Only One Blog at a Time

I had intended for this blog to contain thoughts about the Christian faith and life in general along with biblical studies along the way, but I'm having a hard enough time keeping up with one blog let alone two. So I'm going to let this blog sit unattended for a while. Here is a link to my active blog: Faithful Men

Only One Way?

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

Most of the time we are careful to point out the fact that there are not many ways to God, but only one. I think this verse also makes it clear that a way exists. Many people in our day have the mistaken notion that there are many ways to God and that as long as someone is sincere in what he believes, he’s home free. Jesus, of course, contradicts that belief by what He says here. However He is also making it clear that there is a way. Other people today believe that there is no way. No way exists to either know or reach eternal life. Eternal life probably doesn’t even exist according to them. However, Jesus refutes both ideas with one statement, “I am the way….”
There are some people I know who believe that Jesus was a great person, a good teacher and moral example. If you think about it carefully though, what conclusion should we come to when someone claims that He is the only way to God. He goes so far as to elaborate on this at the end of the verse so that there can be no mistaking what He is saying. “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Can there be any respect for a great teacher and moral leader who makes this claim if it isn’t true? If Jesus is not God as He claimed to be, then He is not worth following at all.

An Untroubled Heart?

Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” John 14:1. This is an amazing statement when you think about the fact that just in the last chapter, verse 21 John describes Jesus this way, “When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit…” At the tomb of Lazarus the Bible says that “when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.”

Why can Jesus tell us that we should not let our hearts be troubled and yet within the last few chapters Jesus is described as being troubled in His heart? I think a partial answer can be found in the fact that Jesus is described in Isaiah 53:4 as having borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. We are told to cast our cares on Him for He cares for us. First Peter 5:7. He has promised to be with us and to meet our needs. He has carried the burden of sin for us so that we would not have to.
I don’t mean to imply that if we could apply our Christian faith properly we would have no troubling of heart and no cares. I can’t conceive of that situation. Maybe my faith isn’t as great as it should be. But I think we should take comfort in the fact that “we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” As a result, we may “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:15, 16.

Love One Another

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

This is the what Jesus tells His disciples in John 13 shortly before going to the cross. The level of love commanded here is quite amazing. We are love each other just as Christ loved us. What did He do for us? He considered Himself of no reputation and took on the form of man and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2)

This is the kind of love we are to have for one another. That same chapter of Philippians verse 4 tells us to look out not only for our own interests but also for the interests of others esteeming others better than ourselves.

When we look at the characteristics of love given for us in 1 Corinthians 13 we find that love suffers long and is kind. Love is not boastful or envious. It doesn’t put on airs and is not puffed up. It does not behave rudely nor seek its own way. It is not provoked and does not think evil of others. It’s relatively easy not to speak evil of others, but not to think it?!

What a challenge for us who call ourselves Christians to realize that this kind of love is the target we are aiming at. Jesus told the disciples in John 13 that everyone would know our connection with Christ as His disciples by the evidence of this kind of love.
I have a long way to go.

A Picture of Humility

The picture Jesus used to illustrate humility is interesting to me. There are probably other things He could have used if all He was trying to teach was the need for humility. In this instance, though, He used a cleansing process. To me this shows that what we do for one another is a type of spiritual cleansing. We are our brother’s keeper. Not in a pride, arrogant and pharisaical way, but in a humble serving way. James 5:16 tells us that we are to confess our faults to one another and thus be healed. Galatians 6:1 tells us that when a brother is overtaken in a fault, a spiritual person should restore this one with a spirit of humility. I Thessalonians 5:11 tells us that we are to edify one another. All of these verses speak of a humble cleansing process that Christians do for one another.

This, of course, takes a great deal of humility. It takes humility to receive admonition and spiritual advice from someone else. Just as Peter resisted, we often resist. We don’t need the help. We can do it on our own. Who do they think they are to give us advice or challenge our behavior?

It also takes humility on the part of the person reaching out to give the spiritual assistance. Jesus laid aside his regular garments and dressed like a servant. We should do the same when playing this role.

