Abortion is an issue that will require William Wilberforce like Christians who will love their unborn neighbors enough to pour out their lives in defense of them.
Ephesians 5:11
Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
1. We must be active in exposing evil and darkness
2. We must, like imitators of God, have God’s values as a primary means of determining our actions
3. We must expose the foolish values of fallen man and illuminate darkness with truth
4. We must not sacrifice foundational truth for the sake of western values
- It’s not the economy stupid
- Western values are not God’s reality
- God values: poverty of spirit, mourning over our state as fallen humans,
meekness, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, mercy, purity of heart
peacemaking, being persecuted for righteousness
Lets apply our the doctrine of man to this issue and use God’s wisdom to help us address this issue.
The issue is threefold:
Personhood
The False Argument of Choice
Competing Rights
Personhood
There are essentially two issues which must be resolved concerning unborn embryos and fetuses. The first is, "Are they human beings?"
The second is, "Should they be recognized as persons under the law?"
This is established, primarily as Christians, by God, his word and the doctrine of man.
Medical science also bears this out.
The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 6th ed.
Keith L. Moore, Ph.D. & T.V.N. Persaud, Md., (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1998), 2-18.
"[The Zygote] results from the union of an oocyte and a sperm. A zygote is the beginning of a new human being. Human development begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm ... unites with a female gamete or oocyte ... to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual."
Essentials of Human Embryology
William J. Larsen, (New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1998), 1-17.
"In this text, we begin our description of the developing human with the formation and differentiation of the male and female sex cells or gametes, which will unite at fertilization to initiate the embryonic development of a new individual. ... Fertilization takes place in the oviduct ... resulting in the formation of a zygote containing a single diploid nucleus. Embryonic development is considered to begin at this point... This moment of zygote formation may be taken as the beginning or zero time point of embryonic development."
Human Embryology & Teratology
Ronan R. O'Rahilly, Fabiola Muller, (New York: Wiley-Liss, 1996), 5-55.
"Fertilization is an important landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new, genetically distinct human organism is thereby formed... Fertilization is the procession of events that begins when a spermatozoon makes contact with a secondary oocyte or its investments... The zygote ... is a unicellular embryo... "The ill-defined and inaccurate term pre-embryo, which includes the embryonic disc, is said either to end with the appearance of the primitive streak or ... to include neurulation. The term is not used in this book."
Adding to the consensus of contemporary textbooks is the testimony of older medical texts as well:
Human Embryology, 3rd ed.
Bradley M. Patten, (New York: McGraw Hill, 1968), 43.
"It is the penetration of the ovum by a spermatozoa and resultant mingling of the nuclear material each brings to the union that constitutes the culmination of the process of fertilization and marks the initiation of the life of a new individual."
Biological Principles and Modern Practice of Obstetrics
J.P. Greenhill and E.A. Friedman, (Philadelphia: W.B. Sanders, 1974), 17.
"The zygote thus formed represents the beginning of a new life."
Pathology of the Fetus and the Infant, 3d ed.
E.L. Potter and J.M. Craig, (Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers, 1975), vii.
"Every time a sperm cell and ovum unite a new being is created which is alive and will continue to live unless its death is brought about by some specific condition."
In addition to the consistent testimony found in medical textbooks, there is some equally conclusive evidence that exists on the public record. In 1981, a United States Senate judiciary subcommittee received the following testimony from a collection of medical experts (Subcommittee on Separation of Powers to Senate Judiciary Committee S-158, Report, 97th Congress, 1st Session, 1981):
Professor Micheline Matthews-Roth
Harvard University Medical School
"It is incorrect to say that biological data cannot be decisive...It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception."
Dr. Alfred M. Bongioanni
Professor of Pediatrics and Obstetrics, University of Pennsylvania
"I have learned from my earliest medical education that human life begins at the time of conception."
Dr. Jerome LeJeune
Professor of Genetics, University of Descartes
"After fertilization has taken place a new human being has come into being. [It] is no longer a matter of taste or opinion...it is plain experimental evidence. Each individual has a very neat beginning, at conception."
Professor Hymie Gordon
Mayo Clinic
"By all the criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception."
Dr. Watson A. Bowes
University of Colorado Medical School
"The beginning of a single human life is from a biological point of view a simple and straightforward matter – the beginning is conception."
The official Senate report reached this conclusion:
Physicians, biologists, and other scientists agree that conception marks the beginning of the life of a human being - a being that is alive and is a member of the human species. There is overwhelming agreement on this point in countless medical, biological, and scientific writings.
This, of course, should come as no surprise since the American Medical Association (AMA) declared as far back as 1857 (referenced in the Roe. v. Wade opinion) that "the independent and actual existence of the child before birth, as a living being” is a matter of objective science. They deplored the “popular ignorance...that the fetus is not alive till after the period of quickening.”
Doctors knew it during the 1800's and doctors know it today. Human life begins at conception.
If this were not true, if unborn children were not human, there would be no need to even talk about rights of personhood.
"Removing a fetus" would be the moral equivalent of pulling a tooth. This, however, is not the case, and so the debate must now enter the political arena.
There is a very real sense in which the need to answer this second question is, in itself, an absurdity.
If you look up the word "person" in your dictionary, you'll find something like this:
Person - n. A human being.
A person, simply put, is a human being.
This fact should be enough.
The intrinsic humanity of unborn children, by definition, makes them persons and should, therefore, guarantee their protection under the law.
For more than thirty years, however, this has not been the case. The situation we are left with is this:
In America today, there is a huge and singular group of living human beings who have no protection under the law and are being killed every day.
There have been at least two other instances in American history in which specific groups of human beings were stripped of their rights of personhood as a means of justifying their horrible mistreatment.
African-Americans and Native-Americans both felt the brunt of a system which denied their humanity, stripped them of their personhood and subjected them to horrors beyond measure.
While the legal framework that made such injustice possible has now been removed, it remains firmly in place for unborn Americans.
There remains one, and only one, group of human beings in the U.S. today for which being human is not enough.
The inconvenience of their existence has resulted in a legal loophole of shameful proportions.
What is a person?
