How do I live and teach a Biblical Worldview?

I have been thinking a lot about my life and the lives of the future generations. First I put a disclaimer up that I am not an expert on parenting or teaching so please read my thoughts with an appropriate measure of salt. My husband and I don't have children but if we do go down that path someday, I certainly desire for my children to follow after God. But I also desire for the generations after me to do the same. I came across a verse today and it struck me with a new thought.

Romans 16:19
I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.

As parents or teachers or followers of Christ, we need to be focused on the real genuine thing. God and who he is should be our focus. As Paul said, to be wise (having the power of discerning and judging properly as to what is true or right; aware, astute, perceptive) about what is good. Life, relationships, God. We need to be tuned into the authentic and holy versions of these things so we can know good. And on the flip side, innocent (free from moral wrong; without sin; pure, uncorrupted, unstained, unsullied) about what is evil.
What came to mind as an illustration is the way that people are trained to detect counterfeit currency. They spend all their time studying the authentic thing so that they are experts about all of the little nuances and details of the item. Then when they encounter a counterfeit, they instantly recognize it because they know the real thing so completely.
I believe that this is how God wants to relate to me and help me live a biblical worldview. I believe that he was also giving me a little revelation into how to help future generations do the same. God is what we need to know and what we need to teach!
Once again I am blown away with how God whispers to my heart and gives me insight. Bless his holy name!

Without the Trinity.........

Recently I have had to defend a doctrine that is foundational to our belief system as Christians.  Even in saying that we have a belief "system" has had to be defended in some ways.  Loving a debate, it has caused much study, and reflection.  In my store house of knowledge about the Trinity, I had little to fire back, but I thought that is was adequate.  I have discovered that the implications are more far reaching than I could ever plumb.  Why should we as Christians believe and defend the doctrine of the Trinity?  The early church fathers did not only defend this doctrine, but often brought their lives into grave danger defending it.  

One rabbit trail, remembering is important.  Throughout the Scriptures God tells us over and over to remember.  History is crucial to our understanding of everything.  One of the central themes of worship is to remember.   Consider these verses from Deuteronomy.

1. Remember how God appeared before you in His awesome presence at Mt. Horeb (4:10)
2. Remember how god redeemed you from slavery in Egypt (5:15, 15:15, 16:12, 24:18, 24:22)
3. Remember the power by which he humbled Pharaoh (7:18)
4. Remember how God provided for you as he led you through the desert for forty years (8:2)
5. Remember how God gives you the ability to produce wealth as he swore to your forefathers (8:18)

There are a great deal more as well. Just pick up a concordance and look up the word remember.  

Also, if you look at the five sermons in the book of Acts, they all have to do with recounting 

the deeds of God in history and how He has fulfilled it all in Christ.  (Acts 2:14-36, 3:12-26, 4:8-12,

5:29-32, and 7:2-53).  

Christ also instituted the Lord's Supper to command us to remember His death

until He comes again. There is a past, present and future aspect to the Lord's Supper.  

I say all of that to emphasize the fact that we have to look back, we have to study and weigh

what we learn from the early church fathers, and the wisdom that we gain from them. We ignore 

them to our peril.

The early church fathers as well as the creeds that they wrote and defended, rejected out right

a dualism that separates the Father from the Son, either the human Son or the divine Son. This is 

what the Gnostics did, and they to some degree were defending the Trinity against a dualistic 

Gnosticism. The Christian faith does not separate the Creator God from the Redeemer God.  

The Gnostics and other heretics tried to separate the Godhead because some of them had bought

into the Platonic view of reality which states that the creation is evil. The material world is the

source of evil. Christ could not be divine and material at the same time. The Gnostics felt like He

was an "emanation" of divinity. During the Council of Nicea, the Nicene Creed was written, 

in 325 AD and confirmed by the Council

of Constantinople in AD 380.

The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Armed with the Scriptures, these men defended their Biblical, Orthodox faith against the philosophies of the day.  That means they knew the philosophies of their day, and guess what, there isn't anything new under the sun.  If you know the history of philosophy, and history in general and Church history in the specifics, then you know that what they were battling is the same old story that is out there today, just in a little bit more of a modern package.  

If you make Christ only divine then He could not be the second true Adam, and make all things right.  Living the perfect life that Adam was supposed to.  He could not be tempted in all things yet without sin.  He could not die.  Spirit's don't die.  If you make Christ only human, He could never be a perfect substitute, a perfect lamb, a perfect anything.  Then death would not have been defeated.  I hope you know that I am just barely scratching the surface.  

