Here’s my heart – take and seal it.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9)

🍩 trust your heart. (I hope you get the joke over there. )

Kidding aside, I’d just like to relate this verse with the hymn that profoundly struck me today. It’s titled, “Count, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”. I just want to zero in on the fact that our hearts are the ultimate wanderlusts. It’s always prone to wander away from the Lord and leave the God we love over the things of this world as the hymn so aptly puts it. Most often than not, we exchange God over money, fame, approval, attention, pleasures, and relationships. Our hearts are so deceitful that it could convince us to the point that we could say to ourselves that the exchange is worth it.

But no, it’s never worth it for emptiness and futility await you upon making that exchange. Jesus alone could truly and fully satisfy the insatiable desires that we have for He is eternally satisfying.

Let nothing or no one get in between the intimate love relationship that we have with Jesus. The desires of our wicked hearts should be overruled by stronger desires. And that desires are always our love for Christ and joy in Him.

I think this is also the best defense against temptation. It is to say that, “I’m just so joyful with this love relationship that I have with Jesus that I don’t want anyone or anything to get in between the two of us.”

Let me just stop here by quoting the last 4 lines of the hymn.

“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it in Thy courts above.”

Hope you are blessed. God bless!

What can I do for you?

We all have this consumer mentality in regards to relationships. The question is always, “What can you do for me?” That’s lust, my friends. Love asks the question, “What can I do for you?”

I just want to sidetrack to attribute the questions “What can I do for you?” and “What can you do for me?” to Timothy Keller. He made that distinction between lust and love. He posted elsewhere on his Facebook page, “Lust says, ‘What can you do for me?’ Love says, ‘What can I do for you?'”

We also have these superficial bases upon which we decide whom to choose to pursue or whom to entertain. It’s more often than not based on externalities. Say, for example, “She’s beautiful.” What happens if she’s not beautiful anymore? “She’s really nice to talk to.” What happens if there’s someone who comes along who’s better at carrying good conversations than she is? “She has all this and that.” What happens if she loses everything? Will you just leave her?

Personally, I believe that an objective basis should be the ground upon which we are to base our decisions. And obviously, God should be that basis because He’s the source of objective reality. God ordained marriage for His glory and purposes not ours. So, the questions should be, “What can we do for Him?”, “Will we be more like Jesus through this relationship?”, “Do I see myself joyfully submitting to his headship as my future husband?”, “Do I see myself sacrificially loving, providing, protecting, and leading her as my future wife?”, “Could we raise a godly heritage?”, “Could we, by the grace of God, make Christ-committed disciples and advance the kingdom of God?”

I’m so guilty of all of these and I don’t want to act like a self-righteous jerk like I often do. So, in spite of the inconsistency in what I think and in what I do, I do really hope that you’d consider the content of this post notwithstanding the person who posted this.

P.S. This is more of a preaching to my sinful self that needs to be put to death daily.

Pursue Clarity Not Intimacy

Clarity precedes intimacy.

I’m not the appropriate person to make this post because of the mistakes that I did in the context of relationships but still the significance of this conviction couldn’t be understated. Here’s the conviction: Christ-centered clarity precedes Christ-centered intimacy.

Intimacy is safest in the context of a covenant relationship: marriage. Marriage is safest in the context of clarity.

That’s the goal of courtship: to gain clarity on whether both of you are made for each other to show Jesus to the world, to commit your lives to discipleship, to raise a godly heritage, and to be the significant other whom God will use in order for both of you to be more and more like Jesus.

Due to the influx of books and articles on dating, the well-meaning advise just put us into frustration and confusion. There’s no straight-forward passage in the Bible about dating. So, those well-meaning advise is not absolute but should be applied in wisdom.

The instructions of the Christian God are clear. Marry a member of the opposite sex (Gen. 2:24) and that person should be a Christian (1 Cor. 7:39). The Bible is also clear regarding the distinctions of man and woman and the related responsibilities that accompany that distinctions. Future husbands/husbands should strive to lead humbly, love sacrificially, protect diligently, and provide sacrificially like Christ (Eph. 5:25-30). While, future wives/wives should strive to submit joyfully to the headship that God bestows upon his husband (Eph. 5:22-25).

The goal of  activities prior to marriage is not intimacy but clarity.

The Bible is also clear. If the woman is not your wife then she’s your sister (1 Tim. 5:2). Having siblings of the opposite sex is helpful. Since, I’ve learned of this teaching, I always ask myself, “Can I do to this woman of God the things that I could do to my biological sisters?” I’ll just give one example to make it short. If you don’t passionately kiss your biological sisters then you shouldn’t do the same with your sisters in Christ. The same principle goes with women.

The purpose of this article is not to show the how to’s of dating. It’s to establish its purpose and that’s clarity not intimacy.

Again, intimacy is safest in the context of marriage.

