Proverbs 22:15
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
Proverbs 23:13
Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
Proverbs 13:24
Whoever spares the rod hates his son,but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.
Hebrews 12:5-7
5And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
6For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives."
7It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
------
See the kid in the store who is screaming at the top of her lungs for the doll she absolutely must have or she will die? That is me.
How about the girl that threw down the lamp because she didn't get her way? Or the girl who sat underneath the dining table when the family wouldn't open Christmas gifts RIGHT THEN? Me.
In God's grace, He has saved me from who I could've become and has made me His Child, a New Creation. However, as a natural part of life, there are consequences. I wasn't disciplined as a child basically at all ..and there are consequences for that. I've been seeing that progressively more and more as I've grown older. While I plead no innocence for my sins of anger and control (other than in Christ paying for the penalty of my sin), I can't help but feel some pangs of the consequences.
Oh how I wish I was disciplined! Oh, how I wish I didn't have to struggle as mightily as I do now against this sin! How terribly humbling and depressing when I step back and see myself acting as childishly as I do. I don't mean to say that disciplined children don't struggle with sin (or sins of anger and control for that matter), but as Proverbs so clearly states, the rod drives folly far from the heart of a child. Folly is bound up in my heart and I thank God for the discipline He has so lovingly given me in various ways. Yet, many times, I feel so "far behind" because of the discipline I wasn't given as a child.
But this makes me think a few things. Wow, what an amazing blessing you've been given if you have been disciplined well by your parents! I know you may not understand how beautiful it is, but it is indeed wonderful.
Secondly, what a high calling for parents to be instruments of God by administering discipline for the sanctification of their child. What love that a parent, for a period of time, takes responsibility as God's instrument in sanctifying this little image bearer of God.
The calling is beyond my comprehension as I do not have my own children. But I am burdened beyond belief for any children that God may give me.. to not cultivate folly in their hearts.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
If God Created the Universe then Who Created God?
This is a question I've heard many times in the past years, and have often wondered myself how Christians can answer. I had for a while thought that both Christianity and atheism boiled down to one basic belief that something had to exist before everything. This thing was either God in the Christian view, or an infinitely tiny and dense particle of mass that exploded into life in the atheist view. The conflict then becomes which scenario is more plausible? But now that I've done some reading I've learned that there is more to the issue than I first thought.
The question "Who made God?" has actually been around for some time. Bertrand Russel, a well known atheist concluded, "If everything must have a cause, then God must have a cause." Stephen Hawking begs the same question. Atheists have been attempting to explain away the necessity of God in the creation of the world as long as atheism has existed. The Steady State Theory suggests that the earth has always existed in eternity past, where as the Oscillatory model posits that the universe has been expanding and contracting continuously into eternity past. Some even believe that the universe came into existence uncaused out of nothing.
Many issues arise with this understanding of the universe, and from scientific discovery we have uncovered a number of things that refute these claims. The observations that the universe is expanding points to some beginning of the earth such as in the Big Bang theory. We also know that the universe cannot exist in eternity past because we know that an actual infinite amount of time is not possible. If you can imagine that if the universe existed in eternity past, then an infinite number of events must have existed prior to the present. But if an infinite number of past events have taken place, it is impossible to ever arrive at the present.
The second law of thermodynamics tells us that things cannot spontaneously come into existence out of nothing. In fact, this was even refuted by one of the most noted atheists, David Hume. What we can say is that whatever begins to exist must have a cause. This is consistent with what we know about our universe. If everything that begins must have a cause and we know that the universe began, then what caused the universe? Some atheists might posit that the universe caused itself into existence, but we know that the cause of any one thing cannot be the thing itself. We also know that an actually infinite number of events cannot exist, and as such there cannot be an infinite regress of causes going into eternity past. The logical conclusion is that some thing that is uncaused and eternal must be the reason behind the universe. Something that trancends time and space. But then what is this eternal and uncaused entity? In Christian understanding, this is God.
I think William Lane Craig sums this up well in a conversation he had with a student when asked "If God created the universe then who created God?" To which he replied, "God didn't come from anywhere. He has eternal and has always existed. So he doesn't need a cause. But now let me ask you something. The universe has not always existed but had a beginning. So where did the universe come from?"
It then comes down to a an understanding that God is, in fact, the best explanation as to the beginning of the universe.
The question "Who made God?" has actually been around for some time. Bertrand Russel, a well known atheist concluded, "If everything must have a cause, then God must have a cause." Stephen Hawking begs the same question. Atheists have been attempting to explain away the necessity of God in the creation of the world as long as atheism has existed. The Steady State Theory suggests that the earth has always existed in eternity past, where as the Oscillatory model posits that the universe has been expanding and contracting continuously into eternity past. Some even believe that the universe came into existence uncaused out of nothing.
Many issues arise with this understanding of the universe, and from scientific discovery we have uncovered a number of things that refute these claims. The observations that the universe is expanding points to some beginning of the earth such as in the Big Bang theory. We also know that the universe cannot exist in eternity past because we know that an actual infinite amount of time is not possible. If you can imagine that if the universe existed in eternity past, then an infinite number of events must have existed prior to the present. But if an infinite number of past events have taken place, it is impossible to ever arrive at the present.
The second law of thermodynamics tells us that things cannot spontaneously come into existence out of nothing. In fact, this was even refuted by one of the most noted atheists, David Hume. What we can say is that whatever begins to exist must have a cause. This is consistent with what we know about our universe. If everything that begins must have a cause and we know that the universe began, then what caused the universe? Some atheists might posit that the universe caused itself into existence, but we know that the cause of any one thing cannot be the thing itself. We also know that an actually infinite number of events cannot exist, and as such there cannot be an infinite regress of causes going into eternity past. The logical conclusion is that some thing that is uncaused and eternal must be the reason behind the universe. Something that trancends time and space. But then what is this eternal and uncaused entity? In Christian understanding, this is God.
I think William Lane Craig sums this up well in a conversation he had with a student when asked "If God created the universe then who created God?" To which he replied, "God didn't come from anywhere. He has eternal and has always existed. So he doesn't need a cause. But now let me ask you something. The universe has not always existed but had a beginning. So where did the universe come from?"
It then comes down to a an understanding that God is, in fact, the best explanation as to the beginning of the universe.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)