The one proof against ALL arguments

There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to proper investigation. - Herbert Spencer

I understand entirely. It is emotional and fear inducing to have all you believe and hold to be true challenged. I have this experience every day, and often I fail to observe the proper response to such challenges...

Acknowledge emotions brought to or arising from controversy, else you will/may vent feelings but not state reasons. ... Make your own assumptions explicit. - Declare your prejudices, your pre-judgements. Good controversy should not be an argument about assumptions. An attempt at impartiality is a good antidote for the blindness that is almost inevitable in partisanship. If you have not read a [argument] sympathetically, your disagreement with it is probably more contentious than civil. Limit yourself to these four criticisms: I understand but I disagree because...
• You are uninformed
• You are misinformed
• You are illogical, your reasoning is not cogent
• Your analysis is incomplete.¹

It is sad when a brother or sister in Christ, or myself for that matter, is closed to respectful debate. Especially when the primary reason given for dismissal of the argument is the length of time one or other party has believe a position to be true.

Understanding how pride works in my life I have tried to always allow others the space to believe differently. I post this with reverent fear that I may be wrong.

I rest in the knowledge that G-d, working in the life I have lived, has brought me to this blessed place where I am today - despite my best efforts. I find comfort also in the promise of Ephesians 3:15 -

All of us who are mature should take such a view of things . And if on some point you think differently, that too G-d will make clear to you.

... and this is followed by the admonition of Ephesians 3:16 -

Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Those who are in, or who aspire to be in, the Ministry of our Lord and Saviour, should be wary of pronouncing any condemnation on a brother or sister in the Messiah (Christ). We are not to sit in judgement of another's state of salvation, but we must preach to all who may be unsaved that they may know the road to safety. This, and this alone, is the commission our Saviour has given us. None other.

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Footnotes:

1. Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book, (Touchstone - Simon & Schuster Inc. 1972) pp 154 - 167

God's Word, or Our Words?

God provided us with a Bible, at an incredible cost for its many cast members, many of whom suffered or died so that we can learn from their lives, their mistakes, and their triumphs. Many also suffered and died through history, just for preserving this book, even for translating it into English. It's a precious book, God knows that all serious Christians know that. So to see the many ways it has been mangled, twisted, and re-interpreted by some for their own purposes is just unacceptable. There are enough people who claim to have new revelations and new interpretations and we must learn to recognise when this is happening and reject it. The Bible has only one author, God, and the task we have is to know exactly what is in His heart as we read his words.

So how do we read and interpret the Bible? How can we tell what is in the heart of God as we read His words? We begin with two Greek words, exegesis, and eisegesis. Exegesis is the act of reading the words of the Bible and only receiving the truth that God put there. Eisegsis is the act of reading the Bible and only receiving what agrees with your own ideas. The first technique is, I hope you agree, the way we should approach hte Bible. The other one is the chosen route of our TV preacher and may God forgive him!¹

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Footnotes:

1. Steve Maltz, How the Church Lost the Way, Saffron Planet, pp 72

Roots of the Nazi Legal System

This article from creation.com covers the full gambit of why it is so important to know what you believe and why you believe it. The contents of this article show clearly the reasons why "Normative" is so passionate about right doctrine, and why we oppose the current raft of nonsense being spouted from the pulpit of a number of local churches. Please read it!!

In the light of the escalation of violence against Jews world wide including the murder of the Fogel family in Israel this understanding is becoming more and more important.

‘The leaders of the [German Christian] movement, Pastors Julius Leutheuser, Joachim Hossenfelder and Siegfried Leffler, strove to convince their fellow clergy that only a completely new interpretation of Christianity … could meet the needs of the new age. They sought to rid the Church of its ‘pre-scientific’ mentality and its archaic liturgies, and to substitute a new revelation as found in Adolf Hitler. The essential was not Christian orthodoxy but Christian activism that would follow the example of the ‘heroic’ Jesus … In the new creation of the Nazi Party, they saw a vehicle for their programme that offered fellowship which they believe to be characteristic of true Christianity. If Hitler could perform what they called Christian deeds, then orthodoxy could be abandoned.’

The full article is here: Darwinian Roots of Nazi Legal System

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Footnotes:

Augusto Zimmermann, Darwinian Roots of Nazi Legal System, downloaded from http://creation.com/darwinian-roots-of-nazi-legal-system 16 March 2011.

I have the right to be poor!!

