I Beg

This is another of the great songs on Shane & Shane's new cd "Pages." (You're probably going to be hearing a lot about this cd over the next few posts.) I just want to talk about the chorus of this song. It starts with a pre-chorus that says "I'm haunted by a God that has the right to ask what by the very nature of my rebellion I cannot give" I love this line. It is so Augustinian: "Command what you will, but give what you command." This has been my prayer over the last couple weeks. Probably in large part to reading Piper's short commentary on Augustine in "The Legacy of Sovereign Joy." I too am haunted by the fact that God commands me to do things that I am completely unable to do them. One of the major sins I struggle with in my life is that of trying to rely on my own strength to do things. I acknowledge that God is sovereign, and I frequently ask God to reveal His will to me and then I respond "Thanks God. You can step aside now. I got this." I think I can figure it out, perform the work, say the words. I am completely incapable and I've been wrestling a lot with my pride over this issue. So my prayer is the same as the chorus of this song: "I beg for you to move, I beg for you to move, I beg for you to break through." O God, break through my pride and the heart that I keep trying to turn back into stone. Make me humble. I long for brokenness, and the desire to say "Not by my will, but the Lord's. Not by my strength, but Yours." Have Your way with me.

Doxology

I couldn't think of a title for this post, until I got to the end. I'm currently listening to the new Shane and Shane cd. It's incredible. It's definitely different from their past cds. I know it will take some time to get used to it, but its a great cd. It leads into worship so well. I can't help but worship my Redeemer when listening to these songs. So far my favorite song on the cd, and perhaps of all S&S songs, is "Embracing Accusation." When I heard it I burst into tears and wept with joy and grief. The truth of the song is so amazing and it coincided with some of the things that God has been showing me in His word. What an amazing Gospel song. Even if you don't buy the cd, listen to that song. It may not impact you as dramatically as it did me, but the truth of it cannot be denied. Praise the Lord! My Redeemer lives! My Advocate, Intercessor, Savior, and my Righteousness! To You alone be all glory forevermore!

And there was great rejoicing

Shane & Shane's new cd comes out tomorrow! I pre-ordered mine in order to get the behind the scenes extra stuff, so I don't know when exactly I'll be getting my copy, but when it does come, expect a review. Until then, go now and buy it as soon as possible. It's bound to be good.

I smell like smoke

After five years of having a job, I finally took a vacation. I've had some long weekends before, but this summer I took some serious time off. I just spent the last five days at Grand Teton National Park (which is right next to Jackson, Wy) with my parents, and my sisters and their husbands. It was great. I had forgotton how much I missed camping. Being outside, sitting by the campfire, watching black bears roam through the campsite looking for food (picture forthcoming), I love it. It was a really good week. We did a lot of stuff. Monday we had dinner at the Bar J Ranch. If you are ever in Jackson, you have to visit the Bar J Ranch. This was my third time. Basically, it's a real cattle ranch and you show up (hopefully with a reservation, you'll need it) and pay for your meal. There are about five choices. I had the chicken and bbq beef combo. Then you find your table in this big barn-looking auditorium. There are about 700 people seated in the building. They are able to serve all 700 people within 20 minutes. It's pretty cool. After you finish eating, you get some dinner entertainment with the Bar J Wranglers. They sing a bunch of songs, do some comedy stuff, it's a blast. I highly recommend it. Tuesday we visited yellowstone and saw Old Faithful and walked around the geysers and the hot pools. Wednesday, we went whitewater rafting down the Snake river. This was also my third time doing that. The rapids weren't as big this time as they have been in the past due to a lot of rain that they have had lately. But it was still a ton of fun. If you've never been, basically you sit on the side of a small 8-man raft and you have to paddle through all of the rapids. If you don't paddle, then there's a good chance that you won't make it through, so there is pretty good incentive to paddle through them. It's always a little scary at first, but it's a ton of fun. On one of the bigger rapids with six foot waves, my brother-in-law, Eric, was sitting in front of me and got knocked back into me. It's pretty intense. I love it. Thursday we took a day and just chilled out. We didn't do anything planned, we just sat around the campfire and read, or played Scrabble or cards, some of us took a walk, just a good relaxing day. I got a fair amount of reading done. Spent a lot of time reading the Word and I got half-way through both Preaching the Cross and The Legacy of Sovereign Joy. Both really good books. I look forward to finishing them. And finally, I drove home yesterday. As much as I love camping, I really loved sleeping in my own bed last night. If only I could get the campfire back home, then everything would be perfect. Anyway, that's where I've been the last week. Hope your weeks have been good. God Bless.

