Mohler on Pope Benedict XVI

I just read an article by Dr. Albert Mohler (president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY) on Pope Benedict XVI's present visit to the US. You can access the article by clicking here. Mohler is thoroughly biblical and has, in this (short) article, concisely given his take on the pope and his present and future involvement in Christianity as a whole. At the end of the day, although Mohler applauds the Pope in his steadfast conviction, he does not foresee the Roman Catholic Church, under Benedict's leadership, making the changes that we Protestants feel convicted are necessary.

Here is a little blurb from the article:

"Perhaps the most clarifying moment since his election came last July when the Vatican released the document known as "Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church" – a document that reasserted the claim that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church.

The secular press and a good many non-Catholic church leaders expressed outrage and offense at the Pope's comments – assuming that such teachings were simply out of place in the modern world. But Benedict was restating the tradition and teaching of his church – and he did so because he cared for those he believes are outside the blessings of grace he is certain are given to those in the communion of his church – and to that communion alone.

I actually appreciated the Pope's concern. If he is right, we are endangering our souls and the souls of our church members. Yet, I am convinced that he is not right -- not right on the papacy, not right on the sacraments, not right on the priesthood, not right on the Gospel, not right in understanding the church."

I am not a Catholic-hater or anything like that (in fact, I have Catholic friends), but I can say that the Scriptures lambaste any doctrine which teaches that people are saved (or disqualified from being saved) for any reason other than faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Pope Benedict clearly teaches that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church. He expresses concern for anyone who rejects the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. Well, I guess I fall in that boat. With Luther I cry out my allegiance to Christ and his word. I affirm the Catholic Church in so far as they have faithfully interpreted and applied the Scriptures, but I knowingly separate ties where they part ways with the Scriptures.

I am not one of those who says that you cannot possibly be a Christian if you are a part of the Catholic Church, however I can say that you cannot possibly be a Christian if your hope (confidence) of salvation lies anywhere but in Christ and what he has won for you on the cross.

Priorities in Prayer

One of the most helpful books on prayer that I have ever read is called "A Call to Spiritual Reformation" by D.A. Carson. Carson's main point in writing the book is to do a survey of Paul's praying as recorded in the New Teastament in order to know what he prayed about. In other words, Carson wants to show what took priority in Paul's praying. His main concern is that if what we ask for in our prayers is too far removed from what the New Testament writers ask for then our praying may be a bit off-we may need to change our prayer life. Furthermore, if what we praise God for is too far removed from what the New Testament authors praise God for then our praying may be in need of some help. Carson's main concern is that the prayers of present day Christians have not been shaped by the Scriptures enough.

Well, I have decided to implement some of what I have learned from Carson into the Bible study I currently facilitate at our house. Every week Bible study starts with a time of sharing and praying. I recently noticed that the majority of the prayer requests have centered on sick people, people looking for jobs, stress in people's lives, and things like this. Don't get me wrong, these are all things that we need to pray about. However, these are not the sort of things that largely characterized the praying of the writers of the New Testament. What I decided to do (only two weeks ago) to remedy the situation was to, rather than just sharing any-ol' prayer prayer request, limit the prayer requests to a certain topic. For instance, last night the prayer requests had to deal specifically with spiritual deficiencies we all have in our lives.

One of the amazing things about our sharing time was that one of the members of the study raised their hand and said, "Jimmy, I know that we are not supposed to be praying for the sick tonight, but I know someone who is going through surgery this week--can we please pray for this person?" I was not annoyed with this prayer request at all. In fact, I was glad that this person brought the prayer request up. We need to pray for the sick (and the situation was worthy of urgent prayer). Also, this prayer request gave me an opportunity to reinforce my purpose for praying only for spiritual deficiencies. I responded to the group by saying this:

"Do you see the urgency with which this person offered up this prayer request? Why is it that we are only urgent about praying for the sick? It is not as if it is a bad thing that this person couldn't help but bring this up tonight--it's an urgent matter. The point of me wanting to only pray for our spiritual deficiencies tonight was not to create a wooden, legalistic rule. My purpose is that we might become as urgent in our praying about spiritual matters as we are in our praying about physical matters. It would thrill my heart if on the night that we pray for the sick if someone were to raise their hand and say, 'Jimmy, I know that we aren't supposed to pray for our spiritual deficiencies tonight, but the Lord has just convicted me in such a deep way about the pride in my heart--Can we please pray for me in this way tonight?'"

