Jack the Stud

My son...seems pretty happy, doesn't he?

Handed Over to Satan? (1 Tim. 1:19-20)

"having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme." (v. 19-20)

After Paul charges Timothy to "fight the good fight" of faith, he states that one fights this battle by having faith and having a good conscience. Interestingly enough, Paul uses these same two words in verse 5 when he states that the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, good conscience and a sincere faith.

Evidently, Hymenaeus and Alexander did not have a pure heart, a good conscience, or a sincere faith. Since these attributes can only be exhibited by believers who are being controlled by the Holy Spirit, we can conclude that either, (1) these men were not believers but thought they were or tried to disguise that they were, or (2) they had fallen away for a season of their lives.

Either way, Paul, somewhat shockingly, states that these men have suffered spiritual shipwreck, and therefore, he has handed them over to Satan because of their blasphemy. What does this mean?

Judging by Scripture's explanation of how church discipline should be carried out, I'm assuming that these men had been accosted previously by Paul, and were unrepentant. The only time Scripture even comes close to instructing in handing believers over to Satan is when Jesus remarks that if a brother refuses to listen, "let him be like a heathen." In other words, let him go his own way, or as Paul states, "hand over to Satan."

What is the reason for this treatment? If Hymanaeus and Alexander are truly believers and ministers of the Gospel, they will repent and rejoin the flock. Sometimes standing up for the faith involves making decisions that may shock or irritate people. However, in the long run it may be the most loving act you can do for both the church and the unrepentant brother who needs to be desperately reconciled to Christ.

Goofball

Jackson goofing off again...what a Wallace

The Testimony of C.S. Lewis

I love a good testimony. I love hearing how someone can to know Christ. One beauty of having brothers and sisters in Christ is that we all have a common thread in some type of testimony - the realization that Christ is who the Bible claims He is and our (sometimes begrudging) acceptance of this fact. Many people are familiar with Oxford and Cambridge scholar C.S. Lewis. However most are unfamiliar with his testimony; his story of how he went from atheism to theism:

"Early in 1926 the hardest boiled of all atheists I ever knew sat in my room on the other side of the of the fire and remarked that the evidence for the historicity of the Gospels was really surprisingly good...'It almost looks as if it had really happened once.' To understand the shattering impact of it (his remark), you would need to know the man (who has certainly never since shown any interest in Christianity). If he, the cynic of cynics, the toughest of the toughs, were not - as I would have put it - "safe," where could I turn? The odd thing was that before God closed in on me, I was in fact offered what now appears a moment of wholly free choice...I could open the door of keep it shut...The choice appeared to be momentous but it was also strangely unemotional. I was moved by no desires or fears. In a sense I was not moved by anything. I chose to open, to unbuckle, to loosen the rein." (C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, New York: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1955, 223-224)

The thing that stands the most to me is the fact that Lewis did not have a highly emotional or passionate moment of conversion. His conversion started when he came to intellectually honest terms of who Jesus was and is.

As Norman Geisler states, "Jesus was especially concerned about bringing His contemporaries to an accurate conception of Himself." (Unshakable Foundations, 282).

Praise God that Lewis responded to the Call - all Christians everywhere have been blessed by his spiritual gifts.

Fight the Good Fight - (1 Tim. 1:18)

"This charge I commit to you , son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare." (v.18)

In the rest of this letter (after the next two verses) Paul proceeds to instruct Timothy on how to "wage the good warfare." The NLT translates this phrase, "fight well in the Lord's battles." The NIV says to, "fight the good fight."

No matter which translation you may prefer, the point of Paul's urging remains: Christian ministry is a battle. What is it a battle against? It's a battle against those who:

a) teach other doctrine (v.4, 11), and,

b) stray from keeping Christ the "main thing" (v.5-7)

Together, denying doctrine and denying Christ will be what leads a church astray. No doubt these types of fallouts happen in many churches. Paul knew this would happen and had seen it happen and spends the rest of the letter preparing Timothy on how to keep this from happening. More on this soon...

God - Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, Wise (1 Tim. 1:17)

"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." (v. 17)

Paul ends verses 12-17 with a doxology of sorts as he describes who God is. Many people ask questions such as, "What is God like?" Thankfully, Scripture gives us clues as to who God is. In verse 17, Paul reveals four attributes of God:

1) He is eternal - The question, "Who made God?" is nonsensical (or nonsense) because only finite and mortal beings are created. God is eternal, or infinite, thus meaning He has no beginning and no end. Therefore, to ask who made him is similar to asking, "What does the color blue taste like?" It is an impossible question to answer, because God exists outside the realm of finite creations. God is eternal.

2) He is immortal - God is immortal, meaning he can never be killed (despite Friedrich Nietzsche's claim that, "God is dead and we killed him"). We can take comfort in the fact that God has always and will always exist.

3) He is invisible - Some people claim that when we get to Heaven we will see God face-to-face. Biblically, they do not have warrant for this statement, because Scripture tells us that God is invisible. He is a Spirit that transcends space and time and cannot be beheld. However, Jesus Christ, is God in human form. What a wonderful day it will be when we see Jesus face-to-face. God the Father, however, is invisible

4) He is only wise - Finally, Paul states that God alone is wise. He is the only one who has perfect knowledge and perfect wisdom. He is the only God and the only one that is worthy to be praised.

For these four attributes, we are to give him alone all honor and glory forever and ever.

Rosie the Bully

Check out this interesting article on Rosie O'Donnell, who is completely out of control, from Baptist Press.