From Jim McGuiggan... Deism: Ancient & Modern (1)

Deism: Ancient & Modern (1)

Once upon a time it became fashionable to believe that humans evolved out of non-living materials and inch by painful inch they moved through protoplasm to organisms to sea creatures to amphibians to land mammals to full-blown humans. At first scientists rejected the idea but then (with a little help from stupid and insolent religious leaders) the notion took off. The theory of evolution—the transmutation of species—prevailed; but there were those who thought that God somehow guided the process upward. But as time went by that wasn’t received well in scientific quarters because there was nothing of a scientific nature that could prove it. The non-theists insisted that as far as science was concerned there wasn’t a God in sight.

You understand, they weren’t saying there was no God, only that if there was, there was no scientific reason to believe he was acting in the evolutionary process. As far as they could tell it was happening on its own. Scientists had begun to explain that the most amazing things were nothing more than "the way things worked". They spoke of "natural laws" and they were able to explain about orbits and magnetic fields, geological formations and the paths of comets, what infection was and the astonishing nature of "white" light. The persuasive power of their explanations increased when they were able to predict things (how did they know when Haley’s Comet would appear in the sky?) and they were able to demonstrate other things before your very eyes. They modestly insisted that they were only uncovering the truth about how things worked. They were demonstrating that physical reality included things too small to be seen with the eye but with it all they were demonstrating that you didn’t need God to sustain or guide the physical universe. The physical "laws" do quite well without his supernatural interference. Believers would say, flowers can’t make themselves and non-theist scientists would reply that that was the only thing they saw. Flowers kept making themselves.

Some very influential religious leaders took that seriously and then argued that it made perfectly good sense. The universe was like a giant clock and God was the clockmaker. A good clockmaker doesn’t have to keep messing with his clock to make it run right—he makes it, steps back and lets it tick away and it functions perfectly well without him. This became the view of many leading thinkers and it had real advantages. For example, your religion and your belief that God exists never came under threat. No one that owned a splendid grandfather clock expected to wake in the night to find that the clockmaker had sneaked into the owner’s house to adjust it. Just so, no one should expect God to sneak into his clock universe to tinker with it. No need to worry then that we couldn’t find proofs of his existence in the physical universe. It was all very simple and satisfying. Well...not quite!

That view of God put a real strain on the notion of prayer. Exactly how would that work if God does absolutely nothing in the world? What’s the point of praying if the clockmaker never "interfered" or adjusted things or related to the praying one?

It certainly put a strain on the notion of "miracles". If God created the raw material (including its "laws" which are part of raw material) and had nothing further to do with its operation, then he certainly didn’t come around tinkering with it, a miracle here, a supernatural nudge there, or a suspension or transcending of "natural law" elsewhere. He didn’t do that, so miracles had to go! Ooooh, but what of the Incarnation, the Virgin Birth, the resurrection, exaltation and coming again of the Christ? They all had to go!

And what of the Bible? Did God write that through humans? No, that idea had to go as well because that would be divine interference. And why not get rid of that notion, it was a troublesome matter anyway. More than that, given the clockmaker religion, it made good sense that the doctrine of divine inspiration should be dumped. Look, if man evolved then his intellect, views, culture, religion and values all must have evolved with him. The Hebrew-Christian Bible is the product of evolving humans and we can hardly expect those ancients to speak with the knowledge of Enlightenment scientists and thinkers. The Bible is pre-scientific and its religious claims and proposals reflect man’s general ignorance as well as his growth. So we can't depend on the Bible. When it tells us of a divinely guided history (say, from the election of Abraham through Israel’s election and on up to Jesus Christ) we have to recognise it for what it is—the beliefs of a pre-critical age that sometimes (not always!) talked nonsense. The cosmic clockmaker doesn’t do anything in the world so all talk about divinely guided history or divinely inspired Bibles is just so much ignorance.

And the claims that God produced floods, earthquakes, destroying winds, droughts and famines are all nonsense. Everyone now knew that God in his sovereignty (whatever that meant exactly) didn’t do such things. These were random events, just mindless happenings, they simply happened; no one caused them—least of all God.

