R. Albert Mohler Jr.'s Blog, page 290

For the Fall and Rising of Many in Israel

If your house is like mine, the Christmas cards are now arriving at full blast. Some come with letters and notes, some with inscriptions and Christmas messages. The most explicitly Christian cards often feature a manger scene or another biblical scene related to the birth of Christ. Angels are common, of course, usually portrayed in majestic pose ready to announce the birth of Christ.

Peace is a major theme. This is entirely legitimate and proper, even natural to Christmas. Jesus is indeed the Prince of Peace, and peace on earth was one of the promises of the angelic host to the shepherds. The Bible makes clear that Jesus is our peace and that peace is both his gift and the accomplishment of Christ’s messianic mission.

I have never received a Christmas card depicting Armagedddon. No one has yet sent me a Christmas card that takes war as its theme, picturing Christ as the rider on a white horse, a sword coming from his mouth, ready to rule the nations with a rod of iron. This, too, is the accomplishment of Christ’s messianic mission–but one rarely, if ever, mentioned at Christmas.

Christmas cards frequently cite the first half of the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2. Few draw from the last half of the chapter. We turn now to Luke 2:22-35:

“And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,  “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation  that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”  And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed  (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

In this passage we see the obedience of Joseph and Mary to the law, the presentation of the baby Jesus in the Temple, and the declaration of the righteous and devout Simeon. Simeon’s confession of faith is so breathtaking: “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation  that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

But his prophecy is also bracing: “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed  (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

You do not often see Luke 2:35 on a Christmas card. In truth, I have never seen this verse used as a Christmas inscription. But, there it is, right in the heart of the Christmas story.

Simeon told Mary, and Mary directly, that the child to whom she had given birth just days before, the child who had been miraculously conceived within her by the Holy Spirit, was “appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel.”

Indeed he was, and is. The falling and the rising began immediately, and it was not limited to Israel. That fall and rising has never ceased, and it will cease only when the Lord Christ returns to establish his kingdom in its fulness. Until then, headlines tell of fallings and risings from the house of Herod, to the Roman empire, to the Soviet Union, and, inevitably, to the mightiest nations on earth today.

We look out today at the incredible sight of this December 2015 graduating class of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. This graduating class is larger than the enrollment of most seminaries. Within what will seem like the blink of an eye, they will be deployed in fields of ministry, even to the ends of the earth. We are witnesses today to one of the rarest of sights, and one of the greatest encouragements to the Christian church. God is calling ministers and missionaries of the Gospel of Christ and they are responding, and they are obeying, and they are coming for a theological education that is, without apology, committed to the faith once for all delivered to the saints and founded upon the total truthfulness and authority of God’s Word.

They are going into a dangerous world. It is a world of fallings and risings. It is a world increasingly marked by turmoil and tumult and trouble. They are going into a world filled with new terrors and new challenges. When they enrolled at Southern Seminary, we had not yet heard of the Islamic State. Now it fills the headlines and claims the future. What will come next? We cannot yet see and we do not yet know.

But Simeon traced the fall and rising of many in Israel back to the baby laid in Bethlehem’s manger. The Lord who is calling out ministers of his Gospel and servants of his church is the Lord who will rule the nations and judge them, who reigns and judges even now. He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat.

But, until he comes, we are witnesses to the fall and rise of many — of kings and empires and dynasties and world orders. And it is well with our souls. We send out this company of Gospel ministers into a world filled with horrifying headlines and intractable problems. It is also a world that our Lord Christ describes as white unto harvest. He told us to pray for workers for the harvest, and here they are.

Who can be unmoved by this? We have come to know them, to teach them, to learn with them, and to love them. They and their ministries will be indelibly marked by their theological education at Southern Seminary. In turn, Southern Seminary will go with them wherever the Lord may take them, and they will be a part of us, wherever they may go.

