Blog https://www.westoaksbaptist.org Tue, 19 Mar 2024 05:42:06 -0500 http://churchplantmedia.com/ An Overview of the Trinity https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/an-overview-of-the-trinity https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/an-overview-of-the-trinity#comments Tue, 13 Nov 2018 01:00:00 -0600 https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/an-overview-of-the-trinity In this second post reviewing the Free Grace Broadcaster from Chapel Library's issue on the "Triune God" we come to William S. Plummer's article entitled "Overview of the Trinity."

Whereas Boettner introduced us to the mystery and the centrality of the Trinity to the Christian religion William Plummer now covers the nuts and bolts of the doctrine of the Trinity taught within the Word of God.

Plummer begins with the explanation that trinity means the "unity of the three divine persons." He is careful to distigush that when we speak of God in this way we are not saying that God is three separate individuals but rather that the one essense of God is shared equally and fully by the three divine persons. He terms this description a "distinction in the divine Being that is real, but inexplicable."

While we cannot fully understand this description of God we can readily see when other false and heretical understandings of God are taught in the place of the Trinity. Arians teach that the Father and Son are completely separate and distinct, leading them to deny the Son's equality with the Father. Sabellians (modalists) teach there are not three persons but one God who acts in different ways to appear as three. Socinians and Unitarians teach that only the Father is divine. These teachings are all false and go contrary to the Trinitarian doctrine taught in scripture.

Moving beyond the basic assertion of the Trinity Plummer proceeds to demonstrate the way the three persons are clearly distiguished throughout scripture. Mat 28:19 and 2 Co 13:14 distinguish all three persons by listing them side-by-side. 1 Co 8:6 speaks of both the Father and the Son in their own roles in creation and providence. John 16:8 speaks of the Holy Spirit sent from God to be the Helper and the one who brings conviction of sin upon the world.

These three divine persons described in scripture are distinguished by there relationgships to one another. The Father is not begotten and does not proceed from anyone. The Son is the only-begotten of the Father while the Spirit proceeds from the Father and Son. Plummer warns that the word "begotten", just as the words "father" and "son" should not be pushed too far but understood to be the best word that God has chosen to describe himself. As always we need to be careful not to assume God is like us when we use human words to describe the creator God.

While the Father is distinguished in this way from the Son and Spirit all three are equally God. Jesus is directly called God (1 John 5:20; Rom 9:5) as well as being made equal with the Father (John 5:26). He shares in the divine activities of creation and judgment. His disciples worship him, as do the angels. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is called God (Acts 5:3-4) and is equated in his knowledge with God himself (1 Cor 2:10-11).

While all three persons are equally God they are not three Gods. Plummer points us back to the historic statement that God is "one in being, in nature, in essence; and three in personality or subsistence." Their being one in nature and essence is seen biblically in the unified way the three persons work together in creation and in redemption. They were seen together in Jesus' baptism. They are also described together in the work of redemption. The Father gave his Son. The Son laid down his life. The Spirit convicts the world of sin and guides believers into all truth.

This unity in creation and salvation guides us in how we are to worship. As Christians we must be about worshipping the Triune God. If we are worshipping any other god we are worshipping our own vain imaginations and not the true God.

Though it seems a little out of place Plummer finishes his article with a short look back to the Old Testament to see evidences of the Trinity even there. He points to the plural form of God in Genesis as well as the plural "maker" in Job and "creator" in Ecclesiates. He encourages us to find here the same Triune God revealed in the New Testament.

 

]]>
In this second post reviewing the Free Grace Broadcaster from Chapel Library's issue on the "Triune God" we come to William S. Plummer's article entitled "Overview of the Trinity."

Whereas Boettner introduced us to the mystery and the centrality of the Trinity to the Christian religion William Plummer now covers the nuts and bolts of the doctrine of the Trinity taught within the Word of God.