Thank you for reading my blog post. Hope you are blessed.

The Free Gift

Most if not all always look forward for presents especially during Christmas. We’re in a state of bliss upon receiving such gifts. We’re also thrilled because of our excitement as we open the gifts we have received. From all the gifts that we have received, there’s nothing that could be compared to the gift that God is offering to us.

I just want to share the most precious gift anyone could have by means of Ephesians 2:1 to 10. Kindly see my observations and explanations for Ephesians 2:1 to 10. Thank you! 🙂

Verse 1: Believers who were in Ephesus were formerly dead in their spiritual state.

Verse 2: They used to live a sinful lifestyle and this lifestyle is in conformity to the patterns of the world. They were also subject to the reign of the ruler of the air which is satan, and satan is at work in their lives because of they’re enslaved to Him.

Verse 3: Paul qualifies that there’s no one who’s exempted because all believers in Ephesus lived among them at one time. He further described that their lifestyle is associated with self-gratification. Paul’s final and overarching description of verses 1 to 3 is that they are by nature children of wrath. That’s why they did the things that they did.

Their cravings, desires, and thoughts are directed by their sinful nature. Since, all of us are sinners and God is just God. We deserve to be punished because we’ve all broken God’s law even once. God’s standard is perfection. He doesn’t weigh our good deeds with our bad deeds and render judgment base which side has more merit. That’s why Paul refers us as children of wrath. We’re people deserving of the wrath of God.

Verse 4: A theologian once said, “Praise God for the buts in the Bible.” Verse 1 to 3 refers to the bad news that sinners face. Verse 4 is the turning point of this bad news. It refers to what God did towards ill-deserving sinners. It describes God as being rich in mercy. And His mercy motivated Him to show His love towards us. Mercy refers to God not giving us what we deserve. The object of this giving should be in the negative (E.g. punishment). Since, we’re sinners, God did not give us what we deserve: wrath.

Verse 5: God’s love is manifested through His actions. In this passage, God’s action is the impartation of spiritual life with Christ. So, we have this newness of life by virtue of our relationship with Christ.

Verse 6: The body couldn’t be separated from the Head. Since, the Christ is the Head of His church. When He was raised, it’s as if His church was also raised with Him although most of the believers were not yet born. When He was seated at the right hand of God, it’s as if also that we were seated even though our glorification refers to our future state. In the Jewish culture, Jewish writers use the past tense of a verb even though it refers to the future to communicate the absolute certainty that the action will absolutely happen.

Verse 7: The reason why God did this is for us to be the recipients of grace in Christ Jesus.

Verse 8: Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Grace means unmerited favor or unearned kindness. We don’t deserve to be saved by God from His wrath. Yet He did it so that He might show us How wonderful He is. That’s why the package of salvation is referred to as the gift of God because it’s unearned. Faith is the instrument upon which we receive all the benefits and merits that Christ earned in behalf of us. It’s like the medium upon which the graces of God are bestowed to the believer. Faith just simply means trusting in the person and work of Jesus. It’s trusting that He saved you because you couldn’t save yourself. He did it by taking upon Himself the wrath of God because of our sins. He also gives us the perfect righteousness that He earned because of His perfect obedience to the Father.

Verse 9: It’s never attained by works so that no one can boast of His salvation.

Verse 10: We’re new creatures in union with Christ. As new creatures made and designed by our Almighty Creator, we have new dispositions. These dispositions are geared towards God. That’s why we now desire the things that God desires and our actions are directed to the path that God prepared in advance. So, good works is an outflow of the fact that we’re new creatures. God designed us to do good works.

That’s why the author of Hebrews asked a rhetorical question, “How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.”

Come to Christ and embrace Christ. He’ll never cast you away and He’ll give you eternal life.

Hope you are blessed. God bless!

 

 

 

When Love and Hate Collide

The phrase “Love and Hate collide” caught my attention to the point that I contemplated the phrase for quite some time. It’s a title of a song that I’m not that familiar of but I was just struck because of the profundity of the title.

I just want to relate the title of this blog with what Christ did for His people. I mentioned that the title is profound because of it’s biblical orientation even though it was a secular song. Reconstructing the phrase and adding few words to it, I’ve arrived at this sentence: Love and hate collide when Christ died on the cross.

I wrote a while ago that it has a biblical orientation. So, I think it’s best first to support it with a solid biblical ground so as to justify the preceding claim. God’s love towards sinners is quoted in Romans 5:8. It states that, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” I think all of us could agree that God is love so there’s nothing quite of a contention in this claim. I think the normalcy of this truth – that God is love – has also it’s downfall if not taken in light of all God’s attributes. Most of us think that God’s chief virtue is love – that He is more loving than He is just. His attributes are all on the same plain for each attribute is infinite. We can’t just say that God’s love is greater that His justice because both are infinite. There’s no solid ground for that assertion because we don’t have a weighing scale that could measure God’s infinite attributes. And since, God’s love and justice are both infinite, it’s best to think that they’re on the same level.

