In the past, I typically would seek wisdom from God in one way:  ”God, please show me what to do in this situation. Please make it clear so that I will know the right thing to do.”  Or I might say “God, if this is Your will, please open the doors. If it isn’t, please close them.”  Something like that.  Very familiar…very common.

What I noticed this afternoon is that I very seldom pray like this anymore.

Experience has taught me that God is rarely going to tell me what to do before I do it.  He’s rarely going to give me a sign or impression that will give me 100% confidence in a course of action.  More likely, He will equip me for these things in small ways that sometimes are easily missed and often unseen when I am not looking for them.  These small nudges come in a million different forms: people, scripture, circumstances, feelings, ad infinitum.  The result is my continued sanctification (which is God’s will and promise for us all).

I tried to think of an analogy for this and I will admit I did not come up with anything perfectly fitting.  My first instinct is that this is like a path throught the forest that only He can see.  That he keeps me in the clear places between the dense forest on each side, even though I can’t see the big picture. I can’t see where the path is going.

Another example I thought of is the way a vine grows towards the sun. It never sees a plan or gets specific instructions, but its environment results in a very distinct change in the direction of its growth.  I thin it’s a bit like this with us.

The point is this:  God is sovereign.  He knows all, sees all, and cares for all.  He is the guarantor of my life. The non-refundable deposit for my sanctification, so to speak.  If this is true, if I can trust God with the outcome, I have no need to know specifics.  I don’t need to pray for a map when the very universe I have the privilige of living in exists and progresses at the discretion of God and God alone.  He has a million ways to lead me in His will and it seems presumptuous to ask for only one.

I think I used to pray like this because it left me in control in someway.  It was a bit like telling God “I’ll do what you want to do if you send me the instructions.”

Now I pray “God, give me wisdom. Help me to see truth instead of lies. Help me to seek light instead of dark. Guide me in Your paths. May the outcome bring glory to You.”

This, at least in my case, helps me remember that I am small and He is big.  That His ways are higher than mine.  That my plans are so short sighted and laughable next to His.

I have a confession to make.  Sometimes I pray for things so that I can get credit for having prayed for them.

I know. It’s bad.  Fortunately this isn’t really my primary motivation; it’s a sneaking temptation that invades my thoughts gradually. It starts out with a pure intention: I have a need/desire/something that concerns me and I begin to pray about it.  I may even recruit others to pray with me about it.

As I continue to pray about it over days or weeks (depending how long my attention span lasts) my thoughts begin to move towards anticipation.  ”With as much prayer as I have given this, God will have to answer my prayer.”  As nonsensical as this thought is, the subsequent thought is worse: “How awesome will I look when I am able to share this story of what God did because of my faithfulness in prayer.”  With this thought, mental images of me “humbly” relaying the details of God’s generousity and my perserverance flood my brain.

And just like that, my supplication becomes a self-glorifying venture. It is no longer a humble request of mighty God, but a means to a prideful end.  It is no longer about God’s glory but my own.

How sad it is that the means of righteousness can be so easily perverted to be the means of sin!

The truth is, we have probably all seen this particular temptation acted out many times before.  We’ve heard stories of men who prayed every day for 7 years and how God miraculously came to their aid–because of the prayers of a great man/woman. We’ve seen graphs of unthinkable monatary success with God given a footnote of credit.  We’ve heard people say “I know if I hadn’t prayed for my husband that night he would have died.”

Don’t get me wrong: there is nothing wrong with telling of God’s great works, we just have to be careful we aren’t using God’s generousity on our behalf as a means of self-promotion.

Paul had more to boast of than anyone but he chose to boast in what God did despite him, not because of him.  He said he would boast of nothing but Jesus.  He was thankful for anything that kept him from being able to take credit.

Recently I found myself thinking in just this way.  I simply had to repent and say “God, if you give me anything may it always be in spite of my best intentions. May I be as a blind man who occassionally stumbles into the light by your grace. May I never be able to take credit for Your works.”

I would much rather be a fool that God blesses anyway than a self-described wise man who knows just what to ask for.

“The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.”
- Psalm 33:10-11

Growing up, the way I heard prayer talked about in churches and Bible studies sounded a lot like an economics lesson. It went something like this:

1. Prayer is powerful.
2. The more faith you have, the more powerful prayer is.
3. Pray to God with as much faith as possible to increase the chances your prayer will be answered.

Now, granted, I never heard it spelled out that…terribly. But, the implications and the way it shaped my thinking were the same: Get as much faith as you can and spend it at the God store.

In reality, prayer is nothing like economics.  Without delving into the huge discussions of each and every aspect of this subject, I’m going to list the fundamental, Biblical ideas about God and prayer and then focus on addressing the seeming paradox that inevitably surfaces.

