Wir sind bettler. Hoc est verum.

“Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt.” With those words Augustine enraged Pelagius. The idea that God would command something of men, of which they cannot do apart from Grace, on the surface enrages all of us, and perhaps rightly so. “That isn’t fair” or “I don’t believe in that God” and perhaps even “God would never do that” are some of the complaints we have made to the idea that God commands men to repent and have faith in Jesus, when no man is able or willing to do so. Thus we argue that either God doesn’t require it of all men, or men must be able to do what he requires apart from Grace.

To many of us this seems as absurd and evil as commanding a cripple man “walk or die”, and so it is in that light we look at God’s commanding of us to do what we cannot nor will not do.

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Many people believe in Santa, most of them are under the age of 10. They believe in Santa because their parents told them Santa is real. This cycle has continued for generations, the parent teaches the child, the child their children and so on. So, why would I dare tread on such holy ground? The reason I dare is because I believe the issue, although small, when compounded becomes quite large.

As I see it the issue resolves around a few different planets of thought. Is it ok to lie to someone to increase their happiness? Everyone is doing it and turning out ok, why can’t I? What is the Christian parent’s number one job towards their children? And is culture neutral and its traditions harmless?

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As many of you know the New Atheists (as they are called) not only believe that God doesn’t exist, they believe that religion is evil and ought to be extinguished. They love to especially attack Christianity, because it is so bold as to blatantly tell its opponents that they are wrong. There are many things I can say on the subject, but I would like to address just one small flaw in their thinking.

Many of them, such as Sam Harris, have a distorted logic in how they argue against the existence of God. I will simplify their arguments here for times sake and just point out one of the huge flaws of it. See if you can spot the flaw before I demonstrate it. Remember they are assuming God exists for the sake of their arguments.

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1 Timothy 3:2a “Now the overseer must be above reproach”. Recently there has been some discussion in the world I walk in as to what being “above reproach” means, specifically for us leaders in the church, namely for Elders and Pastors (of which I am neither). Set in the context of some “super” sin, what does it mean to be “above reproach” (although I believe that the Bible teaches degrees of sin, there is a sense in which all sins are “super” since they offend a Holy God, what I mean by “super” is essentially the sins God seemingly point out as greater: murder, adultery, theft, etc. which are essentially listed in 1 Timothy)?

Some people argue that if you commit any of these “super” sins at any time in your life, then you are ineligible to be an Elder or Pastor, due to being not above reproach. Others argue that it is ok if you commit these sins before your vows as Elder or Pastor, but not after. And still others argue that Grace covers all these sins so that even after committing these sins as an Elder or Pastor there is a chance, although slight, that one might eventually be able to be an Elder or Pastor again. Personally I do not think Scripture is clear in support of any of these sides, thus we must appeal to something else and Scripture at the same time.

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To understand the destructive, dreary, and dismal side of Government jobs we must first condescend to the origins of Government. Why do we have Government in the first place and why does this Government have jobs? The answer is extremely complex; allow me to state it simply. Government is nothing more than the people working together for the common good, and it is nothing less than the common good working for the people. It is the will of the people, created by the people, to rule the people by people. Laws define it and it defines the laws. It is circular, it is organic, and it is a machine.

We the people create the Government and in return the Government creates us. After we gifted some of our freedom, our humanity, our responsibility, and our creativity to it, it thanked us by redefining humanity and the boundaries in which we can act it out.  It is necessary and it is tyrannical. It saves lives while destroying them, and it abolishes freedom to protect freedom. It is the giving of lesser things, to protect the greater things. It is a necessary evil, to control and protect humans, but it was not always so.

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I am going to deviate from my typical topics to address a more political, cultural topic, so bear with me.

As many of you know, in California the people voted to keep the definition of marriage (what it has always been) as between only a man and a woman; the courts (one judge in particular) has overturned it.

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John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

This verse is one of the most popular and frequently quoted verses of the entire Bible, and rightly so. It gives us an intimate look into God and His love. God’s love is a powerful subject, and a most important one, however it is not in the scope of my writing today.

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There seems to still be a debate as to whether Christianity is a religion or not. Personally I don’t understand what the big deal is, and why some people fight to say that it is not a religion. They give reasons like: “religion is man trying to reach God” and thus “Christianity is God reaching man” so they affirm that it cannot be a religion. But is this how God sees it? Is this how God defines religion and does He see Christianity as a religion?

James 1:26-27 “²⁶If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. ²⁷Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

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I am at lunch with a good friend, my phone rings, I instinctively pick it up to see who is calling, oh it’s my wife. I ask for permission to pick it up, knowing he wouldn’t say no. A professor is sitting in his office talking with a student, the student’s phone rings, he picks it up, it’s his wife. Another professor is talking with a student in his office, his phone rings, he doesn’t pick up, the student is confused. I call a good friend who is out to dinner with his family, he picks up.

These are all true stories, and they all have something in common. In each of these stories, there is a battle going on, a hidden, unspoken battle. It is the battle between the face and the phone.

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There are many people out there who call themselves 4 point Calvinists. Calvinism has often, and wrongly, been simplified to the 5 points of Calvinism, or TULIP. I say wrongly because Calvinism does hold to TULIP, but it holds to much, much more, and to say that Calvinism is basically TULIP is to over simplify the teaching of Calvin, or what most people mean – reformation theology.

Most 4 point Calvinists reject the L in TULIP usually because they believe that it removes people’s “free will” or responsibility, and it destroys the idea that God’s offer of salvation is real and not pretend. But before I craft my response allow me to quickly explain TULIP for those who do not know what it means:

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