Many Christians today think that cremation is a good thing. Is it? Russell Moore passionately argues that Christians should promote burial, and his arguments are compelling. Christians should bury the dead because our bodies are not mere shells, but are intimately tied to who we are. My body is me. In the resurrection, God will resurrect all people. Burial indicates both a confidence in the resurrection and a recognition that we are to treat with respect the person that we are burying.
Two articles written by Russell Moore are particularly helpful on this.
http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=20-01-024-v
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/aprilweb-only/114-21.0.html
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Sin and Technology
A friend told me about a woman who ran away from her husband and got back with her old boyfriend using Facebook. So is technology good or evil? Does it lead to more sin? I think that Facebook, email, chat programs, online games, cell phones, cars, restaurants, bars, even work outside the home, etc. all can lead us to having secret relationships. In the distant past, there were very few ways to meet other people outside of the home besides at church, unless you were a merchant or lived in a big city. Imagine living on a farm where you spent almost all of your time in the same area except when you and the boys brought your goods to market or when you went to church. There would be few opportunities to have any secret friends.
Now there are many opportunities for these things to happen. Is this good or bad? I have been able to keep in touch with people from my past infinitely better than I would have otherwise. I do not have to spend endless hours writing long letters and paying postage for them, and waiting a long time to get a response.
Here is the key for my wife and I. Every single email, chat, website, cell phone record, etc. is fully disclosed to each of us, and we have the passwords for each of us. This is a prior commitment that we have. Though there may be ways to get around this, it would be difficult. In the past, we have also used web trackers that told us exactly what each one was doing on the internet, though we no longer see this as necessary. I think that Facebook and email is much better than cell phones or telephones, for example, because then there actually is a record with all the information.
Also, I am able to write this blog and speak to many at once in a (fairly) clear way.
Adultery, fornication, and divorce have been going on for a long time. When there is a will, there is a way. The kind of woman who would commit adultery by going back to a previous boyfriend is the kind of woman who would commit adultery with a co-worker or a neighbor.
Now there are many opportunities for these things to happen. Is this good or bad? I have been able to keep in touch with people from my past infinitely better than I would have otherwise. I do not have to spend endless hours writing long letters and paying postage for them, and waiting a long time to get a response.
Here is the key for my wife and I. Every single email, chat, website, cell phone record, etc. is fully disclosed to each of us, and we have the passwords for each of us. This is a prior commitment that we have. Though there may be ways to get around this, it would be difficult. In the past, we have also used web trackers that told us exactly what each one was doing on the internet, though we no longer see this as necessary. I think that Facebook and email is much better than cell phones or telephones, for example, because then there actually is a record with all the information.
Also, I am able to write this blog and speak to many at once in a (fairly) clear way.
Adultery, fornication, and divorce have been going on for a long time. When there is a will, there is a way. The kind of woman who would commit adultery by going back to a previous boyfriend is the kind of woman who would commit adultery with a co-worker or a neighbor.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Great Commission and the Already/Not Yet
As far as I can tell, until the last few hundred years, the Church was unanimous in considering the Great Commission to have been fulfilled by the apostles in the first century. Currently, the Church appears to be unanimous in considering the Great Commission to still be awaiting fulfillment. Which is it? Were our fathers in the faith wrong, or are we wrong? Or are both positions both correct at the same time?
As has been noted by many people, the New Testament, is replete with statements that reflect the fact that many things have now been fulfilled in part in Christ's life, death, and resurrection and will be completely fulfilled in Christ's return. One example is that Satan was truly defeated by Jesus on the cross (the already). Yet he is the lord of this world, and he will be defeated fully when Christ returns (the not yet).
This concept also applies to the Great Commission. The Great Commission was given to the apostles. As Paul says in Colossians 1:6 (the gospel "has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing - as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth") and 1:23 ("not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven"), the gospel had been proclaimed in the whole earth. Probably all of the Jewish communities were reached with the gospel by the end of the first century. The gospel had gone to the entire world with the apostles.
Additionally, the gospel has not yet gone to the entire world. The apostles presumably never went to the Americas or to Australia. It is unclear how far south they got in Africa, or how far east they went, or if the got to Britain. Clearly, not every tongue, tribe, people and nation were reached by the apostles, not have been yet. This will not be completed until Christ's return.
This is a relatively simple example of the already / not-yet theme in the New Testament, but it appears to be disregarded today. We should always been wise and gracious to faithful interpreters of the Bible. Perhaps we can both be right, and hence be a bit wrong at the same time.
As has been noted by many people, the New Testament, is replete with statements that reflect the fact that many things have now been fulfilled in part in Christ's life, death, and resurrection and will be completely fulfilled in Christ's return. One example is that Satan was truly defeated by Jesus on the cross (the already). Yet he is the lord of this world, and he will be defeated fully when Christ returns (the not yet).
This concept also applies to the Great Commission. The Great Commission was given to the apostles. As Paul says in Colossians 1:6 (the gospel "has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing - as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth") and 1:23 ("not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven"), the gospel had been proclaimed in the whole earth. Probably all of the Jewish communities were reached with the gospel by the end of the first century. The gospel had gone to the entire world with the apostles.
Additionally, the gospel has not yet gone to the entire world. The apostles presumably never went to the Americas or to Australia. It is unclear how far south they got in Africa, or how far east they went, or if the got to Britain. Clearly, not every tongue, tribe, people and nation were reached by the apostles, not have been yet. This will not be completed until Christ's return.
This is a relatively simple example of the already / not-yet theme in the New Testament, but it appears to be disregarded today. We should always been wise and gracious to faithful interpreters of the Bible. Perhaps we can both be right, and hence be a bit wrong at the same time.
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