House for Sale

Yes…we have put our house on the market.  This is another piece in the puzzle of becoming debt-free that I posted about here and here.  What are our main goals?  There are 2 of them…

1.  To significantly lower our monthly housing cost.  We can afford the house we live in, but why?  Wouldn’t it be nicer to have a house that we can pay off faster and thus free up money to be able to give away more?

2.  To move closer to NCCS.  The majority of our time and energy is plugged into the ministry of the school.  Rather than driving so far each way, we’d like to live closer and save that gas money…to pay off our house faster and then have more to give away!

So…we put our house on the market last week.  I know the timing is odd with us expecting Emma to arrive sometime in the next 7-8 weeks…but we believe strongly this is something God is leading us to do and we believe that His timing is perfect.  It doesn’t make sense, but He didn’t ask us to understand, He called us to obey.

If you know someone looking for a house…we have a great one for sale that we would love for them to buy.  We’ve found a couple of houses in Acworth that would help us meet our 2 goals, but we know that God wants us to sell this one before we make any commitments to other homes.  Spread the word…help us sell our house!

Check out our house listing online here.

Created in the image of God

What does it mean to be made in the image of God and what features of the creation account explain the relationship of the woman to the man?

According to Erickson, it is a critical concept to understand that humans are made in the image of God.  He points out that is what separates us from animals, pants, and all other living things.  This understanding should also drive our interactions with other people.  If we have a clear picture of what it means to be made in the image of God, we will treat people differently realizing that they too are created in the image of God.

I love this point by John Piper in explaining the fact that even though we are made in the image of God, we have really messed up that image by our sin. “So here again the belief that we were created in God’s image begs for a completion — in this case a redemption, a transformation, a kind of re-creation. And that is exactly what Christianity brings. “By grace are you saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God — not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works…Put on the new nature created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 2:8-10; 4:24). God created us in His image, but we have marred it almost beyond recognition and Jesus is the answer. He comes by faith, He forgives, He cleanses, and He begins a reclamation project called sanctification that will end in the glory that God intended for human beings in the first place. Therefore since we know that we were created in the image of God, our sin and corruption begs for an answer. And Jesus is the answer” (John Piper, Bethlehem Baptist Church, May 1989).

There are three ways to view the nature of what it means to be created in the image of God.  The substantive view says that it is some sort of characteristic of our physical or bodily makeup.  The relational view says that humans display the image when in a particular relationship.  The functional view is the most popular currently and it says that the image has more to do with what a person does, more of a human function than a particular characteristic.

Erickson speaks a great deal to the relationship of the woman to the man.  He takes apart Genesis 2:18 in the Hebrew and talks about how critical the role of the woman is to the man and all that takes place.  He points out that “lord” and “master” are reserved for a man, but that often the feminine of those words appear as well.

He points out that in many cases, women were considered inferior to men, but also that that position was never vilified by Jesus.  He often spent time extolling the virtuous women that he met along the way, i.e. Mary, Martha, Mary Magdalene, Elizabeth, and Anna.  Galatians 3:28 even says specifically, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all on in Christ Jesus.”  Even the explanation of a Proverbs 31 is one that commands respect.  The role of a woman is to be a helper to her husband.  That doesn’t mean less than, often it means much more work.  God created man and from man, He created woman.  A thorough research of Scripture shows that God values the role of the woman and the man equally for different tasks.

The problem of evil

Give the three common solutions to the problem of evil, and your evaluation of Erickson’s response to these solutions.

The problem of evil, and more importantly, the explanation of its source has been the source of debates for many generations and will continue to be for many generations to come.  Many of the most intellectual Christian minds still disagree on a solution for how to explain the problem of evil.

There are three solutions that have been proposed in order to make an attempt at some explanation.  The first is finitism, which would reject the idea that God is omnipotent.  The second involves modifying the idea of God’s goodness.  The third solution is to deny that evil exists.

Finitism is well represented in the work of Edgar Brightman.  In the video, Dr. Mitchell pointed out that the idea of limiting God’s omniscience proposes dualism which would say that there is a power out there that God cannot control.  This position would make it hard for someone to place their faith in a God that may or may not be able to follow through on His plan for their life.

The second solution, which calls for modifying the idea of God’s goodness, is well represented in the work of Gordon Clark, a well-known Calvinist.  He makes the point that he doesn’t believe that human’s have free will and that God is the cause of everything.  Our book quotes Clark, “Let it be unequivocally said that this view certainly makes God the cause of sin.  God is the sole ultimate cause of everything.  There is absolutely nothing independent of him.  He alone is the eternal being.  He alone is omnipotent.  He alone is sovereign.”  Of course, one funny thing to point out is that Clark’s position on the problem of evil is in direct contradiction to Brightman’s idea of finitism.

