How do we know God exists?

Seeking Academic Respectability

From Carl Trueman's latest essay:

I have always been amazed at the infatuation of so many orthodox academics with their reputation in the secular universities and liberal departments. A few years back, I edited a book with Paul Helm on the doctrine of scripture. At the time I was on faculty at the University of Aberdeen. One colleague -- a friend but one of distinctly liberal leanings -- referred matter-of-factly in a public lecture to the upcoming book as representing the tradition of Warfield, of which he himself did not approve; but the comment was not a sneer; rather it was a simple statement of his impression of the book. Within a couple of days I received an email from one of the contributors, asking if this was the case and saying that, if so, he wanted to withdraw from participation. Now, it was not actually the case: the book addressed the issue of scripture from a different direction to the concerns of Warfield; but what puzzled me -- no, what disappointed me, for I understood exactly what was going on -- was that this person was so terrified of being associated with Warfield. I wonder to this day if he would have been so concerned if he had been invited to contribute to a collection of essays that someone said pointed in a Barthian or Bultmannian direction. Probably not -- because those options would not be so embarrassing to mention to friends at cocktail parties in the Senior Common Room or at the next meeting of the Society for Biblical Literature.

Now I worked in secular universities long enough to know that liberal colleagues are bright enough to spot a conservative at five hundred feet. Just because you avoid contributing to certain volumes or using certain words, or because you choose to laugh when certain people to the right of you are mocked, does not win you respect from the secular academy. It is a sad fact but, as far as biblical studies and theology go, only giving up all that is distinctive about the Christian faith will ultimately do that for you. The individual to whom I referred above no doubt liked to think he was taken seriously by mainstream colleagues, but I sat as a junior faculty in enough coffee room discussions to know the real thoughts of liberal colleagues about conservatives who try to fly under the radar. They despise them for their theology; and they despise them for the fact they try to hide or minimize it. A double whammy. Given the choice - and there is always a choice -- I'd rather just be despised for being a brazen conservative with looney theology, than a duplicitous conservative with looney theology. That way one can still be of use to the church and still look in the mirror with some degree of self-respect.
Read the whole thing--which is not actually only about evangelicals and the academy, but centered around a disastrous church service and the implications this has for us all.

HT: Justin Taylor

Daily Dereliction

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
2 Timothy 4:1-2

I still remember sitting with some friends at Bob Brady’s kitchen table and discussing ministry philosophy. Bob is one of those men whom I see as an inspiration and encouragement of what should (and should not) drive the ministry of the church. As we were talking about some of the ministry methodologies that have been used in recent church history, Bob talked about his burden to see churches make proclamation of the Word the center of their ministries (my words, not his). During the conversation, he talked of a time he interviewed Dr. John MacArthur. Bob was part of a group of men who were studying growing churches. They wanted to know what it was the churches were doing that was causing so much growth. After asking what they do in the church, Bob said that Dr. MacArthur emphatically answered, “Preach the Word, preach the Word, preach the Word!”

The conviction that the Word of God is really sufficient for all of life and godliness is not a popular one in the Church today. Many think that those who believe the Word is truly sufficient are short sighted and narrow-minded. They generally continue with the accusation that those who hold to this view of ministry want to exalt the pulpit and detract from other important ministries. While this accusation is sheer nonsense, it has taken hold in many church communities. It has gained such a strong hold that other methodologies for life change are now embraced unwittingly in the Church.

In the realm of worship, the serious in-depth preaching of the Word is being replaced by dramas, videos, corporate sharing times, and other activities that seem more appropriate for an entertainment driven culture (I am not saying all of these methods of communication are necessarily useless, just that they cannot and should not replace serious preaching of the Word of God). We now see corporate worship as a time for either fellowship or evangelistic outreach, rather than for the exaltation of Christ and the equipping of the saints through God’s Word. Too much serious biblical preaching is now seen as something that deters unbelievers from coming to church. It is also seen as something that is too serious and thus saps a sense of fellowship from the room (The preacher often hears this reflected in the comment, “You need to lighten things up a bit—that was too serious”).

