For those who do read my blog, I will no longer be posting on here (blogspot.com)
Watch this and pass along. We need to pray for our President. Not condescendingly, but rather with passion for God's glory. Obama's decision to make abortion legal was not a decimation to Christian values. Nor was it a total defeat for Christians in America. We have not lost the battle...no, the battle is already won!
This issue, and others, don't need to be at the front-end of our platforms and soapboxes. The issue of the souls of men and women who don't know Christ should be at the forefront. These issues need to be fought for with a careful watch on how much time and attention we give to them.
It would be a tragedy if someone made these issues their main agenda.
Watch the video. Piper is making a clear argument against President Obama's decision and rightfully so. His stance on this, however, is not at the forefront of his ministry. This is just a peripheral issue. I hope we would all find it to be the same.
In short, yes, fight for the right to life for unborn babies, but remember:
...we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12
Many people today think that Christianity is simply a means of living a good life and doing what is "right". It doesn't surprise me to see that this attitude toward Christianity, and all religions in general, is taken up by the majority. When all people see in "religious folk" is a bunch of do-gooders and straight-edged pricks, they want nothing of the sort in their lives.
The Bible does in fact give us lists of ways we should live, which is contrary to the popular statement that Christianity is not a "list of do's and dont's". The heart behind that popular statement is that we as Christians do not live a certain way as a means of fulfilling some duty (or earning our salvation), but rather we live a certain way in response to the Gift that we have been given. So while it is true that the Bible gives us a list of "do's and dont's", the heart behind that list is not simply to make us "good" people, but rather to help us point to the overwhelming greatness of Christ.
Romans 12 and 13 is chock-full of ways we should live. You could in fact say that these two chapters are a synopsis or a framework for how we should live. It isn't exhaustive in it's list, but it is pretty clear in its content. The fact of the matter is that the Bible does in fact give us a list of ways we should live.
Yet if all you do is read these two chapters you miss the point. This gives even further credence to the fact that if you read just a section of scripture (whether it be a single verse, a collection of verses, a chapter or two, or even a whole book) by itself you may not be getting the whole picture, and thus you may be missing the point entirely. We need to understand all of scripture in order to fully understand the tiny nuances that we read on a day-to-day basis. Thus, nuances such as lists of how to live do in fact have a purpose beyond simply being a list of "do's and dont's".
Paul says in Romans 11:13-15,
Now I am speaking to you Gentiles [non-Jews]. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?Without going into the deeper salvific message that Paul is relaying here, the simple point that he is trying to get across is that he magnifies his ministry to make Jewish people jealous. This verse is important because it begins to wrap up a section on God's sovereignty in regards to the salvation of the Gentiles. It points to the fact that God is using us as a means of making the Jewish nation jealous. Paul understood this and made it a point to exemplify his ministry for that purpose.
One thing I come across when talking to college students about their views on God is apathy. Many of them dont know if God exists, dont care if God exists, or dont think God exists. Whichever camp they find themselves in, many dont seem to care to find out if they are wrong. Their assumption is that life is basically meaningless and has no ultimate value...so eat, drink, and be merry!
While their worldview holds water only on the occasion that their presuppositions about God are correct, they have a major flaw in their thinking. C.S. Lewis pionts out the fact that in this world we are constantly searching for something to satisfy our longings. He says, "Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex." Evidence of a desire for something more is found in the fact that we are never satisfied, even in the things that we pursue and obtain. We are always left hungry for more no matter the case.
Lewis then continues on to say, "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing."
I love this quote because it is simple, yet its implications are so profound. For the student who thinks that all of life is meaningless and that we will return to dust and nothing more, I would suggest this quote for their thinking.
