Does The Gospel Have A Point?

Why should you bother being saved? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

Yesterday, I wrote about how if learning is to be effective, students need to see the point of what they are learning. Somehow, the material must engage them. When that happens, I contend not only will they learn, but they will decide to strive to learn on their own.

Now let’s transition that to the gospel. Our goal with the gospel is to make disciples, but often we make converts instead. Unfortunately, the way that people do gospel presentations is often terrible.

Imagine a 25 year-old guy in apparently good health walking down the street and a Christian comes up to him to engage him. What is the question that is going to be asked that’s supposed to really make them think? It’s the same every time.

“If you were to die today, do you know if you would go to Heaven?”

Of course, to be fair, at least the evangelists are following this from the example in the book of Acts when the apostles went out and asked this question to….

Hang on.

No one in Scripture ever asked this question.

Not only that, but this was a culture that didn’t have health-care and scientific advancements in the field like we do. They were more familiar with death. They saw death on a regular basis.

And yet, this question never seemed to come up.

Now let’s go back to this 25 year-old guy who I am going to assume is not a Christian. He can be polite and listen, but this question will not engage him. Why? Because he’s thinking “I’m in good health. I work out. I eat right. I have no serious conditions. I’m likely to live a good and long life and will probably die in my 80’s or 90’s.

So you’re pretty much asking him about something that is likely to happen about sixty years from now.

It would be like asking him “Do you have enough money to retire right now?”

Well, quite likely no, but he’s working towards that and he’s confident that when he gets to that age he will be ready.

What else is going on in this man’s life?

Odds are, he’s thinking about his job, drinking with friends, having sex with his girlfriend or wanting to have a girlfriend to have sex with, watching some pornography, watching a football game with the guys on the weekend, etc.

What’s our evangelism strategy implicitly?

“Hi. I’d like you to consider devoting your life on this one brief conversation to something that is going to take away all the things in your life that you enjoy right now, but it will really pay off when you die about sixty years down the road.”

I can’t imagine why young people don’t jump on this message.

“But, Nick! The message is important! People have to do this! People have to know Jesus! People have to get saved!”

Agree entirely. The problem is, the person you’re talking to does not. You’re acting like he already embraces your position. If he agreed that it was as important as you think it is, he would already do it.

If we all did the matters that were important, our nation would be a lot healthier, most of us would listen to our parents a lot more, etc. No. We need something that gets us engaged in the matter.

I go walking every day now and I even walk around the Post Office on the days that I work. Why? Because I have an app where I earn points for walking and when I earn enough points, I cash them in and I get credit for the Nintendo Eshop so I can get some games that I really enjoy. Did I know I need to walk regularly and exercise before then? Yes. I do it now because there is a present incentive. I usually get in 10,000 steps a day at least. Generally, with other bonuses in the app, i get $10 every month to use.

Think about what you will do if you’re trying to impress a member of the opposite sex. You can do things you would not have done before just because there is an incentive. If a man becomes a father, he is more likely to have a better work ethic because there is an incentive. Consequently, a marriage dies down when it seems like there is less incentive to be devoted to the union.

So in talking to the guy again, we need to show him why he should become a Christian not just for the future, but for now. How does it benefit him?

“But Jesus never talked that way!”

He didn’t? Go look here. These are all times in the Gospels when Jesus spoke of a reward for those who are obedient to the Gospel. If you are talking about Heaven anyway, you are already using rewards to appeal to someone.

So one of my first starts would be to point to the reality of the gospel, meaning we have to talk about sin. People need to know that they’re truly lost. They need to know that they really need forgiveness.

Then we need to show them the reality of the resurrection. We need to show them that new life begins now. The gospel should never be seen as the antithesis of joy. We should be people of joy.

That would also include pointing out the meaninglessness of what people are engaging in. They’re only getting something temporary that won’t fill them overall. You can have sex with a different girl every week, but you’re just being an addict and women are your drug. You don’t really love them and they don’t really love you.

By contrast, Christians serve the God of sex and marriage and we should be in the forefront in those areas. Christians should have the best marriages of all and they should have the most passionate sex lives of all in those marriages. We should give the world something that they will be jealous of. After all, Paul wanted the Jews to be jealous of the Gentiles.

Sadly, we Christians are more known by what we denounce than by what we celebrate. We are described as puritan, which is false since the puritans were never the stick-in-the-mud types that we have in mind. They really were a joyous people and they wanted to make sure their marriages were fulfilling.

