I'll be starting a new series of posts exploring those books that I consider the best of those I've read in various categories. Most categories will be on Christian themes, but there will be others in social, cultural, and political genres. There will be three to five entries briefly described in separate posts.
The first category is Apologetics, which includes everything from philosophical apologetics to practical apologetics.
Number One: Darwin's Black Box
The first entry comes with a bit of caveat: it is not apologetics per se. That is, the author doesn't present his material as a defense of the Christian worldview, but instead its main focus is as a rejection of the Darwinian explanation of origins, and a defense of intelligent design. I classify it as apologetics because presents a viable explanation of the existence and origins of things apart from a prevailing worldview, Darwinism.
In Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, Michael Behe introduces the concept of "irreducible complexity." According to Behe, Darwin's "black box" was the cell, past which Darwin could not detect any further sophistication or complexity because of the lack of more powerful microscopes.
Irreducible complexity is an idea that maintains certain biolochemical processes are too complicated to have arisen through mutation and natural selection. This degree of complexity -- even present in the component parts of cells -- requires that the whole system come into existence at the same time in order to work at all.
Behe's examples of this irreducible complexity, such as the eye and the heat/chemical defenses of the Bombardier Beetle, are fascinating, and should leave the reader more in awe of the creative design and power of God.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Lumps, Flatbread & Church Discipline
With many canned Bible study curricula, it is sometimes more interesting to detect what passages of Scripture have been omitted than to study what is said about those passages that have not.
Occasionally these omissions are due to the theological/doctrinal bent of the writer, but sometimes merely reflect a lack of stomach to discuss hard truths that comfortable believers don't want to hear.
First Corinthians 5, which orders the excommunication of a sexually immoral man, is one of these passages. The study materials offered by a a prominent publishing house include 1Co5 in a section on "Christian Morality," but ignore any discussion of the entire chapter.
The discipline of members (the imperative) is inextricably bound up in the idea of who the church is, in Christ (the indicative). 'Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed' (1Co5:7 ESV).
The distinguishing characteristics of God's people in the Old Testament included radical devotion to a single God, demonstrated in strict dietary laws, sacrificial requirements, and, through the Passover, a sense of haste that mandated little time to wait on bread to rise.
Distinguishing characteristics of God's people -- that we are a 'new lump' -- have not been eradicated in the New Testament, but only modified: it is no longer ethnic identity that sets us apart, but grace and a life of obedience that flows from it ('And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise' Gal3:29, ESV).
We are no longer set apart, but have become indistinguishable from the world, when we live like the world and tolerate sin ('of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans' 1Co5:1 ESV). Our distinguishing characterstic is, of course, that we love one another (John13:35). But this love does not ignore the putrefying effects of unconfessed, unrepentant sin in the camp. Instead, it recognizes who we are in Christ, and in love seeks both to preserve the souls of men (1Co5:5) and to honor the name of Christ.
Occasionally these omissions are due to the theological/doctrinal bent of the writer, but sometimes merely reflect a lack of stomach to discuss hard truths that comfortable believers don't want to hear.
First Corinthians 5, which orders the excommunication of a sexually immoral man, is one of these passages. The study materials offered by a a prominent publishing house include 1Co5 in a section on "Christian Morality," but ignore any discussion of the entire chapter.
The discipline of members (the imperative) is inextricably bound up in the idea of who the church is, in Christ (the indicative). 'Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed' (1Co5:7 ESV).
The distinguishing characteristics of God's people in the Old Testament included radical devotion to a single God, demonstrated in strict dietary laws, sacrificial requirements, and, through the Passover, a sense of haste that mandated little time to wait on bread to rise.
Distinguishing characteristics of God's people -- that we are a 'new lump' -- have not been eradicated in the New Testament, but only modified: it is no longer ethnic identity that sets us apart, but grace and a life of obedience that flows from it ('And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise' Gal3:29, ESV).
We are no longer set apart, but have become indistinguishable from the world, when we live like the world and tolerate sin ('of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans' 1Co5:1 ESV). Our distinguishing characterstic is, of course, that we love one another (John13:35). But this love does not ignore the putrefying effects of unconfessed, unrepentant sin in the camp. Instead, it recognizes who we are in Christ, and in love seeks both to preserve the souls of men (1Co5:5) and to honor the name of Christ.
Monday, June 21, 2010
By Grace Alone
Sinclair Ferguson maintains that while Christians sing "Amazing Grace," we have largely ceased being amazed by it. In By Grace Alone: How the Grace of God Amazes Me, he offers an antidote to our general unamazement.
To illustrate the truth that none of us truly understands -- is amazed by -- grace until we understand our need for it, Ferguson offers a helpful explanation and application of the parable of the Prodigal Son.
A significant contribution is Ferguson's assessment of the security that grace affords the believer. In discussing Romans 8:31-35 ('who can bring a charge against God's elect', etc), Ferguson challenges the Christian not to look at the circumstances of life, or how much we might 'deserve' grace, and draw conclusions about our security and God's care from them. Instead, it is in grace -- Christ's substitutionary death on the cross -- that provides security regarding our standing before God.
Ferguson also suggests that one of Satan's 'fiery darts' with which he attacks Christian was employed in his attack on Job: attempting to have Job question the good character of God and attribute to Him the devil's machinations. In other words, trying to get Job to 'exchange the truth of God for a lie.' This is, after all, how Satan tempted Eve in the Garden.
As Christ-followers, we need to constantly preach the Gospel to ourselves.
"Sometimes we imagine that our greatest need is to move on to the 'higher' or 'deeper teaching of the gospel. But in fact, our real need is to get a deeper and firmer grasp of the main truths of the gospel." (Ferguson, By Grace Alone, 102).
To illustrate the truth that none of us truly understands -- is amazed by -- grace until we understand our need for it, Ferguson offers a helpful explanation and application of the parable of the Prodigal Son.
A significant contribution is Ferguson's assessment of the security that grace affords the believer. In discussing Romans 8:31-35 ('who can bring a charge against God's elect', etc), Ferguson challenges the Christian not to look at the circumstances of life, or how much we might 'deserve' grace, and draw conclusions about our security and God's care from them. Instead, it is in grace -- Christ's substitutionary death on the cross -- that provides security regarding our standing before God.
Ferguson also suggests that one of Satan's 'fiery darts' with which he attacks Christian was employed in his attack on Job: attempting to have Job question the good character of God and attribute to Him the devil's machinations. In other words, trying to get Job to 'exchange the truth of God for a lie.' This is, after all, how Satan tempted Eve in the Garden.
As Christ-followers, we need to constantly preach the Gospel to ourselves.
"Sometimes we imagine that our greatest need is to move on to the 'higher' or 'deeper teaching of the gospel. But in fact, our real need is to get a deeper and firmer grasp of the main truths of the gospel." (Ferguson, By Grace Alone, 102).
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