Devotional and Bible

23 June 2023

Biblical Anthropology: Everything Together (5)

Continuing our review of Biblical Anthropology, the next topic we looked at was Creativity and Communication. We talked about evaluating art, enjoying art, and using our creativity in an extravagant way to glorify God.

We also talked about how the world wants to control art, technology and communication. It’s much easier to control a digital world than the real world. It’s easier to control people when their business and their relationships are online. In this scenario, it’s easier to make the lie look real.

There have been many more interesting developments since that study, so perhaps it’s easier to see now than it was then. There has been a continued focus on getting businesses online, with ways to monitor not only their clients but also their employees. These technologies may have some good uses, but there is a lot of interest in using them to gain more control over others.

But in the end, we thank God for the gift of art and technology and words, communication. We want to use these things for the good of our community and for the glory of God.

Next we talked about the environment – another challenging topic! We drew these four principles from the Bible:

We care for creation for the glory of God.
We care for creation to benefit people (quality and length of life).
We care for creation through local responsibility.
We care for creation through our general obedience to God.

We can say that we care for creation from the point of view of God’s truth and justice. Because frankly, more and more often, powerful voices are not using truth, and are using non-biblical views of justice. And we have to admit that, in the end, there are a whole lot of people making a lot of money through their narrative of environmentalism. Which is often a narrative of fear.

I’ve been thinking about the idea of fear lately – controlling people through a crisis, or a “crisis”. Earlier I talked about the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”. In one scene, there is a financial crisis, and the financial institutions are in trouble. A rich man in town named Mr. Potter, “Old Man Potter”, offers to help everyone, giving them part of the money that the banks cannot currently provide. By doing this, he basically takes control of these institutions.

The main character, George Bailey, manages a small loan company, and is trying to convince a group of scared and anxious customers that they shouldn’t simply go to Potter for help. I love what he says:

Can’t you understand what’s happening here? Don’t you see what’s happening? Potter isn’t selling. Potter’s buying! And why? Because we’re panicky and he’s not. That’s why. He’s picking up some bargains. Now we can get through this thing all right. We’ve got to stick together!
It’s a Wonderful Life

Pretty good advice!

Stay tuned for the conclusion next time…

17 June 2023

Biblical Anthropology: Everything Together (4)

Jim Devotional and Bible 0

For me, the next two studies that we did in our Biblical Anthropology series were the most challenging – Justice and Partiality. I have no idea how many articles and books I read while I was studying for this topic, which of course also touches on the issue of racism.

I think that one of the reasons why these topics were so challenging was that we do always see truth mixed with lies in our world. Sometimes we think that when someone is talking about love, or justice, or equality, that they’re talking about the same things that we’re talking about. But so often the world changes definitions, or else smuggles in something else with the truth.

As Christians, we know that God is just, and that justice comes from God and His Bible. For example, we protect the innocent before the law, even though this means that some people will temporarily escape justice. Temporarily, because we know that someday God will bring perfect justice to all. There is a final judgement.

We briefly introduced a few terms that have become important in our world, such as Marxism, or neo-Marxism, from the antichristian philosophies of Karl Marx.

“Marxism” doesn’t explain all the philosophy of the modern world, but we only had time to quickly look at some key points.

For example, in Marxism, you’re not judged by your character in the end, but more by the group which you belong to – as oppressed or oppressor.

And I should probably clarify something. If someone today says that a white man is racist, they’re probably not using a stereotype or a generalization. Under this philosophy, the individual white man is not considered racist because all white men tend to be racist, but because he belongs to the group, in this case a group defined by skin colour. Do you understand the difference?

Neo-Marxism is a revolutionary system. Everything must be burned down and rebuilt. Reboot, restart, rebuild better. So if you sometimes wonder why many people in power seem to be doing things that destroy more than build, often this is the reason.

But in biblical justice, we should be punished for our own sin. And there’s a lot of teaching in Ezekiel 18 about this. We are judged for our own character and actions. In God’s law, and so in the human court, we are innocent until proven guilty. And the source of your value is not the group you belong to, but the imago dei. And salvation is in Christ, not in activism.

We are all descendants of Adam, and so we don’t judge people (before the law) based on DNA, or skin colour, or whatever it may be. We judge, in a limited sense, in the way God judges – the fruit tells you what kind of a tree you have. We don’t judge in a different way because someone is rich or poor, because he has power, or has no home.

