One God, One Way (1 Tim. 2:5-6)

"For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time." (1 Tim. 2:5-6)

After urging Timothy to pray for all people because God desires all to be saved, Paul writes one of the most beautiful sections in all of Scripture that truly encapsulates the Gospel. He states:

1) There is one God - Make no mistake about it, there is only one God and that is the God of the Bible. Paul does not leave this up to debate.

2) There is one way to God - This one God, YHWH to the Jews, has provided one way to come to Him, and that is through His son, Jesus Christ. Why? Because Jesus Christ paid God the ransom, the fee, for mankind's sin, so that his Wrath (the penalty for sin) would not be poured out on us. Instead, it was poured out on His Son. This happened at the proper time, or the fullness of time - a time in which God, in his sovereignty and wisdom, chose.

The world oftentimes chides Christians for being closed-minded and bigoted because we claim that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. If we are really intellectually and reasonably honest with what we believe, we will stick by our claim that Jesus in the only way. This, indeed, was the purpose of Paul's letter to Timothy.

BLJ: Miller's Understanding of Sin (Part 2)

Chapter Two: Problems: What I Learned on Television

In typical postmodern fashion, Miller teleports the reader somewhere into in his past without warning. Tthe reader finds himself in the middle of a conversation between Miller and his friend Tony the Beat Poet. The conversation centers around a news story which Miller saw on ABC's Nightline about the atrocities in the Congo of Africa where more then 2.5 million people have been killed in acts of genocide over a three-year period.

After pondering the fact that how such evil could exist in any part of the world, evil where women had been raped numerous times, Miller remarks:

"I keep wondering how people could do things like that." Tony then asks Miller several times why he doesn't think that he is capable of doing any of those acts. Tony says, "I just want to know what makes those guys over there any different from you and me. They are human. We are human. Why are we any better then them, you know?" (16)

It is at this point that Miller realizes, correctly, that there is no difference between himslef and a man from the Congo.

"You believe we're capable of those things, don't you Tony?" asked Miller. "What you're really saying is that we have a sin nature, like the fundamentalist Christians say."
"I think so, Don. I don't know how else to answer the question," responds Tony.

First, I give Miller credit for using simple reason to figure out that mankind has a sin problem. Most of mankind can point to sin across the world, to places like the Congo, but are completely blind to the fact that we are all humans, and as Jesus said, murder does indeed start in the heart and not in act. (Matt. 5:21-22).

Also, after reading just two chapters of this book, I'm already starting to see a theme and that is the theme of spirituality as opposed to Christianity. Many postmoderns seem to divorce spirituality from organized Christianity. However, as David Wells states so eloquently in Above All Earthly Pow'rs spirituality is a self-started reaching up to God while organized Christianity is a God-initiated graceful bending down to his creation in need of a Savior.

This 'seeking' which many do is sinful in nature because what they are seeking is self-gratification because Scripture never states that man seeks God. In fact, man is in rebellion against God and God seek him first and draws him to Himself. Therefore, what and who are we seeking when we seek God? If God has not initiated the act, we seek ourselves.

Saving Truth (1 Tim. 2:3-4)

"This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved, and to come to a knowledge of the truth." (v.3-4)

In the two verses preceding these, Paul urges Timothy to make supplications, intercessions, thanksgivings and prayers for all people, even the governing authorities. Why? Paul tells us the reason in verses three and four:

Because doing so is good and it is pleasing to God because He desires all his people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.

Notice that Paul did not say that God desired all people to come to a knowledge of a truth. Rather, He is claiming that Christianity is the only truth. This kind of language is what gets a lot of Christians labeled as "intolerant" in today's postmodern culture. Critics say that, instead of claiming to have a monopoly on the only way to salvation, Christians should just accept other peoples' views as being "true to them." Unfortunately, while this idea smells like roses, it tastes like poison. This kind of logic is fallacious and evil. It's fallacious because it is not logical and it is evil because it does not care about the eternity of its fellow man.

