On the New Atheists

коли под наемSome reflection from Spurgeon on atheism:

“There are no infidels anywhere but on earth!
There are none in heaven, and there are none in hell.

Atheism is a strange thing. Even the devils never fell
into that vice, for “the devils believe and tremble.”

And there are some of the devil’s children that have
gone beyond their father in sin, but how will it look
when they are forever lost?

When God’s foot crushes them, they
will not be able to doubt his existence!

When he tears them in pieces and there is none to
deliver, then their sophistical syllogisms, their empty
logic, their brags and bravadoes, will be of no avail!

Oh, that they had been wise and had not darkened
their foolish hearts, but had turned unto the living God!”

— C. H. Spurgeon
“Last Things,” Sermon #667

‏”Hear!”

The Bible, it turns out (as you can see if you spend some time looking into the subject), has a whole lot to say about this business of “hearing,” of “listening to,” of “paying attention to” the truth—God’s truth. It’s a crucial piece of work in the life of every believer, every church member, every one of us, you and me—this business of applying ourselves to “hearing.”

In the title above, of course, I’ve used the Hebrew word shema, the call to “hear” in Deuteronomy 6:4, as one simple example of a pervasive biblical charge. Another example is found in Jesus’ words in Mark 4:24: “Pay attention to what you hear!” This first caught my eye because the language he uses is quite striking. It’s translated variously as “pay attention to what you hear” (ESV, HCSB), “take care about what you hear” (NET), “consider carefully what you hear” (NIV), but really, quite literally, Jesus says, “See to what you hear.” What a great play on words—the application of a visual imperative (or command) to an audible indicative (or state of things)—“You’re hearing something! See to it!” And there’s a rather full range of intent in his command, I think.¹

Jesus is saying here: “Pay attention to what you hear, and then think about it, consider it closely, so that you come to understand what you hear and act on it appropriately.” And all those parts hold together in the business of “expositional listening”² that’s a vital characteristic of a healthy church member—attention, consideration, understanding, and action; and they occur in that order. This is how we should hear (i.e., with attention and effort, with consideration and discernment, with understanding and application and obedience, as opposed to indifferently and carelessly and foolishly, etc.). This isn’t optional. It’s as serious as can be. In fact, if we, as a matter of habit, don’t pay attention to what we hear—don’t see to it that we hear, don’t see to what we hear, and don’t see to how we hear—then our ability to “hear” itself begins to diminish, and weaken, and crumble, and disintegrate. It’s a dangerous place to be. We’re talking about a spiritual discipline here—an aspect of the true Christian life that’s active and engaged and ongoing and vital to our spiritual health and to the ministry of the church in the world.

In what ways, then, do we not hear as we should?

• One of the easiest ways is simply to be absent from, or to be inconsistently in attendance to the Word of God preached and taught.
• Another way is to be present in body, but not in heart and mind—in attendance, but not paying attention.
• A third way is to be present, and be listening, but for all the wrong reasons (e.g. to find fault; to apply the message to someone else; to compare the message with someone else’s or, worse, the messenger with another messenger; to be entertained; to hear what you’ve already made up your mind about, and if you don’t then to go back to finding fault, etc.)

So, then, how do we hear as we should?

• Come — attend the preaching and teaching of God’s Word
• Come consistently — attend regularly; erratic and/or occasional attendance isn’t helpful, and can be detrimental
• Come consistently prepared — by coming in prayer; with an attitude of humility and thankfulness; with a God-centered vision; with a spirit of teachableness; with focus and attentiveness; with a view to be changed by the Word of God; with the expectation that God, who has spoken in his Word, will speak now through his Word to those who are listening to his Word; then, during the week, meditate on the Scripture passage and the sermon, and act on the truth of God’s Word during the week.

This will transform us as people and as a church. Oh, in the face of all that’s shallow and silly and useless and undiscerning in our culture and in our churches, apply yourself to the truth, “pay attention to what you hear,” and may the God of grace and truth make us a people to bring him fame, and honor, and praise in the earth!

1. Of course, we don’t want to be guilty of illegitimate totality transfer here, reading the full range of lexical meanings of the word βλέπω into this one occurrence. But we do want to get the full force of Jesus’ command. The thing to do, then, is let the author’s intent and the passage’s context determine what elements of meaning the word may have in any single use. Jesus’ use of the command to “see” here need not be flat and one-dimensional. Clearly, words can be used at the same time with different connotations for a multi-layered effect. [↩]
2. This is a phrase I picked up from Thabiti M. Anyabwile, What is a Healthy Church Member? (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2008), 19-26. [↩]

Sorry …

Been away from the site for a while, I know. No excuses, really … things are just very busy right now. All good stuff, but time-consuming, and I haven’t set aside the time I should to keep Bibledriven updated. I hope to do better.

For now, I’ve linked in several very good video clips from the Gospel Coalition. Watch them, listen closely to them, learn deeply from them as we seek to be faithful to our calling and our Lord in our time.

