You’ve heard this before:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
But for most of human history, those truths would have been anything but “self-evident.” Those ideas were actually pretty new, and they were thoroughly Christian, yet today most Westerners hold these values. How did this happen?
We know God sees the heart. He looks beyond our actions to our motives. That means he sees the sin at the heart of our sin, but it also means he knows when we really do mean well. Because of that, when persecution comes, some people will suggest we do whatever it takes to save our skin because God knows our heart. Should we compromise a little, knowing God will know we don’t really mean it?
For our next Lesson from Babylon, let’s explore how Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah answered that question.
Christians claim that the New Testament gospels are historically reliable. One of the ways we defend that is to point out that the stories accord well with history and archeology — that is, the places where things happened really existed, the rulers named really ruled, and the practices described were what you’d find if you visited that place in that time.
Many skeptics claim when we say that we’re committing what they call the Spider-Man fallacy. What is that, and are we guilty of it?
God is in control. Therefore, if you find yourself living in Babylon, you know it is God’s will. God has chosen this for you. God has chosen you for this. Now what will you do?
Jeremiah brought a message from the Lord:
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. (Jer 29:4-7 ESV)
For our next Lesson from Babylon, let’s look at how Daniel and company lived that out.
We’re an age that likes shortcuts. We want “three simple steps to get rich” and “eating this one vegetable will make you lose weight.” That goes for what passes as discourse in our society, too. We don’t want nuance or careful reasoning. What’s popular is “this one argument will own [the other party]” and “watch this Christian/skeptic destroy skeptics/Christians.”
These titles are clickbait because people want to see things like that. Yes, this afflicts Christians. We find what sounds like a knock-down argument, grab on, and don’t give it another moment of reflection.
The famous trilemma, that Jesus must be “Lord, liar, or lunatic”, popularized by CS Lewis falls prey to that. It has its place, but too many see it as a cure-all, an answer to all skeptics. The reality is that it has its weaknesses and is not appropriate for every situation. I think Lewis, were he still here, would be shaking his head at our misuse of his words.
