There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
We subscribe to the Westminster Standards as our doctrinal statement. It consists of the following documents:
The Westminster Confession of Faith The Westminster Larger Catechism The Westminster Shorter Catechism
We also believe that Christian Worship is to be regulated and defined by God’s Word, the Bible.
Our worship services are designed to please and honor the Triune God of the Bible. We place Scripture reading and the preaching of the word of God at the center of worship along with Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These are God’s gifts to His church and ought to always be at the center of Christian worship. We are a congregation that loves to sing God’s praises, recite His Word back to Him, and actively engage in hearing and learning from God’s Word.
We embrace and promote a comprehensive Christian world and life view.
There is no area of life which is not under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is to God and His law which all people, including governments and civil rulers, will answer. The Word of God embraces and informs the way we view marriage, the family, children, education, politics, worship, law, government, war, the church, missions, evangelism, and worship. In the world today there is a battle of opposing worldviews. There are basically only two positions: God’s Word and man’s ideas. We stand positively for Biblical truth and negatively against man’s ideas which are opposed to Biblical truth.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only hope for mankind.
Because all men fall short of obeying God’s law, all men everywhere are in need of divine grace and salvation from God. This salvation is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ who died for sinners, was buried, rose again, and is alive today seated at God the Father’s right hand.
We Worship God Together as Families.
We offer nursery during morning worship service for newborns and infants but encourage people to keep as many of their children as they can with them for morning worship. The audio of the service is in the nursery via speakers. There is also a crying room with a video screen and audio of the sermon. We offer Sunday school classes for all ages but worship together as families. We do not offer “children’s” church. Children need to be in morning worship as soon as possible so they can learn how to participate as active worshipers of God which includes the singing of His praises and listening actively to sermons.
The Church does not Preach the True Gospel (Justification by Faith) – Pastor Patrick Hines #shorts
Looking unto Jesus…who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame….
HEBREWS 12:2
Those who have gone through some “long night of the soul” realize that there is a limit to man’s ability to live without joy!
Even Christ could endure the cross only because of the joy set before Him.
The strongest steel breaks if kept too long under unrelieved tension. Believe it that God knows exactly how much pressure each one of us can take! He knows how long we can endure the night, so He gives the soul relief, first by welcome glimpses of the morning star and then by the fuller light that harbingers the morning.
Slowly you will discover God’s love in your suffering. Your heart will begin to approve the whole thing. You will learn from yourself what all the schools in the world could not teach you—the healing action of faith without supporting pleasure!
You will feel and understand the ministry of the night; its power to purify, to detach, to humble, to destroy the fear of death, and what is more important to you at the moment, the fear of life. And you will learn that sometimes pain can do what even joy cannot, such as exposing the vanity of earth’s trifles and filling your heart with longing for the peace of heaven!
What I write here is in no way original. This has been discovered anew by each generation of Christian seekers and is almost a cliché of the deeper life. A few will understand—and they will constitute the hard core of practicing saints so badly needed at this serious hour if New Testament Christianity is to survive to the next generation!1
See with what matchless generosity the Lord provides for his people’s apparel. They are so arrayed that the divine skill is seen producing an unrivalled broidered work, in which every attribute takes its part and every divine beauty is revealed. No art like the art displayed in our salvation, no cunning workmanship like that beheld in the righteousness of the saints. Justification has engrossed learned pens in all ages of the church, and will be the theme of admiration in eternity. God has indeed “curiously wrought it.” With all this elaboration there is mingled utility and durability, comparable to our being shod with badgers’ skins. The animal here meant is unknown, but its skin covered the tabernacle, and formed one of the finest and strongest leathers known. The righteousness which is of God by faith endureth for ever, and he who is shod with this divine preparation will tread the desert safely, and may even set his foot upon the lion and the adder. Purity and dignity of our holy vesture are brought out in the fine linen. When the Lord sanctifies his people, they are clad as priests in pure white; not the snow itself excels them; they are in the eyes of men and angels fair to look upon, and even in the Lord’s eyes they are without spot. Meanwhile the royal apparel is delicate and rich as silk. No expense is spared, no beauty withheld, no daintiness denied.
What, then? Is there no inference from this? Surely there is gratitude to be felt and joy to be expressed. Come, my heart, refuse not thy evening hallelujah! Tune thy pipes! Touch thy chords!
THE apostle John plunges at once into his subject, and begins to discourse upon the Word made flesh, in whom his soul delighted.
1–3 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. (How strong are John’s expressions as to the certainty of our Lord’s having appeared in the flesh. He had been heard, seen, studiously observed, and actually touched; his appearing was no fiction or pious legend, but a sure matter of fact, and he who appeared was none other than Jesus, the eternal life.)
4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. (Fellowship with Jesus and joy lie so closely together, that the apostle could aim at both at the same time.)
5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
These little words contain a mint of meaning. What a wondrous sentence,—“God is light!”
6, 7 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (Only in truth and holiness can we have fellowship with God, and to render this possible to such sinful creatures as we are, the precious blood of Jesus must purge us from sin. Have we all been cleansed by it?)
8–10 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (God only acts according to the truth, he will meet us as sinners, for that is our true character; but if we claim to be innocent, he cannot admit that falsehood, and will not commune with us.)
1 John 2:1–11
MY little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: (This one sentence is worth the whole of the kingdoms of the world.)
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our’s only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (He did not die for Jews alone, but to all races the way of salvation is opened by his atoning blood.)
3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. (Our life and conversation are to ourselves as well as to others the best evidence as to our state.)
4, 5 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
7, 8 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. (The love of our brother is in one sense an old command, for it is the substance of the second table of the law; but the gospel sets it in a new light beneath the cross, and binds us to keep it by new and powerful obligations.)
9–11 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. (Hatred is darkness, love is light; the revengeful man is an heir of eternal midnight. Let us purge ourselves from all anger, malice, and envy, for these are evils of the darkest dye.)1
For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. (8:19–22)
The first groan is the personified lament coming from the created universe as it now exists in the corrupted condition caused by the Fall.
Apokaradokia (anxious longing) is an especially vivid word that literally refers to watching with outstretched head, and suggests standing on tiptoes with the eyes looking ahead with intent expectancy. The prefix apo adds the idea of fixed absorption and concentration on that which is anticipated. The creation is standing on tiptoes, as it were, as it waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
Jews were familiar with God’s promise of a redeemed world, a renewed creation. In behalf of the Lord, Isaiah predicted, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Isa. 65:17). Jews anticipated a glorious time when all pain, oppression, slavery, anxiety, sorrow, and persecution would end and the Lord would establish His own perfect kingdom of peace and righteousness.
Even nonbiblical Jewish writings reflect that longing. The Apocalypse of Baruch describes an expected and long-awaited future utopia:
The vine shall yield its fruit ten thousand fold, and on each vine there shall be a thousand branches; and each branch shall produce a thousand clusters; and each cluster produce a thousand grapes; and each grape a cor of wine. And those who have hungered shall rejoice; moreover, also, they shall behold marvels every day. For winds shall go forth from before me to bring every morning the fragrance of aromatic fruits, and at the close of the day clouds distilling the dews of health. (29:5)
Jewish sections of Sibylline Oracles record similar expectations. “And earth, and all the trees, and the innumerable flocks of sheep shall give their true fruit to mankind, of wine and of sweet honey and of white milk and of corn, which to men is the most excellent gift of all” 3:620–33. Later in the oracles it says,
Earth, the universal mother, shall give to mortals her best fruit in countless store of corn, wine and oil. Yea, from heaven shall come a sweet draught of luscious honey. The trees shall yield their proper fruits, and rich flocks, and kine, and lambs of sheep and kids of goats. He will cause sweet fountains of white milk to burst forth. And the cities shall be full of good things, and the fields rich; neither shall there be any sword throughout the land or battle-din; nor shall the earth be convulsed any more, nor shall there be any more drought throughout the land, no famine, or hail to work havoc on the crops. 3:744–56
Creation does not here include the heavenly angels, who, although created beings, are not subject to corruption. The term obviously does not include Satan and his host of fallen angels, the demons. They have no desire for a godly, sinless state and know they are divinely sentenced to eternal torment. Believers are not included in that term either, because they are mentioned separately in verses 23–25. Nor is Paul referring to unbelievers. The only remaining part of creation is the nonrational part, including animals and plants and all inanimate things such as the mountains, rivers, plains, seas, and heavenly bodies.
