Archive for May, 2005

Sometimes Technology Keeps us from Beauty

Tuesday, May 17th, 2005

I read a story the other day that Florida is having a tiny baby boom right now. It’s been traced directly to the hurricanes they had last year. One couple said that they were stuck at home with no power, and one thing led to another, and …

Now let’s think about that for a moment. A man and his wife made love _because the power was out_. What would they have done if the power had not been out? I don’t know, but I suspect they would have stayed up late doing housework, watching TV, playing on the computer, etc. Who knows if they would even have gotten in bed at the same time, or if one of them would have stayed up watching the Late Show? Or maybe they would have been so tired that they just fell asleep without any romance or intimacy. The lack of electricity kept them from those distractions, and something wonderful (both that night, and the resulting baby) came about instead.

I wonder how often ostensibly good things - like electricity - keeps us from enjoying the best things in life? How many more couples would be spending time in one another’s arms if not for TV, computers, and electric lights that take up their evenings?

The highway closest to my house has been closed for a few months for repairs. I could drive over to the next one, which is brand new, but that takes me several miles in the wrong direction to get to work. Plus, my clunky old car can barely keep up with the 70 mph speed limit, and my broken speedometer keeps me wondering anyway.

So instead of taking the new highway, I take some backroads and get to a little farm-to-market road that parallels the highways and comes in further south, closer to my work. It might add 5 minutes to my drive. The biggest problem is that I keep almost running off the road because the view is so nice. I’ll take pictures one of these days so you can see.

If I take a slightly longer route, I can add another 5 or 10 minutes to my drive, but I go by Willowood Ranch.

Willowood is relatively new, but that beautiful farm-to-market road isn’t. I never went that way before. Because after all, the highway was right there. Until the highway was closed, I never even knew of this way to get to work.

I am ashamed of the next example. When I was young, my parents almost never ran the air conditioner. Only if the nights were 80+ for more than 2 or 3 nights. We might have air conditioning a week or two per year, that was it. Otherwise, we opened all the windows, and started the box fans and ceiling fans going. I fell asleep most nights listening to the crickets and locusts. Sometimes I was literally woke up by a rooster crowing.

Yuppies that we are, my wife and I do not leave the windows open at night. This is partially for safety, but mostly because we are yuppies.

The other day, we had the windows open as I was putting the older 2 boys to bed. The crickets were chirping up a storm. My oldest asked me “Daddy, what is that noise?” _He didn’t recognize the sound crickets make_. Because we close the windows.

How many good things do we miss because we turn on the lights, we close the windows, we run the air conditioner?

I wonder, how often does God send a cool, refreshing breeze, which we miss, because we are inside with the windows closed and the a/c running? How much pleasure do we miss because our environment is regulated at precisely 76 degrees? How many wonderful times with friends have we missed, because we send them email or chat on the phone? What interactions with our neighbors do we miss because we are inside, or driving to and fro? How many times do we miss some little mom-and-pop restaurant because we drive through at McDonald’s?

I’m not suggesting that these forms of technology are entirely without merit. Electricity is good. Electronic devices are generally good. I’m a computer programmer, after all. Central heat and air is good. Highways are essential. It’s good to be able to stay in contact with others through the web, through email, and through phone calls. But they come with a cost, and we need to be aware of that cost.

As for me, even when the highway is reopened, I’m still taking the farm to market road.

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God is Sovereign Over Creation

Friday, May 6th, 2005

There are two main points that both demonstrate the “Calvinist” view of soteriology is correct. First, God is absolutely sovereign over all creation. God has ordained the future, which must include one’s salvation or condemnation. Second, man is so depraved and helpless that aside from God’s regeneration, we would be entirely unable to believe and repent. Either of these points alone will demonstrate that “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”

We will start with the sovereignty of God. This is a long topic so it will likely run several posts.

Before we get started, is is essential to remember that this is the God who died for us. He loves us. I rely on Isaiah 40-45 a lot in here. Chapter 40 starts out with a proclamation of peace and comfort! God’s sovereignty is both scary and comforting. We must come to grips with the sovereignty of God, but we must not consider His sovereignty apart from His other attributes - mercy, grace, holiness, wrath, or justice.

There are two main points about the sovereignty of God that I want to make. The first is to understand that God is free to do as He pleases. He is not constrained by anything other than Himself. The second point is that God actually exercises this freedom by ruling over His creation. Everyone seems OK with the idea that God has the _right_ to rule, but they balk at the idea that He actually exercises this authority. Scripture shows us that He does.

Maybe it’s because I’m a programmer, but when I think of God being “in control” I usually think about someone moving chess pieces, or operating a machine, programming a computer, controlling a robot, etc. But this is not the language of the Bible. God is not a puppeteer. He is a King ruling over His subjects.

Starting out generally, *God does as He pleases in Heaven and on Earth*. God is actively involved in ruling His creation.

Psalm 115:3 “our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.” Unlike the heathen gods, our God reigns from Heaven and acts as He sees fit.

