Thursday, February 25, 2010
Nature, Miracles, and Richard Dawkins
February 25, 2010
“The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1).
Clay Miller: God does not need to “do a miracle” or “give a sign” to prove His existence. He exists. And He has given all of us sufficient evidence in creation itself, in nature itself to know this. Miracles are not needed to validate God’s existence. Miracles were used to protect or get the attention of people to doctrine God was presenting, especially in Jesus’ ministry and the apostles’ ministries. Those miracles did indeed prove there was a “Miracle Worker”…someone supernatural. But the miracles in and of themselves are not for convincing atheists. Richard Dawkins is an atheist hero. He works in science and evolution and sees evidence of God everywhere and refuses to acknowledge His existence. A miracle would do no good…He cannot allow himself to presuppose a supernatural explanation for anything no matter how “miraculous”. He would rather believe possible aliens created our world (???) than God, he just does not want that “alien” to be the God of the Bible. The only miracle that can save such people is the inner working regenerating miracle of the Holy Spirit. And if God acts out that one, even Dawkins can be converted.
“The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1).
Stephen Charnock: “In Paul’s account, the testimony of the creatures was without contradiction. God Himself justifies this way of proceeding by his own example, and remits Job to the consideration of the creatures, to spell out something of His divine perfections. And this is so convincing an argument of the existence of God, that God never vouchsafed [granted; allowed] any miracle, or put forth any act of omnipotency, besides what was evident in the creatures, for the satisfaction of the curiosity of any atheist or the evincing [proving] of his being, as he hath done for the evidencing those truths which were not written in the book of nature, or for the restoring a decayed worship, or the protection or deliverance of his people. Those miracles in publishing the gospel, indeed, did demonstrate the existence of some supreme power; but they were not seals designedly affixed for that, but for the confirmation of that truth, which was above the ken [mental perception] of purblind [nearly blind] reason, and purely the birth of divine revelation. Yet what proves the truth of any spiritual doctrine, proves also in that act the existence of the Divine Author of it. The revelation always implies a revealer, and that which manifests it to be a revelation, manifests also the supreme Revealer of it. By the same light the sun manifests other things to us, it also manifests itself. But what miracles could rationally be supposed to work upon an atheist, who is not drawn to a sense of the truth proclaimed aloud by so many wonders of the creation? Let us now proceed to the demonstration of the atheists folly…”
Clay Miller: God does not need to “do a miracle” or “give a sign” to prove His existence. He exists. And He has given all of us sufficient evidence in creation itself, in nature itself to know this. Miracles are not needed to validate God’s existence. Miracles were used to protect or get the attention of people to doctrine God was presenting, especially in Jesus’ ministry and the apostles’ ministries. Those miracles did indeed prove there was a “Miracle Worker”…someone supernatural. But the miracles in and of themselves are not for convincing atheists. Richard Dawkins is an atheist hero. He works in science and evolution and sees evidence of God everywhere and refuses to acknowledge His existence. A miracle would do no good…He cannot allow himself to presuppose a supernatural explanation for anything no matter how “miraculous”. He would rather believe possible aliens created our world (???) than God, he just does not want that “alien” to be the God of the Bible. The only miracle that can save such people is the inner working regenerating miracle of the Holy Spirit. And if God acts out that one, even Dawkins can be converted.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Immobile, Dead, Blind, and Slaves
February 23, 2010
Genesis 1:6-8
Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." 7Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
Clay Miller: “Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt” –Augustine. Creation obeyed God because God caused creation to obey Him. Our hearts are no different being dead as they are apart from Christ. I agree whole heartedly with Henry in that what God requires He Himself works in us. He grants regeneration, He makes us alive. He grants faith. He grants repentance. He grants all good we do. It is hard to fathom or even feel this due to His wisdom and ability to work through us in the way He does. But in the end all things are what they are because He did it. If this imposes upon some humanistic idea of free will, then so be it. The Bible does not teach the kind of free will people think it does…rather it teaches us that our will are captive, slaves of sin, dead, immobile, and blind. Our wills are in bondage to our hearts and our hearts are corrupt. We have the freedom to choose…but not the ability to choose God. We will always not choose or choose some corrupt form of God, because our hearts are incapable of seeing the true God’s worth and beauty…unless God intervenes and frees us, makes us alive, mobilizes us and opens our blind eyes. I thank God for this mercy!
Genesis 1:6-8
Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." 7Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
Matthew Henry: “2. The creation of it [the firmament]. Lest it should seem as if God had only commanded it to be done, and someone else had done it, he adds, ‘And God made the firmament’. What God requires of us he himself works in us, or it is not done. He that commands faith, holiness, and love, creates them by the power of his grace going along with his word.”
