Is Birth Control Health Care?

There is a lot of talk going on about birth control and whether people should have religious objections to birth control being covered by health insurance.  Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, calls birth control "basic health care", and President Obama said, "No woman's health should depend on who she is or where she works or how much money she makes."  I think that in order to make a determination of whether or not birth control is actually "basic health care", we have to ask ourselves a few questions.  We need to determine what exactly "basic health care" is, what birth control is, and whether birth control falls into the category of "basic health care".  And we will lay aside the issue of whether or not this compromise really prevents religious institutions who object to birth control from having to fund birth control through insurance premiums.  I think we will see that this is a moot point anyways.

First, let's define what "basic health care" is...I'm leaving this term in quotes because those are the words of Cecile Richards, who is clearly spearheading the effort for this bill to pass.  So when we think of health care what comes to mind?  Probably flu shots, vaccines, or surgery, right?  Miriam-Webster defines health care as the following:

the maintaining and restoration of health by the treatment and prevention of disease especially by trained and licensed professionals (as in medicine, dentistry, clinical psychology, and public health)

So, this would mean that any form of health care should treat or prevent a disease or conditon that causes harm to the individual or prevents their bodies from functioning in a normal fashion.  If you have a torn muscle, you might have surgery or physical therapy and that is health care.  If you have strep throat, you get a shot and some medication and that is health care.  One thing my insurance doesn't cover is hormone therapy for fertilization, which actually allows for normal reproductive functions.  I would think that is health care because it restores one's body to its normal functioning abilities.  I think we all get the general idea here...health care is something that helps to prevent our bodies from a) being harmed or b) not functioning normally and to restore our bodies to normal health.

Now let's take a look what what birth control is.  Most people would think of contraceptives or some type of pill.  Let's look at what Miriam-Webster has to say about this one:

1. control of the number of children born especially by preventing or lessening the frequency of conception
2. contraceptive devices or preparations

So, as one would expect, birth control is a way to prevent babies from being conceived in the womb.  This can vary from physical means to prevent fertilization of the egg to chemicals that prevent eggs from attaching after fertlized.  The latter is something that many, including myself, would actually call killing a baby.  Others might call it abortion, while most people probably don't consider that a fertilized egg is actually a person.  One thing we can all agree on, though, is that birth control is a means to prevent babies from being conceived in the womb of a woman.

Now we are left ton consider whether or not birth control falls under the realm of "basic health care".  Let's remember that health care is something that helps to prevent our bodies from a) being harmed or b) not functioning normally and to restore our bodies to normal health.  And let's also remember that birth control is a means to prevent babies from being conceived in the womb of a woman.  Now, I'm not a scientist or doctor (just an engineer), but I think that conception of babies in the womb is actually quite a normal thing and shows that the body's reproductive system is actually fully functional.  Now for quite a small minority of people, becoming pregnant might be life-threatening...and in that case I think that methods that do not include killing babies/fertilized eggs should be used and considered health care.  Outside of that, though, I can only think of the use of birth control as a choice of preference for those who use it.  And seeing as insurance companies can and do deny to cover many elective procedures, I don't see how or why any insurance company should have to cover the cost of birth control.  I'm sorry, Cecile Richards, but it doesn't fit the definition of "basic health care". 

I think this is the argument that people need to put before their elected officials in presenting their case for not having to have birth control covered by mandatory insurance coverage.  I'd still hold to the religious objections as well, but I think this is an even more clear argument.  What do you think?

Thoughts on Leviticus

I've heard many people tell me that they can not imagine a pastor preaching through the book of Leviticus.  To be quite honest, I have thought the same thing myself for the 6 years that I have been a Christian.  All of the repeated instances of offering sacrifices and then the descriptions of clean and unclean and how to deal with them.  It seems to be quite repetitive and preaching through it seems like it would be monotonous and might get boring for the congregation.  However, I have been reading through a book that has changed my perspective on the book of Leviticus. The book is a commentary on Leviticus by Andrew Bonar and I highly recommend it to any Christian.  In fact, my hope is that a few good pastors will take up reading this book and be encouraged to preach/teach through the book of Leviticus.  I now think that Leviticus might be one of the most important books for people to be studying and fed on in order to have a greater appreciation for their sinfulness, the call to holiness, God's grace and our dependence upon it for salvation, and the sacrifice that Jesus made in order to save His elect. 

