OT and the Trinity

Some comments about last Sunday's lesson...

First, thanks for bearing with me in trying to cover some deeper issues fairly quickly. I wasn't really fair to the texts in the OT we were looking at to make the kinds of points I was trying to make in the short amount ot time we had. Maybe we'll take it slower this week. But hopefully it was a helpful exercise for you guys to look at the OT and discuss how it applies to the Triune (three-in-one) God revealed in the NT.

A couple of issues were brought up that I wanted to address. Thanks to Roy for bringing them up and keeping me on my toes as a teacher. I wasn't really prepared to discuss their implications given preparation time (or lack of it) and actual time in class. But I don't want to leave things hanging either so I've had a chance to think and read some about them.

1 - Does Isaiah 48 really talk about Cyrus, the Persian emperor who took over the Babylonian empire? I was not aware of this context Sunday morning but chapter 48 does refer to Cyrus, as God's agent to punish Babylon and let the Jews return to Judah and Jerusalem. Cyrus is actually mentioned by name earlier in Isaiah (chapter 44 and/or 46 I think). In chapter 48 God is encouraging the Jews through the prophet that he will use Cyrus to free them out of exile. However, for verse 16, which we focused on for our Trinitarian discussion, it is not clear who is speaking...and this is the significant issue here. Who says, "The LORD God has sent me and His Spirit"? There are three main opnions: 1) Cyrus (minority opnion), 2) the prophet Isaiah himself, or 3) the Suffering Servant which is the subject of chapter 49. The grammar and syntax is somewhat ambiguous, but most choose option 2 or 3. The Suffering Servant is a recurring figure in Isaiah and some chapters on Him are explicitly linked to Christ in the NT. This is the interpretation I was assuming (based on Wayne Grudem). You can see how significant this verse is for the Trinity if Christ the Suffering Servant is claiming to be sent by God along with the Holy Spirit. But we must stop short of being dogmatic on this point given the ambiguity in the text.

2 - Were the Hebrews of Moses' day true monotheists or polytheists? As for the Hebrews themselves, we have Biblical evidence that they believed in and worshipped other gods besides Yawheh, so I think this is a given many were polytheistic. The real question is, was the author(s) of the Pentateuch a true monotheist or a henotheist (one who believes in multiple Gods but only worships one). I think you can make the case for either. On the one hand, there are passages that seem to assume the existence of other gods who are not to be worshipped. However, there are other passages that talk about the other gods as if they were just dumb and powerless pieces of wood, stone or metal. This seems to undermine the idea that the author in any sense considered them 'real'. Additionally, the creation story seems to point back to a single Creator that would necessarily be a supreme God. I lean to the author of the Pentateuch being monotheistic for the following reasons, but again I'm not dogmatic:

1. I believe what he wrote was inspired by God, and so he had God's perspective on the truths of the existence of other gods.

2. Even though there are passages which seem to assume the existence of other gods, I don't think this means he believes they are indeed real. Today we also talk about other gods such as Allah, Molech, or even objects such as money and fame without actually believing they are actual gods. I might say, "don't make money a god" to someone but I don't actually believe in a transcendent being that is personified by money.

Anyway, I look forward to this Sunday discussing the Trinity in the NT.

-casey

The Prodigal God, Week 1

Hey, Ladies and Gents!

This week we started our first week in the six week study of Luke 15 and the parable of the prodigal son based on Tim Keller's book and study. I encourage you to check out the book and read it as were going through it.

You can also check out the web site with a preview video and links to Keller's sermons, etc at: http://www.theprodigalgod.com/

Please join us for Wednesday night discussion down in the Homebuilders Sunday School room from 6:00 - 7:30 PM...child care is provided. We will meet to discuss personally and in more depth what the lessons cover on Sunday mornings. Here are some questions we'll probably ask this week that you can ponder in the mean time:

1. Was there anything from the DVD that was new to you or had an effect on you? Did you hear naything that raised questions in your mind?

2. Who do you indentify wih more, the younger brother or the older brother? Why?

3. How close is a great feast to your idea of heaven?

4. Is there anything you would like the group to pray for you personally or as a result of what you saw on the DVD?

See you Wednesday!

casey

The Book of Job and the Problem of Evil

This last Sunday we turned our focus on the first two chapters of Job and discussed what God had to say about evil and suffering through this story. If you missed Sunday and haven't read in Job for some time, I encourage you to sit down, crack open the book and at least read the first two chapters. Most of the rest of the book is more difficult to read (but still rewarding), but the first two chapters are easy and shouldn't take more than 5 or 10 minutes.

