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In Christ
Joe Hussung

God-creator of evil?

God-omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. These three adjectives are words often used to describe God. I believe that they are all true and presented in scripture. The issue addressed today will be one that is often shied away from in discussion, though is a valid question if these three adjectives are taken into close consideration. I will not shy away from it today in hopes that I myself can gain more understanding and maybe you will as well. The object of our attention will be the question-Is God the author of evil. Before we start I would like it to be known that I am not totally convinced on either side of this argument, but I hope that this blog will help us to lead into discussion, rather than inform, so that we may all understand a bit more.

First, I think we must set the basis for what kind of God we're talking about here. We are speaking of God, who is omnipotent. I believe that God is all-powerful in the sense that he controls all things. Though I do believe that humans do have some sense of free will. But I also think that God controls all circumstances, situations, and plots. Therefore God has a hand in EVERYTHING. God is repeatedly in scripture referred to as "Almighty". Also, I find it scriptural and most logical to think that God has a right to have power over all things He created. I think this is one reason we must ask the question-did He create evil. I also believe that God is completely good. Psalms 5:4 reads, "For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you." Also, God deserving of all glory and reverence. Revelation 4:11 states. " Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." Through these important attributes of God I think we can make a small dint in trying to understand God's relation to evil.

If we believe that God is omnipotent then obviously he had to of had some hand in evil's coming about, though I do not think that God directly created evil. I believe this mainly because of two things. It would be outside of God's nature to directly create or do evil, considering He is all good. Also, evil is not something that is just created. It is something that is done, or rather the absence of something good. Therefore God didn't directly create evil. Though in setting the universe into motion and creating an eternal plan He must have given beings the ability to stray away from His original plan. Is this wrong, or sin, on God's part. Of course not! I think one of the most common, though most of the time naïve, phrases used by Christians explains this the most-"God is God". I think the definition of sin, or wrong is anything outside of the nature of God. Therefore obviously God not necessarily cannot sin, but will not, unless you believe in a God who has multiple personalities (we'll save that for another time). So, let's recap. I believe that God, while not directly creating evil, preordained it to come into existence.

The reason most people have a problem with this is that they don't understand why He would do this. They want to believe in a God who had this perfect plan to have a perfect world. But then the same omnipotent God they believe had a flawed plan. I think that this is ridiculous. How could believe in a flawed plan. Or should you rather believe in a God who has a plan that it is perfect, even if it contains evil. I think we can see this indirectly stated in Romans when Paul says why God creates people destined for Hell. Romans 9:22 reads, " What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy…" Therefore, God did all these things in order to show his glory all the more.

God in all of his glory, created a perfect world, and in His world allowed for it to fall and evil to exist, so that in the end He could send His son to redeem His people and restore the earth to it's original goodness. Therefore let us praise God, in His all-powerful, yet mystical ways. Even though we can never fully grasp Him, we can, through righteous prayer, meditation, and discussion, scratch a little bit on the top of His glory. " For from and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." Romans 11:36

Regenerate Church Membership

So I don't know what the deal is with my little brothers, because I was the last person to post here and everybody is forgetting that it is there turn.



I had a revelation last night. I figured out how to get churches to actually abide by the membership resolution that was passed by the SBC this summer.



Are you ready for this. We should institute a membership tax. $10/year for every member on a church's role. The minute churches start have to pay money based on the number of people on their role, they will go through their lists and see a name and say, "well we don't know that person, I don't see why we should have to pay $10. They don't even come!" You see, it doesn't seem that church membership costs anybody anything. And since churches are unwilling to let membership cost them time and energy in trying to restore wayward members, maybe monetary costs will help things along a little bit.



Of course I don't really mean this, it's all tongue-in-cheek. I just think it is sad that this is the only convincing way I can come up with for churches to buy into being responsible with their roles.

Outrigger Island (Vacation Bible School)

Well, first off, let me officially apologize on behalf of all of us in our incredible blogging delinquency. What with Jeremiah getting married, and school, and work, I guess we let the time get away from us.




