Deeper Waters

We’ve been talking lately about hearing the voice of God. As I consider, it seems most of the proof-texts I’ve heard have already been looked at and from my viewpoint, they’ve been found wanting. I would hope if others agree that they’ll take the time to consider the implications of that.

It means that a whole ideology has risen up and people have bought into it though it doesn’t even have remotely a biblical foundation. Now on some doctrines, there are texts that are hard to explain and you could look and see a reasonable way people come to those conclusions based on the text. With this one though, the evidence for it is nil and the evidence against it is great.

However, if there is one passage today that is used often as well, it’s Elijah’s hearing the still small voice. Let’s look at the text in 1 Kings 19.

11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

And somehow, a whole doctrine has come out of this.

First off, I’m not convinced this is a voice. Considering earth and fire already showed up, I’m more inclined to think this was a wind. I don’t think the text is definitive though. Let’s suppose it was a voice. My reply. “So what?”

Some of you might be shocked I said that.

Let’s look at some facts though. Elijah was not like the rest of us in one regard. He was a prophet who was supposed to hear from God. This was not the experience of Joe Israelite. In fact, if it was a regular thing for Elijah as well, one wonders why he would have ran and hid in a cave for so long.

One also wonders why he didn’t point to such an experience to the Israelites when facing Baal and telling them to listen for the voice of YHWH. The prophets never tell them to listen to an internal voice. They tell them to hear the Word of the Lord, but what they mean is the message that is being given through them.

Yet I have seen too often this passage being used. I’ve seen sermons where the whole point seems to be on how to hear the voice of God and why we need to from this passage. I have heard prayers where the pastor prays that we can all listen to the still small voice. If we use this kind of exegesis though, I wonder what it will be like when we have a dating service based on the method of Judges 21.

Friends. This idea isn’t biblical, and that we take texts of Scripture so lightly to form a doctrine I think really shows how lightly we take Scripture and serious interpretation of it. Now again, some of you will disagree. If you do, I say it again, show me the problem from Scripture. Show me how I exegeted this text wrong or show me another text. Experience won’t cut it.

I’ve been writing lately about this idea in the modern church of hearing the voice of God and feeling led as normative practices in Christianity. I’ve been pleased with the responses I’ve been getting. Some of you though, I anticipate aren’t too pleased with what I’ve been saying or if you’re finding this blog at a future date, what you’re reading now.

And that’s just fine.

I can understand being raised with a system all your life and then finding out that there’s not much to it. It does require changing one’s way of thinking and indeed, I’m still having to avoid thinking in that mode of thinking at times. I would hope anyone disagreeing though would be willing to go to the Scriptures.

One example someone will give though inevitably will be going to 1 Samuel 3 and the passage where Samuel hears the voice of God. Let’s start with the chapter in question:

1 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions. 2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple  of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the LORD called Samuel.
Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

6 Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”

7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD : The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.

8 The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

11 And the LORD said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. 12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. 13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible,  and he failed to restrain them. 14 Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’ ”

15 Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the LORD. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, 16 but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”
Samuel answered, “Here I am.”

17 “What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the LORD; let him do what is good in his eyes.”

19 The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the LORD. 21 The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.

My own preacher would disagree with me on this. I know so for he preached a sermon on this text recently. I do like my preacher and I enjoy talking to him, but I have to say I really disagree on this one. I will tell you that if your church teaches this and you disagree, be sure to be respectful. Don’t come at ministry with both guns blazing. It really won’t work.

My preacher also made the connection with John 10, which we looked at yesterday, and I wanted to point out why it didn’t work. For one thing, in John 10, the idea is that those who are of the sheep will hear the voice. That means that if you use this passage this way, it means that if you hear the voice of God, you must be a believer.

Anybody you see as a believer in 1 Samuel 3? Eli is hardly noted as being a righteous high priest. As for Samuel, look at verse 7. Samuel did not yet know the Lord.

