Two weeks ago I responded to a troll in a post titled “Troll on Veritas Domain: Jesus didn’t have any requirements about belief in Himself?” Here in this post I want to tackle another point with the troll’s comment here. I’ve already responded to the first half of his comment over there but I thought I take on the second half as a blog post in hopes that the following response would illustrate the importance of contextually driven interpretation in refuting an erroneous interpretation.
The troll have an interesting take on the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. In his own words:
in fact, in the garden, why was god pissed? what was he angry with? what was his first comment?
he was angry at adam and eve believing (because now they judged) they were not worthy to be in god’s presence! his only following comment was deducing why they now thought their metaphoric nakedness (ie insufficiency) … “ah! you ate from the tree, eh?”
Nothing speaks more of the height of folly of the ungodly gospel of self-esteem than to see this troll reinterpret the reason why God was upset in Genesis 3. He thinks God was upset with Adam and Eve for thinking they were not worthy of being before His presence! Our troll rejects the traditional interpretation that the reason why God was upset with Adam and Eve is due to their disobedience in eating the prohibited fruit.
But is our troll’s interpretation defensible from the text of Genesis 3 itself? Let’s take a closer look.
On May 22-23, 2015, Hill Country Reformed Baptist Church hosted a “God Keep Our Land Apologetics Conference” in which they featured four Christian apologists and taught on Presuppositional Apologists. What I found exciting about this conference from other Presuppositional apologetics conference is that it took place in Canada!
Here is the description of the speakers from their website:
Sye Ten Bruggencate – creator of the film “How to Answer the Fool” and runs the website http://www.proofthatgodexists.org. He has debated atheists like Matt Dillahunty and appeared on many radio and internet radio programs defending the Christian faith. Sye lives near London, ON.
Matt Slick – founder and president of Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM.org), author of the fiction novel The Influence and host of “Matt Slick Live,” an FM radio program in Boise, Idaho.
Joe Boot – Rev. Dr. Joseph Boot (M.A., Ph.D.) is a cultural theologian, leading Christian apologist, founding pastor of Westminster Chapel in Toronto and founder of the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity (EICC). Originally from Great Britain, he served with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries for seven years as an apologist based in England and Canada. Joe has spoken all over the world in 25 countries at numerous universities, seminaries, churches, colleges, and conferences from Eton College and Oxford University, to Forman University in Lahore, Pakistan. He regularly addresses medical, legal, and business professionals in North America, Britain, and the Middle East and has publicly debated leading atheistic thinkers and philosophers in Canada and the United States (taken from ezrainstitute.ca; for more information please visit the website.)
Jeff Durbin – founder and host of Apologia Radio and Pastor of Apologia Church in Phoenix, AZ. Jeff has witnessed to and debated many from all walks of faith through his ministry. He is also active in preaching and witnessing to those entering abortion mills.
There are ten sessions although there are eleven videos in total which can be seen below:
R.C. Sproul. What is the Church? Sanford, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, October 7th, 2013. 82 pp.
I picked this book out to go over for a study for a small group since I wanted to review the basics of ecclesiology that was concise and Reformed. I was also hoping to glean from this book anything helpful as I was also preparing to preach for a retreat on the topic of the church. The author R.C Sproul is someone I esteem very highly and he is more than capable in writing on this topic. However I must admit that I was somewhat disappointed with this particular book even though I found his other works in his Crucial Question Series to be quite helpful. This short book has nine chapter in which some of them could have been made into one. For instance I felt the first two chapters could have been combined together. Some of the chapters were so short that I was surprised to find I was done with them even though I was just getting started! There were some chapters that didn’t have a single Bible verse in support of the discussion. Sproul has a chapter on the servants of the Lord and I wished he could have addressed the topic of serving in the church more practically. Upon further reflection after completing the book I think the book as a whole could have been more practical. Sproul did have a helpful discussion in his final chapter about the marks of a true church. I agree with Sproul that a true church must preach the Gospel but I had a harder time with Sproul’s position that an essential element of a true church include the fact that it must practice church discipline. Now don’t get me wrong I believe in the importance of the local church carrying out discipline but I do think it is possible that a church struggle to implement church disciple and still remain a church. In the end I would still say this book is still worth getting despite the drawbacks I’ve mentioned although I would also encourage people to read other works on the church alongside this book. Given how Sproul has made this book and others like it in the Crucial Question series free on Kindle, what’s holding you back?
