Posts Tagged ‘Christianity’

6 May

Perceiving White People: Part 2

Posted by tyrellh in Christianity, Culture, post-modernism, Religion, Social Issues. Tagged: , , , , , .

uniqueA part of human experience is the need for identity, “who am I?” to quote Zoolander. This is because it is in identity that we find significance. Identity is an expression and conception of a person’s individuality. Now I am not saying this to sound smart, but to make a point about ‘white people’. It has been my observation from being around enough white people, and from being around myself, that white people often find their significance in their uniqueness. Could this be why a common racist taunt is “they all look the same”, as if a lack of uniqueness in appearance makes a person less significant?

We all know that teenage boy with the fringe over the eyes, sitting in the corner, wearing black… who loves the thought that he is so different that everyone hates him. Or the exuberant lady in the coffee shop who talks about how she enjoys watching humans interact, just sitting and examining this species relate around her, as if she was looking into a bowl of goldfish. There is a hunger in white people (not to say that other people groups don’t feel this) to be a unique person and therein find significance. This attempt to achieve uniqueness varies in degree from person to person, but basically it is all about how far into ‘wierdville’ someone is willing to go, and still enjoy it- some people go as far as tattooing their face, others just pretend to like Opera ;)

Generally, I believe that this doesn’t plague conservative type whites as much as it does their liberal counterparts, but it is still common place among the former. In the same way, it is more common among westernised modern to post-modern whites as opposed to those that are more traditional. Consider my favourite rugby team: Bemowo AZS-AWF Warsaw (since no one has heard of them the uniqueness points go up in my identity).

Christian Lander makes the following satirical observation using Apple Mac computers:

On the surface, you would ask yourself how white people could love a multibillion-dollar company with manufacturing plants in China and mass production, and that contributes to global pollution through the manufacture of consumer electronic devices. The simple answer: Apple products tell the world you are creative and unique. They are an exclusive product line only used by every white college student, designer, writer, English teacher, and hipster on the planet.

He goes on to explain…

You see, a long time ago Macs were superpopular among layout artists and graphic designers. Then apple released Final Cut Pro, and it became the standard for film editors. As a result, lots of creative industries used Apple computers instead of PCs. Eventually, people started making a connection between creativity and Macs, and all of a sudden all white people need to have a Mac.[i]

This may have led to some of the success of the YRR (Young Restless and Reformed) movement. Since the reformed faith sank into disfavour among evangelicals in the early 1900’s, the feeling of belonging to a very niche theological group has its appeal, as it satisfies some of the desire for uniqueness and thus significance. Add in a Charismatic element to make that little break with the left over-fuddy-duddy reformed churches and you have the makings of a truly unique little community.

While I may or may not be right, I do see this as an influence, at least to a point, on the creation of the emergent movement. Points that lend to this is the ever so evident homogeneity of this niche ‘ Christian’ group (all white, mostly young, often yuppies and techno-unique-margaretmeadnerds). It’s great to be the one who follows a mainline religion but has figured out how not to be ‘bigoted’, except against those who are sure of something (like Jesus being the only way to the Father; those outside of Christ go to hell etc). They are unique since they can watch all the blind people describe different parts of the elephant, while they sympathetically see that they only know in part.

All earthly identity factors of necessity create oppression because they all give us a feeling of superiority. They make us feel significant. It’s not always to the same degree, but it’s always there. Because whatever makes you feel unique, if that thing is your identity, will lead you to feel superior to those who… don’t know the difference between a Shiraz and a Bordeaux; think homosexuals should be allowed to marry; think homosexuals shouldn’t be allowed to marry; follow the religion of their parents; are racist; are so myopic that they think Jesus is the only way; don’t know that Christianity is the true religion and on and on I could go.

identity-fraudWhile your identity makes you feel significant, what makes you feel significant makes you feel superior. Superiority lends itself to oppressing and/or marginalising those ‘beneath’ you, or those less ‘enlightened’ than you. But there is an identity factor that doesn’t need to lead to a feeling of superiority. The Bible teaches that Christians have a unique identity factor; they are ‘in Christ’. That is a huge theological theme that is beyond this scope of this post, but basically it means that all the promises of God are real for you, God’s attitude towards you is the same as that of His attitude to Christ. And this unique status is not due to some discovery that you made, it’s not due to intuition or wisdom, it does not originate in you in any way- It originates in God. This is called the doctrine of election, the teaching that God chose us, not because of anything that he saw in us, not because there is anything attractive about us to Him, but because of his own good pleasure, he chose individuals to be ‘in Christ’ before the foundation of the world. He loved us because He loved us.

