Dodge Charger - What a car!!

This past weekend we went to a craft fair in Bedford, Virginia. It was a lot of fun and we got to see another wonderful town here in Central Virginia. But one of my son's favorite things was getting to meet some of the Bedford police.

We met a very nice policeman who even started his police cruiser, turned on the lights, and let David sit in the driver's seat. It was a dream come true for David. And the dream was made all that much better by the fact that the police cruiser was David's favorite car—the Dodge Charger. We wanted to purchase this car ourselves until the gas prices started sky-rocketing. And our decision not to buy it was confirmed by the police officer who told us that it gets about 6 miles per gallon in city driving.

But it's still an awesome car!

The Justice of God – Part III

Death?

Does justice on earth involved the final human penalty of death? Whether or not we think there should be capital punishment today, it is important, in any discussion of war, to examine the Scriptures' teaching on the death penalty. Many pacifists reject all war because it involves the taking of life. I refer to the human penalty of death here, for of course the final penalty is the eternal judgment of hell, which onlhy God can pronounce (Luke 12:4, 5). God has, however, given to men the responsibility to pronounce the death penalty in certain circumstances. "From each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man" (Gen. 9:5, 6).

Our society teaches us that the death penalty is cruel, abnormal, and barbaric. Human beings are so precious that no one ever has the right to set himself up as a judge and deprive another of life—so the argument goes. It is true that human life is precious. the Christian above all people shoudl regard every human life as sacred whether born or unbor, handicapped baby or fragile old person, weak or strong. However, it is this very dignity of the human person, the fact that we are the imag-bearers of God, which is the basis for God's decision that the life of a murderer, who despises this image, should be forfeited.

The requirement of the death penalty for certain crimes is repeated many times in the Mosaic law, for example in Deuteronomy 19:11–13:

But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him and strikes him fatally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities, then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood£ from Israel, so that it may be well with you.

Christians will often point out that the Ten Commandments forbid killing. However, it is clear that the commandment "You shall not kill" means "You shall not murder." In the context of this commandmen in Moses' law, judicial killing is also commanded. So the death penalty is not prohibited by the law; in fact it is required.

Just Vengeance and Punishment

In our culture we are taught that the primary purpose of punishment is the regabilitation of the offender, and a secondary purpose is the protection of society; all notions of requital or avenging are ergarded as vindicative, barbaric, and uncivilized. We need to reeducate ourselves according to Scripture. Neither the punishments that God requires men to hand out, nor those that God himself imposes, are primarily educational. They are seen rather as just vengeance required by God.

This is a difficult idea to grasp in these times, but we have only to consider the plagues with which God punished Egypt, the destructino of Sodom and Gomorrah, or the perishing of the whole human race (apart from Noah's family) in the Flood, to see that God as judge of all the earth is acting rightly and justly when he takes life. Human wickedness in some situations becomes so great that God will no longer tolerate it, and he consequently judges with terrible judgment.

War in the Old Testament

The death penalty is prescribed by God not only in casess of individual wickedness, but also in the case of war between nations. Israel suffers unjust attack and oppression at the hands of other nations; God sanctions wars of self-defense, to relieve oppression and to punish wickedness. For example, Joshua's army was required to destroy the Canaanites in the land of Palestine because of their great wickedness (Joshua 6:21; 8:1, 2). When Israel was oppressed by the Midianites, God raised up Gideon to lead the people to overcome their oppressors (Judges 6:7). There are many examples of such wars of self-defense and wars against oppression throughout the nation's history.

Justice within and between nations is so important to God that unjust governments are not immune from attack, even though government was established by God. To maintain justice, even at the cost of civil war, authorities who despise the rule of law are overthrown. When Israel's own rulers became wicked tyrants, God sanctioned revolution against them. (Jezebel and Athaliah provide two examples of this, 2 Kings 9 and 11.)

Because God so clearly sanctions war in certain circumstances the Psalmist could write:

Prasie be to the Lord, my Rock
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle.

May the praise of God be in their mouths
and a double-edged sword in their hands,
to inflict vengeance on the nations
and bind their kings with fetters,
their nobles with shackles of iron,
to carry out the sentence written against them.

