Ephesians 4:25-32 states,
25Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27and give no opportunity to the devil. 28Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Inside of FHCC there are many new Christians. Sure, we have people who have been attending Catholic or Christian churches all their lives, but the majority of these who now attend FHCC confess that they never were biblical Christians before now. This is phenomenal news, and a testimony to the true purpose of our church, which is to proclaim Jesus and His work, and to lives that give glory His work (aka - Holy (Sin-free) living. The problem, however, is that sinning is still easy to do long after you become a biblical Christian. So what are we to do?
Option #1 - Embrace Pop-Culture Christianity
To remedy the struggle we face against temptation, and to ease the utter guilt and hypocrisy we feel when give in to sin, we could do what most "evangelical" churches do today and EMBRACE sin as an acceptable part of a Christian life. Sure, they still profess sin as the vehicle that keeps us from God, and the cause of our separation from God, but they belittle sin to nothing more than an inconvenience after salvation. Proof of this is in their sermon topics, altar calls, and qualifications for ministry. Rarely will today's pastors preach against sin, call for biblical repentance (a complete forsaking of sin by BIBLICAL standards) on the part of their people, or ask ministers in their church to abstain from sinful practices.
Simply put: A modern Christian's view on his sin after conversion is: a tragic mistake, but understood by God, because God knows that we are just human, after all, and live in a fallen world.
While Option #1 is sure to fill seats long after the trends fail in the church, the truth is that it lacks biblical support, mocks the work of Jesus' death on the cross, forsakes the role of the Holy Spirit, and ultimately kills the physical and spiritual life of the believer. Jesus said that He came to bring LIFE, so clearly this is not a solution for our church.
Option #2 - Love Jesus and Rely on the Holy Spirit
Christians need to embrace the fact that life is HARD, and in many ways gets HARDER after conversion. Now, instead of giving in to peer pressure and sleeping with people who are not our spouses, we actually have to say NO to them and our hormones. After conversion, we are compelled to say NO to drinks after work, office gossip, pornography, cheating on our taxes, and every other form of tolerated sin in our society. We need to embrace the truth that following Jesus means "picking up our cross" and "dying to the world" every single day. This is hard, but we must do it if we love Jesus.
Jesus loves the Father, and He, therefore, loves what He loves and hates what He hates. Scripture tells us that the Father loves people and hates sin. So, it was for this reason (love for the Father) that Jesus came humbly into the world to destroy sin inside the life of a believer (Romans 6:1-14). It was our sin that nailed Him to the cross, it was our sin that made Him suffer, and it was for a "sin free" life for His believers that He went ahead with the act. Jesus did not die so that we may go on sinning (Romans 6:1)! He died to that we may be made righteous (holy, clean, blameless) in His sight and be brought near to God! It was also that work of Jesus that we might receive the Holy Spirit inside of us and remain clean and free from sin!
Every Christian possesses the Holy Spirit. He enters inside at the time of conversion, and serves as an "inner light," "inner Torah/law," for the believer's life. He too loves the Father, and seeks to direct the Christian AWAY from sin, and into righteousness. It is His voice the believer hears when faced with temptation calling him/her away from the situation. It is His wisdom that illuminate the mind of the believer in seeing the complexity of sin. And when a Christian ignores that voice, denies that wisdom and sins, it GRIEVES the Holy Spirit, denies the work of Jesus on the cross, and alienates us from God. Sin sucks!
Simply put: Life is hard. Life as a believer is really hard, but it is the only life worth living. The difficult task of following Jesus honors God, promises eternal life, and provides hope and power to the dismal circumstances of this world. I would much rather struggle against sin, then accept it into my life with all of its lies, turmoil, and death. I would much rather honor the Holy Spirit and the work Jesus did to make Him available to me, then mock and grieve the Trinity and become religious with sin.
To all Christians: please stop grieving the Holy Spirit with your sin. Repent one more time, and honor the Holy Spirit by following His leading. Read your Bible every day. Go to church and join a Bible Study. MAKE CHRISTIAN FRIENDS THAT YOU CAN BE ACCOUNTABLE WITH. Fight the good fight! (I Timothy 6:12)
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Practical Atheism
Once, while I was an undergraduate (Spring 2002?), I made the three hour trek to Austin from the very tiny town of Waxahachie (in Texas). I went with a group of fellow students and a professor down to an Anglican seminary to hear a talk by Stanley Hauerwas on euthanasia and physician assisted suicide. During his talk, he said something that struck me to my core, and it has been with me ever since. He said something like, “We’re all practical atheists anyway.” Of course, what made the comment so striking was that he is a Christian and was speaking to a large group of Christians.
