How Can A Loving God Send People To Hell?

More From Tim Keller:

Modern people inevitably think that hell works like this: God gives us time, but if we havn't made the right choices by the end of our lives, he casts our souls into hell for all eternity. As the poor souls fall through space, they cry out for mercy, but God says "Too late! You had your chance! Now you will suffer!" This caricature misunderstands the very nature of evil. The biblical picture is that sin seperates us from the presence of God, which is the source of all joy, and indeed of all love, wisdom, or good things of any sort. Since we were originally created for God's immediate presence, only before his face will we thrive, flourish and acheive our highest potential. If we were to lose his presence totally, that would be hell - the loss of our capability for giving or receiving love or joy.

A common image of hell in the Bible is that of fire. Fire disintegrates. Even in this life we can see the kind of soul disintegration that self-centeredness creates. We know how selfishness and self absorption leads to piercing bitterness, nauseating envy, paralyzing anxiety, paranoid thoughts, and the mental denials and distortions that accompany them. Now ask the question: "What if when we die we don't end, but spiritually our life extends into eternity?" 

Hell, then, is the trajectory of a soul, living a self-absorbed, self-centered life, going on and on forever.

Jesus' parable of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16 supports this view of hell. Lazarus is a poor man who begs at the gate of a cruel rich man. They both die and Lazarus goes to heaven while the rich man goes to hell. There he looks up and sees Lazarus in heaven 'in Abraham's bosom':

--So he called to him "Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire." But Abraham replied "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross from over there to us." He answered, "Then I beg you father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment!" Abraham replied, "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them." "No father Abraham," he said. "but if someone from the dead goes to them they will repent." He said to him, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."--

What is astonishing is that though their status's have now been reversed, the rich man seems to be blind to what has happened. He still expects Lazarus to be his servant and treats him as his water boy. He does not ask to get out of hell, but strongly implies that God never gave him or his family enough information about the afterlife. Commentators have noted the astonishing amount of denial, blame shifting, and spiritual blindness in this soul in hell. They have also noted that the rich man, unlike Lazarus, is never given a personal name. He is only called "a rich man", strongly hinting that since he had built his identity on his wealth rather than on God, once he lost his wealth he lost any sense of a self.

In short, hell is simply one's freely chosen identity apart from God on a trajectory into infinity.

We see this process 'writ small' in addictions to drugs, alcohol, gambling, and pornography. First, there is disintegration, because as time goes on you need more and more of the addictive substance to get an equal kick, which leads to less and less satisfaction. Second, there is isolation, as you increasingly blame others and circumstances in order to justify your behavior. "No one understands! Everyone is against me!" is muttered in greater and greater self-pity and self absorption. When we build our lives on anything but God, that thing - though a good thing - becomes an enslaving addiction, something we have to have to be happy. When you lose all humility you become out of touch with reality. 

No one ever asks to leave hell. The very idea of heaven seems to them a sham.

In his fantasy, The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis describes a busload of people from hell who come to the outskirts of heaven. They are urged to leave behind the sins that trapped them in hell - but they refuse. Lewis' description of these people are striking because we recognize in them the self delusion and self absorption that are 'writ small' in our own addictions. Lewis writes:

"Hell begins with a grumbling mood, always complaining, always blaming others...but you are still distinct from it. You may even criticize it in yourself and wish you could stop it. But there may come a day when you can no longer. There will be no YOU left to criticize the mood or even to enjoy it, but just the grumble itself, going on forever like a machine. It is not a question of God 'sending us' to hell. In each of us there is something growing, which will BE HELL unless it is nipped in the bud."

The people in hell are miserable, but Lewis shows us why. We see raging like unchecked flames their pride, their paranoia, their self pity, their certainty that everyone else is wrong, that everyone else is an idiot! All their humility is gone, and thus so is their sanity. They are utterly, finally locked in a prison of their own self centeredness, and their pride progressively expands into a bigger and bigger mushroom cloud. They continue to go to pieces forever, blaming everyone but themselves. Hell is that, writ large.

That is why it is a travesty to picture God casting people into a pit who are crying "I'm sorry! Let me out!" The people on the bus from Lewis' parable would rather have their 'freedom', as they define it, than salvation. Their delusion is that, if they glorified God, they would somehow lose power and freedom, but in a supreme and tragic irony, their choice has ruined their own potential for greatness. 

Hell is, as Lewis says "the greatest monument to human freedom." As Romans 1:24 says God "gave them up to...their desires." All God does in the end with people is give them what they most want, including freedom from himself. What could be more fair than that? Lewis writes:

"There are only two kinds of people - those who say 'Thy will be done' to God or those to whom God in the end says 'Thy will be done.' All that are in Hell choose it. 


