Tom Routhe, a good friend who spent quite a while with us, chiefly in connection with our Camp Hope ministry, just sent me an email with a link to an interesting website containing footage from Middle Eastern TV sources. Among the clips on the site are several from Iran that are patently anti-American. It reminded me of the DVD on radical Islam that I talked about some time ago on the blog site.
There is a fire-storm brewing in the Middle East. Whatever you may believe about U.S. foreign policy (past and present), you will have to say that what is brewing is at least troubling. Who knows what will happen in the Lord's providence? It may be that, if what is brewing ever spreads or catches on, we will return to a first-century situation, one in which Christians will be persecuted the world over (even, and, perhaps, especially, in America). One thing is clear, we cannot go on burying our heads in the sand. We, in the West, have the most to lose, at least from a human perspective anyway.
Here is the link: http://www.memritv.org (Tom pointed to clip #1385, but there are others as well).
Thoughts?
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Cyber-Identities and today's youth
Today's paper had an intriguing article on how young people have developed "clear disconnect[s] between their real lives and the online versions of themselves." According to the article, "[t]oday's teens and young adults have little trouble compartmentalizing their lives online and off. And that's why you see so many youngsters doing stupid, outrageous, dangerous and sometimes illegal things in online videos."
YouTube is full of videos that young people have posted of themselves doing things like driving around yelling obsenities at unsuspecting passers-by, or like beating someone up at school, or even like doing drugs.
The article, unfortunately, does not decry this type of behavior; nor does it suggest reasons for why it might be that young people are able to dissociate their actions from any concrete consequences. As much as I detest this kind of behavior and, as a Christian, long to "turn the world upside down" (Acts 17:6), so that those who engage in this kind of activity are not rewarded by becoming celebrities (which is what has been happening on YouTube)--but, just the opposite, those who honor God and serve mankind would become the celebrities--I would like to confine my comments today to discussing what may be THE reason why today's young people are able to compartmentalize their lives in this way.
Neil Postman, in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, has traced this tendency in young people to...you guessed it...television. He argues that television is a medium that is nothing but one dissociated image after another. It is quite commonplace today for us to be watching a news program one minute about record starvation problems in Africa and then a commercial the next about the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet down the street. We don't even stop to think about how ludicrous it is that two such images are juxtaposed (nor do television producers want us to). And that is just one example among what could be thousands. We are bombarded with image after image on television, one having little if anything to do with the next. Television, by its very nature, has "programmed" those of us who have grown up watching it to dissociate and to compartmentalize. So, it is no surprise to me that today's young people, who have grown up on television, engage in compartmentalizing their lives. They are just living consistently with the way they have been raised.
Putting a label on the problems is fairly simple. The solutions, on the other hand, are not so simple.
YouTube is full of videos that young people have posted of themselves doing things like driving around yelling obsenities at unsuspecting passers-by, or like beating someone up at school, or even like doing drugs.
The article, unfortunately, does not decry this type of behavior; nor does it suggest reasons for why it might be that young people are able to dissociate their actions from any concrete consequences. As much as I detest this kind of behavior and, as a Christian, long to "turn the world upside down" (Acts 17:6), so that those who engage in this kind of activity are not rewarded by becoming celebrities (which is what has been happening on YouTube)--but, just the opposite, those who honor God and serve mankind would become the celebrities--I would like to confine my comments today to discussing what may be THE reason why today's young people are able to compartmentalize their lives in this way.
Neil Postman, in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, has traced this tendency in young people to...you guessed it...television. He argues that television is a medium that is nothing but one dissociated image after another. It is quite commonplace today for us to be watching a news program one minute about record starvation problems in Africa and then a commercial the next about the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet down the street. We don't even stop to think about how ludicrous it is that two such images are juxtaposed (nor do television producers want us to). And that is just one example among what could be thousands. We are bombarded with image after image on television, one having little if anything to do with the next. Television, by its very nature, has "programmed" those of us who have grown up watching it to dissociate and to compartmentalize. So, it is no surprise to me that today's young people, who have grown up on television, engage in compartmentalizing their lives. They are just living consistently with the way they have been raised.