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How refreshing to find this on a Church website:

The Church must be free to be poor in order to minister among the poor. The Church must trust the Gospel enough to come among the poor with nothing to offer the poor except the Gospel, except the power to discern and the courage to expose the Gospel as it is already mediated in the life of the poor…When the Church has the freedom itself to be poor among the poor, it will know how to use what riches it has. When the Church has that freedom, it will know also how to minister among the rich and powerful. When the Church has that freedom, it will be a missionary people again in all the world. When the Church has the freedom to go out into the world with merely the Gospel to offer the world, then it will know how to use whatever else it has–money and talent and buildings and tapestries and power in politics–as sacraments of its gift of its own life to the world, as tokens of the ministry of Christ.

– William Stringfellow - A Private and Public Faith (1962)¹

No prosperity Gospel or demands upon the purse strings to "honour" a member of a self-appointed clique. How real, how simple. I think I would like this Church. They even proclaim their articles of faith. How bold. How nice that they know what they believe. How sadly unusual. How...right.

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Footnotes:

1. Downloaded from Christ's Sanctuary www.christsanctuary.org.nz, February 21, 2011

Why is the church losing its young people?

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A must read editorial from creation.com. Why is the church losing its young people?

If we cast doubt upon the validity of the Scriptures (Bible), we cast doubt on everything that is "Christian". If we adopt an attitude that makes the Bible no more that a series of myths or legends then we have no grounds upon which to make claim to anything of greater value than Greek or Roman mythology.

Genesis 1:1-11 is foundational to the entire cannon of Scripture. Without it, neither Christianity nor Judaism has any validity. This principle was exemplified by a conversation I had with one of my many ex-brother-in-laws many years ago.

My brother-in-law handed me a book en-titled Women hating writings. Naturally enough, within the pages of this book was a snippet from the Bible, taken out of context. Of course a (convivial) conversation ensued about the "lies" in the Bible. He held the position the Bible was untrue and could not be relied upon and I of course attempted to refute this. My final statement was "I would never give up my life for a fairytale," to which he responded "exactly."

This is the damage done to the reputation of the Christian Faith by those who deny the validity and historical accuracy of the Bible. No less than the salvation of those who do not yet know Messiah (Christ) has been lost because of this wholesale abrogation of the truth by those who profess its belief.

What Messiah (Christ) did for you on the Cross

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content When Yeshua (Jesus) died on the cross at Calvary, it was no accident. This was not a defeat for Messiah (Christ). It was God's ultimate triumph over evil. Yeshua (Jesus) was born to die on that cross. It was the purpose for which he was born. Without Yeshua (Jesus) dying on that cross, mankind would have no way to enter Heaven.

Ariel Ministries discusses this topic in more detail in Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum's papers Why Did Messiah Have to Die? and The Results of the Death of Messiah.

So what happened on the Cross? Messiah (Christ) became "sin" for us. Yeshua (Jesus), who lived a perfect life, who fulfilled ALL the requirements of the Mosaic Law, did not get killed, but offered up Himself as a perfect sacrifice (Eph 5:2, Heb 9:26, Heb 10:12) for the sins of all mankind. The only sacrifice that was able to satisfy God's requirement for justice once and for all.

The sacrifice which Yeshua (Jesus) offered on the cross paid the penalty due to all men. All men have sinned. The penalty required for sin is death. Messiah (Christ) died on the Cross, a life willingly laid down for us (Jon 10:17-18), to pay our penalty.

Because of Yeshua's (Christ's) death on the Cross we can enter into relationship with The Father. Once we believe and have satisfied the requirements of salvation we receive (instantaneously) the deposit of the Holy Spirit as a seal confirming that we now belong to Messiah (Christ). The condition of being saved is irrevocable, that is, it can not be undone. It is a one way ticket. This is the promise made to every one who believes in Messiah (Christ)...

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Joh 3:17 For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.
Joh 3:18 He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.

God

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God - Theology Proper

For an in-depth discussions about God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit please see the following studies from Ariel Ministries:

• The Trinity
• God the Father

The study of God is know as Theology Proper. It is not possible to do justice to this topic in the space available, we therefore try to set down the most important concepts only, and sadly only briefly touch on each.

The Trinity

There is only one God. God is comprised of three persons. These persons are distinct and separate personalities, and are not one person.

Reference to the unity of God is well established in the Old Testament. The most well know example, especially amongst Jews, is the Sh’ma of Deuteronomy 6:4. Sh’ma Y’israel, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad. – Translated this is Hear O Israel, the Lord, your God, is one Lord. Dr Fruchtenbaum again emphasises the fact that the more correct translation here is “your Gods” Therefore the correct translation would be The Lord, your Gods, is one Lord. Thus the Old Testament supports multiple personalities within the single “entity” of God.

