Red-Letter Bibles and Inerrancy

Pastor John finished an inspiring message and people were abuzz about the sermon. Alice always filled in the sermon outline and took copious notes including some direct quotes from Pastor John that even included some Greek and Hebrew words he used in explaining the text. Frank didn't take notes but he listened intently and could recall the major points without difficulty. They both began sharing the message with others at home, with friends and with co-workers. Alice's mother lived with her and was old and unable to attend services but she enjoyed their special time at lunch as Alice recounted the sermon in detail to her in her native Polish tongue. Let's use this story to discuss the topic of red-letter Bibles and the doctrine of inerrancy.

Red-letter Bibles are designed to highlight those parts of the Bible where we find the “words of Jesus.” Yet, what does that really mean as we read an English Bible? When Alice and Frank shared about Pastor John's sermon with others, did they communicate the “words of Pastor John”? When Alice gave direct quotes from Pastor John, she was communicating his “exact words” while when Frank shared faithfully in his own words what Pastor John had said Frank was communicating Pastor John's “exact voice.”i When Alice translated Pastor John's message into Polish for her mother, Alice's mother had Pastor John's “exact voice” but when Alice quoted to her mother the Greek and Hebrew words Pastor John used in his sermon Alice's mother heard Pastor John's “exact words.”

Let's now consider Jesus' words. Scholars argue that Jesus likely spoke Aramaic as it was the common language used by Jews of his day (Mk 15:34 is in Aramaic). Hebrew as found in the OT would also have been know by most Jews and Jesus (Mt 27:46 is in Hebrew). Hellenistic influence from previous centuries meant Greek was also used in commerce and known by some in Palestine. Many scholars argue Jesus may have known Greek. The NT is written in Greek with a few Aramaic and Hebrew words found in the Gospels. As Jesus taught Jews such as his disciples and those in Jerusalem and Judea it is highly likely he taught them in their native tongue, Aramaic. When in more heavily populated Gentile regions it is possible some of Jesus' teaching may have been in Greek, but this is still hotly debated.

Thus, much of what we find in the Greek synoptic Gospels that records Jesus' teaching is likely a translation from Aramaic to Greek. In the longer teaching sections in the Gospels such as the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5-7) or Jesus' discourse in “the upper room” (Jn 14-17) we likely have a summation that condenses what Jesus said or otherwise these discourses only lasted a few minutes - the time it takes to read them!

This implies that most of the “words of Jesus” in the Gospels that are highlighted in red-letter Bibles provide Jesus' “exact voice” but only occasionally his “exact words.” Does this somehow undermine the trustworthiness or inerrancy of the Bible? Different views concerning “inerrancy” have been promoted but I will use D Dockery's definition from Doctrine Of The Bible (Nashville: Convention Press, p 80) who defines it as: “Inerrancy – the idea that when all the facts are known, the Bible (in its autographs, that is, the original documents), properly interpreted in light of the culture and the means of communication that had developed by the time of its composition, is completely true in all it affirms, to the degree of precision intended by the author's purpose, in all matters relating to God and His creation.”

Just as Frank could share in his own words a “true and faithful” account of Pastor John's sermon, so it can be argued that one can and should hold to the Bible's inerrancy while recognizing that one doesn't need to have the “exact words” of Jesus simply the “exact voice.” The “exact voice” is sufficient since according to the doctrine of inerrancy it “is completely true in all it affirms, to the degree of precision intended by the author's purpose.” The Gospel writers wrote in Greek and provided a faithful and true account of Jesus' life in all they wrote according to the degree of precision they intended.

Some argue that the Gospels [in the Greek texts] don't occasionally record Jesus' “exact words” but the majority of the time they record Jesus' “exact words”! Such a view is problematic in dealing with parallel accounts of the same incidents in the various Gospels. Recall that Mk 15:34 records Jesus' cry on the cross in Aramaic while Mt 27:46 records the same cry in Hebrew. One of them almost certainly contains the “exact words” of Jesus, but which one? Does it really matter? Both are “faithful” to what actually happened and was said. Some “solve” this “problem” of difference by arguing Jesus said both, and quoted Ps 22:1 once in Aramaic and once in Hebrew while on the cross! This “addition solution” in dealing with parallel Gospel accounts then resorts to suggesting Jesus said virtually the same thing several times with slight variations as they attempt to account for slight word differences found in the Greek texts of the synoptic Gospels. This “addition” approach can create unrealistic “solutions”ii and can't account for situations where Jesus' words are tied to healing events.iii

Jesus did not speak English so is there any value to having an English red-letter Bible? Maybe, but consider an interesting question. Is John 3:16 really Jesus' words or John's, as the Gospel writer? It doesn't matter! John 3:16 is still true whether Jesus said it or John wrote it. Jesus' words in the Bible are not “more” important than John's or Paul's. Why? We have in the Bible all the “words” that God inspired through his various writers (2 Tim 3:16, 2 Pet 1:21). So, the words found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the rest of the Bible are “God-breathed” meaning we have therefore the “exact words” of God in the inspired and inerrant Scriptures! So, while we usually have the “exact voice” of Jesus in the Gospels at the very same time we have the “exact words” of God through the inspired writers - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and this what we need and what God has provided!