Now since this identity is in Christ, and you get this identity as a gift and not because of anything in you; it creates humility not superiority. This makes being ‘in Christ’ a uniquely unoppressive identity. This  point then, when preaching and sharing your faith with white friends, is an important factor to bear in mind; our identity is not to be found in things around us anywhere on Earth- things may explain us but they do not (or should not) define us.

[i] Stuff White People like. Page47-48

13 Apr

How to have a Devotion/Quiet Time

Posted by tyrellh in Christianity, Devotional, Religion, Worship. Tagged: , , , , .

Bible readerOne of the sad things about being in many Bible teaching churches is that people are often afraid to ask questions. Especially questions that they feel will make them look silly. While that is a whole ethos issue on its own that needs to be dealt with, I would like to use the opportunity today to answer the question, “How do I have a private devotion/quiet time?” Now if you already have a strategy for devotional times, I still encourage you to read this as you might find some of the ideas enriching to what you are already doing.

First a few helpful disclaimers: Firstly, none of the ideas in this post are original to me, they came through listening to others and seeing what works and doesn’t work for me. Secondly, this is not the only way to have a devotion, this is just one possible way that I have found most helpful. Thirdly, I am not dealing with principle issues around ‘quiet times’/devotionals. Issues of frequency, guilt associated with not doing devotions and the motivation for doing one’s devotions will not be covered. To deal with those and other issues I will merely point you back to the gospel. You can never do enough devotions to make God pleased with you, conversely a lack of devotions is not going to bring God’s wrath down on you. If you know Jesus Christ in a way that has assured you of your acceptance with God and showed you the wickedness of your heart than you are at a place to think about doing devotions. If you use devotion times to try and replace the acceptance with God you should have in Christ, they will kill you.

devotionHaving said that, let’s begin.

Pick a section of Scripture. Why not begin with the book of John? Or any book for that matter. But because I think John is a good place to start I’ll suggest you try that if you don’t have your heart set elsewhere in Scripture. In most Bibles there are normally breaks in a chapter that subdivide the book into shorter sections. In the Bible I am currently reading John’s first chapter has an opening section of 18 verses entitled, “The Word Became Flesh”. Now my suggestion is that every day you take a section like that and read it slowly two or three times.

After you have done that, ask the following questions of the text:

1)    What does this passage tell me about God?

2)    What does this passage tell me about Jesus Christ?

3)    What does this passage tell me about myself?

4)    Are there any examples to emulate or avoid?

5)    Are there any promises to claim?

After having answered these questions, choose two or three insights that you found particularly helpful. Then take each insight and ask the following questions:

  1. Adoration – How can I love and praise God on the basis of this? What do I see here that I can praise him for?
  2. Repentance – How do I fail to realize this in my life? What wrong behaviour, harmful emotions or attitudes result when I forget this?
  3. Gospel Thanks – How can I thank Jesus as the ultimate revelation of this attribute of God (#1) and the ultimate answer to this sin or need of mine (#2)?
  4. Aspiration- How does this show me what I should or can be and do? How would I be different if this truth were powerfully real to me?

Basically this is what we are doing – taking a Scriptural truth and asking three questions of it ( I know it looks like 5 when I wrote it outimages, but in reality they are just three). How does this show me something about God to praise? How does this show me something about myself to confess? How does this show me something I need to ask God for? Adoration, confession, Thanksgiving and supplication(ACTS). Luther proposes that we keep meditating like this until our hearts begin to warm and melt under a sense of the reality of God. Often that doesn’t happen. Fine. We aren’t ultimately praying in order to get good feelings or answers, but in order to honour God for who he is in himself.

I hope this helps some of you out there.