Another thing that D.A. Carson alludes to in "A Call to Spiritual Reformation" is the fact that our prayers reflect our desires. In other words, whatever consumes our prayers consumes our hearts. This is a terrifying thing. If your prayers are completely devoid of requests for God to cleanse you and make you more like his Son, it is a good indication that Christ-likeness really is not as big of a deal to you as it should be. If your prayers are completely devoid of requests that God might reveal himself to you more and more, it might be an indication that you do not desire him enough.

I strongly recommend everyone reading this blog to buy this book. If you want to buy it, click here.

I have one suggestion for those of you who are thinking about buying and reading this book: Make sure that you do not just read what Carson has to say. Make sure that you thoroughly read each chunk of text that Carson deals with at least 5 times before reading Carson's commentary on it. I didn't do this my first time reading through it. Because I just flew through the verses, Carson's commentary wasn't half as useful as it could have been. On top of that, Carson is lame compared to the Scriptures. No offense to Carson, but honestly, he is only good in so far as he is merely reiterating and applying what the Scriptures are already saying--and Carson would be happy to hear me say this.

Meet Dr. James R. Snowden II

This is a picture of James in his new wheelchair/stroller. He really likes it! Grandpa John is making a whole bunch of changes to it--I guess you could say that he is pimping James' wheel chair (is that an ok thing to say on this blog?).

Living on the Edge?

I just read an excellent (short) article by Jim Elliff entitled "No Lay-up Shot: A Lesson From the Master." Jim has an abnormal amount of wisdom that is so simple yet so profound.

I remember the engagement party our church threw for Kristal and I before we got married. We sat in front of everyone as they gave us advice on how to a have a god-glorifying, happy marriage. Well, since it was a church event almost all of the advice given had to do with honoring Christ and doing devotionals and asking forgiveness when we know we are wrong--you know, biblical stuff. Well, Jim piped up with his paradoxically simple yet profound wisdom: "Jimmy, you need to do everything you can to make Kristal's day easier for her. You need to remember that caring for the kids and keeping the house is just as difficult as the job you will be working. Here is one little thing that you can do for her to make her life just a little bit easier--hang up your pants. Rather than just taking your clothes of and leaving them where they lay, hang them up for her." That's it, that's all--just hang up your pants. Honestly, this piece of advice, although it was borderline painstakingly simple, was the most helpful advice I got that evening.

All that to say that Jim has an amazing ability to be profoundly simple. In the article mentioned above, Jim lays forth a simple challenge to Christians to not "play it safe." His purpose is to challenge Christians to give their all for the Kingdom of God.

Here is a little snippet:

There are those believers whose entire life is spent hitting lay-ups. These are the cautious, forever tentative people. Sadly, not much happens for the kingdom of God through them.

There is a time to be careful, of course. It's not courageous to play tennis on the highway, for instance. It's just stupid. But we're talking here about the big issues of life. Are you tentative or tenacious in your approach to the future? Did God place you in the world just to protect yourself or to do something meaningful and courageous?

Well said. You can access the article by clicking here.

Ben Stein interviewed by R.C. Sproul

R.C. Sproul apparently interviewed Ben Stein about the new movie I just referred to in the previous post. You can access the interview on R.C. Sproul's website, or by clicking here. The interview is quite good. They get into some good dialog about the creation-evolution debate. It lasts about 30 minutes or so.

Ben Stein and Creationism

Although I am not one who generally throws a party each and every time I hear Hollywood stars taking a stand on Christian principles and ideas, I was happy when I watched the trailer to Ben Stein's new movie, "Expelled: No Tollerance Allowed." In this movie Stein deals with the creation-evolution debate as a committed creationist. I am not sure what the rest of the movie is going to be like, but the trailer looks promising. You can access the trailer by clicking here. This could be a good evangelistic opportunity for Christians--we need to begin brainstorming now how it can be used for the advancement of the Gospel when in it comes out this May.