Plummer begins with the explanation that trinity means the "unity of the three divine persons." He is careful to distigush that when we speak of God in this way we are not saying that God is three separate individuals but rather that the one essense of God is shared equally and fully by the three divine persons. He terms this description a "distinction in the divine Being that is real, but inexplicable."

While we cannot fully understand this description of God we can readily see when other false and heretical understandings of God are taught in the place of the Trinity. Arians teach that the Father and Son are completely separate and distinct, leading them to deny the Son's equality with the Father. Sabellians (modalists) teach there are not three persons but one God who acts in different ways to appear as three. Socinians and Unitarians teach that only the Father is divine. These teachings are all false and go contrary to the Trinitarian doctrine taught in scripture.

Moving beyond the basic assertion of the Trinity Plummer proceeds to demonstrate the way the three persons are clearly distiguished throughout scripture. Mat 28:19 and 2 Co 13:14 distinguish all three persons by listing them side-by-side. 1 Co 8:6 speaks of both the Father and the Son in their own roles in creation and providence. John 16:8 speaks of the Holy Spirit sent from God to be the Helper and the one who brings conviction of sin upon the world.

These three divine persons described in scripture are distinguished by there relationgships to one another. The Father is not begotten and does not proceed from anyone. The Son is the only-begotten of the Father while the Spirit proceeds from the Father and Son. Plummer warns that the word "begotten", just as the words "father" and "son" should not be pushed too far but understood to be the best word that God has chosen to describe himself. As always we need to be careful not to assume God is like us when we use human words to describe the creator God.

While the Father is distinguished in this way from the Son and Spirit all three are equally God. Jesus is directly called God (1 John 5:20; Rom 9:5) as well as being made equal with the Father (John 5:26). He shares in the divine activities of creation and judgment. His disciples worship him, as do the angels. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is called God (Acts 5:3-4) and is equated in his knowledge with God himself (1 Cor 2:10-11).

While all three persons are equally God they are not three Gods. Plummer points us back to the historic statement that God is "one in being, in nature, in essence; and three in personality or subsistence." Their being one in nature and essence is seen biblically in the unified way the three persons work together in creation and in redemption. They were seen together in Jesus' baptism. They are also described together in the work of redemption. The Father gave his Son. The Son laid down his life. The Spirit convicts the world of sin and guides believers into all truth.

This unity in creation and salvation guides us in how we are to worship. As Christians we must be about worshipping the Triune God. If we are worshipping any other god we are worshipping our own vain imaginations and not the true God.

Though it seems a little out of place Plummer finishes his article with a short look back to the Old Testament to see evidences of the Trinity even there. He points to the plural form of God in Genesis as well as the plural "maker" in Job and "creator" in Ecclesiates. He encourages us to find here the same Triune God revealed in the New Testament.

 

]]>
Why study the Trinity? https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/the-most-mysterious-doctrine https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/the-most-mysterious-doctrine#comments Tue, 23 Oct 2018 06:00:00 -0500 https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/the-most-mysterious-doctrine This is the first post in a series reviewing two issues of the Free Grace Broadcaster from Chapel Library entitled “The Triune God” and “The Person of Christ”.

Have you ever spent much time considering the doctrine of the Trinity? Many of us are familiar with the declaration that God is three in one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and yet I myself have often struggled to understand this doctrine. How many of us have wondered whether it was worth the time to puzzle over the nature of the Trinity or if this was more of an academic matter for theologians to argue about?

We turn first in our study to the articles exploring the Trinity. Introducing us to the subject is an article entitled “The Most Mysterious Doctrine” written by Loraine Boettner, a reformed theologian from the 20th century.

Dr. Boettner acknowledges right away that this is “perhaps the most mysterious and difficult doctrine that is presented to us in the entire range of Scripture.” He uses an analogy similar to Dr. Samuel Renihan’s picture this past weekend of our minds trying to understand the nature of God being like a thimble attempting to hold the oceans. Dr. Boettner compares trying to grasp a “full” understanding of God to an attempt to cram the ocean into a teacup. Rather than allow this difficulty to dissuade us, however, he goes on to assert that we can understand in a “plain, simple way” some truths about the Trinity that God has chosen to reveal to us. We will seek these truths by looking to God’s revelation about himself in his Scriptures while trusting the Holy Spirit to enlighten us.

