Trump is Our Problem

I am not a political pundit. I rely on friends for much of my political understanding. I read theology often and politics only occasionally. I have not watched any of the debates in their entirety. This post is therefore not a foray into deep political thought. It is more like the rambling thoughts a political novice. When Trump announced his candidacy I never thought he would get as far as he has. He was like a cheap firework; all flash, no substance. But somehow the inevitable did not happen. Now that he is the presumptive Republican nominee it is worth considering why.

The Failure of "Conservatives"
I am sure other people have noted this, but Trump's rise is a backlash against conservatives.  By conservatives, I do not mean true conservatives. That is why the word is in quotes. True conservatives, the hold to the Constitution, small government, less spending, low key foreign policy conservatives, are a very small minority. By conservative, I mean those who affiliate with the Republican party and generally oppose the Democrats. For most Republicans the last couple of decades have not been that great. Our last two conservative presidents were weak and left a trail of wreckage.  Both the nominees against Obama were weak and impotent. Conservative appointees to the Supreme Court have voted liberal over and over again. When conservatives were in power in Congress they too often compromised. Conservative politicians have repeatedly failed the ones who voted them into power. Trump is not Romney or McCain or Jeb Bush. He is not a conservative establishment candidate. Is it any surprise that he is getting the traction? Why vote in another GW or nominate another Romney?

This also why I am not sure all those Republicans opposing Trump are going to make a dent in his appeal. His appeal is that he is not like those guys. Their opposition makes him look more like an outsider, which is one of the reasons he appealing.

The Disdain of the Average American
Remember Duck Dynasty? For years it was one of the highest rated shows on cable television. It was mercilessly mocked not just by the secular media, but also by many Christians, especially the more sophisticated type. They just did not understand how something so low class could be watched by millions. For years the church and the country has despised the average American. The guy who works 50 hours a week in a low paying job, mows his lawn on Saturday, goes to church on Sunday, and watches football in the afternoon. The single mom who cares for her two kids after waiting tables all day. The elderly man barely surviving as a greeter at Wal-Mart. The housewife who greets her children when they get home from school.  Maybe I am wrong here, but these are the folks Trump is appealing to. All politicians talk like they care about this very large group of Americans. But most Americans believe politicians care more about the elite ruling class than the factory worker, the farmer, or the school teacher.

It is odd that a millionaire businessman would get the ear of the American people before Cruz or Rubio. But one reason is that he has convinced conservative Americans that he cares about them. This is what people mean when they say, "He says it like it is." Trump does not listen to the elite. He is not tied to the ruling class of Harvard and Yale grads who give $25,000 a plate dinners to raise support. He does not care what the media thinks of him. He doesn't care what anyone thinks of him. He doesn't care about polls. He is not posturing for his donors. I am not sure Trump does actually care more about the average worker, but America feels like he does. And given our current climate, that is enough. He parallels Obama's candidacy on this point. One reason people voted for Obama is they felt he cared for them.

Ten Quotes: The Mark of a Man by Elisabeth Elliot

Here are ten of my favorite quotes from a book I recently read. Who/what book do you think these quotes came from?

Masculinity and femininity, being elements of the original design, radiate glory. They shine.

If the original distinction is lost-the vital one between men and women-we end up recognizing no distinction in sexual conduct. It is the logical conclusion. If sex has no transcendent meaning, what different does it make who you go to bed with? You can be promiscuous, homosexual, incestuous, bestial, or otherwise perverted. The only lasting sanctions against such behavior are based on the divine man-woman order. 

Four extremely important events [in Genesis 1-2] illuminate where woman stands in relation to man: 1. She was made for man. 2. She was made from man. 3. She was brought to man. 4. She was named by man.  

Clearly such women [Gloria Steinem] are adrift. Yet other women follow them, blindly hoping that what they are offering is freedom and fulfillment. The awful truth is that what they offer is bondage and destruction; for they would strip us all-men and women alike-of all mystery and, indeed, of our very humanity.  

Masculinity means initiation. Femininity means response.

If a husband can look upon his gift of initiation as a privilege, instead of a right; and if the wife can look upon her gift of response in the same way, instead of as an obligation, both might be surprised to find that Jesus' promise actually comes true for them: The yoke proves to be easy, the burden light.

People come with standard equipment. Tongue, eyes, ears, hands, and hearts are usually provided for both men and women. But there is equipment which is radically differentiated: the reproductive system. Its functions are plain enough. Quite unarguably, they are designed for initiation and reception. Is it unreasonable to probe deeper than the temporal function and recognize that these, too, are signs? May we not infer from them, as well as from creation's order, the meaning of masculinity-initiation; and of femininity-response? 

The refusal to accept things which cannot or ought not be changed is neurotic. These matters of what men are and what women are have been beautifully thought out and put in place. The sooner and the more wholeheartedly we settle into the places assigned, the greater will be our peace and the more harmonious our world. Resentment about it leads to neurosis and bondage.

 It is at best a misguided chivalry and at worst irresponsibility that prefers to take a backseat and let women run things. 

The husband is the head of the wife. The Book doesn't say he ought to be or he must work at it and become. It says he is, in the same way that Christ is the Head of the Church. 

And One:

First [in what a man should look for in a woman to marry] she ought to be glad she's a woman....a real woman has accepted the given: her femininity. This is an act of faith. She accepts the place her femininity gives her in God's world. She knows she was made for man, from man, brought to man by God and named by him. She does not covet the not given...a real woman understands that man was created to be the initiator, and she operates on that premise. This is primarily a matter of attitude. I am convinced that the woman who understands and accepts with gladness the difference between masculine and feminine will be, without pretense or self-consciousness, womanly.

Quotes From Other Books
From the Pen of Pastor Paul by Daniel Hyde
Fool's Talk by Os Guinness
The New Pastor's Handbook by Jason Helopoulos
On Being a Pastor by Derek Prime and Alistair Begg
How to Exasperate Your Wife by Douglas Wilson
The Things of Earth by Joe Rigney
A Son for Glory by Toby Sumpter 
Escape from Reason by Francis Schaeffer
Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung
Making Gay Okay by Robert Reilly 
Christ Crucified by Donald Macleod
Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God by John Calvin

Unrelenting

In their excellent book, Unchanging Witness, Professors Fortson and Grams spend a chapter recounting the capitulation of the numerous mainline denominations to the homosexual agenda, including the Episcopal Church and Evangelical Lutheran Church. But the account that caught my attention was the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA).

I am not an expert on the history of the PCUSA, but I believe there were serious issues, such as rejection of the authority of Scripture, rejection of the supernatural, and ordination of women, which preceded their acceptance of homosexuality. If true, their capitulation to the homosexuals was not a surprise. A denomination that ordains women is going to have a hard time barring the doors against homosexuals. Here is the timeline how the PCUSA moved to accepting gays, gay ministers, and eventually same sex marriage (Fortson and Grams p. 157-158):

1978-United Presbyterian Church in the USA adopts a policy forbidding the ordination of homosexuals, but allowing gays and lesbians into church membership.

1979-The Presbyterian Church in the US adopts a similar policy.

1983-These two denominations join to create the PCUSA. The policy from 1978 remains in force.

1983-1993 There was constant debate in the denomination about ordaining homosexuals. So much debate that in 1993 a ban was instituted to prevent the issue from being voted on for three years.

1997-Conservatives passed an amendment to the PCUSA constitution requiring candidates for ordination "to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and woman, or chastity in singleness."  Liberals presented a substitute amendment which said, "fidelity and integrity in marriage or singleness." The substitute amendment by the liberals was defeated.

1998-Liberals again pushed for their substitute amendment. Again it was defeated though the votes grew closer. This happened again in 1999 and 2001. Each time the votes for the liberals grew.

2006-A PCUSA task force recommended allowing exceptions to the "fidelity and chastity" clause. This allowed homosexuals to be ordained.