A person is a human being (unless, of course, you haven't been born yet, in which case we'll define personhood in any way possible so as to exclude you, kill you and forget you).
The False Argument of Choice
Since abortion is impossible to justify on its own merits (it kills a living human being, remember), "choice" has become the foundation of its political justification.
Abortion advocates don't want to talk about facts or science, or even theology but they love to talk about "choice".
"This is America...We're free to choose...You can't legislate morality!"
Nothing has so clouded and confused the politics of this debate more than the misconstrued application of this one little term, “choice”.
The bottom line is this. Choice is nothing apart from the context to which it is applied.
Individual choices are either recognized or restricted based upon the circumstances at hand.
That's how our laws work. You simply cannot talk about choice in isolation.
For thirty years, however, abortion advocates have sought to bestow upon choice a nobility all its own, nobility it has no claim to.
They refuse to be called "pro-abortion", but they gladly accept the label "pro-choice" (despite the fact that there are countless other issues for which they are decidedly not pro-choice).
The fact is, laws against rape, murder, assault, theft, speeding, drunk-driving and even smoking are all "anti-choice".
They take away legal protection from one particular choice in order to protect a more foundational freedom.
All such laws are "legislating morality".
That's the only way society can survive w/o anarchy.
Personal choices that infringe on the life or livelihood of another human being must be legislated against.
Therefore, anyone who defends legal abortion by simply arguing that people must be free to make their own choices is either ignorant or dishonest.
Furthermore, in almost 99% of all U.S. abortions1, the woman having the abortion chose to have sexual intercourse in the first place.
Therefore, it could just as easily be argued that these women already made their choice when they chose to engage in behavior that often leads to pregnancy.
Ultimately, restricting a woman's right to abortion does not restrict a woman's right to not be pregnant.
Abortion, after all, does not keep a woman from being pregnant. Not having sex does that.
Abortion simply ends the pregnancy of an already pregnant woman by killing the embryo or fetus living within her.
In the end, we are only free to choose so long as that choice doesn't kill or harm someone else, and our government exists to take away those choices that do.
Nobody argues that a man should be free to choose when the context is sexual assault.
What a fool he would be to try and justify rape by saying, "My body, my choice." Why? Because rape is a violent assault which involves more than just one body.
And so is abortion. The heart of the issue is not "choice".
The real question is humanity, and nothing short of anarchy can guarantee the perfect freedom of choice.
Choice is the “god” of many.
Illustration: States that have fetal homicide laws
It is murder to kill a fetus or embryo, intentionally except in the case of abortion.
There are 36 states that have this law, including Georgia.
It’s strange that if someone else kills the child, it’s is “feticide”, but if the mother chooses to abort the child it is “choice”.
1. Just over 1% of all abortions in the United States happen as a result of rape: Torres A and Forrest JD, Why do women have abortions? Family Planning Perspectives, 1988, 24(4):169-176.
Competing Rights
Politically speaking, abortion is an issue that involves competing rights.
1. On the one hand, you have the mother's right not to be pregnant.
v/s
2. On the other hand, you have the baby's right not to be killed.
The question that must be answered is this: Which right is more fundamental? Which right has a greater claim?
Abortion advocates argue that outlawing abortion would, in essence, elevate the rights of the unborn over and above those of the mother.
"How can you make a fetus more important than a grown woman?", they might ask.
In reality, outlawing abortion wouldn't be giving unborn children more rights; it would simply gain for them the one most fundamental right that no one can live without, the right to life.
If a baby is not to be aborted, then the pregnant mother must remain pregnant.
This will also require of her sickness, fatigue, reduced mobility, an enlarged body, and a new wardrobe.
Fortunately, it is not a permanent condition.
On the flip side, for a pregnant woman not to be pregnant, her child must be killed (unless she is past her 21st week of pregnancy, in which case the baby may well survive outside the womb).
Abortion costs the unborn child his or her very life and it is a thoroughly permanent condition.
This is what's at stake, both for the child and for the mother. It is not an issue of who is more important, but rather who has more on the line.
Any time the rights of two people stand in opposition to each other, the government must protect the more fundamental right.
Let's consider crosswalks on Broad Street. A car is driving down the street while a person is crossing the street.
The law requires the driver of that car to slow down and stop (giving up their right to drive where they want, when they want, and at what speed they want) so that the pedestrian may cross the street in front of him. Why?
Why must the driver temporarily give up his right to drive down the street just because someone else is walking across the street? Why is the right of the man on foot upheld while the right of the man in the car is denied?
It is not because the pedestrian is more valuable than the driver but rather because, if the driver doesn't stop, the pedestrian will likely be killed.
In order for the driver to proceed down the street at full speed, at that moment, it will cost the pedestrian his life.
In order for the pedestrian to finish crossing the street, at that moment, it will cost the driver a few minutes of drive time.
Obviously, for a woman to remain pregnant, she gives up far more than a few minutes of drive time, but she gives up far less than the baby who would otherwise be killed.
This is what it all comes down to.
Abortion permanently takes away the life of the unborn.
Pregnancy temporarily takes away some of the freedoms of the mother.
Since there is far more at stake for the child, the more fundamental right to life must be upheld.
Arguments taken from www.abort73.com
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Sanctity of Life: Medical Evidence
The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 6th ed.
Keith L. Moore, Ph.D. & T.V.N. Persaud, Md., (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1998), 2-18.
"[The Zygote] results from the union of an oocyte and a sperm. A zygote is the beginning of a new human being. Human development begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm ... unites with a female gamete or oocyte ... to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual."
Essentials of Human Embryology
William J. Larsen, (New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1998), 1-17.
"In this text, we begin our description of the developing human with the formation and differentiation of the male and female sex cells or gametes, which will unite at fertilization to initiate the embryonic development of a new individual. ... Fertilization takes place in the oviduct ... resulting in the formation of a zygote containing a single diploid nucleus. Embryonic development is considered to begin at this point... This moment of zygote formation may be taken as the beginning or zero time point of embryonic development."
Human Embryology & Teratology
Ronan R. O'Rahilly, Fabiola Muller, (New York: Wiley-Liss, 1996), 5-55.
