Kevin's Blog

Lisa and I watched a sermon by Francis Schaeffer last night given in 1982 warning about the influence of the secular humanist / moral relativist worldview.   It was absolutely amazing how it touched on many of the same issues that are still political hot buttons today – the purpose of the 1st amendment (not freedom from religion, but government protection for the practice of all religions and not establishing one as part of the government), activist judicial system setting laws vs the legislative branch, and the value of human life.  If the secular humanist worldview were correct, and man is the result of random chance and the pinnacle of random mutations, it inevitably leads to two very hopeless conclusions.

First, that those with the greatest power establish what they think is best, leading to all kinds of potentially detestable consequences such as genocides and other forms of tyranny, at the whim of those in power to do what they believe is in their (and presumably humankind’s) best interest.

Second, human life is devalued.   This happens in many ways.   First, eventually the sun is going to burn out and the earth will cease to be fit for life, so everything is going to die anyways.   It is just a matter of timing.  Second, those that don’t have the fittest genes to pass on to the next generation can be looked at as adding less value to the species, and either deemed not as valuable or at least seen as having some fixed value where resources could be withheld if the resources value is deemed higher than somehow their worth is calculated at.    This is happening now, and this really hits home personally for me with some articles such as this older one where the government either tries to determine how much medical treatment one’s life is worth or organ transplant allocation policies based on some value of the person formula that are tracked really well on Dialysis from the Sharp End of the Needle. It is a very slippery slope when someone else tries to determine how much your life is worth and you may not like their answer, and without a fixed value system, the answer may change based on the person making the decision.

There is a solution.   It is the only worldview I have seen that fits reality and can prevent these types of problems.   In the Christian worldview (I think the definition from “UnChristian” in my previous post is still good for what beliefs make up the Christian worldview), God is the absolute source of truth and moral law.   This doesn’t leave the most powerful person to impose what they think is best for us based on their relative morals.   If we are obedient and look to God, true freedom can be found and life is valued.   Humans are created in God’s image, giving all humans equal value.   Arbitrary and relative decisions about the value of one person vs the other are avoided, and we are taught that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, body, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself.   By looking out for your neighbor as yourself,  you are treating them with equal value as yourself.   Granted we are all fallen, and no one is able to do this type of love perfectly, but if we strive for this ideal everyone is treated with value and life respected.   I know there have been historical abuses of power in the name of Christianity, but they obviously haven’t been done in obedience to the command to love one another.   The story also isn’t complete yet.  Until Jesus comes back, it does leave room for man’s disobedience (sin), but, this still doesn’t negate the validity of the worldview.  The Christian worldview is the only one that solves this problem of sin.   Jesus came and paid the penalty for our sin on the cross, redeeming us and creation.   I submit that Christianity is the only way to explain creation (God is creator of all), the presence of evil in the world (the fall), and the solution / redemption from evil (the cross) that fits with reality.   Secular humanism cannot explain creation (all scientific evidence points to a creation event – the big bang, and thus a first cause.  Secular humanism has no credible explanation for creation), cannot explain the presence of evil, and has no solution to / redemption from the presence of evil.

Anyway, this is a very brief summation.   I’ll probably try to work on this more and add more detail / expound more on my thoughts as I have time.   But, if my brief writing has piqued any curiosity, I’d highly suggest reading Francis Schaeffer, or Nancy Pearcey’s “Total Truth” for a more complete discussion on worldviews, and more specifically, the Christian worldview.

Kevin

Everything continues to go well after the transplant.   I’m feeling great, the new kidney is working well, and I am just chomping at the bit for more activity.   I’ve taken a few short hikes, and a very easy flat bike ride.   I am still restricted to not do anything to strenuous for fear of a hernia in the surgery area, and I have a stent in my bladder that rubs and causes a little bleeding if I overdo it as well.    I’ll get that out soon.   I just praise God for the peace, and making this path so straight.    It has really been a miracle how I have healed.

Lisa and I have been working on Faith’s room and other general preparations for Faith’s birth.   We took a childbirth class Sunday afternoon, got rid of an old couch to make room for a hide-a-bed that will now be our guest bed, as the guest room is becoming the nursery.   The childbirth class was good and I learned a lot.   I really just pray that everything will go well and we’ll be able to naturally manage the pain and have this child.   It is a little overwhelming to me right now, but Lisa and I both know that we have God to trust in and that we won’t be alone when Faith is born.   Many of the complications were pretty ugly and not fun to think about.

