Monthly Archives: April 2009

Bible Interpretation, Morality

Should Christians Judge?

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Post Author: Bill Pratt

I was recently reading a newspaper article my wife showed me, and it reminded me of a Metallica song called “Holier Than Thou.”  In that song, the singer repeats a refrain, “Judge not lest ye be judged yourself.”  That phrase, I’ve come to realize, is an anthem that our culture cries at every opportunity.

The article that prompted this recollection from the cobwebs of my mind was about a controversial vote within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on whether to allow gays to serve as ministers and elders.  One gentleman, who supports the amendment, said the following: “We do not as individual Christians and Presbyterians need to pass judgment on others.  That’s not our responsibility.”  In other words, Christians are not to make judgments about other people’s moral behavior, and especially sexual behavior.  The business of pointing to a person’s immoral actions is strictly forbidden.

Now, the reason my wife likes to show me articles like this is because she knows how I will react – not well.  This matter of Christians not judging comes up again and again, but nobody ever seems to learn.  So, here is my feeble attempt at straightening this out.

The source, for most people,  of the idea that Christians should not judge comes from Matt. 7:1: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”  If you read this single verse on its own, you may very well come to the conclusion that Jesus is telling people not to judge, but then comes the small matter of context.  It turns out that sentences in the Bible, like every other written document ever produced, need to be read in context.  We need to know what the surrounding verses say in order to understand this verse.

If you continue to read Matthew 7, through verse 5, you will see what Jesus is talking about.  In verse 5, Jesus says, “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”  Here is the key to what Jesus means.  He is speaking out against hypocritical and self-righteous judgments.  He is not telling us to never judge; he is telling us how to judge rightly.

In fact, it would be extremely strange for Jesus to tell us to never judge in Matt. 7:1 when just a few verses later, in verse 6, he tells Christians to beware “dogs” and “pigs” so that we don’t waste time giving them knowledge of God.  The only way you can detect a metaphorical “dog” or “pig” is to judge other people’s actions!  There are, in fact, many more verses in the New Testament that exhort believers to judge other people  (e.g., Matt. 7:15-16; John 7:24; 1 Cor. 5:9; 2 Cor. 11:13-15; Phil. 3:2; 1 John 4:1; 1 Thess. 5:21).

To say that Jesus teaches us not to judge other people’s actions is obviously and plainly wrong.  But how should Christians judge?  Here are some biblical guidelines.  One should judge:

  1. Consistently, not hypocritically
  2. With Humility, not superiority
  3. With Facts, not assumptions
  4. Words and Deeds, not motive and intent
  5. Biblical Issues, not personal preferences
  6. Sins, not sinners
  7. Temporal Matters, not eternal matters (salvation)
  8. With a Goal to Show People Christ, not how good you are

Easier said than done, but that’s what our Lord commands.  Rather than making the extreme claim that we should never judge, Christians need to figure out how to do it correctly.  With God’s help, it can be done!

Atheism, Evolution

How Does Atheistic Darwinism Explain the Origin of Language?

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Post Author: Bill Pratt

Not very well, unless you believe that fairy tales from evolution’s past count as evidence.  This excerpt comes from A. N. Wilson in a recent article he wrote for the New Statesman.

The phenomenon of language alone should give us pause. A materialist Darwinian was having dinner with me a few years ago and we laughingly alluded to how, as years go by, one forgets names. Eager, as committed Darwinians often are, to testify on any occasion, my friend asserted: “It is because when we were simply anthropoid apes, there was no need to distinguish between one another by giving names.”

This credal confession struck me as just as superstitious as believing in the historicity of Noah’s Ark. More so, really.

Do materialists really think that language just “evolved”, like finches’ beaks, or have they simply never thought about the matter rationally? Where’s the evidence? How could it come about that human beings all agreed that particular grunts carried particular connotations? How could it have come about that groups of anthropoid apes developed the amazing morphological complexity of a single sentence, let alone the whole grammatical mystery which has engaged Chomsky and others in our lifetime and linguists for time out of mind? No, the existence of language is one of the many phenomena – of which love and music are the two strongest – which suggest that human beings are very much more than collections of meat.

Well put, I think.

Jesus as God, Jesus Christ, Theology

Did Jesus Claim to be God? Part 5

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Post Author: Bill Pratt 

There are at least six ways that Jesus claimed to be God.  The fourth way is that Jesus Claimed to Be God by Accepting Worship.  Again, I will draw heavily from Norman Geisler’s Volume 2 of his Systematic Theology series.

The Old Testament clearly forbids worship of anyone except God (Ex. 20:1–5; Deut. 5:6–9).  The New Testament likewise reiterates this fundamental teaching of Scripture (Acts 14:13-15; Rev. 22:8-9).