I think there’d be much controversy if ever we encountered a statement as this – God hates us. This stems again from the fact that we have the tendency to think that since God is love, ergo, He cannot hate. However, when we try to analyze that statement carefully, we’ll come to the conclusion that since God is love, ergo, He must hate. Since, God loves children, therefore, He hates abortion. Since, God loves His image-bearers, He hates those who mar their image for it’s also His image. His love is an expression of His righteousness. The problem is we are all responsible in impairing the image that God has bestowed upon us because of sin. There’s no one who’s exempted for all are sinners and all have fallen short from the standard that God requires of us. (Rom. 3:23)

The bible even used the word abhor which is more intense than the word hate. It’s found in Psalm 5:5 to 6. It’s stated as follows, “The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes;
You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.”

So, God hates and abhors sinners but it’s also said that God demonstrates His love towards us in the death of His Son. So, the profundity of these truths would cause anyone who ponder these truths to ask this question: How can God love and hate sinners at the same time? The profundity of this question is answered by the immeasurable significance of the cross of Christ. God poured out His hatred against sinners upon His only begotten Son – Jesus Christ when He bore the sins of His people on His body at the cross. And it’s also at the cross of Christ that God fully demonstrated His love towards sinners when He sent His utterly beloved and only Son to take their punishment on their behalf. Christ took the punishment that is due our sins because of His love towards us. God loves ill-deserving sinners by virtue of Christ because in union with Him sinners are made holy and blameless because of the perfect righteousness of Christ that clothed them through faith alone. Sinners are faultless before the tribunal of God because they’re dressed in His righteousness alone.

This is like God’s way of saying I hate you but I also love you at the same time by virtue of His Son.

That’s why “When Love and Hate Collide” is profound because it points us to the cross of Christ.

If you want to see God’s love for sinners, marvel at the cross. If you want to see God’s hatred for sinners, marvel at the cross.

Hope you are blessed. God bless you.

 

Time Time Time

One of the cliches about time is: time is gold. Indeed, it’s so precious that the usage of it partly determines our direction in life. How we currently invest our time partly contributes  in the determination of our course in life. If we’re investing it in the entertainment of oneself then we’d be more of a people who are self-seeking rather than self-sacrificial. If we’re investing it in the pursuit of knowledge then we’d know more things. All of the activities that we do entails time. So, time is really an essential component in the progression of one’s life.

Lately, I’ve been thinking whether I’m making the most of the time that God has given me. As they say, “we could never turn back time.” So, I think it’s really important to make the most out of it so that when we try to contemplate on the past, we could somehow trace through time’s passage that we didn’t waste that much time for unimportant stuff.

These thoughts came across my head because I was struck with this verse in Ephesians 5:15 which states, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”

The Apostle Paul instructed the Christians in Ephesus to carefully live one’s life by making the most of their time because the days are evil. What I’ve observed in this verse is that wise people make the most of their time because they know that the days are evil. So, every opportunity to do good, to speak encouraging words, and to think about heavenly stuff gives us this sense of urgency to seize to do these things because of the normal evil pattern of the day. On the other hand, we can deduce in the statement, that unwise people don’t make the use of their time and that they don’t live carefully even though they’re aware the days are evil. So, they’re like not resisting the evil tide but are just tossed by it towards the direction that the world wants to be.

To put it in a nutshell, there are two kinds of Christians at Ephesus: the wise and the unwise. Wise people are careful as they live their lives while unwise people don’t exercise a good sense of judgment. The former make the most of their time while the latter people waste their time. Both responded differently in light of the same knowledge that they had – the days are evil. So, we can also say that our response to the circumstances that we face show whether we are wise or unwise.

I think we can apply this verse in our life by first assessing the activities that consume our time. And then after that, we can ask these questions to filter those activities that don’t have eternal value: Am I just doing this for myself or for God? Does this activity show the Lordship of Christ in my life? Does this activity show that I’m a follower of Christ? Does this help me improve to be a better steward of the gifts that God has given me? Does this help building up other people? Does this help me grow more like Christ? Does this contribute to the advancement of God’s kingdom? These questions are not exhaustive but I think it could filter the nonessential activities that we do.

I think it’s not just about filtering out the nonessential activities that counts but it’s also seeking to do what pleases God. So, we can say that making the most of our time should be grounded in one’s knowledge of how to use our time properly. And by that, I mean we do the things that God wants us to do.  Doing the things that God wants us to do starts from the knowledge of the commandments of God. We can’t just do something that we can’t know. So, as part of living wisely, it’s important to know the commandments of God and the activities that please God.