This is the glory of all his saints.

Who Are the Peacemakers?, Jerram Barrs

Another foot in the grave

My son being fitted for
rock wall climbing

Yesterday was my birthday. I am now 47 years old. That's almost 50. That's really, really old!

And just in case I hadn't noticed that it was old, my son helped me out yesterday as we were heading out to Peaks of Otter to spend a day exploring. David sat in the back seat in thought and then asked, "Mom and Dad—since you guys were really old when you adopted me, does that mean that you'll die sooner than most parents?"

So now I realize that I'm not just old now that I am 47, but I was really old 13 years ago.

It's good to know where you stand.

One foot in the grave

When I direct my readers to a news article, I usually comment on it a bit. But I just can't think of anything reasonable to say about this article.

I will, however, give you a few choice quotes from the article to whet your appetite.

“I am in excruciating pain right now,” [the victim] said. “I have a long road to recovery.”

When dealing with severed body parts at an accident scene, it is the Fire District’s policy to take the part with the patient to the hospital if there is any chance of reattachment, or the body part goes to the medical examiner’s office.

“It’s not normal for remains or pieces or parts to be removed from an accident scene other than by the appropriate authority,”

“What she was going to use this specific foot for, I can’t confirm.”

"In 27 years, this is the first time I have ever heard of these accusations. It’s highly unusual."

Encouraging words in tough times

The economy is struggling greatly. Banks are failing. Loans are hard to obtain. Gas stations have no gas. Christians are attacking each other over their choice of presidential candidate.

The world is a scary place.

But this world is not my home. Here are some important verses to keep in mind during these troubled times:

We will not die apart from God’s gracious decree for his children.

• James 4:14-15 – “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
• Matthew 10:29-30 – “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
• Deuteronomy 32:39 – “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.” (See Job 1:21;1 Samuel 2:6; 2 Kings 5:7)

Curses and divination do not hold sway against God’s people.

• Numbers 23:23 – “There is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel.”

The plans of terrorists and hostile nations do not succeed apart from our gracious God.

• Psalm 33:10 – “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.”
• Isaiah 8:9-10 – “Take counsel together [you peoples], but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.” (See 2 Samuel 7:14; Nehemiah 4:15)

Man cannot harm us beyond God’s gracious will for us.

• Psalm 118:6 – “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
• Psalm 56:11 – “In God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

God promises to protect his own from all that is not finally good for them.

• Psalm 91:14 – “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.”

God promises to give us all we need to obey, enjoy, and honor him forever.

• Matthew 6:31 – “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ . . . Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
• Philippians 4:19 – “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

God is never taken off guard.

• Psalm 121:4 – “Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”

God will be with us, help us, and uphold us in trouble.

• Isaiah 41:10 – “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
• Isaiah 41:13 – “For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Fear not, I am the one who helps you.’”

Terrors will come, some of us will die, but not a hair of our heads will perish.

• Luke 21:10-11, 18 – “Then [Jesus] said to them, ‘. . . there will be terrors (!) and great signs from heaven.... and some of you they will put to death. . . . But not a hair of your head will perish.’”

Nothing befalls God’s own but in its appointed hour.

• John 7:30 – “So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.” (See John 8:20; 10:18)

When God Almighty is your helper, none can harm you beyond what he decrees.

• Hebrews 13:6 – “So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’”
• Romans 8:31 – “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

God’s faithfulness is based on the firm value of his name, not the fickle measure of our obedience.

• 1 Samuel 12:20-22 – “And Samuel said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. . . . For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake.’”

The Lord, our protector, is great and awesome.

• Nehemiah 4:14 – “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome.”

HT: John Piper

Blog Header - September 26, 2008

We love the Maryland Renaissance Festival!

This blog header photo was taken outside the Renaissance Festival gates as we waited for them to open up for the day. I spotted this girl sitting on a lion statue and took the picture. I liked the picture but thought that the brown hair needed to be blond, so I gave her a Photoshop hair coloring. I also added the overdone pink lip gloss. She really wasn't quite that flashy in person, so blame me for the odd-looking makeup.