I have just a thought or two about creationism before I end this post:

(1) No matter what anyone tells you, the creation-evolution debate does not center on science, it centers on philosophy (or, if you want to be picky--for Christians it centers on revelation). Any scientist, no matter his credentials, who tells you that this is a scientific debate has no clue what science is. The fact is that science, first and foremost, is based upon experimentation. Guess what? It is impossible to do tests (run experiments) on something which cannot be repeated. The beginning of life as we know it cannot be repeated, and thus it cannot be tested. Not only that, but all scientific experimentation and observation is guided and shaped by the philosophical pre-conceived ideas possessed by the scientist.

(2) In evangelism it is best to not get too caught up in the creation-evolution debate. Many people who believe that we were created by a loving God will go to hell. Evangelism ought to center on the cross as a person's only hope for salvation. This does not mean, however, that Christians should never engage in such debate. Rather, just be careful that it does not distract from what is most important.

(3) Although Ben Stein's movie looks promising, we must all remember that believing in creationism does not make one a Christian. Be careful as you watch this movie--it may be full of false doctrine. Who cares if Ben Stein believes that the world was created by a loving God if he does not believe that Jesus is that loving God. I am not sure if Ben Stein is a Christian, however just because he seems to have this one thing right does not mean that his movie should not be watched with discernment.

(4) By far, the best book I have read on the creation-evolution debate is "Defeating Darwinism By Opening Minds" by Phillip Johnson. I sincerely suggest everyone reading this blog to buy and read this book. If you want to buy it, click here. The book is short, easy to read, and it gets at the heart of the issues in the debate. The nice thing about this book is that Johnson doesn't get into a whole bunch of detailed scientific arguments.

New Schtuff

I am happy to inform you all that Ariel Vanderhorst, one of my friends from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, has just started a new blog. Many of you are already familiar with Ariel's present "Bitter Sweet Life" blog. He is going to continue with the "Bitter Sweet Life" blog, but he wanted to start a new one that would focus primarily on things having to do with Christianity. If you have been as blessed with Ariel's creative and profound writing as I have you might want to check it out. You can access it by clicking here. As with any human being, I do not agree with everything that Ariel says, however his content is worthy of a hearing.

Also, be praying for my dad. He went in for surgery last night to get some kidney stones removed. They ended up having to stop the surgery because the stones were too large to take out of his kidney without the large possibility of causing uncontrollable bleeding. He has been on a hospital bed all night with a tube sticking out of his back. He should be having the surgery some time today. Pray that the doctors would be able to operate with precision and wisdom. Pray that the Lord would grant my dad a quick recovery--I guess this surgery is painful.

Also, continue praying for us. James is doing quite well, but is struggling with reflux again. Also, we meet with his neurologist this coming week to discuss the tests they took last week.

Your Spiritual Condition

This post has to do with the recent poll I took on the blog (you can see it to the right) where I asked "Which would best describe your present spiritual condition?" The results were as follows: 1 selected "reached Christian perfection;" 3 selected "steady spiritual growth;" 10 selected "average spiritual growth;" 3 selected "minimal spiritual growth;" and 0 selected "no spiritual growth," "going backwards spiritually," "rebelling against God," and "not a Christian."

The crazy thing is that I know that many of those who read this blog are not Christians at all (or at least they don't strive to know Christ). For those of you who fall into this category: don't be afraid to vote! Your vote will be anonymous--I don't even know who votes and how they voted.

I was not surprised by the outcome of the poll. For those of you who are wondering who selected "reached Christian perfection:" I hope you don't envy me, but that was my pastor who chose that. He is so humble that he couldn't help but tell me (with a chuckle) that he was the one who chose "reached Christian perfection"--he just couldn't help but let the good news of his superlative spiritual state out of the bag. Moe is pretty much about as holy John the Baptist. He has finally reached a place where he no longer needs our prayers. Ok, so I am just kidding. Oh, by the way, Moe just started a new website. Check it out at www.moebergeron.com. Also, you can listen to his sermons on our church website--he is an excellent preacher/pastor. Anyway, now that Moe is officially vindicated and christened on my blog--let us get onto something less important.

I do not want to write a dissertation on the result of the poll, but I do want to ask a question to those who participated? Why did you choose the answer you chose? How did the Scriptures play a part in helping you decide how well you are doing spiritually? Personally, I chose "average spiritual growth" because I have no clue how much I am presently growing. Those of you who chose "steady spiritual growth:" how do you know that you are not just being motivated out of the flesh? Maybe your great spiritual growth is motivated out of a heart seeking the praise of men. Those of you who chose "minimal spiritual growth:" what made you choose that? Maybe you are being worked on more than anyone right now. Maybe you chose "minimal spiritual growth" because you are more aware of your sin than those who chose "steady spiritual growth."

