From 1 John 1:5 - "God is light and in him there is no darkness at all"

"I say it with reverence that before I begin to think and consider the love of God and the mercy and compassion of God, I must start with the holiness of God. I go further; unless I start with the holiness of God, my whole conception of the love of God is going to be false, and this of course is what we have been witnessing. We have had the flabby, sentimental notions of God as a God of love, always smiling upon us, and then when wars and calamities come we are baffled and we turn our backs upon religion — this is what millions have been doing since the great wars of this century. And the trouble has actually been due to the fact that they did not start the way the Scriptures start, with the holiness of God. God is utter, absolute righteousness and justice; ‘holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord’ (Heb 12:14); ‘God is a consuming fire’ (Heb 12:29); sharing in the light that is unapproachable, everlasting and eternal in the brightness and the perfection of His absolute qualities. Light!"

_ Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ: Studies in 1 John, 100

Another op-ed has been posted in our national abortion debate, this time by an Episcopal priest (link).  The most telling part of the artilce to me as a Christian is how the author ackowledges that the Bible has something to say about the issue, but then ignores it:

The error in what the author is saying here, and in his example from Psalm 139, is that he is saying that what you read out of the Bible is subject to your own interpretation.  If you want to understand it as against abortion, go ahead, but if you don't, that's okay too.

 

How do we read the Bible?

The Bible is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16) and has been given to us through human authors.  They wrote in languages we can understand, translate, and interpret.  They meant something when they wrote.  Therefore when we read the Bible we study to understand why the human author wrote it, since he wrote it for a purpose.  More importantly though is to know what God intended by including these words in the Bible.  We recognize that since every word is inspired from God, everything has meaning.  For instance, in Jeremiah 1:5 clearly intends to show that God has a foreknowledge of every single person and thing that happens in the world.  As for people, the implication is that they have personality even before the day of conception.  The implication to abortion is obvious.

 

The issue is not one of interpretation.  It is one of intention - the intention of God in including the words he did.  This absurd statments don't work in other areas of life (I didn't interpret my contract as meaning I would actually pay you for helping me!), why should they have credibility when we talk about the Bible?  They shouldn't.

These things we declare to you - 1 John 1:3

 

"I know that the old charge which has so often been brought up agaisnt the Church and her preachers is that we are so dogmatic; but the preacher who is not dogmatic is not a preacher in the New Testament sense.  We should be modest about our own opinions and careful as to how we voice our own speculations, but here, thank God, we are not in such a realm, we are not concerned about such things.  What we do is not to put forward a theory which commends itself to us as a possible explnation of the world and what we can do about it; the whole basis of the New Testament is that here is an announcement, a proclamation - those are New Testament words." - Martyn Lloyd-Jones, 46

"In other words it comes to this; there is only one thing that can give true joy and that is a contemplation of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He satisfies my mind; He satisfies my emotions; He satisfies my every desire.  He and His great salvation include the whole personality and nothing less, and in Him I am complete.  Joy, in other words, is the response and the reaction of the soul to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ." - Lloyd-Jones, 1 John, 30

As you read the below quote from the famous preacher George Whitefield (I put it in bullet form), please pray for your pastors and for the church and for the Lord to raise up young men to minister the gospel.

 

- George Whitefield

- Arnold Dallimore, George Whitefield, Vol. 1 (London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1970), p. 16 (quoted from Desiring God Web Page)

 

 

You that have nothing but creature joy, hunting after butterflies, feeding upon carrion, why do you spend money for that which is not bread? You that are afflicted, tempest-tossed, and not comforted, look to a manifested Jesus. According to your faith so be it unto you. Believe none, and you will have no joy. Believe little, and you will have little joy. Believe much, and you will have much joy. Believe all, and you will have all joy, and your joy will be full. It will be like a bowl running over, good measure, pressed down, and running over. Amen.
- Robert McCheyne

When I tell somebody about Christ I rarely press for a decision.  I think this is demanded of Jesus when he says in Luke 14:25-33 that a disciple must give up everything to follow him.  There is a cost that must be weighed.  Every person must ask, Do I want the comforts of my life and the way I have been doing things (though it means eternal hell) or do I want eternal life with the creator God (though it means giving up my life and following Christ in trust and obedience)?

 

I would rather a person leave my conversation with a conviction that they stand under God's judgment unless they repent and trust Christ than give them a false confidence by leading them in a prayer of salvation.  Even if I never see the person again, if the bad news of sin is proclaimed and the good news of Christ is held out as a remedy, God may use that encounter to bring them to final conversion.