2009-Again the liberals pushed for a vote to change the constitution. Again it was defeated though by the smallest margin yet.

2011-The language from 1997 was finally gotten rid of and openly gay persons could now be ordained to the ministry.

2014-The PCUSA approved a policy allowing pastors to perform same-sex marriages in states where the practice is legal. In that same year an additional vote was made that changed the definition of marriage from one and one woman to two persons. That passed by a 71% majority.

What I find fascinating is how "unrelenting" to use the authors' word, the pro-gay lobby was. They never stopped bringing up the votes. They found ways around official policy, such as the 2006 task force. They kept pushing and kept fighting until they got what they wanted.  I am sure this began long before 1978, but even from 1978-2014 is a pretty long time. It reminds me of what Edwin Friedman said in his excellent book Failure of Nerve. Pathogens do not stop. They will not stop. They must be cut out. Long before sodomy ever became an issue someone within these denominations compromised on basic Christian teaching. It may have been the authority of Scripture. It may have been human sexuality. It may have been the denial of the resurrection of our Lord. But they compromised and here is the key no one disciplined them for it. Maybe they disciplined them the first time and second time and third time, but eventually they stopped, eventually the good guys gave up.

In the previous chapter Fortson and Grams discuss all the denominations that remain faithful to the Scripture's teaching on homosexuality, such as the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS). I look at those denominations and my own, the Communion of Reformed Evangelicals (CREC), and I pray. I pray that we can hold fast. I pray that we have the stamina and backbone to fight. I pray that we have the courage of our brothers in Africa who stood up to the Anglican bishops who compromised. I pray that we are not afraid of being hated, cast out, and maligned. I pray that we can preach faithfully what the Word says. I pray we have the strength to excommunicate when necessary. I pray that our seminaries fire those who compromise. For we can be assured of this; the homosexuals will not stop. Their goal is not live and let live. Their goal is that churches everywhere accept them as true Christians no matter their sexual practices. For the sake of Christ, his sheep, and the lost we must be as unrelenting as they are. If not we will end up just like the PCUSA and the proverb will be fulfilled:

Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked. (Proverbs 25:26)

Justifying Sin

Harry Schaumburg has been counseling people for over thirty years and has spent the last eighteen years focusing on counseling those who struggle with sexual sin, such as adultery, pornography, prostitution, etc. His book Undefiled  is his attempt to put into writing his Biblical Intensive Counseling workshop, which is five straight days of intense counseling.

I struggled with pornography from the age of eleven into my twenties. During this time I went to church, was active with my youth group, eventually attended Bible school, and got married. It took a long time for me to beat the pornography addiction that I had. This book has been a wonderful help for me in working through some of those hidden issues that still hang over from my pornography addiction.

I will be putting more from this book on my blog later, but for now I wanted to post this list of how the heart deceives us when it comes to sin.  How is it that so many Christians know porn is bad, but still do it? The answer is not complicated. We justify it. Schaumberg focuses on sexual sin, but insert your own sin where he puts sexual sin.

• The sexual sinner always acts like he or she is sexually pure.
• The sexual sinner always justifies the sexual sin. 
• The sexual sinner always  declares the sexual sin a need. 
• The sexual sinner always deceives himself or herself into believing that sinning sexually will be a positive benefit. 
• The sexual sinner always makes excuses for his or her sexual sin.
• The sinner who does not sexually sin tells himself or herself that his or her heart is good. 

When we read this our initial reaction is, "No way." But the further you dig the more realize that is exactly what we do with our sin. When we sin we do not see ourselves as filthy, dirty people. We might feel that way momentarily after our sin, but it does not stick and we go back to believing ourselves to be pretty good people. We always justify our sin. I had to do it. There was no way out. What could I do? I needed it. They deserved it. And we do this not just with sexual sin. We do this with gossip, anger, pride, bitterness, laziness, etc. 

The beginning of our fight against sin is realizing that we are not very good people. We sin and make excuses for our sins. We pretend we are holy when we are not. We think because we don't commit the same sins as others we are good. But the truth is we are unclean and defiled without Christ. Once we understand that we can flee to Christ for forgiveness and for the means to fight against our sin. But if we assume that whatever we do is justified and that our sin is not that much of a problem we will never win the battle. 

The Necessity of Heart Religion

Last week I noted in this post that the definition of morality has shifted frombeing defined by a law to being defined by what harms other people. (See point number six in that post.) Wrong and right used to be linked to a transcendent moral law and for most of Western Civilization that moral law was God's character as described in His Word. But today morality is often defined by the harm it does to others. That could be one reason why in the latest Barna report more people are concerned about consuming too much water than they are about watching porn. Consuming too much water causes harm while porn really hurts no one. At least that is the line we have been fed.

Here is good illustration of the shift. Is it immoral to take ten dollars from a multi-millionaire? Is any harm going to come to him when I do this? Many would say it is not immoral because it does not hurt him. What about using porn to enhance my sex life with my wife? What harm comes from that? What about coveting something? Or hating someone, but never acting on that hatred? Does pride hurt anyone?  For many people, even Christians, the standard for right and wrong has moved from a transcendent law to whether or not it does harm. That is why any consensual sexual act is considered okay. No one gets hurt so it can't wrong. This is also why it is okay to steal from the rich, but not from the poor. The rich can "afford" it.  It does not hurt them.

However, what is right and wrong is not defined by the harm it does to others, though it does harm others. Sin is defined by God's character as expressed through His Word. To answer the question, "Is it wrong to take ten dollars from a millionaire?" we don't look to the harm done, but to God's law. The answer we find there is, "Yes it is wrong whether or not it harms anyone (Exodus 20:15). What tangible harm comes from wrong worship?  Yet God says he hates it (Amos 5:21-24). Does lusting after a woman hurt anyone? Yet Jesus clearly condemns it (Matthew 5:28). Many sins in Scripture are internal. They will eventually show themselves and they do harm to the one sinning and those around him. But often these internal sins can remain buried for years and in some cases decades. Are these internal sins, such as lust, coveting, anger, bitterness, etc. still a problem if no one sees them and the harm is minor or unnoticeable? The Bible's answer is yes.

Sin is about me and God. That is the key.  It is not just about me and God. My sin impacts all those around me in various ways. But it is primarily about me and God. That is why David says, "Against you and you only have I sinned" (Psalm 51:4). He had just killed a man after sleeping with his wife. But it was still God to whom he must give an account (Hebrews 4:13). And God does not just see what you do, He sees who you are. Too often pragmatism rules in our pursuit of holiness. I am holy when I am nice, keep fellowship with other people, etc. But holiness is defined by the unchanging character of the living God not by the immediate impact of our actions and attitudes upon other people.  That means what goes on inside us is just as important as what we do. Our heart matters. What we believe matters. Our lusts that no one sees. Our pride that we keep hidden. Our bitterness that is locked away matters to God.  What does this mean for us?

First, why we do something is important.  We can do the right thing for the wrong reason, which makes it a sin. I can be nice to someone so they will pay me back. I can go to worship so other people will believe I am a good Christian. I can tithe so the church will have to do what I say. I can preach for the praise of men. I can read my Bible so I have a tool to use against others. The why matters as much as the what. Our desires and motivations, which no one can see, matter to the Lord.

Second, we can do the right thing and other people get hurt. Holiness is not defined by the harm caused others. Therefore sometimes holiness, that is obeying God's commands, can cause us to do something that harms others. Obviously, harm here is a relative term. But if I rebuke someone they will feel hurt, even if it was the right thing to do. If I turn a man into the police for child abuse he will feel hurt, even if it was the right thing to do. If a woman is excommunicated for her adultery she will feel hurt.  A person's reaction does not determine whether or not an action is right or wrong.

Third, the key deterrent to sin is the fear of the Lord, not the fear of consequences. That does not mean fear of consequences is unimportant. But that is for children in the faith. As we grow the primary motive to holiness is the love of and fear of God. If consequences keep us from sinning then when we cannot see the consequences or when those consequences are small we will sin. That is why so many Christian men can indulge in pornography with little shame and guilt. Or when they get caught all they are concerned about is the consequences, such as losing their wife.

