It now then remains, that perhaps some one may ask, Why then does not God cease from that motion of His omnipotence, by which the will of the wicked is moved to go on in evil, and to become worse? I answer: this is to wish that God, for the sake of the wicked, would cease to be God; for this you really desire, when you desire His power and action to cease; that is, that He should cease to be good, lest the wicked should become worse.
Yesterday I wrote a post about Donald Miller’s opinion that God does not have a plan for our lives, unless he has made direct revelation in the form of a talking donkey or a miraculous pregancy.
Today, Tullian Tchividjian, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, FL made this observation:
The gospel jackhammers the ground we love to stand on: self-reliance! (Online Source)
Over the past several months I have had a unique opportunity to interact with atheists on matters of faith (or “lack of faith” as it were). It is interesting to me how time and time again they tend to be keenly aware of the problems in the church, although not always a full understanding of what biblical Christianity is all about.
One recent observation was made by Hemant Mehta in his post titled “God Doesn’t Have a Plan for Your Life.” You may be inclined to quickly react against that, but before you do consider the fact that it is essentially a line taken from another post, of which Mehta’s is a critique. Donald Miller, famed Christian and author of Blue Like Jazz, wrote a post titled “Does God Have a Specific Plan for Your Life? Probably Not,” where he explains that unless you have heard a donkey talk to you or have become pregnant in spite of never having had sex, God probably does not have a specific program for you to follow.
It has often been said by many an atheist that there is “no such thing as an atheist agenda.” Oddly enough, one such statement comes from “The Atheist Missionary” (@AtheistMission). Apparently the name must be an oxymoron, but under casual scrutiny there is much to be said about regular and insipid attacks against Christianity.
Last night I happened to notice the following tweet, and my suspicions were confirmed when I clicked on the link:
Great article in Washington Post by Richard Dawkins on #Haiti & Hypocrisy of #Christian Theology: http://bit.ly/6z6seR #atheist #atheism (Online Source)
Jesus was a change agent, in case you missed that. He had a certain way with sharing what really needed to be different. He talked directly to religious leaders and told them that the way that they were living, in spite of following the letter of the law, was sinful. Harsh!
In Romans 11 Paul writes to the church in Rome about Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice. The book of Romans has a special emphasis: Jesus’ death opened the door to those who were not Jewish. Wow! This was actually an incredible difference. This was something that not only Paul had to learn, but many of the apostles and early church congregations had to learn this as well. It was such a profound and new idea for everyone, Paul wanted again to be sure that this was clear to the church in Rome and that they would not fall into the trap that others had, thinking that to become a Christian you first had to become a Jew.
Dead Pastors Society