So what happens? Samuel is sleeping and he hears a voice calling his name. How do we know that? He ran Eli. He did not say “Eli! I thought you were speaking to me in my spirit!” No. He heard a physical voice and he knew of only one other person who would be calling him and he went to him.

Notice also why Eli had a hard time recognizing it. The first verse tells you. The Word of the Lord was rare. If this was such a normative experience for the people of God as we are led to think, then it would seem that Eli would immediately grasp that Samuel was hearing the voice of God. He didn’t.

Why does this not work with John 10? As I told my preacher, Samuel wasn’t a believer, so you can’t draw a parallel there. Furthermore, no one in John thinks the voice is an actual voice as far as I know. Even if it’s a subjective voice of the spirit somehow, it is not an actual voice. Yet the two are constantly compared.

Greg Koukl says it well. This is a doctrine in search of a proof-text. Unfortunately for it, with a little bit of looking, the doctrine seems to fall. Now if you think I’m wrong, go ahead, but remember, if you try to contest me, I want to be told how my exegesis was wrong on this passage or be given another passage. I cannot interpret an experience and Scripture is my final authority.

There are a lot of people that use this passage in John to justify hearing the voice of God, which we have been looking at such things lately. Let’s look at it. It’s in John 10.

1“I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them. 7Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

14“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

Let’s notice something that the text says early on. This is a figure of speech. That means that you do not take the objects literally. We do not think Jesus is literally herding us who are literally sheep, into a literal pen. We do not take this text in the “literal” sense until we get to the voice part. Then “My sheep hear my voice.” What else could that be but hearing the inner voice of God?

Can I say something obvious here? (Of course I can. It’s my blog.) Everyone who was in the audience that day heard his voice. That must mean that he was talking about something other than a literal voice. (Note that it’s his voice as well.) So what is the voice that the sheep hear? It’s simple. It’s the call to salvation.

How do you know you’re a sheep? You’ve answered the call and come to the shepherd. Now we can get into the debate on if this fits into a Calvinist or Arminian view better, but that is not the point of this blog. The point of this blog is to show the false use of this passage in the modern church.

Now someone might say “But I hear the voice of God.” Alright. Show me why I should think so from Scripture. I can’t interpret your experience, but I can interpret Scripture. If you want to show this is normative, I need it backed from Scripture. If you want to show it from this text, then show where I went wrong in my exegsis and how the hearers would have known he was talking about hearing the voice of God.

Friends. It has to be Scripture. Scripture must interpret our experience. Our experiences cannot interpret Scripture.

After the success of last night’s blog, I figured I’d write about the topic of being led by the Spirit tonight. This one is used far too often in a way that is not what the Bible means when it uses the term. The first usage of it is found in Mark 1 where it says Jesus was led of the Spirit to the wilderness. This, however, seems more forceful than anything else. I do not think we can find much here. The other usages of it come from Romans and Galatians.

Let’s look at the first one in Romans 8:

12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Led by the Spirit is in the middle of this. However, where do we see anything about decision making? Where do we see anything about God telling us what we should do with our lives and having feeling being the indicator? Look all you want through that passage. It’s not in there. If you want to disagree, go ahead. Be clear on this though. I don’t want an experience. I want to be shown any exegesis I do is in error or another passage that I have overlooked.

Instead, what is Paul talking about? Paul is talking about how we ought to deny the sinful nature and serve the spiritual nature, which is the nature of God. If we are led by the Spirit, we are sons of God. That means basically that if you are X, then it is because of Y. So what is Y? Being sons of God. How can you tell you’re a son (or daughter) of God? Because you are led by the Spirit. That is in contrast to the sinful nature.

Thus, what is being said? Sinful people make bad decisions? Of course they do sometimes, but they can make good ones as well. It isn’t about decisions. It is about the way you live your life in general. If you are slaves to sin, you will please the sinful nature. If you are led by the Spirit, you will please the Christian nature. It is contrasting sinful living with righteous living.