Let’s begin:

1. Prayer is essential to the life of a believer.
2. God is sovereign; He is in control. Nothing can impede his purposes. (See above)
3. God is outside of time and has unlimited knowledge of what happens in time.
4. When we pray, God knows what we will ask before we ask it. (See above)
5. God also knows what He will do in response to our prayers.
6. If our prayers are not in alignment with God’s will, He will not answer them. (See James 4)

What can we conclude from these six tenets? We can conclude that because God is sovereign, because He is in control, the future is for all intents and purposes set. It can’t be altered by Satan, sin, demons, us, or even our prayers.

Our prayers do not alter the future. To say they do suggests that time is unfolding in a certain way and that God alters things on our behalf in a way they otherwise wouldn’t have unfolded.  It suggests that He waits to hear our requests, carefully considers their merit, and then acts. It’s nonsensical when we consider God’s sovereignty and omniscience.

This might be hard to reconcile with the way you’ve typically heard prayer preached, but, I firmly believe that all of these things.

So, that leaves us with the question I opened with: Why pray?

Simply put, prayer is the means by which God acts in our lives and in the world. Just as God has chosen to save others through our testimony, God acts through our prayers.

We aren’t responsible for the fact that God knows the future and we don’t. We pray not knowing the future, trusting God with the future.

At its simplest level, prayer is talking to our Father. When we start looking at it as a tool for manipulating future results instead of a way to work in concert with God’s plan, we essentially alter the true nature of prayer.

As I have talked with others about this subject, many questions have come up:

Why does the Bible seem to give us cause/effect examples of prayer? Why does Jesus say that the more faith we have, the more our prayers will accomplish? Didn’t Hezekiah pray for more life and God grant it?

For the first, I would say that the Bible presents a cause and effect view of prayer because that is how we experience it. God doesn’t burden us with the paradoxical nature of prayer, He simply gives us prayer and tells us it is important and tells us to pray and gives us examples of what He does in response to those prayers.  We can’t adjust God to match our misconceptions.

For the second, I would answer it similar to the first, with this alteration: The more faith we have, the more aware of God’s master plan we will be, and the more trust we will put in God to handle the future the way He knows best.  Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane “If there is any way that this cup can be taken from me ” finishing with “not My will but Thine”. If faith were a currency by which God is obligated to act, isn’t it safe to say Jesus, in His human form, had more faith than any man before Him? Jesus’ faith compelled Him to seek His Father’s will over His will.

As far as Hezekiah, there again we see an object lesson where God presents a person with a situation, knowing the outcome but testing their faith by it.  It may seem that God extended Hezekiah’s life and that this wasn’t part of the original plan, but I don’t think it’s a reasonable assumption.  Genesis speaks of God “repenting” that He made man, implying that God didn’t realize how much pain man would cause and wished He could change His decision. This passage, like the Genesis one, must be held in the light of everything else we know about God.

There is only a paradox if we allow ourselves to get hung up on one aspect of prayer, and hold that up against and above the other things we know to be true about God.

So, how would we think about prayer?

• We should pray, knowing that we don’t know the future, and that God does.
• We should pray knowing that God has a plan for all generations and that plan cannot be impeded.
• We should pray honestly, recognizing that it is possible what we want is not part of God’s will.
• We should pray remembering the importance of prayer as a (if not the) central way God acts in our lives and the world.
• We should embrace the blessing and gift of prayer and the way it enriches our relationship with our Heavenly Father.

We live in a culture obsessed with goals and objectives. It isn’t important where you are as much as where you are going and how long it will take you to get there. It is this ambitious spirit that has propelled America, by God’s grace, to the top of the world economically, with all the rights and priviliges appertaining thereunto.

The problem begins when we apply this to spiritual formation. Most of us “know” that there will never be a moment when we have spiritually “arrived”, but often this realization can be as daunting as comforting. We still imagine a standard or a road map to where we want to be and drown in the resulting reality that we have a long way (infinite really) to go. Others may suffer an opposite problem. They may set the bar so low that apathy results.

What are the categories we are trying to succeed in? I can think of several:

• Sin: what we struggle with
• Service: what we do
• Spirituality: how “close” we feel to God
• Effectiveness: how effective and utilized by God we feel.

All of these areas are important. It is important that we are realistic in assessing the sins we struggle with, the service we are or should be doing, how “in tune” we are with the Holy Spirit, and how we observe God working through us. Certainly these are all aspects of a spiritually healthy person.

