Series

The Sweet Taste of Sovereign Suffering, III (Selah)

/ Paul Burkhart / 1 Comment

“This is not hard to see in the Bible. And it is precious beyond words! I don’t like to get angry at people who call themselves evangelicals; I don’t delight in critiquing people who have major leadership positions [who are] very popular, nice people. This is not fun. It’s heartbreaking! But what can you do when they attack the center with blasphemous cynicism? What can you do?”
— John Piper

John Piper said this concerning N.T. Wright, the British bishop who is now bringing doubt to the orthodox doctrine of Justification. When Piper said this, he was weeping. It has been haunting me these past few days. What you are reading now is my third attempt in writing this post. I keep writing a bit then having to toss it out. Each time my heart still hasn’t been in the right place.

I need to repent. My heart has not been in the right place in these rebuttals. While I feel I’ve done a good job of not letting that effect what I’ve written, sin management is still sin, and it eats you up more than most other sins. My heart has only in the past couple of days been brought to the place that Piper’s quote above comes from. As of a few days ago, I was excited. I, the “great Paul Burkhart,” have been successfully dismantling the argument of a real Pastor. I was defending the faith. I was rebuking lies. I was showing myself better suited for this task than this man. Though I never said these things, I see now this was the state of my heart. Pride. Making my theology an idol, no matter how right it may be, is still sin – and for that I am sorry.

At the end of all these posts, I intend to send them to Pastor Slye and to the person who (with glowing praise) referred me to his sermon. I let unrighteous anger and pride drive me to write, rather than love, and I need to let Slye know that I see this, and I repent. All the Bible says about us young guys is that we are strong, prideful, and foolish. The Bible knows us better than we do, and I thought I could rise above the norm for other twentysomethings. How wrong I was! “O what a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Now, I need to do the rest of this tactfully and biblically. The verses right after the verses I just quoted (Romans 7:24-25a) are as follows: “So then, I myself serve the Law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” I think I relate to Paul here. Though with my flesh I have served the law of sin with my pride and arrogance, I still believe I have been serving the Law of God with my mind. I am still certain in the things I have been writing and writing against, I just need to repent for the heart from which I wrote them.

So, I’m going to finish this series, but I hope the tone is different. I no longer look at Slye in contempt as a heretic who needs to be rebuked and shown proper exegetical and theological integrity by the punk VCU student about to go into seminary. I go through this now as a fellow wounded sojourner, seeing why he thinks how he does. I see him as a man who stands week after week in front of God knows how many people who have been burned and hurt by the church, that come to him with their broken suffering hearts needing to know why. Needing to know God has not abandoned them. Needing to know that God is still good and they are still loved. O how calloused I’ve become because of my theology! After Lazarus dies, and Mary doubts Jesus for not being there earlier. Jesus doesn’t say, “Now now, Mary, your theology is all wrong. How dare you doubt me? O you of little faith.” No. He weeps with her, and then lives out those theological truths before her.

Though I am certain that Slye’s view on suffering is unbiblical and ultimately only leads to more cynicism and pain on behalf of the sufferer, I know that as a man who was reluctant to become Pastor in the first place (as their website says), it must have been hard when faced with the weight and realities of real life that I have yet to experience. But experience aside, the Bible is the greatest commentary and authority on true reality, and as such, I believe I have Biblical warrant to honestly and humbly show where Slye has erred in his theology.

This process now for the first time hurts me and breaks my heart. Please pray for me as I continue in this. I no longer want to do this, but the Gospel of Christ compels me, as I have seen that there is only one true comforting view in the midst of the hardest pains. And that is the view of a loving Father who lets nothing touch you that does not first pass through his loving, ordaining hand such that all things that come our way have been ordained and brought to pass ultimately by a God working for our good – building us into the strong, persevering, hope-filled, Glory-loving, broken clay vessels that we need to be to truly enjoy Him and fully worship Him when He finally takes us home.

“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.”

