Monday, December 31, 2012

FRENCH: BLESS THE BOUNDARIES - BÉNISSEZ LES LIMITES

BÉNISSEZ LES LIMITES

LIRE :
Psaume 1

Béni soit l'homme qui ne marche pas dans le
l'avocat des impies, ni se trouve
le chemin des pécheurs. -Psaume 1:1

Dans toutes les années que j'ai travaillé avec des gens, j'ai encore pour rencontrer quelqu'un dont la vie était tout foiré parce qu'il ou elle a gardé les commandements de Dieu. Encore, dans un jour où la liberté personnelle est célébrée comme un droit inaliénable, parler du conforme aux voies de Dieu, notre mode de vie est souvent considérée comme une infraction. Et quiconque se prononce en faveur de limites de Dieu est hors limites. Mais dans cette frénésie d'être libre, qu'il ne devrait pas aller inaperçu que notre société n'est plus en plus marquée avec un obsédant sentiment d'inutilité et de désespoir.

Le peuple de Dieu devrait avoir vue nettement différent des limites. Comme le Psalmiste, nous devons nous rendre compte qu'une vie bienheureuse vient de ravir à la Loi de l'Éternel (Psaume 1:2 - pas dans la vie, comme ceux qui « marcher en phase avec les méchants ou se dressent sur le chemin qui prennent des pécheurs » (v.1 SEG). Comme croyants en Jésus reconnaît les limites que Dieu ne doivent pas prendre la pizazz hors de la vie. Au lieu de cela, ils sont divins clôtures construites avec la sagesse de Dieu pour nous aider à éviter la trahison et les ennuis de vie insouciante.

Prochaine fois que vous êtes tenté de franchir les limites de Dieu, n'oubliez pas son intention aimante en ériger des clôtures. Choisissez de bénir Dieu pour les limites et la façon dont ils vous bénissent. - Joe Stowell

Quelle liberté incombe à tous ceux qui choisissent
Vivre pour Dieu chaque jour !
Mais les chaînes de la servitude Manille ceux
Qui choisissent une autre manière.- D. Demir
**********************************
Clôtures de Dieu vous garder
dans les limites de ses bienfaits.

INSIGHT
Psaume 1 présente deux modes de vie. Il contraste l'enracinement de la pieuse (vv.1-3) avec l'instabilité de l'impie (vv.4-6) et est un appel à vivre selon la parole de Dieu. En rejetant les moyens impies mais réjouit et obéissant aux lois de Dieu, la personne pieuse vit une vie joyeuse, fructueuse et sécurisée. La vie de la personne qui rejette Dieu ressemble à paillettes, brève et futile, avec peu d'utilité éternelle (v.4). Conclusion du psalmiste ? Arrêt et destruction attendent les impies (v.5), alors que Dieu protège et préserve les justes (v.6). « Béni, » le premier mot du Psaume, résolument contraste avec « périr, » son dernier mot.

Avoir un jour béni et la semaine à venir.
Toujours l'amour de Dieu notre Créateur
L'unité et la paix

BLESS THE BOUNDARIES

BLESS THE BOUNDARIES

READ:
Psalm 1

Blessed is the man who walks not in the
counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in
the path of sinners.  -Psalm 1:1

In all the years I've worked with people, I've yet to meet someone whose life was all messed up because he or she kept God's commands.  Yet, in a day when personal freedom is celebrated as an inalienable right, talk of conforming our lifestyle to God's ways is often viewed as an infringement.  And anyone who speaks out in favor of God's boundaries is ruled out of bounds.  But in this frenzy to be free, it should not go unnoticed that our society is increasingly marked with a haunting sense of meaninglessness and despair.

God's people should have distinctly different view of boundaries.  Like the psalmist, we must realize that a blessed life comes from delighting in the law of the Lord (Psalm 1:2 - not in living like those who "walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take" (v.1 NIV).  As believers in Jesus will recognize that God's boundaries are not meant to take the pizazz out of life.  Instead, they are divine fences constructed with God's wisdom to help us avoid the treachery and trouble of reckless living.

Next time you are tempted to break through God's boundaries, remember His loving purpose in putting up fences.  Choose to bless God for the boundaries and for the way they bless you.  - Joe Stowell

What freedom lies with all who choose
To Live for God each day!
But chains of bondage shackle those
Who choose some other way. -D. DeHaan
**********************************
God's fences keep you
within the bounds of His blessings.

