This video is good to remember on Easter and on every day of the year.  HE IS RISEN!

In case you don’t know Rob Bell, he is the leader of Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan. He started Mars Hill in 1999 and in an article in Christianity Today, he states in part, “We’re rediscovering Christianity as an Eastern religion, as a way of life. Legal metaphors for faith don’t deliver a way of life…”

My thought on this is, if you have to “rediscover” Chrisitianity, what  exactly are you discovering?  Are you saying that historical Christianity is wrong?  Where is your scriptural basis to back up your theory?

Rob Bell has written multiple books such as Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith, Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile, among others.

In this new video regarding his new book, Rob Bell reveals a lot about what he believes, whether or not he explicitly states it or not.  Bell asks the question, “Will only a few select people make it to heaven? And will billion and billions of people burn forever in hell? If that’s the case, how do you become one of the few?”

The video is posted below for you to watch for yourself. I think that Rob Bell is trying to explain that love wins. (This is me without having read the book.)

One important thing to remember… God is love and he created His world from love. God’s love is unconditional and never ending. However, before God is love, above all else… God is holy.  If we overlook that truth, then nothing else matters.

Anyway, I have not been posting about ideas and articles that I read, that I may have an opinion about because they just aren’t “blog worthy.”

Well, that will change. As they come to me, I will post them with the tag, “Utmost Importance.”  They are urgent reads that need attention in our culture today.  So here is one based on something  I just read on a blog.

From Solomons Porch – “You will not find statements of what our community believes on this site. Belief is a dynamic lived reality and doesn’t lend itself to website statements.” – Doug Padgitt (Leader of Solomon’s Porch Emergent Church)… What does this mean?

Dictionary.com defines belief as “confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof.”

So, is Doug saying that he doesn’t have confidence in his beliefs? What does he believe? Forget the part of “website statements”. Essentially, he is saying beliefs cannot be written down period because of the dynamic nature.

So, these churches and ministries that post a belief statement… is this not right?  What about the Bible?  Does Doug Padgitt and the Emergent Church not believe the Bible? Is the bible priniciples and beliefs wrong now in this age, since they were written down? Where does it stop?

I belief the Bible is the infallible, inerrant, inspired word of God. I believe that I am a sinner and it is only through God’s grace that I have hope. I believe in the saving power of Jesus Christ and the subsitutionary atonement. I believe in the power of the gospel to save the worst possible people in the world, according to who God has chosen, of which I am one.

That is the beginning of my beliefs and that is going on this website.

- Adam Smith

On November 11, skeptic/atheist Sam Harris commissioned a chart through his foundation “Project Reason” showing how the Bible is wrong, according to him.

There have been a couple of notable responses to this chart so far, so I will share those. First, a snippet from Justin Holcomb at The Resurgence:

The claim that the Bible is full of contradictions is ignorant, at best, of Christian theologies of scripture. But it seems more like an intentional misrepresentation, which is prejudiced propaganda, of what Christians actually believe about the Bible. The claim by Project Reason is intellectually disingenuous, which is something that fundamentalists do.

Christians believe that the Bible is both fully inspired by God and fully written by humans. Christians believe that scripture is inerrant in its original manuscripts, not the copies and translation.

Christian doctrines of scripture allows for the human elements of style to be present in the writing process and accounting for the inevitable human error that occurs in textual transmission.

Some of the supposed contradictions are because of obvious copying errors. But many of the others are because Project Reason doesn’t seem to know the basics of how to read an ancient text.

When all the historical facts, literary genres, and issues of textual transmission are investigated and considered, and when properly interpreted, the Bible never contradicts itself and does not misrepresent the facts.

A more robust explanation of evangelical Christian belief about the trustworthiness of the Bible is found in The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.

The second snippet comes from Matt Perman, Director of Strategy at Desiring God:

If two things really contradict one another, they cannot both be true.

But tension and the initial appearance of contradiction are something else altogether. They cause us to think harder about how the two truths fit together. They cause us to probe more deeply and come to an even greater understanding.

Which is why crying out “contradiction” when we see tension in the Bible is lazy and superficial. It leaves us with uncreative level one thinking, rather than bringing us deeper into a fuller understanding of the truth.

The truths of God and the Bible are very great. Yet as humans we are continually tempted to settle for easy answers and stage one thinking. As some have said, “you rarely think until you’re confronted with a problem.” So God has deliberately made parts of the Bible hard, in order to lead us in to greater learning.

So when we see apparent contradictions in the Bible, the proper response is not to sit in judgment on the text. Rather, the proper response is to sit back in gratefulness and say “there is something amazing to be learned here.”