Clay Miller: “Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt” –Augustine. Creation obeyed God because God caused creation to obey Him. Our hearts are no different being dead as they are apart from Christ. I agree whole heartedly with Henry in that what God requires He Himself works in us. He grants regeneration, He makes us alive. He grants faith. He grants repentance. He grants all good we do. It is hard to fathom or even feel this due to His wisdom and ability to work through us in the way He does. But in the end all things are what they are because He did it. If this imposes upon some humanistic idea of free will, then so be it. The Bible does not teach the kind of free will people think it does…rather it teaches us that our will are captive, slaves of sin, dead, immobile, and blind. Our wills are in bondage to our hearts and our hearts are corrupt. We have the freedom to choose…but not the ability to choose God. We will always not choose or choose some corrupt form of God, because our hearts are incapable of seeing the true God’s worth and beauty…unless God intervenes and frees us, makes us alive, mobilizes us and opens our blind eyes. I thank God for this mercy!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Creation...to the Gospel
February 22, 2010
Clay Miller: It is good to point out God’s creation as evidence of God. He leaves clues about Himself all over our lives so that we are without excuse right now. His nearness is evident. Not only did He create this massive universe, but He acts in it. Our existence is evidence of Him. And it is clear that He is not like idols made by human hands…He is real, and mighty, and infinite, and a God to whom we must give account. We all know this. It is just a hated fact that men will fight with all their might to conceal from their own hearts.
The sad thing is, the fighting is in vain, and there is an alternative that would save the fighter…As they say, when you cannot beat them, join them. The evidence is there, and now God bids you through written communication to come to Him, through His Son, and know Him, be reconciled to Him; be saved from your guilt. God sent Jesus Christ to die for those who would believe on Him for eternal life. Jesus was without sin. Yet on the cross, He willingly submitted to the Father’s wrath on behalf of all those who would ever believe. On the cross, God the Father’s wrath literally exploded on His Son, as He treated Jesus as if He had committed every sin of every person who would ever believe. Jesus did not sin, nor did He become a sinner on the cross…The Father judicially treated Him “as if” He were the guilty one.
The other side of the transaction is just as amazing…God the Father treats the believer “as if” he or she had lived the perfect life of Christ. Christ’s life, His righteousness, is credited to the believer’s account. This is what it means to be clothed in Christ’s righteousness. We are not righteous in and of ourselves but God treats us as if we are…just like He treated Jesus as if He were us, though He was no sinner in and of Himself. It is amazing what the God of this amazing creation has done for sinners. I hope this helped some people see that.
Stephen Charnock: “2. We are often in the Scripture sent to take a prospect of the creatures for a discovery of God. The apostles drew arguments from the topics of nature when they discoursed with those that owned the Scripture…
Romans 1:19
because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
…as well as when they treated with those that were ignorant of it, as…
Acts 14:16-17
who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness."
…And among the philosophers of Athens…
Acts 17:27, 29
so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us… Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising.
…such arguments the Holy Ghost in the apostles thought sufficient to convince men of the existence, unity, spirituality, and patience of God. Such arguments had not been used by them and the prophets from the visible things in the world to silence the Gentiles with whom they dealt, had not this truth, and much more about God, been demonstrable by natural reason: they knew well enough that probable arguments would not satisfy piercing and inquisitive minds.”
Clay Miller: It is good to point out God’s creation as evidence of God. He leaves clues about Himself all over our lives so that we are without excuse right now. His nearness is evident. Not only did He create this massive universe, but He acts in it. Our existence is evidence of Him. And it is clear that He is not like idols made by human hands…He is real, and mighty, and infinite, and a God to whom we must give account. We all know this. It is just a hated fact that men will fight with all their might to conceal from their own hearts.
The sad thing is, the fighting is in vain, and there is an alternative that would save the fighter…As they say, when you cannot beat them, join them. The evidence is there, and now God bids you through written communication to come to Him, through His Son, and know Him, be reconciled to Him; be saved from your guilt. God sent Jesus Christ to die for those who would believe on Him for eternal life. Jesus was without sin. Yet on the cross, He willingly submitted to the Father’s wrath on behalf of all those who would ever believe. On the cross, God the Father’s wrath literally exploded on His Son, as He treated Jesus as if He had committed every sin of every person who would ever believe. Jesus did not sin, nor did He become a sinner on the cross…The Father judicially treated Him “as if” He were the guilty one.
