Weekly Articles

Our nation has, without a doubt, been blessed far beyond what the rest of the world can boast.  The US is 6% of the World’s land mass but has 8% of the arable land.  The US has 4.5% of the population of the World, but accounts for 21% of the GDP and 25.9% of the oil consumption.   We are engaged in fighting a war in two different countries, but with casualties from combat that are far less that what the US military suffered from accidents in the early 1980’s.  While our news media tries to get us to fear a great economic disaster mythically looming on the horizon, we enjoy near full employment and still have far more people die from eating too much food than from eating too little (many in the world are too busy trying not to starve to death while avoiding the warlord next door that is trying to ethnically cleanse them).  We have been truly blessed.

Blessings are a funny thing; they are often used without any regard for the giver.  For example, we have been blessed with the freedom of speech, and yet many take it as their natural right to make others hear them speak against God and to be free from hearing any promotion of God.   When times are good, we tend to forget God, who is the giver of “all things bright and beautiful.”  When times are bad, then we either turn to God or curse him – depending on faith.

I have never been (or wanted to be) a farmer, but I am fairly sure that all farmers plow and sow before the growing season begins.  I cannot believe that a farmer would wait until harvest to plant crops, expecting to be successful.  In fact, we would believe such a person to have had a psychotic break with reality!  And yet, this is how many Christians act about blessings from God.  A sluggard does not plow in season;  so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing (Proverbs 20:4 NIV).  Are we plowing?  Are we watering?

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake.  Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore.  Then he told them many things in parables, saying:  “A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil.  It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.  Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.  He who has ears, let him hear.”  (Matthew 13:1-9 NIV)

Now there are going to be many who do not receive the gospel, and there are going to be many who do receive, but do not obey.  And there will even be those who receive, and who obey, but who then fall away.  But to us, none of that really matters, because we still have to spread the seeds of the truth!  We still have to be about fulfilling our commission.  We have been truly blessed, and yet many of our people cry out for blessings from God, hoping for God to increase us; even while doing nothing to prepare for the harvest.  We have been blessed beyond comparison, and even that is just a taste of what God has in store for us, if we just will believe in him and prepare for the floodgates of his bounty to be opened up for us.

We need to remember to thank God, and to praise him in both good times and bad – in good times because we should remember all of the many and great things he has done for us; in bad times because we know that his discipline only falls on those whom God accepts as his children, and that he will never allow us to wither on the vine but will sustain us.  We need to remember that God will send the rain, so we had better start plowing the fields and sowing the seed.  Rain or shine, we must trust in God.

-Charles Peterson

A news headline caught my eye as it flashed up on the Windows Sidebar on my computer screen last week.  It was the sort of headline you would expect to see in the grocery store check-out line, not coming from a major news network:

Baby Girl Born With Two Faces Worshipped as Reincarnated God

Monday , March 17, 2008

She’s only a few days old and already a baby girl in Northern India is being worshipped as a reincarnated god.  The newborn is unlike any other child villagers have seen before — she has two faces.  The girl was born on Monday at a hospital in the suburbs of Delhi, according to the Daily Mail.  Since then, people in her rural village have been singing and dancing — offering money and asking for her blessings.  The parents are hoping the government will help with medical treatments needed for their baby girl in the future.  For now though, both mother and child are healthy and doing fine, according to a doctor at the hospital.                                           

[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,337492,00.html]

When I read the story, I felt a growing disdain for the misguided simpletons who would worship something so obviously human and earthly.  This baby will be lucky to survive at all, much less live a full life; how could anyone be so stupid as to believe her to be a god?  But then I had to stop myself; after all, is that so much more absurd than believing in Mormonism, Islam, or Humanism?  No, these villagers are just like the rest of us:  we cling to anything and everything that we can find so that we can avoid having to accept the truth that is Jesus.

Many in America would claim that my beliefs are only as valid as these.  I disagree, of course, especially in light of the three that I mentioned here.  The Book of Mormon has changed dramatically over the past hundred years (such as the LDS view on why some people have dark skin…), which should not surprise us as the whole religion is based on a completely fabricated “translation” of the Egyptian Book of the Dead.  Islam, the so-called “religion of peace,” took the idea of a holy war to new heights and is a mass of contradictions.  But these two pale in significance to the real threat facing Christianity today:  Humanism.

Christians should be able to see that both Mormonism and Islam are incompatible with the truth found in the Bible.  But many in the church are falling for the humanist ideals that morality is not absolute and that religion is the real problem in the world today.  We Christians seem to bow down to the moral authority of man (such as trying to mollify the offended sensibilities of the homosexual crowd), not realizing that by doing so we deny the sovereign authority of God.

You will suffer the penalty for your lewdness and bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.”   (Ezekiel 23:49 NIV)

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.  (Colossians 3:5 NIV)

God demands that we worship Him only!  We cannot see anything else as equally valid, and we cannot “learn to tolerate” (i.e. acquiesce to) those who persist in the belief that man is God; we must instead fight for the hearts and minds of the people of this country and turn them back to God by teaching them the truth of the Bible.  The Bible easily withstands scrutiny that destroys the texts of any of the other major religions.  God’s word prevails; all we have to do is trust in God and believe his holy word.  Anyone who does not worship God is on equally shaky footing as those villagers who worship a deformed baby.  Only those who are standing on the Stone laid in Zion can claim sure footing.