This search into the doctrine of the Trinity cannot be achieved by looking to nature since nothing in the natural world can compare to the being of God. This requires us to embrace humility as we look to the Scriptures so that we may “receive implicitly whatever God has seen fit to reveal.” This reminds me of the call of Jesus to have a child-like faith.

In noting the importance of studying the Trinity Dr. Boettner points out that the Bible presents the persons of the Trinity as each having distinctive roles in the works of “creation, providence, redemption, and grace.” This means that if we are to understand any area of theology we must have an understanding of the Trinity. This is most clear in the area of salvation where our understanding of who Jesus is (incarnation) and what he has done (redemption) are bound up in our understanding of the Trinity.

Dr. Boettner concludes his article by laying out the process by which God has brought to us revelation of his triune nature. God has revealed something of himself in creation so that all people have a basic knowledge of his existence and attributes (This makes be think of the second half of Romans 1). Nature alone, however, cannot bring knowledge of the Trinity. This is why the Trinity is the distinctive mark of the Christian religion alone and found in no other religion in the world. Following this general revelation God chose to reveal himself further through the giving of the Old Testament revelation. This particularly revealed him to be a God of grace who redeems sinners. Finally God revealed himself in the giving of the New Testament. It is here that he reveals himself to be Triune with each person, Father, Son, and Spirit, working out distinctive aspects of the acts of creation, providence, and redemption.

This article by Dr. Boettner seems to be well chosen as an introductory article for the topic. Please continue to read along with us as we look to the next article in the upcoming days.

Pastor Joshua

]]>
This is the first post in a series reviewing two issues of the Free Grace Broadcaster from Chapel Library entitled “The Triune God” and “The Person of Christ”.

Have you ever spent much time considering the doctrine of the Trinity? Many of us are familiar with the declaration that God is three in one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and yet I myself have often struggled to understand this doctrine. How many of us have wondered whether it was worth the time to puzzle over the nature of the Trinity or if this was more of an academic matter for theologians to argue about?

We turn first in our study to the articles exploring the Trinity. Introducing us to the subject is an article entitled “The Most Mysterious Doctrine” written by Loraine Boettner, a reformed theologian from the 20th century.

Dr. Boettner acknowledges right away that this is “perhaps the most mysterious and difficult doctrine that is presented to us in the entire range of Scripture.” He uses an analogy similar to Dr. Samuel Renihan’s picture this past weekend of our minds trying to understand the nature of God being like a thimble attempting to hold the oceans. Dr. Boettner compares trying to grasp a “full” understanding of God to an attempt to cram the ocean into a teacup. Rather than allow this difficulty to dissuade us, however, he goes on to assert that we can understand in a “plain, simple way” some truths about the Trinity that God has chosen to reveal to us. We will seek these truths by looking to God’s revelation about himself in his Scriptures while trusting the Holy Spirit to enlighten us.

This search into the doctrine of the Trinity cannot be achieved by looking to nature since nothing in the natural world can compare to the being of God. This requires us to embrace humility as we look to the Scriptures so that we may “receive implicitly whatever God has seen fit to reveal.” This reminds me of the call of Jesus to have a child-like faith.

In noting the importance of studying the Trinity Dr. Boettner points out that the Bible presents the persons of the Trinity as each having distinctive roles in the works of “creation, providence, redemption, and grace.” This means that if we are to understand any area of theology we must have an understanding of the Trinity. This is most clear in the area of salvation where our understanding of who Jesus is (incarnation) and what he has done (redemption) are bound up in our understanding of the Trinity.

