Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 109

Don’t Miss Jen Wilkin’s Podcasts on the Subject of Bible Study

One of the sharpest and most biblically grounded minds among evangelicals is Jen Wilkin. Not long ago she was a guest on Desiring God’s Ask Pastor John podcast, and was interviewed by Tony Reinke on the subject of Bible study. The first session was good, but I thought the last two were terrific. I highly recommend you listen to these. I think they will resonate with you and offer some great perspective. They are just 16 minutes combined but very helpful:

How has social media changed Bible reading?

How Self-Esteem Ruins Bible Study

You can also check out Jen Wilkin’s website. Many people have enjoyed her books as well:

Women of the Word (the one mentioned in the podcasts, on Bible study)

None Like Him: 10 Ways God Is Not Like Us and Why That’s a Good Thing

In His Image: 10 Ways God Expects us to Reflect His Character

Photo by Ben White on Christian Pics

Happiness: A Puritan Prayer (and Some Thoughts on the Puritan Stereotype)

I’ve written in the past about how highly Nanci and I recommend The Valley of Vision, the book of Puritan Prayers. It’s a truly amazing God-exalting, Christ-centered compilation of prayers from the Puritans, including a few who lived after the Puritan era but were Puritans in Heart, notably Charles Spurgeon.

Last night, attached to her portable chemotherapy unit for what we hope is the last time (see her CaringBridge page for updates), Nanci read me this from The Valley of Vision: “I rejoice to think that all things are at thy disposal, and it delights me to leave them there. Then prayer turns wholly into praise, and all I can do is to adore and bless thee...but I can through grace cheerfully surrender soul and body to thee, that thy sole motive in working in me is to will and to do for thy good pleasure.”

We can’t recommend this book highly enough. It has enriched us so much over the years, yet many believers remain unfamiliar with it. We have given it away a number of times, and it’s a wonderful gift. (Here it is on Christianbook.com, and on Amazon.)

Some readers will be scared away by the word “Puritan” because of the image of frowning and Pharisaical religious types without a warm relationship with God. In fact, that stereotype is so wide-spread that a seminary professor told me, “The God of the Puritans was remote and impersonal.” My response was to respectfully disagree and to ask him how many of the Puritans he had actually read.

Here’s something I wrote in my book Happiness: Consider satirist and journalist H. L. Mencken’s (1880–1956) definition of Puritanism: “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” [1] On the contrary, Puritans, judging by their writings, were some of the happiest people who have ever lived! Considerably happier, judging by his writings, than H. L. Mencken.

I also wrote, “Let the Puritans serve as a wake-up call as well—they often experienced and spoke of profound happiness in seemingly unbearable circumstances. Like skilled blacksmiths, they forged happiness on Scripture’s anvil, under the severe hammer of life . . . all the while smiling at the bountiful beauties of God’s creation and providence.”

Here’s one of those Puritan prayers, part of which I cited in my book Happiness. It’s also titled “Happiness”:

O LORD,

Help me never to expect any happiness
      from the world, but only in thee.
Let me not think that I shall be more happy
    by living to myself,
  for I can only be happy if employed for thee,
  and if I desire to live in this world
  only to do and suffer what thou dost allot me.
Teach me
  that if I do not live a life that satisfies thee,
    I shall not live a life that will satisfy myself.
Help me to desire the spirit and temper of angels
  who willingly come down to this lower world
    to perform thy will,
  though their desires are heavenly,
  and not set in the least upon earthy things;
    then I shall be of that temper I ought to have.
Help me not to think of living to thee
    in my own strength,
  but always to look to and rely on thee
    for assistance.
Teach me that there is no greater truth than this,
  that I can do nothing of myself.
Lord, this is the life that no unconverted man
    can live,
  yet it is an end that every godly soul
    presses after;
Let it be then my concern to devote myself
    and all to thee.
Make me more fruitful and more spiritual,
  for barrenness is my daily affliction and load.
How precious is time, and how painful to see it fly
  with little done to good purpose!
I need thy help:
O may my soul sensibly depend upon thee
    for all sanctification,
  and every accomplishment of thy purposes
    for me, for the world,
    and for thy kingdom.

[1] H. L. Mencken, A Mencken Chrestomathy (New York: Vintage Books, 1982), 624.

Photo by Amaury Gutierrez on Unsplash

Joni Eareckson Tada on When Is It Right to Die?

Earlier this year I read through Joni Eareckson Tada’s book When Is It Right to Die?: A Comforting and Surprising Look at Death and Dying, which has been revised and updated to examine the current events, trending issues, and the rising acceptance of assisted suicide in this country.

