New BlogSite.

I have moved! I have been blogging at this site for 1.5 years and have thoroughly enjoyed it but now have been talked into starting a "wordpress" blog. Should be good and interesting. Click HERE to go there!

The God of the Old Testament, The God of the New Testament.

As I have studied for this week of AFW asking the question, "Is God the same in the Old Testament and the New Testament," I have had a few suprises that have been really good for me to have.

I look forward to talking about this question on Wednesday night with students. We finish our "Theology: Prayerfully Considering "Who is God?"" series this week. My hope is that our view of God is huge after this as we approach our evangelism series.

God, may you be glorified and lifted high in Wichita in the next several months!

Why would an all knowing God create humanity if he knew that they would sin?

This is a hard question. And tonight at AFW, we will talk about it. I keep thinking of Deuteronomy 29:29 where Moses writes that the there are mysteries about God that we cannot understand and that he has revealed part of who he is and we need to understand those revelations. I guess this may be one of those mysteries?

C.

Continuing Discussion on a Good God coexisting with Evil

One of my good friends and co-workers in our Lord and Savior and a worker with students sent me the following email. It makes alot of sense to me, but I am interested in your thoughts and comments.

____________________________________________________________
For us humans, I think evil comes in 3 flavors:
1. That which comes from the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics (Entropy), hereafter referred to as “#2 happens”
2. That which is extended from one entity to another – like unto the Father chastening His children
3. That which is anti-God

As humans, we see all three flavors as evil, because we perceive all 3 as bad – the opposite of good. Now right up front I want to state that this is NOT a Bible Study of the word evil, this letter is basically looking at the human side of evil – or at least our perception of evil.

#2 Happens
Since our Creator designed entropy, I would have a hard time accepting the statement that entropy is “evil.” Entropy has a God given purpose and is a vital part of His overall plan for His creation. While He very well may have “stayed” entropy while He visited with Adam in the Garden, once He left the Garden after the fall, entropy by His design, was allowed to progress. NOTE: Entropy = unless influenced by an outside system, all things will progress from order to disorder. So I guess some examples of entropy might be in order:
1. A car experiences a blowout, and subsequently the driver, his family, a pregnant woman, and a small child playing on the sidewalk are all killed. Is what happened evil? We may tend to call it evil because the scenario is so horrific, but in reality, it is simply a result of #2 happens – no - it is not evil. (the tire went from order to disorder)
2. On December 4, 2004, the “Asian tsunami” killed an estimated 225,000 people. Evil or Entropy? Hint: Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Chastening
I struggled with putting this category in this discussion, but here is why I left it:

1. James 1:2-3 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
2. Hebrews 12:5-11 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
3. Isaiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. (please study the meaning “evil” in this passage)

Many times humans tend to call trials and tribulations evil. I am sure that many children think their parents evil when they are spanked or grounded, but the punishment is born of love not evil. So it is with our Father in Heaven.

I would like to interject here that the question “Why does God allow Evil” can be answered by understanding that #2 happens (per His design) and that He chastens His creation to bring it into submission to Him. Both display the NATURE of our God – and are NOT evil as defined below (ANTI GOD). Therefore because His nature is displayed in both, we SHOULD be afraid – yes very afraid of our God. Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. (Yes I understand the dual meaning of fear)

ANTI-GOD
The way I might define real evil is: anything that, by comparison, is against the nature or will of God.

Satan is EVIL: Isaiah 14:12-14 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Man is EVIL: Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

I will probably be on thin ice here, but I will contend that since the natural man is evil, any works or acts that he subsequently performs, no matter how righteous they seem to us, are inherently evil. WHAT A MOUTHFUL! Biblical reference: Romans 3:10-18 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Example: (I am NOT casting negative light on Sr. Theresa) BUT If all the “good” works that Sr. Theresa performed were done to bring glory or satisfaction to herself or to her cause, then her work was evil.