Randy


i The technical expressions are ipsissima verba [“exact words” like a quote] and ipsissima vox [“exact voice” like a faithful paraphrase]

ii H. Lindsell, The Battle For The Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976) 174 argues Peter denied Jesus six times!

iii I argue this point in detail in my dissertation.

Voices In Cornfields: Hearing God Speak?

You may recognize the reference in the title to the movie, Field of Dreams where a farmer, Ray Kinsella, hears a voice in his cornfield that says, “If you build it he will come.” He then takes the daring, risky, and completely illogical act of building a baseball field in his cornfield in Iowa. Later, Ray hears the voice again say, “Ease his pain” and this sets him off across country to find author Terrance Mann and take him to a game at Fenway Park where he soon discovers Terrance also saw a sign on the scoreboard that read, “Archibald 'Moonlight' Graham, Chisolm, Minn” and his major league stats: “One inning, zero at bats.” The voice says, “Go the distance” and Ray and Terrance go to Minnesota and discover “Doc Graham” died sixteen years earlier. On the way back to Iowa they pick up a young man looking to play baseball who happens to be Archie (Doc) Graham in his youth! I like the movie because I like baseball and the poignant theme of reconciliation to one's estranged father speaks powerfully to the father-son relationships of too many of us males! Yet, using its fictional genre, it promotes the concept of living by experiences - like listening to voices in cornfields and visions on scoreboards! Sadly, this actually appeals to many in our day who pursue the spiritual and mystical but not necessarily the God of Scripture.

Many Christians “live by experiences” and consider this the height of true spirituality and knowing God. As a new believer, I recall being interested in a young lady, who broke a bone in a basketball practice and that same evening around the same hour I suffered some pain. My young biblically illiterate mind considered a connection! So, I asked my Christian friend if he thought I may have suffered the pain “vicariously” or “in conjunction” with her! I'm sure he must have thought I was as crazy as the neighbors considered Ray Kinsella! He kindly said “no” and explained why he didn't think this was the proper interpretation of my experience. What a great lesson for me! It made me aware of the total subjectivity of “my interpretation” of my experience and our need to evaluate all experiences by biblical principles.

C J Mahaney in, Living The Cross Centered Life, in chapter two addresses the issue of “What You Feel vs. What Is Real” and makes many important observations but none more needed than, “Our feelings simply cannot be trusted.”i He writes, “It's a frightening experience to sit with individuals who actually insist that what they feel is ultimately more authoritative to them than what's written clearly in Scripture.”ii I sadly also have witnessed this in ministry. He reminds us that we either choose to live by listening to ourselves, that is, our constantly changing feelings about our circumstances, or we look outside ourselves to live by the objective, never-changing, completely true Word of God. We should have spiritual experiences and affections that arise from our relationship with Jesus but these should be the “inevitable effects of Scripture rightly understood and believed”iii and must never be allowed to take precedence over Scripture or be where we begin in our relationship with Christ.

So, you may ask, “What's the big deal?” The evangelical church is being inundated by a pursuit of “spiritual formation” courses, conferences, books etc that promote mysticism under the umbrella of “meditation or contemplation” as a means of drawing close to God and hearing God speak to oneself in “silence.” Well-known practices are “centering prayer” and “sacred reading” (lectio divina) and walking a labyrinth or prayer path. “Centering prayer” involves choosing a sacred word and silently focusing on the word as a means to draw God's presence into you for a period of about twenty minutes several times a day. This has obvious similarities to Transcendental Meditation!

“Sacred Reading” (lectio divina) is a slow meditative reading of Scripture that involves four stages of read/listen, meditate/reflect, pray/respond, and contemplate/rest. Sound good? Yet, P R Sterling notes, “The purpose of lectio divina is not to think about the meaning and application of a Bible verse or passage, but to gain an experience from it and even receive a personal word from God. There is a difference between reading the Bible to understand its meaning and apply it to our lives versus a method of focusing on a text to gain a mystical experience.”iv Many evangelicals promote mystic practices as a means to draw close to God including Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life, in chapter 11 where he encourages “breath prayers” and recommends Brother Lawrence a known Christian mystic writer. Mysticism promotes experience over Scripture in seeking to know God and can open one to spiritual deception, and produce physical, physiological and psychological symptoms.v

Have you ever witnessed to a Mormon? What makes it especially challenging is that Mormons place their experience above Scripture or logic when confronted with facts. Many evangelicals aren't much better and justify this with comments like, “I sense the Holy Spirit leading me.” Consider that people have argued that God “told them” to commit murder, a “logical” act if one's experience trumps Scripture's authority!vi There are only two references to being “led by the Spirit” (Rom 8:14, Gal 5:18) and when that is connected to a feeling, impression, prompting, or personal desire, the Holy Spirit is reduced from being a Person to a sensation.vii Paul isn't speaking of knowing God's will but rather of leading a godly life and of one's sanctification not God's “guidance.”