Putting a label on the problems is fairly simple. The solutions, on the other hand, are not so simple.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Camp Hope Gathering
Tonight, we had another grand evening at Camp Hope with teams of volunteers from Ontario, Canada (a sixth or seventh team from Word and Deed Ministries!), New Jersey, New Hampshire, Michigan, and Maryland. We studied that beautiful verse in 1 John 3, "Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the sons of God; and we are," and delved into that doctrine that J.I. Packer calls the "highest privilege" of the gospel, the doctrine of adoption. We sang "Amazing Grace" and "What a Friend we have in Jesus." What a night!
If you're in town, make plans to join us on Wednesdays at Camp Hope. If you're not, pray for us. Pray for the work of the gospel here on the Coast.
If you're in town, make plans to join us on Wednesdays at Camp Hope. If you're not, pray for us. Pray for the work of the gospel here on the Coast.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Friday morning Bible study
This morning, we continued on in the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5. We read from verses 14 through 16: "You are the light of the world..."
One of the things we discussed was that we are to let our "light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." We are to be the city set on a hill, which cannot be hidden.
This means, among other things, that, as far as it concerns us, we are to live with abandon for the glory of God.
What does it look like when Christians do this? Here's an example that I came across on-line recently. It's a true story told by Tony Campolo:
"Teddy Stallard certainly qualified as 'one of the least.' Disinterested in school. Musty, wrinkled clothes; hair never combed. One of those kids in school with a deadpan face, expressionless - sort of a glassy, unfocused stare. When Miss Thompson spoke to Teddy, he always answered in monosyllables. Unattractive, unmotivated, and distant, he was just plain hard to like. Even though his teacher said she loved all in her class the same, down inside she wasn't being completely truthful. Whenever she marked Teddy's papers, she got a certain perverse pleasure out of putting X's next to the wrong answers, and when she put the F's at the top of the papers, she always did it with a flair. She should have known better; she had Teddy's records and she knew more about him than she wanted to admit. The records read:
'1st Grade: Teddy shows promise with his work and attitude, but poor home situation.'
'2nd Grade: Teddy could do better. Mother is seriously ill. He receives little help at home.'
'3rd Grade: Teddy is a good boy but too serious. He is a slow learner. His mother died this year.'
'4th Grade: Teddy is very slow, but well-behaved. His father shows no interest.'
"Christmas came, and the boys and girls in Miss Thompson's class brought her Christmas presents. They piled their presents on her desk and crowded around to watch her open them. Among the presents there was one from Teddy Stallard. She was surprised that he had brought her a gift, but he had. Teddy's gift was wrapped in brown paper and was held together with Scotch tape. On the paper were written the simple words, 'For Miss Thompson from Teddy.' When she opened Teddy's present, out fell a gaudy rhinestone bracelet, with half the stones missing, and a bottle of cheap perfume. The other boys and girls began to giggle and smirk over Teddy's gifts, but Miss Thompson at least had enough sense to silence them by immediately putting on the bracelet and putting some of the perfume on her wrist. Holding her wrist up for the other children to smell, she said, 'Doesn't it smell lovely?' And the children, taking their cue from the teacher, readily agreed with 'oohs' and 'ahs.' At the end if the day, when school was over and the other children had left, Teddy lingered behind. He slowly came over to her desk and said softly, 'Miss Thompson . . . Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother . . . and her bracelet looks real pretty on you, too. I'm glad you liked my presents.'