The long awaited return

Sorry I've been away for so long. Some of that has been because my computer had a nervous breakdown and gave me the blue screen of death. It took a while but it's finally back on its feet. I feel as though a lot has happened to me lately, but ironically I don't know what to talk about. Let's start with a cd review.

I recently bought Matt Redman's new cd, Beautiful News. I must say it is excellent. It's one of the best cds I've ever listened to. It is incredible musically (especially considering the worship music genre), but the best part of the cd is the lyrics. They are so God-centered and Bible-saturated that they can't help but convict and encourage and uplift. They constantly point me to God time and time again. My favorite song on the cd is "Yes and Amen." It has been a particularly convicting song to me lately. We need to declare Yes and Amen to everything that God does and asks us to do. So often my mind is on my own agenda and my own ideas and I need to remember that God is the sovereign ruler over my life and He is also a good and loving Father and everything He asks of me and everything He does is good and perfect and is the best thing for me and I need to obey in faith (Rom. 1:5). That concept of the obedience that comes from faith has also really been on my mind lately. Maybe I'll devote a future post to that sometime.

I've also been recording some guitar parts (and the occasional vocal part) for a friend of mine. He's written a bunch of songs based on the Song of Solomon and we're recording them at a studio. Hopefully we'll have a cd all together sometime soon. He's also doing me the honor of recording a song that I wrote and putting that on the cd as well. I've had a lot of fun doing it. I'm looking forward to recording the rest of the songs. The songs also have really good lyrics and it's been a joy to hear scripture sung.

And finally, I just got back from spending a week with Jen and Kellen up in Salmon, Idaho. Kellen just became the pastor of the Calvary Chapel up there. It's been very encouraging to see what God is doing in him and in the people of the church up there. We had a lot of good discussions and it was a great time of rest and relaxation. I think that was the longest amount of time I have had off since I started working when I was 18. Up until then I hadn't had anything longer than a five-day weekend, so it was a good vacation. I was able to do a lot of praying and reading during that time also. I read Mark Driscoll's "Confessions of a Reformission Reverend," which just proved to me that I am not Mark Driscoll. It was a good autobiography of sorts and gave an inside look as to how Mars Hill started and what it's goals were and are and how they hope to acheive them through the grace of God. I also read most of "The Supremacy of God in Preaching" by Piper and "How Readest Thou" by Ryle. Both are really short and really good. I recommend them both.

Anyway, that ought to be enough for now. I know I've promised it before, but this time I really will try and post a bit more frequently. Be praying for me. I have some pretty big decisions to make and I need a humble heart before God. And thanks to my two readers for checking in on me :) God bless.

Quote of the Day

Charles Spurgeon on Calvinism and the Gospel, as quoted by Mark Dever at blog.9marks.org:

"I have my own private opinion, that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and him crucified, unless you preach what now-a-days is called Calvinism. I have my own ideas, and those I always state boldly. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism. Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith without works; not unless we preach the sovereignty of God in his dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor, I think, can we preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the peculiar redemption which Christ made for his elect and chosen people; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation, after having believed. Such a gospel I abhor. The gospel of the Bible is not such a gospel as that. We preach Christ and him crucified in a different fashion, and to all gainsayers we reply, "We have not so learned Christ."