Another key point here is the unity of the local church. This from Colossians 3:11 – “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free…” – and we could properly add, there is no man, woman, child, adult, Mexican, Canadian, rich, poor, whatever – “but Christ is all, and in all.” One Church.

Talking about justice in general, we believe that, in a sense, the law is king. The Latin term is lex rex. The prime minister, the scientist, the rich person, all are subject to the law. And the law must come ultimately from God’s Word. And so we could also say – veritas rex – truth is king. The truth, not the person in power, or the person with the scholarly title.

The famous Mexican revolutionary said, “I want to die being a slave to principles, not men.” Well, if those principles come from the Bible, from God’s Word, principles of justice, love, and compassion – then I would agree!

Truth is very important to the Christian. Honesty. Science. Logic. But the world rejects God’s truth to a large degree, and invents new “truths”, other “ways of knowing”. Standpoint epistemology.

The Christian accepts personal responsibility, and practises generosity and love. Many in the world today seem to want to give the government more and more control, so that they can be a saviour and a god. But where there is no absolute truth, when the law of God is rejected and limits are rejected, the lie with the most power behind it wins.

It is not the government that gives us truth, although it should defend the truth. The government does not give us rights, but it should defend the rights that are given to us by God.

That’s a lot to chew on for today. And I realize that some of these things have become even more a topic of discussion since we first did our study in Mexico. We need to keep thinking about these things and discussing them, with God’s Word as our foundation.

… to be continued!

6 June 2023

Biblical Anthropology: Everything Together (3)

Jim Devotional and Bible 0

When we originally did our series on Biblical Anthropology, we didn’t include the segment on The Authorities – we ended up talking about it because we were going through Romans, and we arrived at chapter 13. 🙂

Technology and Authority at the Tower of Babel

But now this segment has properly become an important part of the study.

So what did we learn? Well, we know that all authority is instituted by God, and that God gives each authority its own responsibilities, and its limits.

When we think of authority, we often focus on government. But there are others as well – authority in the family, authority in the work world, authority in the church, and – often left out – self-authority.

Because authority comes from God, we respect our leaders, we pray for our leaders, and we submit to our leaders.

But in my study of Scripture, I believe that there are two situations in which we should not submit, or obey (but even here there are exceptions – read the full study for details!).

When we are asked to do evil, or when we are asked to stop doing good (according to Scripture).
When the authority is operating outside of its God-given sphere.

What is their “sphere” of authority? Well, God gives people authority over specific areas of life, right? If the government decides to tell our church what we should preach on, we don’t have to submit to that. The government doesn’t have that kind of authority over the local church. If your pastor tells you which school you should send your child to – maybe it’s wise counsel worth listening to, but you don’t have to submit to such an order. That is the decision of the parents, not the pastor.

We ended up with a list of seven applications from the Bible to help us as we navigate these issues. This is an important issue in a society where our leaders regularly praise the evil and prohibit the good. A culture in which governmental powers seem to be regularly expanding far beyond what God intended.

The full index for the series is here – The Authorities.

The next topic was technology. Like authority, technology ultimately comes from God Himself. And it has a purpose in time and space, because God Himself entered into time and space as a human being.

And it was fascinating to realize that the cross itself was human technology, invented for a cruel and evil purpose. But God used this human technology to bring us salvation.

Sadly, as human beings, we tend to use technology to exalt ourselves and rebel against God. But technology can also be used to alleviate suffering, promote life, and glorify the Creator.

We talked specifically about transhumanism, posthumanism and antihumanism, and the different types of artificial intelligence. You can go through the study itself to review all of that.

But we ended the study looking at some questions that we can ask about the tech we own – or to ask our tech itself. Because we should never use technology just because it’s there – we need God’s wisdom to say yes or no, and then to decide how to use it.

The final question was: What are you doing to my heart? Why do I really want this device (keep in mind that there may be many reasons, both good and bad)? Is this a potential idol in my life? Or does it increase the power of an idol in my life?

That brings us just past the halfway point of our review – come back next time as we look back at our studies on justice and partiality.

23 May 2023

Biblical Anthropology: Everything Together (2)

Jim Devotional and Bible 0

We’re continuing our whirlwind review from last time. The next topic we studied was “the Image” – otherwise known in Latin as the Imago Dei.

