Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 214

An exchange between Ben Fielding and Li Quan about God and the problem of evil

On February 28, I will be interacting for three hours with a Torrey Honors Institute class at BIOLA University. We’ll be discussing my novel Safely Home, which the students will have read. Since the book came out in 2000, and I haven’t read it since I wrote it, I figured I needed a review. So I’ve been listening to the audio, performed by Steve Sever. He did a great job!

Here is an animated exchange of 7 minutes between Li Quan and Ben Fielding, two old roommates from Harvard. It’s better in its larger context, where you realize that Li Quan has earned the right to speak this way to Ben Fielding. Anyway, I think some may find it interesting and relevant to their own questions and their discussions with family and others: 

Listen to the audio clip

      

 

A Matter of Conscience

I’m writing today about a very serious development that threatens religious freedom in our country. I am not one to overreact to such things, but this particular case may have far-reaching implications. It could result in many Christians having to either violate their consciences before God or refuse to comply with the government’s demands, requiring that they either quit their jobs or engage in civil disobedience.

If you’ve been following the issues related to the new federal health requirements, you know that things are coming to a head between political factions and the institutions that are protesting being required to provide abortifacient drugs and contraceptives.

Here’s a summary from The Associated Press:

Under President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul law, most employers and insurance plans will have to cover birth control free of charge as a preventive service for women. The administration had already ruled that churches and houses of worship do not have to follow that requirement, but officials recently announced that many religious-affiliated institutions such as hospitals, colleges and charities must comply.

…Although many of those employers had not traditionally covered birth control, the new regulation will require them to do so.

Read the rest of the article.

I recently received an email from Chuck Colson and the Manhattan Declaration about a petition protesting the requirements:

We have arrived at the crisis point we knew would come. Our religious liberties are in grave peril. 

Our federal government, charged under the Constitution not only to respect, but to protect and defend, our most fundamental freedoms, has now imposed upon people of all faiths a mandate that their institutions pay for abortion inducing drugs, surgical sterilizations, and contraceptives. There is, for all intents and purposes, no recognition of the rights of conscience for those Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, or other faith-based employers to be free of this imposition.

The Catholic Church, as the largest provider of faith-based education, health care, and social services for the poor, is on the front lines of the struggle, but because of the required abortion drug coverage and the violation of religious freedom at the heart of the mandate, it is a struggle that implicates all believers. If the mandate is rammed down the throats of Catholics, people of no faith will be safe.

The Catholic bishops of the United States, dozens of whom are signers of the Manhattan Declaration, have made clear that they cannot and will not bend to the mandate. If forced to choose between the law of Christ and the edict of Caesar, they have no doubt about which master they will serve. If necessary, they are prepared to close institutions, and even go to jail, rather than comply with a human dictate in violation of what they believe, in conscience, to be the will of God.

…Let us not scatter in fear or yield our precious spiritual and constitutional rights. Let us stand with the Catholic bishops and with those of every faith who will stand with us in the defense of religious liberty and the rights of conscience. 

Go to the ManhattanDeclaration.org website to sign a petition to President Obama, and encourage your friends, family, and colleagues to sign it too.

      

Tim Keller Comments on New York's Plan to Ban Churches from Schools

Pastor Tim Keller, of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, has expressed his profound disappointment in the recent decision of NYC to no longer allow 68 churches to rent public schools. This is a terrible precedent, and it is based on a bizarre notion about worship services “consecrating the buildings they are in and turning them into churches.” Read Keller’s words and pray that something will happen to bring sense to the decision makers in New York City. The same thing could happen to churches in your city, ironically at a time when the public schools are most benefitting from not only the rent but also the help that so many churches bring to the schools and communities.

On NYC Schools' Decision to Ban Churches

by Tim Keller

I am grieved that New York City is planning to take the unwise step of removing 68 churches from the spaces that they rent in public schools. It is my conviction that those churches housed in schools are invaluable assets to the neighborhoods that they serve. Churches have long been seen as positive additions to communities. Family stability, resources for those in need, and compassion for the marginalized are all positive influences that neighborhood churches provide. There are many with first-hand experience who will claim that the presence of churches in a neighborhood can lead to a drop in crime.