Without that self choice, it wouldn't be Hell.

The Differences...

I got this post from Kevin Deyoung at the Gospel Coalition. I thought it was an interesting little breakdown of the differences in some of the mainstream branches of Christianity.

Why can’t all the professing Christians in the world look past their differences and just get along?

Because some of those differences are irreconcilable. Most significantly and most foundationally, the three main branches of Christianity in this country–Roman Catholic, Liberal Protestant, and Evangelical Protestant–do not agree on the locus of authority. We don’t answer the question, “What is our final authority?” in the same way.

Every Christian acknowledges that in some sense our theology and ethics must “accord with Scripture.” But whether that means “Scripture along with Church Tradition” or “Scripture as redefined through personal experience” or “Scripture alone” is what separates us. And as long as we disagree on this matter of authority, we should not expect genuine spiritual unity among the three groups. There can be no unity where there is no agreed upon authority.

Let me show you what I mean.

Peter Kreeft (Roman Catholic):

Most Protestants reject all Catholic doctrines they cannot find explicitly in Scripture–for example, Mary’s Assumption into heaven–because they believe sola scriptura: that Scripture alone is the infallible authority. This is the fundamental reason behind all the differences between Protestant and Catholic theology. (Catholic Christianity, 20).

Gary Dorrien (Liberal Protestant):

The essential idea of liberal theology is that all claims to truth, in theology as in other disciplines, must be made on the basis of reason and experience, not by appeal to external authority. Christian scripture may be recognized as spiritually authoritative within Christian experience, but its word does not settle or establish truth claims about matters of fact. (The Making of American Liberal Theology: Idealism, Realism, and Modernity, 1900-1950, 1)

Michael Horton (Evangelical Protestant):

Ultimate authority always resides outside the self and even outside the church, as both are always hearers of the Word and receivers of its judgment and justification. The church is commissioned to deliver this Word (a ministerial office), not to possess or rule it (a magisterial office). Thus, the authority is always transcendent. Even when it comes near us, it is never our own word that we hear (Ro. 10:6-13, 17). (The Christian Faith, 194)

So it seems that whatever else we may disagree on as Catholics, Liberals, and Evangelicals, we should at least agree that it is our view of Scripture and authority that divides us.

Free Will

OK, so to sum up the five points of Calvinism in my own way...

1) Total Depravity: Man is a slave to sin and can't accept God on his own. He must be regenerated by God first.

2) Unconditional Election: It follows that since Man can't choose God on their own, God chooses who gets to be regenerated. In effect, who will be saved and who will burn. 

3) Limited Atonement: Christ died only for the chosen.

4) Irresistible Grace: If God has elected you to be regenerated, then clearly you can't resist the call of the Holy Spirit once chosen.

5) Perseverance of the Saints: The elect will be faithful to the end, and will not die having rejected Christ.

My problems with all this:

1) I agree that on my own, without the help of God in my life, I am completely fallen and sinful. I am under the curse. But that doesn't mean I can't exercise the free will needed to answer God's call and accept his free grace.

2)1 Peter 1:2 we see that the saved are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” It makes much more sense to me that God knows who will choose him from before the dawn of time. I understand that God is in control of all things, but I think in exercising that control, he has allowed us to have free will. For God to have mapped out everyone's specific life choices down to the tittle, takes away the explanation of evil in the world.

3) The offer of salvation HAS to be for all men. How can it be otherwise? If this atonement is 'limited', it is only limited in that some people have chosen to reject it. There is solid Biblical foundation to support the point that Jesus died for the world and wanted his apostles to go into the world and make disciples. *God sent the Son into the world that the world through Him might be saved (Jn. 3:17). That's why Jesus is referred to as the Savior of the world (Jn. 4:42; 1 Jn. 4:14). In dying for the whole world, Christ tasted death for every man (Heb. 2:9). Jesus is truly the Savior of all men (1 Tim. 4:10).

4) Irresistable Grace: How could someone be saved against their will? How can we be held responsible for our actions if God has preordained that we are not called? My whole world view is too wrapped up in our freedom to choose God and righteousness vs. the freedom to walk away from him. God is love. You can't force someone to love you. This sounds like magic potion stuff. Calvinists have the order backwards. You don't get the spirit and then come to faith...you choose to come to faith in Christ whereby you are granted the spirit.