The book of Leviticus actually shows us much about the depths and multitudes of areas of our sinfulness.  Bonar works through looking at the sacrificial system to show how many different areas of sin there and how personal they are.  People had to lay their own hands on the animal to be sacrificed, acknowledging their personal sinfulness.  This provides a strong connection between the sinner and their sins because they see right in front of them the need for the death of the animal in their place because of thir sin.  Bonar doesn't miss the fact that this is a type of Jesus...I'll address that towards the end of this post, though.  There are sacrifices specified for all kinds of sins...even those that people do without knowing of it until after the fact.  So people are made aware of their sinfulness through the sacrificial system and the different areas of sin that are defined.

We also see that Leviticus has much to say about the call to holiness.  When we look at the priests offering the sacrifices, they have to make sure they first offer sacrifices for themselves before they intercede for the people.  And they continually have to be washed and cleansed before approaching the holy place.  And the high priest has to especially be cleansed before he goes into the Holy of Holies once a year to present the sin offering.  This is because he is entering into the presence of God.  But the priests aren't the only ones who have the call to holiness.  God establishes various ways that people can become unclean and offers a framework by which the people of Israel are to show that they are called out from the world into a system of holiness.  This includes dietary restrictions, as well as contamination by various items or people with illnesses that are considered unclean.  Bonar makes the point that the uncleanness represents sinfulness and that this was a way to show that we are called to identify and avoid sin.  He shows that everywhere the people of Israel would look, they could be reminded of something clean or unclean...just as we can with sin and holiness.  He especially hits on the call to identify and avoid sin with reference to the areas concerning leprosy.  I find the comparisons he makes between sin and the various conditions and examinations of leprosy defined in Leviticus to be very helpful when thinking about the condition of my own spiritual life.  He compares the spread and depth of leprosy to the spread and depth of sin in our own lives and how we should examine ourselves in this regard.  I think that this is the type of thinking that the world needs to engage when examining their spiritual state and that could lead to many nominal Christians realizing their true spiritual condition.  We can easily see that Leviticus shows that God calls His people to live a life of holiness.

Leviticus also has much to say about God's grace to the sinner and our dependence upon His grace for our salvation.  Let us return back to the sacrificial system.  The animals offered for the burnt offering, sin offering, and peace offering, and the bread/flour offered for the grain offering are all provided by God as he showers His people with grace.  The people lay their sins on the animals by laying their hands on their heads and then the animals are offered as a sacrifice to God for their sins.  The burnt offering is totally burnt on the altar to take the wrath of God...this represents Jesus taking the whole wrath of God for our sins in our place ont he cross (again we'll cover this later).  Bonar makes the point that the grain offering "represents the offerer's person and property, his body and his possessions" and that when the offerer sees that the priests eat of this offering, it shows that his sacrifice has been accepted.  This surely is an act of grace by God to provide assurance to sinners offering themselves to God.  It also exemplifies again the call to holiness for Israel.  In the peace offering, we see that part of the sacrifice is for food.  Bonar paints a wonderful picture of this representing "God as one at table with his people; they feast together.  He is no more their foe."  This would make sense for this to then be called a peace offering and again shows God's grace to the sinner.  The sin offering is to be offered for unintentional sins and again the whole animal sacrficed is to be burnt.  However, part of the sin offering is burned on the altar, then the ashes and the unburnt part (skin, flesh, head legs, inward, and dung) to be taken outside the camp.  The ashes are dumped in a clean place and the remainder of the sacrifice is burned on the ashes.  Bonar makes the point that this is a clean place "because, when reduced to ashes by consuming fire, all guilt was away from the victim."  In all of the various types of sacrifices defined here, we can see God's grace being showered upon the people of Israel as He provides forgiveness of their sins and assurance that the sacrifice has been accepted.