I can’t say enough about When Is It Right to Die? Joni is not a professional ethicist pondering the theoretical; she is a wise and devoted Jesus-follower living out the actual, every day for the past fifty years. She has met and listened to thousands of people whose lives are often seen, sometimes even by themselves, as less than meaningful or worthwhile. She shares many of their stories with compassion and empathy. Joni is both a veteran and an expert on every facet of this issue—in fact, she has advised presidents concerning it. She knows the facts and the complexities, and offers no easy answers, but nonetheless she writes with profound wisdom and eternal perspective. There’s no one I would sooner listen to on this critical question than Joni. Like Jesus Himself, this book overflows with grace and truth. 

Below is an article excerpted from the book:

Do I Have a Right to Die?

By Joni Eareckson Tada

No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main . . . Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. —John Donne

For the moment, forget everything you’ve ever heard about right-to-die or right-to-life positions. Put aside the court rulings. Push out of your mind the tug-at-your-heart stories you’ve seen in the movies or read about online.

Now, with no one reading your thoughts, may I ask, “Do you know when it is right to die? For you? For your family?” Please, I realize this may not be a theoretical question for you. You may be one who could write a real-life tug-at-your-heart story. And you may have already made up your mind about how and when you want to die. Whatever your response, I want you to know that your decision matters.

It matters more than you realize.

Let me explain. Since at one time I served on a national council that drafted major civil rights legislation, my husband, Ken, then a high school government teacher, asked me to speak to his classes on the subject of legalizing euthanasia. This was well before California had legalized medically assisted death, but plenty of initiatives were testing the waters. Ken wanted me to talk to his students about the implications of a right-to-die law. The classroom was crowded with kids standing along the back and leaning against the chalkboards covering the walls.

I was surprised by how interested they were as I divulged my despair of earlier days. I admitted my relief that no right-to-die law existed when I was in the hospital and hooked up to machines. I then underscored how critical it was for every student to become informed and involved in shaping society’s response to the problem. Then I added, “What role do you think society should play in helping people decide when it is right to die?”

A few hands went up. I could tell by their answers that they felt society should take action to help hurting and dying people—some students insisting on life no matter how burdensome the treatment, and a few wanting to help by hurrying along the death process.

One student shared how his mother was getting demoralized by the burden of taking care of his sister with developmental delays. He felt society should, in his words, “do something.”

“Like what?” I playfully challenged.

“Like . . . I’m not sure, but society ought to get more involved in the lives of people like my mother.”

I glanced at Ken. He nodded, as if to give the go-ahead to take a free rein with this young man. “May I ask what you have done to get more involved?”

The student smiled and shrugged.

“How have you helped alleviate the burden? Have you taken your sister on an outing lately? Maybe to the beach?” I teased. “Have you offered to do some shopping for your mother? Maybe your mom wouldn’t be so demoralized, maybe she wouldn’t feel so stressed or burdened, if you rolled up your sleeves a little higher to help.”

A couple of his friends by the chalkboard laughed and threw wads of paper at him. “Okay, okay, I see your point,” he chuckled.

I smiled. “My point is this: Society is not a bunch of people way out there who sit around big tables and think up political trends or cultural drifts; society is you. Your actions, your decisions, matter. What you do or don’t do has a ripple effect on everyone around you. And on a smaller scale, your participation can even make a huge difference in what your family decides to do with your sister.”

The classroom fell silent, and I knew the lesson was being driven home. I paused, scanned the face of each student, and closed by saying, “You, my friends, are society.”

Read the rest.

For more on the topic of euthanasia, here’s a blog I wrote a few years ago after a 29-year-old terminally ill woman chose to end her life under Oregon’s physician assisted suicide law. While we’re talking about past articles, I wrote one on euthanasia in 1986, citing relevant Scripture. If you’re interested, here it is. I talk about the difference between taking a life and permitting a death, and that we need to be careful not to play God. Most of it, I think, remains as relevant now as it was then.

Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer, Now in Theaters

Back in 2013, I wrote a blog about Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist, during his trial. Since then, the story has been turned into a film by indie producers Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney, who say that Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer was “one of the most successfully crowdfunded films in history. …Almost 30,000 people donated over $2.3m in 45 days. When it ended it was the most successful crowdfunding campaign on the Indiegogo website.” It was released to theaters on October 12.

This is the trailer:

Here’s an article about how despite almost no media coverage, the movie made the list of top 10 movies the weekend that it opened. Life Site News reports that “Most recently, co-producer Phelim McAleer and marketing director John Sullivan have raised concerns about almost 200 theaters dropping the film without explanation, reports of theater staffers actively discouraging and preventing customers from buying tickets, and the New York Times refusing to review or run ads for the film.”