5) So in order to be sure that I've been chosen as part of the elect, I've got to wait until the last day of my life to make sure I havn't died in sin? C'mon man. I know I have eternal salvation because I'm secure in my relationship with Christ, and what he has done for me. I'm doing my best to live as a fallen man in a fallen world. God knows I can't be perfect until order is restored. 

Well, those are my thoughts on the matter. This kind of stuff helps me work through things. I'm definitely more on the Arminian/Moderate side of the debate. Partly because I know that I get my sense of justice from God. And when things seem inherently unfair, I know I get that instinct from God. So to imagine that a person who works hard their whole life to follow the model of Christ, could be preordained to burn in hell...that's not justice or love. And God is the epitome of both love and justice.

Feeling a bit under the weather

We're all a tad bit under the weather tonight. My son has a solid fever that tylenol is having a hard time breaking. I hate when that happens. One of the most challenging aspects of parenting comes when you feel helpless to help your kids. Fevers scare me.

I've been battling a migraine like headache for a couple days. I'm giving up coffee. I probably should have cut down a bit before going cold turkey. I thought I could be a man about it and tuff it out, but it's kind of hard when you cant open your eyes all the way, and your stuck in trial. Woops.

My wife has me on a vegan diet this week. We're going through a cleanse. It's been two straight days of tasteless oatmeal and kale for breakfast. One more to go, and then we'll completely fast on Friday. I think the ole lady will have us on some sort of liquid program to flush it all out that day. I've been considering fasting every Friday. I think it would be a good spiritual exercise.

I've thought a bit about Calvinism. I feel like I'd have to classify myself as a Moderate Calvinist. I'll talk a it more about that tomorrow, but I have to admit, I've really been influenced by Norm Geisler's analysis.

On a worldly note, my wife and I have been approved for a nice loan for a new home. The bb&t lady said we had great credit. She is mailing us a copy of the report. Nice to hear. I remember calling my wife before we made this adventure to NC to let her know I had just gotten off the phone with a couple of my creditors. I told her that I knew we'd be buying a house together one day, and I wanted to get a head start cleaning up my life. That was five years ago now. My wife inspired a lot of positive changes in me. My credit score was just one of them. Encouraging God's active role in my life was another. I've cleaned up a lot of areas of my life since we met, and I'm continually inspired to be a better person because of my love for her...and they way God shows up when we're together.

Ok all, short and sweet tonight. Much love.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Rosehaven

Calvinism vs. Arminianism

According to Calvinism:

Salvation is accomplished by the almighty power of the Triune God. The Father chose a people, the Son died for them, the Holy Spirit makes Christ's death effective by bringing the elect to faith and repentance, thereby causing them to willingly obey the gospel. The entire process (election, redemption, regeneration) is the work of God and is by grace alone. Thus God, not man, determines who will be the recipients of the gift of salvation.

According to Arminianism:

Salvation is accomplished through the combined efforts of God (who takes the initiative) and man (who must respond) - man's response being the determining factor. God has provided salvation for everyone, but His provision becomes effective only for those who, of their own free will, "choose" to cooperate with Him and accept His offer of grace. At the crucial point, man's will plays a decisive role; thus man, not God, determines who will be recipients of the gift of salvation. 

The five points of Calvinism and the Arminian perspective:

1) Total Depravity:

Sin has affected all parts of man. The heart, emotions, will, mind, and body are all affected by sin. We are completely sinful. We are not as sinful as we could be, but we are completely affected by sin.

The doctrine of Total Depravity is derived from scriptures that reveal human character: Man’s heart is evil (Mark 7:21-23) and sick (Jer. 17:9). Man is a slave of sin (Rom. 6:20). He does not seek for God (Rom. 3:10-12). He cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14). He is at enmity with God (Eph. 2:15). And, is by nature a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3). The Calvinist asks the question, "In light of the scriptures that declare man’s true nature as being utterly lost and incapable, how is it possible for anyone to choose or desire God?" The answer is, "He cannot. Therefore God must predestine."

Calvinism also maintains that because of our fallen nature we are born again not by our own will but God’s will (John 1:12-13); God grants that we believe (Phil. 1:29); faith is the work of God (John 6:28-29); God appoints people to believe (Acts 13:48); and God predestines (Eph. 1:1-11; Rom. 8:29; 9:9-23).

Arminian Response:

Although human nature was seriously affected by the fall, man has not been left in a state of total spiritual helplessness. God graciously enables every sinner to repent and believe, but He does not interfere with man's freedom. Each sinner possesses a free will, and his eternal destiny depends on how he uses it. Man's freedom consists of his ability to choose good over evil in spiritual matters; his will is not enslaved to his sinful nature. The sinner has the power to either cooperate with God's Spirit and be regenerated or resist God's grace and perish. The lost sinner needs the Spirit's assistance, but he does not have to be regenerated by the Spirit before he can believe, for faith is man's act and precedes the new birth. Faith is the sinner's gift to God; it is man's contribution to salvation.