So what’s a practical atheist? Well, let’s define “theism” first. “Theism” is a philosophical or theological belief that some kind of divine being exists. Christians are theists, but not all theists are Christians (Jews can be theists, Muslims are theists, and there are certain forms of philosophical theism that wouldn’t count as any kind of formal religious belief). Now onto “atheism.” “Atheism” is a philosophical or theological position that denies the existence of any divine being. It doesn’t matter if the divine being is like God in the Christian tradition or just one of many different gods like in certain forms of Hinduism. For convenience, I will write as if the atheist position merely denied the existence of the Christian God. An atheist, then, is a person that holds this position. I think we can now make a broad distinction between the theoretical atheist and the practical atheist. The theoretical atheist is one who actually believes, or would affirm if asked, the atheist position. Let’s say that the theoretical atheist is someone who has thought through the issues and decided there’s no God. On the other hand, it doesn’t matter what the practical atheist believes. The practical atheist is one who lives as if there is no God. The practical atheist may affirm the existence of God, but that affirmation may play an insignificant role in her larger worldview. Therefore, we can assume that most theoretical atheists are probably practical atheists (thus, living out what they believe), but a practical atheist may be either a theoretical atheist or a theist (since practical atheism is merely a claim about one’s actions).
Okay, we have the definitions down. Let’s go back to Hauerwas. He was talking to Christians as a Christian and claimed we were all a bunch of practical atheists. Now, we know what he meant. He was indicting all of us, including him. He was saying that, despite our alleged belief in God as revealed in Christ through Scripture, we live as if the whole thing is just a nice bedtime story. We don’t take the crucifixion seriously. We don’t take the resurrection seriously. We don’t take the Great Commission seriously. We surely don’t take his return seriously. Instead, we strive for a life of comfort, and we reject the call to be radically dependent on God. And in so doing, we unwittingly participate in the rebellion of a sinful world doing its darndest to dethrone the One True King.
Are you a practical atheist?
If yes, then you’re either a theoretical atheist or a theist (Christian). If you’re a theoretical atheist, then we need to have a different conversation. However, if you’re a Christian, then what follows is explicitly for you. Above, when I wrote that being a practical atheist doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re also a theoretical atheist, I wasn’t being quite accurate. In fact, there good reason to think that it does entail your being a theoretical atheist. You’ve got lots of beliefs you don’t know you’ve actually got. For example, I’m sure you believe that there are more than five fish in the ocean. I’m also quite sure that you’ve never consciously held that belief before just now. You’ve got more beliefs you don’t know you’ve got than you could ever actually count. You’ve also got some false beliefs in your head too. Don’t believe me? Have you ever been wrong about something? You were wrong because you had a false belief. The tricky thing about false beliefs is that we always think they’re true, otherwise we wouldn’t believe them. Of course, once you realize that you were wrong about something, you no longer hold that false belief. So you’ve got lots of beliefs (more than you know you’ve got), and you’ve got false beliefs (but you can’t recognize them because you think they’re all true). The upshot is that it is really hard to tell what we actually believe about anything, and it’s even harder to tell if our beliefs are true (I mean really true, like “the sky is blue” is true). The best way to find out what you really believe is to look at how you behave. It’s reasonable to suppose that any action is the result of a desire and a belief. For example, if you desire some milk, and you believe that there’s milk in the refrigerator, you’ll likely act on that belief in order to fulfill your desire. In other words, you’ll get up and go the refrigerator.
So what’s all this got to do with being a practical atheist? It’s really quite simple. The practical atheist acts as if there is no God. All of those atheistic actions are the result of some desire and some belief (or combination of beliefs). It’s plausible to suppose that one of those beliefs is the belief that God doesn’t really exist (or maybe that God doesn’t care, but then the belief isn’t really about the Christian God anymore). You may respond, “But I do believe in God.” Okay, you say you do, but you’re actions indicate that you really don’t. How do you know what you believe anyway? Your atheistic belief may be one you don’t know you’ve got. But when it comes to acting, that belief sure makes its influence felt. And if you really do, somewhere deep down in your subconscious, believe that God doesn’t exist, then you’re a theoretical atheist—you’re certainly not a Christian. Practical atheism just is theoretical atheism, although the theoretical part may be unconscious.
What’s the remedy? Be practical Christians. Live like the Bible is true (which it is). Take your Christianity seriously! Learn what it teaches, why it’s true, and let it influence your actions—even if you don’t like it. There’s no guarantee you will like it. I’m sure Jesus didn’t enjoy the cross, but he did it. Why are we any better? Otherwise, quit playing games, give up your “Christianity,” and just go be a full-blown, conscious atheist. (For the record, I’d much prefer you to take your Christianity seriously than for you to become that full-blown conscious atheist.)