And a Christian definitely can not come away from a faithful reading of the book of Leviticus without a good appreciation for the sacrifice that Jesus made for His elect.  Here you see all of the details of the sacrificial system and one can only imagine how often a person would have to offer these sacrifices.  The priests didn't have a seat in the tabernacle...probably because they were too busy offering sacrifices all the time.  And when we see the sinner laying his hand on the head of the sacrifice, we are reminded of how we must lay all of our sins upon Jesus and have faith in His paying the price for our sins.  As the sin and burnt offerings were totally burned, Jesus was fully exposed to the wrath of God.  Bonar also makes the point that when Leviticus describes how some flesh was to be flayed, it shows how deeply exposed our sins must become, as well as the depths of pain and anguish that Jesus faced upon the cross.  And when we see the ashes and remainder of the flesh of the sin offering being taken outside the camp to be fully burned, we can make a clear connection to the fact that Jesus was tortured inside Jerusalem and crucified outside of Jerusalem.  It is very clear that the book of Leviticus provides a type of Jesus' sacrifice for His elect and reading the book of Leviticus will provide an even greater appreciation for this sacrifice.

Before I close, let me say that I have only read halfway through the commentary by Bonar at this point.  I am sure that I will have more to add to this when I finish...and I know that even in what I have read so far, there is a lot more talk about types and how Bonar points out that Leviticus is all about pointing to the anti-type, Jesus.  I just felt the need to write this to encourage people to read Leviticus and even go obtain a copy of Bonar's commentary on Leviticus.  It is lengthy and takes a while to work through, but it is well worth the effort.  And I even got it free by shopping for it on my Nook tablet.  So I'm sure that you resourceful types can find a free copy for yourselves.  I certainly do hope that pastors will be encouraged to preach and teach on Leviticus...I think the church today really needs it.

Christian Blogger Needs Help!

Update:  There are actually two Christian bloggers you can vote for on the list.  The other one is the last one listed, Chelsea Long.  She is trying to win the award to pay for graduate school.

I just wanted to let everybody know that there is a contest going on for a scholarship for $10,000 and the winner is determined by popular vote.  There is actually a Christian blogger up for the award and I want people to spread the word and try to help this guy win.  I also hope that this might bring more people to read his blog and learn about Christ through this effort.  Anyways, click here and go vote for Mark Lamprecht.  You can also go visit his blog here.  Please spread the word to friends and family and let's help out a fellow brother in Christ.

God is Love

It is comforting to know that the Bible tells us that God is love.  And even more so when we consider the wealth of His grace and mercy that He showers us with.  But do we really understand what this love is?  Do we have any semblance of this type of love in our own lives?  To answer this question, we need to look at the relationship between God and man a little bit closer.  Specifically, we need to understand how and why we love others, how and why God loves His elect, and the implications of each of those.  Once we have examined this thoroughly, we will have a much better appreciation for just how much God truly loves us and how far short of this love we fall in our own lives.

We will start off by examining how and why we love others.  Let’s honestly ask ourselves who it is that we love…not who we should love, but who we actually love in thought and deed.  I’m just going to parse out thoughts from my own life and you can choose to apply them in your own lives where they are applicable.  I tend to love people who believe most of the same things that I do…people who share the same type of ethics, morals, and interests as me.  I do have friends that I disagree with on important issues, but I can easily say that they do not make up the majority of my friends (probably a 70-30 split).  And most of the 30% in the minority are people from work.  Let me be clear in saying that I am using a tight definition of the word friend here…these are people that I talk with on a somewhat regular basis about different issues.  The point I am making is that I tend to show love towards people who are more like me than unlike me.  I also tend to love people who are attractive to me either physically, mentally, or spiritually.  I love the way my wife looks, her sense of humor, and her strong stand for the Word of God.  I love my boys because they are funny, smart, sweet, and loving.  I love to talk to people who enjoy talking about sports, theology, and silly/funny stuff.  And the way that I show love is mainly by expressing appreciation in words, be it spoken or written.  Not that I mind doing things for people, but I tend to be more verbal…just something that I have noticed.  I am sure this is something that is different from person to person, so just look at your own life and see what you see.  Basically, I love people that I want to love in the way that I want to love them for the most part.  Now I will say that this has changed somewhat since God saved me, but it has not been a total transformation and won’t be until I am glorified in His presence.  I do see that I have a great affinity for other saints and find great joy in gathering with other believers, whether for fellowship or worship.  So this gives an idea of how and why I love others…you’ll have to determine whether this is true for yourselves or not.