"Fertilization is an important landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new, genetically distinct human organism is thereby formed... Fertilization is the procession of events that begins when a spermatozoon makes contact with a secondary oocyte or its investments... The zygote ... is a unicellular embryo... "The ill-defined and inaccurate term pre-embryo, which includes the embryonic disc, is said either to end with the appearance of the primitive streak or ... to include neurulation. The term is not used in this book."
Adding to the consensus of contemporary textbooks is the testimony of older medical texts as well:
Human Embryology, 3rd ed.
Bradley M. Patten, (New York: McGraw Hill, 1968), 43.
"It is the penetration of the ovum by a spermatozoa and resultant mingling of the nuclear material each brings to the union that constitutes the culmination of the process of fertilization and marks the initiation of the life of a new individual."
Biological Principles and Modern Practice of Obstetrics
J.P. Greenhill and E.A. Friedman, (Philadelphia: W.B. Sanders, 1974), 17.
"The zygote thus formed represents the beginning of a new life."
Pathology of the Fetus and the Infant, 3d ed.
E.L. Potter and J.M. Craig, (Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers, 1975), vii.
"Every time a sperm cell and ovum unite a new being is created which is alive and will continue to live unless its death is brought about by some specific condition."
In addition to the consistent testimony found in medical textbooks, there is some equally conclusive evidence that exists on the public record. In 1981, a United States Senate judiciary subcommittee received the following testimony from a collection of medical experts (Subcommittee on Separation of Powers to Senate Judiciary Committee S-158, Report, 97th Congress, 1st Session, 1981):
Professor Micheline Matthews-Roth
Harvard University Medical School
"It is incorrect to say that biological data cannot be decisive...It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception."
Dr. Alfred M. Bongioanni
Professor of Pediatrics and Obstetrics, University of Pennsylvania
"I have learned from my earliest medical education that human life begins at the time of conception."
Dr. Jerome LeJeune
Professor of Genetics, University of Descartes
"After fertilization has taken place a new human being has come into being. [It] is no longer a matter of taste or opinion...it is plain experimental evidence. Each individual has a very neat beginning, at conception."
Professor Hymie Gordon
Mayo Clinic
"By all the criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception."
Dr. Watson A. Bowes
University of Colorado Medical School
"The beginning of a single human life is from a biological point of view a simple and straightforward matter – the beginning is conception."
The official Senate report reached this conclusion:
Physicians, biologists, and other scientists agree that conception marks the beginning of the life of a human being - a being that is alive and is a member of the human species. There is overwhelming agreement on this point in countless medical, biological, and scientific writings.
This, of course, should come as no surprise since the American Medical Association (AMA) declared as far back as 1857 (referenced in the Roe. v. Wade opinion) that "the independent and actual existence of the child before birth, as a living being” is a matter of objective science. They deplored the “popular ignorance...that the fetus is not alive till after the period of quickening.”
Keith L. Moore, Ph.D. & T.V.N. Persaud, Md., (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1998), 2-18.
"[The Zygote] results from the union of an oocyte and a sperm. A zygote is the beginning of a new human being. Human development begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm ... unites with a female gamete or oocyte ... to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual."
Essentials of Human Embryology
William J. Larsen, (New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1998), 1-17.
"In this text, we begin our description of the developing human with the formation and differentiation of the male and female sex cells or gametes, which will unite at fertilization to initiate the embryonic development of a new individual. ... Fertilization takes place in the oviduct ... resulting in the formation of a zygote containing a single diploid nucleus. Embryonic development is considered to begin at this point... This moment of zygote formation may be taken as the beginning or zero time point of embryonic development."
Human Embryology & Teratology
Ronan R. O'Rahilly, Fabiola Muller, (New York: Wiley-Liss, 1996), 5-55.
"Fertilization is an important landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new, genetically distinct human organism is thereby formed... Fertilization is the procession of events that begins when a spermatozoon makes contact with a secondary oocyte or its investments... The zygote ... is a unicellular embryo... "The ill-defined and inaccurate term pre-embryo, which includes the embryonic disc, is said either to end with the appearance of the primitive streak or ... to include neurulation. The term is not used in this book."
Adding to the consensus of contemporary textbooks is the testimony of older medical texts as well:
Human Embryology, 3rd ed.
Bradley M. Patten, (New York: McGraw Hill, 1968), 43.
"It is the penetration of the ovum by a spermatozoa and resultant mingling of the nuclear material each brings to the union that constitutes the culmination of the process of fertilization and marks the initiation of the life of a new individual."
Biological Principles and Modern Practice of Obstetrics
J.P. Greenhill and E.A. Friedman, (Philadelphia: W.B. Sanders, 1974), 17.
"The zygote thus formed represents the beginning of a new life."
Pathology of the Fetus and the Infant, 3d ed.
E.L. Potter and J.M. Craig, (Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers, 1975), vii.
"Every time a sperm cell and ovum unite a new being is created which is alive and will continue to live unless its death is brought about by some specific condition."
In addition to the consistent testimony found in medical textbooks, there is some equally conclusive evidence that exists on the public record. In 1981, a United States Senate judiciary subcommittee received the following testimony from a collection of medical experts (Subcommittee on Separation of Powers to Senate Judiciary Committee S-158, Report, 97th Congress, 1st Session, 1981):
Professor Micheline Matthews-Roth
Harvard University Medical School
"It is incorrect to say that biological data cannot be decisive...It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception."
Dr. Alfred M. Bongioanni
Professor of Pediatrics and Obstetrics, University of Pennsylvania
"I have learned from my earliest medical education that human life begins at the time of conception."
Dr. Jerome LeJeune
Professor of Genetics, University of Descartes
"After fertilization has taken place a new human being has come into being. [It] is no longer a matter of taste or opinion...it is plain experimental evidence. Each individual has a very neat beginning, at conception."
Professor Hymie Gordon
Mayo Clinic
"By all the criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception."
Dr. Watson A. Bowes
University of Colorado Medical School
"The beginning of a single human life is from a biological point of view a simple and straightforward matter – the beginning is conception."
