Freedom

You got my heart
speak electric water
You got my soul
screamin' and howlin'
You know you hook my girlfriend
You know the drugstore man
But I don't need it now
I was trying to slap it out of her head

Jimi Hendrix

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

1 Corinthians 2:14

I was recently directed to the blog of New York Times Bestselling author Donald Miller. Donald Miller has written bestsellers titled Blue Like Jazz and Searching For God Knows What. The latter which I have read at the request of my girlfriend who is a big Donald Miller fan. After reading the book, I found Miller's writing style engaging, but the content held as much theological truths as The Purpose Driven Life. Miller likes to take a simpleton's view of spirituality and attempt to make it culturally relevant. The blog that Miller wrote that I want to address is titles "Are People Basically Good?" and can be found at this link.

http://donmilleris.com/2010/04/22/ar...asically-good/

Before I address the content of this blog, I want to give a little background on the theology of Donald Miller. He is part of the Emerging Church, which derives a lot of its theology from the Postmodern hermeneutic of Deconstructionism.Deconstruction generally tries to demonstrate that any text is not a discrete whole but contains several irreconcilable and contradictory meanings; that any text therefore has more than one interpretation; that the text itself links these interpretations inextricably; that the incompatibility of these interpretations is irreducible; and thus that an interpretative reading cannot go beyond a certain point.1 The Emergent Church has denied vital doctrines such as penal substitutionary atonement, hell and eternal punishment, and places more importance on living like Jesus than being led by Jesus. According to monergism.com, "Emerging Churches usually define themselves as those who like to take the life of Jesus as a model way to live, welcome those who are outside, share generously, participate, create, lead without control and function together in spiritual activities or communities who practice the way of Jesus within postmodern cultures. While all of these activities may be good, please notice that all of the above emerging principles are not about what Christ has done for us, but what we do for him. So the the very central core of Christianity is left out. The true gospel, rather, is news about what Christ has already done for us as a Savior, rather than instruction and advice about what we are to do for God. The primacy of His accomplishment, not ours, is the essence of our faith. The gospel of Christ above all brings news, rather than instruction."2

Now whether or not Miller ascribes to all of these beliefs is debatable. His writings convey the message of a relational dynamic with Christ and its importance over above believing certain doctrines. He rarely quotes scripture and takes an 'Aw shucks, I don't know about theology but I know that Jesus ate with sinners, and that seems pretty important.' While eating with sinners and living as Jesus lived is important, the salvation of a fallen man is not dependent on those things. Christianity without a cross ceases to be Christianity.

Onto Miller's blog, Are People Basically Good? Miller opens the blog with this line. I’ve always wondered why people who believe in total depravity say things to their kids like “good job” when they catch a baseball. Shouldn’t they say something like you caught the ball, but you still deserve to go to hell?

Miller quickly shows his severe lack of intelligence in regards to theology. As someone who holds dear to the doctrine of total depravity, his conclusion is quite offensive and it shows not only how ignorant Donald Miller is, but also how lazy he is. Even those who deny the doctrine of total depravity don't even take it to the conclusion that a man would tell his son, "Nice catch but you still deserve hell." He continues displaying his ignorance with this gem of a statement.

I’ve never really trusted people who believed we were totally depraved, for obvious reasons. How can their view of the world be trusted? They are totally depraved, after all.

Quite Frankly, Mr. Miller, I've never trusted Christians that believed they were good enough to earn salvation or that by just living a good moral life, Christ would be pleased. The worldview of a christian that holds on to total depravity is a cross centered worldview. There is none righteous, no not one. Knowing the evil that lives inside of me and its POWER, my only recourse is to cling to the cross. Miller continues....

A pastor friend told me recently, though, that the term total depravity doesn’t mean you aren’t a good person, or aren’t capable of doing good, but that you aren’t capable of redeeming yourself. You are totally depraved, he said,at being able to access God.

This pastor was correct, but it shows the lack of respect that Miller has for doctrine. As a writer and one who has influence, Miller never says he went to scripture to then research this idea or sought to read what the reformers had to say. I guess I should at least be thankful that Donald Miller clearly knows a pastor that could talk some sense into him. He continues...

