Dead Men Talking – Part 2
Written by David S. Steele |
Sunday, June 25, 2023
Bunyan’s pedigree was among the lowest of the low. Indeed, he was an everyday “Joe!” But God rescued him from his sin and used the British tinker as a powerful instrument in God’s hands! Who would have thought that as he wrote Pilgrim’s Progress from a Bedford jail that it would become the number two best seller in the world?
What is the rationale for unearthing the dead guys? In his introduction to Athanasius’s masterpiece, On the Incarnation (a book written over 1,600 years ago), C.S. Lewis discusses the propensity of many people to gravitate to the new when all the while neglecting the old: “This mistaken preference for the modern books and this shyness of the old ones is nowhere more rampant than in theology.” He goes on to describe the reason he advises people to select the old over the new. The reason is this: “… He is an amateur and therefore much less protected than the expert against the dangers of an exclusive contemporary diet. A new book is still on trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it. It has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down the ages, and all its hidden implications (often unsuspected by the author himself) have to be brought to the light.” So Lewis essentially argues that most people simply do not have sufficient resources to sift through the sludge of contemporary writing. Thus, he is vulnerable to worldviews that are spiritually dangerous.
Lewis rightly says that every culture is unique. Each culture comes with a certain amount of baggage that does not square with Scripture. So he makes an appeal to old books, what I call reading the dead guys: “We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.”
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Come to Me and I Will Give You Rest
Do you see my brethren that those truly born again are those who are resting in Christ as His disciples? They keep His commandments from the motivation of love for Him, not in order to earn their salvation. I adjure each of you to examine yourselves. Ask God to reveal the truth of your standing before Him to your hearts. Repent of what He shows you then rest in our Lord as you walk and serve Him yoked up with Him. Love Him and serve Him for His glory alone.
37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “ If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39 (NASB)
3 “ Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:3-12 (NASB)
Hell is real. All who do not repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will spend eternity there. Those who repent and believe are those who ‘come to Jesus to drink.’ They believe as the Holy Spirit is poured out on them to the point that their lives are taken over by Him. Those who do will never experience hell. Instead, they come to Jesus and find rest for their souls. Those who do this are poor in spirit. They mourn for their sins. They are not proud, but meek. In their growing godliness they hunger and thirst for Christ’s righteousness to become manifest in them. They become more and more Christlike, therefore, they take on His character. They show mercy as He does. They become more and more pure of heart. They remove themselves from seeking their own. Instead, they become those who live to bring others to their Lord. Conversely, this holy and separate life does not cause them to find peace in the world. No, instead they are persecuted for righteousness sake.
25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. 26 Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. Matthew 11:25-26 (NASB)
The passage above is partially made up of a short prayer by our Lord. In vv20-24 preceding this passage our Lord had just pronounced woes upon the impenitent who had seen His mighty works and heard His preaching and teaching.
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The Historical Adam – Part 6: Truth vs. Truth-in-Story
Written by Dr. Lisle |
Thursday, January 6, 2022
The events of Genesis 1-11 are recorded in the same historical narrative style as Genesis 12-50 with its straightforward prose, its attention to detail in names and ages, and the content of the first eleven chapters flowing seamlessly into the remaining chapters. Genesis is not written as a parable, poem, myth, or fictional story. Thus, to assert that Genesis is myth (or mytho-historical) is a violation of exegetical principles. Moreover, there is no evidence that any biblical author thought of Genesis 1-11 as anything other than straightforward history.We begin with a brief review of our analysis of William Lane Craig’s claims regarding Genesis 1-11 from his recent article on the historical Adam. We have seen that Genesis 1-11 has all the markers of historical narrative. Namely, it is written in the same literary style as the other historical books with long chains of the Hebrew waw-consecutive. It lists details that are not germane to the point of the narrative, such as specific names and ages of persons (even those not involved in the main events) and highly detailed chronologies. These indicate history and would bog down a fictional/mythical story. Furthermore, these chronologies flow seamlessly into the historical figures mentioned in Genesis 12-50 – a section of Scripture that even Craig admits is straightforward history. In contrast, myths like the Epic of Gilgamesh are usually written in poetic form; yet Genesis lacks the key characteristics of Hebrew poetry. Clearly, Genesis 1-11 matches the literary form and style of Genesis 12-50.
And what about the content? Contrary to Craig’s claims, the content of the creation account in Genesis is starkly different from the content of Ancient Near Eastern origins myths. Pagan origins stories generally involve a very old universe that exists in a state of chaos, until a chaos monster is slain which brings about the good world of today. Genesis starts with God who speaks the universe into existence in six days, each step being good until the final result is “very good.” Humans introduce death into the world by sinning against God. The events are recorded with none of the obvious symbolism or analogies present in parables, but rather as literal events. All other references in Scripture to Genesis 1-11 take the narrative as literally historical. Furthermore, the Bible states that the events in Genesis 1-11 have repercussions in the world today – something that is only possible if such events literally happened. And so, if we are going to be rational and take the text as written, we must admit that Genesis 1-11 is straightforward history.
