Gregory Koukl's Blog, page 111

God Took His Own Medicine

Dorothy Sayers expresses well and in clear vernacular the reason for Christmas, the purpose of the incarnation: "God chose to make man as he is—limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death—He [God] had the honesty and the courage to take His own medicine." 

There are many rational and sound ways to answer questions about why God allowed evil. In the end, God answers with Himself. God subjected Himself to the evil in this world and suffered the consequences. He isn't a remote God observing human frailty; He's experienced it, too. He "took His own medicine" by living a real human life and then suffering a hideous death He didn't deserve. When we cry out about evil, He knows exactly what we're feeling.

The little baby was born in a manger to experience evil and suffer in order to give us the final answer to it.

Sayers writes:

The Church’s answer is categorical and uncompromising and it is this: That Jesus Bar-Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth, was in fact and in truth, and in the most exact and literal sense of the words, the God “by whom all things were made.” His body and brain were those of a common man; his personality was the personality of God, so far as that personality could be expressed in human terms. He was not a kind of demon pretending to be human; he was in every respect a genuine living man. He was not merely a man so good as to be “like God”; he was God.

Now, this is not just a pious commonplace; it is not commonplace at all. For what it means is this, among other things: that, for whatever reason, God chose to make man as he is—limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death—he [God] had the honesty and the courage to take his own medicine. Whatever game he is playing with his creation, he has kept his own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that he has not exacted from himself. He has himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. When he was a man, he played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace, and thought it was worthwhile.

Christianity is, of course, not the only religion that has found the best explanation of human life in the idea of an incarnate and suffering god. The Egyptian Osiris died and rose again; Aeschylus in his play, The Eumenides, reconciled man to God by the theory of a suffering Zeus. But in most theologies, the god is supposed to have suffered and died in some remote and mythical period of prehistory. The Christian story, on the other hand, starts off briskly in St. Matthew’s account with a place and a date: “When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King.” St. Luke, still more practically and prosaically, pins the thing down by a reference to a piece of government finance. God, he says, was made man in the year when Caesar Augustus was taking a census in connection with a scheme of taxation. Similarly, we might date an event by saying that it took place in the year that Great Britain went off the gold standard. About thirty-three years later (we are informed), God was executed, for being a political nuisance, “under Pontius Pilate”—much as we might say, “when Mr. Johnson-Hicks was Home Secretary.” It is as definite and concrete as all that.

This is an excerpt from "The Greatest Drama Ever Staged," which you can read here.

Challenge Response: Your Beliefs Are Just Beliefs

Here's my response to this week's challenge:

  

  See other challenge responses below:

You're a higher source than the Bible
It's just your interpretation that Jesus is the only way
Religion needs the devil

Advice for Ministry

I recently met a woman named Abigail who asked me for ministry advice to be an effective worker in the Kingdom. She asked about general ministry and also writing.

The first piece of advice I gave her was to get rid of static. Static includes conflicting thoughts, wonderings, and uncertainties about what God may or may not be directing her to do. I don't think that God makes our decisions for us, nor do we need to read the signals, hints, and subtle cues in order to decipher His will.

I often talk to people who feel as though they are receiving a lot of conflicting information from God. I will respond by suggesting that they leave God out of it for a moment. Of course, I am not trying to isolate God from the decision-making enterprise, but I think a lot of “God language” is confusion-causing static.

Rather, I think God has left decision-making up to us. He has given us the means to make sound decisions. Those means include His Word, where we find His moral will and teachings regarding wisdom. And He gives us wisdom provided by counselors.

This isn't a different refined technique for finding God's will; it's a different system entirely. It’s the biblical model. We're not trying to find "God's will." Instead, we're trying to make a sound decision in a biblical fashion by applying morality and wisdom.

Scripture does not teach that God makes our decisions for us, nor did the disciples practice this belief. The disciples were not sitting around waiting for God to tell them what to do. They were out moving, acting, and fulfilling their responsibilities to the Great Commission by using the gifts they were given. Paul says in Ephesians that we are to redeem the time for the days are evil, so sitting around waiting to decipher what God is telling us is a big mistake.

I know this is iconoclastic and that I'm going against the grain of what is often taught on this issue. A lot of people believe we're not supposed to do anything unless God tells us to do it. That directive is not found anywhere in the Scriptures. David got in trouble once for stepping out when he shouldn't have, but I think David was a special case. We certainly see nothing like that in the New Testament and we find no general directives like that.

So first, get rid of static and realize that God has given you the responsibility to make a decision. Then, you can begin to survey the options you have and work through them, with some counsel, but ultimately with the understanding that the decision is yours to make.

Secondly, be a steward of your gifts. Referring to 1 Peter 4, how do we know where to serve? We take what we have, and we begin using it. The list of the gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and Ephesians 4 are not exhaustive. They are incidental to the larger point, which is that everybody plays a part in the body of Christ.