That made more sense to me, to be honest. And besides, I’ve met plenty of people who don’t even know God who are good people. And I mean really, really good. I mean they love and care about people, they are moral, they are charitable, so the whole idea there is nothing good in them doesn’t seem to jive with reality.

This is where Miller's postmodern view of scripture shows itself. Who is he comparing these people to? Himself? Clearly, he is not comparing them to Christ. He takes great care to mention that they are "really, really good." and they "love and care" for people. Mr. Miller, loving and caring for people is not enough. While it is good and noble, it does not save. And when you start to look at yourself in comparison with Christ and not your friends, you will see that there is no good in you. Your buddy and life model, Jesus Christ said himself in John 15:4-6 "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned." So according to Jesus, no man can do any good unless he abides in Him. Those that do not abide in Him or know Him, are like branches that are thrown away and burned. So I ask Miller, what good are these non-believers doing? Do you believe the good they do saves them? Makes them righteous? Are their works not like filthy rags? Furthermore, the account of the rich young man in Mark 10:17-18, Jesus has some interesting words about what is good. "And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone." Miller concludes his blog with this:

Sometimes I wonder if God has an enemy and that enemy is trying to get us to not like people, because if we don’t like them, they won’t listen to anything we say. And sometimes I wonder if the idea of total depravity has been skewed to get us to not like people. Ever thought about this? And do you think people can be good? I don't know what type of christian Miller has dealt with, but I have never in my life met someone who used total depravity to not like people. The reason the church has lost its relevance is because it has forsaken sound doctrine and traded it for a snake oil salesmen. The emerging church and seeker sensitive churches think they have figured out the church's cultural crisis by fleeing from sound doctrine, watering down the Gospel, removing it's offensiveness and preaching a Gospel of acceptance and making Jesus as cool as possible. The truth is, this gospel does not save anyone. It does not change anyone. Donald Miller writes about a weak Jesus that doesn't care what we believe about him, he just wants us to hold hands and sing around the campfire. This is not a freeing gospel. The Gospel teaches us that we cannot attain righteousness on our own. We cannot do good in God's sight. We cannot love like God. We are under the power of sin and God has sent his son to free us. Ultimate freedom is found in service to the Cross. It is found by being led by the spirit. How can the church be led by the spirit if the wolves in sheep's clothing like Donald Miller tell us that we are good and scripture isn't that important to knowing Christ. We just need to follow His example. It is no wonder his simpleton writing is so popular in an age where the offensive doctrine of the Cross is replaced by the buddy Jesus. So let us seek the truths and mysteries of Christ and be led by His spirit. Let us seek to know more of Him so that the fruit we bear, we bear by being led by His Spirit. I will close with a quote from the great Puritan theologian John Owen. "Without absolutes revealed from without by God Himself, we are left rudderless in a sea of conflicting ideas about manners, justice and right and wrong, issuing from a multitude of self-opinionated thinkers."

1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructionism 2.http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/qna/emerging.html

Trouble Will Soon Be Over

Oh, trouble’ll soon be over, sorrow will have an end
Oh, trouble’ll soon be over, sorrow will have an end

Well, Christ is my foot and fellow, He’s my only friend
Till the end of my sorrow and tells me to lean on Him

Blind Willie Johnson

The Gospel of Mark

Chapter 1 verses 1-13

A commentary

v. 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ...

The beginning of the good news was not necessarily the virgin birth. Mark begins with John the Baptist preparing the way as does the Gospel of John. The most important news of the coming of the Messiah is not the birth of Christ but the start of his ministry as prophesied by the Old Testament prophets and the aforementioned John the Baptist.

v. 1 ...the Son of God.

