Friday, May 8, 2020

The Rise of the Scientist Overlords


It sounds a bit like a science fiction novel title. Its not that I am anti-science, though some might suggest it because of the title of this post and because I am an evangelical-reformed Christian. It is assumed by many in our modern era (certainly since the days of Immanuel Kant) that faith is outside of the realm in which we live. It is precisely that assumption and all that is carried with it that I am writing this. We all are living under the threat of a pandemic and the reactions of government in response to it. Scientists and science have been the main voices in directing governments how to deal with in this crisis. I am not questioning science as a discipline. I am questioning the assumptions behind making the scientists the main voices for everything done in response to this situation we find ourselves in.



Some would say, “It’s a health crisis. Of course, we need the direction of the medical scientists.” I agree that science has vital role to play, especially in a health crisis. My concern that grew after a couple of weeks of home quarantines and the closure of economies is that the public health orders made this more than a physical health crisis. It quickly became an economic crisis. At least 701,000 jobs were lost in March but some estimate that number to 10 million (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-us-officially-lost-701000-jobs-in-march-but-in-reality-millions-vanished-2020-04-03). Medical scientists can’t answer the serious economic crisis their recommendations have created. I’ve personally watched people in my church lose their businesses and they may well not be able to recover. The federal and state governments have spent trillions of dollars that they didn’t have. We have added to our federal debt and endangered state budgets and solvency on the advice of our health scientists.



The scientist recommendations to COVID-19 have also created a whole host of mental health concerns. It is reported that nearly 45% of American adults have stated their mental health has been negatively impacted by the orders of governors (https://www.kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/the-implications-of-covid-19-for-mental-health-and-substance-use/). Loneliness and isolation are not good things. Maybe this is a call for more scientists from the mental health sphere but again they don’t really have any answers. Related to mental health issues such as depression and effects of isolation are the spiritual issues. My marriage counseling has increased. The Church is unable to meet and all this “social distancing” has created an extremely difficult situation for ministry to people in need. Human beings, made in the image of God, are by nature social creatures. The church functions, spiritual health is encouraged, and moral values are reinforced by the Church being in fellowship. “Social distancing” is a created term that has torn apart the natural bonds that bind humans together, all because the scientists say so.



The science based recommendations to combat COVID-19 have also created a legal crisis with governors releasing incarcerated felons into the public, civil unrest with protests against hard measures, and legal challenges to the infringements of constitutional rights that will take up countless hours in the courts for some time. It appears the health scientists have trumped the political scientists. Again, medical scientists are in a weak position to answer the legal ramifications of their recommendations.



Why do the health science guys get to trump everyone else? The answer is of course that we have to save lives. That is most important they say, meanwhile many of these medical scientists also believe abortion is a necessary and good thing (https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/10/politics/virginia-abortion-protections/index.html). Its triage. You do the important first and work out the other need later. It sounds nice but I submit that it is a false analogy with a false premise.

It’s a false premise because there is more to life and physical life. People cannot live without jobs and economic activity. We can’t buy or transport food, process food, supply medicines, etc. without it. People need jobs and all business are essential (https://fee.org/resources/i-pencil/). More than the physical things there are spiritual realities. People are not machines that you can store in homes or move from place to place like parts of a greater machine. They form relationships. People are spiritual beings. There is more to a person than his/her physical body. Ruin his spiritual life and you ruin his physical and mental health. Saving life is a laudable goal. Christians believe in the importance of life but there is more to life than physical life. That is why many have been willing to die for ideas, principles, and freedom.

It’s a false analogy because we are not dealing with a single living organism or patient. We are dealing with the multifaceted and complex interconnection of human beings and their interrelationships as noted above. My gravest concern about the assumption behind the scientists running the show is that we have bought into a purely materialistic worldview or scientism. Life isn’t a mechanism or result of chemical reactions. We have always had to balance the risks to life in a world of sin and death. Its all tied together. If anything, the spiritual trumps the physical for Jesus taught us, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell,” (Matt 10:28) and “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it,” (Matt. 10:39) 
 I think we need health scientists. I don’t think they make good social or economic policy. If we leave the scientists in charge, if the scientists become our overlords, we will be deprived of many of the good things that make life worth living. Science doesn’t hold all the answers. Scientism isn’t good science for any of us.