I was once told by a worship leader that God impressed upon that person that a certain song be sung and when I omitted it during the Sunday worship due to time factors I was queried whether God directed me to do so! Did I disobey God's will? I don't think so but this person was convinced God had indicated this song be sung!viii

Many popular authors promote experience in knowing God's will. Joyce Meyer says, “God delivers His word through signs, revelations, and internal confirmation. Ask God for the sensitivity to hear His voice.”ix K Hornok wisely asks, “If God’s revelation was cognitive, not emotive, then why should Christians think they can receive special revelation from God through their emotions or feelings today? Put another way, if God did not speak to Bible writers through their emotions before the completed Canon, why would He speak that way today when the Canon is complete? Therefore, in my opinion, since 'impressions' and 'inner promptings' cannot be proved as coming from God, it seems that they may be self-induced.”x We shouldn't put desires, impressions, promptings, and insights on an equal level with special revelation found in the Bible because our minds and motives are often flawed and affected by sin. Hornok cautions, “We are free to act on our impressions, ideas, or good desires if they do not violate Scripture. However, it must also be pointed out that we are never instructed or encouraged in the Bible to seek, listen to, or follow inner promptings or impressions" [his emphasis].xi

What is the biblical relationship between God's revelation in the Bible and our feelings and emotions? Hornok concurs with Mahaney that “Since all communication from God through the Bible is of a cognitive nature, it may well be that our feelings and emotions play a vital role in our response to that revelation. In other words, our intellect has the role of receiving and understanding revelation from God while our emotions have a role in responding to that revelation” [his emphasis].xii

Many either don't know, or ignore or don't understand the implication of Hebrews 4:12 “For the Word of God is living and active.” If we want to clearly hear God speak to us we need to listen to God speak to us through a proper understanding of the inspired, inerrant biblical texts. The writer of Hebrews teaches us that God continues to speak to mankind today, not in a cornfield but in the Bible! Are we listening?


Randy Mann

i (Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2006), 33.
ii Mahaney, Cross Centered, 34.
iii Mahaney, Cross Centered, 36.
iv “Christian Leadership And Mentoring: Contemplative Theology's Trojan Horse” JOTGES 20:39 (Autumn 2007), 33-34.
v Sterling, Trojan, 27-28.
vi Ken Hornok, “Does God Give Subjective Revelation Today? The Place Of Mysticism In Christian Decision Making” JOTGES 20:38 (Spring 2007), 18.
vii Hornok, Subjective, 26.
viii One can listen to a two-part series on “Knowing God's Will” on our website [Resources (Aug 26, Sept 2 2007)].
ix How to Hear From God: Learn to Know His Voice and Make Right Decisions, (Nashville: FaithWords, 2003).
x Hornok, Subjective, 23.
xi Hornok, Subjective, 24
xii Hornok, Subjective, 25.

Musings On Ethnicity

Growing up in rural Ontario, north of London, I had little exposure to ethnic concerns apart from what I saw or read in the news reports. I heard ethnic slurs as a young boy although I never used them but my first personal exposure to ethnic issues occurred as a young boy in 1967. In raising money for our baseball organization my coach promised to take whoever sold the most chocolate bars to a baseball game in Detroit. I'd never been to a major league baseball game and I was determined to win! My brother and I with the help of my father sold around $370 worth of bars at 50 cents a bar! My brother and I won and were promised we would be taken to a game but the ethnic based riots in July 1967 in Detroit led to postponing that promise until 1968.


There was no real ethnic diversity in the schools or churches I attended as I grew up. In the mid-1970's I attended seminary in Philadelphia and this was my first exposure to ethnic diversity. I lived in the dorms which were really only two floors of single rooms with a common kitchen and washroom facilities for all the men on each floor. We ranged in age from those still in their teens [like myself] to older men in their forties or fifties and we came from all parts of North America as was obvious by the various accents! There was also ethnic diversity and I thought nothing at the time of using the same common kitchen cutlery and dishes or washroom facilities. Strangely, I first noticed ethnic diversity driving home from church services on a Sunday morning. As the congregations gathered outside after their services I saw several different ethnic churches but none that were ethnically diverse! I knew even as a young Christian this wasn't God's intention and as churches we weren't fulfilling God's redemptive plan to unite all nations in Christ! My final two years at the seminary I worshiped in the small church that met in the chapel at the seminary. This church was ethnically diverse and eventually the pastor married a lovely young lady from that congregation uniting in marital communion their ethnic diversity.


As an avid sports fan, I was aware of the bigotry in major league baseball that arose in the late nineteenth century that Jackie Robinson became famous for challenging when he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. As a Boston Celtics fan I was aware they had been instrumental in challenging the monolithic ethnic nature of the NBA. A recent book, Rebound! Basketball, Busing, Larry Bird, And The Rebirth Of Boston (MVP Books, 2008) even argues for the role of the Celtics in helping address ethnic issues in Boston. As a sports fan I've often viewed these ethnic issues through sports lenses.


