Heaven Will Be Humbling

Recently, while I was having lunch with some brothers in Christ, we discussed the process by which God reveals His Truth to us. One mentioned that when we start to see a Biblical Truth or doctrine clearly, there is usually a simultaneous recognition of some wrong thinking we have embraced, which needs to be changed. And this humbles us.

I thought . . . Wow! Heaven will be so humbling!  So much light all at once, correcting so many wrong assumptions and misunderstandings! So many humbling discoveries. But the humbling will be glorious, for we will be REJOICING IN THE TRUTH even as we are made aware of our own glaring errors and misconceptions.

So let us live in light of that day, hoping in Christ and humbling ourselves before the revelation of Him. Day by day, let us continually replace humanistic thinking with Biblical thinking, as our minds are renewed in Christ. Being humbled in this life is great practice for the next.

II Peter 3:13-18 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

The Legitimacy of Paradox as a Theological Model - Part 11

Pastor Richard Ostella of Westminster Reformed Church in Plymouth, Michigan has graciously granted permission to re-publish his March 2009 ETS paper on theological paradox here at THEOparadox. To understand these thoughts in context, please begin with part 1.

6) Free will doctrine misconstrues the rich biblical notion of freedom 

 Fallen man does not have free will because the ability to do evil is not a component of freedom. The part of the definition that is true (the ability to sin) has nothing to do with being a free person. Consider the following examples.  

 In the garden, Adam’s ability to do evil was not part of his freedom. Instead, it revealed the incompleteness and mutability of his freedom. As the WCF states: “Man, in his state of 

innocency, had freedom, and power to will and to do that which was good and well pleasing to 

God; but yet, mutably, so that he might fall from it” (IX, 2).  

 For Christians who can live righteously but who may also sin, is their ability to sin central to their new found freedom in Christ? No, it shows that they have freedom now partially and not yet fully. Their ability to sin is not evidence that they are free. Instead, it is evidence that their freedom is incomplete. What demonstrates their freedom? What shows that they are free persons is their ability to do good from the heart, even though it has to grow. 

 Furthermore, saints in heaven do not have the ability to sin (i.e. they do not have free will) and this does not alter their personhood, praiseworthiness, or responsibility. Being free from sin completely is the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8.21). The free person is the person who is able to do good deeds; he is free for “slavery” to righteousness (Rom. 6.18, set free from sin, [you] have become slaves of righteousness). To be ultimately and supremely free is to be delivered from the ability to sin. Accordingly, heaven is a place where free persons enjoy a glorious God-like freedom.33

   

 Notably, God is a free person without the ability to do evil (so, He does not have “free will”). What makes Him free is His ability to act with perfect holiness. Surely, God is praiseworthy for His holy actions even though He cannot lie. Thus, the idea of free will as the ability to choose between good and evil confuses the biblical teaching about freedom.34

  

 Therefore, fallen man does not have free will; he does not have the ability to do a single good thing such as submitting to Christ in faith (Jn. 6.44; Rom. 8.7), but he is fully responsible.  

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Pastor Ostella's Footnotes

33 The old Star Trek TV shows spoofed this point more than once. They would present a world of perfect peace and harmony where everyone performs only good actions. But this state of affairs is rejected by Captain Kirk because man has no free will. For Kirk, if personal beings are not able to choose good or evil, then it is not utopia. He must be able to choose evil but not do so for it to be utopia. We should note that this is a wholesale attack on heaven. It is a denial that heaven as described in the Bible is a good thing. It denies that heaven is utopia. Why do I say this? Because there are all kinds of personal beings in heaven who cannot choose to do evil and that is part of what makes it heaven.  To whom do I refer? They are the saints, angels, and God!  What kind of heaven would it be if we thought that there could be another host of fallen angels? What kind of heaven would it be if the saints, rescued from sin for eternal life, could fall again like Adam and Eve? Would you even think of it as heaven, if God were capable of sinning?  The elect angels can only choose to do good. The saints in heaven can only choose to do good. God can only choose to do good. The epitome of free will, that is, of the free person with the capacity of will, is the immutable ability to choose only to do good.  

34 Perhaps, we would be better off if we stopped using the confusing words “free will.” Calvin refers to “free will” as “a proud name” for “a slight thing” that is all too commonly used in an erroneous sense and should therefore be avoided (Institutes, 2.2.8; cf. Calvin's "Refutation of the Objections Commonly Put Forward in Defense of Free Will," Ibid., 2.5.1-19). Dropping the term would help clarify things in discussion of the “sovereignty/responsibility” paradox. Ciocchi (JETS, September 2008, 573-90) however makes matter worse by moving in the opposite direction and claiming that the SR tension should be called the sovereignty/freedom or the sovereignty/free will tension. There are two problems: a) he fails to distinguish the freedom that belongs only to Christians from the slavery of non-Christians, and b) he apparently assumes the definition of free will in which the natural man is able to do good or evil.  

