Monday, February 27, 2012

thoughts on doubt


A pastor I respected while in seminary once said, “you’ve never truly believed until you have truly doubted.” At the time, I thought this was decent advice. Now, almost ten years later, I realize that this may not be good advice. What place does doubt have in Christianity or should it have a place at all? Doug Kelly, in his Systematic Theology book, describes the western rejection of God’s testimony of Himself in creation and conscience.  Doubt, Kelly explains, is a rejection of God’s testimony. On page 251 Kelly quotes T.F. Torrance, “Doubt rests upon a form of self-certainty” and “There is always a deep-seated element of false subjectivity in doubt”. This chapter helped me put together a string of thoughts on the subject.
 Ultimately doubt and skepticism hold self as their authority and not scripture. God’s word tells us in James 1:6, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.” One who treats scripture as a skeptic has no foundation and will be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. The one who holds the word of God as ultimate authority for faith and practice will stand on a secure foundation. We cannot trust our fallen intellect. Instead we must believe that we might truly know.  

Monday, February 13, 2012

no meeting on tuesday this week

Meet with us on THURSDAY night at Redeemer Presbyterian Church to continue our study of Zechariah. We're changing our meeting day and location one more time. Hope to see you there!

Friday, February 10, 2012

we had a Christmas party

Yes, almost two months ago we had a tacky sweater Christmas party. It was an especially tacky night of laughing and eating and gift-giving.
It was good to see our "home folk" who are away at college. It was also good to see my wife search our house for a week looking for junk to give away as gifts. Looking forward to many more parties with these students.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

we are still here

Redeemer Presbyterian Church College Ministry is still going strong! We finished Colossians, then moved on to a book by Martin Lloyd-Jones, The Plight of Man and the power of God. Now we are deep into Zechariah (the 31st book of the Old Testament). As we studied chapter 4 of this book tonight, we realized the depth our our human inability and the hope of God's sovereignty.
Zechariah was sent to encourage the people to continue the work of rebuilding the temple. The candles in this fifth vision represent the truth of God coming to a dark world. He is building His church and He will finish the work. Human plans fail and change. This is why we must pray and faithfully continue the work... through discouragement, through despair, through struggles.
These truths give us hope, especially in evangelism. We will see our churches, college ministries, and relationships grow WHEN we are faithfully doing God's work as He said to do it. He will complete the work.