-Charles Peterson

There is today a lot of talk about a looming mortgage crisis, in which 1-2 million home mortgages will undergo foreclosure proceedings.  Many reasons are given for this crisis, such as predatory lending practices, poor buying habits, and the price of oil (which seems to be the root cause of all of America’s ills).  And even more solutions are presented, from government bail-outs to letting the free market settle the issues. 

One particularly distressing idea that I heard on the radio was a plan to change the law to allow judges the ability to change the terms of the contracts.  This plan has several fatal flaws.  One flaw is that parties enter into a contract in good faith that they know what to expect on the basis of the contract; changing the terms after the fact arbitrarily destroys this good faith.  If I were to borrow $1000 from you, with the promise to pay $100 per month until I had repaid the debt plus an extra payment for interest, that might seem like a fair deal; if, however, I decided after six payments to change the terms to $10 per month until the principal only was repaid, you might feel cheated (as well as reluctant to loan me any more money). 

Another flaw with this plan is the idea that it is appropriate to use the court system (judges) to force other people to accept whatever we want.  In this case, some people want to use judges to force lenders to accept terms that they never agreed to and that are totally favorable to the borrower.  Somehow we have gotten the idea that judges exist to free us from the consequences of our actions.

In all of this, what does God have to say?  Has God ever expressed a view on personal integrity?  Or on upholding oaths?  Or on personal responsibility?  Or on the honesty of judges?

Ill-gotten treasures are of no value, but righteousness delivers from death … the man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out … the wealth of the rich is their fortified city, but poverty is the ruin of the poor … the wages of the righteous bring them life, but the income of the wicked brings them punishment.  (Proverbs 10:2,9,15-16 NIV)

The LORD abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are his delight.   (Proverbs 11:1 NIV)

Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.   (Proverbs 13:11 NIV)

The LORD detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him.   (Proverbs 20:23 NIV)

Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the LORD your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly.  Do not pervert justice or show partiality.  Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.  Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you.   (Deuteronomy 16:18-20 NIV)

The central theme of these passages is integrity.  Ill-gotten treasure is what many want when they seek to use the courts to force others to accept changes in the terms of a contract that both parties had agreed to beforehand.  Dishonesty is abhorrent to God, so why would we think that entering into a contract and then trying to cheat on the terms would be acceptable?  Judges who do not uphold justice, but instead cheat one party in favor of another are detestable to God, so what should we believe God’s feelings are about those who seek to pervert the judges?

I am not an advocate of the mortgage industry, and I do believe that changes should be made in regulations (such as disclosures and transparency); but I do believe that men are held accountable to God for their actions and beliefs.  If a person is in over their head, they should seek help.  There are many legal (and more importantly, moral) avenues to take.  But seeking to cheat anyone, even faceless corporations, is just plain wrong.  The people of God need to stand for what is right – remember, that is where God is standing.

-Charles Peterson

Warren Buffett is quoted as saying that Wall Street is the only place that people drive to in a Rolls Royce to take advice from people who rode the subway.  Much of our existence is like this; for example the following terms exist because of this phenomenon:  armchair general, Monday-morning quarterback, and back-seat driver.  Mankind almost seems hard-wired to speak from ignorance and to champion mediocrity.

Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm.  He said:  “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?” (Job 38:1-2 NIV)

I recently had a talk with a co-worker about religion and politics; this happens from time to time with certain other co-workers, but this co-worker is a far-left socialist (I am very conservative) and is an atheist (I am a Christian).  We were able to talk peaceably because we were open about our beliefs and respected that we each were entitled to our beliefs.  The first thing that I noticed was that this co-worker was only concerned with pointing out flaws, trying to demonstrate how the Bible was inconsistent.  The second thing that I noticed was that he was judging the Bible by standards and ethics of man (namely, himself).  The third thing that I noticed was that he could not accept the truth as laid out in God’s word; the very concept of God as the absolute authority was so alien to him that he rejected outright any argument based on that authority.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.  The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God.  It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.  Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.  (Romans 8:5-8 NIV)

Socrates is credited with saying “all that I know is that I know nothing.”  New Christians often demonstrate the opposite of this, showing their ignorance of their own ignorance.  They often see the Bible as a reference guide with quick and easy answers.  Rarely is a look at the context of a particular verse given its due consideration, nor is the Bible as a whole taken into account.  This stems from an emotional understanding of the scriptures, meaning that the new Christian may understand a particular verse in light of how they feel about a particular issue instead of changing how they feel about an issue through understanding what God has revealed through the scriptures.  New Christians also tend to have an impatience with gradually developing dignity and respect through years of training, learning, and discipline.  They instead tend to want to jump in and lead the way, often retarding their own spiritual growth and making themselves more susceptible to falling away.