How about Galatians 5?

16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. 19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

In this passage, living by the Spirit is equated with being led by the Spirit and is again put in contrast with the sinful nature. If you live by the sinful nature, verses 19-21 describes the results. If you are led by the Spirit, 22-26 describe the results. Notice this: There is NOTHING about personal decision making in the context.

Unfortuantely, being led by the Spirit is used to justify everything in churches. Churches will have conferences where they vote and each one is to vote as they feel led, but apparently, the Spirit can’t get his message across because the votes are different across the board. Did you ever consider that maybe you’re using your mind to vote?

Dave Ramsey, who hosts a radio show on Christian finances, several years ago had a caller who was getting ready to make a stupid financial decision. When Ramsey asked him why he was about to make that decision, he said “Well me and my wife just feel like God is leading us this way,” to which Ramsey answered “Bull!”

I loved that answer.

Friends. We can’t afford to be simply acting on our feelings. God gave us minds and he gave us the way of wisdom. It is a shame our culture has taken a biblical phrase and turned it to mean something it never meant and even worse, made a type of spiritual cliche out of it.

Let’s return to wisdom.

I’ve been talking to a great friend of mine lately (You know who you are, and you’re a great friend indeed.) and we’ve been discussing some the material on “Experiencing God.” He’s got a friend who is highly into it. I know some readers won’t like what I say here, but I do disagree with hearing the voice of God as normative for Christian living.

The trouble comes when people do start using their experiences as the basis of truth. In other words, “You don’t believe in that? Well I’ve experienced it!” This doesn’t just apply to in-house debates though. When we are dealing with the Mormons for instance, they will point to experience as well. When the Mormons come to your door and present you their gospel, they will ask you to read Chapter 10 of the Book of Moroni and these verses:

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

I was listening to an MP3 on Mormonism yesterday and heard a lot of good arguments. Now my problem has always been that this is too subjective. An experience does not interpret itself. You need something outside of the experience to determine any truth content. What do I mean?

Let us suppose that I had a friend who was really down and enjoyed my company. I didn’t know about his condition but he’s sitting outside his house and he looks and he is sure he sees me walking down the street to see him. Unfortunately, he is in such a depressed state looking for a friend that his mind is playing tricks on him and he is hallucinating.

Instead, I am actually at a Bible Study group.  I have numerous people there who can verify my existence and will say they saw me. How are we to know who is right in the end? It is simple. I cannot be in two places at once. Both the group and the person have the experience of seeing me, but only one is seeing me. How do we determine which is true? We look at other evidence.

Now what about the Mormon claim? First off, look at how you are to ask. You are to ask with a sincere heart and real intent. You are to ask wanting it to be true.  However, does such apply to the gospels? Do we not know of accounts of people setting out to disprove the Bible and then come back believing it?

Also, if the experience is the determining factor, then what about those who pray and do not have the experience? Could we not just as easily pray and ask “Lord, show me if these things are NOT true.” Instead, we are to go in with the answer we want and only that answer is valid and thus, only that experience is valid.

Thus, the Mormon claim has the problem. Why should only experiences that agree with the Mormon experience be true?  We must accept this from the start. People can have experiences that go against our beliefs but that does not mean that our beliefs are false. As Greg Koukl says on this, “You can’t exegete an experience.”

However, if experience is your guide, I believe you are in more danger of being led astray by the Mormons than other people are and too often, it is the guide in Christian circles. Now experience is not invalid in itself. You can learn a lot from your experiences. (And from those of others.) The experiences alone though do not determine truth.

This gets us to hearing the voice of God. I do not believe this is normative. Note what I am not saying though. I am not saying that God cannot speak to us at all. He most certainly can. I’m just saying when I look through the Bible, I don’t see this taught as common Christian practice or a way to truly live the life.