My thought is that Sam Harris is too much of a skeptic for his own good. I don’t know if he actually calls himself an atheist, but if you don’t believe the Bible is inerrant, how can you believe that there is a God?

Another resource to check out would be the book, “Big Book of Bible Difficulties, The: Clear and Concise Answers from Genesis to Revelation”. It seems these supposed “contradictions” have already been answered.

Also, R.C. Sproul has something to say about Bible contradictions:

Biblical Inerrancy is a cornerstone, foundation belief in order to be a Christian!

My thanks to Justin Taylor. I read his blog, which turned me on to the Sam Harris chart and the above to blogs addressing it.

- Adam Smith

Part 1 – Confessions of a convert to Islam

Part 2 – Converting to Islam Today

Part 3 – “Why Don’t You Love Jesus”

I will say just one thing about this author and her series of articles.

She says she is a convert to Islam. One must wonder what she means when she says this, because based on the evidence of what is present in this article, she was never a Christian.

However, I don’t want to focus on commenting on those articles specifically. Rather, it started a thought process about the god of Islam and the God of the Bible.

The Muslim community will readily tell us that they love and respect Jesus. So, what exactly do they believe about him?

• Muslims believe that Jesus was a messenger of God (Quran 5:75)
• Muslims believe in the virgin birth (Quran 19:16-21)
• Muslims believe that Jesus performed miracles (Quran 5:110)

However, as Christians, we believe that “the love of God that we get strength from is the love of God uniquely expressed through Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins because he died on the cross and rose again” (John Piper’s words, used because it is perfectly expressed). This truth of Jesus is radically rejected by Islam.

Muslims do not believe that Jesus was the son of God, they do not believe in the Trinity, and they do not believe that Jesus died on a cross.

If you remember a few years ago (2007), an open letter was written from leaders of the Muslim faith to leaders of the Christian faith. It calls for peace between Muslims and Christians and tries to work for common ground and understanding among both faiths.

There was a response to that called “Loving God & Neighbor Together: A Christian response”, and was taken out as a full page ad in a Sunday New York Times. John Piper discusses this response at length here.

However, we cannot come to a common ground between us. There is not a common word between us. Muslims do not believe that Jesus was the son of God. Jesus said in Luke 10:16, “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

Therefore Muslims do not believe in the one, true God.

I hope all Muslims will come to know the truth of the true God and His only begotten Son, and will believe in His power and His love and the unique saving power of Jesus.

Christians should, as Piper says, continue to reach out to the Muslim world and present the truth of gospel, but the gospel cannot be compromised.

- Adam Smith

I caught myself thinking that last night. First, we all know what a false teacher is… one who does not preach the gospel. One who is, as some put it, gospel light. Or any number of movements out there – the Health, Wealth & Prosperity Gospel, the Word of Faith movement, the Emergent Movement. All of these are false belief systems, and the people who proclaim them are false teachers and heretics, and blasphemers.

There are a number of others, but you get my point.

As far as the people teaching, you have people like Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, Brian McLaren, Doug Padgitt, Rob Bell, Kenneth Copeland, Paul Crouch (Head of TBN), Robert Tilton, Kenneth Hagin, Todd Bentley, and a host of others.

So, is it fair to say, for example, that Joel Osteen isn’t as bad a Todd Bentley? Or maybe, how can you classify Brian McLaren and Benny Hinn together? Is one of them less wrong?

I caught myself last night reflecting on Franklin Graham, and I remember thinking, “Well, he does the so called sinner’s prayer, but I would rather listen to him than Joel Osteen. I guess he is just ‘less wrong.’”

Well, no that doesn’t matter. Wrong is wrong. Now, let me clarify. Franklin Graham may not be a false teacher per say, but he does believe in the sinner’s prayer, which is not Biblical and may (not always) lead to a false assurance of salvation, and that is the same in the end as wrongly believing in a false gospel.

Do you ever catch yourself thinking as I did about a “less wrong” teacher?

The gospel is truth. We don’t need to add to it by speaking a word of faith; we don’t need to doubt God’s word in telling us that we are saved and justified by faith. Everything that we have on this earth has been given to us by the grace of God and it should be our desire to use all that we have to bring glory and honor to Him. He is our peace; nothing else do we need.

May we worship God and our Lord Jesus Christ with the echo of Revelation 5:13: “And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

I will leave you with the words of some Godly men about preaching the one and only gospel and not backing down:

“Let this be to you the mark of true gospel preaching – where Christ is everything, and the creature is nothing; where it is salvation all of grace, through the work of the Holy Spirit applying to the soul the precious blood of Jesus.”