Selah

The Sweet Taste of Sovereign Suffering, III (Part 4 of 7)

/ Paul Burkhart / 1 Comment

This entire post will be dedicated just to the point of Slye’s sermon that made me the most frustrated. Actually, the next two posts will be. This will just cover my problems with his method of Biblical Interpretation. The next post will be my theological reasons. His point is as follows:

4. God is not on the throne.
-“…Satan, the ruler of this world…” –John 12:31(Msg)
-“Then the devil led Jesus to the top of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all their splendor. The devil said, ‘If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all these things.’” –Matt. 4:8,9(NCV)
-“The devil who rules this world…” –2 Cor. 4:4(NCV)
-“…the world around us is under the power and control of the evil one.” –1 John 5:19(NLT)

My problems with this point are three-fold: Exegetical, Theological, and Psychological/Spiritual

I: Exegetical: This word “exegetical” is just a big word for “Bible Interpretation.” That’s my first problem with this point in the sermon – Slye’s methods of Biblical Interpretation. Here are some fatal flaws in his methods to consider.

– Translation jumping: First off, one should be wary of an any preacher that jumps around among different translations. On this point alone, 3 out of 4 of the quotations are different translations. In the whole sermon, he jumps among 5 different translations. Many times when translation jumping is done it can be a sign of a pastor that has an opinion first and then tries to find Scripture to support that opinion. He will then try and find the translation that best “fits” his opinion. This is not the sign of a preacher that has submitted himself to Scripture as the authority over his own opinions, but rather a man who sees Scripture as the most widely accepted authority he can appeal to bring validation to what he wants to say. I don’t know if this applies to Slye specifically, I’m simply giving the reader something to look out for. One more little read flag: always be scared of a preacher using a shotgun smattering of Biblical quotes with as many ellipses (the dot dot dots…) as Slye uses. All Scripture should be used with consideration given to its context, not dotting it away.

– Ignoring the original language: This is related to translation jumping. I’m not even close to having had any real training in Greek or Hebrew, but with the tools available to anyone on the internet, there is no excuse for pastors blatantly ignoring the original text. Some ways this damages this message:

[“ . . . Satan, the ruler of this world . . .” –John 12:31(Msg); The word “Satan” is not found in the original language, and the word “ruler” in the Greek is actually only “prince.” More on this later]

[“The devil who rules this world . . .” — 2 Cor 4:4(NCV); The original reads “the god of this world has blinded the mind of the unbelievers . . .” The words “devil” and “rules” are not in the Greek. In fact, the word “god” in this passage is the word “Theos.” Out of the 1330 times this word is used in the New Testament, all but 10 of those times it is translated in a way referring exclusively to the true God of the Bible. So while there is some disagreement as to which translation is best in this passage, we can be sure that the seeming “clarity” of Slye’s translation is not the clarity that the passage actually gives us.]

[“ . . . the world around us is under the power and control of the evil one.” –1 John 5:19; The original reads word-for-word “we know that we are from God and the whole world lies in wickedness [or evil, or the evil one].” Based on the translation of the previous verse (5:18), it seems that the translation of “evil one” is right, but there is the chance this could be just “wickedness.” Nevertheless, “lies” is still very different in connotation than “under the power and control of”]

Sorry folks, translation matters.

– Ignoring context: I talked some about this in my ellipses comment earlier, but none of the verses he quotes actually means what he’s trying to have them mean. None of them!

[John 12:31 – This is in the middle of a statement by Jesus about his crucifixion saying “now will the prince of this world be cast out.” Hardly a statement of Satan’s authority.]

[Matthew 4:8,9 – Slye argues this would not be a legitimate temptation if all the kingdoms of the world were not Satan’s to give. Except one problem: Jesus. Our Lord’s response to Satan after this temptation is “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only you shall serve’” (4:10[ESV];the next verse). Jesus pretty much tells Satan he has not the authority to give what he’s trying to! This is not Slye’s use of the verse.]

[2 Cor 4:4 – verses 3 and 4 say, “even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god or this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (ESV). In context it seems that the actual power of the “god of this world” only extends to those perishing, not to those who have been redeemed. On a funny side note, the verse before this is describing pastors who are pure in their preaching before God, and he mentions how these preachers refuse “to tamper with God’s word.” I find it interesting that Paul mentions this just two verses before our verse that was taken out of context by a preacher.]

[1 John 5:19 – verse 18 and 19 together say “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (ESV). Not only do these verses tell of God’s power over Satan to not let him touch any of His children, but the “whole world” is established as the contrast to the “we.” I don’t think the “we” is talking about the institution of the church. If that were the case, one could argue the “whole world” meant the actual institution of reality we call “the world.” I think the “we” is referring to a group of people that are Christians, which would make the contrast here at the people level, not the institution level. This means the “whole world” probably only refers to people that are unsaved, not the world itself.]