We should not be anti-intellectual at all. Lewis was the one who asked what it would be like if whenever anyone wanted to learn something in the academic world, the best mind in that area was a Christian. What if scientists were known as the best Christians? What if the best actors were Christians? What if the best athletes were Christians? What if Christians did the most popular songs, the best movies were written and performed by Christians, the best TV shows were produced by and starred Christians, and Christians produced the best video games?

As I type that I even wonder, “Why aren’t they already?”

This also does not deny Christianity is a hard path to follow, but it is also still a joyous one. We need to show that. If all we offer people is something that is likely to happen decades down the road, we are not going to get serious lifetime commitment from them. If forgiveness is not serious to them, salvation won’t be either.

We can do better.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

Thoughts on Modern Education

How do students best learn? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

It was in my Greek class a few semesters ago, which I did just fine in, that i started thinking about the education system. I remembered that before a test, I had been looking at the paradigms. I could recognize them, but when it came to writing them down, my mind went to a blank.

I have a good relationship with my professor so I saw him in his office after and showed him Parson’s Greek Tutor on my laptop. I went to the section that mirrored what we just studied and showed him how effortlessly I was able to recognize the paradigms. He understood and upped my grade some. I likened it to that if I am playing a game on my Switch or Playstation and you join in and ask me what button I push to do an action, I have to look and see what button I am pushing, even though I push it regularly on instinct.

This got me pondering about why it is that this was not working for me in Greek. If anything, Parson’s Tutor was an excellent program for me. I am currently trying to talk to some Greek experts to see if they would be willing to have some students make a Greek indie game so that students could better learn Greek.

Quick. Write down what slope-intercept form is.

When did the Battle of the Bulge take place?

What exactly is mitosis?

What is included in the definition of velocity?

Who crossed the Alps with elephants to attack Rome?

What is a gerund?

What is included in the 7th amendment?

Some of you may know some of these things. A lot of you are probably going to Google right now and looking them up. My point in asking these questions is that at some point, you likely did know what these are and you forgot them. Why? You learned them for a test in school to pass a subject. After that, you never used them again and they bore no relevance, so you forgot them.

Now think about these other kinds of questions.

What is the Konami code?

What are the stats on your favorite sports team?

When was your favorite TV show on the air?

How many songs can you sing by your favorite artist by heart?

Give me twenty people at Hogwart’s from the Harry Potter franchise.

Tell me ten planets in the Star Wars universe.

If I ask you about these kinds of things and they are things you care about, you know them like that. I could easily tell you the Konami code, a lot of students and faculty at Hogwart’s, and I can tell you most anything you want to know about Smallville. The last one I knew so well I could have easily fact-checked the magazine I used to read.

Notice this also. Many of these things you know, you learned without having to intentionally study for them or take tests on them. It was never the case that you said “I’d better bone up on my favorite football team statistics because my friends are going to quiz me when we get together.” You likely never stayed up all night memorizing all the lyrics to every Weird Al Yankovic song you could. (Not that that would be a waste of time if you did.) You learned these because they were presented in a way that engaged you and were relevant to you.

When students in school ask “What’s the point?” or “When am I ever going to use this?”, if we can’t answer those questions, they won’t likely take the material being learned seriously.

To compare when I was in this class, I had Nintendo Switch online and went through the original Legend of Zelda, both quests, and A Link to the Past. I never did formal study on these games and even though it had been years since my last playthrough, I could still go and find everything in them and finish them. You can say it’s useless knowledge, but the point is I learned it and I learned it because for me, it was relevant to me. Being good at games mattered to me. It still does.

It is my personal theory that if we want students to learn material, we need to make it engaging for them. That’s one reason I love the pop culture and philosophy series. I could introduce you to philosophy with a textbook that will likely bore you to tears, or I could introduce you by having you read something like Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul. If you are a Batman fan, then you are going to see philosophy in a way relevant to one of your favorite superheroes.

It’s also worthwhile to point out that we talk about that a professor gives in a classroom as a lecture. When we go to church, we hear a sermon. On their own, neither of those are positive terms. We tell people we don’t need a lecture or a sermon and not to preach at us.

This also has relevance to how we even spread the gospel.