- Charles Spurgeon

“There is no greater message to be heard than that which we call the Gospel. But as important as that is, it is often given to massive distortions or over simplifications. People think they’re preaching the Gospel to you when they tell you, ‘you can have a purpose to your life’, or that ‘you can have meaning to your life’, or that ‘you can have a personal relationship with Jesus.’ All of those things are true, and they’re all important, but they don’t get to the heart of the Gospel.”

- R.C. Sproul

“If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified.”

- Leonard Ravenhill

Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. – 2 Timothy 4:2-4

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. – Romans 1:16

Is it because I live right and believe that there is a God? No.

It is because that I have believed that Jesus Christ is my Savior, he is the chosen One, he is the one who took my sins on the cross FOR me. Jesus is not a part of my life. He is my life. My old life is gone and I have a new life in Christ.

But how can we continually know that we are saved and have proof of assurance? First John gives us many tests to show us if what we have, or think we have, in Christ is real.

Test 1: My lifestyle conforms to what God has revealed to me about His character and His will. (1 John 1)

Test 2: The true Christian will battle against sin. I will be broken over my sin. Over time, I will become more sensitive to sin. (1 John 1)

Test 3: I have come to know Him, if I keep His commandments. 1 John 2:3-4 (cf. Matt. 7:21)

Test 4: Do I abide in Him? Am I walking in the same manner that He walked? What are the characteristics of my life? What is my lifestyle? What do others see when they look at my life? (1 John 2:6)

Test 5: ‘Brother’ is not referring to the poor, or of another race (another race does not exist – there is only race); It is saying the one who is Christian will love other Christians – to want to be with them, to grow with them, to serve with them. (1 John 2:9-11)

Test 6: 1 John 2:15 – 17: Do I love the world? What is my lifestyle? Does it demonstrate a love for the world?

Test 7: 1 John 5:12: The greatest evidence is an almost craving for the Son of God, a passion to be found only in Him

These are not the only tests in 1 John, but they are a good start. I encourage you to study through 1 John and know those words. Continually ask God to draw you nearer to him and to teach you His word.

- Adam Smith

Belief in the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth and belief in the virtue of his teachings are not at all the same thing. Writing to John Adams in 1813, having taken his razor blade to the books of the New Testament and removed all “the artificial vestments in which they have been muffled by priests,” Thomas Jefferson said the 46-page residue contained “the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man.”

Ernest Renan, in his pathbreaking “Life of Jesus” in 1863, also repudiated the idea that Jesus was the son of God while affirming the beauty of his teachings.

In rather striking contrast, C. S. Lewis maintained in his classic statement “Mere Christianity”:

“That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse.”

As an admirer of Jefferson and Renan and a strong nonadmirer of Lewis, I am bound to say that Lewis is more honest here.

Absent a direct line to the Almighty and a conviction that the last days are upon us, how is it “moral” to teach people to abandon their families, give up on thrift and husbandry and take to the stony roads?

How is it moral to claim a monopoly on access to heaven, or to threaten waverers with everlasting fire, let alone to condemn fig trees and persuade devils to infest the bodies of pigs?

Such a person if not divine would be a sorcerer and a fanatic.

HT:   Justin Taylor

He says (and I completely agree with based on Biblical fact) that,

Think about that…

“Oh my Lord, I cry out to you, for I need nothing else. God I hate the sin that lurks within me. Rub out my desires and my self-intentions. Take my sin far from me and renew a right spirit within me. Lord if You don’t act, I have no hope and I have no joy.

“Only in Your Son do I find my strength; lately I have been weak. Oh my Lord, to hell with this culture, the devices and the gadgets. Oh how I loathe the evil one and his manipulation of these things in my life and in the life of those I love.

“Lord bring Your swift justice upon this land and may Your judgment come soon. May You save those whom You will. I can’t even begin to imagine what the blood from the ground is crying out to You – their pain must be horrible.

“But oh Lord, You and You alone are good. I know you are trustworthy, but my flesh rebels and sets it’s eye upon many lusts. Yes Lord, crush my flesh with it’s desires so that I see You in Your beauty. If it be Your sovereign will, remove the physical lusts and purge them forever into hell.

“Oh God, my cry to You is for victory and for steadfast boldness in the name of Your dear Son – Christ Jesus the Lord. Help me, Oh Lord, to have a true and holy understanding in the carrying out of Your will and Your commandments.

“For if I remain as I am, I am a fool who is without understanding, and worse yet, a blasphemer of Your name. So, oh God, give me clarity, wisdom and understanding for the sake of Your name. If I am sent to hell, You are just in doing so and all of heaven will praise You.

“All glory, honor and praise is Yours! Your feble and weak servant. Amen.”

- Jeremy B. Strang