands. Had she chosen abortion, my life would have been snuffed out before I was born. You and I are real human beings. We were once helpless to exercise our own precious right to choose. We were once totally dependent on somebody else's choice for our very existence.

The time to choose whether or not to have a baby is not after the baby has been conceived... —R.C. Sproul

A second crucial dimension of the right to choose is the question of when to make the moral choice concerning the baby's life. (Because this involves sexual morality, it is a very unpopular subject in the discussion.) The time to choose whether or not to have a baby is not after the baby has been conceived and begun its development. Except in cases of rape, sexual intercourse with or without means of contraception is still a matter of choice. Choices we make, whether of a sexual or nonsexual nature, always have consequences. It is an axiom of ethics and of law that we are responsible for the consequences of our choices.

When we have sexual intercourse, we may not intend or desire to produce another human life. We are aware, however, that intercourse begins the reproduction process and can produce such offspring. To kill the offspring is hardly a responsible or moral method of handling this decision.

Excerpt adapted from Abortion by R.C. Sproul. The eBook edition of Abortion is currently on sale for 1¢. Offer expires 1/31/13.

Turning It Up to 11, or Why The Means of Grace Rock the House

The only thing worse than falling into a spiritual valley is the conviction that one must always be on a spiritual mountaintop. Though the Bible is the very history of the ups and downs of God's people, God's people go on thinking themselves immune, and that something is terribly wrong if their passion and joy today is not at the same fever pitch it was on the day they came to faith.

There is, of course, a ditch on the other side of the road. We can grow complacent, our ardor having all the vitality of lukewarm water. But cooler than it once was can be a long way from lukewarm. We ought to be taking our spiritual temperature. We ought to pray for passion, joy and gratitude. What we have to watch out for is when the devil comes calling like some diabolical pusher offering us his spiritual uppers.

When we are dissatisfied, when we are looking for more, the devil is more than happy to offer us what we think we need, and keep us from what we truly need. The history of the church is littered with sundry strategies to cure the spiritual blah's. After Constantine turned down the heat and Christianity became acceptable, it got flabby. So monasteries were invented. You leave the world behind, enter into your vows, and become a super-saint. Not long after, universities popped up, with much the same goal. Eventually contemplative prayer forms and then revivals, camp meetings stoked sundry fires, leading us to the annual fad-of-the-day in the broad evangelical world.

Pietism, Methodism, quietism, charismaticism, all of these seemed to offer to the "plateau-ed" Christian a means to get to the next level, to relight the fires, to receive a second blessing, to stand out from the crowd, to draw nearer to the living God. The motive has much to commend it, the means not so much. What all these have in common is that the Bible says not a word about them. They are, every one of them, man made, human inventions to lift us up to God. Which is why they simply do not work. The Bible offers a gospel-infused answer to our problem. We do not labor to draw closer to Him, to stoke the fires of our passion. Instead He draws near to us. He lifts us up. And He does these things through His appointed means.

If we would be closer to God, we must give heed to His word. We must attend to the preaching of the Word. If we would be closer to God, we must sit at His table, and feast in His presence. If we would be closer to God, we must grow closer to those whom He indwells. If we would be closer to God we must cease trying to be a special kind of Christian, and start crying out "Lord, be merciful to me a sinner."

There are no special Christians, only a special Christ. We have no need to ask Him to give us more. We need only ask Him to help us see all that He has already given.

Turning It Up to 11, or Why The Means of Grace Rock the House was originally published at RCSproulJr.com

$5 Friday: Evangelism, Scripture, & Music

It's time for our weekly $5 Friday sale. This week's resources cover such topics as evangelism, music, Scripture, God's holiness, Reformed theology, abortion, theology, and more.

Sale runs through 12:01 a.m. — 11:59 p.m. Friday EST.

View today's $5 Friday sale items.

What Does “coram Deo” Mean?

I remember Mama standing in front of me, her hands poised on her hips, her eyes glaring with hot coals of fire and saying in stentorian tones, "Just what is the big idea, young man?"

Instinctively I knew my mother was not asking me an abstract question about theory. Her question was not a question at all--it was a thinly veiled accusation. Her words were easily translated to mean, "Why are you doing what you are doing?" She was challenging me to justify my behavior with a valid idea. I had none.

Recently a friend asked me in all earnestness the same question. He asked, "What's the big idea of the Christian life?" He was interested in the overarching, ultimate goal of the Christian life.

To answer his question, I fell back on the theologian's prerogative and gave him a Latin term. I said, "The big idea of the Christian life is coram Deo. Coram Deo captures the essence of the Christian life."

