Archive for the ‘Quotations’ Category
Proof of the non-existence of God
An atheist once told me that he had tried his best to prove that God didn’t exist, but failed. The best he could go on was his own intuition, which he was sure was right. I expressed surprise that he had failed in his attempts; given his presuppositions, it seemed to me he could easily prove that God didn’t exist. Here is my proof of the non-existence of God:
- There exists a god. (assumption)
- A god is any being which is strictly superior to and has comprehensive authority over all of reality. (definition)
- Humans exist and are autonomous. (premise)
- A human possesses the power of self-determination of his thoughts and actions, exercised in exclusion to the god’s power of shaping reality. [from (3)]
- Human self-determination precludes the god’s strict superiority and comprehensive authority over humans. [from (4)]
- Therefore, it is false that a god exists. (by contradiction)
The catch, of course, is #3; humans are not autonomous. Particularly in today’s age, where unfettered personal liberty is an unquestioned good, and where the experience of having a true king is so utterly foreign, the idea that we are not autonomous is a very hard pill to swallow. But this also exposes the fact that the real reason the atheist is committed to opposing God is because he cannot bear to think that he is not the captain of his soul.
God places very real demands upon us that run counter to our sense of self-importance and our desire for self-interpretation and self-determination. While God has granted us some degree of freedom, he has not released us from responsibility nor given us real autonomy. We will all at length be held accountable to him, on his terms rather than ours. It cannot be otherwise, for God is God: “no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).
How then shall we live? We are responsible and accountable to God. Far better to live and die on his terms than to attempt to do so on ours. Far better to enjoy God and the gifts he has filled this earth with, than to enjoy the gifts alone with a fearful expectation of judgment. Yet all of us rebel and chafe under God’s authority; we all need a savior, both to remove our guilt and to empower us to submit to God’s authority with joy. Praise God for providing a perfect savior in Jesus Christ!
And how shall we do science, or interpret anything for that matter? God has revealed himself to be a sovereign and orderly creator. So, far from wondering whether the meaningfulness of our observations is frustrated by whatever lies outside of our ability to see, we have a real and genuine confidence in the reality and orderliness of what we see. More than that, we have a real mandate and even responsibility to discover, responsibly use, and enjoy what God has made and done. All the world points to God, for all the world is fashioned and sustained by him.
See also Alving Plantinga on treating God as an explanation.
Lane and Tripp on justification and adoption
The Bible also stirs our imagination by explaining our connection to God as his children. Our new standing is legal, but it is also personal and practical. Marriage and adoption both involve legal unions but ones that are intended to create relationships that are far more than legal contracts. Imagine a married couple who only related at a legal level without love. Their marriage would be no different than a business partnership. What if adoptive parents only related to their new child in terms of their legal obligations to feed, clothe, and educate him? The words “I love you” would never be uttered. This would be horrific because the new legal status is intended to be the context in which a deeper, fuller relationship flourishes. Marital and parent-child relationships are not less than legal; they are much more!
In the same way, our reconciliation with God gives us a relationship with him that should alter the way we respond to everything. God is now my Father and I am his child. He looks on me with favor. I am the object of his attention and affection. I have access to his care. He blesses me with his resources. He offers ongoing forgiveness and cleansing as I struggle with sin. He promises never to leave or forsake me. He makes a commitment to finish the work of change he has begun in me.
— Tim Lane and Paul Tripp, Relationships: A Mess Worth Making, p. 159.
Our forgiveness and justification lies at the very heart of our salvation, but our adoption as God’s own children is by far the richest and deepest privilege we enjoy.
Leithart on hearing Christ’s voice
When in distress or confusion, literate medieval Christians would sometimes let the Bible drop open, and took guidance and comfort the first passage their eye alighted on.
This could be superstitious, of course. But it could also come from a deeply genuine faith.
Sometimes, we don’t need to hear specific, or even relevant, instructions. Sometimes, in distress, it’s enough if we can hear our Husband’s voice.
— Peter Leithart, His Voice
I often find after reading the Bible that, even if there is no really obvious way I have been directly edified or encouraged, I am still in better spirits. Peter Leithart has articulated one reason why this is true.
Kuyper on Calvinism
Following are some notes and quotes from Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism.
- A key element of Christian revolutions (Dutch, American) was a gradual undermining of kings, not by lowering esteem, but by raising it; not by opposing God but by worshipping Him (through p. 28)
- 3 fundamental measures of unique world views (p. 31)
- relationship to God – immediate fellowship through Christ + HS
- relationship to man – divine image, intrinsic worth, equality of men
- relationship to world – curse restrained by grace; “discover treasures and develop potencies hidden by God in nature and in human life.”