Postmodernism's Delimma: Part 1

I was going to write this paper back in September. I started on it and worked on it for about a week and then I kind of hit a roadblock and totally stopped. Well, I have started to work on it again and I'm going to start posting parts of it. Hopefully this will inspire me to complete the work as best as I possibly can as soon as I possibly can. This first installment deals only with the philosophical propositions that hold postmodernism up, namely that of relativism. Also, I should note that, although the thoughts are my own, I am a philosophical second-hander and am basing most of my assumptions in this paper on the work of David Wells and his book "Above All Earthly Pow'rs" and my experience in college as a philosophy minor and hearing my professor describe his own relativism. I also realize that this is only a brief handling of the subject and could us a great deal more depth, so I would appreciate any comments anybody has on the subject. Anyway, without further ado, here is part one:

The Definitional Impossibility of Relativity

As our world moves farther along the road of post-modernism, we must consider whether or not its guiding principles are valid or not. Post-modernism relies very heavily on relativity. Postmodernism is a move away from modernism and the enlightenment and the belief that there is absolute truth. Truth is relative and is defined by the self, now. Whatever is true for you is what truth is. We must be tolerant of everyone else’s beliefs and “truths” because there is no set truth that we must believe in. The only thing that we can be intolerant of is the forcing of our own “truths” onto someone who does not accept those truths, and therefore, is not held to them. That person is only held to the truths that he or she accepts. Therefore, postmodernism can be defined as the rejection of absolute truths (hence the "post" modern) and the belief that truth is now relegated to the individual and cannot be universally applied.

This belief is founded upon the fact that many people have very differing views of what truth is. I believe that such and such is truth, but someone else believes that the opposite is true. How can we determine who is right? What determines absolutes? Instead of wrestling with these questions, the postmodern turns to the answer that there must not be any absolutes because we can’t seem to agree on what truth is and who determines it. Truth is relative. But can this be possible?

In a word, no. Relativity is definitionally impossible. Relativity is founded upon the principle that there are no absolute truths. This is an absolute statement. But we’ve all heard this objection before. It usually goes something like this:
Professor: There is no such thing as absolutes!
Smarty-pants Student: But isn't that an absolute statement?

Why hasn’t this derailed post-modernism? Is this objection a correct one? I believe that it is a correct objection. We’ll deal with why it hasn’t derailed this dominant belief system later. For now, I will deal with the philosophical problems that relativism must face. I believe it is a correct objection because for postmodernism to be true it must be the case that there are no truths that are absolute, otherwise, we could hold all people to the same absolute truths. If there are absolutes, then postmodernism fails because its guiding principle, relativity, crumbles. To put it in a classical argument it would go as follows:
1. If relativism is true, then there must be no absolutes.
2. There are absolutes (as demonstrated by the above statement)
3. Therefore, relativism isn’t true
Relativism is, therefore, definitionally impossible.

But are there ways around this? Postmoderns can’t say that there are no absolutes because that would be an absolute statement. They can’t say that there are absolutes because that denies relativity and is an absolute statement. But can we say that there might be absolutes? This is not an absolute statement, because it doesn’t say that absolutes exist or not, it only allows for the possibility. But it is this very possibility that denies relativity. Relativists cannot allow for the possibility of absolutes because that would mean that truth is not always defined by ourselves, but that there can be (or at least might be) objective truths for all people. So relativity in general is impossible. But can we allow for ethical relativity? This is where postmodernism hangs. After all, a postmodern relativist would still claim that 2 + 2 = 4 in all cases, but they would deny that what is ethically true for me must be ethically true for others. So postmoderns wouldn’t deny absolutes absolutely, but they would deny them in ethical matters and matters of religion.

However, the same problem crops up in this area as well. Definitionally, a relativist cannot claim that there are no ethical absolutes because that is an absolute statement. However, it could be objected that the above absolute statement isn’t an ethical statement and therefore does not fall into the same trap as before. That is to say, you can make absolute statements about ethics because those absolute statements only negate general relativity, not ethical relativity. Therefore, I can say there are no ethical absolutes without denying my original premise. This is an untenable position. In this scenario absolutes are allowed but only in regard to general matters, not in regard to ethical maters and then trying to differentiate between ethical relativity and general relativity. If general relativity doesn’t exist, then how can ethical relativity? We cannot make absolute statements about ethics and still hold on to ethical relativity. I cannot think of any argumentation that would support this without becoming absurd.

