The Pro-Life Argument of President Barak Obama

Let us pray that our new president will realize the compelling argument of his own life for life.

Romans 2:17-29

17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 18 and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19 and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. 24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” 25 For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. 28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. (Romans 2:17-29)

Who are God’s people? To many first century Jews what gave them the edge over their Gentile counterparts were three things: 1) physical descent from Abraham, 2) possession of the truth and law of God, and 3) no foreskins. Paul takes one look at the list and wonders whether a Jew, knowledgeable of the law, and of course foreskinless is still in good with God if he lives in the lies, though knowing the truth, is a thief, adulterer, and idolater, though having the law, and is an embarrassment to God, though physically carrying the mark of God’s gracious covenant with Abraham. Suddenly the list seems to be missing something. Paul, a Jew, is not engaging in anti-Semitic vitriol; he is merely pointing out a rather obvious point. True participation in God’s grace is an internal, and not simply external, act. Beauty may only be skin deep, but salvation is not.

Paul points out what is the default thought pattern of all people in basically every religion in the world. It is so much easier to make a list than to be inwardly transformed. We hardly need to stop at religions, non-religious philosophies work just as well. Everyone makes a list of what marks them off as special and better than others. I am compassionate for the poor, says one. Yes, you love the poor, but do you love that filthy, rank drug addict that just lifted your wallet to have money for his next score. It’s easy to love the poor until you meet them. I despise bigotry, says another. Do you also despise bigots? And if you do, is that not bigotry? On and on we could go. It matters little that you have a list. If Paul is right in Romans 2:12-16, and we all have a God-wrought consciousness of morality, than all of us will have lists, and many of them will be quite similar. The real question is whether you keep your list. And if you do not, then why do you not?

Death By Love Thoughts

Read another chapter of Driscoll's Death By Love(see below). Driscoll wrote the chapter to a guy who molested a girl and plead guilty. The horror of his act and the life long shame it brings (his name is on the known sex offenders list) has brought him into suicidal depression. Driscoll starts off the letter: "Dear John, you are a despicable human being." Okay, that is not at all where most people would start, but that is where the gospel starts. Later in the chapter Driscoll comments on the fact that sin is so real. Honestly, I think on some level we, and certainly guys like John, are grateful when we call it like it is. There is something wholly disingenuous about the self-esteem culture that tries to paint everything pretty. How do you paint rape up pretty? "You just molested a little girl and probably messed her and her family up for the rest of their lives. But don't feel too bad, you're really a good person." I don't know, something about that just doesn't ring true. So long as you don't do something atrocious, there is hope for you. But for guys like John, who's acts are so beyond redemption the message is quite despairing.

Of course, Driscoll doesn't stay at "your despicable." He goes on to point out that in Christ there is no sex-offender list. He took the punishment and disgrace and has exchanged his purity and righteousness. Due to the cross, John doesn't have to be seen by God as a pedophile but as a righteous, pure, holy, and perfect son. Sin is real, but so is this love. I think that is what I appreciate most about this book. As you delve into the darkest corners of human depravity, corners that make sin so real, and you see blood atonement provide the solution, you cannot help but see how real is the power of the cross.

Serious Cold

For those of us whining about the cold, here is a reminder of how good we have it.

Death By Love

I have been reading this book by Mark Driscoll. It's turned out to be one of those books I don't like putting down. It is a powerful reminder of the power of the cross.

Romans 2:12-16

12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. (Romans 2:12-16)

I have decided not to answer the second question posted below. I know, you are all very disappointed. The reason for my decision is that to explain how “doing good” results in eternal life and yet how that is not earning salvation with good works would be to explain the next six or so chapters. I hope the answer will soon become very clear.

So on to the rest of chapter 2. Paul is on a mission to explode a smug assumption of self-righteousness. He does this by pointing two terribly important aspects to the law. The first point is that law is internal as well as external. We all know what a law is. Even those ignorant of it nevertheless still have it. His evidence of this fairly bold asseration is our natural accusing or excusing thoughts. Mistakes and failures simply do not disappear from memory. Often they don’t even fade away with time. They keep accusing us, sometimes to an unbearable degree. Perhaps, you may object that this is only because of the oppressive moral standards ingrained in us since birth. But remember it is not just accusing thoughts but also excusing thoughts that prove Paul’s point. What produces guilt as well as what produces license reveals the law. The adulterer reasons that the inattention of their spouse excuses their behavior. But the excuse that justifies the breaking of the law is itself a tribute to the law’s power. There is a standard that we all assume. In one case it may keep us moral; in another it may provide license for immorality. For most of us this all very complex. Our inner life is made up of a complicated web of accusing and excusing thoughts. But the thoughts are universal, and give evidence of the nature of God’s law.