"When Teddy left, Miss Thompson [a Christian] got down on her knees and asked God to forgive her. The next day when the children came to school, they were welcomed by a new teacher. Miss Thompson had become a different person. She was no longer just a teacher; she had become an agent of God. She was now a person committed to loving her children and doing things for them that would live on after her. She helped all the children, but especially the slow ones, and especially Teddy Stallard. By the end of that school year, Teddy showed dramatic improvement. He had caught up with most of the students and was even ahead of some. She didn't hear from Teddy for a long time. Then one day, she received a note that read: 'Dear Miss Thompson: I wanted you to be the first to know. I will be graduating second in my class. Love, Teddy Stallard.'
"Four years later, another note came: 'Dear Miss Thompson: 'They just told me I will be graduating first in my class. I wanted you to be the first to know. The university has not been easy, but I liked it. Love, Teddy Stallard.'
"And four years later: 'Dear Miss Thompson: As of today, I am Theodore Stallard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I am getting married next month, the 27th to be exact. I want you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the only family I have now; Dad died last year. Love, Teddy Stallard.'"
The point is clear, isn't it? When Christians are committed to living our lives as light so that God may be glorified, lives are changed (both our own lives and those of others). It is then that Christians become change-agents in the hands of an Almighty God.
Even so, let it be!
One of the things we discussed was that we are to let our "light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." We are to be the city set on a hill, which cannot be hidden.
This means, among other things, that, as far as it concerns us, we are to live with abandon for the glory of God.
What does it look like when Christians do this? Here's an example that I came across on-line recently. It's a true story told by Tony Campolo:
"Teddy Stallard certainly qualified as 'one of the least.' Disinterested in school. Musty, wrinkled clothes; hair never combed. One of those kids in school with a deadpan face, expressionless - sort of a glassy, unfocused stare. When Miss Thompson spoke to Teddy, he always answered in monosyllables. Unattractive, unmotivated, and distant, he was just plain hard to like. Even though his teacher said she loved all in her class the same, down inside she wasn't being completely truthful. Whenever she marked Teddy's papers, she got a certain perverse pleasure out of putting X's next to the wrong answers, and when she put the F's at the top of the papers, she always did it with a flair. She should have known better; she had Teddy's records and she knew more about him than she wanted to admit. The records read:
'1st Grade: Teddy shows promise with his work and attitude, but poor home situation.'
'2nd Grade: Teddy could do better. Mother is seriously ill. He receives little help at home.'
'3rd Grade: Teddy is a good boy but too serious. He is a slow learner. His mother died this year.'
'4th Grade: Teddy is very slow, but well-behaved. His father shows no interest.'
"Christmas came, and the boys and girls in Miss Thompson's class brought her Christmas presents. They piled their presents on her desk and crowded around to watch her open them. Among the presents there was one from Teddy Stallard. She was surprised that he had brought her a gift, but he had. Teddy's gift was wrapped in brown paper and was held together with Scotch tape. On the paper were written the simple words, 'For Miss Thompson from Teddy.' When she opened Teddy's present, out fell a gaudy rhinestone bracelet, with half the stones missing, and a bottle of cheap perfume. The other boys and girls began to giggle and smirk over Teddy's gifts, but Miss Thompson at least had enough sense to silence them by immediately putting on the bracelet and putting some of the perfume on her wrist. Holding her wrist up for the other children to smell, she said, 'Doesn't it smell lovely?' And the children, taking their cue from the teacher, readily agreed with 'oohs' and 'ahs.' At the end if the day, when school was over and the other children had left, Teddy lingered behind. He slowly came over to her desk and said softly, 'Miss Thompson . . . Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother . . . and her bracelet looks real pretty on you, too. I'm glad you liked my presents.'
"When Teddy left, Miss Thompson [a Christian] got down on her knees and asked God to forgive her. The next day when the children came to school, they were welcomed by a new teacher. Miss Thompson had become a different person. She was no longer just a teacher; she had become an agent of God. She was now a person committed to loving her children and doing things for them that would live on after her. She helped all the children, but especially the slow ones, and especially Teddy Stallard. By the end of that school year, Teddy showed dramatic improvement. He had caught up with most of the students and was even ahead of some. She didn't hear from Teddy for a long time. Then one day, she received a note that read: 'Dear Miss Thompson: I wanted you to be the first to know. I will be graduating second in my class. Love, Teddy Stallard.'