They will be ministers of fire, committed to the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. They go into pulpits and they will go into nations to tell all people that salvation comes to all who acknowledge and repent of their sins, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They will point to his birth, and they will point to his sinless life, and they will point to the cross on which he died as a substitute in our place, for ours sins. They will point to the empty tomb and they will declare the power of the resurrected Christ. They will tell multitudes of people the old, old story of Jesus and his love.

They will witness the fall and rise of many in Israel, and they will preach the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.

You can’t put all of that in a mere Christmas card. This gospel demands long faithfulness in ministry. In that light this Christmas season we send these graduates out and marvel at what God will do with them, through them, in them.

So celebrate this commencement day in nothing less than that full and holy confidence. It is the gospel confidence that is the very essence of Christmas.

This is a commencement address delivered by R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Friday, December 11, 2015. We invite you to watch the ceremony and service live at 10:00 AM EST at www.sbts.edu/live.

 

 

The Briefing 12-10-15

Legal suits threaten opt-out provisions for religious convictionsReuters (Colleen Jenkins) — North Carolina sued over gay marriage opt-out lawAlliance Defending Freedom — Swedish midwife denied employment for being pro-life

Study demonstrates absurdity of evolutionary worldview's explanation of moralityThe Atlantic (Emily Esfahani Smith) — Is Human Morality a Product of Evolution?

Reading important to childhood development, central to Christian faithNew York Times (Teddy Wayne) — Our (Bare) Shelves, Our Selves

The Briefing 12-9-15

Influential Federal Judge candidly admits change of mind, court's creation of rightsNew York Times (Richard A. Posner and Eric J. Segal) — Justice Scalia’s Majoritarian TheocracyWashington Post (Ilya Somin) — Judge Posner’s troubling explanation for his shift on same-sex marriageJournal of the University of Chicago Law School (Richard A. Posner) — Book Review (reviewing William N. Eskridge, The Case for Same-Sex Marriage: From Sexual Liberty to Civilized commitment (1996))The Yale Law Journal (Richard A. Posner) — Eighteen Years On: A Re-Review

Lutheran denomination breaks with Boy Scouts after false promise on homosexualityBaptist Press (David Roach) — Lutheran group severs relationship with Scouts

Girls who want to be Boy Scouts challenge commitment of gender revolutionariesNew York Times (Julie Turkewitz) — ‘I Want to Be a Boy Scout.’ There’s Just One Hitch.

Kentucky gubernatorial inauguration reminds Christians of democratic duty to voteLouisville Courier-Journal (Tom Loftus) — Matt Bevin sworn in as Kentucky governor

The Briefing 12-8-15

Dividing line in America defined by theism, not belief in the transcendentCNN (John Inazu) — America's dividing line: Thoughts, prayers and belief in a transcendent God

Feminist Gloria Steinem's individualism glaringly excludes the individual in the wombNPR (Terry Gross) — At 81, Feminist Gloria Steinem Finds Herself Free Of The 'Demands Of Gender'

Bermuda hotel celebrates inclusion by excluding marriage event in the name of diversityThe Daily Signal (Kate Scanlon) — Bermuda Hotel Cancels Heritage Scholar’s Speeches on Same-Sex Marriage for Being ‘Anti-Diversity’Public Discourse (Anthony Esolen) — No Room for Sanity at the Inn: Stifling Democratic Debate over Same-Sex Marriage

Canada primed to legalize marijuana, eyes consequences in ColoradoWashington Post (William Marsden) — Canada’s next big move? It may be legalizing pot.

Genesis 50:1-26

A Comprehensively Secular Life? A Conversation with Professor Phil Zuckerman

Relativity, Moral Relativism, and the Modern Age

This intellectual revolution began with four lectures in late 1915 presented to the Prussian Academy of Sciences. The lectures were given by Albert Einstein, and before the end of the year Einstein would publish his argument for a “General Theory of Relativity.” Those lectures launched an intellectual revolution, and Einstein’s theory of relativity is essential to our understanding of the modern age.