So my church is doing Vacation Bible School this week. That's right. Attention, salute, pledge. One conundrum that I always find myself dwelling on during VBS week is childhood conversion. I couldn't find more recent statistics, but according to the 2002 Baptism Statistics for the Southern Baptist Convention, we baptized 394,893. Out of that, 124,555 were children 11 years old and younger. 4,386 were 5 years old or under. I am sure that the majority of these baptisms (or at least in my region) come from Vacation Bible School.

This is not an anti-VBS posting. I was saved at the age of 9, so I am by no means claiming that all of those 124,555 are false conversions. But how many times have you been in a worship service listening to the testimony of an adult where they said, "I was saved at the age of seven, but in my teenage and college years I really fell away from the Lord, and did a lot of things I shouldn't have done. And then at some point I realized that I must not have been saved." There are a lot of adults that seem to realize later in life that their childhood conversion wasn't really a conversion at all.

We absolutely should share the Gospel with kids at VBS. We should share the Gospel with everybody all the time. I think we should avoid pressuring or manipulating people (especially kids). I thought it might be helpful to include some Gospel basics in this blog. As we all go out and spread the Good News of Jesus Christ in our lives and workplaces, and VBS, here are some distinct things that need to be brought out in conversation:

1. God is. This may not be necessary in your context. Most people believe in God where I live, even if they have a wrong idea of him, so I wouldn't have to spend a lot of time on this.

2. God demands. Most people consider themselves to be generally good. Of course, according to biblical standards, this is a bunch of hogwash, there is no one righteous. I would point a person to Exodus 20, walking through the 10 commandments, and also take them through the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus expounds these commandments. If you come out reading all of that and still thinking you've got it all together, there's something wrong with you.

3. God is just. God is holy (Is. 6). His holiness means that he will not look at sin (Hab. 1:13) nor will he tolerate it (Is. 13:11). Hell is a real place (Matt. 10:28) and it is God's punishment for those who sin (Rom. 6:23).

4. God is merciful. God did not leave us all alone, but provided a Savior, Jesus Christ. He himself is God, and lived a perfect life, died a perfect death, and rose victorious over sin and death. He suffered for sin (1 Peter 3:18) and his righteousness can be given to us if we have faith in Him.

5. Repent and believe. This is what God requires of us, to repent of our sins (not just say we are sorry, but to forsake them) and to believe in Jesus Christ (like a person believes in a parachute as they jump out of the plane).

Something to think about:

Does the person understand that they are a sinner? Very important. We have no reason to be saved if we have nothing to be saved from.

Things to avoid:

Talking too much about heaven. If you go up to any kid, or adult for that matter, and tell them, "Hell is a terrible place where you are burned with fire,etc. And heaven is filled with cotton candy and gum drops." They are going to want to go to heaven, and pray anything you ask them to if you guarantee them that they will go if you do.

Don't close the net too quickly. I read a great book by a guy named Icabod Spencer called "A Pastor's Sketches." It's his account of evangelistic visits. He is never present when they find a hope in Christ. They are still convicted when he leaves. The "sinner's prayer" notion is only about 60 years old. The Church has survived long before without it.

Sinner's Prayer is not magical. There is no scripture guaranteeing the recitation of a prayer to automatically save a person. Be careful not to pronounce a person saved or say things like "welcome to the kingdom, brother!" We are not given authority to do that.

Some helpful resources:

Prayer- Conversion is in God's hands, not our slick abilities to convince people that we are right.
A Pastor's Sketches by Icabod Spencer
Matthias Media- great website with good tracks and helps
The Way of the Master- Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron, really good evangelism course
Paul Metzger's The Whole Truth, very good book
Mark Dever's book on Personal Evangelism

Man, I didn't mean to write a book on this, but it is a very important topic. You see, I am not saying we shouldn't evangelize children. I just think we should be aware of our content. I think my church, for example does a good job of being careful when dealing with children who profess Christ as their Savior. VBS is a great opportunity for our church to spread the Gospel to children that might not hear it otherwise. I think if we are careful about our Gospel content, we will see less baptisms, but the baptisms we do have will hopefully be true ones. Finally, just in case this sounds like a lecture and not helpful for the purpose of discussion, here are a couple of questions that might be good to talk about:

1. Do you think churches should have an age limit for baptism?
2. What would you consider to be the basics of Gospel content for evangelism?
3. Should there be a class or interview conducted by a pastor before baptism?