Read the rest of Tim’s blog post.

      

 

An Invitation to Spend Three Days Learning What God's Word Has to Say about Heaven

In this three-minute video, I share about an upcoming graduate course on Heaven I’ll be teaching at Corban University in Salem, Oregon May 8-10, 2012. The course is available for graduate credit, but anyone is welcome (and encouraged) to come audit it.

Have you ever wondered . . .

What Heaven is really going to be like?
What we will look like?
What kind of relationships we’ll have with friends and loved ones?
Won't Heaven get boring after a while?
What we will do every day?
Will we have real bodies, and eat and drink and work and read and perform music and create art and play sports?

For many people—including many Christians—Heaven is a mysterious word describing a place that we can’t understand and therefore don’t look forward to. But Scripture tells us differently. What we otherwise could not have known about Heaven, God says he has revealed to us through his Spirit (1 Cor. 2:10). 

God tells us about our eternal home in his Word, not so we can shrug our shoulders and remain ignorant, but because he wants us to understand and anticipate what awaits us and those we love.

The three-day course, titled “Spend 3 Days in Heaven”, will help you gain a better understanding of our eternal dwelling place. We’ll talk about the pervasive myths and misconceptions about Heaven, and seek to answer from Scripture the most frequent questions about life after the resurrection, on the New Earth.

During the course, we’ll address the central question of whether there is a continuity or discontinuity between our present life on earth and our future life in Heaven. We’ll also discuss the question of what difference it makes whether we set our minds on Heaven while we still live on earth.

The course will give special emphasis to the New Earth as God’s central eternal dwelling place, and the place we will live and serve King Jesus.  We’ll explore together the far-reaching redemptive implications of Christ’s work, culminating in a resurrected universe delivered from the curse.

My hope is that this course will bring eternity to light in a way that will surprise you, spark your imagination, draw you closer to Jesus, and change how you live today.

For those of you interested in the credit, the course is worth 2 graduate credits which can be transferred to most colleges. (Cost is $600, almost an 85% discount off the regular cost.) The audit option is available for $450. Pastors who are interested in promoting the class and either auditing it or taking it for credit can receive a special discounted rate. (See the registration page for more information.)

Corban will also be providing lunch and refreshments for all three days of the course. Their site also lists some nearby hotels that will provide reduced rates if you mention the Corban discount.

As a friend of EPM, our ministry invites you to use promotion code epm675 to receive an additional $67.50 discount off your registration. Register at www.3daysinheaven.com. (More questions? Contact Corban University, www.corban.edu, or 503-375-7173.)

I look forward to this class, and hope to see some of you there.

      

Investing Time in Reading God's Word

Revive Our Hearts, a great ministry that my daughters and a number of our ministry staff have benefited from, recently posted a link on Facebook to this great two-minute video about finding time to read your Bible.

The fact is, you and I will become the product of what we choose to delight in and meditate upon. Psalm 1 says: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

We all meditate, and we’re all shaped by the object of our meditation. We take our attitudinal and behavioral cues from it. This week, will I be shaped by situation comedies, soap operas, and newspapers, or will I be shaped by Isaiah, Luke, A. W. Tozer, and Charles Haddon Spurgeon? It depends on how I choose to spend my time.

Psalm 1 says the one who continually meditates on God’s Word “is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither.” Trees don’t choose where to place themselves, but we do. We determine what our sources of nourishment will be, which in turn determine whether we bear fruit or wither.

The key to spirituality is the development of little habits, such as Bible reading and memorization and prayer. In putting one foot in front of the other day after day, we become the kind of person who grows and endures rather than withers and dies.

Consider again Psalm 1. “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” In each case, there is a physical action— walk, stand, sit. To meditate on the Word involves opening it with our hands, looking at it with our eyes, or speaking it with our lips.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time” (Eph. 5:15–16). Why not redeem two hours of your day that you would have spent on television, newspaper, video games, phone, working overtime, or hobbies? Change your habits. Spend one hour meditating on and/or memorizing Scripture. Spend the other hour reading a great book. Share what you’re learning with your spouse and children, or a friend.