Finally, this means we must cultivate heart religion. We must be students of our hearts. We must guard our hearts, keep our hearts, and examine our hearts. We must hold not just our actions, but our attitudes up to the mirror of God's Word. Holiness begins on the inside. The Bible repeats this theme from beginning to end. Here are a few examples:

Genesis 8;21 And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.

Deuteronomy 6:4-6"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 

Psalm 51:6, 10 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Isaiah 51;7 "Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings.

Matthew 15:16-20 And he said, "Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone." 

Hebrews 3:12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 

I Peter 3:4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. 

These passages, along with many others, teach us that sin resides in the heart. There are outward actions that follow from our heart attitudes. But the heart is the key.  Heart religion, an inward fear of and love of God that leads to right action is the goal of the Christian life. We cannot say that holiness is primarily defined by the harm it causes others. If we do that we will inevitably ignore the holiness of the inner man that Scripture demands.

But how can we do this? Can we truly know our heart? Do any of us operate from pure motives? How does the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and the sending of the Spirit help us in this matter of heart religion? What does justification by faith alone have to do with this? How do we keep from becoming paralyzed from constant examination of our hearts? How do I keep this from becoming self-centered in my pursuit of heart religion? I will look at these questions in a later post. For now, let us understand that God sees the heart, not just the hands. Therefore doing the right thing is not enough. Our hearts must be right as well.

Similar Posts:
Tear Your Hearts
Dangers of Being a Man- Pleaser
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Recycling vs. Porn: Thoughts on the Latest Barna Report

Below you can see a poll taken by the Barna Institute n the summer of 2015. Note this is not a poll of Christians, but of the general population. Polls are not airtight. What the specific question was, how many people were asked, what their background was, etc. can all play a roll in the final statistics. But polls like this can give us a general feel for the trajectory of a society. Sometimes when we hear a presidential candidate is ahead in the polls by 10 percentage points we know that poll does not sync with reality we see around us. Something is off. However, with this Barna poll, we are not surprised by what we read. What the poll says is lines up with what we see in the world around us. When the poll says that 76% of people under the age 24 do not think it is wrong to watch sexually explicit scenes on TV or in a movie is anyone surprised? You can read the whole report along with some analysis here. Here are few randoms thoughts I had from the report.

First, it is clear that the younger generation is not bothered nearly as much by sexually explicit material whether pornographic or otherwise. I am not sure there is much difference between a sexually explicit scene in a movie and porn. Many shows on HBO and Netflix contain graphic sexual content. I am 38 and this comes as no shock at all. I am surprised the numbers are as high as they are. But remember porn is the fruit, not the tree. The tree is loss of the authority of God's Word to dictate both actions and attitude. 

Second, but even in the older generation 46% of people do not think it is wrong to view porn and 63% do not think watching sexually explicit TV shows is wrong. Those are still awful numbers. We are so dead to this sin that we consider it a victory when roughly one out of two people think porn is bad. 

Third, my guess is the question  about "reading erotic or pornographic content" is directly connected to Fifty Shades of Grey. There were erotic stories around before that book. But that book popularized the erotic story, though sex scenes in romantic novels are common place.  

Fourth, the discrepancy between recycling and porn among the younger generation is striking. 56% of young people think it is always wrong or usually wrong to not recycle. While on 32% would say the same about view pornographic images. Not recycling is a moral failure much greater than porn. Young people think it is a greater moral duty to put aluminum cans in the recycle bin than it is to avoid watching other people have sex.  

Fifth, the third item in each list is lying. But among the younger generation the percentage who think it is wrong has dropped by 16 points. Lying is still considered a moral failure, but by fewer and fewer people. Almost 3 out of every 10 folks under 24 think it is fine to lie. This disturbs me almost as much as the porn statistic. 

Sixth, I am not sure about this, but my guess is that the reason certain actions are higher is because they directly affect other people.  Why would porn be so low, but adultery be so high? Both are sexual sins. According to Jesus porn is adultery on some level (Matthew 5:28). But porn is considered innocent because no one is harmed while in adultery someone is harmed. I would also guess that is why theft still remains so high. We are taking something from someone else. Here we see the shift from sin as an affront to God's character and a breaking of His law to sin as that which harms someone else. Once this switch is made the only question becomes, "Does anyone get hurt?" If the answer is no then it cannot be wrong. Why is recycling so high and watching Game of Thrones so low? Not recycling hurts our planet and ultimately our children. Watching sex and nudity on TV does not harm anyone or so the culture says. Until the church once again preaches the fear of God and man's need for obedience from the heart she will find her members defining sin less and less in line with God's character as given in His Word and more and more in line with what the culture considers "harmful." 

Seventh, while adultery is still high it does drop over 13 points between generations. 

Finally, notice the drop in covetousness or as the poll so delicately put it "wanting something that belongs to someone else." There was a drop of 25 points from the older generation to the younger one. 68% of those 24 and under think it is fine to covet. More people think it is wrong to consume too much electricity than it is to covet. This is not surprising at all given my sixth point. Sin has become something which harms others. How can lusting after my neighbor's car or my neighbor's wife be a problem when no one gets hurt? What I find interesting is for Paul coveting was the key to showing him his own need for Christ (Romans 7:7). 

There is one way this data could be interpreted more positively. Young people are often ignorant and foolish to the results of certain actions. As they grow up their beliefs change and generally become more conservative. It is possible that many of the 20 year olds who think porn is just fine now and recycling is so terrible will not think the same thing when they are 40. However, this requires that they be taught, learn, and grow. It also usually requires marriage, children, and a job. And while this has often been the pattern in the past, I am not holding my breath that it will repeat itself in the coming decades. My fear is that our educational system, impotent pastors and fathers, a failure to preach God's Word in all its fullness and to exhort people to obey it, a government that keeps men dependent, a hatred of women, children, and marriage, and a coddling of minds and bodies will not lead to the 15 to 20 year olds growing up. At the current rate and in the current cultural situation, it is hard to view these statistics getting better. 

The Flash and Fornication

My family has been watching The Flash  on Netflix.  Overall we have enjoyed the show. It is difficult to find shows that most of my kids (ages 5-16) will enjoy.  The Flash is not as well-written as some more adult oriented shows (i.e. Daredevil,  Breaking Bad), but it is suspenseful and fun.  I recommend it. But as my title indicates, I am going to pull out a negative aspect of the show. After all, I am a Calvinist. That is what we do.

One part of the show that bothers me is the fornication. The show assumes that a couple will sleep together and usually quickly. (None of this explicit, at least as far as we have watched. It is all implied.) One character gets a small box from her boyfriend. What was in that box? My younger son guessed an engagement ring. An older son was wise enough to know better. Engagement and marriage are not part of a single's worldview in our age. It ended up being a key to his apartment. She has been sleeping off and on in his apartment since they started dating but now they are going to live together. The girl's father is heartbroken over her leaving home. This used to be how fathers reacted to a marriage proposal. Now they react that way to their daughter leaving home to go sleep with a man who refuses to commit to her. Another example, Barry, aka The Flash, is on a second date with a girl and they begin making out, which had it not been interrupted by a bad guy, would have certainly led to sex. The underlying assumption is that singles will sleep together. That is just what happens.

What is most frustrating about shows like The Flash is they do not take sex seriously.  Sex does not mean anything really. There are no long term consequences, such as babies. There is no sense of betrayal or loss or shame or guilt or even rebellion. They try to treat it with respect, but it falls flat. It is hard to treat something with respect that has no power, causes no problems, and is not limited in any way. Sex doesn't matter.  I do not watch a lot of TV shows, so my sampling is pretty small but my guess is it is common in other shows besides The Flash. Sleeping around, especially among singles, is like decoration. It is just there.

