Reformation Day: A Better Emphasis for October 31

For Christians looking for something other than candy and costumes to occupy their family’s activities on October 31, might I recommend Reformation Day?

 

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The 95 Theses (short sentences) were objections to the Roman Catholic practice of indulgences. Luther’s 95 Theses were quickly translated from Latin into German and the recent invention of the printing press allowed his protest to reach all of Germany within two weeks and the rest of Europe within a month.

 

Contrary to the Bible, Roman Catholics believe in a place called purgatory where people who are not yet ready for heaven go when they die to have impurities purged from them. Of course, this belief makes a mockery of the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross because the Bible says we are redeemed the moment we trust in Christ and that salvation is only based on the righteousness of Christ (not our own). Anyway, Catholics once believed that you could buy a piece of paper (aka indulgence) that reduced the length of time one would spend in this fictitious place called purgatory. Clearly the idea that money could be used to pay off God is blasphemy, but it was also part of a heretical belief in purgatory, which has no biblical basis.

 

Martin Luther nailing the 95 Theses to the church door is considered to be the official start of the Protestant Reformation. So, why not take the emphasis of October 31 off of what the culture values and choose instead to focus on honoring those who stood up for Biblical truth by shining the light of Christ in a continent darkened by apostasy. 

 

I encourage every pastor to create a special event at their church that is free of the trappings of Halloween and instead celebrates the Protestant Reformation. Also, I encourage parents to take the opportunity to teach their children about reformers like Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, Menno Simons, John Knox, and Thomas Cranmer. These men were far from perfect but we have much to be grateful to them for. Christian families need to learn the heritage of their faith and understand the great battles that took place in the past, so that they can better understand why we believe as we do and what separates us from others.

 

An easy book to read from for this purpose is The Story of Christianity (vol 2 or the combination of 1 & 2) by Justo Gonzalez.

Does God Exist? A Christian Response to Atheism (Part 3): Atheism is Irrational and Unlivable

In “The Absurdity of Life without God,” William Lane Craig argues persuasively that if God does not exist and if there is no afterlife then life has no ultimate meaning, value, or purpose. Of course, a person’s life can have a relative significance on earth in relationship to events here, but if we are “a doomed race in a doomed universe” then what difference does it make if we existed at all? What difference does it make that the universe ever existed? If there is no immortality then there is no accountability, which means that it ultimately makes no difference how you live your life because your destiny is not related to your behavior, so you can live as you please. Since there is no objective standard of right or wrong within a naturalistic worldview, then we cannot condemn anything as evil or praise anything as good. Without God there is no goal or purpose for which the universe exists.
 
THE NOBLE LIE
In part two of this series, I pointed out some of the inherent contradictions of atheism such as the fact that atheists attack the Biblical Worldview by using science, logic, and even morality. However, science presupposes uniformity, which cannot exist without God, and both logic and morality are immaterial, which cannot be explained within a naturalistic worldview. This is also demonstrated by atheists who say that they are humanists and can live meaningful lives without the existence of God.
 
The simple truth is that a universe devoid of God and an afterlife has no ultimate meaning, value, or purpose, therefore, any meaning that one comes up with is ultimately contrived. Furthermore, by giving anything meaning they are not living consistently within their worldview. It’s like a moral relativist telling me that my morality is wrong. It just doesn’t fit because it contradicts its own worldview, therefore, it is self-refuting.
 
To live consistently within an atheistic worldview an atheist must be an existential nihilist, which says that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and existence is senseless and useless. I am humming the song “Dust in the Wind” from Kansas just thinking about it because that is all we are from an atheistic worldview. Any attempt by an atheist to give life meaning, value, and purpose is inconsistent because it refuses to carry a universe without God or an afterlife to its natural conclusion – they are living the Noble Lie. King Solomon ruminated on these issues in the book of Ecclesiastes and concluded that only a life lived for God has any meaning, value, or purpose.
 
STATISTICS ABOUT SKEPTICS
In The Seven Faith Tribes by George Barna, a survey of American atheists and agnostics revealed that they are twice as likely to engage in adultery; are more likely to cohabitate; are major consumers of pornography; are more likely to drink heavily; admit to a tendency to lie, gossip, and use profanity in public; donate far less money to causes and offer less to poor people; register as Democrats 73% of the time (so there is a good reason why one conservative pundit described democrats as “godless”); oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment (6 to 1); oppose creationism being taught in schools (4 to 1); strongly favor the murder of preborn children by abortion; and oppose parental notification for abortion (67%).
 
In The Proven Health Benefits of Staying Young at Heart by Tamar Nordenberg, people who attend religious services are healthier, live longer, become less depressed as a result of illness, and handle stress better. According to Religion and Philanthropy by Thomas Jeavons, 74% of those who participate (at least occasionally) in worship service give to charity, while only 50% of those who never attend do so; and the more often one attends the more likely one gives. The contributions from religiously active households are not only given to houses of worship, but also cover a broad range of charitable causes and accounts for 90% of such giving. Meanwhile, the typical no-faith American donated just $200 in 2006 while religious Americans gave $1,500 on average. When you remove donations given to their congregations, religious Americans still outgive no-faith Americans two to one.
 
