I will get back to the Godly views series in a day or two. I think we all needed a break from it for a bit. I received an email from a very good friend of mine who is doing Church Planting near Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Probably the most beautiful place on earth that I have ever been. The Canadian Rockies are gorgeous! Nick pointed me toward his churches blog. From there, I found another old friend in Colorado who has a college ministry in our home town.
Darrin has always talked about this ten-step process for evangelism that I have always loved. It’s not your dad’s old evangelism. Nor is it anything like handing out chick-tracks. But what it is is a biblical way of disciple-making. For many of you who know me, I hate the word “evangelism”. Even though companies such as Mac and GE now call their marketers “evangelists”. That’s just how most churches/christians view evangelism… selling religious wares all in the name of Christ. Pisses me off is what it does. Disciple-making though is something completely different. It’s walking with your neighbor and showing them how Jesus would live life. Isn’t that the way it should be?
I may have posted this video before, and I can’t wait for Thursday to post this one. This is probably the most motivational 30 seconds of your life. Learn from it. I also would like to take this moment to dedicate this video to my pastor, mentor, and friend, Bob Roberts, Jr.
Bob, here’s to the crazy ones.
Some things are just best explained in the words of ones who hold that belief. I have been studying Deism for the past few days and I can’t seem to form the words to best explain it. So, I’m going to let the World Union of Deists explain it for themselves. This is a very dangerous thing that I am about to do, but to be fair (which I haven’t been in my past "Godly View" posts … sorry) I will let them explain what they believe and then I will have my thoughts on the subject directly after. So, here is how The World Union of Deists define who they are and what they believe in their own words (not mine):
Cult: In Deism, a cult is an embracing of unreasonable beliefs by a group of people. Based on this definition, Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all cults because their members suspend their God-given reason in order to believe or accept the unreasonable dogmas and teachings such as God giving real estate as a gift to the Jews, the resurrection and ascension of Jesus and Mohammed among many more false and unreasonable claims. Because Deism always promotes free and independent thought and reason, it is impossible for Deism to become a cult.
Deism: Deism is the recognition of a universal creative force greater than that demonstrated by mankind, supported by personal observation of laws and designs in nature and the universe, perpetuated and validated by the innate ability of human reason coupled with the rejection of claims made by individuals and organized religions of having received special divine revelation.
Faith: This word has been so terribly abused by "revealed" religions that it has come to really mean the suspension of an individual’s God-given reason in order to accept, or at least to tolerate, an unreasonable claim made by a "revealed" religion. It is the only way "revealed" religions can get people to accept such insane and unreasonable claims and ideas as original sin, walking on water, healing the sick without medical care, splitting the Red Sea, etc. Deists prefer to use the word "trust" instead of faith due to the twisted meaning the word "faith" has acquired after centuries of abuse from the "revealed" religions.
One key difference between Deism and the "revealed" religions is that Deists don’t believe faith is required to believe in God. This quote from Voltaire sums it up, "What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason."
God: The universal creative force which is the source of the laws and designs found throughout Nature.
Intelligent Design: Intelligent Design refers to the structures in Nature, such as that of DNA, which can be observed and the complexity of which required an intelligent Designer. In this context "structure" means something arranged in a definite pattern of organization. In Deism, Intelligent Design has absolutely nothing to do with the unreasonable Biblical myth of creation.
Natural Religion: Belief in God based on the application of reason on the laws/designs of Nature as opposed to revealed religion which is based on alleged revelations.
Philosophy: The study of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct.
Reason: The mental powers used with forming conclusions or inferences based on facts. Deists look at reason as the second greatest gift from Nature’s God to humanity, second only to life itself.
Religion: A set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature and purpose of the universe.
Revelation: The act of revealing or of making known. In the religious sense, revelation usually means divine revelation. This is meaningless, since revelation can only be revelation in the first instance. For example, if God revealed something to me, that would be a divine revelation to me. If I then told someone else what God told me it would be mere hearsay to the person I tell. If that person believed what I said, they would not be putting their trust in God, but in me, believing what I told them was actually true.
