My Problem With and Solution To Reformed Theology

     This is probably going to be more like a treatise than a blog so unless you are interested in this kind of thing, go to the next blog or I will summarize it in my last paragraph as succinctly as possible.
      Most Christians never even give this subject a thought which actually is probably a good thing. There is something to be said for naivity when it comes to the world and I think the same could be said in the area of theology - especially where finite minds of theologians grapple with and peg-hole the deeper mysteries of God and the way he works with mankind. Specifically this is going to deal with Salvation.
      I, for some reason am a reluctant participant in this discussion. Has your attention ever been drawn to something by someone and from that time on all you can see when you see that object is that "something"? Let me illustrate. I enjoyed listening to a preacher in my early 20's who would occasionally fill the pulpit as a substitute for Stuart Briscoe. Once my dad said, "I can't stand the way he jingles the coins in his pants pocket when he preaches; it is so distracting." From then on, everytime he preached all I could hear was the jingling of coins. Reformed theology was pointed out to me when I was a member of a PCA church for 15 years. I was an elder, Sunday School teacher, delegate to the assembly, high school youth leader, and even preached, rarely. Because of my position of leadership in the church, training sessions and retreats would occasionally focus on what we believe as Presbyterians vs. what the rest of Evangelicals believe. Reformed theology has become another "jingling of coins" to me. I go to Church services and hear hymns sung like "To God Be the Glory Great Things He Hath Done" and hear one word changed and I know we are in a Reformed Church ..."and opened the lifegates that we may go in" instead of that "all may go in". I go to a David Platt Secret Church simulcast where everyone is raving how good it was and I'm saying, "we just had 6 hours of Reformed Theology. You don't have to believe all that." I go to an elders meeting and see the General Assembly has just removed 2 elders from such and such church for being 4 point Calvinists. I would say to my fellow elders, "Do you believe in limited Atonement (I address this in a blog on Oct. 6,2010) ?" and they would say, "What is that?" It didn't and doesn't seem to bother other people. Let me explain to you what bothers me about it, and if you don't want to be bothered please don't read on.
             Let me take you down the pathway of Reformed theology (as I understand it).
1. Adam and Eve were created sinless and enjoyed fellowship with God and eternal life.
2. Adam and Eve sinned and experienced immediate spiritual death and immenent physical death
3. Because of their (Adam and Eve's) sin, all mankind are born sinners and spiritually dead.
4. God is Holy and can't be in the presence of sin, thus we are separated from God. Not only that but God hates sin and since we can't separate sin from who we are God hates sinners and his wrath is on us
5. Jesus, who is God, came from Heaven, born 100% human and 100% God at the same time and lived a sinless life and became the perfect sacrifice for sin. He took God's wrath on Him on the cross.
6. If we, by faith, repent of our sins and claim our absolute dependency on Christ's blood shed on the cross for us ,we become recociled to God and adopted as Children of God and Citizens of the Kingdom of God, receiving the very life of God in the person of the Holy Spirit to enable us to live a life pleasing to God and victory over death.
        Now I'm not seriously opposed to any of this and on a given day I can even swallow "God hates the sin and the sinner" but the problems all seem to stem from one word in there - dead. The illustration I've heard ad nauseum is, "If you go to a graveyard and preach to a bunch of coffins, how many conversions will you get?" "What good is 'whosover will may come' when 'whosoever won't'"? "God walked across the graveyard of time and said 'I choose you and you and you and you and not you nor you nor you, etc and brought them back to life and all we can see is 'thank you God for your unmerited favor towards me'." This all sounds palatable once again until you start to ask, "well, what about the billions He chose not to raise from the dead in the graveyard of time? Did they really ever have a chance?" The answer, according to Reformed theology, has to be an unequivocal "NO". So my issue is when they stand before God (or lie flat on their faces writhing in agony as my reformed friends would say) on the day of judgement when they are sentenced to an eternal lake of fire (which my reformed friends are very strong on) they can legitimately claim, "But we never had a chance. If we were born in sin due to no fault of our own and were dead spiritually and acted sinfully because that was our nature and You never chose to give us life, how can You sentence us to eternal torment?You created us for the express purpose of sending us to Hell. That isn't fair." And to that I would have to agree. My reformed friends would say things like "Who says God has to be fair?" or "How can the clay say to the potter why have you made me thus" Or, "no man will even be able to speak in God's presence, much less argue."
            Here are the "family secrets" of Reformed theology sort of like the sacred underpants that Mormons wear that no one talks about until you become one.
1. God creates 2 groups of people - Children of God and Children of Wrath those Jesus died for and those He didn't
2. The Children of God will be saved, in fact they can't even choose not to. Of course they can't choose "to" either because they are dead.
3. Salvation comes to the Children of God when God puts a new heart in them, puts the Holy Spirit in them and instills Faith in them.
4.Thus, regeneration or being born again, actually happens before they "pray the prayer"/ repent / choose to follow Christ because without already being saved it is impossible for them to call out to God for salvation because they are spiritually dead.
5. The Children of Wrath were created for eternal punishment to the glory of God. They can't be saved. Christ's blood on the cross was not shed for them.
       To these tenets or family secrets the reformers would say, "And your point is..." I guess I would say that is not how I see the God of the Bible. Sure there are their pet passages like Eph. 1 and Rom 9-11 that hint at such things but what about the rest of the Bible? Did you come to a God like that? Don't get me wrong; if that's the way it is so be it and I will join with the throngs saying, "Why me?" for all eternity praising Him for choosing me (and my family). Why is it that this is something we have to learn after we are saved? Why is it that white intellectuals embrace this doctrine while there are few Reformed Churches in poor third world countries? Why is it that Reformers say they are right and if everyone studied their Bible they would come to see the truth?
         Rather than play a tennis match with Reformed Theology where they quote a verse and I counter with a different verse I would rather address that one word dead which seems to be the seed from which this theology had to sprout. Reformed preachers love to quote verses like Eph. 2:1 where Paul says, ...you are dead in your transgressions and sins..." and say, "That greek word for dead is Nekros which means dead. (obligatory laugh inserted here). Now we non-reformed do the same thing when we quote 1Timothy 2:6 where Paul says "...and gave Himself as a ransom for all men..." and say,"That word all comes from the Greek word which means all." (obligatory Amen inserted here).to which the Reformers would answer, "But which all?" In the same way I want to answer the dead means dead argument with but what does the Bible mean by dead? Let's explore the scripture and I think you will early on see where I am heading.