These statistics reveal that a worldview devoid of God and an afterlife results in the devaluing of human life (i.e. abortion), it promotes sexual immorality (i.e. adultery, pornography, homosexuality), it promotes harmful behaviors (homosexuality, alcohol consumption, lying), it promotes anti-supernaturalism (i.e. opposition to creationism), and adherents to atheism and agnosticism are much less likely to give money to help others because there is no reason for doing so within their worldview.

 

THE CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW
Within the Christian worldview we value life because all human life is made in God’s image, which means that it has inherent worth and dignity; we strive for sexual purity and avoid harmful behaviors because we are commanded to and our bodies are a temple for the Holy Spirit; we believe that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge and wisdom (Pr. 1:9; 9:10), therefore, science that presupposes otherwise is fatally flawed; and Christians are to give generously because when we give we are (1) demonstrating that everything that we have belongs to God and we are merely stewards of those resources, (2) loving our neighbor as our self, and (3) taking care of the least of these.

 

IRRATIONAL AND UNLIVABLE
In the final analysis, the statistics show that those who hold a worldview where God and an afterlife do not exist are more depressed, more selfish, and less charitable than those who do believe in God and an afterlife. Therefore, when you combine the reality that atheism is impossible to prove; it is inconsistent and self-refuting; it leaves people with no ultimate meaning, value, or purpose for their existence; and it leads to selfishness and depression, then it is utterly irrational to hold such a worldview. Furthermore, since atheists choose (as an act of the will) to live outside of their own worldview then it proves that atheism is unlivable as well.

Evil Creeps In: The Bible must be Believed and Applied or we’ll become like the World…

I hate to break this to my fellow Christians, but because we have a sinful nature and live in a secular culture, we are prone to let evil creep in to our lives to the point that we are no different from the world. Fortunately, God revealed His will to us through the Bible and we can use it as our compass to navigate through all matters of life and faith (2 Tim. 3:14-17). In fact, one of the privileges of being a follower of Christ is leading an examined life in submission to God’s Word (Romans 12:2). Unfortunately, there are many Christians who say that the Bible is God’s Word, but then rarely open it to see what it says. Still others read what it says, but it has little to no impact on how they live their lives. This is hypocrisy pure and simple. If we are to be set apart as a Holy priesthood of believers (1 Peter 2:9) then we must know what the Bible says and live in submission to it.

“Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.”—Lamentations 3:40

In a few weeks, most of America will be celebrating Halloween or one of its renamed alternatives. Will your family be one of them? Is there a Biblical reason behind your choice? My wife wrote a post, “A Christian Family’s Response to Halloween,” on her blog about how our family decided to respond to Halloween. This can be a touchy subject and I anticipate that some of you will disagree with our decision, but the Bible is not useful to us unless we attempt to understand its meaning and make application from it. If we don’t, then we are no better off than if we didn’t have the Bible to begin with. The Bible says that the things glorified by Halloween are wicked, therefore, we decided not to participate in it or anything designed to replace it. It’s that simple.

 

“The Harry Potter books are cool because they teach you all about magic and how you can use it to control people and get revenge.”  -Craig Nowell (age 10), a recent convert to The New Satanic Order of the Black Circle

 There is already a tremendous interest in magic, witchcraft, sorcery, and vampires in our culture today and this is especially true among children. If you need proof, then I encourage you to visit the children’s section at your closest Barnes and Noble and ask yourself, “What is the dominant theme here?” Also, look at the popularity of the Harry Potter and Twilight books and movies as well as television programs that feature these topics among children, youth, and young adults. In addition why is Wicca (witchcraft) one of the fastest growing religions among young people today? If we know all of this, then why do Christians encourage interest in the subject by participating in a holiday that celebrates or mimics it?

“Harry is an absolute godsend to our cause.”-High Priest Egan of the First Church of Satan (Salem, MA) 

Christian leaders often use the culture to witness to unbelievers. The Apostle Paul modeled this when he skillfully referenced the ”Temple to an unknown God” in Athens to tell the people there about Christ. At the same time, what God prescribes in Scripture is sometimes ignored in favor of imitating what the culture is doing, which is as wrong as Paul was right. In the case of Halloween, we are not using a neutral method, but rather a pagan holiday that is laden with images of witchcraft, magic, and sorcery.

 The Bible makes it clear that Christians should be in the world but not of it (John 14:1-4; 15:18-26; 18:28-40) and Halloween is definitely of the world. So, can we really justify participating in it to evangelize (even if we rename it)? Also, is Halloween so compelling to the families in our congregations that we have no other choice than to provide a safer alternative to it? Couldn’t we just educate our families with the reasons why we should ignore it altogether?

 Jenn describes an approach that enables a church to do a fun fall outreach that is not merely an alternative to Halloween, but rather stands apart from it. Willow Hills Baptist Church in Prescott held a fun “Fall Festival” block party on October 3 and The Ridge Christian Fellowship in Prescott Valley held a 1950s-themed block party on October 9 as well. Both of these events were designed to reach the community for Christ and they did so without a defacto endorsement of Halloween or having to provide a “wholesome alternative.”

Whether you agree with our interpretation and application or not, I challenge you to thoughtfully read Jenn’s article and then seek to understand what the Bible says on the subject. You can then be like the people in Berea and make your own determination about whether our position lines up with Scripture or not. You will also be in a position to make a decision about your own family’s participation in Halloween and Fall Festivals that are based on an honest reading of God’s Word.