There is another problem with ethical relativity. Relativity itself isn’t the only force behind postmodernism. Moral elitism, or rather, the repugnance of it is also a driving force behind postmodernism and the relativity that is its bedrock and cornerstone. Postmodernism rejects the idea that we can impose our ethics and morals on another culture. How dare we claim that we know the only right way to live and act and then expect all other cultures and persons to ascribe to it. This is one of the main criticisms of religion in general and Christianity in particular. It is okay (indeed, even encouraged) to have and hold certain religious beliefs. The problem comes when we attempt to change the worldview and ethics of those who don’t believe the way we do. How can we possibly say that we have the right to try and convert other religions and peoples to our way of thinking. There are so many different religions and faiths, how can we claim to have the best one? Therefore, ethics (and religion, morals, etc.) must be relative. How can we impose our ethics on one another?

But in saying this, they deny their own ethical relativism. They have made supposed moral humility an absolute moral good (not to mention that their moral humility turns into pride when confronting those seeking to impose ethical absolutes). They also commit the same error as general relativity because it declares there can be no moral absolutes. This, obviously, is an absolute statement. Postmoderns cannot cling to moral relativity and then declare tolerance of other religious views an absolute moral good. You cannot attack those who are intolerant of other religions and then say that morals and ethics are relevant. Ethical relativity in the postmodern worldview is impossible.

Really quick

If you haven't visited desiringGod.org recently then you need to know that this coming Wednesday and Thursday all books in their store are only $5, no exceptions. I know I'm going to be getting a whole bunch of them :)

A much needed update

I just became a man today! I shot a bunch of guns :) I went with my pastor and some friends and we shot a couple of shotguns, a pistol, and a couple muzzle-loader rifles in a ravine near the Salt Lake. It was a lot of fun. We were throwing skeet and trying to shoot them. I was by far the worst, but, in my defense, all the other guys had a lot more experience shoot various things than I did. They all know what they're doing. I'm pretty good at shoot a pistol or rifle at a stationary target, but trying to blow something moving out of the sky is a bit more tricky. It was a lot of fun though. My shoulder will probably hurt for a week now.

Anyway, a lot has happened over the last month or so. A few weeks ago I road-tripped to Las Vegas with a friend of mine in order to visit some friends, Andy and Annie, that were there for a few weeks training at the Air Force base near the city. We had a really good time. The trip was really good and we listened to some good sermons. The first night we were there we ate dinner at In 'n out, which is the best fast food place of all time and I haven't had it for about three or four years or so (we don't have one in northern Utah). We then went to a massive Pro Bass Shop in one of the casinos (my friends are big into hunting and fishing). They had a pretty big aquarium in there with some various rays and some small sharks along with a bunch of cool fish. After we had seen our share of outdoors stuff we went to the Belagio and walked around inside a little bit (very fancy and upscale) and then we watched the fountain show. If you've seen Ocean's Eleven, at the very end of the movie all the characters stand around the fountain and watch the show. That's kind of like what we did, only with a lot more people around us. We watched two shows and my friends' baby, Henry, demanded that we go back to their room. It was a really fun night. The next day we went to Hoover Dam and took the tour. It was amazing. The dam is massive. I'd post some pictures, but I'm too lazy to upload them to my computer. That night we went to the Stratosphere, which is the Space Needle looking thing, and went to the top and checked out the strip at night. We got some really good views, the night was clear, and everything was brilliantly lit up. Before we did that, though, we went to the Saturday night service at the local mega church, Central Christian Church. Surprisingly, it wasn't half bad. They only did three songs (instead of spending all their time on songs) and the sermon attempted to exposit scripture and actually lasted longer than 30 minutes. The sermon could have been better, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. All-in-all, a good night and a really good trip. And much to the chagrin of Vegas (and its nickname) we did it all without partaking of the vast amounts of sin available. That was the beginning of my summer. More to follow...

Interview

I have had a great couple of days. I think I may just have to post about them. Which I guess would be the exception given my current lack of posting. But for now, I will post an interview courtesy of Laur.

1) Have you ever gotten a ticket? Tell us about it.
Twice. The first time I was driving to work and I was going 47 in a 35. However, the other side of the road had a 50 mph speed limit so I thought it was crazy that I got a ticket (but I didn't say that to the cop. It kind of came to me sometime after). To make matters worse, they changed the limit about two weeks later. But I didn't fight it because I had been speeding in the previous section and figured it was my just deserts. I ended up going to traffic school though and the ticket is still not on my record :) The second time I was trying to stay behind my brother-in-law and rolled a stop sign pretty badly even though I knew that there was a cop on that road. That was a pretty stupid ticket :) I think that was about 3 or 4 years ago. Since then - ticket free!

