Faith
Link Happy [Favorite Posts before 5.1.10]
I’m breaking two laws today.
One spoken. The other unspoken.
The spoken law I am breaking has to do with a vow not to post on Saturday.
I’m making an exception since I’ve been posting only four times a week instead of five.
The unspoken law is about a personal pledge not to do posts devoted to sharing articles I like.
I reserved Twitter and Facebook for that.
But since I’ve abandoned Twitter and Facebook until May 23, my main source for sharing favorite articles is gone. So I’m sharing here.
Enjoy.
Survey: 72% of Millenials ‘More Spiritual Than Religious’
Little here to encourage you. Most notable: “Many are unsure Jesus is the only path to heaven: Half say yes, half no.”
Confession of Faith Guanabara
Brazilian blogger Jorge Bessa says it’s one of the oldest confessions of faith of Reformation era–written by four missionaries sent by John Calvin to the newly-founded Rio de Janeiro. [Click on the American flag to translate to English.]
Grilled Squid
Drawn to this article by the headline and sub-headline. That’s the headline up there. Here’s the sub: “A ghastly day on Capitol Hill for Goldman Sachs’s top brass.” Why I like the Economist.
Mind Over Money
Darling little 60-minute show by PBS on the battle between behavioral scientists and rational economists over this question: Can markets be rational when humans aren’t? Great sidebar resources, too.
Breaking Things Down to Particles Blinds Scientists to the Big Picture
I quote: “We want to believe we will understand nature if we find the exact right tool to cut its joints. But that approach is doomed to failure. We live in a universe not of clocks but of clouds.”
The Challenge of Writing about David Foster Wallace
I was immediately charmed when I learned DRW wrote a 1,300 page, heavily annotated, footnote dense novel. Then I read it. Thinking writing about him is hard? Try reading him.
By the way, do you mind if I do more posts like this? Yes or no? Give me your opinion. I’m thinking of doing more.
Did Christ Descend into Hell?
In a simple but substantial summary of our faith called the Apostle’s Creed we encounter a very peculiar phrase:
“He descended into hell.”
One popular interpretation says that Christ went to the place of dead to announce redemption for the righteous who died before Christ.
But that interpretation is wrong. A little history is in order.
Why the Church Crafts Creeds
Historically, creeds have been crafted by the church to refute a specific heresy that’s threatening the church at that time.
The Nicene Creed refutes the heresy of Arius in the fourth century. The Council of Trent spelled out for the Roman Catholic church the major points of contention between them and Protestants in the 1500s.
The Apostle’s creed–circa the first or second century–has Gnosticism in it’s cross hairs.
In this case, Gnosticism denied the humanity of Christ. They denied the Incarnation and even differentiated between Christ [divine] and Jesus [human].
They argued Jesus didn’t become Christ’ spokesperson until his baptism [when the spirit descended on him] and the spirit left him before he died on the cross.
Thus, when Gnostics denied the humanity of Christ, they are basically arguing that he was never actually a flesh-and-bone person–that means he never suffered or died.
Which brings us to the point of this post.
The Meaning Behind “He Descended into Hell”
In the face of this heresy, up crops the Apostle’s Creed, hammering home the point that Jesus was not only God–but fully human as Scripture declares:
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;
In other words, Christ the God-man was born like a man, suffered like a man and died like a man.
And because Jesus’ humanity is at stake here the composers want to make sure this is clear: Jesus died.
James Kiefer said, ” The reference to the descent into Hades (or Hell, or Sheol) is here to make it clear that the death of Jesus was not just a swoon or a coma, but death in every sense of the word.”
And this includes spiritual death. Calvin says:
If Christ had died only a bodily death, it would have been ineffectual. No — it was expedient at the same time for him to undergo the severity of God’s vengeance, to appease his wrath and satisfy his just judgment. For this reason, he must also grapple hand to hand with the armies of hell and the dread of everlasting death.
Therefore, “he descended into hell” suggests Jesus absorbed the full force of God’s punishment of mankind’s sins–past, present and future.
How a Creed Grows Over Time
It should be noted that the article “he descended into hell” doesn’t show up in the earliest form of the creed–the Old Roman Form. This article creeps in around 390 A. D.
That’s right: the form of the Apostle’s Creed we recite in church today wasn’t crystallized in one day–or even one year.
More than likely the Apostle’s Creed began as a very simple formula “I believe in God the Father” and accumulated articles ["maker of heaven and earth" and "he descended into hell"] over time as the church sought to maintain purity of the historical doctrines of the church as outside threats grew, like Gnosticism.
This process took about 400 years. Give or take a century.