Does God Exist? A Christian Response to Atheism (Part 2): Atheism is Inconsistent and Unprovable

In order for atheism to be true, an atheist must be able to give a clear and coherent explanation for the universe without borrowing from the Christian worldview. Atheists delight in saying that the evidence supporting God’s existence is not sufficient, therefore, they do not believe. However, what they fail to realize is that their very insistence on the use of empirical evidence and logic is actually self-defeating because they are borrowing from my Christian worldview in order to attack it.
 
The laws of science and the laws of logic cannot be accounted for by someone holding a naturalistic worldview. First, you have no explanation for uniformity and yet science cannot exist without uniformity. Second, the laws of logic are universally used and accepted by humanity and yet they are immaterial and cannot be explained by a naturalistic worldview. Unlike an atheistic worldview, my Christian worldview accounts for the existence for the laws of science and logic. It is God who created and sustains all things and the world reflects the uniformity that He imposed on it (Gen 1-2; John 1:3; Acts 17:25,28; Rom 11:36; Col. 1:17; 2:16-17) and the way we think reflects the same logic that is in God’s thinking because we were made in His image (Gen. 1:27).
 
Another problem for atheists is that they appeal to universal moral absolutes when they attack Christians for “immoral” events that took place in the name of the Christian God. They also attack the God of the Old Testament for doing certain things that they believe are immoral. However, if God does not exist then where do the universal moral absolutes that atheists are appealing to come from? Without God there would be no uniform source of moral absolutes because any morality that we have would be individual or cultural. How then can a 21st Century atheist judge the morality of the Old Testament God or the followers of Christ many centuries ago? Besides, if atheists only believe in material then an atheistic worldview has no way to account for the existence of immaterial moral absolutes anyway. According to my Christian worldview, God made the universe and everything in it, therefore, God is the measure of morality and He determines right and wrong (Is. 45:19).
 
The fact that atheists need to borrow from the Christian worldview on all three accounts shows that their own position is untenable and must be rejected! At best, atheists can no longer use the laws of nature, the laws of logic, or moral law to attack the Christian faith. At worst, atheism is self-refuting because it cannot exist as a worldview without borrowing from Christianity. The truth is that it is impossible for God not to exist because without Him it would be impossible to prove anything. 

 

ATHEISM IS UNPROVABLE
Atheists say that Christians have the burden to prove that God exists, but I reject that for two reasons. As I explained in part 1 of this series, atheists are not unbiased judges of truth because they presuppose God’s non-existence by refusing to accept supernatural evidence and they refuse to allow naturalistic evidence to be interpreted supernaturally. Second, atheists cannot account for the laws of science, the laws of logic, or moral laws that they appeal to when attacking Christianity whereas my worldview can account for all. Therefore, since atheists presuppose God’s non-existence before any evidence can be weighed and since their worldview is self-refuting, where do they get a free pass on the burden of proof? As I have already shown, it is impossible for God not to exist, therefore, Christians are wise to presuppose the existence of God and atheists are foolish not to.
 
The truth is that for a person to say that God does not exist means that they are declaring that they know everything about the earth, our solar system, the Milky Way Galaxy, and the entire universe itself. If they don’t then they are trying to prove a universal negative, based on an infinitesimal amount of information.

In my next installment, “Does God Exist? A Christian Response to Atheism (Part 3): Atheism is Irrational,” I will point out the irrational and unlivable nature of an atheistic worldview.

Does God Exist? A Christian Response to Atheism (Part 1): Atheism is Rebellion

Most people I know who have left Mormonism are so jaded by their experience that they go through a period of atheism. In my own journey I just assumed that Christianity was wrong because Mormons claimed that Mormonism was the only true form of it, therefore, if Mormonism is wrong then Christianity must be too. Of course, I did not realize at the time that the Mormon Church is merely a group who claims to be Christian, but has actually taken the central doctrines of Christianity and so radically altered their meanings that the result is no longer Christian-it is a cult.
 
This intense skepticism among former Mormons is because they once believed in a deception and do not want to do so again. I completely understand this because I walked in the same shoes and atheism is attractive because it seems like it is consistent, provable, and rational, but it is actually inconsistent, unprovable, and irrational to be an atheist. Furthermore, when I threw off the shackles of religion and embraced atheism, I thought that I was being independent and objective by trying to weigh the evidence to know truth, but in reality I was buying into another deception-that I could be an unbiased judge. The truth is that I was in active rebellion against God.

 

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who supress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been learly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that men are without excuse”–Romans 1:18-20

 

Atheism is Rebellion
In Romans 1:18-20, Paul writes that all people know that God exists not only because they can “clearly see” Him in creation (Ps. 19:1, 97:6, Rom. 1:20), but also because God made it evident within them (Romans 1:19, 2:14-15). Therefore, we are “without excuse,” which means that all people at all times and in all places are accountable to God and will experience His judgment. Atheists “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” and are in active rebellion against God (Rom 1:21-22; 8:7; 1 Cor. 2:14; Eph. 4:17-18). In 1 Cor. 2:14, Paul writes that an unredeemed person “does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” These are spiritual truths that every Christian needs to know when they are dialoging with an atheist. Since atheists are not unbiased, then we shouldn’t appeal to them as if they were.
 
