Mohler on the future of the SBC

Al Mohler held a forum this morning at Southern Seminary on the "Future of the Southern Baptist Convention."

Mohler observed that the world has changed dramatically in the last 60 years, and that the SBC is at a crossroads. If we continue to embrace a corporate mentality, the SBC will quickly become extinct. But if we return to a more biblical model of doing church, our brightest days may lie ahead. The Great Commission Task Force has been given a unique opportunity to talk about denominational structure and efficiency, but this conversation must be founded upon a strong theology and unflagging commitment to the Great Commission.

Here are my full notes from his message:

The President's Forum on the Future of the SBC
Al Mohler, President of Southern Seminary
August 19, 2009

Introduction
What does it mean to be a Southern Baptist in the 21st century?
First, an expression of gratitude to all those who have been faithful over the years, and to all those who have been giving, praying, going, sending
John 9:4 says "work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day" - a very urgent warning about time. Asking about the SBC is an urgent and strategic question about the gospel and the Great Commission. Yet many feel an urgency that we should be doing more. The issue is faithfulness.

Some Historic perspective
1845 - founders in Augusta established a mission statement for the "eliciting, combining, and directing of energies toward the propagation of the Gospel." Missions was the reason for the SBC.
Home Mission Board was originally designed to reach the frontier. America did not exist the way it does now.
Late 1800s - began to meet annually; SBC begins to broaden; seminaries established
1914-1919 - Great shift of logic in SBC; a new word entered our vocabulary: "efficiency." Efficiency experts rose in America - time, systems, organizational management. An infusion of a business culture entered into the life of our denomination. It is helpful and relevant, but has limited application in spiritual matters.
1925 - Executive Committee was established. Necessity for an ongoing, coordinating entity. Also year Cooperative Program was established.
1926-27 - Executive Committee was given enormous expansion of powers.
1950s - Formation of Committee to Study the Total Church Program, chaired by Douglas Branch. Goal: to recommend a massive restructuring. Used the Booz Allen Hamilton consulting firm. Again, "efficiency" was the main concern. Some of the recommendations: an office building in Nashville (headquarters); inter agency council; program assignments to entities. What would be our mission? "To bring men closer to God through Jesus Christ."
1995 - Program and Structure Committee - reduced entities from 19 to 12. Mission "SBC exists to facilitate, extend, and enlarge, Great Commission ministries of local churches." Sounds less bureaucratic, more richly theological, and urgently evangelistic.
2009 - A Great Commission Task Force was assigned to bring recommendations of how churches may be more effective in the Great Commission.

Consider 1945. By this time, the SBC had developed a programmatic identity. The basic ethos/energy was programmatic unity (you're SBC because you do certain things, have certain features, uses certain literature, etc.). It was assumed you hold to certian doctrines. A corporate management mentality. This came out of a social context. Post war, the SBC became something like a Catholic Church of the South. A cradle-to-grave approach to Southern Baptist identity (starting with "pre-cradle roll"). Sunday was at least a four-fold activity. Youth choirs. Missions organizations. Offering envelopes with check boxes. College and Universities had Baptist Student Union. Families had Camps, Brotherhood, WMU. Retirement Centers even established. The planning concept: "The key church (or model church)." Had all organizations. Reported in Annual Church Profile. Resulted with great solidarity, denominational identity, incredible intactness/tightness in SBC identity. Any use of resources "outside the program" (using different curriculum, attending a non-SBC conference center) were immediately suspect. There was enormous spiritual security in all this. There was a tribal, cultural identity. An enormous brand loyalty. But now the world has changed on us, and the world that produced that identity is long gone.

The SBC today - Two Analogies

• The SBC as General Motors - William Durant developed GM as a cradle-to-grave employer. Everyone became 'inside.' You never have to leave the corporation. Small distinctions, but many similarities. Centralized headquarters with centralized "offerings." Dealders were distributed throughout the country. GM overtook Ford because of its aggressiveness, and led in auto sales for 77 years. Managerial dynamic, the envy of every other company. But now, has transformed into a new corporation owned by US taxpayers and pension stock. Lost market share and is the second largest bankruptcy in human history. It fit the 50s and 60s really well, but doesn't fit any more. Are we trapped in the same organizational logic?
• The SBC as Shopping Mall - this was made possible by the automobile. First built in 1950. A complete reversal of downtown logic, with pedestrians walking down the street, entering storefronts. Significant advantage: enclosed space, protected from the elements. Anchor tenants attract shoppers. The logic is that you're "going to the mall." The action and identity is inside. By 2008, 1175 enclosed mall in the US. Displaced almost all other retail context, rivaled only by "big box stores." #1 item sold is women's clothing. But not one enclosed mall has opened in America since 2006. Retail logic has collapsed - lifestyle centers. Retailers now want their name out front. The identity is now primarily the "store" rather than the shopping "center." The SBC is a huge "mall." Two anchor stores: IMB and NAMB. Inside the mall are many other things going on. The loyalty is to this huge "thing" that is only explicable from the inside.
  

There were certain gains from these models, resulting in many people getting to the mission field, but the question we need to ask is, "What is changed, and why have we not?" and "Has the logic of this particular organizational pattern been eclipsed by something else?" Does it seem like an age gone by?

The SBC now faces several questions.
We must choose one direction or another.

• Are we going to be missiological or bureaucratic? Only missiological fits the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, we will find ourselves out of touch with churches and the world we're trying to reach. The logic of bureaucracy will never take us where we need to go.
• Is our identity tribal or theological? We've had many shared theological convictions. SBC tribal identity is no longer the norm. A theological identity will lead to missiological.
• Is the basis of our cooperation convictional or confused? We must "grow up" theologically. Must distinguish first order issues. A clash of worlviews now occurs very early in life.
• Is our logic going to be more secular or more sectarian? Will we stand out from the culture around us? The SBC did not once need to be sectarian in the South, but that has changed, and we need to reach areas outside the Sun Belt. The church of the Lord Jesus is in a sense always sectarian, comprised of reside aliens never fully at home in the culture.
• Are we going to become younger or dead? We're losing at least 2/3 of our young people between adolescence and adulthood. This is a generation that has reduced religion to "moralistic therepeutic deism." We need a level of evangelism and discipleship beyond what the SBC has traditionally seen. The SBC birth rate has shrunk.
• Are we going to be more diverse or diminished? Becoming more diverse will require a lot of strategy and uncomfortability. This means we won't be singing out of the same hymnbook. By the year 2050, 25% of all Americans will have a Hispanic grandparent.
• Will we become missional or missiological? We can no longer be merely methodological. The church is found faithful when found missional.
• Will we be more strategic or anemic? Local churches must be a missiological think tank for our community. More intentioned.
• Will we be more bold or more boring? This generation will not be satisfied with boring (same thing, same way, no surprises). The NT Gospel is bold. We're going to have to take risk, which is uncomfortable, especially for a denomination already struggling. Need bold leadership. The comfort zone will lead only to death.
• Are we going to be happy or bitter? The SBC has a reputation for denominational crankiness, even in our annual meetings. Don't be cranky for the wrong things. We're going to have to say hard things that appear unloving, intolerant. We cannot afford to waste the opportunity to reach our neighbors by being cranky over extraneous things. There needs to be a love and commonality. There should be evident joy among God's people.
  