Jews were familiar with such a personification of nature. Isaiah had used it when he wrote that “The wilderness and the desert will be glad, and the Arabah will rejoice and blossom” (Isa. 35:1), and later that “the mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands” (55:12).
Waits eagerly translates a form of the verb apekdechomai, which refers to waiting in great anticipation but with patience. The form of the Greek verb gives the added connotations of readiness, preparedness, and continuance until the expected event occurs.
Revealing translates apokalupsis, which refers to an uncovering, unveiling, or revelation. It is this word from which the English name of the book of Revelation is derived (see Rev. 1:1). The world does not comprehend who Christians really are. In his first epistle, John explained to fellow believers: “See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him” (1 John 3:1).
In the present age, the world is unable to distinguish absolutely between Christians and nonbelievers. People who call themselves Christians walk, dress, and talk much like everyone else. Many unbelievers have high standards of behavior. On the other hand, unfortunately, many professing Christians give little evidence of salvation. But at the appointed time God will reveal those who are truly His.
At the revealing of the sons of God, “when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then [believers] also will be revealed with Him in glory” (Col. 3:4). At that time, all believers will be eternally separated from sin and their unredeemed humanness, to be glorified with Christ’s own holiness and splendor.
When Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God’s command, not only mankind but the earth and all the rest of the world was cursed and corrupted. After the Fall, God said to Adam,
Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, “You shall not eat from it”; cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. (Gen. 3:17–19)
Before the Fall, no weeds or poisonous plants, no thorns or thistles or anything else existed that could cause man misery or harm. But after the Fall, the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it. Mataiotēs (futility) carries the idea of being without success, of being unable to achieve a goal or purpose. Because of man’s sin, no part of nature now exists as God intended it to be and as it originally was. The verb was subjected indicates by its form that nature did not curse itself but was cursed by something or someone else. Paul goes on to reveal that the curse on nature was executed by its Creator. God Himself subjected it to futility.
Although various environmental organizations and government agencies today make noble attempts to protect and restore natural resources and regions, they are helpless to turn the tide of corruption that has continually devastated both man and his environment since the Fall. Such is the destructiveness of sin that one man’s disobedience brought corruption to the entire universe. Decay, disease, pain, death, natural disaster, pollution, and all other forms of evil will never cease until the One who sent the curse removes it and creates a new heaven and a new earth (2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1).
No less a naturalist than John Muir was in serious error when he wrote that nature is “unfallen and undepraved” and that only man is a “blighting touch.” The sentimental environmentalists of our time advocate living in some relaxed and easy “harmony with nature.” Some are crying for the government to take us back to living in the Dark Ages, when, they assume, people and nature were in harmony. All the corruptions of this fallen environment were different in the past from what technology and industry has wrought—but perhaps even more deadly. Certainly disease and death, as well as exposure to the natural elements and disasters, was much greater in the past. And when people were supposedly living nearer nature, they had less comfort, more pain, harder times, more disease, and died younger. This is not a friendly earth but a violent and dangerous one. It is a ridiculous fantasy to think it is not cursed and that it naturally yields a comfortable life.
In spite of this curse, however, much of the beauty, grandeur, and benefits of the natural world remains. Although they all deteriorate, flowers are still beautiful, mountains are still grand, forests are still magnificent, the heavenly bodies are still majestic, food still brings nourishment and is a pleasure to eat, and water still brings refreshment and sustains life. Despite the terrible curse that He inflicted on the earth, God’s majesty and gracious provision for mankind is still evident wherever one looks. It is for that reason that no person has an excuse for not believing in God: “Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20).
Nature’s destiny is inseparably linked to man’s. Because man sinned, the rest of creation was corrupted with him. Likewise, when man’s glory is divinely restored, the natural world will be restored as well. Therefore, Paul says, there is hope even for the natural creation itself, which will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. In other words, just as man’s sin brought corruption to the universe, so man’s restoration to righteousness will be accompanied by the restoration of the earth and its universe to their divinely-intended perfection and glory.
In physics, the law of entropy refers to the constant and irreversible degradation of matter and energy in the universe to increasing disorder. That scientific law clearly contradicts the theory of evolution, which is based on the premise that the natural world is inclined to continual self-improvement. But it is evident even in a simple garden plot that, when it is untended, it deteriorates. Weeds and other undesirable plants will choke out the good ones. The natural bent of the universe—whether of humans, animals, plants, or the inanimate elements of the earth and heavens—is obviously and demonstrably downward, not upward. It could not be otherwise while the world remains in slavery to the corruption of sin.
Yet despite their continual corruption and degeneration, neither man nor the universe itself will bring about their ultimate destruction. That is in the province of God alone, and there is no need to fear an independently initiated human holocaust. Men need fear only the God whom they rebelliously spurn and oppose. The destiny of earth is entirely in the hands of its Creator, and that destiny includes God’s total destruction of the sin-cursed universe. “The day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10). That destruction will be on a scale infinitely more powerful than any man-made devices could achieve.
In his vision on Patmos, John “saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.… and [God] shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away, And He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ And He said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true’ ” (Rev. 21:1, 4–5).
It is for that promised time of redemption and restoration that all nature groans in hope and expectation. As with “was subjected” in the previous verse, the verb will be set free is passive, indicating that nature will not restore itself but will be restored by God, who Himself long ago subjected it to corruption and futility.
Jesus referred to that awesome time as “the regeneration,” a time when the old sinful environment will be radically judged and be replaced with God’s new and righteous one. “Truly I say to you,” He told the disciples, “that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matt. 19:28).
The freedom of the glory of the children of God refers to the time when all believers will be liberated from sin, liberated from the flesh, and liberated from their humanness. At that time we will begin to share eternally in God’s own glory, with which God will clothe all His precious children. John reminds us, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2). In describing that glorious day, Paul wrote,
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” (1 Cor. 15:51–54)
It is impossible for our finite minds to comprehend such divine mysteries. But by God’s own Holy Spirit within us we can believe all of His revealed truth and rejoice with absolute and confident hope that our eternal life with our Father in heaven is secure. We acknowledge with Paul that “our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself” (Phil. 3:20–21).
We also acknowledge with the apostle that nature also awaits with hope for our redemption, a redemption it will share with us in its own way. But until that wonderful day and in anticipation of it, the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
Stenazō (groans) refers to the utterances of a person who is caught in a dreadful situation and has no immediate prospect of deliverance. The term is used in its noun form by Luke to describe the desperate utterances of the Israelites during their bondage in Egypt (Acts 7:34). The verb is used by the writer of Hebrews to describe the frustration and grief of church leaders caused by immature and unruly members (13:17).
The groaning and suffering of the creation will one day cease, because God will deliver it from its corruption and futility. In the meanwhile, it endures the pains of childbirth. Like Eve, whose sin brought the curse of painful human childbirth (Gen. 3:16), nature endures its own kind of labor pains. But also like Eve and her descendants, nature’s pains of childbirth presage new life.
