Orthodox Deviation has returned to its original home at Blogger. There I’m less likely to have my blog stripped away for a month or have handy features stolen. Just click right hya. Oooh nice, Refromed Blogs still has the “edit link” feature!
How To Defeat Conditional Immortality
Published October 11th, 2007 in Conditional Immortality. 0 CommentsHammer is doing a series of posts entitled “How To Defeat Conditional Immortality” over at his blog, The Forsaken Gift. They make for an interesting read and, if his advise is heeded, would help reduce the amount of time the two camps spend merely arguing at each other. Check them out: Part 1, Part 2.
A Christian blogger, who goes by the screen name Aspiring Theologian, has a pretty good post entitled Possible Biblical Allegory in HALO. His post is a good introduction to the topic. I may post more on the topic later.
Spike TV has a TV show called Ultimate Fighter. On the show, two UFC champions coach a team of amateur fighters. A fighter-in-training from each team is chosen to fight in the octagon and the winner is one step closer to being a pro fighter in the UFC. As well, the team for which the winner fights is credited with a win thus showing the abilities of the trainer of that team. Matt Hughes, one of the coaches, is a Christian and requires his trainees to devote time to prayer and Bible study before training. Hughes has also been the champion of his weight class for quite some time now. He’s quite the warrior (he seems to have a genuinely cool personality too). He credits his success to not only having physical and mental health, but to being spiritually healthy too. Undoubtedly, God is no less capable of raising spirit-filled warriors today than he was in the days of old.
One of my favorite parts of the show was when Hughes, when commenting on why he made them study, said that he enjoyed caring for people and could quit fighting and go work for a nursing home. On the other hand, the show can be a pain to watch too. Like when the other team’s coach was making fun of Hughes for his Christianity and also the frequent bleeped-out profanity of the foul-mouthed guys.
Are we left here on our own?
Can you feel when your last breath is gone?
Night is weighing heavy now
Be quiet and wait for a voice that will say
Come awake
From sleep, arise
You were dead
You’ve come alive
Wake up wake up
Open your eyes
Climb from your grave
Into the light
Bring us back to life
You are not the only one
Who feels like the only one
Night soon will be lifted friend
Just be quiet and wait for the voice that will say
Come awake
From sleep, arise
You were dead
You’ve come alive
Wake up wake up
Open your eyes
Climb from your grave
Into the light
Bring us back to life
Rise, rise, rise, rise, rise
Rise, rise, rise, rise….
Shine, shine, Oh shine
We will shine
We will rise
We will shine, shine, shine
The extent of corruption of the human heart shines ever so clearly in this song. “Let’s glorify ourselves and pretend that we are glorifying God.”
Halo 3 Anticipation
Published September 22nd, 2007 in Eschatology/Judgment, Satire and Culture. 0 CommentsGamer 1: Dude, I am so stoked about the release of Halo 3. That game is definitely going to bring the fullness of multiplayer Halo fun factor.
Gamer 2: Yeah, it’s going to be cool and all, but don’t you think you are betraying Halo by looking so forward to Halo 3 so much. I mean, we have Halo 2 right now and it’s perfectly fine.
Gamer 1: I like Halo 2, in fact I love it, but Halo 3 is going to be so great. I think of it even when I’m playing Halo 2.
Gamer 2: So basically you’ve abandoned Halo 2.
Gamer 1: By no means, I still play it and enjoy it. I still try to increase in rank and meet xbox live newcomers. I just know the advantages that Halo 3 will bring at its arrival will me much greater than Halo 2, even if I increase all the way to rank 1 and the number of people I can play on xbox live grows exponentially before it comes out. Is it not possible to greatly anticipate the Halo 3 release yet still love what I have?
Gamer 2: I suppose, but to me a true Halo fan has such loyalty to Bungie and its masterpiece that they are fully satisfied in playing Halo 2 and increasing their stats. Halo 3 can be released tomorrow or in 100 years, but I’m content in the current game play. Plus, by the time it comes out, my rank and stats will be nearly perfect which is almost as exciting to me as the game’s next gen, greatly improved sequel complete with all of its added weapons, levels and other assets.
Spirits of Man and Beast
Published September 18th, 2007 in Resurrection and Conditional Immortality. 4 CommentsWhen God created the creatures on the sixth day, he told the earth to bring for the living creatures. In order for a creature to be living, it must have the breath of life (spirit). So God commanded the earth to bring forth living creatures with breath of life included and the earth obeyed his will.
