All for Love

We get these breaded fish fillets at Sam’s Club that I just love.

One afternoon I was bit by the munchies and went looking for the chocolate chip cookies my wife and kids had baked the night before. I walked into the kitchen, saw that we had leftover fish, and forgot about the cookies. That’s how much I love this fish.

It strikes me that this may be a good measure of how much you love something or someone – what do you give up for them?

I often give up something I’d like to do and do something I don’t want to do – to be with my wife. I often watch tv shows that make me contemplate suicide – to be with my kids.

For love of my wife I’ve given up other women, independent control of my time and finances, and the freedom to dress myself.

What do I give up for love of God?

What do you give up for love of God?

Review: Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl

“What the heck was that?”

Have you ever had that reaction to something you read? It’s how I felt many times while reading N.D. Wilson’s Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl.

That’s not to say it’s not a good book. It’s well-written, compelling, and downright fascinating in places. But sometimes it leaves you scratching your head.

Wilson has described it as “creative non-fiction,” and that’s certainly accurate. It also reminds me of the “familiar essay,” which is supposed to be about the journey more than the destination. The style is … unusual, but after becoming acclimated you’ll be able to follow him.

In a nutshell, Wilson says the universe, with all its beauty and blemishes, is a canvas on which God’s self-expression is displayed. He encourages us to step back from the details and enjoy the big picture. Along the way he examines evil, hell, snowflakes, bunnies, lightning, and the incarnation. And capital punishment in ant colonies. It’s an interesting ride.

Aside from a few completely unnecessary mild profanities, it’s a good read and well worth your time.

Can We Trust the Gospels? 5

If the Gospels are theology, can they be history?

The title of the next chapter of Mark Roberts’ Can We Trust the Gospels? is also a question often asked by skeptics.

“Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were not writing simply out of antiquarian interest. They weren’t scholars who found Jesus fascinating and decided to write about his life to further their careers. Rather, they were faithful believers in Jesus who composed narratives of his ministry for theological reasons. In the language of our contentious world, the Gospel writers had an agenda” (p115).

But why must this hurt their credibility?

Roberts points out is that they were quite open about their agenda. Mark’s Gospel begins not with “the history of Jesus of Nazareth” but “the good news of Jesus Christ.” The other writers were equally clear about their perspective with John’s being the clearest of all (John 20:30-31).

But does that mean that their histories are unreliable?

Early Christians clearly placed an emphasis on the historical reality of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The scriptures, particularly 1Cor 15, 1John 1, and 2Peter 1, speak of the eye witnesses of the events of the Gospels.

The Gospel writers, “like the vast majority of Jews before them and Christians after them, believed that what actually happened made all the difference in the world. It was in the realm of history that God made his presence known, revealing himself and his salvation. Therefore history … was at the heart of the evangelists’ theology” (p120).

Paul spells out how much we depend on the historicity of the gospel:

…if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead…. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. (1Cor 15:13-15)

The events of Jesus’ life, and especially His death and resurrection, were not regarded as a useful fable, a story of spiritual significance. To them the story was true, or it was meaningless.

This alone doesn’t prove that the events of the Gospels happened, but it does tell us that we can’t discount them simply because they had a theological agenda in writing them.

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The book in blog form: Are the NT Gospels Reliable?

Apologetic Reading Links

=Recommended Reading for Critical Thinking and Apologetics from Doug Geivett

"My lecture on “Apologetics in Your Home” has been popular at conferences. During this presentation, I recommend the following books to parents..."

=Christian Apologetics Blog Directory

=Reasonable Faith: the website of William Lane Craig

A Surprising Scripture on the Saints

There are passages in the Bible that don’t say what we expect. They sometimes take us by such surprise that we don’t read them correctly.

One that I’ve been known to misread:

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of the glorious inheritance of the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Except that’s not what it says:

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. (Eph 1:18-19)

God thinks of Himself as richer for having us.

Whatever He saw in us that made Him willing to go to the cross continues; we are valuable still.

So precious are God’s people that the prophet says,

He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing. (Zeph 3:17)

What is valuable is never abandoned, discarded, or abused. It is protected, cherished, and enjoyed.

We are valuable to God. I am valuable. You are valuable.

We are His treasure, and I pray “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know … the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.”