Paul makes no mention of how or when the world will be made new. Nor does he give the phases of that cosmic regeneration or the sequence of events. Many other passages of Scripture shed light on the details of the curses being lifted (see Isa. 30:23–24; 35:1–7; etc.) and the ultimate creation of a new heavens and a new earth (2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 22:3), but Paul’s purpose here is to assure his readers in general terms that God’s master plan of redemption encompasses the entire universe.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote with deep insight:
I wonder whether the phenomenon of the Spring supplies us with a part answer. Nature every year, as it were, makes an effort to renew itself, to produce something permanent; it has come out of the death and the darkness of all that is so true of the Winter. In the Spring it seems to be trying to produce a perfect creation, to be going through some kind of birth-pangs year by year. But unfortunately it does not succeed, for Spring leads only to Summer, whereas Summer leads to Autumn, and Autumn to Winter. Poor old nature tries every year to defeat the “vanity,” the principle of death and decay and disintegration that is in it. But it cannot do so. It fails every time. It still goes on trying, as if it feels things should be different and better; but it never succeeds. So it goes on “groaning and travailing in pain together until now.” It has been doing so for a very long time … but nature still repeats the effort annually. (Romans) [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980], 6:59–601
The Redemption of Creation
Romans 8:19–21
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
At the end of our previous study I wrote about the importance of the word consider in verse 18. It refers to a rational process by which a thinking person is able to figure something out. What Paul is thinking about is, as we would say, whether the Christian life is worth it. The Christian life is not easy. It involves rigorous self-denial, persecutions, even some sufferings. Unbelievers, worldly people, seem to have it better. Why should we, too, not live only for pleasure? What is to be gained by godliness?
As Paul considers this, it becomes perfectly evident to him why the Christian way is the only rational way—for two reasons we have already studied and for another that we are to investigate now. The first reason is the contrast between the short duration of our present sufferings and the timelessness of eternity. In verse 18 Paul uses the word present to refer to the shortness of this temporal age and does not actually mention eternity. But in the parallel text in 2 Corinthians 4:17 he contrasts our “momentary troubles” with “eternal glory,” making the point explicit.
The second reason why the Christian life is “rational” lies in the contrast between the weight of our sufferings, which is light, and the weight of the glory yet to come. Paul does not deny that the earthly sufferings we experience are grievous. In 1 and 2 Corinthians he lists some of the tribulations he endured, and they were indeed heavy. But, he says, weighty as they are, “our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Think it out, he says. Put both on a scale. If you do, you will find that our present sufferings are really inconsequential if compared with the glory to come: “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:17).
The Hopeful Cosmos
The two arguments from verse 18 are alone adequate to prove Paul’s point: that the Christian life is eminently worth it. But because Paul’s was an extraordinary mind, he continues the argument into verse 19 and beyond. We miss this a bit in the New International Version since, in an effort to provide smooth English sentences, the translators have eliminated the conjunction “for,” which actually begins the verse. You will see that word at the start of verse 20, but “for” actually begins verse 19 and verse 18 as well.
The verses literally say, “For I consider.… For the creation waits.… For the creation was subjected.…” In other words, verses 18–21 are all part of a long and carefully sustained argument.
The new element at this point is “the creation” or, as we would probably say today, “the cosmos.” It is important to get this reference straight, for the word creation can obviously refer to every and all things God has made: man, the angels, demons, the physical universe, animals, whatever. But is that its meaning here? A little thought will show that in these verses creation must have a restricted meaning.
John Murray does the best job of anyone in analyzing this, for he shows in his commentary that verses 20–23 clearly delimit the term. “Angels are not included because they were not subjected to vanity and to the bondage of corruption. Satan and the demons are not included because they cannot be regarded as longing for the manifestation of the sons of God and they will not share in the liberty of the glory of the children of God. The children of God themselves are not included because they are distinguished from ‘the creation’ (vv. 19, 21, 23).… The unbelieving of mankind cannot be included because the earnest expectation does not characterize them.” In other words, “all of rational creation is excluded by the terms of verses 20–23.” The only thing that is left is the “non-rational creation, animate and inanimate.”
And that is just it! Paul is talking about the physical world of matter, plants, and animals. His argument is that nature is in a presently imperfect state, but that it is longing for the day of liberation. Paul is personifying nature, of course, but he does not mean that inanimate nature has personal feelings that correspond to ours. He means only that nature is not yet all that God has predestined it to be. It is waiting for its true fulfillment. But if nature is waiting, we should be willing to wait in hope, too, knowing that a glorious outcome is certain. This is the third reason why Christianity is worth it.
The Blind (Unbelieving) Observer
This view of creation is radically different from the world’s, of course, and this is worth pursuing. In general the world makes either one of two errors. Either it deifies the cosmos, virtually worshiping it as an ideal. Or else it regards the cosmos as gradually evolving toward perfection, accompanied by the human race, which is also so evolving.
I am sure many of us have in mind that powerful television image of Carl Sagan on the science series “Cosmos,” standing before a large screen on which there is a display of a segment of the night sky in its brilliant starry splendor and saying in nearly mystical tones, “The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.” That is what I mean by deifying the cosmos. In this series Sagan is a portrait of unbelieving man, standing on the very tips of his toes, peering off into the distant and mysterious heavens as far as his telescopes will allow, and declaring with blind arrogance, “The world is all that is.”
But Paul gives us a different picture, although he, too, pictures something staring off into the distance. That is the meaning of the words “waits in eager expectation.” J. B. Phillips captures this idea literally when he translates “is on tiptoe to see.…” But, according to Paul, it is not man who is on tiptoe looking. It is creation itself. In other words, if Carl Sagan could see as the Christian sees, he would say that the entire cosmos is actually looking beyond itself to God. And what creation is earnestly awaiting, as it looks beyond itself, is the “glorious freedom of the children of God” that it will share.
There are few images to equal this in all Scripture.
The world makes another error that is not entirely different from the first but is related to that idea. It sees in nature some kind of ongoing and automatic perfecting principle. This is almost like saying that the world is not God yet, but it is on the way. In cosmic terms this is the principle of evolution. In human terms it is the principle of inevitable perfection: “Every day in every way I am getting better and better.” In other words, “I may not be God yet, but I will be, given time.” Of course, a lot of time has gone by—millions of years according to L. S. B. Leakey and other evolutionists—yet man seems to be as much unlike God as he ever was. And man’s world is woefully far from perfect.
A Christian World-View
The Christian’s perspective, supplied by Scripture, is at this point far more balanced and mature than anything the blind and unbelieving world can devise. The Christian doctrine of the cosmos has three parts.
1. This is God’s world. Everything in our passage presupposes this, not least the fact that the cosmos is called “creation.” That term presupposes a Creator, which is exactly what the Christian maintains is the case. This world is not eternally existent. Scientific evidence for the Big Bang alone tells us that. Nor did the world come into existence by itself. Reason tells us that. For, in order for the creation to come into being “by itself,” it would have to create itself, and that would mean it was in existence before it was created. In other words, it would have had to be and not be at the same time and in the same relationship, which is absurd. The only rational view of origins is that God made everything.
The consequence of this for Christians is that the cosmos—the creation—has value, not because humans ascribe value to it but because God created it and it is therefore valuable to him. Here we have a fundamental divergence between the Christian and the non-Christian outlooks.
Because Christians view the creation as God’s handiwork, they respect and value the cosmos but do not worship it as an end in itself. Those who do not understand that God is Creator of the cosmos either worship the universe, which I have suggested Carl Sagan comes very close to doing, or else they abuse it, stripping it of anything that is of value to themselves. People cut down entire forests, allowing the earth to erode uselessly away. Or they poison their water, killing the fish and endangering their own health. Or they pollute the air, perhaps even damaging the protective ozone layer around the earth and thereby subjecting themselves and their descendants to the sun’s destructive rays.
2. This world is not what it was created to be. The problems with the cosmos are not only those that the human race has inflicted on it, mostly destruction and pollution. The world has also been subjected to troubles as the result of God’s judgment on man, rendered at the time of the fall. God told Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you,” and “It will produce thorns and thistles for you” (Gen. 3:17–18). Nature had not sinned; Adam had. But nature was subjected to a downgrading because of him and thus entered into his judgment. It is this trouble, the result of God’s judgment on sin, that Paul is particularly concerned with in Romans. He uses three words to describe it.
First, frustration. This is the feeling we humans have when we know we should attain to some goal and are trying to reach it but are repeatedly thrown back or defeated. I want to go carefully at this point, since Paul does not explain exactly what he is thinking of. But let me suggest that (whether or not this is exactly what he has in mind) we have a picture of the creation’s “frustration” in the way nature asserts itself in the annual renewal of springtime but is constantly defeated as spring passes into autumn and autumn into winter. It is as if nature wants always to be glorious but is impeded in its attempts to be so.