Monday, February 3, 2020

Death and Mercy

A member of the church I serve is involved in a dog therapy ministry that is a local chapter of the Tampa based “Canines for Christ” whose mission is “to help the sick and lonely hear the gospel and find a reason to smile as God works through "man's best friend". I was surprised a number of years ago when she became the owner of not one but two German Shepherd dogs. This lady is not a large person though she is, as retired teacher, a formidable personality. Still, I consider German Shepherds a bit on the large side for dogs and to have two of them seemed like a challenge. The challenge was accentuated by the fact that one of the dogs was a rescue animal with a few behavior issues. My friend told me her desire was to have the dogs trained and certified as therapy dogs in order to give her opportunities to meet people, minster to them, and to share the gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ. With that purpose in mind she named the one dog "Justice" and the other she named "Mercy." One can immediately see the opening for a conversation with names that describe those two attributes of God; one detailing what we deserve and the other what we need. It was an interesting prospect. Justice did well but unfortunately Mercy's behavior problems kept her from being fully certified to function as therapy dog alongside of Justice. My friend wasn't deterred and many conversations were started with the ministry of Justice. Recently Mercy became ill and died prematurely for the life expectancy of German Shepherds. We grieved the loss of Mercy as she was a peculiarly likeable personality. It seemed an odd end to an interesting ministry idea but then I began to see a bit of God's providence in it.

One of the recurring questions a minister friend of mine routinely asked candidates for the gospel ministry was from the Larger Catechism of the Westminster Standards, question # 85, "Death being the wages of sin, why are not the righteous delivered from death, seeing all their sins are forgiven in Christ?"  Oftentimes he would put it more bluntly, “Why do Christians die? Is it due to some punishment by God?” Now this is a question that has stumped many a man. Many would answer that because sin and its effects still remain in the physical body the Christian must die. But then, it is a punishment? If so, that begs the question asked by the catechism query, “If death being the wages of sin, why are not the righteous delivered from death, seeing all their sins are forgiven in Christ?”

The answer to the Larger Catechism question # 85 is, “The righteous shall be delivered from death itself at the last day, and even in death are delivered from the sting and curse of it; so that, although they die, yet it is out of God’s love (Isaiah 57:1,2; 2 Kings 22:20), to free them perfectly from sin and misery (Rev. 14:13; Eph. 5:27), and to make them capable of further communion with Christ in glory, which they then enter upon (Luke 23:43; Phil. 1:23).”

Did you catch that? Looking at scripture we are not only to be comforted in the death of believers that they enter into their eternal rest in Christ and cease from suffering here but that God expresses his love to believers by using death to free them from sin and misery in this life. Death for the believer isn’t punishment but an expression of God’s love for the sinner. It is all of grace and mercy! Christians die because God in love frees them from the ongoing battle of sin and misery in this life. Death is transformed from punishment to a means of grace and love (I Cor. 15:55). Physical death makes believers capable of further and deeper communion with the Lord Jesus in glory. This idea nearly makes your head spin.

Back to our dog friend Mercy. Perhaps her untimely death in our view is another lesson from God’s providence about God’s ways. God took her in love. It is merciful love for God take the believer home. Justice awaits the final day when it shall be fulfilled but now, in the “day” of the gospel, it is mercy that God shows to those who love him because they are loved by Him through the Lord Jesus. I find this mysteriously poetic on God’s part. Mercy is displayed by a dog with issues like us. She just didn’t quite measure up although Justice does. Mercy’s life is brought to end to show us God’s love for sinners. Its all pure mercy and grace! O Christian, take heart. Revel in God’s love for you in all things!

Friday, July 6, 2018

Lessons from the Jericho Road

Jesus Christ taught his disciples that all of the scriptures speak of him (Luke 24:27; John 5:39,46).  There are many signs and references to the person and work of Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. Lessons for gospel work are to be found throughout the lively book of Joshua that figures the Old Testament type of Jesus in the person of Joshua. As Joshua led God's people, so Jesus has come to conquer Satan's kingdom, to establish his own permanent kingdom, and to lead his people in victory.