Next let’s take a look at how and why God loves His elect.  Where we saw that I love others based upon things that I like, it is clear that this is not true of God.  Just read this and tell me what it is that God sees that causes Him to love any man:

“What then?  Are we better than they?  Not at all, for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are under sin;  as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.’  ‘Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving,’ ‘The poison of asps is under their lips’; ‘Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness’; ‘Their feet are swift to blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known.’  ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’” (Romans 3:9-18)

Clearly there is nothing that God can see in man that makes Him think we are great and wonderful and that He should love us.  In fact, we see that it is quite the opposite.  We are filthy, wretched sinners who have rebelled against Him and polluted His creation.  God loves us because He chooses to do so.  Yes, He has much mercy and grace, but He is also the righteous judge and has to judge and punish sin.  In His mercy, He has chosen to punish the sins of His elect through the atoning death of Jesus on the cross, where He (Jesus) also faced the wrath of God for the sins of the elect.  In His grace, He has imputed the righteous life of Jesus to our account so that we may enter into His presence in Heaven.  This also involved Jesus conquering death so that we may also be resurrected to perfect, glorified bodies suited for eternal life in the presence of God.  And all of this is the manifestation of God’s love for His elect that is done without us being attractive to God in any possible way…until He changes us.  And even after that change, we still have sin in our flesh.  So God loves us only because He chooses to and He does so sacrificially.  He does so in word, thought, and deed…perfectly. 

So, we have looked at the love of man and the love of God.  Now let’s take a little peek into the implications.  I’m sure that anybody who reads this will have other implications that come to mind, but I’m just going to put down a few that come to mind for me:

·         We are limited by the way that we love, but we are freed by the love of God.  We are limited because we tend to exclude ourselves from loving all people and gaining from the fellowship and counsel of other believers who probably can see some blind spots in our lives better than those who share some of our same predispositions.  We are freed by God’s love because He empowers us to get beyond those predispositions.  That takes a lot of prayer, meditation, and work, but as we become more disciplined in our practice, the more we will grow in this type of love. 

·         We need to be conformed more to the image of Christ.  “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren”. (Romans 8:29, emphasis mine)  We’re used to hearing this verse used to show the Biblical basis for predestination, but it is also demonstrates that the elect are predestined to be sanctified.  And our failure to love in the same fashion that God loves us shows that we need to be conformed to the image of Jesus even more.

·         We don’t fully understand the love of God.  I mean, if we really did would we love the way that we do?  Yeah, I know that we’re saddled by sin and that keeps us from loving that way, but doesn’t that also keep us from fully understanding His love towards us?  I long for the day when we’ll be glorified and in his presence so that we can have a better understanding and practice of this type of love.

So, to get back to the questions I posited, I think that we have a limited understanding of God’s love for His elect and that there is also some limited semblance of this love in our own lives.  However, we need to be growing in both the understanding and practice of this type of love.  Although we will never love exactly the same as God does, we should try to do better than we do now.  I pray that we may all see growth in this area.

Let me know what you think about this...and add some areas for me to work on...

Review of God's Wisdom in Proverbs, by Dan Phillips

I know that I have been posting chapter reviews of The World-Tilting Gospel, but when I received this book, also by Dan Phillips (who blogs here and here) I started reading it and could not put it down.  It has greatly impacted my life and I plan to go through it with my family soon.  My wife is probably tired of hearing me go on and on about what I have read from it every day and how challenged I have been by really examining my life in light of the truth of wisdom from Proverbs.  So without further ado, let me get to my review and tell you what I have found as I have read and digested what Dan has written in this book.