I’ll just give this all to you now to hold you over while I really wrestle through the real meat of this post.

The Sweet Taste of Sovereign Suffering, III (Part 3 of 7)

/ Paul Burkhart / 2 Comments

3. Suffering is not the will of God.

-“Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was excellent in every way.” –Gen. 1:31(NLT) If He wanted it there, He would have put it there in the beginning.


Once again, I see his point, but his logic is off. It makes sense at first, but how disastrous would this be if carried to its logical ends? So much was not here at this “excellent” (or “very good” as most translations say) state, the most important being Jesus. This creates a problem for Slye’s view. This makes Jesus’ death an after thought or plan B. Ephesians 1 tells us that God chose and predestined us for adoption before the foundation of the world. This means God at least knew (if not purposed) that we would be found at some point alienated from his family and in need of adoption. Also, we see in 1 Corinthians 2:7 that the Gospel is “a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.” God decreed the Gospel before he created all things. The word for “decreed” in the Greek “proorizo” literally means to set limits to beforehand, predestine, determine beforehand, or ordain. God did all this to the “Gospel.” So what is the Gospel? It is not, “God created all things good and that was it.” That was not the plan. Before God created, the secret wisdom he set forth to reveal and get glory from was not a creation that was “excellent” and stayed that way. I would go far enough to say that he never intended on his creation to stay “very good.” He intended the Gospel to be put into action, so he might be glorified in it. So once more, what is the Gospel? It is “the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16), the justifying of all peoples through the seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:8), and the repentance of sinners (Matthew 4:17, 23). This plan God intended all along before he created that “very good” world was the wisdom of saving fallen men and women that they might be freed from their bondage to sin and suffering to glorify and enjoy God for all time. The Fall of Man was intended from the beginning, as part of God’s master plan, the Gospel. That glorious Gospel that would have been unnecessary if sin had not entered this “very good” world.

But why would God do this? This is difficult, but I think there are hints in the Bible. In Luke 15:7, Jesus says, “I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” In Revelation, God is worshipped for being the lamb that was slain that saved from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Here’s the key to this whole thing, I think: as Luke shows, there is something that brings more glory, joy, and worship to God about something that was good falling and Him redeeming it than if it had never fallen at all. Think about it: if the Fall had never happened, God would never be worshipped as Savior and Redeemer, as He desires to be. I hope this helps some.

I hate leaving this post here. I know it seems all I’ve done is taken the discussion too far to the other side of the spectrum and presented an image of a cold, unfeeling, unloving God who is not worth of our worship. I must tell you now this is not the case! This God is infinitely beautiful, glorious, loving, satisfying, and worth all praise and adoration, you must know that. I just hate I have not the room in this post to show how this all fits together. I intend to do this at the end of these three posts, to wrap up all I’ve said and root it and found it in the beautiful Gospel. If you can’t wait, and still have questions, feel free to drop me a line or read my previous blog posts on this topic (part 1 and part 2) for a full treatment there.

I hope this has been edifying, and expect many more updates, much more frequently. Have a wonderful and glorious day.

The Sweet Taste of Sovereign Suffering, III (Part 2 of 7)

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This begins my three part rebuttal to a sermon preached by John Slye called “Why Does God Allow Suffering?” His sermon is comprised of seven points, and I will respond to the first three in this post. Here are his points followed by my response:

1. God is all powerful.

Surprisingly, I actually disagree with Slye here — in a way. I agree with the statement in and of itself, but I disagree with him saying it. This isn’t actually a point in his argument. Rather, this is his “pastoral reasssurance” to his people. He’s pretty much saying, “God has no control or power over people, Satan, or nature that results in suffering. But don’t worry. God is all powerful.”

What?

Is this really the comfort we try and give people going through the inevitable pain and suffering this world will bring our way? That God is either unloving (has the power to stop pain but won’t) or totally impotent (would stop suffering but can’t). Either God is all powerful, or He isn’t. I just don’t see how you can be honest with the people entrusted to you and preface your message with this statement and then deliver to them what the rest of this message does.