Besides, as if more proof were needed, take a look at some of the claims the Bible makes. God ordered the slaughter of innocent children and their grandmothers? Who can believe that? What kind of God would take away a child’s grandmother—its favourite babysitter and playmate? Who would order the slaughter of witches and homosexuals and adulterers? What kind of God would claim he was raising up a fierce warrior nation to slaughter his (allegedly) elect people because they had grown tired of him and wanted to worship someone else? No, the Bible had to go and that was that.

For pity’s sake, we have to dump the Bible? Well...that was a hard pill for most people to swallow but what could they do? They wanted to hold on to Jesus Christ (or Moses) but there was nothing for it but to shape him in light of the established truth of religion and science. He became merely the finest man, a lovely human that cared for the oppressed and promoted gentleness and self-sacrifice even to the point of patiently enduring an unjust execution. And, of course, he's still dead. But his teaching was glorious—he taught us all to be nicer to each other and he confirmed what every gentle-woman or man knew in his/her bones was right and good—and knew it without divine revelation. But as far as the dogmas about him went, well they had to go. His astonishing claims, his insistence that only through him can the world have life, that he would judge the world—all that sort of stuff—that’s what his ignorant disciples claimed. He probably didn't make those claims; the disciples made them up.

So our clockwork religious leaders took from the Bible what they approved of and dumped the rest. The Bible wasn’t the judge of their views, they became the judges of the Bible. Of course they said the Bible was still the massive and throbbing centre of everything—especially since it was there that they came across Jesus Christ.

But when you insist on taking only what you think is worthwhile, people soon recognise who you really think is the massive and throbbing centre of everything.

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, theabidingword.com.

The Age of Accountability by Dave Miller, Ph.D.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=11&article=1202

The Age of Accountability

by	Dave Miller, Ph.D.