I think it’s important to note that this is not just for the sake of doing things but doing things out of the heart that desires to do better things out of gratitude to God because  of what He did on the cross. So that as people observe the deeds that we do, they’d give praise to our Father in Heaven so that in all things, it’s God alone who’d be glorified.

I hope you’re still with me. Let me summarize what I’ve contemplated.

  1. Time is of great essence because the days are evil.
  2. Since, time is essential because the days are evil, let’s make the most of every opportunity that God gives us.
  3. We do this by knowing the nonessential activities and giving it up.
  4. And replacing those nonessential activities with the things that God wants us to do.
  5. Knowledge of God’s Word is important for us to know the things that should be given up and the things we should give our strength for.
  6. And lastly, to not just do things out of service but out of the heart that desires to please God because of what He has done in our lives.

Hope you are blessed with this post. God bless you! 🙂

 

 

 

Justification

I just want to share my reflection on Romans 3:21 to 26. I chose these verses for my reflection today because it highlights what Christ has done to us for us to be in the right with God. I think this is really important because our standing before God determines whether we will spend eternity with Him or not. So, I think one of the biggest questions in life is: “Am I just before God?”

As I’ve said being just before God is to be with Him eternally. To be otherwise, is to be not with Him eternally. If an unjust person will be with God then that person will just pollute and destroy the beauty and majesty of heaven.

That’s why I think the more interesting question is: “How can I be just before God” or “How can I be made in the right before God?” To begin with, we cannot answer whether or not we are just before God if we don’t know how God will declare us as just or righteous.

This is the main reason why I chose Romans 3:21 to 26 because of its relevance in answering the how question. Kindly refer to the passage below.

“But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.“

Foremost, I think it’s best to know our condition apart from the saving grace of God. That is, left to ourselves, what is our standing before God? That’s why Paul starts this verse with the word “but” because the verses that precede Rom. 3:21 indicate the bad news that is brought about by our sin problem.

It’s stated in the preceding verse that we’re all under sin (Rom. 3:10). That is, in and of ourselves, we’re sinners. Our hearts are “more deceitful than all else and desperately sick” (Jer. 17:9) and “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
(Gen. 6:5).

We’re sinners at the core of our being. We need a heart change. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” (Matt. 15:19) It’s really bad news. Is it not? And there’s nothing we can do with it because our actions are directed by our sin nature. We’re held in the bondage of sin.

Left to ourselves, we’re sinners at the core. Our heart is wicked so everything that comes or flows out of it  – thoughts, emotions, and will – is also naturally evil. We have this sin nature that determines our desires and our desires determine our actions.

We do what we want to do. Sadly, the things that we want to do run contrary to the things that God wants us to do. That is, the desires of our sin nature do not correspond to the things of God. That’s why we don’t do what is pleasing to God because the things that we are pleased to do are not pleasing to God.

Left to ourselves, we’re sinners before God. Our verdict is that we’re all guilty. We deserve to be punished. So, if we’re thinking that the answer to the how question of being just is our good works then all of us are hopeless in attaining a righteous standing before God.

And not only that, the standard upon which God will measure us to declare us as righteous or just is His commandments. If we are to assess ourselves base on the 10 commandments then we’re all guilty of breaking it.

In and of ourselves, we’re sinners. If God is to judge all of our thoughts, words, and deeds then we’d be all guilty. We’re hopeless.

That’s why the only means that could save us from the impending wrath of God because we violated His commandments is Someone outside of us. The good news is that God has provided a way. God is gracious to give us something that is undeserved and is never required of Him. Yet, He gave it anyway, out of His love for His people.

Romans 3:21 says that there’s this righteousness that comes from God apart from the law. It’s apart from the law because the purpose of the law is not for us to be made right before God but for us to know that we have violated the commandments of God (Rom. 3:20). The purpose of the law is to condemn us as guilty before God (Rom. 3:19).

The law points us to our need of a righteousness that is not our own. And this righteousness are “witnessed by the Law and the Prophets” (Rom. 3:20). The “Law and the Prophets” is a euphemism for the Old Testament. So, the Old Testament also points us to this righteousness.

In verse 22 of Romans 3, it is stated that this righteousness of God is transferred to our account through faith in Jesus Christ. The reason why it is by faith is because it doesn’t make any sense if it is by works “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23) Faith means trust. Faith is also God’s work within us. That’s why it’s stated in Eph. 2:8 that faith is the “gift of God”. It means that we trust in what Christ did on the cross for us.