Revealed Religion: An organized system of belief in and worship of God based on the belief that God communicated/communicates with certain individual founders/members of the particular revealed religion. As mentioned above, by believing in any of the revealed religions a believer is not putting their trust in God, but in the person/people making the claim of receiving the divine revelation.
Trust: Trust is confidence in a person or thing based on reason and experience.
Bobby’s Thoughts:
WOW! First let me say that I agree with some of how they say things (but, when you get into semantics, we disagree an just about everything) and I agree with their definition of "Revealed Religion" and that I agree that we need to use our reasoning skills that God gave us to help discern life. But that’s as far as I can go. As a follower of Christ I don’t believe in religion. Religion is what has caused so much pain and sorrow over the centuries. And, like the Deists defined above, revealed religion is just that. I believe in a relationship with Christ. It’s personal, it’s powerful, and it’s shared with others. Now, the Deists would say that Christianity is a revealed religion because we follow the words of Christ (or at least should) and that Christ was only a man and that he was more myth and his life legend than anything else. To me, that is where the deist argument starts to crumble to pieces. If we are to use reason and logic to determine God (or god in the case of deists) then why not use our intelligence to study history? Without going into it in great detail, all one would have to do is look at Roman history (outside of the Bible) and read Roman historians such as Titus Flavius Josephus (yes, TJ, I know I linked back to the evil Wikipedia after I blasted it… I just needed a quick reference point).
Here is what is so dangerous about Deism, and any view of God for that matter. If you begin to look to human reasoning alone for your explanation of who God is, then you will soon find yourself drowning in your own definitions. What would happen if I went to a soccer game in Brazil (those Brazilians love their soccer), jumped on the field and began to pick up the ball and run with it only to throw it into the net? When the referees and security guards tackled me and I began to shout, "Those are the rules! I can do that! Don’t tell me that point doesn’t count because I know the rules!" I would quickly find myself in a nice, neat, little white coat in a nice, neat, little padded room.
Basically, that’s what Deism has done. They have come in and said, "I reject your rules because I don’t agree with them." and began to make up their own. I know that this is a shallow illustration, but it’s the best I could come up with for right now. Anyway, Deists from what I have read, still like to back up some of their beliefs using the Christian Bible and the Torah. They love to point out that God created us in His image w
hich, in their argument means that God gave us all His intelligence. Therefore, when we use reason to explain who God is instead of His Word, we know what we’re talking about.
One other dangerous hot-spot is the fact that Deists reject any miracles/unexplained events because they say that God created the natural world and he would not go against his natural laws. The missing element in that is the fact that God created the natural AND supernatural world. He’s God for cryin’ out loud! You’re telling me that if he wanted to walk on water he couldn’t just because he made it a non-solid surface? Talk about not using reason!
I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this one!
“Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’ When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.” Matthew 19:13-15 (NIV)
To answer the question, yes. Find the question, watch the video.
Ok, it’s getting thick around here so before I tackle the next “Godly View” let’s take a laugh break. Today, let us partake of the fun that can be had from teasing the American mega-church. Good fun. Enjoy.
It’s been a few days since a serious post, I know. I’ve been watching the Open Theism discussion take form. Some good thoughts going on, keep it going there.
Ok, so we’ll go from one extreme to the other (in my mind). Like I mentioned before, if you grew up in almost any mainstream denomination in America Calvinism is what you probably know best. Calvinism isn’t even from John Calvin, if you want to get specific… Jordan, could you help me out on this one? I was looking through my old textbooks to find out where this theology came from, but couldn’t find it. Something about the Synod of Dordt comes to mind.
I could sit here and bore you with the life-history of John Calvin, which is interesting to say the least. One of the most interesting historical figures in my opinion. Him and Balthazar Hubmaier are worth reading about. Both learned men and murderers in their own rite. Pique your interest? Google their names and start reading. Even better, go to a library and check out some biographies on them.
Ok, I’m going to over-simplify this and let others leave comments to fill in the blanks that I’m going to leave on purpose. There is an easy way to remember the five-points of Calvinism. There is a cool acronym to help you remember (I know, I know, acronyms are out-dated):
T.U.L.I.P.
Total Depravity: Everyone is sinful and no one can do any good in the eyes of God.