Atheists tell me that God does not exist because no evidence that they’ve reviewed has proved to them otherwise, but their conclusions are based on the assumption that they are, in fact, capable of being independent and objective judges of truth. Unfortunately, that is not true because they hold a naturalistic presupposition that limits the kinds of evidences from nature, history, and experience that they will accept and what conclusions, or interpretations, that they will allow to be drawn from them. In other words, since they are committed to naturalism, then they have already decided in advance (before any evidence was given) that they would not accept supernatural evidence nor would they allow for supernatural interpretation of evidence. This is called bias, not independence, which means that it would be futile trying to prove what they are unwilling to accept. Therefore, since they are unwilling to give the evidence for God’s existence a fair hearing, in my next installment, “Does God Exist? A Christian Response to Atheism (Part 2): Atheism is Inconsistent,” I will point out the inconsistent and self-refuting nature of the atheistic worldview.

Education is Discipleship: Two Biblical Options for Christian Families

It’s that time of year when parents are preparing to send their kids back to school (if they haven’t already), and yet most Christian parents have not seriously thought about the impact their educational choices will have on the faith life of their children.  In fact, this one decision will have a dramatic impact on whether or not their children will become Christian to start with or remain Christian into adulthood. This is because education is discipleship and when the education comes from a non-Christian worldview, then our children are being discipled to believe something other than Biblical Christianity.
 
Education is Discipleship
The Bible says, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10), which means that a belief in and reverence for God is foundational to any educational endeavor. Fortunately, Christian parents have two solid options to choose from for their families-Christian schools and Christian homeschooling.
 
In AD 197, an early church father named Tertullian asked, “What does Athens [the center of human wisdom] have to do with Jerusalem [the center of divine revelation]?” He then asked the question more directly: “What do heretics have to do with Christians?” In other words, if we are Christian and we want our children to become Christian and remain Christian, then why would we send them to Athens for their education? God is the Creator of all things and is the source of all truth, so why would we choose a form of education for our children that (by Law) excludes God from the discussion and indoctrinates our children to believe in secular humanism?  

“SECULARISM is a philosophy that claims that there is no God-or that if there is a God, He is irrelevant. HUMANISM essentially says that in the absence of God, humans can and should act as gods by judging, choosing, and defining what is right for themselves. The philosophy pervading the public education system combines these two philosophies into one.”-Ken Ham, Genesis of a Legacy, p. 152  

The Godless Legacy of John Dewey

Perhaps the greatest influencer of the government education system is John Dewey and in his book, A Common Faith, he outlined his vision to use the schools to radically secularize and advance the cause of humanism as the new dominant worldview in the United States by using the public schools to indoctrinate all students away from the faith of their parents.

“It has taken longer than Dewey expected, but this secularist faith is certainly explicit and militant now…. With control over the public school system increasingly in the hands of the courts, educational bureaucrats, the university-based education schools, and the powerful teachers’ unions, little hope for correction appears. Federal mandates, accreditation requirements, union demands, and the influence of the educational elite represent a combined force that is far greater than the localized influence of many school boards, not to mention parents. Those who doubt the radical commitments of groups such as the National Education Association should simply look at the organization’s public statements, policy positions, and initiatives.”-Dr. Al Mohler, president, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Louisville, KY

Reality vs. Blind Faith
Sending children to government schools and to church creates confusion in our children. They’ll spend a couple hours a week at church hearing one thing about ultimate reality and then they spend 30 or more hours a week in a government classroom hearing something different about ultimate reality. In church they play games, sing songs, and spend a fairly modest amount of time on a message that usually includes moralisms and never seems to be backed up by anything tangible in the minds of kids. Well meaning and faithful Sunday School teachers don’t always have solid answers to challenging questions either (even though they exist).  Unfortunately, less than ten percent of Christian families pray together (except for blessing the food) or read the Bible together and less than one percent have a plan for intentionally passing on their faith to their children other than participation in church programs.
 
Meanwhile, in the public school classroom they’ll spend six or more hours every day learning things that are backed up by observation and tests (observational science) as well as by things that are backed up only by anti-theistic presuppositions (historical science), but are taught as if they are backed up by observation. From Kindergarten through 8th grade, the average public school student receives 14,000 hours of instruction, which is the equivalent of your child receiving 4 hours of instruction per week at church for 70 years. Just imagine every hour spent in the classroom (K-8) being represented by a blue gumball and every hour spent in church represented by a white gumball. There will be 14 times as many blue ones as white ones and that does not include other secular worldview influencers such as peers, television, radio, internet, video games, movies, books, etc.
 
Week by week, month by month, year by year, most students raised in Christian homes will begin to believe that everything taught in the public schools is provable and based on reality whereas everything in the church is based on blind faith. Consequently, one-third will walk away from faith in middle school, one-third will walk away from faith in high school, and another 10% or more will leave in college, so within two years of high school graduation between 7 and 9 out of every ten children raised in Christian homes will have left the faith. Those are the cold hard facts of what is happening in America today. Even many of those who claim to be Christian will have compartmentalized their faith and separated it from their everyday lifestyle instead of using the Bible to influence every aspect of it. So, what is found in the spiritual will not be allowed to influence the real world.
 