Obviously, this book is a study of Proverbs.  It is not a verse by verse study, but rather a study of the authorship, structure, language, and major themes of Proverbs.  He has done a great deal of research (as evidenced by his footnotes and bibliography) and puts it all to great use.  He doesn't lean on these resources excessively and makes a point to show where he agrees and disagrees with them on various points.  In fact, one of the main things I appreciate is how Dan goes back to the Biblical basis and pulls from the context of the various verses in order to defend his position instead of merely leaning upon the work of others.  He also masterfully employs many word pictures to bring to mind manifestations of both wisdom and folly and the different concepts that Solomon presents to the reader in Proverbs.

Speaking of Solomon, Dan makes a point to establish the authorship of Solomon for all of Proverbs, except for the last two chapters (where each chapter states the original source for itself).  He also provides us with background information about Solomon and the source of his wisdom, which is important to keep in mind since Proverbs is a book about wisdom. 

He then takes the time to explain the structure of the book (a seemingly difficult task) and to develop some of the intricacies of Hebrew poetry.  Here we gain some valuable insight into how we need to look at the Proverbs and read them.  I had never been exposed to any teaching about Hebrew poetry, so I have found this particularly helpful for my own study in the book of Proverbs.  Dan also makes the important point that "Proverbs by design lays out pointed observations, meant to be memorized and pondered, not always intended to be applied 'across the board' to every situation without qualification."  He also explains the major types of proverbs, which will help you in examining the proverbs and how each line builds upon the other.

So now that Dan has detailed the structure of Hebrew poetry for us and shown us some examples of the types of proverbs, he takes us through Proverbs 1:2-6 to show us what the self-claimed purpose of the book of wisdom is.  It is at this point where Dan really starts to break down the Hebrew language and gets us to examine exactly why and how we should be reading Proverbs.  He lists out the benefits and shows how the text goes beyond us just learning what is wise and foolish, but moving into practicing it.  His development of this point is crucial to how we grow in the fear of Yahweh.  He also shows how Proverbs clearly shows that believers of all levels of maturity can gain from the reading and application of Proverbs.  So no matter who you are, you should continually be looking to this book of wisdom for guidance and spiritual growth.

We are then taken to the bedrock of the book of Proverbs, and really the Christian life...Proverbs 1:7 - "The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; Wisdom and discipline, dense people belittle." (this is Dan's translation, which he calls the DJP)  Dan goes to great length to explain what exactly the fear of Yahweh is and isn't so that we aren't confused by some of the misconceptions out there.  He also makes sure to let us know that "'fear of Yahweh' is where we must start, if we are ever to hope to gain wisdom and understanding" and that "The idea is more that of a foundation".  We don't just start and leave it behind, but we build upon it continually. 

After developing what the fear of Yahweh is, Dan shows us what the fear of Yahweh brings, as explained in the book of Proverbs.  These types of sections really make this an invaluable resource because Dan takes the time to search Proverbs and show the verses where we are shown what the fear of Yahweh brings to us.  And he follows that up by searching Proverbs to show us different verses showing what the opposites of the fear of Yahweh are.  So not only do we know what we need to look for, but we know what to avoid!

Dan then takes some time to explain just how it is we are to seek and to find the treasure of wisdom.  There is much here that we all need to pay attention to so that we don't miss out on wisdom.  He also delves into how it is that we are supposed to relate to God.  There is a good bit of explanation of what exactly it means to trust God and this is an area that is key for Christianity in our day and age.  I say that because it seems there are many misconceptions of what this means and how it really works.  Dan does a great job here of showing us the truth.

In the last three chapters of the book, Dan moves into the application of Proverbs with regards to our relationships with others.  The first regards godly relationships in general and contains a lot of good thoughts for all of us to keep in mind as we look for close friends.  The second deals with godly marriage and I can't imagine any married person who would not be greatly challenged (in a great way) by this chapter.  And the last chapter covers godly parenting...once again, who does not need to improve in this area?  He is faithful to Scripture in each of these chapters and I have found myself examining how I can improve in each of these areas since reading through them.  In fact, by the grace of God, I have seen improvement and have been encouraged to increase in wisdom by acting upon the teaching of Scripture that Dan has developed here.  These three chapters alone would make this a must-buy for any Christian!

