I’ve said I plan to stay away from politics, but I’d like some thoughts on our vote. I’m having an honest difficulty on my vote. To be honest, I’m leaning towards Bush, but there’s one big thing that’s standing in my way. More on that in a minute.
Let me start with what attracts me to Bush.
He had a plan for Social Security. Not only that, but it’s a plan that helps people plan for their own retirement. Of course, he didn’t say how he was going to pay for it, but he has a plan. Kerry has nothing because he doesn’t think there’s a problem. We’ll deal with it later, he says.
His health care plan. I like the medical savings account idea coupled with catastrophic coverage. One of the roots of our health care problem, I think, is the mentality that we shouldn’t have to pay anything for healthcare. Pushing the actual paying onto a third party drives costs up. Kerry’s huge plan and the arrogance that his plan will be so superior no one will want to keep their current one scares me.
Here’s what bugs me about Kerry:
Lot’s of new spending, little new revenue. He’s said that he’s going to cut middle class taxes, give us all great healthcare but he hasn’t provided new revenue except a tax increase on the wealthy ($200K +). It doesn’t add up.
Abortion. It’s wrong, and he thinks so, but he refuses to get involved. It’s murder John, isn’t that worth taking a stand?
Flip flop. I understand that much of this is exaggerated by the Bush campaign, but I can’t completely shake the idea that I’m not really sure where Kerry will stand once he’s in office and the political winds change. You know where Bush stands.
Here’s what bugs me about Bush:
Patriot act. The idea that we can take away rights because people scare us or we are threatened is troublesome. That we can hold ‘enemy combatants’ or other threatening people (in our view) without charge or access to a defense is frightening.
Arrogance. This is the biggie mentioned earlier. Bush’s idea that we are the savior of the world, that we know better, that the US is somehow blessed by God to go free the world, is very troublesome. Didymus has posted some interesting articles on this idea. As much as I like Mr. Bush in other areas, when I think about this arrogance, I have a hard time staying positive about voting for him.
Notice that I didn’t share anything that I like about Kerry. There’s nothing that stands out. He plan for Iraq (from here forward) is much the same as Bush’s. I suspect, however, that his attitude (less pride and condescension) may make him more successful in bringing allies to the table.
So what say you? Any advice?
For what it’s worth, I took the quiz and got the following results:
– Dead on with Bush on Economics.
– Dead on with Kerry on Foreign Policy.
– Dead on with Bush on Culture.
(I couldn’t include the results like Aaron and Justin at RC. How’d you do that guys?)
Month: October 2004
Farewell Superman
I felt I needed to say something in honor of Christopher Reeve’s passing on Sunday. He was known as Superman from his role in those movies, but in his life since his tragic fall he had become a true Super Man. His courage and determination has inspired many and it was truly tragic to hear of his death.
What is Salvation?
Note: This is a particularly long post, but the subject matter deserves it. I had thought to break it into several different posts, but thought it best to keep it, and any resulting discussion, together in one place. It also serves to answer a series of posts that I have done on Christian fundamentals *. The things enumerated here are the very core of what we, as Christians, ought to stnad united on.
In the process of this long conversation at Virusdoc, the question came up – what is salvation? Sounds simple enough, but it seemed (incorrectly I believe) that some commenters were contending salvation to be the mere forgiveness of sins. Is this all that salvation is? Or is salvation merely the receipt of a ticket to heaven? What does it entail? The conversation is still going on there, but has long drifted away from the question of what salvation is (not even the original topic either.) I have kept that question in the back of my mind since, however. I’m going to make a go at answering it.
Let me start by saying that neither simple explanation above seems adequate for what is described as salvation in the NT. Even the simple term ‘saved’ implies more than that. How can one be saved unless they are in peril? So our salvation implies a sort of rescue. To be rescued one must be in a danger greater that they can handle themselves. After all, if they could handle it they would not need saving, would they? You don’t ‘save’ a mere swimmer, but one who is drowning. It also implies a change of state, from danger to safety. If one is drowning and is then saved, the implication is that they are no longer in the water, or a least have been given some means of support which they lacked before and are therefore out of danger.
Another part of any salvation from danger is the decision to get help. Here the drowning analogy tends to fall apart as most folks who are drowning know it and are desperate for help. However, most of us are familiar with the concept that the first thing an addict needs to do is realize they are one. Without that realization, there is no desire to change and hope for recovery. Of course, realization is only the first step, one must then decide to pursue change. I imagine there are hundreds of drunks and addicts out there who freely admit that is who they are and have no desire to change it.