If you take away the belief of the Trinity you have a fragmented, shallow view of reality.  The ancient philosophers, beginning with the Pre-Socratics, debated why the world was multi-faceted, why could there be one, and also the many.  The only way this fits with reality is through the lens and belief of the Triune God. Why is God a personal God, because He dwells in the perfect unity of the God head.  Without the Trinity there would indeed be no relationships.  He is the basis for all reality.  Begin looking at the world around you and begin catching glimpses of this most beautiful doctrine and how it fits into reality.  It will amaze you how deep, how wonderful, how utterly unbelievable our God is.  

Praise be the Father, The Son, and to The Holy Spirit..........Awaiting the Bridegroom, Lynn

Questions to Ask about weighty matters (More on the Trinity)

When I was teaching Bible Study Methods to middle schoolers, I taught them to always question everything including the Scriptures.  Not necessarily in a doubting way, but ask questions of the Scriptures.  Why did Jesus go there?  What was Paul thinking at the time he wrote that?  Why did they do what they did?  What were they having to go through?  Etc....Etc....I want to encourage you to do the same thing, especially when reading, listening, or viewing something that is teaching doctrine.  Then, be a Berean and go to what you know the Scripture says about it, and always make that your default setting.  Always understand the universal principle of interpreting the Bible is to understand the unclear passages by comparing them to the clear passages.  Go to other Bible passages that touch on the same thing, go to different commentaries, pick apart the words, find the meanings, mull over it, chew on it, and digest it.  It takes time, energy, and thought.  Do not just accept a piece of literature, or a movie, or anything else just on feelings alone.  Think, Think, Think, and Study, Study, Study.  

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."  

II Timothy 2:15

I want to address some questions that you should be asking yourself as you read The Shack.  Asking questions should be where you should begin with a novel like this one.  

1. Does it point me to Christ?
   
2. Does what I am reading Glorify God and His Word?
   
3. Does it encourage me to mourn over my sin?
   
4. Does it encourage me to rationalize my sin?
   
5. Does it point me to Christ?
   
6. Does it show me my utter poverty before Him, and increase my dependency on Him?
   
7. Does it in any way, even subtly, teach works righteousness?
   
8. Does it enlarge my view of God or weaken my sense of His majesty?
   
9. Apart from how I feel, or how entertaining it is, does it match up with the teaching of Scripture?

I am sure you all could come up with better questions, and if you do please email them 

to me or leave them on the comment section of this blog post.

I also want to say, I am the first one to encourage reading of all sorts. Read the classics, 

read modern literature, read different view points of what Christianity teaches, but always 

come back to weighing it with a Biblical World and Life View. Truth is truth, no matter 

where it is found. If it is truth it is God's truth. The Biblical World View is far superior to 

anything that the world has to offer. Tomorrow I will post more on the Trinity.  

Today's post was to get you thinking.

My email is: omnibuscross@yahoo.com

Studying while waiting on the Bridegroom.........Lynn

Two Great Articles: D'Souza and Colson

I am out of town right now, and might not be able get back to my Trinity debate until I return, but wanted you all to be aware of two great articles.  One is by Dinesh D'Souza on his debate with Christopher Hitchens on Atheism.  The other one is concerning the human rights issue and our neighbors to the north by Chuck Colson.  Take the time to read them they are very good.  I will give you the links.  

D'Souza-The Absentee God?

Chuck Colson

Thanks for reading and Posting Comments.  I love to hear what you think and have to say.  

Awaiting the Bridegroom...........Lynn

Go Backward to Stay Straight/More on The Shack

We as Christians ought to be the first ones to dig deeper to find answers than anyone else.  Acts tells us that it was profitable to be a "Berean."  The Bereans according to  Acts 17:11 says:

  "11Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."

We also are to study the Scriptures to see what is right and true. The Word of God is the basis for all that we believe.  If I were to say that the doctrine of Hell is an awful truth, which it is, and I then refuse to believe it, when I look at the Scriptures and I see the doctrine of Hell what will I do?  My beliefs must bend to fit the Word not the other way around.  

The Doctrine of the Trinity is one of the hardest doctrines to study in the Bible.  It does not fit anything that we have ever heard.  It is also something that we cannot completely reason out.  That is why the Trinity is especially vulnerable to heresy.  It is also why in the early centuries of the Church the doctrine was hammered out, fought about, and the early creeds centered on it.  The Nicene, The Apostles, and The Athanasian Creeds played a big part in trying to make the doctrine clear to the rest of the Church and to it's posterity.  Orthodoxy was born on the backs of Augustine, Athanasius, and St. Gregory.  The early church fathers stood their ground and were willing to give their lives for this doctrine.  Why?  Why is it so important not to believe that, as The Shack spells out,  that God the Father died on the cross with God the Son?  Why is it so important that God is a Father in the Bible not a woman?  These things and others in the novel are important and they are important not to believe them. They have far reaching implications for our orthodox faith. This is why Augustine wrote his great treatise, De Trinitate, to spell out the implications of the Trinity and to help us guard against heresy. His opening paragraph states:  

