Simplicity

What's going to happen tomorrow?

There are lots of good reasons to spend less than we make: So we can give to charity; so we're not caught up in materialism and greed; so we can handle unforeseen expenses like car repairs; so we can handle foreseen expenses like retirement and college.

Here's another one: In the not too distant future, people you know may face the choice of giving up their careers to honor Christ.

In The Benedict Option, Rob Dreher argues the day is rapidly approaching when American Christians will have to pull together to help each other survive more than we have had to in centuries. We've already see bakers, florists, and photographers face the choice of giving up a huge chunk of their business or violate their consciences. The day may soon come when doctors, pharmacists, teachers, and other professionals may have to make the same choices, even to the point of going into a new career.

Could that happen to you? Would you be able to help a brother or sister in Christ who faced that situation? Would you be able to help your church make up the loss in giving? Would you be able to continue giving to your church if your contributions were no longer tax deductible?

How do we prepare for that rather likely eventuality? By learning to make do with less now. By learning to live simply. We can learn to ask whether we really need to buy that. We can ask how many streaming services we really need to subscribe to. We can re-evaluate our transportation choices.

We can decrease the pile of gifts under the Christmas tree. Christmas is the time of the year when we most clearly tell our children that piles of stuff is good. This year, cut back a little on what you spend on Christmas for you and yours. Instead, have your family do some buying for an angel tree. Or gather around the World Vision, Heifer International, or Samaritan's Purse Christmas catalog and together pick out some gifts to give people who can't give back to you. Start getting your family used to spending less on yourselves.

Fancy clothes, fancy cars, and fancy houses filled with latest electronic gadgets are just things that moth and rust destroy. Storing up treasures in heaven is a far better use of our money.

Let's learn to live simply and give lavishly before the world makes us.

Review: The Fallacy Detective

I buy books at a faster rate than I can actually read them. As such, I've had The Fallacy Detective on my shelf for a few years, intending to read it and have my kids read it. Then I came across an offer from the authors for a free review copy of their new Audible edition. "Reading" in my car is my primary form of reading these days, so I jumped on it.

The Fallacy Detective: Thirty-Six Lessons on How to Recognize Bad Reasoning is a logic primer aimed at middle schoolers and up.

"Hold on," you say, "logic primer?!" Two things you need to know:

1) Logic is simply clear thinking. Christians need to know logic. We need to know how to think clearly, and we really need to know how to identify shoddy reasoning from the world around us, because it is everywhere, and the world uses it to try to influence us and our children.

2) This "logic primer" is no stuffy text book or pseudo-Puritan handbook. It handles the material in short sections with the occasional joke and light-hearted examples that none the less illustrate the skills in question. It has a breezy tone and presents the material clearly.

The book covers all the typical reasoning errors with examples, then it gives exercises (with answers provided) for practice in recognizing the fallacies. Finally, the authors offer a game to help you and yours (they recommend 3+ players) sharpen your skills. Each chapter could probably be covered in less than 10 minutes, including exercises.

About the Audible version: The narrator does a fine job of reading the material, and he uses different voices to make the example conversations easier to follow. There are weaknesses. It's hard to do the exercises that way at first, and sometimes he has to describe a figure in the text (it really doesn't work). The authors recommend the Audible as a supplement to the hard copy (or maybe as the parent's version), but if this is all you have, you can make it work.

Again, every Christian — especially young Christians who are about to enter college and then the "real" world — need to know basic logic. This is about as painless textbook as I can imagine. Logic is not hard, and you (and your children) can use any book, but this is the gentlest of all the books I've come across. Of the best of the rest, A Rulebook for Arguments is shorter, but less clear, and Come, Let Us Reason is quite clear, but longer and less ... friendly. I think The Fallacy Detective will serve you and your family well.


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Blog update: Sharing posts

After all these years I've finally managed to fix the buttons to share posts to Facebook, Twitter, and such. Yes, I am quite the luddite. I wonder what I broke while fixing this.