However, this list is not only not inclusive, it is also not God’s list. God is not reviewing our score each day, subtracting points, rewarding good behavior…punishing bad. He isn’t deciding to reveal Himself to us based on our own merit or how we fit into our own grading metrics.

It is a mostly human tendency to chart progress over time. We are very intimate with time and its effects on us, so it is natural for us to try to fit our relationship into those parameters. However, is this a logical thing to do?

It is not.

As believers raised from death to walk in newness of life with Christ, is our relationship with God temporary or eternal?

It is rarely our inclination to apply the standards of relationship with God to our relationships with other people. We are rarely concerned with things like quantifiable progress.  We simply get to know the other person by spending time with them. We enjoy their company. We open up with them and they with us.

How is our relationship with God really any different? As we pray and mediate, our we simply thinking magical thoughts or saying magical incantations or are we communing with the Creator in a relationship with Him? Is God concerned with what you did or were yesterday or is He concerned with what you are doing and who you are today?

Imagine if we tried to make our earthly friendships as complicated as we tend to make our relationship with God. The result would be a complicated, unenjoyable mess…it would literally choke the life out of those friendships.

We have been welcomed by God through Jesus as friends and brothers. (John 15:14, Hebrews 2:11) 

No, we don’t deserve it. Yes, it is unthinkably generous, but we are called to live in the reality of that truth. We are not called to hold God at arms distance and develop our own ways of measuring success. We are simply called to abide in the love of Christ.

If we do that, the rest will follow. As we learn to love Christ and obey His commandments (the evidence of that love), the rest will follow suit. 

We are not alone in this effort either. God is active and sovereign in our relationship with HIm. He is able to protect us from our own decisions and weaknesses, and accomplish His will in us…even if we are not aware of what that will is. (We rarely are.)

Think about the times and ways God has blessed you…the times you have known clearly what He wanted you to do. Were those times when you were especially righteous? I doubt it.  They were probably times when you were especially open to Him.

We are in a covenant relationship with God on His terms. Live in those terms. Don’t invent your own. In other words: focus on the driving, not the destination. God is able to handle the destination.

Be honest.  How many times, while reading the gospels have you also wished that Jesus would just come out and say it:

“Hi, I’m Jesus, I’m part of the Trinity, co-equal and one with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.  I’m the promised Messiah, the Christ. This is how it all fits in with Old Testament prophecy and this how I can help you…”

This seemingly would help you and me in many ways. Debates about Jesus’ divinity would be so much more simple and systematic theology would be a breeze. Right?

This is not what the scriptures afford us, however. So often his accusers insult him and ask him directly “Who are you then?” and Jesus responds with cryptic word plays or statements that can be taken in multiple ways.

Example from John 10 [paraphrasing]:
Jesus: I and the Father are one.
Crowd: *picking up stones* You just said you’re God!
Jesus: Doesn’t Psalms say “you are gods”?
Crowd: Doh!

This happens many other places in the gospels. Jesus constantly frames his truths in parables and obscure biblical refrences.

The obvious question is….why? Why would He do this? Is there a rhyme to His reason? Does He simply have a knack for riddles? Is he protecting Himself (i.e., is He afraid of the consequences of speaking plainly?)

Jesus answers these questions for his disciples (and us) in Matthew 13:

This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

‘You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.
For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.’

But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.

Contrary to what you may have been told, Jesus did not come to make the gospel simple or easy. He came to reveal God’s truth to those who were honestly seeking, honestly listening, honestly trying to discern the truth.

He provided die hard skeptics just enough rope to hang themselves, while giving those with open hearts the keys to the kingdom of God.

This is confirmed elsewhere as Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a pearl, a treasure buried in a field, etc.  God has provided us with everything we need to find Him. Likewise, the wicked have everything they want to avoid Him.

I will close with this beautiful passage from 1 Corinthians:

Where is the one who is wise?
Where is the scribe?
Where is the debater of this age?
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Most Christians agree that they do not want to be responsible for the Old Testament law.  Most Christians also agree that they aren’t, or, they assign themselves partial responsiblity to the law. Others seems confident that we are only responsible for the Ten Commandments.  They may also say that we are only responsible for the “moral” laws and not the judicial or ceremonial laws. 

Many more have never really thought about it. So who is right? How should believers view the Old Testament?

Before we find middle ground, let’s begin by defining what the law is and what its purpose is:

1. Old Testament law was given to the Israelites by God through Moses. (See the Pentateuch)

2. The law directs our steps and gives light in our darkness. (Psalm 119:105)

3. The law is holy, good and righteous and good because God is holy, good and righteous. (Romans 7:12)

4. The law shows us what sin is. (Romans 7:8)

5. Where there is no law, there is no sin. (Romans 4:15; Romans 5:13)

Are we under the law?