Still, the movie grossed $1,235,800 its opening weekend, and also has a 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. This does not mean, of course, that 98% of the critics liked it. You can see at Rotten Tomatoes that various critics dismiss it as “preaching to the choir” while a number of others say it is an important story that needs to be told. (Unfortunately, according to this review on The Gospel Coalition, which is solidly prolife, the film misses the opportunity to reach a wider audience by taking some unnecessary political jabs, a classic case of losing some of the very audience that needs to be reached.)

You can support the film by sharing about it and going to see it. See a list of theaters where it’s showing at gosnellmovie.com/theaters.

By the way, back in 2013, someone asked me: what should our attitude and response be toward Dr. Gosnell and all those involved in his clinic? I personally know and have spoken at length with three people who used to be in the abortion business who came under the Holy Spirit’s conviction, turned to Christ, and walked away forever from their abortion-funded paychecks. One was an abortion clinic owner, another a physician who did abortions, and the other was a full-time counselor and intake person at an abortion clinic. Each of them is a wonderful person. God can and does sometimes lift the veil of blindness as He must do for each of us related to our own sins. So prayer is the right response—prayer of God’s just judgment upon the unrepentant, yes, but prayer first for their repentance.

Let’s also pray that God would use this movie to open many people’s eyes to the true horrors of abortion.

Oregonians, Measure 106 Is Your Opportunity to End Tax-Payer Funded Abortion in Our State

Last year, I shared on my blog about the petition to stop taxpayer funding for elective and late-term abortions in my home state of Oregon. I’m happy to say that volunteers gathered 150,000 signatures to get Measure 106 on the ballot this November. Oregon is the only state in the U.S. without any laws that restrict or limit abortion, and one of only a handful of states that chooses to use taxpayer money to pay for elective abortions. Here’s more information about the measure and how it would change that:

Measure 106 doesn’t stop anyone from choosing an abortion, but it will give Oregon taxpayers freedom from having to pay for other people’s personal choices.

Why vote Yes? Here’s what Oregon voters need to know:

Oregon House Bill 3391, signed into law by Governor Kate Brown in 2017, was a multi-million dollar bill that significantly expanded taxpayer funding for abortion. State lawmakers declared HB 3391 to be an emergency, preventing it from being referred to the public for a vote.
The Oregon Health Authority reports $24.4 million in taxpayer money was spent on more than 57,000 abortions covered under the Oregon Health Plan (OHP) since 2002. That’s about 10 taxpayer-funded abortions every day. (View source.)
Today, anyone covered by OHP can have an unlimited number of free abortions, for any reason and at any stage of pregnancy — even late-term abortions when the baby is perfectly healthy.

Oregon voters, this November you have a voice. Vote YES on Ballot Measure 106 to stop your tax dollars from funding elective and late-term abortions.  It’s your money, and now it’s your choice.

I encourage you to read through the following perspectives from Diane Meyer, a close friend of ours, which she wrote in support of Measure 106. Diane lived with us when our daughters were small and she was a young unwed mother. We had the joy of seeing her come to Christ, and helped her place a baby for adoption.

I can’t express how deeply Nanci and I respect Diane. She’s a courageous and insightful voice who deserves to be heard:

My story: Why I’m voting YES on Measure 106

When I was seventeen, I became pregnant, but I had no desire to become a mother, and quite honestly, I was terrified of labor pain.

Because I was six months pregnant, my abortion took place at a Portland hospital. I was placed on a cot, alongside a dozen other young women, in a basement ward. There, we each received a saline injection in our abdomen to expel our unborn children.

I will never be able to forget the horrific sights and sounds burned into my mind that day. After a few hours of painful labor, we all began losing our babies. I felt a violent lurching sensation as the baby slid from my body and then I saw my child—a small, still huddled form covered in blood laying on the white sheet of my cot.

When I left the hospital, I determined to put this horrible episode behind me, never thinking about it again, never talking about it. I became pregnant again and decided to give my second baby up for adoption. I was in awe when I gave birth to a healthy baby boy, grateful that a childless couple wanted to care for him.  

I wish my story ended there, but filled with shame, I aborted one more time. The Lord has forgiven me, but even after forty years, the weight of loss still feels unbearable at times. I think about who my children might have been, children that I lost to “choice.” The hurt and sadness is so heavy that I still weep for those babies that I never knew.

Mother Teresa once said, “The greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.” In Oregon, we require that taxpayers fund this destruction. We are paying for anguish, sorrow, and deep regret.

Please vote YES on Measure 106 for compassionate care for Oregon’s women.

