In the past few postings, we have been exploring Question #2 of Theology 101, “What am I like?” Today I want to discuss the importance of the law of God, i.e., what God requires of us, in answering that question. As a matter of fact, God’s law, wherever it is found, Old Testament or New, is the main tool God has in helping us to answer it correctly. This “importance of the law” may be surprising and uncomfortable to many who have responded to…
Last week we discussed the second theological question in Basic Theology 101, “What am I like?” We found that the current defining characteristic of God’s only creature who was made “in God’s image” is that he is now, because of Adam’s fateful choice in the Garden, a sinner. Before we investigate the third theological question, “How does God relate to me?” it is important for us to grasp that being “a sinner” is not primarily an intellectual, theological concept. When Romans 3:12 says, “All…
Over the past few weeks we have begun to put some meat on the bones of Christian Theology 101 by beginning to answer the four questions that comprise its theological skeleton: 1) What is God like? 2.) What am I like? 3.) How does God relate to me? 4.) What is my purpose in life? In our society today, “black and white” or fixed, unchanging standards are out; nuanced, flexible preferences or “shades of grey” are in. On the other hand, in our postings…
What if Jesus really meant it when He said from the cross “It is finished!”? What if He meant that His mission on earth was accomplished? He came to earth to save the world (John 3:19), and save the world He did— at the cross! Mission accomplished. Do you see what this means? Does it not unfailingly follow that if God’s justice has been fully satisfied at the cross, how can God possibly be still meting out judgment from His throne to sinners who…
This old bumper sticker from the 70’s expresses pretty well the attitude many Christians have about the situation in the world: “I want justice on the earth. I don’t want people to get away with all the things they get away with now. Lord, when are you coming back and knock heads?” There is a longing in all our hearts to see justice served, the guilty punished and the righteous rewarded, even if we have to suffer ourselves! This is also in God’s heart.…
Last week we took our initial swing at answering the question that makes up leg #1 of our four-legged theological stool upon which the Christian faith firmly rests: “What is God like?” We discovered that a careful examination of God’s divine characteristics of omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience messed with some of our most cherished presuppositions, i.e., our “free will,” making us notably uncomfortable. Those divine traits, discussed so casually and glibly by most Christians, upon careful examination expose us as believing in a make-believe…
The automatic answer to that question for most Christians is “yes,” but are you sure? Let’s take a closer look and see if that is true. Last week we looked at four questions that philosophers and other thinkers over the centuries have asked in their attempts to find some meaning in life. 1.) “Is there a God, and if so, what is He like?” 2.) “Who am I?” 3. “Can I relate to God, and if so, how?” 4.) “Why am I here?” Over…
History is full of stories of buried treasure, sunken pirate ships and long-forgotten Spanish galleons that made their discoverers fabulously wealthy. Some of our most popular movies and most beloved classic literature, such as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Treasure Island, have kept us entertained with similar stories. It’s great to fantasize about common people such as ourselves finding such treasure, like the farmer who lived on the island of Milo in the Aegean Sea in 1820. While plowing his field he unearthed…
We saw last week in Galatians 3:23, 24 that God has given us His perfect law for two reasons, the distinction between them being extremely important: guarding us until we come to faith, and then guiding us in our lives once we do. We looked at its guarding function in the civil government and today we will examine its guarding use in the family. The family is the basic building block of any society. Children must learn the difference between destructive and acceptable conduct if…
In the last few postings I may have left the impression that the law of God is somehow the “bad guy” as we enter the life of faith as a Christian. Nothing could be further from the truth, as sings King David in Psalm 119:97, the phrase that is the title of today’s posting. Psalm 119 constitutes the longest chapter in the Bible, and is made up of David’s view of the law as perfect without any blemishes, his attempts to follow it as…