You have an experience. Okay. Can you back your experience in Scripture? That is my question. I believe too often that we use our experience to interpret Scripture instead of using Scripture to interpret our experiences.  We read the Bible and think “Wow. Paul must have felt what I am feeling now.” Maybe he did, but it could be you’re reading your experience into the text when Paul is thinking of something totally different.

So what do we do? We go back to Scripture. That is our authority and it should be the final authority of the church. I would contend that wisdom is our model for living today. It is not hearing the voice of God. If you want to argue with me, don’t give me an experience. Give me Scripture.

Remember people, Scripture is the final authority for us. When experience leads the way, we open the door to being easily misled. Even New Agers and Mormons claim to have experiences. You need something stronger.

When it has come to writing blogs on the days of my friends, I have written a blog to honor them. Today, I am in a unique situation. I am the one with the birthday and I do not wish to write something all about me. I like to hear compliments, though I’m quite shy of them at times. Still, I can write about something on this day and that’s the celebration of existence.

I think that’s the reason I celebrate birthdays. We hear talk about how this is so self-centered and I know the JWs actively go against birthdays, but I don’t see it. I don’t think there’s anything wrong in being thankful for your own existence. I am celebrating 27 years on this Earth today and I am thankful for that.

I thought about existence some today in between the visits and phone calls I got. I consider it a marvel that we exist. Of course, I consider it a marvel that God exists, but his existence is different. When we think about God and his attributes, they exist necessarily. God has to exist and all that is in his nature must then exist.

However, “I exist” uttered from me is not a necessarily true statement. Now I know that I have to exist to say the statement and I could never say “I don’t exist” and have that statement be true. However, the concept behind the statement is not a necessary truth. My non-existence is possible.

That just marvels me. I didn’t have to be, yet God chose to have me be. I can only think that there’s something about each of us that he loves. I am not a Calvinist. I do believe God does desire all people to be saved and I do believe we are all loved by God in some way. Have I worked it out entirely? No. This is where I’m at now though.

I can only then look at my existence as grace and especially my being included in God’s salvation as grace. God was just fine by himself before any of the human race came along. The fellowship of the Trinity was more than enough for him. He didn’t need any of us, but I believe we were created because such is the nature of love. Love desires to go beyond itself.

In fact, we could say most of us are here for that reason. Two people had a connection with each other and because of that, each of us came into being. Unfortunately, in our world, it seems that the love aspect is being there less and less. Flings with kids on prom nights and even sometimes now rape. Not every kid is born in love in this world, and that’s a sad state of affairs the church needs to address.

I am thankful that I was. I don’t think it downplays those who weren’t. It is not an insult to them to be thankful for what I have. I do not lower the blind man by being thankful that I can see. It is simply the recognition of what I’ve been blessed with and it does not honor God to not celebrate that which he has blessed me with.

I am extremely thankful for my friends and family today. Every phone call and email and instant message was great. The forum where I post was especially friendly to me. It’s a neat thing when you realize it personally. All of these people are essentially saying “Thank you for being alive. The world is a better place because of you.”

Sometimes, I think we fear such things will make our egos too big. Maybe it does for some people. I find myself in utter humility though each time. I am one who worries about having too big an ego, but I find the more good I hear, it seems the more humble and thankful I become. Perchance someone skilled in matters of the soul can explain that, but I can’t at this point. Of course, that gives me something new to ponder on which I will enjoy.

Tonight, I thank God then for my existence. I have been on here for 27 years. They haven’t all been great. There have been some hard times. At the end of the day though, I need to realize that every good and gracious gift comes from God. That includes the life he has given me. Thank you Lord for the time I have had. May I use it more to serve you.

I hope by now it’s been shown in my blogs that I am fully male. I say this because I was in a chat last night with some internet friends, which is how I spend many an evening. I was in a musical mood and went to my music files on my computer and started listening to Final Fantasy music.