INSIGHT
Psalm 1 presents two ways of living.  It contrasts the rootedness of the godly (vv.1-3) with the instability of the ungodly (vv.4-6), and is a call to live according to God's Word.  By rejecting ungodly ways but delighting and obeying God's laws, the godly person lives a joyful, fruitful, and secure life.  The life of the person who rejects God is like chaff, brief and futile, with little eternal usefulness (v.4).  The psalmist's conclusion?  Judgment and destruction await the ungodly (v.5), whereas God protects and preserves the righteous (v.6).  "Blessed," the first word of the psalm, is decisively contrasted with "perish," its last word.

Have a blessed day and week ahead.
God Our Creator's Love Always
Unity & Peace

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

ANOTHER BUSY CHRISTMAS?

Today's promise: Give your worries to God, for He cares for you
Another busy Christmas?
"Just as being too busy gives you nightmares…"
Ecclesiastes 5:3 NLT

Christmas slippers
While we are called to work hard, we must make sure that our work doesn't so preoccupy us that we endanger our health, our relationships, or our time with God.1

A woman died, leaving behind her husband and one daughter. The little girl soon became the very apple of her daddy's eye. He loved to spend time with her, but because he had to work, they had only their evenings together. After dinner each night they would talk and play games; sometimes she sang for him. He treasured every moment.

One night the little girl announced, "Daddy, I need to go to my room early tonight. I have something I have to do!"

He felt very disappointed, but he let her go. She continued this pattern for a solid month. Finally, Christmas Day arrived, and early in the morning she burst in on her daddy and proudly displayed a pair of crude crocheted slippers she had made for him. It was this project that had taken her away from her father for every evening that month.

Her father thanked her warmly and gave her a big hug, but then he said, "Honey, I would rather have had you with me all those lonely evenings than to have these slippers, as beautiful and comfortable as they are."

[As in the story of Martha and Mary], God wants our presence more than our slippers. He wants our devotion more than our work. It really is a matter of balance.2
Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

THE SOURCE OF PEACE

Today's promise: God will give you peace
The Source of Peace
"Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others — the armies of heaven — praising God:

'Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favors.'"
Luke 2:13-14 NLT

About today's promise
"No doubt life for the average person wasn't all that noticeably different on the night Jesus was born. Inns and taverns were busy with their customers. Shepherds gathered around the fire to keep warm as they watched over their sheep. But in a secluded corner of Bethlehem, in an out-of-the-way stable, a baby slept in a manger. And as the shepherds settled down for a quiet night, the angels assembled into a vast choir and shattered the silence of that night by loud praises. Imagine the shepherds' response: shock, fear, and then, awe. They knew that they had to find this extraordinary child whose birth the angels had announced."

As you celebrate Christ's birth on this joyous day, seek out Jesus as the shepherds did years ago. Use this heavenly song to rejoice in Jesus' birth.

A prayer for today…

Glory to you, God, in the highest heaven and peace on earth to all whom you favor…

From The One Year® Book of Bible Prayers edited by Bruce Barton (Tyndale) entry for December 25

For more on this week's topic, check this Tyndale resource:
The One Year® Book of Hope by Nancy Guthrie (2005)
Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and ot her publications of Tyndale Publishing House

WHO OR WHAT CONTROLS YOUR LIFE?

Today's promise: God will give you peace
Who or what controls your life?
"When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit in us:…peace."
Galatians 5:22 NLT

Calm in the storm
The world is not terribly impressed with Christian T-shirts, billboards, and bumper stickers. In fact, truth be told, many unbelievers are turned off by these impersonal attempts at witnessing. However, the world is stunned when it sees a Christian overflowing with peace despite a personal crisis. "Her life is falling apart, but she isn't. How is that possible?" "If I were in his shoes, I'd be a nervous wreck, but he is so calm. Why?"

The peace that the Holy Spirit produces within us is supernatural tranquility of soul. Storms can be raging all about us, but within us is the calm assurance that God has already saved us from our worst predicament — sin and death. Would He rescue us for the world to come only to turn around and abandon us in this world? Of course not!

The Spirit-filled Christian is peaceful because he or she knows the perfect love that drives away fear (1 John 4:18). Ask God to give you His peace in the midst of the storms you are experiencing.