But in direct defiance of this command, Jesus accepted worship on several occasions.  Why would he do this?  The obvious answer is that he considered himself equal to God.

A leper worshiped Him before he was healed (Matt. 8:2), and a ruler knelt before Him with a request (Matt. 9:18). After He stilled the storm, “Those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God’ ” (Matt. 14:33). A Canaanite woman (Matt. 15:25), the mother of James and John (Matt. 20:20), and the Gerasene demoniac (Mark 5:6) all bowed before Jesus without one word of rebuke. A blind man said, “ ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshiped Him” (John 9:38). Thomas saw the risen Christ and cried out, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).

Did Jesus rebuke Thomas and correct him?  Did he deny that he was Lord and God?  No, he did not.  The message he was sending was clear.  Only someone who considered himself God would accept worship like Jesus did.

Theology

What Does Eternity Mean?

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Post Author: Bill Pratt 

Christians refer to eternity all of the time, but rarely stop to think about what it means.  Many think that eternity means “a really long time” or “endless time.”  These concepts are helpful to some, but they are not really accurate descriptions of eternity.

The difficulty we have is that we are time-bound creatures trying to describe a timeless God.  Our words cannot comprehend eternity, but we can make claims about what eternity is not.

Eternity literally means “timelessness” or “nontemporality.”  It refers to the nonexistence of time.  God lives outside of time  and is not limited by time.  Although the universe he created is in time, God is not.

A. W. Tozer comments, “Time marks the beginning of created existence, and because God never began to exist it can have no application to him.”  He continues, “Time is known to us by a succession of events.  It is the way we account for consecutive changes in the universe.”

God does not experience anything as a sequence of events.  He does not think or act or terms of step 1, then step 2, then step 3.  He experiences everything as one eternal Now.  He sees our entire earthly existence in one eternal “instant.”

An interesting footnote to this issue of eternity.  Modern science claims that time, space, and matter are co-relative, meaning they exist in relation to each other.  If God is in time, then he must also be made of matter and take up space.  This would necessarily entail a God who is limited by time, space, and matter – hardly the God described in the Bible.

Jesus as God, Jesus Christ, Theology

Did Jesus Claim to be God? Part 4

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Post Author: Bill Pratt 

There are at least six ways that Jesus claimed to be God.  The third way is that Jesus Claimed to Be Messiah-God.  Again, I will draw heavily from Norman Geisler’s Volume 2 of his Systematic Theology series.

There are indications in the Old Testament that the prophesied Messiah would be divine.  When Jesus, therefore, confirmed that he was the Messiah, he was also equating himself to God.

Even the Qur’an recognizes that Jesus was the Messiah (Sura 5:17, 75). The Old Testament teaches that the coming Messiah would be God Himself, so when Jesus claimed to be that Messiah, He was also claiming to be God. For example, the prophet Isaiah (in 9:6) calls the Messiah “Mighty God.” The psalmist wrote of the Messiah, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever” (Ps. 45:6; cf. Heb. 1:8). Psalm 110:1 records a conversation between the Father and the Son: “The Lord says to my Lord [adonai]: ‘Sit at my right hand.’ ” Jesus applied this passage to Himself in Matthew 22:43–44.

But there is even further evidence of the connection between Jesus, Messiah, and God.

In the great messianic prophecy of Daniel 7, the Son of Man is called the “Ancient of Days” (7:22), a term used twice in the same passage of God the Father (Dan 7:9, Dan 13). Jesus also said He was the Messiah at His trial before the high priest. When asked, “ ‘Are you the Christ [christos, Greek for “Messiah”], the Son of the Blessed One?’ ” Jesus said, “ ‘I am … And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ The high priest tore his clothes. ‘Why do we need any more witnesses? … You have heard the blasphemy’ ” (Mark 14:61–64). There was no doubt that in claiming to be Messiah (see also Luke 24:27; Matt. 26:56), Jesus also claimed to be God.

There are three more ways that Jesus claimed to God:

  1. Jesus Claimed to Be God by Accepting Worship.
  2. Jesus Claimed to Have Equal Authority with God.
  3. Jesus Claimed to Be God by Requesting Prayer in His Name.

We will cover these in the next few posts.

Jesus as God, Jesus Christ, Theology

Did Jesus Claim to be God? Part 3

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Post Author: Bill Pratt 

There are at least six ways that Jesus claimed to be God.  The second way is that Jesus Claimed to Be Equal with God. Again, I will draw heavily from Norman Geisler’s Volume 2 of his Systematic Theology series.

Jesus claimed the prerogatives of God several times in the gospels.

He said to a paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven” (Mark 2:5ff.). The scribes correctly responded, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” So to prove that His claim was not an empty boast, He healed the man, offering direct proof that what He had said about forgiving sins was true also.