In verse 24 of Romans 3, it is stated that we are justified as a gift by his grace. The word justify has two meanings. It could mean: to made in the right or to show that you’re in the right. In a legal perspective, it could mean that one is declared righteous or one is shown to be righteous. The former is a verdict while the latter is a confirmation of what already is. In this verse, former meaning is used. Thus, we are declared to be righteous by the Judge – God. This declaration is a gift – unearned or undeserved. It is not paid for. Grace simply means that we receive or have something that we do not deserve. It means that we did not contribute something to God in order to attain this justification. In this case, that something that we don’t deserve is the declaration of God that we’re righteous in His sight. The verse further states that this declaration is achieved by the redemptive work of Christ.  Redemption means to set free or to deliver someone or something from bondage or captivity. Since, we’re all under sin. We’re good as slaves of sin for we do the things that our sin nature wants to do. We do what our master (sin) wants us to do. The consequence of being held under the bondage of sin is death. That is to be eternally separated from God. That’s why it’s stated in Romans 6:23 that the “wages of sin is death.” Punishment in hell is something that we deserve from God but in His grace, God justifies the ungodly through faith in Christ.

In verse 25 of Romans 3, it is stated that God displayed Christ publicly as a propitiation or propitiatory sacrifice in His blood. God poured out His wrath upon Christ before all the universe but Christ’s blood satisfied the wrath of God. Also, God put forward Christ as an atoning sacrifice for our sins to demonstrate that He is righteous. He passed over sins previously committed prior to the cross of Christ. God’s forbearance might cause people to think: “Is God really a just God? Why is He not punishing sin?” Thus, He demonstrated that He still is just, righteous, and holy at the proper time wherein He poured out the full weight of His wrath against sin on His Son Jesus Christ.

In verse 26 of Romans 3, it states that God passed over their sins to demonstrate His righteousness. The purpose of God why He allowed sin to be left unpunished by the full extent of His wrath is for His Son to be the object of His wrath because it’s only Jesus who completely absorb God’s wrath. So, we  can say that the reason why God overlooked sins previously committed before the cross of Christ is because it’s the plan of God to prove His righteousness by pouring His wrath on Jesus Christ on behalf of us.

God treated Christ as though He treated us.

God punished Christ as though He punished us.

And He’s just in doing so for Christ took the sins of His people.

God sent His Son – Jesus so that He’d still be just. That is He didn’t leave sin unpunished but He poured His wrath on His Son when Christ bear the sins of His people in His body. He’s not only just but He is also the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. How can God justify the ungodly? God declared as righteous the sinner who has faith in Christ because through faith in Christ the righteousness of God was transferred to the account of the ungodly who trusts in Christ.

At the cross, there’s a double transfer that happened. The sins of God’s people are transferred or laid upon Christ. Thereby, causing God to be pleased in crushing Christ by the full extent of God’s wrath. Christ propitiated God’s wrath. Christ took away from us the anger of God by His blood. He satisfied God’s anger by His atoning sacrifice. This is the first part of the transfer.

If there’s just only one part of the transfer then Jesus would’ve gone out to the cross and died in behalf of us for our sins to save us from the wrath of God. Why did He not do it? That’s because it’s the life of Christ that causes us to be righteous before God. Jesus did not only die in behalf of us for our sins to save us from the wrath of God. He also lived a life of perfect obedience to God. He kept the law perfectly and did not break anyone of it. He never had an impure thought, never said any false accusation and slandered anyone, and never did anything wrong in the eyes of God. He met the perfect standard of God. He’s the only One who measured up to the standard of God. This makes Him a sufficient substitute for us. Not only that – Jesus earned what we could never earn – perfect righteousness. And this is the righteousness that God transfers in the account of the ungodly through faith. That is, faith is the instrument upon which we receive the righteousness of Christ. That’s why God justifies the ungodly. God sees that the ungodly are clothed in the robe of perfect righteousness of Jesus. That’s why God declares them righteous. That’s why God justifies them.

If you’ve never come to Christ by faith. Come to Him. He’ll never cast you away. He’ll give you rest – eternal rest.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Broken Cisterns

We have the natural tendency to dig cisterns – broken cisterns – that could not hold water rather than build our lives upon the Spring of living water – who is God. That is – apart from the sovereign regenerating work of God in our hearts, we are inclined to build our lives in worldly bubbles that burst. We are inclined to choose the temporal over the eternal, worldly relationships over godly relationships, short-term pleasures over eternal rewards, applause of men over the praise of God. We are inclined to not choose heavenly things for we don’t want to choose these things. As radically corrupt sinners, our will is inclined to be directed by our nature – and that nature doesn’t want God and the things of God.

The sad part of this is that we are unaware that we do these things because it is natural for us to want these things that it always goes unnoticed. That’s why this change could be only accomplished by a Person who is outside of us for there’s nothing in us to accomplish this change of inclination. This is evident in the world today – we live our lives as though it’s the only life that we have not grasping that our lives with God when we be with Him are infinitely more satisfying and pleasurable than all the world could offer. Be it power, sex, fortune, short-lived pleasures and fame. Nothing in this world could satisfy the void that is in our hearts for God alone can fill this void. We run after these things because we think that in them we’ll have satisfaction. This I think is the grandest deception that is in this world.