but when I sleep with my fathers, thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. Gen. 47:30
So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.1Kings 2:10
And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead, 1 Kings11:21
And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father 1Kings 11:43
And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead 1Kings 14:20
And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. 1Kings 14:30
And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David 1Kings 15:8
And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father 1Kings 15:24
So Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah 1Kings 16:6
So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria 1Kings 16:28
So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead 1Kings 22:40
And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father 1Kings 22:50
And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David 2Kings 8:24
And Jehu slept with his fathers: and they buried him in Samaria 2Kings10:35
And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria 2Kings 13:9
And Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat upon his throne 2Kings 13:13
And Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel 2Kings 14:16
He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers 2Kings 14:22
And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel 2Kings 14:29
So Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David 2Kings 15:7
And Menahem slept with his fathers; and Pekahiah his son reigned in his stead 2Kings 15:22
And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father 2Kings 15:38
And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David 2Kings 16:20
And Hezekiah slept with his fathers: and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead 2Kings 20:21
And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried 2Kings 21:18
So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead 2Kings 24:6
And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father 2Chron. 9:31
And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David 2Chron 12:16
So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David 2Chron 14:1
And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign 2Chron 16:13
Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried 2Chron 21:1
He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers 2Chron 26:2
So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him  2Chron 26:23
And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him 2Chron 27:9
And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him 2Chron 28:27
And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him 2Chron 32:33
So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him 2Chron 33:20
For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest  Job 3:13
And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose Matt 27:52
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 1Cor 15:20
And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers Deut 31:16
And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers 2Sam 7:12
Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers 1Kings 1:21
for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be Job 7:21
For now I would be lying down in peace;  I would be asleep and at rest with kings and rulers of the earth, Job 3:13,14
So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep  Job 14:12
then let my enemy pursue and overtake me; let him trample my life to the ground and make me sleep in the dust. Ps. 7:5
Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death Ps 13:3
As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness. Ps 17:15
The valiant lie plundered, they sleep their last sleep Ps 76:5
You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning— Ps 90:5
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake  Dan 12:2
for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth Matt 9:24
the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth Mark 5:39
he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth  Luke 8:52
These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. John 11:11-13
While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep. Acts 7:59,60
For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers Acts 13:36
For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep  1Cor 11:30
¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 1Cor. 15:18
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed 1Cor 15:51
Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light Eph 5:14
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. ¹⁴ For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.  1Thes 4:13,14
Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 1Thes 5:10