There are a couple examples of sex being taken seriously in TV shows, but usually these are in the context of a marriage. Two examples that come to mind are the adultery of Skylar White in Breaking Bad and the adultery of Woody Harrelson's wife in True Detective. In both cases adultery was rebellion by the women involved. The men were destroying their marriages so the women had affairs. My guess is many Christians would find the depiction of adultery in shows like Breaking Bad more offensive than the fornication in shows like The Flash.  But I think the opposite. The depiction of adultery in those shows indicates that sex means something, which is closer to the truth than the round robin fornication with no consequences we see in many shows. But again this was in the context of an already existing marriage. I have not seen a show where fornication, sex before marriage, is taken seriously and has long-term ramifications for a person's well-being and future. Single people have sex and move on.

If there is fornication in a TV show or a a movie, at least make it mean something. But I am not sure our culture can do that.  Sex has lost all meaning in our age. What kind of sex has lasting consequences in our age? Rape and pedophilia. According to our culture, these sexual acts leave scars. Other sexual acts do not.  Prostitution, fornication, adultery, and sodomy are "normal." It is like choosing what to eat or buying a new piece of furniture. It takes some thought, but matters little in the end. I realize this is simplistic. But overall do you get the impression from TV shows that sex, in particular fornication, is a big deal? When someone decides to sleep with someone else is it a big decision with lasting affects?

When sex is limited to marriage and a man and a woman it retains its power and glory, but it is also normal. Every married couple does it (at least I hope so!) and yet that sexual bond is the sin qua non, the absolutely essential thing necessary, for the covenant relationship between a man and a woman to exist. Like many of the best things in life sex in marriage is both grand and glorious and as normal as the sun rising. But for the world sex must either be this great idol (think porn or many romantic movies) or it must be meaningless. As Christians, who keep sex in its proper bounds, we don't have to choose between the two. We can have our cake and eat it too.

Culture First, Then Laws

Dr. Al Mohler in his book  We Cannot be Silent, spends a chapter chronicling how the homosexual agenda gained traction through the latter part of the 20th century. He begins by noting that in 2004 eleven states voted to ban gay marriage. In all eleven cases the referendums passed with not less than 66% voting in favor of banning gay marriage. Compare this to 2012 where four states voted to ban gay marriage and in all four cases the vote failed. He also notes that in 2008 most polling data indicated a vast majority of Americans were opposed to gay marriage. By 2014 the polling data had changed dramatically with many being open to gay marriage as morally neutral or even a good thing. Add to this the Supreme Court's decision in the summer 2015 and one can see that gay marriage and indeed the whole gay agenda has taken hold in America.

Mohler is not ignorant of the many compromises prior to the gay movement that set the stage for where we are at today. Still, the magnitude of the moral shift along with speed of the shift is striking. In less than fifty years, America moved from a country where sodomy was immoral and where same-sex marriage was unthinkable to a country where many accept sodomy and same-sex marriage as a moral right. How did this happen?

The answer is interesting. Mohler explains how the gay movement decided not to try to change laws, but rather to change the moral landscape and then use laws to stamp their morality with approval:

In After the Ball [a pro-homosexual strategy book published in 1989], Kirk and Madsen [the authors] set out a program that, in retrospect, was likely even more successful than they had dreamed, largely because it focused on changing the culture, rather than just changing the laws...They demanded far more than legal recognition. They demanded that American society embrace homosexuality as a normal sexual experience and view same-sex relationships on par with heterosexual marriage. [Emphasis Mine]

Mohler goes on to recount how homosexuals worked to change public opinion concerning sodomy through what essentially amounts to a massive PR campaign. They did not seek to change laws. Instead they sought to change the minds of professors, movie stars, journalists, psychiatrists, psychologists, students, pastors, and judges. One good example of how drastic this change has been is that in the 1970s same-sex attraction was a form of mental illness. We have now arrived at a place where those who believe same-sex attraction is wrong are mentally ill. In almost any field, from sociology to medicine, from movies to law, from clothing to churches, the gay revolution has been successful. Sodomy has been normalized. To speak against it is to speak against the cultural norm. Most of this happened without the help of the courts. Here is Mohler's summary of the connection between culture and the courts for the gay agenda:

At every point along the way, the approach was to use the courts as a means to extend the cultural gains already occurring in the larger society. 

The reason the gay agenda worked was because culture, or perhaps more clearly, society, changed first, then the laws followed giving a stamp of moral approval to the cultural changes.

I am not opposed to changing laws. The Christian witness must extend to the courts and legislative bodies around the country. We should be speaking prophetically to law makers, judges, and politicians. We should also be raising up Christian men who will work in these places to bring about better laws. But sweeping changes, such as the gay movement has seen over the last fifty years, does not come primarily through courts or laws. It comes from changing the minds of people "on the ground" if you will. How can the church do this? I will address that in a later post.

Should Christians Attend a Same-Sex Wedding?

Here is Dr. Mohler's answer from his book We Cannot Be Silent. All punctuation and emphasis is his.

Attending a wedding ceremony always signals moral approval. This is why The Book of Common Prayer (which has provided the traditional ceremonial language known to millions of people throughout the centuries) contains the phrase that asks if anyone knows any cause that should prevent the marriage-"speak now; or else forever hold your peace." These words reveal the historic function of the wedding ceremony as a gathering of celebrants who come together to grant moral approval to the union of two people in marriage. Attending a same-sex marriage ceremony is to grant a positive and public moral judgment to the union. At some point, that attendance will involve congratulating the couple for their union. There will be no way to claim moral neutrality when congratulating a couple upon their wedding. If you cannot congratulate the couple, how can you attend? 

Heterosexuals Started It

I am reading Al Mohler's book We Cannot Be Silent. The second chapter details how birth control, no fault divorce, and fornication by heterosexuals led to an open door for the sodomite agenda and same-sex marriage. Here is the last paragraph from that chapter. Emphasis mine.

It is profoundly true that the sexual revolution did not begin with same sex marriage. The sexual revolution began when a significant number of people in modern society decided to liberate themselves from the inherited sexual morality that had been derived from Christianity and had informed the cultural consensus throughout human history. That was a decision largely made by heterosexuals who intended to legitimize their own sexual sin by means of a new moral argument. There were sexual revolutionaries advocating and hoping for the normalization of homosexuality from the beginning, but these were voices far outside the mainstream. Today's movement toward the total acceptance of homosexual behavior and relationships was only made possible because some heterosexuals first did their best to undermine marriage.

The only thing I would add to Dr. Mohler's analysis is that heterosexuals who started the sexual revolution were often part of the church.

Are You Embarrassed?

In Judges 4 Deborah, Barak, and Jael defeat Jabin King of Canaan and his military leader Sisera. Judges 5 is a song celebrating the great victory Israel had over her enemies. Judges 5:1-23 describes the need for deliverance (vs. 6-8) and the rounding up of various tribes to fight (13-23).  So far so good. But then we get to Judges 5:24-31 and God goes off script. First, he says the Jael will be blessed among all the tent dwelling women. Why? She is good with a hammer:

He [Sisera] asked for water and she gave him milk;
she brought him curds in a noble's bowl.
She sent her hand to the tent peg and
her right hand to the workmen's mallet;
she struck Sisera
she crushed his head
she shattered and pierced his temple.
Between her feet he sank,
he fell,
he lay still
between her feet he sank,
he fell
where he sank,
there he fell—dead.