This cleansing or washing that we do for one another needs to be based on the Word. Ephesians 5:26 says about Christ that He “gave Himself for her {the church}, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.” Our service to one another in the sense that I am writing about today is based on and uses the Word of God. We have not right to take our personal preferences and opinions and impose them on other people. Rather, we are to use the Word of God as the cleansing agent. It alone has the power to cleanse and change lives. We need to take the Word, make sure we have applied it to our own lives first (Matthew 7:3), and then gently and humbly help others in their walk with Christ. Paul had said in Philippians 1 that his purpose for having been left here on earth was for the progress and joy of faith of others. (vs 25) and that should be the same for us.

Wash My Feet? Never!

This week I’ve been meditating on John 13:1-17 which deals with Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. I’m not one of those who believes that this practice is literally to be practiced in the church, so I ask myself what exactly am I to learn from this account?

One of the first things that caught my attention was the illustration this is of Jesus’ step of humbling himself to come to earth to redeem us. Verse 4 says that he arose and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded himself. It struck me how similar this is to Philippians 2 where we learn that Jesus made Himself of no reputation, and taking the form of a bondservant, He humbled Himself. It seems to me that this event of washing feet is a picture of the grander event of Christ’s humiliation for us.

Peter’s reaction to all of this is interesting. First he says, “You will never wash my feet!” Then when Jesus tells him that if he doesn’t then he will have no part with him, Peter goes to the other extreme and asks for a complete bath. There is humility in receiving some service or gift from another. Jesus was willing to be humble enough to wash feet, but at first, Peter wasn’t humble enough to receive it. How many times have you been in a situation outside of your control where you needed to call someone to help you? Don’t you often look for any other possible way to accomplish the task without help? We so often try to be self sufficient and we don’t like the humble position of needing help. 2 Corinthians 8:14 tells us that our abundance is to be used to help someone else and then at some other time their abundance will be available to help us when we lack.

The Cross - Part 4

Another result of the death of Christ is the fact that in His death, we have died to the law. To prove his point, Paul uses the example of marriage in Romans 7. I’m not going to quote all 6 verses here, but if you find a Bible and read this section, I’ll summarize it for you.

Basically what Paul is saying is that if a woman’s husband is alive, it would be adultery for her to marry another man. If however, her husband has died, that law no longer has jurisdiction over her. She is free to remarry.

The key point begins in verse 4. “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another.” In the same way that the woman in this illustration has been freed from the law because of the death of her husband, we too have been freed from the law through the death of Christ.

Galatians 2:19,20 says, “For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ….” Do you see what Paul is saying here? It is through the law that I died to the law through Christ. It is the law that frees us from the law. It is the law which says that it applies to a man only while he lives. Since we have died with Christ, according to the law, we are not under the law any more.

The standards of God haven’t changed. His holiness hasn’t changed, but our relationship to Him and the law has changed. The law has no jurisdiction. If the accuser of the brethren (Satan) brings a charge against us and challenges God to punish us based on the law, I imagine God saying something like this. “The sins you have brought up are worthy of death according to the law. But this person has already died and so that law doesn’t apply to someone who has died. I can’t punish him with death again.” So even though God is holy and righteous, and though He expects us to live righteously, the law is not the means to accomplish that. (See the previous post.)

Paul tells us in two different places that sin gains its power from the law. In Romans 7:7, 8. “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.”

In I Corinthians 15:56 Paul writes, “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.” Once the law has been put into its proper place and perspective, it can no longer give power to sin. In “O For a Thousand Tongues” the writer says, “He breaks the power of cancelled sin.” That’s the point here. Sin’s curse and power have been broken by Christ on the cross. Law’s accusatory finger can no longer point at us and charge us with anything because we are no longer under its dominion. We have died with Christ and been raised with Him and therefore are on the other side of the resurrection as far as God is concerned. Because of this sin’s power has been removed.

Some have great fear that when we start discussing the fact that we are no longer under the jurisdiction of the law that that will bring forth all sorts loose living. But we need to go back to what we read from Romans 6. “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” The answer is that we can’t. Some misunderstand what grace is. Titus 2:11 tells us that the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live righteously and godly lives. Grace, forgiveness and freedom from law do not provide the occasion for loose living. They provide the strength and power to live godly lives.