    There are probably more but here are 67 verses that equate death with sleep. I am aware of the dangers of equating these two and whole theologies have been made on "soul sleep" and where the soul goes after death. This is not at all where I am going with this. Stepping into eternity is another subject for another day.       
      Imagine what it means to be spiritually asleep instead of spiritually dead. Picture this; your alarm clock/radio goes off and you are asleep. You have 3 options. 1) Incorporate it into your dream. I distinctly remember dreaming of running in a race. My alarm clock started playing a song and somehow this song became a soundtrack to my running to enable me to run faster. 2) Turn it off or hit the snooze and go back to sleep. You may be sleeping so soundly you don't even remember doing it. 3) Get up out of bed and respond to the alarm. Now relate this to the spiritual realm; the Holy Spirit at some point in everyone's life (so they can be without excuse) rings the alarm clock. With some, i.e. Saul/Paul He rings a gong. Others He appears to once and it may even be a very quiet short alarm, yet when they stand before Him, they look back to a time when they incorporated "religion" into their life or they turned off or even smashed the alarm clock.
      This "sleep theory", to me seems to satisfy the theological demands of salvation. Mankind is dead/asleep and oblivious to God and spiritual things. God rings the alarm clock since we know no man can come to God unless he is drawn(John 6:44) and enabled(John 6:65) because we are asleep and unable and unwilling to rouse ourselves . God appears to everyone at least once (John 12:32) to satisfy His justice and the fact that God desires all men to be saved. We choose to respond to the alarm or go on in our sleep which satisfies the fact that mankind has freewill to choose. Is that important to God? Free will is so important that in the beginning he gave Adam and Eve a choice knowing that it would cause Him the life of His beloved Son. Is this far-fetched? Sixty seven verses in the Bible tell me it isn't.

Kids Devotion - Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

1. Watch the Doug episode.
2. Doug trivia - What is Doug's sister's name?
3. Read the following passage ; http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Dan%204:24-32&version=NIV1984. (Dan 4:24-32)
4. What was the sin Nebuchudnezzer was committing in this passage?
5. What was the sin Doug would have been committing if he continued to take credit for "his" painting?
6. What was the punishment that king Nebuchudnezzer received? Read http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel%204:33,34&version=NIV1984 (Dan 4:33,34)
  Why do you think God punished him in this way? How did he get relief from his punishment?
7. What punishment would Doug have received if he continued to take credit?
8. What did Doug give up by saying he didn't do the painting?

Note to parents; Kids need to be careful about taking credit where credit is not due. Everything they have is from the Lord and if they take the credit God will have to bring them to a point of humility where they give the glory to Him. Also another point to bring out is the importance of honesty even if it is not easy to do and even if they can somehow rationalize the half-truths. Any intent to deceive is a lie and kids need to stay honest at all times because this pleases the Lord.