"Four years later, another note came: 'Dear Miss Thompson: 'They just told me I will be graduating first in my class. I wanted you to be the first to know. The university has not been easy, but I liked it. Love, Teddy Stallard.'
"And four years later: 'Dear Miss Thompson: As of today, I am Theodore Stallard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I am getting married next month, the 27th to be exact. I want you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the only family I have now; Dad died last year. Love, Teddy Stallard.'"
The point is clear, isn't it? When Christians are committed to living our lives as light so that God may be glorified, lives are changed (both our own lives and those of others). It is then that Christians become change-agents in the hands of an Almighty God.
Even so, let it be!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
State Farm suspends new policies in Mississippi
I just read on Foxnews that State Farm has announced it will no longer be writing new homeowner or commercial policies in the state of Mississippi. The company's Vice President of Public Affairs, Mike Fernandez, said that Mississippi's "current legal and political environment is simply untenable. We're just not in a position to accept any additional risk in this homeowners' market."
This is just what a lot of folks have feared would happen. The coastal counties are not the only ones being affected by Hurricane Katrina. The next thing we'll read about is someone in Boise, Idaho, complaining because their insurance premiums have increased dramatically as a result of August 29, 2005!
All I know is that something has got to be done. Other solutions have got to be found. Until something is done and solutions are found, south Mississippi's rebuilding and recovery process will be severely hampered.
Please continue to pray for the situation here on the coast. Pray that the Lord will be glorified in everything that happens here (even things like this)!
This is just what a lot of folks have feared would happen. The coastal counties are not the only ones being affected by Hurricane Katrina. The next thing we'll read about is someone in Boise, Idaho, complaining because their insurance premiums have increased dramatically as a result of August 29, 2005!
All I know is that something has got to be done. Other solutions have got to be found. Until something is done and solutions are found, south Mississippi's rebuilding and recovery process will be severely hampered.
Please continue to pray for the situation here on the coast. Pray that the Lord will be glorified in everything that happens here (even things like this)!
Friday, February 09, 2007
Friday morning Bible study
At our men's Bible study this morning, we discussed Matthew 5:13, the verse which talks about Christians being the salt of the earth and about not losing our saltiness. We had a good discussion incidentally, but I couldn't help but think of a quote I read recently in J.P. Moreland's Love Your God with all Your Mind. Moreland decries what has happened to our culture and the marginalization of Christianity in society that has failed to stem the tide because it is ceasing to be salty:"Our society has replaced heroes with celebrities, the quest for a well-informed character with the search for a flat stomach, substance and depth with image and personality. In the political process, the makeup man is more important than the speech writer, and we approach the voting booth, not on the basis of a well-developed philosophy of what the state should be, but with a heart full of images, emotions, and slogans all packed into thirty-second sound bites. The mind-numbing, irrational tripe that fills TV talk shows is digested by millions of bored, lonely Americans hungry for that sort of stuff. What is going on here? What has happened to us?"
He continues:
"One job of the church is to be salty to the world in which it finds itself, so if that world grows saltless, we should look first to the church herself to glean what we can about her contribution to the situation...[A] major cause of our current cultural crisis consists in a worldview shift from a Judeo-Christian understanding of reality to a post-Christian one. Moreover, this shift itself expresses a growing anti-intellectualism in the church resulting in the marginalization of Christianity in society--its lack of saltiness, if you will--and the emergence of the most secular culture the world has ever seen. That secular culture is now simply playing out the implications of ideas that have come to be widely accepted in a social context in which the church is no longer a major participant in the war of ideas."