Psalm 135:6 “Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.” Notice that He does what He pleases in heaven _and_ in earth. We should not get the idea that God is ruling in Heaven, and the angels obey Him, but somehow He can’t rule over us. We can disobey His law, but He does as He pleases on the earth.

Daniel 4:35 “And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?”

This verse starts by teaching us that God has absolutely no respect for us. We are reputed as _nothing_ before Him. Isaiah 40:12-17 teaches us that the nations are just a speck of dust on the scales, a drop of water in a bucket. He regards us as less than nothing, as meaningless. Isaiah 40:21-26 calls us grasshoppers.

Now remember, this is the God who died for us! When the Bible says He regards us as meaningless, the best way to understand this is that He does not regard our strength, will, etc. We cannot stand up to Him. He is a loving Father to the elect, but we are nothing before our Father and our King.

It’s one thing for God to be ruling in some general, impersonal, indirect way. But it’s not general, impersonal, and direct. *God directs our daily lives despite our plans*. He deals with us in specifics, personally, and directly.

Proverbs 16:9 “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.”
Proverbs 20:24 “Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?”

We do make plans, but God directs our steps. Haven’t you ever been amazed how God has led you, completely without you realizing it at the time, to some place of blessing and sanctification? You look back on all the circumstances and the decisions you thought you were making and you realize that God was leading you here all along. I know I have. You didn’t know where you were going. You had devised your way. But God was directing your steps. He is sovereign over our daily lives. (See also Psalm 139:16).

We can observe God’s direct, personal, specific rule over our lives at an aggregate level, too. A democracy might think it’s all about “we the people”, but the Bible says *God is sovereign over civil government*.

Daniel 4:17 “the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men”.

Do you think God is nervous every 4 years as the election results come in? You think He’s counting electoral college votes? No? Why not?

The Bible says that God gives rule to “whomsoever he will”. Now, what happened to our free will in voting? We don’t believe God is magically changing ballots or sending His angels to stuff ballot boxes or fool with hanging chads.

He sets up rule in this kingdom, anyway, _by ruling over voters_. The election results - which are apparently dependent on millions of indpendent actions by “free moral agents” - are under God’s control. *God rules over the supposedly free will of men* to carry out His plans.

God rules over us even down to our daily lives. He regards us as grasshoppers, as less than nothing. He rules over our “free will”. We don’t get no respect. I don’t know what happened to our self-esteem and dignity, but He doesn’t seems to be too concerned about it! *God has the right to rule over us because He is God. We have no right to question Him*.

Daniel 4:35 “And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?”

Not only does God not give us any respect in terms of our strength, our will, or our plans. He also doesn’t take questions. Not only can we not stop Him, we can’t question Him. Job tried, and you see how well it worked out for him!

Romans 9:20 “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?”

Isaiah 45:9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?

In Daniel 4:35, we saw that we can’t question God simply because He is powerful and we are not. Isaiah and Paul in Romans go further. It’s utterly inappropriate to question God. We must realize that not only is He strong, _He is our Maker_. He formed us. He has the right to do with us as He sees fit. *His position as Creator gives Him the right to rule*. Our position as the Creation gives us our place as the ruled.

(See also Isaiah 40:12-17, 21-26. Or chapters 40-45 of Isaiah, for a general discussion of God’s sovereignty.)

Because He is the King, and is powerful, and is the Creator, and because we are powerless creatures, *God’s purposes cannot be thwarted*.

Isaiah 43:13 “Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?” (or, who can reverse it?) God is God. He is from eternity. He is powerful. He acts and none can reverse it.

Isaiah 46:9-11 “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.”

Sovereignty is an important part of what it even means to be God. There is none like Him. In what way? In that God, and no one else, declares “the end from the beginning” and asserting “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure”. This is part of what it means to be God. He is sovereign. He rules His creation and brings about His purposes.

This passage alone ought to do away with any system of theology that elevates anyone’s will or implies that God takes risks. He declares the end from the beginning. If He has declared it, if He has established His purposes, then how could we thwart that?

Lest we somehow get too comfortable with the idea of God’s sovereignty, or think of Him as a kindly omnipotent grandpa - like an all powerful genie who does good things for us because He can see better than we can - God makes a quite disturbing statement. *God is sovereign over good things and bad things*.

Isaiah 45:6-7 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

God is not sovereign over just the light. His will and his rule do not stop at “peace”. He creates evil. He causes calamity. He is unashamed - “I the LORD do _all_ these things.”

Remember that tsunami that killed all those unsuspecting people? *God did that.*

Jesus Himself said that God caused a man to be born blind just so Jesus could work a miracle. (John 9). Where was that man’s freedom? This does not sound like the gentlemanly God that Arminianism teaches.

God is sovereign. His rule is not theoretical. He actually rules. It is not general or impersonal either. He rules specifically. He rules over our daily lives. He orders our steps. He is not concerned with our rights; we are nothing before Him. He creates good and evil, sends blessings and calamities. We can’t stop Him, and do not have the right to question Him either.