The question in regards to Christian salvation, then, is this: What sort of danger are we in? If we need to be saved, what do we need saved from? Certainly, a destiny in Hell is part of that, but is this all? Is it only for the afterlife that we are in danger? Jesus said that he came to give us life to the full (John 10:10), implying that our salvation is more than being with God after death. It seems that if all we have been granted is an eternity with God, it makes no sense to leave us here on earth after our salvation. In fact, in Acts 5:20 God describes being a Christian as a new type of life. It’s something new, not seen before. So salvation has implications on who we are and how we live here on Earth as well as after death.
Christian salvation then, it seems to me, has three parts – realization of our peril, a decision to abandon our sinful ways followed by a new life.
Realization of the Problem
So what is the peril that plagues us? Why is it that we need to be saved? Put plainly, it’s sin. Sin is what plagues us all. I’m convinced that it is the root of all of our troubles. Dig to the bottom of any of our struggles, conflicts or problems and you’ll find sin. Sometimes it’s easy to spot, sometimes not so easy, but none the less it is there. Our problem is that we do not take sin seriously. Our society sin is not serious, its funny. When I was a kid I can remember going to barbershop singing events with my father. One of the men attending would frequently wear a shirt that said “Wanna sing?” on the back. Except he thought it was funny to blank out the ‘g’ at the end so it said “Wanna sin?” Jaguar has a new marketing campaign for it’s XJ8L that touts it as so good it’s sinful (see link in lower right of their page). It lists the 7 deadly sins (lust, greed, pride, sloth, envy, wrath and gluttony) and shows how the new car satisfies each one. Sin as a virtue.
But the problem isn’t so much the sin itself, but what that sin produces. The scriptures teach clearly that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). We can look around and see the obvious effects of sin in each other’s life. But the real problem is that our sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2). In our sinful behavior we have not only hurt our lives here on Earth, we have built a wall between us and God. It does not matter how good or loving God is, we have cut ourselves off from Him.
But we, in our pride, are blinded to that reality. We like to think that we are just fine. We are not murderers or rapists, we are Good People. But God does not have that standard, he has a higher one. If we look in passages like Galatians 5:19-21 and Colossians 3:5-10 we quickly see that we are guilty as charged, absolute sinners. We have been angry or drunk, we’ve used filthy language, we’ve lusted and in doing so we’ve separated ourselves from God. Jesus Himself convicts us in Luke 9:23-26 where He tells us that self denial is a requirement in order to follow God. In Luke 14:25-33 He tells us that nothing, not even our closest relationships, can match our love for Him. In fact we must give up everything, complete surrender, in order to be His disciple. If that weren’t enough, we have the admonition in James 4:19 that tells us that we are in sin when we know of good that we could do, but don’t do it. Who can say that they measure up to God’s standards as described in these verses (and others)?
Before we can be saved, we must understand that is us, through our sin, who have built a wall between ourselves and God. We must stand face to face with our extreme shortcomings before God and own up to them. We must absolutely recognize and realize our need for God’s grace, for though we’ve built the wall we cannot tear it down.
Decision Time
Once we have come to the realization of who we truly are before God, we have a decision to make. We can either continue in our sin, blatantly turning from God or we can commit to being different. Do you want to continue to add to that wall between the Almighty and yourself or do want to choose a different path? If we are going to receive salvation God demands repentance. Repentance is simply a decision to take a different path. It’s not a commitment to perfection, it’s a direction change. I was once told that the word sprung from a military term that meant to do an about face. You were going east, turn and go west. You were living your way, now you will live God’s way.
The fact remains that we are not capable of living perfectly from this point on, let alone to make up for our past shortcomings, but that does not change the fact that God expects repentance. The verses mentioned above make it clear that people whose lives are characterized by sin cannot be saved. Jesus said in Luke 13:1-7 that unless we repent, we will perish. In response to the people’s plea of “What shall we do?” when confronted with their sinfulness, Peter replied that they should repent (Acts 2:36-38). Repentance was the expected response to the message of God (Matthew 11:20-24, Luke 3:7-9), in fact it was to produce repentance in sinners that Jesus came (Luke 5:32). God loves it when we repent (Luke 15:1-11). Isn’t that the point of the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32)?
There are many more passages that speak to the necessity of repentance. See Acts 3:19, Acts 5:31, Acts 17:30, Acts 20:21, Acts 26:20; 2 Corinthians 7; 2 Timothy 2:25; 2 Peter 3:9, Revelation 2-3. Repentance is an undeniable part of our salvation. We have wronged God. He created us to be a certain way and we have turned from that and Him, nearly at ever opportunity available. Once we are aware of that, we can remain that way, mocking God, or we can choose to turn away from our sin.
Reconciliation
We’ve realized our problem (separation from God due to our sin) and in light of what we’ve done we have determined to take a new path, God’s path. As important as these first two aspects of salvation are, they cannot save us. Realization of our sinfulness does not bring us closer to God in and of itself; it can only point us toward repentance. And though we repent with all our might, even If we somehow remained perfect from here forward, we cannot earn our way into God’s good graces. We need forgiveness, reconciliation.