Calvinistic teaching claims that all humans have inherited a corrupt spiritual nature due to the sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden. Due to this marred and perverse nature, the human heart is desperately deceitful, and man’s nature is evil. This doctrine generally is referred to as “total depravity.” Calvinists insist that “[e]vil pervades every faculty of his [man’s—DM] soul and every sphere of his life. He is unable to do a single thing that is good” (Palmer, 1972). He cannot do, understand, or desire the good: “[t]he corruption extends to every part of man, his body and soul” (Steele and Thomas, 1963, emp. in orig.).
Calvinism further maintains that, due to this inherited spiritual depravity, babies are born with a corrupt nature. Babies, therefore, are born depraved and, by definition, are in a “lost” state. The only way for babies to be saved is for them to be one of the elect—a predetermined few whom God arbitrarily decided to save while condemning all others. Hence, free will does not enter into the question of salvation. The Calvinist maintains that people cannot choose to receive salvation from God. They are in a lost condition due to their corrupt spiritual nature, and do not have the ability even to desire salvation, let alone to attain it.
While several lines of argumentation from the Bible can be advanced to refute the Calvinist’s viewpoint with regard to depravity, one in particular merits notice: the Bible’s teaching regarding the spiritual condition of children. Long ago, the prophet Ezekiel, after contrasting the behavior of a father with his son, stated unequivocally: “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son” (18:20; cf. vss. 2-19). Jesus, Himself, demonstrated the spiritually safe condition of children when He stated: “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Adults must become like children if they wish to be saved! Children hardly can be spiritually depraved! Christ followed up this declaration with a comparable observation: “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14).
Since all people are the “offspring of God” (Acts 17:29), they come into this world innocent of sin. That is why Paul, in pointing out that God preplanned to bring Christ into the world through Jacob rather than Esau, stated that the decision was made prior to the birth of the boys: “[F]or the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil” (Romans 9:11, emp. added). Likewise, God declared that the King of Tyre, like everyone else, had come into the world guiltless, but had become sinful due to his own choices: “You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you” (Ezekiel 28:15). If, at conception, God “forms the spirit of man within him” (Zechariah 12:1), why would anyone wish to insist that man’s spirit is, nevertheless, corrupt?
Another interesting realization is gleaned from Paul’s argumentation in Romans—a book unquestionably designed to expound the foundational premise of salvation available in Christ through the Gospel. In chapter seven, Paul contrasts the pre-Christian condition of the sinner with the post-cross availability of full forgiveness. The Law of Moses was, in fact, a tremendous law. It was authored by God Himself. It was specifically designed for the perpetual good of the people to whom it was addressed, i.e., the Israelites (Deuteronomy 6:24; 10:13). Like all law from God, it enabled people to recognize sin as sin (Romans 3:20; 7:7). In short, the law was “holy, and the commandment holy and just and good” (Romans 7:12). However, law did/does not contain within itself the ability to absolve those who violate its precepts. An outside force, one that is above and beyond the law, is necessary to rectify the effects of law infractions (i.e., sin). The Bible refers to this force as “propitiation” (Romans 3:25; Hebrews 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 4:10) or “atonement” (Romans 5:11, KJV). Of course, this propitiation is the blood of Jesus.
As Paul expounded these spectacular spiritual realities, he imparted a significant truth regarding the innocence of children, i.e., their non-depraved status. Paul stated: “For apart from the law sin was dead” (Romans 7:8). He meant that prior to him becoming subject to the law, he was not guilty of any sin. He continued: “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died” (Romans 7:9). When was Paul “alive once without the law”? The only time in a person’s life when he or she is spiritually alive in the absence of law is before he or she is a responsible, accountable adult. A person is not subject to the law of God until he or she is mature enough to understand and to be responsible for behavior. Here is the “age of accountability” to which so many have made reference over the years. Paul was saying that at the time he was a child he was “alive,” i.e., spiritually safe. But when he reached adulthood, and had to face the law’s assessment of his adult decision-making, sin “revived,” i.e., it sprang into existence in his life (see Arndt and Gingrich, 1957, p. 53), “began to live and flourish” (Alford, 1852, 2:380), and he “died,” i.e., he became spiritually dead in sin. This “age of accountability” is not pinpointed in Scripture as a specific age—for obvious reasons: it naturally differs from person to person since it depends upon a variety of social and environmental factors. Children mature at different rates and ages as their spirits are fashioned, shaped, and molded by parents, teachers, and life’s experiences.
It is imperative that every person of an accountable mind and age realize the responsibility that exists. Current culture is characterized by a tendency to evade responsibility for one’s action. Lawbreakers blame parents, genes, and society for their actions. But if the Bible teaches anything, it teaches that every single accountable human being will one day stand before God and give account for his or her own actions. “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ” and “each of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:10,12).

REFERENCES

Alford, Henry (1852), Alford’s Greek Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1980 reprint).
Arndt, William and F.W. Gingrich (1957), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press).
Palmer, Edwin (1972), The Five Points of Calvinism (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker).
Steele, David and Curtis Thomas (1963), The Five Points of Calvinism (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker).

From Mark Copeland... Two Kinds Of Food (John 6:27)

                          "THE GOSPEL OF JOHN"

                        Two Kinds Of Food (6:27)

INTRODUCTION

1. Among the miracles of Jesus that attracted great attention was the
   feeding of 5000 with five loaves of bread and two fish - Jn 6:1-13
   a. Many came to believe in Him as the Prophet to come - Jn 6:14; cf.
      Deut 18:15
   b. Some wanted to take Him by force and make Him king - Jn 6:15
   c. People sought to follow Him - Jn 6:22,24-25

2. Jesus, who knew the hearts of men (Jn 2:25), perceived their selfish
   motives...
   a. They were interested only in the food, not what the miracle
      indicated - Jn 6:26
   b. Prompting Jesus to warn them about the food for which they labor
      - Jn 6:27

[The words of Jesus in our text (Jn 6:27) reveal there are "Two Kinds Of
Food", one that perishes and another that endures.  As we seek to apply
Jesus' admonition to our own lives, let's consider...]