The Cross - Part 3

In addition to what we have seen in the last two posts, the Bible teaches us that if we know Christ as Savior, we died with Him when He died. This has tremendous implications both for our understanding of what we have in Christ and for our daily walk in victory.

Romans 6:3 says “Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” Ephesians 2:5,6 adds to this by saying, “even when we were dead in trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

I believe that the baptism mentioned in Romans 6:3 is not water baptism, but the baptism of the Spirit which means that the Spirit immersed us into or placed us into the body of Christ. This is spoken of in I Corinthians 12:13 where it says, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.”

So since we have been placed into the body of Christ, God sees us as having died with Christ, risen with Christ and seated with Christ in heavenly places in Christ. This has great implications for our daily walk as Romans 6 teaches us.

If we go back to Romans 6:1 Paul asks, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” His answer in verse 2 is that we cannot because how can someone continue to sin who has died to it? In what way have we died to it? We died to it when we died with Christ. Paul says in verse 6, “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.” That is a strong statement.

Sometimes sin seems to have so much power over us and we feel like we are its slave. But God tells us that if we are a Christian we have died with Christ and we have been freed from sin and its power. He goes so far as to say that the body of sin was destroyed or done away with. It certainly doesn’t feel that way does it? This almost makes it worse when we sin because we are doing so freely and we cannot blame our bondage to it and its power over us.

The key to victory is given in verses 10 and following. “For the death that He (Christ) died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.” Now here’s the key, verse 11, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead.” We are to count ourselves to be dead with Christ. We are to believe it to be true and to act accordingly. So much of the time we let our minds dwell on things that aren’t true. In this case we are to think on and reckon as true the fact that we have died and our life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3) We are to give ourselves to God as those who are past death and past the resurrection. As resurrected people we are to offer the parts of our body as tools or instruments to God for righteousness and we are to avoid presenting our bodies to sin as instruments or tools of unrighteousness. We may have given our bodies to sin before we died, but now that we are dead and resurrected, we are to be tools that God can use.

It’s interesting to look back at the passage in Colossians 3 that I quoted from earlier. The motivation for what we do is to be based on these truths. We are to seek those things which are above because we’ve been raised with Christ. We are to set our minds on the things above because “you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

The next post will be related to our new relationship with the law because of our death with Christ. However, I might mention here that right thinking concerning our identity with Christ and our death with Him is the best and most effective motivation for right living.

The Cross - Part 2

We’re thinking through some of the implications and results of Christ’s death on the cross for us. Last time we looked at His victory over Satan and sin. Today we consider the fact that the cross is different things to different people. Paul tells us in I Corinthians 1:18 ff that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. Later in verse 23 he says that it is foolishness to the Greeks or Gentiles.

Isn’t that the truth in today’s sophisticated culture? The thought of God becoming a man in the first place seems like foolishness to most people today. To go further then and say that this one man’s death provided salvation for those who would come to Him by faith apart from works seems even more foolish.

Yet Paul quotes from the Old Testament and says that God will destroy the wisdom of the wise. God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. It was in the wisdom of God that He made it so that people could not come to Him through their wisdom, but through the “foolishness” of the message preached.

Besides being foolishness to the Gentiles, the cross is a stumbling block to the Jews. The Jewish nation was looking for a Messiah who would be a conqueror and release them from the Roman oppression and set up a kingdom on earth then and there. They missed what had been written in the Old Testament about the fact that the Messiah must come, suffer and die and be raised to life before any promised kingdom could be established. So for the Jews, the cross was a stumbling block.

“But”, says Paul, “to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” In verse 24 he says it this way, “but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

The cross is the central message we are to preach. So many churches today have abandoned the message of the cross and yet it is the central and most important message that must be preached. There is no other salvation than through Christ and His death, burial and resurrection.