Three other women share their personal stories and perspectives in this video by Women for 106:

Pro-abortion efforts to oppose Measure 106 are substantial. Jeff Jimerson, director or Oregon Life United PAC, wrote recently, “According to , opponents of Measure 106 have raised more than $2.1 million to try to defeat us. This includes contributions from many out-of-state Planned Parenthood-affiliated organizations such as $150,000 from New York, $100,000 from Virginia, $50,000 from California, and $50,000 from Hawaii. Their largest donor, a Washington D.C.-based organization called Sixteen Thirty Fund, has given $585,000. From a fundraising perspective, this very much feels like a David and Goliath sort of battle.”

I echo what EPM board member Kathy Norquist writes: “Would you pray that God would touch the hearts of the believers in Oregon to vote and to encourage every member of their family to vote for Measure 106? Satan is alive and well and there is much deception surrounding this battle. We need Goliath-size prayers on behalf of the unborn and their moms.”

Oregonians, let’s join together to love our neighbor by protecting these human lives in our state. And whether you live in Oregon or not, we can all pray for the unborn and their mothers, and also pray for divine appointments where God can use us to make a difference in people’s lives.

For more on abortion and the sanctity of life, see Randy’s books Why ProLife? and ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments. 

Sexual Sin Isn’t Only Wrong, It’s Just Plain Stupid

After hearing about several recent cases of sexual immorality involving Christian leaders, I’ve been rereading Proverbs. Solomon warns his son not to lust after an immoral woman, then asks two rhetorical questions:

Can a man scoop fire into his lap
  without his clothes being burned?
Can a man walk on hot coals
  without his feet being scorched?
(Proverbs 6:27-28)

The obvious answer is no. Regardless of how much we rationalize that we can get away with sin, its consequences are inescapable.

In case the point of his illustrations was missed, Solomon brings it home:

So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife;
  no one who touches her will go unpunished.
(Proverbs 6:29)

The New Testament sounds the same warning as the Old, directed right at believers: “God will judge the adulterer” (Hebrews 13:4). We’re told to “Flee from sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:18).

Throughout Proverbs a special emphasis is placed on the consequences of sexual sin:

For the lips of an adulteress drip honey,
  and her speech is smoother than oil;
but in the end she is bitter as gall,
  sharp as a double-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death;
  her steps lead straight to the grave.
(Proverbs 5:3-5)

The Internet image, packaged to sell, is Satan’s bait. She’s the equivalent of the same adulteress Solomon spoke of thousands of years ago:

I find more bitter than death
  the woman who is a snare,
whose heart is a trap
  and whose hands are chains.
The man who pleases God will escape her,
  but the sinner she will ensnare.
(Ecclesiastes 7:26)

Jesus said, “Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in broad daylight, and whatever you have whispered in private in a closed room will be shouted from the housetops” (Luke 12:3).

There is no such thing as a private moment.

Moses warned, “You may be sure that your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). Sometimes this judgment of God will come only after we’ve left this world. But normally the consequences start here and now, even before they’re publicly known.

A friend and I had to confront a man we dearly loved who was living a lie. Our message to him was, “What you’re doing is wrong. But it’s not only wrong—it’s just plain stupid!” In God’s moral universe, governed by the law of the harvest, whatever is right is smart and whatever is wrong is stupid. Notice what Scripture says:                                                          

But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment;
  whoever does so destroys himself.
Blows and disgrace are his lot,
  and his shame will never be wiped away.
(Proverbs 6:32-33, emphasis added)

Proverbs is a book written by a wise father for his son. It reminds us that we need to not only tell our children and ourselves and our friends to obey God because it’s right, but also because it’s SMART. Sin is never in our bests interests.  

Sometimes, even though we should be, we aren’t sufficiently motivated by what’s right and wrong. In those times Scripture teaches us to be motivated by understanding what’s smart and what’s stupid.

The choice is ours.

I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Photo by Joshua Newton on Unsplash

Scripture Gives Us Many Reasons to Be Happy

When someone says, as many have, “Happiness isn’t in the Bible,” it’s not even slightly true. Even in versions that don’t frequently use the words happy and happiness, the concept is conspicuously present, not only in its many synonyms (see here and here), but in words such as contentment, peace, delight, and dozens of others in every translation.

Consider this verse: “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love” (Micah 7:18). Such a passage may not seem to be about happiness, yet if we understand its meaning, won’t we be flooded with happiness?

“Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made known his salvation” (Psalm 98:1-2). There are no joy-related words in this verse, yet doesn’t it make you joyful?

Consider the lame man who leaped and praised God (see Acts 3:1-10).His story won’t appear in a study of words related to happiness, but he was obviously overwhelmed with happiness.