The other side of the transaction is just as amazing…God the Father treats the believer “as if” he or she had lived the perfect life of Christ. Christ’s life, His righteousness, is credited to the believer’s account. This is what it means to be clothed in Christ’s righteousness. We are not righteous in and of ourselves but God treats us as if we are…just like He treated Jesus as if He were us, though He was no sinner in and of Himself. It is amazing what the God of this amazing creation has done for sinners. I hope this helped some people see that.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Can Nothing Create Something?
February 20, 2010
Genesis 1:6-8
Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." 7Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
Clay Miller: The firmament is mainly considered the breathable atmosphere God created for us. It is the “first heaven”…the second heaven being outer space and the third heaven being the place where God dwells. In 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul speaks of being caught up to the third heaven, he is speaking of heaven as we normally think of it…the place where God dwells.
I was discussing origins with some friends the other night and we talked about the absurdity of “nothing” creating something. This is what many today believe. And I don’t think they have thought it through as they try to “picture it” happening. There was nothing, and suddenly it…wait…”it”…nothing is not an it. Nothing is nothing. But for arguments sake, they envision nothing suddenly creating something in some space…WAIT! Space? There was no space…there was nothing. And if you ask them why this nothing suddenly created itself…well something caused it to…WAIT! Something? What? What caused nothing to suddenly create itself and where did that something, or force come from? It is absurdity!!!! But who cares! It makes them feel deep and smart and…sophisticated?
God even accounts for space. He created space too. God is incorporeal and does not have to inhabit space. He is self-sufficient. He is Spirit. Too wonderful for you? Too lofty? Ah, that is why He is God and we are not. God is the self-sufficient, self-existing Creator of all else. He created space, and on day two of the creation account, He made a habitable atmosphere for the human race He would crown His creation with. He hung the earth on nothing. He spread out the skies…He did it! His name is The Lord.
Genesis 1:6-8
Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." 7Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
Matthew Henry: “We have here an account of the second day’s work, the creation of the firmament, in which observe, 1. The command of God concerning it: Let their be a firmament, an expansion, so the Hebrew word signifies, like a sheet spread, or a curtain drawn out. This firmament is not a wall of partition, but a way of intercourse…
Job 26:7
He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.
Job 37:18
With Him, have you spread out the skies, Strong as a cast metal mirror?
Psalm 104:3
He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters, Who makes the clouds His chariot, Who walks on the wings of the wind,
Amos 9:6
He who builds His layers in the sky, And has founded His strata in the earth; Who calls for the waters of the sea, And pours them out on the face of the earth-- The Lord is His name.
Clay Miller: The firmament is mainly considered the breathable atmosphere God created for us. It is the “first heaven”…the second heaven being outer space and the third heaven being the place where God dwells. In 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul speaks of being caught up to the third heaven, he is speaking of heaven as we normally think of it…the place where God dwells.
I was discussing origins with some friends the other night and we talked about the absurdity of “nothing” creating something. This is what many today believe. And I don’t think they have thought it through as they try to “picture it” happening. There was nothing, and suddenly it…wait…”it”…nothing is not an it. Nothing is nothing. But for arguments sake, they envision nothing suddenly creating something in some space…WAIT! Space? There was no space…there was nothing. And if you ask them why this nothing suddenly created itself…well something caused it to…WAIT! Something? What? What caused nothing to suddenly create itself and where did that something, or force come from? It is absurdity!!!! But who cares! It makes them feel deep and smart and…sophisticated?
God even accounts for space. He created space too. God is incorporeal and does not have to inhabit space. He is self-sufficient. He is Spirit. Too wonderful for you? Too lofty? Ah, that is why He is God and we are not. God is the self-sufficient, self-existing Creator of all else. He created space, and on day two of the creation account, He made a habitable atmosphere for the human race He would crown His creation with. He hung the earth on nothing. He spread out the skies…He did it! His name is The Lord.
Friday, February 19, 2010
God's Megaphone: Creation
February 19, 2010
“The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1).
Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Clay Miller: Socinians were best known for their rejection of God’s omniscience (All-knowingness), their claim that Jesus did not exist until he was born into the world, and they rejected the propitiatory view of the atonement. Charnock here informs us that they also denied that nature was effectual evidence of God’s existence. Romans 1:19 makes it clear that God has shown His existence in all men…and I would add…
Psalm 19:1-3
The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. 2Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. 3There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard.
…They have the heavens showing His glory, the sky and atmosphere showing his power and creativity; they have succession of days revealing so much including His faithfulness, and they have night after night revealing His amazing knowledge. And there is no place, no people who do not have this megaphone in their lives.
