An Unchanging Lens

As I write this post, I struggle with the challenge of communicating my thoughts on some subjects that are already saturated with ideas and comments from millions of people around the world.

You would think that after all this input, a general consensus would have been reached on a lot of these topics. However, time seems to show that division rather than unity is more often the result...even within the CHURCH!

Think of these hot topics right now for instance:

• Hillary, Trump, or neither...

• Gun control...

• Islamic Terrorism...

• Gay Rights...

• The Church's role in society....

And then you have the most recent event in Orlando that somehow managed to lump ALL of these topics into one observable scenario.

Which leads to the question: How are we as Christians supposed to respond?

I've read a lot of opinions by people that offer various answers. These include cliches that are easily stated, but are often less easy to apply consistently. 

For example:

• "Jesus loved people, so we as Christians should be known by our love during this time in our nation's history"

• "This is a perfect opportunity for the Church to come alongside others by loving on them and helping them in their time of need"

Ok that's true, but what does that mean? Is simply "loving on people" the only response we as Christians have to offer a grieving and shocked world? How is that principle to be applied?

Rejecting Christ with Nothing to Lose

"I see so many people come in here who hear the gospel, and yet continue to reject the truth. At times, I fear that they have hardened their hearts to the point where God has given them over permanently to their sin."

These words, told to me by an evangelist at Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago, resonated deeply. The Mission, which has been serving the Chicago area since 1877, has a unique vision that is rarely seen in ministries that care for the poor and destitute.

• To reach the lost with the Gospel of Christ
• Help others through any season of life to become fully functioning followers of Christ
• To provide a peaceful, clean and safe environment to the homeless
• To provide life's necessities physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

(Source: PGM Website)

I, along with three other guys, had gone to the Mission in order to volunteer and serve them in whatever need that presented itself. Although I had personally visited "PGM" in the past, it had never been for an extended period of time as a true believer. As a result, I saw the purpose of the whole organization in an entirely new light than before.

Every day I was there, I saw hundreds of non-christian men and women from various backgrounds pass through the doors into the Mission. Their needs ranged from needing food and shelter to seeking help for a drug/alcohol addiction. All were welcomed and each was given the opportunity and resources to get back on their feet. However, while the humanitarian aspect of the Mission is obviously beneficial, one thing that stuck out to me was the recognition of where true peace and stability comes from:

"...Homelessness is resolved by the transforming power of Jesus Christ (Source: PGM Website)"

A well known policy of PGM is that everyone who stays there is required to listen to a gospel message presented by an evangelist. As a result of this gospel-focus that permeates the entire organization, all of the individuals that PGM helps are also given the truth about Christ and the forgiveness for our sins.

This was refreshing for me to see as a believer, given how often the gospel is dumbed down for the sake of being more appealing. But despite this Christ-centered atmosphere, I began to realize something key.

Everyday, a myriad of "overnight guests" (as the Mission likes to call them) would pass by me in the halls. They would hear a gospel message 2-3 times a day, be cared for by Christian individuals in a safe environment, and see firsthand in others how Christ can change people's lives............and yet despite all this most of these people continued to reject the gospel.

The simple transforming message of the gospel, to repent, believe, and follow Christ, was preached to them every day. And yet, these individuals with nothing to lose continued to choose and go back to the self-destructive lifestyles that were killing them, both spiritually and physically. They would hear the saving message of the gospel, and then spit in Christ's face as they returned to their drugs, alcohol, crime, and whatever else consumed their desires.

As I watched this spectacle unfold everyday that I was in Chicago, it reminded me of the passage from John 3:18-21

"He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."

The realization that everyone is personally responsible for their sin, no matter their social status or cultural upbringing, was clearly shown. After all, sin wasn't only something they just did, but rather something they wanted to do. It wasn't a matter of passive ignorance, but rather one that was willful and intentional in nature.

And yet, despite all of this, there is still hope. My testimony, along with other Christians who work at PGM, shows that no one is beyond God's reach.

"1 Corinthians 6:9-11: 

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."

Our responsibility as Christians is to continue to preach the gospel, despite all the feelings of complacency and disinterest that we will encounter. Any persuasive argument that we give should be rooted in Scripture, as this is the most powerful tool that we can wield (Hebrews 4:12)

"1 Corinthians 3:7-9:

So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters in anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

Romans 10:14: 

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!'" 

Saying Goodbye to Calvinism

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that you all are continuing to grow in Christ as He molds us into who He wants us to be.

The subject of this post comes after a lot of discussion with others, as well as research on my own in both the Bible and various books from both perspectives. It stems from realizing the contentiousness of the subject, but also the need to address and stay true to what the Bible teaches about God's sovereignty and man's free will.

As a new believer, I was a "Calvinist" and proud of it. I could walk you through TULIP, show verses to back my case, and give lengthy discourses that discussed how illogical any opposing viewpoint was. However over time it became evident that this strategy not only alienated friendships, but served to be more divisive than edifying in discussions with other believers. Some people refer to this as the "Cage Stage". :)

This attitude continued throughout paramedic school. I proudly advocated my position to my Christian classmates. In fact, I would bring up the subject whenever possible, just for the sake of using my proven techniques that had worked so "effectively" in the past. In the end though, God showed me that I was not showing the humility talked about in Philippians 1:1-11. Instead of building others up, my pride was causing a hindrance in my ability to "encourage one another and build up one another" like 1 Thessalonians 5:11 tells Christians to do.

The Lord used this entire experience during medic school to teach that lesson to me. At the very end, while reflecting on the discourses I'd had with others, I realized that I had never truly listened to their arguments. I had read books for the sake of disproving them instead of truly seeing if they were Scripturally based. I approached it from the "This is wrong and here's why" standpoint instead of "Does Scripture teach this?" My motivation was for personal vindication rather than personal growth.

Having been humbled and realizing this fact, I began to reread opposing viewpoints from my new perspective. While reading these, I came to a startling realization that my pride had blinded from me before:

A lot of their arguments were soundly based, if the foundation they were using was accurate. 

Please don't misunderstand me here. I'm not saying that I agreed with their conclusions. Rather, I was left realizing that their conclusions were entirely logical if their foundational arguments were to be trusted.

For instance, an author named Austin Fischer dedicated a large portion of his book "Young, Restless, and No longer Reformed" to disproving the "Calvinist" premise that God makes people sin in order to damn them.

"In summary, then, the reprobate are all those humans who will experience a fate dreadful beyond comprehension (hell) as they are eternally punished by God for sins he ordained they would commit before they existed-they were created so they could be damned. If you don't cringe a little, you don't have a pulse" (page 22)

Dave Hunt offers a similar statement when responding to James White in the book, "Debating Calvinism"

"There is no escaping Calvinism's teaching that by 'God's eternal decree' He caused the evil in the brethren's hearts and caused them to execute their evil deeds" (Page 52)

Did Calvinism really teach that? If so, then I was forced to compare that premise to Scripture. 

James 1 addresses this very topic in verses 13-18.

"Let no one say when he is tempted, 
'I am being tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 
But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 
Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. 
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 
In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures."

As another example, Hunt also brought up the man from whom Calvinism gets its name, John Calvin. Calvin, while a man who knew and studied Scripture, still believed and taught the unbiblical doctrine of salvation through infant baptism.

"God takes his own methods of regenerating...to consecrate infants to himself, and initiate them by a sacred symbol....Circumcision was common to infants before they received understanding" (Calvin, Institutes, IV:xvi, 31)

This teaching also goes against the Biblical doctrine that we are saved by grace, through FAITH (Ephesians 2).