10 Apr

Perceiving White People: Part 1

Posted by tyrellh in Christianity, Culture, Current events, Religion, Social Issues. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

South Africa is a diverse nation. Part of the diversity includes white people like me. If you are going to effectively witness and preach to this people group it is incumbent upon you to understand them. What their idols are and what motivates that; what drives them to worship, and what they worship

There are two key features that I would like to highlight, but for today I will look specifically at ‘guilt’.

While I believe that guilt is a universal problem concerning all races and cultures, there is a very special guilt that white people bare and it drives them to one of two poles.  The special guilt I am referring to is a consequence of the horrors in history that have been  whiteguiltinflicted by  (though not exclusively) white people groups: the crusades, the western slave trade (as opposed to Arabic or African slave trade), colonisation, systemic socio-political racism, apartheid. This is not an in-depth look at the topic of white guilt, but a surface touch on the issue to get you thinking. There seems to be two key ways this corporate historic guilt is dealt with…

  1. The Conservative approach

The first way is not very popular at the moment; it involves trying to rewrite the damages done in the past in the most positive ways possible. The argument always follows a sort of, “Yes we did that, but look at this good that came out of it” sort of line. While this conservative approach does highlight some unpopular points that you could do well to take note of, it doesn’t actually deal with the guilt. If you had to narrow it down, their argument would sound like this, “Yes I know I raped 20 women, but I gave half of those women children that will look after them in their older years, plus I improved their standard of living by taking them to a fancy hotel. – I acknowledge that it probably wasn’t the best thing to do”. Crude but true.

The conservative approach mistakenly thinks that if you acknowledge you are bad, and can also see enough good in what you do then you are okay. You are absolved. The good scale outweighs the bad scale. But this approach fails to see the true evilness of evil. They are applying on a large scale a standard they would not apply in a criminal court.

  1. The Liberal Approach

On the other hand, the far more popular view due to its apparent virtue, is the ‘liberal’ approach to white guilt . This approach can be summed up well in the words of French philosopher Pascal Bruckner “Nothing is more western than hatred of the west[i]“. This hatred manifests itself in many ways. One is religion: as one author, Christian Lander puts it, “White people will often say they are ‘spiritual’ but not religious. This means that they will believe in any religion that doesn’t involve Jesus[ii]”. Because Christianity has in some form been dominant in the West in recent history, this generation closely associates it with the violence and sin of the previous generations; so in order to somehow get away from the guilt, they throw out anything associated with it. Perhaps one could say that if white people do accept some version of Christianity it has a Jesus who basically only said the same stuff as Ghandi. Another way to express separation of one’s self from the west is through choices of friends. Lander generalises but hits the nail on the head when he writes, “… White people love having black friends. They serve many valuable functions. The most important role…. Is that they can be used as physical evidence that white people are not racist[iii]“.  Or consider a third option in recreation. Even though yoga started in India, it is now a main past time of many rich whites. Lander continues, “…Yoga feels exotic and foreign. …deep down, white people feel that their participation makes up for years of colonial rule in India.[iv]” Through these somewhat caricatured and satirical images a bigger picture begins to emerge.

imagesWhat constitutes something as good? For example, what is a good movie? Any movie so long as Eastern, African or  anything but western wisdom  is seen as profound and deep; where the native of a foreign land nobly sacrifices him/herself in defiance of the corporate destructive western machine. The only good whites are the ones that immerse themselves in the native culture and abandon their own culture (Avatar? Dancing with Wolves? Pocahontas? The Last Samurai?).

Che Guevara (though he would have killed the majority of whites who wear his shirt) was ‘cool’. Though essentially he was as tolerant of other cultures and nationalities as Hitler, but fortunately less successful in slaughtering large groups of people. He was not white, so he must be right.

Here in South Africa this is demonstrated in much the same way, but with the comparatively recent apartheid regime fresh in people’s minds. However, Steve Biko the anti-apartheid activist, pointed out that the liberal approach to dealing with white guilt just ‘provides vague satisfaction for the guilty-stricken whites.[v]”

In fact I am rather sure that much of what is being said in the emergent church movement regarding hell, and the exclusivity of Christ, can be traced back to a motivation  of white guilt (after all, for all their talk of diversity, the emergent ‘leaders’ and movers/shakers are streaming out of one little niche demographic i.e. White, middle to upper-class, current/ex/transitory techno-nerd.) This guilt manifests itself, because the ideas of hell and the exclusivity of Christ has an exterior that looks just as intolerant and arrogant as the way whites have behaved in much of their destructive patterns in the world. I say exterior, because I believe it is only a very superficial understanding of the Christian gospel that leads to this view.