This phrase literally refers to something that takes place in the presence of, or before the face of, God. To live coram Deo is to live one's entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.

To live coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.

To live in the presence of God is to understand that whatever we are doing and wherever we are doing it, we are acting under the gaze of God. God is omnipresent. There is no place so remote that we can escape His penetrating gaze.

To be aware of the presence of God is also to be acutely aware of His sovereignty. The uniform experience of the saints is to recognize that if God is God, then He is indeed sovereign. When Saul was confronted by the refulgent glory of the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, his immediate question was, "Who is it, Lord?" He wasn't sure who was speaking to him, but he knew that whomever it was, was certainly sovereign over him.

Living under divine sovereignty involves more than a reluctant submission to sheer sovereignty that is motivated out of a fear of punishment. It involves recognizing that there is no higher goal than offering honor to God. Our lives are to be living sacrifices, oblations offered in a spirit of adoration and gratitude.

To live all of life coram Deo is to live a life of integrity. It is a life of wholeness that finds its unity and coherency in the majesty of God. A fragmented life is a life of disintegration. It is marked by inconsistency, disharmony, confusion, conflict, contradiction, and chaos.

The Christian who compartmentalizes his or her life into two sections of the religious and the nonreligious has failed to grasp the big idea. The big idea is that all of life is religious or none of life is religious. To divide life between the religious and the nonreligious is itself a sacrilege.

This means that if a person fulfills his or her vocation as a steelmaker, attorney, or homemaker coram Deo, then that person is acting every bit as religiously as a soul-winning evangelist who fulfills his vocation. It means that David was as religious when he obeyed God's call to be a shepherd as he was when he was anointed with the special grace of kingship. It means that Jesus was every bit as religious when He worked in His father's carpenter shop as He was in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Integrity is found where men and women live their lives in a pattern of consistency. It is a pattern that functions the same basic way in church and out of church. It is a life that is open before God. It is a life in which all that is done is done as to the Lord. It is a life lived by principle, not expediency; by humility before God, not defiance. It is a life lived under the tutelage of conscience that is held captive by the Word of God.

Coram Deo . . . before the face of God. That's the big idea. Next to this idea our other goals and ambitions become mere trifles.

The Silence of the Lambs

Here's an excerpt from The Silence of the Lambs, R.C. Sproul Jr.'s contribution to the January issue of Tabletalk.

The world, Paul tells us, knows what's coming. Romans 1 not only highlights the universal guilt of all men, but, ironically, defines that guilt as the denial of what we know. We know that there is a God and that we fail to meet His standard. We know, in short, that we are in trouble. But, we seek to suppress that truth in unrighteousness. The lexical background of the Greek word translated as suppress suggests something like a heavy metal spring that we try to hold down as long as we can. I believe, however, that we get closer to the spirit of our sin if we see ourselves, as God is speaking to us, running about with our fingers in our ears shouting, "La, la, la, la, la; I can't hear you!"

Consider how unbelievers in the West tend to live their lives. They may not have their fingers in their ears, but they likely have their ear-buds in their ears. They surround themselves constantly with noise. At work, they have talk radio on. In the car, they play music. When they get home, they turn on the television and become distracted with their eyes as well as their ears. They hyper-schedule their days, moving from one thing that demands their attention to another, their smart-phones buzzing and beeping their daily orders.

Continue reading The Silence of the Lambs online or learn more about the digital edition of Tabletalk.

The Sanctity of Human Life

In biblical terms, the sanctity of human life is rooted and grounded in creation. Mankind is not viewed as a cosmic accident but as the product of a carefully executed creation by an eternal God. Human dignity is derived from God. Man as a finite, dependent, contingent creature is assigned a high value by his Creator.

The creation account in Genesis provides the framework for human dignity: "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (Gen. 1:26–27).

Mankind is not viewed as a cosmic accident but as the product of a carefully executed creation by an eternal God.

Creation in the image of God is what sets humans apart from all other creatures. The stamp of the image and likeness of God connects God and mankind uniquely. Though there is no biblical warrant for seeing man as godlike, there is a high dignity associated with this unique relationship to the Creator.

It has often been suggested that whatever dignity was given mankind through creation was erased or canceled through the fall. Since evil mars the countenance of human beings, is the original image still intact?

Because of the fall, something profound has stained the greatness of humanity. Therefore, we now must distinguish between the image of God in its wide and narrow senses.