Christians, in order to be "salt," must shirk this "growing anti-intellectualism," regain the mind, and engage in this war of ideas with our culture.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Wednesday at Camp Hope
I have just returned from yet another great evening at Camp Hope. What a night we had singing and encouraging one another from God's Word! There are something like 70 volunteers in town this week from Ohio, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and New Hampshire. This evening began on a firm footing by singing tried and true hymns: "Amazing Grace" and "Come Thou Fount." There were several moving testimonies and encouraging words spoken by volunteers and homeowners. We remembered how the Lord has been at work visibly over the last 17 months providing for His people in answer to prayer. It was quite an evening.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Tony Dungy's public stand
One of the most encouraging things to come out of the just-past Superbowl is Tony Dungy's public testimony to Christ, which has been in all the papers and tv stations leading up to and following the game itself. But more encouraging to me than all this is Coach Dungy's life, which backs up his oral profession to Christ. It's not just that Dungy professes to believe in Christ but that he actually puts this into practice. His profession actually works itself out in his every day life as a football coach. He does not raise his voice in anger and does not swear. He consciously is seeking to be different.
In a day and age when the church looks just like the unbelieving world around us--i.e., when unbelievers cannot tell the difference between Christians and themselves because our lives, our speech, our priorities, our goals, and the means we use to achieve those goals look just like the world--it's refreshing to see a Christian man not only profess with his lips his faith but actually live that profession out in his everyday life.
If we could learn from this and expound upon it, so that we are applying Biblical principles to EVERY area of our lives, it would only be a matter of time (humanly speaking) before the church would transform the world as we know it.
In a day and age when the church looks just like the unbelieving world around us--i.e., when unbelievers cannot tell the difference between Christians and themselves because our lives, our speech, our priorities, our goals, and the means we use to achieve those goals look just like the world--it's refreshing to see a Christian man not only profess with his lips his faith but actually live that profession out in his everyday life.
If we could learn from this and expound upon it, so that we are applying Biblical principles to EVERY area of our lives, it would only be a matter of time (humanly speaking) before the church would transform the world as we know it.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Church on WLOX
On tonight's news (not sure which time), there will be a story on the church complete with video footage of the steeple coming down. The reporter interviewed me, Harry Hewes, Robert Corley (the gentleman who is responsible for taking down the steeple today), Mary Ferguson, Stephen O'Mara, and several others in the freezing weather. Tune in at 5, 6, and 10, I think, to catch the story. They will probably post a written version on their website sometime later if you happen to miss the telecoverage.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Blasphemy Challenge
Recently, the "news" program Nightline aired a segment about a group of folks known as The Rational Response Squad, who have issued a challenge to try to get people to commit the "unforgivable sin." The members of this "Squad" spoke with vitriol about the "fear" that the church supposedly inculcates and feeds upon. And they insisted that they (rather nobly) only want to free people from this "bondage to fear." Their website states their purpose as trying to win your soul from the Lord Jesus. "We want your soul," they write brashly. They continue by saying, "Jesus will forgive you for just about anything, but he won't forgive you for denying the existence of the Holy Spirit. Ever. This is a one-way road you're taking here." The challenge involves videoing yourself saying the phrase "I deny the Holy Spirit" and posting it on You-Tube.
What should we as Christians have to say about this?
Well, here are a few comments:
1. Christianity does not instill or feed upon a "bondage to fear" or a "bondage to guilt." Christianity is all about freeing people from the bondage to fear and guilt that they are already experiencing as a result of sin. We do not create fear, nor do we need to. We do not create guilt, nor do we need to. People's consciences and sin do that all by themselves. Christianity provides the solution to the problem, not the problem itself.
2. The solution that they propose will never free anyone from bondage. The freedom that they seek to impart can ONLY be found in Christ.
3. By their own word, they are seeking "your soul." They have an agenda; the opposite agenda of Christianity (can anyone say, "Anti-Christ"!). In other words, they are doing the exact same thing that they fault Christianity for doing. They are inculcating a spirit of fear (that what people have always believed is wrong) and are doing it for the express purpose of gaining "your soul."