Judges 5:1-23 is a quick paced narrative describing the gathering of troops and the battle. In 24-27 everything slows down. God wants us to stop, bend over, look inside the tent, and see the details. Jael's husband, Heber the Kenite, had a peace treaty with Sisera and Jabin (Judges 4:17). Sisera had probably been in Jael's house many times over the 20 years of oppression (Judges 4:3). But the times of easy money from the Israelites was over. God had raised up a savior. Jabin and Sisera were soundly defeated by Barak and his army (Judges 4:15-16). Sisera fled the battlefield and went to a place of safety: Heber's house. Jael even invites him in and gives him a blanket (Judges 4:18). He was thirsty and needed water. Jael gives him milk. She gives him milk in a noble's bowl (maybe to stroke his ego). She reaches out her hand to the tent peg. In the Middle East women set up tents. Jael was no waif super-model nor a Victorian shrinking violet. My guess is she was bulky and strong. She quietly reaches out to pick up a stray tent peg. Then she gets a mallet. Then she strikes, crushes, shatters, pierces his temple. He dies (understatement?). But before he dies he sinks, falls, lays still, sinks between her feet and falls. Sisera's place of safety became his grave. Jael stands over him in triumph. God wants us to glory in the gruesome death of this general at the hands of a housewife. But do we? Aren't we a little embarrassed by all of this fuss? Did God really need to tell us twice that Jael killed Sisera with a mallet and a tent peg (Judges 4:21, 5:24-27)? Yes, we know Jael is blessed. But do we really accept our blood spattered heroine as an instrument in God's hand?

However, the song, given by the Spirit, does not end there. If it did we could perhaps we could handle it. But the song gets worse. It goes on to mock Sisera's grieving mother.

Out of the window she peered, the mother of Sisera wailed through the lattice: 'Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?' Her wisest princesses answer, indeed, she answers herself, 'Have they not found and divided the spoil?— A womb or two for every man; spoil of dyed materials for Sisera, spoil of dyed materials embroidered, two pieces of dyed work embroidered for the neck as spoil?' 

Sisera's mother wonders why her son is taking so long to return from the battle. She sits on the balcony watching the horizon for the dust of his chariot (Judges 4:3). "What keeps him?" she asks. We know. He has been nailed to the ground. His head was struck, crushed, shattered, and pierced. He is not coming home. Her maidens answer her concerns with words of encouragement. "Oh, don't worry," they say, "His victory has been so great that he needs days to divide the spoil. No doubt right now he is raping (a womb or two) various Israelite women. He is going to bring home riches beyond measure." But this is false hope and empty words. How long did she wait? When did this mother find out that Sisera was dead? When did she find out that he did not die heroically by an arrow or spear on the battlefield? A woman, an Israelite woman, killed him with tent peg and a mallet. God does not want us to feel sorry for Sisera's mother. We are not to grieve with her. He wants us to rejoice at her grief. He want us to sing a song mocking her.

The song ends with a cry for all of God's enemies to perish just like Sisera:

So may all your enemies perish [like Sisera], O LORD! But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might. 

Sisera is not a one time event, a strange anomaly in the history of God's work. He is a model for all those who attack God's people and reject God. They will be judged. God's flaming sword will come down and wreak vengeance on those who do not trust Him (II Thess. 1:7-10). The Holy Spirit want us to pray for the enemies of God to be destroyed like Sisera.

In our age of ease, comfort, and tolerance it is easy to be embarrassed by God's Word, especially passages like this. We love Psalm 23, John 3:16 and Galatians 3:28, but our effeminate age is not so fond of passages like Exodus 15:3, II Kings 9:30-37, Mark 9:48, Revelation 2:16 and Judges 5:24-31. God is a God of vengeance and bloodshed. He is not all peace, love, hot chocolate, and marshmallows.  We want a soft God. We want a God who will never threaten us or anyone else. We want a God who does not get angry and kill people. We want a God who has been sanitized and sprayed with Lysol and whose instruments are clean, not covered in blood. We want a tame Lion who is safe, easy to talk about, and will not get us in trouble.

But that is not the God of the Bible. That is not the Jesus of the Bible either. The God of Scripture is the one who signed off on drowning millions of people, including women and children (Genesis 7:21-23).  God killed Saul (I Chron. 10:14).  God wanted a queen to be eaten by dogs and she was (I Kings 21:23 and II Kings 9:36). God cursed Israel with a siege and famine for her disobedience (II Kings 25:2-3). God killed a couple for lying about money and church members for corrupting of the Lord's Supper (Acts 5:10, I Cor. 11:30). God delivers people over to Satan (I Tim. 1:20). Jesus promises to come and kill a modern day Jezebel and her children (Revelation 2:22-23).  God created the lake of burning fire and Jesus will send people there.

God wanted his people to sing this song. He wants us to lift our voices in praise for the tent peg, the hammer, and the grieving mother. Moses loved this God. Joshua served this God. Deborah sang about this God. David delighted in this God. Isaiah saw this God. Paul preached this God. Jesus was the exact representation of this God (Hebrews 1:3). When we get done with Judges 5 what does God want from us? He wants us to worship Him, to glorify His great name, and to love Him more. Do we? Do we love, sing, delight in, and preach the God of Jael, the God who kills men with a tent peg and then writes a song about it?  Do we worship the God of Genesis 7, Judges 5, and Revelation 2? Or are we just embarrassed by Him?

Vaccines and Trusting God

This is an amended email I sent out to my congregation following a talk on vaccines that many of us attended at a local doctor's office. At our church we have both anti-vaccine folks and pro-vaccine folks and that is how it should be.  I have personal opinions about vaccines, anti-vacciners, pro-vacciners, scientific studies, fear mongering, the CDC, government mandates, big pharma, and alternative medicine. But the focus here is not on pro or anti vaccines, but rather how we should approach the issue as Christians. 

First, vaccines are way down the list of things that matter for Christians. Do not let it become too important. Take some time. Research it. Calmly make a decision and move on. Do not make this a "cause" you are promoting. If your church ever became known as the "anti-vaccine" church it would be a grievous blight on Christ's name. Both pro and anti vaccine people should feel at home in your church body. If vaccines, pro or con, become a "gospel" issue for you then that is a blight on Christ's name. Vaccines can be discussed, but they must not divide. 

Second, don't make it a spiritual issue. You are not more holy if you do or if you don't (I Cor. 8:7-8). We must not judge someone's holiness or sanctification based on this issue. If you find yourself thinking someone is not as righteous as you because they vaccinate or don't vaccinate then there is a big problem. 

Third, do not make decisions out of fear and anxiety. Both the pro and anti vaccine talking heads feed our fears. "Don't vaccinate because your kid might die." "Do vaccinate or your kid might die." But we do not trust in men. We trust in God. So whatever decision you make, make it from a heart that trusts in God, not because someone is feeding your heart-fires of anxiety (Philippians 4:6-7).

Fourth, you will never know enough to make the perfect decision. There are thousands and thousands of pages written on this. You can read about it for months (which I would not recommend by the way!). As a culture we trust in "data." If we just had another study or more proof. Or "Look at this study. It says..." But it will never be enough. You are not and never will be God. There is always a lot you don't know and will never know than you know. Do a little research. Make a decision, trust God, and move on. 

Fifth, you are not in control. God is. Both the pro and anti vaccine crowd have a God-complex at times. They believe if we just do enough we can control the future. If I just do this then that horrible thing will never happen to me. If I don't vaccinate my children, they eat right, and exercise they will not get cancer. If we vaccinate our kids they will not get disease x. If I just get regular mammograms then they will catch the cancer in time. If I eat natural then I will live a long and happy life. As Christians, we must reject this type of thinking. We try to make good decisions. But we know that God runs show. Your time is in His hands. You do not control the future. He does. Don't ever forget that great truth. It will calm a lot of your fears. 

Finally, remember the soul matters a lot more than the body (Matthew 10:28).  Raising our children to love Jesus, love His Word, and love His people is way more important than whether or not we vaccinate. For every article you read on vaccines, read five (ten?) on the Christian life. Keep things in perspective. Don't let your heart and mind be consumed by this or any other of the hundreds of minor issues in the Christian life. Keep the main things the main things.

We all have to make decisions about things like this throughout our life. With vaccines, I would encourage you to be calm, do some research, make the choice you think is best for your family, trust God, and then move on. And make sure your decision does not become the one that everyone else must make. 