In recent years, several sports movies have attempted to portray the ethnic tensions and prejudice that prevailed in North American society in the 1960's and 1970's. Glory Road recalls the struggle of the Texas Western College [now University of Texas at El Paso] basketball team to integrate their team and its impact on the small town of El Paso, Texas in the mid-1960's. The ethnic significance was that Texas Western started the first completely African American lineup and won the NCAA championship in 1966! In the movie, some of the controversial scenes of ethnic prejudice were Disney's “creative liberty” to enhance the theme of ethnic tensions. These “creative liberties” by Disney also are found in the movie, Remember The Titans the story of the 1971 T C Williams High School football team from Alexandria, VA who won the state championship. In 1971, three high schools in Alexandria were combined to form two junior high schools and one senior high school of junior and senior students at T C Williams. This required players from the previously ethnically segregated schools to now play together and compete for starting positions on the football team. Yet, T C Williams was previously integrated. As portrayed in the movie, African American Coach Herman Boone did get the head coaching job at T C Williams unexpectedly over Coach Bill Yoast and Boone did integrate the team by having them train at Gettysburg College. The success of the team did have a positive effect on the ethnic tensions in Alexandria.


In Acts 8:1 we read that persecution of the Christians in Jerusalem led them to scatter throughout Judea and Samaria and in this way the gospel spread. God can accomplish his redemptive purposes in many ways! I wonder if God is actively integrating churches in North America that have been slow to see His vision. A recent study indicates that churches are beginning to reflect more ethnic diversity. “We're far from a color-blind society, in religion or anything else, but there is some movement in churches as well as elsewhere,” said Mark Chaves, professor of sociology, religion and divinity at Duke University and lead researcher on the project. The study found that some congregations that were previously all-white now have a couple of minority families as members. Chaves said mostly black churches did not report a comparable change (Adelle M. Banks, “Churches More Diverse, Informal Than 8 Years Ago” Dec 26, 2008).

We are now witnessing greater ethnic diversity particularly in the major metropolitan centers of the world. D A Carson notes, “In some cities the pace of this change has been stunning. A bare three decades ago, Toronto was still largely white and at least substantially WASP. Now the United Nations says it is the most ethnically and culturally diverse city on the continent — and that includes Los Angeles” (“Challenges for 21st-Century Preaching”). While this stat has been disputed, Toronto is certainly one of the more ethnic diverse cities in North America and this has implications for churches and the gospel.

This provides for us in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) an opportunity to take the gospel to the “nations” that are literally in our neighborhoods! It also means our churches should reflect God's intent of unity in Christ with ethnic diversity as we seek to testify to the God who loved the world in all its ethnic diversity so much that he sent His Son, Jesus into the world to die to save sinners from every ethnic group (Jn 3:16). May our churches reflect God's eternal plan to gather people of “every tribe and language and people and nation” around His throne to worship Jesus (Rev 5:9)!


Randy Mann

Encouragement to Persevere from Hebrews

The readers of the book of Hebrews were tempted in their trials to live by their feelings and abandon Jesus (3:6). So the writer uses “truth” to warn them recalling Israel as an example of those who didn't walk in fellowship with God but disobeyed and provoked God (3:7-11). The emphatic use of “Today” (3:7) indicates that immediate action is required since God is speaking and they need to be listening!

The author speaks in chapters 3 and 4 of entering God's rest, which points to a place of blessing, peace and security in the presence of God. Disobedience cut Israel off from this blessing and we are warned lest we also miss this! Christians have been delivered from slavery to sin and are being led to our Promised Land [new heavens and earth] but we must also endure a period of testing in the wilderness of this world. Our wilderness wanderings “test” our faith as we face suffering, trials, losses etc. A W Pink wrote, “Testings reveal the state of our hearts – a crisis neither makes nor mars a man, but it does manifest him.”

From Israel's experience we are reminded that a complaining spirit is a sign of unbelief expressing doubt about God's wisdom and love. A complaining spirit reveals a heart that doesn't truly know God and His ways, that has not reflected upon His character and purposes and hasn't listen to God – in the Bible! If you read the Bible, what do you look for in it? Look for what it reveals about God! D G Barnhouse said, “How wonderful that when we are blinded by tears, we can nevertheless see our God...our tears...lenses through which he is magnified.” In Hebrews 3:12 the writer warns about having an unbelieving heart. How do we avoid it? We “fix our thoughts on Jesus” (3:1) in God's Word beholding Jesus' life, character, purposes and promises to us!

The writer argues in Hebrews 4:9 that Jesus gives “rest for men's souls” (cf. Mt 11:28-30) but like those who entered Canaan with Joshua [Gk “Jesus”] there were still enemies to fight and it's not a “completed rest.” We enter “the rest” [present tense in 4:3] but it still remains a future “Sabbath-rest” when all enemies will be defeated [sin, death, Satan] and we'll know a “peaceful rest”! God's rest on the 7^th day was one where everything was “good” [shalom] and for believers that “rest” is future as we're still in the wilderness! “The people of God” is an expression used only here (4:9) and in Hebrews 11:25 and refers in the OT to Israel and in the NT to Christian believers. God's rest is for “believers in Jesus” and others cannot and will not enter it due to unbelief.