Praying God's Promise:
I want to be marked by Your peace, Lord. I need it so that I don't worry myself silly. More than that, I need it for Your glory — so that others might see the wonderful comfort and assurance that is available only in You. Teach me how to rest in the knowledge that You are in control.

From Praying God's Promises in Tough Times by Len Wood (Tyndale) pp 154-55
Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

PEACE IN RELATIONSHIPS

Today's promise: God will give you peace
Peace in Relationships
"Since God chose you to be the holy people whom He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. You must take allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are all called to live in peace."
Colossians 3:12-15 NLT

Attaining peace
[Jon Farrar addresses marriages, but his comments apply to other relationships as well.] Maintaining peace in any relationship is very difficult. Each one of us is a unique individual who interprets and views things differently. Whether in relationships in the church, among family and friends, or in our marriages, conflict is natural. When conflict comes, we need to follow Christ's example by showing love and forgiveness in difficult situations. God loved us when we were still sinners in rebellion against him (Romans 5:9). We need to show that same type of love to others by being kind, merciful, and patient.

Do you long for peace in your marriage? Ask Jesus to point out times when you have not been forgiving, areas where you need to be patient, and ways you can express genuine love to each other. That is how we have peace in our marriages — when we look for ways to love and forgive each other.

from Praying God's Promises for My Marriage by Jon Farrar (Tyndale) pp 42-43
Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

WHERE DO YOU FIND PEACE?

Today's promise: God will give you peace
Where do you find peace?
"A child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on His shoulders. These will be His royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His ever expanding, peaceful government will never end. He will rule forever with fairness and justice from the throne of His ancestor David. The passionate commitment of the Lord Almighty will guarantee this!"
Isaiah 9:6-7 NLT


You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, whose thoughts are fixed on You!
Isaiah 26:3 NLT


I am leaving you with a gift — peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give you isn't like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid.
John 14:27 NLT

Peace is a person
"His peace of mind came not from building on the future but from resting in what He called "the holy Present."
C.S. Lewis on George Macdonald1

If you were navigating in strange waters or tracking through the wilderness, you would feel at peace with a competent navigator. As we move through spiritual territory that's frightening, new to us, or full of trouble, what a comfort and support to have the Lord God, creator of peace, walking with us. He knows the way!2

1from The Quotable Lewis edited by Jerry Root and Wayne Martindale (Tyndale) p 416
2from the TouchPoint Bible with commentaries by Ron Beers and Gilbert Beers (Tyndale) p 535

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

CLEAN HANDS

CLEAN HANDS

READ:
Psalm 24

Who may ascend into the hill
of the LORD?  Or who may
stand in His holy place?  He
who has clean hands and a
pure heart.  - Psalm 24:3-4

It seems that wherever you go these days, you see signs encouraging people to wash their hands.  With the constant threat of germs and viruses spreading disease throughout the general public, health officials continually remind us that unwashed hands form the single greatest agent for the spread of germs.  So, in addition to the signs calling for vigilant handwashing, public places will often provide hand sanitizers to help take care of germs and bacteria.

David also spoke of the importance of "clean hands,"  but for a dramatically different reason.  He said that clean hands are one key to being able to enter into God's presence for worship:  "Who  may ascend into the hill of the LORD?  Or who may stand in His holy place?" he asked.  And the answer?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart" (Psalm 24:3-4).  Here "clean hands" is not a reference to personal hygiene but a metaphor for our spiritual condition-being cleansed from sin (1 John 1:9).  It speaks of a life committed to what is right and godly-enabling us to stand blameless before our Lord in the privilege of worship.

As His life is lived out in our lives, He can help us to do what's right so that our hands are clean and our hearts are ready to give worship to our great God. - Bill Crowder

Worship, praise, and adoration,
All are due to Jesus' name.
Freely give your heart's devotion,
Constantly His love proclaim. - Anon.
*******************************
The road to worship begins with gratefulness
for the cleansing of God.

INSIGHT
Scholars believe that David wrote this psalm when he took the ark of the covenant (representing the very presence of God) into Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6).  During the dedication of the temple, Solomon placed the ark in the Most Holy Place (1 Kings 8:6).   Like Psalm 15, Psalm 24 was sung by pilgrims as they arrived at the gates of the temple for one of the annual feasts.  This psalm specifies who is qualified to enter the temple to worship God (vv. 3-6).