The 100th anniversary of a scientific theory is not necessarily a matter of great cultural importance. Einstein had developed his Special Theory of Relativity a decade earlier, but his General Theory–extended to the entire cosmos–was breathtaking in its revolutionary power. Einstein replaced the world of Newtonian physics with a new world marked by four dimensions, instead of just three. Time, added as a fourth dimension, changed everything.

Einstein summarized his own theory in these words:

“The ‘Principle of Relativity’ in its widest sense is contained in the statement: The totality of physical phenomena is of such a character that it gives no basis for the introduction of the concept of ‘absolute motion;’ or, shorter but less precise: There is no ‘absolute motion.'”

Thus, time, matter, and energy are relative, and not absolute. Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Thomas Levenson recently called Einstein’s theory “the greatest intellectual accomplishment of the twentieth century.” The Economist, marking the centennial of Einstein’s lectures, called the General Theory of Relativity “one of the highest intellectual achievements of humanity.” It is no exaggeration to claim Einstein’s theory as the very foundation of modern cosmology.

And yet, most modern people–even well educated moderns–have little idea of the actual theory or of its scientific significance. In everyday life, Newtonian physics serves very well. Cosmologists may depend on Einstein’s theory in their daily work, but few others do.

Nevertheless, the cultural impact of Einstein’s theory extends far beyond the laboratory or the science classroom. As the twentieth century unfolded, Einstein’s theory of relativity quickly became a symbol and catalyst for something very different — the development of moral relativism.

Einstein was not a moral relativist, nor did he believe that his theories had any essential moral or cultural meaning. He recoiled when his theory of relativity was blamed or credited for the birth of modern art (Cubism, in particular) or any other cultural development.

The philosopher Isaiah Berlin defended Einstein against any such charge:  “The word relativity has been widely misinterpreted as relativism, the denial, or doubt about, the objectivity of truth or moral values.” He continued, “This was the opposite of what Einstein believed. He was a man of simple and absolute moral convictions, which were expressed in all he was and did.”

Fair enough. Albert Einstein was not a moral relativist and his theory of relativity has nothing to do with morality. The problem, however, is simple — Einstein’s theory of relativity entered the popular consciousness as a generalized relativism. The issue here is not to blame Albert Einstein. He is not responsible for the misuse, misapplication, and misappropriation of his theory. But, in any event, for millions of modern people relativity was understood as relativism. And that misunderstanding is one of the toxic developments of the modern age.

As Walter Isaacson, Einstein’s most important biographer, explains:

“In both his science and his moral philosophy, Einstein was driven by a quest for certainty and deterministic laws. If his theory of relativity produced ripples that unsettled the realms of morality and culture, this was not caused by what Einstein believed but by how he was popularly interpreted.”

That is exactly the issue. Einstein, Isaacson reveals, was an influence on the emergence of relativism as a major theme in modern art, philosophy, and morality, even if that was not his intention at all. In Isaacson’s words, “there was a more complex relationship between Einstein’s theories and the whole witch’s brew of ideas and emotions in the early twentieth century that bubbled up from the highly charged cauldron of modernism.”

Historian Paul Johnson gets it exactly right as he describes the cultural impact of Einstein’s theories:

“Is was as though the spinning globe had been taken off its axis and cast adrift in a universe which no longer conformed to accustomed standards of measurement. At the beginning of the 1920s the belief began to circulate, for the first time at a popular level, that there were no longer any absolutes: of time and space, of good and evil, of knowledge, above all of value. Mistakenly but perhaps inevitably, relativity became confused with relativism.”

Johnson goes further, arguing that “the public response to relativity was one of the principle formative influences on the course of twentieth-century history. It formed a knife, inadvertently wielded by its author, to help cut society adrift from its traditional moorings in the faith and morals of Judeo-Christian culture.”

By the middle of the twentieth century, moral relativism was a major influence in the cultural revolutions that reshaped entire societies. Artists, filmmakers, authors, and playwrights were joined by an army of psychotherapists, academics, liberal theologians, and academic revolutionaries — all seeking to reject absolute moral norms and absolute truth and to establish relativism as the new worldview.