What about Christian teachers?
My wife, Jennifer, was a Christian when she taught kindergarten in government schools, but when she recently reviewed the materials she used back then she was shocked by what she blindly taught her students.  For example, she found several books that she taught from that smoothly slid evolution in as factual.  In reflecting on the holidays she remembers that Christmas emphasized Santa and not Christ and Halloween was taught with no concern over the dark images (i.e. witches, ghosts, etc.) that were placed on the bulletins boards as decorations. So, just because your child’s teacher is a Christian does not mean that they are correctly discerning what should and shouldn’t be taught because not all Christians teacher are mature in faith and/or orthodox in their beliefs.

Furthermore, just because someone calls themselves a Christian does not mean that they are. There are many so-called “pastors” in mainline denominations who identify themselves as Christian, but they are nothing more than functional atheists. Of course, we need solid Christian teachers to serve as missionaries in the government schools, but there is a big difference between sending adult Christians who should be mature in their faith to be salt and light in the schools and sending innocent children who often have very little knowledge about what they believe and how to defend it against the secular humanistic curriculum.
 
Even when the public school teachers are solid Christians, the teachers have their hands tied because they are not allowed to favor one religion over another (so Wiccan witchcraft or Mormonism is no worse than Christianity) and they are required to teach curricula that deliberately removes America’s Christian heritage and states that the universe was an accident and that life evolved from primordial ooze, which is a worldview that leaves no room for the Christian God.  Unfortunately, most teachers are not Christian as evidenced by the National Education Association, which openly advocates for the destruction of preborn children by abortion and for the advancement of sexual immorality through homosexual marriage, which is consistent with the secular humanistic curricula taught in the classroom.
 
Four classroom examples
As we have reflected back over the years, let me share four examples of how we’ve seen this liberal agenda play out.

• Jenn remembers a character program when she taught kindergarten where children were taught to embrace each others’ differences.  Of course the whole premise behind this program was to blur the lines of right and wrong behaviors and to mandate acceptance for such choices. Look at the use of books like King and King and Heather Has Two Mommies in public school classrooms if you have any doubt about their agenda.
• My sister-in-law worked as a teacher in a charter school and she was approached by a lesbian parent who provided her with books to read to the students that promoted diversity and acceptance of homosexuals. She never did, but how many teachers do?
• There was an affair between two kindergarten teachers (a married woman and a lesbian) at one of the school’s Jenn taught in that resulted in the married woman’s divorce and the break-up of the lesbian’s live-in, long-term relationship (they bought a house together). A student actually caught the two female teachers kissing on campus, so parents contacted the principal and demanded action. However, when the principal tried to do something about the situation, the lesbian leader of the teacher’s union threatened a lawsuit against the school district. So, the teacher’s union placed the immoral sexual activities of its teachers above what was best for kindergartners and the school district caved to avoid a lawsuit.
• More and more school districts are forcing their liberal agendas on children and not allowing parents who object to know about such programs and opt their children out when they occur. Sadly, the courts are supporting the school districts in such cases, which indicates a growing tendency by the judiciary to support the indoctrination of children by the state versus the rights of the parents. Is it any wonder that public school teachers are twice as likely to homeschool their children as the general public?

Didn’t we turn out ok?
I hear parents all the time making statements like “I was nervous about sending our kids to the public school at first, but then I thought it would be ok because I went to public school and I turned out all right.” Unfortunately, this reasoning is absolutely false. The vast majority of students from Christian homes who attend public school did not turn out all right. In fact, the statistics from Barna and from the Nehemiah Institute reveal that 85%-91% of children from Christian homes that attend a public school do not hold a Biblical Worldview. They may not do drugs or cheat on exams, but where are their hearts and minds?

According to statistics cited by Thom Rainer in The Bridger Generation, the number of Americans holding to a Biblical Worldview has dropped from 31 out of 48 million people born between 1910 and 1945, to 27 out of 78 million (1946-1964), to 8 out of 49 million (1965-1976), to a mere 3 out of 77 million born between 1977 and 1994. In other words, if you are still a Christian and you were born after 1964 then count yourself blessed, because the vast majority of your peers didn’t make it. Secondly, public schools are worse than they were when you were a student and they will continue to get worse with each passing year as our nation continues its moral and spiritual decline.
 
Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it. Just read the following quote by an anti-Christian humanist who correctly sees the important role government schools are playing in the secularization of America:

“I am convinced that the battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as proselytizers of a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognizes and respects the spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being. These teachers must embody the same selfless dedication as the most rabid fundamentalist preachers, for they will be ministers of another sort, utilizing the classroom instead of a pulpit to convey humanist values in whatever subject they teach, regardless of the educational level-preschool day care or large university. The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new-the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism.”-John Dunphy, A Religion for a New Age, p. 26 

 

What about Evangelism?
Why do Christian parents who wouldn’t dare send their child to an Islamic or Wiccan school to evangelize young Muslims or witches think it is ok to send them to government schools that teach secular humanism?  Does the Bible tell us to be salt and light? Absolutely, but you are misinterpreting that passage if you think it is a commandment to send your children to government schools.  First, this is a commandment for mature believers and statistics show that most children raised in Christian homes do not hold a Biblical worldview and know little to no doctrine, so how are they going to be salt and light if they aren’t even believers or don’t know their faith well enough to explain it? Second, this is a commandment to be salt and light where you are and is not a directive to go somewhere. In fact, the Bible also tells us to be set apart as a people. So, is being set apart the same as sending our children to be indoctrinated to become secular humanists?