Two problems with the Cooperative Program.
The SBC has both perception problems and reality problems. Only a small portion of CP giving actually makes it to missions.

• Our greatest goal is not merely to cooperate. Any entity can do this. The whole purpose is reaching the nations. Are we going to be relevant in the modern world.
• We cannot simply tell churches in a new age what they must do and how they must live. We must earn their trust. We are partners of the churches. They must be liberated to give as they will, or they will not give at all.
  

Concluding thoughts

• We are still too North American centric.
• We need to return to the primacy of the early church. Where are churches urgently, passionately understanding the mission of God. Our identity is not in the "giving." The giving must be at the end, not the beginning.
• We first need a theological rationale. Corporate logic comes at the very end. The SBC is at one of those very interesting moments - primarily made up of "PC guys." The "Apple guy". They don't use the same logic. We cannot be seen as backward and cranky, committed to the wrong cultural identity. We need to be missional. Our mission must be to gather to work with other Christians to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. We cannot gauge church health by raw numbers on a profile. The question is "does this church have what the NT church has"?
  

The SBC is at a great crossroads. Discussion of structure cannot come first. Our ethos/mission comes first. Structures must remain open and flexible for the rest of our lives.

Let's not be caught in the dark, realizing we missed a great opportunity while it was still day.

Update: here is the audio from the forum:



Related posts:

• New GCR website has launched
  
• A strategy for the SBC
• A year of mixed success for Southern Baptists
  

40 books to strengthen your walk

Looking for books to add to your personal or church library? Do you want to read, but aren't sure where to begin or what's good? Monergism offers a list of 40 books they consider "both devotionally and theologically rich and have deeply impacted our ministry such that we want to set these apart as recommendations to you as a good place to start building a Christ-honoring library of books for your home."

These are not light Christian reading, but rich classics. Here's the list:

Truth For All Time - John Calvin

The Everlasting Righteousness - Horatius Bonar

The Holy Spirit - John Owen **

Chosen For Life - Sam Storms

When Grace Comes Home - Terry Johnson **

Knowing God - J.I. Packer

Saved by Grace - Anthony Hoekema

Sovereignty of God - A W Pink

Crook in the Lot - Thomas Boston **

The Christian in Complete Armour - William Gurnall **

The Bruised Reed - Richard Sibbes

Bondage of the Will - Martin Luther

The Religious Affections - Jonathan Edwards

History of the Work of Redemption - Jonathan Edwards

Reformed Doctrine of Predestination - Loraine Boettner

Redemption Accomplished and Applied - John Murray

The Enemy Within - Kris Lungaard

Mortification of Sin - John Owen

The Bible and the Future - Anthony Hoekma

A Case for Amillennialism - Kim Riddlebarger

God of Promise: Introducing Covenant Theology - Michael Horton

A Body of Divinity (Paperback) - Thomas Watson **

The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism - Tim Keller

Always Ready: Directions for Defending the Faith - Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen

Pilgrims Progress - John Bunyan

Gospel and the Kingdom - Graeme Goldsworthy

Biblical Theology - Geerhardus Vos

Systematic Theology - Wayne Grudem

New Systematic Theology - Robert Reymond

Justification and Regeneration by Charles Leiter **

How People Change - Timothy S. Lane & Paul David Tripp

Addiction: A Banquet in the Grave - Ed Welch

Shepherding a Childs Heart - Ted Tripp

Today's Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic - Walter Chantry

Tell the Truth - Will Metzger

Lectures to my Students - C.H. Spurgeon

The Cross and Christian Ministry - D.A. Carson

Institutes of the Christian Religion (2 Vol Set) by John Calvin **

The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification by Walter Marshall

Finally Alive by John Piper

I've only read about eight of these books so far. Several others I own, but have not read yet. Overall, the list does represent some excellent material, both past and present.

As always, read with discernment and search the Scriptures like a Berean (Ac. 17:11). Some of these titles will present a Reformed eschatology and ecclesiology, while I believe the Bible consistently teaches a more Baptistic ecclesiology and dispensational eschatology. But overall, I think this list would be very edifying and strengthening to your walk.

Does God elect some to damnation?

Pastor David Sqyres brought up a couple important points in response to Wednesday's post on the fairness of God's election.

First, David noted, "I'm not sure if the issue is that of it being 'fair' or 'unfair' but of it being Biblical. If it's Biblical, we accept that God is just and fair beyond our understanding."

Excellent point. It is true that God determines what is fair. He is the very basis and absolute standard of what is fair, just, and right in this world. Thus Paul warns in Romans 9:20 "Who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, 'Why did you make me like this,' will it?" We should be content to trust in the divine will regarding election because this is what the Bible teaches. Yet, it does put our hearts to rest to see that God is in fact fair (even from a human perspective), and that He is consistent in all His nature and dealings as both a loving and holy God on the matter of election. So, although we need to be extremely humble and careful in questioning God's fairness over the matter of election, I believe the question does help us better understand how all His attributes work together in harmony to accomplish our redemption.

David brought up another point: "I might note, if I may... that all of the verses cited refer to God's choosing for salvation. It does not speak of a negative election; ie: Predestine for hell." This raises a great question. Does God elect some to salvation and elect others to damnation?

In short, I believe God sovereignly and graciously chooses some to be saved, while passing over others to suffer the just wages of their sin. It is not as though humans were neutral creatures, and that God arbitrarily elected some to suffer in hell and in the same way elected others to enjoy eternal bliss in heaven. Rather, the Bible says we were all deserving of hell because of our sin, but that God graciously chose to snatch some out of the pit and save us by the atoning work of His Son on the cross.

Theopedia, quoting from R. C. Sproul, says,

The term double predestination has been used to refer to the dual concepts of election and reprobation in Reformed theology. This is largely a pejorative term which leads to misconceptions of the Calvinist (or Reformed) doctrine. It has been used as a synonym for a "symmetrical" view of predestination which sees election and reprobation being worked out in an equally parallel mode of divine operation.

The distortion of double predestination suggests a parallelism of foreordination and predestination by means of a positive symmetry, which may be called a positive-positive view of predestination. This is, God positively and actively intervenes in the lives of the elect to bring them to salvation; and in the same way God positively and actively intervenes in the life of the reprobate to bring him to sin.