- common grace – do we define things, relative to power of sin or power of God? Which is more potent: pollution of sin or redemptive movement?
- Kuyper strikes me as being exceptionally enamored with progress (pp. 32, 34, 35, 40)
- God’s authority over, and necessary glorification in, all spheres of life (p. 53)
- “Coram Deo”, no such thing as private religion, … one-ness of all human life
- C.f. Mark Horne, “public relationship with Jesus Christ”
- Importance of Church in God’s redemptive plan; covenant = church
- God’s supreme sovereignty flowing down in sovereignty given to state/society/church (p. 79)
- Assumes one-world gov’t is best in absence of sin (p. 80) … some logic given to this
- “God has instituted the magistrates, by reason of sin.” (p. 81) Nations exist for God (p. 81)
- Calvin regarded republic as best, but not categorically so; others will work. Commends gratitude for privilege of electing magistrates (pp. 83-84)
- Contrasts God’s sovereignty w/ false ideas of popular sovereignty or state sovereignty (as rejection of God) (pp. 85ff)
- Calvinism “makes it easy for us to obey authority, because, in all authority, it causes us to honor the demand of divine sovereignty.” (p. 90)
- “Principal characteristic” of gov’t is “the right of life + death” (p. 93)
- Sword for -> justice, war, order
- Much discussion of self-organization of spheres, natural leadership of “masters” in spheres
- Political sphere should not rightfully interfere in natural God-given operation of these other spheres (family, art, science, education, business) (p. 96)
- The state interferes to (p. 97)
- Mediate clashes between spheres
- Defend the weak against abuse of power in other spheres
- Coerce all to bear personal + financial burdens of maintaining unity of the state
- Government may not take on absolute authority, nor may other spheres overstep their bounds into arena of government
- Pp. 99ff — admission of the propriety of a plurality of churches
- Against the state church (even as expressed by Calvin)
- Proper Calvinism promotes plurality, and understands the government’s role as protecting it.
- Pp. 103ff — magistrates’ duty
- to God – acknowledge and confess authority, rule by God’s ordinances, restrain blasphemy
- magistrate understands God’s law personally, not under authority (strictly speaking) of church
- blasphemy addressed not for religious reasons but as undermining God’s establishment of law and state
- “The sphere of the state is not profane. But both church and state must, each in their own sphere, obey God and serve His honor.” (p. 104)
- to church – may not exercise judgment as to true and false churches
- to individual
- some individual sovereignty exists, but conscience is not entirely liberated from state, church, word, family (p. 107)
- magistrate respects liberty of conscience, ensures church does so (particularly regarding those outside church)
- to God – acknowledge and confess authority, rule by God’s ordinances, restrain blasphemy
- Science
- p. 118, “A dualistic conception of regeneration was the cause of the rupture between the life of nature and the life of grace.”
- p. 125, “Not only the church, but also the world belongs to God.”
- p. 132, is the world normal, or abnormal seeking regeneration? fundamental distinction striking at the heart of the scientific conception
Fear the LORD
Fear the Lord, for:
Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life! May you see your children's children! Peace be upon Israel! -- Psalm 128
J. C. Ryle on denying yourself
Joshua Harris quotes J. C. Ryle on self-denial:
Are you making any sacrifices? Does your religion cost you anything? I put it to your conscience in all affection and tenderness. Are you, like Moses, preferring God to the world, or not? Are you willing to give up anything which keeps you back from God, or are you clinging to the Egypt of the world, and saying to yourself, “I must have it, I must have it: I cannot tear myself away”? Is there any cross in your Christianity? Are there any sharp corners in your religion, anything that ever jars and comes in collision with the earthly-mindedness around you? Or is all smooth and rounded off, and comfortably fitted into custom and fashion? Do you know anything of the afflictions of the gospel? Is your faith and practice ever a subject of scorn and reproach? Are you thought a fool by anyone because of your soul? Have you left Pharaoh’s daughter, and heartily joined the people of God? Are you venturing all on Christ? Search and see. —J.C. Ryle, Holiness
Living by faith alone
Man now had to learn to live by faith: our sin and the misery in the world had made it appear that man could expect no favor from God. To be sure, man had also lived by faith in Paradise, but then his belief made perfect sense. After the fall, man had to live by faith alone. God drove man out of Paradise and appointed an angel to guard the way to the tree of life. At that point the trials of life by faith alone began. All the same, man still enjoyed the privilege of faith in God’s continued favor.