That being said, it is our great need as radically corrupt sinners to have our inclination or disposition changed for we have a heart of stone rather than a heart of flesh. We have a heart that is not inclined to choose God or heavenly things for it doesn’t want them. This change could just be brought by a Person who is outside of us because there’s nothing within us that could accomplish this change for sin permeates our being. That’s why the gospel of Jesus Christ is so important. For it is the power of God unto salvation for those who believe. (Rom. 1:16)

So, what is the gospel?

The gospel is the good news of the Person and work of Jesus Christ. We would never appreciate the good news if we don’t know the bad news. The bad news is of condemnation whilst the good news is of salvation. As sinners, all of us are bound to suffer the eternal wrath of God for all of us have sinned and fall short of His glory. (Rom. 3:23) No one is exempted for there’s no one who is perfectly righteous. There’s no one who could attain perfect righteousness and holiness. That’s why God in His mercy, sent His only Son in the world to save radically corrupt sinners who could never merit salvation and fellowship with God apart from faith in the person and work of Christ. Christ attained for us the righteousness that we could never attain for ourselves. By means of the atoning death of Chris at the cross, the sins of those who would believe in Christ have been fully paid for because Christ bore our sins in His body at the cross and then God the Father was pleased to pour out His wrath in Christ against sin at the cross. Therefore, there’s now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 8:1) For Christ died the death that we should have died and suffered the punishment that we should suffer.

This is the grandest invitation that God has offered the world – life with Him. And this eternal life is obtained through faith in Christ. We should turn away from our sins and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Let us not waste our lives.

Let us commit our lives under His lordship.

Let us not dig cisterns that could not hold water to satisfy our thirst for Christ is the only One who could quench our thirst.

And we would never be thirsty again.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Biblical Reliability

The audience that I have in mind while writing this post might be anyone who saw the video from Business Insider produced by Joe Avella regarding the reliability of the Bible. So, he or she might believe that the Bible is the inerrant, inspired and infallible Word of God, disagree that it is the Word of God, or just wants to stay neutral as regards to it. Thus, my purpose in writing this blog is to address the cause that triggered it. My goal in mind is to try to clearly present to you why the Holy Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God. And if you are an atheist or agnostic, my goal is ofr you to be convinced that the Bible should be diligently studied because of its unsurpassed historical reliability. God’s divine revelation matters to Him that’s why it should matter to us. I’d also like to state ahead of time that the succeeding paragraphs do not present all of the relevant arguments for biblical reliability but rather its what I thought would address the video produced by Joe Avella.

I just like to clearly state that I don’t mean no harm to Joe Avella. I just disagree with video that he produced in Business Insider. I hope that he will consider this blog post if he’ll read it or if not consider what other scholars has to say about it like the ones whom I’ve mentioned in the paragraph below because Dr. Ehrman already debated some of them. I want you to be the judge. I’ll just lay out what the truth is because it makes me angry when other people malign the objective truth that I believe in.

NO OFFENSE to the PRODUCER of the VIDEO shared by Business Insider BUT I think he is just BIASED against the Biblical worldview because he cited a LIBERAL New Testament scholar named Dr. Bart D. Ehrman. (No offense also to Dr. Ehrman) It is true that I don’t have a doctorate degree in Systematic Theology or other branches of Divinity but there are brilliant minds who have their doctorates (E.g. Dr. Edwin M. Yamauchi, Dr. Greg Boyd, Dr. Craig Blomberg, Dr. Bruce Metzger, Dr. John MacArthur, Dr. Steven Lawson, Dr. William Lane Craig, Dr. Michael Brown, Dr. James White and the names go on and on) who have an opposing and more reasonable position regarding this matter. I agree that the Bible contains minimal ERRORS but generally it is a very accurate and a highly reliable historical book IF we are to believe that it is not the Word of God. It is also true that the original manuscripts are not available but we have copies of copies of copies. TONS OF IT. Also, the early church fathers cited the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. As J. Warner Wallace stated in his blog, “the Early Church Fathers did confirm enough of the New Testament claims to validate and authenticate the writings of the apostles.” (1)

Also, biblical transmission is reasonable if we consider it in light of its cultural and theological context. The producer misrepresents biblical transmission. He commits Straw-Man fallacy and fallacy of composition. There might be less important truths that could be forgotten but IMPORTANT AND FOUNDATIONAL TRUTHS that would lead us to salvation? I DOUBT IT. Kindly read “Four Reasons the New Testament Gospels Are Reliable” by J. Warner Wallace for a more detailed explanation. (2)

Going back to my point, “The Bible is a collection of 66 books written by about 40 authors, in three different languages, on three different continents, and over approximately 1600 years.” (3) Isn’t it amazing? Even though, the Bible is written by 40 different authors there is still one Voice that resounds in the Bible. And that is the voice of the Trinitarian God. Furthermore, there are archaeological, geographical, historical, scientific, biblical evidences, extra-biblical (writings of Josephus and other non- Christian historians) and other reasonable bases that corroborate the truth claims found in Scripture. For example, the places asserted in the Bible can be verified geographically. In addition, Messianic prophesies written about Jesus Christ that are written hundreds of years before the Lord Jesus Christ came into the earth were fulfilled. (E.g. Isaiah 53) Do you know the mathematically improbability One can satisfy all the Messianic prophesies that are found in the Bible? As Dr. William Lane Craig puts it, “It’s like shooting an alive fly with a gun” (blogger’s rendition). (4) Our finite minds cannot just grasp the impossibility of it happening.