I hear some of you right now. “What kind of geek listens to music from Final Fantasy?” The answer is, a Final Fantasy geek.  I love the music in the series because it always gets me in mind of preparing for an adventure. Play some of the music from that and I’m ready for action. I frequently hum the tunes throughout my day.

Then comes one of my male friends who is a truly awesome friend. (Yeah my friend. You need to know that.) He starts talking about a girl that he’s been talking to. I’m surrounded by guys and we’re typical guys. We want to know everything he’s willing to tell us. I thought of that scene then from the movie Grease.

If you remember Grease, it’s the story about High School several years ago and a bad boy and a good girl getting together. John Travolta played the bad boy and Olivia Newton-John played the good girl. I can’t say I like everything that happened in it, but it’s an enjoyable one to watch and the music is especially catchy.

My mind goes to the scene with the guys on the bleachers talking about girls the way guys talk about girls usually. The girls are in a picnic type area of the school having lunch talking about guys the way girls talk about guys I suppose. Olivia and John are both asked what they did and they start talking about meeting each other. The song goes back and forth between them with the girls asking girly questions and the guys asking the questions of guys.

If you remember it (It’s called Summer Nights if you want to find it on YouTube), all the guys and the girls that are in the “Chorus” throughout are saying “Tell me more! Tell me more!” That will always be followed by a question. Throughout the chat, I was simply saying “Tell me more! Tell me more!”, even though  I didn’t follow it with a question. A comedic side had come up.

I thought about it though. In Grease, this is a simple story being told. Guys have encounters with girls they like of a non-sexual nature everyday, but it’s still something exciting to hear about, especially if you’re a guy talking to a friend. I compared that to what was going on in Grease.

It’s an everyday thing, but it seems like the music just draws one in. The music reminds me that this isn’t really everyday though. It’s a story as well. That’s why you say “Tell me more! Tell me more!” You want to hear how the story ends. We all assume when we read a story that it is going somewhere. It may not go where we like, but we expect it to go somewhere.

This is what makes life exciting when viewed as a story. We are all characters in this story. One could even picture a heavenly council of angels and one angel talking about something happening with one of us and another answering “Tell me more! Tell me more!” I suspect our lives could be the stories of Heaven. We have the audience of angels watching to see how the story turns out.

This is also where God comes in. Stories go somewhere. Our lives are to go somewhere. Unlike many stories, the characters do have some freedom, but rest assured, the characters are going somewhere. However, is the life really an adventure? Is it a quest to reach a goal for an eternal purpose? Or is it simply something that you go through and in the end there’s nothing?

How you answer will determine how you live your life. You all know how I’ve answered. The question is, if you agree with me, are you living accordingly? Are you enjoying your life for the story that it is?

I’ve been thinking about this concept some lately. (Unfortunately, I tend to have a problem with focus so this concept I think on could be in the middle of several other concepts.) In Pilch and Malina’s “Handbook of Biblical Social Values” we read of the idea of love as attachment and that the idea of love of wife could mean abiding sexual attraction.

We moderns find such a concept hard. We live in an age of dating and can’t seem to grasp often the benefits of arranged marriages. (Speaking as a single guy who has been waiting for a long time, there are times that I wish I had been born in a culture where we had arranged marriages.) We go out and we find someone we like and we date them for awhile and then we marry them.

Could it be though that we need to recover this ancient worldview? Even if we don’t return to arranged marriages, I think there is much to be said in the biblical view of how a man is to love a woman. Let us look at various texts and see this applied in how we are to be attached to the woman and how hate is a form of disattachment.

In Matthew 6:24, we are told no one can serve two masters. There can not be two people that are the ultimate authority in life. Your attachment can only belong to one. Thus, a person in that text will either be attached to God or they will be attached to mammon. The same concept applies though.

In Song of Songs chapter 4, the man speaks of his lady and is very descriptive about how he describes her. Now some of us may blush at these parts. These are fully God’s Word though. Yes. We can draw an allegory to an extent, but let us never deny the beauty of the literal meaning of the text.

