The Importance of Theology

All of Scripture applies to all of life. Theology is not something to be held between our ears, but something that permeates our lives. There is no area of life to which Scripture does not speak (2 Tim. 3:15-17). The Christian reformation extended to every area of life. As we have retreated from the breadth of Scripture to a theology that is only personal, we have seen the forces of evil rise to pummel God's world. The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof. We need to have answers for those who ask what they suppose are rhetorical questions or unanswerable questions.

Noah

The Old Testament account of Noah and the great flood has become one of the great stumbling-blocks today, not so much for unbelievers as for Christians. The story of Noah is so fantastical, so at odds with common experience, and with scientific dogma, that it has been relegated to the category of “myth.”

As is the case with other New Testament references to the Old Testament, any attempt to hold the “difficult” passages in the Old Testament as “myth” will inevitably compromise the New Testament. Whereas the pagans generally don’t know and don’t care about the historicity of Jesus Christ, Christians who play carelessly with the historicity of the Old Testament generally refuse to do so with the New Testament.

We cannot have Jesus Christ as the bearer of truth to us and have Him a deluded person. Jesus Christ accepted the authority of the Pentateuch, which contains the accounts of Noah, quoting from it.

Luke 17:26-27, “And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.” In this passage Jesus appealed to the example of Noah, among others in the Old Testament.


Excerpts from "Lessons from Noah"

Authority Comes from God

All human authority is derivative from God. He has chosen a plurality of repositories for the authority He dispenses to human beings. These are:

• self-governance (1 Thess. 4:11-12; Nov. 16:17; 19:16; Deut. 5:21; 1 Cor. 11:28; 2 Cor. 13:5).

• family governance (Ex. 20:12; Deut. 6:7-9; Eph. 6:1-4, 5:22-33; Col. 3:18-21; l Tim. 2:13; 3:4-5; Titus 2:5; 1 Peter 3:1-7).

• church governance (2 Thess. 4:11-12; Prov 16:17; 19:16; 1 Tim. 2:11-15; 3:1-13; 5; Titus 1:5-9; 3:9-11; Ex. 20:12).

• workplace governance (Eph. 6:5-9; Col. 3:22-4:1; 1 Tim. 6:1,2; Titus 2:9-10; 1 Peter 2:18-19).

• civil governance (Ex. 20:12; Deut. 17:14-20; Luke 20:25; Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17).

Analagous to the complementary spiritual gifts in the body of Christ, these deposits of authority from God are intended to work together. The tools available to each locus of government, and the extent of authority of each are different. The power of the death penalty belongs to the civil governor. Parents may not execute their children (Deut. 21:18-21). Corporal punishment belongs to the family (Prov. 23:13-14). To the Church belongs spiritual authority and discipline (2 Cor. 10:3-6). Confusion reigns when the various repositories raid each other's domain, usurping what is not theirs to have. The tortures, executions, and property seizures of the Inquisition in Europe are a blot against the Name of Christ, seizing civil authority. Through nepotism, family government has illegitimately usurped civil authority.

In our time however, it appears to be the civil state that is the chief usurper. Family governance, among other loci, is under heavy assault by the civil state. Voices abound which would allow minors to engage in sexual intercourse, even homosexual liaisons, freely, provided of course that they practice birth control or submit to abortion. Children already are tapped to become spies for the civil authorities within the sanctity of the home on the excuse that because some homes contain evil, all homes are thus legitimate targets for surveillance….

Christians need to be careful that we are not enlisted into the wrong army on these matters.


Excerpt from "Parental Authority in Medicine"

Exclusive: Dr Mike Vasovski Discusses Reasons For Going Off The “Insurance Grid”

Vasovski also said that the off grid system improves the doctor patient relationship.  “You do spend a little more time – not less time – you spend more time with them, and by design, you’re going to be a little bit more interested in satisfying them than if it’s just a checkmark on a sheet with the bill going to the insurance company.”

Read more: http://benswann.com/exclusive-dr-mike-vasovski-discusses-reasons-for-going-off-the-insurance-grid/#ixzz2iNwlw5K7

Canonizing Experience

A Church composed of "believers" who unwittingly canonize their own experiences should not be surprised at members who do not accept parts of the Scripture, or who "interpret" it in bizarre, erroneous ways.


Excerpt from "Presuppositions of Experience"

From the Bookshelf

With this book Dr. Nortin Hadler extends his strong arguments against medical practices that have grown far beyond reasonable scientific underpinning. His earlier book, The Last Well Person, overlaps somewhat with this volume.

Enticed by money and power, main- stream medicine in the United States is engaging in an expensive, dangerous, fruitless application of unproven remedies, Hadler writes. He is not trimming off some fringe practices. His chief weapon is an exposé of the trivial reductions in the absolute in risk of disease, and its inverse, the outrageously high “number needed to treat.”

Read more of Dr. Terrell's book review here.

Experientia Docet?

The position that experience is ultimately the best teacher is certainly a possible one, but it is not a necessary one. … While experience is crucial to our understanding, experience must begin with some presuppositions some axioms, a place from which to begin. A Christian would assert that the Bible is, by faith [i.e., presuppositionally], true. Our experience is thereafter interpreted by the Scripture. It is not the other way around. We do not interpret the Bible in the "light" of our experience. Experience may exemplify Scripture's truth, but it cannot "prove" or buttress it. If our individual experience proves Scripture, then we are implicitly presupposing that our experience is superior to Scripture in validity.


Excerpt from "Presuppositions of Experience"