The Justice of God – Part II

Justice on Earth?

Does God require justice to be practiced here on earth? As we look at the Bible, we have to answer yes to this question and disagree with the early Anabaptists who saw the practice of justice as carnal and worldly. Government is not merely a human invention organized by men to preserve order in society, or to give power to a few. God himself established the institution of government so that there might be some reflection of his character as judge in human society.

The Institution of Government

In Deuteronomy we are told how Moses appointed wise and respected leaders, chosen by the people, to rule and judge.

So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and set them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officers, throughout your tribes. And I charged your judges at that time, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien who is with him. You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God’s. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’ (Deut. 1:15–17)

Moses makes a direct analogy in this passage between the judgment of God and the justice he requires human beings to practice. Because judgment is God's prerogative, the God of perfect justice demands that all human judgment should be fair and impartial to all people, whatever their place in society.

Israel's Kings

Later in Israel's history, the people demanded a king like the nations around them had, for they were dissatisfied with the Lord as their king. God gave them first Saul as king, and then the line of David. Some have argued from this that all human government and practice of justice is a "second-best," a "carnal" alternative, permitted by God because of the unspirituality of the people of Israel. This argument is then used to reject any Christian involvement in the armed forces, the police force, the government, or the judicial and penal systems. It is argued that Christians in any situation which involves the administration of justice by force are thereby going the way of the "world." However, this argument has no foundation, for, as we have seen in Deuteronomy, God had appointed judges long before the Israelites asked for a king. It was their desire to be like the nations around that was unspiritual, not the fact of government, or its forceful administration with penalties of various kinds.

The king, in fact, was called, like the judges, to revere God, to read and obey God's law himself, and to rule by it (Deut. 17:18–20). God delighted in those kings who loved him and who ruled justly according to his commandments (2 Sam. 7:8–16; Psalm 89:1–4, 19–37).

The Old Testament often spells out the relationship between divine and human justice. For example, Jehoshaphat appointed judges after a period of wickedness and lawlessness.

and said to the judges, “Consider what you do, for you judge not for man but for the Lord. He is with you in giving judgment. Now then, let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the Lord our God, or partiality or taking bribes" (2 Chronicles 19:6, 7).

The Purposes of Government

What were the purposes for which God established human government? There are three which stand out in the Old Testament, or they are repeated many times.

1. Maintaining justice in the fear of God according to his holy law and his wisdom (Deut. 16:18–20, Prov. 8:15, 16).
2. Punishing disobedience to the law justly and impartially. "Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent—the Lord detests them both" (Prov. 17:15; see also many passages in Exodus and Deuteronomy, especially Deut. 17:8–13).
3. Defending the poor and needy who have no advocate against aggression and injustice, and ensuring equity for them. "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy" (Prov. 31:8–9). God requires this attitude to the poor and oppressed from those in authority, because it is his own attitude (Psalm 146:7–9).

It should be clear from all these passages that God values justice on earth very highly, and that those who rule wisely and punish wrongdoers are honored and approved by him. So highly does God place the maintenance of justice that human rulers are given the title "gods" in Psalm 82. This psalm pictures God presiding over the assembly of human rulers from all the nations, calling them to account for their failure to judge justly and rescue the poor from the wicked who oppress them. It is because of passages like this that Calvin could write: "Civil authority is a calling not only holy and lawful before God, but also the most sacred and by far the most honorable of all callings in the whole life of mortal men."

Who Are the Peacemakers?, Jerram Barrs

Freudian slip?

I'm trying to avoid political discussion, but this was just funny.

Fox News' Megyn Kelly

I am working from home today and have Fox News on in the background to provide ground cover to block out the sounds of traffic or anything else that might distract me.

So in typical distraction free style, Fox News caught my attention when Megyn Kelly [bio] made what appeared to be a Freudian slip. But it was a good one ... well, at least it was a funny one:

"The president has just made a statement on the economy from the Awful Office... er, Oval Office.

"I'll only kiss my wife"

I've always liked Kirk Cameron. I loved "Growing Pains" when it was a popular sitcom. I thought Cameron's role as Michael Seaver was great. But he has come so far from those days.

