JOURNEY OUTSIDE THE CAMP

Did Adam and Eve really exist?

 

 

Did Adam and Eve really exist? Thanks to the ebook sale at Crossway, I managed to get several of their titles for just US$5.99 each. One of books was Did Adam and Eve really exist? by C. John Collins. Collins, by the way, was one of the contributors to the ESV Study Bible.

God provided this book in a timely manner as I was engaged in an email exchange with a fellow brother in Christ about whether Adam and Eve were real or merely symbolic. I have never had an issue with Adam and Eve being true, historical people who once lived and breathed and walked the earth but many people struggle with the historicity of the first couple because they find that the Genesis account doesn't seem to fit with the scientific knowledge we have. Thus in order to make the Bible fit neatly into science, they have reinterpreted the Adam and Eve as symbolic, almost mythological people.

Is there a problem with this approach? In a word, yes. I truly believe that taking Adam and Eve as allegory makes hash out of the Bible. At stake are truths like the following examples:

Tim Keller's The Reason for God: More than just arguing that God exists

Where does morality come from? How do we judge if an action is moral or immoral? Who sets the standard for what is right and what is wrong? There are some people who believe that you can't impose your standard of right and wrong on another culture. It's cultural imperialism to think that anyone has the moral authority to tell another culture or another person that the way they live is wrong. Moral standards are relative. Yet, if you ask these people if there are others out there in the world doing abhorent evil right now, they would say of course there are! But by agreeing there is evil in the world, then they've contradicted their own stated belief that one cannot judge another. How can we insist that we cannot judge another culture or person and still believe there is evil in the world? If one tribal group decides they need to get rid of a neighbouring tribal group for no reason other than the colour of their skin, can we judge them as being immoral and evil if we claim that all moral standards are relative? If we can say, yes, genocide is evil, where does this standard of morality come from?

These are some of the lines of reasoning that Timothy Keller wants people to think through in his book, The Reason for God. As the pastor for the very urban Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, he has met people with the most sophisticated worldviews for not believing in Christ. This book is the distillation of the wisdom he applies when engaging people across many fronts: logic, science, culture, art, philosophy, and religion.

The main point he espouses is we need to get people to think through their worldviews and follow them to their logical conclusions. What most people will find is that their worldviews don't hold up to close scrutiny or people don't actually subscribe to the worldview they profess and they are simply living in denial or self-imposed blindness regarding the truth about life, the universe and God.

Going back to the example of who gets to set moral standards, Keller gently prods people to think through the question of who has the right to set morals. Is it the majority that decides? That sounds good but what if the majority decides that a minority race needs to be exterminated? Or if no one can set moral standards, then the world may as well descend into chaos for no one rightly can call anyone else evil and all actions (killing, forgiving, helping, stealing, etc.) are just as neutral as another. If we're all just a ball of cells and chemicals thrown together through cosmic chance, then no one can set a moral standard and hold anyone else to that.

But the fact is, everyone believes there are moral lines that cannot be crossed. We should not kill another human being. We should not steal from another person. It's terrible to cheat on our wives. Children deserve to be protected. These moral standards sound right. But they had to have come from somewhere or someone. Who sets the standard?

Christians have an answer of course: the one who is in charge of the universe sets the standard. The one who created the world sets the standard. That person is God.

Morality is just one angle that Keller uses. He talks about science, logic, philosophy, and art. In each of these areas, he shows the reader how each angle reveals clues to God. Each point taken alone can be rejected. But like a court case where more and more clues add up to a huge body of evidence, the overwhelming effect of following through each of these areas to their logical conclusions really presents a compelling case that God really is the creator and ruler of the universe and he does have a purpose for creation and man.

I found his tone very comforting, humble and clear. I learnt that my beliefs should affect the way I live, how I treat my wife, my kids, my colleagues and how I view life. If my beliefs don't affect how I live, I can't say that I believe them at all. And my most important belief is in who I trust has the answers to life and the meaning of life. It's also not about how strong my faith is but in whom I put my faith in. Keller explains it thus:

The faith that changes the life and connects to God is best conveyed by the word "trust". Imagine you are on a high cliff and you lose you footing and begin to fall. Just beside you as you fall is a branch sticking out of the very edge of the cliff. It is your only hope and it is more than strong enough to support your weight. How can it save you? If your mind is filled with intellectual certainty that the branch can support you, but you don't actually reach out and grab it, you are lost. If your mind is instead filled with doubts and uncertainty that the branch can hold you, but you reach out and grab it anyway, you will be saved. Why? It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you. Strong faith in a weak branch is fatally inferior to weak faith in a strong branch.