The Cross - Part 1

“ ‘Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.’ This he said, signifying by what death He would die.” John 12:30-33 (NKJV)

Over and over through the book of John, Jesus said that His hour had not yet come. Now the hour was at hand and He says that this is the time for the judgment of the world. The word for judgment is the word ‘crisis’. This was to be the pivotal moment, the watershed moment of world history.

This was the judgment of the world for several reasons. First this was the time when the prince of this world was judged. In addition, the punishment of sin was to be meted out on Christ at this moment and God’s just retribution against sin was satisfied. It also was a time of judgment because how a person received this teaching would be pivotal in his eternal destiny.

This Easter season of the year is an appropriate time to meditate once again on what was accomplished through the death and resurrection of Christ.

Jesus said, “Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.” His death and resurrection declared victory over Satan. Consider the following passages.

Hebrews 2:13 says, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” The word “destroy” in this passage means to destroy, abolish or put away.

Colossians 1:13: “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” When we trusted in Christ, the kingdom of which we were a part changed. We had been part of Satan’s kingdom, “children of wrath” as God called us. But when we were saved from sin by Christ, we were moved from Satan’s kingdom over to God’s kingdom, the kingdom of His beloved Son. Satan has one less person to reign over every time Christ saves someone.

Colossians 2:13, 14 “…He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

What an amazing couple of verses! We’ll talk further about our death to the law in a future post, but look at what has taken place here. If you are a believer, all your trespasses have been forgiven. The requirements that worked against you have been wiped out. There is no more condemnation. (Romans 8:1) Our sins are washed away as far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered against us again. What a promise!

He goes on to say in verse 14 that God has disarmed principalities and powers and made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them through His cross. Satan has been defeated, disarmed and humiliated. What more could we ask for?

Galatians 3:10 says that “as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’” Verse 12 says that “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse of us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’)”.

Paul says in I Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” These verses get at the heart of the gospel. Christ became a curse for us; he was made to be sin for us. The result is that there is no curse for us and we’ve been made the righteousness of God in Him. As Romans 8:1 says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

This is what Paul said was his great desire. In Philippians 3:9 he writes, “and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;” This is what the Jews missed. Romans 9:30 -33 tells us that the Jews pursued the law of righteousness, but it wasn’t the righteousness of faith given by God as a gift. God’s righteousness is given to us in place of our righteousness which are as filthy rags in God’s sight.

I guess the question you should ask yourself is, “Are you trusting in your own righteousness in order to be right with God, or have you received His righteousness?” He offers it freely to all who will repent and turn to Christ and believe the gospel. It is truly the good news that is the power of God for salvation.

CAMPONTHIS: Regeneration Precedes Faith...the transforming power of God-centered evangelism

After writing my previous article, I stumbled on the following article posted last Saturday on Steve Camp's blog. I thought it fit together well.

CAMPONTHIS: Regeneration Precedes Faith
...the transforming power of God-centered evangelism

Spiritual Life

Lazarus had been dead for four days when Jesus came to the tomb. When Jesus asked them to move the stone that covered the tomb, Martha said, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”

Then He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!”

To me this is a wonderful illustration of the power of God in regeneration. The Bible teaches us that in our natural state we are dead in trespasses and sins. (Eph 2:1) “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.” (Romans 3:10, 11) God had told Adam that in the day he ate of the forbidden tree he would die. As a result “just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12)

How is one raised from the dead? Other than Christ who could raise himself from the dead, can anything dead give life to itself? It’s certainly not possible with physical life, how can it be any different with spiritual life?

How was Lazarus able to obey the command of Christ to come out of the tomb? Could he as a dead man have laid there and said, “No, I think I’ll just stay dead, thanks.” He perhaps could have decided to stay in the tomb, but he could not have decided to stay dead. The voice of God awoke him. So too the voice of God through the preaching of the gospel brings life to the spiritually dead.

Ephesians 2:4, 5 says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” I Peter 1:23 says, “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.”