Cameron is starring in the current movie "Fireproof," which looks like it will be a great movie. The movie was produced by the same church that produced "Facing the Giants"—a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed.

In this Today Show interview with Kirk Cameron, he reveals another admirable aspect of his character—he refuses to kiss anyone other than his wife, even when the movie script calls for a kiss. In fact, the script for Fireproof called for Cameron's character to kiss his co-star. In the interview, he described how he was able to keep his commitment to kiss no one but his wife and still star in this movie.

Fireproof trailer

The Justice of God – Part I

One o f the problems that troubles Western society is that of distinguishing between good and evil. Many thinkers today have recognized that it is meaningless to speak of good and evil or moral responsibility if we are only developed animals, complex biochemical organisms. We do not accuse computers of criminal behavior, though the complexity of our brain is compared to them, nor do we bring animals to trial, though we are said to have evolved from them.

The inability to distinguish finally between good and evil has produced terrible results throughout the world. In the West it has been one of the major factors leading to the breakdown of sexual morality and of family life, and also to the uncertainty about what constitutes human life. In the Communist world we see this “lawlessness” in the very fabric of government, because the rejection of absolute moral standards is a fundamental aspect of Marxist-Leninist teaching. Leonid Brezhnev repeated in 1970 some words of Lenin:

Our morality is completely subordinated to the interests of the class struggle of the proletariat…. Morality is that which serves to destroy the old exploiting society…. We deny all morality that is drawn from some conception beyond man, beyond class. We say that it is a deception … a fraud.

The consequences of this can be seen most clearly, and perfectly consistently, in the Cambodian revolution in which between one-third and one-half of the population were killed in order to bring about a new society.

God's Righteous Character

Christians should not have this problem of uncertainty about good and evil. God's own character gives us a definition of what is right and good, and all human behavior must be measured against his character. God's law, given to us in the Bible, expresses God's righteousness; and man, made in the image of that righteousness, is called to obey the law and judge his life against it. All human beings are created with a moral conscience, the "law of God written on the heart," but this can become confused or hardened, either by cultural tradition or by the individual's sinful choices. Beyond this, however, we have an absolute basis for knowing what is good and evil, for we can check all human ideas about morality against God's revelation of his character and law in Scripture.

As well as having an answer to the dilemma of moral uncertainty in our culture, the Christian also has a firm basis for determining what to do in his own life. Furthermore, he has a basis for withstanding the immorality of those in power, either in a democracy or dictatorship, and for withstanding "the will of the 51 percent" in Western society where morality changes with the consensus of the day.

Knowing with certainty the principles for human life which God has given in his law, we ought to provide a living example of righteousness to our society. And we ought also to bring these principles to bear on our society to improve its laws and institutions.

The Judgment of God

The doctrine of judgment follows on necessarily from God's revelation of his righteousness. As his character is the moral foundation of the universe, so any failure to meet God's perfect moral standards is known by him, exposed for what it is, and judged. Christians are often embarrassed by the doctrine of the judgment of God, in this age where evil is explained away and excused. But we ought rather to glory in it! Judgment means that in the end it really makes a difference whether we are kind or cruel, merciful or brutal. The Book of Ecclesiastes portrays the judgment of God as the one factor which makes sense of a world in which the wicked often prosper and the righteous perish.

We are taught in the twentieth century that any kind of judgment is cruel and vindictive. As Christians, however, we ought to reeducate ourselves according to Scripture and see punishment as good and right. God's judgment is a revelation that evil is evil, and is destructive to human life, and therefore it must be exposed and dealt with according to its nature. We ought to lament, as Christ does himself, that people are so foolish as to turn away from him and live their lives in disobedience (Matt. 23:37). We ought to imitate Jesus by giving ourselves in service to others, so that they might be moved by our love and come to repentance and faith. Yet we must, in a sense, but glad for the doctrine of judgment which declares once and for all that good and evil are different, that it does finally matter how people live their lives. God's punishment of sin, God's just wrath against the evildoer, must be seen as right and good.

Who Are the Peacemakers?, Jerram Barrs