Author: fundyreformed

We Believe (#5): Man's Sin and Fall

~ fundyreformed

Part 5 in a series of Sunday posts celebrating the glorious Truth we believe as Christians. The readings are quoted from the Elder Affirmation of Faith, of my church, Bethlehem Baptist (Pastor John Piper). I’m doing this because every few weeks our congregational reading is an excerpt from this document, and every time we all read aloud the truths we confess, my soul rejoices. I pray these posts will aid you in worshiping our Lord on His day.

Man’s Sin and Fall from Fellowship with God

We believe that, although God created man morally upright, he was led astray from God’s Word and wisdom by the subtlety of Satan’s deceit, and chose to take what was forbidden, and thus declare his independence from, distrust for, and disobedience toward his all-good and gracious Creator. Thus, our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original innocence and communion with God.

We believe that, as the head of the human race, Adam’s fall became the fall of all his posterity, in such a way that corruption, guilt, death, and condemnation belong properly to every person. All persons are thus corrupt by nature, enslaved to sin, and morally unable to delight in God and overcome their own proud preference for the fleeting pleasures of self-rule.

We believe God has subjected the creation to futility, and the entire human family is made justly liable to untold miseries of sickness, decay, calamity, and loss. Thus all the adversity and suffering in the world is an echo and a witness of the exceedingly great evil of moral depravity in the heart of mankind; and every new day of life is a God-given, merciful reprieve from imminent judgment, pointing to repentance.

*Taken from the Bethlehem Baptist Church Elder Affirmation of Faith, paragraphs 5.1 – 5.3. You are free to download the entire affirmation [pdf] complete with Scriptural proofs for the above statements.

Online Gospel Resources

~ fundyreformed

Today’s online world presents a great opportunity for Christians to spread the gospel electronically. I want to highlight a few online gospel resources here, and encourage you all to share them via email, or promote them on your blogs.

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“Two Ways to Live: The Choice We All Face” is an excellent online presentation of the gospel. It uses clear visual illustrations as it presents the heart of Christianity. I really appreciate its perspective and emphasis on following Christ as Lord. It also connects people to many helpful resources for further study.

2 Ways to Live, an online presentation of the Gospel, the heart of Christianity -- why don't you click it to learn more? You've got nothing to lose.I found the button on the right at Justin Taylor’s blog, and it is a great way to link to 2 Ways to Live. Feel free to save the button and use it on your blog.

2 other helpful tools are needgod.com and proofthatgodexists.org. The buttons below can be found at their websites and can be used to link to their presentations. Both are great resources to share with others on the web.

Are you a good person? Proof that God Exists, check it out!

Finally, let me post a video clip of John Piper sharing the gospel in 6 minutes. Video clips like these are something people can easily share and promote at video sites like YouTube. You could easily put that video in the sidebar of your blog too.

If God Merely Allows Suffering and Pain, How Is He Not Responsible?

~ fundyreformed ~ 36 Comments

People sometimes instinctively blame God for pain and suffering. Evangelical Christians for the most part grimace at this.

Open Theists counter that God didn’t cause it, and couldn’t prevent it–but He loves you anyway. Arminians respond that God merely allows evil, he is not responsible directly for your pain.

Calvinists, however, claim that God ordains and ultimately causes all things, even pain and suffering. He does so generally as a judgment of the wickedness of evil in this world. All are evil, and the world is cursed from sin. Any joy and blessing is a gift from a loving God, and pain reminds us we are fallen and we need salvation.

Without getting into the specific Biblical proofs claimed for each view, let me share a brilliant argument I found recently against the Arminian viewpoint. To use my title, if as Arminians assert, God is merely allowing suffering, how does he ultimately avoid responsibility?

Imagine the following situation: I’m out for an evening stroll when I smell something burning. I look around and notice flames in one of the second floor windows of a neighbor’s house. In the other window, I can see a little girl pounding on the glass and can hear her cries for help. I do nothing. I don’t even use my cell phone to call 911. I just stand there watching until the entire house is engulfed in flames and the little girls dies. Now, since I was perfectly capable of saving her, but chose not to, how could anyone with a conscience say that I was not responsible for her death?

From a basic human perspective, there wouldn’t be any doubt. By standing there and doing nothing as that little girl burned to death, I would be just as culpable as if I had started the fire in the first place. And that’s really what we humans care about, isn’t it, deciding who’s to blame in tragic situations?

So, here’s the question I have for you Arminians: If a sovereign, loving, all-powerful God neither ordains nor causes bad things to happen, but simply stands by and allows them to happen, then how does he escape responsibility for the pain and suffering of those involved? (Keep in mind that the “bad things” being talked about here can refer to everything from the stubbing of one’s toe to the eternal damnation of one’s soul.)

I submit that you cannot answer that question without betraying your own Arminian worldview. You cannot answer it without resorting to the same theological gymnastics you accuse Calvinists of performing. And you certainly cannot answer it if you have a problem conceiving of a truly sovereign God who works all things for his ultimate glory.

excerpted from “A Burning Question for Arminians” by The Contemporary Calvinist [HT: Worlds Apart]

We Believe (#4): Creation

~ fundyreformed ~ 7 Comments

Part 4 in a series of Sunday posts celebrating the glorious Truth we believe as Christians. The readings are quoted from the Elder Affirmation of Faith, of my church, Bethlehem Baptist (Pastor John Piper). I’m doing this because every few weeks our congregational reading is an excerpt from this document, and every time we all read aloud the truths we confess, my soul rejoices. I pray these posts will aid you in worshiping our Lord on His day.

God’s Creation of the Universe and Man

We believe that God created the universe, and everything in it, out of nothing, by the Word of His power. Having no deficiency in Himself, nor moved by any incompleteness in His joyful self-sufficiency, God was pleased in creation to display His glory for the everlasting joy of the redeemed, from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

We believe that God directly created Adam from the dust of the ground and Eve from his side. We believe that Adam and Eve were the historical parents of the entire human race; that they were created male and female equally in the image of God, without sin; that they were created to glorify their Maker, Ruler, Provider, and Friend by trusting His all- sufficient goodness, admiring His infinite beauty, enjoying His personal fellowship, and obeying His all-wise counsel; and that, in God’s love and wisdom, they were appointed differing and complementary roles in marriage as a type of Christ and the church.

*Taken from the Bethlehem Baptist Church Elder Affirmation of Faith, paragraphs 4.1 – 4.2. You are free to download the entire affirmation [pdf] complete with Scriptural proofs for the above statements.