• “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” – Romans 10:4

• “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.” – Galatians 3:23-25

• “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,  and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”- Ephesians 2:14-16

• “But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” – Romans 7:6

Some might be confused at this point. It seems that the law is being praised and belittled in the same breath. 

Many fair questions are left unanswered at this point:

• How can the law be good and also our captor? 

• Why would God write the law, only to abolish it? 

• Are we not required or wise to heed the guidelines God sets forth in the Old Testament?

• If the law is dead, do the Ten Commandments mean nothing?

Paul answers all of these questions for us in 2 Corinthians 3:  

“Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,  who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” – 2 Corintians 3:5-6

In these two verses, Paul begins to compare and contrast the old covenant, written in words, with the new covenant, established by the Spirit.  He continues…

“Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,  will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.” – 2 Corintians 3:7-11

God, in establishing His new covenant with believers, is not spitting upon the old covenant and laughing at those who were bound to it.  He is establishing a much greater covenant. This new covenant, being the fulfillment of His perfect will and a promise made to Adam and Eve, is so much better than the old covenant, that it is as if the old covenant is completely worthless.  Paul is comparing and contrasting these two works of God.  We see this technique used many times elsewhere in the Bible. Isaiah 64:6, for example, says that our righteousness is like filthy menstrual rags compared to God’s holiness.

Why does Paul, through the inspiration of the Spirit, call the old covenant the “ministry of condemnation” and the new covenant the “ministry of righteousness”? He does so because of the way each works in the life of believers.

“…ministry of condemnation…“

The law, as we previously stated, was a tool to identify sin. It defined righteousness and it defined sin. It said “Do this right thing because it is pleasing to God.” and “Do not do this wrong thing because it displeases God.”

In this way, the law acted as condemnation to those who were under it.  It was a constant standard with only one purpose: to show us we can never measure up.

“…ministry of righteousness…”

By contrast, the new covenant has a much different effect on its adherents.  God, through His Spirit, indwells us and changes us from the inside out. He replaces our desire for sin with the desire to be holy. He does not ask us to avoid doing the sinful things we want to do, He asks us to not do what our regenerated heart already doesn’t want to do and to do the things our regenerated hearts already desire to do.  In this, God continues the work of righteousness.  He not only wills change in us, but equips us with the desire to work in concert with Himself. (Phillipians 2:13)

How do we put all of this together?

The same God who lives in us and has established His new covenant with us through the Holy Spirit also wrote the law.  It would be a mistake to decide that there are no overlapping purposes between these two covenants.  While the law, as a taskmaster, is abolished for the believer,  there is much we can learn from the law.  It is true that we are no longer required to observe the Sabbath, circumcise our children, make yearly sacrafices, or celebrate passover, but we may if we want to.  As for morality, the Old Testament expressions of what is sin are still valid. We should not covet, sleep around, steal, murder, beat our children, etc.

It is clear that the authors of the New Testament believed in the inspiration and relavence of the Old Testament.  This is taught directly (2 Timothy 3:16) and also implied by the myriad of times they quote the Old Testament and praise those who check what they say against the Old Testament.  Jesus even went so far as to say that the Old Testament is about Him. (John 5:46)

While we learn from the law, we are not enslaved by it. It does not decide whether we receive eternal life. Jesus does.

We, as believers, should not neglect the Old Testament.  Neither should we let it enslave us.  We have been purchased with a price. We should follow Him in Spirit and truth. (1 Corinthians 6:20; John 4:23)

 ”Where the Spirt of the Lord is, there is liberty.” – 2 Corinthians 3:17b

Last month, forty prominent members of the Southern Baptist Convention signed A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change declaring that, as a denomination, they have been “too timid” in speaking out on environmental issues and affirmed a Biblical responsibility to address climate change.  While they are certainly not the first evangelicals to offer their help to the global warming crisis, this declaration was remarkable because the Southern Baptists represent the largest Protestant denomination in the nation and traditionally take conservative stances.

By issuing this declaration, they joined hands with perhaps the majority of environmentalists, scientists, politicians, entertainers, journalists, and other news makers.  The issue of climate change and catastrophic global warming enjoys the support of the most outspoken people in the world.  In recent years we have seen numerous people step forward to champion this cause.

At the forefront of the debate, former Vice President Al Gore has probably done more than any other person to increase awareness about this issue.  Starting in 1992 with his best seller Earth in the Balance, Gore has continued his campaign in the political and entertainment spectrums.  Most recently he is famous for his 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which not only won him the Nobel Peace Prize, but also took home two Oscars.