The image of God in the narrow sense concerns mankind's ethical capacity and behavior. In creation, man was given the ability and the responsibility to mirror and reflect the holy character of God. Since the fall, the mirror has been splotched by the grime of sin. We have lost our capacity for moral perfection, but we have not lost our humanity with this ethical loss. Man may no longer be pure, but he is still human. Insofar as we are still human, we retain the image of God in the wider sense. We are still valuable creatures. We may no longer be worthy, but we still have worth. This is the resounding biblical message of redemption. The creatures God created are the same creatures He is moved to redeem.

Because Christians speak so tirelessly about human sin, do they have a low view of humanity? Indeed, they have a low view of human virtue, but not a corresponding low view of human worth or importance. It is precisely because the Bible has such a high view of human dignity that Christians take human sin so seriously. If one rat steals another rat's food, we don't get morally outraged. But if one human steals another human's food, we rightly become concerned.

The biblical view indicates that human theft is more serious than rat theft because humans are a higher order of being. As the psalmist indicated, we are created "a little lower than the heavenly beings" (Ps. 8:5).

Human dignity is derived from God.

This ranking of value is deeply rooted within our own humanity. For instance, when the president of the United States is killed, we do not refer to the deed merely as homicide or murder. We have a special word for it: assassination.

During the news reports that followed the announcement of the assassination of President Kennedy, the reporters seemed to have difficulty finding words powerful enough to express their outrage. They called the assassination "diabolical," "fiendish," "inhuman," and other such terms. I wondered at the time what made it difficult to describe Kennedy's murder simply as one human being killing another human being. Not only a devil or a fiend can commit murder. A person is not instantly shorn of humanity when he kills another human. Lee Harvey Oswald was a human being when he pulled the trigger in Dallas.

Does this mean, then, that in the hierarchy of value President Kennedy had more human dignity than Officer Tippet, who was killed the same day in the same city by the same man? By no means! The murder of Officer Tippet was just as much an assault on his dignity as the murder of Kennedy was on his. Each was a human person. Each had personal worth and dignity. Kennedy's person was no more laden with dignity than Tippet's. What made the outrage over Kennedy's death greater than that over Tippet's death was the office Kennedy held. He was the president of the United States. He was the supreme publica persona of our land.

It is by similar reason that an offense against a human is more outrageous than an offense against a rat. Both the rat and the human are creatures created by God. But the "office" of a person is considerably higher than the "office" of the rat. It is mankind—not the rat—who is made in the image of God. It is the human who is given a role of dominion over the earth. Man, not the rat, is God's vice-regent over creation.

Excerpt adapted from Abortion by R.C. Sproul. The eBook edition of Abortion is currently on sale for 1¢. Offer expires 1/31/13.

Recovering Lost Disciplines

Here's an excerpt from Recovering Lost Disciplines, Burk Parsons' contribution to the January issue of Tabletalk.

As I write, I am looking out over the vast and cold Atlantic Ocean as I come to the end of a short family getaway at the beach. I have shut off my mobile phone. I have closed all unnecessary programs on my computer. I have turned off the music I had been listening to while I read a few articles online, and, as is my habit before sitting down to write, I prayed and asked the Lord to grant me discernment as I strive to write for his glory and for the edification of his people.

The missionary and martyr Jim Elliott (1927–1956) wrote, "The devil has made it his business to monopolize on three elements: noise, hurry, crowds…Satan is quite aware of the power of silence." It is difficult to escape the busyness, noise, and crowds of life. We are bombarded by a host of amusements and contraptions, most of which we have enthusiastically welcomed into our lives, homes, communities, and churches. We have conditioned ourselves to distraction, and we are leading the next generation down the same path in a hurry

Continue reading Recovering Lost Disciplines online or learn more about the digital edition of Tabletalk.

Best of 2012: Tabletalk

Each month, a selection of feature articles from Tabletalk are posted on the blog. For your edification, here are ten of the most viewed Tabletalk articles of 2012.

Wisely Handling the Bible's Wise Sayings by R.C. Sproul

"We need to listen to the wisdom of God so that we can cut through the many distractions and confusions of modern life. But, as with the entirety of the Word of God, we need to be zealous to learn how to handle the book of Proverbs properly."

Grace to You: An Interview with John MacArthur

"It's not 'arrogant' by any biblical standard to declare our confidence in the truth of God's Word or to say 'Thus says the Lord' where God has indeed spoken. What's truly arrogant is the notion that God hasn't spoken clearly enough, or that He hasn't told us enough to enable the faithful pastor to teach and preach with that kind of authority."