Attributes of God

1. Omniscience - The Omniscience of God comprehends all things - things past, things present, and things future, and the possible as well as the actual.¹
2. Holiness - The holiness of God is active. As a primary motive, it incites all that he does; therefore He is righteous in His ways. Though infinitely holy, He nevertheless maintains a relation to fallen creatures; not a quiescent aloofness from them, but a vital pulsating nearness. His is not a holiness which is engendered by a sustained effort or preserved by segregation from other beings. The holiness of God is intrinsic, uncreated, and untarnished; it is observable in every divine attitude and action. It embraces not only His devotion to that which is good, but is also the very basis and force of His hatred of that which is evil.Thus there is in divine holiness he capacity for reaction toward others which is both positive and negative. ²
3. Justice - ...God has absolute right and authority over His creatures. In his rebellion against God, the creature steadfastly refuses to recognize the truth concerning the Creator's right and authority. God could have created or not at his pleasure...Since the Creator's authority is absolute, it is a superlative cause for gratitude that God is perfect in justice. Divine justice is exhibited in the fact that righteous laws are given to men, that these laws are given an impartial execution. No favoritism is ever indulged, though infinite favor is extended to those who come under the righteous provisions for salvation made possible through Christ's sacrifice for sin. On this it may be remarked, that at no point is divine justice more observable than in the plan of redemption.

   Holiness dictates that there shall be no leniency towards evil on the part of God. It is true that He considers our frame and remembers we are dust; but God never condones sin...To reject this open door of salvation which Christ is and wherein God without impairment to His holy justice can execute complete and perfect grace toward the sinner, becomes at once the final, all-condemning sin.³

4. Love - God has not attained to love, nor does He by effort maintain love; it is the structure of his being. He is the unfailing source of all love...As no other attribute, love is the primary motive in God, and to satisfy His love all creation has been formed.That infinite love has always existed between the Persons of the God-head and that God in the most worthy sense loves Himself supremely, cannot be questioned. The divine love thus did not begin to be exercised only when creatures - the objects of His love - were created.⁴
5. Goodness - This attribute, if contemplated as that which is within God, is akin to His holiness; if contemplated as that which proceeds from God, is akin to love. The infinite goodness of God is a perfection of His being which characterises His nature and is itself the source of all in the universe that is good.⁵
6. Truth - He not only advances and confirms that which is true, but in faithfulness abides by His promise, and executes every threat or warning He has made. Apart from the element of truth in God there would be no certainty whatsoever in this life.⁶
7. Freedom - The will of God is free. It acts in the way of wisdom, is exercised by infinite power, and upholds only His righteous purposes and ways; yet it is free in the sense that it is independent of all His creatures as well of all their actions.⁷
8. Omnipotence - The infinite power of God.
9. Simplicity - By this term it is indicated that the divine Being is uncompounded, incomplex, and indivisible...Simplicity of being is not a contradiction of the Trinity of Persons in which mode He subsists. The fact of the Trinity does not predicate three Essences; it rather predicates one Essence and the one Essence is simple in itself.⁸
10. Unity - God is one essence.⁹ There is one God.
11. Infinity - God transcends all limitations which time or space impose. He cannot be imprisoned either in time or space. In like manner, He knows all things perfectly. He is able to bring things to pass, even to create as He will apart from means or material, and always in measureless perfection. In every moral quality He is complete to infinity.¹⁰
12. Eternity - ...God is said to be "the eternal God." He is from everlasting to everlasting...The pure idea of eternity is too vast for human thought.¹¹
13. Immutability - Immutability is the state or quality of being that which is not capable or susceptible of change....In no sphere or relationship is God subject to change.¹² (James 1:17)
14. Ommipresence or Immensity - He is everywhere present¹³
15. Sovereignty The sovereignty of God is discerned in the absolute manner in which all things have been assigned their respective places in creation, in appointing men their day and generation as well as the bounds of their habitation, and in the exercise of saving grace.He is Creator and hist dominion is perfect and final
    

    The authority of God is established over the redeemed by the purchase which that redemption was wrought
    

    He is in authority over those among the redeemed who willingly yield their lives to Him.¹⁴

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Footnotes:

1. Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, Volumes 1 & 2, Prologemena, Bibliology, Theology Proper, (Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI 1976), 192
2. Ibid, 202
3. Ibid, 203-204
4. Ibid, 205-206
5. Ibid, 206
6. Ibid, 207
7. Ibid, 209
8. Ibid, 213 - 214
9. Ibid, 215
10. Ibid, 215
11. Ibid, 216
12. Ibid, 217
13. Ibid, 219
14. Ibid, 222