The third proposed solution is simply to deny the existence of evil.  Dr. Mitchell used Mary Baker Eddy as a great example of this point of view.  As a Christian Scientist, she believed that evil is a false belief.  She did not believe in disease or death and even promised to call her followers from the grave just to let them know that she was alright and there was no such thing as death.  The phone company finally cut the service off to the phone when she never called!  Erickson points out that this solution doesn’t address the fact that even if you deny the existence of evil, you can’t deny that the illusion of evil exists.

After the explanation of each of the three solutions, Erickson goes on to talk about the fact that these solutions really aren’t that plausible because of a variety of reasons.  First, he points out “not all instances of evil are of the same fundamental type.”  Second, he points out that “we must not overemphasize one type of evil to the neglect of others.”  Erickson concludes by pointing out that “the problem of evil is a result of a misunderstanding or overstatement of one or more of these factors.”

In his lecture, Dr. Mitchell made a great point when he said, “Evil is a great laboratory experience which provides the opportunity to refine the soul.”  When we encounter evil, it is an opportunity for us to share Christ and to see His glory triumph.  I heard a preacher ask one time if we consider evil and the problems we encounter to be more like a prison, a hospital, or a seminary?  I hope that we can all say a seminary.  I know that looking back on my life, some of the most growth has occurred when evil entered a situation and tried to steal my joy and tried to hold me back from the perfect plan that God has laid out for my life.  The problem of evil is one that we will always have to deal with, but it started when Adam made the choice to sin and we have all continued sinning.  We will never be able to avoid evil until we are in heaven and reunited with God in a place where sin is not even possible.

God’s love vs. Moral Purity

This is my seminary discussion board post for this week…
Some have contended that there is tension between God’s moral purity and His love. How would you respond to such a charge?

I have heard people say there is tension between God’s love and justice.  Many people cannot grasp the fact that God is both loving and just. The cross itself is the ultimate picture of the mingling of ultimate love and justice.  The same God who created a boundary between sin and himself provided the very sacrifice to help us bridge that gap and be redeemed into His presence.

In this world, there is no one else that can embody both moral purity and love.  That is why God is holy and we are not.  It seems that there is tension between God’s moral purity and His love when you first think about it.  But diving into the Scripture reveals a totally different paradigm.  The first example of God drawing a line in the sand about moral purity comes in the story of Adam and Eve.  He gave them a specific commandment not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  They ate the fruit in total disregard for God’s moral law and as a result sin entered the world, which led to separation between God and man.  He warned them and they pursued the sin anyway.

All throughout Scripture, God is very clear about what He hates (Proverbs 6:16-19) and what we should be focused on (Philippians 4:8).  One of my favorite passages is Psalm 24:3-5 where he gives the qualifications of a person who wants to stand in His presence.  He looks for a person with clean hands and a pure heart.

Millard Erickson states “God’s justice requires that there be payment of the penalty of sin. God’s love however, desires humans to be restored to fellowship with him” (Erickson, 324).  It is hard for the human mind to comprehend that the consequence of sin has been paid by the one that we were separated from due to our sin.

Just as a loving parent, God established His moral standard, yet His love abounded. His standard of moral purity has not diminished. The penalty of sin hasn’t changed. The penalty remains for those that reject Jesus Christ.  But it was God who loved us so much that He sent His only Son (John 3:16). It was God who looked upon His creation and provided a way for the penalty to be paid - through His Son.

Romans 5:8 says that, “God demonstrated His own love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  He is not erasing the penalty for our moral impurity; he has put Christ in our place to pay the debt.

To those that say there is tension, I would respectfully disagree. There is only tension for those that choose not to believe and accept God’s ability to provide appropriation for our sinful acts. Jesus is the bridge from His moral purity and the extension of His love toward mankind. God’s moral purity and love are perfectly in tune in Jesus Christ. God sent His only Son to be born and die for people that deserved to die. Who can question the kind of love that holds us to the highest level of accountability because it cost God His one and only son?

Fall Retreat 2008 Photos

Here are the long-awaited retreat photos.  Click your group and have a blast remembering what a great week we had!!

Middle School Fall Retreat 2008 Photos

Upper School Fall Retreat 2008 Photos