Wednesday, February 16, 2005
How's the View?
Not to get too confusing, Francis and Edith Schaeffer writings teach a lot about what people call the Christian worldview. There are basic beliefs that influence how we think about all of life, even if one isn’t a thinker. Attitudes creep in as a result of questions on the source of life, how we know anything, life’s meaning in history, why man stands out above the animal world. Answers to these and other questions will tell everything about why a person acts the way they do. When human life is valued above all else and history (what we see and what goes on in the spiritual realm) has divine direction, then meaning enters our motivations. When the Source is removed so that random bangs and evolutionary tweaks and twinges turn us into automatic pilot machines, the thoughts in our heads could randomly drive us insane as they push us recklessly into meaninglessness.
Obviously, the Source of life and knowledge for the Christian is the Triune God and the God-breathed Word, the Holy Bible. Well, when you put it that way, how could we possibly not read it? Probably because most of us don’t really believe it. But here is how the Christian worldview goes:
1) Jehovah God is Creator and sustainer of all life and light. He is Holy and worthy of praise.
2) Sin entered the world because man chose to doubt God’s Word. The power of sin is death and darkness because it separates us from the source of life, God.
3) Sin and evil cannot exist in the presence of God because He is perfectly holy. A sinful person, that’s all of us, can’t get near Him.
4) Christianity, born from Jesus Christ, is completely supernatural so naturalists need not apply. This isn’t to say it cannot be reasoned but human, scientific, natural terms fall short.
5) Jesus Christ, God incarnate (in the flesh) came to demonstrate the power of sin (dying) and hate, and His own power of forgiveness and love (life).
SIN FORGIVENESS
Death Life
Separation from a Holy God Reconciliation with our Holy Father
God’s wrath (sheer anger) God’s love; Gift of God
Torturous death of Christ Resurrection
Pouring, loss of blood Life giving blood
JUSTICE/ GOD’S WRATH GOD’S LOVE
God hates sin God loves everything good:
Satan is the father of sin and Truth, His own creation, man in lies. His own image
“[Jesus] is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by [Him].” ~John 14:6
When we doubt God’s Own-breathed Word, we doubt Him, as in the first sin. There is no gray area. We either believe the Father or the serpent, the father of lies. That’s why Jesus proclaimed John 14:6. He is Truth, and there’s no getting to God any other way.
The Word became flesh---Jesus is the Word. (John 1:1) Truth is either 100% God’s domain or we try to create our own truth (relativism). To create our own truth by adding or taking away from the Word of God is arrogant, Satan-like deception and denies God’s sovereignty. It is sin.
God’s Word draws us near to Him. Denying the Source of the Bible blinds us and destroys the personal relationship God meant for us to have with Him. The last prophecy is the dwelling of God with us (tabernacle). For all of history, the radical final goal is to get us back where we started, Eden. The New Age, the New Earth is where God will tabernacle with us in perfect relationship…the kind we all yearn for.
Obviously, the Source of life and knowledge for the Christian is the Triune God and the God-breathed Word, the Holy Bible. Well, when you put it that way, how could we possibly not read it? Probably because most of us don’t really believe it. But here is how the Christian worldview goes:
1) Jehovah God is Creator and sustainer of all life and light. He is Holy and worthy of praise.
2) Sin entered the world because man chose to doubt God’s Word. The power of sin is death and darkness because it separates us from the source of life, God.
3) Sin and evil cannot exist in the presence of God because He is perfectly holy. A sinful person, that’s all of us, can’t get near Him.
4) Christianity, born from Jesus Christ, is completely supernatural so naturalists need not apply. This isn’t to say it cannot be reasoned but human, scientific, natural terms fall short.
5) Jesus Christ, God incarnate (in the flesh) came to demonstrate the power of sin (dying) and hate, and His own power of forgiveness and love (life).
SIN FORGIVENESS
Death Life
Separation from a Holy God Reconciliation with our Holy Father
God’s wrath (sheer anger) God’s love; Gift of God
Torturous death of Christ Resurrection
Pouring, loss of blood Life giving blood
JUSTICE/ GOD’S WRATH GOD’S LOVE
God hates sin God loves everything good:
Satan is the father of sin and Truth, His own creation, man in lies. His own image
“[Jesus] is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by [Him].” ~John 14:6
When we doubt God’s Own-breathed Word, we doubt Him, as in the first sin. There is no gray area. We either believe the Father or the serpent, the father of lies. That’s why Jesus proclaimed John 14:6. He is Truth, and there’s no getting to God any other way.
The Word became flesh---Jesus is the Word. (John 1:1) Truth is either 100% God’s domain or we try to create our own truth (relativism). To create our own truth by adding or taking away from the Word of God is arrogant, Satan-like deception and denies God’s sovereignty. It is sin.
God’s Word draws us near to Him. Denying the Source of the Bible blinds us and destroys the personal relationship God meant for us to have with Him. The last prophecy is the dwelling of God with us (tabernacle). For all of history, the radical final goal is to get us back where we started, Eden. The New Age, the New Earth is where God will tabernacle with us in perfect relationship…the kind we all yearn for.