I. THE FOOD WHICH PERISHES

   A. WHAT FOOD IS THIS...?
      1. Literally, it is the food we eat
         a. It quickly perishes, even with the benefit of preservatives
         b. It fails to satisfy for long, soon we are hungry and thirsty
            again - cf. Jn 4:13
      2. Figuratively, there are other "foods" which soon perish
         a. The food of human wisdom
         b. The food of folly
         c. The food of mirth and pleasure
         d. The food of great wealth and industrious labor
         -- Which Solomon found to provide no lasting fulfillment - cf.
            Ec 1:17; 2:1-2,3-11

   B. DO NOT LABOR FOR SUCH FOOD...
      1. This does not mean we are to make no effort to supply our needs
         a. A Christian is to provide for his family - 1Ti 5:8
         b. If a man does not work, neither should he eat - 2Th 3:10-12
      2. But that we not do so to the neglect of food which endures
         a. The "food" which perishes should not be our priority in life
            - cf. Mt 6:33
         b. A lesson that Martha needed to learn - Lk 10:38-42

[Sadly, many people expend much time, energy, and money for "food" which
soon perishes.  Jesus would have people direct their life's efforts
toward...]

II. THE FOOD WHICH ENDURES

   A. WHAT FOOD IS THIS...?
      1. In other texts, it is the Word of God
         a. By which man truly lives - cf. Mt 4:4
         b. Which Job treasured more than necessary food - Job 23:12
         c. Which David valued more than gold and fine food - Ps 19:10;
            119:72,103,11
         d. Which Jeremiah found to be the rejoicing of his heart - Jer 15:16
         e. Which causes rebirth, and endures forever - 1Pe 1:22-25
      2. In our text, it is Jesus, the Word of God
         a. Jesus, the Logos (Word) of God - Jn 1:1,14,18
         b. He is the true bread from the Father in heaven - Jn 6:31-35
         c. He is the bread of life who offers everlasting life  - Jn 6:
            47-51

   B. LABOR FOR THIS FOOD...
      1. Jesus must be the primary focus of our labors, in which we
         strive:
         a. To believe in Him, for therein is everlasting life - Jn 6:
            28-29,40
         b. To follow Him, for He has the words of eternal life - Jn 6:
            66-69
         c. To know Him, for that is eternal life - Jn 17:1-3
         d. To obey Him, for to those who obey He is the author of
            eternal life - He 5:9
      2. Are we laboring for the food which endures to everlasting life?
         a. Let Paul's attitude be our example - Php 3:7-15
            1) Seeking to know the Lord more and more
            2) Never content with our current understanding, always
               pressing further
         b. Let Peter's exhortation to diligence in growing in the
            knowledge of Jesus Christ set the standard - 2Pe 1:5-8;
            3:18
            1) Seeking to become like the Lord more and more
            2) Always abounding, always growing in grace and knowledge

CONCLUSION

1. Dear friends and brethren, for what "food" do you labor...?
   a. Is your focus in life on that which is temporary?
   b. Do you strive for that which cannot truly satisfy?
   -- If so, consider what Isaiah wrote 700 years before Christ came
      - Isa 55:1-4

2. Jesus is the true bread of life, the living water, who truly
   satisfies...
   a. He alone provides the hope of eternal life - Jn 6:40
   b. He alone offers the abundant life even now - Jn 10:11

Though written by Isaiah, these words may serve as the invitation Jesus
offers to all...

   "Why do you spend money for [what is] not bread, And your wages
   for [what] does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat
   [what is] good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
   Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live;
   And I will make an everlasting covenant with you - The sure mercies
   of David." (Isa 55:2-3)

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

From Gary... The reality of a rainbow...

From the NASA picture of the day...  http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html   A Full Circle Rainbow over Australia
Image Credit & Copyright: Colin Leonhardt (Birdseye View Photography)  
Explanation: Have you ever seen an entire rainbow? From the ground, typically, only the top portion of a rainbow is visible because directions toward the ground have fewer raindrops. From the air, though, the entire 360 degree circle of a rainbow is more commonly visible. Pictured here, a full circle rainbow was captured over Cottesloe Beach near Perth, Australia last year by a helicopter flying between a setting sun and a downpour. An observer-dependent phenomenon primarily caused by the internal reflection of sunlight by raindrops, the 84-degree diameter rainbow followed the helicopter, intact, for about 5 kilometers. As a bonus, a second rainbow that was more faint and color-reversed was visible outside the first.