If that is a valid example, it leads me to think further to the way C. S. Lewis developed the idea in the first of his Narnia Chronicles, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. You may recall that in the first section of that book, when Narnia was under the power of the wicked Witch of the North, the land was in a state of perpetual winter. Spring never came. But when Aslan died and rose again, a picture of Christ’s resurrection, the ice began to melt, flowers began to bloom, the trees turned green, and an eternal spring was brought into existence. Using that image, we could say that the cosmos as we know it is in a state of winter now but is looking forward to that eternal spring of which the diurnal springs we know here are only hints of what is promised.
Our winters, the “winters of our discontent,” link us to inanimate nature in its and our own frustrations.
Second, bondage. The bondage of nature is linked to its frustration and is the cause of it. But bondage speaks of the actual state of things, while frustration has to do with the resulting feelings. Bondage literally means slavery, wherein one entity is unwillingly subjected to the authority of another. This is what Paul means here. He is saying that although nature does not want to be as it is, it is powerless to do anything about it. The creation needs to be delivered by God.
This is what redemption is all about, of course, which is why I have called this chapter “The Redemption of Creation.” The creation longs for redemption, and it will have it when the children of God are likewise fully redeemed.
Third, decay. Nothing Paul says about creation is as obvious to today’s scientific observers as this: the cosmos is decaying or running down. This is called the second law of thermodynamics. It is another scientific axiom that neither mass nor energy are destroyed but are only converted from one to the other. Einstein’s formula of relativity, E=Mc2, is an expression of this. But although, by this formula, energy is not being destroyed, it is nevertheless becoming increasingly dissipated, which means that it is becoming increasingly less useful. For example, the sun’s energy is not being lost even though its mass is being converted into energy. But that energy is being dissipated into space, where it is not accomplishing anything, and one day the sun will use up its energy and be gone. The whole universe is like that. It is all running down, dissipating, becoming increasingly useless.
However, Paul was probably thinking specifically of death, which comes to all living things, rather than the scientific principles I mentioned, since he would hardly have known of these “laws” except by general observation. It is not only the sun that is dying, of course. Living creatures die, too.
3. The world will one day be renewed. The third point in a Christian doctrine of creation is that, in spite of creation’s current frustration, bondage, and decay, the day is coming when the world will be renewed. Spring will come, and the winter of creation’s present discontent will be past history.
I am not sure how to understand this, though I know the options. Some people think of the redemption of creation in terms of the millennium, when Christ will rule on earth and a glorious “golden age” will be ushered in. Some think of this as a future eternal state, intangible and quite cut off from this present age of imperfection and suffering. Perhaps the closest we can come (and still be fairly sure we are on the right track) is by an analogy to the “redemption of our bodies,” which is brought into the picture in verse 24. The redemption of our bodies means the resurrection of our bodies. So perhaps this is what creation will experience, a resurrection. In our resurrections we will have a continuity of our bodies (our earthly bodies will be raised), but our bodies will be different, heavenly, glorified. Creation will probably experience something like that, too.
Isn’t this what the text must mean when it says, “Creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (v. 21)?
Paradise Regained
A few paragraphs back I traced the origin of the world’s troubles to Genesis 3, where we are told that creation was subjected to the “frustration” described by Paul because of the sin of our first parents. I return to that chapter now, since in Genesis 3 we also find the promise of God’s solution to the problem, which puts the redemption of creation in proper context.
What happened in the Garden of Eden is that Satan, the great enemy of God, tried to impede God’s plans to create a world of men and women who would know and love him. Satan thought that if he could get the man and woman to rebel against God, he would defeat God’s purpose. When he accomplished their fall, he thought he had done so. Indeed, he seemed to have done even better. For not only did he draw our first parents away from God, he brought the judgment of God upon creation itself. That beautiful world was tarnished, spoiled. It began to decay, and the creatures who had caused its fall and God’s judgment soon added their own destructive efforts to its ruin.
Ah, but God intervened. It is true that God came in judgment on Satan and on the woman and the man and the world they had known. But even as he pronounced a judgment upon Satan, God also gave a promise of a future deliverer, saying, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Gen. 3:15). This was a promise that Jesus would come one day to save all who would believe on him, but it was also more than that. It was a promise that in Christ God would frustrate Satan, undo his destructive works, and once again bring a redeemed human race into a redeemed creation. The promise was that Paradise will be perfected and regained.
As I said, I do not know what all this is going to mean, anymore than I know exactly what our resurrection bodies will be like. But I know how the prophet Isaiah speaks of it. In that day, he says:
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 11:6–9
Poetical? Of course, but what a powerful picture of the redeemed world that will be! The creation is waiting for that day, says Paul. And if it is, can we not wait in hopeful expectation, too? And be faithful children of God?
Looking to Jesus
What I am commending to you is a Christian perspective on this life and all we know in it, what the theologians call a world-and-life view. And I am suggesting, as Paul does, that adopting it will rearrange your values and change your approach to suffering and the disappointments of life. If you learn to reason as Paul does, you will experience the following:
1. You will not be surprised when things go wrong in this life. This world is not a good place. We live in a fallen environment. Your plans will misfire, you will often fail, others will destroy what you have spent long years and much toil to accomplish. This will be true even if you are a Christian and are trying to follow Jesus. But your successes are not what life is all about. What matters is your love for God and your faithfulness.
2. You will not place your ultimate hope in anything human beings can do to improve this world’s conditions. This does not mean that you will fail to do what good you can do in this life as well as encourage others in their efforts to do good. As a Christian, you will. But you will not delude yourself into thinking that the salvation of the world’s ills will be brought about by mere human efforts. You will feed the poor, but you will know that Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you” (Matt. 26:11a). You will pray for your leaders, but you will know that they are but sinful men and women like yourself and that they will always disappoint you.
3. You will keep your eyes on Jesus. Where else can you look? All others are disappointing, and everything is crumbling about you. Only he is worthy of your trust. He has promised to return in his glory, and we know that when he does return and we see him in his glory, we will be like him (1 John 3:2). Moreover, when we are made like him in his glory, the creation that is also straining forward to that day will become glorious, too.
No wonder the early Christians prayed, “Maranatha!” Come, Lord Jesus!2
19–22. For the creation, with outstretched head, is eagerly looking forward to the revelation of the sons of God. For it was not by its own choice that the creation was subjected to futility, but (it was) because of him who subjected it, in hope, because the creation itself too will be set free from its bondage to decay, so as to share the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation, with one accord, has been, and still is, groaning as in the pain of childbirth.
The Three Groanings
The word “For” is understandable: the glory to be revealed (verse 18) is so marvelous that the (whole) creation is eagerly looking forward to it (verses 19–22), we ourselves are ardently awaiting it (verses 23–25), the Spirit too joining us (verses 26, 27). All three (creation, we, the Spirit) groan as in childbirth, hopefully looking forward to the birth of the promised glory. We might say, therefore, that “For” introduces The Three Groanings. It continues the discussion of the subject (future glory) that had already been mentioned, a very common use of “For.”
A. Creation’s Groaning
What is here three times called “the creation” is finally (in verse 22) called “the whole creation.” How much does it include? It cannot include the good angels, since they were never subjected to futility (verse 20) and never succumbed to corruption or decay (verse 21). Satan and his demons are also ruled out, for they will never be set free (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). This holds also for all those people who will never be saved, the non-elect (2 Thess. 1:8, 9). And the elect are not included here, for they are here treated as a separate group. We are told that the creation is looking forward to the revelation of the sons of God, implying that creation’s deliverance from the bondage of corruption will take place at the time when the revelation of God’s children will occur. Besides, what the elect are doing and what is going to happen to them is described in verses 23–25.
With the exclusion of all these four groups, what is left is the animate and inanimate irrational creation. One might call it the sub-human creation or simply Nature.
We are told, therefore, that this remaining “whole creation” is, with outstretched head, eagerly looking and watching for the revelation of the sons of God. It is, as it were, craning its neck to see this.