The law of non-contradiction, a first principle of logic, states that x cannot equal y.

For instance a Muslim says that Jesus is a prophet who is not God...the Qu'ran says this. A Christian states that Jesus is God...the Bible says this. So, who is right? Well, we may deduce that either (a) Muslims may be right and Christians may be wrong, (b) Christians may be right and Muslims may be wrong, or (c) Muslims and Christians may both be wrong. However, the option that they both could be right is impossible because both religions make exclusive claims.

So the next time someone tells you that you are being intolerant, tell them in response that you are just trying to be logical and find the truth - of which there can only be one...and pray for them after that. Because doing so is pleasing to God who desires all to be saved and come to a knowledge of Him.

The Problems of West Africa

Here's a great article on bringing the Gospel to West Africa

here

Blue Like Jazz: A Review (Part 1)

Every few years a book is released into the Christian subculture that creates a stir, as well as a lot of reads. A few years ago, Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life book exploded all over the world. Soon entire congregations were studying Warren's premise that God has a plan for your life.

Over the last couple of years the movement (or conversation as its leaders refer to it as) of Emerging Churches has taken the Christian subculture by storm. By breaking with non-traditional forms of worship (both high-church and seeker sensitive), the Emergents have a curious draw on a large (albeit young) portion of Christianity.

One of the books at the forefront of this movement is Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller. Most college students and those in their twenties have read this book. Some people laud Miller's work with praise while others claim it is tantamount to heresy


As with any book that has had such a profound impact on Christian culture, it should be read and asked the question, "Why is this book popular?" I am going to begin a series (a looooong one) on Blue Like Jazz. I confess that it is one of the pieces of literature of the Emerging church that I have, for some reason, not read. A good friend of mine who is a Reformed University Fellowship staffer challenged me to read it so that we may converse about its premises. Therefore, I am prepared to offer and fair and balanced (not akin to FOX) critique of Miller's book, chapter-by-chapter. Keep reading if you're interested...

Note: I am going to try to approach Miller's work with as little presuppositions as possible. The only standard I will use to judge Blue Like Jazz will be its adherence to Biblical truths. With that, let's look at Chapter 1 which is entitled: Beginnings: God on a Dirt Road Walking Toward Me

From the very first page, a clue to Miller's style is discovered when he curiously dedicates the book to "David Gentiles."

Miller's first chapter deals with the doctrines of man and God (in sort of a round-about way). The way he has written it, is actually, pretty genius

Almost immediately into his body of work, Miller shares that he only saw and spent time with his biological father on three separate occasions. He says:

"My father left my home when I was young, so when I was introduced to the concept of God as Father I imagined Him as a stiff, oily man who wanted to move into our house and share a bed with my mother...I imagined God as a man who had a lot of money and drove a big car. (1)"

It's easy to see that Miller has a terrific sense of humor and a keen wit, but also a resentment towards his father (with probably a good reason). He continues:

"Today I wonder why it is God refers to Himself as 'Father' at all. This to me, in light of the earthly representation of the role, seems a marketing mistake. Why would God want to call Himself Father when so many fathers abandon His children?...I understood what a father did as well as I understood the task of a shepherd. All the vocabulary about God seemed to come from ancient history, before video games, Palm Pilots, and the Internet. (4)."

I have to admit when I first read this section, I gasped. I thought to myself, "Is Miller degrading how God has chosen to reveal himself to us by the simple fact that he had a lousy father?" Then, upon pondering this question, it seemed appropriate that someone would ask that kind of question who did indeed have a lousy father. It's a fair question, that, I hope, Miller answers later in the book, and does not just confuse and confound his readers with.

From this thought, Miller states an almost equally curious sentence:

"I started to sin about the time I turned ten. I believe it was ten, although it could have been earlier, but ten is about the age a boy starts to sin, so I am sure it was in there somewhere. Girls begin to sin when they are twenty-three or something, but they do life much softer by their very nature and so need less of a run at things. (5)."