The whole body working together accomplishes God's purpose for the church. Of course, that means that we have to be making our contributions. Find out what yours is and start doing it. If your gift is helps, for example, start making yourself available to help in whatever way is needed.

When I started making myself available, my mouth was moving most of the time. It became apparent fairly quickly, in virtue of the feedback I was getting, that I had the capability to communicate. I found that the more I trained, the more my skills improved. Communicating God's Word was an area in which I could, and wanted to, specialize.

Once you get rid of the static, take responsibility for finding a way you can contribute. In addition, be a steward of your gifts. Once you start making yourself available in the body of Christ to serve the body of Christ, other Christians are going to give you feedback as to what you're doing well. The more you engage your gifts, the more effective you become.

Part of being a steward of your gifts is to be the student of your craft, whether it is writing, speaking, teaching, or something else. The kind of work that I do entails radio, writing, and speaking. In order to be a student of my craft, I ask: How can I write more effectively? How can I speak with more clarity and more persuasion? How can I be a more effective talk show host?

My third piece of advice is to bloom where you are planted. You have to start somewhere, so take advantage of every opportunity you have to serve in the place where you find yourself right now.

When I was a new Christian, I won some people to Christ and began a Bible study sitting on the floor in my Westwood Village fraternity house at UCLA. Although I only knew a little about the Bible at that time, I knew more than they did, so I had something to pass on. I gave what I had, and I boomed where I was planted.

Later, I had the opportunity to participate in a summer outreach project in Hawaii. That was another opportunity to develop my gifts. Continuing to grow and hone my craft has eventually led to where I am at right now, 40 years later.

There's nothing particularly clever about my journey. People have asked me how I've arrived at where I am now. It's not that magical. In fact, it's pretty pedestrian. I got rid of the static and took responsibility for deciding to use my gifts as wisely as I could. I tried to be a steward of whatever gifts I had. I became a student of my craft, and I tried to bloom where I was planted.

Jesus said if you're faithful with smaller things, then you may be given larger things. There is nothing wrong with smaller things if that's the opportunity God has given you. The Spirit distributes gifts and opportunities as He wills.

Here are three more thoughts I'll add for Christian writers. First, never lose a thought. Like lightning striking the same place twice, coming up with something brilliant twice in a row doesn't happen often. So, you want to write it down or record it when it does.

Secondly, gather your thoughts together. Once I gather my thoughts, I construct them into a shape. I organize them in an outline before I begin the wordsmithing process. Most writers don't start with the first line. Rather, they begin by gathering, then they organize, and lastly, they begin wordsmithing.

Finally, repurpose. Think of how your writing can be used in more ways than one. For example, I've used my conversation with Abigail as a radio topic and a blog post.

Book suggestions for writers:

On Writing by Stephen King
On Writing Well by William Zinsser

Christianity Shaping a Sense of Beauty

Maureen Mullarkey writes an intriguing essay on the influence the Puritans had on art and literature. She writes about the:

...boundless influence the Puritan sermon exerted on seventeenth century literary culture, literary history and traditions of popular taste. Milton would be unthinkable without it. So would John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, a Christian allegory continuously in print since it first appeared in 1678. Puritans were a people of the word; their art was literary. Prose was their favored medium, a vehicle for the gift of utterance. They left ample commentary, including several detailed essays, on the art of writing. The sermon, aimed at the perfection of human understanding, was the crown of all the arts.

Read the entire essay.

There’s Still Time to Get Great Discounts

Cyber Weekend may be over, but it's not too late to get great discounts on thoughtful gifts for the Christian thinkers in your life. We at STR have compiled a convenient catalog of popular gift items, many of which have been sharply discounted for the Christmas season.

Here are some of our suggestions:

The Bible: Fast Forward DVD $35.95 (Save 40%)

TrueU: Who Is Jesus? DVD $29.95 (Save %)

Tactics $9.95 (Save 33%)

Cold-Case Christianity $10.95 (Save 5)

Gift Certificate Redeemable in STR's Online Store

Click HERE to view the full catalog.

 

Jesus, the Son of Man

Who is this Jesus whom we are celebrating this Christmas? Alistair Begg and Sinclair Ferguson write in about the title Jesus used to refer to Himself:

Given [the vision of the Son of Man coming “with the clouds of heaven” “to the Ancient of Days” in] Daniel 7, there is more to Jesus’ use of the title “Son of Man” than a simple stress on his humanity in distinction from his deity. The picture of the vision is one of unparalleled triumph, magnificence, and, indeed, glory. The Son of Man is seen coming to the throne of the Majesty on High, the Ancient of Days, and receiving authority over the whole cosmos. The rationale for this title cannot be that it stresses humility rather than great dignity! Somehow both are involved.

“Son of” is a Hebrew way of saying “possessing the properties of, being characterized by, exhibiting the marks of.” The expression “son of destruction” means a person for whom destruction is in character….