Have a blessed day.
God Our Creator's Love Always
Unity & Peace

Friday, December 21, 2012

THE NEED FOR APOLOGETICS: THE DEFENSE OF THE FAITH

Please leave comments on my blog:

·       www.Mannsword.blogspot.com or my
·       Facebook page: “Apologetics for Today.”

By His Mercies Alone, Daniel
For more great blogs as this one go to Daniel's blog site above.

 

The Need for Apologetics: The Defense of the Faith


Sometimes we expect that a few good arguments will unlock salvation’s door. When we find that they don’t and that we are met with a glaring sneer instead of a grateful embrace, we are hurt and conclude that “apologetics doesn’t work.” We then swing to the opposite – “I’m going to simply let my good works speak for the Gospel.”

Admittedly, in our post-Christian society where people have been warned and inoculated against the Gospel, it might be better to lead with good works in most cases. However, we are instructed to “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that [we] have” (1 Peter 3:15). Therefore, I want to present a rationale for this.

Apologetics - reasons to believe in the Christian faith – is primarily for us. We have to know why we believe and how to defend ourselves against the many challenges to the faith.

Moses knew that the children of Israel needed reasons to believe – evidences – in order to follow him out of Egypt. In the midst of a burning bush, God had instructed him to return to Egypt to lead His people out of captivity, but Moses was reluctant:

  • "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The Lord did not appear to you'?" (Exodus 4:1).

Instead, of commanding Moses to tell the people “Just believe,” God  equipped Moses with a quiver of miraculous evidences – a rod turning into a snake, a leprous hand, and water turning into blood – to prove that He had sent Moses.

Jesus also understood that His disciples needed evidences to support their faith. He therefore prophesied to them what would happen to Him so that they would believe once these prophecies were fulfilled:

  • I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. (John 14:29)

We also need supportive evidences to help in sustaining our faith. After the crucifixion, Jesus’ disciples fled, convinced that everything that they had believed in had been for naught. In order to bring them back, they required the proof of His resurrection appearances:

  • After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:3)

John the Baptist also had his struggles with his faith in Jesus after he was jailed, prior to his execution. He therefore sent his disciples to Jesus to ascertain whether He was truly the Messiah. Instead of Jesus telling them to tell John, “Just believe,” he told them to relate the various confirmatory miracles they had seen Him perform (Mat. 11).

We need to know why we believe. Doubts are birthed like tsunami waves in our post-Christian world. The highly touted Jesus Seminar proclaimed that only 18% of what Jesus is purported to have said in the Gospels is authentic. In the wake of this pronouncement, the faith of many had been severely shaken.

Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code rattled thousands of others with his claims that the selection of the Bible’s Gospel accounts was merely the product of political in-fighting and church counsels. He claimed that there had been 70 other gospels vying for inclusion.

As a result, one woman wrote that she could never again be able to trust the Gospels as she had. How tragic! Fortunately, there were many able apologists who have exposed the fallacies of both Brown and the Seminar. However, those who don’t believe that apologetics is necessary will neglect such works.

How can we face the world with the confidence and the boldness we need if we can’t be confident about the basis of our faith – the Bible! We can’t! Before I went to seminary, I subscribed to Biblical Archeology Review. Many of the authors wrote approvingly of the Wellhausen Hypothesis – a radical theory of how the Hebrew Scriptures were humanly assembled by cutting-and-pasting from pre-existing manuscripts. They were so confident of this skeptical theory that they didn’t even provide any evidence for it.

I was troubled but decided that I would lock my doubts away, pushing them back into a crevice of my mind until, perhaps, I might have the tools to critically examine them. However, this strategy didn’t work. The doubts that this theory had provoked interfered with both my reading of Scripture and my faith. Consequently, I read the Bible less and with less excitement. The doubt that the Bible might merely be a human creation festered in the back of my mind.

Fortunately, I was struck down with a bad back for several months. Someone had given me a copy of Gleason Archer’s Survey of Old Testament Introductions. Although it was one of the driest texts I’ve ever read, I cried my way through it. Archer dealt conclusively with the Wellhausen Hypothesis, and restored my Bible back to me as if Jesus Himself had returned to me.

I think it inevitable that without understanding the rational foundations of the faith and without knowing how to critique the challenges, our faith and life will suffer.