This distortion makes God the author of sin who punishes a person for doing what God monergistically and irresistibly moves man to do. This is not the Reformed view of predestination, but a gross and inexcusable caricature of the doctrine. Such a view may be identified with what is often loosely described as Hyper-Calvinism and involves a radical form of supralapsarianism. Such a view of predestination has been virtually universally and monolithically rejected by Reformed thinkers.

The classic position of Reformed theology views predestination as double in that it involves both election and reprobation but not symmetrical with respect to the mode of divine activity. A strict parallelism of operation is denied. Rather predestination is viewed in terms of a positive-negative relationship.

In the Reformed view God from all eternity decrees some to election and positively intervenes in their lives to work regeneration and faith by a monergistic work of grace. To the non-elect God withholds this monergistic work of grace, passing them by and leaving them to themselves. He does not monergistically work sin or unbelief in their lives. Thus, the mode of operation in the lives of the elect is not parallel with that operation in the lives of the reprobate. God works regeneration monergistically but never sin.

Wayne Grudem says it this way:

When we understand election as God’s sovereign choice of some persons to be saved, then there is necessarily another aspect of that choice, namely, God’s sovereign decision to pass over others and not to save them. This decision of God in eternity past is called reprobation. Reprobation is the sovereign decision of God before creation to pass over some persons, in sorrow deciding not to save them, and to punish them for their sins, and thereby to manifest his justice...reprobation is viewed as something that brings God sorrow, not delight (see Ezek. 33:11), and the blame for the condemnation of sinners is always put on the people or angels who rebel, never on God himself (see John 3:18–19; 5:40). So in the presentation of Scripture the cause of election lies in God, and the cause of reprobation lies in the sinner. Another important difference is that the ground of election is God’s grace, whereas the ground of reprobation is God’s justice. Therefore “double predestination” is not a helpful or accurate phrase, because it neglects these differences between election and reprobation. (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 686f)

After quoting Romans 9:18, Baptist theologian James Dagg explains,

The natural tendency of human depravity is such, that the heart grows harder under the general mercies which God bestows, unless he superadds to all the other benefits which he confers, the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit, by which the heart is changed. This renewing grace he gives or withholds at his sovereign pleasure.

And Calvin himself writes,

Since God inflicts due punishment on those whom he reprobates, and bestows unmerited favor on those whom he calls, he is free from every accusation; just as it belongs to the creditor to forgive the debt to one, and exact it of another. The Lord therefore may show favor to whom he will, because he is merciful; not show it to all, because he is a just judge. In giving to some what they do not merit, he shows his free favor; in not giving to all, he declares what all deserve. (Institutes, III, xxiii)

So the answer to our original question is "yes." God does elect some to damnation. But not in the same way He elects some to eternal life. Election and salvation is a free and unmerited gift, an act of grace contrary to what we deserve. Reprobation, on the other hand, is the rightful payment for what we already deserve. It is God sovereignly (and in some sense even reluctantly) bypassing or witholding His mercy and grace in order to manifest His glory and justice.

Election and reprobation are difficult topics for our hearts and minds to bear, but they should drive us to worship God in His sovereign grace and to evangelize the lost with greater urgency and compassion.

Is unconditional election fair?

Last Sunday, I preached on John 15:16, where Jesus declared, "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you."

The idea that God sovereignly chooses some for salvation while bypassing others, and that this choice is not conditioned upon any future faith or works of the believer, is known as "unconditional election." I believe in this doctrine because the Bible clearly and consistently teaches it (cf. Deut. 7:7-8; John 10:3; Ac. 13:48; Rom. 8:30; Eph. 1:5; 1 John 4:10).

But some wonder how God's election can possibly be fair. Doesn't God's choice eliminate our sense of "free will" or human responsibility? Is it possible a person could want to be saved, but not be elected by God? Charles Spurgeon answers this objection in a very helpful way:

But there are some who say, “It is hard for God to choose some and leave others.” Now, I will ask you one question. Is there any one of you here this morning who wishes to be holy, who wishes to be regenerate, to leave off sin and walk in holiness? “Yes, there is,” says some one, “I do.” Then God has elected you. But another says, “No: I don’t want to be holy; I don’t want to give up my lusts and my vices.” Why should you grumble, then, that God has not elected you to it? For if you were elected you would not like it, according to your own confession.

If God, this morning, had chosen you to holiness, you say you would not care for it. Do you not acknowledge that you prefer drunkenness to sobriety, dishonesty to honesty? You love this world’s pleasures better than religion; then why should you grumble that God has not chosen you to religion? If you love religion, he has chosen you to it. If you desire it, he has chosen you to it. If you do not, what right have you to say that God ought to have given you what you do not wish for?

Supposing I had in my hand something which you do not value, and I said I shall give it to such–and–such a person, you would have no right to grumble that I did not give it to you. You could not be so foolish as to grumble that the other has got what you do not care about. According to your own confession, many of you do not want religion, do not want a new heart and a right spirit, do not want the forgiveness of sins, do not want sanctification, you do not want to be elected to these things: then why should you grumble? You count these things but as husks, and why should you complain of God who has given them to those whom he has chosen? ("Election," Spurgeon's Sermons, Vol. 2, p. 75-76)

Cautions for non-Calvinists

In the second half of an exchange between Southeastern Seminary faculty members, Nathan Finn offers some important cautions to our non-Calvinist brothers.

Here are three important warnings Finn gives to those who embrace a more Arminian understanding of matters such as freedom of the will and the extent of the atonement:

1. First, be sure to articulate the gospel unambiguously in your preaching and evangelism...The gospel is not “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” or “Jesus can straighted [sic] out your messed-up life.” This is just lingo...The gospel is the story of all that our Creator God has done through the perfect life, atoning death, and victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ to rescue sinners from destruction and redeem a fallen world...
2. Second, be sure to never give the impression that the decision to become a Christian is a mere decision. Sometimes I hear non-Calvinists imply that “all you have to do” if you want to be a Christian is believe in Christ. This makes it sound like faith is a simple free will decision that can be made apart from the gracious work of the Holy Spirit...
3. Finally, be careful not to turn your strategies into sacraments. I have in mind here two popular practices: altar calls and “sinner’s prayers."... I am not so much concerned with either of these strategies as I am the way they are sometimes applied...

Finn concludes with a clarion call to Baptist unity around the gospel between both Calvinists and non-Calvinists:

In closing, let me say loud and clear that I am committed to linking arms with all Southern Baptist individuals and churches that love the gospel and want to see the good news proclaimed to all people. In my understanding, Calvinism is a secondary issue that should not preclude different churches from participating in the same network of churches. Our denominational unity should be around a common commitment to the theology of the Baptist Faith and Message, a commitment to the Baptist vision of the church, and a burden to see the gospel proclaimed in all parts of North America and to the ends of the earth. Insofar as we unite around these things and do not divide over Calvinism (or other secondary issues), we will press forward in a Great Commission Resurgence for the sake of the gospel and the glory of the living God.