Listen to Scripture and audio books and praise music while you fold clothes, pull weeds, or drive. Say no to talk radio or sports radio, not because they’re bad but because you have something better to do. Fast from television, radio, and the Internet for a week. Discover how much more time you have. Redeem that time by establishing new habits of cultivating your inner life and learning to abide in Christ. “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

As John Piper shared in this post challenging readers to dive into God’s word: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. Those are the words of Jesus (Matthew 4:4).  Let’s take them seriously and live on the word every day in 2012.”

Lord, take us deep into your Word. Let us not be content with empty entertainment and diversions to numb our pain. Your Word doesn’t numb us; instead it makes us alive, energizes us, strengthens and sustains us, and comforts us with truth. It confronts sin in our lives, encourages our obedience, and gives us delight in you. Who but the devil and sin itself would distract us from such treasure? Change our habits of leisure, Lord. Prompt us to abandon entertainment that scorns and violates your Word, to listen to music that celebrates your Word, and to embrace great Scripture-saturated books that lead us to you and your Word. Remind us that your Word is the source of correction, training, eternal perspective, and joyful rest from weariness and sorrow.

      

Christians and Politics?

The question of, “How much attention should Christians give to politics?” is an interesting one. I share some thoughts in the following video, and in the transcript below.

Writing about the political structure of society, Paul says in Romans 13:1-3:

Everyone must submit himself to governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong.

Paul writes within the context of first-century Roman government. In his day, the average Roman citizen had some voice in politics—not much—but for the most part, government worked from the top down.

Today, in America and many other western nations, republics operate on a more democratic level. People are allowed and even encouraged to get involved and make a difference. So I certainly think that the more opportunity we have to make a difference, the more seriously we should consider doing what we can to make a difference. Voting is one easy way Christians can take advantage of their ability to influence the direction of our country.

I am grateful for those Christians who are called to be legislators, judges, and otherwise involved in the political arena. I am also in favor of people—in the right context—protesting injustice. I was involved in civil disobedience and went to jail for protesting abortions at abortion clinics. But this was less a protest than an intervention on behalf of unborn children who were being killed. I wanted to do what I could to keep more children from dying.

On the other hand, Christians often turn politics into something too important. They start with bumper stickers, lawn signs and listening endlessly to talk radio. Soon they equate being a Republican with being a Christian, or being a Democrat with believing Christians should follow certain liberal agendas, depending on their different perspectives.

Some people think all Christians should be conservative. Some people think all Christians should be liberal. This flawed thinking divides Christians from each other.

I believe all Christians should be biblical. Sometimes the Bible teaches concepts that are by nature conservative. In those cases we should be conservative. Sometimes, however, the Bible teaches principles which by nature are liberal. In those cases we should be liberal.

So instead of determining in advance, “I’m conservative” or “I’m liberal,” we just need to say, “I’m a Christian. I want to be true to Scripture.” Practically speaking, in certain arenas, I’m going to end up looking conservative. For example, I believe abortion is wrong and it is frequently conservatives who agree with that. Usually, liberals will be in favor of abortion rights, and they will be “pro-choice.” Regardless of what Democrats or Republicans believe, my belief that abortion is wrong is based on the Bible, which is supported also by the scientific evidence. I believe that because God hates the shedding of innocent blood, and has a special love for children, abortion is the single most important issue facing this country.

Just as abortion is seen as a conservative cause, what about concern for the environment, which is typically viewed as a liberal cause? Read Genesis 1 and 2. God has clearly given  the human race stewardship over creation.

Call it “creation care.” Call it “environmental responsibility.” But whatever you call it, reasonable steps should be taken to recognize the legitimacy of utilizing natural resources, while protecting our environment for the sake of our grandchildren and great grandchildren. We have a God-given mandate to defend our world from the horrors of man-made crises like oil spills and their resulting decimation of the animal kingdom, and their effects on the health of people. We need to take reasonable care to see that ecosystems are not destroyed.