Apologetics is also necessary for the health of the church. Jude counseled the church to oppose false teachings and not neglect them:

  • Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. (Jude 1:3-4)

Elders, therefore, had to have the ability to defend the faith against false teaching:

  • He [the elder] must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it…They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach. (Titus 1:7-11)

The possibility that the faith of the church might suffer damage must be a central concern. Many studies have shown that 80-90 percent of regular church-going youth completely leave the church by the end of their forth year in college. Even many of those who remain do so with a faith severely compromised by their involvement with the surrounding culture.

Clearly, the churches are failing to prepare their youth for the challenges of this world – sexual permissiveness, theistic evolution, multiculturalism, religious pluralism, moral relativism… We are neglecting the life of the mind, the port-of-call where destructive teachings are entering. Arrogantly, some are neglectful of apologetics, claiming, “I know what I believe and what I have experienced, and no one will take that away from me.” They are confident that they can “stand” (1 Cor. 10:12-13) even though they are neglectful of the Biblical instruction to also love God with our minds.

While it is probably true that the Spirit begins His work in our heart, we are nevertheless commanded to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).

We are also instructed to subject all thoughts and worldviews under the scrutiny of the Gospel (2 Cor. 10:4-5). If we neglect the mind, the world will not. It will co-opt our minds at great cost to the church.

Think of the mind as a protective shield. If it is not fully operational, attacks will penetrate freely to our heart of faith, undermining the peace, joy and confidence of the church. We will stumble around in a schizophrenic haze – our minds in conflict with what we believe in our heart.

Apologetics is also required for the seeker. In fact, we are commanded to have in hand the rationale for our beliefs (1 Peter 3:15). I wouldn’t even begin to consider the Biblical faith as long as I believed that evolution was a fact. I was convinced that if Darwin was right, Genesis had to be wrong. However, a Jehovah’s Witness gave me a book critiquing evolution, the theory I had once thought to be unassailable. This made me more receptive to the Bible.

Similarly, in Search for the Truth, Bruce Malone wrote:

  • Prior to graduation from college, I had not once been shown any of the scientific evidence for creation either in school or in church. Little wonder, that by the time I started my career [as a chemist], God had little relevance in my life. It wasn’t as though I had any animosity toward God or religion. It simply held no relevance to the world around me. This should be no surprise when the subject never came up in school and everything seemed to be explained without reference to a Creator.

Apologetics is also helpful for cultural interaction. My apologetics professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, William Lane Craig, stated that people will not believe what they find unbelievable. Today, many deem the Christian faith “unbelievable.” I think that part of the reason for this is that the church has become intellectually lazy and compromised. We have lost the ability to show forth the wisdom of God in the public marketplace of ideas. We are no longer culturally proactive as we must be:

  • The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death. (Proverbs 13:14)

Wisdom is part of our inheritance. We have wisdom regarding so many areas of life – forgiveness, morality, justice, child rearing, and marriage. However, we have hid our light under a bushel basket. Why? For one thing, we have failed to develop the ability to understand and critique the ideas of the world (2 Cor. 10:4-5). Consequently, we don’t know how to speak to the world, and we know it. Therefore, we fear the world and interaction with it. Instead, we need to understand the poverty of their thinking so that we will not be driven to take cover.

What happens when we neglect the life of the mind and apologetics? We will keep our light hidden. However, many are now saying, “Well, my good works are the light.”

However, even though there is some truth in this, it is not adequate. It is like flying a airplane with one wing. It just won’t fly! Instead, Paul claimed that we are “the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved” as we speak “the word of God” (2 Cor. 2:15-17). This is not to leave out good works. Rather, it is an acknowledgement that we need both!

When Paul visited the synagogues around the Mediterranean, he didn’t go there to perform good works alone. He went there to preach the Gospel and also to reason with the Jews according to the Scriptural evidence:

  • As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women. (Acts 17:2-4; 18:4)

God’s arm has not withered away. He can still save through the Gospel, even in our post-Christian world.

SOURCE OF JOY AND PEACE

Today's promise: God will give you peace
Source of joy and peace
"Open my eyes to the wonderful truths in Your law.

I have chosen to be faithful; I have determined to live by Your laws.

Lord, give me Your unfailing love, the salvation that You promised me. Then I will have an answer for those who taunt me, for I trust in Your word. Do not snatch Your word of truth from me, for my only hope is in Your laws. I will keep on obeying Your law forever and forever.

May all who fear You find in me a cause for joy, for I have put my hope in Your word. I know, O Lord, that Your decisions are fair; You disciplined me because I needed it. Now let Your unfailing love comfort me, just as You promised me, Your servant. Surround me with Your tender mercies so I may live, for Your law is my delight.