2. God uses suffering, he does not cause it. God does not send all things. Scripture never says this.

-“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” –Romans 8:28(ESV)

Slye is saying that God does not send all things. Rather he takes the bad things that happen due to sin and Satan and then “rearranges” and/or “works them out” for the good of all people. Bad things don’t come from a good God, only good things. Many, many pastors and laypeople think this. They preach it, they believe it, and counsel with it. It is an understandable opinion about how God works, I must admit. As I said in my previous post, Slye has a complete “theodicy,” or justification of God for suffering. The problem is, it just isn’t biblical. Let’s start general and get specific.

First, Slye actually says, “God does not send all things.” he quotes the above oft quoted verse to try and show this, but if he had only read Romans for three more chapters, he would have found Romans 11:33-36 which says “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (emphasis added). This verse not only says all things are from God, but that this is the foundation of praise to Him!

Second, Slye says God does not send acts and deeds of suffering. Job 1:20-22 tells of Job’s response to the acts of suffering he endures. Scripture clearly says that Satan was the orchestrator of all the things that took Job’s most precious things away from him. In response to these deeds of Satan, Job “arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshipped. And he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong” (emphasis added). Once more, Scripture tells us these deeds originated in the will and intention of God Himself, and that this is a foundation and grounds for praise! I will get to a more comprehensive theology of Satan in suffering in the next post.

Thirdly, Slye says that God is not the cause of the evil power that suffering acts stem from. In perhaps one of the most striking verses of Scripture, God says through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 45:6b-7, “I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the lord, who does all these things.” The word translated here as “calamity” is the Hebrew word “rah.” The same word is used in the phrase “tree of the knowledge of good and rah.” Over 80% of the time this word is translated “evil.” Of the three verbs presented here (“form,” “make,” and “create”), God chooses “create” to describe what he does to darkness and evil. Of the three verbs, not only is this the strongest and most intimate one, but it is the only one that is only ever applied to God and to no one else. Not people, nature, rulers, or Satan.

I hope these verses show that the whole of Scripture is clear in God’s role is suffering. It is ordained, purposed, used, and willed by our loving Father for our good. I will expand on this in coming posts.

The Sweet Taste of Sovereign Suffering, III (Part 1 of 7)

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As said in the previous post, I’m in the process of writing a rebuttal to Pastor John Slye’s sermon on suffering. You can look at that post for more background.

Before this discussion begins, I feel I must give a few background comments giving the context in which this debate takes place. The theological study of evil and suffering in the world and how it relates to God is called Theodicy (pronounced “Thee-ah-di-see”). This word comes from the Greek “Theos” meaning “God,” and “dike” meaning “justice.” So the study of theodicy is very literally a justification of the goodness of God in spite of the evil and suffering in the world. From that perspective, both Slye and I have a comprehensive and good Theodicy – we both have justifications of God that make sense and fully answer the questions raised on this issue by those that raise them.

Thus, the only thing that makes one Theodicy better than another is not how it “makes sense” or “sounds good” or “appeals to our senses,” it must be on how it fits with God’s objective revelation of himself, Scripture. You may say to me, “but . . . Slye has Scripture to support every one of his points!” Yes, he does, which makes my job more difficult, because I can’t just throw more Scripture at him that opposes what he says. A basic tenet in logic and debate is that it is not enough to expose the weaknesses in your opponent’s arguments; you must show your’s to be superior as well, else your’s can be thought to be just as invalid as the argument you just effectively dismantled. So how will I need to do this?

I will have to appeal to the totality of Scripture as God has revealed Himself, not just do as Slye has done and find bits and pieces of Scripture that support notions he already has. My argument must be founded upon the Nature of God as He has revealed Himself in the totality of Scripture, not just here or there. It is from this background of who God is that we will move forth into looking into how he acts, because His actions are preceded by His nature.

I think this is something Slye has missed. Slye has found a system of thought that, with all due respect, will help him and his people sleep well at night, but is disingenuous to God as He has revealed Himself in Scripture as the all-reigning, all-sovereign, all-living God of the universe that we can trust and rest in even through our darkest, most difficult times in life.

Believe me, I’m living it.

Part 1 to come. Anyone that actually wants to gain a comprehensive insight into these things is encouraged to re-read my previous two posts, especially part 1, as I will reference much of the content of those posts in my arguments against this sermon. Here they are: Part 1, Part 2

God bless all, and please know I do this not for argument’s sake, but to defend the name, honor, and Glory of my amazing, beautiful, sovereign Savior Jesus Christ. I truly believe a truer picture of Him is the key to abundant life and the “renewal of your mind.”