They were stunningly successful.

As Allan Bloom famously observed in his 1987 bestseller, The Closing of the American Mind, “There is one thing a professor can be absolutely certain of: almost every student entering the university believes, or says he believes, that truth is relative.”

Moral relativism and the rejection of absolute truth now shape the modern post-Christian mind. Indeed, relativism is virtually taken for granted, at least as an excuse for overthrowing theistic truth claims and any restrictive morality.

And so, Einstein is variously blamed or thanked for a moral revolution he never intended or wanted. The lesson for the rest of us is clear. Not only do ideas have consequences, they often have consequences that are neither foreseen or predicted.

Or, to put it another way — as we think about the centennial of Albert Einstein’s famed lectures on the General Theory of Relativity to the Prussian Academy of Sciences back in 1915, let us remember that what happens in the lecture hall will not stay in the lecture hall.

 

The Briefing 12-07-15

Pres. Obama concedes reality of war with terrorists despite denouncing view in pastNew York Times (Gardiner Harris and Michael D. Harris) — Obama Says of Terrorist Threat: ‘We Will Overcome It’ New York Times (Peter Baker and Eric Schmitt) — California Attack Has U.S. Rethinking Strategy on Homegrown TerrorWall Street Journal (Editorial Board) — The War on Terror Escalates

Popularity of ISIS reminder of weakness of theologically disarmed American worldview New York Times (Editorial Board) — Fear Ignorance, Not MuslimsNew York Times (Timothy Egan) — No More Thoughts and PrayersPew Research (Jacob Poushter) — In nations with significant Muslim populations, much disdain for ISIS

Effects of including women in all combat roles begin to sink inNew York Times (Mariette Kalinowski) — A Victory for Women at WarWall Street Journal (Felicia Schwartz) — Obama Administration Weighs Changes to Draft After Allowing Women in CombatTIME (Mark Thompson) — Women in Combat: Why the Pentagon Chief Overruled the MarinesNew York Times (Editorial Board) — Women in Combat Jobs

The Briefing 12-4-15

In aftermath of San Bernardino massacre, nation continues to search for answersCNN (Greg Botelho and Steve Almasy) — San Bernardino: Shooter was in contact with terror subjects, officials believe

Pentagon lifts restrictions on women in combat, denies essential difference between sexesNew York Times (Matthew Rosenberg and Dave Philipps) — All Combat Roles Now Open to Women, Defense Secretary Says

Attempted gay rights ordinance in Jacksonville next stage in moral war of attritionNew York Times (Sheryl Gay Stolberg) — After a Defeat in Houston, the Fight for Gay Rights Shifts to Jacksonville

On 100th anniversary, moral relativism shown as unintended consequence of Einstein's theoryNew York Times (Dennis Overbye) — A Century Ago, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity Changed EverythingThe Economist — Einstein’s general theory of relativity

The Briefing 12-03-15

San Bernardino violence only explicable in light of Christian understanding of human sinLos Angeles Times (Richard A. Serrano, Paloma Esquivel and Richard Winton) — Shooters in black masks kill 14 and wound 17 others at holiday party in San Bernardino

In aftermath of California shootings politicians grasp for inadequate policy solutionsCNN (Jeremy Diamond) — Obama calls for gun reforms in wake of San Bernardino shooting

Despite dismissal of prayer as platitude, it remains key Christian response to tragedyNew York Daily News (Rich Shapiro) — GOP presidential candidates offer prayers — not solutions on gun control — after San Bernardino massacreUSA Today (Jessica Durando) — 'Daily News' provokes with cover on Calif. shooting: 'God isn't fixing this'The Atlantic (Emma Green) — Prayer Shaming After a Mass Shooting in San BernardinoNew York Times (Mark Leibovich) — Do Politicians’ ‘Thoughts and Prayers’ Mean Anything?