Those who love Your law have great peace and do not stumble."
Psalm 119:18, 30, 41-44, 74-77, 165 NLT

Knowing the person behind the book
To own a Bible — to know we have it if we need it — brings a certain measure of peace. When we actually read and begin to understand it we are better able to receive peace of mind and heart. And when we apply what God's Word teaches, our lifestyle actually becomes a fertile place where peace can grow. But when we truly grow to love this wisdom given to us by its loving author, we have actually come to put our trust in the person behind the book. The writer of Psalm 119 grew to love God's law because it revealed who God was. We can rest assured when we follow the principles that issue from God's great love and wisdom.

From the TouchPoint Bible with commentaries by Ron Beers and Gilbert Beers (Tyndale) p 535
Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

HOW IS IT WITH YOUR SOUL TODAY?

Today's promise: God will give you peace
How is it with your soul today?
"For You are my hiding place; You protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory."
Psalm 32:7 NLT


If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7 NLT

Peace like a river
H.G. Spafford was a businessman in Chicago. He was a dedicated Christian. He had some serious financial reversals and, during the time of readjustment, he lost his home. He realized his family needed to get away for a vacation. Spafford decided to take the entire family to England.

He sent his wife and four daughters ahead on the SS Ville du Havre. In mid-ocean the French steamer carrying his loved ones collided with another and sank within twelve minutes; 230 people lost their lives. The four daughters drowned, but Mrs. Spafford was rescued. She wrote her husband, "Saved alone."

Mr. Spafford was almost overcome with grief. He had lost his property, his four precious daughters were buried beneath the deep waves of the sea, and his wife was prostrate with grief on the other side of the world. But he put all his trust in God and wrote a song that has comforted thousands since that time:
When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
"It is well, it is well with my soul."

From 1001 Great Stories and Quotes by R. Kent Hughes (Tyndale) p 304
Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

HE WILL NOT FORGET

Today's promise: Give your worries to God, for He cares for you
He Will Not Forget
"And why worry about your clothes? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow."
Matthew 6:28 NLT

God knows your name
A good friend of mine once went to visit his brother during a time of deep crisis. His marriage was struggling, his business was near collapse, and his money was drying up quickly. He had just sold his home and moved into a one-bedroom apartment and had no idea how he was going to dig himself out of his financial and relational problems.

My friend listened as his brother confided in him about his deep frustration. "Some days you want to go outside and shake your fist at heaven and say, 'God, why don't you help me?'" his brother said.

My friend looked at his brother in the eye and said somberly, "That wouldn't do any good. He doesn't even know who you are." The two looked at each other for several seconds then burst out laughing. The two brothers had spent their lives trusting God and studying his Word, and the absurdity of the statement left them both in stitches. Years later, the brother told my friend that his joke had brought him a great deal of comfort during his trying time. Even more, it gave him renewed perspective.

We've all felt abandoned by God at one time or another. God cares deeply when we suffer, and He is right there beside us all the time.

At times like these the best thing to do is put your hand in His and trust Him with your future. Because He not only knows what you're going through, He knows exactly who you are.

From Embracing Eternity by Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins and Frank M. Martin (Tyndale) p 166
Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

SWEET WORDS

SWEET WORDS

READ:
Proverbs 16:19-24

Put on tender mercies, kindness,
humility, meekness, longsuffering.
-Colossians 3:12

Scott had always admired the relationship between Ken and Phyllis, his wife's parents.  So he asked them one day what made their marriage work.  Ken replied, "You need to keep it sweet!"

A friend of mine concludes many of her notes to me and my husband and other friends with these words:  "Remember to be good to each other."

That's great advice from both of them about being kind.  The daily stresses of life can easily cause us to get irritable with our spouses or with others.  We pick at the little annoyances or criticize minor habits.  We blurt out harmful, unkind words without thinking.

The book of Proverbs gives us counsel about the words we use with others.  It says, "Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles" (21:23).  And there are these warnings:  "Death and life are in the power of the tongue" (18:21):  and "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing" (12:18 NIV).  Ken's advice about "keeping it sweet" reminds me of Proverbs 16:24, "Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and heath to the bones."