2) Unconditional Election:

God does not base His election on anything He sees in the individual. He chooses the elect according to the kind intention of His will (Eph. 1:4-8; Rom. 9:11) without any consideration of merit within the individual. Nor does God look into the future to see who would pick Him. Also, as some are elected into salvation, others are not (Rom. 9:15, 21).

Arminian Response:

God's choice of certain individuals unto salvation before the foundation of the world was based upon His foreseeing that they would respond to His call. He selected only those whom He knew would of themselves freely believe the gospel. Election therefore was determined by or conditioned upon what man would do. The faith which God foresaw and upon which He based His choice was not given to the sinner by God (it was not created by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit) but resulted solely from man's will. It was left entirely up to man as to who would believe and therefore as to who would be elected unto salvation. God chose those whom He knew would, of their own free will, choose Christ. Thus the sinner's choice of Christ, not God's choice of the sinner, is the ultimate cause of salvation.

3) Limited Atonement:

Jesus died only for the elect. Though Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient for all, it was not efficacious for all. Jesus only bore the sins of the elect. Support for this position is drawn from such scriptures as Matt. 26:28 where Jesus died for ‘many'; John 10:11, 15 which say that Jesus died for the sheep (not the goats, per Matt. 25:32-33); John 17:9 where Jesus in prayer interceded for the ones given Him, not those of the entire world; Acts 20:28 and Eph. 5:25-27 which state that the Church was purchased by Christ, not all people; and Isaiah 53:12 which is a prophecy of Jesus’ crucifixion where he would bore the sins of many (not all).

Arminian Response:

Christ's redeeming work made it possible for everyone to be saved but did not actually secure the salvation of anyone. Although Christ died for all men and for every man, only those who believe on Him are saved. His death enabled God to pardon sinners on the condition that they believe, but it did not actually put away anyone's sins. Christ's redemption becomes effective only if man chooses to accept it.

4) Irresistible Grace:

When God calls his elect into salvation, they cannot resist. God offers to all people the gospel message. This is called the external call. But to the elect, God extends an internal call and it cannot be resisted. This call is by the Holy Spirit who works in the hearts and minds of the elect to bring them to repentance and regeneration whereby they willingly and freely come to God. Some of the verses used in support of this teaching are Romans 9:16 where it says that "it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy"; Philippians 2:12-13 where God is said to be the one working salvation in the individual; John 6:28-29 where faith is declared to be the work of God; Acts 13:48 where God appoints people to believe; and John 1:12-13 where being born again is not by man’s will, but by God’s.

Arminian Response:

The Spirit calls inwardly all those who are called outwardly by the gospel invitation; He does all that He can to bring every sinner to salvation. But inasmuch as man is free, he can successfully resist the Spirit's call. The Spirit cannot regenerate the sinner until he believes; faith (which is man's contribution) precedes and makes possible the new birth. Thus, man's free will limits the Spirit in the application of Christ's saving work. The Holy Spirit can only draw to Christ those who allow Him to have His way with them. Until the sinner responds, the Spirit cannot give life. God's grace, therefore, is not invincible; it can be, and often is, resisted and thwarted by man.

5) Perseverance of the Saints:

You cannot lose your salvation. Because the Father has elected, the Son has redeemed, and the Holy Spirit has applied salvation, those thus saved are eternally secure. They are eternally secure in Christ. Some of the verses for this position are John 10:27-28 where Jesus said His sheep will never perish; John 6:47 where salvation is described as everlasting life; Romans 8:1 where it is said we have passed out of judgment; 1 Corinthians 10:13 where God promises to never let us be tempted beyond what we can handle; and Phil. 1:6 where God is the one being faithful to perfect us until the day of Jesus’ return.

Arminian Response:

Those who believe and are truly saved can lose their salvation by failing to keep up their faith, etc. All Arminians have not been agreed on this point; some have held that believers are eternally secure in Christ - that once a sinner is regenerated, he can never be lost.

Thinking Back On Keller

I keep thinking back on this point that Keller made during one of his talks at the Anglican 1000. He said that if you believe in salvation by faith alone, you have to believe in predestination. Keller is a Calvinist. Obviously, there are different variances on the predestination discussion, but it is a sensitive topic for those who can't believe that an all loving God would predetermine that some people are going to hell.