Sinners in a Fishbowl by Barnabas Piper

"Pastors' kids have a reputation. We are the rebellious ones. We are the contrarians and the problem children. We are hell-raisers and hypocrites. Not all of us, mind you, but the shoe definitely fits for many. (I, for one, have been each of these and more.)"

Not So Fast by Trevin Wax

"Whether your church situation is terrific or terrible right now, it's the gospel that should direct and shape your decision to leave or stay in a church. Circumstances aren't what matter most. Covenantal commitment to the body of Christ is what counts."

Hope For Prodigal Children by Burk Parsons

"When Christian parents don't face up to the difficult reality that they have prodigal children who are wasting their lives by chasing after the temporal pleasures of the world, they likely won't face their children with the truth of the gospel, and, what's more, their children won't face the difficult reality that they are facing eternal condemnation."

Pray the Scriptures by Scotty Smith

"Nothing has been of greater importance to my growth in grace than learning to pray the Scriptures while wearing the lens of the gospel, and nothing has proven to be more fruitful. A gospel-centered approach to praying through the Bible will yield a mind informed by the will of God, a heart enflamed with the love of God, and hands extended in the service of God."

When and How Do We Draw the Line? by Kevin DeYoung

"Everyone wants to be unified in what really matters, to agree to disagree on what isn't as important, and to exercise love in all things. But no one seems to agree on what really matters a lot, a little, or not at all. As hard as it can be determining the content of our faith, it can be even harder figuring out where to put up our fences."

Someone is Wrong on the Internet by R.C. Sproul Jr.

"We read an attack site (discernment blog, as they like to call themselves), and find that the kingdom is crumbling because Joel Osteen's book is being carried in some LifeWay store somewhere, or because a guy in our camp invited a guy in their camp to speak at a conference. We head over to our favorite guru's blog to get the straight skinny on just what the respectable ones are saying about this issue or that. In all this reading, all this key-stroking, what we are really stroking is our egos."

Indispensable Apologetics: An Interview with Ravi Zacharias

"I became a Christian while a teenager in India, the land of my birth. I had struggled with many issues—especially those of failure and disappointing my family. There was a series of events, but the culminating point came when I tried to take my own life."

Pilgrims in a Post-Christian Culture by Voddie Baucham

"This post-Christian culture would have us believe that the only way to bear witness to Christ effectively is to 'contextualize' in a way that essentially leaves the path. We must walk like, talk like, dress like, live like, and love like the world in order to win the world. However, the opposite is actually true."

"Month by month, Tabletalk represents an oasis in a desert of false spirituality, mindless Christianity, and vapid conviction. Tabletalk represents theological rigor, biblical Christianity, and authentic Christian devotion. It is an antidote to the world of superficial Christianity. Read it and grow."

—R. Albert Mohler, Jr.

If you have not yet subscribed to Tabletalk, now is the perfect time. Your print subscription also gives you free access to the digital edition of Tabletalk. For those living in the U.S. and Canada it's only $23 for a year, and $20 to renew. You save even more if you get a 2- or 3-year subscription (as little as $1.36 per issue). We offer special discounts for churches or businesses who want multiple copies of each issue.

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Twitter Highlights (1/6/13)

Here are highlights from our various Twitter accounts over the past week.

Unconverted people live in a continual state of spiritual rebellion against God. —Steve Lawson bit.ly/fB8z7f

— Reformation Trust (@RefTrust) January 1, 2013

If ever there was a time that there was nothing, what there would be now is...nothing. —R.C. Sproul

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) January 2, 2013

...every time we sin, we commit cosmic treason against our Lord and Savior. —R.C. Sproul

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) January 4, 2013

If a man be truly holy, he will show it at home as well as abroad, in his family where his constant converse is (Manton)

— Tabletalk Magazine (@Tabletalk) January 4, 2013

Every bit we eat, and every drop we drink, is mercy; every step we take, and every breath we draw, mercy (Matthew Henry)

— Ligonier Academy (@LigonierAcademy) January 4, 2013

As parents, we must maintain a precarious balance between seeing sin as sin and yet being gracious in dealing with it. —Joel Beeke

— Reformation Trust (@RefTrust) January 5, 2013

The universe exists solely on the basis of God’s sovereign decree and imperative. —R.C. Sproul

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) January 5, 2013

You can also find our various ministries on Facebook:

Ligonier Ministries | Ligonier Academy | Ligonier Connect | RefNet
Reformation Bible College | Reformation Trust | Tabletalk Magazine