A New Look

March 31, 2005 @ 9:19 am by Pressed

It was time for Avoiding Evil to have a new look. I enjoyed the old yellow and black style for a time, but recently I wanted to go to something with more class. I am extremely busy and I don’t have the ability to design something nice myself so I decided to ask someone else to design my blog for me. Tim Challies from Challies.com graciously agreed to come up with a design. After several weeks and lots of different design ideas and changes we finally came up with something that I think looks really good. Thank you Tim for all your work.

So with that being said, here is the new look of Avoiding Evil, let me know what you think in the comments.

Pressed

Permalink  |  Comments (9)  |  Filed under: File 13 (General Topics)

The Sacrosanct Word Of God

March 21, 2005 @ 11:30 pm by Pressed

Matt had a question in the comments on my previous posts about the Doctrine of Scripture that I will attempt to answer to the best of my ability, without further study on the subject.

“I just had a question about your posts. somebody has been asking questions of me on this that i may be a little fuzzy on. his question is on the authority of who wrote the bible. he keeps using the phrase “sacro sanct” word of God, meaning God basically dictated it to the writers like a boss would dictate a memo to a secretary. he also uses the example (and please don’t get sidetracked here) of homosexuality, saying “what if that was a writer in the old testament who just didn’t like homosexuals” and the third subject that keeps coming up is in the translation. what we have as the bible can’t be the “sacrosanct” word of God because of how many versions there are. NIV, KJ, NKJ, NAS, along with many others, his question is how can the bible be authoriative if there isn’t an exact translation.” - Matt

First of all, sacrosanct is a term used to describe something as being sacred or inviolable. To say “the sacrosanct Word of God” is to say that God’s word is sacred and not violated or corrupted in any way.

Dictation is one of many different things God used to bring about his sacrosanct Word, however, it was not the only way. To claim that dictation was the sole means of communication of God to the writer is incorrect… at least I think so. There are a few times that God directly dictates to people in the Bible. John seeing the vision of Christ and writing down exactly what he was told, “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write…” (Rev. 2:8). We also read that the Word of the Lord came to Isaiah telling him to “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David you father…” (Isaiah 38:4) These are some examples of where God directly dictates what he wants said to the writers; however, this is not the only way God’s Word came about. Hebrews says that “Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways.” (Hebrews 1:1).

Luke wrote most of his gospel using historical research. He wrote from the message of eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word (Luke 1:1-3). According to Grudems research on the authority of Scripture, God communicated in a variety of ways including dreams, visions, hearing the voice of God, or standing in the council of the Lord. He also spoke through men who were with Jesus and observed his life, men whose memory of these words and deeds was made completely accurate by the Holy Spirit (John 14:26), and many other cases where God manages to bring about the result that the words of scripture were his words.

This certainly begs the question: how do we know that the human writers of the Word of God did not write with their own presuppositions to make Scripture say something that God never intended it to say? Wayne Grudem has an answer to this question:

”In the cases where the ordinary human personality and writing style of the author were prominently involved, as seems the case with the major part of Scripture, all that we are able to say is that God’s providential oversight and direction of the life of each author was such that their personalities, their backgrounds and training, their abilities to evaluate events in the world around them, their access to historical data, their judgment with regard to the accuracy of information, and their individual circumstances when they wrote, were all exactly what God wanted them to be, so that when they actually came to the point of putting pen to paper, the words were fully their own words but also fully the words that God wanted them to write, words that God would also claim as his own.” – Wayne Grudem

To sum that up, God in his sovereignty chose the right people to write the right words. While the Bible isn’t completely dictated by God, it is written under God’s sovereign control so much so that the only things written in it are the things that God wanted written, thus making them God’s own words, written by men who were inspired by God.

I do, however, agree that we are at the mercy of English translators when it comes to the text. If a Christian does not know the original languages then they have to ultimately rely on someone else to translate the message for them. Different people translate in different ways thus creating different translations. Can we call these translations the inerrant, inspired, sacrosanct Word of God? This is an area where I rely on the Sovereignty of God again. I have no reason not to believe that God is actively involved in the world today, and I also have no reason not to believe that God is actively involved in the reading and understanding of his Word, whether it be the original text or simply a translation. God, in his Sovereignty, brings revelation and enlightenment to believers through the Holy Spirit who is our mediator, teacher, and interpreter. It is through God’s Spirit alone that we can understand the truth in any Scripture. This is why all of the translations that we have are translated differently and yet proclaim the same message of Christ crucified and risen again. The important message of Scripture that changes the hearts and lives of people can be found in the reading of any of these translations through the direct leadership of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. In this way I would claim our English translations to be the sacrosanct Word of God, the ultimate standard of truth filled with the authority of God.