The point Keller made was that if you take any credit, however slight, for believing the gospel message over someone who heard and did not believe, than you are giving yourself commendation for that...and as a result are invoking some sort of 'works based' theology into your faith.

I'm having trouble digesting this. I think it takes away from free will. The only good explanation I have for the existence of evil is that some people choose it. It doesn't make sense that God would preordain some people choosing it. Ugh...I've got to go back to the books it seems. 

I'm going to develop this further on my own and write a follow up tomorrow night. At the very least...I'm going to write a bit on Calvinism's five points and the different schools of thought within Calvinism like Arminianism. 

But for now, it's late, and I want to hang out with my wife before she collapses into a sleepy heap.

Much Love

Sunday-Day of rest?

Today has been incredibly frustrating. I couldn't sleep last night at all. I wasn't dealing with any particular anxiety concern...I blame it mostly on a dinner of coke and junior mints. We had family movie night last night. I took the wife and kid to see the new Narnia movie.

So I was up very late, probably fell asleep at about 2am. Then the wife, being th gem that she is...(I'm incredibly blessed to have that woman in my life)..allowed me to sleep in until 830. Church starts at 10am. I muddled around a bit and finally was ready to go at 9:40. Perfect timing.

Then I couldnt find the car keys. Anywhere. I have to admit, I lost my cool a bit. I wasn't the prefect model of Christian temperance and patience. I started blaming everyone around me for why they had disappeared. Everywhere I looked that was a pile of something. This drives me nuts. Piles of magazines, bills, papers, food, trash etc. When I do set something down somewhere, it can get sucked in to a black hole of piles. Why is it so hard to throw things away? So mostly it was my wife's fault for the lost keys. Had I been able to see a counter or table top, I probably would have been able to find the keys that I had placed somewhere I shouldn't have placed them.

Then it became my son's fault, because he had probably run off with them or stashed them in an insane place in the disaster area of a room he keeps back there. So for over an hour, I fumed around looking in impossible places, digging through a disgusting bag of garbage, and generally cursed my lot in life. I began to wonder how I was going to make it to work the next day. To top it off, I'm driving a rental car because my car is in the shop. (I forgot to put on the parking brake and it rolled through two neighbors yards into a copse of trees. I like to say the word copse.) So then I started thinking..if I've lost the rental keys I'm really in trouble. We have a single car driveway, and I had blocked my wife's car in with the keyless rental car.

Things were starting to look bleak.

Then I found them. Someone had put a loaf of bread on top of them right next to the sink.

OK...I calmed down...I moved on with life, I finished cleaning the house since I had started to organize our lives whilst going room to room trying to find the keys. Thankfully, my son had been an angel all morning and pretended he was a ninja outside in the yard.

So I rolled to work. I had some catching up to do. I wasn't meeting any clients so i dressed like a thug from Baltimore. Deep down, thats what I am. A street smart white kid from B-more. I wore some urban jeans and put on a hoodie. I had to close a deal, but all that was getting done over the phone. I rolled through the back door at the office and set the alarm off. No big deal...I just needed to click the remote switch I keep on my car keychain. I looked down at the rental keychain I had in my hand. The alarm kept going. The 30 second mark hit and the place went nuts. In about 3 minutes the police had arrived, hands on glocks, and I was dressed like I just broke into the place.

The day just kept getting better.

Well, I'll spare you the details, but it took showing the cops the pic of me and the wife I had sitting on my desk to calm them down. Now I'm home and I want to make two points from this story. The first one is this. I went from happy to victim mode in all of one second today. I was so mad at the world for making me miss church, when in reality, I'm the only person responsible for not putting me keys on the table by the door. I had just read recently, that one of the greatest obstacles to holiness is discouragement, and an exaggerated sense of anxiety. Man did I go there fast today. I need to do better.

My second point is this. I don't know who is making these CS Lewis movies, but I'm so happy and pleased to watch a Christian theme on the big screen. In fact, every time I sit through one of those flicks I tear up. It's very emotional to me to watch Lewis' work come to life in a way thatI think he'd be proud of. You know, I read those books as a kid, and even made believe that I was in Narnia etc. but I never understood the depth of the Christian theology at work in those stories. As an adult, it blows my mind. For example, Edmund and Lucy are told that they have ourgrown their time in Narnia, (which always made me sad as a kid when I read those books), so Aslan comforts them saying: "In your world, I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there." That's the kind of stuff that makes me cry a bit in a kids movie. Because someone in Hollywood was brave enough to put that in there. It was nice. But I drank too much soda.