Dr. Boettner concludes his article by laying out the process by which God has brought to us revelation of his triune nature. God has revealed something of himself in creation so that all people have a basic knowledge of his existence and attributes (This makes be think of the second half of Romans 1). Nature alone, however, cannot bring knowledge of the Trinity. This is why the Trinity is the distinctive mark of the Christian religion alone and found in no other religion in the world. Following this general revelation God chose to reveal himself further through the giving of the Old Testament revelation. This particularly revealed him to be a God of grace who redeems sinners. Finally God revealed himself in the giving of the New Testament. It is here that he reveals himself to be Triune with each person, Father, Son, and Spirit, working out distinctive aspects of the acts of creation, providence, and redemption.

This article by Dr. Boettner seems to be well chosen as an introductory article for the topic. Please continue to read along with us as we look to the next article in the upcoming days.

Pastor Joshua

]]>
Semper Reformanda and a new blog series https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/semper-reformanda-and-a-new-blog-series https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/semper-reformanda-and-a-new-blog-series#comments Mon, 22 Oct 2018 09:00:00 -0500 https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/semper-reformanda-and-a-new-blog-series This past weekend some of us had the opportunity to travel down to Grace Family Baptist Church in Houston for their annual Semper Reformanda conference. The subject this year was “God and the Holy Trinity” from the second chapter of our confession of faith. The speakers were Dr. Liam Goligher and Dr. Samuel Renihan and the teaching they brought was helpful in pointing us back to scripture for shaping our understanding of who God is and how he has revealed himself to us. The effect was increased clarity in our understanding of God’s nature as well as inspiring us to worship and adore God for who he is. If you were unable to attend I would encourage you to listen to the sessions. They are currently online via the GfBC facebook page but should be available soon on Sermon Audio as well. Listen to them in order as they build on one another.

At the conference we all received copies of two of Chapel Library’s Free Grace Broadcaster magazines in which they collect a variety of articles and sermons on a specific topic and compile them into a quarterly publication. The topics for the two provided at the conference this year were “The Triune God” and “The Person of Christ”. We picked up enough copies for each family at church to have one and they are available on our front table. I’d encourage you to read through them and perhaps even include them in your family devotional times.

To encourage everyone as they read through them I’m planning on blogging through the articles over the next few weeks. I will start with issue 231 “The Triune God” and then move on to issue 219 “The Person of Christ”. May God bless our efforts to grow in our knowledge and adoration of his glory and majesty!

Pastor Joshua

]]>
This past weekend some of us had the opportunity to travel down to Grace Family Baptist Church in Houston for their annual Semper Reformanda conference. The subject this year was “God and the Holy Trinity” from the second chapter of our confession of faith. The speakers were Dr. Liam Goligher and Dr. Samuel Renihan and the teaching they brought was helpful in pointing us back to scripture for shaping our understanding of who God is and how he has revealed himself to us. The effect was increased clarity in our understanding of God’s nature as well as inspiring us to worship and adore God for who he is. If you were unable to attend I would encourage you to listen to the sessions. They are currently online via the GfBC facebook page but should be available soon on Sermon Audio as well. Listen to them in order as they build on one another.

At the conference we all received copies of two of Chapel Library’s Free Grace Broadcaster magazines in which they collect a variety of articles and sermons on a specific topic and compile them into a quarterly publication. The topics for the two provided at the conference this year were “The Triune God” and “The Person of Christ”. We picked up enough copies for each family at church to have one and they are available on our front table. I’d encourage you to read through them and perhaps even include them in your family devotional times.

To encourage everyone as they read through them I’m planning on blogging through the articles over the next few weeks. I will start with issue 231 “The Triune God” and then move on to issue 219 “The Person of Christ”. May God bless our efforts to grow in our knowledge and adoration of his glory and majesty!