If his readers heed the cautions Finn has set forth in this letter, I believe there will indeed be great room for unity and progress between Calvinist and non-Calvinist Southern Baptists in the years ahead.

Tom Ascol also called for gospel unity in a post this morning:

...Let's work together to come to deeper understandings and applications of the gospel. We may disagree at points, but such disagreements, if handled with gospel grace, can work to strengthen our grasp of divine truth rather than to further divide us. That is my hope, and that is my prayer.

I also hope that my Baptist Identity brothers and sisters will see fit to join in the pursuit of this kind of vision. The concerns that some in this camp have rightly articulated can be served through a renewed emphasis on the Great Commission because the healthiest streams of our Baptist heritage have always been gospel-centered. We need not give up our distinctives to major on essentials. In fact, Baptists have never shined brighter than when they have majored on the gospel.

I really do believe that, despite our differences, Southern Baptists can work together if we can agree on the centrality and power of the gospel for all of life. I am convinced that a growing number of Southern Baptists believe this, too. Because of this, I anticipate better days ahead...

A gentle rebuke to Calvinists

Dr. Alvin Reid of Southeastern Seminary has penned an open letter to those of us known as "Calvinists." Reid does not attempt to dissuade us from our theological views, but rather gives a gracious, and I believe appropriate, warning.

Here are his four exhortations. I agree wholeheartedly with every one of them.

1. Embrace humility. You have an obvious hunger for truth and for theological depth, which is commendable. But when your love for truth smacks of condescension, even to the point of arrogance, you do no one any good...
2. Avoid implying that Calvinism and the gospel are synonyms. Sometimes I hear Calvinist speakers argue (or at least imply) that Calvinism and the gospel are identical, and if one does not affirm the tenets of Calvinism he denies the gospel. Not only is this theologically arrogant, it is unkind...
3. Do not hesitate to call for non-Christians to turn to Christ in faith... I would submit some of you are far better at criticizing your brothers who give public calls for decision than at offering a biblical alternative for such calls. Some of you seem to have a practical agnosticism concerning personal conversion.
4. In your conferences and other meetings, especially those directed primarily to Southern Baptists, consider involving some speakers who may not agree with you at every point...I would also submit that if we could today see an awakening sweep our land through the work of both modern-day Whitefields and modern-day Wesleys, we could bury a hatchet or two and learn from one another.

These are the faithful wounds of a friend (Prov. 27:6). Thank you, Dr. Reid. May God help us all grow more humble and charitable as we partner together for the Great Commission.

25 reasons the sign gifts have ceased

Are "sign gifts" like tongues, prophecy, miracles, and healing still available for Christians today? If not, then how do we explain when miracles still seem to occur?

Here are 25 reasons my theology professor, Dr. Craigen, gives that the sign gifts have ceased. There is some overlap here, and some arguments are stronger than other, but there's a tremendous amount of weight when seeing all these reasons together:

1. The apostles and prophets were at the 'foundation stage' of the church (Eph. 2:20).
2. Signs and wonders were clustered around the apostolic ministry (2 Cor. 12:12).
3. The sign gifts confirmed new revelation (Jn. 14:11).
   
4. The closed canon of Scripture (Rev. 22:18-19) calls into question if supernatural confirmation is still needed.
5. Even the Apostle Paul and others seemed to experience a 'fade-out' of miracles (e.g., Phil. 2:27).
6. The church is never exhorted to copy the signs and wonders of Christ and the apostles.
7. A new healing paradigm is given in James 5:14-20 for the local church.
   
8. Working miracles "at will" passed off the scene.
9. A focus on God's providence in church and individual lives.
10. History shows only three periods of significant miracles: Moses, Elijah/Enoch, and Jesus/Apostles.
11. The Word of God is fully sufficient without further confirmation.
12. The preaching of the Word draws forth reaction/response (John 6).
13. Rejoicing at salvation was considered better than casting out demons (Lk. 10:17-20).
14. The preaching of the truth is cognitively/rationally grasped.
15. The New Testament miraculous gifts were conferred upon the disciples of Jesus.
16. Pentecost was unique (an abundance of miracles would minimize this watershed event).
17. No apostles today means there was no conferral of miracles beyond the original twelve.
18. False messiahs and false signs and wonders can and will arise (Mt. 24:24).
19. The use of Jesus' name falsely can and will occur (Mt. 7:15-23).
20. The idea of being 'slain in the Spirit' is a type of activity never attested in Scripture.
21. If miracles become the norm, then they are no longer miracles.
22. Prophecy and tongues went out when the 'mature church' came online (1 Cor. 13:8-13).
23. Joel 2 and Acts 2 relate the Day of the Lord and the Millennial Kingdom, so it was partially fulfilled at Day of Pentecost.
24. The Word of God does what raising the dead cannot do (Lk. 16:19-31).
25. The Gospel has power in itself to save without signs and wonders (Rom. 1:16-17).

Photo credit: hickory hardscrabble

Unfinished business

David Nelson has written a thought-provoking article called "Going Home at the End of the Day: A Theology of Leaving."

There's nothing quite like the satisfaction of seeing a project come to completion. Whether it's turning in a major term paper, adding the last bit of finish to a hand-crafted piece of furniture, making the final stitches to a massive embroidery project, or watching your child graduate from high school, it's so rewarding to step back from your work and say, "By God's grace, I've done my best. And the results look good."

As a master craftsman, God Himself took great pleasure in the completed work of creation: "God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good" (Gen. 1:31).

Nevertheless, most of our days amount to just making small dents in incomplete projects. Rarely do we get that profound sense of accomplishment. But David Nelson reminds us to enjoy the work God has given us, and to find rest in spite of the "unfinishedness" of our lives...

[H]uman labor is by its nature mostly unfinished business. It is one of the exigencies of temporality that many of the tasks we pursue are, for the largest part of their duration, unfinished. It is true that certain work is done over the short term while other work is a long term project. If, for example I set out to grill a cheese sandwich, I have good reason to believe I will complete that labor in the short term, lest I end up with a grilled cheese blackened beyond description or usefulness. Yet other tasks are longer term propositions. Building a new house is not a task quickly completed, and it requires a series of starts and stops, day by day, in which workers determine to finish certain things and leave other things to be completed in due order. Part of the process of work, therefore, is the messy “unfinishedness” of our labors that tend to keep us in the office “after hours.” Some of us will do well to learn to leave what is unfinished for another day, and to rest well in spite of our dissatisfaction with what is undone.

...[L]eaving the office at the end of the day, and the rest that we pursue subsequent to that departure, is a sign of trust in God. It is so in that we are willing to labor hard during the day, and then leave what is unfinished for the day following, trusting that God will sustain us to do so, or indicate that there is other work to be done or, ultimately, that our labors in this age have come to an end.

