Good News, Meet America

I don't like posting school assignments on my blog. If I did, I would be thought of as an ostentatious, pretentious Bible school student. I wouldn't be able to live with myself, knowing that the truth had been exposed. Oh well. My cover is now blown.


But seriously. This was a reflection on a reading from Herman Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics for my doctrine class. I love how Bavinck writes in a way that 21st century American Christians can understand and currently relate to. The assignment for class was to either 1) seek to theologically answer a question from the reading, or 2) interact with the ideas in a way that would apply them to life today. Here is my attempt at modern-day application.


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Bavinck begins this assigned reading by restating his conclusion from the previous chapter that all societies have an understanding of their need for redemption. In his hypothesis, societies that are more culturally advanced feel this need more deeply. I understood what he said to mean that the more easily a society has access to ease, comfort, and pleasure, and the more time a society has to pursue those things, the more clearly that society will understand that its self-salvation projects cannot save.

This premise begs the question, “Do lesser-developed cultures actually feel their need for reconciliation less?” Though anything stated in a short essay will result in gross overgeneralization, we can know that some of the most fruitful Gospel ministries seem to take place in parts of the world where the people have very limited technology and rudimentary amenities. Perhaps, all societies are aware of their need for reconciliation, but in different ways. All men know that God exists and are universally under condemnation (Romans 1:18-19); lesser developed cultures seem more “aware” of their need for reconciliation in that they have not delved the depths of depravity and are a more fertile soil for the Gospel to take root; advanced societies are “aware” in the sense that they have delved the depths of the insufficiency of depravity, but that “awareness” may or may not result in repentance.

One might then ask, “What about the advancement of a culture makes it feel this need so deeply?” To answer this question, one might survey the avenues by which an advanced culture seeks to satiate itself, thusly dry heaving on that which cannot satisfy. Three examples are 1) the obsession with athletics, 2) the pressure become more highly educated, and 3) the accessibility to pornography and all kinds of sexual indulgence.

America (and a large part of the West) places inordinate importance on the professional athlete. This seems to be indicative a culture that seeks to worship something or someone, and has the resources to make demigods of the physically exceptional. This idolatry is evident when an “A-list” athlete (or musician) makes a big mistake, and the civilized world gets extremely upset, as though someone they thought incapable of such a mistake has done the unthinkable. The worship of their god(dess) was shown for what it was. Unsatisfying.

The emphasis on education seems indicative of a culture that worships the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. While there are truly many brilliant secular minds who have discovered incredible complexities in the secular world, it is curious that almost every one of them seem solemn, sullen, and completely dissatisfied with their station in life.

The accessibility of sexual gratification, namely pornography, seems indicative of a culture that seeks to solve the problem of dissatisfaction with pleasure. What is interesting is that those who delve the depths of the dissatisfaction of sexual depravity actually experience not a decreased desire for sex, but a morbid increasing of a desire for that which is progressively more depraved.

I believe that these hunger pangs the West (in particular) experiences are great opportunities to present the satisfaction of Christ and His Gospel. Unlike athletes or musicians, there is the God-Man who will never make a mistake. He will never disappoint. His exceptionality is so much more worth our scrutiny than Kobe Bryant or John Mayer. Instead of pursuing education, we can tell the world that man will never know enough to extricate himself from the guilt of sin or discover enough scientific theories to escape our immanent death and judgment before a thrice-holy God. Instead of filling the body with sexual pleasure, we can preach the all-satisfying nature of the sacrifice of Christ. The favor of God rests upon us, because He sees His Son’s righteousness covering us. Sex numbs. Christ enlivens. Pleasure dulls the mind. The Gospel breathes life into the driest and most parched regions of the soul. We just need to proclaim the message.

In conclusion, some cultures may be have traveled further down the road of corruption than others. That is a statement of fact. However, no matter how far some society has progressed down that road, all are responsible before God for the separation between God and man. Furthermore, Christians are responsible to engage the culture where it stands, pointing out how hopeless and helpless every other-than-Gospel solution is in comparison to the sufficiency of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, for He alone gives life.

.DSN.