But that is what I plan on for tomorrow.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

 

 

 

 

Book Plunge: Hearing The Voice of God Chapter 7

Are you in the right position to hear from God? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

So Newton gives a lot of the usual steps to hearing from God such as spending time in Scripture so you can better discern God’s promptings. (Geez. Maybe you could just study the Scripture so you can know what God has already said.) One step he takes is to say that if you need an immediate word, spend extra time in Scripture, prayer, and quietness. He then cites Psalm 46:10 with “be still and know that I am God.”

Which says absolutely nothing about hearing from God.

The passage is instead describing Israel being at war and when their tendency is to rush headlong, they are to wait. Be still. God is God. God will defeat their enemies.

He also says if you are unsure if God is speaking to you, ask for confirmation. Never mind you could just as well ask “How do I know the confirmation is from God?” The only person I can think of right off in Scripture that needed confirmation is Gideon and he’s not the best example. One could say Hezekiah, but that is because Hezekiah was told he will die and then told he would live. He needed to know for sure which word was going to take place.

If anything else is saddening in this, it’s that when you get to the end, you find out that Newton is a bishop. I cringe at the thought of what people in high authority are actively teaching in our churches. The idea of hearing the voice of God has become such an evangelical creed and it blows my mind as this is taught nowhere in Scripture.

Instead, what we have is a list of things you can do and not a list of how you can study the Scriptures and know them better. When this happens, people take their own impressions and ideas and dreams as if they have divine authority and wind up building a little canon in their own selves that is based on their experience. There is enough self-centeredness in our churches. We do not need any more of it.

For those who still think this is in some way even remotely biblical, I urge you to return to Scripture and do a thorough look and ask yourself some questions about what you are reading.

While God did speak to people, was it ever the majority of the people?

If not, then why do I think I am one of those exceptional people that

Why do I never see this commanded by Jesus or Paul?

Why do I not see anyone in early church history talking about this?

Why do the medieval thinkers stay silent on this?

Why did the Reformers say nothing about this?

To claim that God is speaking is a serious claim and I fear too many of us are making it far too lightly. It won’t affect our salvation from what I see, but we will be judged for it. Remember in the Old Testament that if a prophet wasn’t from God, they were to be stoned.

Should we take His word any less lightly?

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

Book Plunge: Hearing the Voice of God Chapter 6

How else does the Spirit allegedly lead? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

In a recent post, I said I goofed with chapter numbering. Turns out, I didn’t. I gave the benefit of the doubt to Newton. Instead, take a look at how the book is laid out from my Kindle app on my laptop.

Yep. Newton has chapter three listed twice and no chapter 5. Yes. That also extends to the chapter headings themselves.

So there is no chapter 5 review. There is one for chapter 6.

Newton starts by taking us to Acts 16:6-10 and notes that Paul was led by a vision to go to Macedonia. Therefore, God can speak to people in a vision. With that, there will be no disagreement. However, does that mean that we should expect that?

If we go to Acts 28, Paul is bitten by a viper and the people of Malta think he is a murderer because he survived a shipwreck and yet justice came to him. However, Paul simply shakes it off into the fire. Nothing happens. The people then decide he is a god.

Since Paul suffered no ill will from a viper bite and went about his day normally, this shows that God can save us from a viper bite. Therefore, if you find yourself bitten by a viper someday, there is no need to get to a hospital. Just follow the example of Paul.

Or maybe you should realize you’re not Paul.

Newton says if we study the Bible, we will find that God led many people through visions and He still does for He is not the same. I do not rule out all dreams and visions. I certainly think they are happening in the Muslim world. I do think that these are for getting people to salvation and not personal decision making.

Also, saying God is the same doesn’t matter unless Newton is going into his backyard at night and offering animal sacrifices because God is still the same. Hebrews says that in the past God spoke in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken by His Son. Why is it that Newton is so eager to return to those past days instead of the days where the Son is how God has spoken?

Also, Newton will spend time talking about his personal experience. The problem with these people often is that they go to their personal experience and say “This experience must match what is happening in this passage.” Then they will interpret the Scripture in light of that experience and say “Therefore, this is normative today.” Instead of interpreting Scripture in light of our experience, we should interpret our experience in light of Scripture.

Newton also says some matters about prophets claiming to speak for God and there’s an easy way to avoid falling into believing a false prophecy. Unless you hear someone say something that is absolutely from God and can be shown, such as if someone called out a secret sin you weren’t telling anyone as a possibility, then don’t believe them.  Go about your day the normal way.

