Sunday, October 31, 2010

Utterly Depraved?

I am a bit down this weekend. OK, so I am not at all depressed at the thought of the end of the political ads coming this Tuesday. But part of my being down is how hard the economy has hit my family and others, and how slow any recovery appears. And this weekend, as I allow this darkness to seep into my soul, I was hit by a quote from Martin Luther. Here’s his quote:

The works of God, though they may always look evil and have the appearance of being very bad, are yet in fact works of eternal merit.

As I chewed on Marty’s quote (that’s how close I am to the founder of Protestantism, I can call him Marty), I thought about how some people (not naming names, but their initials are Ed and TJL) see everything done by God as wrong. Even evil. And I suppose that why this quote initially caught my attention. The Heidleberg Disputation provides further explanation and insight into Martin Luther’s quote, and it states:

Heidleberg Disputation: That the works of God are unattractive is clear from what is said in Isa. 53:2, »He had no form of comeliness«, and in 1 Sam. 2:6, »The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.« This is understood to mean that the Lord humbles and frightens us by means of the law and the sight of our sins so that we seem in the eyes of men, as in our own, as nothing, foolish, and wicked, for we are in truth that. Insofar as we acknowledge and confess this, there is »no form or beauty« in us, but our life is hidden in God (i.e. in the bare confidence in his mercy), finding in ourselves nothing but sin, foolishness, death, and hell, according to that verse of the Apostle in 2 Cor. 6:9-10, »As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as dying, and behold we live.« And that it is which Isa. 28:21 calls the »alien work« of God »that he may do his work« (that is, he humbles us thoroughly, making us despair, so that he may exalt us in his mercy, giving us hope), just as Hab. 3:2 states, »In wrath remember mercy.« Such a man therefore is displeased with all his works; he sees no beauty, but only his depravity. Indeed, he also does those things which appear foolish and disgusting to others.
This depravity, however, comes into being in us either when God punishes us or when we accuse ourselves, as 1 Cor. 11:31 says, »If we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged by the Lord«. Deut. 32:36 also states, »The Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.« In this way, consequently, the unattractive works which God does in us, that is, those which are humble and devout, are really eternal, for humility and fear of God are our entire merit.

Tom’s Wrap:I know this is a lot to put your mind around, especially on a weekend morning. Especially on a day when our blood is pumping for the anticipated sugar fix that is coming later on (Halloween, and all). But here is my take. I think what Luther and the Disputation are getting at is not so much how God’s ways can only be viewed over the long-term, and over many years when everything will be put it order. Instead, I think it is more likely pointing toward man’s utter depravity and God’s holiness and righteousness. When I say man’s utter depravity, I mean that every inclination of our heart is to do the sinful, rebellious, self-centered action. While God’s actions cannot possibly be understood by us for what they truly are. God’s actions alone are of “eternal merit”, as Luther describes.

The 1 Corinthians 11:31 verse is powerful. If we were able to judge ourselves properly, then there would be no need for God’s judgment. My final takeaway is this: think about Nehemiah’s response upon learning of Jerusalem’s destruction. His response to the Sovereign God allowing Jerusalem to be destroyed and disgraced? He “sat down and wept”, and then pleaded for forgiveness of Israel’s sin (Nehemiah 1:4-6). As we face trouble and battles, and as we see the pain that the economy’s devastation is taking all about us, I hope we don’t ask “where is God”? Instead, I hope we trust in the holy and righteous Sovereign God, and what He is doing through this time. I praise Your holy name Lord God, /s/Tom Wolff

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Death for All

We recently discussed the topic of sin in the Men's Group I have breakfast with every Thursday morning. I found our discussion helpful, and so I wanted to write about this same topic this morning. First, what is sin? It's a big word, and the traditional description of sin is "missing the mark". But I prefer the Pastor Keller (Reason for God) definition of sin as not simply doing bad things, it is putting good things in place of God. Think about it, God gives us good things in this world, things like food, sex, work, and others, etc. But sin is when we take these good things and put them in place of God. Sin is seeking to become one-self, and to get an identity apart from Him.

OK, I hope everybody gets two points on sin that are foundational for the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ: We are all sinners, and that Jesus came as the world's Savior to pay the price for our sins: death on the Cross. But does this mean that our sins deserve to be punished with the Death Penalty? Sure, Osama Bin Laden deserves the death penalty. Yes, Hitler and Stalin, but why should my sins deserve the just punishment of death? Yeah, maybe my sins deserve 2 or 3 years in prison, but DEATH? C'mon, the death penalty should only be given to those who have murdered, or done realllly bad things. But not me, right?