Lord, fill our hearts with words that will be a blessing to others today. -Anne Cetas

Instead of hurling angry words
That wound and sitr up strife,
Use words of kindness, filled with love,
That heal and nourish life. -Sper
********************************
Kind hearts are the gardens; kind thoughts are the roots;
kind words are the flowers, kind deeds are the fruits.

INSIGHT
Proverbs 16:21 tells us how wisdom can be expressed for the benefit of others:  "the wise in heart will be called prudent."  The wise person takes heaven's values into view with discerning life's issues.  This person is circumspect and honest in dealings with others.  Often, his or her insight into life's problems attracts those seeking advice.  However, insight without the ability to communicate it is insufficient and ineffective.  That's why the proverb goes on to say, "and sweetness of the lips increases learning."  Sweetness of the lips" refers to the kind of speech that influences the behavior of others for the better.  The eloquence and beauty of wise speech makes that person's insight more compelling.

Have a blessed day.
God Our Creator's Love Always
Unity & Peace

Monday, December 17, 2012

MATERIALISM, ATHEISM, AND THE DENIAL OF FREEWILL

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·       www.Mannsword.blogspot.com or my
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By His Mercies Alone, Daniel
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Materialism, Atheism, and the Denial of Freewill


If we start with an impoverished worldview – one that can’t embrace all of the nuances of reality – it means that we have a faulty worldview and that our conclusions will be skewed.

The atheist starts out with the presupposition or worldview that there is no spiritual reality, just matter and energy – what you see is what you get. Accordingly, thinking and choosing must also exclusively be a matter of chemical-electrical activity.

This understanding leaves little or no room for freewill. Consequently, there is no basis for any thought, choice or decision somewhat independent of our steady stream of chemical reactions. Every thought and decision is therefore the result of prior brain chemistry.

Even as far back as 1871, Thomas Huxley, a zealous advocate of Charles Darwin, advocated for this position:

  • Mind is a function of [just] matter, when that matter has attained a certain degree of organization.

Similarly, in his new book, “Free Will,” atheist Sam Harris writes, “Free will is an illusion.” What feels like freewill is nothing more than chemical processes.

With such an impoverished worldview, counter-factual and counter-intuitive conclusions quickly multiply. Here are several:

A denial of freewill goes against everything we intuitively know about ourselves and our lives. When I make any decision, like flipping through the TV channels, it seems that I am freely choosing one station over another. Of course, like anyone else, I am subject to powerful biological-genetic forces. Admittedly, I am biologically predisposed to not like loud and glitzy programming. Therefore, some will say, “Well, this proves you’re pre-programmed to make certain choices.”

Although there is truth in this claim, it falls far short of proving that pre-programming is the only factor involved in my choices.

Of course, Harris and the other atheists will respond, “Your experience of free choice is just an illusion.” However, if something that I experience with such clarity is illusory, perhaps my own existence and the existence of this world are also illusory. Perhaps I’m just someone else’s consciousness. Perhaps, as some Buddhists claim, we are just part of one universal consciousness and lack any individual existence.

However, if our intuitions and perceptions are simply part of this great delusion, then science and all reason are also part of this same delusion, along with Harris’ thinking. If our thinking and perceiving are illusory, so too are Harris’ challenge and the entirety of his book.

The extent of freewill differs among people. The heroin addict is more constrained in his free choices than before he became addicted. Christians report that, in Christ, they have come to enjoy a greater measure of freedom. They are not as constrained by their psychological needs for approval and success as they had been. If these observations of relative freedom are true, then the narrow, unvarying materialistic view of the atheists is invalidated. From their view, everyone is equally and completely controlled by brain chemistry. Consequently, there can be no room for varying degrees of freewill – the very thing we find!

We can perceive a distinction between purely chemical determination of our behavior and our relatively free responses. Wilder Penfield, the father of modern neurosurgery performed experiments demonstrating that brain activity doesn’t seem to account for all of our mental experience. Lee Edward Travis sums up his findings this way:

  • Penfield would stimulate electrically the proper motor cortex of conscious patients and challenge them to keep one hand from moving when the current was applied. The patient would seize this hand with the other hand and struggle to hold it still. Thus one hand under the control of the electrical current and the other hand under the control of the patient’s mind fought against each other. Penfield risked the explanation that the patient had not only a physical brain that was stimulated to action but also a nonphysical reality that interacted with the brain. (The Mysterious Matter of the Mind, 95-96)

There appears to be a distinction between brain chemistry and a nonphysical reality – the home of freewill. J.P. Moreland commented on another interesting aspect of Penfield’s findings:

  • No matter how much Penfield probed the cerebral cortex, he said, “There is no place…where electrical stimulation will cause a patient to believe or to decide.” (The Case for the Creator, Lee Strobel, 258)

If our mind is no more than a physical brain, then we should expect that electrical charges could stimulate every kind of response. However, this isn’t the case. It seems that our choices and beliefs cannot be entirely accounted for by the physical brain. Meanwhile,
atheism bases its non-freewill claim on the “observations” that everything is material. However, this does not seem to be the complete story.