Next time we’ll see what Newton say about positioning yourself to hear from God.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

 

 

Book Plunge: Hearing the Voice of God Chapter 4

Should your conscience be your guide? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

In this chapter, Newton tells us that God speaks to us through our conscience and that if you carefully study the New Testament, you will see this. Unfortunately for him, only if you read it from a Western individualistic mindset. For those from the biblical mindset in which the book was written, conscience was the mindset of the group, not the individual. You did not do anything that would violate how you appeared before the group.

No. Ancient people didn’t go by feelings.

Consider King David. He knew in the law it was wrong to sleep with Bathsheba, but he did it. When does he repent? When he is called out on it. Then he knows he has violated the standards and then does he pen Psalm 51.

Newton talks about one time he heard foul language in his mind and he began to bind the devil to make him leave. (Yes. Because the #1 way the devil will take you down is by using words that are deemed dirty.) Never mind that Scripture tells us to take every thought captive and not bind the devil, but Newton is told the Spirit told him it wasn’t the devil but him because of content he was watching with foul language.

Look. I never use profanity, but I don’t think it’s a big deal if others do provided that not every other word is what is deemed a curse word. I find it strange when I talk about Diehard as a Christmas movie and some Christians say they won’t watch it because of profanity. Never mind that there’s a lot of other reasons I can think of that some people probably shouldn’t watch, but yeah, somehow profanity jumps up there to the top of the list.

Our attitude towards profanity could sometimes be a bigger problem than profanity itself.

But ultimately, the problem is Newton just takes a few references to conscience and then equates that with the voice of God, which is dangerous territory. It is going incredibly beyond the text. Not only that, but some people have damaged consciences. Some people are overly scrupulous about matters when they shouldn’t be. Some people are way too lax when they shouldn’t be.

Our personal emotions are often not very good at telling us hard and fast rules.

Now if only when it came to making moral decisions we had some sort of guide that we could use. If only there was something like a book or something like that that contained general principles of wisdom that could be useful in helping us know how we ought to live.

This brings us back to one of the big problems with this movement. I am sure it is not the intention of the people who are teaching this, but generally, Scripture takes a backseat to whatever the person is thinking or feeling at the time. We are already a culture of narcissists. This just makes us more so.

Next, we’ll look at other ways the Spirit leads according to Newton.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

 

 

Book Plunge: Hearing the Voice of God Chapter 3.2

What about nudges?

So I goofed a little. I apparently got ahead of myself with chapters and one section was the introduction so I am calling this 3.2. Awkward, but what am I to do? I make mistakes.

So Newton now says the second way God speaks to us is by an inward nudge, a prompting of the Holy Spirit. He turns to Romans 8 and at least this time gives some surrounding context to verse 14. Unfortunately, none of this addresses the point.

He talks about being in services where he knew something was not being said right and he couldn’t show it, but that little nudge told him what was being taught was wrong. The problem is, I can’t exegete an experience like this. I have no context and then what about the times that nudges come and everything is actually right, or at least right enough? There might be something wrong, but it’s not heretical. Newton gives no measure for this. It is easy to accept a test when you accept all that agrees with you. Mormons do it regularly with the burning in the bosom.

Naturally, the next passage he goes to is the still small voice of Elijah. Do you know how many other passages refer to the still small voice?

None. Not a one. No other prophet says anything. Jesus says nothing about it. Paul says nothing. No apostle speaks anything about it.

But this movement has banked so much on this verse.

Never mind that in the very passage, the still small voice says NOTHING and later God speaks to Elijah in an audible voice as he had just as when the narrative of the aftermath of the showdown with the prophets of Baal started. This is not to be taken as a normative passage. It is our modern hubris that insists that this event that happened to Elijah is supposed to be just like what happens to us. Strangely, that never includes having food be miraculously prepared for us.

He then goes to Proverbs 20:27

The human spirit is the lamp of the Lord
    that sheds light on one’s inmost being.

Newton then says this means the Lord will use your spirit to give you guidance. What? Does my spirit know something that it is not telling me? The idea really here is that God is capable of searching us and knowing our inmost hearts. It is not about God giving us guidance. It is a message of warning that God knows our inmost being.

I wish these people who spoke about how we need to treat the Scriptures so seriously would follow their own advice.

