When I read newspaper and internet stories and listen to the radio and television one word leaps to mind—scheming! Republicans accuse the President and the Democratic-controlled Congress of trying to impose socialism. Democrats accuse Republicans of fear mongering and not caring about the American people. Special interest groups accuse Supreme Court justices for not holding to the Constitution. Radio talk hosts accuse the media of sensationalism and distortion. There is no happiness and unity is as easy to find as a unicorn. Perhaps we would do well to pause and to consider the nature of man.
Meditation
Psalm 10:4—In all his scheming, the wicked arrogantly thinks: “There is no accountability, since God does not exist.”
I suspect rebellion was the first recorded sin in history. Two essential ingredients fuel an evil rebellion: pride and scheming. Satan turned against his Lord. Then he incited Adam and Eve to disobey. Absent pride, there was no reason for Satan to usurp God. Minus scheming, there would be no action. From the time of Eden to the last words of John, the Bible is sated with pride and scheming.
A man without God is a man who lives for himself. Even a kind atheist at heart gives to make himself feel good. Scheming is the natural byproduct of a man or woman’s attempt to get what he or she wants. Thus, it is asinine for us to act surprised at the selfishness we see in actors and leaders across societal spectrums. Even those in the presence of Jesus were natural schemers—just look at the twelve apostles! Too often, I am concerned with my own agenda. It is only by grace and the merciful help of a loving Counselor that I can set my heart to do what God wants!
Impious people will plot—they cannot help it. We do not have to stew and let the actions of the arrogant upset us. We are responsible to do what is right, to pray, and to seek the will of the Father. Our confidence comes when we remember, “But You Yourself have seen trouble and grief, observing it in order to take the matter into Your hands. The helpless entrusts himself to You; You are a helper of the fatherless”—Psalm 10:14.
Inspiration
The vision of socialism is magnificent; there are benedictions and blessings for mankind on the line of socialism which have never been yet; but if once the root is cut from redemption, it will be one of the most frantic forms of despotic tyranny the human race has ever known. It looks like the lamb, but when the big crisis comes, it gives life to the beast.—Oswald Chambers in The Shadow of an Agony
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Skepticism
Paul and I were together several times the past month. I discovered he loves billiards so I asked if I could join him when he went out at night to the local pool hall. I am a weak pool player but he is both a great teacher and a patient competitor. While conversing, Paul revealed that he is an agnostic. One evening the topic of death came up and I mentioned the emptiness of dying only to end up as worm food. He countered that life was still valuable if we contributed to the betterment of others—even if they too had nothing more than the grave to anticipate. As our discussion deepened, I asked him if would not be much better to contribute to people’s lives and then have eternal life with God to enjoy. He agreed and at that point, I felt led not to force the conversation further with my fellow officer.
Meditation
John 7:12—And there was a lot of discussion about Him among the crowds. Some were saying, “He’s a good man.” Others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He’s deceiving the people.”
Hypocrisy, rigidity, insecurity (viewed as controlling), and a failure to listen are four ingredients that hasten the emergence of skepticism. An agnostic prefers to camp on the ground of uncertainty. Since most of us dislike uncertainty, we try to force the doubter to leave what we see as marsh to enter our solid encampment. If we are not careful, our persistent insistence that our ground is better while their soil is wrong, serves only to alienate them. There are a great number of people who do not appreciate being told where and how they should camp.
Truly only God can reach an agnostic since only He can reveal Himself. Since sin blinds men to truth and skepticism is a blind manifestation, our prayer should be for God’s mercy to overcome man’s hardness. If I understand Scripture correctly, my first responsibility is to love Paul and pray for his salvation. By loving him, I value who he is as a God-created man, treat him with dignity, and make every effort to model obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit and to what Scripture commands. Experientially, I find with agnostics that if they see I am genuine, they open up with questions and trust that I will dialogue honestly not trying to force my views down their throats. Humility is a great damper to skepticism.
