dr
Friday, December 28, 2007
December 26, 2007
My beautiful son was born last Wednesday. Cayden was 20 3/4 inches long, 8 lbs 8 oz., and was born at 9:56pm at St. Joseph East, Lexington, Kentucky. It is both amazing and overwhelming to see myself as a father; I am certain more posts will come, but I am excited about the new direction my life and Tammy's has taken these past nine months and the years that will come. Here is a picture of him:
Saturday, December 22, 2007
How De We Get To Heaven?
As I was listening to a podcast, a person called into the previously recorded program. He asked what the host's interpretation was in how people get into heaven. The host of the radio program and podcast responded first by connecting heaven to the resurrection from the dead and sharing the newly created universe. The host then began by talking about trusting in Jesus, recognizing that we are all created by God, who we owe our obedience and trust. All people have fallen from that as sinners; we are God's enemy. We are to look at the cross, as Jesus on the cross took our sin and bore our punishment that is due to us as sinners. That Jesus was raised from the dead conquering sin. We are to ask God to count Christ's death as our death, Christ's condemnation as our condemnation, Christ's resurrection as our resurrection. We are to be found in Christ, hidden in Christ, so that, when you see each of us, you see Christ. When a pennant sinner turning away from sin, sorrowful from sin, looking and trusting that God will receive you in Jesus Christ, that person will be received as scriptures guarantee it. This person will be able to get into heaven. (If this sounds stilted, it is intentional; I tried to quote the host as much as I could without adding my thoughts into his answer)In Mark Chapter 10 and Luke Chapter 10 and Chapter 18, Jesus is asked, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" In each of these three stories in the Gospels, Jesus responds by asking a question about following the law. And in Mark 10 and Luke 18, Jesus tells the rich young ruler to sell all of his possessions and give the money to the poor. In Luke 10, Jesus adds the Parable of the Samaritan.
Is there a difference in how the host of the podcast and how Jesus answers the question in the scriptures? Are they saying the same thing in two different ways? It seems that Jesus gets to the point directly – the actions of the person, how one lives his/her life. Some might argue that the host of the radio program would get to how one lives, but he articulated the answer within propositional thinking. His approach to ‘getting into heaven’ was accepting yourself as a sinner separate from God and trusting in a substitutionary view of atonement. Trusting that the punishment you deserve from your sin is placed upon Christ on the cross. It seems that many would articulate salvation in propositional thinking because people want clear directions. Jesus answered through a vague question about how one is to live his/her life from day-to-day. If the rich young ruler sold his possessions, then what was he to do? How many times must we love our neighbor as the Samaritan loved his? Too many people try to put salvation into a pretty box that leads to the life hereafter by propositional thinking, but Jesus connects internal life to the present in righteous living.
In Acts Chapter 16, a prison guard asks Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved?” They respond by answering, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.” When Paul answered this question he did not respond as Jesus. It seems that Paul put an emphasis on belief, while Jesus put an emphasis on actions, or we could be putting our preconceived notions on what Paul was saying by belief through the lenses of the Enlightenment without letting Paul describe salvation on his own terms. Even if Paul did not answer differently than Jesus, our present day approach to salvation seems to reflect a more Pauline approach through belief than Jesus’ words through the approach that focuses on actions and righteous living. Many times we are so focused on living in heaven we forget to think about how to live on earth.
dr
Is there a difference in how the host of the podcast and how Jesus answers the question in the scriptures? Are they saying the same thing in two different ways? It seems that Jesus gets to the point directly – the actions of the person, how one lives his/her life. Some might argue that the host of the radio program would get to how one lives, but he articulated the answer within propositional thinking. His approach to ‘getting into heaven’ was accepting yourself as a sinner separate from God and trusting in a substitutionary view of atonement. Trusting that the punishment you deserve from your sin is placed upon Christ on the cross. It seems that many would articulate salvation in propositional thinking because people want clear directions. Jesus answered through a vague question about how one is to live his/her life from day-to-day. If the rich young ruler sold his possessions, then what was he to do? How many times must we love our neighbor as the Samaritan loved his? Too many people try to put salvation into a pretty box that leads to the life hereafter by propositional thinking, but Jesus connects internal life to the present in righteous living.
In Acts Chapter 16, a prison guard asks Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved?” They respond by answering, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.” When Paul answered this question he did not respond as Jesus. It seems that Paul put an emphasis on belief, while Jesus put an emphasis on actions, or we could be putting our preconceived notions on what Paul was saying by belief through the lenses of the Enlightenment without letting Paul describe salvation on his own terms. Even if Paul did not answer differently than Jesus, our present day approach to salvation seems to reflect a more Pauline approach through belief than Jesus’ words through the approach that focuses on actions and righteous living. Many times we are so focused on living in heaven we forget to think about how to live on earth.
dr
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