“We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). No word for happiness is mentioned here, but how does it make you feel to know that Jesus is your advocate, your defense attorney? Can you imagine Jesus standing between you and your accuser, Satan (see Revelation 12:10)? The thought makes me smile, rejoice, and praise God.

Every passage that mentions our redemption; our new nature in Christ; and God’s love, grace, and mercy also makes a profound statement about our grounds for happiness.

What about eternal life? Puritan David Clarkson wrote, “Eternal life and happiness are reciprocal, and used as convertible terms in Scripture.” [1]

Revelation 7:16-17 offers a description of the eternal Heaven on the New Earth. It doesn’t mention any of the synonyms for joy and happiness. Yet happiness is exactly what it communicates:

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

When the Bible says that God is for us and that nothing shall separate us from Christ’s love (see Romans 8:31, 39), no words for happiness are used, but the reasons for it jump off the page.

Even in the darkest portions of Scripture, such as Job or Lamentations, we’re hard pressed to find any chapter that doesn’t offer reasons for happiness.

Love, peace, contentment, kindness, grace, mercy, comfort, singing, praise, worship, favor, prosperity, deliverance, rescue, salvation, thanksgiving, satisfaction, chosen, redemption, gospel, trust, goodness, beauty, wonder, awe, excellence, and hope: don’t all these words evoke happiness?

If we grasp how happiness-saturated Scripture is, it will radically affect our perspective as God’s children and greatly expand our outreach to the world. Whatever else the plan of God and the gospel of Jesus encompasses, without question it includes our happiness.

For more on happiness, see Randy’s books Happiness and God’s Promise of Happiness, the devotional 60 Days of Happiness, and his DVD series Happiness 101. 

[1] David Clarkson, “Believers’ Communion with the Father and Son,” The Practical Works of David Clarkson, vol. 3.

Photo by Ben White via Christianpics.co

When the Bible Conflicts with Our Culture

Here’s another great post from one of my sons-in-law, Dan Franklin, who’s married to my daughter Karina. (Make sure you don’t miss this video and article I shared from him recently, about The Problem with “Speak Your Truth.”) While I admit I am biased about not only my daughters but about both my sons-in-law, in my opinion this is really great teaching. You can read the transcript below, or watch and listen to what Dan has to say. —Randy Alcorn

Bible vs. Culture

By Dan Franklin

What do we do when something taught in the Bible comes into direct conflict with a deeply-held cultural value? This is a question that Christians have always had to wrestle with, and it is certainly a challenging question for Christians today. For example, what do we do with the teaching of the Bible is that sex outside of marriage is wrong, and yet our culture embraces the value of sexual freedom and casual sex?

Or, what do we do when the teaching of the Bible is that only those who embrace Jesus are saved, and yet we live in a culture that celebrates a pluralistic view of religion and faith?

When we face this conflict, those of us who don’t simply want to abandon the Bible can choose between one of two options. Our first option is simply to decide that what the Bible says was good for its original hearers, and it is still good for us today. Our second option is to decide that what the Bible says was good for the original hearers, but that it is no longer good for us today.

In other words, the first option would lead us to say, “It was good for the Israelites and the first-century Christians to save sex for marriage, and it is still good for us to do this today.” The second option would say, “It was good for the Israelites and the first-century Christians to save sex for marriage, but it is no longer something that is necessary for Christians today.”

Those who argue that there are parts of the Bible that, while perhaps good and helpful when they were written, are no longer good and helpful today, normally use two basic arguments for their position. The rest of this post will explore these two arguments.

#1: There Are Already Parts of the Bible that Christians Now Ignore

Some will say, “What is the problem with saying that we should ignore the Bible’s teaching about homosexuality? After all, there are already many other parts of the Bible that we ignore?” Now, some might simply mean that we no longer follow many of the laws for the Israelites in the Old Testament. While it is true that we no longer observe these laws, it is not because we have become more enlightened and moved beyond them. It is because Jesus came to fulfill these laws, and so their usefulness has run its course.

Others, though, when they argue this will give the example of slavery. The reason goes, “The Bible endorsed dehumanization through slavery, and yet now we reject this. So now we will also reject the dehumanization of saying that there is anything wrong with homosexuality.”  While this may seem like a strong point on the surface, it ignores some important qualifiers.

First of all, in the Bible slavery is not commanded, but assumed. It is certainly true that there is no outright condemnation of the institution of slavery, but slavery was not invented by the Bible. Much like polygamy, slavery simply shows up and is tolerated. And while neither is condemned, negative fallout surround both of these realities.