 

The object of our faith is more important than the strength of my faith. I really do need to believe in the right thing. But more than belief, I need to let my faith affect my life. As Keller puts it, "There [is] no use just saying you believe in Jesus unless you let that change your life and affect your view of everything." 

Keller quotes these powerful words from C.S. Lewis:

The Christian way is different—both harder and easier. Christ says, "Give me ALL. I don't want just this much of your time and this much of your money and this much of your work—so that your natural self can have the rest. I want you. Not your things. I have come not to torture your natural self... I will give you a new self instead. Hand over the whole natural self—ALL the desires, not just the ones you think wicked but the ones you think innocent—the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead."

 

I want to let Jesus affect every part of my life. I want to follow him all the days of my life. I want to echo Peter's response to Jesus' question after his hard teaching about being the Bread of Life: “Do you want to go away as well?” 

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69)

Want to be a better parent? Well, you can't. A review of "Give Them Grace" by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson

As a parent who is deeply concerned with bringing up children who will follow after the Lord all the days of their lives, I've read a number of parenting books. Some I've lapped up. Some I've abandoned halfway. When people ask me for recommendations, I would only list a handful: Grace-based Parenting by Tim Kimmel, Bringing up Boys by James Dobson, Shepherding a Child's Heart by Ted Tripp and the DVD series Getting to the heart of Parenting by Paul Tripp (Ted's brother). Now, I also want to recommend Give Them Grace by mother and daughter writing team, Elyse M Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson.

What's different about this book? Some books are mind-hammering. The truth of God comes to shatter my human wisdom as I turn the pages of those books. Give Them Grace is a mind-warping book. I felt like my understanding of the gospel was melting and twisting (in a good way), like I was in a large box made of plasticine and suddenly finding it shifting out of shape because heat was applied to it. It's not that what I've understood about the gospel was wrong. It's just that when it came to parenting, I was still applying a works righteousness attitude to raising kids.

Living Sacrifice

I've just finished Dr Helen Roseveare's book, Living Sacrifice. It was a pretty mind-hammering book on what it means to live sacrificially for God every day.

Dr Helen Roseveare was a missionary doctor serving in Congo in the 1960s and ‘70s. She helped to build a hospital, clinics and a medical school. She was caught up in the civil war where she was tortured and raped but after the war, she returned to rebuild the hospital and school.

In her book, she explained what she had learnt when Jesus asked us to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. While it’s obvious that God calls us to use all our faculties for his glory, what Helen learnt was that God also calls us to forsake our heart, mind, soul and strength, in order that we be made more into the image of Christ.

Over the course of her work in the Congo, she admitted to being proud, self-righteous, selfish, always wanting her way. (Although reading her account, I wouldn’t label her as such but that was how she felt about herself). God systematically tore all these down in order to mould her into what he wanted to make of her life. Helen learnt that God is more interested in making us into the image of Christ rather than what we can do to advance his kingdom.

The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World

If you're allergic to church history, you might find Stephen J. Nichols's book, The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World something that not only won't make you sneeze, but a book that engages you from start to finish. I've always been fascinated by history, especially church history, and Nichols makes the Reformation really accessible. He brings important figures to life, like Martin Luther, Urlich Zwingli, John Calvin and others, and he shows their human side as well, rather than just discussing their contributions to the Christian faith.

How to be a better teacher? Pursue holiness

I've been reading "Don't Call it a Comeback" edited by Kevin DeYoung. One of the points that struck me was about how to be an effective teacher.

