On Baptism

Here are the references I cited during the baptism we celebrated on Sunday:

We identify with Christ’s death:

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

Romans 6:3-5

Jesus identifies with us not as God, but as a man:

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’”

Matthew 3:13-15

Being raised from death is a powerful working of God:

“In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in a powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven all your trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

Colossians 2-11-14

We become sons of God through faith as we put on Christ:

“Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.”

Galatians 3:23-29

Why am I here?

This worldview question is important but most often ignored.

Here are four reasons we ignore answering this question: 

1. It seems we can never know the answer.
2. It seems the answer most often offered makes us uncomfortable.
3. It seems the incomplete answer we provide for ourselves is enough.
4. It seems the answer is irrelevant because, really, there is no answer.

For Christians, the answer to this question is simple: I am here to glorify God.

“I will say to the north,

give up,

and to the south, do

not withhold;

bring my sons from afar

and my daughters from

the end of the earth,

every one who is called

by my name,

whom I created for

my glory,

whom I formed

and made.”

Isaiah 43:6-7

“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”

Ephesians 1:11-12

"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen."

Rom. 11:36

". . . for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

1 Cor. 6:20

"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

1 Cor. 10:31

“All the nations you have made shall come

    and worship before you, O Lord,

    and shall glorify your name.

For you are great and do wondrous things;

    you alone are God.

Teach me your way, O Lord,

    that I may walk in your truth;

    unite my heart to fear your name.

I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,

    and I will glorify your name forever.”

Ps. 86:9-12

Who am I?

I (we) am (are) made in the image of God. . .

 “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’

So God created man in his own image

In the image of God he created him;

male and female he

created them.

And God blessed them…”

Genesis 1:26-28a

. . .and as such, I (we) have intrinsic worth.

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”

Genesis 9:6

“For man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God. . .”

1 Corinthians 11:7

“With it [the tongue] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.”

James 3:9

Voddie Baucham on Christian Worldview

Here is the link to the audio of the lecture I mentioned during last evening’s time together:

Christian Worldview with Voddie Baucham

Last night we went through The TruthProject Lesson Three about “Who is Man?”, and I thought some of the content Voddie presents ties in nicely with what we talked about last night. Since we have questions about how to practically apply abstract philosophical ideas to every-day-life, this might help.

One idea is that “we will behave in accordance to what we believe.” This, therefore, is why worldview is so important.

He talks about the four questions every worldview's meta-narrative must answer:

Who am I?

Why am I here?

What is wrong with the world?

How can what is wrong be made right?

He compares the worldview of secular humanism to the worldview of Christianity and answers those questions from within the different meta-narratives.

The Death to Life Dialogs: Speaking of Death

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist There is a hunger in the center of the chest There is a passage through the darkness and the mist And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

James Taylor

Shed A Little Light

 

“The stench of death hangs over us from birth to grave,” said the old man.

“And beyond,” said the young skeptic.

“And beyond?” the old man asked.

The skeptic smirked and was silent.

“No, not beyond,” the old man said. “The rarefied air of heaven is clear and clean and sweet.”

The skeptic smirked and remained silent.

“The stench of death cannot invade the heavenly places. It’s not that death is not remembered; it’s that it’s no longer important.”

“No longer important?” The skeptic was aroused from his smirking slumber.  “Why, then do we so strive to ignore it?” The skeptic’s eyes became tinged with anger. “Death is the crime of crimes,” he said, then spat on the ground. “It is most definitely a curse. The stench is simply a reminder, a most morbid reminder. You of all people should know that, as close as you stand to it.”

The old man now smiled. “A curse?” he asked. “I thought you didn’t believe in curses.”

“It’s a figure of speech.”

“But your anger is real?”

“Yes, it is real.”

“And you are affronted by the smell of death?”

“Who isn’t?”

“Then you are most assuredly affected by the very curse in which you don’t believe.” The old man moved closer to the skeptic and spoke in a whisper. “A figure of speech does not arouse such passion.”

“Why do we allow ourselves to speak like this?” asked the skeptic. “There is much beauty to be taken in. Why must I be forced to attend to such ugliness?”

“So you wish once more to ignore it, by attempting to deny death’s importance?”

“Of course,” said the skeptic. “But you are in error old man: It’s by ignoring future ugliness that I attest to its importance now.  It is by attending to beauty now that I laugh in the face of death before that criminal act is perpetrated upon me. I steal beauty from ugliness. I steal life from death.”