 

In a pagan environment where our children are being indoctrinated with secular humanism for 30+ hours per week (vs. 2 hrs in church), is it more likely that our children will win souls for Christ or lose their faith? With 7 to 9 out of every ten students from Christian homes leaving the faith, I think that question has already been answered. So, instead of being guinea pigs, our children must be protected and raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, so that they may become knowledgeable and faithful followers of Christ.
 
To fulfill the Great Commission locally, parents must actively model evangelism for their children by having the whole family reach out in Christian love and service to their neighbors and unbelieving friends. Our kids have seen my wife and I serving and witnessing to our neighbors on many occasions and they have also made cookies and other baked goods with Christian messages and brought them over along with vegetables from our garden. Zachary has even witnessed to our neighbors on a few occasions.
 
Two Biblical Options
Because no form of education is neutral and whoever is educating our children is discipling them,  I agree with Dr. Al Mohler, the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who said, “I believe that now is the time for responsible [Christians] to develop an exit strategy from the public schools.” The two biblical options would be to either send your children to a solid evangelical Christian school or to homeschool your children using a good Christian curriculum. Both options are much better than sending your children to government schools and the likelihood of your children becoming and remaining Christian increases dramatically when you do so.
 
What we chose to do and why…
While both options are good, my wife and I have chosen to homeschool because the Bible also says that parents (not the church or the schools) have the mandate to raise their children in the faith and the model for this is found in Deuteronomy 6: 1-9, which cannot be fulfilled without spending quantity and quality time with our children. In fact, Jenn and I know of no better evangelism and disciple-making tool for children than Christian homeschooling because it is the same intentional and ongoing approach to education where parents incarnationally (model) and informationally (teach) train their children (Eph. 6:4) that is prescribed in the Bible. It also allows us to develop stronger relationships, help them develop Godly character, have greater academic achievement (due to the individualization enabled by low teacher-to-student ratios), and our kids have healthier socialization due to the absence of negative peer influences.  Please know that web-based charter schools (i.e. Arizona Virtual Academy or Connection Academy) are still public schools and are not the moral equivalent of Christian homeschooling.
 
So, where do I start?
Christian Homeschooling: Ask us! We will be happy to help you with this great educational adventure! You can also find out more about homeschooling in Arizona by visiting Arizona Families for Home Education and the Home School Legal Defense Association. Our family is blessed by membership in both organizations.

 

Christian Schools: You can find out more information about Christian schools in Arizona by visiting the Association of Christian Schools International . There are Christian schools located throughout Arizona including urban centers like Phoenix and Tucson  as well as in smaller communities such as Prescott , Flagstaff , and Show Low. 

Zachary’s First Sermon: An Affirmation of Family-Based Evangelism and Disciple-Making

On Sunday, June 7, my six-year-old son, Zachary, and I traveled to the First Southern Baptist Church in Chino Valley

Zachary (L) and Jonathan (R) listen as I read the Bible during our nightly family worship time.

 where I was delivering a talk on the subject of “Is Atheism Reasonable?” During the two-hour drive to Chino Valley Zachary asked me if he could tell the people about Jesus after I gave my talk. I asked him what he wanted to share and I gave my approval. So, later that night I finished my talk and looked at Zachary who had been sitting and listening quietly in the front row. I told the people present that my son had expressed a desire to share his faith and if that was ok with them. They agreed, so I asked Zachary to come up and he did. I took the clip on mic off of my shirt and put it in front of his mouth as he began to speak. The words that came from his mouth were precious to all present, but they had a deeper meaning to me.

He began by telling the people that we need to love God with all of our heart, mind, and strength and then proceeded to talk about how false idols are bad because we are only supposed to worship God. I smiled because he was rehashing a sermon that he had heard in church earlier that day, but then he began talking about Jesus. He said that Jesus was God’s Son who came to earth to die on the cross and be raised from the dead, so that those who trust in Jesus can have their sins taken away and go to heaven forever, which resulted in numerous “Amens” throughout the congregation. I then asked him to close us in prayer, which he did by including some intercession on behalf of the congregation. His sermon and prayer lasted about 4 to 5 minutes and everything he shared came from the heart of that precious six-year-old.

Afterwards many in the congregation came forward to thank Zachary for sharing that evening and one of the guys even asked him to attend the next Men’s Group meeting, which was discussing William Fay and Ralph Moore’s book, Share Jesus Without Fear,which made me chuckle. A few moments later somebody asked what grade he was in and I said that he just finished first and now he is in second grade. They asked how that could be and I said it was because he is homeschooled. A few rows back a lady said, “That explains it!” So, I shared that we chose to homeschool because worldview and character development in education is critical. A kind man then remarked that homeschooling is great, but children who do it miss out on socialization. A lot of well-meaning people hold this assumption, but studies show the vast majority of homeschooled children turn out to be better adjusted than their peers who do not homeschool. Therefore, I explained this to the man and then pointed to Zachary standing nearby who had already had several conversations with different adults and was currently talking with an elderly woman. I said, “Zachary is able to talk with people of all ages and he was comfortable teaching from the pulpit just a few moments earlier.”