I love you all,

–paul

p.s. – these posts will be the strangest birthday gifts I’ve ever given.

The Sweet Taste of Sovereign Suffering, III (Intro)

/ Paul Burkhart / Leave a comment

I really hope I do this in gentleness and truth, though I may get fired up a bit. I recently listened to a sermon by John Slye of Grace Community Church in Arlington, VA. It was entitled “Why Does God Allow Suffering?” You can listen to it yourself here and can download it and the outline here. Here’s the basic outline of the sermon and his Scripture points:

1. God is all powerful.2. God uses suffering, he does not cause it. God does not send all things. Scripture never says this.
-“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” –Romans 8:28(ESV)

3. Suffering is not the will of God.
-“Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was excellent in every way.” –Gen. 1:31(NLT) If He wanted it there, He would have put it there in the beginning.

4. God is not on the throne.
-“…Satan, the ruler of this world…” –John 12:31(Msg)
-“Then the devil led Jesus to the top of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all their splendor. The devil said, ‘If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all these things.’” –Matt. 4:8,9(NCV)
-“The devil who rules this world…” –2 Cor. 4:4(NCV)
-“…the world around us is under the power and control of the evil one.” –1 John 5:19(NLT)

5. God’s will is not always done on earth as it is in heaven.
-“…your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” –Matt. 6:10(NIV)

6. Suffering breaks the heart of God.
-“When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ‘Where have you laid him?’ he asked. ‘Come and see, Lord,’ they replied. Jesus wept.” –John 11:33-35(NIV)

7. Fight back.
– “This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.” –Eph. 6:12(Msg)

Anyone who’s read my previous comments on suffering (Part 1, Part 2) knows that this sermon goes against pretty much every basic tenet of my theology on this topic. I wish to engage and oppose the notions expressed in this sermon to the best of my ability, because I see Pastor Slye’s theology as being so rampant and so dangerous to all of Christendom, as I feel it cheapens our very view God.

Seeing as I wish to challenge this comprehensively, but at the same time keep every reader sane and not feeling like they are reading a novel, my responses to these seven points will be over 6 more posts. Part 2 will cover points 1 and 2 in the sermon; Part 3 will cover just point 3, Parts 4 and 5 will be all about point 4 because I am most fired up by that one; Part 6 will cover point 6; and lastly, Part 7 will cover the remaining points. The next post will be an introduction to this topic at hand.

The Sweet Taste of Sovereign Suffering, Pt. II

/ Paul Burkhart / 2 Comments

I’m in the process of writing why Christians take joy in suffering. In this post I hope to explain the second reason why suffering, tribulation, and even evil are the joy and delight of the Christian. The first reason was that all evil, suffering and calamity reveal the Glory of God, which is the delight of the Christian; and must be, for a Christian to be a Christian (See my last post, Part I)

This second reason is a little more difficult to explain. In my life, God revealed these truths to me in a very peculiar way that led to these truths becoming some of the most precious that my mind has ever grasped. It was a night of confusion and not comprehending the words of a great sister, only to finally understand it all the next morning as the Holy Spirit fell in my shower. This post is the fruits of that night I am so indebted to. I pray the Holy Spirit communicates through me these truths, and that they may lead you to a deeper joy for God.

After the aforementioned shower, I went to Starbucks to do my Bible study for the morning and ran across John 9:39, which reads: “Jesus said, ‘For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.'” If you click the link, you can get more context from Scripture, but Jesus goes on to tell the Pharisees that sight is metaphorical for salvation, obviously. Why is this verse, so profound?

Jesus is pretty much saying that his “judgment” is the greatest benefit of all to some, because it brings them nearer to God; for others, it is to cast them as far from his presence as can be done. His judgment is the greatest gift to those who believe in Him, but is the greatest curse for those who don’t. It’s a foreign concept in the church to worship God for his judgment. Who wants to rejoice in the sending of sinners to Hell? Romans 9:22-24 tells us that God’s Glory is revealed to those saved by the sending of sinners to Hell. His judgment reveals the Glory of God and opens our eyes to see it. Praise God!