Pastor Joshua

]]>
The Sufficiency of Scripture https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/the-sufficiency-of-scripture https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/the-sufficiency-of-scripture#comments Mon, 10 Sep 2018 16:00:00 -0500 https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/the-sufficiency-of-scripture Tom Ascol, our speaker for the upcoming conference, continues to write over at Founders Ministries on the importance of seeing the Bible as being sufficient for all that we are called to be as Christians. Here is an excerpt from the lastest post,

"While assuming the Scripture’s full authority, some influential evangelical leaders are ignoring its sufficiency. The result is that God’s Word is no longer regarded as the sole foundation of our identity as Christians or determiner of how we are to view the world or our responsibilities in it."

Read the entire post here.

 

]]>
Tom Ascol, our speaker for the upcoming conference, continues to write over at Founders Ministries on the importance of seeing the Bible as being sufficient for all that we are called to be as Christians. Here is an excerpt from the lastest post,

"While assuming the Scripture’s full authority, some influential evangelical leaders are ignoring its sufficiency. The result is that God’s Word is no longer regarded as the sole foundation of our identity as Christians or determiner of how we are to view the world or our responsibilities in it."

Read the entire post here.

 

]]>
A history of false teachers in the church https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/fal https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/fal#comments Sun, 02 Sep 2018 10:00:00 -0500 https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/fal John MacArthur has just started a new series of blogs on the false teaching coming in the form of “social justice” that I would highly recommend everyone read. Of note for our sermon tomorrow is this entry on the history of false teachers in the church that I think is very pertinent to our sermon series through Jude.

Read the post here

In Christ,

Pastor Joshua

]]>
John MacArthur has just started a new series of blogs on the false teaching coming in the form of “social justice” that I would highly recommend everyone read. Of note for our sermon tomorrow is this entry on the history of false teachers in the church that I think is very pertinent to our sermon series through Jude.

Read the post here

In Christ,

Pastor Joshua

]]>
Is the Bible Enough? https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/is-the-bible-enough https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/is-the-bible-enough#comments Mon, 27 Aug 2018 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/is-the-bible-enough While many of us believe the Bible is inerrant and true in all it says we often live as if the Bible is not sufficient or enough to teach us how to live and worship as Christians. Tom Ascol (our speaker for the upcoming Rooted Conference) writes over at Founders about the importance of seeing the Bible as sufficient for our faith and practice. I'd encourage everyone to read this!

From the article - "The question is no longer, “Is the Bible true?” (though that issue, along with the necessary implication of the final authority of God’s true Word, will never be irrelevant). Rather, today the most pressing question about the Bible for evangelicals is, “Is it enough?” 

]]>
While many of us believe the Bible is inerrant and true in all it says we often live as if the Bible is not sufficient or enough to teach us how to live and worship as Christians. Tom Ascol (our speaker for the upcoming Rooted Conference) writes over at Founders about the importance of seeing the Bible as sufficient for our faith and practice. I'd encourage everyone to read this!

From the article - "The question is no longer, “Is the Bible true?” (though that issue, along with the necessary implication of the final authority of God’s true Word, will never be irrelevant). Rather, today the most pressing question about the Bible for evangelicals is, “Is it enough?” 

]]>
Registration for our 2018 Rooted Conference is now open! https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/registration-for-our- https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/registration-for-our-#comments Fri, 24 Aug 2018 21:00:00 -0500 https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/registration-for-our- Registration is now open for our 2018 Rooted Conference! We are blessed to have Pastor Tom Ascol come and speak with us on “Life in the Family of God” for our second annual conference. Make sure to check out our conference page at www.therootedconference.com and get tickets now. We look forward to seeing everyone there!

 

]]>
Registration is now open for our 2018 Rooted Conference! We are blessed to have Pastor Tom Ascol come and speak with us on “Life in the Family of God” for our second annual conference. Make sure to check out our conference page at www.therootedconference.com and get tickets now. We look forward to seeing everyone there!

 

]]>
The Power of God to Save https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/the- https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/the-#comments Tue, 25 Oct 2016 10:00:00 -0500 https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/the- This past Lord's Day we started in on our newest Sunday School series teaching through the 1689 Confession of Faith. If you missed it you can listen here. Much of our discussion dealt with the nature of 'General Revelation' (the evidence God has given of himself in creation) and whether those evidences are enough to bring someone to salvation.