Jesus also claimed the prerogative to raise the dead and to judge the dead, things that only God could do, according to the Old Testament.
“I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live … and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:25, 29). He removed all doubt about His meaning when He added, “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it” (John 5:21). The Old Testament clearly teaches that only God is the Giver of life (1 Sam. 2:6; Deut. 32:39) and the one to raise the dead (Ps. 2:7) and the only Judge (Joel 3:12; Deut. 32:36). Jesus boldly assumed for Himself powers that only God has.
Jesus also claimed that he should be honored as God.
He said that all men should “honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him” (John 5:23). The Jews listening knew that no one should claim to be equal with God in this way, and again they wanted to kill Him (John 5:18).
We continue to build the case for the deity of Jesus.  We have four more lines of evidence to present, so please stick with us.
Jesus as God, Jesus Christ, Theology

Did Jesus Claim to be God? Part 2

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Post Author: Bill Pratt 

There are at least six ways that Jesus claimed to be God.  First, Jesus Claimed to Be Yahweh, or the God of the Old Testament.  I will draw heavily from Norman Geisler’s Volume 2 of his Systematic Theology series, so when you see quotes, that is where they are from.

So how did Jesus claim to be Yahweh?  First, let’s look at the background of the Old Testament usage of “Yahweh.”

Yahweh (YHWH) or Jehovah is the special name given by God for Himself in the Old Testament. It is the name revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14, when God said, “I am who I am.” While other titles for God may be used of men (adonai [Lord] in Genesis 18:12) or false gods (elohim[gods] in Deuteronomy 6:14), Yahweh is only used to refer to the one true God. No other person or thing was to be worshiped or served (Ex. 20:5), and His name and glory were not to be given to another. Isaiah wrote, “Thus saith Jehovah … I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God” (Isa. 44:6 ASV), and, “I am Jehovah, that is my name; and my glory I will not give to another, neither my praise unto graven images” (42:8 ASV).

So, the name of God in the Old Testament was exclusive to him.  He did not share it with anyone else.  How, then, did Jesus refer to himself?

Jesus prayed, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began” (John 17:5—this is an obvious claim for Christ’s deity, for Jehovah of the Old Testament said, “My glory will I not give to another” [Isa. 42:8 NKJV]).

Jesus also declared, “I am the First and the Last” (Rev. 1:17)—precisely the words used by Jehovah in Isaiah 44:6.

He said, “I am the good shepherd,” (John 10:11), and the Old Testament said, “Jehovah is my shepherd” (Ps. 23:1 ASV).

Further, Jesus claimed to be the judge of all men (John 5:27ff.; Matt. 25:31ff.), and Joel quotes Jehovah as saying, “There I will sit to judge all the nations on every side” (Joel 3:12).

Likewise, Jesus spoke of Himself as the “bridegroom” (Matt. 25:1f.) while the Old Testament identifies Jehovah in this way (Isa. 62:5; Hosea 2:16).

While the psalmist declares, “Jehovah is my light” (Ps. 27:1 asv), Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).

Perhaps the strongest claim Jesus made to be Jehovah is in John 8:58, where He says, “Before Abraham was born, I am!” This statement claims not only existence before Abraham, but equality with the “I am” of Exodus 3:14. The Jews around Him clearly understood His meaning and picked up stones to kill Him for blaspheming (cf. John 10:31–33). The same claim is also made in Mark 14:62 and John 18:5–6.

Again and again and again, Jesus compared himself to Yahweh, the one and only God of Israel.  If we stopped here, this would be strong evidence that Jesus thought of himself as God, but we are only through the first of six sets of evidence.  Stay tuned for more!!

Cross, Mormonism

Why Do Mormons Hide the Cross? Part 2

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In the previous post I spoke about the LDS Church’s aversion to the use of the cross.  Their explanation for this decision is, in my opinion, rather lacking.  I have often wondered if their view of the atonement has any effect upon their decision.  One of the primary differences between LDS and Christian theology surrounds exactly where Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins.  As Christians, we believe the cross played a central role in the atonement.  We approach it with wonder and reverence for it was the instrument by which God chose to redeem mankind.  However, in LDS theology the atonement has been partially removed from the cross and placed in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Some LDS leaders have even gone so far as to assert the Garden of Gethsemane was the principal place of suffering in the atonement.  Here are some quotes by LDS leaders.