Liberalism and the JEDP theory

Pastor David Sqyres over in Twentynine Palms has written a good article on the Documentary Hypothesis (aka JEDP theory) of the Torah, and the harm such liberalism brings to the Body of Christ. Go have a look.

Bruce Ware becomes president of ETS

This is an excellent move by the Evangelical Theological Society:

Bruce Ware, professor of Christian Theology at Southern Seminary, took the reigns as president of ETS this week at the organization's annual meeting in Rhode Island. Ware is the first member of the Southern Seminary faculty to serve as ETS president...

Ware was elected vice president of ETS by a unanimous vote of fellow scholars at the 58th annual ETS meeting in Washington, D.C. in 2006. After one year of serving as vice president and one year as president-elect, Ware began his term as president during the 60th annual meeting of ETS this week at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence. Read complete story.

Providence and the presidency

The results are in: our nation has elected Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States. It certainly will be interesting to see where President Obama takes us in the years ahead. Will America become a socialist nation? Will abortion rights expand? Will the Supreme Court grow increasingly antagonistic toward religious liberties? Will Obama's leadership be "tested" early in his term by a major terrorist attack? Only the Lord knows what will happen, and it profits us nothing to worry (Matt. 6:34).

Thankfully, all things - including democratic elections - are guided by the provident hand of God. Wayne Grudem defines providence this way: "God is continually involved with all created things in such a way that he (1) keeps them existing and maintaining the properties with which he created them; (2) cooperates with created things in every action, directing their distinctive properties to cause them to act as they do; and (3) directs them to fulfill his purposes." (Systematic Theology, p. 315)

Three times in the past four days, God has reminded me of His providence:

• As Abraham led his beloved Isaac up Mount Moriah to be a sacrifice, he reassured him, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son" (Gen. 22:8). I was encouraged by this on Saturday in a message by R. C. Sproul.

• As Joseph recalled the betrayal of his brothers and the years spent as a slave and prisoner in Egypt, he told his brothers "Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God...you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Gen. 46:8; 50:20). I was reminded of this yesterday in a sermon by Dr. Will Varner.

• And just earlier today, I read this quote from Spuregon posted by the Sola Panel: "I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes—that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit as well as the sun in the heavens—that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence—the fall of sear leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche."

God is provident in all things. Even these timely reminders were due to the provident hand of God. And tonight, in the wake of this historic election, I take fresh comfort in God's providence. He is still in control of His universe, He is still building His church, and He is still directing all things to fulfill His good and wise purposes.

The love of God

"God is love" (1 Jn. 4:8)

I came across this quote by J. I. Packer in his classic work, Knowing God. It's absolutely stunning to consider the depth of God's love for us.

God was happy without humans before they were made; he would have continued happy had he simply destroyed them after they had sinned; but as it is he has set his love upon particular sinners, and this means that, by his own free voluntary choice, he will not know perfect and unmixed happiness again till he has brought every one of them to heaven. He has in effect resolved that henceforth for all eternity his happiness shall be conditional upon ours.

Thus God saves, not only for his glory, but also for his gladness. This goes far to explain why it is that there is joy (God’s own joy) in the presence of the angels when a sinner repents (Lk 15:10), and why there will be “exceeding joy” when God sets us faultless at the last day in his own holy presence (Jude 24 KJV). The thought passes understanding and almost beggars belief, but there is no doubt that, according to Scripture, such is the love of God.

Our first day of catechism

Well, our son Dylan is becoming quite the big boy. He's feeding himself, using the potty, speaking coherent sentences, and beginning to pray out loud (with our word-by-word guidance) as part of his bedtime routine. So, I felt it was finally time this morning to introduce him to a catechism.

As we were finishing up breakfast, I told Dylan with an excited tone that we were going to start learning some verses and questions out of the Bible. Then, we spent the next five minutes or so reciting Genesis 1:1 and the first catechism question: "(Q) Who made you? (A) God made me." Dylan seemed to enjoy it, though an hour later, when I asked him, "Dylan, who made you?" He answered, "I made me." This is going to take a lot of patience and repetition. :)

The resource our family is using is called the Truth and Grace Memory Book, published by Founders Press. There are three books in the series altogether: Book 1 is for two-year olds through fourth graders; Book 2 is for fifth through eighth graders; Book 3 is for ninth through twelfth graders. Each book involves three areas of memorization: Scripture verses, hymns, and catechism questions.

For many of us, "catechism" is a completely foreign concept. So in his introduction, Tom Ascol explains,

The phrase 'Baptist catechism" may sound strange to many contemporary Baptists. Some may even consider it to be a contradiction of terms. The truth of the matter, however, is that 'catechism' is not a Roman Catholic or Lutheran or Presbyterian word. Rather, it is the anglicized version of the Greek word, katekeo, which simply means 'to instruct.' It appears, in various forms, several times in the Greek New Testament (it is translated as 'instructed' in Luke 1:4 and Acts 18:25).

Obviously, then, anyone who has been instructed has in some sense been 'catechized.' But the word came to refer to a specific type of instruction early in church history. In the early church new Christians were taught the essentials of the faith by learning how to answer specific questions. Certain catechetical questions were grouped together and came to be referred to simply as a 'catechism.'

...By learning a whole, well-constructed catechism a child (or adult for that matter) will be introduced to the overall biblical scheme of salvation. Such discipline will frame the mind for receiving and understanding every part of the Bible. A good catechism helps one to read the Bible theologically. (pp. iv-v)

Our family is just getting started, but I'm very excited about doing this together as a family in the coming years. I believe it will be an important part of raising our children in the "discipline and instruction of the Lord" (Eph. 6:4), and will benefit Natalie and I in our own knowledge of God's Word.

God

The movie Apollo 13 tells the inspiring story of a lunar landing mission that turns into a dangerous survival mission. Toward the end of the movie, as the three astronauts head back to earth, they find themselves straying off course. They have to perform a tricky burn to realign their trajectory. With their navigation system already destroyed, they must rely entirely on their quick reflexes and the naked eye. Their only reference is a portion of the surface of the earth. If the astronauts lose sight of that reference point, they will shoot off into space and face certain death. In a similar way, David Wells says in the fourth chapter of The Courage to Be Protestant that most Americans have lost their point of reference and are suffering the tragic results.

To many people today, life is nothing more than a series of random, chaotic, and often cruel events. Why? Because we have lost sight of our center. Wells explains that rather than acknowledging God and ordering our lives around Him, "we start our life's journey on the alternative premise that he is not there, or that he has not spoken, or that he does not care. We do not reckon on his providential and moral presence. We begin as if life were empty and without a center and as if we were empowered by our choices to make of life what we will. And so we create our own center, we create our own rules, and we make our own meaning. All of this springs from an alternative center in the universe. It is ourselves" (pp. 99-100).