Dan tops it off by explaining that Proverbs should point to the fact that we have all fallen short and that we all must count on Christ's perfect work.  I am glad that he brought it back around to the Gospel because both unbelievers and believers alike need to keep this in mind.  What a wonderful Savior we have and how thankful I am every day that He chose to save a sinner like me.

From there, we move into the appendices, where Dan takes on a few topics from the text in a bit more depth.  The first one covers the authorship of Proverbs.  I never knew that there were so many people who argued that there were other authors of the first 29 chapters of Proverbs, but Dan lays out the arguments and the commentators who put them forth for us to see.  Then he goes to quick work in refuting them.  I must say that he left me quite unimpressed with the arguments against Solomon's authorship.

In the second appendix, Dan breaks down the usage and meaning of the key words from Proverbs.  Dan does a great job of bringing out the true meaning from the original Hebrew text and breaking  it down to the level where a layman can easily follow.  He says that this appendix is mainly for the student of Hebrew, but I've never studied it and I found this section quite helpful and informative.

He moves from there to the meaning of Proverbs 22:6 and I would highly recommend that everybody read this appendix and take it to heart.  I must say that I feel that the English translations get this one wrong and I am quite thankful that Dan has taken the time to set the record straight.

And he finishes the book with the last appendix on teaching and preaching through the book of Proverbs.  I hope that many a pastor/teacher read this and decide to teach through the book.  It is certainly not covered in most churches and I would say that is to our detriment.  I have personally seen a much more determined effort in my own life since I have read this book and really gotten more depth from my study of Proverbs.  My hope and prayer is that many will read this book and see the same in their own lives.

Chapter 3 of The World-Tilting Gospel, by Dan Phillips

So now that Dan has shown us how Adam sinned and died spiritually, we need to look at how this affects us in the here and now.  After all, that was his sin...it isn't ours, right?  Dan points out how Scripture shows that in Genesis 5:3, we see that Adam had a son "in his own likeness, after his image."  In reading further, we can see the difference between Adam's image after the fall (Dan also shows how this term is not nearly strong enough) and God's image (remember that God created Adam in His image).  We also see that following down that line throughout early history (early meaning we look at Genesis 4), things got progressively worse.

This brings us to Dan's discussion of the meaning of sin.  He has shown some of its effects (a lot of death for sure - and Dan went through defining death in the last chapter), but we need to get a grasp on what sin itself is.  I think he does a great job of showing us that we must define sin by looking at the perfect standard of God in order to get a true meaning.  That means we have to look at God and then ourselves, not others.  He then takes us back to Scripture to answer the question "How far does it go?" with regards to the "natural addiction to lawlessness passed on through his (Adam's) children".  And the picture painted isn't very pretty. 

Dan walks us through the history of the Old Testament to show us that all of mankind is stained with sin.  Sadly, as Dan notes, "It is sometimes said that the notion of 'original sin' or 'total depravity' (i.e., that every part of us is warped by sin) was either invented by the apostle Paul, or was made up later by Christian theologians."  Dan shows how the Bible itself backs up the concepts of original sin and total depravity way back in the Old Testament.  He pulls from much of Old Testament Scripture to show that there is not one single good person...that not one person can say they've cleansed themselves from sin and has a pure heart.  This is seen in the lives of all the people that are thought of as great men of God in the Old Testament.

And then Dan references what I consider the strongest portion of Scripture regarding just how stained by sin all of mankind is...Isaiah 64:6: "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.  We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away."  This verse doesn't talk about our sins, but our righteous deeds.  As Dan points out, "deeds done in religious service are tainted with self-love, self-seeking, self-worship."  He also gets to the depth of our sin by showing the true meaning of "a polluted garment" in the original Hebrew text.  I'm sure many of you know it already, but for those of you who don't, it isn't pretty.  That is another detail I will leave for you to read in the book.