I'm Going to Predict the Day of the Rapture

          When we were in California I saw these signs. In fact, I even saw guys wearing sandwich boards on Hollywood Blvd. advertising this "fact". I know they are wrong for 2 reasons; 1) The Bible says "“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³⁷ As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Matt. 24:36,37   2) That's not the day I picked. HA! Bear with me while I explain.
           I got these ideas from studying Messianic writers, so as usual, this is not an original thought - sigh. I've had one original thought in my life and it was wrong. To understand when the Lord is meeting us in the air, you have to go back to Leviticus and study the seven feasts. Now from how I understand it, and it makes great sense to me, the feasts were based on the harvest and to commemorate times where God moved on behalf of the Israelites. The first 3 we actually celebrated this past week.

    I. Passover - The Passover feast celebrated the deliverance of the nation of Israel from Egypt by means of the last plague of the Death Angel killing all the first born sons who were not protected by the blood of the Passover lamb placed on the doorposts of their home. Fulfillment - Good Friday (crucifixion). Jesus was/is the Passover lamb.He was crucified literally on the day of Passover! From being killed in the prime of life to being spotless without defect to not a bone being broken to the willful application of its blood to save ones life,etc., the foreshadowing was so clear Paul wrote,"...For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 1Cor 5:7."

II. Unleavened Bread - During the multi-day Passover Feast they would take three unleavened breads  ,remove the middle one, break it and take the broken piece  (afikomen), wrap it in a napkin and hide it. Three days later the kids would go find it and the winner received a prize.

If you study Matzah bread, you see it has stripes, holes (piercings), and is flat (without yeast). Fulfillment - Burial of Christ. It doesn't take a huge stretch to see that Jesus fulfilled this feast of Unleavened Bread on those exact days. He received stripes, was pierced,without sin, broken, wrapped in cloths, hidden for three days, and is the second part (middle) of the trinity. Not only that but He referred to Himself as the Bread of Life, the Kernal of wheat that must fall to the ground, and as he instigated communion, while breaking the middle matzah, said "This is my body broken for you."

III. First Fruits - The Sunday after the feast of Unleavened Bread was the feast of First Fruits. This commemorated the beginning of the harvest season which represented life and God's faithfulness to them. If you have ever picked wild blackberries there is always one big ripe dark one on the vine while the rest are puny and red. This is the first fruit. It tells you more are coming. Fulfillment - Easter/Resurrection Day. "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. "1Cor 15:22,23.

Jesus rose from the dead on this exact day and became the first of many (all who belong to Him) to experience life after death.

IV. Pentecost - Fifty days later the maximum harvest was seen. The Jews then had this feast to glorify God for His abundant provision for them. Fulfillment - The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came down from Heaven and indwelt believers on that very day. Why did Jesus not go to Heaven immediately after the Resurrection? Why did He tell the disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait? Because God fulfills these Feasts. He had to wait 50 days. Then a mass harvest of souls occured. Thousands at a time.

V. Trumpets - When the harvest was over it was time to come in and celebrate. Fulfillment - The Rapture. The trumpet -  "in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." 1Cor. 15:52

The end of the harvest -  "Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in"    Rom. 11:25

VI. Day of Atonement  VII. Booths - Both of these have not been fulfilled yet and since they aren't crucial to the theme of this blog I will let you study those on your own as this is getting lenghty.

              So this is how I know He is not returning on May 21st, that is not Rosh Hashanah (the Feast of Trumpets) Here are the dates He could come back; http://www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/671869/jewish/When-is-Rosh-Hashanah-in-2011-2012-2013-2014-and-2015.htm etc. I don't know the hour or the day but we are reprimanded for not knowing the season or the signs ; “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ ³ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. Matt. 16:2,3

God is anything but random so I truly believe He will meet us in the air on The Feast of Trumpets. Lets live like it is 2011!