We want to take this time to thank all of you who read our blog, who comment and interact with us. We are especially thankful to those who have shared our posts and resources whether reblogging it, or letting others know about them on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc).
Looking forward to the future we will continue to share resources that we hope and pray would be helpful. Lord willing we plan to continue to proclaim and defend the Christian faith and tear down strongholds that lift itself above Christ.
I am thankful to my Holy God, who would make such a creature as I to not only know him intimately, but to be used as a slave for His glory (Rom. 1:1). God is glorified when His attributes that are essential to understanding the Gospel is not ignored. He is not only a loving God, but is the God who sees sin as an abominable thing that He abhors. We made that known yesterday. His holiness, justice, and love was magnified.
While I was preaching, one particular lady who professed to be a Christian openly lashed out on me with unwholesome words that any Christian would be ashamed of mentioning in the public, let alone in the secret. She acted worse than some unbelievers I know. She was openly pro-choice and demonstrated an attitude of apathy to the little defenseless children who are murdered. I hope that she will mourn over her sin against Christ. May His Spirit via the Gospel usher her into the kingdom of Christ. I love her and care for her soul. The more you know, the more responsible you will be before the Judge. Hebrews 10:29 states, “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” Yes, the grace of Christ was trampled when his holiness and justice was swept under the rug by a professing Christian that was unwilling to demonstrate humility and contrition.
Yesterday was quite different from Tuesday. Instead of being in solitude, Pastor Luke and Russell accompanied me at the murder mill. Russell was holding some signs, passed out Gospel tracts, and pleaded with a few people to not go into PP for their services. Pastor Luke blessed us with a message from Psalm 139 that he preached at PP.
The grace of God was seen that day. Two people left PP. Two people (both a male and a female) who walked into the doors of PP, later came out and expressed their dissatisfaction with PP. They agreed with our message. Praise God for peeling back the layer of evil for them to behold. Please pray that they will know Christ if they have not done so yet.
Furthermore, I had the honor of preaching two major points that were stemmed from Matthew 22:42, “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?” They said to Him, “The son of David.” The two major points were conveyed indispensable necessity of the divinity and humanity of Christ because of the sinful condition of man.
Next Tuesday, there will be a national Pink Out for Planned Parenthood. I suppose that there will be some pro-choice advocates at certain cities for their PP rally. Instead of wearing pink, they should be wearing red because the reality is that babies are murdered under the idoltary of convenience and the demonic doctrine of pro-choice that has led to slaughter of around 61 million innocent babies since 1973’s Roe v Wade ruling.
Proverbs 28:17, “A man who is laden with the guilt of human blood Will be a fugitive until death; let no one support him.”
Proverbs 6:16-19, “These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren”
Psalm 9:12, “For He who requires blood remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.”
Here is one sample video for your edification. I am a Christian, but….
Tim Chester. Delighting in the Trinity. Milwaukie, OR: The Good Book Company, November 1st, 2010. 192 pp.