Jeremy Green
So what’s a practical atheist? Well, let’s define “theism” first. “Theism” is a philosophical or theological belief that some kind of divine being exists. Christians are theists, but not all theists are Christians (Jews can be theists, Muslims are theists, and there are certain forms of philosophical theism that wouldn’t count as any kind of formal religious belief). Now onto “atheism.” “Atheism” is a philosophical or theological position that denies the existence of any divine being. It doesn’t matter if the divine being is like God in the Christian tradition or just one of many different gods like in certain forms of Hinduism. For convenience, I will write as if the atheist position merely denied the existence of the Christian God. An atheist, then, is a person that holds this position. I think we can now make a broad distinction between the theoretical atheist and the practical atheist. The theoretical atheist is one who actually believes, or would affirm if asked, the atheist position. Let’s say that the theoretical atheist is someone who has thought through the issues and decided there’s no God. On the other hand, it doesn’t matter what the practical atheist believes. The practical atheist is one who lives as if there is no God. The practical atheist may affirm the existence of God, but that affirmation may play an insignificant role in her larger worldview. Therefore, we can assume that most theoretical atheists are probably practical atheists (thus, living out what they believe), but a practical atheist may be either a theoretical atheist or a theist (since practical atheism is merely a claim about one’s actions).
Okay, we have the definitions down. Let’s go back to Hauerwas. He was talking to Christians as a Christian and claimed we were all a bunch of practical atheists. Now, we know what he meant. He was indicting all of us, including him. He was saying that, despite our alleged belief in God as revealed in Christ through Scripture, we live as if the whole thing is just a nice bedtime story. We don’t take the crucifixion seriously. We don’t take the resurrection seriously. We don’t take the Great Commission seriously. We surely don’t take his return seriously. Instead, we strive for a life of comfort, and we reject the call to be radically dependent on God. And in so doing, we unwittingly participate in the rebellion of a sinful world doing its darndest to dethrone the One True King.
Are you a practical atheist?
If yes, then you’re either a theoretical atheist or a theist (Christian). If you’re a theoretical atheist, then we need to have a different conversation. However, if you’re a Christian, then what follows is explicitly for you. Above, when I wrote that being a practical atheist doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re also a theoretical atheist, I wasn’t being quite accurate. In fact, there good reason to think that it does entail your being a theoretical atheist. You’ve got lots of beliefs you don’t know you’ve actually got. For example, I’m sure you believe that there are more than five fish in the ocean. I’m also quite sure that you’ve never consciously held that belief before just now. You’ve got more beliefs you don’t know you’ve got than you could ever actually count. You’ve also got some false beliefs in your head too. Don’t believe me? Have you ever been wrong about something? You were wrong because you had a false belief. The tricky thing about false beliefs is that we always think they’re true, otherwise we wouldn’t believe them. Of course, once you realize that you were wrong about something, you no longer hold that false belief. So you’ve got lots of beliefs (more than you know you’ve got), and you’ve got false beliefs (but you can’t recognize them because you think they’re all true). The upshot is that it is really hard to tell what we actually believe about anything, and it’s even harder to tell if our beliefs are true (I mean really true, like “the sky is blue” is true). The best way to find out what you really believe is to look at how you behave. It’s reasonable to suppose that any action is the result of a desire and a belief. For example, if you desire some milk, and you believe that there’s milk in the refrigerator, you’ll likely act on that belief in order to fulfill your desire. In other words, you’ll get up and go the refrigerator.
So what’s all this got to do with being a practical atheist? It’s really quite simple. The practical atheist acts as if there is no God. All of those atheistic actions are the result of some desire and some belief (or combination of beliefs). It’s plausible to suppose that one of those beliefs is the belief that God doesn’t really exist (or maybe that God doesn’t care, but then the belief isn’t really about the Christian God anymore). You may respond, “But I do believe in God.” Okay, you say you do, but you’re actions indicate that you really don’t. How do you know what you believe anyway? Your atheistic belief may be one you don’t know you’ve got. But when it comes to acting, that belief sure makes its influence felt. And if you really do, somewhere deep down in your subconscious, believe that God doesn’t exist, then you’re a theoretical atheist—you’re certainly not a Christian. Practical atheism just is theoretical atheism, although the theoretical part may be unconscious.
What’s the remedy? Be practical Christians. Live like the Bible is true (which it is). Take your Christianity seriously! Learn what it teaches, why it’s true, and let it influence your actions—even if you don’t like it. There’s no guarantee you will like it. I’m sure Jesus didn’t enjoy the cross, but he did it. Why are we any better? Otherwise, quit playing games, give up your “Christianity,” and just go be a full-blown, conscious atheist. (For the record, I’d much prefer you to take your Christianity seriously than for you to become that full-blown conscious atheist.)
Jeremy Green
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
South Campus - COMPLETED!
On Sunday, November 30th, the FHCC South Campus was finally completed! Media installed, fridge and coffee-maker plugged in, and multiple security cameras wired to protect the Lord's investment. Now, to continue on in the ministry and love of Jesus for Forest Hills.
THANK YOU, FHCC, for making this venture possible, and leaving us debt-free!!
Media Space:
Learning Space:
Rec. Space:
Office Space:
THANK YOU, FHCC, for making this venture possible, and leaving us debt-free!!
Media Space:
Learning Space:
Rec. Space:
Office Space:
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