We were created in God’s image – the animals were not. We’re very special. And as we learned, this is a reality that persists even after the Fall. Even in sin, we still maintain an incredible value because of the imago dei. Every human being.

We also learned that human want to change this image – they “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” (Romans 1:23). Instead of becoming more like the true God, whose image we bear, we became more like blind and powerless idols.

But Jesus Christ came to show us the true image of God – the exact image – as God in the flesh.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
Hebrews 1:1-4

That’s the story of Christmas! Everything in time and space truly matters, and has a purpose, because God Himself entered into His creation. And now we see the true and pure Image of God, sinless. And those who put their faith in Christ are being transformed into His image. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…” (Romans 8:29). “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

From there we went on to talk about God’s design for the family. According to the Lord Jesus, God’s pattern for the man and the woman and marriage and children in Genesis is the pattern that we are to follow today.

When the man rebelled against God, human beings began to experience shame and confusion about their own bodies. This is part of the fallen world. But God has given us commandments for the family and its gender roles. Those roles are different for men and for women.

We all experience sin and brokenness in this area. But God gives forgiveness and healing to those who turn to Him.

All of this information about the man and the woman and the image of God also related to our next study, “The Borders of Life”. We went through the various types of murder that the Bible talks about, relating them somewhat to modern law. We talked about the attacks that we’re seeing on life today, especially on the “borders” – the murder of babies in the womb (often called “abortion”), and the murder of our precious seniors through negligence and euthanasia.

One of the most important parts of that lesson for me, apart from some questions about specific kinds of murder, was the Bible’s teaching on suffering and death.

In Scripture, death is the enemy. A consequence of sin. Yes, for a Christian, death is a path to being with the Lord. But this comes at a time chosen by God, not by us. We are here on earth to serve as long as God permits, even if we can only serve through brief moments of prayer on our sickbed.

Suffering, for us, is full of purpose. It is not something to be avoided at all costs. In fact, we are even commanded to suffer for Christ. “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3). Listen to Romans 5 –

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Romans 5:3-5

Every life has purpose and value, even a life that is deep in suffering. “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison…” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

Of course it’s impossible to delve back into all these topics again – but that’s a summary of “The Image”, “The Family”, and “The Borders of Life”. Remember to check here for a more detailed discussion. We’ll continue starting with part 6 next time!

9 May 2023

Biblical Anthropology: Everything Together (1)

Jim Devotional and Bible 0

To close out our series on Biblical Anthropology, I’m going to try to pull everything together in just a few posts. But if you’re actually following the series, I encourage you to read it all, because there will be a lot more holes in this summary if you don’t!

If you have started at the beginning, you may remember how it all began:

About 3500 years ago, and old man begin to write. The first three words completely change our understanding of reality. The first seven words change our understanding of the cosmos. And with just a few phrases, our understanding of how the world works, who we are, the purpose of life and the concept of love is completely transformed.
These words are so revolutionary, so surprising, so transforming, that we really cannot exaggerate their importance.
7 Hebrew Words

Do you remember what the words were? “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

When I started the series in our church, I really had no idea just how important those words really were. And how important the first few chapters of Genesis really are.

Biblical Anthropology – the study of human beings from a biblical perspective. Who am I?

And everything began, everything must begin, with He who had no beginning. The eternal God.

Now, here’s the first exam question. In our first studies we emphasized three words. Do you remember what they were?

You cheated, you read this paragraph, didn’t you? Well, anyway, you’re correct. Truth, Dependence, and Purpose.

The Bible is a solid foundation for the truth, and that means all truth. Why? Because the Bible explains how it is possible for us to know anything at all.

How do we know that the laws of nature are consistent? Well, for example in Jeremiah 33 God explains that He has made a covenant with day and night, and the established laws of the heavens and the earth. A consistent and faithful God is the source and origin of all trust and loyalty.

If we’re here simply by chance, simply chemicals in bags of skin, how can we know any truth? But – what if a God of order wants us to know Him through His creation? God wants us to know truth, and so to know Him.

All logic and science comes from a Christian worldview.

Dependence. We depend on something outside of ourselves, and all things ultimately depend on God. We are limited – finite. God is unlimited and infinite. Without beginning or end, without cause, transcendent.