When I worked as a Youth and College Pastor I poured myself into my students, but what I did was limited or enhanced by what was or wasn’t taking place at home. It was then that I realized that to really make an impact on the student’s lives I needed to redirect more effort toward family-based ministry, which I have done in my speaking ministry. More importantly, my wife and I have modeled this approach in our home and we are being blessed tremendously by what we are seeing.

For at least two years now my wife and I have led family worship in our home every night before bed, which includes singing, Bible reading from The Picture Bible and CEV, application, and prayers; our kids have listened to a dramatized Children’s NIV on CD during naps and before bed; and for two years Zachary has been homeschooled using a Christian curriculum from My Father’s World. As a result of these efforts, which God has blessed, my son had the knowledge and confidence to teach from the pulpit. Of course, that is not the only thing that has amazed us. During the course of our family worship times we have read through the Old Testament once and the New Testament two times, and our boys have listened to the Bible on CD many more times than that. One evening Zachary began talking to some dear friends of ours and he proceeded to tell them the Bible narrative from every major section from Genesis to Revelation to all of our amazement. The truth is, my six-year-old knows his Bible and knows basic doctrine better than the vast majority of teenagers in youth groups today, which is sad. Fortunately, I know that this isn’t just head knowledge either because his mother and I have had numerous conversations with him and we believe that he has a heart knowledge as well. Even so, as we approach his seventh birthday later this summer, we plan to wait a little longer before discussing baptism with him to make sure he is ready.

Sadly, statistics indicate that 7 to 9 out of every 10 students in youth groups today will walk away from the faith, so the main point that I want to make with this post is simply that if you want to raise your children in the faith then you must develop an intentional evangelism and disciple-making plan at home and NOT rely exclusively on what your church is doing. I’m not saying that you have to homeschool even though I believe it is one of the very best way to do so. Instead, I am saying that you must intentionally train up your children through your lifestyle (incarnational witness) and through your daily teaching (informational witness). At the same time, your church needs to encourage, equip, and support you in that calling.

If you are interested, I teach a seminar, “Home-Grown Disciples,” that lays out what I briefly talked about here in much greater detail and includes many ideas that parents can confidently implement in their home. May God bless you as you seek to train up your children in the way they should go.

Who determined the books in the New Testament canon?

 

“More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, and yet only a relative few were chosen for inclusion-Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John among them.”-Dan Brown, The DaVinci Code, p. 231

 

From the History Channel and Newsweek magazine to college textbooks and The DaVinci Code, Americans are being increasingly exposed to the viewpoints of media savvy liberal theologians, revisionist historians, and popular writers proclaiming that rather than an orthodox consensus, there was great diversity in the theological beliefs held by early Christians and that the books found in the New Testament today are merely the victors of power struggles that took place long ago.

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown is another attempt to undermine public opinion of the Bible's authority.

  

 

Obviously, such claims can be disturbing to Christians who rightly believe in Biblical authority. So, how do we know that the books contained in the Bible are the ones God wanted to be in Scripture? Who determined which books should be in the Bible?  

 

The Meaning of “Canon”

“Canon” is the English word that comes from the Greek word kanon and the Hebrew qaneh (kaneh), which literally means “reed” (the word from which the English word “cane” is derived). In ancient Greece, a reed was used as a measuring rod, so the word kanon was expanded to be understood as a “standard”, or “rule”. In time, the word would be used metaphorically by Athanasius (295-373), bishop of Alexandria, who was the first person known to use “canon” as a word referring to the standard by which various books were recognized as being the Word of God.

 

Inspiration

When discussing the formation of the New Testament canon, it is important to understand that a book’s canonicity depends upon its authority, which means that a book written through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit immediately possesses divine authority. In an earlier post, I explained how God used his Holy Spirit to inspire men whom he had carefully chosen and prepared to write the words contained in the Bible. These writers recorded these special revelations from God in a way that was unique to their personality, education, occupation, and personal writing style, but the words they wrote were as God intended. Later, through a human process of discovery a book that is truly inspired by God is revealed as Scripture to those engaged in the canonical process. In other words, “God determined the canon, and man discovered it.”

 

Criteria for Canonicity

In addition to Inspiration, to recognize the canonicity men also looked for: Apostolic Authority, Antiquity, Orthodoxy, and Catholicity.

 

Apostolic Authority means that the writer of the book was either an apostle, a close associate of an apostle, or even a member of Jesus family as in the case of James and Jude. Clement, bishop of Rome, wrote “Now, the Gospel was given to the Apostles for us by the Lord Jesus Christ; and Jesus Christ was sent from God. That is to say, Christ received His commission from God, and the Apostles theirs from Christ. The order of these two events was in accordance with the will of God.”

 

Antiquitymeans that the book is old enough to come from the apostolic era, which excluded pseudepigrapha (i.e. The Gospel of Peter) that claimed apostolic authorship, but were written long after the apostles were dead. The compiler of the Muratorian Fragment, for example, indicates that the Shepherd of Hermas was a highly regarded book, but too old for the canon. In fact, no document written after about A.D. 120 was ever considered for the canon. In another example, a group of liberal scholars known as The Jesus Seminar suggest that the pseudonymous Gospel of Thomas (a Gnostic book written after 160 A.D.) is more reliable than John’s gospel, which was probably written between 50 and 90 A.D. which is absurd not only because of the dates but also because there are hundreds of copies and fragments of copies of John whereas there are only a few copies of the Gospel of Thomas.