[DISCLAIMERS: We can take comfort in the knowledge that this condemnation of sinners is just and righteous. Also, we can have no absolute knowledge as to who those people are that are condemned eternally, thus our preaching is not in vain, it brings about the expansion of the kingdom of God. So, PREACH, but take comfort that it is not based on you, your words, or even your motives whether someone is converted or not, and, remember that even if they are not, you can still praise God.]

In Romans 8:28-39, this principle is carried further. For sake of space, I won’t provide the text, just the exegesis, but please click the link and read it all. The main points are this: v.28 is the most precious and famous of all Bible promises. “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” That’s great, but what is the foundation of this? Why and how can we possibly believe this when we live in this world of suffering and pain? Verse 29 says that our assurance of this promise comes from our assurance of our election and salvation, but Paul doesn’t stop there. He knows this simple trust in God’s choosing and keeping of us doesn’t fully explain the foundation of v.28. I think that’s why he says next: “What, then, shall we say in response to this?” He answers with some of the most glorious truths in the Bible.

He tells us, because God is on our side, the usual system of fear and worry in suffering is destroyed in Christ. He says in verse 32 (this is the key verse for our purposes): “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” His grace will also give us all things. What did this grace first give us? It gave us a death, a suffering, a tribulation. The first and foundational gift of God’s Grace was a pain. Paul continues speaking of the foundation of this great promise by appealing to (of all things) the judgment of Christ – He is the one who condemns, which secures the power by which he can bring about that promise in our lives. The application of Romans 8:28 which is foremost in Paul’s mind as he is writing is then found in vv.35-39, and it is persecution, death, and tribulation! When Paul says that God will “give us all things,” he means all things – including suffering, tribulation, persecution, and even death. Not only that, that is what He gives “graciously.”

You see, just like we saw in John, all things that normally cause fear and heartache for all, for the Christian, are actually their greatest joy. This is because, just as in Christ’s judgment, all things good and bad are now merely our servants to bring us closer to God – even death. Whereas death is the greatest fear of man, after conversion, it is the things that propels him the deepest into the bosom of God he will ever be. Praise God!

So, in summary, all suffering, tribulation, pain, heartache, loss, judgment, and death we go through in this life is for the purposes of (1) revealing God’s Glory in this world, which believers so delight in, it is their joy, no matter the earthly cost; and (2) bringing us closer to Him, now that He has destroyed the system of fear and heartache in tribulation by making those “fearful” things our servants now to bring us to our Father.

I’ll end with this Psalm of Praise I found. I’ll just put selections up (the link has the whole thing), but pay attention to why it is all of Creation is rejoicing so much. I think you’ll find it “glorious.”

Psalm 96
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth.
Sing to the LORD, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come into his courts.
Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;
they will sing before the LORD, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his truth.

ahh, Selah

–paul<

The Godly Woman according to Proverbs, pt II: the disclaimer

/ Paul Burkhart / 2 Comments

Now, what I will attempt to do is create a profile right here of the godly woman that makes a godly wife with modern equivalents, application, and ramifications. But first, a note.

As I meditated upon these verses today, I was encountered with a realization: I believe some of these verses have been wrongly given the impression that these behaviors and attributes are to be the characteristics of both a woman AND a wife. The Bible gives biblical behavioral and spiritual mandates for only two groups of people (as pertaining to male and female relationships): those who are married, and those who are not. In the spiritual realm, and behavioral for that matter, there is no in-between. In a nutshell, if you are married, act like you’re married; if you’re not married, don’t act like you’re married. With this in mind, remember that if a verse says that a godly wife submits to her husband for example, that DOES NOT IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM EVEN BEGIN TO IMPLY that a girlfriend should submit to her boyfriend. They are not married, thus they should not act like they are. In that case, the woman is only to submit to her parents and God – no one else. Do not take any of these verses having to do with a godly wife and begin to think of them as mandates for a girlfriend – they are not, and to turn them into that is a perversion of the Word of God and should be repented of.

So, how will this be applied to today’s current post? All of these verses use the Hebrew word “‘ishshah” for the words “wife” AND “woman.” Some may use this as an argument against what I just said above, but one must look at the use of the word. The English words are not just interchangeable with eachother. You can’t freely substitute “wife” for “woman” whenever you wish. For the English translation, what dictates its use is the CONTEXT it is used in. After that is made clear, the definition and use are set, there is no subjectibility. I think this creates a beautiful picture of the way this works.