The official Senate report reached this conclusion:
Physicians, biologists, and other scientists agree that conception marks the beginning of the life of a human being - a being that is alive and is a member of the human species. There is overwhelming agreement on this point in countless medical, biological, and scientific writings.
This, of course, should come as no surprise since the American Medical Association (AMA) declared as far back as 1857 (referenced in the Roe. v. Wade opinion) that "the independent and actual existence of the child before birth, as a living being” is a matter of objective science. They deplored the “popular ignorance...that the fetus is not alive till after the period of quickening.”
Christians and Yoga
What about Christians and Yoga?
I just really would like to know if you have run across anything about Christians practicing yoga. I have never done yoga but I started thinking about how we often do things and don't think about how they started or what they really are and can we really just rename them?
This question has two levels in it:
1) What is yoga and should Christians practice yoga?
2) How should Christians relate to the world around them? Separate from it, adopt its practices?
1) What is yoga and should Christians practice yoga?
Yoga is NOT just a physical and respiratory exercise
Yoga is NOT just a social networking club
Yoga is an exercise in achieving certain religious goals of a false religion
Christians should not seek to incorporate anything from another religion into their daily practice that has as its end the worship of a false god which is the worship of demons
Deuteronomy 18:9-15; 20:16-18; 1 Corinthians 10:20, 21
2) How should Christians relate to the world around them?
1. Contextualize don’t Syncretize
1. Obey Scriptural mandates
- Do not be married to unbelievers
- Do not get drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit
- Preach the Gospel
- Gather the church for worship
- Do not adopt worship methods of false religions
(don’t use prayer wheels from Buhdist temples, don’t offers sacrifices at a Hindu
temple to Jesus, don’t use the Quran as a guiding truth, avoid using yoga to
grow closer to Jesus)
2. Don’t sacrifice doctrinal truth in order to avoid conflict
- Use culture appropriate language
- Use the doctrines of the faith to address cultural ills
3. Where the Scripture is silent, allow the culture to shape the method
- What kind of clothes do you wear?
- Do you sit or stand for church gathering?
- Do you use music? If so, what kind of instruments?
- What translation of the Scriptures do you use?
- Do you use a building for gathering?
2. Avoid the Christian subculture as the only culture you know how to relate to
1. Avoid figuring out how far you can go before you break the “law”
2. Avoid being an easily offended person
3. Be among the lost and don’t imitate their values
4. Obey your conscience (trust the leadership of the Holy Spirit)
I just really would like to know if you have run across anything about Christians practicing yoga. I have never done yoga but I started thinking about how we often do things and don't think about how they started or what they really are and can we really just rename them?
This question has two levels in it:
1) What is yoga and should Christians practice yoga?
2) How should Christians relate to the world around them? Separate from it, adopt its practices?
1) What is yoga and should Christians practice yoga?
Yoga is NOT just a physical and respiratory exercise
Yoga is NOT just a social networking club
Yoga is an exercise in achieving certain religious goals of a false religion
Christians should not seek to incorporate anything from another religion into their daily practice that has as its end the worship of a false god which is the worship of demons
Deuteronomy 18:9-15; 20:16-18; 1 Corinthians 10:20, 21
2) How should Christians relate to the world around them?
1. Contextualize don’t Syncretize
1. Obey Scriptural mandates
- Do not be married to unbelievers
- Do not get drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit
- Preach the Gospel
- Gather the church for worship
- Do not adopt worship methods of false religions
(don’t use prayer wheels from Buhdist temples, don’t offers sacrifices at a Hindu
temple to Jesus, don’t use the Quran as a guiding truth, avoid using yoga to
grow closer to Jesus)
2. Don’t sacrifice doctrinal truth in order to avoid conflict
- Use culture appropriate language
- Use the doctrines of the faith to address cultural ills
3. Where the Scripture is silent, allow the culture to shape the method
- What kind of clothes do you wear?
- Do you sit or stand for church gathering?
- Do you use music? If so, what kind of instruments?
- What translation of the Scriptures do you use?
- Do you use a building for gathering?
2. Avoid the Christian subculture as the only culture you know how to relate to
1. Avoid figuring out how far you can go before you break the “law”
2. Avoid being an easily offended person
3. Be among the lost and don’t imitate their values
4. Obey your conscience (trust the leadership of the Holy Spirit)
Spiritual Gifts
What are spiritual gifts? What are they for?
Points of Instruction about Spiritual Gifts:
1. Everyone in Christ is gifted
1 Corinthians 12:7 Everyone in Christ is gifted for the good of the whole church
2. Everyone in Christ is gifted to serve each other
1 Corinthians 12:11 We are gifted as the Holy Spirit wills not as we will
- The Holy Spirit can evaluate the need in the church and gift people as needed in the
church
- The person is not in charge of what gift they are given
3. Exercise of Spiritual gifts is part of genuine worship
Romans 12:3-8 Using one’s gift or gifts is not option in the church
“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them…” (v. 7)
4. Discover your giftedness
- Ask:
4.1 What do I do well? Do people come to you for this thing you do?
(if you say you are a teacher, and no one gravitates to you for teaching, then you
are not a teacher)
(if you say you are a church planter, and you have never attempted anything new
before and had the tendency to try things and fail and not be bothered by that or
hampered by that, then you are probably not church planter material)
(if you say you are hospitable, and you never talk to people outside your huddle,
you are not hospitable)
- Gifts are not what we think would make us happy or what we think will
give us prominence or what we think other people think we need to be.
- Gifts are what we do without thinking about it that serves Jesus’ people.
- Gifts are what we do as an almost involuntary reflex in serving Jesus’
people.
- Gifts are how people benefit by our existence in the church.
- Gifts are Holy Spirit empowered and driven by the preaching of the word
- Gifts are often missed and not used because of rampant selfishness/
individuality, pride or gross sin
- Gifts are often used in the context of personal relationship in the church
not primarily in the corporate worship setting (Romans 12:3-21)
4.2 What am I passionate about?
4.3 What do I enjoy that benefits other people in general?
4.4 What do you do that strengthens other people’s faith (Romans 1:11, 12;
1Thess 3:2)
4.5 Don’t be so concerned with trying to label your giftedness with titles given
in the Scriptures.