Unconditional Election: God as ordained, or elected, before time those whom He would choose for eternity in Heaven. God chose those whom would accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior based not upon their merit, faith, or virtue.
Limited Atonement: Jesus’ death upon the cross was 100% successful because he died only for those who would "choose" to follow Jesus as their Savior. Instead of saying that He died for all people in all time (which would mean that his death on the cross was in some way unsuccessful because not all people would choose Him). Limited Atonement means He only died for the elect.
Irresistible Grace: Every influence of the Holy Spirit in the life of a person cannot be resisted. This means that if God chooses to save someone, they cannot refuse Him and His love and they will be saved.
Perseverance of the Saints: Plainly put: Once saved, always saved.
Some of these Christians love to love… once saved, always saved, total depravity, those are "easy" to believe because it makes us feel warm and fuzzy. God’s love and all. It’s election and limited atonement that people get hung-up on. To think that we have no choice in anything takes away the "human factor." Several of you can expound upon this and give more details (I’m alone with the 4 girls so I probably should not spend too much time on this).
Bobby’s Thoughts: While I’m not a Calvinist by any means, I can’t deny some of the things that have happened in my life to show God’s foreknowledge. Some would call it chance, other’s would say it was just good decision-making. I can look back on my life and see how every instance has led me to where I am today. Left to my own devices, I would not have a great family and I’d be a drunk living in a mobile home in Cortez, Colorado. So, there’s something to be said about God’s foresight and providence. But here’s the problem with many Calvinists (not all, so don’t start sending the hate mail just yet). Because God is in charge of everything, including those who will choose Him, there’s no reason to be proactive in evangelism, prayer, and missions. "God’s in charge, so why do I have to do anything?" kind of attitude. Guys like Mark Driscoll and Tim Keller are the exception to this rule. Both Calvinists, they have a missional outlook on life and are die-hard evangelists. When it comes to limited atonement, give me a break. To say that God failed on the cross and that He only died for the "elect" is ridiculous… and unbiblical. Hello!!! John 3:16?
Let the comments commence. Like I said, please don’t crucify me for my lack of details. If you want details, read a book.
Okay Okay I know its been what …a month since I blogged. I’m so sorry. July seems to be going very fast. So we went to Colorado and had a wonderful time. It was great to see everyone and most people looked the same and it was easy to fall into conversations…like we hadn’t ever been gone. Everyone’s kids were amazingly different though. I couldn’t believe how big they all were. I know everyone probably felt the same way about us and our kids, except we just had two more.
Since we’ve been back I been very busy with ……I’m really not sure with what, to be honest. I can’t say that Ive accomplished anything lately but still feel I have been crazy busy doing something….. Oh yeah four children!!
So I want to tell you about my amazing husband. Did I say amazing??? I meant sooooooo amazing. For my birthday he set up (meaning scheduled, planned child care, everything) a massage and facial at a spa in Dallas. To be honest I was a little nervous about the whole thing at first but since it was all set up I couldn’t not go. I’m so glad I did! It was awesome. Every mom should get one. I spent two hours at the spa all by myself. It was incredible. The only stress of the whole day was getting there and home in traffic but I even survived that without getting too lost. Not only did I get a massage and facial but I now have new curtains in by bedroom. YES real curtains. After a year and a half of living in Texas and having blankets over my windows to make it dark enough to sleep during the day, I now have real life opening and closing curtains. They are beautiful!! The real present was Bobby installing them without a complaint. Didn’t I tell you he was amazing??!!!
So really that’s been the big excitement in my life lately. I will try to be better about blogging now…. My love to all.
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Hello everyone! This is pirate Bob. I’m hijacking Rennee’s journal for just a moment to tell you ladies about something WAY COOL! The next time you want to buy a pair of shoes, go to TOM‘s online. It’s true, ladies talk about the shoes (and some men… if they’re cool enough). Anyway, these may not be the first pair of shoes someone runs out to buy… or even the tenth, but they will be the one’s that people will be talking about when wearing them. Why? Because Tom’s has a buy one pair, get the second pair free campaign! "That’s not new!" you say. Well, yes, it kindof is. Because you don’t get the second pair! A kid in a developing nation get’s it for free!
