In case you hadn't noticed, we have a national election next week.
There seems to be some confusion over the role of the Christian citizen as it pertains to his relationship to the government, and how involved we are to be in effecting governmental change. This is easily cleared up when we have a correct understanding of the roles ordained by God. We are in a tripartite, triangular relationship; there is the relationship between the Christian individual and God, our government and God, and the individual and government. God is obliged to no one and does not have duties to the other parties; He makes promises. The other parties have duties. Therefore, God makes promises to us and we have duties to Him, God makes promises to nations/governments, who in return have duties to Him, but government has duties to the individual and we have duties to government.
It is clear for the Christian that his primary citizenship is in the kingdom of God. We are not of this world, but in it, and this is not our home (John 15:19, 17:14, I Peter 2:11, Phil 3:20). Our secondary citizenship is in the United States. Our allegiance, obedience, and duties are first and foremost to our Creator. In any conflict between what the Bible commands us as Christians and what government commands, we must obey God's Word. God also ordains not only the individuals chosen to be our leaders, He has ordained our form of government. We live in a constitutional representative republic, and therefore we are in a position of stewardship of our country. In a dictatorship, the people are not in a position of stewardship, the dictator is. In the United States, our leaders are in a position of stewardship over the country, and we, the people, are in a position of stewardship over our country by choosing those leaders. The Apostle Paul and others in the New Testament, living under Roman occupation and dictatorship, did not have this blessing and luxury.
There is abundant Biblical evidence for God enacting judgment on individuals, cities (Gen 19, Matt 11:20-24), and nations (Psalms 110:6, Matt 25:32). God made numerous promises to the nation of Israel, and Israel had duties to fulfill for God to continue His blessings on that country (Exodus 19:5, Deuteronomy 28:1, Leviticus 26:3). Conversely, great curses were promised for national disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:15-68, Leviticus 26:14-39). The United States was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and those who would argue otherwise should be prepared to be buried under a mountain of evidence to the contrary. Although God did not directly or explicitly make promises to the nation of America or detail our duties to Him, our country is a spiritual descendant of Israel and those expectations are continued through us. As citizens of the United States, we are to be obedient to our government and leaders. This is spelled out in Romans 13:1-7, where words such as "subject to," "resists," "do good," and "be in subjection," are used to proscribe disobedience. However, nowhere in the Bible are we enjoined to refrain from criticizing our leadership or working towards their removal by our established form of governance, if that leadership is exhibiting poor stewardship and lack of Godly principles. This is not disobedience. This is execution of good stewardship of our government and leadership on our part. Yes, we are commanded by God to pray for our leaders, but it is also our responsibility to change that leadership, not by violence or disobedience but by our God-ordained electoral system. To remain silent in these matters is assent, and the harshness of the criticism should be commensurate with the degree of failure of our leadership to do as God commands them to do. In our ordained system of government, the leaders are accountable to us.
As detailed above, when a nation or government does not fulfill its duties to God, there is precedent for God to carry out judgment on that nation. There were four major prophets in the Old Testament as well as a host of minor prophets who spoke out against Israel and that country's disobedience to God and progressive immorality, which led to God's judgments on both the Northern and Southern kingdoms. Christ condemned various cities and warned the nation of Israel of impending judgment as well. Speaking out or criticizing poor or immoral leadership is not done for pleasure or preference; it is done to forewarn the nation of consequences. There is a vast difference between advancing an argument and being quarrelsome or encouraging strife. Arguing for the removal of leaders who do not follow Godly principles is our duty as Christians to God as stewards of the country He has given us. There is ample reason to fear God's judgment on a nation if the correct leadership is not in place as well as disobedience on the part of the nation as a whole. When a nation practices financial irresponsibility, fails to protect innocent life, or encourages sexual immorality, it is not being obedient to God's standards. These standards do not change with the time or culture.
Although there is Scripture in II Timothy 2 that advises us not to become entangled in this world's affairs, that is admonishing us to remember where our primary citizenship resides. We are not to love this world, but we must be involved in it and our governance; otherwise no Christian would run for public office or even vote, for that matter. You can be a secular Democrat or a secular Republican but you cannot be a secular Christian. Not all citizens of the world were granted by God the right to speak out in defense of His standards, but with that right comes the responsibility to use that right to do all that we can to make sure this nation brings glory to and honors Him.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Muddy Thinking
For a variety of reasons, I have taken the Myers-Briggs personality test several times during my life. One of my undergraduate degrees was in Psychology, and we were first exposed to it then. Later, in medical school, all of us in our class took it twice, once during the first year and then again in the third year. This was a part of a psychological study of us, the medical students, to see if our personalities changed any over the course of our medical education. Each time I was solidly an INTJ.