We dealt briefly with a move in the world of Christian Apologetics to set aside the Bible as our source of truth for the unbeliever and deal instead with evidences that the unbeliever is more likely to accept. Providencially, John Piper has just written a good and challenging response to this movement and I would encourage everyone to read and continue to sharpen your understanding of the necessity and sufficiency of God's Word for the salvation of sinners!

Open Bible, Burning Hearts - John Piper

~Pastor Joshua

]]>
This past Lord's Day we started in on our newest Sunday School series teaching through the 1689 Confession of Faith. If you missed it you can listen here. Much of our discussion dealt with the nature of 'General Revelation' (the evidence God has given of himself in creation) and whether those evidences are enough to bring someone to salvation.

We dealt briefly with a move in the world of Christian Apologetics to set aside the Bible as our source of truth for the unbeliever and deal instead with evidences that the unbeliever is more likely to accept. Providencially, John Piper has just written a good and challenging response to this movement and I would encourage everyone to read and continue to sharpen your understanding of the necessity and sufficiency of God's Word for the salvation of sinners!

Open Bible, Burning Hearts - John Piper

~Pastor Joshua

]]>
New Sunday School Series https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/new-sunday-school- https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/new-sunday-school-#comments Thu, 13 Oct 2016 22:00:00 -0500 https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/new-sunday-school- This week in Sunday School we will be starting a new series teaching through our church confession, the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. This is a series that Pastor Shawn and I have been desiring to start for some time and are excited to finally begin!

We will not being trying to teach through the entire confession in a single go. To do that and give justice to the entire document would take years. Our approach will be to take small sections, a chapter or part of a chapter, and teach through these sections for a few weeks. We will then alternate back and forth with the other regular teaching topics that make up our usual Sunday School curriculum.

Our hope is to slowly, as a church, become more familiar with the riches and insights of our Confession of Faith. We will seek to grow in our knowledge of the truths of scripture so plainly laid out in the Confession and gain a more firm grounding for our faith.

We will be trying to continue our recent practice of recording the Sunday School so that those who are unable to attend every meeting will be able to follow and learn along as we embark on this exciting endeavor. See you all Sunday!

~Pastor Joshua

]]>
This week in Sunday School we will be starting a new series teaching through our church confession, the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. This is a series that Pastor Shawn and I have been desiring to start for some time and are excited to finally begin!

We will not being trying to teach through the entire confession in a single go. To do that and give justice to the entire document would take years. Our approach will be to take small sections, a chapter or part of a chapter, and teach through these sections for a few weeks. We will then alternate back and forth with the other regular teaching topics that make up our usual Sunday School curriculum.

Our hope is to slowly, as a church, become more familiar with the riches and insights of our Confession of Faith. We will seek to grow in our knowledge of the truths of scripture so plainly laid out in the Confession and gain a more firm grounding for our faith.

We will be trying to continue our recent practice of recording the Sunday School so that those who are unable to attend every meeting will be able to follow and learn along as we embark on this exciting endeavor. See you all Sunday!

~Pastor Joshua

]]>
Armed to Battle Worldly Philosophies https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/armed-to-battle-wordly- https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/armed-to-battle-wordly-#comments Fri, 07 Oct 2016 21:00:00 -0500 https://www.westoaksbaptist.org/blog/post/armed-to-battle-wordly- Last Friday Becky, Sarah, and I went to the ladies’ banquet hosted by GfBC in North Houston. We had a wonderful meal and listened to a guest speaker. The guest speaker was Nancy Pearcey who was saved from agnosticism into Christ through the ministry of Frances Schaffer. Nancy Pearcey is a professor at Houston Baptist University and an author of several books that discuss Christians apologetics. In her talk on Friday, she discussed how we, as believing parents, can equip our children to be confident in their belief in God. At the same time, the information that she shared is useful to us as we engage with and share the gospel with people who are trapped in a philosophy that denies the existence of God. I am sharing the information she shared here to be a help for us all as we think these things through.