We are to cease from striving to earn God's favor and rest securely on what Jesus has done for us in his life and death. In Hebrews 4:11 the writer urges that they make a quick and serious effort to enter the rest “so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.” How? By works? No, by faith in Jesus! How? Listening to and responding to God! Israel didn't listen to God's voice but hardened their hearts and didn't enter God's rest. “Delay hardens the heart, especially when we are fully aware that we have heard the voice of God in the inner soul. Every shrug of the shoulder that puts off acting on God’s urging for change, every toss of the head that says, 'I know I should, but I don’t care,' every attempt at outward conformity without inner commitment produces a hardening of the heart that makes repentance harder and harder to do” (R Stedman). So, how does one “make every effort to enter that rest”? By listening to God in the Word of God (4:12-13)! We are to listen both individually and corporately and allow God and his saints to use the Word to expose possible sin and hardness in our hearts (4:13). Jesus' heavenly high priestly ministry on our behalf (4:14-16) also is vital to our holding fast our confidence to the end as we pray to him and he prays for us!

The writer presents three “means of grace” to encourage perseverance. Fellowship and encouragement from others helps us to persevere (3:13) and God's Word is essential in revealing our sin and motives and stirring us to accountable living (4:12-13). The writer turns his focus to a third “means of grace,” the role of prayer, in 4:14-16.

Hebrews 4:14 says Jesus has “gone through the heavens” which points to Jesus' right to the supreme place in the universe at his ascension/exaltation, but there is more implied. Jesus was our High Priest appearing with his blood in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly tabernacle [God's presence] to obtain redemption for us (cf. Heb 9:11-14). We may approach Jesus confidently because he knows our weakness [human frailty] and can sympathize meaningfully with us. Jesus knows about physical weariness, hunger, physical limitations, human opposition and spiritual temptation - the very things we must endure. He “has been tempted ... just as we are” may mean “in the same way as we are tempted” or “by reason of his likeness to us” and both are true. With Jesus as our great High Priest, we can approach “the throne of grace” [used only here in the NT] that is into God's presence.

It is a “throne of grace” because 1) the one sitting on it is gracious, 2) we come to it by grace [Jesus' saving work on our behalf], 3) from it grace is dispensed to us. We experience grace a) as our sins are covered by Jesus' blood, b) the Spirit helps us with our faltering prayers (Rom 8:26), c) our sympathetic High Priest intercedes for us. We come boldly since Jesus and the Spirit intercede on our behalf with our Abba!

At this throne of grace we can find mercy, which we need because we have failed so often and we find grace which we need to be able to serve Jesus. C H Spurgeon said we go the “throne of grace” with 1) lowly reverence [in the presence of the great King], 2) great joy [we are welcomed and loved as adopted children in Jesus], 3) enlarged expectations [God is sovereign, powerful, good and loves us as our Abba!], 4) confidence [we will be received favorably and heard and answered in accord with the King's wise purposes for us!]

We are in a spiritual battle and must make every effort to enter “the rest” (4:11) but God has provided us with wonderful resources to enable us to persevere! Our salvation and our spiritual resources are all to be found in Jesus and so we must not hesitate to boldly go to and through Jesus, our sympathetic High Priest to find daily grace. Sinners and struggling saints must go to the throne of grace where Jesus will help us!

Randy Mann

Stay Out of "The Shack"

The most recent best seller among professing Christians in North America is The Shack by William Paul Young (Newbury Park, CA: Windblown Media, 2007) 248 pp. “The book is a novel set in the Northwest, for the most part in the northeast corner of the State of Oregon. It is a novel designed to propound a particular view of the nature of God and the resolution of the problem of human suffering. Its subtitle betrays its scope: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity” [http://theshackreview.com/content/ReviewofTheShack.pdf (James De Young, Review, 2)]

By way of summary: The format is a retelling of the experience of Mackenzie Allen Phillips by his friend Willie. Mackenzie has a troubled past & finds himself in training for ministry yet unable to pursue it. Then he experiences the brutal murder of his youngest daughter and he becomes bitter toward God. Three and a half years later, he is led by God back to the murder scene—a desolate cabin in the mountains and forests of Northeast Oregon—where he encounters the Triune God and finds how to have joy again in his life. It is tied to the reason for his existence and his relationship with God. The murder of his daughter is also solved (De Young, Review, 2).

A note about this review. I seek access to numerous book reviews through journals, magazines and on-line sources. I do this so I can keep abreast of what is being published and being read. I think this is important as a “shepherd of the souls of God's sheep.” Access to such reviews allows me also to use my limited financial resources to buy books that I will find to be most profitable for me. I only have limited time to read also so book reviews allow me to become conversant with the content of a book and the critiques of it [while dutifully recognizing the theological perspective of the reviewer(s)]. Thus, I've chosen not to purchase or read The Shack but I've read around a dozen reviews of the book from a variety of theological perspectives. Rather than cull from the various reviews points of concern, I want to make you aware of a specific review of The Shack that I think is probably one of the most important to read and I'll explain why as I share a few comments from James B De Young's review.