— S. G. de Graaf
Sin blinds our eyes to the Lordship and goodness of our Savior. Consequently, faith is not a natural way to think, and while it is a precious gift from God, we must also battle to see with eyes of faith.
HT: wedgewords
Encourage your pastors
Rick Phillips writes to encourage “unheralded, unknown, unpublished pastors”:
God bless you. I believe that future history (whether in heaven or on earth) will look back on these present years and realize that the most valuable servants in Christ’s kingdom were those humble, faithful, Spirit-filled men of God who labored in obscurity, usually serving small churches. You are more important to Christ’s kingdom than the media celebrities. And you are more important than hardly-celebrity types like those of use who write on websites like this one and have the privilege of publishing books and speaking at conferences. (In fact, the main value in our broader ministries is the help and encouragement we might give to you.) When the loads of chaff from so many superstar “ministries” has been carted away, the good fruit you have borne will endure forever.
So don’t be discouraged because you don’t pastor a megachurch (neither do I). Don’t be distracted by the winds and waves of trendy spirituality. And don’t forget that the reward of your service to Christ is the joy of serving Christ, giving glory to His name, and shepherding His beloved sheep.
Pray for your pastors today. Take time today to thank them for their labors and prayers on your behalf; encourage them! Don’t simply resolve to do this; do it now. Hebrews 13 instructs us to do this, reminding us that our pastors are precious gifts from God to us:
Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. . . . Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Christ is Lord of our money
God forbids stealing in the eighth commandment, and in the tenth commandment he forbids even coveting. All of this connects to how we see the money and possessions that God has given to us. If we clutch them tightly as ours, or if we are discontent with what we are given, then our hearts are walking along the same road that is home to stealing.
One of the graces God has given to train our hearts in gratitude and away from selfishness is giving, whether it is almsgiving, tithing, voluntary offerings, etc. We love to give out of gratitude to our Savior, but at the same time God uses our giving to provoke still greater affections for him, releasing the hold that possessions have on our affections! Randy Alcorn describes how God uses giving to do this in his book The Treasure Principle:
Another benefit of giving is freedom. It’s a matter of basic physics. The greater the mass, the greater the hold that mass exerts. The more things we own–the greater their total mass the more they grip us, setting us in orbit around them. Finally, like a black hole, they suck us in.
Giving changes all that. It breaks us out of orbit around our possessions. We escape their gravity, entering a new orbit around our treasures in heaven. . . .
Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). . . . Suppose you buy shares of General Motors. What happens? You suddenly develop interest in GM. . . . Suppose you’re giving to help African children with AIDS. When you see an article on the subject, you’re hooked. . . . As surely as the compass needle follows north, your heart will follow your treasure. Money leads; hearts follow.
Crossposted to Reflections on Upchurch
I gotta have my orange juice. 
Conviction and the cure
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My pastors have been preaching through Exodus, and just finished ten weeks in the ten commandments. They have done an incredible job of helping us to feel the weight and glory of God’s holiness; but without letting us forget that the law sits on the bedrock foundation of the gospel (“I am the Lord your God, who brought you . . . out of the house of slavery”), and that our reading of the law absolutely must be infused with gospel hope.
Yet it is still so tempting for me to hear such a message and nurse my conviction, without really going any farther. Perhaps I resolve to change some things, but in reality my ears are tuning out the very gospel hope and power that are the only way I can possibly move beyond conviction. Mark Lauterbach critiques his sermons on this point, but we should also critique our listening — are our ears tuned in to savor conviction, or savor the gospel:
We want to welcome the Holy Spirit’s conviction, and repent, but we shouldn’t get off the bus there. Our conviction should drive us to look upward to our Savior rather than inward on our sin; the gospel is our only hope and power for forgiveness and for real change.
How do we make that something more than a mantra? How can we practically seize this gospel power to change? Here are some regular practices that can strengthen our faith and empower our obedience; please comment to add more:
Crossposted to Reflections on Upchurch
Written by Scott Moonen
February 26, 2007 at 5:48 am
Posted in Commentary, Quotations
Tagged with adopt, adoption, application, C.-J.-Mahaney, Christ, Christian-living, Christianity, commands, Commentary, cross, ethics, Father, fatherhood, fatherhood-of-God, forgiveness, God, goodness-of-God, gospel, gospel-centrality, grace, gratitude, holiness, Holy-Spirit, Jerry-Bridges, John-Piper, joy, justification, law, lordship, love, Mark-Lauterbach, mediator, mercy, new-creation, obedience, quotation, redemption, righteousness, salvation, sanctification, sin, spiritual-disciplines, ten-commandments, thankfulness