“The Scripture ascribes a knowledge of God to all nations in the world…not only a faculty of knowing, if they had arguments and demonstrations, as an ignorant man in any art hath a faculty to know; but it ascribes an actual knowledge (verse 19) ‘manifest in them’; (Verse 21) ‘They knew God”. “This was a little difficult wording to comprehend but what Charnock was saying is that the Bible not only says we have the faculty to know, like we all have the faculty or ability to do things we do not yet know how to do, but, unlike a mere faculty to know God, we all have actual knowledge of God. It is clear to us all. It is just as sinners, we don’t want it to be…unless God changes our affections.
“The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1).
Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Stephen Charnock: “I have spoken the more of this place, because the Socinians use this to decry any natural knowledge of God, and that the existence of God is only to be known by revelation, so that by that reason anyone that lived without the Scripture hath no ground to believe the being of God. The Scripture ascribes a knowledge of God to all nations in the world…
Romans 1:19
because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
…not only a faculty of knowing, if they had arguments and demonstrations, as an ignorant man in any art hath a faculty to know; but it ascribes an actual knowledge (verse 19) ‘manifest in them’; (Verse 21) ‘They knew God;’ not they might know him; they knew him when they did not care for knowing him. The notices of God are as intelligible to us by reason, as any object in the world is visible; he is written in every letter.”
Clay Miller: Socinians were best known for their rejection of God’s omniscience (All-knowingness), their claim that Jesus did not exist until he was born into the world, and they rejected the propitiatory view of the atonement. Charnock here informs us that they also denied that nature was effectual evidence of God’s existence. Romans 1:19 makes it clear that God has shown His existence in all men…and I would add…
Psalm 19:1-3
The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. 2Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. 3There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard.
…They have the heavens showing His glory, the sky and atmosphere showing his power and creativity; they have succession of days revealing so much including His faithfulness, and they have night after night revealing His amazing knowledge. And there is no place, no people who do not have this megaphone in their lives.
“The Scripture ascribes a knowledge of God to all nations in the world…not only a faculty of knowing, if they had arguments and demonstrations, as an ignorant man in any art hath a faculty to know; but it ascribes an actual knowledge (verse 19) ‘manifest in them’; (Verse 21) ‘They knew God”. “This was a little difficult wording to comprehend but what Charnock was saying is that the Bible not only says we have the faculty to know, like we all have the faculty or ability to do things we do not yet know how to do, but, unlike a mere faculty to know God, we all have actual knowledge of God. It is clear to us all. It is just as sinners, we don’t want it to be…unless God changes our affections.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
First Day(s)
February 18, 2010
Genesis 1:3-5
Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
Clay Miller: The “new world” Henry is speaking of is the church age, after the resurrection of Christ, which happened on a Sunday. Sunday is the Lord’s Day. It is the day the church sets aside for a God-centered, God-focused time of corporate worship and personal devotion. Sadly, it is now used very little for God. Maybe, just maybe, people go to church, but they give very little of the rest of the day to God. I know I am guilty of this. This is actually a subject that has been on my mind lately and that the time has come to research. Some of the things I want to nail down are why the church replaced the Sabbath, what is acceptable on the Lord’s Day, what kind of devotion should that day be used for, and on a personal level, how can I implement all of it in my life and family? As I go through the Bible verse by verse, and come to this issue, I will comment more and share better thoughts as I gather them together. One thing is for sure…First day’s of this creation and of the Christian era are special.
Genesis 1:3-5
Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
Matthew Henry: [Observation #] “6. That this was the first day’s work, and a good day’s work it was. The evening and the morning were the first day. This was not only the first day of the world, but the first day of the week. I observe it to the honour of that day, because the new world began on the first day of the week likewise, in the resurrection of Christ, as the light of the world, early in the morning. In Him the dayspring [dawn] from on high has visited the world.”
Clay Miller: The “new world” Henry is speaking of is the church age, after the resurrection of Christ, which happened on a Sunday. Sunday is the Lord’s Day. It is the day the church sets aside for a God-centered, God-focused time of corporate worship and personal devotion. Sadly, it is now used very little for God. Maybe, just maybe, people go to church, but they give very little of the rest of the day to God. I know I am guilty of this. This is actually a subject that has been on my mind lately and that the time has come to research. Some of the things I want to nail down are why the church replaced the Sabbath, what is acceptable on the Lord’s Day, what kind of devotion should that day be used for, and on a personal level, how can I implement all of it in my life and family? As I go through the Bible verse by verse, and come to this issue, I will comment more and share better thoughts as I gather them together. One thing is for sure…First day’s of this creation and of the Christian era are special.
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