Mr. Gore and his supporters believe that left unchecked, human green house gas emissions will cause the earth’s temperature to steadily rise, eventually wiping out human existence as we know it. The consequences of global warming include: more violent rainstorms, more violent hurricanes, more droughts, more wildfires, higher sea levels (and destruction of our coast lines), extinction of 20-30% of all animal/plant life, ad infinitum. [Source: Natural Resources Defense Council]

The evidence also suggests that most people are inclined to believe these reports. A 2006 Time Magazine poll reported that 88% of Americans believe global warming presents a risk to future generations. And why not believe it? With politicians on both sides of the aisle giving lip service to the issue, campaigns on television and print encouraging us to get involved, and celebrities dedicating their time to the issue (with other celebrities giving them awards for doing so), the casual observer would be foolish to dissent.

As Christians and intelligent, thinking people, we have several obligations when analyzing the validity of any position, whether political, scientific, or both.

Most obviously, we must read the Bible. What, if anything, does the Bible have to say about global warming and environmentalism/stewardship?

Fortunately, the Bible has much to say about the future, God’s sovereignty, and our relationship with the world we were created to inhabit. From Genesis to Revelation, we may learn several important things:

1. God knows the future and nothing can prevent His will from being accomplished (Isaiah 46:10) 
2. God does not lie or change his mind…like we do. (Numbers 23:19)
3. God created the universe, including the earth. (Genesis 1:1)
4. God left us as stewards of the earth. (Genesis 1:28)
5. God has promised not to destroy the earth by flood. (Genesis 9:9-13)
6. God owns the earth. (Psalm 24:11)
7. Jesus holds the universe together. (Collosians 1:16-17)

In this list I have focused only on the conceptual role of God and man as presented in the Bible. If we were to delve into eschatology, it seems clear from scripture that the end of the earth will not be man created or due to climate change. (See Revelation 9, etc)

Furthermore, if we believe in the adequacy of scripture, we have to believe that the Bible tells us literally everything we need to know. Not everything we want to know but everything we need to know. (If it doesn’t, God has not adequately prepared us and we would be right to question whether we should trust Him at all!)

Looking beyond purely Biblical reasoning, we have several more things to consider.

What are the idealogies of those who have researched and currently propel global warming ideas? Majority opinion is not a sufficient reason to believe something. If it were, we would be obligated to disbelieve the Bible, believe in the Theory of Evolution, “good people” go to Heaven, and many other intolerable positions.

Unsurprisingly, most of the research and support for catastrophic global warming theory comes from humanist sources.  It is easy to see why this is true.  Logically speaking, if you do not believe in God, or do not trust in God, you are likely to fall back on mankind and their actions as the hope of the world.  If you do not believe in heaven or eternal existence, you are likely to view the earth as the only important realm or environment. If you do not believe anything (or Anyone) holds the future, you are likely to fear what the future could be.  If you do not have an eternal purpose, you are likely to seek a temporal purpose.

For all of these, reasons global warming is the perfect cause.  Not only does it provide something bigger to believe in, it places the crux of the issue on the individual.  It is easy to see why the refrain of pundits like Al Gore sounds more like religious opinion than scientific opinion.* This is no more evident than in the use of the term “Mother Nature” to personify and romanticize earth as an agent worthy of our respect and service. However, just as majority approval does not guarantee an idea is truth, it also doesn’t prevent an idea from being truth. Neither is an idea false simply because the supporters of if are liberal humanists.  To claim such would be fallacious.  However, these facts are instructive not irrelevant and we may safely use them as we build our position.

We should also consider the motivating factors for global warming research. Million and millions of federal research dollars are available to those who can produce research which predicts catastrophic climate change.  Research that is not alarmist in nature is not news worthy.  Just as in polling and statistics, it is results that are outside of expectations that are most likely to make headlines.  No one is interested in research that confirms what everyone already suspects.  Imagine an article predicting hair loss among older males.

Researchers are more likely to attract fame and research money by producing research that is remarkable.  This is unquestionably an incentive for doing so, and when you create an incentive for something, you create more of it.

Again, this does not in and of itself, disprove global warming, which is why we must proceed to analyze some of the science being offered as proof of global warming and dissenting opinion.

It is true that the earth is currently experiencing a warming trend, but just how much is it warming? According to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), the average global air temperature has increased 1.33 (plus or minus 0.32) degrees Fahrenheit in the last 100 years.  [Source]  They conjecture that this warming has been largely caused by a rise in green house gases due to human activity.

In order to support their claims you have to presume that the the temperature changes of the last 100 years are abnormal compared to the 100 years before that and the 100 years before that.  The evidence seems to be to the contrary.