Forgiveness, even among men, cannot be earned. Forgiveness cannot be demanded. It cannot be bought. It can only be granted by the one sinned against. The sinner has no power to produce it. It can only come through the grace of the one wronged. In our relationships we try though, don’t we? We act so much nicer and serve and kiss up to the one we’ve wronged, hoping for forgiveness. And when we’ve been wronged, we are tempted to take advantage and squeeze some extra ‘good deeds’ from the sinner before letting them off the hook. Thankfully our God is not like that. He is willing to forgive, more than that, He longs for us (Luke 15:11-32). All he asks from us is to love Him and to completely to surrender to Him (Luke 14:25-33) and turn our lives over to Him.
God, in His amazing love and mercy, has graciously offered us a means to wipe our slate clean. He has sent us Jesus to bring forgiveness to the world (John 3:16, Acts 5:31, 13:38, 26:18, Eph. 1:7). Through Jesus’ death and ultimate sacrifice on the cross, our debt is repaid. God’s demand for justice is satisfied (Romans 3:21-26). Our sins demanded punishment (Eph. 2:3) and God, in His mercy, sent Jesus to take it for us (1 Peter 2:24, Isaiah 53). Make no mistake; it is because of God’s mercy that we have the opportunity to be reconciled to Him.
But how is it accomplished? The book of Hebrews gives us incredible insight into how Jesus’ sacrifice fits into the Old Testament law and sacrifices, both fulfilling them and ending them. That knowledge, however, does not help us to actually connect with God’s grace in Jesus. God has put this out there, but how do we experience it? We simply get baptized.
Today there are many different ideas about baptism, but in the NT church they only had one definition (Eph. 4:4). Hebrews 6:1-2 talks about the NT Christians being taught about baptism, describes it as an ‘elementary teaching’, but it does not go into detail about what was taught. The interesting thing is that there is no single passage in the Bible where we can look to have baptism defined and described for us. We must dig through many passages, piecing the puzzle together, to discover what baptism meant to the NT church. Today people talk of infant baptism or baptism as an outward sign of an inward grace, the Bible never talks about baptism in those terms. It speaks of baptism always at the point of conversion and it is described as providing salvation.
Baptism is the means provided by God for us to receive forgiveness. When Peter preached that first message of the Good News on Pentecost in Acts 2, he told the convicted masses to repent and get baptized ‘for the forgiveness’ of sins. Paul understood baptism to be for our forgiveness when he wrote the book of Romans. In Romans 6:1-10 Paul describes our connection to the saving power of Jesus blood and crucifixion as happening through our baptism. When Paul was baptized he was told to do so to wash his sins away (Acts 22:16). Peter comes right out and says it in 1 Peter 3:20-21: baptism saves us. He takes pains to remind us that it is not due to a physical clean up, no it’s an internal transformation that happens when we are baptized. God is doing the work, not us. Jesus told the twelve in Mark 16:16 that it is our belief and our baptism together that saves.
The early church believed the same thing. For this point I’ll quote from a short paper on baptism by my friend Douglas Jacoby:
References to baptism in the patristic literature abound! It is extremely clear that for the first few centuries everyone was in agreement that baptism was for the forgiveness of sins, and was the only way to be saved. We will limit our survey to the earliest patristic writers.
- Hermas, c. 140-150 AD: … when we went down into the water and received remission of our former sins… (Shepherd, IV.iii.1) Note: Remission is simply another word for forgiveness.
- Justin Martyr, c. 150-165 AD: As many as … believe that the things are true which are taught by us … and decide to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their past sins, and we pray and fast with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are born again… (Apology, 1.61)
Then, in discussing John 3:5, Justin continues: In order that we … may obtain the remission of sins … there is pronounced in water over whom who has chosen to be born again, and has repented of his sins, the name of God the Father and the Lord of the universe. (1.61)
In his discussion of the Eucharist (Lord?s Supper), he says that no one is allowed to partake of the communion except the man who … has been washed with the washing that is for remission of sins and unto a second birth, and is so living as Christ has enjoined (1.66)- Irenaeus, c.130-200 AD: We have received baptism for the remission of sins … And this baptism is the seal of eternal life and new birth unto God. (Dem. 3.41f., Haer. 5.11.2)
- Creed of the Council of Nicaea, 325 AD This fourth century creed is well known. It is ironic that, although it is cherished by churchgoers the world over, the import of its words is frequently overlooked: … I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins …
Naturally, these affirmations do not stand on a par with the authority of scripture, but they do shed light on the early Christians? understanding of baptism.
So in the Bible, at the founding of the church, and for the first several hundred years baptism was taught and understood as the means of receiving forgiveness of sins. Any other means of connecting with the cross to receive God’s grace has been invented since.