A striking lesson is found in Joshua 5 where we with the historical Joshua meet the Commander of the Lord's Army (Joshua 5:13-16). He is referenced as a man yet equally God (note the reference to holy ground like that of Exodus 3:5). Joshua's "Moses experience" was meant to encourage him in the arduous task of leading the Lord's people to conquer the land. More than that we are to see the pre-incarnate Christ leading his people as the one who will gain the certain victory. 

The active leadership of Jesus Christ, The Commander of the Lord's Host (see Revelation 19:11ff), is demonstrated in the unconventional overthrow of the city Jericho in Joshua 6. Jericho was a great walled city on the plain of the Jordon River Valley that was essentially the gateway to the mountainous interior of the land of Canaan. There are valuable lessons in the way that the battle for Jericho was waged. 

The first lesson is the LORD's call to Israel to be obedient. They were given specific instructions that must have seemed unrelated to taking a fortified city in battle. Israel was to march its army surrounding the priests blowing trumpets and carrying the ark of the covenant around the city one time for six straight days. On the seventh day they were to march around the city seven times with the people shouting on the seventh march.  The Israelites were to obey God and watch his work.  We need to be obedient and faithful to his word.

The second lesson is that the Lord's power alone gains the victory. We all know the story of the walls of Jericho falling by the mighty hand of the Lord. God was showing that his strength alone would bring the victory. Christ is building his church. We are to point to him and glorify him. The Lord brings the victory in gospel work.

Thirdly, the blowing trumpets and shouts of the people are used by the Lord to point to something other than physical warfare. The use of blowing trumpets are found in Revelation 8:6-11. We see seven trumpets, an interesting repeat of the same number. In both instances of Joshua 6 and Revelation 8:6-11 the trumpets announce the judgment of God. Yet I cannot help wonder that the trumpets don't also refer to the announcement of the gospel which "...is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (I Cor. 1:18). It is the gospel that is the power of salvation, not the power of mankind. Christ build his church by his word.

The shouts of people glorying in God and the blasts of trumpets seemed incongruous to the battle of a walled city. Israel was being taught to trust in the Lord and to glory only in him. Today we wage a war against sin and see the spiritually dead raised not by the power of human programs and activism but by the power of Christ leading us in obedience in proclaiming his word. The glory belongs to Christ Jesus alone!

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Why Worry?


At our mid-week Prayer & Study group we’ve been working through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We read a section, talk about it, and use its message to help us to pray for one another. Matthew 6:25-34 was our recent text and many felt it to be very applicable to where their lives are. Worry. Do you do that?

It’s important to see Jesus’ comments on worry in relation to the bigger theme he paints of the kingdom citizen begun in Matthew 5. Specifically, Jesus’ warnings about our tendency to worry follow his reminder that we cannot serve two masters; God and money or material possessions (Matthew 6:24). When our lives are focused on material things, treasures on earth (Matthew 6:19) instead of on spiritual things, God himself, we are subject to worry. Which of us can guarantee worldly wealth whether to achieve it or to maintain it?

What struck me about Jesus’ exhortation in Matthew 6:25-34 about worry was how we get things backwards. What do you worry about? Did you look at the list Jesus gives in Matthew 6:25-31? Its all stuff. Yep, we worry about material stuff. What is missing? In so many conversations I have with people most hardly ever say they worry about spiritual things. I’ll ask, “What happens at death?” The common response is, “I don’t know.” People seem to be entirely careless about a fact that everyone of us will face, death. We just don’t think about it let alone worry about it. We worry about what might happen regarding our stuff but we don’t worry about what we know will eventually happen to us.

This is where Jesus’ answer in Matthew 6:33 comes into play. When we seek God first, when we think about our spiritual need to be right with God, his righteousness and our lack of it, we realize the other stuff gets taken care of. In fact, it has little importance. Putting God first, seeking his righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22), and loving God for who he is changes everything about life. If you are known by God in Christ Jesus, why worry?