For example, we know that at various times in history we have seen times of rather extreme cooling. These periods have been termed “ice ages”.  In fact, roughly 30 years ago, the prevailing belief was that earth was headed for another ice age.   We also know that areas that are current uninhabitable or agriculturally unuseable due to extreme cold have not always been such.  Melting glaciers have uncovered remnants of farms in climates where it was previously thought impossible to farm.  Between 800 and 1300 AD, much of the world was several degrees warmer than today. People grew wine grapes in England, figs in Germany, assorted crops in Greenland. [Taken from ICECAP] None of this is possible given today’s climate in those regions.

Taking both of these facts together, it seems more rational to conclude that climate swings are normal and that the warming trend we are seeing right now is firmly within historical norms.

It is for this reason that meteorologist John Coleman, most famous for founding The Weather Channel, calls global warming “the greatest scam in history”. He believes it is just as likely the earth will experience a cooling trend in the next 20 years as a warming trend. [Source: COMMENTS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING]

Obviously I have only examined one angle of this argument: the known present and past. This is intentional as the present and the past are the only tangible facts in this debate. Future predictions are based on the past, present, and computer based weather models which any meteorologist will admit are unable to consistently predict tomorrow’s weather let alone 100 years from now. There are thousands if not millions of factors which influence global climate.

Summary

So how do we put all of this together? As Christians we can agree with environmentalists that preserving the earth’s resources is a good thing. We can support efforts to clean our air and water and increase our fuel efficiency. We can install compact flourescent light bulps and low flow shower heads. We can raise our thermostat a couple of degrees in the summer and lower it a couple of degrees in the winter. We can recyle.  None of these things are wrong and they are all good.  (I would also say that using incadescent light bulbs and not recycling is also a morally acceptable decision. I also hate low flow shower heads!)

However, we must be very careful to avoid supporting any idealogy which promotes the roll of mankind over the role of God. We must avoid joining hands with or inadvertently supporting those who find meaning in staving off climate catastrophy. The Souther Baptist Convention is failing miserably here.

If we rely on the Bible as our modus operandi, we must arrange our priorities accordingly.

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” – Collosians 3:2

Kind of puts things in perspective does it not? Additionally, much of Ecclesiasties is devoted to pointing out the vanity of our earthly existence in comparison to our eternal existence.  We cannot get caught up in earth centered missions that conflict with our larger purpose as Christians: being Jesus to a lost world.

I firmly believe there are better uses of a Christian’s time than joining green initiatives and signing declarations to help curb climate change.  Even if we were to discard the idea of God being in control, it is human nature to desire a clean environment and we, as mankind, are unlikely to tolerate those who would trash the planet.

I realize that these last points may prove offensive to some. I don’t know how else to say it:

• Be a good steward of the earth.

• Trust God with the future.

• Spend your time fulfilling the great commission.

I welcome discussion on this issue.  

Suggested Reading:

There is a myriad of information available to refute the claims of environmentalists.  Here are three links which I believe give a good survey of some of that information. If anyone would like more information, please feel free to contact me.  There is much much more where this comes from.

• ICECAP (http://icecap.us)
• FDRS (http://www.fdrs.org/arguments_against_global_warming.html)
• Ohio Roundtable (http://www.aproundtable.org/tps30info/globalwarmup.html)

*The same is true for those who believe in evolution. In fact, there is a large amount of overlap between these groups.

“Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.” – Thomas Watson

It is no secret that Christians sin.  Not only do we sin, many of us are eager to avoid any insinuation that we shouldn’t, and when we have let our fellow man down we repeat the worn out cliché “Christians aren’t perfect; they’re just forgiven!” as if this makes it alright.

We have collectively set the bar at “sin” so that when we do sin, we have simply aligned ourselves with expectations.

The only problem with this view point is that it has no support in scripture. Sure, we see from Biblical testimony that God’s followers are far from perfect, but this is always presented as part of the problem, not a pattern for us to emulate.

There are many reasons why Christians sin and there are many ways for us to avoid sin.  It is my goal in writing this to outline a few of these reasons and to share Biblical principles that will help us avoid sin in the future.

Problem: We sin because we expect to sin.

If we wake up each morning with the expectation that we are going to sin, we have already lost the battle.  There is little difference between expecting to sin and planning to sin.  Paul addresses this idea in Romans 6:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 

Even though God’s grace is abundant in our sin, this is no excuse or motivation to sin or to not avoid sin.  In Christ, we have the victory whether we sin or do not sin, but for the believer to sin is going against his nature. 

Solution: Consider yourself dead to sin.

Paul finishes his thought by saying:

We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:9-11)

Just as Christ was victorious over death and death no longer has power over him, we, in Christ, are victorious over sin. We are dead to it.  It should no longer rule us.