When the question is asked, “But how is it possible for birds and plants to show such intense interest in what will happen to God’s children, the answer might well be, “If, according to Scripture, trees can rejoice (Ps. 96:12), floods can clap their hands (Ps. 98:8), the wilderness can be glad (Isa. 35:1), and mountains and hills can burst into song (Isa. 55:12), why should not birds and plants be able to look forward with longing? As is clearly evident, we are dealing here with personfication.
However, that answer is incomplete. More must be added: (a) that the restoration of the animate and inanimate irrational creation is intimately related to “the revelation of the sons of God.” The two are linked together, so that restoration and glory for “the sons of God” implies the same for “the whole creation.” And (b) that it will most certainly take place.
Beautiful and very meaningful is the phrase “the revelation of the sons of God.” It indicates that not until the day of Christ’s Return will it become a matter of public knowledge how much God loves them and how richly he rewards them. “Then, in the kingdom of their Father, the righteous will shine as the sun” (Matt. 13:43), “as the brightness of the firmament and as the stars forever and ever” (Dan. 12:3). They will be on exhibition, so that all will be able to see what God has wrought for and in them.
The whole creation is looking forward eagerly for the revelation of the sons of God because that event will also mean glory for the whole creation. We must bear in mind that “it was not by its own choice”—hence, was not its own fault—that the creation was made subject to futility. It was not the irrational creation that sinned, It was man. And the One who subjected the creation to futility was God. It was he who, because of man’s sin, pronounced a curse on … what or on whom? Well, in a sense on creation, but in an even deeper sense upon man:
Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
Thorns and thistles it will produce for you,
And you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
because from it you were taken;
For dust you are,
and to dust you will return.
Gen. 3:17–19
So, since creation’s humiliation was not its fault, as the passage specifically states, it will certainly participate in man’s restoration. Nature’s destiny is intimately linked up with that of “the sons of God.” That is why the whole creation is represented as craning its neck to behold the revelation of the sons of God.
Note the expression, “The creation was subjected to futility.” A.V. reads “to vanity.” However, when this word is interpreted as meaning inflated pride, it has nothing to do with the present passage. The word used in the original does not refer to ambitious display. It indicates that since man’s fall Nature’s potentialities are cribbed, cabined, and confined. The creation is subject to arrested development and constant decay. Though it aspires, it is not able fully to achieve. Though it blossoms, it does not reach the point of adequately bearing fruit. It may be compared to a very powerful world-champion boxer or wrestler, who is chained in such a manner that he cannot make use of his tremendous physical prowess. The curse of plant disease decimates the crops. The loss is estimated at many millions of dollars for each separate disease. Plant pathologists direct their efforts toward developing methods of disease prevention or at least reduction or control. And, in a modified sense, what is true with respect to the world of plants holds too for the animal sphere.
What a glorious day that will be when all the restraints due to man’s sin will have been removed, and we shall see this wonderful creation reaching self-realization, finally coming into its own, sharing in “the glorious liberty of the children of God!”
That this hope is not unrealistic is shown by the words, “in hope, because the creation itself too will be set free …”
Paul compares the earnest yearning and eager forward looking of creation to the groaning of a woman who is in the process of giving birth to a child. To be sure, such groaning indicates suffering, but it also implies hope. As Calvin reminds us, these groans are birth-pangs, not death-pangs. The addition “with one accord” or “together” indicates that every division of this “whole creation” participate in these birth-pangs.
Does the rest of Scripture furnish any further information about the meaning of Nature’s future deliverance from bondage and participation in the glorious liberty of God’s children?
Indeed, it does! It informs us that the universe is going to be purged by a great conflagration (2 Peter 3:7, 11, 12).
Closely linked with this conflagration there is going to be a rejuvenation. The fire will not destroy the universe. It will still be the same heavens and earth, but gloriously renewed, and in that sense a new heaven and earth (2 Peter 3:13; Rev. 21:1–5). Accordingly, not only will we be going to heaven, but heaven will, as it were, come down to us; that is, the conditions of perfection obtaining in heaven will be found throughout God’s gloriously rejuvenated universe.
We can also view this wonderful transformation as a self-realization, as has been explained. See above, p. 268.
Finally, this transformation will include harmonization. At present Nature can be described as being “raw in tooth and claw.” Peace and harmony are lacking. Various organisms seem to be working at cross purposes: they choke each other to death. But then there will be concord and harmony everywhere. There will be variation, to be sure, but a most delightful blending of sight and sound, of life and purpose, so that the total effect will be unity and harmony. The prophecy of Isa. 11:6–9 will reach ultimate fulfilment:
The wolf will dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard will lie down with the goat,
And the calf and the young lion and the yearling together,
And a little child will lead them.
The cow and the bear will graze,
The young will lie down together,
And the lion will eat straw like the ox.
And the nursing child will play near the hole of the cobra,
And the weaned child will put his hand into the viper’s nest.
They will not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,
For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
Zechariah 2:5 — It seems that the man with the measuring line in Zechariah 2:1 is measuring to build a wall around the city in order to keep out invaders. Zechariah is sent to tell the defense contractor that you can’t build a wall as good as the wall of fire the LORD will build!
The city of Jerusalem is mentioned 37 times in this prophetic book and here in the second chapter the prophet refers to the holy city as the “apple of his eye”. That phrase is speaking of the “pupil” of the eye, the most sensitive spot on the entire body. This is a warning to those who might consider “touching” – attacking – the city of Jerusalem.
Zechariah 3:2 — We saw in Revelation 12:10 that Satan is the accuser of the brethren, and what is he doing here in this passage? Attacking Joshua the high priest. But the Lord defends Joshua.
Notice the interesting phrase “a brand plucked from the fire.” John Wesley identified as such.
At the age of five the Wesleys’ home caught on fire in the night. All the children were removed safely from the house, but when they were counted, John was missing. A farmer from nearby spotted little John looking out of an upstairs window amid the leaping flames. Several neighbors climbed on each other’s shoulders, ‘till the man on top was able to put his arms around the boy and pull him out of the flames to safety. Only moments after he was rescued, the entire house exploded in flames. Ever after, for the rest of his life, John Wesley referred to himself “as a brand plucked from the burning,” quoting Zechariah 3:2.
Zechariah 3:5 — ”New garments” is a theme throughout Scripture. See Joseph in Genesis 41:42, the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:22, and the guest without a wedding garment in Matthew 22:10-12. In each case – Joseph/the son/the guest/Joshua – these men could not earn new garments. Joseph was in prison; the Prodigal Son was broke; the wedding guest was probably either poor, maimed, halt, or blind (Luke 14:21); and Joshua, despite being high priest, “was clothed with filthy garments” (Zechariah 3:3). But why should we be surprised? As Isaiah said, “… all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags …” (Isaiah 64:6).
Joseph, the son, the guest (if he chose otherwise), and Joshua all could obtain new brilliantly white garments only because they were washed in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14)!
Zechariah 3:10 — Again we find George Washington’s favorite expression: “under the vine and under the fig tree.” God will give Israel rest!
Revelation 13:3 — Many Bible scholars see this as a “fake resurrection,” i.e. an attempt to imitate Jesus’ resurrection.
Revelation 13:8 — There’s only two choices – worshiping the Lamb or worshiping the Beast.
Revelation 13:17 — You may have seen the movie “A Thief in the Night” – it discusses the mark of the beast.
While the mark of the beast won’t be released until the tribulation, there have been efforts to pave the way in technology and social support. People in past decades have noted that 666 appears to be embedded within UPC codes.
Former Wisconsin Governor and US Health & Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson was advocating for a company that implants microchips into humans.
And most recently, China is implementing a “social credit system” that places people on a blacklist resulting in their inability to travel and exclusion from prestigious schools.
Revelation 13:18 — People must have the mark, the name, or the number (Revelation 13:17) in either their right hand or forehead (Revelation 13:16). Beale suggests that 666 refers to “completeness of sinful incompleteness.”
Psalm 141:3 — The psalmist is asking God to keep him from sin. What’s the first area that he asks for help in? Controlling his mouth! Let’s pray for help to control our tongue as well!