 

Still, when God moves a person to seek relief for their sins - I always show Christ as the remedy and would love to pray with them.  I never turn convicted sinners away.

What does it mean that John writes about the "Word" in John 1 and 1 John 1? 

 

"One the one hand, [John] is thinking of the Christian message which is the object of Christian proclamation and is heard by men; he himself is proclaiming it to his readers so they may enjoy the blessings which come to those who receive it ... .  This message was preached by Jesus himself.  On the other hand, Jesus himself can be described as the Word.  The message takes concrete form in him.  I may send a girl a message saying that I love her; I can also send her a costly ring  which will be immediately recognizable to her as a tangible message of love.  Jesus is both the preacher of God's message and the message itself."

 

- Marshall commentary on John, 101-102

Julie said my last entry about our Family Vacation was a bit negative, so I will remedy that in two ways.  First, I will say that since we are camping in tents we expect difficulties.  The challenges are essential to the trip being memorable and fun.  What is life without overcoming a few challenges?  As we learn through the Bible, it is through our trials that real spiritual growth occurs (consider Romans 5:3-5 and James 1:12-18).  We grew together as a family trying to overcome difficulties.  I will add a couple pictures to this blog of Liam getting eaten by flies as a final memory of the trip.

 

Second, I will tell you about the second camping trip.  If I could compare the last one to hell, this one was more comparable to heaven.  Though I got lost and led my family on a one hour detour, I eventually found West Virginia.  We traveled to Bluestone State Park (near Hinton, WV).  This park is like a camping resort!  (I will acknowledge that some people (most of them live in Virginia - others are personal family members) find the term "camping resort" to by an oxymoron.)  We have never seen a campground so nice!  We set up our tent on the lushest grass I have ever seen.  There were beautiful trees, soaring mountains, and clear skys.  The temparature was a comfortable 75 degrees in the evening.  There were no mosquitos and no biting flies.

 

There were bathhouses with showers and running water.  There was even a swimming pool available for guests.  We went on a hike and saw beautiful waterfalls.  We got a little caught up in the resort, and though we could have toured some of the local sites, we went swimming instead for a whole afternoon.  We missed the beauty of nature, but we were all very happy anyway.

 

However, unlike the mercy of God that give us free access to heaven, this resort costs $20 a night to camp.  Next time (and I would really like to go back) we will use some of the free campsites in New River Gorge (a US National River).  They are free because they have no running water.  We can handle that though!

 

We went to West Virginia to see New River Gorge and were not able to see as much of it as we wanted to.  There are some beautiful spots, with some good fishing.  It seems that the river is preserved in part to promote environmental causes and clean water (I think we could all admit that clean water is important).

 

Finally, our vacation was successful in adding cancellations to our National Parks Passport.   (I guess this is a very serious hobby for some people.)  Julie and I vacation by finding various places to go that are national parks and adding to our collection of stamps.  It is a relatively cheap way to vacation (since they are all public land) (although gas costs are becoming prohibitive), and the destination is always interesting.  Sometimes we barely peek in and get the stamp, other times we spend a week there.  On this trip we added four stamps to our collection.

 

Assateague Island National Seashore (Berlin, MD)

Assateague Island National Seashore (Chincoteague, VA)

Bluestone National Scenic River (Glen Jean , WV)

New River Gorge National River (Glen Jean , WV)

(we have visited over 25 sites so far)

This article (A Counter Trend—Sort Of: Large families are a small but growing minority) shows that more and more Christians are seeing that "children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward" (Psalm 127:3).  It is also good to see USA Today say things like "Opportunity to Raise Big Family Is 'a Tremendous Liberation for Women."   This could be a great thing. 

 

Nevertheless I think there is a mistaken thought among social theorists, Christian or otherwise, that this could mean a major political shift toward "fundamentalism and social conservatism."  Even if Christians have zillions of kids and non-Christians have none, we have to remember that the "world" is not something "out there" - that if conservative people have enough children the world will become a better place.  The world is in our hearts - each one of our children has an inherited nature that wants to live in rebellion against God.  Therefore it is essential to teach our children to think in a Christian manner and how to devote their lives in service to the living God.  There are plenty of public schools (from elementary school to middle and high school, and college) that would love to set Christian kids in a non-biblical way of thinking for the rest of their lives.  Liberal thought still has a stranglehold on all our governmental educational systems.  Even if "conservatism" were to win the way, conservativism is not biblical, and is no gain for our culture.