God does not call us to win arguments. He calls us to follow Jesus. Truth does not rely on force of persuasion it stands on its own authenticity. This is why the fruit of truth is freedom. Therefore, those who disagree and resist what we espouse, should not intimidate us or increase our vocal volume but rather compel us to pray that the Lord of Light would shine His truth upon their darkness of doubt. In order to know how to pray for Paul, I must make the time to know Paul. How can I hope to see him sing praises in the mansion if I am not first willing to shoot pool with him in the marsh!
Inspiration
Skepticism is produced by telling people what to believe. We are in danger of putting the cart before the horse and saying a person must believe certain things before he can be a Christian; his beliefs are the effect of his being a Christian, not the cause of it.—Oswald Chambers in Approved Unto God
Meditation
John 7:12—And there was a lot of discussion about Him among the crowds. Some were saying, “He’s a good man.” Others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He’s deceiving the people.”
Hypocrisy, rigidity, insecurity (viewed as controlling), and a failure to listen are four ingredients that hasten the emergence of skepticism. An agnostic prefers to camp on the ground of uncertainty. Since most of us dislike uncertainty, we try to force the doubter to leave what we see as marsh to enter our solid encampment. If we are not careful, our persistent insistence that our ground is better while their soil is wrong, serves only to alienate them. There are a great number of people who do not appreciate being told where and how they should camp.
Truly only God can reach an agnostic since only He can reveal Himself. Since sin blinds men to truth and skepticism is a blind manifestation, our prayer should be for God’s mercy to overcome man’s hardness. If I understand Scripture correctly, my first responsibility is to love Paul and pray for his salvation. By loving him, I value who he is as a God-created man, treat him with dignity, and make every effort to model obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit and to what Scripture commands. Experientially, I find with agnostics that if they see I am genuine, they open up with questions and trust that I will dialogue honestly not trying to force my views down their throats. Humility is a great damper to skepticism.
God does not call us to win arguments. He calls us to follow Jesus. Truth does not rely on force of persuasion it stands on its own authenticity. This is why the fruit of truth is freedom. Therefore, those who disagree and resist what we espouse, should not intimidate us or increase our vocal volume but rather compel us to pray that the Lord of Light would shine His truth upon their darkness of doubt. In order to know how to pray for Paul, I must make the time to know Paul. How can I hope to see him sing praises in the mansion if I am not first willing to shoot pool with him in the marsh!
Inspiration
Skepticism is produced by telling people what to believe. We are in danger of putting the cart before the horse and saying a person must believe certain things before he can be a Christian; his beliefs are the effect of his being a Christian, not the cause of it.—Oswald Chambers in Approved Unto God
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Sickness
Occasionally I meet Christians who profess that believers should never get sick. In their view, illness stems from either sin, or natural causes unarrested by weak faith. You may have experienced sickness or prolonged disease and had someone imply your inability to get well was due to your lack of faith or unconfessed sin. Well let’s see what the New Testament has to say about this subject.
Meditation
John 9:2,3—His disciples questioned Him: " Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," Jesus answered. "[This came about] so that God's works might be displayed in him.
At least forty-four times the New Testament references Jesus healing people whom He encountered. Sometimes the healing was so dramatic, like the man in John 9 who was born blind, that the skeptical religious leaders could only mutter, “Throughout history no one has ever heard of someone opening the eyes of a person born blind.”
On at least two occasions Jesus taught that the sick needed a doctor and He used a hypothetical illustration of being sick to judge the actions of those who either helped Him or ignored Him (Mat. 9:12; 25:36-44). Twice Jesus revealed that sickness was part of God’s plan either to reveal God’s power, as in the case of the meditation passage above, or to glorify Christ as in the raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11:4-6). In at least two other instances, we discover that sickness at times can be directly attributed to God’s discipline for sin (1 Corinthians 11:29,30 and Revelation 2:21,22).