Today is a day of humility for me. For something like 15 years, I have been going to the NASA website and viewing their picture of the day. I would estimate that I have viewed probably a thousand or more pictures of astronomical nature, but never, ever something like this. Frankly, I had no idea that rainbows were really ROUND!!!!  So, this picture is an eye-opener!!!!  As a frail representative of the human race, I think I know a few things and over time become convinced that some things are absolutely correct. And I am NOT ALONE IN THIS!!!  Consider Job: righteous in his own eyes and suffering, most of the book that bears his name concerns itself with arguments between human beings over the reasons WHY Job is suffering so.  But not all, for in the later part of this tale, Job interacts with God HIMSELF!!!  The following is a an excerpt from the exchange....

 

Job 38:1-41 NASB
(1)  Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
(2)  "Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge?
(3)  "Now gird up your loins like a man, And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!
(4)  "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding,
(5)  Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it?
(6)  "On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone,
(7)  When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
(8)  "Or who enclosed the sea with doors When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb;
(9)  When I made a cloud its garment And thick darkness its swaddling band,
(10)  And I placed boundaries on it And set a bolt and doors,
(11)  And I said, 'Thus far you shall come, but no farther; And here shall your proud waves stop'?
(12)  "Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, And caused the dawn to know its place,
(13)  That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, And the wicked be shaken out of it?
(14)  "It is changed like clay under the seal; And they stand forth like a garment.
(15)  "From the wicked their light is withheld, And the uplifted arm is broken.
(16)  "Have you entered into the springs of the sea Or walked in the recesses of the deep?
(17)  "Have the gates of death been revealed to you, Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
(18)  "Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.
(19)  "Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place,
(20)  That you may take it to its territory And that you may discern the paths to its home?
(21)  "You know, for you were born then, And the number of your days is great!
(22)  "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
(23)  Which I have reserved for the time of distress, For the day of war and battle?
(24)  "Where is the way that the light is divided, Or the east wind scattered on the earth?
(25)  "Who has cleft a channel for the flood, Or a way for the thunderbolt,
(26)  To bring rain on a land without people, On a desert without a man in it,
(27)  To satisfy the waste and desolate land And to make the seeds of grass to sprout?
(28)  "Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
(29)  "From whose womb has come the ice? And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth?
(30)  "Water becomes hard like stone, And the surface of the deep is imprisoned.
(31)  "Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, Or loose the cords of Orion?
(32)  "Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, And guide the Bear with her satellites?
(33)  "Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, Or fix their rule over the earth?
(34)  "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, So that an abundance of water will cover you?
(35)  "Can you send forth lightnings that they may go And say to you, 'Here we are'?
(36)  "Who has put wisdom in the innermost being Or given understanding to the mind?
(37)  "Who can count the clouds by wisdom, Or tip the water jars of the heavens,
(38)  When the dust hardens into a mass And the clods stick together?
(39)  "Can you hunt the prey for the lion, Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
(40)  When they crouch in their dens And lie in wait in their lair?
(41)  "Who prepares for the raven its nourishment When its young cry to God And wander about without food?

Job 40:1-5 NASB
(1)  Then the LORD said to Job,
(2)  "Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it."
(3)  Then Job answered the LORD and said,
(4)  "Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth.
(5)  "Once I have spoken, and I will not answer; Even twice, and I will add nothing more."

Now, I couldn't answer all those questions of chapter 38 and I doubt anyone will ever be able to do so (let alone chapter 39).  Then God Almighty says a few more things to Job... and HE GETS IT; JOB IS INSIGNIFICANT AND CANNOT REPLY ANY FURTHER!!!!  Which is exactly the way I felt when viewing the rainbow above!!!!!  Like I said.... Today is a day of humility (and the joke is on me- and it is a joke in the ROUND!!!!). My prayer for today is that God will teach me what I really need to know- and do it GENTLY!!!