It's About People

Under former president Joe Chapman, a primary theme that formed a basis for NDSU operations was "It's About People."

It's About People

North Dakota State University exists as a human endeavor; a means to accomplish a greater good. It's About People, acknowledges the service we do for our fellow citizens, but also emphasizes the institutional commitment to the people of North Dakota State University and our desire to reward those whose efforts are serving the public's interests.

Aside from what that means for a secular institution, from a Christian worldview this phrase and attitude is something I'm learning to embrace. There was a time when I would have probably criticized this, instead arguing "It's About Christ" is best. Of course that is true, that the driving purpose for everything we do is to, for, and through Christ. But sooner or later that theology compels us to do something. Then what?

It's about people.

I don't say it's about people as opposed to being about Christ. I mean it's about people as opposed to being about stuff. Stuff like work, money, accomplishment and... stuff. Granted all those things tend for the "greater good" of people, but in the end it's just stuff. Stuff's purpose is to support people, not the other way around.

God made people. Sure, He made everything else. But He made Adam in His image, and the purpose of that is to be in relationship with Him. The sun, stars, and cucumbers sing His praises, but not like people do. He told Adam and Eve to fill the earth with people. It's not good to be alone. It's good to be with people. The Church is people. Christ came to interact with and die for people. It's about people!

I encourage you to focus on people. Encourage one another. Bear each other's burdens. Mourn together and laugh together. Live for Christ by serving people. And if there are no "each other"s in your life, something is wrong. Listen to me people, this is what life is about. People.

Read more

Century 1 Suffering vs. Century 21 Prosperity

I'm gonna make a quiet return to blogging. To test the waters of my readership, I'd like some help from you, dear reader. Can you do me a hermeneutical favor, and suggest the implications of the New Testament being written mainly to believers suffering persecution, being literally murdered for the sake of Christ, versus how we read it today and attempt to apply it to our lives as we live in America with the comforts of the top 5% of wealth in the world?

I don't have an answer so I need your help here.

Read more

Spurgeon: Am I Elect?

Charles Spurgeon, from the sermon The Death of Christ:

I pause once more; for I hear some timid soul say—"But, sir, I am afraid I am not elect, and if so, Christ did not die for me." Stop sir! Are you a sinner? Do you feel it? Has God, the Holy Spirit, made you feel that you are a lost sinner? Do you want salvation? If you do not want it it is no hardship that it is not provided for you; but if you really feel that you want it, you are God's elect. If you have a desire to be saved, a desire given you by the Holy Spirit, that desire is a token for good. If you have begun believingly to pray for salvation, you have therein a sure evidence that you are saved. Christ was punished for you. And if now you can say,

"Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling."
you may be as sure you are God's elect as you are sure of your own existence; for this is the infallible proof of election—a sense of need and a thirst after Christ.

Read more

Eternity in Ecclesiastes?

I've been wanting to blog about Ecclesiastes 3:11 and why the usual interpretation of "eternity in the hearts of men" just doesn't fit with the rest of the book. Fortunately, someone else has thought through it and came to a conclusion that I'm in favor of.

Eccl. 3:11 (NIV)

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

The paraphrase of how it could be translated:

God has made everything appropriate in its time. He has placed darkness in the human heart so that people cannot discover all God has done.

I encourage you to read the article, because this isn't just about a word translation. It speaks to our desire for an explanation for evil. Why do bad things happen? Why must there be a time to be born and a time to die? A time to weep and a time to laugh? A time for war and a time for peace?

The response is that this is simply what God has chosen to do and it isn't for us to question Him. Just trust God.

Read more

When the Perfect Comes

Not long ago I asked the question: Was Paul wrong? I proposed that Paul was mistaken in assuming that Christ's return would be without-a-doubt in his own lifetime. After reading a debate on continuation versus cessation of supernatural gifts, I've thought of another implication of Paul's mistaken assumption.

This debate always centers around 1 Cor. 12-14. In my estimation, we can really boil the whole thing down to our interpretation of 1 Cor. 13:10a: "But when the perfect comes..."