 Grown, mature Christians also need to be watching out for the hubris that brings contempt and complacency.  How many of our mature members have become ossified in their understanding of the scriptures, not able to apply the unchanging Word of God to the changing world around us.  Many congregations have become marginal footnotes in their communities, effecting no positive change in the penetration of the Gospel into the lives of their neighborhoods.  They also often demonstrate an inability to properly balance forbearance and discipline, not taking firm action against readily apparent wrong-doings.   Yes we should all be patient with the faltering steps of those Christians who are less mature; but we cannot allow a recalcitrant person to cause strife and discord with impunity.  All discipline should be done as gently as possible, but nevertheless it should be done.  Some mature Christians have also show a tendency to become spiritually lukewarm, caring only for their own comfort zone and becoming a brake on growth and enthusiasm in general.  Remember that Laodicea was noted for being lukewarm.

All three have something in common:  they are a source of both problems and opportunities for the church.  Unbelievers can be shown the power and glory of Jesus working in our lives; new converts can be an inspiration to the other members of the congregation, or they can be a source of dissension and rebellion.  Grown Christians can provide invaluable advice and guidance to the newer members, or they can cause them to become disenchanted with the church.  The difference between the good and the bad examples above is that the good examples are filled with wisdom and humility, whereas the bad examples are filled with arrogance and ignorance.  Let us be the former, not the latter.

 -Charles Peterson

When I was in the seventh grade I was introduced to the science of physics through a class called Physical Science.  In this class, one of the fundamentals of physics that I learned was the study and application of the six simple machines:  the lever, the wheel and axle, the screw, the inclined plane, the pulley, and the wedge.  I learned that these six simple machines provide examples of all of the ways in which mankind performs work through the application of a single force (such as torque on a pulley), and making use of a mechanical advantage so that the work performed is greater than that which man could do alone (such as lifting an engine block out of a truck using a combination of pulleys). 

They are called “simple” machines because they are elementary:  basically, all machines performing work can be broken down into these types of machines.  A bicycle uses a wheel and axle, levers, and pulleys to allow the rider to turn the rear wheel much faster than the rider is pedaling.  Many people feel intimidated by machines that they feel are too complicated to understand; but what they do not realize is that complicated machines are just organized groups of smaller, simpler machines. 

Many things in life are like machines in this way:  what appears complicated can often be explained in a simplified manner when boiled down to its basic elements.  In fact, this is how most subjects are taught.  In an English class, you would not try to teach a beginner by having them read books by Jane Austen or Henry James, but you would instead start them reading “Dick and Jane”; learning the smaller component parts (such as nouns and verbs, or subject and object) and slowly revealing more of the complexity of the interactions between the parts is how we learn.

The object of this simplification is not to “dumb-down” reality.  Someone who is starting out may write in the “Dick and Jane” style and format, but anyone who did not develop the ability to form complex sentences would be seen as retarded.  A motorcycle is far more complicated a machine than a bicycle, even though they share the same rough morphology of two wheels, a seat, and handlebars; the more complicated structures (such as the engine and disc brakes) of the motorcycle add together to allow the rider to far exceed the speeds attainable on a bicycle.  The complexity is important for operation and effectiveness; simplicity is important for understanding and learning.

This principle is alive and well in Biblical doctrines.  If looked at as a whole, God’s plan is incredibly complicated:  tens (or even hundreds) of billions of people, interacting over the course of perhaps 6,000-8,000 years, and mostly following plans they did not even know were laid out for them.  And that is just humanity’s side of things – when you add into the scenario the existence of a whole host of heavenly beings, along with the Devil and his angels, things get extremely complex.  But Jesus knew the ways to make the complicated plans of God simple for us to follow.  The Sermon on the Mount is a great example of Jesus taking the complex and boiling it down to where people could understand it.

Many Christians hold to beliefs that come more from traditions and man’s teaching than from God’s Word; this is not because some great conspiracy has taken over the church, and its not because these people have been duped.  Many Christians simply do not know what the Bible says because they do not read it for themselves, and if they do read it they do not engage in profitable discussion about what they read with others.  So these Christians develop truly bizarre beliefs, not knowing the error of their ways.  This is so unnecessary, as many of the Bible’s most important principles are laid out plainly.  One example is when Jesus is questioned about which commandment is greatest, he gives us the principle for being able to follow God: 

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this:  ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this:  ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no commandment greater than these.”  (Mark 12:29-31 NIV)

The apostle Paul said that all of Christianity could be broken down into three component parts:  faith, hope, and love (with love being the greatest).  Paul is not saying that there is nothing in the Word of God except for these three, but that these three are the basic building blocks of our true existence.  For example, Baptism involves a confession and burial beneath water.  But looked at from another perspective, it really involves faith (that God has the power to free us from our sinful life), hope (that just as Jesus was raised, so too we will be raised to eternal life), and love (just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, we too must love him and become his disciples).

Today, some teachers seem to think that everything has to be complicated, that the Bible is hard to understand; I think that the Bible is as easy to understand as we let it be – following its guidance is the hard part.

 -Charles Peterson