DeYoung advises that to see a more effective ministry, teachers (or leaders) should pursue love, truth and their personal holiness. He quotes from 2 Peter 1:5-8—

"For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

John Newton: Shortest, surest way to all happiness

One of the interesting features of the Amazon Kindle is that it shows me what other readers have highlighted in the book I'm currently reading. I'm reading a biography of John Newton (the man who wrote Amazing Grace) entitled, John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace by Jonathan Aitken. A quote from Newton has been highlighted by 72 other readers. It goes like this:

Lord, give me a humbling sense of my sins, give me a humbling sense of thy glory, give me a humbling view of thy love, for surely nothing humbles like these. All my pride springs from ignorance.... May I be nothing in my own eyes, may I be willing and desirous to be the servant of all.

Two other quotes trump the above in the number of highlights. With 90 highlighters is this sentence:

My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior.

And here's the most highlighted passage from the book (101 highlighters):

If anyone would tell you the shortest, surest way to all happiness they would tell you to make it a rule to thank and praise God for everything that happens to you. For it is certain that whatever seeming calamity befalls you, if you can thank and praise God for it you will turn it into a blessing.

John Newton was a slave trader who came to realise how utterly sinful he had been. By God's grace, he repented and sought to please God and was called to be a mighty preacher. He even had a hand in abolishing the slave trade in England. Amazing Grace is truly his heart's prayer of thanks for what God had done in his life.

Practising the presence of God

I've been heads down working on new Sunday School lessons since December (hence the scarcity of posts). One of the series that my wife and I are working on is called Christian Fundamentals. Not the world's best title but it's a follow-up series for our gospel lessons based on The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus by John R. Cross. At the end of the The Stranger, the class now understands the gospel and believes. But the immediate question is: "What do I do now that I believe?" That's where Christian Fundamentals comes in to answer those questions and show what new believers should do to get closer to God.

One of the things we talk about is seeking God's face daily. And the phrase I lit upon was from Brother Lawrence's book, Practicing the Presence of God.

Into the Deep

When I was browsing in the Campus Crusade Media bookstore, I came across a book entitled, Into the Deep by Robert Rogers. It was a testimony of how Robert, his wife Melissa, and their four children were driving home from a wedding when they were caught in a flash flood. Robert was swept away in the flood but he survived. His family, however, did not.

The tragedy had taken away his family but could not take away his faith. I was compelled to read it. I raced through the first third of the book in one night as it was the account of what happened that terrible night. On 31 August, 2003, Robert was driving his family through Emporia, Kansas in heavy rain when he was caught in a jam on the I-35 heading south. Before too long, a huge wall of water burst from the nearby Jacob Creek and washed his minivan away.

My heart crumbled along with his as he grieved for his family. The hours after he was rescued were the worst for him as his life came to a complete halt while he waited for news about his family. He struggled to understand why God would let this happen to him. When the rescue workers eventually reported back that none of his family were alive, Robert took it hard and he found it almost impossible to believe that his God would let such a thing happen. I say almost because the remarkable thing about him was that his faith was strong. He told God that he would believe and trust in him on a minute-by-minute basis because that's all the strength he could muster. And God reached down to him and supplied him the strength, peace and faith he needed.

Welcome to the Revolution

In seeking out good books for use in Sunday School, I came across this one called Welcome to the Revolution by Brian Tome. It was a very easy read, with its conversational tone and quirky humour. The author, Brian Tome is the pastor of Crossroads Community Church and the blurb says he was tired of looking for a book that he could give to new believers so he wrote one.

I could finish the book in about three days (I'm a slow reader) and the author gives a very down-to-earth, jargon-free introductory journey on what it means to be a Christ follower. I especially like his analogy of a three-legged stool, with the one leg each representing prayer, Bible reading and community. These are the supports for the main goal which is the seat, and that represents missions.

While the discussions were introductory in nature, I did think the book can go a long way in helping a new believer make a good start on his journey with Christ. I learnt a few things myself when I got to chapter 6. There, the author asked the reader to examine his or her relationships closely to see which ones were helpful and which were draining. That made me sit back and think through my own relationships too to see not only if I was receiving nurture from others but also if I was nurturing to others or just sucking some people dry.

I've already passed one copy to a new believer and he's alsmost done reading it. I'll ask what he thinks of it. I've another new believer who wants to read my copy too. Looks like I'll need to get a few more to pass around. I think it's possible to use the book as a base for small group and Sunday School lessons and discussions.