This of course contrasts with the secular claim that the universe began in a big bang billions of years ago, and that life came about as a result of evolution. Many Christians have been duped into believing that such secular speculations are “science” or at least supported by science. Nothing could be further from the truth since science is predicated upon the literal historicity of the Bible including biblical creation as we have explored previously. Therefore, Christians who have mindlessly accepted evolution but still profess to believe the Bible must somehow deal with the fact that Genesis contradicts the secular origins stories. Rather than admitting that they don’t believe Genesis 1-11, the usual tactic is to say, “I believe it, just not literally. I don’t interpret the text the way you do.” This of course could be done with any portion of Scripture that a person doesn’t want to accept. A person could equally well declare “I do believe that Jesus rose from the dead – just not literally. The Gospels are written in the form of myth.” However, the Bible does not give us permission to interpret the text any way we like. We must interpret it according to its context. And we have seen that Genesis 1-11 lists the events that happened in the world in straightforward, non-poetic narrative, just like Genesis 12-50. Thus, we must interpret them accordingly.
All other books of the Bible that refer back to Genesis do so as if the events recorded therein actually happened as written. Yet, William Lane Craig has stated that he believes that Genesis 1-11 is not to be taken as straightforward history. So, how does he attempt to reconcile the biblical references to the history in Genesis with his belief that Genesis 1-11 is not straightforward history? We continue to analyze his recent article on The Historical Adam.
Craig: When we turn to the New Testament, we find the figure of Adam widely deployed, most importantly by Paul.
Lisle: It is clear that Paul understood Adam and Eve to be real people, and the events of Genesis 1-11 to be real history with real consequences in the world today. See for example, Romans 5:14-15; 1 Corinthians 15:22-23; 2 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Timothy 2:13-14.
Craig: Many scholars have attempted to distinguish between the literary Adam and the historical Adam. The literary Adam is a character in a story, specifically the stories of Genesis 2–3. The historical Adam is the person, if such there be, who actually existed—the actual individual whom the stories are allegedly about.
Lisle: It seems that Craig is going to suggest that New Testament references to Adam are not necessarily always asserting the historical reality of the person (the historical Adam), but possibly references to a character in a fictional, allegorical, or embellished story (the literary Adam).
Craig: By way of analogy, the Pompey of Plutarch’s Lives is the literary Pompey, whereas the Roman general who actually lived was the historical Pompey. What we want to know is how closely the literary Pompey of the Lives resembles the historical Pompey. Similarly, we want to know how closely the literary Adam of Genesis 2–3 resembles the historical Adam, if such there be—or more precisely, whether New Testament authors assert that the literary Adam of Genesis 2–3 closely resembles the historical Adam.
Lisle: Is there any evidence in the New Testament that the authors thought of Adam as merely a literary character in a story rather than a historical person? Is there any evidence in Scripture that any of its authors thought that the events recorded in Genesis were not real history, but merely a mythical story with useful illustrations?
Quite the opposite. Most of the biblical references to the events of Genesis would make no sense unless Genesis is real history. For example, a fictional story cannot have real-world consequences – something that Craig himself concedes later in his article.
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3 Bible Verses That Teach Us 3 Things about Grace
We are saved by His grace, and we are being transformed into the image of Jesus by His grace. There is, of course, much more to God’s grace, but at a minimum, these things are reason enough for praise.
The Greek word for grace is charis. It means favor. Acceptance. Giving. Grace is free in the sense that something done or given in grace is done so truly without expecting to receive anything in return. That means the origin of grace isn’t the object receiving it; the origin is entirely found in the giver’s goodness, love, and care. And this is our experience in Christ.
We didn’t earn this. We don’t deserve this. Nothing in our sinful and rebellious selves warrants this. Grace finds its root in the generosity of God who gives freely to us.
J.I. Packer wrote, “God is good to all in some ways but good to some in all ways.”
We’re the “some.” Every other religion in the world boils down to a sort of cosmic barter system. People bring their good stuff to their god, whether it’s good actions, good money, or good sacrifices, and in exchange their god gives them some of His good stuff. Christianity stands apart from this system as a grace-based belief system that is built squarely on the extravagant goodness of God. Nothing in us is motivational, and nothing we can do can pay Him back. The only part we have in grace is the receiving of it.
If you wondered about the importance of “grace” in biblical theology, it’s pretty revelatory to see the word appearing 116 times in the New Testament. But in particular, here are three verses that help us see the truth about grace:
1. “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:2).
“Grace and peace.” That two-word salutation is how Paul began his letter to the Ephesian church. But not only that letter – much of the correspondence that’s recorded in the New Testament begins the same way. Much in the same way that we might write “Dear…” or “To Whom It May Concern,” “grace and peace” is Paul’s greeting to his audience. Why is that? Were they just convenient and poetic words, a way to say “Hey there!” with a little more class? Or is there something more?
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