Genesis 1:24 - God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;” and it was so.
When God created man, he crafted man out of the earth just like every other creature, but breathed the breath of life into his nostrils himself.
Genesis 1:26 - God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
2:7 Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
This distinction between the origin of the spirits of man and beast seems to be what Solomon had in mind when he said:
Ecclesiastes 3:21 - Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, whether it goes downward to the earth?”
When every man dies, his spirit returns to where it came from, God (cf. Ecclesiastes 12:7). On the other hand, when an animal dies its spirit returns to where it came from, the ground. Yet, Ecclesiastes also teaches us that man and beast are the same in terms of the essence of their being:
3:19 For that which happens to the sons of men happens to animals. Even one thing happens to them. As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they have all one breath; and man has no advantage over the animals: for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.
Our spirit is no different in essence than the beasts, as it serves as our life force, so to speak, just as it does them. We all have one breath. So why is it that our breath of life returns to God, while that of the animals goes downward? Resurrection. There is coming a day when the spirit of every man will be breathed back into his nostrils. It returns to the God who gave it until then.
Luke 23:46 (ESV)
Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
Haiku is meant to tell about a seemingly ordinary moment (having to do with nature) in a way that makes it special. Humans are existential creatures. Sometimes, as we go about our daily routines, we see something special in an ordinary moment that we have failed to experience the last 100 times we have performed the routine. Whether it is a special moment in which you appreciate the same cool breeze that has been blowing for the past month, observe the colorful array of fruits that normally occupies your neighborhood grocery store’s produce section, or read for the 30th time God’s creation of the rainbow in Genesis. An existential moment can happen anytime as we go about our business in God’s awesome creation. Most people, after experiencing such, want to tell others about this golden moment.
But how do we tell them? Do we expect them to understand exactly what we felt in that brief and commonplace moment? For them to appreciate it would require a level of empathyequal and opposite to the teller’s ability to recount it to them. Of course, one can’t expect everyone to be empathetic enough to appreciate such a seemingly mundane event (human’s are also very self-centered). It has to be expressed in an artistic and succinct way. The event was but a moment, so the reflection must be also. Haiku is perfect for the occasion.
Here is a refreshing word on the topic of terrorism from an Edward Fudge GracEmail entitled “Beyond Terror.” So many evangelicals seem to be drawn into the notion that we are actually at “war” with terror, our biggest enemy, and that America is somehow impervious to evil. I like Fudge’s perspective.
First, we lament the mind-numbing and momentous loss of life [of 911]. We mourn for those who perished and pray for their loved ones. Though thousands died, each was an individual, snatched without warning from family and friends. We cannot explain such tragedies, and humans cannot finally prevent their repetition. We can ponder certain larger implications, however, and be reminded of eternal verities. What appear, from earth’s viewpoint, to be apocalyptic bowls of wrath, may always serve constructively as trumpet calls of warning. We live in a fallen world. Nothing earthly is ultimately secure. God weeps, I believe, but he is not threatened. Evil does not take him by surprise. Isaiah chapter 40 says that God is still sovereign, just as he has always been.
Second, no country, including the United States of America, is invulnerable to evil or — should it ever be necessary — beyond the reach of divine judgment. It is a false pride which suggests otherwise, as ancient Nineveh, Babylon, Tyre and Rome all bear witness. The prophet Obadiah’s words to haughty Edom still warn wise souls today. The phrase “in God we trust” must be more than a motto on a coin. It must motivate and describe a manner of life. America has been richly blessed by God, but God is not indebted to America.
Third, whatever happens now or hereafter, we can hope individually in God himself. Every one of us will die — unless Jesus returns first. We come into this world facing death. The only uncertainties are when we will die and how. Yet there is no place for panic, no time for terror. The prophet Habakkuk waited for the sword to fall on his own nation, helpless to change the course. Even so, the faith-filled finale in Habakkuk chapter three remains a model expression of confident trust in God when all else is gone. When we finally cross over into eternity, only God will be by our side. Because of Jesus Christ, we can repose in God’s presence from here to there as well.