Maturing into Manhood: The Great Ones

Reformed theology has been proven time and again as a wonderful servant of the Church. A worldview that seeks to continually see the hand of God in all things for the furtherance of the Good can only aid in an ever-expanding view of the power and majesty of the God who, in an act of pure mercy and condescension, thought it right to redeem my life from the pit and rescue me from my headlong sprint towards eternal damnation.

As with all systematized ideologies, no matter how accurate of a picture of reality they present, Reformed theology can have particular aspects emphasized to the detriment of other parts--thus skewering one's understanding of the way that the world actually is. One such skewering occurs in the area of sanctification. For example, one might so love and embrace the doctrine of the sovereignty of God in the act of salvation, he or she might then misapply all-God-ness to the process of sanctification.

This misapplication would see the sovereignty and affect of God's work in the life of the believer in such a way that every single person is on level ground in relation to God. This is true from a positional sense--facedown at the foot of the cross, none are more mighty, none are more capable, none are more worthy than anyone else. However, on a horizontal level, there are incredible differences between persons.

I believe that the Lord saved me in the spring of 2008. At the point of my conversion, I was in no way any more worthy of salvation than the eighty-year-old brother who had been walking with the Lord for three of my lifetimes. However, I would be an fool to think that the depth, sincerity, and steadfastness of our faiths were very similar at all.

It is not as though this were the only subsection of Reformed theology (or any theology, for that matter) that must be smoothed out and broadened. Emphasizing one aspect of anything to the exclusion of its counterpart always leads to great misunderstandings in all other kinds of ways.

So, in speaking about "great men," there is an obstacle to overcome; Western culture has looked to public figures in any arena as the functional saviors of mankind. These are the men commonly called "great." If I were to use the term "great" in this  self-accomplished sense, then all lovers of God and defenders of truth should quickly point out that I am ascribing something to people who have ultimately done nothing to stand where they do. Such an accusation against me would be just.

However, I see immense value in labeling men and women as great insofar as God is recognized as having produced this "greatness." If God is one recognized as producing what is great in a man, the criteria for "greatness" is then much different than the criteria for some talented person who has attained some level of notoriety.

If God is the great-maker, His great man is one who He has caused to stand above others. He may or may not be known by many. He may or may not be financially wealthy. He may or may not have many skills, talents, or abilities. But God's great man is one who knows and is known by God. He is one whose time in prayer yields fruit. His intimate knowledge of his Father is evidenced by the insights he gains when basking in the Word; his advice and wisdom are the natural overflows from his time with his Friend. God's great man is rich in faith. He is not one who worries about tomorrow, because he has seen the provision of his Lord in the past; his present and future hope is grounded in past grace given him by his loving Dad. God's great man is a hard worker. Whether or not he is particularly gifted intellectually, physically, musically, or whatever the ability du jour so happens to be, he sees that God has given him a work to do, a will to obey, and a woman to love. For this man, joy isn't found by looking for the next shiny new toy, or the next thrill of life; joy is found in being satisfied in what the Lord has put before him each day, doing every single thing as for the Lord and not for men.

God's great man sees suffering as a good gift from a loving Father for the molding of him into the image of the Christ. Instead of hiding from suffering (extreme) or wallowing in it (extreme), he takes the affliction from God in stride; he knows that hard times will befall him. He knows that he will be bruised but not broken, struck down but not destroyed. This surety in the decree of God enables him to absorb an inhuman amount of difficulty, because he does not find his strength in his human will. His strength is otherworldly. It is a truly great strength.

Greatness is a high order. Greatness is not bestowed easily, and all human efforts to attain it are by nature self-defeating. If true greatness is seen only by a changed heart softened by God alone, no man can become truly great by putting on some great display. Because the truths of Reformed theology hold fast, there is no way that any one man can become great in himself. In fact, I would go so far to say that a prerequisite for becoming a great man is not caring about becoming "great" at all. However, that which makes a great man are simply the characteristics of a heart that has been loved and therefore loves its Savior.

What is the solution to a lack of greatness? Beg the Lord for the heart of a lion and the humility of a bug to pursue the life of a man in joyful submission to the real Man, the God-Man, Jesus Christ.

Deus Spes Nostra