This means that the language of "evil" has largely vanished, and that "sin" and "guilt" have been eliminated altogether (pp. 100-101). Meaning and morality are no longer fixed and universal, but have now become private and subjective, based almost entirely upon "feelings" (p. 107). And people are now crumbling under a pressure they were never intended to bear. "The self that has been made to bear the weight of being the center of all reality, the source of all meaning, mystery, and morality, finds that it has become empty and fragile. When God dies to us, we die in ourselves" (p. 112).

Wells sets this modern, self-centered perspective in sharp contrast with a biblical, God-centered perspective. "Biblical writers, by contrast, declare that the only reason there is life and hope is that there is a center. It is in the triune God, the maker and sustainer of all things and the one in whom we find reconciliation through the Son. When we know him, life fits back into a meaningful pattern and we are filled with hope about its end" (p. 98).

Our world only makes sense if we have a right understanding of both the "Inside God" and the "Outside God." The "Inside God" refers to His nearness, His daily involvement in creation, or what theologians call His "immanence." This God is not found inside ourselves, but rather is a Person we can know deeply through His Word. The "Outside God" refers to His loftiness, His otherness, or what theologians call His "transcendence." These attributes of God are also essential to His nature and cannot be removed without creating a different god altogether.

Wells concludes by showing why it is so important to center our worldview around God: First, it is only through God's moral purity that we have any standard of moral law (p. 127). Second, is it only through God's holiness that "sin" has any meaning or culpability, and that we can properly diagnose our problem. Third, the cross only has meaning in light of God's holiness. Fourth and finally, it is only because of God's holiness that He is able to deal with evil in the world.

I finished this chapter having a greater appreciation for the holiness and justice of God. These doctrines are largely ignored in the church, but Wells has shown how our understanding of sin, salvation, eternity, and the universe itself hinge upon our understanding of a just and holy God. May more churches be faithful in preaching and living out these fundamental doctrines.

This review has gone long already, but I can't resist sharing one more quote which I found so good:

We have enough Bibles for every household in America a couple of times over. We have churches galore; religious organizations; educational institutions; religious presses that never stop pouring forth books, Sunday school materials, and religious curricula; and unparalleled financial resources. What don't we have? All too often we don't have what the Old Testament people didn't have. A due and weighty sense of the greatness and holiness of God, a sense that will reach into our lives, wrench them around, lift our vision, fill our hearts, make us courageous for what is right, and over time leave behind its beautiful residue of Christlike character" (pp. 132-33).

Amen! That's what we need in the modern evangelical church. For those of you reading along, please take a moment to click on the "Comments" link below and share a favorite quote or insight from chapter four. For next week, we will be reading chapter five on "Self."

Truth

Today, we pick up in chapter three of The Courage to Be Protestant. This week's chapter is simply entitled "Truth."

David Wells spends the first half of this chapter showing how people have become terribly disconnected in our postmodern world. Although we have achieved lightning-fast communication, new technologies for social networking, and unprecedented choices and material comforts, we have somehow lost our "transcendent point of reference" (p. 61). All sense of tradition, virtue, and value has been lost. The essential roles of craft, community, and family, in shaping a person have been replaced by mass production, urbanization, and empty individualism.

This is what David Myers calls the "American paradox" - that we have so much, and yet so little. People are wealthy, but all alone. And this "self into which all reality has contracted is now empty and insubstantial but tinged with the sacred" (p. 69). In other words, people are searching for something spiritual and sacred within themselves, but have lost all sense of absolute truth.

Rather than confronting this situation and offering a real alternative, many churches have exacerbated the problem. Pastors are now saying things like "We need to be more modest" (p. 77) and "Christianity is about the search, not about the discovery (p. 77). [Similarly, I heard Rick Warren say in an interview that a "fundamentalist is somebody who stops listening." That sounds very much like the idea that absolute truth is arrogant and extremist, and that we should always remain "open" to the validity of other beliefs and perspectives].

The common thread among many academic scholars and emergent church leaders is that "Scripture cannot be fully authoritative at the level of its functioning in the life of the church today. We are in fact autonomous, freed from its language and constraints as we shape our own understanding, in our own way, in the postmodern world" (p. 87). Wells says that most people treat truth like the speed limit. It is somewhat arbitrary and bendable (p. 79).

The Bible, on the other hand, gives a far different perspective on truth. God Himself is utterly true and pure, and thus His self-revelation is entirely truthful (p. 75). The message of the gospel was "a proclamation about truth for all. The gospel, which is the same gospel for all people, in all ages, and at all times, is 'the word of truth' " (p. 76). "Christianity, in short, is from first to last all about truth! It is about he who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (p. 76). We should engage the culture, but never capitulate our claim to truth (p. 92). After all, the church is the very "pillar and support of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15).

So, far from ignoring or denying or being embarrassed by truth, the church of God should boldly stand up and proclaim the truth. "What truth?," you may ask. Truth about God, Self, and Christ, the very topics that Wells will address in coming chapters. We will look at chapter four together next week.

This chapter is a critical one. I cannot think of a more important subject than what Wells is addressing here. It really becomes the foundation for everything else that he will say. Please take a moment now to click on the "comments" link and share your own thoughts of the chapter. Don't feel obligated to write something long or profound. Just a quick impression or short quote is sufficient. I look forward to hearing from you.

Christianity for sale

This week, we come to chapter two of David Wells' book The Courage to Be Protestant. This chapter is titled "Christianity for Sale." Having given a basic overview of evangelicalism in chapter one, Wells now hones in on the "marketer" or "seeker-sensitive" church movement.

Wells says that marketers try to operate the church much like a corporation runs its business. In this case, the church is the supplier, attenders are the consumers, and the gospel is the product for sale. Traditional ways of "doing church" are proving to be no longer effective, so like any other business, we must be willing to adapt our image and repackage our product to regain consumer confidence. In a rapidly-changing, image-driven culture, that means adopting new methods like upbeat music, entertaining videos, therapeutic chats, inspiring drama, relaxing coffee houses, slick advertisements, and an open and affirming atmosphere to reach a whole new generation. Some of the more bizarre examples Wells gives are a pastor's Superman costume (p. 23-24), sacred graffiti (p. 29), and play-doh sculptures to express one's feelings (p. 29).

Wells pauses his critique briefly on pp. 42-44 to identify two good motives that guide some marketers. First, many churches are rightly concerned that the evangelical faith has stagnated, if not declined, in America over the past thirty years. Many surveys by Gallup and Barna confirm this. (As does the 2007 ACP.) Second, churches are called by God to engage their culture; it would be insensitive to disregard the felt needs and perceptions of first-time visitors. But after this short "cease-fire," Wells reloads his weapon and says "despite these two main virtues," the seeker-church model is built on "naivete" that is "breathtakingly unrealistic and untrue" (p. 44).