This is an important point, for it demonstrates that God’s law is not merely a moral code invented for a specific group of people at a specific point in time. No, his law is a reflection of his nature, an unchanging nature. Therefore, it is possible, at least in principle, to keep and to break the law whether or not you have possession of it. What God revealed in his law is already what our accusing and excusing thoughts tell us. The implication of this thought is pretty disconcerting. You cannot escape God’s law. It haunts you no matter how far you fly from it. Whether you spend your days in despair over your failures or in partying while excusing your behavior, the law speaks to you. And when it speaks, what do you say? One day, as Paul points out, not only the law but the Law-giver will speak, and when he does what then will you say?

God Followers

This is a great little summary of the martyrdoms of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, and Pete Flemming, the five brave missionaries who sought to reach a brutal tribe in the jungles of Ecuador, and the great harvest that was reaped due to their sacrifice. I've heard the story many times, but there is something about seeing the faces.

Romans 2:6-11: First Question

Being that the responses to my last post on this passage were so overwhelming . . . eh hem . . . I thought I’d go ahead and post some attempts at answering my own questions.

1) Being self-seeking leads to God’s wrath, but isn’t doing good to gain glory, honor, and immortality self-seeking? Maybe we can best answer this question with another question. Is it selfish of me to seek for a happy marriage? The philosopher Kant would say yes, and that such motives are not truly altruistic. Only when you have absolutely no self interest are you acting morally. Thankfully, the Bible emphatically does not take us in this direction. It says things like “He who loves his wife loves himself”(Ephesians 5:28). This is an obvious appeal to the “self” as motivation for loving another, my wife. Even when Scripture declares “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others”(Philippians 2:4) notice that self-interest is assumed but not condemned. Don’t get me wrong. This is certainly no modern self-esteem message: “Before you love others, you must first love yourself.” Self-interest is not promoted; it is assumed. But it is assumed as natural and proper. The first command given to man doesn’t say, “Do not eat of the tree in the middle of the garden just because I said so," but “Do not eat . . . or you will surely die.”

Clearly, then, biblical self-denial is not to have no thought of the self. This is good news, for Kant’s ethics are abysmally depressing. Telling my wife that I will love her because it’s the right thing to do may sound moral, but I can tell you she sure isn’t going to like it. Nor should she. Biblical self-denial is not the rejection of personal pleasure; it is the choosing of greater pleasures over lesser ones. That is ultimately what is at the heart of love. To love someone is to delight in them, or at least the two are so intimately linked that they can’t possibly be separated.

So back to Romans. I hope I’ve shown that to work for the greater pleasures of glory, honor, peace, and immortality is not necessarily selfish. It could be, of course. Kind of like working for a really big paycheck. My boss may like my good work ethic, but it is hardly altruistic. So I suppose we have to define what exactly “glory, honor, peace, and immortality” truly are. They aren’t quite like my paycheck. We don’t have to read very far to get some hints as to what Paul is talking about. In Romans 5:1, Paul says through Christ we get “peace with God,” and then in 5:2 he speaks of the “hope of the glory of God.” We could go more in depth, but I don’t think we need to at this point. All you have to see is that “glory, honor, etc.” are derivative. That is, they come from God. Or more precisely, they are found in God. Therefore, to seek for glory in Paul’s mind is to seek for God as God. Those thirsting for God are those who seek for glory, honor, peace, and immortality, which I think Paul sums up as “eternal life.”

For clarity sake, I will repeat the point. Acting for personal benefit is not necessarily selfish. The door, then, is open to a selfless search for personal benefits. Sounds radical, I know, but I don’t think it is quite as radical as you might think. We are, to use some imagery I got from C.S. Lewis, created to be leeches on a host, namely God. All glory, honor, joy, life, peace, etc. is found in him. Therefore, we are most human and most righteousness living like leeches upon his grace. “Doing good” then should not be seen as a payment for some eternal prize, but as joyfully sucking down the fluids of grace provided by our host. Maybe I can say that a bit more tastefully. We pursue good works not to barter a better deal, but to participate in the real life found in God.

That’s all for now. I’ll deal with the second question later.

Music

I thought I'd just post a couple of songs that I really enjoy. I'm not much of an Andrew Peterson fan, though he is growing on me, but I like his use of the biblical story line in "So Long Moses" The second song is my favorite song by Derek Webb and one of my favorite contemporary songs period. For those who were at our service this morning, I think this song compliments well the message. There are a couple great lyric but my favorite is his last verse:

"Oh I dont know the sufferings of people outside my front door.
and I join the oppressors of those I choose to ignore.
I'm trading comfort for human life
And that's not just murder, it's suicide.
And this too shall be made right.

C.J. Mahaney's Testimony

C.J. Mahaney's testimony is quite remarkable. Here it is if you have never heard it.

Romans 2:6-11

He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking [1] and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality. (Romans 2:6-11)

One of the best ways to study the Scriptures is to ask hard questions about what you read. And one of the best ways to be deeply affected by the text is to think deeply about it. So instead of just providing some comments, Im going to raise a couple of questions that this text provokes in me. I look forward to your thoughts on them. Here are my two basic questions.