Purpose. Of course, a random cosmos with no God has no purpose or significance. What is – is. But in the real universe, all purpose comes from God, and the pattern of God’s creation.

The purpose of the earth…

For thus says the LORD,
who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he did not create it empty,
he formed it to be inhabited!):
“I am the LORD, and there is no other…”
Isaiah 45:18

The purpose of humans…

…male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:27-28

The sexes, families, and much more – come from God’s Word.

But although there are many purposes, there is a principle one. “…our Lord and God…you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created…” (Revelation 4:11) The Son of God – “all things were created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16). “The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory” (Psalm 97:6).

What should be the response of all creation? “Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created” (Psalm 148:5).

But instead of praising the Creator, the man fell into sin. The man sinned, the woman sinned, I sinned, and you sinned. We “suppress the truth” in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18). We do not want to depend on God (although, of course, every breath still comes from Him). We don’t want His purpose for our lives. We reject His truth.

Of course, there is no “other truth”. Just – the truth. And pay attention here – what happens when we reject God’s truth, and choose our own lies (which we call “truth”)? I’ll tell you – it turns into “my truth vs. your truth”.

And the strongest tyrant can force his “truth” on us. Rejecting God’s truth is the end of freedom. And we’re seeing this played out today.

Speaking for myself, one of the most important lessons in this study was how really horrible sin is. We use that word all the time in the church, “sin”, and we link it with the word “forgiveness”, and somehow through it all we forget that we really are responsible for our sinful actions.

We see how terrible sin is in the cross of Christ. The Holy and Pure Son of God suffered voluntarily the shame and punishment to show us just how far we had wandered.

Every sin, great or small, that sprouts in our hearts, is an ugly, disgusting, putrid offence to God. God hates sin, and is completely just to throw sinners into eternal hell.

But that leads us to “The Great Universal Project of Humanity” – do you remember what that is? It is the ongoing and impossible project of justifying ourselves.

We talked about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who survived a terrible persecution under communism. What was it he said?

If only it were all so simple. If only there were evil people somewhere, insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us, and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956)

We are responsible for our sin. We are responsible to change. But – “trying to change” never brings salvation.

But – there is salvation. “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). That is, the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

That is the Creation, and the Fall. Or, as we said in the second section, Christ or Chaos. (I’m still going to talk about the origin of that phrase – stay tuned.)

That’s a quick look at the first two lessons – “The Beginning” and “Christ or Chaos”. Feel free to go back and look at them again. And in a bit we’ll continue our whirlwind summary…

4 May 2023

The Environment: Conclusion

Jim Devotional and Bible, News and current issues 0

Throughout our look at the environment, we’ve tried to build on the foundation of what Scripture has taught us, while adding more insights from God’s Word specifically about caring for our world.

We’re thankful for Christians and non-Christians alike who are working to care for the world in which we live. But we’ve also seen some things that I believe are concerning. For example, the fact that such a long chain of suppositions is simply assumed, without being examined. And the fact that so many unbiblical ideas are smuggled into the environmentalist movement being adopted by many leaders around the world.

We also talked about how the Christian’s way of caring for the planet is, in the end, very different.

Here are a few questions to help you think about what we’ve talked about:

What are some ways in which we can promote life and care for creation in our own homes and communities?
What is the difference between a biblical worldview and what the world typically tells us about the environment?
Why does the world mock God’s revelation about how the world will end (2 Peter 3:3-7)?
Why should we be taking local responsibility to care for the planet, instead of relying on countries and worldwide experts to take care of it?

We always must come back to our Lord Jesus Christ Himself as we discuss these topics. He is the Son of God, the Lord of the trees, the Lord of oil and gas, the Lord of your household, the Lord of babies, the Lord of science – the Lord of everything. To God, “who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honour and eternal dominion. Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:15-16)

Additional resources…

This study very much built on all the studies before it, and I’ve linked to a few things along the way. It is helpful to keep thinking about secular humanism, and Got Questions has an article here: What is secular humanism?

Answers in Genesis has a lot of material about environmentalism and climate change. I’ve only read a small portion, but what I’ve read has been thought-provoking. You might start with this article, but take a look at some of their more specific discussions and videos about climate change: Environmentalism: A Biblical Perspective

«‹ 2 3 4 5 ›»