There seems to be a nonphysical basis for thinking. Strobel writes:

  • In their journal article, Sam Parnia and Peter Fenwick, a neuropsychiatrist at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, describe their study of sixty-three heart attack victims who were declared clinically dead but were later revived and interviewed. About ten percent reported having well-structured, lucid thought processes, with memory formation and reasoning, during the time that their brains were not functioning. The effects of oxygen starvation or drugs – objections commonly offered by skeptics – were ruled out as factors. (Strobel, 251)

This contradicts the atheistic narrative that thinking and choosing depend exclusively upon brain activity. In order to maintain their narrow materialistic worldview, the atheist is forced to discount this kind of study along with the many accounts of extra-body experiences.

If our brain chemistry compels all of our choices, then we cannot truly be culpable and responsible moral agents. This idea is humanly demeaning. This is very significant because it will affect how we view ourselves, our fellow humans and also how we treat them. If humans are no more than sophisticated chemical machines, there is a greater likelihood that we will use them like machines.

The atheist might agree that their view of freewill seriously compromises our estimation of humanity. However, he often retorts, “I’m more interested in truth than in what feels good.”

However, the denial of freewill goes far beyond the question of a lower estimation of humanity. This denial undermines everything upon which civilization is based – justice, right and wrong, reward and punishment.

If biology alone made the rapist rape, then it is not just to punish him. After all, he could make no other choice. Consequently, no punishment is just and no reward is deserved. It’s just a matter of chemistry not morality.

These ideas mean the destruction of civilization, and the atheists recognize this. Consequently, they are scrambling to resurrect the concept of moral responsibility, which they have undermined. Professor of Philosophy, Chad Meister, writes about Harris’s muddled scrambling:

  • While in Harris’s view we lack free will and moral culpability for our actions, he nonetheless believes that we can still be “blameworthy” for our actions. How so? “Because,” he says, “what we do subsequent to conscious planning tends to most fully reflect the global properties of the our minds” (Christian Research Journal, Volume 35, Number 4, 59)

Oddly, Harris claims that we can be “blameworthy” without being morally culpable. This is a blatant contradiction. If our “conscious planning” and what we do subsequently are strictly the products of brain chemistry, then there still can be no basis for either “blameworthiness” or moral culpability. They die a common death with the denial of freewill.

Some atheists are candid enough to admit that this is a real problem for their worldview. However, they continue to bring charges against the burglar who tore up their apartment. In this, their actions contradict their worldview. While they seek justice, they admit that they lack any possible basis for this concept in their pre-determined chemical world.

The denial of freewill seems to also constitute a denial of any meaningful thought. All brain chemistry is subject to the laws of nature. Consequently, all thinking and choosing are the result of formulas. However, formulas and laws produce repeated and predictable patterns, not information, not the nuances of thought. Clearly, the books that we write and the discoveries that we make don’t reflect repeated, formulaic. Instead, these creations reflect something greater – reasoning, the weighing of evidence for and against various paradigms. All of this requires something beyond what chemistry can offer. It requires the subtle and gloriously nuanced ability to freely choose among various thoughts and ideas.

Why are people atheists? Why do we trap ourselves in narrow boxes, which effectively obstruct our vision? One atheist friend explained to me the great relief he had experienced once he adopted the no-freewill position. He was no longer responsible for his behavior, and his sense of guilt became greatly diminished. He is what he is. Who can blame him!

While I can sympathize with this, Christ offers another way – a way to not only diminish guilt but to obliterate it. Besides, Christ obliterates our guilt in a way that doesn’t infringe upon moral responsibility. He replaces gratitude for guilt, gladness in service for gutless, going-with-the-flow biological determinism.

When a worldview fails to work, when it can’t be coherently lived out, we should be free to discard or modify it. This represents sanity, but sanity has no place within biological determinism.