So now that Dan has demonstrated that the Old Testament teaches of our depravity, he moves on to the New Testament.  Before even getting into the epistles, Dan reminds us that Jesus Himself affirmed the truthfulness and authority of the Old Testament.  Jesus says that we must repent and Dan shows that this indicates "a change of mind so fundamental, so root-to-branch, that the life changes as a consequence."  He then lays out the following as what is not "the premise of such a command":

• Jesus wouldn't say this if we were right with God
• Jesus wouldn't say this if we were OK and just needed to do more or do better
• Jesus wouldn't say this if we just needed to fix a thing or two

Dan's humor shines a bit here and once again, I have left the details for you to read for yourself.  I have also left out the fundamental premise that Dan lays out for us.  Which I say is what every sinner must come to grips with before being saved.  I'm not saying they have to say the exact same words, but that the thought he describes will resonate with a person upon being quickened...or even upon rejection of the truth because somebody just doesn't want to deal with the implications of that thought.  Dan lays out part of those implications from the very words of Jesus regarding how man is defiled.

So now that we have seen how nasty and sinful we are, how do we deal with that?  Dan moves on to show us that "Jesus gives two extreme prescriptions, for what we need in the face of His teaching."  The first of which is "the cross".  There are many wrong ideas of what this involves, but Dan does a good job of explaining what it really means to carry our cross daily.  The second prescription is "new birth".  Dan also does a good job of explaining this from Scripture so that we have a good understanding of what it means to be born again.

We are then taken from the words of Jesus to the words of Peter.  And we shouldn't be surprised that Peter, like Jesus, said the people needed to repent.  This was his message at Pentecost, and it was also what he affirms in 1 Peter.  Dan also demonstrates that "Paul also confirmed and developed the teaching of Jesus".  He takes us to Romans, where Paul demonstrates that we are all guilty, that there is no good person seeking after God, and "sin came to hold us all in its vice-like grip".  Dan then takes us through Paul's comparison between Jesus and Adam and shows that Paul shows that Jesus is "head of a new subset of humanity" and "what He did affects all of those whom He represents."  He also lays out Paul's description of man's condition from Ephesians 2 and gives us some humorous concepts of what Paul does not say about us...concepts that (sadly) many seem to hold as being true.  He also goes through his own personal dealings with the "illusory" thoughts that he had about death and relates that to how many Christians have illusory thoughts about the concept of their spiritual state.  Again, he inserts a bit of humor to really give us an idea of how out of line we are with reality before salvation.  And he shows how Paul is in line with the same ideas that we saw in the Old Testament with regards to the sinful state of man.

So Dan has laid out the bad news for us.  He summarizes by laying out a few bullet points showing how "we have seen ourselves as God sees us".  He walks us through a summary of these first three chapters, which make up Part One of the book, and tells us that "We must deal with the fact: The Gospel is offensive to human pride.  If what we preach as "Gospel" is not offensive, we're doing it wrong."  This is important to keep in mind because, as Dan states, "the only Gospel that saves is the Gospel that offends."  He ends the chapter, and Part One, by saying "It is time we understood that offensive, saving Gospel."  And he does so in Part Two (Chapters 4-6).

Before closing out this chapter review, I want to say that I can not understate how well Dan uses word pictures and humor in this book.  He really brings to life the thoughts and concepts that he is trying to explain from the Bible.  And it is so readable that I can't think of anybody who would not be able to read through it easily.  I can't overstate how sorely this book is needed in the post-Christian culture today...I hope that it finds its way into many, many hands. 

Thanks for writing this book, Dan...I know that God is working through your efforts to spread the "offensive, saving Gospel".

Chapter 2 of The World-Tilting Gospel, by Dan Phillips

So now that we've seen some examples of bad or incorrect worldviews, Dan takes us back to the very beginning in Chapter 2.  "To assemble a worldview based on God's truth rather than the world's lies or our hearts' self-serving deceptions, we must begin at the beginning - as in, 'In the beginning.'"  We see that the first three chapters of Scripture "convey an intense concentration of foundational revelation that is breathtaking in its depth and scope.  It is here that we first encounter the truth of God, His nature, His word, His creation, and His plan for all the ages."  Sounds like pretty important stuff, huh?  I can't stress how important this is to understanding the truth of Who God is and who we are.  So many people have done damage to proper theology by not looking at Genesis 1-3 as being literal history and trying to say it is allegory.  As Dan states, if we get these verses "fundamentally wrong...we get everything else wrong." (emphasis mine)  He sets out to hit these three highlights from these three chapters:

