Saturday, May 7, 2011

High Low


What the Bible says about God:

Isaiah 6:3

     And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (ESV)

Isaiah 6:3

What the Bible says about mankind:

Romans 3:10-12

     as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
     no one understands; no one seeks for God.
     All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
Romans 3:10-12

"Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves."

John Calvin
Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion
Book 1, Chapter 1, Section 1

     In the past few weeks, many Christian websites and blogs have been abuzzed with properly correcting the type of universalism that has been espoused by Rob Bell in his new book Love Wins. In his new book, Love Wins, Bell basically denies the Biblical and historically Christian doctrines of hell. Bell questions the varacity of the teachings that God will send all those, who in this life, do not put their trust in the salvific work of Jesus Christ to an eternal punishment in hell.
     Bell's main flaw in all of his book his starting point when it comes to the attributes of God. He starts off with stating that God's main and overarching attribute is love:

"First, I believe that Jesus's (sic) story is first and foremost about the love of God for every single one of us."

Rob Bell
Love Wins
Preface: Millions of Us, pg. vii

     The Bible has God's holiness as the attribute that all others come under. God is love, but God is also holy, and His love is based on His holiness. God is perfectly righteous, and there is hint of evil or wrong in His character.
     The reason that we humans can not truly understand the holiness of God is because we are fallen creatures (c.f. Genesis 3). We sin because it is part of our nature and we are unaware of how far down our sinful natures are capable of taking us.
     Almost all wrong doctrines and world religions come from man's wrong views of God and of ourselves. We are not able to see holy God is, and how sinful man is.

SELAH

     The only place that we can learn about the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man is in the Bible. That is also the only place where we may learn of our need for, and the provision of a savior through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Friday, May 6, 2011

MSNBC Host Makes Rob Bell Squirm: "You're Amending The Gospel So That It...



Poor Martin Bashir. His attempt in getting straight answers form Rob Bell was like trying to nail Jello to the wall.