Hope that helps…

Permalink  |  Comments (5)  |  Filed under: Christianity & Theology

The Doctrine of Scripture (Sufficiency)

March 19, 2005 @ 6:00 am by Pressed

The Bible is sufficient for salvation and obedience. There is no other revelation or book that we need, the God given, God-breathed Scriptures are enough for us to be obedient Disciples of Christ. Again, the influence of the Roman Catholic Church caused a dependency upon things other than the Word of God. To them the word was not sufficient enough by itself, there had to be a mediator. To the reformer the mediator was the Holy Spirit and Scripture was sufficient enough to meet every need of the believer without any other source of revelation.

“The sufficiency of Scripture means that Scripture contained all the words of God he intended his people to have at each stage of redemptive history, and that it now contains all the words of God we need for salvation, for trusting him perfectly, and for obeying him perfectly.” - Wayne Grudem

What is revealed to us in the Bible is enough for us. The Bible is sufficent for salvation and for us to obey God perfectly. There is no other book that the believer needs to know the special revelation of God. This means that we should emphasize what God has told us through His Word, and we should also be content with what was given to us. God teaches us what to do and provides us with sufficient knowledge of Himself.

Whatever we find in Scripture should be written on our hearts and minds as the very Words of God, authoritative in its commands, clear in its meaning, necessary for all believers, inerrant in all of its message, and sufficent for every need.

Permalink  |  Comments (2)  |  Filed under: Christianity & Theology

The Doctrine of Scripture (Inerrancy)

March 18, 2005 @ 6:00 am by Pressed

The Bible, then, is the ultimate standard of truth, inerrant in all its words that are inspired by God. If the Bible is in fact God’s word then the Bible is the truth of God, inerrant in its message. God Himself is truth and speaks only truth; therefore the Bible inspired by Him is also the word of truth. As stated in the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy the total truth of Scripture is essential to its authority. The Bible would not be authoritative, clear, or necessary if it contained errors, nor would God be trustworthy and truthful if His words were not entirely true. Scripture is without error in its teaching and message.

“To disbelieve or disobey any word in Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God…all the Words in Scripture are claimed to be completely true and without error in any part (Num. 23:19; Pss. 12:6; 119:89, 96; Prov. 30:5; Matt. 24:35). God’s words are , in fact, the ultimate standard of truth (John 17:17)…The inerrancy of Scripture means that Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact.” - Wayne Grudem

The Bible tells the truth in all that it talks about. We can rest assured that the very Words we read in Scripture are the true, authoritative, clear, necessary, inerrant Words of God.

“Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.” - Proverbs 30:5

“Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.” - John 17:17

Permalink  |  Comments (5)  |  Filed under: Christianity & Theology

Doctrine of Scripture (Necessity)

March 17, 2005 @ 6:00 am by Pressed

Not only is God’s revelation of Himself authoritative and clear, it is also necessary. Without special revelation there would be no knowledge of the Gospel, no understanding of the spiritual life, and no way of knowing God’s will for our lives.

The necessity of Scripture means that the Bible is necessary for knowing the gospel, for maintaining spiritual life, and for knowing God’s will, but is not necessary for knwoing that God exists or for knowing something about God’s character and moral laws. - Wayne Grudem

The Bible is necessary for salvation because it contains the message of truth that must be heard. One must call upon the name of the Lord to be saved, but people can only call upon the name of the Lord if they believe in him. People cannot believe in Christ unless they have heard of him and they cannot hear about Him if there is no one to tell them. Saving faith comes from hearing the gospel message through the preaching of Christ. For there to be salvation one must either read the gospel message in the Bible or hear the gospel message from another person. Without the word there would be no gospel message.

“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe wthout hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How welcome are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things! But all did not obey the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.” - Romans 10:13-17

Without special revelation there would be nothing to help maintain the spiritual life. We are people who experience spiritual malnutrition, and yet it is the Word’s of God that sustain us and help us to live. Matthew 4:4 says “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that procceds out of the mouth of God”. To sustain spiritual life the Christian must live on the Word of God.

The Bible is also necessary for some knowledge of God’s will, without it we would not know what God requires of us in order to live in obedience to Him. All the words of Scripture are God’s authoritative Words that are clear, relative, and necessary.

It is in His Word that we find the message of the gospel, and it is in His word that we come to understand Christian growth and discipleship. The Word of God is essential and necessary for the salvation and growth of any believer.

Permalink  |  Comments (0)  |  Filed under: Christianity & Theology