Honoring The Faithful

Memorial Day is around the corner and we should remember those who have fought for our country. Still there are others we should remember as well. We should remember those who have come before us spiritually. I want to take this post to honor one who has deeply impacted my life.

My Grandpa is the person who has influenced me spiritually as much as anyone. I have had the opportunity to be with him and my grandma (who has also influenced me greatly) this past week and still he challenges me and encourages me. It has been his love for God, his desire to handle God's word rightly, and honor God with his life that has inspired me.

G'pa & G'ma, I love you and I want you to know how much you have influenced me.

Flying With Kids

Not long ago I heard about a family that was asked to get off an airplane because they refused to make their kid behave. Recently my family and I flew to Florida for vacation and Council (a national event for the C&MA). I was a little nervous about how my 22 month old boy would do.

He runs everywhere he goes climbs everything he can (at about 18 months I found him sitting on the kitchen table once and on one other occasion celebrating his accent to the peak of Mt. Bunk Bed). He doesn't sit still (except for Jeff Gordan and the other Nascar drivers) and the thought of asking him to sit still on an airplane for 1 & 2 hours on the same day was rather frightening. I thought for sure we would be the next family to dawn a poster for bad parenting. Sometimes I feel bad for parents because America has created a culture where punishment (especially physical punishment) is frowned upon and sometimes viewed as abuse. In this same culture we expect kids to behave when in public. We expect parents who don't discipline to some how find a way to control their kids when they do go into public places. There is nothing more irritating than going to a nice dinner with your wife and having some spoiled little kid screaming at his parents because he doesn't like the macaroni and cheese.

Our kids are pretty well behaved (although we are still working on tantrums with the boy). Still I wasn't sure if I could get away with spanking my boy on an airplane if I needed to do so. Fortunately it all worked out well, even the extra half an hour we spent on the Ground in Chicago. No spankings, only a tiny bit of crying, and Joash (my boy) loved the take off and landing. Of course it helped that he slept almost the entire flight from Chicago to Orlando.

I'll Say It If No One Else Will

It seems like no one really wants to say what is on every one's mind. The war on terror is essentially a war on Islam. I hate to say it, but Islam seems to breed terrorists. I know there are peace loving Muslims and most of them are not terrorists. Still after authorities stopped the attack on Fort Dix it seems the fight is broader than just organized terror groups.

These men were Muslims and they were terrorists, but they had no organizational connection to Bin Laden or any other terrorist groups. Yes they were radical, but radical seems to be in vogue with too many Muslims. This is a religious war between everyone who is not Muslim and those who claim to fight on behalf of Allah.

I am not blaming all Muslims for what some of them are doing. Still I rarely hear peace loving Muslims going after these Radical Muslims. If there are so many good Muslims then I would like to challenge them with these words: "All it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing." (Author Unknown) I fully support our president and our troops, but I do wonder if this war can be won if we do not know who our enemy really is. Perhaps we will win in Iraq, but the war on terror may last beyond this generation.

Why do Arminians Pray?

Some people don't like to debate theology. I think that is unfortunate. If that is you then don't read this post. I think theology is important and should be debated.

So often those who hold to an Armenian understanding of Scripture will point to evangelism and simply say, "why should we evangelise if God predestined?" This is a question of ignorance as the answer is simple and biblical. That said I must propose a similar question to those who hold a classical Armenian perspective. Why pray?

If we are going to claim that man has a libertarian free will then how can we expect God to intervene? If God intervenes and changes a persons mind then that person's free will no longer exists.

This creates further problems. If God "foreknows" everything especially a person's decision regarding salvation and then you pray and God intervenes and the friend changes his mind and accepts the free gift of salvation what did God foreknow? Did God foreknow that you would pray? If He did then did you really have a choice in the matter? If you are just so convincing in your presentation of the gospel that convince that person to accept Christ then how could God have known that that person would accept Christ? If that person has libertarian free will then they could have chosen to reject Christ just as easily. If that is the case then how could God foreknow?

It seems to me the Arminian must make a decision to believe that God did not foreknow, at least in the sense classic Arminianism suggests or they must come to a different understanding of free will and predestination.

Are You Really Free?

Everyone wants to be free from something. Christians want to be free from the bondage of sin, people in general want to be free from oppression, and I want to be free to do the work of God. Unfortunately that freedom is at risk. I want Muslims, JW's, and Mormans to all be free to evangelize people to their religion and to stand up for what they believe good morals are!!

Unfortunately we have elected a bunch of thought police to congress. They are once again interested in punishing people for what they think rather than what they do. There are a bunch of maniacs communicating stupid messages, but they are free to make fools of themselves. The thought police in Washington are moving down a road that could eventually outlaw communicating any kind of moral message at all. Read this!!

Driscolls Banned Video

Mark Driscoll may not be your favorite person in the world, but this church planting video he put together is flat out inspiring. Of course it was banned from a church planting conference (click here for the story).

No matter what you think about this guys theology he is by far the most inspiring preacher and teacher I have ever listened to. I bet he sounds a lot like Paul did when he preached. He doesn't mince words he just tells it like it is!!!!!

Here is the video.