Now this next part is amusing really:

But someone may say, “How can I know when I am being led by the inward witness? Can you give me an example?” Well yes I can. One very specific experience I remember along this line happened when I was a younger minister of the Gospel, just learning some of these things. I was at a church service on one of our family islands. A minister had preached, and afterward walked to the back of the church. This particular church had wooden pews. The minister slowly walked up to the front of the building touching each pew as she walked up. Then she said something to this effect, “If you did not feel anything when I touched your pew, something is wrong and you need to come to the altar.” Immediately, somewhere down on the inside of me, it seemed like someone was ringing a doorbell. I heard something, not with an audible voice, just a strong inward knowing, an inner witness. I heard, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.

Newton, Sheldon D.. Hearing The Voice of God: Discerning God’s Voice From All The Other Voices (pp. 16-17). Sheldon D. Newton. Kindle Edition.

He then goes on to say that

When I got back home, the Spirit of God, through the Word of God showed me that He never judges His relationship with us based on physical feelings. Our walk with God should be based upon His Word, not upon how we feel. Feelings change. The Word however, remains the same.

Newton, Sheldon D.. Hearing The Voice of God: Discerning God’s Voice From All The Other Voices (p. 17). Sheldon D. Newton. Kindle Edition.

And yet, what are we judging what God is speaking with here but an inward nudge? Also, I would not need such a nudge myself to know that what this preacher was speaking was nonsense. You just had to know your Bible.

He then tells a story about how a man was waiting at a red light and when it turned green had a nudge that told him to not move. At that point, a car sped through running the red light. The problem is again, I can’t exegete an experience. Even if I accepted this, why should I take it as normative? My claim has never been that God cannot speak. It is that it is not to be normative.

Next time, we’ll see what Newton has to say about the conscience.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

Book Plunge: Hearing the Voice of God Chapter 3

How does God speak? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

This chapter comes with the heading of the #1 way God speaks. Now if you asked me, I would say God has spoken best by Christ and we see that revelation revealed to us in Scripture. We don’t have the incarnation among us now, but we do have the account of His journey on this Earth.

Let’s see what Newton says.

At the start, he says this:

Hearing God’s Voice accurately is a must in these trying times. To not know or recognize His leading can cost a person his or her life, literally.

Newton, Sheldon D.. Hearing The Voice of God: Discerning God’s Voice From All The Other Voices (p. 11). Sheldon D. Newton. Kindle Edition.

A must? Well, I seem to be doing just fine so far. Meanwhile, I know plenty of people who make disastrous decisions that go against the path of wisdom because they are convinced God is telling them to do something. You know, what would be really good is if we had some one source that was a depository of the wisdom that God had for us, maybe like a book….

Not a shock, but Newton goes to the passage of “My sheep hear my voice” immediately. Let’s see. If I went to that time period, I’m pretty sure everyone there who was in the audience heard Jesus speaking. Thus, everyone who was in the audience was one of His sheep because they all heard His voice. Right?

“But it’s not a literal voice!” you say.

Correct. The voice is the call to salvation. It is not a still small voice of the heart. Jesus never says anything like that and this text has not just been ripped out of context. It has been taken in a stranglehold and beaten relentlessly until the text will confess what HVG teachers want it to say.

Newton then goes to Romans 8:14 about being led by the Spirit. Of course, he doesn’t look at the text. He just wants to find out what the key saying is in the text and then put his idea of what it means to be led by the Spirit in there. I suggest we look at the surrounding context.

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

If you do this, you see that being led by the Spirit is being put in contrast to living according to the flesh. This is not about hearing a voice to help you make decisions. It’s about being faithful to what we know in Christ and living a moral life.

Newton then rightfully says the #1 way God speaks to us is by His Word, but then looks at John 16L13 saying that the Spirit will lead us into all truth and then John 17:17 with “Thy Word is truth.” He then says the Spirit will quicken the Word inside of us so that we can live as we ought. If that is what he wants to say is the work of the Spirit, I have no problem with that.

The problem is that Newton doesn’t do what he says. He points us outside of the Bible to the idea that God will still speak to us today. If God is saying something to us today like that, then should that not count as Scripture?

Newton rightly says that any leading that goes against Scripture is not of God, but I have to ask why do I have to take something completely subjective like this and compare it when I have something that I do know comes from God? Why do I have to take a practice never done by anyone in Scripture and follow that when I have the Scriptures themselves? It’s as if Newton is really just paying lip service to the Bible but his main emphasis is on the experience. It would be better to write a whole book on how to better read and understand the Bible, but alas, more people think it’s preferable to just have God give you the answers.