2) When you were small, say 7 years old, what one food would you have wanted to have if you had to pick just one to eat for the rest of your life?
Hands down, pizza - pepperoni only. I thought that was God's gift to mankind. I could eat pizza all the time.

3) Pets as a child? (Not a yes or no question.)
Yes :) ...But seriously, my family had a dog and a cat when I was a kid. Our dog was named Uriah and was about the ugliest mutt you have ever seen, which actually made him rather adorable. He was a great dog. Very devoted and very protective, which was his unfortunate downfall. Because he was so protective he ended up biting a few people that he thought were threats to us kids. So my parents ended up taking him to the pound. As a family we never had a dog after that, although my younger sister now has a basset hound named Phebe. My cat was named Emily (although the name Bathsheba was jokingly kicked around) and we got her when I was 3 or 4. She was a great cat. Very personable and enjoyed being around you, but wasn't too needy. She lived for about 14 years and died of natural causes. Since then my family has gotten two more cats named Shylock and Othello.

4) If you could own a plane or a boat (for personal operation, not just to have a lear jet and a pilot to fly you around), which would you pick? What would you christen it?
Interesting... That's a tough one. I would probably go with a plane. That way I could use it to visit my friends and family, whereas a boat would probably end up being more recreational only. Plus with a boat you then have to get a trailor and a new truck. And although the new truck sounds tempting, I'll have to go with the plane. You could also use the plane for mission trips and, if big enough, perhaps I could even get to Europe with it. As for the name, I only have two options. One is Sola Deo Gloria for obvious reasons. The other would be Diana. The reason for this is that after I read Jane Eyre I really liked the name Diana and for a long time wanted to name my first daughter that. So I think those would be my two options.

5) When were you baptized and why then?
I was baptized when I was about seven. I can still remember sitting in my pastor's office with my dad while he explained what baptism was. He said something like "baptism is a little like taking a bath. When you take a bath you wash all the dirt off of you. Baptism is an outward demonstration of when our sins were washed off of us." Or something like that. I knew that when we are baptized we are proclaiming that we are Christians and I wanted to do that. My dad ended up baptizing me and I remember giving an account of my salvation and who I believed Jesus was and my dad asked me what my favorite Bible verse was. It was Phil. 4:13. I thought that was about the coolest verse in the Bible. Back then I thought that meant that if God wanted me to, I could outrun my dad's truck. My dad tried to dispell that notion and give me a more biblical view, but I still believed that if God really wanted me to, I could :)

If you would like to be interviewed and join in the fun than just follow these directions:
1. Leave me a comment that says "Interview me."
2. I respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you ask them five questions.

Prayer Request

Wow! It's been over a month since I last posted anything. A lot has gone on since then. I've still been working about 50 hours per week. God's teaching me a lot about endurance and work ethic through that. But what I really need prayer for is this Sunday. We are having a missions Sunday and I'm giving one of the messages. The Lord has really been teaching me a lot through the whole process. I'm having to learn all over again how dependent I am on Him and how to stop doing things in my own power. It has been a really humbling experience. And on top of that, it just so happened that our worship leader is going on a camping trip that Sunday and needed me to cover for him, so I'm leading worship this Sunday as well. Pray that God would give me the physical energy and vocal cords to do everything and more importantly pray that God would speak through me and impact the hearts of the hearers and that I would be humble and give the glory to God. I'm looking forward to what God will do through all of this. What a great and glorious God we serve! Grace and peace to you all.