 

The education (discipleship) of our children must become the central calling of us as parents and grandparents (and covenant parents).  We all need to be involved by teaching the Bible at home and in the church, having family devotions, teaching Sunday School classes, Boys Brigade and Pioneer Girls, ultimately showing how all subjects are goverened by the Creator God, and showing how to think with a Kingdom mindset.  Ultimately all Christian parents are all called to "homeschool" in the sense that the home is the primary place for education of the most essential areas of life - no matter if your kids go to a public or a Christian school.  "We will not conceal them from their children, But tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done" (Ps. 78:4).

 

If Christians have a zillion kids and allow their education to be "farmed out" to others without considerable parental involvement then they will learn to be just as secular and worldly as the non-Christian kids that could have been born but are not.  Let us be involved with the discipleship of the children in our lives, whether they carry our genes or not.  Let us not become complacent thinking that mere procreation will bring about a more godly world.

Liam has come down with a fever so part 2 of our yearly vacation is postponed until tomorrow (at least).  We are planning to go camp near New River Gorge in West Virginia.

We just came back from Assateague Island in Maryland.  We spent two nights camping there.  It was a bit rough.  Maybe it is because we just got back home that I am a bit disillusioned.  Before I tell you the real story... let me say that Assateague Island is a fantastically beautiful place to go.  It is a national seashore so the government controls it and maintains it.  They try to maintain it at a fairly primitive level - which includes tent and RV camping.  We are tent campers.  The camp sites were nice.  The beaches are a pristine white.  We breathed in fresh air for hours on end.  The beach is not commericalized at all - there are no shops on the beach.  It is a quiet family beach.  The water was a perfect 74 degrees.  There is wildlife all around, especially the wild horses - they are really cool (see picture).  There is so much to learn there - and the rangers have good programs for kids to learn about animals and plants and rocks and stuff.  The people were very nice.  We got to go crabbing - caught a bunch of small ones (see picture below).  What a blast.  We will remember those things for the rest of our lives.

Remember, we have three kids - ages 4.5, 2.5, and 4 months.  Julie and I love camping, so it should be no problem, but a nursing baby complicates things a bit.  There is always something to do - setting up camp, cooking, going to bed, etc.

First difficulty, there was a massive heat wave during the trip.  Imagine being in a tent (no AC) in 95 degreee weather with 100% humidity - heat indexes of 115 degrees (this map (click here) shows we were in the hottest part of the country during a heat wave with no relief look for the dark red part on the DELMARVA (Delaware/Maryland/Virginia) peninsula)!  Yow!  It is hotter in the tents, too.  I went to bed at 10 PM one night, mopped up the sweat puddles from under Grace my daughter, and starting sweating when I was laying down.  When we woke up (usually the coolest time of the day) the tent registered a frosty 95 degrees F!  Yowser!

Second difficulty, the mosquitoes were crazy.  We are experimenting with some non-DEET bug spray.  It didn't work, and we forgot the DEET.  After getting over 50 bites on my legs, we ate dinner in the hot tent.  We also accidentally left the car door open while we cooked dinner and swatted mosquitoes off our legs.  I decided to make a late night trip to get some DEET bug-spray, blow the mosquitos out of the back of the van by keeping all the windows open, went the wrong way down a one-way street, was pulled over, and then questioned if I was drinking.  Since I was swatting "invisible" creatures in the air and was unable to form a rational sentence when speaking to the park ranger, he probably thought I was on drugs.  (But I wasn't drinking and I never use drugs.)  He let me off with a warning.  Bless that rangers heart.

Third difficulty, down to the beach.  No mosquitoes (but we have DEET now, so we are okay anyway).  A new hurdle - carnivorous flies.  Eating my wife, my children, and myself alive.  It is one thing to protect yourself, but protecting my kids was a bit more than we could handle.  We didn't spend as much time at the beach as we would have liked.

Despite those few  minuscule things it was an excellent time, I am so refreshed by just 2-3 days in Assateague.  What did I learn?

First, about hell - it must be horrible.  Try sleeping in a tent in 100 degree humid weather.  Hell is worse than that and I don't want to be there.  I am thankful for a Savior, Jesus Christ - trust Him please!  It gets worse though.  In hell, the worm does not die.  Add in mosquitoes and violent flies.  No thanks. 

Second, we learned patience.  A lot of patience.  We are thankful for the refinement.  How do you keep your cool when being eaten by mosquitos or flies.  It is a patience building experience.

 

Does the text on this page look huge?  MSN changed some of their formatting and now my blog is crazy big.  I don't think I like it.