Problem: We give ourselves the option to sin.

Another reason we sin is because at some point we considered that we were choosing between two alternatives: righteousness and sin.  We layed these two options before us, considered the pros and cons, and decided to partake of sin.

Solution: Sin is not an option.

Part of considering ourselves dead to sin is removing that as an option.  James 3:11 asks, “Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?” In John 8:12 Jesus says “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 

It is not only not ideal for a Christian to continue in sin, it is illogical.

Problem: We do not know God’s word.

In 2 Kings,  King Josiah orders that the temple be repaired. In the process of this repair, Hilkiah the priest finds the Book of the Law. Hilkiah brings the book to the king and the king has his secretary read it to him:

When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.” (2 Kings 22:11-13)

If we do not know God’s word, we do not know what sin is. If we do not know what sin is, how can we avoid it?

Solution: We must know God’s word and make ourselves responsible to it.

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” – Psalm 119:11

Problem: We do not see or believe the benefits of righteousness.

Many people view righteousness as doing something you don’t want to do and not doing things you want to do…all to please God.  I know this because this was my point of view for much of my life.

With this attitude, living a holy life is nigh impossible. 

Solution: We must believe in God’s goodness and the goodness of His commandments.

“But you are near, O Lord, and all your commandments are true.” – Psalm 119:151

God was not haphazard when he identified sin to us. He did not do it simply to create an arbitrary standard. He didn’t give us His commandments simply to keep us busy or defeated.  God’s commandments show us who we are.

In Knowing God, J.I. Packer explains how this works:

God commands are true. Why are they so described? First, because they have stability and permanence as setting forth what God wants to see in human lives in every age; second, because they tell us the unchanging truth about our own nature. For this is part of the purpose of God’s law: it gives us a working definition of true humanity. It shows us what we were made to be, and teaches us how to be truly human, and warns us against moral self destruction. This is a matter of great importance, and one which calls for much consideration at the present time.

Problem: We do not truly believe we can avoid sin or live a holy life before God.

Most Christians believe it impossible to avoid sin, and if they do believe it possible, they do not believe it possible for any length of time.  Because of this, most choose to loose the battle because they cannot win the war.

Solution: We must believe that God does not give us an unattainable goal and that He provides us ways to avoid temptation, as He promises.

As Christians, we absolutely can please God.  Do we please Him by living in sinless perfection? No, not exactly. We please Him by striving to live in sinless perfection.

See, it’s not about whether you will be successful 100% of the time. It’s about whether or not you are trying to align youself with the heart of God and view sin as He does.

Additionally, we have God’s promise that we absolutely can avoid sin when we are tempted:

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”  – 1 Corinthians 10:13

It goes without saying that a prerequisite for applying this is believing it.

So what do we do with the knowledge that we probably will not successfully avoid sin for the rest of our lives (the ability or not to do this aside)?  We can answer this question by examining our response to other things we are unlikely to achieve.  It is unlikely that you will go the whole rest of your life without getting sick, but do we not wash our hands and avoid germs? It is likely that most of us will hurt a loved one at some point in the future, but does this mean that you should not try to avoid hurting loved ones?  Of course not.

Apply the same standard to sin.

Summary

Sin is always associated with death.  Romans 6:23 warns us that the outcome of sin is death. We see in Genesis 3 that one of the consequences of sin is death…both spiritually and physically. The latter being representative of the former.

We are crucified with Christ and consequently we no longer live. Christ, rather, lives in us. (Galatians 2:20)

How can we who died to sin still live in it? Quite simply, we cannot.

Christians aren’t perfect, but they should try to be, by the power of Christ.

[*Thanks to Josh Stone who first called my attention to Romans 6 and what it means for believers.]

At Grace we sing a song which calls us to “put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness”.  I confess that I have sung this many times with almost zero understanding.  And unlike many things Christians say without understanding them, this one doesn’t even “sort of” make sense upon casual examination. It is just a weird thing to say. What is a “garment of praise” and what does it have to do with a heavy or faint spirit?

This week I was praying as I drove to work and it suddenly clicked.  I suddenly realized what is being pictured.

A garment is something that is worn for protection against the elements.  In addition to modesty, clothing keeps us from freezing to death in the winter and dying of dehydration and heat stroke in the summer, and, as Mark Twain once commented “Clothes make the man. Naked people make little or no influence on society.”

Simple enough, right?

Now let’s look at praise.  In what way does praise function in our spiritual lives like clothing functions in our physical existence?

When we praise God, we are responding to his Majesty. We are responding to what He has given us and what He does in us. Praise is not an isolated event, it is rooted in who God is.  We see this pattern all throughout the Psalms.