According to the back cover this book aims to show how the Trinity is “fantastically good news.” The book is divided into three parts with part one looking at the Biblical foundation for the Trinity, part two focuses on the historical developments of the Trinity throughout church history and part three concentrate on the practical implications. The part of the book that I most enjoyed was part one in which the author Tim Chester presented the Biblical proof for the Trinity. The part of the book that I, and most likely most readers will learn the most from is the historical theology section. Here in part two of the book Chester divided the church’s historical development into three parts which is roughly divided between the second through fourth century AD, the fifth through sixteenth century AD and finally the 17th through 20th century AD. I found Chester informative. However I do question Chester’s point that the 17th-20th Century has been about putting the Trinity at the margins and then again at the center of theology. I think seeing the Church as a whole, the doctrine of the Trinity has been at the center for much of the early part of Church history as a whole (just look at all the church councils and creeds). Chester is right that in Western Europe there was a marginalization of the Trinity due to the Enlightenment which had a tendency towards rationalism and Unitarianism. But I don’t know if we can say the Trinity was marginalized by the rest of the Church or elsewhere in the world. The part of the book that I was most looking forward to was the practical implications. It seems that there have been a recent revival among Evangelicals to study the Trinity and draw out its implication for the Christian life and faith. I thought that Chester could have been more explicit at times in this section of the book. That is, he could have been more explicit about how the Trinity applies to the Christian life; there were times in the book in which I wondered where was the Trinitarian implication. Maybe this is more a stylistic issue; for instance I felt the discussion about the Trinity and salvation spent a long time talking about different views of the atonement which is good and I agree with penal substitutionary atonement but he could have done a better job tying the Trinity into the subject matter. I felt the same criticism applies to his chapter on the Trinity and revelation. His strongest chapter in this section was on the Trinity and humanity. There is an excellent discussion of the problem of one and the many and society pitting the battle between the individual and society and how when we look at the Trinity we see the perfect pattern that has implication for the unity of the church and other spheres of humanity. Very good, I was surprised that Chester didn’t footnote anything here from Van Til or Rushdoony! Do read this book but also read other works on the Trinity as well.
I still have to give an update from this past Thursday. In short, from Thursday, God’s Word, His song of salvation, was uttered to a young woman named Nancy. The vile monster called sin was confronted and exposed to her before sharing the good news. Nancy was very open and teachable. She even asked questions, and did not challenege any of God’s Word. She was thankful and stated that she learned a lot about the Gospel that day. The power of sin is strong. Please pray that the miracle of regeneration will occur if it did not become a reality yet.
Today, my brother Jimmy and myself made our way to PP in Pasadena–another notorious site that was exposed by The Center for Medical Progress for harvesting and selling baby parts. As we drove towards PP and did a little reconaissance; there was barely anyone there. As a result, we decided to go to the PP murder mill at El Monte near Jimmy’s church where he pastors.
There was much apathy by many while ministering there. Even the security guard named George who was engaged with us openly in a conversation (who seemed disturbed as we explained PP’s crime) in the beginning, switched to another mode as time progressed. From a cordial conversation in the beginning, he now completely shut off. He refused to speak even one word to us. He was hardened. However, Jimmy and I resumed the Gospel ministry by preaching on a few ocassions. The guard who was hardened heard all of the messages. While we preached, the El Monte Police Dept. came because they received a call stating that we were harassing people–which is a farce. The conversation with the officer was positive. There were no points of contention. Thus we resumed.
I also had the opportunity to speak briefly to a young woman named Brenda who was in tears. She was standing near a pillar near us. I saw her in distress. As a result, I approached her while Jimmy was preaching in front of PP. Not sure why she was in tears, but I gave her some Gospel literature and she willingly took it. We told her we are here to help. Please pray that the literature would convict her.
By God’s grace, we had our first conversation with a PP worker who took our Gospel tract. That is first time a worker took a Gospel literature from my experience. But what was distressing was her confession. She said she is a Christian. As she walked away, we challenged her thinking and warn her of the grave crimes against God by associating with a organization that unashamedly murders babies. It is clear what PP stands for: the idolatry of Pro-Choice. But she refused to engage and continued walking away to her car.
We also had an opportunity to share the Gospel with an employee from LabCorp, named Steve. They provide services to PP. He confessed that he is Catholic and is against abortion. Please pray that he will submit to the Gospel.
I was blessed to partner up with Pastor Jimmy today. May this excursion be the catylyst to encourage the other church members to join him in this missionary endeavor. I was blessed not only to preach alongside him, but also pray soberly for the lost. The lost who if they die without Christ, will spend eternity in Hell. The lost who if they die without Christ will experience a perpetual guilt for all eternity. May the glory of Christ’s message save the people we came in contact with today. May they drink of the redemptive drops of His grace. As always, thank you for interceding via prayer to our Savior and Lord for us.