It seems to me there are two great problems with the market-driven church:

• First, this model gives authority to the consumer rather than to Holy Scripture. Wells says, "All consumers, we need to remember, are sovereign, and the consuming impulse, once it enters a church, makes individual preferences the deciding factor, the driving factor in what that church becomes. These preferences become the standard by which the church is measured" (p. 38). No longer is success measured by God's Word. No longer are decisions made by a plurality of wise and godly leaders. Everything is dictated by the felt needs and fickle demands of the people in the pew. This is the exact opposite of what Paul instructed Timothy in 2 Tim. 4:2-3.

• Second, this model de-emphasizes the importance of doctrinal truth and a biblical worldview. "What we have here are churches reconfigured around evangelism that abandon much of the fabric of biblical faith to succeed...Here is a methodology for success that can succeed with very little truth; indeed, its success seems to depend on not showing much truth" (pp. 51-52). And why is this such a problem? Because the gospel is not a product to be consumed, but a command to be obeyed. "The gospel calls us not to use it but to submit to the God of the universe through his Son. A methodology for success that circumvents issues of truth is one that will rapidly emancipate itself from biblical Christianity or, to put it differently, will rapidly eviscerate biblical faith" (p. 52). We cannot downplay doctrine without compromising the gospel message itself.
  

For next Wednesday, please read chapter three, "Truth." In the mean time, please share your thoughts and impressions about chapter two by leaving a comment below. I really enjoyed those of you who left comments last week. This is a great iron-sharpening process.

The lay of the evangelical land

Today, we begin blogging through The Courage to Be Protestant by David Wells. If you're reading along, you'll want to read the preface and chapter one for today's discussion.

My first comment is actually about the dust jacket. Does anyone know what this is a picture of? Is it a set of ladders pointing into the sky, symbolizing our vain attempts to reach God? Is it a piece of postmodern art, representing the postmodern worldview of our age? Am I reading way too much into this? Oh well, let's get into the book...

Chapter one is called "The Lay of the Evangelical Land," and Wells' opening statement is really a summary of the whole book: "It takes no courage to sign up as a Protestant. After all, millions have done so throughout the West. They are not in any peril. To live by the truths of historical Protestantism, however, is an entirely different matter. That takes courage in today's context" (p. 1). How interesting. We're told right away that the label of a professing Protestant and the lifestyle of a true Protestant are sometimes two very different things.

In this first chapter, Wells is giving a big picture of the modern evangelical church. Over the last 75 years, he says the church has split into three different groups or "constituencies":

• Classic evangelicals, who are marked by doctrinal seriousness. Their two core theological beliefs are "the full authority of the inspired Scripture and the necessity and centrality of Christ's penal substitution" (p. 5). Leaders over the decades have included Harold Ockenga, Billy Graham, John Stott, and Francis Schaeffer. They have produced many fine publications and institutions, but as the centrality of doctrine and the church have diminished, so has their influence.

• Marketers, who have tried to re-package the old evangelical message in new ways. Attempting to reach new people and grow the church, they have borrowed many marketing techniques and entertainment formats (music, drama, video, etc.) from the world. This movement appeals to the boomer generation and has been led by Bill Hybels at Willow Creek Community Church. The problem here is that "form greatly modifies the content...the form, put together to be pleasing, actually undercuts the seriousness of faith" (p. 14). I hope Wells will talk more about this later in the book.

• Emergents, who acknowledge the failures of modernity, preferring instead a spiritual "community" and "conversation." They are more open to other faith traditions and unorthodox worship styles. They are skeptical of power and its structures, and often see truth claims as "pretentious, fraudulent, and arrogant" (p. 16). Despite these dangers, emergents are attracting many in the Gen X and millennial crowd.

These three categories are very helpful. They give me a better awareness of what's going on in the church, and where different church growth ideas and methods are coming from. It's interesting to see how all three constituencies are at work, and in some ways competing, on a large scale in a place like the Southern Baptist Convention. I'm reminded of how important it is to be discerning in what I read and who I imitate.

I'm very interested to hear what else Wells has to say about the emergent church in this book. His last book, Above All Earthly Pow'rs, was published in 2005. It did a great job defining postmodernism, but did not interact much with the emergent church, per se. So, I'm eager to hear more of his critique of emergents in coming chapters.

Wells closes out the chapter by saying our only hope in a postmodern world is a return to the solas of the Protestant Reformation: that Scripture alone is God's authoritative truth; and that salvation is found by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. "This will take some courage," Wells admits, but "the key to the future is not the capitulation that we see in both the marketers and the emergents. It is courage. The courage to be faithful to what Christianity in its biblical forms has always stood for across the ages" (p. 20-21).

For next Wednesday, please read chapter two, "Christianity for Sale." But right now, it's your turn. What do you like or dislike about the book so far? What have you learned? Did you have a favorite quote from the chapter? A book club isn't any fun unless there's some participation, so click on the "comments" link below, and write your thoughts!

Why I'm encouraged after Super Tuesday

I'm encouraged today. Not because my preferred candidate picked up a lot of delegates yesterday (he didn't); and not because Reagan conservatism achieved a great victory yesterday (it didn't); and not because our next President will be a highly qualified person of character and experience (they might not be). Rather, I'm encouraged today because this world is not my home. My citizenship is in heaven, and my Lord Jesus Christ is a perfectly righteous King, seated firmly today upon His throne! What's more, my King is coming again soon!

In the midst of political turmoil and uncertainty, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 gives me four reasons to be encouraged:

• I am encouraged by the coming return of Christ. "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God" (4:16). Oh, how I long to hear those three triumphant sounds - the shout, the voice, and the trumpet! I keep my ears and eyes open, because those sounds mark the arrival of my Lord. Arthur Whiting says, "The Savior is the One for whom the saints long, and He alone can meet their heart-hunger."

• I am encouraged by the coming resurrection of the dead. "And the dead in Christ will rise first" (4:16). The resurrection of the dead is certain, because Christ's resurrection is accomplished. We may not know yet exactly what our resurrected bodies will be like, but this much we know, "that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is" (1 John 3:2). What a glorious day that will be! But something else will immediately follow...

• I am encouraged by the coming rapture of the living. "Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" (4:17). One moment, we will be walking on this earth, and the next moment, we will be suddenly "snatched up" or "seized" faster than a special forces rescue operation. This is a mystery previously unrevealed to the church (1 Cor. 15:51-52).

• I am encouraged by the coming reunion of all believers. We "will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord" (4:17). We will be united together with other believers, once and for all, with loved ones past and present who have trusted in Jesus as Savior and Lord. Finally, I will be able to spend unhurried time with spiritual heroes like my Grandpa and Grandma Goodrich, Hal Kemper, John Bunyan, and so many others.
  