One Final Thought
The precision of the creed is not an accident. There is deep meaning and reason behind each word, each article, as I demonstrated above with the phrase “he descended into hell.”
Let’s look at another example that’s relevant to our discussion
The phrase “suffered under Pontius Pilate” hammers home this point about the humanity of Christ: We can date Jesus’ death.
Why is this important? In the Hellenistic culture in which Christianity sprung and grew, competing claims of dying and rising gods typical in vegetation myths were abundant.
If you asked first century polytheist “When did Adonis die?” He’d say, “Long ago.” No definitive date, because no historical person.
Ask a first or second century Christian convert when Jesus suffered and died he’d answer ” Under Pontius Pilate,” which is nothing less than a concrete marker for the historicity of the Christian faith.
Definitive date equals historical person, which is all the more important when that person is God.
Truth [A Quick and Dirty Guide]
What is truth? And does anybody have a lock on it?
The preacher? The scientist? The scholar? The engineer? The psychologist? The shaman?
Furthermore, can you trust them?
Not easy questions to answer.
There are so many competing claims and different approaches.
Can we REALLY know the truth? I think we can. And to help me answer that question, a while back I asked my friend Rob Powell to help.
He agreed and knocked out three posts on truth: Absolutism, Pluralism and Scientism. [See below.]
I then pulled together seven more posts dealing with the question “what is truth?”
Perhaps you’ve seen them before. If so, skim through each for a little refresher course on truth.
If you haven’t seen these posts before, walk through them slowly and then let me know what you think.
In the end, we might disagree. My hope is that I at least get you to think. And I promise to do the same for you. Enjoy the list!
Absolutism [What You Need to Know--and Why] Is truth absolute? Or is it relative and merely based on personal preferences? There has to be a right answer, right? There is.
Pluralism [What You Need to Know--and Why] On the surface pluralism seems like a reasonable explanation for the diversity of faiths we see. Look below the surface and it’s not.
Scientism [When You Shouldn't Trust a Scientist] Science is awesome. It provides us with great party tricks and is the most predictable way to study the world. But what is it? And can it ever go wrong?
The Blind Men and a Queer Animal In an ancient parable, dozens of hermits and scholars are making conflicting claims about reality. Who was right? D. None of the above.
How to Deal with Religious Conflict What beliefs create peaceful behavior and deal with the discord of religion? Here’s the answer.
Is the Gospel What the World Desperately Needs? Only Christian salvation can lead to a humble, enemy-embracing love that the world desperately needs. Sound counter intuitive? Let me explain why it’s not.
The Blissfully Plastic Moral Base of Humanism What does the meaningless, value-absent creed of humanism have to offer? It might surprise you.
Hard Questions: How to Make Sense of the World Answer these seven questions and you’ll discover what’s at the bottom of all your thoughts about God, yourself and the world.
What Camus and Frankl Can Teach You about the Meaning of Life Is it possible to find meaning in life without God? Albert Camus and Victor Frankl think so.
Is Jesus the Only Way to God? [Guest post at Sorting Beans] Great question. It’s one I’ve often struggled with and felt very awkward at times defending. Here’s what I’ve found.
What Happens to Our Faith When God Disappears?
Christian faith is often brittle.
It’s often punctuated with moments of doubt. Persecution. Isolation. Fear.
We can sometimes spend entire nights staring at the ceiling or pacing the floor praying, “God, I cannot do this unless I know you are with me. Where are you? Don’t hide. Please. I need you.”
It’s as if God’s gone AWOL.
Michael Patton confessed he felt God first went AWOL when his sister died.
It was a devastating buzz kill to a man who was a seminary superstar on a spiritual high, always optimistic when everyone else was in the dumps…
Always seeing the good in the evil.
However, this tragedy caused enormous confusion. And he couldn’t shake it.
Spiritual Loneliness and Our Circumstances
Since that time he’s had his ups and downs. Exhausted from ministry and struggling to provide for his family, you could easily say that when he wrote that post he’d spent an extended period in the downs.
But don’t count him out.
In the midst of his painful post he writes:
Those of you atheists and former Christians who suspect that they are about to have another Christian cross over to the dark side, put up your party hats, blowouts, and (ahem) cake. I am not close. One thing that I have learned, believe, and teach with great conviction is that my circumstances do not have a vote in truth. Nothing that I go through can alter or affect the cardinal issues of my faith. Jesus Christ either died and rose from the grave or he did not. It is upon this that the entirety of my faith rests.
Here’s the deal: Our faith will be assaulted…and then weakened. But true saving faith will always prevail because it’s not dependent upon our circumstances.
It’s dependent on something more concrete.
What Does Spiritual Growth REALLY Look Like?