Anyone...anyone...

Ben Stein, most widely known as an actor in Ferris Bueler's Day Off as well as in other movies and commericials, is actually an advocate of intelligent design theory as well as an opponent of the theory of evolution.
Recently, Ben Stein has co-written a movie called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. In this movie he shows links between imperialism, the holocaust, and (what he claims is a necessity to produce the previous) the theory of evolution. The movie also illustrates the flaws in the theory of evolution or "Darwinism" and seeks to expose the unjust and unfounded discrimination by the scientific academic community against those who hold to the intelligent design theory.
The first question I want to address is the question that many pacifists in the evolution v. creation war often pose. "Can't you be an evolutionist and a creationist?" The simple answer is, "No." That is not to say that creationists cannot believe in the theory of natural selection or even that human beings might have evolved and progressed in some fashion all under the sovereignty and active participation of the Creator. Although, these differences do provide discord between the two groups, the point of distinction is this: the theory of evolution holds that life originated as the result of a completely random series of biochemical reactions. Creationists collectively hold to the notion that the Creator originated life, not randomly, but with purpose and intention in his creation. This is the true area of strife between creationists and evolutionists.
Expelled demonstrates that this theory of evolution is flawed with huge gaps. Even those scientists who simply believe that a creator might have acted during those gaps are discriminated against - many times left unemployed.
Scientists have been able to propagate this flawed theory as a pristine, unquestionable explanation of how the earth began because they hold positions of authority and because of the general lack of skepticism toward the subject.
It is commonly unknown that the best explanation of the oringin of life by evolutionists is that a mud puddle struck by lightening effected a series of biochemical reactions that ultimately evolved into the human race as well as every other living thing on the earth. To me, this sounds to be quite a bit more shaky than the creationist theory, which believes that a Creator (God) gave life, distinctly, to all creatures and living beings on this earth.
Most people, unquestioning toward the evidence of evolution, hold firmly to evolution even though it has a ridiculous explanation of how life began. Ben Stain calls on students, and the general population alike, to question what the scientific community says and to not allow a small minority to rule an entire academic field without reason. "Anyone...anyone..."

Is the New Covenant New or Old?

What actually changes from the Old testament to the New? What are the differences from the Old Covenant and the New? Are there any? I would propose that there is very little difference between the Old and New Testaments. First, what we need to establish is what the “Old Covenant” is and what it isn’t. For us to understand this we need to look at the overall tone from the New Testament writers about the Old Testament. Now for some common ground, most all scholars would say that the O.T is centered around the Law. So how are we to look at the Law? The first place that we see the law talked about is in matthew 5:17. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” This statement is very important when dealing with the differences between the O.T & N.T. Then following that statement you have the different parts of the Law (adultery, murder, divorce) where Christ commentates on the Law. What Christ is doing here in this text is correcting the common understanding of the Law in that day which was that you followed the Law and its commandments (which were things to be done). Christ gives light to the fact the Law is not just outward works but inward heart reality that matters in the Law (Lust as well as Adultery, hate as well as murder) Christ equates these things with one another in this passage. This is reiterated multiple times in Matthew 22:34. So, according to Christ in Matthew 22, the Law required everyone to Love the Lord their God, and Love their neighbors as themselves. Both of these commandments are what the Law and the Prophets depend on and both are heart commandments. So the question comes if the heart of the Law is actually heart commandments, and the Law is how God determines who will find favor with him then who could find favor with him? The fact is that man’s “heart is full of deceit above all” (Jer. 17:9)This question is the question of the Gospel if God requires perfection then none of us meet that requirement. That is why we need Christ. Sounds like the New Covenant to me. The Covenant of God has been the same from the beginning. A holy and righteous God requires the same from us (1 Peter 1:16). We all have fallen short of this standard that is set by God through his Law whether in the O.T or the N.T (Romans 3:10-11). God, because of his Justice must have a perfect sacrifice to atone for the sins that we have committed towards him. He sent Christ to die as a substitution for our sins. And the way that we receive the gift that Christ has purchased for us is to Believe on him and repent of our sins. This includes the O.T characters. This is not a Works program in the O.T and a Grace program in the N.T it is a Grace thing in the Covenant of God to mankind. It is all Grace from beginning to end so man may boast. From the O.T saints to the saints in the church now they are all saved through faith in Christ. In Hebrews chapter 11 we see a list of O.T saints who have been credited Righteousness through faith just as we are and who have ran the good race and have finished it. It is in light of these men that he mentions the famous text in chapter 12 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses...” it is with these saints and the saints of now that we run with perseverance towards the author and perfecter of our faith. Our saviour Christ Jesus.

