All Guys...Please Watch, Very Important Information

--The Wretch

"He was despised and rejected by men." Isaiah 53:3

"Another reason why Christ was despised and rejected, was because He exposed and denounced sin. Ah, this explains why Christ was not wanted here. He was a constant thorn in their sides! His holiness condemned their unholiness! Men wish to go their own way, to please themselves, to gratify their lusts. They want to be comfortable in their wickedness--therefore they resent one who searches the heart, pierces the conscience, and rebukes their evil. Christ was absolutely uncompromising. He would not wink at wrong-doing, but unsparingly denounced it, in whoever it was found. He boldly affirmed, "For judgment I have come into this world" (John 9:41), that is, to unveil men's secret characters, to prove they are blind in spiritual things, to demonstrate they loved darkness rather than light. His Person and preaching tried everything and everyone He came into contact with!" (Arthur Pink, "Christ Despised" 1937)

--The Wretch

Comment Response: Just How Do We Handle Levitical Law?

First, I would like to say "thank you" to all of you who have posted comments on my blog! I really do look forward to reading them - even if you disagree with me. To anyone who has not posted, but has read this blog, please feel free to post a comment (you can do it anonymously)! If you have any questions or want me to expound further on anything I will do my best, but please post your comments!

Ok, now to reply to a comment from my "A Line in the Sand -- Marriage" post. The comment was a little on the sarcastic side, but that is not a problem. The commenter and I have talked and there are no hard feelings! I would like to respond to the arguments in the post. The contents bring up a good question - just what do we do with the Old Testament Laws?

First and foremost, I need to make clear my post was only defending against the redefining of marriage. You mess with that and you are tampering with a tenant of my faith. That is why I drew that line, not to attack or to offend, just to defend. Second, what most people do not realize is that the Bible is a "progressive revelation." The theologian, Charles Hodge, explained it like this:

"The progressive character of divine revelation is recognized in relation to all the great doctrines of the Bible. What at first is only obscurely intimated is gradually unfolded in subsequent parts of the sacred volume, until the truth is revealed in its fullness."

Ok, now back to how we handle the Old Testament Law. There are three classifications we can put the laws: civil law, sacrificial law, and moral law. There are also three different ways in which we can handle the laws.

1. We can throw out the civil and the sacrificial laws, but keep the moral laws. We can throw out the civil laws because these were established for the the Nation of Israel - the laws were for those people at that time. The sacrificial laws can be tossed out because Christ was the sin forgiving sacrifice and so ended the old covenant of sacrifices and started the new covenant. We are then left with the moral laws, also known as the Ten Commandments.
   
2. We throw out all of the Old Testament (OT) Laws. All the OT Laws are out, unless the New Testament (NT) says they still apply. We are then left with nine of the Ten Commandments. The command about the Sabbath no longer applies because Jesus said he was our Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:9-10).
3. Lastly, we keep all the OT Laws. All the OT laws still apply, unless the NT says they do not. Again, we are left with nine of the Ten Commandments.

So, no matter how you deal with the OT Laws, you are still left with the Moral Law. But you may ask "why should we even look at the OT Laws if they no longer apply?" By looking back at the laws we can see God's attitude toward us and Himself; we can learn from the principle.

I will now respond to a couple of the specific points:

"My Dad would like to sell me into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for me?"

First of all, we need to establish what slavery is, as I have said in posts past, meanings of words change throughout history. OT and NT slavery is not what we think of slavery today, it was more like indentured servanthood (similar to employee/employer), not like the slave trade that we know of. Secondly, if we look at the context of this verse it talks about the correct treatment of slaves.

"Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?"

Again, as stated before, context, context, context. When you look at the context and understand the reasoning of this verse you see that God wants His people set apart. The practices that were forbidden were what the pagan cultures were doing and Israel was to have nothing to do with it.

My view of the Bible is as such: it is the inerrant, infallible, inspired, and sufficient Word of God. This is my presupposition. As I said before, when reading the Bible you cannot just "cherry-pick" or just pull out one verse to make your argument unless you have check the surrounding verses for the context.


--The Wretch

Bad Advice for Atheists

-- The Wretch

Christmas!

So just what is Christmas really all about? Is it about gifts? Is it about being good for Santa to get things? Is it about families getting together? Or is it something deeper?

May people think that Christmas is just about Jesus being born and that is it. Don't get me wrong, the Son of God becoming flesh is huge, it is the greatest miracle of all eternity. However, the true meaning of Christmas is... the Cross, Jesus dying for our sins! The Christian group Go Fish has a song called "It's about the Cross," in which they describe what Christmas is about. It is the song that is in my music player to the left. Here are the lyrics:

It's not just about the manger
Where the baby lay
It's not all about the angels
Who sang for him that day

It's not just about the shepherds
Or the bright and shining star
It's not all about the wisemen
Who travelled from afar

Chorus:
It's about the cross
It's about my sin
It's about how Jesus came to be born once
So that we could be born again

It's about the stone
That was rolled away
So that you and I could have real life someday

It's about the cross
It's about the cross

It's not just about the presents
Underneath the tree
It's not all about the feeling
That the season brings to me

It's not just about coming home
To be with those you love
It's not all about the beauty
In the snow I'm dreaming of

The beginning of the story is wonderful and great
But it's the ending that can save you and that's why we celebrate

It's about the cross
It's about my sin
It's about how Jesus came to be born once
So that we could be born again

It's about God's love
Nailed to a tree
It's about every drop of blood that flowed from Him when it should have been me

It's about the stone
That was rolled away
So that you and I could have real life someday
So that you and I could have real life someday

It's about the cross
It's about the cross

Merry Christmas!

--The Wretch

Way Off Topic...

Ok, so I know this has nothing to do with this blog, but I work for Pepsi so there is my context. These are the new logos that are going to be implemented soon. I think that they are U-G-L-Y! What do you think?

--The Wretch

"New" Radio Show!!

Ok, so not so new, but Way of the Master radio is now Wretched Radio. Check it out, Todd will challenge and convict you, guaranteed!



--The Wretch