It seems that a number of studies have been done that show that the primary reason for young people leaving the church is because they stop believing in God. One might expect that they left the church because they were hurt or offended but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Young people raised in Christian homes go on to enter the real world and encounter a host of philosophies that deny the existence of God. Even if they have been raised with a solid Christian worldview they don’t know how to combat the persuasive lies around them and they become convinced that God doesn’t exist. As Christian parents, our goal is to see our kids grow in to Christian maturity and not be helpless or unprepared when they face the assaults of the world.
Not everyone believes in God, but if we define religion as the belief in a transcendent truth then we can honestly say that everyone has a religion. For those who deny the existence of God, their religion is the objective truth, the one truth that is true for all people, that they believe in. Mrs. Pearcey uses the principles of Romans 1 to expose the lies of the “-isms” that people hold to as objective truth. We can use these principles when we talk with those who have doubts about God and we can teach our children to use these principles as well.


Principle #1- Romans 1:21-26, Identify the Idol


Those who do not acknowledge God must deify (make into a god) a power or principle as the “primal reality or self-existent cause.” For the purposes of this paper, we will follow the philosophy of Materialism through the 5 principles.
Materialism states that matter is the ultimate and only reality. Everything that happens is a result of biochemical or physical reactions.


Principle #2- Romans 1:28 Identify the Reductionism


Reductionism is the reducing of something to a lower reality or value. She described reductionism as the box that worldly philosophies have that lead to a lower view of human life than how God created it to be. It is an anemic perspective on the magnificence and complexity of God’s creation.
As we follow our example philosophy, we can see that Materialism lowers humanity to a biochemical machine.


Principle #3- Romans 1:18-19 Test the Idol for External Inconsistencies


We need to see where these philosophies do not line up with general revelation. We ask ourselves “Does it contradict what we know about the world?” If a philosophy contradicts what we know about the world, then we can see that it is false. What truths do proponents of the philosophies have to suppress in order to believe their lies?


Materialism does not account for soul and spirit or voluntary choices. Most prominent materialists cannot escape the conviction that there is more to life than what fits in their philosophic box. Mrs. Pearcey shared several quotes from these well-known philosophers (I don’t remember their names) that showed the cognitive dissonance. They knew they were inconsistent but would not admit it.


Principle #4 Test the Idol for Internal Inconsistencies


It is important to see where the “-isms” contradict themselves or “commit suicide” as Mrs. Pearcey explained it.


Materialism says that thinking is just a brain-process much like digestion is a stomach-process. They claim that thinking, like digestion, can be neither true or false. Our response to this would be to say that if thinking is neither true or false than how can we say that that philosophy is true?


Principle #5 Replace the Idol and Make the Case for Christ


Christianity explains the world around us better and offers a higher view of humanity than any philosophy the world could propose.


In the case of Materialism, we could rebut that Christianity accounts for the matter around us because God is the creator of that but that God also gave mankind a soul. Because God is the creator and the definition of all that is True, we can trust that there is a true and a false and that God is the one who defines those. If God defines truth and goodness, then we can know that disobeying Him is the opposite of good- it is evil. The evil within us requires justice and Christ took the punishment for that on himself for whoever would believe in him.


What I have written is a summation of the talk that she gave. It was very encouraging and made me want to read her book Finding Truth. This information would be very useful to our children as we prepare them for adult life. I think that the information would also be very useful to every believer since we all encounter these philosophies as we interact with unbelievers or even other believers who have adopted portions of these philosophies for themselves.