Without going into a full diatribe and investigation on the liberal approach to dealing with guilt, you can see something of it. Here the approach to dealing with guilt is to again, perform some good works; look at how tolerant I have become; look at how accepting I am. These good works necessarily lead to ‘a new kind of arrogance’, “thank you God that I am not like those Pharisees over there; I am so loving. They are so judgemental and bigoted”.

The aim is also selfish. If we do something because it is the cool/in/popular/tolerant/conscience appeasing thing to do we are still living a self-centred life. You are living with yourself as the centre of the universe, with your culture as the centre of the universe. Everything from global warming to an ethnic uprising in Central Africa is ‘white fault’. And the more we bathe in the blame, the more we place our ethnic group in the centre of the world. Everything happens or occurs because of our group. Not only are we the soul arbiters of evil, but we think pointing it out and creating awareness’ absolves us of the wrong that’s been done[vi].

The problem with both approaches is that they are motivated by guilt in the first place. We try  to do some good things, but with the wrong motivation. We create idols to appease our guilt; we serve tolerance, freedom, and individuality blindly. Or we are a slave to nationalism, tradition and morality.

How can I love the good in my own culture without feeling bad and yet still rejoice in the image of God in another culture? How can I acknowledge the guilt of my forbears and yet still see that this doesn’t let others off the hook for the wrongs they commit? How can I in a balanced way call out the sins of the west and rejoice in the goods that it has done without trying to justify the wrongs it has done?  Or lets be real for a  moment, How can I talk to a black person or any other race that is not mine, befriend him/her and take an interest in their culture, without feeling superior to those whites who don’t take the time to do it, without being filled with pride at my “enlightened and progressive” way of thinking?

The answer must be to see that this collective guilt is actually just a manifestation of an actual guilt that all humans feel to some degree for having broken God’s law. We are an unclean people in the midst of an unclean world. In all our strivings, even those that are goodsoldiercross we merely plunge ourselves deeper into pride and selfishness. Its only when you realise that Christ was oppressed by the mighty, that he was downtrodden by the influential, and that he cried out to the Father, “Forgive them for they know not what they do” and that very night the same Roman soldier who plunged the killing spear of oppression and organised systemic oppression into Christ’s side, was saved and forgiven. He was never the same again.

Now when the Roman Soldier, who not only comes from a people group who had been oppressive, but was one of the agents of that oppression, saw someone from the subjugated ethnic group, he would not take money from him by force or accuse that person falsely (as John the Baptist commands repentant soldiers). This is because he did cling to his ‘guilt’ of having been an oppressor. Instead he saw in the oppressed the image of the God who gave him life. He realizes that he as an individual is far more evil in his heart than he ever dared believe, but far more loved than he ever dared imagine. He loves for loves sake, because he has been shown love.

[i] The Tyranny of Guilt. Pg 33

[ii] Stuff White People Like. Pg 4

[iii] ibid, pg 15

[iv] Ibid pg 17

[v] I Write What I like. Pg 23

[vi] Stuff White People Like. Pg 21

28 Mar

Relevance and Anti-Relevance

Posted by tyrellh in Christianity, Religion, Worship. Tagged: , , , .

ImageI recently read an article addressing the apparent exodus of young people from churches. Of the ten reasons the author gave one of them stood out as an ironic danger. “The church is ‘Relevant’”. The author rightly ridiculed the attempts of churches to package things as ‘cool’. Truth be told when churches try to be cool they often come across as cheesy instead. Skinny jeans and lattes are not going trick people into thinking the gospel is cool. On that note that article made an obvious point. On the other hand if you say ‘a pastor must not wear skinny jeans’ or ‘must wear a tie’ you have lost me completely. The externals are not the issue, the principles are.