Yes, we are going to disagree as Christians on what is reasonable and what is not reasonable. And I will admit that despite conversations with people I love, I still cannot see how any Christ-follower can actually believe God favors people having the legal right to kill unborn children. But even in the things we feel most strongly about, let’s not make it about politics or loyalty to a party. Let’s seek to be loyal and true to God and His Word. Let’s be faithful as His people in this world.

      

If you could ask Randy a question…

Randy will be doing another filming soon, and we’re asking his blog readers what questions they would like him to address in a video blog.

We invite you to submit your question by leaving a comment on this post.

Last time we asked for ideas, readers asked some great questions about modesty, UFOs, assurance of salvation, having an authentic relationship with the Lord, difficult experiences, and responding to the death of someone who died without knowing Christ.

Unfortunately we won’t be able to answer each one you post here, and Randy won’t be able to address every question in a video. However, we encourage you to explore and search our site—there’s many articles and other resources that could help answer your question. (You can search by keywords or can put a phrase in quotes in the search bar at the top of our site.) You might also enjoy checking out our video and audio resources, which include other Q & A’s with Randy.

We look forward to seeing what questions you have!

Stephanie Anderson
Eternal Perspective Ministries

The Duggar family: "open to receive whatever gifts God wants us to have"

Few Christian families have received as much national media attention and caused as much debate among people (even some believers) as the Duggar family. They are featured on the TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting.

Whether you love the Duggars and their show, or like us don’t have cable TV and have never seen it, their website has some helpful resources for parents and families. Last year I discovered they had kindly linked to my book Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?  as a resource they had read and appreciated. Their links have sent many visitors to our EPM website.

I met Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar last year in Atlanta at ICRS (the annual Christian bookseller’s convention). They struck me as wonderful, Christ-loving people.  Our brief conversation was a delight. I love their commitment to the welfare of their children, and their comments on their website about agreeing to the reality show:  “We said the only way we would do it is if they did not edit out our faith, because that is the core of our lives.”

Last December the family received national attention when after announcing they were pregnant with their 21st child, Michelle and Jim Bob lost the baby in a miscarriage. The couple had pictures taken of their tiny stillborn daughter, who they named Jubilee Shalom Duggar. However, the photos, intended for private use and to be used at Jubilee’s memorial service, were leaked and created a controversy over whether they should have been publicly shared.

It’s interesting to note that people were not questioning whether the baby’s hands and feet showed that she was a fully human child. And that, of course, is what upset many people—the obvious truth that Jubilee Shalom Duggar was as real a person as every born child, every adult, and every other unborn child as well. I really enjoyed hearing Michelle read a letter she wrote to Jubilee:

“…we believe every life is sacred, even the life of the unborn,” the Duggars share on their website. I deeply appreciate their pro-child stance, and believe it reflects God’s heart toward children.

Sadly, many Christians today have bought into our society’s anti-child mentality, which motivates them to see children as an inconvenience, to turn up their noses at large families, and to consider the alternative of abortion when they face an unwanted pregnancy.

Parents of large families are all too often the recipients of demeaning comments such as “don’t they know about birth control?” or “you’re not going to have another child, are you?” My dad was the tenth of thirteen children. Nanci and I only had two, but I’m glad my grandparents didn’t stop after nine. If they had, I wouldn’t exist, and neither would our daughters and grandsons.

Scripture teaches that it is God who opens and closes the womb, and that children are a blessing of the Lord (Psalm 127). Reproductive fruitfulness is commanded and commended by God. Scripture knows nothing of the tragic bias often demonstrated today against people with large families.

The Duggars realize that God hasn’t called everyone to have a large number of children. "We know having this many kids isn't for everyone," Michelle shared in an interview. "But we are open to receive whatever gifts God wants us to have.”

Advocates of small families often cite 1 Timothy 5:7 (“If a man fails to provide for his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever”), believing that the more kids we have, the harder it is to provide for them and the greater danger we will disobey this command.