 

  "The following dissertation concerning the Trinity, as the reader ought to be informed, has been written in order to guard against the sophistries of those who disdain to begin with faith, and are deceived by a crude and perverse love of reason. Now one class of such men endeavor to transfer to things incorporeal and spiritual the ideas they have formed, whether through experience of the bodily senses, or by natural human wit and diligent quickness, or by the aid of art, from things corporeal; so as to seek to measure and conceive of the former by the latter. Others, again, frame whatever sentiments they may have concerning God according to the nature or affections of the human mind; and through this error they govern their discourse, in disputing concerning God, by distorted and fallacious rules....For he who thinks, for instance, that God is white or red, is in error; and yet these things are found in the body. Again, he who thinks of God as now forgetting and now remembering, or anything of the same kind, is none the less in error; and yet these things are found in the mind. But he who thinks that God is of such power as to have generated Himself, is so much the more in error, because not only does God not so exist, but neither does the spiritual nor the bodily creature; for there is nothing whatever that generates its own existence......This doctrine, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit intimate a divine unity of one and the same substance in an indivisible equality; and therefore that they are not three Gods, but one God: although the Father hath begotten the Son, and so He who is the Father is not the Son; and the Son is begotten by the Father, and so He who is the Son is not the Father; and the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but only the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, Himself also co-equal with the Father and the Son, and pertaining to the unity of the Trinity. Yet not that this Trinity was born of the Virgin Mary, and crucified under Pontius Pilate, andand roseburied,, again the third day, and ascended into heaven, but only the Son. Nor, again, that this Trinity descended in the form of a dove upon Jesus when He was baptized; nor that, on the day of Pentecost, after the ascension of the Lord, when "there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind,"[Acts 2:2] the same Trinity "sat upon each of them with cloven tongues like as of fire," but only the Holy Spirit. Nor yet that this Trinity said from heaven, "Thou art my Son," [Luke 3:22]whether when He was baptized by John, or when the three disciples were with Him in the mount, or when the voice sounded, saying, "I have both glorified it,and will glorify it again;"[John 12:28] but that it was a word of the Father only, spoken to the Son; although the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as they are indivisible, so work indivisibly. This is also my faith, since it is the Catholic faith."

Christian what do you believe:  The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

To read and be Berean like go to the entire contents ofAugustine's On the Trinity 

by clicking on the above text.

Going backward is the best way to go forward when it comes to orthodox doctrine.  I will explore more of the implications of the doctrine of the Trinity tomorrow on this blog.  I will spell out some of the ideas that William Young has written about the Trinity in his book and we will see where they lead.  

Book Review: The Shack by William Young

I have recently read the very popular book by William Young called The Shack.  It has sold more than a million copies so far and is on the New York Best Seller list.  The story is compelling and I was hooked in the very first pages.  It did get rather slow (a tiny bit) when Young begins teaching his theology lesson through the pages of the story.  I was very disappointed in his take.  I thought the premise of the book was brilliant, but it left me cold when he began teaching.  It still has value, but I think the value is far out weighed by his heretical bent of God.   Beware!  I cannot say it as well as the writer Tim Challies on his blog. He has an excellent pdf format book review on this important book.  Please read it all in thepdf format.  It is a wonderful review and a succinct Biblical view of the theology that The Shack purports to teach.    Please go to the following link:  The Shack  

Encouragement to do right

I was mulling over being discouraged over how things can look bleak for those that are trying to follow God and flourishing for those seeking self first. I often struggle with this and maybe you do too! Some verses in my study this morning jumped out at me as encouragement for both of us.
2 Cor 4:16-18- NIV
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Paul was sorely abused and misused for the gospel as he went around sharing. But he never gave in or gave up, he always did right and honored God above all else. Thinking about that got me going and 2 things stuck out to me.

1) Satan trys to discourage us from continuing in doing right be having us look around at how the rest of the world seems to be blooming as they do wrong. Comparison always leads to discontent and frustration. He wants to discourage you from hanging in there, doing right and trusting God to take care of you.
2) God is more concerned with our best internally than our lives externally. For instance, He would rather have you learn trust in him than give you a new car. Think about your own kids. Woudn't you rather your child learn honesty even when it is hard and change her character and life for the better long term than give her a new "littlest pet" that she will love for a minute and then forget all about?
He wants you to learn trust, righteousness and patience for the long haul, even if it is tough, rather than just give you a job or new place to live. He loves you enough to want your best instead of the temporary good.

So I hope this encourages you as much as it did me. May we bring glory to the King as we learn to follow after him. Keep your gaze upward!