Grace and peace.

Sound-bite Politics

Now, I’m normally not someone who writes a lot about politics. But once in a while I just get so tired of the “rhetoric” that I have to blow off a little steam, if you know what I mean. And I try to not be partisan, because this “sound-bite, bumper-sticker, T-shirt” sort of sloganeering occurs on both sides of the aisle. Today, though, it happened to be Hillary Clinton (speaking in Unity, NH). It was on television, and as I passed through the room I heard her say, basically, “I’ve been involved in politics for four decades. And in that time we’ve elected ten presidents, and only three have been Democrats.” Accurate enough, but then comes the zinger! She said, “Imagine how much progress we haven’t made in all that time,” i.e., she implies, because a Republican president was elected seven times.

For crying out loud! Really? It’s hard to know where even to begin to describe how ludicrous the statement is. First of all, reality (and the progress we can make in the real world) is much more complex and multi-dimensional than whether a Republican or Democratic president is in office. This is just overwhelming oversimplification, besides being a form of the “complex question” kind of logical fallacy, tying together “progress” and the “Democratic party” as if the two must be accepted or rejected together. It’s an example of what’s called a “non sequitur,” i.e. something that just doesn’t follow. It “doesn’t follow” that just because Republican presidents were elected 70% of the time that less progress was made than if Democratic presidents had been elected. In fact, it’s something we can’t know, a “hypothesis contrary to fact,” as it’s called, an argument from something that didn’t happen, and the consequences of which are unknown and unmeasurable.

There’s certainly a lot more that could be said about this particular remark, and about political posturing in general. I only want to encourage you to think clearly about the issues, and not to be led around aimlessly by some rhetorician’s nose ring, influenced by things that may “sound good” but that are anything but “good and sound.”

Thank you for my few minutes on the soap box!!

Hillary is Out: God Save Us From Obama

The presidential candidates are decided, Now what? Read Professor Doug Groothuis’s comments on the political options HERE!

Pastoral ministry is hard …

Harder than most people know. Much harder than I ever suspected, I think.

Oh, it’s not the study that’s difficult. It can be demanding, yes, but it’s also very rich and rewarding — intellectually stimulating and spiritually satisfying. And it’s not the teaching and preaching that take a toll at last. Any pastor worth his salt loves to teach his people and loves to preach God’s Word. It’s not the long hours that are exhausting, or the many things that have to be done — meetings attended, visits made, calls returned, emails answered, folks counseled, problems solved, friends walked with, and so on. None of that is what makes ministry hard.

No, what makes it hard are the responses to the work, which (with a few exceptions) are generally things like indifference, boredom, persistent disapproval, criticism, disrespect, insult. Some of the latest figures I can find indicate that 80% of pastors (and 84% of pastor’s spouses) live in a relentless state of discouragement. There was a time in our country, not too long ago, when the pastoral profession was held in some esteem, both in the church and in the community. Now pastors are among the least honorable, and 70% or more say that pastoral ministry has depleted their sense of self-worth and confidence. Fifty percent of pastors say they would leave the ministry tomorrow, if they could, but they have no other way to make a living. The majority of pastor’s wives surveyed said the most destructive event that cricket free ringtones | free verizon wireless ringtones | free kyocera ringtones | caller download hotlink ringtones | free mobile phone ringtones | free ringtones for motorola cell phone | cricket free phone ringtones | download free ringtones virgin mobile | real music ringtones | free ringtones for cricket cell phone | cell cricket free phone ringtones | free jamster ringtones | much music ringtones | free real music ringtones for nextel | free ringtones sprint | download verizon ringtones | cricket phone ringtones | send free ringtones to your phone | make your own mp3 ringtones | info personal polyphonic remember ringtones | has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.

I wonder what the symptoms of burn-out are. Some days I just weep, and I don’t know why. Sometimes I fantasize about running away, and I wonder if it would even matter. I feel exhausted. I never sleep too well. My blood pressure is elevated. And I just may be self-medicating on caffeine!

Pray for my family, and for me. Pastoral ministry is hard!

On the road again …

Well, I’ve spent a couple of days making my way from Atlanta, GA to Manhattan, KS … driving by way of Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri. Total road time was about 14 hours. Some folks, I suppose, would think that a waste of time, an unnecessary burden, too much trouble, and anything but fun. They would be wrong!

I stopped all along the way — to get gas for the car, to have a bite to eat, to grab some coffee (after which I had to stop at the rest areas) — and all along the way, then, I met folks, all kinds of folks, and just got to spend a little time with people I didn’t know until the moment our ways crossed. I hope it was helpful for them; it was very, very good for me! The regularity of everyday life can, if we’re not careful (and we’re often not), breed complacency in us, and we get settled and comfortable and “at home” in the world, forgetting the mission we’ve been given to the world.

Let me recommend that you get on the road again as soon as possible!

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