But what of the sinners prayer or simply accepting Jesus into your heart? These are well understood and widely accepted beliefs. There is simply no example of such conversions happening in the Bible. There are verses that can be made to support such a view, taken alone and out of context. (The origins of the sinners prayer have been documented in this article by Steve Staten, teacher and elder in the Chicago Church of Christ.) Yes there are conversions in the Bible where baptism is not mentioned, but it’s not being included is not proof that it did not occur. Yes, it is not mentioned where the apostles got baptized, but that does not infer that they didn’t. Yes, the thief on the cross did not get baptized and was promised salvation, but we re talking about the Lord Himself. If Jesus cannot make exceptions, who can? Besides, baptism is he means of connecting with the saving power of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. Jesus had not yet died, so the man’s baptism would have been meaningless.
Does it seem as thought his post regarding the meaning of salvation has turned into a treatise on baptism? Perhaps. It was, in fact, born out of a discussion on baptism in the comments of another blog. But take a look back over the rest of my words. Is there anything aside from my thoughts on baptism that would offend most Christians? I think the teachings on our own sinfulness and our need to repent are commonly believed and relatively unquestioned. Baptism for salvation, however, is not. It is an idea that is scorned by many Christians as an attempt to ‘earn’ our salvation. A foolish notion indeed. But does an honest examination of the Bible and church history support any other means of connecting with God’s grace? I don’t think so.
So it is my view that salvation, in a nutshell, is restoration of our relationship with God. In order for that to happen, we must first recognize that it is lost. Moreover, we are responsible for that lost relationship with God due to our own sin. We must also make the decision to repent, that we will no longer live that life of sin but will surrender ourselves to God. Lastly we need the forgiveness that comes through baptism into Christ.
Relationship Failure
I had a discouraging discussion with a friend this evening. He and his wife had been fairly close to my wife and I a couple of years ago. We were involved in their lives pretty deeply at that time. Back when our church had assigned ‘discipling’ relationships, we ‘discipled’ them. Since then, however, we have not been very involved in their lives.
This has long been one of the rightful criticisms of our churches, although to be honest it’s a failure more of the individual than the church. Too often these discipling relationships weren’t the real, loving relationships that they were meant to be. Don’t get me wrong, we genuinely cared about them, and still do. It’s just that when you are assigned someone to care about it’s much more difficult to develop the kind of relationship that transcends the assignment, one that will last, no matter what. Sometimes that happens, but many times once the discipling relationship changes, the relationship cools.
Anyway, my friend shared with me how he and his wife aren’t doing so well. She will sometimes disappear for days at a time, taking her son (from a prior marriage) with her. They don’t talk much because they can’t do so without arguing. We had talked with them about some of the issues he related to me some two years ago, trying to help them work through it. He shared, however, that nothing has changed in those two years. Two years had gone by and things hadn’t improved, but what concerned my was I hadn’t taken the time to follow up on their marriage in two years. What kind of friend behaves this way? What kind of disciple acts like that? This is not the kind of life that Jesus called us me to live.
This is what Christianity is about. This is what should make us different, that we love each other & we know each other deeply. We aren’t afraid to get in there and dig – in love – and find out what’s going on, in fact we expect to have these kind of relationships. I had thought about him in those two years, even wondered how things were going. I had remembered those challenging talks with them in our living room, but I did nothing. I believe that the Holy Spirit was prompting me to get in there again, a subtle warning that something was up, but I ignored it. I had too much to do. Perhaps there was nothing to be done, but as if to guarantee that I actually did nothing.
I have a challenge for you. Does this describe you too? Are you too distracted by life to get in there and love those around you? Perhaps everyone around you, like my friend and his wife, seem happy and fine. Maybe they even say that they are, like he did. Are you willing to dig and find the truth? I bet there are several near you who are decidedly not fine, but in fact are drowning. Will you dare to jump in and get dirty and wet trying to save them?
Praise God for repentance! I hope that my friend will be coming over tomorrow night to talk. I expressed to him my apologies for my lack of care. I told him that I was there when he needed me, no matter what. Now I just have to follow up on it.
New links
I’ve added a couple new links at left. I recently discovered a site that posts regular – daily actually – updates on the churches in the ICOC. Although the ICOC doesn’t exsist as it once was (a good thing), it is still near to my heart as the movement of churches that led me to be what I am today. It’s good for me to find a source of information for the ICOC chuches around the world. Look for ICOCinfo at left.
I’ve also added a link to Disciples Today. DT is an ICOC web portal dedicated to the “connection of disciples and churches so that we might glorify God, mature as Christians, deepen our fellowship and accomplish God’s dream for every person to have the opportunity for a relationship with him.” The bulk of the content is subsciber only, but the news area and the links to the icoc churches is accessable to all.
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