1) Being self-seeking leads to God’s wrath, but isn’t doing good to gain glory, honor, and immortality self-seeking? Isn’t doing good for an eternal gain self-seeking?

2) Aren’t you granted immortality based on grace and not on works? If bad works leads to God’s wrath and good works leads to honor, peace, etc. then isn’t that getting eternal life through good works and not through God’s grace?

Wimpy Christians

Click here to watch John Piper answer a question about wimpy Christian worldviews. The question is related to one of his latest books called Spectacular Sins in which he seeks to demonstrate God's sovereignty over and gracious intentions in the worst of human evil. I have not read the book, but this is a good little clip. I would encourage you to watch the video and not just read the manuscript.

Romans 2:1-5: Indulgence and Judgmentalism

As I said in my last post, in this passage Paul levels both indulgence (“God will forgive me no matter what I do, that’s His job”) and judgmentalism (“God needs to judge those people”). I want to look at each.

Indulgence - I have been reading George MacDonald’s The Princess and Curdie to my daughter. At one point, Curdie, the hero, is given a gift by which with the touch of his hand he can discern which people are descending into animals and which are becoming more human. No literal mutation actually takes place, but MacDonald’s point is that the descent into evil is a descent from being human. Sin isn't just a violation against God's law, though it is that, is also becoming enslaved to subhuman passions and instincts (cf. Philippians 3:19). Each move in our life is a move toward true humanity or beastdom. This brings us to a question. What good would God be doing if he just turns a blind eye to your sin? What kind of love has little care to save you from your descent to beastdom? “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.” All he does, including his patience, is meant as a rescue operation. And the rescue is not only from what judgment you are facing, but also what subhuman you are becoming.

Judgmentalism - This is Paul’s primary focus. It is often the focus of Old and New Testament, for it is the most insidious of sins. As Paul demonstrates, judgmentalism holds together two seemingly contrary ideas in a volatile combination. In order to be judgmental you have to 1) see a God who judges, and 2) see a God who forgives. Of course, the Bible presents God as both, but what makes the combination volatile is the location assigned to judgment and mercy. Judgment is for others, but mercy is for me. That’s a hard sell to make, but a sell you must make if you are going to have any peace in your life. This is why judgmental people tend to act like they are in desperate need of a fiber supplement. Indulgence in one sense is much easier to live; God doesn’t care, so I don’t care. But in judgmentalism, you know God cares. He does not tolerate evil, so you spend most of your time justifying your sin (blame-shifting, excuse making, etc.), paying for your sin, and magnifying the sins of others (you need a reason why God is judging them and not you). Your view of God is closer to the truth. So that’s good, right. Wrong. “You are storing up wrath for yourself . . . when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” Doesn’t sound good. The more truth you have, the more you have to deceive yourself. Loose morals or self-righteousness, which is the greater sin?

R.C. Sproul on Christmas

Sproul has written an interesting article defending the practice of Christmas. Here is an excerpt:

Christmas is a holiday, indeed the world's most joyous holiday. It is called a "holiday" because the day is holy. It is a day when businesses close, when families gather, when churches are filled, and when soldiers put down their guns for a 24-hour truce. It is a day that differs from every other day.

Every generation has its abundance of Scrooges. The church is full of them. We hear endless complaints of commercialism. We are constantly told to put Christ back into Christmas. We hear that the tradition of Santa Claus is a sacrilege. We listen to those acquainted with history murmur that Christmas isn't biblical. The Church invented Christmas to compete with the ancient Roman festival honoring the bull-god Mithras, the nay-sayers complain. Christmas? A mere capitulation to paganism.

And so we rain on Jesus' parade and assume an Olympian detachment from the joyous holiday. All this carping is but a modern dose of Scroogeism, our own sanctimonious profanation of the holy.

Read the rest

Parenting Tips

Matt and Elizabeth Schmucker of 9 Marks provide a very helpful list of things to do, know, and not do to your children. Here is the list of ways to provoke your children.


1. Make it a habit to discipline your child while angry.
2. Make it a point to scold your child – especially in public. Mockery and ridicule work well.
3. Deliberately embarrass your child in front of his/her friends. Name calling really gets their attention.
4. Create double standards so that the child never knows who or what to follow.
5. Preach and hold the child to a gospel of self-discipline instead of a gospel of grace. (Note: the Bible presents Pharisees as very unhappy people.)
6. Never admit you're wrong and never ask your children for forgiveness.
7. Inspect your child until you find something wrong. Holding them to an unreachable standard makes this task easier.
8. Judge a fight between your children before you've listened to them.
9. Compare your child to others.
10. Promise your children things early in the day and then don't fulfill the promise.

I found these deeply convicting and very true. Click here for the rest.