Next time, we’ll see a problematic way God allegedly speaks with inward nudges.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

Book Plunge: Hearing the Voice of God Chapter 2

Does God speak to us today? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

So now, Newton says that since we have reasons why we should hear from God, let’s see what the Scripture says. Of course, having reasons why does not mean that it will happen. I can think of plenty of reasons why a lovely young lady should want to marry me. So far, I still remain divorced.

To make his point at the start, Newton’s first passage of Scripture is from Psalm 115:

Not to us, Lord, not to us
    but to your name be the glory,
    because of your love and faithfulness.

2 Why do the nations say,
    “Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in heaven;
    he does whatever pleases him.
4 But their idols are silver and gold,
    made by human hands.
5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
    eyes, but cannot see.
6 They have ears, but cannot hear,
    noses, but cannot smell.
7 They have hands, but cannot feel,
    feet, but cannot walk,
    nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
8 Those who make them will be like them,
    and so will all who trust in them.

Unfortunately, this proves too much in Newton’s case. He has looked at one part in verse 5 and tried to say that this is a statement about YHWH. It is not. It is about the idols. The Psalmist is saying that based on all the characteristics the idols have, they should be able to do what fits those characteristics. They can’t. That does not mean in itself that YHWH can.

However, while YHWH is certainly omnipotent, if Newton interprets this passage to be about YHWH, then he needs to be consistent. He needs to say YHWH has a mouth and can speak, eyes and can see, ears and can hear, a nose and can smell, hands and can feel, feet and can walk, and a throat that can make sound.

Which is actually materialistic concept of God that would be more akin to Mormonism. Yes. I know about the incarnation but God in His essence does not have a body.

The next passage is Hebrews 1:1-2.

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.

Yet once again, we have a problem, The text says God has spoken by His Son. First ,the soken is past tense. Second, it does not say God is speaking by a still small voice or dreams or internal nudges or feeling a peace or anything like that. That has to be added to the text. Newton even says about this text that God speaks to us through His Holy Spirit, but the Spirit is NOWHERE in the text. It is only the Son.

Next is John 16:13-15.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

This is said to the apostles. Does Newton give any warrant for applying it beyond them? None. It is just assumed.

The last is John 14:26 where the Holy Spirit will teach you all things. Newton adds we need to establish this fellowship by spending time in the presence of God. The problem is Jesus NEVER says anything like this. Not a single Biblical author says you need to learn to spend time in the presence of God to learn how to hear His voice. This doesn’t mean I am opposed to time in prayer and Bible study. Far from it. I am opposed to doing so for the wrong reasons.

So thus far, nothing I have seen establishes the claim and more argues against it.

Next time, we will look at what he says about the way God speaks.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

Book Plunge: Hearing the Voice of God Chapter 1

Why do I do this? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

I had recently finished Priscilla Shirer’s awful book on this chapter and figured I could read another one when I found one on sale in email notifications. So I downloaded it to my Kindle and found lo and behold, it was only 32 pages. Good thing I got it on discount. You can read this easily in an hour or so, and it will be time horribly wasted. Anyway, the book is available here if you are interested.

I realize I am a lone voice in evangelicalism saying something like hearing the voice of God is not meant to be a normative practice, but I will say it. I must stand for what I see as biblical truth and against what I see as a dangerous threat to biblical truth. It is mind-boggling to me how such a movement as this has caught in with people who claim the Bible as their sole authority.

The first chapter is about why Sheldon Newton wrote this book. The first is that God is our creator and since He has a perfect plan for our lives, we should want to know what it is. That God is our creator will receive no pushback from me. That He has a perfect plan will. This is stated nowhere in Scripture and frankly, since we’re all sinners, if there was a perfect plan, we would have all blown it already.

The second reason he wrote this is because there are so many prophets and prophetesses out there and we need to know who is of God and who isn’t. Well first off, if we can all supposedly hear the voice of God, why should I need to listen to anyone else? Is God’s voice insufficient?

The next point is I discount anyone immediately who puts a title on their name like that. Call yourself an apostle or a prophet or something similar and I don’t listen. Send me a Facebook request with those titles on there and it will be a hard pass.

He then says with mediums and physics running around, it would be good that we are not deceived. No. That is not a typo. He says physics. That being said, again, I have to ask. Is Scripture insufficient?

The fourth is that we need to stay focused on Christ and what is good for our lives. Again, I agree. The problem once again rises up. Is Scripture insufficient? It’s amazing that Protestants who are to have a high view of Scripture discount it so easily with this nonsense.