The Bible is full of tensions. Tensions between law and grace, justification and sanctification, and the eschatological tension between this age and the age to come serve as a few examples. Another tension that seems to come up is that of the authority of the historical church and that of Scripture. I personally think that the beliefs of the early church is less significant than most reformed folk, mainly because (as a conditionalist) I see how quickly the pagan beliefs of the Greeks mixed with Christianity. Another reason is the idea that the church is maturing. If Christ is conforming the church to his image, there must be things in today’s church that more accurately reflect the truths contained in the Bible than there were in the early post-apostalic church (by “apostalic” I mean during the lives of the writers of the New Testament just in case it has another meaning to some).
A good example is the prebyterian form of government. Many claim that the episcopal form is the oldest, therefore making it the correct form. However, the church’s maturity in our trinitarian faith as well as maturing to a better ability of understanding the Bible (all by the grace of the Holy Spirit working in the saints before us) has given birth to the more biblical Presbyterian form. All of this relates to the Hebrew understanding of truth over time and the biblical understanding of maturity as the means of attaining immortality.
I was thinking earlier today about how profanity in music is useless, immature, and usually displays a lack of lyrical talent. This can be seen in the fact that albums with a lot of profanity are released in edited versions. In a work of art, when an element is changed the meaning is changed. This is most obvious in installation art. Installation art is meant to appeal to the entire sensory experience. It is set up in a location and can be walked through or around, touched, and observed from different angles. The location of the piece is important. For this reason, if the exposition is moved to a different location, the meaning of the piece is changed. The same is true to a certain extent in all other forms of art. Each element is there for a reason and adds to the meaning. If a stroke, note, or word is changed, the meaning is either strengthened or weakened.
This important aspect of art is evidence that profanity in music, for the most part, is worthless and unneeded. The artists themselves proclaim this to us when they allow their albums to be released in edited versions. If they do not mind patching in less vulgar words in place of the profanity, or letting the words to be bleeped out, they admit that the words meant nothing in the first place. Thus, profanity is useless and inartistic.
“Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in, and will not be able.” - Luke 13:24
“Strive” teaches that all outside the strait gate are in great danger. They are in danger of being lost for ever. There is but a step between them and death. If death finds them in their present condition, they will perish without hope. The Lord Jesus saw that clearly. He knew the uncertainty of life and the shortness of time. He would fain have sinners make haste and delay not, lest they put off soul business too late. He speaks as one who saw the devil drawing near to them daily, and the days of their life gradually ebbing away. He would have them take heed they be not too late. Therefore He cries, “Strive.” ~ J.C. Ryle
Job 39:13-18 (ESV)
“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly,
but are they the pinions and plumage of love?
[14] For she leaves her eggs to the earth
and lets them be warmed on the ground,
[15] forgetting that a foot may crush them
and that the wild beast may trample them.
[16] She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers;
though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear,
[17] because God has made her forget wisdom
and given her no share in understanding.
[18] When she rouses herself to flee,
she laughs at the horse and his rider.”
R.C. Sproul from his book Essential Truths of the Christian Faith on the doctrine of soul sleep:
Soul sleep advocates argue that most English editions of the Bible have misplaced the comma [in]…”I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise.
With this change in punctuation the “today” then refers to the time Jesus is speaking rather than the time Jesus will meet the thief in Paradise. This punctuation is unlikely, however. It was perfectly obvious to the thief on what day Jesus was conversing with him. It was hardly necessary for Jesus to say he was speaking “today.” This waste of words for a man gasping for breath in the throes of crucifixion is highly unlikely. Rather, consistent with the rest of the biblical evidence to the intermediate state (see especially Philippians 1:19-26 and 2 Corinthians 5:1-10), the promise to the thief is that he would be reunited with Christ in Paradise that very day.
After using the punctuation of Luke 23:43 to solely prove his case for the intermediate state, he turns his attention to soul sleep advocates who say that the punctuation is most likely incorrectly placed (which is a valid case because the punctuation is relative to the English translation, therefore doctrine cannot be drawn from it. See: Hammer’s post on this verse). His argument against their case is that, if they are correct, then Jesus was wasting his words. We should avoid such arguments at all costs, for if Mr. Sproul is wrong, then he has accused Christ of wasting words all for the sake of proving conditionalists wrong. Of course, if he is correct, then the same is true each time Jesus says “Truly I say to you.”
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