I'm back again

So I know I haven't posted in a long time, but I have a good excuse. I ended up moving into a room in a friend's house a couple of weeks ago and I didn't get internet access until just now. Plus, I don't know if I would have posted anyway during that time, because I've been working like a mad man. I think I've worked an average of about 55 hours per week over the last three or four weeks. I've had one Saturday off in the last month. The only reason I'm up right now is because I'm waiting for some laundry to get done. And the only reason that can't wait until tomorrow is because I have some dress shirts in the dryer and I have to take them out immediately so I don't have to do any ironing :) I dislike ironing. I think I've only done it once. Perhaps I would enjoy it if I knew how to do it. My work schedule hasn't been all bad though. I'm beginning to learn how you can waste your life working. I used to think of wasting your life only in terms of doing nothing, watching a lot of tv, etc. Now I know you can totally waste your life by working too much. I tell ya, at the end of a hard day I feel emotionally, physically, and spiritually dry. It can get really hard to focus on Christ after days like that. But I'm slowly learning how and I'm really resting on the phrase in Psalm 23 when it says that He restores my soul. I love that God restores our souls. Just yesterday, I got to experience it up close and personal. I worked from six in the morning until noon and had a fairly bad day. But when I got home I started studying for my Sunday school lesson and just dived into the word and a commentary and I felt totally refreshed afterward. It was like the morning never even happened. What an awesome God we serve who continues to keep His amazing promises. Praise Him!

Today has been a really good day too. After church, I played basketball with some guys from my church and another church and there was a guy there shooting around. He ended up playing a couple games with us and me and my pastor got a chance to share the gospel with him afterward. We talked to him for about 15 minutes before my pastor had to leave, but I ended up talking to him for about 30-45 more minutes, after which he asked God for forgiveness and trusted in Christ alone to save him! It was really cool. I had never been used to lead another person to salvation before. I'm constantly amazed that God would use such a frail vessel as me. I love II Cor. 4:4-7. We are the ministers of such an amazing gospel and we carry it in vessels of clay in order that all might know that it was God and not us that did the work. Anyway, I took him to the college group tonight and gave him a Bible. He seemed to connect with some of the people there and there definitely seems like a change has taken place in his life, but we don't know if this is just seed falling on rocks or if it is a genuine conversion until fruit becomes evident. I'm going to take him to my Bible study tomorrow night. I really hope that he has a true relationship with Christ. How amazing His work is! Well, I think I need to take a shower and get my laundry.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

Hymn rewrite

I was reading about William Cowper on Micah's blog and I really loved the lyrics to "There is a Fountain." I hadn't read them in a long time, and I think I'm finally beginning to understand the beautiful depth of them. However, I'm not a big fan of the tune. It's not a bad tune. It's just not my favorite. So I decided to rewrite it. This is my second tune rewrite. The first was "Be Still My Soul." But I did something different with this one. As I played through my rewrite I decided I needed to add a chorus. Personally, I really like this recent twist on old, awesome hymns. I know, it might be close to blaspheme for some :) but I like it. I think it adds a central thought to fix your attention on and not be lost in the number of deep thoughts that are being sung. Anyway, here is my rewrite:

There Is A Fountain
Verse 1
There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see, That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he, Wash all my sins away. (2x last half)
Chorus
There is a fountain so rich and free,
There grace was bought and applied to me
Glory displayed and peace restored
And but the cross I boast no more
Verse 2
Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood, Shall never lose its power
’Til all the ransomed church of God, Be saved to sin no more.
E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream, Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme, And shall be ’til I die. (2x last half)
(Chorus)
Verse 3
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue, Lies silent in the grave,
Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save. (2x last half)
(Chorus)
(End on last verse)
©Darwin Jordan Music.

You Satisfy

This is a song I started writing a while ago and I finally got around to finish it. I guess I'm still a pretty massive procrastinator :)

You Satisfy
Verse 1
Two sin I commit, they always find me out
I have turned from You, the Living Fount
Then I turn to the broken cup this world sold
And I drink the sand, for no water it holds
Chorus
O Living Water, You satisfy, You satisfy
And pleasure You possess when I behold You on high
You filled my heart with more joy than all other things
To You and You alone will my praise I bring
Verse 2
Now I live for You, my blessed Savior
And I breath You in, for it’s You that I adore
Now I take delight in You, my portion forevermore
Draw near to me, help me love You more
Ending
My Portion, My Savior, You are good, draw near to me
I live You, breathe You, die to me for You
I hunger, I thirst for You, You fill me, I’m satisfied
All others I forsake now, To You alone I turn