The fifth reason is that many children of God have not learned to hear the voice of God. Thank God for that one. Maybe these people will do something radical like, I don’t know, read the Bible more? Maybe focus less on what they’re feeling and everything around them and focus on Scripture? We couldn’t have that could we?!

The sixth reason is that Newton has seen years of people being deceived by erroneous doctrines. Geez. That is a problem. If only we had something like a book that God had left us that we could know came from Him that we could study and learn what we needed to learn. Pipe dream. Right?

The final reason he gives is that many people are running to prophets and others to get what they think is a real word from the Lord. Again, it sure would be nice if we had a sure word from the Lord that we could count on. If only there was some work like, again, maybe a book, that had stood the test of time and could be trusted as the Word of the Lord.

Well, those are his reasons for why Scripture is insufficient, I mean, why we need to hear the voice of God. Let’s see in the next section how well he does at arguing for that position.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

 

Step Out Of Your Echo chamber

How many perspectives are you getting? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

“What are you reading?”

“A book by Herbert Marcuse.”

“What’s he doing now?”

“Not much since he’s been dead for several years, but I consider him one of the most wicked men of all.”

“Then why are you reading it?”

So someone asked me at my job recently. It’s a good question. I told them that it’s important to know what your enemy is doing. I told them this is one of the starting places for DEI and other such ideas. I have read many books I disagree with. Now, I also make it a point to always be going through at least one book that I disagree with.

I interact frequently with JWs on Facebook and they never seem to really interact with opposing arguments. I challenge them to read books they disagree with. No interest. I ask atheists if they will read something they disagree with. No interest. It’s become so common that I make it a point of saying these people are scared of contrary thought. It’s usually demonstrated when I just ask “What was the last book you read that you disagreed with?”

Why should you do this?

For one thing, it shows you’re taking a position seriously. If I go to a Muslim, it’s good for them to know I have read their material. I have read the Qur’an and the Hadiths of Al Bukhari. I have read all the Mormon Scriptures and a number of their other supplementary works. I still remember one time I asked a Muslim if he had ever read the New Testament and he said “No. Have you ever read the Qur’an?”

Conversation ended quickly when I said “Yes.”

Second, you can actually learn some things. I have learned things, and not just what I disagree with, from reading Bart Ehrman. Sometimes, an outside perspective can cause you to see things in a new light. You can miss what your blind spots don’t let you see, and we all have blind spots.

Third, hypothetically, they could be right. You could read about a position and wind up changing your mind on it. I remember someone read my co-authored book Defining Inerrancy and left a review saying they went in sure they would disagree with what we advocated, and they left agreeing with it. If your end goal is truth, what do you have to lose?

Fourth, you show respect for your intellectual opponent that way. If you come to me and I know that you know my position and not only that, understand it and can articulate it, then I am more likely to listen to you. If you go to me and you totally misrepresent my position, then I have no reason to listen to you on anything.

Now some of you might be firm Christians and aren’t interested in dialoguing with atheists and cultists and others. I think you should, but aside from that, you can still read something you disagree with. Pick a position you strongly hold in Christianity and read something that disagrees with it.

Strong Calvinist? Read an Arminian.

Strong Preterist? Read someone arguing for dispensationalism?

Cessationist? Read someone advocating for miracles today.

Old-Earth creationist? Read a young-Earth creationist.

Believe you can lose salvation? Read someone who holds to eternal security.

This also applies to political views. Strong liberal? Read a conservative. Strong conservative? Read a liberal. Hate Trump? Read a book by someone defending him. Can’t stand Democrats? Read a book by someone defending them.

Also, when you choose another book, try to read someone who looks like they know what they’re talking about. Pastor Bob’s reasons to believe God exists is quite likely not the best resource to go to if you’re an atheist. “Why God is Stupid” is probably not the best atheistic book title. (And no, as far as I know, those are not real books.) Try to take on something that will challenge you.

If you’re curious, since a student here asked me about Black Hebrew Israelites, I’m going through a book about them now by someone who advocates the position. This is the one I chose. It didn’t cost a lot on Kindle and it’s a little over 1,000 pages which told me the guy had to be really dedicated with it. Do I think it’s nonsense? Yes. Do I think he uses poor argumentation? Yes. Am I better informed still for going through it? Yes. If I meet someone who holds this position, I can say that I have read such  work and I could be seen in a more respectable manner also.

Step out of your echo chamber. You could learn something.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)