Jesus delegated authority to the disciples to heal people who were sick (Mat. 10:1,8). This authority continued after He returned to heaven (Acts 8:7). Healing also served as a sign demonstrating the power of God at work by His followers (Mark 16:17-19). Unfortunately, some use this passage in Mark improperly as a proof text for people to engage in questionable behavior to prove their legitimacy. The Bible also reveals that authority to heal is validated by faith on the part of the one needing healing. The implication is that if one does not believe healing is possible, that unbelief may prevent God from working. Clearly faith is an important aspect to healing (see Mark 5:28 and James 5:14,15).
However, just because someone remains sick does not prove insufficient faith. Not everyone ill in the Bible was healed as in the case of Timothy who was strong in faith yet suffered from stomach problems, and Trophimus, whom Paul left ill in Miletus (1 Timothy 5:23; 2 Ti. 4:20). God may allow sickness in a believer for a number of reasons: to show His power through our weakness; because germs, illness, demonic attacks and injury are a natural part of living in a fallen world; or because of sin and possible judgment.
When I am sick, I pray for God to heal me believing that His operational will is for me to function in good health. But I also am sensitive to discerning if it is possible that I am sick for a reason. I remember an instance in Thailand where after visiting a Buddhist Temple, I became so sick I was completely immobilized for a day. My teammates and family prayed for me and I recovered—but I believe that sickness was clearly a demonic attack brought on by my being in a place of spiritual darkness. My severe nearsightedness is a genetic reality and I need to wear contacts or glasses. While I would like the Lord to give me good eyesight, He has chosen to let me be legally blind. I have prayed for people to be healed and watched God miraculously heal them. I have prayed for people to be healed and yet as far as I could tell, nothing happened. In conclusion, there are many reasons for sickness. I believe our responsibility is to be humble, to believe that God can heal, to lay hands on and pray for those who are sick under the leading of the Holy Spirit, and to ensure what we believe is in line with what Scripture teaches. Never take one passage out of context from Scripture as a whole. Sickness happens. If you have Jesus you have eternal healing.
Inspiration
“It can never be God’s will that I should be sick.” If it was God’s will to bruise His own Son, why should He not bruise you?—Oswald Chambers in My Utmost For His Highest
Meditation
John 9:2,3—His disciples questioned Him: " Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," Jesus answered. "[This came about] so that God's works might be displayed in him.
At least forty-four times the New Testament references Jesus healing people whom He encountered. Sometimes the healing was so dramatic, like the man in John 9 who was born blind, that the skeptical religious leaders could only mutter, “Throughout history no one has ever heard of someone opening the eyes of a person born blind.”
On at least two occasions Jesus taught that the sick needed a doctor and He used a hypothetical illustration of being sick to judge the actions of those who either helped Him or ignored Him (Mat. 9:12; 25:36-44). Twice Jesus revealed that sickness was part of God’s plan either to reveal God’s power, as in the case of the meditation passage above, or to glorify Christ as in the raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11:4-6). In at least two other instances, we discover that sickness at times can be directly attributed to God’s discipline for sin (1 Corinthians 11:29,30 and Revelation 2:21,22).
Jesus delegated authority to the disciples to heal people who were sick (Mat. 10:1,8). This authority continued after He returned to heaven (Acts 8:7). Healing also served as a sign demonstrating the power of God at work by His followers (Mark 16:17-19). Unfortunately, some use this passage in Mark improperly as a proof text for people to engage in questionable behavior to prove their legitimacy. The Bible also reveals that authority to heal is validated by faith on the part of the one needing healing. The implication is that if one does not believe healing is possible, that unbelief may prevent God from working. Clearly faith is an important aspect to healing (see Mark 5:28 and James 5:14,15).