OK, done? :)

I asked the class to discuss six questions I felt there might have been answers to in the text. I'll list the questions, references, and summarize the discussion below:

1. Why did God single out Job to Satan? (1:8, 2:3)

This is a difficult question to answer, and we should always tread lightly when guessing God's motive without it being explicitly revealed. Some answers were, "to teach Job a lesson" and "to teach Satan a lesson". I like these. I also put forth "to bring attention to His glory". God is glorified in the faith and worship of His creatures. Pointing out Job's righteousness is a way to bring glory to Himself. Consider how this might motivate God in what He does in this story and your story.

2. What is Satan's motivation in this story? (1:9-11, 2:4-5)

I believe that it is ultimately to defame God...detract from His glory. Satan wants to show God that He shouldn't receive glory from Job because Job is only faithful for what God gives him, not because of who God is. Consider this when thinking about how and why the enemy might attack you.

3. Is Satan free to do whatever he wants to? (1:11-12, 2:5-6)

Obviously not. He appears free to think, desire and plan, but ultimately God is sovereign and Satan can do nothing apart from God's permission or restraint. How does lead you think about the bad things that happen in your life? As we discussed before, evil can be explained in part by God allowing his creatures the freedom to choose against Him...but there is apparently a limit to the evil that God will allow. Cross reference these verses with 2 Thessalonians 2:3-7 in regards to God restraining evil, and with Luke 22:31-32.

4. By what methods does Satan attack Job? (1:15-19, 2:7)

Satan apparently had/has the ability to provoke men to evil and violence (the Sabeans), cause natural disasters, and infect with disease. Obviously not every evil act of man, natural disaster or sickness has Satan behind it. But how does this open your eyes to what happens around you?

5. Characterize Job's response to His suffering. (1:20-22, 2:10)

Its important to study Job's reaction to his pain because the Bible says that in it he did not sin.

Job grieved. The tearing of the robe, shaving the head and mourning were typical cultural expressions of grief. Its OK to be sad when life is painful.

Job worhipped. Our pain and suffering does not change who God is. He is still holy and requires our worship.

Job self medicated. I think. The bit in 2:10 about scraping himself with potsherds seems to me some way to deal with the pain or discomfort of his boils. If you're sick, go to the doctor. If you are deeply wounded, seek Godly counsel. If you you are exhausted, take some time to rest.

Job acknowledged God's sovereignty. This goes hand in hand with worship. Job knows God is sovereign and just, even if he does not understand it. Without all of his questions being answered, at least for now he is content to receive from God whatever God plans.

6. Who does Job blame for his problems? (2:10)

Could Job have raged against the Sabeans for stealing his livestock and demanded justice? Could he have cursed nature for killing his children? Could he have blamed the devil (though he didn't know about the conversation between God and Satan)? Since he believes God is sovereign, why is he not angry with God?

Job believes God is ultimately responsible...He could stop it if He wanted to. But he does not assign blame to anyone. Can we understand responsibility without blame?

And this tension is what makes the rest of Job, I think. Job sees the apparent injustice of what has happened to him. He is horrified and tortured about it, because he knows His God could have stopped it, but didn't. He can't blame God, but he knows He is responsible.

If that is bothering you, I reocmmend you read the rest of the book, or at least the last four or five chapters when God breaks the silence to answer Job.

One more point that is embedded in some of the questions above is that the evil done to Job was planned, desired and perpetrated by Satan. Yet God explicitly allowed it to happen for His purpose. We don't always know why things happen. Take comfort that God is in control and working all things to the good of those who love Him, but don't accuse God of evil. Evil come from His creatures, not from God.

Problem of Evil and Suffering Pt. 2

This Sunday we continued our discussion on the problem of evil and suffering. For part one see the previous blog post below. This week we started out continuing our discussion on evil which can be summarized as thus:

- Can God be really good and all powerful and never end or finally do away with evil? Last week we discussed why a good and all powerful God allowed evil to happen in the first place (see the previous post). But can this God allow evil to exist forever? I say, "no". God would not be just if evil is never judged. In Revelation 20:10 - 21:4 tells us that one day God will judge and banish all evil and suffering...and that He will make His dwelling with man forever. So we know that God is just and will one day set everything right...Praise God!