When a woman becomes a wife, SHE does not change, rather the context she is within does and THAT dictates her roles, responsibilities, and behaviors. So, if she has not changed, just her context, that means, SHE is still the same person, right? Thus, if she is to be successful as a godly wife, an unmarried woman need not necessarily be successful at doing those behaviors before she is married, just the ABILITY TO DO THEM when called to be in the context. This ability naturally will overflow into other characteristics of her personality. Thus, this next post will be the profile of the Christian unmarried woman who exhibits the capacity and personality traits best suited to be a successful godly wife. This will be based on literally applied scripture as much as possible of course, unless otherwide noted in places where I use some common sense to create a modern ramification, application, or if I extrapolate a personality trait of the godly woman from a characteristic of a godly wife.

Sorry for this philosophical trek through seeming obviousness to a point where I feel comfortable doing this, but as this is a big deal to me, I wish to cover all the bases. See ya tomorrow, people (or person, or no one, I don’t know)

God Bless,
–Paul<

The Godly Woman according to Proverbs, pt I: the verses

/ Paul Burkhart / 1 Comment

okay, as we embark on the characteristics of the godly woman and the ramifications thereof, I will start in proverbs. Maybe at a different time I can do the same thing with passages in Genesis, 2 Peter, Ephesians, and other places. But for now, enjoy “the Godly Woman According to Proverbs”!

The godly woman:
– she does not forsake the companion of her youth (her husband [see male eqiuvalent in Prov. 5:18]) (Prov. 2:17)
– she does not forget the covenant of God (prov. 2:17)
– she ponders the path of life (one of my personal favs) (prov. 5:6)
– her ways do not wander (prov. 5:6)
– if they do start to wander, she has wisdom enough to know it (prov. 5:6)
– she hunts down a precious life (my other personal fav) (prov. 6:26)
– she is not “guarded in heart” (i’ll explain later) (prov. 7:10)
– She is not loud and rebellious (prov. 7:11, 9:13)
– her feet stay at home (i’ll explain later)(prov. 7:11)
– she is not full of simpleness and naivete(prov 9:13)
– She doesn’t know nothing (prov. 9:13)
– she grabs hold of and holds fast to a good reputation/ “retaineth honor” (KJV) (prov. 11:16)
– she has discretion (prov. 11:22)
– she is the crown of her husband (another fav) (prov. 12:4)
– she causes her house to “continue” (literal of “build her house”) (prov. 14:1)
– she is a good thing to the man who finds her (verse says: “He who finds a wife finds a good thing”) (prov. 18:22)
– she helps obtain favor from God for her husband (prov. 18:22)
– she is full of prudence, wise understanding, and prosperity (all from Hebrew word “sakal” translated usually just as “prudent”) (prov. 19:14)
– she doesn’t say “I have done no wrong” after sinning (prov. 30:20)
– her price in the kingdom of God is far, above, and distant from that of even the most precious stones (prov. 31:10)
– she has the trust of the heart of her husband, and thus leads him to prosperity (prov. 31:11)
– she deals out goodness and pleasantness to her husband, and nothing evil, her entire life (prov. 31:12)
– This is interesting: she has the ability to contemplate and consider purchases and then make them with the profit from her hands!(Once again, I’ll explain later as this is often such a misunderstood and much ignored verse of such modern relevance!)(Prov. 31:16)
– She is strong in might and physical power (prov. 31:17)
– she has compassion for and gives to the needy (prov. 31:20)
– strength (both physical and figurative) and dignity, honor, and splendor are the first things people notice about her outward behvaiors (“her clothing”)(Prov. 31:25)
– she rejoices and laughs when appropriate (prov. 31:25)
– She speaks wisdom and teaches the instruction of goodness, kindness, and faithfulness (Prov. 31:26)
– She keeps a watchful eye on the company allowed in her home, and is not lazy
– her children even call her blessed and talk of her walking the right path. (prov. 31:28)
– her husband praises her in her godliness as it surpasses all others (prov. 31:28-29)
– She “Halal”s. A Hebrew verb meaning to be praised, boasted about, be worthy of that praise. Also means to shine, or shine forth light. (Proverbs 31:30).

Okay, I’m sorry. I will give my meditations and expoundations tomorrow. I’m really tired now.