Using a different metaphor in 2 Corinthians 4, Paul explains how the gospel is hid because the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe lest the light of the gospel of the glory of God should shine unto them. How is that blindness overcome? If as he writes elsewhere the natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of God because they are foolishness to him, how is that natural state of blindness and death overcome? The answer in 2 Corinthians 4:6 is this: “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

In other words it takes the regenerating, life-giving, light-giving power of the Word of God to bring life to us. Everything else in the Christian life flows from this. All of those things that give evidence that life is present come from that life. Faith, hope, love, joy, etc. all flow from life miraculously granted to us by the Word of God.

Raising of Lazarus -- Part 2

The next verse tells us that Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus. This time the word for love is agape. This kind of love is selfless, purposeful, and places value on the person loved. Agape love does not usually stem from emotional feelings, but rather from purposeful action. Jesus therefore had both kinds of love for this family.

The next verse is difficult to follow because it appears to be attached to the verse we just discussed. Verse 6 tells us that for this reason, because of His love for them, He stayed two more days where He was. From our point of view it seems as though love would have driven Him to them sooner rather than later. Jesus seems to explain this somewhat in verse 15 where He tells them that He was glad (happy and rejoicing) for their sakes that He had not been there. Why? So that they might believe. He was more interested in their growth in faith than in the temporary feelings involved with having lost their brother.

Later on when Jesus arrives, (verse 21) Martha says to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” What does this tell us about Martha and her faith? To me it says that she believed that Jesus would have cured her brother if Jesus had been there. It also tells me that she might not be so sure that Jesus could raise Him from the dead. Except, when we continue reading, we see that she says that “even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give You.”

She knew of Jesus’ power and His relationship with the Father and she knew that the Father would honor Jesus’ requests no matter what they were. When Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.”, it’s almost as though she dared not believe that it was possible right now. She gave the “right” answer that he would rise again in the resurrection. But Jesus wanted her to see that He is the resurrection. He is life and has the power of life in himself. In fact Jesus said that in another passage that He had the power to lay down his life and the power to take it up again. Think about that for a minute. It is one thing to believe that Jesus has the power to raise someone else from the dead. It’s a miracle of an entirely different order to raise oneself from the dead. But that is who Jesus is and what He is capable of. He is the resurrection and the life.

Raising Lazarus - Part I

I’m sitting here thinking about the incident where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. We’re studying John 11 in our Sunday School class tomorrow and I’m wondering what needs to be emphasized from a passage that is so familiar. This incident involves a “certain” man from Bethany who was sick. The Bible claims that this is a true story. There was a certain man who became sick and then died. Jesus called that same man back to life again. The blind man had said, “I once was blind. Now I see.” This man will be able to say, “I once was dead. Now I live.”

When the sisters sent for Jesus they told him that the one he “loved” was sick. This kind of love is the word phileo or brotherly love. This is the kind of love that shows tender affection and kindness. Jesus had a tender love for this man.

Jesus’ response is interesting because He tells them that this sickness is not unto death, but rather is for the glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified through it. Shouldn’t this be the case in all of our trials? Our ultimate purpose in life is to bring glory to God. We say that so glibly and yet it is true. Therefore, when we are sick or going through some other trial it is so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. It may not involve a miracle of the level of raising someone from the dead, but it may be a demonstration of God’s tremendous grace at work in our lives showing those around that we have His peace and His joy even though the circumstance itself may be hard.

Christians and the Brave New World

Tuinstra Blog 07

I’ve never tackled an on-line book review before, but I’m going to give it a try since it’s an important topic. The book is titled How to be a Christian in a Brave New World by Joni Eareckson Tada and Nigel Cameron. The book was published in 2006 by Zondervan. I first became acquainted with Nigel Cameron and his work through Mars Hill Audio here.

The back cover introduces the book as follows, “Stem-cell research. Cloning. Genetic engineering. Today, discoveries in biotechnology are occurring so rapidly that we can barely begin to address one ethical debate before another looms overhead. This brave new world we’ve entered is a daunting one as well, with disturbing implications for the sanctity of life and for human nature itself. How should we respond as Christians?

I’m going to leave the review of the literary qualities of the book to others who are more qualified than I. What I was interested in are the issues that Joni and Nigel put before us.