Ockham's Razor and the Problem of Evil

Ockham’s Razor and the Problem of Evil

How can a good and omnipotent God allow sin and evil to exist in His creation? This is the basic question the drives the so-called Problem of Evil (PoE). It has been stated in other formats as well. Such as, how can a loving God allow such bad things to happen. In this phrasing it is assumed that God has the attribute of omnipotence (that is, all powerful) and bad things are evil. The obvious reason why the problem of evil exists is that evil does definitely exist and God could have prevented it. We know evil exists because of things and people like Hitler, the Holocaust, murder, theft, lying, serial killers, etc. And if God is who the Bible claims He is, then He is an omnipotent Being that is capable of keeping evil from ever appearing. He is also a good God and would apparently have cause to keep evil from appearing because of His intrinsic and perfect goodness. It is assumed that God’s intrinsic and perfect goodness conflicts with the existence of evil such that God’s omnipotence would be forced to eradicate it. Therefore, if the God of the Bible exists, then the existence of evil is incongruous with His existence. Therefore, it would appear that if we want to solve this problem, then we will have to change one of the three variables in this equation. However, I’m not going to go into the arguments for and against which variables to do away with or lessen (i.e. lessen the extent of God’s omnipotence). I will say, however, that I don’t think we should or need to eradicate or lesson any of God’s attributes or the extent of the existence and depravity of evil. My goal, however, is to respond to a common objection based on this problem. In a past philosophy class, I was asked by a professor, “Wouldn’t it have been easier to create us without the capacity for evil and sin?” My response at the time was that in order for us to see the fullness of the glory of God displayed in His justice as well as His grace, sin had to exist. He then responded by saying, “Couldn’t God just have shown us a Simpsons episode that described what evil was and then we would have been able to see God’s justice?” I responded by saying that we can’t truly know what grace and justice are (as well as a myriad of other attributes of God) if we don’t experience them. I am not completely satisfied with my answers to these questions. In my first response I think I touched on the truth, but I don’t know about my second response. It may very well be true, but it isn’t the most convincing argument and doesn’t exalt God as highly as He could be. Therefore, it is my purpose to examine this issue further and demonstrate how evil is necessary for God’s glory to be displayed in its fullness.

I believe that the PoE exists in human minds because of Ockham’s razor working in the mind of humanity, which is bent on suppressing the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18). Ockham’s razor states that “entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily.'' Basically, this means that given two or more scenarios that have the same or similar result, the simplest is usually the right answer. The simplest answer in the minds of humans regarding the PoE is that God should have made us incapable of evil and then sin wouldn’t exist. We know God is capable of this because of His omnipotence and we know that He created heaven which is a place where we will be incapable of sin and still see the glory of God. Incapablility of sin and ability to see God’s glory are not incongruous. In fact, the Bible tells us that because of our glorification and final sanctification we will actually be able to glorify God perfectly. As is the case in many false teachings, the objection to the existence of evil is based partly on truth. So the root question in the minds of men is why did God create us with the capacity to sin? Wouldn’t it have been simpler to create us without an ability to sin and then we wouldn’t have all the problems that we have now? But I think we need to go back even further to a more basic question. Why did God create the world? Being a perfect God, He didn’t lack something that creation provided. The triune God enjoyed perfect unity, perfect love, perfect enjoyment, and perfect satisfaction in Himself. Why even create the world in the first place? And why create a world that God knows will sin and need saving? Why create a world where one member of the Godhead will have to suffer and die on the cross and bear the sins of many? That doesn’t make sense. To our minds, God would have been better off without this world. God has one purpose and end in all that He does: namely, to glorify Himself. If He failed to have this purpose, then God wouldn’t be God. He would be an idolater. God must glorify Himself in all that He does or He would be worshiping something else and thereby making that object a God and removing His deity from Himself and giving it to another. In Isaiah 48:11 God says, “For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” Therefore, the only conclusion we can come to about the creation and continued existence of the world is that God intends to glorify Himself through it as its ultimate end. Therefore, in light of this truth, sin is necessary in order to display the fullness of His glory as seen in His manifold attributes. God must glorify Himself by displaying both love and justice, mercy and wrath, as well as many other attributes that are only seen with the existence of sin. God would not create a universe that displays His glory, but does not give a full picture of that glory. So God’s simplest answer to the right question – namely, how can God glorify Himself most fully – is to create a world where sin is possible and then allow it to occur. God cannot defeat His own purpose – His glory – by creating a world that fails to display His glory. This means that His purpose is not only to create beings to see and enjoy His glory, but that creation itself is meant to demonstrate the fullness of His glory as well as a finite creation can display infinite glory. Creation wasn’t just meant to see and enjoy; it is meant to demonstrate and show forth. The only way the universe can show forth the fullness of God’s glory is if sin and evil exist and God can conquer them and show forth mercy and justice, grace, love, wrath, etc.