- Just write down what you do that benefits others and that others come to
you for in your own words
5. Serve each other in a proactive manner
- Seek each other out in the church
- Be part of the fellowship
- Become less busy with personal things to be involved in people’s lives
6. Don’t approach trcc as a Sunday morning event only
Points of Instruction about Spiritual Gifts:
1. Everyone in Christ is gifted
1 Corinthians 12:7 Everyone in Christ is gifted for the good of the whole church
2. Everyone in Christ is gifted to serve each other
1 Corinthians 12:11 We are gifted as the Holy Spirit wills not as we will
- The Holy Spirit can evaluate the need in the church and gift people as needed in the
church
- The person is not in charge of what gift they are given
3. Exercise of Spiritual gifts is part of genuine worship
Romans 12:3-8 Using one’s gift or gifts is not option in the church
“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them…” (v. 7)
4. Discover your giftedness
- Ask:
4.1 What do I do well? Do people come to you for this thing you do?
(if you say you are a teacher, and no one gravitates to you for teaching, then you
are not a teacher)
(if you say you are a church planter, and you have never attempted anything new
before and had the tendency to try things and fail and not be bothered by that or
hampered by that, then you are probably not church planter material)
(if you say you are hospitable, and you never talk to people outside your huddle,
you are not hospitable)
- Gifts are not what we think would make us happy or what we think will
give us prominence or what we think other people think we need to be.
- Gifts are what we do without thinking about it that serves Jesus’ people.
- Gifts are what we do as an almost involuntary reflex in serving Jesus’
people.
- Gifts are how people benefit by our existence in the church.
- Gifts are Holy Spirit empowered and driven by the preaching of the word
- Gifts are often missed and not used because of rampant selfishness/
individuality, pride or gross sin
- Gifts are often used in the context of personal relationship in the church
not primarily in the corporate worship setting (Romans 12:3-21)
4.2 What am I passionate about?
4.3 What do I enjoy that benefits other people in general?
4.4 What do you do that strengthens other people’s faith (Romans 1:11, 12;
1Thess 3:2)
4.5 Don’t be so concerned with trying to label your giftedness with titles given
in the Scriptures.
- Just write down what you do that benefits others and that others come to
you for in your own words
5. Serve each other in a proactive manner
- Seek each other out in the church
- Be part of the fellowship
- Become less busy with personal things to be involved in people’s lives
6. Don’t approach trcc as a Sunday morning event only
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Question and Answer 1: The Virgin Birth
Q & A 1
“Is the virgin birth necessary? What is at stake in affirming or denying it beyond the method God chose to bring Christ into the world?”
Yes. Salvation is at stake from the forgiveness of sin to the continued forgiveness of sin. The integrity of the biblical text is at stake. Understanding and belief in the supernatural is at stake.
What has influenced the questioning of the virgin birth in our time?
Worthy reading:
Donald Macleod, The Person of Christ
John Piper, Justin Taylor, Voddie Baucham, Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, The Supremacy of Christ in a Post-Modern World
1. Philosophical world view of modernity
- No super-natural
- Only history
- Jesus Seminar set the standard for mainline Christianity’s take on Jesus
2. The integrity of the text and belief
Matthew 1:23 from Isaiah 7:14
Mark Driscoll:
“If the virgin birth of Jesus is untrue, then the story of Jesus changes greatly; we would have a sexually promiscuous young woman lying about God’s miraculous hand in the birth of her son, raising that son to declare he was God, and then joining his religion. But if Mary is nothing more than a sinful con artist then neither she nor her son Jesus should be trusted. Because both the clear teachings of Scripture about the beginning of Jesus’ earthly life and the character of his mother are at stake, we must contend for the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.” (The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World, 136)
The text means what Matthew meant for it to mean: Jesus was born of a virgin.
“First-century folk knew every bit as well as we do that babies are produced by sexual intercourse. When, in Matthew’s version of the story, Joseph heard about Mary’s pregnancy, his problem arose not because he didn’t know the facts of life, but because he did.” (Who Was Jesus? 78)
3. What is at stake?
1. The virgin birth affirms the supernatural
Since when did we have to prove the faith as part of the Great Commission?
2. The virgin birth shows that salvation must ultimately come from the Lord
Galatians 4:4-5
Man can not save himself.
God had promised that the “seed” of a woman (Genesis 3:15) would ultimately destroy the serpent, so God brought it about by his own power, not through mere human effort.
“The virgin birth of Christ is an unmistakable reminder that salvation can never come through human effort, but must be the work of God himself.”
- Man cannot do enough to save himself
- Man must not try to save himself with mere effort at holiness, but lean on Christ’s
sufficiency and trust in him for salvation
- Man must not try to keep his salvation with mere human effort at holiness, but as
we received Christ Jesus as Lord we continue to live in him by that same faith.
3. The virgin birth made possible the uniting of full deity and full humanity in one person
“Jesus is fully human and fully God and will be so forever”
4. The virgin birth makes possible Jesus’ true humanity without inherited sin
Luke 1:35
- Jesus is called holy because of being conceived of the Holy Spirit
“All humans have inherited and legal guilt and a corrupt moral nature from their first father, Adam (inherited or original sin). But the fact that Jesus did not have a human father means that the line of decent from Adam is partially interrupted. Jesus did not descend from Adam in exactly the same way in which every other human being has descended from Adam. And this helps us to understand why the legal guilt and moral corruption that belongs to all other human beings did not belong to Christ.” – Wayne Grudem
Why did Jesus not inherit a sinful nature from Mary?
- The Roman Catholic Church answers this question by saying that Mary was free from
sin.
- The Scriptures do not teach this anywhere.
- The best solution is to say that the work of the Holy Spirit in Mary must have
prevented not only the transmission of sin from Joseph (because Jesus had no
human father) but also, in a miraculous way, the transmission of sin from Mary:
Luke 1:35 “…therefore the child to be born will be called holy.”
5. The virgin birth makes us rely on the text to determine truth and not science, logic or reason
The best reason for believing this doctrine is simply because the Scriptures teach it.
To believe it impossible for Jesus to be conceived and born of a virgin is to confess one’s own unbelief in the God of the bible.
