Heresy Frenzy

Most of us have been to a fish hatchery and seen the pool erupt in boiling fury when the young fish are being fed. Some in the blogosphere remind me of those fish, swimming around, calm and quiet, until they find something they disagree with. You know the ones, they leave mean and hate filled comments on the popular blog posts.

This media known as the “blog” is unique. It gives us an opportunity to disconnect from reality or perhaps create our own reality. I must confess that I write better than I talk. In here, I can write, delete, then re-write, until everything is nearly perfect before I open my virtual mouth. If someone disagrees with me, I can just pretend that they are not there. Even though I am comfortable with the bible, I am not comfortable with face to face conflict.

I have come to realize that writing about, and exposing heresy in this environment can appeal to the flesh. It is a very profound, emotional experience to record my thoughts and opinions relating to what I believe is false doctrine. I am also keenly aware that I must not indulge my flesh. How tempting it is to allow pride, and hate to drive my pen. How my flesh yearns to be powerful, prideful, and right. I want to be careful in my motive to write. I want to affirm all that glorifies God. I do not want to indulge my flesh. My goal is to proclaim truth in love.

Isn't it easy to look to the world as our source of joy? Let's remember that our joy is in the hope(confidence) of our salvation in Christ through his death and resurrection.

Heavenly Father keep my heart from sin that I may glorify you in all that I do.

David

God's Word Well Handled!

This post was a joint effort with my cousin and good friend.









I was encouraged to hear that my cousin had the opportunity to teach a home group study in Colossians 1.


I was not able to attend the meeting but I had a chance to interview him via phone.

I tried to accurately record our conversation but alas we were both in a hurry, so I allowed him to proof read this article before posting it, he was quick to admit that the notes in his MacArthur Study Bible were a big help and he gave his approval to enter this post on his behalf.
His focus was on verses 15 through the end of the chapter. Some highlights of the discussion are as follows:

Colossians 1:15 states that Jesus was the “first born” of creation. This is not to say that Jesus was the “first created”, or that he was even the “first begotten”. That is a common mis-interpretation by some false teachers. The Greek word for firstborn can refer to the chronological order of birth but it usually denotes the rank of the child. In early church culture, the rightful heir would be referred to as the firstborn even if he was not the first in birth order. My cousin tried to emphasize how important it is to understand that Jesus is God and that belief in His deity essential to our faith. It was unfortunate to hear that even though my cousin used lots of comparatives and metaphors, Some in the group did not seem to grasp the concept that Paul's reference to Jesus as the first born was indeed a statement of rank as opposed to a chronological reference of birth order. My cousin tried to argue logically that a chronological interpretation of the Greek word meaning”first born” would be contrary to other references in the bible where Jesus is referred to as being the ONLY begotten. My cousin argued, “How can Jesus be the first begotten when indeed He is the only begotten?”

Argued well, he did!

Colossians 1:20 states that God has reconciled all things to Himself through Jesus. The Greek word for reconcile means to exchange or change, this is evidence that God makes a visible change when purifying the lives of those whom he calls to salvation.

Colossians 1:22 states that God's motivation to reconcile, is to present believers “holy and blameless and beyond reproach. This was done in Jesus flesh through His(Jesus) death. It is amazing to think that true believers are so completely justified before a holy god as to be “beyond reproach”. To quote my cousin. “That can only mean that we are as holy as Jesus himself in the site of God”. Some in the group also had trouble with this.

Colossians 1:23 is best interpreted that only those who “continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel” can be counted as those who are reconciled by God. The evidence of a true believer is one with a firmly established faith, that is steadfast and not moved away from the gospel. Again to quote my cousin, “a true believer will
display a constant need, and desire grow and to be fed from god's word”.

Thanks Cus.

David

THE SHACK (NOT A BOOK REVIEW)

WARNING HERESY MAY BE CONTAGIOUS!


I just finished listening to the Albert Mohler Program via podcast. He did a book review on "The Shack" written by William P. Young.





I encourage all of my readers to listen to Albert Mohler's program about the book.
http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_show.php?cdate=2008-04-11
The book is being classified as a "Christian" book, and is on it's way to being a best seller. The Shack has endorsements from Michael W. Smith and other very well known Christian names. I have not personally read the book, but it is supposedly not intended to be a theological book but rather a fictional story written for children and adults alike. According to Dr Mohler, the fictional story is full of blatant Heresy. Since I have not actually read the book I will resist the temptation to comment directly about it. I am concerned that it may be another subtle attack on the inerrancy and sufficiency of the bible. I also discovered that Tim Challies has already written his less than favorable review of the book
http://www.challies.com/archives/book-reviews/the-shack-by-william-p-young.php

David

(update)
Due to the impact that "The Shack" seems to be having on people close to me, I decided to read and do my own review of the book. Click the link below to read my review.

"The Shack" a Book Review