“We speak of the passion of Jesus Christ. A great many people have an idea that when he was on the cross, and nails were driven into his hands and feet, that was his great suffering. His great suffering was before he ever was placed upon the cross. It was in the Garden of Gethsemane that the blood oozed from the pores of his body.”  – President Joseph Fielding Smith

“It was in Gethsemane that Jesus took on Himself the sins of the world, in Gethsemane that His pain was equivalent to the cumulative burden of all men, in Gethsemane that He descended below all things so that all could repent and come to Him.”  – The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], 14)

“His [deep] suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, where He took upon Himself all the sins of all other mortals…” – James E. Foust, Come Listen to a Prophet’s Voice

“…that he suffer the pains of all men, which he did, principally, in Gethsemane, the scene of his great agony.” – Marion G. Romney, The Resurrection of Jesus, Ensign May 1982, 6

Could the LDS aversion to the cross be tied to their view of the atonement?  Why the focus so much on the Garden of Gethsemane?  Nowhere in The Bible does it say the atonement took place principally in Gethsemane.  In fact, when The Bible talks about the atonement it almost always speaks directly of the cross.  In my opinion, the overt focus on the Garden is not only unbiblical it also diverts one’s attention away from the most important part of Christ’s gift to mankind… His work on the cross.  May we always approach it with awe, reverence and wonder!

All praise be to our Savior, God and King Jesus Christ!!

Darrell

Cross, Mormonism

Why Do Mormons Hide the Cross? Part 1

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In LDS chapels you will typically find paintings commissioned of Mormon artists and in their Temples you will find different symbols, from sunstones to inverted stars.  However, one of the items you will never find displayed is a cross.  On the LDS Church website they provide the following explanation for the absence of the cross.

“As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we also remember with reverence the suffering of the Savior. But because the Savior lives, we do not use the symbol of His death as the symbol of our faith.”

While I respect this explanation, I find it in stark contrast to what The Bible has to say about the cross.  As Christians we rejoice in the cross of our Savior.  For upon it He paid the price for our sins, provided a path to God and made all things new.  Through it He became the mediator of a New Covenant.  The cross represents new life and is the tool by which Christ closed the gap between God and man.  Without His sacrifice upon the cross mankind would be doomed.  The New Testament speaks repeatedly about the wonder and redemptive power of the cross.  Here are few passages which speak of the cross.

 1 Cor 1:18  “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Galations 6:14 “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

Ephesians 2:16  “…and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.”

Colossians 1:20  “…and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

Colossians 2:14  “…having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.”

Colossians 2:15  “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

Given the way The Bible speaks of the cross, one can see why Christians display it as a symbol of our faith.  We turn to it with awe and reverence realizing the magnificent sacrifice of our Lord, God and Savior.  I continually marvel at the love of Christ displayed upon the cross as expressed in Romans 5:8.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

I cannot understand why the LDS Church shys away from the cross yet readily displays pagan symbols upon their Temples… the sun, moon, beehive, hand grip, and inverted stars.  Most of these symbols were carried over into Mormonism from the masons and have occultic significance.  Many amateur Mormon apologists make the argument some of these symbols were adopted into occultic worship after they were placed on the temple.  That is a debatable point but has nothing to do with my argument.  I am simply asking why it is alright to place a symbol which is not even mentioned in scripture upon the temple but it is not okay to place the cross?  The cross is spoken of repeatedly in scripture with awe and reverence yet the pagan symbols are strangely absent from scripture.  There seems to be some disconnect here and their explanation is rather lacking.

Further to my point, some of the past LDS leaders have spoken rather disparagingly about the use of the cross as a symbol of Christianity.  Past LDS prophet Joseph Fielding Smith had this to say.

“We may be definitely sure that if our Lord had been killed with a dagger or with a sword, it would have been very strange indeed if religious people of this day would have graced such a weapon by wearing it and adoring it because it was by such a means that our Lord was put to death.”  Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, Vol. 4, pp. 17-18.

The problem with Mr. Smith’s criticism…  the cross is spoken of repeatedly by the apostles of Jesus Christ with awe and reverence.  It is the means by which God Himself chose to redeem mankind.  Personally, I am fine with using it as a symbol of my faith and will choose to stay away from the sunstone, moon and inverted star.

In my next post I will talk about how the LDS Church takes the emphasis off of the cross and places it in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Darrell

Theology

Does God Need Anything?

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Post Author: Bill Pratt 

Christians believe that God is completely self-sufficient, that he is complete within himself.  There is nothing that God needs that he doesn’t already have.  The quote below, from A. W. Tozer in The Knowledge of the Holy,  summarizes the point extremely well.

To admit the existence of a need in God is to admit incompleteness in the divine Being.  Need is a creature-word and cannot be spoken of the Creator.  God has a voluntary relation to everything He has made, but He has no necessary relation to anything outside of Himself.  His interest in His creatures arises from His sovereign good pleasure, not from any need those creatures can supply nor from any completeness they can bring to Him who is complete in Himself.

Practically speaking, it is a serious error to think that humanity is somehow providing God assistance that he needs to accomplish his tasks.  God may use human beings to complete certain tasks, but he never needs them.  He allows them to participate with him in the affairs of the world, but only out of his good pleasure.  Whenever humans start to think they are indispensable to God, a prideful fall is sure to follow.