4. They misunderstand Mark 3:29 (and related passages) that talks about the "sin against the Holy Spirit." They say, "Jesus will forgive you for just about anything, but he won't forgive you for denying the existence of the Holy Spirit."
In the first place, Jesus will NOT forgive "you" for just about anything. Jesus will ONLY forgive those who have placed their trust in Him, those who rest and receive Him alone as He is offered in the gospel. So, if the "you" includes non-Christians (which it obviously does, because only a non-Christian would want to take this challenge), ALL of their sins (and not just blasphemy, even that against the Spirit) will be unforgiven.
In the second place, Jesus will NOT forgive you "for just about anything." Jesus will and does forgive His people for EVERYTHING, for every single sin they have ever committed and ever will commit-- past, present, and future. That's the gospel! Tell me, where is the fear in this? As the hymn-writer, Horatio G. Spafford writes, Christianity says: "My sin--o the bliss of this glorious thought--my sin, not in part but in whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more; praise the Lord, praise the Lord, o my soul" (emphasis mine). Who needs (or wants) deliverance from this?
In the third place, I don't know of anyone (any reputable scholar, that is) who interprets Mark 3:29 as saying that Jesus won't forgive you "for denying the existence of the Holy Spirit." This sin has nothing to do with the individual denying the EXISTENCE of the Holy Spirit, but with the individual denying the WORK of the Holy Spirit in his/her life. And it is not a one-time act that is in mind here but a settled condition of soul. To cite William Hendriksen (and he is not alone in this sentiment, not by far), this sin occurs "when a man has become hardened, so that he has made up his mind not to pay any attention to the promptings of the Spirit, not even to listen to his pleading and warning voice." In fact, this man even attributes these actions of the Spirit to the devil himself. Then, and only then, Hendriksen says, he "has placed himself on the road that leads to perdition. He has sinned the sin 'unto death'" (New Testament Commentary, 139).
In the fourth place, this sin of denying the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with a mere speaking of words. These Rational Response guys seems to want folks simply to utter these words, as though that is all it takes to condemn a person. It is not the mere speaking of ANY phrase that condemns one, any more than it would save one to utter "I trust Christ." The words, by themselves, mean nothing without the heart condition that accompanies it.
Now, I admit, to utter these words on camera does perhaps take an extra amount of boldness or shrewdness or hardness of heart. But, it could be, as is likely in at least several of the cases, that the people who are doing this, have not really studied the issue, have not heard the gospel (not really heard the gospel), have not been the beneficiaries of the promptings and warnings of the Spirit in their lives. For them to utter the words on camera amounts to gross ignorance, of which the Apostle Paul Himself was forgiven.
All this is to say that their supposed challenge is actually more of a publicity stunt for advocating their own religion: the religion of self.
I would encourage and challenge The Rational Response Squad to take up the Bible and read for themselves (tolle, lege) and to put some of their "rationality" to work discerning what the Scriptures really teach.
5. Let's not be duped, fellow believers. These guys do not have a lock on "rationality." Christianity is NOT irrational! It is wholly rational. But, to be sure, it is more than just rational. Christians have largely abdicated the realm of rational debate to atheists and scientists and others who speak a lot of gobbledegook. Let us stand firm. Let us strive to understand, first, the Bible, so that we can think Biblically about ALL of life, and, second, the world around us, so that we can answer gainsayers like this bunch.
If you are looking for a good starting place to take up the debate between atheism and theism, I would suggest one of my all-time favorites, C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity.
What should we as Christians have to say about this?
Well, here are a few comments:
1. Christianity does not instill or feed upon a "bondage to fear" or a "bondage to guilt." Christianity is all about freeing people from the bondage to fear and guilt that they are already experiencing as a result of sin. We do not create fear, nor do we need to. We do not create guilt, nor do we need to. People's consciences and sin do that all by themselves. Christianity provides the solution to the problem, not the problem itself.