The Right to Remain Silent

Are you getting tired of seeing stories about people who post something on social media and then get upset at the 100% predictable response?

It's not just movie stars or athletes. It happens to everyday people, too. And it's been happening to some high-profile Christians. Israel Folau, the Australian rugby player, was only the latest example.

Let's get some things out in the open. Yes, it's a shame that people are only allowed to express "approved" opinions in our society. Yes, the scriptures say homosexual relations are immoral, along with a host of other things.

But this is our world right now. How do you want to live in it?

We should be willing to stand up for the truth. But we should do it in a winsome manner. And we have to pick our battles.

Ray Comfort teaches folks to use the Law of Moses to show people that they are sinners. He also teaches people not to bring up people's "favorite" sins. You don't bring up adultery to an adulterer. He knows he's an adulterer. He doesn't realize he's also a lying blasphemous thief with the seeds of murder in his heart. Talking about adultery will make him defensive. Showing him that his sin goes far deeper than he imagines may make him receptive to the gospel.

Gay people know that traditional Christianity teaches that homosexuality is wrong. We don't have to tell them that. No one is going to repent in dust and ashes because you post about it on Twitter.

The only thing that will happen is you'll be flamed. And possibly fired.

We are called to give a reason for the hope that is in us. We are called to be ready, willing, and able to share the gospel.

Our beliefs on same-sex marriage, etc. are not the gospel.

If someone asks you, one on one, what the Bible says on a topic, don't shy away from the truth. Be gentle, but be honest.

But don't go looking for opportunities to cause offense. Christ calls us to be "as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves" (Matt 10:16). Paul said, "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone" (Rom 12:18).

In modern terms, you have the right to remain silent. You are not required to broadcast your opinion for all to see. And keeping it to yourself will probably make your life a bit more pleasant.

Standing on the Promises

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed recently and saw two posts right next to each other.

The first: "Virtually Wiped Out": 95 Christians Killed in Mali Village

The second: "The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still" (Ex 14:14).

I couldn't help but ask "What happened? Did God forget to fight for them?" What's going on here? Of course God didn't "forget" to fight for them. But he also didn't promise to fight for them.

Christians love to quote the promises of God, and there are lots of books containing such promises. It's common in certain circles to hear that "all the promises of the Bible are for you."

No they're not.

For some reason, I never hear people try to claim this promise:

“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:2-3).

Everyone knows that was God's promise to Abram, and no one tries to appropriate it. But for some reason they try to appropriate promises made specifically to other people.

Many, maybe most, promises in the Old Testament are made as part of the old covenant. The beloved Jeremiah 29:11 ("For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD...) was made to people under the Law, in the context of the Law. These promises do not apply to you unless you are under the Law of Moses. (Hint: You don't want to be.)

Many promises were made only to specific people and/or only for specific occasions. Ex 14:14 above ("The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still") was made to Israel as they were leaving Egypt when they found themselves trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army. It wasn't even a blanket promise to Israel. On some occasions God expected Israel to fight. On some occasions he left them to their own devices (eg, Josh 7) — which didn't go well for them. It certainly was not a promise to modern Christians.

Why does this matter? I'll simply point to the example I gave above. If you tell people "God will fight for you" and he doesn't:

A. You have lied about God.
B. You have caused the people to whom you lied to now doubt God.
C. You may destroy the faith of weaker brothers and sisters by doing this.
D. You make Christianity look ridiculous to outsiders.

On a related note, when prosperity preachers use OT "promises" to tell people that God will make them rich and/or healthy and he doesn't, it drives people away from the gospel (while making these preachers rich).

There are lots of promises in the Bible that apply to the NT believer. Most of them are in the NT.

God's word to us today is good. He said, "Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." He said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." He said, "neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." He has given us "his very great and precious promises" in Christ Jesus. We don't need to steal old promises from the old covenant.

If you're going to "stand on the promises," make sure they're promises God actually made to you.

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Related: Never Read a Bible Verse