Next, we will look at some Biblical examples when God makes His sovereign rule obvious - cases like Pharaoh, Job, etc.

Then, we will consider some of the motivations behind God’s actions. We know He does all things after the counsel of His own will, but sometimes He has told us what motivates Him.

Then, I will discuss other things that are true. We must keep these truths in context. God is sovereign, but we do still make choices. We’ll talk about how we still have something like “free will” even though God is sovereign.

I will also discuss how our worldview and our culture militate against the idea of God’s sovereignty, and finally I will draw a few points of application.

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Thoreau was Right About the News

Monday, May 2nd, 2005

Thoreau wrote in Walden

Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at; as railroads lead to Boston or New York. We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate. Either is in such a predicament as the man who was earnest to be introduced to a distinguished deaf woman, but when he was presented, and one end of her ear trumpet was put into his hand, had nothing to say. As if the main object were to talk fast and not to talk sensibly. We are eager to tunnel under the Atlantic and bring the Old World some weeks nearer to the New; but perchance the first news that will leak through into the broad, flapping American ear will be that the Princess Adelaide has the whooping cough. After all, the man whose horse trots a mile in a minute does not carry the most important messages; he is not an evangelist, nor does he come round eating locusts and wild honey.

I have only very recently begun to understand how right Thoreau was. I used to tease my wife over her ignorance of current events. She protested that they were unimportant; I simply couldn’t fathom how she could have that opinion.

I almost never watch TV anymore, but the other day I needed to watch the local evening news for some reason. I hadn’t watched the news in a long time. There’s little reason, since I have broadband internet access at home and at work. I can get dozens of headlines in a matter of minutes.

I was amazed at how fast the news was delivered. Any story was reduced to a 30 or 60 second blurb, one following the other as fast as possible. The content of the story didn’t matter - it got 30-60 seconds and that was it. The important stories, the tragic, and the banal were all mixed together. They didn’t even really bother to stop and look sad when talking about the tragic stories. I was actually glad when the weather came around because at least it was a few minutes spent talking, in some depth, about one thing.

I was also disgusted at the content of the news. A little girl in Fort Worth rode her bicycle out in front of a car being driven by an under-age teen, or something along those lines, and she was killed. The big story was that the teenager wasn’t going to be charged since the accident wasn’t his fault. All this with video clips of the grieving family. That’s just disgusting. Let these poor people grieve privately. There is no good reason for me to have watched that. Especially not considering how it was treated - a 60 second clip between two banal pieces.

That’s kind of made me realize how utterly worthless the news I get from Drudge, Fox, CNS, CNN, and ABC is, all coming in over the web.

For instance, here are the headlines right now from Drudge:

# Paula Abdul may be dropped from “American Idol”.
# Lynndie England will plead guilty.
# MSNBC might be changing its name.
# The “runaway bride” from a few days ago might be charged criminally. Sean Hannity will interview her fiance tonight at 9.
# A monster burrito threw a school into a panic because someone saw it wrapped up and was concerned it might be a weapon.
# Linkin Park (I guess that’s a musician?) is demanding to be released from (his? her? their?) contract with Warner.
# Lobbyists paid for trips for a Congressman.
# Interest rates are moving up.
# North Korea fired a missle into the Sea of Japan
# Tony Blair wants to improve UK’s nukes
# California wants to ban pet cloning
# Paris Hilton wants to be taken seriously
# A German/Jewish comedy has won an award
# Laura Bush is not quite the gentlelady we thought
# Italian media releases the details of some deaths in Iraq
# Iraq’s oil production is down
# A boy’s cell phone exploded in his pocket and burned him
# The Vatican is still against sodomite “marriage”
# Republicans still think PBS is liberal and are pressuring PBS to change

Ummm…. woop-de-do. The headlines that are even vaguely important are the one about interest rates, and the one about North Korea. Maybe the two about Iraq and the one about PBS.

My biggest realization is not that many of these stories are unimportant. In fact, many of them _are_ important - but only as parts of a whole. If cell phone batteries are even a little bit likely to explode, we need to know about that. But we _don’t_ need to know about the 10 year old boy whose cell phone exploded. It’s simply not important to me. I am glad he’s OK and I hope there are no scars or other damage, but it’s really not headline news.

The Lynndie England story is important, but only as part of the larger Abu Ghraib story - or maybe that is only important as part of the larger Iraq story. In any case, I don’t care if she pleads guilty or not.

The burrito story is funny, but hardly newsworthy.

Anything with Paris Hilton’s name is not news.

Drudge may be an easy target, but a quick glance at Fox, CNN, and ABC reveal that they are not a whole lot better.

I think it would be far better for us to say fewer things, but think and say more about them. Time is a good filter. If nobody will care next week, it’s pretty much unimportant. The things that are still important next week, next month, next year, are worth more than a 60 second blurb or a 10 paragraph story.

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