Sanctification and Reformation

Three minutes in the history of thought: This is a prequel to another post that is coming soon. Here, I simply lay out the terms pre-modernism, modernism, and post-modernism. They are not terms a lot of folks are familiar with and it helps to understand a little of where they came from. So history is divided into three large sections of thinking and knowledge. There are other ways to break up history but this is the division that makes the most sense to me. The pre-modern era : This is all of history leading up to the reformation of the 16 th century. God was seen as the principle center who created us to know him and the world around us; which he also created. The thinking of man followed a line of reasoning: I believe, in order to understand. I believe in God and he grants me understanding in matters for which I would not have been able to comprehend before. In other words, truth is revealed to me by God and defined by God in his word. The enlightenment p...

Free Will? I recently watched as two outdoors men attempted to free an adult bull elk from a mud pit.   These are enormous animals.   His entire rear half was submerged and the mud was so think he had no hope of getting out.   This was going to be the bull’s final resting place. The men approached cautiously and began to try to free the huge animal.   However, as soon as they got close, the elk would swing his rack at them. The elk didn’t want them there, didn’t understand why they were there, and was actively attempting to defend himself with his antlers. The elk was simply operating freely according to his elk-ish nature. They are by nature wild animals and humans are an unwanted presence. The elk wanted to be freed from his muddy chains but he only wanted rescue on his own terms.   The men did not abide by the elk’s wishes but worked together using various implements until the elk was rescued from its pit of despair.   This was n...

On August 2 nd , 1939 mathematician Albert Einstein wrote a personal letter to then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.   Einstein could see the writing on the wall as he reviewed research being conducted by German scientists.   In the letter he warned the United States President that if German research continued, they would develop a process by which a “nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium” would result.   In other words, an atom bomb. He did not understand the gravity of his words at that time but it was those very words that caused the president to immediately demand the US take action.   The next actions resulted in the Manhattan Project, the development of our own atomic bomb, and the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 which castrated Japan and Germany ending World War II.  Albert Einstein’s letter is the way many people believe New Testament writers wrote the scriptures.  Many people mistakenly believe that when th...

Oldest lighthouse in Scotland OMNIPOTENCE Several decades ago there was an epic show called Star Trek. It was widely viewed by millions every week as the space ship Enterprise would go boldly where no man had ever gone before.   As with many shows, they get misquoted and then the misquote receives the most attention in history – but it didn’t even happen… One of these quotes occurs in "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" where actor Jim Carrey speaks into the camera saying, “I can’t do it Captain. I don’t. Have. The power!” Supposedly this was a rip off from ship master Scotty in Star Trek but interestingly Scotty never made the quote. However, Jim Carrey’s misquote retained all the attention. What does this have to do with God’s omnipotence? Not much – but that the simple sentiment is something we can all relate to.   There are many things we wish we could do but for which we lack the power.   We’d like to cure poverty, hunger, war, disease, and Washington DC...

Part 2 (of 2) In part 1 of this post we covered the first four characteristics of the omniscience of God. We covered how God has perfect self-knowledge, perfect knowledge outside of Himself, that His knowledge is eternal, and that His knowledge is immediate and instantaneous. Today, we'll cover four more aspects of this amazing attribute of God. 5) His knowledge is exhaustive . He numbers and names all of the stars (which are incalculable). Not even a sparrow falls without His knowledge. He numbers every hair on your head. These are excerpted from verses which all use this language to help the reader grasp how complete His knowledge is. A sparrow was worthless in that day – yet God does not allow even one to fall to the ground without His complete knowledge. He has numbered the hair follicles on your head – which isn’t a particularly useful thing to know.  So if He perfectly knows these things which are not valuable, then He definitely knows what going on with and in y...

Have you ever made a mistake or been caught in a lie? It’s unnerving to know that someone else knows your sin.  But have you had that experience and then thought, “If they only knew the half of my sin they’d disown me.” If someone were to look into my heart or watch a film of my secret decisions, motives, and desires, they’d most definitely run from me. But I imagine I would run from you too because we’re not that different from each other. Sin has infected us like the worst type of spreading cancer; affecting every thought we have. So this attribute of God can be a little unnerving. It can actually cause us to try and block it out as silly and ironic as that is.  God’s omniscience means that he is all-knowing. So in running we quickly resemble Jonah who ran from the Lord and found Himself being held against his will in the belly of a whale. I encourage you, as I study and share my thoughts with you, to think like a follower of Christ. This attribute is incredibly en...

Many of us are frustrated by our kids or friends of ours who check their phones at dinner time.   They’re physically present but they’re mentally somewhere else. My wife lovingly points this out to me when I check Facebook or text messages and I’m supposed to be giving her my attention instead of my social media notifications. But unlike my easily distracted mind, God is laser-focused on everything and everyone, everywhere, at all times and in all places. That’s a hard thing to comprehend… This attribute of God, if I’m honest, was the biggest surprise to me as I studied. I knew God was everywhere but I’m not sure how much time I’ve spent dwelling on it, especially the implications of it.   In other words, God is omnipresent but why does it matter? I hope to whet your appetite so that you will look into this more.   Maybe pick a morning, go for a hike, and meditate on these passages of scripture and what they mean for the believer’s life. The puritan R...