In addition, the disciples and early followers of Jesus Christ willingly died for their faith. It wouldn’t make sense if they’d die for a lie. Right? Also, they did not gain any monetary benefit or a rise in social status in advocating the teachings of Jesus. They just suffered and died because of it. What would then be the plausible explanation for the this? That Jesus Christ is who He claims to be – the Son of God. That being said, it’s still highly reasonable to believe that the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of the Christian God INSPITE of the minimal errors and first-glanced discrepancies for the reason that there’s no foundational doctrines that are affected. We may also resolve these alleged discrepancies by interpreting the implicit verses by the explicit verses. In contrast, the maker of this video is MORE CONCERNED to the minimal, non-doctrinal and non-foundational errors found in the Bible rather than the voluminous divine truths that are found in it. I think he’s tacitly suggesting that we should interpret the explicit verses with the implicit verses. This line of thinking is UNREASONABLE. By just merely asserting that the Bible has some scribal errors found in it does not conclusively falsify that ALMOST ALL of the texts that are found in the Scripture are FALSE. It’s like you got one mistake out of a hundred in your exam. Does it make your score zero? Of course not. This is just common sense. The MAKER OF THIS VIDEO COMMITS THE FALLACY OF COMPOSITION – the parts do not conclusively determine the whole. He’s like saying, “I’ve found these variations or  scribal errors that’s why all the passages in the Bible are also erroneous.” I hope that it’s clear to you how unreasonable his line of thinking is. If this mindset is applied to all of us, then all of us are deemed to be untrustworthy because we all lied or spoke falsehood even just once in our lifetime. Have we not? To conclude, the Bible is a very reliable and a highly accurate historical book IF WE DON’T BELIEVE THAT IT IS THE WORD OF GOD. As Matt Slick aptly writes it, “The copies are so accurate that all of the Biblical documents are 98.5% textually pure. The 1.5% that is in question is mainly nothing more than spelling errors and occasional word omissions like the words “the,” “but,” etc. This reduces any serious textual issues to a fraction of the 1.5%. Nevertheless, nothing affects doctrinal truths. In fact, nothing in ancient history even comes close to the accuracy of the New Testament documents.” (5) Also, reading the Case for Christ authored by Lee Strobel is of big help if you are really serious in knowing whether the claims of the video are ridiculously biased or not. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t claim that I’m unbiased of my worldview, All of us have biases but the question is, “Are our biases reasonable or unreasonable? It is reasonable if it’s based on facts and evidences that conform to absolute reality. The things mentioned by Joe Avella are also discussed by Lee Strobel in his book: the Case of Christ. Also, Dr. Ehrman is also mentioned in it. Thus, it would really be a big help for you if you’re interested to study further biblical reliability. You may also watch the Inerrancy Summit that is spearheaded by Dr. John MacArthur. I really hope that you’d grab a copy of the book or watch the conference if you’re really serious in knowing the truth. The conference could just be easily accessed in you tube. (6) It’s also for free. Feel free to respond on this post, I’d really be glad to read your comments and respond to it.

In the succeeding paragraphs, I’d like to cite some of the Scriptural verses that support that the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God. Kindly also note that all verses are taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB). Just to remind you, these are not all of the verses that support that the Bible is the Word of God. I firmly believe that all the words that are found in the Bible are divinely inspired  even though there are alleged discrepancies found in it. There are reasonable inductive bible study tools that could be used to arrive at the original meaning of the Scripture in spite of it. Maybe, just maybe, the producer of the video is just too lazy to do it and trusts himself more rather than God. Furthermore, as a Christian, I firmly believe that the Holy Spirit Who indwells within me teaches me and gives me understanding to know the Word of God. (Jn. 14:15 – 17) It is true that there are copyists’ errors but it could still be resolved using the voluminous verses in the Bible that lack error. Also, the Bible provides footnotes regarding variations in the early manuscripts or other words used by other manuscripts. That being said, I’d now proceed to the verses that support that the Word of God is what it claims to be. Please be reminded that the Bible is written by (40) authors who are divinely inspired by God through the Holy Spirit. That being said, I’d now proceed to cite Bible verses. Kindly thoroughly read the verses (7 & 8) below.