I Don't Want It

Desiring God just posted an article about Holly Holm. She is the woman who beat up Ronda Rousey on Saturday night during a Ultimate Fighting Championship match and sent Rousey to the hospital. One might think that given what the Scriptures teach and Desiring God's commitment to the Biblical view of women that this article would be decrying the fact that Americans get their jollies by two women beating each other into a bloody pulp in the ring. But no. Instead this article praises Holly Holm for her humility and selflessness.

The article cites Proverbs 16:18, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." Ronda Rousey was the arrogant, loud mouthed, braggart, while Holm is the humble woman who overcame all odds. The author ends his article by comparing Holm to Jesus

The UFC now has a new kind of queen on the throne. The reign of this queen will have a fresh flavor, marked by humility and quiet confidence that echoes a true and better king. Such a counter-cultural reign, no doubt, will be underappreciated, even mocked, by the world. It won’t capture the attention and hype of a Rousey reign, but it will leave its mark, and remind us of the path and calling of the true champion.

This is one of the more astounding statements I have seen in print in a long time, especially coming from a conservative, Christian blog. A Christian woman, created by God to nurture and care for children, commanded by God to have "a gentle and quiet spirit," (I Peter 3:4), created by God to give life, as her mother Eve did (Genesis 3:20, I Timothy 2:15, 5:10, 14, Titus 2:4) and yet here she is praised by a PCA pastor for beating another woman up so bad she had to go to the hospital. She has spent her life beating up other women for pay and somehow she is model for other Christian women?  She is going around kicking other women in the head and somehow she is like Jesus? The article shows how far the church has fallen from the Scriptural view of what women are and who God made them to be. Holly Holm is a Christian. I cannot doubt that and nor should I. But her model of womanhood is so far removed from the Scriptural pattern for females that she should not be praised for what she is doing. 

Here is why those of us who believe in the classic roles of men and women in church, home, and society think so little of many 21st century complementarians. They cannot even get the basics right. Yes, there are gray areas, but this not one of them. Women beating each other to a bloody pulp in a ring for money is not a gray area. Women donning military garb and heading into battle is not a gray area. Women busting down doors to arrest drug dealers is not one of them. Women refusing to marry and have children or marrying and refusing to have children so they can pursue money is not one of them.  Too many complementarians want to push almost every distinction between men and women into the culturally conditioned gray area. When an article like this gets published by a complementarian leaning blog is there any wonder we want to go back to the term "patriarchy." If this is the fruit of complementarianism then I don't want it. 

Sexual Purity & the Seventh Commandment: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 41

This Sunday is the 41st Lord's Day in 2015. The Heidelberg Catechism reading for this Sunday is:

Q. What does the seventh commandment teach us?

A. That God condemns all unchastity, and that therefore we should thoroughly detest it and live decent and chaste lives, within or outside of the holy state of marriage.

 Q. Does God, in this commandment, forbid only such scandalous sins as adultery?

A. We are temples of the Holy Spirit, body and soul, and God wants both to be kept clean and holy. That is why God forbids all unchaste actions, looks, talk, thoughts, or desires, and whatever may incite someone to them.

Kevin DeYoung sets the stage by saying:

Is there any command more ridiculed in our culture than the Seventh Commandment? Adultery is a joke; homosexuality is a right; sex before marriage is the norm; no fault divorce and remarriage is assumed; bestiality is increasingly considered avant gard. This is the world we live in. Sex has always been a leading vote-getter in the most popular sin contest, but never before in this country has sexual deviance been made to look so normal and God's standard make to look so obscene...The Seventh Commandment is not just broken in this country; it's being smashed to pieces.

In our world, our bodies are rarely pure, much less our thoughts and desires. We are so at home with sexual immorality in our TV shows and music, but perhaps more deadly in our churches. Notice that the Heidelberg uses the word "detest" for our attitude towards "unchastity." Notice is says also that we should "thoroughly detest" it. We are not encouraged to a mild disdain for sexual immorality. But to a deep, abiding hatred of lust. We are not encouraged to a casual approach to sexual purity, but to a whole-hearted pursuit of it. Is that our attitude towards sexual immorality? How many of us detest the idea of getting caught looking porn, but do not detest the porn itself? How many of us hate that a friend or spouse might see us lusting after that girl in yoga pants or that guy in a tight jeans, but do not hate the fact that we want to lust after her/him? For most of us, the consequences of sexual sin are what we hate, not the sin itself. Until we learn to hate the sin and the desires that give birth to those sins we will never gain the victory.

The Heidelberg rightly points to our redemption by Christ and the filling of the Holy Spirit as the reason for holiness in this area. God does not just own our souls. He owns and fills our bodies as well. Therefore our entire self, body, soul, imaginations, thoughts, desires, emotions, and words are to be brought in submission to Christ.

What are some things we can do to fight against the pervasive sexual immorality in our lives?

-Learn what sins lead to sexual sins. Here is a good post to help you with that. Sins come in clusters. Sexual sin is rarely the engine driving the train. Usually it is the middle car in a train of sins.

-Don't be afraid to be radical in cutting off that sin. Put filters on your computer. Don't go to that section of the bookstore. Block that website. Stop "innocently" flirting at work or stopping by her desk to chat. If the job situation it too hard maybe you should leave. Don't kiss before marriage. Yes these are rules and do not get to the heart of your problem. But they might keep you from making a huge mistake while you deal with your lust.

-Worship weekly in a good Christian church where the Word is preached, the Psalms are sung, the saints fellowship with each other, and there is real accountability to elders. If an elder never visits you at home or has lunch with you and asks you about your sexual sins then there is not real accountability.

-Memorize Scripture. DeYoung gives 12 passages that we can use to fight sexual sin: Lamentations 3:25-27, Proverbs 5:18-19, James 1:14-15, Romans 14:21, Matthew 5:27-30, Galatians 6:7, I Cor. 6:15-20, II Corinthians 5:17, Hebrews 10:24-25, James 4:6, Matthew 5:8, and Ephesians 1:18-21. You can probably think of others.  Hide God's Word in your hearts.

-Check your desires. What do you want most? Not what do you tell people you want most. But what does your mind dwell on? What brings you comfort? What makes you happy? Do you regularly set aside lesser goods, such as watching TV, for greater goods, such as spending time with your children? Do you approach God's Word with same delight as you approach that newest show or movie? Love Jesus. Love the Scriptures. Love the folks at your church. Love your spouse and your children. Our desires drive us. And rarely are they as pure as we think they are. What do you love?

-Pray when tempted. Pray before you go into tempting situations. Pray when you leave. Proverbs 7:26 says that many strong men have fallen to the seductress. Or as the ESV says all those who have fallen to her are a "mighty throng." Either way her lures are not easy to resist. Do we really think we can fight her without prayer?

-Enjoy your spouse sexually. Here is a quote from G.I. Williamson's book on the Heidelberg Catechism:

The antidote to adultery is, or should be-for most of us- a good marriage. This means a marriage in which there is the right kind of sexual fulfillment. Sex is not evil. How could it be, when God himself designed it? And because it is one of the good gifts of God, it must not be neglected. What do we mean by this statement? Well, we mean this: in every other aspect of life we have to apply some real effort in order to achieve something. This is true for the farmer in his work, or an amateur musician in his hobby, or a Saturday golfer in his sport. We invest time and effort in these things, in order to do them well and to keep them interesting and exciting. Well, a good sexual relationship requires some of the same...There is no legitimate place for prudery in Christian marriage. 

Victory over sexual sin is hard to achieve in our age. Most of us have scars from sexual sins, those we have done and those committed against us. The good news is we serve a risen Lord who conquered death, which means he freely covers all our sins, heals us from sins committed against us, and he can give us power to conquer our sins. Sinful sexual desires and actions do not have to hold us in bondage.