For a little more context,

1Co 13:8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
1Co 13:9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
1Co 13:10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
1Co 13:11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
1Co 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
1Co 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

The cessationist argument is that "the perfect" means the completed Scriptures. Once God revealed to us everything he desired to through inspired written words, we would then no longer need supernatural prophecies, tongues, or knowledge. Everything we need is written down. If we follow this through the rest of the passage, it means the "now" referred to in vs. 12 and 13 is the time before finished Scripture, the time of Paul's writing. Once John finished writing the Revelation of Jesus Christ (the completion of God's written word), that must be when men became able to see "face to face." Follow me?

I've never been able to swallow that explanation. It's just way too manufactured. Isn't it obvious that seeing "face to face" means heaven? Why would "the perfect" mean the completion of Scripture, and not instead our state of eternal perfection after this life?

To back me up on this, I did some recruiting (by reading commentaries). Matthew Henry says "the perfect" means heaven. Charles Spurgeon says the same. John Calvin says the same. I figure that's enough.

What does this have to do with our proposed false assumption by Paul? Well, it's pretty simple. If Paul figured Christ's return would be any-day-now, why would he tell the Corinthians that a complete Bible is coming? What does that matter? Doesn't it make a whole lot more sense that "the perfect" means Christ's return? There's just no need for a complete written Word if the appointed time had grown so very short.

With this perspective instead, let's look back at the passage. "Now" of vs. 12 and 13 means this very present moment, since I am not yet glorified in heaven. Some will argue that in heaven there is no need for faith or hope. This is true. They then say that the abiding of faith, hope, and love can't possibly mean "the perfect" is in heaven. But remember, "now" means this very present moment. It's not that hard:

Now	Heaven
know and prophesy in part	partial passes away, know fully
as a childish understanding	as a mature understanding
see in a mirror dimly	see face to face
faith, hope, and love abide	love never ends

Pretty interesting how Paul's assumption plays in to all this, huh?

Read more

Simple Living According To Alcorn

After some of the things we've discussed here, both of you have probably thought I went off the deep end with the simple living stuff. Well, having just read chapter 16 of Randy Alcorn's Money Possessions and Eternity, I know I am not alone. He said exactly what I've been trying to say. He shows from scripture that the reason God grants us more resources than we need is so we can be generous with it, not so we can improve our own standard of living. At the same time he strikes the right balance by arguing that within a wartime lifestyle "there's nothing wrong with spending money for modest pleasures that renew and revive us, especially considering that our battle will last a lifetime."

I am tempted to quote the entire chapter. I will have to settle for less:

We might also call it a "strategic" lifestyle... If I'm devoted to "simple living," I might reject a computer because it's modern and nonessential. But if I live a wartime or strategic lifestyle, the computer may serve as a tool for kingdom purposes... Strategic living is kingdom centered.

We say, "There's nothing wrong with wanting to be rich." God says, "People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction" (1 Timothy 6:9). We say, "There's nothing wrong with being eager to get rich." God says, "One eager to get rich will not go unpunished" (Proverbs 28:20). We say, "The rich have made it." Jesus says, "It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:23).

Referring to 1 Timothy 6:17-19,

Who are these "rich," and how rich are they? Nearly everyone reading this book is rich, both by first-century standards and by global standards today... If you made only $1,500 last year, that's more than 80 percent of the people on earth."

[John Wesley] had just finished buying some pictures for his room when one of the chambermaids came to his door. It was a winter day and he noticed that she had only a thin linen gown to wear for protection against the cold. He reached into his pocket to give her some money for a coat, and found he had little left. It struck him that the Lord was not pleased with how he had spent his money. He asked himself: "Will Thy Master say, 'Well done, good and faithful steward?' Thou has adorned thy walls with the money that might have screened this poor creature from the cold! O justice! O mercy! Are not these pictures the blood of this poor maid?"

Think about that as you consider that 58 inch plasma TV, the blood of the poor.

If you find yourself in a bookstore, go to chapter 16 and find the heading "Why Live More Simply?" Read it. (Or buy it.)

Read more

Happy Birthday Nathan!

My little brother is a teenager today.

Nathan, even though the way your age is described has changed, that doesn't mean you have to change. Don't let the label of "teenager" define who you are or how you act.

And keep loving Mom.

Happy birthday!

Read more