“I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.” – Psalm 7:17

“I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.” – Psalm 18:3

“O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love. ” – Psalm 59:17

“Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. ” – Psalm 63:3

When we praise God, we take our eyes off of ourselves and our own condition and we thank God for who He is. We recount His attributes. We affirm his Majesty.  The result of this is personal joy. We cannot wonder in the awesomeness of God and take pity on our own circumstance. In light of God’s perfection and provision, our problems pale.

Additionally, we are orienting our attention away from the temporal and towards the eternal.  How can our temporary problems stand next to God’s eternal greatness?

As we consider His Majesty, the only natural response is to entrust Him with the things that cause us sorrow, rob us of joy, or make life difficult.  God himself entreats us to do so over and over.  “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14a) “Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Matthew 6:27)  “My yoke is easy, my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30)

The only way we can cast our cares on Him (as 1 Peter 5:7 commands) is if we recognize his Majesty and His suitability for the job.

This is best demonstrated in the Psalms. Over and over David pours out his soul before God. He expresses grief and weeps. He feels abandoned, but without fail, he always comes back to God’s faithfulness and God’s praise-worthy attributes. These psalms are known as “Lament Psalms” and follow a pattern:

I. Address to God, Invocation
    a) first person address to God (I, you)
    b) an initial plea
II. Complaint to God
    a) description of problem, questions asked of God 
    b) crisis of any kind; in penitential psalms it is sin 
    c) claim of innocence 
    d) often includes an initial plea for help 
    e) condemnation of “wicked” or “enemy”
III. Affirmation of Trust
    a) “But as for me” or “Nevertheless” 
    b) turning point of the psalm; theological focus
IV. Petition
    a) plea for God’s intervention 
    b) often uses the words “save” or “deliver”
V. Acknowledgment of Response 
    a) assurance of hearing 
    b) vow of praise, worship
VI. Doxology: blessings, praise

Source: Patterns for Life: Structure, Genre, and Theology in Psalms 

As we approach God with what brings us sorrow, we should adopt this pattern in our own prayers. We should adorn ourselves with a garment of praise. In doing so, we will find true joy and spiritual contentment. Contentment that says “No, everything isn’t alright, but my hope is in the Lord.”

Let’s face it: The image of hell as a lake of fire where unrepentent sinners must burn in agony for eternity is unsettling for even the most pious, Bible belt dwelling, fundementalist believers. Or if it isn’t, it should be. ”If God is love, how can he torture people for eternity in hell?” is a question that has been asked a million times by a million people from all walks of life.

When these objections are raised, several answers are offered to satisfy this contention. First, we are reminded that God does not send anyone to hell.  The choices we make result in our eternal damnation.  Second, we are instructed that God is holy and cannot tolerate sin. That justice demands payment for sin and that those who do not accept Jesus’ atoning sacrifice deserve hell.

Furthermore, it may be said that to let those who deserve hell into heaven would corrupt heaven and make heaven just like…earth.

While these explanations are not entirely wrong, they are entirely insufficient. They still leave unresolved questions and effectively side step the real issue: hell, as it has been explained to us, is unthinkably cruel and we can’t get our minds around it.

To help reconcile this, let’s first establish what hell is. The Bible gives us several descriptions of hell:

• It is a place of darkness. (Matthew 8:12)
• It is a place of fire. (Revelation 20:15)
• It is a place of worms. (Mark 9:46)

Even the casual observer will notice that these descriptions of hell seem to contradict each other. How can hell simultaneously be a place of darkness and of fire? What is the point of throwing the rot of worms into the mix if one is being eternally consumed by supernatural flame?

All of this leads me to believe that the point of hell is not the fire, the darkness, or the worms.  It is complete separation from not only God (or His revealed presence), but also everyone who knows Him.

Some may contend that this view attempts to water down God’s judgement and wrath for those who live in rebellion to Him. Quite the contrary, complete separation from God is the absolute worst state a soul can find itself.  It is torturous isolation from everything that is or has ever been good.  “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17)

In this state, physical pain is frivolous and unneccessary.  More importantly, it can reasonably be said that someone who avoids God and chooses himself in this life should get the same in eternity.

This also explains why God never prescribes torture for the wicked on earth.  While God often prescribes death, we have no biblical instances where someone was purposefully kept alive for the purpose of inflicting pain. If God does not condone torture in this life, why would He do so in the next?

It is impossible for us to comprehend the pain of complete banishment from the revealed presence of God.  So, when God gives us metaphors that liken it to fire, darkness, and worms…He is giving us a physical representation of spirtual death. He is giving us something we can wrap our minds around and rightly fear.

Now if only someone could explain that to this psycho.