There is danger that runs next to this ‘Relevance’; I’d like to call it ‘Post-relevance’. That is adopting a ‘means’ or ‘way’ that was relevant during the 1700-1800′s and assuming that it Imageis the right way to communicate truth today. We could say this  is the mindset of the traditionalist  over and against that of the progressivist. One is trying to be ‘grand’  (old word for cool) to an audience that  is no longer around, the other wants to be cool to the audience  that is around, but they just can’t hack it.

As far as I can see traditionalists are motivated by two things. One being fear, fear that others in my conservative and traditional circles will judge and reject me; I mean surly if they see me doing something beneath my ‘class’ to communicate with the riff-raff. This fear of man is renamed ‘fear of God’, because we all know God only likes 19th century British and Dutch culture right? Flip the coin over and we see not fear but cultural superiority. He doesn’t wear a tie, how can anyone take him seriously. It’s the assumption that a single moment in a single cultures history is the most excellent expression of Christian values for the whole world in every time. Now I am not saying that they were not expressing those values well, nor am I saying that we cannot learn from them. I am saying that Scripture and not that previous momentary expression of the truths of Scripture should be our rule.

 Image

As for the ‘progressivists’, we see a similar thing. There is a fear of becoming ‘unliked’ and thought of as regressive that drives much of the cheese. A fear of what people in the culture will think about us; which is cleverly renamed as ‘care’. Oh  we only  care about the  lost and so we want them to see how fun and  cool it  is to be a Christian; how in  touch with them we are- maybe if they see that we are cool, they will think Christianity is cool. This also manifests in a certain pride,  that looks  down on the traditionalists as regressive- it breaks unity in many churches and often caters only to one generation, because its only twenty and thirty something’s that need the gospel right. The whole idea of Christ breaking down  boundaries is foreign here, unless it means doing a short term missions trip… to the beach…  where we spend some time with  another generation, culture and class so they can  have one week  of hip and happening Christians among them. In churches it means that we don’t care about communicating  the gospel to anyone but western, middle to upper class, yuppies.

What do we see when we look at Christ? One who though He was rich, for our sake became poor. Who did not consider equality with God as something to be held onto but humbled himself and took the form of a servant. One who apparently had children and adults come to hear him speak, in the same setting. One who spoke to an agrarian society using pictures from the agrarian world,  or to students of the law using texts from the law. One Who had to be with people and bear with people that they might understand the truth; that the truth is a person.

The answer is not ‘wear skinny jeans when you  preach’, nor is it wear a tie when you preach. The answer is ‘how can I preach is such a way that I remove as many obstacles as I can from these people seeing Christ’. How can we sing in such a way that pressures the traditionalists to not  make an idol out of  an  era or  the progressivists not to make an idol out of a niche subculture. How are they missing Christ by not seeing Him as a Christ that offends every culture and yet is the deepest answer to every culture’s aspiration?

Perhaps a safer word that relevant is contextualize. Because unless you embark on some kind of generation colonialism (that works for both sides by the way) the only other alternative is to relate the solid unchangeable truth of Scripture in a way that the entire spectrum of the contemporary audience will be able to clearly see Christ. It will be loving people too much to care what they think about you and loving Christ so much that you will share Him in the clearest way possible.

1 Jan

What’s the Flavour of Your Resolutions?

Posted by tyrellh in Christianity. Tagged: , , , .

ImageA new year is upon us, and with it comes the often discussed and encouraged ‘new year’s resolutions’. Recently the idea of ‘resolutions’ have been much revived by the popular preaching of John Piper; particularly his recapturing of the passion and thought of the last of the puritan preachers, Jonathan Edwards. It is fairly obvious from research done or one’s own experience that resolutions are seldom kept.

Psychology professor Peter Herman and his colleagues have identified what they call the “false hope syndrome,” which means that peoples resolution are significantly unrealistic and out of alignment with their internal view of themselves.”[i] This is the apparent reason for the lack of success in resolution keeping.

We can see this type of thing in the Scripture. Consider the boldness of the Israelites in Exodus 24:3, after receiving the law,” they responded with one voice, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.” The rest of the story demonstrates that they did not follow through with this resolution.

In fact Edwards was so aware of his propensity to fail in keeping resolutions, that his third Image one was, “Resolved, if ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.”