For those of you unfamiliar with the test, the Myers-Briggs measures four different personality qualities. The first is an attitude preference, termed either extraversion (E) or introversion (I). The second aspect is how one predominately perceives things, either by sensing (S) or intuition (N). The third area is how one tends to make decisons, either thinking (T) or feeling (F). The final quality is a little more complicated, but basically has to do with whether one predominately uses their perceiving function or their decision-making function, either perceiving (P) or judging (J). So this scheme makes for sixteen personality types, such as ESTP or INFJ and so on. Since I am an INTJ, it means that I am introverted, intuitive, a thinker, and I predominately use my thinking function. This is a very, very simplified explanation of the testing, but useful for the discussion that follows.
When I was confronted with my test scores, it would appear that on the thinking scale I am somewhat extreme. If you looked at a scale with feeling on the left and thinking on the right, my personality is situated to the far right. In fact, with regard to feeling and thinking, I have been told that I sit well to the right of Mr. Spock. Well, for someone who isn't supposed to have many feelings that hurt what few of them remain. Anyway, it seems logical, to use a phrase from Mr. Spock, that if I am so oriented to thinking, my thinking ought to be highly developed. But I am very guilty of muddy thinking from time to time, as I think most Christians can be.
The Christian should have a different view of the world, and a different way of thinking about people, things, and events. When we accept Christ into our lives, as we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and begin the lifelong process of sanctification, we should likewise begin the process of changed thinking. Some of this requires a willful effort on our part. Paul advises us in Romans 12:2, "And do not be comformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..." This can be harder than you can imagine for it requires that we should be "...bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ..." (II Cor 10:5). That is quite a challenge, to control each and every thought.
There are two areas that come to mind when I think about falling short in this effort. The first has to do with our sufferings, and this was the motivation for writing my book, Surviving the Suffering. As a physician dealing with suffering on a daily basis, I saw so many people worsen their sufferings by unclear thinking. They would often misdiagnose the cause of their suffering and pursue the wrong treatments. Their anguish was multiplied by adding complications to their problem, such as unnecessary shame or becomng angry with God. It is my hope that the book will help people begin to think clearly about their sufferings in order to deal with them more effectively.
The second problem comes with the discouragement and despair that comes upon us from time to time. I heard Allistair Begg remark that in all of those times he found himself in those situations, it was mostly because he had taken his eye off of God. The more I reflected, the more I realized that was true in my own case. Even when I was not truly suffering, but was feeling disappointed or discouraged, it was usually because of very muddy thinking, and not focusing on the things of God. Getting our eyes back on God means turning to Him in prayer and His Word. So many of the things we worry about are of not the slightest importance when placed in the perspective of eternity. Although Christ spoke often of money in the New Testament, when He returns money will be one of the most useless things on earth. Prestige and power will be meaningless as we kneel and bow before our Lord (Romans 14:11, Philippians 2:10). Our health will cease to be a concern as we receive new bodies in Heaven.
When we can clearly reason the way we should, we can see our trials exactly for what they are, whether it be to correct us, prune us, strengthen us, or glorify God. And the trifles that fill our time and thoughts with worries and anxieties will be as dust blown away with a single breath when we join Christ in eternity. It is trying to keep our eyes on God and the things of God, bringing those thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ, that causes the scales to fall from our eyes as they did with Paul (Acts9:18). The clearer vision may not eliminate the problem completely, but will have you deal with it as God would have you do, rather than some misguided attempt of your own.
Think about it.
For those of you unfamiliar with the test, the Myers-Briggs measures four different personality qualities. The first is an attitude preference, termed either extraversion (E) or introversion (I). The second aspect is how one predominately perceives things, either by sensing (S) or intuition (N). The third area is how one tends to make decisons, either thinking (T) or feeling (F). The final quality is a little more complicated, but basically has to do with whether one predominately uses their perceiving function or their decision-making function, either perceiving (P) or judging (J). So this scheme makes for sixteen personality types, such as ESTP or INFJ and so on. Since I am an INTJ, it means that I am introverted, intuitive, a thinker, and I predominately use my thinking function. This is a very, very simplified explanation of the testing, but useful for the discussion that follows.
When I was confronted with my test scores, it would appear that on the thinking scale I am somewhat extreme. If you looked at a scale with feeling on the left and thinking on the right, my personality is situated to the far right. In fact, with regard to feeling and thinking, I have been told that I sit well to the right of Mr. Spock. Well, for someone who isn't supposed to have many feelings that hurt what few of them remain. Anyway, it seems logical, to use a phrase from Mr. Spock, that if I am so oriented to thinking, my thinking ought to be highly developed. But I am very guilty of muddy thinking from time to time, as I think most Christians can be.