1. Man's preparation
2. Man's probation
3. Man's prostration

First, we have to understand why it is that God put us here.  As we read through the first chapter of Genesis, we see God building upon His creation day by day and the days have parallels that the text of this book works through.  Dan brings out the details of these parallels in order to work up to the "crowning act of creation", and then shows the importance of the creation of man in God's image.  We also see that God tells Adam and Eve to multiply and fill the earth and subdue it...God gives them dominion over all of the life on the earth as well.  And God has prepared man to follow God's command...all they have to do is obey.

That brings us to man's probation.  We've seen what God has told man to do - "Multiply, subdue, chow down."  And he could eat from any tree in the garden except for one.  Dan paints a picture of how good this fruit must have been because there were none of the after-effects of sin...no chemicals, no rotting, and I'm thinking that they were no throw-aways.  As for the one tree not to be eaten from, there have been many speculations as to what this tree was and Dan lays waste to a couple of popular ones.  Regardless of what the fruit itself was, it is true that eating of this tree is rebellion and "the tree represented autonomy, the illusion of self-rule."  The point is made that we will never really know what would have happened if Adam and Eve (and all of us) had chosen to listen to God.

And who do they (and we) decide to listen to instead?  The serpent!  We all know the conversation here, but Dan draws out a point from the original language that English just doesn't show us.  I'd tell you, but I want you to read the book and find out for yourself.  Needless to say, the Serpent knew the weak spot to go after and didn't face much resistance in his efforts.  Satan says God wasn't telling the truth and that man could be like God if they ate from the tree.  Dan makes a good point of how people tell this lie today in the following ways:

• You aren't realizing your potential
• You aren't fully actualized
• You aren't authentic
• You aren't having your best life now
• You are trapped by legalistic myths about God
• You should fulfill your destiny

Any of this sound familiar?  This is one of the reasons that I am glad Dan wrote this book...he takes on all of these types of sentiments and takes them back to their origin.  Too many people are unwilling to take a strong enough stand against the false teachers in the world today and so many are being led astray.  And they are facing the same punishment that God told Adam and Eve they would face for eating from the forbidden tree - eternal death.  Dan also takes the time to deal with the objections that it is not fair for God to mete out this punishment to us when we didn't choose Adam and Eve to represent us and we didn't get the chance to make the decision.  And I can't think of a better argument than he puts forth here.  So we see that man has disobeyed God and now is facing the punishment that God had already promised.

So man is supposed to die, right?  Then why are Adam and Eve still breathing?  What gives?  Well, it all depends on what is meant by dying.  The Bible speaks of both spiritual and physical life and death.  Dan pulls from Scripture and adds more depth to the definitions and helps us to see that Adam and Even did dies the moment they ate that fruit, but it just isn't the same picture of death that most of us have.  When you look at the spiritual ramifications, it is pretty grim.  Look at how Adam reacted when God appears in the garden...he hides from God...which is quite silly when you really think about it - you can't be hidden from God.  This is Adam's Creator, with Whom he had enjoyed fellowship and from Whom he received dominion over the rest of the world.  Also, Dan shows that offending God has become acceptable in the eyes of man and then lists the following implications (but in much better detail):

• God no longer rules man
• God's glory is not central, but self-preservation
• Man's perception of God is inadequate
• Man is evasive about sin
• Adam blames God

So we see how man reacted...and then we see God's reaction in His response.  Amazingly, He shows grace and promises that He "will send a second Man, a las Adam, to win out where they so miserably failed."  God also lays out the curses on man and the earth for this sin and Adam and Eve are left to deal with the consequences, which we still face today. 

So we now see the wonder of creation and "have learned what the world does not know: what it means to be human."  We can also see how everything went wrong and how far man fell in that short instant of time.  So what about us?  How does this all affect us thousands of years later.  As Dan suggests, "Read on."