The old man laughed. “You, my son, are a fool. There is no escape. Life is given to you. Death takes life. You may choose to ignore death, you may cover the stench of death with roses or lilies, but even the flowers lose their scent and death still overtakes you. You cannot ignore it. That is not allowed!”

“You, old man, are embittered by what you think you’ve lost. I am in no such position!”

“You are hanging on a twisted thread over that position as we speak,” said the old man. “Please remember—as I said before—the stench of death hangs over us from birth to grave.”

The skeptic started then slumped. Despondency crept over him. His face twitched as his skin crawled. The skeptic arose wearily to his feet. “To be aware like this is to be already dead,” he said. He began to limp away.

“Please, stop,” said the old man. “I’ve upset you and for that I am truly sorry. Please oblige me in my old age and sit next to me. Allow me to tell you a story.”

Postmodernism Resources

If you're so inclined to dig into this further, here are some resources for your reading or viewing pleasure:

General Resources

Here is a general explanation of Postmodernism from The Conversation website.

Here is a comparison of Modernism with Postmodernism.

Here is another look at the progression from pre-modern, to modern, to postmodern thought.

Christian Resources

View this lecture on Postmodern Epistemology from the Theology Program at Bible.org.

Is there such a thing as Postmodern Christianity?

There's way more to this line of study and how the church should handle it than we can possibly get into in a week's worth of short posts. I hope this has been helpful.

On Sunday, we talk about Biblical Anthropology and talk about if humans are basically good, then why is there evil?

A Short Introduction to Postmodernism and the Christian Response: Every Day's a Power Play!

Michel Foucault
His major idea: “Power is knowledge.”
His bumper sticker idea: “Every day’s a Power Play!”

The German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, put forward the only thing common to every human being is the “will to power.”

Later, the French Postmodern philosopher, Michel Foucault, riffed on Nietzsche’s idea, taking it to a new and disturbing level. It’s disturbing because, in a world without God, it’s accurate.

Foucault’s work on this subject is first put forward in his book Discipline and Punish. He inverts the Francis Bacon phrase “knowledge is power” changing it to “power is knowledge.”  The inversion removes the emphasis from knowledge being the goal with the power being the result to power being primary and knowledge a consequence and a way for maintaining power. His case study for his theory was the history of modern prisons. Foucault’s central image is the panopticon, a circular prison with cells radiating from the center. In the center of the panopticon is a nondescript station called an inspection house, where all prisoners can be watched and observed. (Think, here, of Big Brother in Orwell’s 1984 or Nurse Ratched in Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.) The observation yields ways that prisoners can be controlled. Although reform of the prisoner is the stated goal, Foucault applies a hermeneutic of suspicion and maintains the goal is to, only, maintain power.

Foucault applied his theory to more than just prisons. Included were hospitals, schools, municipalities, housing projects, anywhere society deemed order was necessary and citizens needed to act in a preordained fashion for society to run smoothly. But, this struggle to maintain power would cascade downward.

I think here of Roger Waters in Pink Floyd’s The Wall as the voice of the abusive school master yelling at a wayward student, “You, yes, you behind the bike sheds, stand still, laddie!” But, as Waters tells us, it was well known that teachers who abused children, “when they got home at night, their fat and psychopathic wives would thrash them within inches of their lives.” Corrupted power becomes an unvirtuous circle.

How we should deal with this: “and overflowing with thankfulness”
Colossians 2:6c

Let’s face it: Foucault makes a point. We see the “will to power” in human history repeatedly. Not only that, correct behavior is important for functioning within society. I will not argue with that.

The Christian’s argument, however, is that we’re being watched (and observed and inspected) by a Creator who is ultimately good, and loving, and merciful. Not only that, when we fail, He’s provided a way for us to be reconciled to Him and set apart for good works. Because of this, we should be “overflowing with thankfulness.”

Gratitude has become a spiritual buzzword within the wider culture. Gratitude for the sake of gratitude is somewhat incoherent. For us to be truly grateful, we need to be grateful to someone for something. We begin our gratitude with being thankful to God for the sacrifice of His son Jesus for our sins. The proof that the sacrifice was accepted is contained within Jesus’s resurrection. Because of our belief in Him and that event, we have access to the Father for eternity. That frees us for gratitude to and for each other and emboldens us for meaningful service in our families, circle of friends, and churches.