The Christian should have a different view of the world, and a different way of thinking about people, things, and events. When we accept Christ into our lives, as we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and begin the lifelong process of sanctification, we should likewise begin the process of changed thinking. Some of this requires a willful effort on our part. Paul advises us in Romans 12:2, "And do not be comformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..." This can be harder than you can imagine for it requires that we should be "...bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ..." (II Cor 10:5). That is quite a challenge, to control each and every thought.
There are two areas that come to mind when I think about falling short in this effort. The first has to do with our sufferings, and this was the motivation for writing my book, Surviving the Suffering. As a physician dealing with suffering on a daily basis, I saw so many people worsen their sufferings by unclear thinking. They would often misdiagnose the cause of their suffering and pursue the wrong treatments. Their anguish was multiplied by adding complications to their problem, such as unnecessary shame or becomng angry with God. It is my hope that the book will help people begin to think clearly about their sufferings in order to deal with them more effectively.
The second problem comes with the discouragement and despair that comes upon us from time to time. I heard Allistair Begg remark that in all of those times he found himself in those situations, it was mostly because he had taken his eye off of God. The more I reflected, the more I realized that was true in my own case. Even when I was not truly suffering, but was feeling disappointed or discouraged, it was usually because of very muddy thinking, and not focusing on the things of God. Getting our eyes back on God means turning to Him in prayer and His Word. So many of the things we worry about are of not the slightest importance when placed in the perspective of eternity. Although Christ spoke often of money in the New Testament, when He returns money will be one of the most useless things on earth. Prestige and power will be meaningless as we kneel and bow before our Lord (Romans 14:11, Philippians 2:10). Our health will cease to be a concern as we receive new bodies in Heaven.
When we can clearly reason the way we should, we can see our trials exactly for what they are, whether it be to correct us, prune us, strengthen us, or glorify God. And the trifles that fill our time and thoughts with worries and anxieties will be as dust blown away with a single breath when we join Christ in eternity. It is trying to keep our eyes on God and the things of God, bringing those thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ, that causes the scales to fall from our eyes as they did with Paul (Acts9:18). The clearer vision may not eliminate the problem completely, but will have you deal with it as God would have you do, rather than some misguided attempt of your own.
Think about it.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Release Date Announced
We have just received word that the official release date for Surviving the Suffering is going to be January 8, 2013, when the book will begin distribution in stores and with online retailers. The book will be available sooner on this website, probably in about a month.
Monday, October 15, 2012
A Tale of Two Men
Within the space of twenty-four hours last week two friends of mine received devastating news. Hearing of their loss saddened me deeply. Both are Christians. There are uncertainties in how their problems will be fixed. However, I am only really worried about one of them.
One of them is a devout Christian who has walked a lifetime with the Lord. His faith is deep and solid, and it is obvious to the people who know him. He is the kind of Christian man that other Christian men look up to. He has served God well, and his children have been raised in a manner that brings God glory. His strength of character, as well as his faith, will not allow him to be shaken. James 1:6 notes, "But ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind." I don't worry about that with this man.
In my previous articles, The Suffering Mandate and The Suffering Schedule, I discussed the inevitablity of suffering, how we should know that it always comes, how it it is usually a surprise, and how we should be mentally and spiritually prepared for it. The mature Christian may have an immediate sense of shock at an untoward event, literally being stunned or surprised, but that should give way to the acknowledgement that these trials are part of God's plan for us. In my book, Surviving the Suffering, I go to great lengths to help people discern what the specific cause of their suffering might be, in order to deal with it in the most appropriate manner. We must first get used to the idea that the Christian life will intermittently be filled with these ordeals.
The second man is much younger, an after living a very troubled life turned that life over to God by receiving Christ as his saviour. Our evangelistic approach is to reach such lost people with the Gospel or good news. We often neglect what I would call the badspel, or bad news, and it has been noted by others that new Christians often go through a "honeymoon" period, where the inital experience after salvation brings forth exuberance in the new life. Some of this, I think, comes from the relief that forgiveness brings, and some of this may come from the release of self-destructive habits and thinking. The old man is put off, and the new man celebrates his newfound status before the Lord and not being trapped in sin. We rejoice along with the new believer, and encourage them in their efforts to learn and deepen their relationship with God.
However, in our effort not to rain on anyone's parade, we sometimes do a poor job of preparing the new Christian for the trials ahead. This young man, after such an arduous life, was so happy in his fresh beginning that those of us who knew him found it exceedingly difficult to trample on that happiness in order to prepare him for his certain ordeals. No one wants to say, "Wipe that smile off your face. Your train will be wrecked soon enough." And so when my young friend's train does get wrecked, he must not only deal with the immediate personal consequences but will have to work through the spiritual ones as well. The unseasoned Christian will find that as Jesus said in Mark 9:49, "For everyone will be seasoned with fire...." So I worry that this man will be shaken.