So I wrestled with this issue a few years ago, and I decided to start by looking at the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20). Yes, I have honored my father and mother, I don't steal much, I've never murdered, and those commands on coveting other people's property are kind of slippery, so I felt ok looking at my sinfulness looking at most of the 10 Commandments. But then I started looking at the portion of the Commandments that dealt with God – No, I don't always Honor the Sabbath, and no, sometimes I take the Lord's name in vain. And the First Commandment of Honoring the Lord our God, and having no other gods beside Him, was the one that stuck with me. What was I putting in place of God? Yes, I am prideful, and being logical is very important to me. And being able to spend my time doing what I want is very important to me. But was I putting these in place of God? I think this is what Pastor Keller was getting at with his definition of sin as taking "good things and putting them in place of God".

But do I really deserve to be put to death for not honoring God? So I did some Bible work to look up the punishments that ought to be given to someone who violates the 10 Commandments. And I discovered that for any violation of a single Commandment, the Death Penalty should be given. Here is my breakdown:

1st and 2nd Commandments (Honor God and No Idols): Deut. 13:6-10; Lev. 20:1-5

        Those who draw others away from God – Deut. 13:6-9

        Those who lead others to idolatry – Deut 13:1-5, 18:20.

Witchcraft, consulting spirits, necromancy, divination, sorcery, augery, soothsaying Lev. 19:26, 20:6; Deut 18:10-16;

3rd: Taking Lord's Name in Vain: Lev. 24:10-14;

4th: Break Sabbath: Exod. 31:14-15, 35:2; Numbers 15:32-36;

5th: Honor your Parents: strike your parents, punish with deathExod. 21:15; curse parents, death penalty Ex. 21:17, Lev 20:9; Those who are disobedient to their parents: Deut. 21:18-21, Rom. 1:30-32;

6th: Murder: Intentional – Ex. 21:12-14; Numb. 35:9-28; Deut. 19:4-13; cause miscarriage Ex. 21:22-25;

7th : Adultery punished with deathLev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22-24; rape Deut 22:25; incest – Lev. 20:11, 12, 14, 17, 19-21; Deut. 27: 20-23; Lev. 20:11, 14; Homosexuality – Exod. 22:19, Lev. 18:22-3, 20:13, :15-16; Prostitution Gen. 38:24, Deut 22:21-26, Lev. 19:29, 21:9; Bestiality Ex. 22:19, Lev. 18:23, Deut. 27:21.

8th: Thou shall not steal – restitution plus interest Ex. 22:1-4, Lev. 6:4-5; if can't pay back what was stolen, thief is sold into slavery – Ex. 22:1; kidnapper of a person – death, Ex. 21:16, Deut. 24:7; Death for all thieves, Zech. 5:4; Thieves will not inherit the kingdom of God – 1 Cor. 6:9-10;

9th: Thou shall not bear false witness: whatever was intended to be done to victim of false witness, should be done to liar – Deut. 19:15-21; Death – Zech. 5:4; Rev. 21:8, death for lying to Church, Holy Spirit (Ananias and Sapphira): Acts 5;

10th: Thou shall not covet – Deserves death - Rom. 1:28-32.

And so, by checking into the punishments for sinning against the 10 Commandments, I discovered I did not deserve 2 or 3 years of jail time for my sins, no, instead I deserved death. You cannot flagrantly disobey and dishonor the God, Maker of the Universe without there being a consequence. This is what makes God a holy God, who deserves to be feared. And so, this list helped me better understand what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote that the wages of sin was death (Romans 6:23). And of course, this helped me understand the debt that was owed when Jesus took the punishment that was owed for my sins, when He died on the Cross. He died to save me from the punishment that my sins deserved. My sins are paid for, I don't need to feel guilty about what I have done. And the extra bonus is this – Jesus' death and resurrection also provides us with the freedom so that we don't have to keep on sinning. Praise God for His plan and the giving of Jesus as a sacrifice in my place!

I hope this post was helpful for you in better understanding what sin means and deserves. But enough of this theological stuff. Go Vikings against those stinking Packers playing on Sunday night. And my favorite Halloween candy? Reese's Peanut Butter cups – what's yours? /s/Tom

Sunday, October 3, 2010

A New “Earth” Found?, and other topics

Good morning. I wanted to address last week's news story about a "new" Earth, as well as another topic. First, the New Earth – this is a planet scientists discovered that has similar conditions to that of Earth, and may be able to support life. Here's the story from Sept. 30 CNN:

  1. A New Earth Found?    Gliese 581g may be the new Earth. A team of astronomers from the University of California and the Carnegie Institute of Washington say they've found a planet like ours, 20 light years (120 trillion miles) from Earth, where the basic conditions for life are good. "The chances for life on this planet are 100 percent," Steven Vogt, a UC professor of astronomy and astrophysics says. "I have almost no doubt about it." The planet is three times the size of Earth, but the gravity is similar. Dr. Elizabeth Cunningham, planetarium astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, says the discovery is a huge deal. "It could have liquid water on the surface," she said. "That's the first step to find life." …

    But if we did - we'd find some other things familiar. The atmosphere and gravity are similar to Earth, and if you're from the polar regions, you'd definitely feel right at home. Scientists say the highest average temperature is about -12 degrees Celcius (10 Fahrenheit), but they point out that the planet doesn't have a night and day - one side continually faces the star and the other side faces the darkness of space. This means one side is blazing hot and the other freezing cold. But Cunningham also called it a Goldilocks planet – it's not too cold, and it's not too hot, it's just right for water to form.