Mark opens his gospel not only claiming that Jesus was the promised Christ but also the Son of God. Because he refers him as the Son of God, he deviates from the Gospel of Matthew, who referred to Jesus as the Son of David and Abraham, showing the kingship of Christ as heir to the Davidic throne. Mark writes his gospel to a primarily gentile audience which is probably why he left out the the heirship of the Davidic throne, which would be appealing to a Jewish audience, as Matthew's Gospel was written to.

v. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,

Matthew quotes not only Isaiah 40:3 but also Malachi 3:1, using passages from the Septuagint, to not only exalt John as a prophet but to exalt the one that John preaches about as the promised Savior. The Old Testament is the Gospel's beginning and source and Jesus is the final inspired interpretation.

v. 4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness...

The ministry of John in the wilderness to remind Israel of her covenant with God. It is through the wilderness that He led them to the promised land and through the wilderness, John will lead the people of God to Christ, the promised Messiah.

and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

This baptism was a symbolic ritual cleaning and a proclamation to repent and seek God. This baptism did not forgive sins but was a sign of a new covenant that was to come.

v. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

Clearly, not every Israelite came to him, but many did. Enough to attract Herod's attention. This renewal, that occurred throughout the region, was the preparation of hearts and minds to receive the Messiah. God was drawing his covenant people to Himself to give them His son.

v. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.

Why was it important for Mark to tell us what John wore and what he ate? 2 Kings 1:8 describes what the prophet Elijah wore. Mark wanted to draw a connection between Elijah and John. John is the new Elijah, preparing the way for the Lord. The rise of the prophets in Jewish history started with Elijah. The last great prophet to come was John, nearly 400 years after the last book of the Old testament was written.

v. 7 And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

John recognized his role as an emerging prophet whose role was to prepare the way for the Messiah. v. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Jesus is coming not to wash the outside, but to purify the hearts and mind of God's people. This new covenant will renew the people through Himself and through the Spirit.

v.9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee...

Galilee was not a place held in high regard. It was a place of mixed race and the law was not zealously observed. Nazareth was a small village. No mention of Nazareth exists in the Old Testament. It is befitting of the Savior to come from a place of insignificance that the Pharisees would have disdain for. See John 7:52.

and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

Matthew 3:15 says that Jesus was baptized to "fulfill all righteousness." Jesus' baptism was part of His process of bearing the sins of the world. For the christian, we are baptized into His death and resurrection. The baptism instituted by Christ is more than just a symbolic representation. It is a powerful command from Christ that identifies one as part of the new covenant.

v. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

Just as in christian baptism, all three persons of the trinity are involved. The initiative of the Father, the work of the Son, and the enabling power of the Spirit are present. In Jesus' baptism, the Spirit descends as a sign that the Christ is indeed the Messiah and that the preaching of John was validated, thus validating the Old Testament prophecies concerning John.

v. 11 And a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."

The Father validates the coming ministry of Jesus. Because in Jesus, all things were created, the Father knows Jesus on a personal level and has sent Jesus to fulfill His initiative of a new covenant.

v. 12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.

The importance of the wilderness in the Old Testament cannot be understated. It was in the wilderness that Elijah fled from Jezebel and hid. It was in the wilderness that Israelites wandered for forty years. While those instances occurred, God used the wilderness to refine and purify and make Himself known. Christ, the embodiment of all perfection, did not need to be refined. It was in the wilderness where God made a covenant with the Israelites and where Christ reminds them of where they came from and how He will intercede to the Father for their sake.

v. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days,

The number 40 in the scriptures is a symbol for new beginnings. 40 years in the wilderness, 40 days of rain, and Christ, fasting and being tempted for 40 days. God was going to start a new covenant with His people.

being tempted by Satan.

God does not tempt us, James 1:13 says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God; for God cannot be tempted by evil and He, Himself does not tempt anyone. Though Jesus was God incarnate, he was still fully man. This temptation was a temptation of his humanity. In Luke's Gospel, Satan uses Jesus' hunger to tempt him to turn stones into bread. Jesus' responses to Satan's temptations were quotations from scripture. If this is how our Lord would respond to temptation, how much more should we?

And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

In comparison to the Exodus, we see God providing for the Israelites during the journey. Just as manna fell from heaven to feed starving bellies and angels ministered to our Lord, we can be confident that God will provide for us when we are tempted and tested. This is why James extols us to consider our trials pure joy. For in the midst of trials we can see God's hand at work.