The Word of God gives so many assurances throughout the entire Bible. In the Old Testament, we learn in Isaiah 41:10, " Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God, I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous hand." Even the new Christian probably has some familiarity with Psalm 23. Jesus tells us clearly, "lo, I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20). Although the new Christian has the Scripture unlocked for him, and he can now begin to understand God's Word, he will be required to live through those trials in order that those messages may be made real.
I read many books on flying before experiencing the reality of flying an airplane, and many years of studying the heart before I was allowed to hold one in my hands. This time of preparation was essential to be ready for the challenges to come. There is no better way for God to prepare us for life's hard knocks than to read and study His Word, but the reality of suffering has to be experienced to refine and strengthen our faith. Two men, one seasoned and one a raw recruit, but the same promise is made to both: "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him" (I Timothy 2:12).
One of them is a devout Christian who has walked a lifetime with the Lord. His faith is deep and solid, and it is obvious to the people who know him. He is the kind of Christian man that other Christian men look up to. He has served God well, and his children have been raised in a manner that brings God glory. His strength of character, as well as his faith, will not allow him to be shaken. James 1:6 notes, "But ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind." I don't worry about that with this man.
In my previous articles, The Suffering Mandate and The Suffering Schedule, I discussed the inevitablity of suffering, how we should know that it always comes, how it it is usually a surprise, and how we should be mentally and spiritually prepared for it. The mature Christian may have an immediate sense of shock at an untoward event, literally being stunned or surprised, but that should give way to the acknowledgement that these trials are part of God's plan for us. In my book, Surviving the Suffering, I go to great lengths to help people discern what the specific cause of their suffering might be, in order to deal with it in the most appropriate manner. We must first get used to the idea that the Christian life will intermittently be filled with these ordeals.
The second man is much younger, an after living a very troubled life turned that life over to God by receiving Christ as his saviour. Our evangelistic approach is to reach such lost people with the Gospel or good news. We often neglect what I would call the badspel, or bad news, and it has been noted by others that new Christians often go through a "honeymoon" period, where the inital experience after salvation brings forth exuberance in the new life. Some of this, I think, comes from the relief that forgiveness brings, and some of this may come from the release of self-destructive habits and thinking. The old man is put off, and the new man celebrates his newfound status before the Lord and not being trapped in sin. We rejoice along with the new believer, and encourage them in their efforts to learn and deepen their relationship with God.
However, in our effort not to rain on anyone's parade, we sometimes do a poor job of preparing the new Christian for the trials ahead. This young man, after such an arduous life, was so happy in his fresh beginning that those of us who knew him found it exceedingly difficult to trample on that happiness in order to prepare him for his certain ordeals. No one wants to say, "Wipe that smile off your face. Your train will be wrecked soon enough." And so when my young friend's train does get wrecked, he must not only deal with the immediate personal consequences but will have to work through the spiritual ones as well. The unseasoned Christian will find that as Jesus said in Mark 9:49, "For everyone will be seasoned with fire...." So I worry that this man will be shaken.
The Word of God gives so many assurances throughout the entire Bible. In the Old Testament, we learn in Isaiah 41:10, " Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God, I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous hand." Even the new Christian probably has some familiarity with Psalm 23. Jesus tells us clearly, "lo, I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20). Although the new Christian has the Scripture unlocked for him, and he can now begin to understand God's Word, he will be required to live through those trials in order that those messages may be made real.
I read many books on flying before experiencing the reality of flying an airplane, and many years of studying the heart before I was allowed to hold one in my hands. This time of preparation was essential to be ready for the challenges to come. There is no better way for God to prepare us for life's hard knocks than to read and study His Word, but the reality of suffering has to be experienced to refine and strengthen our faith. Two men, one seasoned and one a raw recruit, but the same promise is made to both: "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him" (I Timothy 2:12).
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Hardcover Edition Coming
The hardcover edition of my new book, Surviving the Suffering, will be available on this website beginning in about six weeks. I have been busy setting up the website for billing and taking orders. The public release date has not yet been announced, but should be at the end of December or first of January. That is when we hope to see the book in bookstores and online retailers, and bookstore events begin.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Soon to be available...
I will be taking a short hiatus from writing for the next week. Surviving the Suffering, my new book, is in the final stages of production and we just received word today from the marketing department that the book will be available soon. There is much work to do to prepare for marketing events, book signings and the like. Within the next couple of weeks you should be able to order the book from this website directly or from the publisher; the official release date will be in late December or January when it will be available from bookstores and other online sellers. I will keep you posted as things develop.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)