For a great article on Christian references in The Dawn Treader, check this out:

http://www.gotquestions.org/Narnia_Voyage-Dawn-Treader.html

My Thoughts on the Anglican 1000

Well, I've had a couple days to digest my 3 days away this week.

In case all two of you missed a previous post, I travelled to Texas to spend time with fellow Anglicans, (mostly priests), to reconnect and move forward in my faith. Some notable's present were Tim Keller, ArchBishop Robert Duncan, and Bishop Todd Hunter. I got to spend time with some good friends and reconnect with the former Rector of our Church, who is planting a new church in Baltimore. I met amazing, vibrant people who are working hard to make the planet a better place. I made connections with some wonderful people. I went with a great friend of mine from church. He is similar to me in that we know we've always got to be moving forward in our faith.

I flew on a plane. Four times. It became easier, although I was never really comfortable in the air. Three months ago however, the sight of a plane in the sky used to send a shiver of fear down my spine. It really has begun turning into a phobia. I think it's a cross between claustro and aero phobias. But, nonetheless I went boldly into the deep waters at Christ's beckoning. I will always be bold for Christ. He tells us not to fear many times in the Bible. So I took that to heart, manned up and went for it. I hardly whimpered.

Part of my discernment this year is to focus on how the question: How far I want to take my faith walk? Do I want to go to seminary? Will I be as effective as a lay minister? Do I need a degree for that? Can I be an attorney the rest of my life? Do I want to plant a church? I feel like I moved closer to some answers.

I talked about the subject with some smart people. Men and women that have been down the same road, and are still traveling down the road. I think that there's something to be said for connecting to people without a collar on. I think the collar can actually make it harder to build trust at times. As a regular guy, I am easier to approach, and people will often be less suspicious of agenda. I still hunger for knowledge though. We'll see...I think another degree is certainly on my horizon, but with the time devoted to family and the law firm...it may have to wait a while.

I'm convinced that the more you make Christ a priority, the more better you can hear him speak to you through the Holy Spirit. The more you exercise your faith in his plan for your life, the more he'll show up. God rewards the faithful. I want to do His will. Prayer was a constant theme at this conference. Prayer time is key to renewing spiritual energy. If your not healthy spiritually, everything else falls apart. I'm still devoted to praying in the morning and night, and developing my skill at it. It certainly takes some practice. I still want to jump right in to my needs as soon as I get started. That's an awful habit that I'm finding hard to kick.

Anyway...much love. t's back to some real world grind. Caught between two worlds.

Until next time. 

Tim Keller's Third Talk

Dr. Keller discussed the term of art called 'contextualization' in his second talk of the conference. Think of it as: What context should I put the gospel in for my audience?


Contextualization Dr Keller - 1/26/2011

Contextualization - to put (a linguistic element, an action, etc.) in a context, especially one that is characteristic or appropriate, as for purposes of study. giving answers to peoples questions in a way they understand.  The trick is not overadapting or underadapting. Ministry has to be contextualized for the mission culture at hand. This culture can be almost any demographic/social trait.  Most boring sermons arent unbiblical, they havnt properly been contextualized for the audience.

We get to understand the gospel better, because we realize how the gospel is contextualized in our own culture so that we are able to present the gospel to other cultures.

Context is invisible to us. You don't ask a fish about water. We only understand our own culture when we've left it for a certain period of time. To return after some years, may make you even better at contextualizing to your home audience.

-When spreading the Gospel there is no reason not to adapt our gospel to the surrounding environment. You can do that without losing the gospel truth. Your cultural preferences shouldn't be on the same altar as the gospel truth.

Biblical themes that have have the largest effect / motivation on people:

1. Fear of judgment or death

2. Relieve the burden of guilt or shame

3. The beauty of the Gospel itself

4. Satisfaction of unfulfilled longings (woman at the well)

5. Desire for freedom

6. Attractiveness of the grace and love of Jesus. (don't you want him!?)

We have to use all these appeals when sharing the gospel, we cannot simply use the one that appealed most to us. Various cultures and groups will respond to some of these more than others...(this is not a complete list.)

Sme great examples of Paul appealing to different cultures:

Acts 13:16-43 - Paul knew he could assume that the Jews would be living with Old Test. Theology as furniture in their mind.

Acts 14 - Paul presents to blue collar pagans

Acts 17 - Paul appeals to white collar pagans at Mars Hill

Read these and look at the different ways that Paul preaches.

***See John Stott's commentary on Acts!!

Go to 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 Most important of all texts on contextualization. The Greeks seeked wisdom, the Jews seeked for justice and righteousness. The cross was foolishness to both of these groups. Or did it answer both of see groups aspirations?!! Paul skillfully confronts and completes the baseline cultural narrative of both these groups.