PART 12 - Click Here

Jesus Is The Way

Editor's Note: This post was written by my 8-year-old daughter.

Hi! I'm GirlWhomGODloves. Did you know Jesus loves you?

"For God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."
~ John 3:16

He loves everyone - even me and you. Are you glad? Isn't this good news? I think it is. Jesus is kind.

This is amazing. Do you think so? I do. Yea! Jesus loves everyone.

I can understand "no end" better than "no beginning." Because how can you have no end if you have no beginning? God has no beginning or end. And neither does His love.

"What can be said, what can be sung" to so faithful a King? Jesus is our King . Jesus is our Savior!

"Jesus said to Him, 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.'" Jesus is the way to eternal life! God sent His Son into the world to save the world. That's good news. Are you glad? That's not bad news! I used to think, "How do people get to heaven? Do they fly with wings? No. Do they let a cloud take them up? No, Jesus is the way to heaven. So, don't try to fly to heaven! You won't get there. Heaven isn't in the sky! It's out of the world. If you go to church, that doesn't mean you will go to heaven. You have to believe in Jesus.

"So, faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of christ." ~ Romans 10:17       

~ bye bye ~

Editor's Note: Does anyone want to speculate on the mystery of the week? Where is heaven?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

The Tug of War: Time, Stress & Priorities VS. God, Eternity & Joy

Recently someone noted that he felt overwhelmed with the stresses of life (yes, I think you overheard this, too - but probably not from the same person). That got me thinking about our life in this world and the next. Inevitably, we get bogged down with the incessant demands of activities, relationships, work projects, hobbies, events, schedules, home life, church life, maintenance, technology, and so many other things. All of this can rise to a toxic level as we find ourselves out of  focus, out of sorts, and seemingly out of options. This appears to be a universal experience, especially for those of us who live in the Western world.

In such a state, we find it almost impossible to get our scattered minds settled on the Gospel. Prayer and contemplation become luxuries we feel we can ill afford. Bible study turns into a quick glance at a Psalm - or perhaps nothing at all. We begin to count on the preacher's sermon to get us through the week, and we rely on a few restless moments of sleep to carry us through the steadily advancing days. But those hours are gone too quickly and each day's new mercies get buried under the clutter of our busy-ness.

Yet for each of us there comes a time of true rest, eventually. That rest will be chosen by us through a painful decision to cut off things we enjoy but don't need, or it will be forced upon us by circumstances and ill health and mental strain and the unexpected breakdown which finally forces us to pause. We might be angry when this happens. But at the end of it all is God, calling us to Himself in a voice that is at once quieter and more persistent than all of the earthly demands. His sheep know His voice, and we follow Him. If not, He binds our legs together and slings us over his shoulders and carries us. We seem to be out of commission, but we're actually in a wonderful place of trust-building dependence. These are hard lessons to learn, but necessary to our growth under the difficult reality of being time-bound and priority-driven. It will be wondrously freeing to enter eternity, and be swept up in an intent God-focus that cannot be turned even slightly by the raging distraction of less worthy things.

Till then, this is a wretched and uncomfortable life, filled with sorrow, trouble . . . and flashes of imperishable delight whenever He shows His hand or reveals His smile. Mercy and grace are drawing us up to our eternal rest, even as this world wraps its tentacles more tightly around our feet. We may feel pulled in two different directions, but let us lift our heads and smile up toward the One Who holds our hands more tightly and tenaciously than this world's distractions ever could. He won this tug of war before we knew it.

The Long Journey into a House

This post is a little different. It's partly an explanation, partly a testimony, partly a devotional, and partly a political commentary. This is more personal than theological. My schedule is finally getting back to normal again, so more of the usual style posts will be coming along very soon. Thanks for your patience.

It's been quiet on this blog for the last couple of weeks, and here's why: my family has successfully purchased and moved into our first house. We wanted to do this about 5 years ago, when we lived in Kentucky, but that was at the start of the infamous "housing bubble." Home prices were skyrocketing. Then I injured my back, found myself out of work for 10 months, and ended up moving to Florida. Here, home prices were even higher. So we waited, chose (with some struggle) to be content, and found cheap rents.