    Tom's view – in the past I have shown skepticism on the chance of life being found on another planet. I based this on the exceptional number of unique characteristics that Earth has in which to support life. Not just water, but other things like the right force of gravity, a right sized moon, the right speed of rotation, the right atmosphere, etc. But now that this other planet was found, with a temperature of 10 degrees, that does not rotate, and because Gliese 581g has two of these conditions: the possibility of water on the planet along with a similar gravity, Professor Vogt states that there is a 100% chance that life will form. A body of water is all that it takes for life to form on a planet? Hmmm, I may be wrong, but it seems that life is little more difficult to create than having just a body of water. It's interesting to me that they are able to discover the possibility of water on a planet 20 light years away, and that they make a good guess as to its gravity. Science is amazing, but the quote that there is a 100% chance that life will form on Gliese 581g, is clearly overstated.

  2. Clues to God's Existence. I have been asked before what evidence is there to support God's existence. I believe that Intelligent Design is the best position to explain life on Earth. I may be wrong, but when it comes to either a naturalist explanation (like Darwinism) or a supernatural one, it seems to me that the supernatural explanation makes more sense. And the evidence of how Darwinism actually works, continues to support my understanding. As one writer submits, don't we have "astronomical numbers of organisms" in the real-world data collected in the cases of malaria, HIV and e-coli? In these cases, Random Mutation + Natural Selection produced only trivial changes and no other evolutionary processes came into play at all, despite strong selection pressures. In the case of e-coli, the data were produced in the lab over the space of about a decade. Isn't it likely that we'll have more and more sets of data of this kind as medical science proceeds? Why keep telling stories about how a Lexus evolved from a Ford and a Volvo when you can go inside the Lexus factory and actually observe workers assembling parts produced entirely in Japan?

    Well, I am reading a book by Pastor Timothy Keller entitled "The Reason for God", and it has a good way of describing "clues" of God. These are not proofs of God's existence. But instead they are strong clues that point to His existence. Divine fingerprints if you will. Here are a few:

  • Big Bang. Scientist Francis Collins writes, "15 billion years ago, the universe began with an unimaginably bright flash of energy from an infinitesimally small point. That implies that before that, there was nothing. I can't imagine how nature, ion this case the universe, could have created itself. And the very fact that the universe had a beginning implies that someone was able to begin it. And it seems to me that had to be outside of nature." Everything we see is 'contingent', meaning that there is a cause outside of itself. Why should the universe be any different? This makes a lot of sense to me, but it certainly is not a proof;


     

  • The Cosmic Welcome Mat. Keller: Everything about physics from the speed of light, the gravitational constant, the strength of weak and strong nuclear forces – must all have values that together fall into an extremely narrow range. This is called the "fine-tuning" of the universe, that makes it appear that the universe was prepared human beings. It seems as though there were a large number of dials that all had to be tuned to a narrow setting, and they all were turned to that setting. Again, this is not a proof. I'm sure there is a theoretical chance that there are billion upon billions of unobservable other universes out there. Yeah, sure. But the one universe that we can see, tells us that someone has made sure that life be created on Earth. The clues point to a Creator.


 

  • Love. Yes, it is possible that chemical reactions in our brain create an attraction to another person. But that doesn't tell half of the story. Chemical reaction doesn't explain my wife's love of someone like me who can be grumpy, selfish, and not give her the attention of love back to her that she deserves. Yet, she still loves me. Chemical reactions seem as a laughable explanation for love. We have free choice to love others in our life by our actions, or to make selfish, unloving choices to those around us. We don't get to blame our genetics for our choices.


 

And of course, God's example of sending His Son as a sacrifice to pay for all of the World's sins is the best example of love. The Gift of Jesus' sacrifice was made to allow people to be in relationship with God. No one is forced to believe or accept this gift. But if it is accepted this is the beginning of a grand adventure. A relationship with the Creator of the universe, who gives us jobs to do – to help others, and provide glory to God. And the relationship gives us what we need, peace, growing is purity, growing in our faith and knowledge of the Creator. It's a great plan, and it's open to everyone.

Thanks for those who email me with comments. May God bless you this week with His joy and peace. /s/Tom