Blog Archives

Is everything that happens God's will?

11/25/2014

After the death of a child, a horrible mishap or any other tragedy there are always some who say, “It was the will of God.” Is that statement always true?

It Depends!
Yes… It is the will of God to permit tragedies and trials. Everything that happens in permitted by him.

No… However, God doesn’t want everything He permits! There is a subtle but important difference between permitting something and wanting it to happen!

Illustrations
God…
*… did not want the ancient Israelites to divorce, but he permitted it because of the hardness of their hearts (Matt. 19:8).
* … did not want ancient people to have more than one wife (Gen. 2:24), but regulated it when Israel was a primitive society (Deut. 21:15-17)
* … did not want Israel to have a king (2 Sam. 10:17-19), but tolerated it and even had his prophets anoint them.
* … does not want anyone to rebel against Him and be lost (2 Pet. 3:9), and yet gives men the free will to do it.

* Often Christian parents will allow their teenage children to do something that they don’t necessarily want them to do, so that they will learn to face the consequences of their actions.

I can think of two Biblical reasons why God allows things to happen that He doesn’t necessarily want:
(1) He wants to give us free will (Deut. 30:15-19). He wants us to have the freedom to choose. He doesn’t want us to make bad choices but He allows them.
(2) He allows tragedies because He doesn’t want us to become too attached to this world that has become corrupted by sin. Rather, He wants us to prove our love by learning to deal with trials and then have eternal life with Him (2 Cor. 4:17).

Careful with our words!
Whenever a child dies or someone suffers horribly, we need to be careful before saying, “God wants this.” Yes, God allows trials and tragedies, as in the case of Job, but that doesn’t mean that He wants them. When we suffer, let’s blame Satan and the curses that come upon our world because of sin. Let’s never blame God!

0 Comments

Which of the three concepts is correct?

11/18/2014

1 Comment

Choose One of the Three!

A Hispanic friend who could be described as “progressive” wrote the following, which I’ll put in italics and translate literally.

Three types of believers: With which do you identify?

Three types of believers: (1) those that believe that they are justified only by the merits of Jesus and nothing more that the merits of Jesus, (2) those that believe they are justified in part by Jesus Christ and in part by their own efforts, that is to say, salvation depends partly on Jesus and partly on man and (3) those that believe that salvation depends completely on obedience to all the commandments.

Only the first type of believer can enjoy true peace. The second will always have doubts. The third type will not know if they are saved until the last day. I personally identify with the first type. And you?

My friend uses a logical fallacy called “false trichotomy.” He presents three possibilities, using slightly vague language, in an attempt to have us conclude that the only logical choice is the Calvinist concept that it is not necessary to receive Christ’s salvation.

If he had said something like, “those that believe that salvation comes to us, or is provided only by the merits of Jesus,” we would have no reservation in answering that the first option is correct. His error is trying to have us conclude that since Christ has done everything to provide salvation, therefore we have to do nothing to receive it.

Common Bible Illustrations

The blind man of John 9 – Jesus told the blind man to wash in the Pool of Siloam. He did so and returned seeing (9:7). Let’s try to apply the formula of my friend to the blind man. Was he healed: 1) only on the merits of Christ? (2) partly on the merits of Christ and partly by the blind man’s efforts? or, (3) wholly by his own obedience? The closest answer to being correct is the first in the sense that his healing was provided only by Christ’s power. However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that he had to comply with Christ’s conditions and wash in the Pool of Siloam to receive the blessing.

The children of Israel in Joshua 6 – God told the children of Israel to circle the city of Jericho once for six days and seven times on the seventh. After they did this and the priests blew their trumpets, the walls fell and the Israelites conquered the city (verse 20). Applying my friend’s paradigm did the walls fall: (1) only by God’s power? (2) partly by God’s power and partly by the efforts of the Israelites? Or (3) only by the obedience of the Israelites to God’s commands? Again, the correct choice is the first one if we think only of the provision of the power, but the Israelites still had to comply with God’s conditions to receive it.

These and other Bible examples illustrate the concept of conditional grace. It’s not a complicated idea nor is it difficult to understand. All of our blessings are provided 100% by God. Man has neither the power nor the ability to provide any of them. However, God wants us to accept His conditions. To accept His conditions (for example, by washing in the Pool of Siloam, marching around Jericho, being baptized for the remission of sins, etc.) doesn’t earn blessings, but is required to receive them. We don’t have to understand everything or “get everything right” to have peace and confidence of salvation. God is merciful! However, we must be in Christ (Galatians 3:26, 27) and be growing in Him (2 Pet. 1:8). Let’s not allow sincere but mistaken people to confuse us with logical fallacies.

1 Comment

How to help homosexual friends with the gospel

11/18/2014

0 Comments

When confronting our culture’s promotion of homosexuality, the question of how to best reach those affected by it with the gospel often hasn’t been the primary focus. Rather, many have concentrated on political campaigns to pass bills to fight gay marriage, appoint pro-family judges and vote out politicians who have promoted gay causes. There are a host of weapons for this type of culture war: Old Testament texts mandating the death penalty for such perversions, Romans chapter one which points out that homosexuality is against nature and the result of rejecting God and a number of sources that point out the harmful effects of sexual perversion upon a society. Among those who are more crass, there are the jokes and epithets that disparage homosexuals.

Is the political, culture war approach to homosexuality the way of Jesus Christ? Homosexuality was rampant in the Roman Empire in the first century. Though it was perhaps less perceptible in Jewish society, other socially unacceptable sins such as prostitution, extortion and collaboration with the hated Roman oppressors were widespread there. What did Jesus do with those sinners that were the untouchables of Jewish society? Did he lead a political crusade complete with petitions, letter writing campaigns, etc. to clean up Jewish society once and for all? He ate and drank with them! (Matt. 9:9-12) In doing so He earned the bitter contempt of the religious leaders of His day.

Jesus wasn’t concerned with using political leverage or grass roots campaigns to make social changes in the decaying culture, but rather with reaching individuals, even outcasts, with the kingdom message. So, He ate and drank with them, showing them the better way of God’s love. His followers did the same. Paul’s writings that mention homosexuality such as Romans 1 were designed to teach Christians, not evangelize the lost. Instead, the love of God was able to lead many like the Corinthians who had been involved in all kinds of sexual perversions to be washed, sanctified and justified “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11).

Disciples of Christ need to decide whether their primary objective in facing homosexuality is: (a) to focus on culture war and use political and social tools to fight the gay agenda, or (b) to focus on lost individuals and show them a better way through the love of Christ. To focus on “a” is to ignore the example of Christ and also hinders us in our efforts at “b,” to show the love of Christ as a way to forgiveness and transformation. Few homosexuals will sense that we love them if all they see from us are noisy efforts to promote political change.

The way of Christ is always best! Let’s never forget it, even as we grieve over the excesses of our Western culture.

0 Comments

Is everything that happens God's will?

Which of the three concepts is correct?

How to help homosexual friends with the gospel

Gardner Hall

Archives

Categories