God’s love for the lives of Babies is a Greater Issue than Other Issues (Exodus 1:11-14)
Point: Murdering babies is a greater sin in God’s eyes than most other sins.
Proof:
Pharaoh’s Policy: Harsh slavery described
“appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with[i]hard labor.” (11b)
“they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom” (v.11c)
“The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israelto labor rigorously” (13)
Kinds of labors: “and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at allkindsof labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously[k]imposed on them.” (14)
Of Egypt’s three harsh policies, God intervened right away with two of the situations but did not right away with slavery. What does this tell us?
God intervention with babies through His providence shows his love for babies.
God will free Israel from slavery which is the drawn out topic of the Book.
I would venture to say that God saw the murdering of babies to be far more evil than slavery and therefore intervened right away.
Think of it: When people are oppressed in slavery, they can run away or cope. But there is no place for running away for a helpless baby. There is no place a baby could escape in the womb from abortion devices.
Practice:
Do we see in American history that our current abortion holocaust that began when the Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973 is a greater tragedy than even the American Slavery and the Civil War?
More than even the immediate injustice that we might be facing in our lives with work and the economy, have you considered that a greater evil in God’s eyes is abortion?
Are we vowed to stand for life and be willing to even make a stand, when it’s unpopular?
Conclusion: There is hope for those who have even committed the sins of abortion. Christ has died for all sins. Yes, even in the sins of murder. He Himself was murdered. Died on the Cross. For all our sins. To Him we turn for grace. To Him also we point others to for forgivness of sins as well.
Today Congress has passed a bill temporarily defunding Planned Parenthood. As expected Planned Parenthood is all worked up. Look at their twitter accounts.
Just in case something happens to the Tweet, this is what it says: “Planned Parenthood is more popular than cheeseburgers. Maybe somebody should tell Congress… #StandWithPP#trending ”
We have a troll commented on one of my posts while I was away on a trip. He has some interesting unorthodox views. Wally, a dear friend of our blog asked him the question “Exactly how did you arrive at that?” The troll said said “about 25 years in theology.” He thinks his study of the Bible is academically rigorous and told Wally “what i’d like you to do is use the greek, the original language john was written in,” to refute him. He wants Wally to know he’s ready to rumble with the Greek by name dropping Strong (dead give away of a wannable Greek Geek). Oh and our troll freely use the word “simpleton” for others. So after 25 years of studying theology what is his mighty conclusion of Jesus’ life and ministry ? His comment found HERE is very telling:
jesus didn’t have any requirements about belief in himself; he had a very old jewish message he wished was simply believed. his only unique addition to it was a universalism and focus on the inner-man. a way of seeing the world differently, through love, and behavior is then lawless, unjudgable.
Let’s do an autopsy of what he said.
1.) “jesus didn’t have any requirements about belief in himself”
Response: Jesus didn’t have any requirements about belief in himself? The Biblical data suggests otherwise. And he didn’t pick this up after 25 years? Maybe it’s time to turn the table around, so using his own words and standards: “what i’d like you to do is use the Greek, the original language,” and translate these Greek passages:
και πας ο ζων και πιστευων εις εμε ου μη αποθανη εις τον αιωνα πιστευεις τουτο
μη ταρασσεσθω υμων η καρδια πιστευετε εις τον θεον και εις εμε πιστευετε
ιησους δε εκραξεν και ειπεν ο πιστευων εις εμε ου πιστευει εις εμε αλλα εις τον πεμψαντα με
I’m not playing. If you’re the troll and you are reading this, there will be no comments approved on this blog until you you translate, parse, decline and argue grammatically from the Greek. And please don’t use Google to find these verses and look it up in the English or cheat with Google Translate. You can tell.
Note: I’ll post what these verse says in the English after a reasonably ample time has passed.
The Domain for Truth 