format problems

yeah.....so I'm not sure why suddenly the white text field is so wide that it pushes all of my profile and link stuff down further.....but it does, so until I have time to try and fix that, my apologies. But I do have some EXCELLENT resources further down the page, so scroll down and have a look! Toodles!

Athosxc

Response to a Friend: Part 2

This is a follow up reply to a friends response to my last post on the term "born-again". The entirety of the postings can be found at the link posted. He initiated, I responded, he cross-examined, and this is my reply and I don't know the humorous courtroom setting term....re-direct maybe? anyway, here it is: Let me know what you think!:


Athosxc said...
Points well stated. I would add one thing however to my previous post since it was elaborated on in reply.

In regards to truth and the nature of it: The bible is largely objective truth. Our experiences with it are subjective, but our beliefs and way of thinking must be brought in line with the objective standards of God's Word.A very simplified example would be John 14:6. When Jesus says "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes unto the father but through me", that is an objective truth. It doesn't matter my examples of how I feel "closer to god" when I'm burning incense at the Buddhist temple, or praying towards Mecca 5 times daily as a Muslim, or anything else. If I don't come to God through Christ, I'm never going to get to God. My subjective experiences don't change the objective nature of the truth of God's word.

I will agree with you that mental assent to intellectual points and arguments does not come close to being a proper definition of faith. However, without that same mental assent to those intellectual points and arguments, our subjective experiences are groundless and hollow, and ultimately lead not to salvation, but to death. I I claim to follow Christ, but don't believe the truth of scripture, then my claim is false. Why? Because the Bible is God's Word. You can't claim to follow someone, yet deny what they say and deny what they hold dear. It is a mental and logical inconsistency to try and is ultimately false.

I wish I could remember the exact phrase, because it stated both our points excellently, but it was close to this:"Truth without love is legalism, and love with truth is hypocrisy"...it's close to that. Anyway, the point is that if all we have is a mental understanding, we are, as Jesus said, no better than the demons who have a much better mental understanding of things than we do....they've seen God, they've fought him, they've lost, they're still fighting....and still losing.


But if we don't subvert our own will enough to accept the objective truth of God's Word, regardless of our own subjective experience, then our subjective experience will lead us falsely....or as the Scriptures say, "There is a way which seems right to a man (insert subjectivity), but in the end it leads to death (Lack of objective truth guiding their subjective experience)"....(Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25)


SK would be right in his attacks on spiritual apathy, and empty mental assention to truths that were not subsequently lived out...but to jump to the complete other end of the spectrum is to commit the same fallacy, only from the other side of the argument.


My reason for reading in what I did, is that over 80% of Americans now claim to be "Christian" but their lives clearly dictate otherwise. Their polled answers were because they went to church, were good people, etc, they were Christians. This was from a survey done in late summer 2006.


While I mentally understand your statement that "all believers are Christians, but not all Christians are believers", I must say that this is an impossible statement. A logical fallacy. To be a "Christian" is to be a Christ-follower, little Christ, etc., and would be a term only applied to true believers. Throughout scripture, those who claimed the title falsely were exposed, so that when they used the term "Christian" about themselves, it was not believed. They were not to be included in the church unless willing to be reconciled to God first, and offended parties second.


So to say "I am a Christian, but I don't believe in God, or I don't believe the Bible, or any other list of things" is a contradiction of terms. That's what being a Christian means, that's what it's always meant, and always will mean. Those who claim the title, but not the King, are as Christ said "liars, and the truth is not in them".....


comments?

Athosxc

Good Book to Read!

The Truth War by John MacArthur is fantastic. I encourage you to check it out!

On Choosing A Pastor:

The following "Question" was asked by an attendee at the 2005 Shepherds' Conference (a ministry of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California), and was "Answered" by John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from "General Session #10 John MacArthur - Q&A." A copy of the CD, cassette tape, or MP3 can be obtained by going to: www.shepherdsconference.org ©2005. All Rights Reserved. Grace Community Church.


Questioner
If you had to speak to a member of a pulpit committee out in the future, for your sons, your grandsons, what kind of time commitment would you encourage them to set aside for a pastor-teacher to be able to devote his time to preaching, teaching, studying the Word of God?


John MacArthur's Answer
You know what I would say to that? That’s a great question, and you know what I would say to that committee? I would say, “You find a nice apartment for this guy and his wife and his family, and you pledge six months to him, and you let him come, and six months later, you decide.” That’s what I would say. That’s a contractual thing. You’re not going to just rise and fall on a few “sugar-stick” sermons and give this guy hope, and then chew him up and spit him out in little pieces as soon as he says something that the oldest and longest tenured Sunday School teacher doesn’t agree with.

It only takes one of those kind of guys to destroy a young man’s ministry. It’s all about turf, and it’s all about the pastor preaching something that you’ve been teaching the opposite in your class and you just got exposed, and you’re not happy. Or, somebody moved your power base or made it a little smaller or whatever—it’s amazing.


I would say, I think the worst way to candidate people for a church is to have them fly into town, ask them an afternoon’s questions, have him preach three sermons, and then have the people vote. It’s ridiculous. What do the people know? They don’t know. Why would they even be involved? I think the leaders of the church need to get together and they need to say, “We think this man could be a candidate, and we’re going to have him come, we’re going to find a place for him to live that’s furnished, and we’re going to put him there for six months, and we’re going to see if this is a relationship made in heaven or not.” When the six months is over, you sit down in an amiable way. The people know they’re not stuck, he knows he’s not stuck; it’s a period of evaluation, etc. He’s fully supported, he’s cared for—and there would even be a bridge from then out, if necessary, until he could find another place.


This idea of churches picking pastors—the most crucial decision they have—and they do it when they don’t have a pastor, which means they’re leaderless! They appoint this ad hoc committee of people who all have different criteria, they bring in this poor guy with all kinds of high hopes, and then just chop his legs out from under him, and make him become some kind of warrior who has to defend his family and his children and his own integrity in a battle that rages. I just think we need more time than that to find out whether this is going to really work.

During that six months would be the time, behind the scenes, when that potential pastor would hammer out doctrinal convictions and say, “This is where I’m going to go if I’m going to be here. I’m going to show you why I’m going to go there. It’s not about preaching a sermon on this or that that you might like—everybody can do that—it’s about here’s what I believe, here’s the direction I think this church needs to go, here’s what we need to do, here’s what needs to be put in place.” You don’t say that to everybody; you don’t say that to the whole congregation; you say that to those who are in responsible leadership, and you find out if their hearts are knit with you, and that’s the way you’re going to go.


Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur's Questions and Answers" by:
Tony CapocciaBible Bulletin BoardBox 119Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022Our websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.comEmail: tony@biblebb.comOnline since 1986