I've noted above James B. De Young's “At The Back Of The Shack A Torrent Of Universalism: A Review” (Revised ed., May, 2008) and one needs to know that De Young is a close friend of William Young, who goes by “Paul.” De Young (p. 5) notes their families and kids have been friends for about a dozen years and De Young and Paul have been “theological buddies” enjoying multiple discussions of theological issues over the years & together co-founded a Christian forum where they and several others have explored many theological issues including universal reconciliation. They've had many conversations about things that are reflected in his novel—the meaning of reality, the Trinity, love, the fall, humanity, the future, etc. About four years ago Paul embraced universal reconciliation, and strongly defended his decision. It is on this matter that they part company.

De Young (p, 2), rightly notes “Because the fiction is deeply moving the reader is caught up in the emotions of the story. And therein lies the problem. It is too easy to feel deeply with the sufferings and triumphs of the characters and miss the theological point of what is being said.” De Young writes (p. 8), “It is often said that to understand a book better one needs to know its author. We even say this about the Bible. Well, I am acquainted with Paul and his doctrinal beliefs. Thus I feel qualified and compelled to address the contents of the novel. I am concerned that many may read this story without discerning that what Paul writes undermines evangelical theology, the gospel, and the institutional church founded by Jesus himself and his Apostles.”

De Young (p. 7) adds helpful insight by revealing that “Paul admits that his novel is partially autobiographical. Paul has shunned the institutional church, holding church instead in a private home with his family and some friends. He has regularly opposed other institutions associated with the church, such as seminaries and Bible schools, and has opposed the institution of the government. In The Shack he identifies all institutions as demonic systems and power-control entities that hinder relationship with God (see the discussion below). If these words show that Paul is being true to himself in his practices will not his other words reflect his being true to himself in his beliefs? It is not surprising that all of these thoughts and beliefs are represented in The Shack. It is particularly bold for Paul to have them come from the mouth of God himself (often in neglect of other, contrasting words from God as recorded in the text of Scripture).

De Young (p. 3) warns of the various theological errors propounded in the novel, saying, “The greatest doctrinal distortion in the book is Paul’s assumption of universal reconciliation. There are other points of theology that are distorted or improbable or debatable. These include mutual submission in the Godhead; no subordination within the Godhead or among people; the Father’s co-crucifixion with Christ (modalistic); people completing a circle of relationship with the three persons of the Godhead; institutions being identified as diabolical; etc. Yet the most serious error is Paul’s embrace of universal reconciliation which lies embedded in the book.”

“Recently Paul has deflected charges that he is a universalist. I presume that he means that he is not an adherent of general universalism. This is that system of belief that affirms that there are many roads to God and Jesus is only one of these. This is not Paul’s belief” (De Young, Review, 6). William Young [“Paul”] does embrace and teaches universal reconciliation in The Shack. “Universal reconciliation is not a minor doctrine. It goes to the heart of evangelical faith—who God is; what he accomplished at the cross; what sin is; how and when people are saved; what the nature of the judgment after death is; etc” (De Young, Review, 8). De Young says, “Christian universalism (also known as universal reconciliation) argues that love is the supreme attribute of God that trumps all others. Those who refuse him now will be given another chance to repent after they die. Thus unbelieving humanity, and fallen angels and the Devil himself, will one day in hell repent and be delivered from it and be admitted into heaven. There cannot be any left in the universe whom the love of God does not conquer; hence the words, universalism reconciliation” [ http://theshackreview.com/content/ TheShackShorterReview.pdf (De Young, June 2008, 8)]. De Young carefully exposes this subtle teaching in The Shack & how it distorts a biblical understanding of God and his attributes and the gospel!

De Young interacts with arguments as to why someone might still read the book despite its subversive theology [read the full review on-line]. De Young (p. 39) concludes, “He [Paul] is subversive to the truth about a lot of things, including the nature of God and the eternal end of people, particularly the lost. He is subversive to the institutions of the church, the state, the home. The book hinders rather than helps genuine spiritual growth and understanding. Paul acts like an insurgent does within a culture. The effect is chaos and anarchy.” So, this is why I have no desire to spend any time in the vicinity of The Shack and why I recommend you also steer clear of it as well!

Randy

Persecution and Following Jesus

Several things recently have turned my focus to the persecution of God's people. Sunday, November 9th is designated as the “International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church” and so it is good for us to think about this reality and to pray for brothers and sisters in Christ who are daily undergoing persecution because of their faithfulness to Jesus. The news reports that I read, mention on a daily basis persecution taking place in various parts of the world such as India, Pakistan, Iraq etc. What can be overlooked in our North American context is the cost of following Jesus. This is especially true where North American churches are preaching a gospel of “easy-believism” or “non-Lordship” salvation that minimizes the commitment one makes to Jesus as a “professed” Christian. I've recently been reading John MacArthur's twenty-fifth anniversary edition of The Gospel According To Jesus What Is Authentic Faith? (Zondervan, 2008) which rightfully challenges and exposes the biblical distortion of the gospel in the non-Lordship gospel. One might have hoped this message would've disappeared off the scene but alas they seem to be still flourishing with their own theological society and journal.

