New Posts?

What are some things you all would like to see some more of? While my schedule is busy I want to try and give more content more frequently. So please throw me some ideas and I just might use them for future posts. God Bless. 

Preach

Preach the Gospel- An Answer to Sin and Nominalism

If there is one thing that rang through out the entire text of Spurgeon it was the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the true impact that it would have on a persons life. While I never explicitly saw where he addresses sin and nominalism in the text he does address the lack of respect for the Gospel that some people have, or that some have fallen victim to drunkenness. And that ultimately the answer to those problems is to continue to give the purest form of the Gospel possible. One thing that he spoke of more than anything else was how we as ministers are to behave, not as people of the world but as one called of God to represent him. Spurgeon says, “When we speak as ministers and not as men, as preachers instead of penitents, as theologians instead of disciples, we fail; when we lean our head too much upon the Commentary, and too little upon the Savior's bosom; when we eat too largely of the tree of knowledge, and too little of the tree of life, we lose the power of our ministry.” It is when we rely upon God and less upon ourselves that we keep sin and nominalism at bay. Christ and sin cannot live in the same space such as light and dark cannot.

Spurgeon calls out to us like a siren to the sailor on the sea, “Keep to the gospel, brethren, and you will keep to the one universal, never-failing remedy.” This shall keep us straight and true, while what we crash into shall be none less than our Lord and savior. As long as I heed his call to follow the Gospel and not divert course I will stay in line with Christ and feed his people the meat that they need to survive. In effort to avoid falling into heresy Spurgeon urges, “Preach the truth with all your hearts as God teaches it to you, and this plague will be stayed.” That is the greatest thing any preacher can do is not only rely upon the knowledge one receives from books/commentaries but allow the Lord to reveal things to you about the text. My ministry context right now is not that of a traditional pastor I am a small group leader/ pulpit supply preacher. In either of those instances though I do not want to make less of Christ but instead make much of Him. And as long as I stay true to the Gospel message and not preach a different one then that which I have received.

Differing Apologetic Methods

Based on the various methods and strategies of apologetics described in the assigned reading, identify what you think is the best apologetic method and defend your view. Your thread must incorporate the following topics addressed from your assigned readings: 

•    The relationship between faith and reason.

A comparison between the evidentialist, presuppositionalist, and experientialist strategies.

To ask me to pick a particular method would be like asking a parent to pick a favorite child. I have found that each position has its merits and its weaknesses. However, for the intents and purposes of this assignment I am supposed to pick one and I am torn between presuppositional and experiential. I say that because I feel that I am a mix of the two because like the persupposatioinalist I believe that there is authority in the Word of God that take place before a person can understand the argument being made. While on the other hand I appreciate what the experientialist has to say that we feel what has taken place through God.  

There are some who would probably try and tell you that faith and reason are diametrically opposed. Then there are some who would say that the two go hand in hand, and are inseparable. I am one who believes that the two work together after a person has come to know Christ as Lord and savior. According to James K. Beilby “The question of the relationship between faith and reason is closely related to a series of questions regarding the relationship between the Christian Faith and non theological disciplines.” (Beilby, 89).  The other disciplines he is referring to are things like philosophy, and science and other things along those lines. It depends on are you trying to reconcile faith and reason, or merely trying to explain one on the basis of the other. It is my humble opinion that you can reconcile faith and reason after there has been a faith to be established, because you can understand Scripture by the power of the Holy Spirit, and then you can begin to make a solid defense (reason) for your faith.

For each system of apologetics there are sub-sections that come in to play as well, I will be making broad strokes when speaking about these systems and not necessarily acknowledging each sub-group. The first group to take a look at is the evidentialist, this group of people embrace rational arguments, using things from history to make their case. They are known to use reason or “logical” arguments to form their stance. Next, we have the presuppostionalist; the short of it for them is they argue from authority. Who has it and where does it come from. According to them it comes from God through the Bible and non-believers can understand it without illumination. We tend to argue from the Bible instead of leading up to it. Finally, there are the experientialists who do not base their point on a logical argument but more on subjective feeling. It is not hard to understand their argument if you are already a Christian but without the working of the Spirit in a non-believers life how can we have them to understand merely from experience.  So all that to say, in the end that I guess I align myself with presupposationalist more than any other group.

Word Count: 499

Why do we engage in apologetics? And other things related to apologetics

•    Why do we engage in apologetics? 

•    What is the “audience” of apologetics? 

•    A basic definition of apologetics.

•    The biblical basis for apologetics.

•  Internal and external apologetics.

   There are many different reasons why we engage in apologetics, but the biggest reason we engage in apologetics is because it is biblical. While there is no formal system or theory of apologetics found in the Bible (Beilby, 13), it makes it no less biblical. We also participate in apologetics to defend our faith not only from the outside but also from internal doubts. “Simply put, the goal of apologetics is to defend and commend the truthfulness of Christian belief.”(Beilby, 20).  A thorough look at apologetics especially that focused on Christianity can be defined  as the task of defending and commending the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ in a Christ like, context sensitive, and audience specific manner (Beilby, 31).

    There are many different audiences for apologetics, because it focuses on speaking with specific person or group of people. It is easy to get audience and context confused because context is the environment that the apologetic discourse takes place. So your audience can vary from conversation to conversation while taking place at the same location. Most would suggest that the biggest support found in the Bibel for apologetics is 1 Peter 3:15. Also all throughout the NT especially Paul’s letters there is a great deal of apologetics taking place.  Paul was known to argue for Christ at the drop of a hat. There is the one time when Paul is in Athens and comes against the Areopagus arguing on behalf of their unknown God. Reminding us of the power of the Gospel to penetrate hearts and lives.

    It would seem to be rather self explanatory when you speak about internal and external  apologetics. It was noted by Beilby that more people actually take place in internal apologetics more frequently than external. Internal apologetics takes place when a person wrestles with a topic about God, especially Christianity. I have personally had battles of internal apologetics when it came to the idea of infant baptism. While I believe I have come to a place of clarity on the topic it required me looking into the topic and battling it out within myself. External apologetics takes place when you enter in to a discussion with someone else, or a group of people. It is often assumed that apologetics takes place between Christians and non-believers, whether or not they are of a different religious background is of no accord. External apologetics often takes place between Christians discussing issues between themselves.  

A Brief Review of A Praying Life by Paul Miller

I have read numerous books on prayer and this has to  be by and far the best one I have read in the last few years. This work is truly a very inspired piece that you can tell was bathed in prayer. I do not run around recommending books before I have finished reading them but with just being a quarter of the way through this book I was smitten. This work comes in at around 280 pages. I am not a quick reader by any means, so I finished this book in just under two weeks. I could barely put it down. It is very well written and in a conversational style. As you are reading this book you feel as though you and Paul are sitting down having an intimate conversation. One of the very first things we are told is that when we come to God in prayer is that we need to do it like a child, with a child like faith. We should come with no pretense and come longing. There are numerous highlights, almost to many to count. This is a book that i would recommend to any believer new or old to read and re-read so as to never forget the way we need to depend on God for all things. He makes this book very accessible because he makes it about himself and the things his life has gone through. A hard truth that he says is “God takes everyone he loves through a desert”