This year, everything finally fell into place. I have a stable job, the bubble has exploded, home prices are at rock bottom, and the U.S. government is paying people to buy houses. While I don't agree with government intrustion in the marketplace, and I'm both horrified and disturbed by president Obama's dangerous, socialistic policies, I do think it's high time the U.S. government thieves gave something back to the common people. It would have been better if they hadn't robbed us blind in the first place, but giving some money back is a good way to start making amends. If you can't already tell, I'm firmly against the estimated 50+ percent [!!!] tax rate we pay in America. It's time for a new American Revolution, where we reclaim government OF the people, BY the people, and FOR the people, rather than continuing to be ruled by a bourgeois monarchy of self-servers who are busily stuffing their pockets (and their friends' pockets) with resources that would do more good in the marketplace. I guess I'm a revolutionary at heart. But I digress . . . and this is probably the last word about politics you'll see on this blog for a long, long time. (Vote for Mike Huckabee in 2012).

Back to the house story . . . my family started looking in early February. We became well acquainted with the lowest priced 3+ bedroom houses on the market, and after looking at lots of foreclosures that should have been torn down long ago, we found a spacious house that suited us perfectly. Although it had been vacant for over a year, it was clean and dry. Some cosmetic work was needed, but there were no apparent structural issues. We would have to purchase kitchen appliances and an air conditioning system, but the price was low enough to make all of that feasible, and the bank that owned the house dropped $20,000 from the price in negotiations. We were ecstatic. We were getting a good deal. The best part was, the house was situated on a beautiful piece of property out in the country. One-acre lot, gently sloping, with wooded areas, fenced-off sections for goats, plenty of room for a garden, chickens, etc. (yes, I did say goats). It was a home-schooler's dream!

By mid-March, we had a contract and a closing date. We poured money into inspections, appraisals, surveys, water tests, appliance purchases, etc. (I even bought a door mat) - all in the sure knowledge that this would soon be our place of residence. Everything went smoothly until the day before closing. That's when the unpermitted addition was discovered. That's when the FHA financing came back to bite us. That's when we found out it was going to cost us over $15,000 to bring the addition up to local codes, per FHA rules. That's when we found out the bank selling the home wasn't willing to do ANYTHING to fix the problem (it was HSBC Bank, by the way, and I'll think twice before I ever do business with them again). The bank refused to extend our contract or negotiate the added expenses. They would not put a penny toward it. Since we stood to lose everything we had invested on the botched deal, we went to outrageous lengths to try to make it work. Eventually, we found a contractor who could do the necessary repairs at a reasonable cost and resubmitted an offer to buy the house, with the bank assuming no additional risk or cost. However, a rival buyer had now entered the picture. The rival was using the same financing, offering less money, wanted more time to close, and had more contingencies in the contract. His offer was accepted, ours was rejected, and by the end of May we knew the deal could not be saved. So we started the buying process all over again.

In the meantime, my family had begun reading through the book of James together. And in the middle of the attempted home purchase we were collectively struck by these verses:

James 4:13-16 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.

We made it a point to pray throughout the process, "Lord, if it is Your will, we will move into this house." So, when the deal slipped away, we concluded that it was not God's will. In all of this, my family saw a powerful object lesson about God's sovereignty, and we were humbled by it. We were crushed, but blessedly crushed, because we saw His hand in it.

That's only the first half of the story. Although God never has to explain Himself to us, it's always comforting when we find out why He closes a door.

After more searching, we found a comparably priced house, and this one was not a foreclosure. It was significantly larger, with more bedrooms, and much closer to where I work. There were fewer repairs needed, and the seller made several of them before closing. The house is on a 1/3 acre lot, situated on a private lake, with a nice view and plenty of trees for shade.There's no room for goats, but the previous owner left us a nice chicken coop. The funny part is, we only moved 1.2 miles away from our prior residence. That's right, it took us 6 months to move one mile! It's a much better house than I ever expected, and certainly more than I deserve. I don't deserve to live in a cardboard box! I deserve outer darkness. So, my new house is a gigantic testimony to God's grace.

The front of the house is partly made of stone, which reminds me of these words:

Mark 13:1-2 As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!"

“Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

Just as God's beautiful temple was cast down to the ground, so shall my house (should it last long enough) be dashed to bits before His glorious majesty! In that day, I shall literally live in Him, and He in me, in the majestically glorious Kingdom of His eternal grace and truth!

Hebrews 13:14-16 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

I thank God for the gracious, yet temporary, gift of a house to live in. I thank Him even more for the amazing gift of Himself, as the true eternal home of all who trust in Him.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Sure, the road's rough, but look where it's leading . . .

When we melt into the far horizon, then we shall know

the struggles weren't worth comparing

to the eternal weight of glory that will follow