Proverbs 30:20 — The writer contrasts the honest, legitimate romance of a man with a maid and the denials of an adulteress. Avoid the way of the Proverbs 7 woman, avoid even her house – it is the way to hell (Proverbs 7:27)!
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lf ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.John 15:7
Of necessity we must be in Christ to live unto Him, and we must abide in Him to be able to claim the largesse of this promise from Him. To abide in Jesus is never to quit Him for another love or another object, but to remain in living, loving, conscious, willing union with Him. The branch is not only ever near the stem but ever receiving life and fruitfulness from it. All true believers abide in Christ in a sense; but there is a higher meaning, and this we must know before we can gain unlimited power at the throne. “Ask what ye will” is for Enochs who walk with God, for Johns who lie in the Lord’s bosom, for those whose union with Christ leads to constant communion.
The heart must remain in love, the mind must be rooted in faith, the hope must be cemented to the Word, the whole man must be joined unto the Lord, or else it would be dangerous to trust us with power in prayer. The carte blanche can only be given to one whose very life is, “Not I, but Christ liveth in me.” O you who break your fellowship, what power you lose! If you would be mighty in your pleadings, the Lord Himself must abide in you, and you in Him.
Moral relativism is the view that moral values and moral duties do not exist in reality, but only exist as opinions in people’s minds. When you ask a moral relativist where the belief that stealing is wrong comes from, he may tell you that it is his opinion, or that it is the opinion of most people in his society. But he cannot tell you that stealing is wrong independent of what people think, because morality (on moral relativism) is just personal preference.
So what’s wrong with it?
I found this list of the seven flaws of moral relativism at the Salvo magazine web site.
Here’s the summary:
Moral relativists can’t accuse others of wrongdoing.
Relativists can’t complain about the problem of evil.
Relativists can’t place blame or accept praise.
Relativists can’t make charges of unfairness or injustice.
Relativists can’t improve their morality.
Relativists can’t hold meaningful moral discussions.
Relativists can’t promote the obligation of tolerance.
Here’s my favorite flaw of relativism (#6):
Relativists can’t hold meaningful moral discussions. What’s there to talk about? If morals are entirely relative and all views are equal, then no way of thinking is better than another. No moral position can be judged as adequate or deficient, unreasonable, acceptable, or even barbaric. If ethical disputes make sense only when morals are objective, then relativism can only be consistently lived out in silence. For this reason, it is rare to meet a rational and consistent relativist, as most are quick to impose their own moral rules like “It’s wrong to push your own morality on others”. This puts relativists in an untenable position – if they speak up about moral issues, they surrender their relativism; if they do not speak up, they surrender their humanity. If the notion of moral discourse makes sense intuitively, then moral relativism is false.
I sometimes get a lot of flack from atheists who complain that I don’t let them make any moral statements without asking them first to ground morality on their worldview. And that’s because on atheism morality IS NOT rationally grounded, so they can’t answer. In an accidental universe, you can only describe people’s personal preferences or social customs, that vary by time and place. It’s all arbitrary – like having discussions about what food is best or what clothing is best. The answer is always going to be “it depends”. It depends on the person who is speaking because it’s a subjective claim, not an objective claim. There is no objective way we ought to behave.
So, practically speaking, everyone has to decide whether right and wrong are real – objectively real. If they are objectively real, that means that there is a right way for human beings to behave, and a wrong way for human beings to behave. It means that things that are really objectively wrong like rape are wrong for all times and all places, regardless of what individuals and societies might think of it. In order to rationally ground that kind of morality, you have to have a foundation for it – a cosmic Designer who decides for all times and places what the conduct of his creatures ought to be. And then our moral duties are duties that are owed to this Designer. It is like playing football or playing a boardgame – the person who invents the game decides the rules. But if there is no designer of the game, then there are no rules.
Without a designer of the universe, the question of how we ought to act is decided by people in different times and different places. It’s arbitrary and variable, and therefore it doesn’t do the job of prescribing behavior authoritatively. It’s very important not to get involved in any serious endeavor with another person or persons if they don’t have a sense of right and wrong being absolute and fixed. A belief in objective moral values is a necessary pre-requisite for integrity.
Jesus is not only the Savior of the world, but He’s my personal Savior as well. What about you – are you trusting in Jesus to save you? If not, you are still among those who sit in the shadow of death and darkness, who have no hope. If you think that sounds like a dark message to deliver at Christmastime, it isn’t. #Christmas #MessianicProphesies #JesusForetold #GospelInIsaiah #MikeLicona #Darrell
Is the idea of a God who has always existed an irrational notion? When our finite minds try to contemplate the nature of God’s existence, we find ourselves struggling to understand the possibility of a Being who exists in and of Himself. But as R.C. Sproul explains in this message, God’s self-existence is not only possible, it is necessary.
Germany: Car drives into Christmas market, at least 11 dead Car drives into group of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg. Reports of at least 11 dead and as many as 80 injured. The driver, a man of Saudi origin, arrested. The driver of the vehicle has been arrested, according to the dpa news agency. The German newspaper Bild reported that police have cordoned off the area in search of explosives. Germany has been on high alert for possible Islamist attacks
Satanists’ holiday display at Minnesota Capitol sparks outrage A Satanic holiday display at the Minnesota State Capitol has some sounding the alarm but Gov. Tim Walz says he can’t take it down as it is protected by the First Amendment. Minnesota Satanists applied through the Department of Administration, which manages the capitol grounds, to set it up near the first floor rotunda from Dec. 13 through 27,
Signs of life received from several hostages The signs of life were received by the families of several hostages, whose identities were not disclosed to protect their privacy. However, the report noted that there are families who have not received any signs of life from their loved ones for many months.
Documents captured from Hamas reveal Iran’s complex weapons smuggling network The documents revealed details on the collapse of a Hamas smuggling network in Jordan and how the terror organization and the Islamic Republic attempted to transfer weapons to the West Bank in an effort to ignite another front against Israel. The publication and research are based on numerous documents seized by the IDF in Gaza and analyzed by the Shin Bet and IDF Intelligence Directorate.
Israeli minister in letter to Pope Francis: ‘Jesus lived and died as a Jew Following several instances in recent months where Pope Francis appeared to endorse Palestinian narratives, Amichai Chikli, Israel’s Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, issued a strongly worded protest letter to the Pope. Chikli began his letter: “H.H. Pope Francis, Shalom. It is a well-known fact that Jesus was born in the city of Bethlehem, as described in Chapter 2 of the Gospel according to Matthew: …“Two weeks ago, you took part in a display that echoes the Palestinian narrative, portraying Jesus as a Palestinian Arab … turning to the second event that prompted him to write the letter.
US kills ISIS leader Abu Yusif in precision strike in Syria The area where the strike happened was previously controlled by the Assad regime and Russia, according to CENTCOM. Another unnamed ISIS operative was also eliminated in the strike.
CAIR Sues US State Department Over ‘Failing To Evacuate American Citizens’ From Gaza The Council for America-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group that purports to advocate for Muslim Americans, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department for “failing to evacuate American citizens, American legal residents, and the family members of Americans trapped under Israeli bombardment in Gaza.” “Each plaintiff in the lawsuit is eligible to be evacuated but has been summarily ignored by the State Department and other Biden administration officials,”
US dropping terrorism bounty on Syrian leader after first diplomatic visit since 2012 Barbara Leaf, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, told reporters that she had informed Abu Mohammad al-Julani, leader of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group that led Assad’s overthrow, that the United States would not pursue a $10 million terrorism bounty on him for his role as the head of a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist group. Julani, whose real name is Ahmad al-Sharaa, told Leaf that he “committed” to not allowing terrorist groups to pose a threat within Syria or externally to the United States and its regional partners.
Can AI suffer cognitive decline? New Israeli study suggests surprising limits The research, published in the medical journal BMJ, raises questions about the ability of AI to replace human doctors in tasks requiring complex integration and empathy. “We scored the chatbots just as we would a patient,” The AI models struggled particularly in visual-spatial tasks, such as drawing a clock set to 11:10 or connecting sequences of numbers and letters. These models had notable difficulty with the visual components,”
New Syrian leaders say they want to contribute to ‘regional peace’ DAMASCUS: Syria wants to contribute to “regional peace,” the country’s new authorities said late Friday, after a meeting between leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa and a US diplomatic delegation. “The Syrian side indicated that the Syrian people stand at an equal distance from all countries and parties in the region and that Syria rejects any polarization,” the statement said.