However, just because someone remains sick does not prove insufficient faith. Not everyone ill in the Bible was healed as in the case of Timothy who was strong in faith yet suffered from stomach problems, and Trophimus, whom Paul left ill in Miletus (1 Timothy 5:23; 2 Ti. 4:20). God may allow sickness in a believer for a number of reasons: to show His power through our weakness; because germs, illness, demonic attacks and injury are a natural part of living in a fallen world; or because of sin and possible judgment.
When I am sick, I pray for God to heal me believing that His operational will is for me to function in good health. But I also am sensitive to discerning if it is possible that I am sick for a reason. I remember an instance in Thailand where after visiting a Buddhist Temple, I became so sick I was completely immobilized for a day. My teammates and family prayed for me and I recovered—but I believe that sickness was clearly a demonic attack brought on by my being in a place of spiritual darkness. My severe nearsightedness is a genetic reality and I need to wear contacts or glasses. While I would like the Lord to give me good eyesight, He has chosen to let me be legally blind. I have prayed for people to be healed and watched God miraculously heal them. I have prayed for people to be healed and yet as far as I could tell, nothing happened. In conclusion, there are many reasons for sickness. I believe our responsibility is to be humble, to believe that God can heal, to lay hands on and pray for those who are sick under the leading of the Holy Spirit, and to ensure what we believe is in line with what Scripture teaches. Never take one passage out of context from Scripture as a whole. Sickness happens. If you have Jesus you have eternal healing.
Inspiration
“It can never be God’s will that I should be sick.” If it was God’s will to bruise His own Son, why should He not bruise you?—Oswald Chambers in My Utmost For His Highest
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Heritage
The Honorable Sid Jones, former Assistant Secretary of Treasury gave his “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” lecture to over 55 senior leaders from industry, the military and the government. His address punctuated the bleakness of the current U.S. economy, future dangers and possible remedies. He foresees an economic collapse for America given the great number of aging adults and the demands they place on social security. In describing U.S. assets and priorities one of his statements grabbed my attention. “We spend as much on security as the rest of the world combined.” Those words reminded me of Psalm 61:5.
Meditation
Psalm 61:5—God, You have heard my vows; You have given a heritage to those who fear Your name.
What we view as security says much about our spiritual maturity. Perhaps you own land or possessions passed on to you by your parents or grandparents. You could spend your whole life earning and putting money into savings or investments to pass on to your children as a heritage. But the reality is our world is temporary. There is no guarantee that you or your children will keep what is possessed. Wars, sickness, graft, theft, failed ventures and a host of other unknowns can easily destroy what we value. Therefore, while we should certainly appreciate what we inherit on earth we must never lose sight of a better heritage.
• Without salvation, there is no heritage; therefore, life is the ultimate heritage! In John 3:16 Jesus promised, "For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” Notice Jesus also gave us insight into life priorities in Matthew 19:29, “And everyone who has left houses, brothers or sisters, father or mother, children, or fields because of My name will receive 100 times more and will inherit eternal life.”
• God’s Word is freely given to us to obey—it is an eternal heritage. The writer of Psalm 119 wrote in verse eleven, “I have Your decrees as a heritage forever; indeed, they are the joy of my heart.”
• The love of Jesus is a heritage to all who keep His commands. “If you keep My [Jesus] commands you will remain in My love” (John 15:10a).
• Jesus taught that after He returned to heaven the Holy Spirit would come upon His followers (Acts 1:8). Incredibly, God makes Himself our heritage. “Don’t you know that you are God’s sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).
• Jesus told His followers, “I am going away to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2b).
Life-word-love-presence-dwelling, do we understand what God offers us? Let’s not worry over what will eventually burn when we should passionately glow in what can never be taken away! King David wrote, “But as for me, LORD, my prayer to You is for a time of favor. In Your abundant faithful love, God, answer me with Your sure salvation” (Psa.69:13). David got it right. He knew the best heritage was salvation. How about you, do you get it? Something to think about . . . in reveration!
