ANOTHER BIG QUESTION

I have recently felt an inner challenge to wrestle with one more of the big questions of the Christian faith - and that gets scary because you might come to the conclusion that widely accepted and preached ideas don't actually have as strong of a Scriptural foundation as you have always assumed.

In recent years, I have wrestled with the nature of hell, the doctrine of original sin, all of TULIP, and the definition of "the gospel".

Now I am exploring "faith alone" and the relationship between "faith" and "works". What does the Bible mean by "faith"? Is faith the opposite of works? Are works necessary for salvation or not?

This is a BIGGIE and another hot potato that many Christian leaders get very passionate about. 

And I guess I have been largely oblivious to this before, but apparently a lot of people see faith/works as THE major boundary between Protestants and Catholics.  

In other words, it's another one of those theological topics where, no matter which side you finally find yourself landing, you are bound to be called a heretic by SOMEBODY.

BEST 3 MINUTES OF PREACHING?

Several people across social media have recently linked to this sermon clip by Alistair Begg claiming it is "the best 3 minutes of preaching you will ever hear":

I beg to differ. (No pun intended)

The main thrust of this clip is the preacher's concern that anybody might mistakenly takes "works" to have anything to do with the "ground of our salvation". 

Yes, we must guard against thinking obedience to Christ plays any role in salvation, for heaven's sake! 

Begg asks "the old question", "If you were to die tonight and you were getting entry into heaven, what would you say?"

It might be an "old" question, but it is also a terribly misguided question, for at least two reasons:

First, nobody is getting entry into heaven when they die - not until we've all been given resurrection bodies and faced the Great Throne on The Day of Judgment. 

Second, this sort of pop theology scenario of answering the angel's question at the pearly gates only reinforces what Matthew Bates would call the "truncated gospel" - i.e. "that the ultimate goal for humanity is spiritual bliss in heaven" rather than a more robust and biblical understanding of the gospel as "embodied participation in the new heavens and the new earth" under the governance of Jesus, our King. (Salvation by Allegiance Alone, p.29)

Remember that the first time the word "gospel" appears in the New Testament is in Matthew 4:23, which says that Jesus "went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people."

Jesus preached the gospel of the Kingdom for three years. What was He saying about His own death during that time?

In the clip, Begg goes on specifically to equate "Jesus on the cross" with "the gospel". 

But that, brothers and sisters, is a severely truncated gospel. It is serving up one slice of a much larger pie. 

No wonder why people are hungry for more. 

TRIP ANTICIPATION

Last year at this time, I started making plans for an anniversary trip to Scotland. The anticipation put a joyful spin on every passing week. Working out the details and making reservations - and even making payments along the way - were all a joy, because each step brought the reality closer.

The promise of that trip energized me on a weekly basis. It was never absent from my consciousness. 

And when July finally arrived, the whole thing came together even better than I had hoped.

This year I am feeling a similar excitement about planning a very different trip.

God willing, this July I will be taking a group of high school and college students with me to Ghana, West Africa. (And hopefully a parent or two will join us.)

So far I have at least four teens who are seriously interested: two gals and two guys. 

Among the young ladies is my daughter, Sarah - and how awesome will that be? 

A couple of the teens from Sardinia Baptist are also interested and I couldn't be more excited. As one who knows firsthand the way God can move through a mission trip, the anticipation of what the Lord might accomplish during this trip already has me on the edge of my seat. 

Would you pray for us as this team comes together? I would much appreciate it.

And if you want to join us, let's talk!

A CHILDISH THING?

Our youngest turned 19 last Friday. 

A few weeks ago, Sarah had almost decided that it was time to leave behind the days of birthday parties with elaborate themes and decorations. Ready to embark on her final year as a teenager, maybe this year she should just invite some friends over for a quiet dinner and some cake.

Melissa assured her that parties were fun, not childish, and the next thing you know, Amazon boxes full of party favors, crafts and decorations were arriving on our front step daily, and Sarah was spending hours in her room making colorful chains from strips of construction paper and tiaras out of felt. 