According to Seth Godin, "Tom has turned the shoe into a souvenir. A post-modern shoe, a shoe for people who don’t need shoes, but are happy to wear a statement. This isn’t the first pair of shoes most Americans will buy, it might not even be the tenth. But it will be one that people talk about when they’re wearing it."
Plus, I kinda like the design. They look comfortable.
There’s a company from near my home in Colorado called Chaco’s who has a similar program. But they take your gently used shoes and sends them to Africa for people. Chaco’s are awesome… if you can afford them. But for a company that does so much for the environment and people over the ocean, the price is worth it.
So go tell your husband you want to help a needy child and go buy some shoes!
Many of you are probably asking, "What? You mean there are other views out there other than Calvinism?" Well, some of you are Calvinists and didn’t even know it had a title. If you grew up in almost any mainstream American denomination, you are probably closer to Calvinism than anything else. But I’ll get to that on another day.
Open Theism, or "openness" or "open view" is a theological position dealing with human free will and its relationship to God and the nature of the future. It teaches that God has granted to humanity free will and that in order for the free will to be truly free, the future free will choices of individuals cannot be known ahead of time by God. After all, if God knows all our future choices, how can we really have free will? (1)"…when it is time to make those choices since a counter choice cannot then be made by us because it is already ‘known’ what we are going to do. In other words, we would not actually be able to make a contrary choice to what God ‘knows’ we will choose thus implying that we would not then be free."
The future, according to Open Theism, is either knowable or not knowable. Some Open Theists say that the future is knowable by God. Those say that God voluntarily limits his knowledge of free will choices so that our choices remain truly free. Other open theists hold that the future is not existent therefore cannot be known by God.
Don’t get the wrong idea though. Open Theists don’t believe that God is weak or powerless. I can hear some of your questions already: "If this is true, how do you explain the prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament?" Good question! Most Open Theists will tell you that God is capable of predicting future events by working in the world to cause change certain events when the time is needed. (I think I said that right) Therefore, he could tell the prophets what was going to happen in order for them to prophesy because he is able to control certain events in order for his timing to be perfect.
Open Theists even believe like classical theologians that God is all-knowing (omniscient). But they (mostly) say that God knows everything that can be known. But since the future cannot be known, it cannot be exhaustively known by God.
Prayer is huge to Open Theists! Since it is our free will that makes changes, most Open Theists believe that God intervenes through prayer. He steps in for us when we ask. Such as salvation. He only intervenes when someone prays for him to come and save them. As well as when we pray for miracles. Someone is sick and dying and we pray that God will heal that person and he does, but he does so that we may give him the glory. Here’s the real kicker, did he only step in because we prayed for that person? Or would he have stepped in for that person had not a single person prayed for them? Open Theists say "no" to that last question.
Bobby’s thoughts: Even though this is a very brief explanation of Open Theism, it gives you an idea of what an Open Theist believes and that, like all of the views I’ll be writing about, have differing views within that view. Here’s my two-cents: Open Theists have one very positive thing going for it and that is prayer. They rely heavily on prayer. They talk to God constantly about almost everything. Something that most mainline Christians fail miserably at… especially hard-core Calvinists, but that’s for another day. Another positive about Open Theism is they tend to be more socially active. They do more for their neighbors, they do more for the environment, they do more for missions, they do more for community development… all because they believe that it is their choices that make the world a better place to live, rather than God doing it all. I like to focus on those two positives because most people are so harshly critical of Open Theism. I’m not saying that I’m an Open Theist (sorry Donnie, didn’t mean to get your hopes up there), but I am saying that there’s something to this…
I may leave this post up on top for several days (I may use Ren’s blog for a few "fun" blogs I want to do). I want comments, additions, corrections, etc. But here are the rules, if you flame someone (insult their beliefs) I will delete your comment and any future comments. Feel free to disagree, just do it respectfully!
Here are a few websites on "Open Theism":
http://www.carm.org/open/intro.htm
http://www.opentheism.info
http://www.allaboutgod.com/open-theism.htm
(and there’s wikipedia too… if you trust it)