Recently, I finished reading John Piper's, Spectacular Sins And Their Global Purpose In The Glory of Christ (Crossway, 2008) and appreciated Piper's clarion call and possibly prophetic call to prepare the saints in our North American churches for potential hard times of trial and possible persecution. Piper focuses on the role of “spectacular sins” in God's sovereign and global purposes and rightly points us to Jesus and our victory in him over the evil that abounds in this world. In an age of seeker-sensitive and emergent church approaches that water-down God's truth and ignore the confrontational truths of sin, hell, God's wrath and judgment this is a timely call to awake and be prepared because “the times are a changing” and Christians in North America may soon find, like others throughout the world, that there is a real cost to following Jesus.

The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States has been viewed by most as signaling a time of change is coming. Some are delighted but others are very concerned, especially among some Christians that I've read and spoken with recently. There is a concern that many things that Christians value and strive for will be lost or undermined and abortion become even more firmly entrenched then previously, euthanasia gain greater momentum, and Christians will be “silenced” legally in voicing any public opposition to homosexuality. Certainly if these and other freedoms and rights are curtailed or rescinded it will present a much different climate for one to be a “professing” Christian and not simply a “closet” Christian. Yet, what these Christians I've spoken with and read do understand is the biblical truth that God is sovereign and sets up and brings down leaders according to His plans and purposes. So, thankfully, we can rest with confidence that God is in control! They also realize though that it may be part of God's purposes to bring about a political and national context where Christians will begin to be discriminated against, legally arrested and persecuted for a commitment to Jesus. This will present a real challenge for the church in North America. It may also mean the next Barna poll instead of listing 60% of all Americans as “professing” Christians will show possibly only a 20% profession or less when it begins to actually “cost” to follow Jesus!

God has his purposes in allowing His saints to be hounded, persecuted and killed by evil people and regimes in this world. It certainly “raises the stakes” in terms of professing to be a Christian and identifying with them! It also purifies the church as the uncommitted with “one foot in the world and another in a pew” leave and as the true saints are weaned from this world and prepared for eternity. The discipline and judgment of God are intended for the good of God's people and the advancement of God's kingdom (Heb 12:7-13). God's purging of the sin of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 isn't your typical “church-growth” strategy but the church grew greatly as a result (Acts 5:12-13) and persecution caused the gospel to be taken to other places (Acts 8:1) so others were saved (Acts 8:4ff). There are of course other purposes that could be listed but ultimately God intends to glorify Jesus in it all.

I highly recommend the monthly devotional magazine, Tabletalk which is published by Ligonier Ministries and available from Sola Scriptura International in Canada. In the November 2008 issue there are three outstanding articles on missions providing an overview and description of the church situations in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The article by Peter Hammond on the situation in Africa provides insight into the conflict between Animism, communism, Islam and Christianity. God has used persecution in Nigeria, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Rwanda etc to add to his church many souls as pastors with arms or feet cut off fearlessly carrying the “good news” to lost sinners. Hammond writes that reports indicate that as many as five million Muslims may have turned to Jesus in Sudan in the past twenty years and in Nigeria, Algeria, Morocco etc the number of Muslim converts continues to grow. Hammonds notes that on al-Jazeera TV in Saudi Arabia a leading Sheikh complained that “sixteen thousand Muslims convert to Christianity” every day! The Sheikh claimed Islam is losing six million Muslims a year to conversions to Christianity. Even if these numbers are exaggerated to stir up opposition to Christians and the gospel, it is clear that in the very face of Satanic hostility and persecution by sinful men God is greatly adding to Jesus' kingdom and exalting Jesus' name among the nations!

So, who knows in the wise purposes of God what exactly He has in store for the church in North America, but it may include persecution. If we are truly followers of Christ we should be ready to give even our lives, if required, to proclaim the glories of Christ, having set our affections on things above and knowing our citizenship is in heaven where Jesus is and awaits us (Col 3:1-2).