- Why is God waiting to end evil...why doesn't He end it right now or why didn't He end it as soon as Adam sinned? God could have ended evil right after Adam sinned, but the result would have been in Adam's eternal condemnation and a people less heaven. God loved Adam (and his descendants) too much to let things end that way. Without Christ's sacrifice no one can survive the coming judgment. Why didn't God end the world after Christ's sacrifice? All I can say is that He is patient and long suffering...God will end things on his own time, but until then perhaps He wants as many people with him eternally as possible.

- Are evil and suffering the same thing? What is suffering if not? Suffering and evil are tightly related but different things. Suffering can be seen as a consequence of evil. If we look in Genesis 3 we see the first suffering enter the world because of Adam's sin. It was a direct consequence, seemingly brought on by God's curse, but why?

- What is the purpose of suffering? God uses the consequence of evil, suffering, to redeem us. Imagine if life on this earth was easy and pain free...would we even know that we were desperately in need of God and His forgiveness? Our pain and suffering lets us know something is wrong, that we are missing God, and it drives us to him. This is why Paul can say they we should consider it joy when we suffer. But suffering can have other purposes to, I think. Sometimes suffering can be punishment or discipline. But the Christian should primarily view it as discipline to train us to depend only on God.

But God is not distant in our suffering. God was not content to let evil steal his creatures and His creation or to lose them forever to evil. God the Son became a man so that He could bear our suffering with us and for us. Ultimately he suffered on the cross and the agony of being separated from His Father.

This enabled God to end evil without ending us. His suffering produced our salvation.

This Sunday we will look into the book of Job to see what insights it gives us on human suffering. Please prayerfully read at least chapters 1 and 2 in preparation and also 38 through 42.

Thanks...

casey

How Can A Good and All Powerful God Allow Evil and Suffering?

Hello, family!

Today we kicked off a topic we will be discussing the next few weeks in class regarding understanding how and why God allows evil and suffering in our world. Its an objection that many skeptics and atheists bring up as reasons to doubt the Christian message. I also think the issue ruminates in the heads of many Christians from time to time, even if its not spoken.

Here is a recap of the discussion this morning:

- The question (if there is a God, how can he allow evil) itself presupposes true evil and good, or injustice and justice. The argument for an objective and universal good or morality really requires a God in the first place.

- Examples of evil and suffering include: human genocide, natural disasters, suffering of innocents, God's apparent injustice in the OT.

- Where does evil come from? Our free will to reject God and His will.

- Why does God allow evil to exist? Because he desires a true loving relationship with people, so they must have the option to not choose God. If there is no other choice but God, the "relationship" is contrived and forced.

- What is evil? Evil is the rejection of God, disobedience to his command, or deviation from His will and character. Evil cannot exist without goodness...it is defined in the negative as a lack of goodness. Evil can be defined as being "not good". Whatever is not good, is evil. It is much like light and darkness, in that darkness is not a hting in and of itself, but merely a lack of light.

- Is God at fault for creating evil since he gave humans free will and knew they would choose it? No. First, evil is not a created thing since it is just a rejection by free agents of God. Secondly, even though God knew man would sin, man bears the full responsibility of choosing evil instead of God (and Satan too).

There is a lot more to discuss and say about this subject (we only made through about 25% of my notes). I would love to have everyone come contribute the next couple of Sundays. If the tming works out, I also plan to open up the book of Job to see what insights it offers.

Until next Sunday, I leave you guys with this 18 minute video from Christian apologist Paul Coban on the same subject:

Good God & Evil World (in 18 Minutes) from Paul Copan on Vimeo.

Worshipping with Our Minds

Hey folks...long time no post, I know. I think we will try to be better about that starting this summer. yes, I've probably said that before.

Anyway, here is a link promoting John Piper's Desiring God conference this year. The emphasis is on how right thinking is very important to the Christian life. I agree with one point in the video, that American evangelicalism in the 20th century was sometimes characterized by anti-intellectualism. Its understandable in some ways because the intellectual community by and large have attacked Chrsitiantiy in the last couple of centuries. However, we cannot cede the fruits of disciplined thought and study over to the skeptics and atheists...and we as individuals cannot neglect to feed out intellects as well as our souls.

