What's a Boy to Do?

This is obviously real, so we can't just ignore that it's happening. We see it more and more every day.

I'm not going to pretend like I would know exactly how I would respond if I were the parents, but with things like this revealing themselves very early in a persons life, I think that we must understand how we would react if it was our child coming to us with the same sin issue.

Religion vs. The Gospel - What's the Difference?

Original Post: Truth Matters

Below is a very insightful comparison between “religion” and “the gospel” drawn from the sermons of Tim Keller (Senior Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan). Tim does a remarkable job of probing hearts and revealing how easily we slip into self-dependence mode. As I’ve been saying each Sunday, real slavery according to the Bible is self-reliance. So, read the comparison list below with humility and care. It will do your soul good.

RELIGION: I obey-therefore I’m accepted.

THE GOSPEL: I’m accepted-therefore I obey.

RELIGION: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.

THE GOSPEL: Motivation is based on grateful joy.

RELIGION: I obey God in order to get things from God.

THE GOSPEL: I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.

RELIGION: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.

THE GOSPEL: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.

RELIGION: When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good person’. Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs.

THE GOSPEL: When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can take criticism.

RELIGION: My prayer life consists largely of petition and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment.

THE GOSPEL: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with Him.

RELIGION: My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel insecure and inadequate. I’m not confident. I feel like a failure.

THE GOSPEL: My self-view is not based on a view of my self as a moral achiever. In Christ I am “simul iustus et peccator”—simultaneously sinful and yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad he had to die for me and I am so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper and deeper humility and confidence at the same time. Neither swaggering nor sniveling.

RELIGION: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work. Or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to ‘the other.’

THE GOSPEL: My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for His enemies, who was excluded from the city for me. I am saved by sheer grace. So I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. Only by grace I am what I am. I’ve no inner need to win arguments.

RELIGION: Since I look to my own pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols. It may be my talents, my moral record, my personal discipline, my social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them so they serve as my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, whatever I may say I believe about God.

THE GOSPEL: I have many good things in my life—family, work, spiritual disciplines, etc. But none of these good things are ultimate things to me. None of them are things I absolutely have to have, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despondency they can inflict on me when they are threatened and lost.

Bible Bangers vs. Bible Bashers (Who Wins)

Here's a very interesting read. Wrong, but very interesting.

Former fundamentalist 'debunks' Bible - CNN.com*

In this article, Ehrman claims that:

"Christianity has never been about the Bible being the inerrant word of God"

Ehrman also says:

"Christianity is about the belief in Christ."

Ehrman also claimed:

"No one accepts everything in the Bible. Everyone picks and chooses."

Unfortunately, both of these are popular statements today. They shouldn't be, but they are, because people have assumed a much more subjective-relativistic role in shaping their own doctrine and theology.

To me, this just points to our fundamental need to have a source for absolute truth. For us, the Bible is that source. The world is completely comfortable saying there is no source for this truth (so they answer only to themselves and their feelings), but if that is truly the case then no one really knows anything for sure...which is exactly what gives fuel to this kind of thing, the emergent church, and people's claims that everyone has a right to their own opinion.

To me, it just continues to point to our sinful condition and our prideful contempt of who God should be in our lives. We don't want to be told, by anyone or anything, how we should live. And there is a defiance of God and an insubordination that has consumed our hearts and our thoughts. It's very sad, but it's also a very primitive concept and can be traced in the scriptures all the way to Adam and Eve. They had a pride of life and "self" and no longer wanted to live under the authority of God or his word. What a scary place to be....

It's stories like this that prove the need for shows like VOTR and GTR-Live. Someone has to be the voice of the Lord in these trying times.

Note:
We're still kicking around some ideas as to how we can continue with our show. One idea we have, while we figure out a time to bring back GTR-Live, is a non-live-- pre-recorded-- GTR-cast which would be a shortened version of our normal show. Probably picking one item or article to discuss in detail and then posting the recording on our site for people to listen to when they have time throughout the week. What-do-ya-think? Good idea? Any interest?


For His Glory,


Jason

Do You Like Cake?

?We?ve become very familiar with preaching that, pays scant attention to the Bible; is self-focused; and is consequently only capable of making the most superficial impact upon the lives of the listeners. This would be bad enough were it not for the fact, that large sections of the church who listen to this kind of stuff are actually oblivious to the fact that what they?re getting is a placebo rather than the real medicine. And therefore they leave satisfied with the feeling that it has done them some good. A feeling which disguises the gravity of the situation? They get bloated up by all this stuff, and it gives them the feeling that somehow or another they?ve had a meal, but after a few hours they say, ?You know, I don?t know whether that thing did anything at all?? And so, in the absence of bread the population grows accustom to cake.?


- Alistair Begg

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