Inheritance: August 2011

God's Warth is Coming... Are You Ready?

You had better listen to the words of Jesus, “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, shall enter, but he that does the will of my father in heaven.” If ye by the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall live. If you live after the flesh, you’ll die! The cross does not give us a minor shift or two with regard to a few of our ethical and religious values. The cross radically disrupts the very center and citadel of your life from self to Christ. And if the cross has not done that, YOU’RE NOT A CHRISTIAN! My Friend face it, young rogue, you’re not a Christian until the cross has radically disrupted the very center and citadel of your life! And brought you from a life of commitment to serve self…What are the focal points of the reign of your self? If you’ve gone to the cross in union with Christ, it’s been shattered!"
- Al Martin

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

I've been thinking about movies again... Part 1

Christians are flocking to see the movies with no thought about what God has to say about their entertainment choice. So, looking through the pages of Scripture, does God have anything to say about what we watch on the big screen?

Let's start out on a really easy level and in subsequent posts will get to the central issues of a good film bad film debate.

Comedy films. Films that make you laugh because of the stupidity of the actors. Are these acceptable forms of entertainment? Pro 15:21, "Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom." So when we see a film that is full of "hilarious" folly, films like the Andy Griffith Show, or I Love Lucy included, and we laugh at them, we are saying that we are destitute of wisdom. OUCH!

Atheistic films, polytheistic films, films with a different God and a different law code. "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools...Who changed the truth of God into a lie...And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind." Rom. 1 So this gives a good list of criteria for a film. Does it glorify God? If it doesn't, it is vanity, foolishness, and darkness. Does it operate by the truth of God, or does it exchange God's truth for a lie? Does it retain the knowledge of God? If it doesn't, it is reprobate. OUCH. The film industry in one passage just about got eliminated. Even the Lone Ranger fails this one. It is totally atheistic, problem solving is man-centered, man gets all the glory.

Ok, enough for today. More later.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Food for Thought

"The revelation made of Christ in the blessed Gospel is far more excellent, more glorious, and more filled with the rays of divine wisdom and goodness, than the whole creation and the just comprehension of it, if attainable, can contain or afford. Without the knowledge hereof, the mind of man, however priding itself in other inventions and discoveries, is wrapped up in darkness and confusion."

- John Owen, Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ in His Person, Office, and Grace, in The Works of John Owen, Vol. 1, pg. 275