Second of all, not all slavery is exactly the same. One of the reasons why many of us are baffled that the Bible does not condemn slavery is that we tend to think of slavery through the lens of how it was practiced in the United States. In his book Every Good Endeavor, Tim Keller gives some helpful insight into this issue. He writes, “In the ancient world there were many ‘slaveries.’ There is good evidence that much of slavery was very harsh and brutal, but there is also lots of evidence that many slaves were not treated like African slaves would be, but lived normal lives and were paid the going wage, but were not allowed to quit or change employers, and were in slavery an average of ten years.”

He continues, “To our surprise, slaves could own slaves, and many slaves were doctors, professors, administrators, and civil servants. (See Andrew T. Lincoln’s discussion of ancient slavery in his Word commentary on Ephesians, 415-420.) In his survey, Lincoln says that no one in ancient times could conceive of an economic or labor structure without it. While there were brutal forms of slavery, the concept—indentured labor in which the laborer was not free to market his skills to other employers—was considered a given. Quoting another scholar, he writes that this was not accepted, ‘one cannot correctly speak of the slave “problem” in antiquity’ (Lincoln quoting Westerman, 415.) In other words, no one—not even slaves—thought the whole institution should be abolished.”

This picture of slavery is very different than the U.S. form, which involved kidnapping and race-based slavery. In fact, the kidnapping form of slavery is condemned in the Old Testament. While we may wish today that the biblical authors condemned slavery, much of our desire for this is born out of a much more recent definition of slavery.

On top of all of this, the abolition of slavery did not come about through people saying, “The Bible has taught us to do this, but let’s move on to a more enlightened view of the world.” Abolition came when Bible-believing Christians pointed toward the teachings of Scripture in order to advocate for the end of the institution. They claimed that an institution based on kidnapping, racism, and oppression could never be squared with the biblical teaching that all human beings are created in God’s image.

#2: The Bible Simply Reflects the Viewpoint of Its Time

Some will argue that we should ignore certain teachings in the Bible because these teachings are simply reflections of what people believed during the time when it was written. For example, they claim, the reason why homosexual activity is not allowed and why male headship is taught is because people in those times simply thought homosexuality was distasteful and they believed that men were superior to women.

In some ways, this argument can seem appealing. After all, we are all influenced by the values of the times in which we live. A quick note, though. If we are rejecting the time-bound values of the Bible because we now have new values, how do we know that ours aren’t time-bound? In fact, how do we know that our culture’s values are not even worse? These are questions worth pondering.

But to claim that the Bible simply reflects the viewpoints of its time is to misunderstand the Bible entirely. Far from simply being a product of its time, the teachings of the Bible consistently confront readers with counter-cultural messages. Even the creation narrative itself stands in contrasts to other ancient creation myths.

While other nations believed that the world was created through a battle between many different gods, the Bible teaches that the world is a good creation from the one and only God. On top of this, Israel was not told simply to blend in with the other surrounding nations. Quite the opposite! They were given commands that led them to stand out as a peculiar people.

Jesus himself is subversive to his culture throughout his life, but especially in the Sermon on the Mount. He rebukes the practices of his time. And he does this not by casting the Bible aside, but by pointing people to not only the letter of the law but the spirit of it.

The central teaching of the Bible is the gospel of Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 Paul says this about the gospel: “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block of Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”

The truth is that the Bible has always confronted culture. The Bible is not anti-culture. But God’s teachings through Scripture are meant to confront every one of us and to call us to a new way of thinking, experiencing, and living. The goal was never to make us comfortable with its teachings. The goal was to set our assumptions up against what God says and then to let us decide if we will embrace our cultural values or God’s revealed values.

2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” The question before all of us is this: Will we allow the Bible to rebuke us? Will we allow God, through Scripture, to correct us?

When we elevate our cultural values above the straightforward teachings of Scripture it is a way of us saying to God, “I will adopt what you say only whenever you agree with what I already think.” However, when we allow Scripture to rebuke us, we say to God, “I trust that you are wiser than I am, and I will willing to embrace a message that seems foolish to many because I believe that your wisdom will be vindicated in the end.”

Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash

When It Comes to Our Suffering, God “Gets It”

In all human history, who has paid the highest price for evil and suffering? Poll a hundred people on this question and only a few would come up with the right answer: God.

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Many complaints against the Creator boil down to this: “God, you don’t ‘get it.’” Christ’s suffering says back to us, “No, actually, I do get it. It’s you who don’t get it.”

God paid the highest price on our behalf; we have no grounds for believing He doesn’t “get it.” Jesus suffered the same trials and temptations we do. God understands our worst losses and heartbreaks, even our temptations: “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).