2. The solution that they propose will never free anyone from bondage. The freedom that they seek to impart can ONLY be found in Christ.
3. By their own word, they are seeking "your soul." They have an agenda; the opposite agenda of Christianity (can anyone say, "Anti-Christ"!). In other words, they are doing the exact same thing that they fault Christianity for doing. They are inculcating a spirit of fear (that what people have always believed is wrong) and are doing it for the express purpose of gaining "your soul."
4. They misunderstand Mark 3:29 (and related passages) that talks about the "sin against the Holy Spirit." They say, "Jesus will forgive you for just about anything, but he won't forgive you for denying the existence of the Holy Spirit."
In the first place, Jesus will NOT forgive "you" for just about anything. Jesus will ONLY forgive those who have placed their trust in Him, those who rest and receive Him alone as He is offered in the gospel. So, if the "you" includes non-Christians (which it obviously does, because only a non-Christian would want to take this challenge), ALL of their sins (and not just blasphemy, even that against the Spirit) will be unforgiven.
In the second place, Jesus will NOT forgive you "for just about anything." Jesus will and does forgive His people for EVERYTHING, for every single sin they have ever committed and ever will commit-- past, present, and future. That's the gospel! Tell me, where is the fear in this? As the hymn-writer, Horatio G. Spafford writes, Christianity says: "My sin--o the bliss of this glorious thought--my sin, not in part but in whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more; praise the Lord, praise the Lord, o my soul" (emphasis mine). Who needs (or wants) deliverance from this?
In the third place, I don't know of anyone (any reputable scholar, that is) who interprets Mark 3:29 as saying that Jesus won't forgive you "for denying the existence of the Holy Spirit." This sin has nothing to do with the individual denying the EXISTENCE of the Holy Spirit, but with the individual denying the WORK of the Holy Spirit in his/her life. And it is not a one-time act that is in mind here but a settled condition of soul. To cite William Hendriksen (and he is not alone in this sentiment, not by far), this sin occurs "when a man has become hardened, so that he has made up his mind not to pay any attention to the promptings of the Spirit, not even to listen to his pleading and warning voice." In fact, this man even attributes these actions of the Spirit to the devil himself. Then, and only then, Hendriksen says, he "has placed himself on the road that leads to perdition. He has sinned the sin 'unto death'" (New Testament Commentary, 139).
In the fourth place, this sin of denying the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with a mere speaking of words. These Rational Response guys seems to want folks simply to utter these words, as though that is all it takes to condemn a person. It is not the mere speaking of ANY phrase that condemns one, any more than it would save one to utter "I trust Christ." The words, by themselves, mean nothing without the heart condition that accompanies it.
Now, I admit, to utter these words on camera does perhaps take an extra amount of boldness or shrewdness or hardness of heart. But, it could be, as is likely in at least several of the cases, that the people who are doing this, have not really studied the issue, have not heard the gospel (not really heard the gospel), have not been the beneficiaries of the promptings and warnings of the Spirit in their lives. For them to utter the words on camera amounts to gross ignorance, of which the Apostle Paul Himself was forgiven.
All this is to say that their supposed challenge is actually more of a publicity stunt for advocating their own religion: the religion of self.
I would encourage and challenge The Rational Response Squad to take up the Bible and read for themselves (tolle, lege) and to put some of their "rationality" to work discerning what the Scriptures really teach.
5. Let's not be duped, fellow believers. These guys do not have a lock on "rationality." Christianity is NOT irrational! It is wholly rational. But, to be sure, it is more than just rational. Christians have largely abdicated the realm of rational debate to atheists and scientists and others who speak a lot of gobbledegook. Let us stand firm. Let us strive to understand, first, the Bible, so that we can think Biblically about ALL of life, and, second, the world around us, so that we can answer gainsayers like this bunch.
If you are looking for a good starting place to take up the debate between atheism and theism, I would suggest one of my all-time favorites, C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity.
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