There are some things about Christianity that will resonate more with people.

Popular doctrines = logs (grace & love)

Unpopular doctrines = stones (pre-marital sex & predestination*)

If you want to get your doctrines across the river, you must lash your logs together, and place your stones on top. You cannot lash your stones together and put your logs on top.

With contextualization, do not over adapt, or under adapt. But when you do adapt, you must confront the false issues of the day...if you do not confront these issues, you run the risk of becoming a club, not a church. (Don't forget to attach the stones to the logs).

There are different ways to talk about sin, for example...so if you culture looks at being good as being more important than being free...then talk about sin as idolatry.

*John Calvin interpreted predestination to mean that God willed eternal damnation for some people and salvation for others. Keller is a Calvinist. Point: You can only believe in free grace (which is one of the five points of Calvinism) if you believe in predestination. Otherwise, you have to admit that the reason you follow Christ and someone else doesn't is because you are a bit better than them. Your works have put you in a better position to receive Christ. You must take credit for something you've done, over something they've done. As soon as you begin doing this, your faith isn't something that was completed through christs work, and given freely to you...It's salvation by works, by your own merit.

The Bible gives you an entire medicine chest to use to treat spiritual illness, you just have to pick the right medication for the patient(s).

When trying to get around a boulder do not:

1. Put your explosives on the outside of the rock, then run away; or

2. Drill a hole all the way to the middle of the boulder, but not put any explosives in the center.

You have to drill all the way to the center of the boulder (or person) and the ignite the explosives (the Gospel)

Tim Keller's Second Talk

Tim Keller - Revival - Spiritual Renewal


Keller's Experience With Revivals
Tim is a product of the Jesus movement. 60's on college campuses. Asbury revival. inter varsity in college, it began to grow. The same thing was happening on other campuses. It was a revival, a spiritual renewal.
The same thing happened when he started his Presbyterian Church in NY. Maybe for 18 months, a couple hundred came to the faith. 


19th Century Revivals
Charles Spurgeon saw more people come to faith in his 3 years in London than during the rest of his ministry. George Whitfield, John Wesley etc. Other Anglicans started revivals. Why?Then industrial revolution, America too big for parish system and no national church, and people started reading the scripture. The question became...have you been born again? Have you really been converted? Yes you've been circumcised in the flesh, but have you been in the heart? Youre observing all the ordinances, but have you been born again? Phil 3


What is a Revival?
We must do more than play church. We must promote revival in our congregations. Revival is an intensification of the ordinary operations of the holy spirit. The holy spirit anoints and convicts and assures. When those things are intensified, for one year or one night...whatever, 1857-1860 80k people joined churches in NY city. 1/3 of northern Ireland came into the church. When it happens, sleepy Christians wake up, nominal Believers in God come to you and say...I had no idea this was possible. I must be converted to Christianity. Skeptics come to the church because the legalism is replaced by grace.

Means for promoting Revivals:
1) extraordinary prayer (there should be ordinary prayer anyway)
2) the recovery of the gospel (unite with Christ, faith alone)
3) people become a case study for revival (the penny drops, and the formerly average person becomes remarkably filled with grace)
4) places, venues, experience meetings - (william williams brought people together to process what was happening to them.)
5) creativity - Wesley and whitfield started outdoor preaching. (tears down the miners faces) (getting the gospel out in a new way).

If revival really comes, it's the end of the delta affect. Theology, worship and liturgy, social justice aren't specialties for each church, but vital churches combine all those things.

Alexander the great. One of his generals sent word saying his daughters was getting married. A sent a treasurer out there. The general asked for an exhorbative sum. A the great says, give it to him. He must believe I'm both rich and generous! Don't be afraid to ask for a lot. He is both rich and generous.


Pray for a Revival.

Tim Keller's First Talk

At the Anglican 1000 conference, hosted by Christ Church in Plano, TX, on January 25, 2011, Tim Keller answers the question, “What is a movement?”

Keller contrasts movements with institutions in 4 distinct ways:

    •     Movements are held together by a compelling vision VS. Institutions are held together by rules and procedures. 

    •     Movements advocate for others and are characterized by a culture of sacrificial commitment VS. Institutions advocate for insiders and are characterized by a culture of rights, quotas, and obligations. 

    •     Movements cultivate a culture of innovation, risk, flexibility and quick decision making VS. Institutions cultivate a culture of static ideas and slow decision making. 