In the realm of personal piety, the serious in-depth preaching of the Word is being replaced by small groups, teaching of popular books, pop-psychology, and all manner of programmed events in the church (Again, I am not saying these are necessarily useless, just that they cannot and should not replace serious preaching of the Word of God). We no longer see the Word of God as the tool the Spirit uses to effectually call and sanctify his people. We see this best represented by the constant tendency to run headlong into the latest fad for effective ministry. We often hear the Word downplayed through the accusation that corporate worship is the “most ineffective time of ministry.” While small groups and various other programs are helpful, unless the Word is the central focus, these activities are no more life changing than a group of unbelievers hanging out at Starbucks.

Contemporary Christian counseling is similarly plagued by this abandonment of the Word. The Church is assimilating secular psychology into its vocabulary of how people change with a fervor to be matched only by its sprint away from the controversy over taking a stand on biblical doctrines. The pastor is no longer supposed to be a man of the Word, but a great manager of events and a therapist. The hurting church member is no longer encouraged to employ biblical means of sanctification, but is now sent to professional counselors. I have not personally attended a marriage conference where the Bible was taught, sin was seriously discussed, and the gospel was held out as our only hope for true marital reconciliation (and I have attended about 6 marriage conferences). The shepherds are now leading the sheep away from the green pastures of God’s Word to the fast food restaurants of contemporary American evangelicalism. The sheep get their fill of food that tastes good, but that is ultimately unhealthy.

I do not believe most evangelical pastors are intentionally leading their people away from a life of true worship and godliness. Instead, I believe pastors have often bought the same bill of goods they are now selling. I have been a victim of this thinking myself (and I am sure that it penetrates my thinking in areas I don’t yet recognize). I want to be clear, however, that this is a deadly serious problem! Satan will use whatever tool he can marshal to undo God’s church. The weapon he now yields is our confidence in our own wisdom, and a correlative lack of confidence in the wisdom of God. Satan will use our own pride in the ways and ability of man to destroy us. If Satan can daily turn us from absolute dependence on the Spirit to work through the means of his Word, he will lead us into the undoing of the Church. I believe David Wells stated it best in his book, “Above All Earthly Pow’rs,” when he said,

For it is certainly the case that the Word of God, read or preached, has the power to enter the innermost crevices of a person’s being, to shine light in unwanted places, to explode myths and deceits by which fallen life sustains itself, and to bring that person face to face with the eternal God. It is this biblical Word which God uses to bring repentance, to excite faith, to give new life, to sustain life once given, to correct, nurture, and guide the Church (Jer. 23:29; 2 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 4:12; Jas. 1:18). The biblical Word is self-authenticating under the power of the Holy Spirit. This Word of God is the means by which God accomplishes his saving work in his people, and this is a work that no evangelist and no preacher can do. This is why the dearth of serious, sustained biblical preaching in the church today is a serious matter. When the church loses the Word of God it loses the very means by which God does his work. In its absence, therefore, a script is being written, however unwittingly, for the Church’s undoing, not in one cataclysmic moment, but in a slow, inexorable slide made up of piece by tiny piece of daily dereliction.

I want to end with a note of caution for those of us that think we have our theological ducks in a row on this issue: Be careful to practice in your life what you preach among friends who are similarly dissatisfied with the contemporary Church’s current weaknesses. It is entirely too easy to notice the speck in your brother’s eye and not notice the plank in your own. If you really believe the Word is sufficient for life and godliness, then your life will reflect a constant turning to and hunger for the Word. If your mind shouts, “yes,” to my theological argumentation but your daily dependence on the Word shouts, “no,” then repentance is more in line than finger pointing.

Jelly-Fish Pastors and Christians

JC Ryle wrote the following about the lack of doctrinal commitment in the late 1800's:

[Dislike of dogma] is an epidemic which is just now doing great harm, and specially among young people.... It produces what I must venture to call...a "jelly-fish" Christianity in the land: that is, a Christianity without bone, or muscle, or power. A jelly-fish...is a pretty and graceful object when it floats in the sea, contracting and expanding like a little, delicate, transparent umbrella. Yet the same jelly-fish, when cast on the shore, is a mere helpless lump, without capacity for movement, self-defense, or self-preservation. Alas! It is a vivid type of much of the religion of this day, of which the leading principle is, "No dogma, no distinct tenets, no positive doctrine." We have hundreds of "jelly-fish" clergymen, who seem not to have a single bone in their body of divinity. They have not definite opinions; they belong to no school or party; they are so afraid of "extreme views" that they have no views at all. We have thousands of "jelly-fish" sermons preached every year, sermons without an edge, or a point, or a corner, smooth as billiard balls, awakening no sinner, and edifying no saint. We have Legions of "jelly-fish" young men annually turned out from our Universities, armed with a few scraps of second-hand philosophy, who think it a mark of cleverness and intellect to have no decided opinions about anything in religion, and to be utterly unable to make up their minds as to what is Christian truth. They live apparently in a state of suspense, like Mohamet's fabled coffin, hanging between heaven and earth...and last, and worst of all, we have myriads of "jelly-fish" worshippers-respectable Church-going people, who have no distinct and definite views about any point in theology. They cannot discern things that differ, any more than color-blind people can distinguish colors. They think everybody is right and nobody wrong, everything is true and nothing is false, all sermons are good and none are bad, every clergyman is sound and no clergyman is unsound. They are "tossed to and fro, like children, by every wind of doctrine"; often carried away by any new excitement and sensational movement; ever ready for new things, because they have no firm grasp on the old; and utterly unable to "render a reason of the hope that is in them." ...Never was it so important for laymen to hold systematic views of truth, and for ordained ministers to "enunciate dogma" very clearly and distinctly in their teaching.

(HT: Tim Challies)

The Impracticality of Doctrinal Ignorance

I remember the first time I was confronted about my ignorance of Christian doctrine. I was working as a teacher at South High School. One day, a student came to me and asked a question about how he should view the aberrant theology of his friends. I did not know how to respond. I was not even able to articulate what was wrong with their doctrine, let alone the dangerous consequences of it. Until then, I did not find it a practical matter to really know the doctrine I professed to believe. My student challenged me about my ignorance and I knew he was right. That day became a turning point in my life.

Over the next several years, I went about the task of studying the doctrines of the Christian faith. I was so enamored by the depth of our faith that I started attending seminary. The more I studied doctrine the more my picture of God, His work, and myself changed. I saw a growth in grace that led me away from what was a “pharisaical” view of what it meant to know Christ (i.e. being a moral, church-going, middle-class, Republican) to a Biblical view of knowing Christ (i.e. having self-abandoning love for the gospel of the glory of Christ). What changed? I came to understand the doctrines of my faith!

As I shifted into a pastoral and teaching role, I began to hear my old attitude reflected among other Christians. I would constantly hear people tell me that doctrine is nice, but what we really need is practical teaching. I would tell people that doctrine is practical, and they would often shrug me off as a young idealist. Even recently, as I was talking about how all of Scripture points to Christ, I had a Christian woman tell me that it is nice to talk about such things, “but that kind of teaching really belongs in the college, because it is just not practical for the average working person.” Is doctrinal instruction impractical? Is it impractical to plumb the depths of the doctrines that are revealed in Scripture?

I am sure most people would answer these questions, “no.” However, if I pushed them farther and asked about more specific doctrines, like the atonement, many would probably change their response. For example, if I asked the average church attendee how important they think penal substitution, or imputation, are to understand, most people would respond negatively. I would argue that most do not know what they are, and don’t care.

A couple of years ago, while at a Ligonier Conference, I was reminded once again of the practical nature of doctrines most people do not consider worth studying. Commenting on Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan said, “If you do not understand the atonement you cannot truly know how to love your wife!” You cannot love your wife as Christ loved the church, if you do not understand His atoning sacrifice for the church. You simply cannot imitate what you do not know! Suddenly, it becomes painfully obvious how impractical it is for a husband to be ignorant of the doctrine of the atonement.

Using the doctrine of the atonement as an example, we can see several other areas where it is incredibly impractical to be ignorant of doctrine. In John 15:12-13, Jesus says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” In Jesus’ reference to his own impending sacrifice, we learn that the atonement is foundational to an understanding of how we are to love other believers. I cannot truly love my brothers and sisters in Christ if I do not understand the atonement.

In Matthew 20:26-28, Jesus says, “It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” In Jesus’ response to the desire of two of his disciples’ request for leadership, we learn that true leadership is only understood in light of the atonement. If someone does not understand the atonement, he does not understand true leadership.

In Ephesians 4:32, Paul says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” We cannot understand how to rightly forgive one another if we do not understand the atonement.

It is impossible to truly live the Christian life, if we do not have a right understanding of the revelation of God and His work given to us in Scripture. Therefore, not only is it practical for the average working person to learn the truths revealed in Scripture, it is terribly impractical for them to remain doctrinally ignorant!