Blinken: Hamas realizes ‘cavalry not coming,’ should agree to a ceasefire and ‘do it now’ what’s changed is this: Hamas knows that the cavalry is not coming to the rescue,” Blinken continued. “For months and months, It hoped it would get a wider war with Hezbollah, with Iran, with Iranian-aligned groups, coming in and creating more problems from Israel on more fronts and helping Hamas endure.” “We now know that that is not happening, they know it’s not happening,
Trump says the government is keeping people ‘in suspense’ about drones over NJ and the Philly suburbs Saying the federal government and the military know the origin of the drones that are confounding residents from New Jersey, New York, and the Philadelphia suburbs, President-elect Donald Trump asserted on Monday that U.S. leaders won’t comment because “for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense.” “I think they’re better off saying what it is,” he said, adding that he’s canceling a planned trip to his club in New Jersey because the drones are “very close to Bedminster.”
CNN Reveals “Troubling” Poll: American Trust In Vaccines Is Plummeting American trust in medical institutions and vaccine technology has been plunging the past several years, and though the media treats this as a “troubling” and dangerous development for our society the shift might represent a positive change. This problem of corruption was never more clear than it was during the covid pandemic. Since that event, the US population has been losing faith in the ability of the government to scrutinize pharmaceutical products and protect people from potentially disastrous experimental medications and vaccines. When the love affair between government and Big Pharma was put on blatant display, the American people rightly began to question everything.
Judge Rejects Federal Government Request, Allows Derek Chauvin To Examine George Floyd’s Heart “The Court is not persuaded by the Government’s arguments, which provide no compelling reason that the Court should change its previous determination,” U.S. District Judge Paul A. Magnuson said in a two-page order filed on Dec. 19. The order granting Chauvin’s motion to examine Floyd’s heart tissue will stand, he said.
Et Tu Jagmeet? Trudeau Game Over Looms As Key Ally Vows To Topple Him The undercurrents of discontent have been bubbling for months, but the situation came to a head when Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau’s stalwart Finance Minister, abruptly vacated her post amid a cloud of controversy. Sources close to the matter cite irreconcilable differences over policy directions and leadership style, with Freeland’s departure exposing cracks in the Liberal foundation.
Trump Effect? China’s 1Y Yield Crashes Below 1% For First Time Since GFC As we head into the end of the year, impatient investors are left waiting for a real plan to underwrite consumption (as yields melt inexorably lower), and capital flight accelerates (spurred by concerns about yuan weakness). China suffered a record fund exit last month under the category of securities investment, according to official data released this week.
Bible removed From Texas school district due to state law banning ‘sexually explicit’ content Canyon Independent School District Superintendent Darryl Flusche announced in an email ‘earlier this week that under House Bill 900, which was passed by the Texas Legislature in 2023 protecting schools from sexually explicit or vulgar content, the Holy Bible is unsuitable due to “sexually explicit material.”
A Bird- Flu State of Emergency …Bird brain ideas originate from humans directly. Authorities expect people to believe that the first human case of bird flu was contacted from a cow through a bird. And, that since April 2024, there have been an alleged 61 human cases of H5 bird flu reported in the United States, says the CDC.
60 To 80 Injured After Car “Attack” On German Christmas Market, Saudi Driver Arrested Government spokesman Matthias Schuppe told German media outlet WELT that the car-ramming incident at a Christmas market in Magdeburg “was an attack.” City spokesman Michael Reif stated that initial reports suggested it was an “attack on the Christmas market.”
The Extremely Improbable, Exceedingly Unlikely, Exceptionally Amazing Birth Of Christ/ When we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we are celebrating one of the most improbable miracles in all of human history. You see, the truth is that not just anyone could have showed up and claimed to be the Messiah. According to the Scriptures, the Messiah had to come from a very specific bloodline, the Messiah had to be born at a very specific place, and the Messiah had to be born at a very specific time. It was exceedingly unlikely that anyone would ever be able to fulfill all of those prophecies, but Jesus did. The prophecies about the first coming of Christ that we find in the Bible are powerful evidence for the reality of the Christian faith, and yet these prophecies are rarely taught in our churches today.
Bank of Canada Governor is on secretive BIS board of directors; why should this matter to Canadians? The Basel Committee’s bi-monthly meetings are secret, with minutes, speeches and documents remaining strictly confidential, and even Canadian elected officials cannot access this information. Additionally, the Bank for International Settlements has immunity from prosecution and its officials enjoy immunity even after leaving their positions.
The Eleventh-Hour EV Mandate Emmy Griffin Sticking it to the incoming Trump administration, the Biden-Harris EPA just approved a measure that might destroy the car business in 12 states.
Grading the Dept. of Education Brian Mark Weber As the Trump administration considers how to eliminate the DOE, let’s remember its history of failure.
Yes, Virginia… Mark Alexander The most republished column in American history is about Christmas.
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The Goal: Go Viral. Period. Samantha Koch The sad stories of two women — one who indulges herself with treats at home, and who debased herself with 100 partners in a day.
Reforming Health Insurance Emmy Griffin While the Dems who support ObamaCare blame insurance companies for high costs and frustration, they once again fail to look in the mirror.
PolitiFact’s Sham of the Year Nate Jackson Numerous Democrat lies get a yawn from “fact-checkers” obsessed with Donald Trump.
How the Feds Feed Vagrancy Thomas Gallatin The problem of homelessness is vagrancy, not a lack of affordable housing.
Knowing Right From Wrong Jack DeVine Protecting threatened passengers on a subway is good. Assassinating an executive because we don’t like his profession is bad.
Nativity Wars Emmy Griffin A keffiyeh covering the manger, Jesus abortion jokes, and other outrageous blasphemies.