"Me wants it...the precious."

Last night's weather provided a welcomed change of pace. My wife and I had just been escorted out the door by my father after dinner at their house. The next thing I knew there were snowballs flying over our heads. Amanda shot towards a tree while I was looking for another place to hide. All of sudden one of these missiles the size of a softball struck Amanda in the back. At first I thought this was humorous until I turned around and noticed that my dad had launched the snowball from fifty yards away (wow!). A gruesome battle ensued for the next ten minutes resulting in my wedding ring falling off in the snow. Instantly we all started a search and rescue mission for the missing jewelry. For the next twenty minutes my eyes continued to scan each square foot of snow in an attempt to find what was missing.

I thought about this story alot today in reguards to the gospel and my own sin. In the good news of Jesus Christ we have a God that searched us out, found us, bought us, changed us, and who will glorify us. He did these things inspite of our God hating hearts. For this post I want to focus on one result of our regeneration. That we are to seek God.

It makes perfect sense to me that a God who sought and then changed us, by supernaturally giving us new hearts, would give us hearts that naturally seek him. I must admit I was convicted by the urgency in which I sought my ring, and the lack of urgency in my quiet times within the last few weeks. The unsearchable riches of God are so easily drowned out by my selfish desire to searchout college basketball or my couch. How ridiculous! I need to hear the words of Paul in Eph 5 "Awake o Sleeper and Christ will shine upon you." Our culture offers us multiple things to search after. And if thats not enough our sinful flesh still kicks up and offers a variety of sins to run after. How should one combat this?

This week I have been reading the book of Joshua and got to the part about the Israelites stacking twelve stones as a memorial for when they crossed the Jordan. I believe this represents one aspect in our seeking of God. We are to remember. So often in our search for God we forget the miraculous life that he has given us. We forget the trials that his hand has guided us through. One thing that has helped me is a journal. I like to look back at events where the Lord has worked mightily in my life. So, can you remember?

Secondly, stand on the word of God. This should probably be the first thing I said. If your are attempting to seek God without devouring his word, you stand a good chance of seeking selfish desires or creating a false God who acts like you. I can say that because I am guilty of it. Psalm 1:2 Blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night." I should only care for seeking out the God who has spoken to us through his word.

And finally, forget about trying to self create desires on your own. This can only be done by God through the Holy Spirit. All else is in vain unless it is done by and through the spirit of God. We so often grieve the spirit because of our running after the wind. This includes good things like ministry or serving others. If not done by the spirit, we quickly twist these seemingly good actions and make them about ourselves.

I will leave you with a hymn by Phillip Bliss. It is my hope that you will delight is seeking after our Almighty God.

Man of Sorrows what a name, for the Son of God who came. Ruined sinners to reclaim, hallelujah what a Savior.

Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned he stood. Sealed my pardon with His blood, Hallelujah what a savior.

Guilty vile and helpless we, spotless lamb of God was He. Full atonement can it be, Hallelujah, what a Savior.

When He comes our glorious Kind, all is ransomed home to bring. Then anew this song we'll sing, Hallelujah what a Savior!