Something about Peter Herman’s words speak loudly to why we often fail to keep Resolutions. As he noted,  resolutions people make are often “out of alignment with their internal view of themselves”. We find an echo if this in the proverbs when it says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so he is.” (23:7)

Resolutions generally centre on changing behaviour, but as Christians, we must be careful to relegate ‘resolutions’ to a realm outside of the gospel. We do not change behaviours by being more determined- by trying really really hard; we are not trying to impress a deity like the Babylonians and Romans of ancient time… or perhaps we are.

The path of sanctification (changing), is to see the glory of Christ, the tragedy and triumph of the cross and the mystery of the incarnation that was just considered in December. As these truths alter our “internal view of ourselves”, so naturally those behaviours that need changing are changed. Perhaps the most significant and foundational resolution, indeed ImageWhat’s the very flavour of the Christian life should be that of worshipping Jesus. Knowing Him more and more. Knowing Him means any success is due to his enabling, any failure is not the end of the world; it is part of what makes the cross so necessary. To try new foods is to explore more of “all things that were made through Him and for Him”. To become financially stable is to be able to give more to those in need; as Christ Who became poor for our sake, that we might be rich. To further education is to participate in loving God with your entire mind; as He show loved to you while you were yet a sinner.

In short, it is not determination but character that is the key to resolutions. Character is only changed by the Spirit as we see the wonder of a crucified Saviour. Only this can remove the sting from failure and keep us from giving up all together. When we realise that our worth, identity and standing with God is not based on our performance, but on Christ’s; we are liberated to become like Him. Each one then is free to become like Him in the unique way they feel compelled to at the moment of contemplation and resolution forming. Love must compel us, not fear or pride. Not fear of man or God, nor pride to exalt over others in our successes. What is going to motivate and sustain whatever resolutions you make this year?

2 Dec

Book Review: Manly Dominion

Posted by tyrellh in Book Review, Christianity. Tagged: , , .

I heard a lot of hype about ‘Manly Dominion’, but was excepting just another book written to Christian men, going over the passages we have all considered and strive to live up to as Christians; I was surprised. Chanski does go over Biblical truths most men know (and a lot that’s not so well known), but he does an excellent job of applying them to life in a way that is both convicting and encouraging.

Chanski starts by giving a biblical foundation and perspective to the theme, obviously the major theme is taken from the early passages in Genesis where man is told to ‘take dominion’.  He then goes on to apply this dominion taking to vocation, decision-making, spiritual-living, husbanding, child-rearing and romance management.

With probing questions and gripping illustrations Chanski asks the hard questions, and tells men to be men in a thoroughly Biblical way. This book is a really important read for men out there; I would highly recommend it as one of the best books I have read this year, especially appreciating the highly practical nature of the book.

What really brings the book to life is the many examples Chanski uses, this is no mere commentary on a few passages, this is extremely applicatory. Knowing what it is to be a man in the this day and age, and seeing the effects of our emasculated culture I think this is a very timely book, one you would do well to read and give to other men you know. Don’t pass it by!

1 Dec

The Dalai Lama, the Pope and Teresa of Calcutta Walk into a Consuming Fire

Posted by tyrellh in Christianity, Devotional, Religion. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

It’s not just the Dalai Lama that people think is holy; many people think the Pope is holy or surly Teresa of Calcutta. It’s not just the funny outfits either, if we changed the word from holy to good, there are many who would look around in their society and say that this or that person is ‘good’. Then the Bible comes along and says, “There is none good, no not one” (Romans 3:12). In fact, every religion excluding evangelical Christianity affirms the inherent goodness of man. Why is it so?

Calvin in his institutes gives a hint, he said, “For, since we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any semblance of righteousness is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself[i]”. He goes on to give this illuminating illustration, “… anything which is in some small degree less defiled delights us as if it were most pure: just as an eye, to which nothing but black had been previously presented, deems an object of a whitish, or even of a brownish hue, to be perfectly white[ii]”.

The issue is really what you use to make a comparison. Paul wrote “For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.” (2 Corinthians 10:12).

The place to begin to understand humankind, to understand your own heart is not by looking at yourself, or even others, but is to start with the one Who is too pure to behold evil, to begin with the One who will judge every wicked and evil thought, that same One with Whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. The ‘holiest’ of men on earth would not dare raise their head in the presence of the most Holy God.