 

Orthodoxyis the faith that was set forth by the apostles and their undisputed writings. For example, in his response to the Judaizers who were influencing the church in Galatia, Paul wrote “Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the Gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:7b). So, one of the questions that men would ask was: “What does this book teach about the person and work of Christ?” So, in addition to neither having Apostolic Authority nor Antiquity, the so-called “lost gospels” are also Gnostic, which means that they were not orthodox.

 

Catholocity is the broad or universal acceptance of a book by the Church. Each individual book that was later acknowledged as canonical had started off with local acceptance and then grew to be accepted by the wider Church. The book of Hebrews is such an example. Initially the western churches were reluctant to admit it, but Augustine, bishop of Hippo, accepted it based on the recommendation of and wide-spread use by the Eastern Church. “I am moved rather by the prestige of the eastern churches” he wrote, “to include this epistle too among the canonical writings.”

 

Implications

It was God (not the church) that determined the canon and it was men who discovered the canon through the human canonical process. Therefore, God’s revealed authority is in Scripture. It is clear that the messages coming from liberal theologians, historical revisionists, and their allies in the media are misleading because they are designed to deceive. The reality is that the so-called “lost gospels” were not written by apostles or their companions, they were not written until at least 120 years after the Resurrection, they are not theologically consistent with the four canonical Gospels, and they were never widely accepted in the early church. Most importantly, they were not inspired by God and do not deserve to be called Scripture.

A Special Thank You to our Veterans, Members of our Armed Forces, and our Fallen Heroes from the heart of a six-year-old boy

My wife and I wanted to share a few drawings our six-year-old son, Zachary, drew today in honor of our veterans, current members of our armed forces, and to those who have fallen in the service of our country. Thank you for all that you do and have done for our nation!

"A Salute to Our Veterans and Members of our Armed Forces" by Zachary Melton

"Defending Our Liberty" by Zachary Melton

"They Helped Us" by Zachary Melton

Who Wrote the Bible? An Introduction to the Inspiration of Scripture

FROM MAN OR GOD?

“All Scripture is God breathed [inspired].”-2 Timothy 3:16a

 

Many evangelicals today correctly believe that the Bible is God’s Word, but when pressed by skeptics they often stumble in trying to explain how this can be. Meanwhile, their critics tell them that the Bible is not really from God, but just like any other religion it is mythology created by a specific culture  for the purpose of trying to understand the unknown world around them and create meaning where there would not be otherwise. “After all, didn’t men write the Bible?,” their critics condescendingly ask. “If they did, then how did God write it?” Fortunately, the answers to these questions are quite simple. God wrote the Bible through human agents by a process called inspiration.
 
GENERAL REVELATION
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”-Romans 1:18-20
 
Let’s begin the explanation of inspiration by first laying a foundation for why the Bible is needed in the first place. You see, all people at all times in all places know that God exists, that he is powerful, he is wise, he is majestic, and he is glorious simply by observing His creation. The problem is that even though we see some of God’s attributes manifested in Creation, which makes us accountable to God, we still do not have specific information about who God is, who we are in relationship to God, and what our purpose in life is. Therefore, General Revelation points toward the need for Special Revelation, which gives God’s direction to specific people at specific times throughout salvation history.
 
SPECIAL REVELATION
The Bible is God’s special written revelation of His will to His chosen people (Israel) and then to the rest of humanity. The main theme is that we are separated from God by our sinfulness and that salvation is only achieved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible contains 66 individual books (39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament) and these books were written by approximately 40 authors on three continents over a period of 1,600 years. These men were as grand as kings and prophets and as lowly as fishermen and tax collectors. In fact, it is the only book on earth written under these circumstances that tells a unified story of salvation history from the beginning to the end.
 
INSPIRATION
“Prophecy never had its origin in the will of men, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”-2 Peter 1:21
 
So how does inspiration work? Basically, God used the Holy Spirit to inspire men whom He had chosen and prepared to write exactly what he wanted them to through their own context. An easy way to remember how this works is to imagine a stained glass window in a sanctuary. As the light (God’s inspiration) passes through the glass (human agent) it becomes distorted by the many colors, which represent that person’s education, profession, background, writing style, and so forth, and falls on the floor (special revelation). Now some would argue that even if the writer received God’s inspiration that what is actually recorded was written by a fallible human being and cannot be completely divine. However, we must remember that the human agent was carefully chosen and prepared by God, so that the way the light fell on the floor (special revelation) is as God intended it to be. Furthermore, it is silly to presume that God would give inspiration to men if they recorded it in such a way that it was no longer completely truthful.
 
THE WORDS OF CHRIST
Jesus said, “Have you not read what was spoken to you by God?” -Matthew 22:31b
 
As we finish, I just wanted to point out that most of those reading this post have trusted in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. If that is true, then the words of Christ should matter to you. In the passage above it is clear that Jesus believed the Old Testament was God’s Word, which means that we should to. Also, in Luke 24:44 he referenced all of the major sections of the Old Testament-the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms-and said that those prophecies about Him (the Messiah) must be fulfilled. In John 14:26 Jesus foretold the Gospels by saying that the Holy Spirit would remind the disciples of what he said and in John 16:12-14 Jesus foretold the balance of the New Testament. Clearly, Jesus believed that the Bible is God’s Word and so should we.