“All Scripture is INSPIRED by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16 – 17

“and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the WISDOM given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the REST of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.”

–2 Peter 3:15 – 16

“For the word of God is LIVING and ACTIVE and sharper than any two-edged sword, and PIERCING as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to JUDGE the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” – Hebrews 4:12

“The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.” – Isaiah 40:8

“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

– Matthew 5:18

“But the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you.” – 1 Peter 1:25

“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” – Numbers 23:19

“They are upheld forever and ever; They are performed in truth and uprightness.” – Psalm 111:8

“Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.” – Psalm 119:89

“Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;” – Isaiah 46:10

“So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” – Isaiah 55:11

“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from now and forever.” – Isaiah 59:21

This will be the sign to you,’ declares the Lord, ‘that I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that My words will surely stand against you for harm.’ – Jeremiah 44:29

I firmly believe that we can use this overwhelming piece of argument with other arguments to make a powerful case for Christianity. Biblical reliability, coupled with Kalam Cosmological Argument, complexity of DNA (one example of Teleological Argument), Fine-Tuning of the Universe, deity of Christ through His resurrection, and the experiential argument would make a powerful case for Christianity.

Soli Deo Gloria.

References:

(1) http://coldcasechristianity.com/2013/can-we-construct-the-entire-new-testament-from-the-writings-of-the-church-fathers/

(2) http://coldcasechristianity.com/2015/four-reasons-the-new-testament-gospels-are-reliable/

(3) https://carm.org/dictionary-bible

(4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLIpO3BUiq2IFX1uVZud4G5D5LD2jW0TZ-&v=KjLOB7QiBTk

(5) https://carm.org/inerrancy-and-inspiration-bible

(6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKuqHx1rf7U&list=PLDDt4jvDpjath3OM4rkYyfZAvefVjk4x5

(7) http://biblehub.com/isaiah/40-8.htm (most of the verses quoted are obtained here in the cross-references section)

(8) https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+44%3A29&version=NASB

 

 

People Change. Ideas don’t.

The audience that I have in mind while writing this post could just be anyone who might be interested in reading this. So, he or she might advocate the Islamic worldview, disagree with it, or is just neutral about it. I also felt the need to qualify that I do not have Muslims in mind while writing this post. My purpose in this blog post is to somehow straighten the fallacious thinking of people who condemns all Muslims because of the acts done by ISIS. I’ll just lay out my view with regard to the ISIS attacks. I also felt the need to qualify that I am not advocating the Islamic worldview in this post but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t love, respect and in my case defend them . They’re also human beings like any one of us. AND they are also created in the image and likeness of God.

No offense but I personally think that the acts done by ISIS do not immediately discredit the Islamic worldview. This line of thinking commits Ad Hominem Attack – the person is attacked instead of the ideas of the person. We also try to equate that all Muslims are terrorists and that in itself is another logical fallacy – fallacy of composition (the parts do not conclusively make up the whole). Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to defend the Islamic worldview. I just want us to examine the Islamic worldview without any biases. We are quick to judge because our JUDGMENTS come BEFORE our EXAMINATIONS. Examine the worldview first before casting judgments. AND let us try to separate the beliefs of the person with the person who holds it. All of us should still be treated with equal respect, love, and dignity regardless of our beliefs.

If we are to discredit Islam because of the ISIS attacks then we should also discredit Christianity because of the atrocious and sinful acts that were done by “professing” Christians throughout church history. All have sinned and has fallen short of the glory of God. (Rom 3:23) We are all imperfect and we can never achieve perfection in this earth. It is also possible for US to profess a belief yet mistakenly possess it. PROFESSION OF FAITH IS NOT SYNONYMOUS TO POSSESSION OF FAITH. Thus, the most reasonable way in evaluating our beliefs is to view these in light of absolute reality.

We might ask questions like these.

Does Islam teach violence in light of the Qur,an? Since, there are events stated in the Qur’an, we might ask this questions like this. Are the events verifiable with historical evidences? Do the principles stated in the Qur’an reflect God’s character? (e.g. Love, Holy, Grace, Justice, Righteous, Immutable, Almighty, All-Knowing, Sovereign) Is the Qur’an reliable? How did it originate? How can one be saved in the Islamic worldview? What are the means for a Muslim to be saved? Yes, I know that these are hard questions but I think that it would somehow shed light in these devastating events that are happening in the world.

There’s no victor in war and violence just death, suffering and devastating consequences. Apparently, ideas have consequences. Godly ideas should result to godly consequences. Conversely, ungodly ideas result to ungodly consequences. That doesn’t mean that if we have the wrong ideas then we are now hopeless. We can always change our view over something. Can we not? That being said, before we try to change the world, let us try first ti change our fallacious ideas over something and then inevitably change the consequences that those ideas bring.

Soli Deo Gloria.