So if you would take the advice of the famous philosopher Socrates and, “Know thyself”, you must invariably begin with knowing the God who is; the God who has spoken in these last days through His Son, Jesus Christ, and Who Himself is God.

[i] The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 1, Paragraph 2.

[ii] ibid

25 Oct

Surviving Zombieland! Part II: the cure

Posted by tyrellh in Christianity, Doctrine. Tagged: , , .

Having already discussed the fact that the spiritually dead walk among us, we move on to the next important question, the question about cures? How does a zombie go about changing from walking dead to alive? If you know anything about zombies, what is clear is that they are only out to get some food, everything they do is either in search of food or to get to food, and by food I mean the flesh of the living…. not a pretty site.

Similarly, spiritually zombies don’t do anything but sin, or try to sin. In fact they cannot do anything but sin, they are slaves (Romans 6:16-19). Sometimes though zombies can be sneaky, they can do something that looks like it’s good, but in fact it really isn’t; this doesn’t mean that there are not things that zombies do well. Zombies are very good at scaring people in the dark, walking about aimlessly, eating, pretending to be asleep the popping into action and they also are open to sharing a meal in real zomunnity. In the same way, we are not saying that spiritual zombies can’t do some things well; in fact they can do very well things in technology, medicine, politics etc. But consider Gen 6:5, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Or Jeremiah 13:23, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to evil.”

Notice the things Scripture says spiritual zombies are unable to do: see the kingdom of God (John 3:3); come unto Christ (John 6:44); believe, see or understand the truth (John 12:27-39); good, understand, fear God (Romans 3:9-19); submit to the law of God (Romans 8:7-8).

In light of what zombies can and cannot do what does that say about the cure for zombies? Well firstly it should be readily apparent, that zombies cannot cure themselves! In fact not only can’t they do that, but they have no desire to cure themselves (John 3:19). If you get a whole lot of zombies to come to a rally by dangling some meat from the ceiling, don’t think that you have done anything great, you have drawn them with the very thing that makes them fearful to us. In the same way those churches that seek to draw spiritual zombies by using things that attract spiritual zombies, are not doing anything really great. A spiritual zombie inside or outside a church is still a spiritual zombie.

The only cure for spiritual death is God’s Word and the work of the Spirit in regeneration (John 3v3-5; 1 Peter 1:23). Anything short of that won’t make the dead alive. This should inform the way we do church, the way we evangelise and they way we minister to this world.

So we get to today’s rule for surviving Zombieland…

Rule #1: What you win zombies with is what you in them to

15 Oct

Surviving Zombieland! Part I

Posted by tyrellh in Christianity, Religion. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

She walked silently into her room… sat down and opened the ruffled pages of her Bible. She could hear the drunken cries coming from outside. Would her friends understand why she didn’t join them? Why she didn’t party the way she used to?

Or consider the following rewrite: She walked silently into her room. Sat down and opened a tin of beans from her food supply. She could hear the terrifying groans coming from outside. What would happen if the zombies found her, now that she’s alive?

Popular culture is fascinated with the idea of the zombie, some call them undead, others the walking dead, whatever your term of endearment these creatures of fiction are both gross and frightening.  Most films that depict them are apocalyptic films, that is films that depict the demise of civilisation with the onset of a zombie apocalypse; where a bite turns you from human to a crazed, flesh eating, and mindless zombie.

Now you may be asking the question, who on earth is Tyrell writing about zombies. Well I hope my opening paragraph gave you a hint. God’s Word basically teaches that we live in a zombie land! Ephesians 2:1 says that people are DEAD in trespasses and sin.  1 Corinthians 2:14 tell us that a man cannot naturally understand the things of God. Romans 3:11 describes unsaved man as without understanding, a verse later he is described at utterly useless. In verse 13 the zombie talk gets even more graphic, “their throat is an open grave… the poison of asps is under their lips”…. or consider verse 15-16, “Their feet are swift to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths,”