For all of these reasons, I am greatly encouraged, even after Super Tuesday. Yet as long as Christ has me on this earth, there is still work here to be done. Many more must hear the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, and prepare for the coming of the King!

...We wait for the Lord, our Beloved,
Our Comforter, Master, and Friend,
The substance of all that we hope for,
Beginning of faith and its end;
We watch for our Savior and Bridegroom,
Who loved us and made us His own;
For Him we are looking and longing—
For JESUS, and JESUS ALONE.
(Annie Johnson Flint)

Our young earth

If you want to study creationism, don't bother visiting most Christian colleges. A recent Answers in Genesis article revealed that more than 90% of Christian colleges and their professors do not hold to young-earth creationism. With the exception of Seventh Day Adventist colleges, it’s hard to find any denominational colleges (Southern Baptist, Presbyterian, Nazarene, etc.) that teach young-earth creation. Some independent colleges like The Master's College, Cedarville University, and Liberty University, hold to six-day creationism, but these schools are few and far between.

Many "Christian" schools are now opposed to creationism altogether. For example, World Magazine reported last September that Baylor University (Southern Baptist) is hostile to professors who even advocate some form of Intelligent Design. It should not surprise us that many students who enter these colleges holding to young earth creationism are eventually persuaded to embrace some form of evolution.

In spite of these trends, the Bible is surprisingly clear on the age of the earth. In the creation account of Genesis 1, God says He created everything over the course of six days. Light was created on day one. Waters were divided on day two. Land and plants appeared on day three. Sun, moon, and stars were formed on day four. Birds and fish arrived on day five. Finally, all the animals, and God’s magnum opus – man and woman – were created on day six. A common-sense, non-biased reading of the biblical text would seem to indicate these were normal, 24-hour days.

Some, however, contend these “days” of Genesis 1 should be interpreted as “ages” lasting thousands or even millions of years, giving the earth ample time to evolve. Now, it is true that “day” has more than one meaning. For example, in Genesis 1:5, God calls the light “day.” This “day” speaks of the “daytime.” Genesis 2:4 speaks of the “day that the LORD made earth and heaven.” This “day” refers to the “period of time” when God created. And then, of course, there’s 2 Peter 3:18 which says, “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” So how can we be sure the “days” of creation in Genesis 1 are 24-hour days? As always, context must determine meaning. Let’s look at the context of Genesis 1.

At the end of each day of creation is a short formula which teaches these are 24-hour days. In 1:5, for example, God says, “And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” The phrase “evening and morning” suggests one complete day, consisting of one full rotation of the earth. Any other interpretation of “day” would make nonsense out of this phrase. Furthermore, the numerical adjective “one” tips us off that God is chronicling an historical event in plain, journalistic language. These numerical adjectives appear throughout the chapter: “one day” (1:5); “second day” (1:8); “third day” (1:13); etc. As James Stambaugh points out, whenever the Hebrew word yom is used with a number in the Bible, it refers to a literal, 24-hour day.

Perhaps by now you’re wondering, “What’s the big deal, anyway? Isn’t this making a mountain out of a molehill? Couldn’t God have created gradually over millions of years if He wanted to?” Unfortunately, there are some major problems to holding any kind of gap theory or theistic evolution:

• The problem of sin and death. The Bible says death was a curse after man’s fall in Genesis 3, but if the earth is millions or billions of years old before man arrives, then you have to conclude God’s creation wasn’t so good after all. “Evolutionary scientists claim the fossil layers over the earth’s surface date back hundreds of millions of years. As soon as one allows millions of years for the fossil layers – then one has accepted death, bloodshed, disease, thorns, and suffering before Adam’s sin” (Answers Book, p. 42). This attacks the very core of the gospel, which teaches that “as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).

• The problem of sola Scriptura. Those who deny a young earth are attacking the authority of Scripture. They are looking at Scripture through the interpretive lens of science, rather than looking at science through the interpretive lens of Scripture. The Bible must always be our starting point. Only God was there, and we must let Him speak for Himself on how He created the universe. If God had the power to create, couldn’t He create the universe with the appearance of age (e.g. starlight)? Furthermore, when we factor in the global catastrophe of the flood in Genesis 6-9, we have both a biblical and scientific explanation for modern geology.

• The problem of interpretation. If you abandon the literal-grammatical method of interpretation in Genesis 1, then what will prevent you from doing the same elsewhere in the Bible, whenever science, history, or archaeology seem to contradict the biblical record? Once the hermeneutical dam has one crack in it, the entire structure has been compromised, leading to disaster.

• The problem of sequence. Looking at the fossil record, evolutionists posit that the sun came first, then the earth; dry land came first, then oceans; land animals came first, then birds. But in each of these cases, this evolutionary sequence directly contradicts the Bible.

Rather than trusting the faulty opinions of man, let us hold to the inerrant Word of God, and heed the warning of Charles Spurgeon:

"We are invited, brethren, most earnestly to go away from the old-fashioned belief of our forefathers because of the supposed discoveries of science. What is science? The method by which man tries to conceal his ignorance. It should not be so, but it is. You are not to be dogmatical in theology, my brethren, it is wicked; but for scientific men it is the correct thing. You are never to assert anything very strongly, but scientists may boldly assert what they cannot prove, and may demand a faith far more credulous than any we possess. Forsooth, you and I are to take our Bibles and shape and mould our belief according to the ever-shifting teachings of so-called scientific men. What folly is this! Why, the march of science, falsely so called, through the world may be traced by exploded fallacies and abandoned theories…" (The Sword and the Trowel, 1877)

Augustine on God

Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) was an early church father and one of the greatest theologians in church history. In his autobiographical work Confessions, he gives this beautiful glimpse into our mysterious and majestic God:

Most high, utterly good, utterly powerful, most omnipotent, most merciful and most just, deeply hidden yet most intimately present, perfection of both beauty and strength, stable and incomprehensible, immutable and yet changing all things, never new, never old, making everything new and 'leading' the proud 'to be old without their knowledge' (Job 9:5); always active, always in repose, gathering to yourself but not in need, supporting and filling and protecting, creating and nurturing and bringing to maturity, searching even though to you nothing is lacking: you love without burning, you are jealous in a way that is free of anxiety, you 'repent' (Gen. 6:6) without pain of regret, you are wrathful and remain tranquil. You will a change without any change in your design. You recover what you find, yet have never lost. Never in any need, you rejoice in your gains (Lk. 15:7); you are never avaricious, yet you require interest (Mt. 25:27). We pay you more than you require so as to make you our debtor, yet who has anything which does not belong to you? (1 Cor. 4:7). You pay off debts, though owing nothing to anyone; you cancel debts and incur no loss. But in these words what have I said, my God, my life, my holy sweetness? What has anyone achieved in words when he speaks of you? Yet woe to those who are silent about you because, though loquacious with verbosity, they have nothing to say. (Confessions, p. 5)