He knows suffering and temptation from firsthand experience. God calls us to hold firmly to our faith precisely because “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted [tested] in every way, just as we are” (Hebrews 4:15).

God might say to us, “I have intimate understanding of what it is to be in your place. You have no clue what it is to be in my place. If you’d experienced Gethsemane and the march to Golgotha and the horrors of the Cross, you’d not question for a moment either my understanding or my love.”

And he might add, “After you’ve created a world, and seen your creatures betray you, and you’ve chosen to die for all their sins and offer them forgiveness... then come back and let’s talk about it.”

I share some more thoughts in this video:

For more related to the subject of suffering, see Randy’s book If God Is Good, as well as the devotional 90 Days of God’s Goodness and book The Goodness of God.

Photo by Tamara Menzi on Unsplash

John Piper on Identifying and Fighting Besetting Sins

Having turned 64 this year, this post from John Piper got my attention. It concerns what he learned about himself on a leave of absence at age 64. I prayed for him then, and now as I read this I also pray for myself.

Since I consider John, and many others, my betters in countless areas, I look at his list of self-diagnosed sins (though with the help of others) and pray that God would point out my sins as well, and that I would say yes to the Holy Spirit in doing my part to address them. What John speaks of isn’t unique to pastors or Christian leaders, but it is certainly common among us. And sometimes the worst sins are the ones we’re least aware of. Please pray for me and 1) all leaders and 2) all non-leaders. This applies to all of us men for sure, and I assume to many women as well. —Randy Alcorn

What I Learned About My Sins at Sixty-Four: How to Make War on Old Enemies

By John Piper

When I was sixty-four years old, I took an eight-month leave of absence from my pastoral ministry. The primary reason that I gave to the leaders and to the congregation was that I wanted to step back and do a soul check.

I wondered if the pressures of ministry might be blinding me to the state of my own soul as it related to worship and family and marriage and personal holiness. There was no great marriage crisis. I was not walking in any ministry-disqualifying sin, as far as I knew myself. But the stresses of family and marriage and ministry were enough to make me think that I should temporarily remove the pressure (and rewards) of preaching, and leading the staff, and all writing and social media.

During those eight months, part of my goal was to have the time and emotional energy and relational engagement with my wife so as to be as penetrating and as specific as I could be in identifying and addressing my most besetting sins, especially as they related to our relationship. What follows is a very abbreviated summary of what happened.

Putting Crosshairs on Besetting Sins

As I tried to be very specific in identifying my characteristic sins, it became evident what they were — namely, an ugly cluster of selfishness, anger, self-pity, quickness to blame, and sullenness.

Under the Bible’s Spirit-given searchlight — especially Paul’s — I was led not only to identify these five sins, but also to be ruthlessly specific in describing them. Here’s a description of my understanding and experience of selfishness.

Selfishness is virtually the same as pride and is at the heart of what Paul calls indwelling sin (Romans 7:23) — sin that remains in me as a believer. It is the corruption of my heart that is at the bottom of all my sinning. I see my selfishness function as a reflex in these five ways:

I expect to be served (Philippians 2:2–3).
I feel that I am owed (Ephesians 4:32).
I want praise (Romans 2:29).
I expect that things will go my way (1 Corinthians 4:12–13).
I feel that I have the right to react negatively to being crossed (Romans 12:19–21).

The reason I use the word reflex to describe these traits of selfishness is that there is zero premeditation before they happen. When these responses happen, they are coming from my fallen nature, not from reflection and resolution. I don’t sin out of duty. I sin spontaneously. They are the reflexes of my original, unmortified sinfulness.

Children of Selfishness

Now, what happens inside of me when this selfishness is crossed? Can I name these effects and describe them specifically and explicitly? Vague generalizations are usually evasions. Paul was teaching me that I must be specific. Here are the four effects of my selfishness being crossed:

Anger: the strong emotional opposition to the obstacle in my way. I tighten up and want to strike out verbally or physically.
Self-pity: a desire that others feel my woundedness, and admire me for my being mistreated, and move to show me some sympathy.
Quickness to blame: a reflex to attribute to others the cause of my frustrating situation. Others can feel it in a tone of voice, a look on the face, a sideways query, or an outright accusation.
Sullenness: the sinking discouragement, moodiness, hopelessness, unresponsiveness, withdrawn deadness of emotion.

And of course, the effect on marriage is that my wife feels blamed and disapproved of, rather than cherished and cared for. Tender emotions shrivel. Hope is depleted. Strength to carry on in the hardships of ministry wanes. And worst of all, these sins, as Paul makes clear, are “not in step with the truth of the gospel” (Galatians 2:14) — not “worthy of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27).