Randy

Chosen By Grace

“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” (Eph 1:4 NIV). A title or name can say a great deal about a person or what someone is committed to or believes. The name for this blog was specifically selected because it reflects biblical truths that we affirm and exult in, namely the sovereign electing grace of the Triune God towards undeserving sinners such as ourselves. Election is a biblical idea as is clear from Ephesians 1:4 and many other passages that speak of God choosing or electing a people. Election is also a great comfort to many saints and yet raises great consternation to many other saints! The debates on election can be simplified to this simple issue, what is God's choosing or election based upon? Some argue God's choosing is based upon God's foresight in history/time of those who would choose Jesus as their Savior. Yet, texts like Acts 13:48 which indicates faith flows from or follows God's decree of election or Romans 9:11-12 that teach that election isn't based on any human work or response should settle the issue. Ephesians 1:5 clearly states that election is based upon God's purpose and divine will/pleasure, as we read, “In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will...”. This is why we believe and rejoice in God's sovereign election of sinners to salvation! A helpful read on this issue of election is Robert A Peterson, Election and Free Will (Presbyterian & Reformed, 2007)

It is not my purpose to enter into a lengthy defense of the biblical teaching on God's sovereignty in election but rather to simply “lay our cards on the table” and make it clear that those of us associated with this blog are committed to the “doctrines of grace” which have also historically been described as the five points of Calvinism or summed up with the acronym “TULIP”. We are associated with the Christian & Missionary Alliance denomination and we understand that isn't where one would typically go if you were searching for strong supporters of the “doctrines of grace” but such is the case for at least the leadership of this one Alliance church. Our commitment is to the doctrines of grace and I don't use the term “Calvinism” because it is anachronistic since these biblical truths of God's saving grace were revealed by Jesus long before John Calvin was born and secondly, we don't embrace all that John Calvin taught. It is my understanding, the Alliance has simply not made issues such as the doctrines of grace [Calvinism or Arminianism] a point of contention but has focused on missions and living a holy life, which all Christians can agree are good areas to focus upon!

So, why even mention this commitment? Simply because it speaks volumes about our biblical understanding of God, man and the way in which God saves fallen, sinful mankind. Those are essential issues that comprise the heart of the gospel and the doctrines of grace are about the gospel! The bible teaches that mankind sinned against God in Adam and consequently all humans are born as sinners in rebellion against God (Rom 5:12-14; Ps 51:5; Ps 58:3). Sinful mankind doesn't understand God's ways or seek God for deliverance from the bondage of sin but lives under God's wrath alienated from God due to sin (Rom 3:10-12; Eph 2:1-3). If no one seeks God as the bible teaches, than how can a sinner be saved? Mankind doesn't even seek such salvation but thankfully God has chosen to exhibit his great love to sinners by providing all that is necessary for their forgiveness and reconciliation to himself through the Divine Son coming in the Incarnation [Jesus] to achieve a free [to sinners] but costly [to God] salvation for sinners!

Ephesians 1:4 means that in eternity, God having determined to create, seeing the rebellion of Adam and fall of the human race into sin, determined out of that fallen humanity to save a multitude [the exact number known only to God] from every race, nationality and people group to be to the praise of His inexplicable grace. Since all mankind was rightly deserving of God's just punishment of eternal death due to its sin in Adam and its corrupt sinful nature, God was under no moral obligation to show mercy to any sinners, not even one (!), but lovingly chose to show mercy to a multitude of rebellious sinners. God's choice wasn't based upon the talents, abilities or efforts of the sinners chosen or anything connected to them, but God's choice was simply and solely in accordance with his sovereign and free choice to “show mercy to whom he would show mercy” (Rom 9:10-16).

This great plan is worked out in time and space in Jesus' righteous life and death for God's sheep so that these chosen ones receive the benefits of Jesus' righteousness and substitutionary death for them and they become by faith in Jesus a people forgiven and adopted as children into God's family. God's Spirit moves like the wind wherever God sends it to stir dead sinners to spiritual life so that they are “born again or born from above” (John 3:6-8). They are by God's Spirit powerfully and effectively through the gospel drawn to Jesus and have a desire for God's forgiveness as they see for the first time the inexplicable loveliness of Jesus as the one who is their Savior and Lord (Jn 6:37, 44, 65).

This has been my experience. Early in September of 1972 while riding home on the school bus I “providentially” overheard my neighbor telling a friend about her brother's conversion at university. I'd attended Sunday school but I hadn't been to church in several years since starting high school. I wasn't wrestling with any conviction about sin or seeking to re-establish some type of relationship with the church or God. I wasn't “seeking God” but for some reason I wanted to talk with this fellow, who was slightly older than myself and a neighbor. I convinced my mother to let me skip school the next day and she consented since many students were going to see a Shakespearean play in Stratford, Ontario but I hadn't signed up to attend. There are no coincidences in life only the perfect providential leading of a sovereign God! Little did I realize that the conversation the next day would be the beginning of three weeks of a growing and intense concern for my eternal salvation as I gave myself over to prayer and bible reading realizing for the first time that I wasn't a Christian and I didn't know the peace and forgiveness of God through Jesus. That peace and assurance came late in September as I read through the Gospel of John & realized God loved me so much that Jesus had died to pay the penalty for my sins against God.

My experience illustrates the wonderful truth that sinners are chosen by grace to salvation in Christ in eternity (Eph 1:4-6). God's sovereign electing grace to me in eternity was manifest in time while I was still a sinner uncaring and unconcerned about my soul. God arranged the circumstances providentially to begin drawing me to himself in repentance and faith. All who are “chosen by grace” can't help but be a thankful, humbled people, who desire to live their lives in expressions of eternal gratitude as Paul says, “to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves” (Eph 1:6).

Randy