However, in what is by far the most affluent society in human history—and with one of the lowest birth rates in history—we have to wonder if that really is a danger. Or are we thinking that “providing” means lavishing on children material wealth that doesn’t just meet basic needs but provides for extravagant wants?

Ironically, while undercutting the value of children on the one hand, we pamper and spoil them on the other. Our children don’t have too little material things; they have way too much already. That’s one reason children from large families tend to be more responsible, harder-working, and less spoiled and selfish. They also know how to relate to small children because they’ve been around them and helped care for them. Perhaps that’s one of the results of decreased family size—more spoiled children who get everything they want (as they couldn’t with more siblings) and have no responsibilities (as they would with more siblings). 

No matter where we stand on this issue, it is an absolute certainty that the body of Christ should be pro-children and pro-family and never demean or roll our eyes at those God has blessed with many children, but rejoice with them and help them as we’re able. (I think we should also get over our aversion to crying infants in a church service—the way we turn our heads and stare and frown if a mother with a crying child doesn’t head for the exit in the first five seconds. I think this is symptomatic of our view of children as hindrances to what we want to accomplish.)

May we do all we can to listen to our Lord, and to follow Him as best we know how. And while we shouldn’t condemn believers who have large families, we also shouldn’t condemn other Christians just because they believe using non-abortive contraceptives is okay. (I’ve written a Dialogue about Birth Control for those who would like to read more on this subject.)

Acts 17:11 talks about searching the Scriptures daily to evaluate what’s true and what isn’t. When it comes to this issue, a great place to start is to read what the Bible says about children, having children, and exercising wisdom. Let’s ask God to open our eyes to His perspectives, and show us if the way we think comes from our culture and upbringing, or if it comes from His Word. Our goal should be to please the Lord, the Audience of One. If we need to adjust our thinking—and our actions—may we be ready and willing to do so.

      

Photo credit

Spurgeon: "Man fashions for himself a god after his own liking"

Charles Spurgeon has a remarkable way of getting to the heart of things. The more modern evangelical books I read, the more I feel the need to go back to Spurgeon and see him cut through the fog and get to the true business of following Jesus. And as he says here, that business is not inventing a god, but submitting to the one true God revealed in Scripture.

Man fashions for himself a god after his own liking; he makes to himself if not out of wood or stone, yet out of what he calls his own consciousness, or his cultured thought, a deity to his taste, who will not be too severe with his iniquities or deal out strict justice to the impenitent. He rejects God as he is, and elaborates other gods such as he thinks the Divine One ought to be, and he says concerning these works of his own imagination, “These be thy gods, O Israel.” The Holy Spirit, however, when he illuminates their minds, leads us to see that Jehovah is God, and beside him there is none else. He teaches his people to know that the God of heaven and earth is the God of the Bible, a God whose attributes are completely balanced, mercy attended by justice, love accompanied by holiness, grace arrayed in truth, and power linked with tenderness. He is not a God who winks at sin, much less is pleased with it, as the gods of the heathen are supposed to be, but a God who cannot look upon iniquity, and will by no means spare the guilty. 

This is the great quarrel of the present day between the philosopher and the Christian. The philosopher says, “Yes, a god if you will, but he must be of such a character as I now dogmatically set before you”; but the Christian replies, “Our business is not to invent a god, but to obey the one Lord who is revealed in the Scriptures of truth.” The God of Holy Scripture is love, but he is also possessed of justice and severity; he is merciful and gracious, but he is also stern and terrible towards evil; therefore unregenerate hearts say, “We cannot accept such a God as this,” and they call him cruel, and I know not what besides. 

Sermon of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, "Heart-Knowledge of God," December 6, 1874.

      

What Happens When the Bookstore Closes for the Night

If you love books and bookstores, like I do, you might wonder what happens when a bookstore closes for the night (and with all the bookstore closures, and the threat of Barnes and Noble going under, there may be some new independent bookstores rising up, so that a bookstore closing means ONLY for the night):