Prayer Request

If you guys would, I could really use some prayer for my living situation. I have about two-and-a-half weeks to either find a roommate or another place to live. I think God is teaching me how to rely on Him through all of this. I tend to not learn this lesson very well. I find it really easy to rely on myself far too often, which is completely insane considering who God is and who I am. Amazing how a pitiful creature like me tries to say to God, "It's okay, I got this one." So if you would, I would appreciate your prayers for me in this situation. The resolution of my living situation doesn't really concern me as much as seeing Christ in all of this and treasuring that. Wherever I end up living, I just want to trust God more. He is a good and sovereign God, and no matter how hard it gets, He always has my good and His glory in mind. Praise the LORD!

"Please Come Home"

Okay. I've listened to the new, aforementioned, Dustin Kensrue called "Please Come Home." It is an excellent cd. The only way I can describe it is as Johnny Cash-blues-folk rock. I absolutely love it. And I wish I could write stuff like that. The cd receives a solid A from me. Great music and really good lyrics too. The title track is based on the prodigal son and focuses on the father's love for his son. It's really good. I highly encourage everyone to check it out. But if you have doubts, you can check out a few of his songs at myspace.com/dustinkensrue. Well, I should be getting to bed soon. Don't know if I will, but I should :) May God give you all a blessed night.

Check out this video

This is a really cool song by Dustin Kensrue. Very good. In fact, I've been waiting for his solo cd to come out for a while and I just found out that it's been available for a month and a half so I'm leaving my house right now to go get it.

The weather recently has been absolutely beautiful. I love this time of year. Enjoy!

And the #1 Single on the Country-Rock-Half Folk-Kinda Bluesy Chart is...

So I'm sitting in my living room, messing around on my guitar and I start playing this really basic chord progression (literally A, D, A, D, etc.). As I'm playing it I feel the need to sing something to it. But not just anything, it has to be about a girl. (They always have to be about a girl, right?) And not just about a girl, but something vaguely sad, yet oddly uplifting. So I start making up some lyrics and I think I might have just written the first half of the next hit single on the aforementioned Country-Rock-Half Folk-Kinda Bluesy Chart (yeah, I don't know what that means either). So here it is:

She's goin' back home to Georgia (she has to be from the south, right?)
She's goin' back home
She don't know what she's goin' to
But she know's what she's been from

She's going' back home (are you catching a theme?)
To those that know her best
She hates where she's been from
She's tired of being out west

Just for the record, there is no inspiration for this song. Just whatever was going through my head in the two minutes it took to compose this. Anyway, that's the long and short of it.

Chapter One

That's the name of one of Shane & Shane's songs. It's based on John 1:18 "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known." I was listening to my ipod at work today on shuffle and this song happened to come on. As I listened to the lyrics and thought about what that verse was talking about I just started crying. I realized that lately I've had somewhat of a hard heart toward God and haven't seen Christ as who he truly is and considered him my only source of joy. He is the image of the invisible God and because of him we get the awesome pleasure of seeing God displayed in Christ's face. This is the joy of the world. We see God through Christ, and it is everything to us. Psalm 16:2 "I say to the Lord, 'You are my Lord;I have no good apart from you.'" God has shone into our hearts and has allowed us to not only know him, but delight in him. Praise God that he caused this song to come on and allowed me to truly hear it. I'll leave you with the lyrics. They make an awesome and humble prayer.

Chapter 1
Stir my affections
Stir my affections
Stir my affection for You
for You're my only hope

You Yeshua
explained the way He moves
as just an ordinary man
then again, You're the first, Jesus
and by Your hand we move
You're the image of the invisible God
You are God, You are God

Bring fascination
Bring fascination
Bring fascination of You
for You're my only hope