    •     Movements attract, and are lead by,  energetic and ambitious people that do not struggle in raising resources; these people produce results VS Institutions struggle with leadership development and raising resources while being lead by people with tenure and connections.

Biblical Mandate. Keller goes on to talk about the Biblical mandate for movements by pointing to the book of Acts where we see “the word of God multiplied” and “the disciples multiplied” numerous times. But, Keller also notes that there is precedence for institutionalizing or at least organizing. In Acts and other New Testament letters, we see the Apostles appointing elders and overseers to protect the early churches from false doctrines.

We see that while churches must be part of a movement there is also room and a mandate for institutionalization in an effort to create order and protect the church. The challenge is balancing them. You must institutionalize a movement to execute a vision. If the vision changes every week it doesn't work. If the vision is over-institutionalized then it becomes benign and lifeless. There is a danger of holding on to a vision too long, and it's difficult to discern when to let go. Keller recommends 5 ways to maintain a movement.

5 Ways to Maintain a Movement: 

1. Spiritual Revival & Renewal. If people are white hot spiritually, then they will continue to engage sacrificially. You must smite people with the presence of God. These are the people that will live sacrificially. Fear, pride, selfishness, and self-righteousness are the great protectors of the over-institutionalized church.

2. Vision. There must be a distinct, simple, and compelling (persuasive) communication of the vision. You must have all three pieces. Make sure your vision statement is a vision and not just a tactic. Your vision must be Biblical, distinctive, and true to your gifts. You must be able to describe your vision for the future so that people can see it and want to go there. 

3. Innovation. You must create a culture of innovation. If you ask for feedback, you must respond to the feedback; if you don’t ask or do not respond, you will crush the spirit of innovation. It's equally important to associate with people that share your same core tenets of the faith but work in a different tradition or do things differently than you. These people will prophetically share with you your weaknesses.

4. Organic Systems for Producing Leaders. Movements attract leaders. If you are going to participate in a movement you must have a leadership pipeline and infrastructure to train and support new leaders.

5. Movements are enhanced by church planting. Church Planting is the best research and development for your network. 

Dynamic churches are self-sustaining and propagating standing on their own and are in no need of being propped up or assisted. To be dynamic the church must balance between movement and institution, ever aware of the natural tendency to migrate toward institutionalization.

Anglican 1000 Conference Day 1

Got up at 4am Raleigh time. Picked up by my buddy and his girl at 445. Rolled into RDU in a sweet range rover. Met 3 priests on the plane from chapel hill all saints anglican. Arrived in Texas at around 1030pm. Got a Nissan Altima, and rolled towards Plano from the airport. Stopped at chipotle. My burrito weighed 11 pounds. Got to Christ Church just as the 12noon prayer began. ArchBishop Duncan was there for the service. Partook in the Holy Eucharist. Filtered in to the conference hall. Saw Mike Boone and David Drake. So awesome. Learned that JY3 would be getting in later that night. Got some updates from church planters around the country. Listened to a talk by Keller on 'movements'. Went to dinner with JY3 and Jed Roseberry. Talked about church planting. Back to Christ Church for Evensong. Scripture took us through the apostle pauls journey from persecution to prosecution. Keller gave the homily on revivals. Beautiful choir voices, beautiful sanctuary. Long line for Keller after the service. Exhausted. Went to sleep after being up from 3am to 11pm Texas time. Stayed at a hosts home. Great amenities and wonderful graciousness shown to us by the hosts from Christ Church Plano.

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Location:Plano Texas

Leaving Tomorrow for the Anglican 1000

I had a ridiculously busy day at work today. The morning was spent bouncing around the courthouse without a moments rest, getting cases dismissed, entering plea's, on the cell with police officers, organizing client meetings etc. I was looking forward to the upcoming time in Texas to get reinvigorated for Christ. It was freezing in Raleigh. I ate lunch in my car, (my wife packs a lunch for me...she is amazing) and thought about how I was going to handle the three trials I had looming in the afternoon. I was too busy to worry much about getting on the plane to Texas. By the time I got home that night, I was exhausted, but my desk and office were completely clean when I left the firm. Yipee! I packed for the trip. My son was completely desperate for my attention. I did my best to multitask. I spent a good amount of time in prayer asking for boldness, (have really been working on giving god glory and repenting before I start asking for anything) ...and then was asleep by 10pm.

I am so blessed. My family is so wonderful and supportive. I love my wife. I don't know what God has planned for me, but I'm entrusting myself to him. I'm putting it all in his hands. I feel I've been called to this conference in Texas. I go with an one heart and mind, and will glean from it everything that I can.

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Location:Rosehaven