“Is the virgin birth necessary? What is at stake in affirming or denying it beyond the method God chose to bring Christ into the world?”
Yes. Salvation is at stake from the forgiveness of sin to the continued forgiveness of sin. The integrity of the biblical text is at stake. Understanding and belief in the supernatural is at stake.
What has influenced the questioning of the virgin birth in our time?
Worthy reading:
Donald Macleod, The Person of Christ
John Piper, Justin Taylor, Voddie Baucham, Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, The Supremacy of Christ in a Post-Modern World
1. Philosophical world view of modernity
- No super-natural
- Only history
- Jesus Seminar set the standard for mainline Christianity’s take on Jesus
2. The integrity of the text and belief
Matthew 1:23 from Isaiah 7:14
Mark Driscoll:
“If the virgin birth of Jesus is untrue, then the story of Jesus changes greatly; we would have a sexually promiscuous young woman lying about God’s miraculous hand in the birth of her son, raising that son to declare he was God, and then joining his religion. But if Mary is nothing more than a sinful con artist then neither she nor her son Jesus should be trusted. Because both the clear teachings of Scripture about the beginning of Jesus’ earthly life and the character of his mother are at stake, we must contend for the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.” (The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World, 136)
The text means what Matthew meant for it to mean: Jesus was born of a virgin.
“First-century folk knew every bit as well as we do that babies are produced by sexual intercourse. When, in Matthew’s version of the story, Joseph heard about Mary’s pregnancy, his problem arose not because he didn’t know the facts of life, but because he did.” (Who Was Jesus? 78)
3. What is at stake?
1. The virgin birth affirms the supernatural
Since when did we have to prove the faith as part of the Great Commission?
2. The virgin birth shows that salvation must ultimately come from the Lord
Galatians 4:4-5
Man can not save himself.
God had promised that the “seed” of a woman (Genesis 3:15) would ultimately destroy the serpent, so God brought it about by his own power, not through mere human effort.
“The virgin birth of Christ is an unmistakable reminder that salvation can never come through human effort, but must be the work of God himself.”
- Man cannot do enough to save himself
- Man must not try to save himself with mere effort at holiness, but lean on Christ’s
sufficiency and trust in him for salvation
- Man must not try to keep his salvation with mere human effort at holiness, but as
we received Christ Jesus as Lord we continue to live in him by that same faith.
3. The virgin birth made possible the uniting of full deity and full humanity in one person
“Jesus is fully human and fully God and will be so forever”
4. The virgin birth makes possible Jesus’ true humanity without inherited sin
Luke 1:35
- Jesus is called holy because of being conceived of the Holy Spirit
“All humans have inherited and legal guilt and a corrupt moral nature from their first father, Adam (inherited or original sin). But the fact that Jesus did not have a human father means that the line of decent from Adam is partially interrupted. Jesus did not descend from Adam in exactly the same way in which every other human being has descended from Adam. And this helps us to understand why the legal guilt and moral corruption that belongs to all other human beings did not belong to Christ.” – Wayne Grudem
Why did Jesus not inherit a sinful nature from Mary?
- The Roman Catholic Church answers this question by saying that Mary was free from
sin.
- The Scriptures do not teach this anywhere.
- The best solution is to say that the work of the Holy Spirit in Mary must have
prevented not only the transmission of sin from Joseph (because Jesus had no
human father) but also, in a miraculous way, the transmission of sin from Mary:
Luke 1:35 “…therefore the child to be born will be called holy.”
5. The virgin birth makes us rely on the text to determine truth and not science, logic or reason
The best reason for believing this doctrine is simply because the Scriptures teach it.
To believe it impossible for Jesus to be conceived and born of a virgin is to confess one’s own unbelief in the God of the bible.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The Second Advent of Jesus Christ
The Coming of the Lord
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Background
Paul, Silas and Timothy head out on the second missionary journey. They are prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching in certain regions, so in the night the Lord gives a vision of a man in Macedonia calling out for help. So Paul concludes that they are to preach in Macedonia.
They set out and arrive in Philippi, and Lydia is converted with her whole household.
The crew does some good ministry by relieving a young girl of a demonic power to tell the future, and they are cast in prison as Roman citizens with no trial.
As they are worshipping in prison, the Lord shakes the prison and they are released but they do not leave. The jailer is about to commit suicide when Paul and Silas let the man know that no one has escaped.
The jailer take them out and asks what he needs to do to be saved, they tell him, he believes and his whole house and they are baptized. The next morning the magistrates escort them out of the city. On the way out they visit Lydia and the newly planted church at Philippi, and they are off.
Then they enter Thessalonica. Here Paul preaches for 3 Sabbaths. Some believe, but the Jews are jealous and stir up a riot. The new church planted there rushes Paul and Silas off to Berea.
Paul then goes to Athens, and from there he goes to Corinth from where he pens the letter to the first letter to the Thessalonians.
The Jews there had tried to impugn Paul’s character by trying to pass him off as a charlatan common in the day (wandering preachers of philosophy etc. that seek to make money off of people).
Paul wrote do defend him work among them and to encourage his friends there to stand fast in the face of such persecution.
Some of the people needed instruction on behavior typical for a Hellenized Roman city, but a large chunk is devoted to dealing with the Lord’s Second Advent.
Some were waiting for the Lord by not working and depending on others to take care of them.
Some were trying to figure out exactly when he was coming.
Some were even beginning to hold their leaders in a state of low opinion because of their zeal on the issue, and Paul reminds them to hold their leaders in high regard.
But one issue is dealt with in order to bring encouragement to some.
These precious new believers were expecting the Lord. Jesus would come and take them all to be with himself. But some of them had died, and that raised a problem for the survivors.
Did it mean that deceased would miss their share in the events of that great day?
Did their questions or the deaths of their family and friends discredit the Lord’s coming in any way?
Paul wrote to set their minds at rest and give them some true teaching on the Lord’s Second Advent and to instruct them to encourage each other with this truth.
How does Paul encourage them?
1. Death is not the end, but part of the continuation of eternal life v. 13
“Asleep”
Items worthy of note:
1.1 The word used here is usually used in the perfect tense, but here Paul uses the
the present tense to show their current state, not their permanent state.