Contrary to popular though, zombies are not something to fear in some future apocalypse, they are here right now, in fact, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ you used to be a spiritual zombie, but you got the cure (they never seem to find a cure in the movies). Zombie serve as a great illustration of the doctrine of ‘Total depravity’ also called ‘Radical Depravity’ (we could call this doctrine’ Spiritual Zombiefication’). The Canons of Dort in its third head of doctrine under the first article describes this doctrine:

Man was originally created in the image of God and was furnished in his mind with a true and salutary knowledge of his Creator and things spiritual, in his will and heart with righteousness, and in all his emotions with purity; indeed, the whole man was holy. However, rebelling against God at the devil’s instigation and by his own free will, he deprived himself of these outstanding gifts. Rather, in their place he brought upon himself blindness, terrible darkness, futility, and distortion of judgment in his mind; perversity, defiance, and hardness in his heart and will; and finally impurity in all his emotions.

Zombies of science fiction if they existed could only destroy the body, but God is the one who can destroy both the body and soul in hell. Being a spiritual zombie is a far worse state to be in than a physical zombie.

One final proof from Scripture of this doctrine of Spiritual Zombiefication, John 8:34, Romans 6:6, 16-20 describe unregenerate man as a slave of sin. That is all people can do is sin, they are a slave to it, it is their master. In the same way sci-fi zombies are a slave to their desires for brains (not intellect, but food).

In the next few posts I hope to expand on this comparison, and look at the implications of this doctrine

21 Sep

Amat Victoria Curam: A Tool for Fighting Sin

Posted by tyrellh in Christianity, Devotional. Tagged: , , , , , , .

“Amat Victoria Curam” (Victory loves preparation), a friend reminded me of this saying the other day while we shared a meal at a wedding together. I have heard the saying before but I am really appreciating it at the moment. A few weeks back I was meditating on issues surrounding stress, and how stress can at times be a direct result of sin whilst at other times merely the result of living in a fallen world. One of the ways to minimize stress is to be prepared is not just for avoiding trouble, but also for gaining victory; as the axiom says.

I try to encourage people in my Bible studies as well as in private counsel to strategise in dealing with sin, essentially what I am saying to them is prepare! Get ready, have a plan for when the trials of life are trying to suck you into sin. James gives us a breakdown of sins approach, in his epistle he wrote, “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death” (1:14-15). This should aid us in our daily preparation. We know what to expect! We need to identify when are the times that our lusts most want to drag us away and what it tries to entice us with. Now prepare for that. We need to prepare to short circuit the system before the lust conceives. Scripture helps us with this:

Psalm 119:11 tells us, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.” Here we have perhaps the most vital step (after being saved of course) in fighting sin. Prepare by treasuring God’s Word in your heart. Notice though, it doesn’t say ‘have God’s Word in your heart’ but ‘treasure. This word in the Hebrew carries the idea of ‘hiding’ something, or ‘esteeming’ something. God’s Word must be like a treasure that is worth so much you hide it away in the secretness of the heart.

In another instance, Jesus gave two directives to His disciples in dealing with temptation, He said, “Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation” (Mark 14:38). Watch and pray! Watch means to be vigilant, or attentive, you are looking out, you are aware, you are anticipating sins attack, praying is showing the dependence on God for help, since unless He moves to bless our effort, all our preparation is in vain.

My goal here is not to try and write a tome like Owen’s ‘Mortification of Sin’, which is perhaps one of the finest Christian writings outside of Scripture, but to show you that there is much in Scripture that implies preparation.
So Christian, how are you preparing? Are you just waiting for the temptation to strike and you think you will be on your feet in that moment to war? Your heart, the devil and the world are all preparing for that moment of battle, and victory loves preparation. Don’t think you will treat the traffic that frustrates you with godly patience, or the spouse that is unkind to you with blessing in return, or the

Batman knows the value of preparation

lustful image that entices you with godly hatred and violence unless you to have prepared for that moment. What are you doing now? Is your heart in the Word of God daily? Do you have tactics to deal with various common temptations? Are you in prayer often? If not, then can you honestly say you want victory? Then show it?

Even so, in all of these things, and amidst the failure we often face in this body of death, we know we have peace with God through Christ Jesus, and God is able to present us blameless before His thrown with great joy. Take heart Christian soldier, this day the noise of battle, the next the victor’s song.

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