I’m reading a book right now titled “UnChristian”.   It is written by a researcher at the Barna Group summarizing a ton of research they have done on basically my generation and a little bit younger and their views on Christianity and the church.   “UnChristian” refers to the picture that many people outside of the church get when the perception of Christians is seen as hypocritical, uncaring, and judgemental.   It goes into a lot of detail and research as to why a lot of those attitudes exist.   There are a few areas that really hit home with me and I had thought about before, but not in as much depth as this research.   I had always thought the hypocritical label was more of a misunderstanding.   Every Christian is a sinner – a sinner that has realized they have a problem in that their sin seperates them from God, but Jesus in His mercy and grace died on the cross to remove if we believe in Him.   Jesus has paid the penalty for our sin.   Out of this faith, only through the gift of the Holy Spirit, there should be some transformation and fruit.   This transformation should be visible.   But, the believer won’t be perfect.   This is a process we know won’t be complete this side of heaven, but hopefully as we mature we’ll grow and continue to bear more and more fruit, with of course God as the source.   So, I believed the main source of the hypocrite label was a misunderstanding and the expectation of a Christian to be perfect, which of course is an impossible expectation and the transformation and growth was just not seen.   The research shows that on the average, people who proclaim to be born again and non-believers have statistically identical behavior in most areas such as gambling, viewing pornography in the past 30 days, etc that they were surveyed on.   So, that is very interesting.   I really hope and pray that people can see transformation and fruit in my life.   I know that I am far from perfect still, but I hope God’s effect on my life is visible to those whom I come in contact with.   I feel like I have grown a ton and know God has done amazing things in my life.   This line of reasoning also led into discussions on politics and emphasis on moral behavior vs showing love and grace.   This is a really tough subject.   We know that we are all sinners, and cannot live up to the law perfectly.   But, when asked about expectations of Christians from both believers and non-believers, the number one expectation of a Christian was someone who follows the rules – follows the law exactly.   So, essentially, our expectations are that everyone behave perfectly, especially Christians.   But, since we know this is impossible, we are setting ourselves up to a standard we know we can’t live up to where the hypocrite label looks right.   I don’t believe this minimizes what God defines as right and wrong, and that we do need to look to and be obedient to the law and morals as defined by God in the Bible.    But, we need to remember the grace God has shown us, and try to show forgiveness and grace and lovingly correct the people we have relationships with when they do go astray.   Outsiders need to see that grace being practiced.   Of course, sinful behavior cannot be encouraged and does need lovingly corrected, but we need to remember the source of our forgiveness and make it known that forgiveness is available to all.   It is a really tough area, as a lot of people will be in denial and not want to admit something they are doing is sin even if they know better – which kind of leads to a vicious circle of probably accusations of hypocriticality and judgementalism (i.e. – what gives you the right to define morals for me – moral relativism is an ugly thing) and we really haven’t gotten anywhere.   It is tough especially when worldviews clash.  This is just an area where I know I need to rely on and trust God, and if I am bearing the fruit of love and patience hopefully at least my personal interaction will be seen as loving, even if it is any area of worldview clash and we just have to agree to respectfully disagree.   Anyway, it is obviously a subject that stimulated a lot of thought.   I do agree with the author’s assertion of the need to be transparent and admit that I don’t have it all figured out and that I can’t follow the law perfectly and am in need of God’s grace on a daily basis this side of heaven.   I am utterly dependent upon Jesus – and He is my Lord and carries me.

Second had to do with the emphasis on conversion, and the lack of emphasis on discipleship within the church.   This one really strikes home with me.   The author has come up with 8 items used to identify someone with a Christian worldview from the polling, that I tend to agree do an excellent job.   They are:  “Jesus Christ lived a sinless life, God is the all-knowing and all-powerful Creator of the universe and He still rules it today, salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned, Satan is real, a Christian has a responsibility to share his/her faith in Christ with other people, the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches, unchanging moral truth exists, and such moral truth is defined by the Bible (“UnChristian, Kinnaman and Lyons, p75)”   A very small percentage of people who profess to have made a personal, meaningful committment to Jesus Christ actually have a Christian worldview as defined by the 8 categories above.   I believe this shows the emphasis on conversion, but the lack of emphasis on discipleship afterwards.   I believe all 8 of the principles are very clearly defined and supported in scripture and the percentage of people who have professed a personal relationship with Jesus as Lord and Savior and the percentage of those with a Christian worldview as defined by those 8 criteria should be nearly equal.   I think the numbers being wide apart shows the emphasis on conversion, but not on following up with discipleship and helping those people learn and grow in their faith, and grow in their knowledge of the Bible.   This really strikes home at my home church and I hope to figure out a way to do something about it.   We are taught every week in a sermon, and we do have a small Sunday school Bible study program.   But, we don’t have a discipleship emphasis or committee.   Although discipleship is recognized as a need, it never seems to get any type of priority especially compared to other better established ministries.   It is an area where I think we are out of balance and I hope to be able to help facilitate a solution more than I contribute now.   I am probably really biased in that I live for discipleship – but this book really helped reinforce that there probably is this problem out there in general too.   Obviously another area that has stimulated a lot of thought.

So, with all of the thinking and hopefully some action stimulated by the book so far, I would really recommend “UnChristian” to anyone willing to read it and interested in these type of areas.

Kevin