To be honest, I think our modern day methods of gauging spirituality need some fixing. I am not so sure that any of us know for sure how we are presently doing spiritually. I know myself too well to get excited when I feel like I am doing well spiritually. I am know myself too well to get down when I feel like I am doing bad spiritually. Maybe the best way to gauge how you are doing spiritually is to see how happy, safe, and hopeful you are even in the midst of great spiritual failure. This is not to say that true spirituality is undetectable. However, I do not think that true spirituality is always as detectable as we think it is. This is what Jesus slammed the Pharisees for: they were confident about what true spirituality looked like and they did everything to model it. We do the same thing on many fronts.

Please, anyone who participated, explain (from the Scriptures) why you chose what you chose.

James Update

I am happy to inform everyone that this past Sunday the elders at my church laid their hands on James and prayed over him for God to heal him. Kristal and I have just recently been talking about how we really wanted to see this being done. Well, the Lord answered our prayers. For those of you who are suspicious of laying on of hands: read James 5:14-15. Prayer is not some magic button, but God does answer prayer.

This past week James had to be put under anesthesia for about 4 hours in order to have some tests done. They gave him a spinal tap, an MRI, a hearing test, and they set him up to do an EEG test. Those of you who have followed these updates know that James has already had a couple of EEG tests. Basically the purpose of the EEG test is to see if James is having seizures or not. Because James has been doing things that seem so seizure-like, they wanted to keep an EEG monitor connected to him for two and a half days. Thank the Lord, he tolerated it well.

Today the doctor will be reading the results of the test. He will also be getting back to us soon regarding his spinal tap and the MRI. Pray that we would get good, confident news back from the doctor. His hearing test went well. The doctor said his ears work perfectly.

Also, many of you have probably heard of James' recent struggles with vomiting. He has simply not been able to hold his food down. This lasted over a month. Well, sometime last week the Lord supernaturally fixed James' vomiting. He hasn't thrown up for almost a whole week. This is such a blessing because we were starting to think that he was going to have to have a permanent surgery done in order to fix it.

The Lord has been good to us. Continue to pray for James. Thank you for persisting with us in prayer.

Get Up Sleepy Head

This morning Kristal and I listened to the "Question and Answers" session from the 2008 Desiring God Pastor's Conference. Piper said something that may set some of you free. Often times Christians feel like the need for sleep is a sign of spiritual weakness and laziness. As I have mentioned on my blog before, I do not require large amounts of sleep--if I can afford to get 7-8 hours of sleep Friday night, I can easily survive off of 5-6 hours of sleep a night throughout the week. Kristal, on the other hand, requires at least 8 hours of sleep every night if she is to function well throughout the day. George Mueller suggests in his autobiography that humans only need 6 hours of sleep every night. Although I respect George Mueller, such a comment is completely narrow-minded. I know certain people who feel like they need to discipline their bodies to learn to get only 5 or 6 hours of sleep every night and end up being completely useless throughout the day because of it.

So what does this have to do with the "Question and Answers" session? Well, the panelists (John Piper, D. A. Carson, Crawford Loritts, and Greg Livingstone) were asked to tell the audience what has helped them to remain close to the Lord throughout their ministries. Many good answers were given. I was especially blessed by Piper's answer. In essence, Piper said that one of the things that has helped him to stay close to the Lord is taking care of his body. In fact, Piper said, "we are embodied spirits"--this is something that many of us forget. He stated that he needs at least 7 hours of sleep every night or he becomes a zombie. He said that once he falls behind on sleep he has a difficult time passionately living for Jesus Christ.

I hope this sets some of you burdened souls free. If you need at least 8 hours of sleep a night, lay your head on your pillow, without setting your alarm, knowing that the most influential theologian/pastor of our day also needs his sleep. Lay your head on your pillow to the glory of God. Do it knowing with confidence that Satan will not come and steal your soul (or your birthday) if you sleep past 8 in the morning. This obviously is not license to be lazy, but it is a call for us to embrace the fact that we are mere mortals. It is a call for us to realize that God has made us with limitations on purpose.

Anyway, I hope that is a blessing to some of you. I suggest you listen to the "Question and Answers" session--it was good.