- These dear people are not forever departed, but are in the current state of
being with Christ apart from them.
1.2 Our word cemetery is derived from the word that Paul used here.
- This is a place where people are in their temporary state.
1.3 The use of “asleep” rather than death is intentional by Paul to communicate a
beautiful truth:
“For Christians death is no longer the adversary whom no person can resist, that
tyrant who brings all worthwhile existence to a horribly final end. Death has been
overcome by the risen Lord, and that has transformed the whole situation for those
who are in him.” – Leon Morris
1.3.1 Death no longer holds mastery over us
2.3.2 Death is not our end; it is gateway to more Jesus
3.3.3 We do not fear death, but we can risk all for the sake of knowing more of
Jesus
1 Corinthians 15:54b-55 “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
Philippians 1:21-23 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain… I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.”
2. Our hope rests on Christ’s death and resurrection v. 14a
Our hope is not the result of speculation or some philosophical deduction.
Our hope is rooted in the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Two truths to note:
2.1 Jesus died, he did not sleep
“Paul speaks of Christ not as sleeping, but as dying. In the NT there are two distinct strands of teaching about death. On the one hand it is the most natural of all things and is an inevitable part of the conditions of our earthly existence. On the other hand it is completely unnatural, a horror, the result of sin (Wages of Sin by Leon Morris). Christ in his death bore the wages of sin. He endured the worst that death can possible be. Thereby he transformed the whole position of those who are in him. It is because there was not mitigation of the horror of death for him that there is no horror in death for his people. For them it is but sleep.” – Leon Morris
2.2 Jesus rose from the dead
- Jesus resurrection demonstrates that death is conquered
“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost” (1 Corinthians 15:17-18).
- Jesus resurrection is the demonstration of the divine nature of the gospel
- Jesus resurrection is the guarantee of the Christian hope
3. Jesus comes to raise the sleeping saints and take his living saints to be with him forever v. 14b-15, 16, 17
Paul does not mention the resurrection of those in Christ; the assumption is that this is taken for granted because Paul had already given some instruction this point.
What worried the Thessalonians was not whether their friends and family would rise, but if they would get to share in the great events of the great and glorious day.
We all get to participate in that glorious day!
Note:
- This is from the Lord’s direct teaching (John 21:25 tells us that not everything Jesus
said was written by the gospel writers)
- It is a foregone conclusion that those asleep are coming with the Lord when he
comes.
- The dead in Christ are not missed, but they rise first
- Those alive are caught up with Jesus and the coming saints
- We will be reunited with our family and friend
“caught up together”
- We will be united with Christ forever
“So we will always be with the Lord”
- This happens on Satan’s turf displaying Jesus’ dominance and victory
“meet him in the air”
- Satan is called the Prince of the power of the air in Ephesians 2
- This happens with a sudden catching away or “rapture”
- Note the rapture is happing simultaneously with the Second Advent
4. The Lord himself is coming v. 16
- It will be audible and visible
- Cry of command
- Voice of an archangel
- Sound of the trumpet of God
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Background
Paul, Silas and Timothy head out on the second missionary journey. They are prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching in certain regions, so in the night the Lord gives a vision of a man in Macedonia calling out for help. So Paul concludes that they are to preach in Macedonia.
They set out and arrive in Philippi, and Lydia is converted with her whole household.
The crew does some good ministry by relieving a young girl of a demonic power to tell the future, and they are cast in prison as Roman citizens with no trial.
As they are worshipping in prison, the Lord shakes the prison and they are released but they do not leave. The jailer is about to commit suicide when Paul and Silas let the man know that no one has escaped.
The jailer take them out and asks what he needs to do to be saved, they tell him, he believes and his whole house and they are baptized. The next morning the magistrates escort them out of the city. On the way out they visit Lydia and the newly planted church at Philippi, and they are off.
Then they enter Thessalonica. Here Paul preaches for 3 Sabbaths. Some believe, but the Jews are jealous and stir up a riot. The new church planted there rushes Paul and Silas off to Berea.
Paul then goes to Athens, and from there he goes to Corinth from where he pens the letter to the first letter to the Thessalonians.
The Jews there had tried to impugn Paul’s character by trying to pass him off as a charlatan common in the day (wandering preachers of philosophy etc. that seek to make money off of people).
Paul wrote do defend him work among them and to encourage his friends there to stand fast in the face of such persecution.
Some of the people needed instruction on behavior typical for a Hellenized Roman city, but a large chunk is devoted to dealing with the Lord’s Second Advent.
Some were waiting for the Lord by not working and depending on others to take care of them.
Some were trying to figure out exactly when he was coming.
Some were even beginning to hold their leaders in a state of low opinion because of their zeal on the issue, and Paul reminds them to hold their leaders in high regard.
But one issue is dealt with in order to bring encouragement to some.
These precious new believers were expecting the Lord. Jesus would come and take them all to be with himself. But some of them had died, and that raised a problem for the survivors.
Did it mean that deceased would miss their share in the events of that great day?
Did their questions or the deaths of their family and friends discredit the Lord’s coming in any way?
Paul wrote to set their minds at rest and give them some true teaching on the Lord’s Second Advent and to instruct them to encourage each other with this truth.
How does Paul encourage them?
1. Death is not the end, but part of the continuation of eternal life v. 13
“Asleep”
Items worthy of note:
1.1 The word used here is usually used in the perfect tense, but here Paul uses the
the present tense to show their current state, not their permanent state.
- These dear people are not forever departed, but are in the current state of
being with Christ apart from them.
1.2 Our word cemetery is derived from the word that Paul used here.
- This is a place where people are in their temporary state.
1.3 The use of “asleep” rather than death is intentional by Paul to communicate a
beautiful truth:
“For Christians death is no longer the adversary whom no person can resist, that
tyrant who brings all worthwhile existence to a horribly final end. Death has been
overcome by the risen Lord, and that has transformed the whole situation for those
who are in him.” – Leon Morris
1.3.1 Death no longer holds mastery over us
2.3.2 Death is not our end; it is gateway to more Jesus
3.3.3 We do not fear death, but we can risk all for the sake of knowing more of
Jesus
1 Corinthians 15:54b-55 “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
Philippians 1:21-23 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain… I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.”