Colossians 1:16-17 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Revelation 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

WHY THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE?
Why did God put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden? I firmly believe that God intends for man to know the difference. Man HAS to know this difference in order to make a “choice.” In light of His Word, and as we look around us in the world, we most certainly are seeing and learning the difference!

Evil and God coexisting?

We had our AFW last night and looked at how evil and God can coexist. We looked at some philosophical issues that make this question hard and looked at Jeremiah 32 in light of who God is said to be in scripture. I had a student that emailed me this morning and had some interesting insight into this question. I thought it was good. Read below.

A Student's Take on this Question
"As we discussed in small groups tonight, I thought of an interesting concept. I concluded that it doesn't really matter if you understand God's omnipotence because when there is unlimited control of something, the only thing that matters is who God is, not what he's capable. The miracle is that even though he can create anything, any universe (not just the kind where there is 3 dimensional space time, gravity etc.) the only that matters is that he takes pleasure in guiding us and watching us live our lives and Him being a part of it.
Imagine you have control of a block. That is someone's universe. To them that block is everything, all their universe, stars, planets, people, everything. To you, it's insignificant because you can build more blocks, add to it, melt it, malform it, transform it. You can do anything to it with you mind. Now someone in that block can only manipulate certain things, like maybe temperature or pressure. You can introduce anything to it. Does it really matter to the people in the block what you can do? They most likely can't even perceive anything of new rules such as gravity (assuming they don't have it) , let alone anything outside of their own block. So does your kind of power over the block matter to them, or what you choose to do with it/them. And that comes down to your character.
So it really doesn't matter if we understand God's power, it only God's character matters, and the neat fact that he cares so much to us that he changes the atoms in our block, so to speak, because he cares for us and loves us instead of building or changing blocks (or anything, squares, rectangular prisms, tesseracts) in another."

Theology: Prayerfully Considering "Who is God."

At AFW, we have been talking about who God is. And for me, it has been a great study. I have found that I really don't know much about the God of the universe, but even more than that, my relationship with him must continue to grow. My daily reading of God's word must be something that I pursue hard and go after. My prayer life is something that will continue to move me towards the God of the universe.

This series has been good for me.

And I haven't blogged for a really long time. But now I'm back. And ready for more blogging!

Impact 2009

For me, going to Impact in Des Moines, IA has always been a highlight. Since I was a High School student, I enjoyed going to downtown Des Moines, spending a couple days recalibrating my relationship with God and then coming home ready to hit the hard the running hard after Christ thing. I am excited that I now have the opportunity and privilege to take High School students to Impact this year. I'm excited to see what God will do in and through their lives as they are asked to think deeply about where they are with God and with each other. I have been taking Student Leadership teams for a few years now and it has always been something that helps us grow together in our relationship with each other and unify us as a group.

I am completely convinced that student leadership is imperative for student ministry to occur well. The dangers of having student leadership being invovled scare me for sure. Having students lead breeds a concept of exclusivity and I have to work very hard to fight against that. I have seen great student leaders leave our student ministry and do some great things for God in the contexts that they find themselves in. When I came to West E. Free, there was someone doing what I had always thought was a way to breed and develop leaders. She was working with a team to build team concept and leadership qualities and principles. Becky Lutes was finding ways to creatively build leaders.

One of my big rocks this year in student ministry is to develop leaders, both male and female, throughout student ministry. And I believe that as we continue to offer programs such as "basic training" (a beginning conceptual course on leadership) and "Servant Team" (A group of High School students that are committed to serving their youth group) we will have accomplished or at least moved more toward the goal of developing leaders throughout student ministries.

Man. I love what God is allowing me to do as I work with students. I met with a student leader this morning and to see what God is doing in his life is incredibly exciting. I pray for our students daily, that they would seek God first and that they would fall more and more in love with him all the time.

Anyway, I am looking forward to Impact 2009 in Des Moines, IA. God is working now as we prepare for this event!