Book Review: 50 Crucial Questions about Manhood and Womanhood

50 Crucial Questions About Manhood and Womanhood by John Piper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A great introduction to most of the main issues surrounding feminism and the church's capitulation to it. The answers are not comprehensive, but they are good and will point the reader in the right direction. The great benefit of this short book is the amount of ground the authors cover. I am not sure any reader will agree with everything. But most readers will learn something and even where they disagree will find their views challenged. It would be a good book to put on a book table or to hand to someone who is curious about the key teachings in Scripture on male female roles in the church and in the home.

View all my reviews

Six Barrier Beliefs

This little book contains several short essays outside of the main content on how the pastor theologian should conduct his ministry. Jason Hood, an Anglican pastor in Tanzania, has an essay on why the pastor should be an apologist in the pulpit. Often I view apologetics as what I do outside the pulpit. Hood reminded ministers that many sitting in the pew, even solid Christians, have questions about the faith or they have friends who ask questions about the faith. Therefore Sunday mornings should be used for defending the faith. He then gives six beliefs which dominate the post-Christian West that make Christianity difficult to believe. These beliefs are barriers to people coming to Christ. He encourages ministers to find ways to address these barriers in their preaching.

1. There cannot be on one true religion that falsifies all other views.

2. Evil and suffering make the powerful God of the Bible impossible.

3. Personal choice is sacred and cannot be violated by any religion or ideology that requires my submission to lordship.

4. The church's track record is dismal.

5. God's anger or wrath is unpalatable, perhaps even criminal.

6. The Bible is untrustworthy and socially regressive.

Hood says, "These barriers to Christian belief are not just found in New York: they are found everywhere, part of the cultural air."

If we are going to effectively minister to our congregations and our culture then we should be aware of these underlying beliefs that are obstacles for people coming to Christ. #1 and 3 are the most common I run in to. #3 is the most dominant worldview in America. Individual choice is god.

The Long War

As the videos continue to post, I wonder if how Christians feel is how Jews felt when Allied soldiers entered concentration camps at the end of WWII. Finally, the world is able to see what has been going on. Finally, they will see the ovens and the bodies stacked like cord wood. Finally, they will see the little arms and legs cut up into pieces. Finally, they will see the death of all these little ones.

But it is important to remember that while this sting operation by the Center for Medical Progress might be a kind of D-Day, it is not the whole war. Even before these videos abortion clinics were closing on a regular basis. For decades men have been fighting against abortion through sermons, prayers, picketing, and books. I think of hundreds of pastors, including John Piper, who have faithfully preached against abortion year after year. I think of my friends Charles and Al who regularly picket in front of abortion clinics. I think of  R.C. Sproul Jr. who whenever tragedy strikes reminds us of the greater tragedy of the thousands of babies legally killed every day. I think of Francis Schaeffer and his work in the early eighties. I think of pastors who have converted women walking into death clinics and helped them raise their children. I think of all the older ladies who pleaded with God to end this atrocity.  I think of parents who have many children or who have adopted unwanted children. On and on the list goes.  We have always hated abortion. We wanted it to end. Christians are not waking up for the first time. But there is physical proof of what we have always known. Babies are being chopped up for profit. Like pictures coming out of Germany in May 1945, these videos vindicate the war. There is a reason we fight.

Thanks to all the brothers and sisters, pastors and priests, mothers and fathers, who fought in the shadows since Roe v. Wade. We are grateful for your faithfulness. May our generation be worthy of walking in your footsteps. May we look to you, our Savior, and the Word to give us strength to endure in this battle against abortion and the other battles we will face in the coming years.

I also think of all those hipster Christians who thought abortion was old news. Who got tired of the war. Who protested those who said abortion was wicked. Who were silent in the face of the holocaust. Who loved their reputation more than Jesus. We need to move on they said, after all it is legal. We should ignore the barbed wire and the smoke and the smell. We will preach Jesus, but we do not need to make a political statement. Ours is a spiritual kingdom. May their tribe decrease. May they see their folly and publicly repent of disgracing the name of Christ. They lost their moral authority when they abandoned the Scriptures. Now they have been exposed as those who ate and drank while members of their congregation and city sacrificed their children to Molech. They are hirelings (John 10:13).

Then I think of us, the under forty generation. The battle against abortion has not been won, by any stretch. As Doug Wilson reminds us we must pursue. We must push through to Berlin. We must strike at the root, which is feminism. We must keep doing the things which matter most such as worshiping and loving God. The work we have been doing in our churches, homes, and communities we must keep doing.  We are seeing victories in the fight against abortion, which is wonderful. But these victories did not happen overnight. The war did not start with these videos. It started a long time ago. The war will not end with these videos. There are years of battle ahead of us, which is the great danger for my generation. We like quick fixes and easy answers. We lose steam fast. A few tweets and Facebook posts and we move on. But three weeks is not very long. Three years is not very long. Even three decades is not very long. Besides the abortion battle, there is sodomy, a wicked and corrupt government, a compromised church, evolution, the denial of Scripture as God's inspired Word, the rampant sexual immorality in the church, and many other battles to fight. Abortion is but one front, albeit an important one, in our work for Christ's Kingdom. Are we prepared for the long haul?  Will we fight for decades like our fathers did? Can we keep the pressure on year after year? Or will our attention wane and vigor wilt? Will we bend the knee to the world in the end? Will we grow weary?  I am grateful for the impact these videos are having. It is nice to win a battle now and then. But we must prepare our churches, our families, and ourselves to fight the long war. Without endurance, all that is gained will be lost.

House Rules & Legalism

One the truths Doug Wilson has repeated throughout his family books is the difference between house rules and God's rules. A house rule is a rule put in place to keep order and manage the home, but is not one of God's rules. For example, take your shoes off before coming inside. Or we only watch movies on Friday night. Or we read our Bible before breakfast. Legalists take house rules and make them into God's rules. They take the application of God's Word to their lives and make it the equivalent of God's Word. We all have good reasons for what we do. There are reasons why we clean the fridge on Saturday, wake up at 6:30 am, go to bed at 10 pm, brush our teeth three times a day, or take a walk several times a week. But none of these are God's rules. A healthy Christian life and the ability to live in unity with other Christians is impossible if we confuse house rules and God's rules. When we do this every issue becomes a hill to die on. Everything we do becomes a matter of holiness.

Christians would be wise to consider how many of their house rules they have made into moral imperatives, things other people have to do. But I wanted to focus on exercise and healthy eating. Earlier I wrote a post on how many women are in bondage to the legalism of being thin and attractive. Husbands have told wives and fathers have told daughters that if you want my favor you must stay thin. So women walk around feeling like God is displeased with them and does not accept them because they weigh too much, are not attractive enough, or ate an extra piece of pie. Our culture, including Christian culture, has put our wives and daughters in bondage. It is a grievous sin.

After that post several people asked me, "But is it wrong to exercise or to eat healthy?"  No. But it is not right either. It is not a moral issue. Paul says, "Food does not commend us to God." (I Cor. 8:8) What does that mean? Well it means food does not commend us to God. Therefore exercise is a house rule. I run three times a week. I only eat dessert on Friday. I eat organic. None of those are God's rules. Even keeping your body in shape is not one of God's rules. You could deduce from passages on stewardship and nature that it might be best to try to be healthy. But there is little emphasis in Scripture on being healthy. Exercising and eating healthy are decisions you make for your life and for your family, which will vary dramatically from culture to culture, house to house, and person to person. We cannot confuse our rules for exercising and eating right with God's rules. But because we think something is best for us we assume that it must be best for everyone.  If I run three times a week, then my fellow Christian, if he cares about his body and loves his wife will make sure he exercises as well. If I eat salad for lunch to stay thin, then my sister in Christ should avoid dessert so she stays thin. If we do not keep our legalistic minds in check, our house rules will slowly morph into God's rules. God's laws which are not burdensome are blotted out with our laws, which are burdensome.

Here are some questions to see if you have made the house rule of exercise one of God's rules.