So this is a challenge...LET'S NOT BE LAZY INTELLECTUALLY! Let us worship God with our minds as well. It's much easier just to react to events and ideas with pre-supposed opnions on everything. Its much more difficult to challenge our own thinking, and to let revelation (the scriptures) challenge how we think. But we don't do this detached from faithful prayer and devotion. Thinking should be an act of worship...not something exercised apart from faith.

Dug Down Deep

Check out this promotional video for the book I referred to in our February talks on theology. It is Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris. You might recognize some of the quotes in the video.

DugDownDeep_Carnahan.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.

WOW...PASTELS!

Pre Easter Activities for Kids

From Elizabeth:
As a Baptist, we don't celebrate a church calendar and often we hit Easter with a quick-Jesus died and rose again, okay now bunnies, eggs, flowers! While Christmas has a big lead in (we can't escape it) Easter doesn't. In college I had an Episcopal roommate (and friend) so I began celebrating Lent and I LOVE it-how it prepares us for Easter. Here are some Lent activities for children I found on the web, we are going to try the Pot one and save the jelly beans for next year (I kinda edited the meanings of the pot one but might work on the jelly bean's wording).
Let me know if you do anything special (and you don't have to call it Lent).

Prayer Pot Instructions
On Ash Wednesday: Place the prayer pot (little clay pot-can be made or bought) in a special place where it can't be missed, perhaps the center of the family table. It reminds everyone that Lent is here, but remains empty for the next few days.
On the First Sunday of Lent: A small heart cut from construction paper is placed in the pot during the main meal, to remind everyone of God's love and that they should show their love for, and be kind to, others.
On the Second Sunday of Lent: A small seed is placed in the pot to remind everyone that God's love for them constantly grows and that they should show love and compassion for other people.
On the Third Sunday of Lent: Place a rubber band in the pot as a reminder that God always stretches His patience and everyone should do the same for others, even when it isn't easy.
On the Fourth Sunday of Lent: A marble is placed in the pot to remind everyone of all that God has given to us and the importance of taking turns and sharing with others in all that they do.
On the Fifth Sunday of Lent: Add a Band-Aid to the pot to remind everyone that God ‘binds up the broken-hearted’ and we should help other people when they are sad or hurt.
On Palm Sunday: Place a tiny piece of a palm, to remind everyone that Jesus is their King and they should remember to say their prayers to Him.
On Easter Sunday: The last item is a tiny piece of eggshell to remind everyone that Jesus rose from the grave and will always be with them and is always ready to hear their prayers.

Last year our kids were 3,4 and 6 and we felt 40 days to give up one thing was a bit long for them. We came up with this idea instead to go along with the jellybean prayer and it was a hit at our house. The kids are excited to do it again this year.

On Ash Wednesday we set out a glass jar for each child with a small copy of the jellybean prayer taped to it. We determined a behavior to go with each jellybean color (corresponding with the prayer). Each day the kids could earn a jellybean of any color they followed through on. They could not eat the jellybeans until Easter. The kids could not earn white jellybeans, these represented the Grace of Christ, which is a gift not earned ourselves. On Easter morning, the kids woke to find their jars filled up where they were still empty (lacking) with white jellybeans (Christ's grace)

This is how we interpreted each color. You can make your own ideas based on ages and needs of your children.

• Red is for the blood Christ gave (each morning we chose something to sacrifice that day to earn the red jellybean. It had to be something they would have had the opportunity to have or do on that day)

• Green is for the palm's cool shade (green jellybeans were earned for good deeds. It was a good dead to provide shade for Jesus with the palm)

• Yellow is for God's light so bright (yellow jellybeans were earned for sharing God's light through kindness to others)

• Orange is for prayers at twilight (orange jellybeans were earned for attentive behavior during bedtime prayer time and night time bible story)

• Black is for sweet rest at night (these were earned for going to bed good. we used blue though, as our kids are not fans of black jellybeans)

• White is for the Grace of Christ (these we could not earn as mentioned above)

• Purple is for His days of sorrow (we earned these through apologizing to anyone we hurt with our words or deeds that day)

• Pink is for each new tomorrow (pink jellybeans were earned when we forgave those who apologized to us for hurtful behavior)

During the course of 40 days the kids did not tire of this activity and have talked about how fun it was throughout the year.
Of course, the Easter bunny might not want to bring any more jellybeans for the baskets!!