I really hope that Miller is using his aforementioned keen wit and biting sarcasm at this point. It has also occurred to me that Miller might by telling this section from the eyes of a ten-year old boy. Being, that, he was ten years old when he first learned that he was a sinner and thought to himself that girls really didn't sin until much later...at least I hope so.

Miller then writes about how this realization of being a sinner led him to feelings of guilt which, in turn, led him to think that maybe religion would somehow cure his guilt. I think that Miller makes a great point with this thought process because this is exactly how people realize that they need a Savior. All people, eventually (10 years old for boys according to Miller), realize that they have done some bad things in their life. And everyone incurs guilt as a result. Likewise, we also all need some resolution to this guilt problem. How can we do that? Miller states that this thought process brought him closer to religion and in the next chapter he writes an excellent essay on the doctrine of sin....

Grading Scale: (out of 5 being the highest)


Keeps My Interest: 5

Sound on Doctrine: Not sure...

Easy to Understand: 3

Pray For Our Leaders (1 Tim. 2:2)

"...for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way." (2:2, ESV)

In verse 1 of chapter 2, Paul urges that Timothy should pray for all men and in the next verse expands on this idea of praying for all men by specifically stating that we should pray for those in high positions.

Christians are often very active in politics. There is merit in being active in the law-making affairs of our country. However, when Christians start to place politics as equal or higher then God, they are committing idolatry in the name of religious freedom. It bothers me when I see African-American churches invite members of the Democratic party to come speak inside the church and to take over the sacred pulpit in order to rally the members to vote for them. It also equally bothers me to see Anglo-American churches invite members of the Republican party to come speak inside their churches and to take over the sacred pulpit in order to rally the members to vote for them.

We must never blur the lines of politics and God...remember, politicians want to help their country but they also need votes in order to keep their jobs.

So what can we do to maintain that we live in a safe and just country? Pray for our leaders. I think most Christians (including myself) believe that prayer works but actively live as if prayer cannot move mountains. We are called to pray with faith and so many times we fail to do so.

Let's pray for President Bush and his advisers that they will make right and just decisions. Let's pray for the Supreme Court in that they will also make wise decisions. Let's also pray for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Harry Reid that they will make careful and wise decisions and protect the sanctity of human life.

Let's thank God for the privilege it is to live in this country and let's pray for its leaders. Prayer is the one action that we can make in politics that will have the highest impact.

Pray For All Men (1 Tim. 2:1)

"Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men," (2:1)

The beginning of the second chapter in Paul's first letter to Timothy is also the beginning of his official pastoral advice. If we could give advice to a younger brother in the faith, I wonder where we would start? Paul starts with prayer. But Paul does not instruct Timothy to pray for himself, he instructs Timothy to pray for others - not just for believers either, but for ALL men.

Paul urges Timothy to do four things;

1) To make supplications for all men - Making a supplication means to ask God to do something in particular in one's life. Paul tells Timothy to make supplications for other people, thus perhaps asking God to bless other people. What, loving, pastoral advice to ask God to help other people.

2) To make prayers for all men - To pray for all men. Even though Timothy has no idea what other people's problems and issues are he is still instructed to pray for them.

3) To make intercessions for all men - Here is a tricky one. Paul is telling Timothy to intercede for other people on their behalf. God knows that most people (including ministers) do not pray enough. Therefore, it is Timothy's duty, as a minster of the gospel, to see to it that other people are prayed for.

4) To give thanks for all men - When was the last time you thanked God for putting someone who is good to you in your life? Now, when was the last time you (and I) thanked God for putting someone who is evil to you in our life? I have found that when people have criticized me or have been a general thorn in the flesh, it has drawn me closer to God and it has been a wonderful time of spiritual growth. God says to thank Him for putting these people in your life because God wants you to have His strength be made perfect in your weakness.

Let's take Paul's God-breathed advice and pray for all men.