Inspiration
Christ is not simply preparing a place for us; He is preparing us for that place.—Randy Alcorn in Heaven
Meditation
Psalm 61:5—God, You have heard my vows; You have given a heritage to those who fear Your name.
What we view as security says much about our spiritual maturity. Perhaps you own land or possessions passed on to you by your parents or grandparents. You could spend your whole life earning and putting money into savings or investments to pass on to your children as a heritage. But the reality is our world is temporary. There is no guarantee that you or your children will keep what is possessed. Wars, sickness, graft, theft, failed ventures and a host of other unknowns can easily destroy what we value. Therefore, while we should certainly appreciate what we inherit on earth we must never lose sight of a better heritage.
• Without salvation, there is no heritage; therefore, life is the ultimate heritage! In John 3:16 Jesus promised, "For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” Notice Jesus also gave us insight into life priorities in Matthew 19:29, “And everyone who has left houses, brothers or sisters, father or mother, children, or fields because of My name will receive 100 times more and will inherit eternal life.”
• God’s Word is freely given to us to obey—it is an eternal heritage. The writer of Psalm 119 wrote in verse eleven, “I have Your decrees as a heritage forever; indeed, they are the joy of my heart.”
• The love of Jesus is a heritage to all who keep His commands. “If you keep My [Jesus] commands you will remain in My love” (John 15:10a).
• Jesus taught that after He returned to heaven the Holy Spirit would come upon His followers (Acts 1:8). Incredibly, God makes Himself our heritage. “Don’t you know that you are God’s sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).
• Jesus told His followers, “I am going away to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2b).
Life-word-love-presence-dwelling, do we understand what God offers us? Let’s not worry over what will eventually burn when we should passionately glow in what can never be taken away! King David wrote, “But as for me, LORD, my prayer to You is for a time of favor. In Your abundant faithful love, God, answer me with Your sure salvation” (Psa.69:13). David got it right. He knew the best heritage was salvation. How about you, do you get it? Something to think about . . . in reveration!
Inspiration
Christ is not simply preparing a place for us; He is preparing us for that place.—Randy Alcorn in Heaven
Hollow
Gray skies and cold temperatures framed my Sunday morning on the University of Syracuse campus. Determined to go to church, I walked to Hendricks Chapel in time to catch the 11:00 a.m. service. The building reminded me of a Roman cathedral with its large columns, balconies and great curtains. However, structural grandeur gave way to disappointment when I realized the student choir more than doubled the size of the few attendees. Their beautiful voices could not silence my discordant gnawing.
Tomi, stood up in her white robe and tennis shoes and delivered a message loosely tied to Acts 9:36-43. When she lifelessly described Tabitha’s raising as an “environment of interdependent causal relationships” I realized why the place was empty. Later reading from Revelation 7:9-17, she questioned the intellect of John. How could he suggest robes could be made white by the blood of the Lamb or that a lamb could lead sheep? In her brightness the Word was made dim. Tomi offered suggestions of what we could glean in life from her lens of process theology. No wonder Hendricks was hollow.
Meditation
Acts 9:40,41—Then Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down, prayed, and turning toward the body said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her stand up. Then he called the saints and widows and presented her alive.
Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) is the father of process theology, a school of thought influenced by his metaphysical process philosophy. Essentially it teaches:
• God is not omnipotent in power, choosing rather to persuade than coerce.
• Reality is not comprised of time-enduring material substances but serially-ordered events, “which are experiential in nature.”
• Panentheism—God is not viewed as the sole Creator “but the eternal animating force behind the universe, with the universe as nothing more than the manifest part of God.” Essentially, everything past and present (not future) is in God.
• Free will by humans and creatures brings to the universe process and change. Self-determination defines everything in the universe, not just human beings.
• Humans do not experience personal immortality, but rather objective immortality. Their experiences survive forever in God.
• Jesus is not God, but rather fully identified with God. He is a created being.