The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints doesn’t mean our Christian life is one of steady upward growth without failure.
Yes, it’s upward. But it looks more like a saw-tooth than a gentle slope toward the sky.
Any Christian can relate: We can go from an acute sense of holiness and the presence of God to very bad sin and feelings of isolation all the way back to a so-called intimacy–within weeks…or even days.
Being born again doesn’t mean we won’t sin or experience despair. Nor does it mean we won’t sin or despair GRIEVOUSLY. Truly regenerate Christians can commit murder, adultery and even publicly reject Christ.
They even can live in depression. But NEVER persistently. The Bible is clear: A Christian can fall. And fall hard. But not fully or finally.
Spiritual Growth Involves War
Our faith is weak. And we will naturally be bruised as we fight the good fight of faith. The Bible promises us a war.
Thing is, we’ll never be abandoned during that war. Even when it feels like God has gone AWOL.
Martin Luther stood alone at the Diet of Worms against the most powerful men of his time. He spent the prior night praying in agony. He knew he could not do what he was going to do unless God was behind him.
In his second letter to Timothy Paul writes:
My persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
In the same letter Paul uncovers his own despondency when he declares: “No one came to stand by me. All deserted me…. But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me. …The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.”
We are in good company when we experience despair and pain. Furthermore, we also know that we will be victorious. God will rescue us because Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith.
And what is our faith? Hebrews says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for.” Our hope in Christ is the anchor of our soul.
What Faith Is and Isn’t
This is not faith AGAINST the evidence. But a faith of substance. Nor is it a faith in skimpy evidence…and we’re told to believe anyway.
It is not ephemeral and wishful, but rooted in the historical life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s based upon the manifold evidence that Christ is God’s son.
And that he came to redeem the world.
Faith is a gift from God. He is the author of that faith. He’s also responsible through the Holy Spirit to nourish that faith. And we have God’s promise that he will not abandon that work–but finish it.
And that’s why in the midst of doubt or trials Michael Patton, Martin Luther, the Apostle Paul and even Demian Farnworth can say, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.”
David Platt Frightens Me
Ever hear anyone complain that academics are divorced from reality?
That theorists would simply collapse in shock if they ever stepped down from their ivory tower into the dirty world of human beings?
That some professors are educated beyond their usefulness?
That scholars are cut off from emotion, compassion and spiritual devotion?
Granted, there’s a lot of truth behind these complaints.
Intellectuals tend to elevate the mind over the heart, making the pursuit of doctorates more important than people.
But not all academics fall to this temptation. Take David Platt for example.
Educated to the Hilt
At first glance, you could level those accusations at David Platt.
He earned two undergraduate degrees from the University of Georgia. He followed that up with three advanced degrees.
But he wasn’t finished.
He added a doctor of philosophy from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary [NOBTS] to his curriculum vitae.
He then served as dean of chapel and assistant professor of expository preaching and apologetics at NOBTS.
The man is a highly accomplished academic. [And as an arm-chair intellectual, he scares me.]
Naturally, you’d expect his book Radical to read like a professional journal. But it doesn’t.
Entering the Dirty Business of Human Beings
Here’s what can’t be missed: Platt gets around.
His book is shaped by his overseas mission trips to places like India and Indonesia.
It’s influenced by his time as pastor at the Church at Brook Hills.
And it’s predisposed to sound a lot like John Piper–the quintessential scholar-turned-pastor–who obviously impacted Platt.
All this serves to make Platt firmly grounded in the dirty business of human beings, compassionate to the bone and ridiculously eager to make disciples.
Which in turn makes Radical a book anyone could read.
In fact, it’s almost simplistic. Sometimes redundant. It’s Richard Wurmbrand meets Kevin DeYoung.
You won’t get lost in this book. Neither will you have to re-read any sentences. In fact, you’ll almost get bored.
But at that moment when you’re tempted to close the book, Platt pulls you back in. He does this in a handful of ways.
Radical: Sticky from Experience and Education
He might draw out a beautiful analogy about the church being a troop carrier turned luxury liner.
Or a gripping story about a young, intelligent woman killed in a bizarre bus accident while she served Palestinian refugees in Egypt.
Or a potent scene where believers in China begged him to teach them the Old Testament…and ten days later to teach them the New.
While all these things make for a good read we have to remember that Platt argues from a very simple platform: the gospel of Jesus Christ.
A platform he demonstrates you don’t need a degree to preach. Or a doctorate to understand.
Just a heart that hungers to lose it’s will in the will of God and no longer desires anything for himself–except the glory of God.
And it’s just this kind of heart that drives the hardcore academic David Platt.
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