The BIG Lie “Why is Donald Trump engaged in this relentless campaign to try to silence journalists, media companies, and his political opposition? It’s because he’s trying to steal from you. … He wants to steal from ordinary Americans in order to make him and his Mar-a-Lago friends even richer.” —Senator Chris Murphy Praetorian Guard “Our Lie of the Year goes to Donald Trump and JD Vance for false claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating pet dogs and cats.” —PolitiFact Clown World “Well, that’s news to me. It’s good news. What has it been, 10 years, 14 years with no COLA, no change at all? I think it’s about time.” —Senator Dick Durbin upon being informed that the now-quashed stopgap spending bill gives him a pay raise Demagogues “Republicans are trying to shut down the government because they want to set up massive tax cuts for the rich next year while cutting Social Security and Medicare. They know Americans don’t support that, so they’re holding the entire government hostage to try to force it.” —Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez “House Republicans have now unilaterally decided to break a bipartisan agreement that they made. House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt everyday Americans all across this country. House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited upon the American people that results from a government shutdown, or worse. An agreement is an agreement.” —House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries “The Founders themselves created a path to amend our Constitution, to keep it a living document, to be adapted as future generations and circumstances and times require. For the Electoral College, that time has come. Unfairly, less populated states have outsized influence, and in effect, the votes of their residents count more than the residents of a state like New York.” —New York Governor Kathy Hochul “I’ve got news for Donald Trump: USPS isn’t for sale. It’s a public good that’s supposed to serve Americans in every corner of the country — not boost some billionaire’s bottom line.” —Senator Elizabeth Warren “I pray to God the president-elect throws away Project 2025.” —Joe Biden Fact-Check: Missing Context “[Iran, Hezbollah, and Russia] are far weaker today than they were when I took office.” —Joe Biden Dezinformatsiya “Polls show that around half of Americans don’t trust the FBI … but perhaps no one is more to blame for that than Mr. Trump himself, who has baselessly accused the bureau of conducting witch hunts against him.” —NBC News’s Ken Dilanian Race Bait “We are living in a world in which we are seeing modern-day lynching take place in front of our eyes. … We are being dragged back to the 1950s, where we’re seeing these lynchings. And guess what? Somebody doesn’t go to jail when it comes down to killing one of us.” —Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett Lack of Self-Awareness Award “Just to be clear. House Democrats will never be bullied or intimidated by far right extremism, no matter who comes to power. We will always do what’s right for the American people.” —Hakeem Jeffries Straight From the Horse’s Mouth “Unfortunately, the Democratic Party has the stench of losers written all over the party. And I’m sorry, I’m speaking as a Democrat myself. It brings me no joy to say it. But I feel like Democrats are going to be consigned to the wilderness for at least the next four to eight years.” —DNC official Lindy Li Hot Air “The thing that’s screwing us up day by day in this country is climate change.” —Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg More BIG Lies “We’ve run a campaign that’s basically scandal-free. That’s hard to do in American politics these days.” —Joe Biden “Those of us on the [J6] committee are very proud of the work we did. We were doing vital, quintessential oversight.” —Senator-elect Adam Schiff “We’ve been working, I don’t know, before DOGE was DOGE. … We’ve been doing civil service reform in this state. … California’s been a leader in that space.” —California Governor Gavin Newsom Can’t Fix Stupid “For better or for worse, it’s not much of a ringing endorsement — and we all know which one Trump falls under. And let’s remember who else has been given this title in the past in the same category: Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Ayatollah Khomeini, and Vladimir Putin.” —”The View” co-host Joy Reid on Trump being named TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year “I don’t know what people were thinking when they voted for [Trump]. … I think that they have been misinformed, misled by other networks. You know, people get mad at us. They say we’re one-sided here. The statistics are here.” —”The View” co-host Joy Behar “I thought it was a real flex when The Wall Street Journal pointed out that I might have been the least wealthy person to ever run for vice president. And I thought that would be something people say, ‘Well, this guy knows where we’re coming from. He’s had to pay his bills.'” —Tim Walz A Broken Clock Is Right Twice a Day “[Trump] will always reward weakness with more humiliation, and that includes foreign leaders like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who went to Mar-a-Lago last month to kiss the ring.” —Joy Reid Truth Bomb “I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t, and that was wrong. And I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me.” —Crystal Mangum, the non-victim in the Duke lacrosse scandal Hindsight Is 20/20 “I wish I didn’t pull that d*mn fire alarm, ya now what I’m sayin’?” —outgoing Congressman Jamaal Bowman A Blind Squirrel Finds a Nut “When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline.” —Disney spokesperson Veep Thoughts “And I ask you to remember the context in which you exist. Yeah, I did that. Uh-huh!” —Kamala Harris Belly Laughs of the Week “Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity. That’s the FBI’s motto and it perfectly describes Director Wray. He’s served America faithfully, and I’m thankful for his leadership.” —Senator Amy Klobuchar “The next four years will determine whether the incoming administration builds on our economic progress. If it does, then 10 or even 50 years from now, U.S. economic leadership will be even stronger than it is today.” —Joe Biden “The Democratic Party really is focused on the things [Americans] care about.” —Tim Walz
Senseless
A 15-year-old girl opened fire in a Christian school and killed a teacher and a student, wounding others. She killed herself. They’re looking for a motive, trying to find out why, and ready to lay the blame. We know, of course, that firearms are to blame. (Dirty, rotten, Christian school … believes the Bible. Pray for the government? God is at work? What nonsense!)
“Because We Care”
The Starbucks union has voted to authorize a strike to secure more money for themselves and more expensive coffee for their customers. What says “Because we care” better than that? (Of course, I’ve never been a Starbucks fan anyway, since their coffee is so expensive. Get ready for more.)
Smishing?
Now the USPS is warning, “If we send you a link to track your package … don’t use it!” What a world!
No Fear
Scripture says as an indictment of humans, “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Psa 36:1; Rom 3:18). A local news item illustrates the problem. Three people have died recently on the freeway because they were out of their vehicles and careless, prompting the authorities to say, “The freeway is no place for pedestrians.” Duh! But, like the 57 pedestrian fatalities and 86 injuries on Arizona’s state highway system in 2023, humans keep refusing to fear God … and suffer the consequences.
Your Best Source for Fake News
I knew it! A newly discovered scroll tells about a fourth wise man who brought Jesus a priceless Lego Millennium Falcon. I told you it wasn’t just three guys. This next story is a little too close for my comfort. It’s about a husband who helpfully points out all the historical inaccuracies of his wife’s favorite period drama. Hey, who let them into my house? And then there’s this interesting story, combining Biden’s pardons and Biden’s call for gun laws. The story is about Biden calling for new gun laws he can pardon his son for breaking. Nice juxtaposition of news items, eh?
Filling in for Jim Schneider, Dalton Windsor hosted this edition of the ‘Round-Up’ as he presented the latest news stories of interest to Christians worldwide. Stories included:
–House Republicans working to negotiate a tentative agreement in hopes of averting a government shutdown by the end of the business day today.
–Amidst the talks over the spending bill, Senator Mike Lee of Utah has suggested that Republicans should replace Speaker of the House Mike Johnson of Louisiana with either Elon Musk or Vivek Ramaswamy.
–The U.S. Senate passed the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, sending the 895 billion appropriations bill to President Biden’s desk with overwhelming support from Democrats, despite Republican language that would restrict kids and military families from assessing gender affirming care.
–Donald Trump formally won the electoral college this week, officially securing the presidency.
–Senate Democrats propose a constitutional amendment to abolish the electoral college.
–ABC News and it’s top anchor George Stephanopoulos have reached a settlement with Donald Trump in Trump’s defamation suit which will result in ABC News paying the president elect 15 million dollars.
–Trump filed an amicus brief yesterday in support of a legal effort by Texas and Missouri to immediately stop the Biden administration’s current auctioning of border wall materials, believing such action may be criminal.
–President Joe Biden announced an aggressive new climate goal Thursday to reduce U.S. carbon emissions by two-thirds by 2035.
–35% of new car sales must be electric in California and 11 other states next year under a new mandate.
–President Biden is saying that all of his clemency recipients were convicted of non-violent crimes. However, the Maryland Black Widow, who murdered two husbands and a boyfriend for insurance money, is now free.
–The 15 year old accused in the Madison, Wisconsin, shooting incident was only in her first semester at the school and seemed to be settling in according to school officials.
–Luigi Mangione is now in New York facing charges over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
–Ryan Routh, who’s accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump in September, is facing an attempted murder charge after he caused catastrophic injury to a six year old girl in a crash while attempting to elude police following the assassination attempt.
–The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a drone ban in several areas of New Jersey until January 17th. Only drones flown by operators who have been granted special permission from the government due to “special security reasons” will be allowed to fly in those areas. The government may use deadly force against the drones if they pose an imminent security threat.
The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway on Friday’s broadcast of ‘Special Report’ on FOX News reacted to a ‘Wall Street Journal’ expose that revealed how Biden administration officials handled the president’s decline, made him scripted, and more. (Wall Street Journal: How the White House Functioned With a Diminished Biden in Charge)
FOX NEWS: Mollie, even if we weren’t talking about the oldest president that we’ve ever had, this does come across as a very insular White House, where in this reporting he’s really only talking to a pretty small group of aides, no? MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, THE FEDERALIST: Sure. Yes and no, I would say. It does seem like a small group of people there. But we had full knowledge that Joe Biden was old when he was elected. A lot of the country thought he was too old to be the president. So this news about what The Wall Street Journal is reporting here, it’s not really about Biden’s age, it’s really about all those people that were around him that helped cover this up, and that’s partly his wife and people close to him, but it’s also so many people in the media. I think back at all these things, how they attacked reporters who would report honestly, how some reporters would provide their questions in advance so that Biden would know how to answer, and then when some of that got found out, they kind of denied that it was a big deal, by not asking tough questions of Kareem Jean-Pierre, by attacking Robert Herr when he said that there were problems. And so this scandal of what the media were willing to do, and the only time they let up was when they thought he might not win the presidency, and so they went after it only then, and then they dropped it again, even though he’s still the president.
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