To Whom Shall We Go?

I came across two bits of information today that curiously relate to one another. I enjoy listening to NPR on occasion as I drive to and from work. Today I heard just a snippet from the show Fresh Air with Terry Gross where she relayed that she would be replaying an old interview later in the broadcast. This interview was with a renowned gay-rights activist who had committed suicide just last Friday. I didn’t hear the interview, rather I heard, and quickly put in my memory, the host’s interpretation of that suicide. She said of his death that “he took his own life, unwilling to be further debilitated by his failing health. ” This was staggering to me. This interpretation is unacceptable. A person must not be said to be in the right when he takes his own life because of his presumed suffering. Human life is just too precious. I cannot imagine how frightening the prospects of his suffering must have been, but this should never be legitimate grounds for taking life. The other ...

“Many things may be cross to our desires that are not cross to our good,” wrote Thomas Brooks. This is very difficult to remember! As Christians we know God has our good always at hand (Rom 8.28). We then have all kinds of desires each day as we live our lives. The problem comes when our deep desire to align with God’s desires crosses with our own desires. Many events in life may contradict our own desires, but God always has our good in mind! This is comforting.

I won't put all the words here, but the chorus is tremendous. Thank you for the trials For the fire, for the pain Thank you for the strength Knowing You have ordained Every day

I need to post something. I've had too many days of posting nothing, so I need to post something. And here it is: "It is not good that the man should be alone" Gen. 2:18.

Here is a link to some great thoughts on music from someone I deeply respect, Bob Kauflin. I'm convicted by this because I always take a bit of pride in calling myself a music snob...and I don't that should be considered a virtue. Point #10 is probably the most poignant for me: 10. Being opinionated about music can affect our ability to worship God corporately. How many times have you heard the first few bars of a worship song on Sunday and thought, “Oh no…I can’t stand this song.” Or maybe you’re talking with a group of friends at lunch on Sunday, and you’re letting them know which songs you really didn’t like. In either case, we’re giving more value to our musical preferences than God’s command to sing his praise and to love him with all our hearts. Do we really want to let our musical opinions keep us from worshiping the God who gave us music in the first place? Busted! It's like Bob followed me home from church last Sunday! By the way, I've not read the whole t...

I'm back at blogging. March was exceptionally hectic getting some tasks accomplished at work. But enough biography for now. In chapter 6 of Piper's When I Don't Desire God , he gives a compelling, one-sentence definition of sin. He writes, "God is infinitely valuable, and we have offended him infinitely by valuing other things more" (p 72). This is why sin is so tricky. It's not just about "doing bad things." That is part of it. But sin also includes "doing good things for bad reasons," not to mention desiring, pursuing, and valuing the wrong things. Sin is, fundamentally, "valuing other things more" than we value God. Depression, despair, and grumbling are complex, but they all at least embrace a distortion of valuing the right things. The greatness of God seen in the gospel once again draws us towards valuing the right things: the Holy God mercifully sacrifices his only Son for unworthy sinners in order to make them rig...

My sister Becca just mentioned that some Jehovah's Witnesses had come by her house recently. Conversations with cult members are difficult because they have a lot of training in being really persuasive. I don't have much help to offer in this area, but I thought I would post some notes from a class lecture from Dr. Timothy Beougher's Personal Evangelism class, with some of my own thoughts. The specific notes are on how to approach Non-Trinitarians, specifically JW's. "Concept statement – if the Bible teaches there is only one God, and the Bible calls three persons God, then I must, in faith, accept that God is Triune even if I don’t fully understand it." Based on that statement, you walk the person through the following verses, one at a time: Deut 6.4, Is 43.10-11, Is 44.6, Rev 1.8, Rev 22.13, 16, Rev 1.17-18, Heb 1.1, 2, 8, Acts 5.3-4 Your point all along is very simple, and in line with the above concept statement: You are showing them that the same things...