Do you look down on overweight people, particularly women? When you see an overweight person at Wal-Mart what is your gut reaction?

Do you feel like you sinned against God if you fail to exercise?

Do you look at other Christians who don't exercise and think them less holy? Less able to fulfill God's purposes for them? Destroying their witness for Christ?

Do you watch what other people eat and how much? When someone piles their plate high do you give a side long glance of judgment?

Do you think children wicked for wanting a second piece of dessert?

Do you try to impress others with your healthy eating or your exercise?

If someone has health problems do you assume their sinful choices have caused those health problems? If you have health problems do you assume your sinful choices have caused those?

Do you believe if you exercise, eat right, and love God you will have good health?

None of this is an argument against exercise and eating healthy. But these must be kept in their proper place. We should not make exercise, eating healthy, losing weight, etc. into a sin issue. Nor should we judge our fellow Christians based on these issues. We should make the best choices for our family and let our brothers and sisters exercise Christian freedom in these areas.  If we can't do this then we will be putting others in bondage.

Pleasure Done Wrong

Christians have an awkward relationship with pleasure. How are we supposed to approach things like sex, steaks, football games, cool summer breezes, a good beer, laughter, and a tickling our children? Are we supposed to feel guilty? Excited?  Isn't the life of a Christian serious business?  Isn't our culture driven by a love of pleasure and shouldn't we be salt and light in this wicked society? Don't things like sex and beer lead to all sorts of sin? Wouldn't it be better if we focused on doing our duty instead of pursuing pleasure?

There are at least four ways we sin in our pursuit of pleasure. In a later post I will flesh out how to approach pleasure positively.

Sin #1: Trade Lasting Pleasures for Temporary Ones
Sin is pleasant. If it wasn't, who would be attracted to it. But it is pleasant in a temporary, short sighted way. Sin is pleasant in the same way Esau's bowl of soup was pleasant or Bathsheba was pleasant  for David. Yes it tasted good or felt good, but then it was gone and these men awoke to the reality of what they had lost. Satan's great goal is to get us to trade lasting, long term pleasure for short, fleeting pleasures. Satan knows that God is pleasure. When we come to him we find joy, happiness, and pleasures without end (Psalm 16:11). Satan knows that God will fill all our needs and desires far beyond our expectations, if we will just pursue Him with all our might and wait on Him to provide. So he makes us push. Sex before marriage is a great example. Almost every study ever done on the subject says that people who do not have sex before marriage, marry one time, and stay with that person are happier than those who don't. Yet Satan whispers in our ears, "It will be fun to sleep around before marriage." And he is right...sort of.  Sin is fun for the moment. But it reaps pain in the long run.

God is not saying, "Give up temporary pleasure for eternal pain." Nor is He saying, "Give up temporary pleasure to do your duty." He is saying, "Give up temporary pleasure for lasting pleasure." Of course, this works eternally (Romans 8:18). We give up many things in this life because we know the next life will bring us great pleasures, the greatest being God himself. But it also often works in this life. A young man who waits on sex will usually find his sexual relationship with his wife better, filled with more pleasure. A woman who controls her eating will find that piece of pie tastes so good at the end of the day. A teenager who gets his work done first will find that he can rest with a clean conscience.

Solution: Do not give up lasting, long term pleasures for short, fleeting ones. Instead pursue lasting pleasures within the boundaries of God's good Word. 

Sin #2: Pleasure is Sinful
Many Christians agree with #1. Yes we must wait. We must not give in to the world's temptations. But we do it out of duty instead of delight. In other words, we buy into Satan's idea that God's rules are there to keep us from pleasure and fun (Genesis 3:5).  We know we are supposed to follow God, but we think this means giving up pleasure. After all, God is a harsh task master. For many conservative Christians pleasure is a sure sign that sin is lurking somewhere. This is a temptation for homeschoolers, Roman Catholics, evangelical Christians, and anyone in between. We know the world makes the mistake of trading lasting pleasures for fleeting ones. Therefore we overreact. Pleasure is bad. Sex can only be about procreation or it can only be a duty to protect ourselves from sexual temptation. Why do we approach it this way? Because God does not like us to have fun.  We watch our weight, what food we eat, how we spend our money, how other people spend their money, how we spend our time, how other people spend their time, etc. We don't watch comedies, tell jokes, dance, like vacation, or enjoy sitting on the deck and watching the sunset. In short, we believe life is very serious, very practical, and we are not here to have fun.

There are two signs a person is trapped in this mindset. First, they feel guilty about pleasure. If something makes them happy then it is probably sinful. They may do it, but penance must be paid later. Second, they give disapproving glances when other people are joyful. They think to themselves, "A happy person is probably a sinning person." A child gleefully running to get a cookie is probably greedy.  A man who loves eating a steak is probably a glutton. If my son enjoyed that movie there was probably some sin involved. And so on.

But, fortunately, God is not this way. God invented all those pleasures. He made cows so we could butcher them and eat a rib eye.  He made sunsets, mountain ranges, ocean beaches, and snow. He made men who would invent baseball, movies, rock music, roller coasters, go-carts, hot dogs, and corn bread to go around our hot dogs. He created wheat so we could have a thousand types of bread and beer. He created dogs, cats, birds, and snakes. He created men and women to fit together physically.  God loves pleasure. He put us in a world where are there are pleasures without end. He is taking us to a world where there will be pleasures beyond imagination. A person who hates pleasure or thinks pleasure is sinful is living in rebellion against God and His world.

Solution: Without guilt, fully enjoy all the pleasures God gives to you. He wants you to enjoy that movie, that ball game, that new car, that steak, your wife, your child's laughter, and yes even the snow. 

Sin #3: We Enjoy Pleasure, But Do Not Thank God 
This mistake is worshiping the creature instead of the Creator. God gives good things to all men, not just Christians (Matthew 5:45). All humans can enjoy God's gifts. Non-Christians can keep sex within marriage. They can teach their children the discipline necessary to enjoy money, food, house, home, work, etc. They can take pleasure in a sunset or a kitten. But proper use of God's good gifts is not the final goal. The goal is doxology, praise, and thanksgiving to the God who gave those gifts. Here is where all those who do not worship the living God fall short.

Christians can fall into this trap. We enjoy God's gifts. But instead of enjoying the gift and then thanking the Giver, we stop at the gift. We do not have to give explicit thanks for all good things. But our lives should be ones of perpetual thanksgiving.

By the way, Christians who think pleasure is sinful (#2) cannot be truly thankful. Why would a person give thanks for what makes them feel guilty?

Solution: Give heartfelt thanks to God for the gifts and pleasures he gives to you daily.  

Sin #4: We Enjoy Pleasure, But Refuse to Deny Ourselves for Others 
Here the failure is not lack of gratitude, but rather failure to love our neighbor. With this sin we enjoy God's gifts, we may even give thanks for them, but we do not moderate our pursuit of pleasure for the sake of others. We love God's physical gifts to the detriment of loving those around us. A man can love to play golf and not be sinning. But when golf becomes more important than family he is sinning. Usually this has to do with how much or what manner we do something, not the thing itself. Eating out is not a sin. But if you eat out so much that your family suffers financially that is a problem. Watching football is not a sin. But if you refuse to fellowship with the saints because of the football game then you are sinning.

Often loving our neighbor and enjoying God's good gifts can and should be combined. A father can teach his children to play golf instead of spending every Saturday away from his family. My brother loves to run. As his kids have gotten older he has included them in his hobby instead of selfishly setting them aside to pursue his own goals. We can invite friends over for a beer instead of just enjoying it ourselves. We can go on a hike as a family instead of just husband and wife. We don't have to, nor should we do this every time, but it will help keep our pursuit of pleasure within God's bounds if we strive to include others. A true joy and pleasure is one you want others to experience.

Solution: Pursue pleasure, but make sure you are not running over your neighbor to do so. Make sure your pleasures are used in service of others.  Include others, as you can, in your joy.