One thread that weaves itself throughout the book is the commodification of life. Commodification is the process of turning something into a “thing” to be investigated, bought, sold, manipulated, and improved-upon. When we turn the focus of technology on ourselves we become machines – things to be investigated and understood. At the beginning this seems harmless enough until we begin to patent our genes, create embryos for tissue transplant and manipulate our basic genetic makeup.

Late in the book the authors summarize their points by using the three words: take, make, and fake.

By “take”, they mean the taking of life, i.e. abortion and euthanasia. I’m quite familiar with the basic arguments related to abortion, but what I didn’t realize is that the discussion now centers on creating embryos for the purpose of killing them for embryonic stem cells or to select the characteristics the parents want in their offspring. When in vitro fertilization is used, extra embryos are usually created and a selection process may be used to choose the embryo that has certain characteristics or that avoids certain inheritable syndromes. The acceptance of abortion has opened the door to thinking of these embryos as objects to be manipulated and exploited. Joni does a good job in making clear that no evidence exists for the therapeutic use of embryonic stem cells whereas there has been quite a bit of progress using adult stem cells. It’s discouraging that the popular culture pins its hopes on the embryonic stem cells when there is no evidence that they’ll help.

One of the things that was new to me was the concept of eugenics. Eugenics is the philosophy of using genetics to breed superior individuals. Most of us know how this was used by the Nazis under Hitler, but what I didn’t realize is that there was a strong eugenics movement here in the United States. This movement more or less died away when Hitler’s atrocities came to light, but now it’s back using embryos as the subjects.

The second word, “make”, represents the developing ability to make designer babies. Certain genes have already been patented so that genetic screening of those genes generates royalties for the owners of the patent. In addition, the cloning of human beings is not too far down the road. Some are calling for cloning of humans to create embryos for research or to harvest their stem cells, but forbidding the bringing of a cloned baby to birth. Others want all cloning of humans banned entirely.

The third word, “fake” involves the merging of human life with technology, especially computer technology. Can we eventually understand enough about human consciousness in the brain to upload our consciousness into a computer so that when our body dies, our consciousness remains? What about enhancing brain power with computer chips? What if we could have the whole Bible available in our memory as a result of the synthesis of the biological with the technological?

At the end of the book, the authors bring up several interesting questions for discussion. Questions such as, “If cloning is ever successful, do cloned babies have souls?” “What if I have several frozen embryos – what should I do now?” Most of these are questions we are not used to thinking about and are not prepared to answer.

Hopefully this short review has made you aware of the issues that are before us. As Christians we need to be better prepared for this debate than we were for the abortion debate. God made us in His image. We are close to surpassing the attempt made at Babel not to construct a tower, but to create ourselves in any image we desire. Will God allow this? Are we prepared to enter the debate and take a stand for human dignity as created in God’s image and to oppose attempts to kill and mutilate the smallest humans among us? I strongly encourage every Christian to familiarize himself with the issues involved in this discussion and to prepare a biblically based response. Students in high school and college need to be able counter the secular, godless teaching found in so many classrooms. In my opinion this topic needs to be discussed thoroughly in our churches so that every Christian will know and understand the concepts, terminology and issues involved. How to be a Christian in a Brave New World is a good place to start the learning process.

Godliness + Contentment = Gain

I don’t know if you make New Year’s resolutions or not. I tend not to because I’m not that good at keeping them. Having said, I think it is wise from time to time to evaluate where I’ve been and where I’m headed. Over the last several months I have been thinking about the characteristics we are diligently to add to our faith based on 2 Peter 1:5-8. Most recently I’ve been thinking about godliness. The definition of godliness centers on piety and spiritual disciplines of prayer, meditation, worship, etc. That led me to 2 Timothy 6:6 which says, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.” Paul said that he had learned to be content in whatever situation he found himself. The author of Hebrews says in 13:5: Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

It is so easy for us to become enamored with the culture around us and the things that it says we need to be a significant person. Paul told Timothy that these two things in combination with each other were great gain. A life of spiritual focus on God and the things related to God along with contentment with what He has chosen to provide is a life of great gain.

May I encourage you to make these aspects of the Christian life a priority for you as you go through this year?