- Janiece

 

]]>
Last Friday Becky, Sarah, and I went to the ladies’ banquet hosted by GfBC in North Houston. We had a wonderful meal and listened to a guest speaker. The guest speaker was Nancy Pearcey who was saved from agnosticism into Christ through the ministry of Frances Schaffer. Nancy Pearcey is a professor at Houston Baptist University and an author of several books that discuss Christians apologetics. In her talk on Friday, she discussed how we, as believing parents, can equip our children to be confident in their belief in God. At the same time, the information that she shared is useful to us as we engage with and share the gospel with people who are trapped in a philosophy that denies the existence of God. I am sharing the information she shared here to be a help for us all as we think these things through.


It seems that a number of studies have been done that show that the primary reason for young people leaving the church is because they stop believing in God. One might expect that they left the church because they were hurt or offended but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Young people raised in Christian homes go on to enter the real world and encounter a host of philosophies that deny the existence of God. Even if they have been raised with a solid Christian worldview they don’t know how to combat the persuasive lies around them and they become convinced that God doesn’t exist. As Christian parents, our goal is to see our kids grow in to Christian maturity and not be helpless or unprepared when they face the assaults of the world.
Not everyone believes in God, but if we define religion as the belief in a transcendent truth then we can honestly say that everyone has a religion. For those who deny the existence of God, their religion is the objective truth, the one truth that is true for all people, that they believe in. Mrs. Pearcey uses the principles of Romans 1 to expose the lies of the “-isms” that people hold to as objective truth. We can use these principles when we talk with those who have doubts about God and we can teach our children to use these principles as well.


Principle #1- Romans 1:21-26, Identify the Idol


Those who do not acknowledge God must deify (make into a god) a power or principle as the “primal reality or self-existent cause.” For the purposes of this paper, we will follow the philosophy of Materialism through the 5 principles.
Materialism states that matter is the ultimate and only reality. Everything that happens is a result of biochemical or physical reactions.


Principle #2- Romans 1:28 Identify the Reductionism


Reductionism is the reducing of something to a lower reality or value. She described reductionism as the box that worldly philosophies have that lead to a lower view of human life than how God created it to be. It is an anemic perspective on the magnificence and complexity of God’s creation.
As we follow our example philosophy, we can see that Materialism lowers humanity to a biochemical machine.


Principle #3- Romans 1:18-19 Test the Idol for External Inconsistencies


We need to see where these philosophies do not line up with general revelation. We ask ourselves “Does it contradict what we know about the world?” If a philosophy contradicts what we know about the world, then we can see that it is false. What truths do proponents of the philosophies have to suppress in order to believe their lies?


Materialism does not account for soul and spirit or voluntary choices. Most prominent materialists cannot escape the conviction that there is more to life than what fits in their philosophic box. Mrs. Pearcey shared several quotes from these well-known philosophers (I don’t remember their names) that showed the cognitive dissonance. They knew they were inconsistent but would not admit it.


Principle #4 Test the Idol for Internal Inconsistencies


It is important to see where the “-isms” contradict themselves or “commit suicide” as Mrs. Pearcey explained it.


Materialism says that thinking is just a brain-process much like digestion is a stomach-process. They claim that thinking, like digestion, can be neither true or false. Our response to this would be to say that if thinking is neither true or false than how can we say that that philosophy is true?


Principle #5 Replace the Idol and Make the Case for Christ


Christianity explains the world around us better and offers a higher view of humanity than any philosophy the world could propose.


In the case of Materialism, we could rebut that Christianity accounts for the matter around us because God is the creator of that but that God also gave mankind a soul. Because God is the creator and the definition of all that is True, we can trust that there is a true and a false and that God is the one who defines those. If God defines truth and goodness, then we can know that disobeying Him is the opposite of good- it is evil. The evil within us requires justice and Christ took the punishment for that on himself for whoever would believe in him.


What I have written is a summation of the talk that she gave. It was very encouraging and made me want to read her book Finding Truth. This information would be very useful to our children as we prepare them for adult life. I think that the information would also be very useful to every believer since we all encounter these philosophies as we interact with unbelievers or even other believers who have adopted portions of these philosophies for themselves.

- Janiece

 

]]>