2. Our hope rests on Christ’s death and resurrection v. 14a
Our hope is not the result of speculation or some philosophical deduction.
Our hope is rooted in the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Two truths to note:
2.1 Jesus died, he did not sleep
“Paul speaks of Christ not as sleeping, but as dying. In the NT there are two distinct strands of teaching about death. On the one hand it is the most natural of all things and is an inevitable part of the conditions of our earthly existence. On the other hand it is completely unnatural, a horror, the result of sin (Wages of Sin by Leon Morris). Christ in his death bore the wages of sin. He endured the worst that death can possible be. Thereby he transformed the whole position of those who are in him. It is because there was not mitigation of the horror of death for him that there is no horror in death for his people. For them it is but sleep.” – Leon Morris
2.2 Jesus rose from the dead
- Jesus resurrection demonstrates that death is conquered
“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost” (1 Corinthians 15:17-18).
- Jesus resurrection is the demonstration of the divine nature of the gospel
- Jesus resurrection is the guarantee of the Christian hope
3. Jesus comes to raise the sleeping saints and take his living saints to be with him forever v. 14b-15, 16, 17
Paul does not mention the resurrection of those in Christ; the assumption is that this is taken for granted because Paul had already given some instruction this point.
What worried the Thessalonians was not whether their friends and family would rise, but if they would get to share in the great events of the great and glorious day.
We all get to participate in that glorious day!
Note:
- This is from the Lord’s direct teaching (John 21:25 tells us that not everything Jesus
said was written by the gospel writers)
- It is a foregone conclusion that those asleep are coming with the Lord when he
comes.
- The dead in Christ are not missed, but they rise first
- Those alive are caught up with Jesus and the coming saints
- We will be reunited with our family and friend
“caught up together”
- We will be united with Christ forever
“So we will always be with the Lord”
- This happens on Satan’s turf displaying Jesus’ dominance and victory
“meet him in the air”
- Satan is called the Prince of the power of the air in Ephesians 2
- This happens with a sudden catching away or “rapture”
- Note the rapture is happing simultaneously with the Second Advent
4. The Lord himself is coming v. 16
- It will be audible and visible
- Cry of command
- Voice of an archangel
- Sound of the trumpet of God
Sunday, November 16, 2008
11/16/2008 - Salvation: the Work of Adoption
Salvation, the work of Adoption
Romans 8:15, 23
Galatians 4:4-7
Romans 9:4
Ephesians 1:5
Definition: Adoption is an act of God whereby he makes us members of his family.
The privileges of adoption are seen first in how we relate to God and second in how we relate to each other.
How do we experience the privileges of relating to God in Adoption?
1. We are led by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:12-16)
- We can overcome sin and don’t have to be enslaved to sin
- Actively engage with spiritual disciplines
- Resist by considering Christ Jesus
- We can have sweet assurance of being God’s child
- Internal peace
- External rest
- We can, being led by the Spirit, walk in God’s mission
- Life ministry (what is your passion?)
- Give
2. We know that God loves and understand us (1 John 3:1-3; Psalm 103:13-14)
- He knows my ability to withstand temptation and will not let me be
tempted beyond what I can escape by his grace 1 Corinthians 10:13
3. We know that God will take care of our needs (Matthew 6:31-33)
- We can relax
- We don’t have to be anxious anymore as a non child would
- We are free from inferior pursuits to pursue God’s Kingdom
- Rid yourself of pursuing material gains for themselves
- Rid yourself of pursuing an education for education’s sake
- Rather, educate for sustaining yourself in God’s mission
4. We know that God gives us good gifts (Matthew 7:11)
- Come and ask Father for good things (good for him and us)
- Live in hope and expectation
5. We can imitate our Father as beloved children (Ephesians 5:1)
- Serve each other in the church
- Love each other
- Preach the gospel of the Kingdom
- Heal the wounds of a fallen culture
How do we experience the privileges of relating to each other in adoption?
1. All Christians are members of God’s family (1 Timothy 5:1-2)
- This destroys competition among churches
- This destroys discrimination among Christians of other races or socio-economic
backgrounds
- This destroys speaking evil against each other because we are family James
4:11
Romans 8:15, 23
Galatians 4:4-7
Romans 9:4
Ephesians 1:5
Definition: Adoption is an act of God whereby he makes us members of his family.
The privileges of adoption are seen first in how we relate to God and second in how we relate to each other.
How do we experience the privileges of relating to God in Adoption?
1. We are led by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:12-16)
- We can overcome sin and don’t have to be enslaved to sin
- Actively engage with spiritual disciplines
- Resist by considering Christ Jesus
- We can have sweet assurance of being God’s child
- Internal peace
- External rest
- We can, being led by the Spirit, walk in God’s mission
- Life ministry (what is your passion?)
- Give
2. We know that God loves and understand us (1 John 3:1-3; Psalm 103:13-14)
- He knows my ability to withstand temptation and will not let me be
tempted beyond what I can escape by his grace 1 Corinthians 10:13
3. We know that God will take care of our needs (Matthew 6:31-33)
- We can relax
- We don’t have to be anxious anymore as a non child would
- We are free from inferior pursuits to pursue God’s Kingdom
- Rid yourself of pursuing material gains for themselves
- Rid yourself of pursuing an education for education’s sake
- Rather, educate for sustaining yourself in God’s mission
4. We know that God gives us good gifts (Matthew 7:11)
- Come and ask Father for good things (good for him and us)
- Live in hope and expectation
5. We can imitate our Father as beloved children (Ephesians 5:1)
- Serve each other in the church
- Love each other
- Preach the gospel of the Kingdom
- Heal the wounds of a fallen culture
How do we experience the privileges of relating to each other in adoption?
1. All Christians are members of God’s family (1 Timothy 5:1-2)
- This destroys competition among churches
- This destroys discrimination among Christians of other races or socio-economic
backgrounds
- This destroys speaking evil against each other because we are family James
4:11
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