Canceled, Then Killed

During these months of self-assessment, Paul made crystal clear for me the connection between Christ’s cancelation of my sins on the cross and my conscious, willed conquering of my sins through blood-bought, Spirit-empowered effort. In other words, he blasted the pattern of passivity that I had developed in relation to these sins. He forced into my face the biblical reality that canceled sins must be killed, not coddled.

He showed me, for example, an important inconsistency I was living in. On the one hand, I believed in, and acted on, the necessity of my conscious effort in killing sexual lust. But I was more passive when it came to these ugly effects of selfishness. I had the unspoken assumption that lust must be attacked directly and consciously, since Jesus said to tear out your eye if you have to (Matthew 5:29). But for some reason, I assumed that I could not attack these besetting sins in the same way. They had to somehow dry up and disappear by an inner, unconscious work of the Spirit, without my effort.

It became increasingly clear during these eight months that the link between the cancelation of my sin on the cross and the conquering of my sin was sanctified effort. To be sure, the only effort that avails is blood-bought, Spirit-wrought effort. But it is, nevertheless, a conscious effort of my will. Passivity in the pursuit of holiness is not what Paul teaches. Paul piles up illustrations of how this works. I look back now and wonder: How had I become so passive?

Three of Paul’s Pictures

Here are three of Paul’s pictures of how the death of Christ cancels my sin and leads to effort.

1. In the death of Christ, we died to sin. Therefore, actively put sin to death.

We have been united with him in a death like his. (Romans 6:5)

Therefore:

You also must consider yourselves dead to sin. (Romans 6:11)
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. (Romans 6:12)

2. In the death of Christ, we were bought. Therefore, actively glorify your new owner.

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. (1 Corinthians 6:19–20)

Therefore:

Glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:20)

3. In the death of Christ, we were forgiven. Therefore, forgive.

God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

Therefore:

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. (Ephesians 4:32)

My Empowered Will

In every case, the decisive impulse for my active effort in pursuing holiness — my active sin-killing — is the death of Christ. This means that the decisive power for conquering my besetting sins is the reality that Christ already canceled them. The only sins that I can defeat are forgiven sins.

But here’s what I had been missing: in each of these three cases, the link between the cross and my conquered sin is my empowered will. I say that because, in each of these three cases, Paul makes the statement of my death, my purchase, and my forgiveness the cause of a command addressed to my will. “Let not sin . . . reign in your mortal body.” “Glorify God in your body.” “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.” Those commands are addressed to me. They engage my will.

In other words, God intends that part of my experience of sanctification be conscious, willed opposition to specific sins in my life. I had applied that to lust. But for some reason, I had failed to apply the same brutal intentionality of sin-killing to my selfishness, anger, self-pity, quickness to blame, and sullenness.

War on a Winter Night

The overall effect of these discoveries was a new and focused attack on specific sins, with a kind of intentionality I had never exercised before, except in fighting sexual lust. When I came back to the church from this eight-month leave, I spoke about all this in a chapel message at Bethlehem College & Seminary and used the following illustration to help them understand what I was learning.

On a recent Sunday evening, it was cozy and snowy, and my wife and daughter and I were home alone. I was looking forward to something we would all do together. But my fourteen-year-old daughter came in from the dining room and said, “Mommy and I are going to watch Supernanny on the computer.” They set it up and started watching — without me.

Now, as insignificant as this incident seems, in that moment the temptation for selfishness, anger, self-pity, blaming, and sullenness was as dangerous to my soul as any sexual temptation. So, with new intentionality and ruthlessness, I immediately said to those rising sinful feelings, No! — not out loud, but to my sinful soul. Then I quietly went upstairs, consciously renouncing any body language of woundedness (though I was feeling it).

In my study, I waged war. Effort! I turned my mind and heart toward the promises of God, and the surety of the cross, and the love of the Father, and the wealth of my inheritance in Christ, and the blessings of that Lord’s Day, and the patience of Jesus. And I held them there in my mind where I could see them.

I cried to the Lord for blood-bought help, and I consciously, intentionally (not passively!) beat down the anger and self-pity and blaming and sullenness, as utterly out of character with who I am in Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 5:7). And I kept beating until they were effectively dead.

Better Days Ahead

I freely admit that it would be far better — a sign of greater maturity and sanctification — if there did not have to be any war at all, if I had never felt these sinful feelings rising in my heart. That will come.

But until then, I thank God that he cancels sin at the cross, that he breaks the power of canceled sin, and that he does it sometimes through my Spirit-empowered will that fights with all its might.

By John Piper. © Desiring God Foundation. Source:  desiringGod.org

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