The party theme was based on the children's book Fancy Nancy and so everything was to be glitzy and over the top.

I contributed the cake. Melissa made gobs of cheesy potatoes per the birthday girl's request. Sarah and her friends all donned their most outrageous dresses, highest heels, and gaudiest costume jewelry and made an evening out of eating sugar, bejeweling crafts, and filming Tik Tok videos. 

We all had an awesome time.

To my shame, I have to admit that, originally, I had been on the side of "putting childish things behind". Why bother with the effort and expense of balloons and confetti? 

But my daughter reminded me of something important: 

Life is an amazing gift and taking joy in it is NOT a childish thing. 

I am already looking forward to her 20th!

WHAT ARE WE SAVED FROM?

When we speak of "salvation", what do we mean exactly? What are we saved from?

Even non-Christians know this much: Jesus saves people from hell.

Right?

Even though I know the Bible never uses the phrase "saved from hell", I wondered what AI would say if I asked, "Does the Bible ever say we are saved from hell?"

Considering the AI is simply regurgitating what actual human beings have written, the incredibly weak reasoning on the part of online Christian "apologists" is quite evident: 4 key verses to demonstrate salvation from hell and not a single one mentions hell. 

These 4 verses would be more fitting as answers to the question, "What does the Bible say about human beings being saved from DEATH?" 

FASTING AND STRENGTH - DATA

Since I posted about my weight loss with my 7-day water fast, I thought I would also share one other relevant data set: my ability to perform push-ups.

And this is kind of nerdy, but it does prove a point about fasting.

When I started my fast, Melissa assumed that I would feel weak and tired immediately, and that each day I would drag a little bit more. She also feared that I would lose muscle mass. 

Those seem like solid assumptions, right?

In reality, though, if my general energy level saw any change, it was only for the better. I was more awake and alert and got more work done.

And there was no muscle loss.

Each morning for over a year now, I have begun my day with three sets of push-ups. I don't try for a specific number with each set, only that I push through until I can't do any more. After my first set, I go brush my teeth and shave, then do the second set, then shower, followed by the third set. I record the numbers in my daily calendar. (Tracking progress is a good incentive to keep up a habit.) 

I graphed the daily sets from before, during, and after the 7-day fast and here's what it looked like:

The interesting thing about the graph is that it shows no significant loss of numbers in the first set of push-ups, but when it comes to the second and third sets, there's a steep drop off starting at Day4/5.

So I lost some endurance strength temporarily, but I didn't lose any muscle mass - recovery was pretty immediate as soon as I resumed eating.

POST-FAST BOUNCE - THE DATA

The church season of Lent is quickly approaching - it begins on Ash Wednesday, February 18th.

Lent is the one time of year when the spiritual discipline of fasting gets at least a bit of attention. (But still only a fraction of what it deserves.)

I started January with a full-on water fast for seven days and it was an incredible experience. The number one thing it taught me was that I look to food far more often for entertainment than nutrition. 

(I still haven't figured out a good substitute for snacking when I get bored. Grabbing some chips or a cookie is just too easy, while all other alternatives take effort and discipline.)

I was curious what my weight would look like over the course of the fast, so I tracked it each morning. Now that I am a full week past the end of my fast, it is worth looking at the pattern.

Here's a graph of my weight loss and bounce:

That 194 in the center was the day after I broke my fast. I knew I would bounce back some, but I was surprised to see my weight jump back up a full 7 pounds in just five days. 

Now I am glad to see a new descent has started. 

It is slower and gentler than my water fast, of course, but still welcome. I am fairly certain this new descent would not exist at all if I had not joined Melissa in her sugar fast. I am guessing my weight likely would have crept right back up to 206 if I had immediately gone back to my old eating habits.

We have one more week on the sugar fast and then I am not sure what comes next. But I can't go back to eating like I was eating.

All I know is that Sarah's birthday yesterday - with its big strawberry cake with buttercream frosting - gave me an excuse to cheat just a bit and now tonight I am feeling so sleepy I can hardly function.

Coincidence?