So, when the Scriptures use the expression “son of man,” one latent aspect of its meaning is: “here is a true man”….

But it is also worth noting that in Ezekiel the expression is used without the definite article. Ezekiel is a son of man, not “the Son of Man”! The Lord Jesus alone is the Son of Man….

The term appears again, significantly, in Psalm 8, in the question, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”

Psalm 8 is a meditation on creation and on the sheer condescending goodness of God in making man as his image and in his likeness. We contribute nothing to our own existence, and yet God has lavished privileges upon us—and did so first of all on Adam. The son of man is God’s image, privileged to be given a kind of threefold office. He is to be the prophet who brings God’s word to all creation. He is to be the priest, indeed the liturgist, who gives intelligent expression to the worship that is due from all of God’s creatures. He is to be the king who will exercise his reign and dominion.

The background, therefore, to Jesus’ use of the expression as a self-identifier seems to lie in the creation of Adam, the ministry of Ezekiel, and the vision of Daniel.

Jesus is the real man, or, in Martin Luther’s expression “The Proper Man.” He is “man as he was created to be” and “the man who fulfills man’s destiny.”

Hallelujah!

Links Mentioned on the 12/10/13 Show

The following are links that were either mentioned on this week's show or inspired by it, as posted live on the @STRtweets Twitter feed:

The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts


Ancient Words by Michael W. Smith


"Misquoting" Jesus? Answering Bart Ehrman by Greg Koukl (PDF)


The Book Thief


Same-Sex Marriage Quick Reference Guide by Greg Koukl


The Ambassador's Guide to Understanding Homosexuality by Alan Shlemon


The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH)

Listen to today's show or download any archived show for free. (Find links from past shows here.)

To follow the Twitter conversation during the live show (Tuesdays 4:00–7:00 p.m. PT), use the hashtag #STRtalk.

Challenge: Your Beliefs Are Just Beliefs

Michael Sherlock explains the main concept of his book, I Am Christ, in an interview posted on YouTube:

INTERVIEWER: What is the process of I Am Christ? How does that lead to humility...?

SHERLOCK: It causes you to recognize your own beliefs for what they are—and that is, they’re just beliefs. They’re my personal roadmap to reality, but I’m not going to confuse the map with the actual territory that that map surveys anymore. I’m going to realize it’s just a map. It’s my map. And I’m not going to try and impose my map on others, and I’m going to let other people write their own maps, as well….

The trouble with religions like Christianity is they spread with the belief that the missionary, or whoever spreading the belief, has the correct belief, and all others should conform with their belief—my God, my religion, my belief. This is egocentrism.... What’s the result of egocentrism in an ever-shrinking world where belief systems are coming into conflict with each other?... Can someone say, okay well, I’ll be the first one to say that my beliefs are just that—they’re beliefs. So I’m not going to go and kill anyone, I’m not going to be so certain of my beliefs anymore and mistake them as truths. I’m going to realize that I need to suffer the cognitive crucifixion—that is, the psychological crucifixion—of considering the possibility that my beliefs are just that: beliefs….

INTERVIEWER: You put it so nicely, you put it so openly. It really is a way of uniting every human being. I mean, if people adopt what you preach here as a religion, it would be, in a sense, the unification of all religion into a single human quest for the truth, and that seems like such a noble virtue.

Here are a few things to think through as you respond to this video in the comments below: 1) What is the unspoken (in this section) premise behind his plea for you to see your beliefs as “just beliefs”? 2) What is the problem he’s hoping to fix? 3) Will his solution solve the problem? 4) What alternative does Christianity offer for solving the problem? 5) Can you identify the root disagreement you have with Sherlock and/or the interviewer that ought to be addressed first? 6) What are the biggest mistakes being made by both Sherlock and the interviewer?

Give us your thoughts below, and Alan will have a video response to this on Thursday.

[Explore past challenges here and here.]

Ethical Stem Cell Therapies Are the Successful Therapies

Christianity Today reports:

[Scientists] have learned how to reprogram adult cells so that they can do many things an embryonic cell can do. No human embryos are destroyed in the process. Along the way, embryonic stem cells—just a decade ago hailed as the future of medicine—have largely been bypassed. Some researchers still use them, but for now, the future belongs to adult stem cells and iPS cells, which are adult cells genetically reprogrammed to express specific genes.

Every year for the past 10 years, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has funded more adult stem cell research compared with embryonic research. For 2012, NIH grants totaled $146.5 million for embryonic stem cell research, but $504 million for adult stem cell research—a difference of $357.5 million. And the belief that adult stem cells are more promising than embryonic stem cells for therapies is now largely mainstream.

Read the whole thing here.

Is There Ever a Time When Ridiculing Someone's Argument is Appropriate? (Video)

Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason discusses whether or not ridicule is ever appropriate in an argument. For more information, visit str.org.