• God co-creates with all other creatures, “including blooming flowers, singing whales, and insect architects . . . both God and finite beings draw on the same source of creative energy.” Nature as a whole is independent with its own autonomy. “There is no beginning to creation; God and the universe are co-eternally creative.” God incorporates all that happens into His own life.
• God does not know the future until it is actualized. He is not unchanging. He is dynamic absorbing new experience as the universe develops in creative transformation.
Whenever people remove their confidence from the Word of God and place it in the teachings of man—beware. Process theology denies that God is the omnipotent, sole Creator. It disallows the Trinity and Biblical teaching that man will stand one day before God for judgment. It strips the Lord of His attributes and renders Him dependent on the world. Process theologian Robert Mellert admits, “Process theologians, therefore, generally hold that God is in some sense dependent upon the world and that in that sense he is subject to the changes that take place in the world.”
Process theology neuters prayer because God is just a cooperative partner. Pray for those caught in this heresy for by making subjective claims about reality they render their pronouncements absurd in that they cannot be known by their own epistemology (The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and origin of knowledge. Epistemology asks the question “How do we know what we know?”). For example, how does a finite philosopher suppose to observe God as being inside everyone? How does he who is measured in time decide an eternal God cannot know the future?
If the ultimate authority in Process epistemology is man, and particularly the authority is man’s feelings, Process epistemology becomes problematic: Led by men’s feeling, there are many competing and conflicting opinions man has about God and theology. Not all of them could all be true in the same sense at the same time, since this would violate the Law of Non-Contradiction . . . how can the Bible have anything thing false or in error if the Bible is not propositional to begin with? . . . A categorical fallacy has been committed when they say that the Bible is false, because supposedly the Bible does not contain statements that are true or false.
I choose to believe God miraculously worked through Peter to bring a dead Tabitha back to life. He works His divine will today as true as yesterday and He knows what He will do tomorrow! Today my son, Bryan David, turned twenty-three. The one diagnosed with an inoperable brain-stem tumor at the age of three lives. We worshiped, we prayed, we wept and we experienced God as He came to us and healed Bryan. As surely as He saved Bryan once He can save us forever! I would rather believe the Bible is true, embrace hope in grace and live forever in His loving presence, than follow the dark logic that flowed from a Whitehead. Decide your source of wisdom, choose your process and live accordingly. Truth renders joy and is irrefutable while false renders hollow and flails.
Inspiration
If we let ourselves believe that man began with divine grace, that he forfeited this by sin, and that he can be redeemed only by divine grace through the crucified Christ, then we shall find peace of mind never granted to philosophers. He who cannot believe is cursed, for he reveals by his unbelief that God has not chosen to give him grace.—Blaise Pascal
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process_theology
2 Charles Hartshorne, Omnipotence and Other Theological Mistakes (Albany: State University of New York, 1984), 32-36.
3 C. Robert Mesle, Process Theology: A Basic Introduction (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 1993), 106.
4 http://www.processandfaith.org/resources/Cobb%20On%20Process%20Theology.shtml
5 Ibid
6 http://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/a-critique-of-process-theology%E2%80%99s-epistemology-and-doctrine-of-revelation/#_ftn4
7 The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
8 http://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2010/03/28
Tomi, stood up in her white robe and tennis shoes and delivered a message loosely tied to Acts 9:36-43. When she lifelessly described Tabitha’s raising as an “environment of interdependent causal relationships” I realized why the place was empty. Later reading from Revelation 7:9-17, she questioned the intellect of John. How could he suggest robes could be made white by the blood of the Lamb or that a lamb could lead sheep? In her brightness the Word was made dim. Tomi offered suggestions of what we could glean in life from her lens of process theology. No wonder Hendricks was hollow.
Meditation
Acts 9:40,41—Then Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down, prayed, and turning toward the body said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her stand up. Then he called the saints and widows and presented her alive.
Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) is the father of process theology, a school of thought influenced by his metaphysical process philosophy. Essentially it teaches:
• God is not omnipotent in power, choosing rather to persuade than coerce.
• Reality is not comprised of time-enduring material substances but serially-ordered events, “which are experiential in nature.”
• Panentheism—God is not viewed as the sole Creator “but the eternal animating force behind the universe, with the universe as nothing more than the manifest part of God.” Essentially, everything past and present (not future) is in God.
• Free will by humans and creatures brings to the universe process and change. Self-determination defines everything in the universe, not just human beings.
• Humans do not experience personal immortality, but rather objective immortality. Their experiences survive forever in God.
• Jesus is not God, but rather fully identified with God. He is a created being.
• God co-creates with all other creatures, “including blooming flowers, singing whales, and insect architects . . . both God and finite beings draw on the same source of creative energy.” Nature as a whole is independent with its own autonomy. “There is no beginning to creation; God and the universe are co-eternally creative.” God incorporates all that happens into His own life.
• God does not know the future until it is actualized. He is not unchanging. He is dynamic absorbing new experience as the universe develops in creative transformation.
Whenever people remove their confidence from the Word of God and place it in the teachings of man—beware. Process theology denies that God is the omnipotent, sole Creator. It disallows the Trinity and Biblical teaching that man will stand one day before God for judgment. It strips the Lord of His attributes and renders Him dependent on the world. Process theologian Robert Mellert admits, “Process theologians, therefore, generally hold that God is in some sense dependent upon the world and that in that sense he is subject to the changes that take place in the world.”
Process theology neuters prayer because God is just a cooperative partner. Pray for those caught in this heresy for by making subjective claims about reality they render their pronouncements absurd in that they cannot be known by their own epistemology (The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and origin of knowledge. Epistemology asks the question “How do we know what we know?”). For example, how does a finite philosopher suppose to observe God as being inside everyone? How does he who is measured in time decide an eternal God cannot know the future?
If the ultimate authority in Process epistemology is man, and particularly the authority is man’s feelings, Process epistemology becomes problematic: Led by men’s feeling, there are many competing and conflicting opinions man has about God and theology. Not all of them could all be true in the same sense at the same time, since this would violate the Law of Non-Contradiction . . . how can the Bible have anything thing false or in error if the Bible is not propositional to begin with? . . . A categorical fallacy has been committed when they say that the Bible is false, because supposedly the Bible does not contain statements that are true or false.
I choose to believe God miraculously worked through Peter to bring a dead Tabitha back to life. He works His divine will today as true as yesterday and He knows what He will do tomorrow! Today my son, Bryan David, turned twenty-three. The one diagnosed with an inoperable brain-stem tumor at the age of three lives. We worshiped, we prayed, we wept and we experienced God as He came to us and healed Bryan. As surely as He saved Bryan once He can save us forever! I would rather believe the Bible is true, embrace hope in grace and live forever in His loving presence, than follow the dark logic that flowed from a Whitehead. Decide your source of wisdom, choose your process and live accordingly. Truth renders joy and is irrefutable while false renders hollow and flails.
Inspiration
If we let ourselves believe that man began with divine grace, that he forfeited this by sin, and that he can be redeemed only by divine grace through the crucified Christ, then we shall find peace of mind never granted to philosophers. He who cannot believe is cursed, for he reveals by his unbelief that God has not chosen to give him grace.—Blaise Pascal
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process_theology
2 Charles Hartshorne, Omnipotence and Other Theological Mistakes (Albany: State University of New York, 1984), 32-36.
3 C. Robert Mesle, Process Theology: A Basic Introduction (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 1993), 106.
4 http://www.processandfaith.org/resources/Cobb%20On%20Process%20Theology.shtml
5 Ibid
6 http://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/a-critique-of-process-theology%E2%80%99s-epistemology-and-doctrine-of-revelation/#_ftn4
7 The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
8 http://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2010/03/28
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