However, is he merely doing this? In expressing her beauty, is he not also saying that he desires her and longs to be attached to her above all others? Don’t we see this in Chapter 6:8-9?

8 Sixty queens there may be,
and eighty concubines,
and virgins beyond number; 9 but my dove, my perfect one, is unique,
the only daughter of her mother,
the favorite of the one who bore her.
The maidens saw her and called her blessed;
the queens and concubines praised her.

What is he saying? He is saying that she is different from all the others. He has chosen her to be attached to. The same is found in the explicit language that is contained in Chapter 7:7-8. The story ends with the bride speaking to her groom about how he will find what he desires in her.

Probably one of the best examples of this is in Proverbs 5.

15 Drink water from your own cistern,
running water from your own well. 16 Should your springs overflow in the streets,
your streams of water in the public squares?

17 Let them be yours alone,
never to be shared with strangers.

18 May your fountain be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.

19 A loving doe, a graceful deer—
may her breasts satisfy you always,
may you ever be captivated by her love.

20 Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress?
Why embrace the bosom of another man’s wife?

21 For a man’s ways are in full view of the LORD,
and he examines all his paths.

22 The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him;
the cords of his sin hold him fast.

23 He will die for lack of discipline,
led astray by his own great folly.

Note in this warning against adultery what is described. What was pleasant back then was water. It was a joy to have water. Where was the man to find this “water” of his? It was in his own cistern. He wasn’t to take his neighbor’s water. What the man has is too valuable to simply let loose in the streets. It is his alone. It is his to cherish.

Then he is to look at his wife and in deeply sexual language, is told that he is to rejoice in her always and be satisfied by her. Yes! The groom is to enjoy this relationship and this is to be the prevention against adultery. How does God say to rekindle joy in the marriage covenant? Simple. Rejoice in your wife. Look at her again. Remember how beautiful she is.

Why go with an adulteress? Here’s why not. Your wife is good enough for you. She is what you are to rejoice in. Forbidden fruit may look good, but it is not for you. Why delight in someone else’s wife when you have a lady of your own that you can spend endless delight in?

This is one of the problems with our culture. We rely so much on emotions and feelings that the idea is hard to grasp. “I don’t feel love for my wife.” What do you do? Love her. Be attracted to her. Try romancing her some. Do you not remember when you were dating how you would do anything to impress her? Why stop that?

We tend to have it that in our day and age, the man marries and thinks the chasing stuff is over. May it never be! Keep pursuing her! Remember her! Be attracted to her! Check this out guys. If I am right in what I am saying, and I believe I am, God is telling you to sexually desire your wife. Some of us might be scandalized by that. If I’m correct again though, God isn’t, and he expects it and for you and her to enjoy it.

Men. We need to learn what we are to do from the Scripture. If we are married, we are to desire our wife and her alone. We should not even entertain the thought about what other waters would be like. If you are married, you have your own cistern to drink from and it is most certainly a treasure.

Men. Be attracted. Not only is it commanded, but I am sure of this. Your wife is attractive. Also, your wife will enjoy being attractive to you and she will most likely be glad to show it. So consider the picture then. You get a good marriage, you have a happy mate, you get to please her and she gets to please you.

Maybe the biblical way is right after all.

I was listening in church today at the morning service and if there is something that gets my attention and I’m watchful for, it’s our modern notion today of feeling led and hearing the voice of God and other such things. I was even involved in a discussion this morning in Sunday School on that topic where people said “I felt a peace” and “It worked out” and my reply was, “Where does Scripture show that’s how God’s will was found?” No one could answer that.

So I’m sitting there listening and we have the closing invitation. We got the usual, “If you feel God is tugging on your heart, come on down.” Okay. It’s a tired saying and it’s not the one I’d use, but I heard it anyway. Then I heard the next part, “If you don’t feel it, don’t come.” Okay. That got my attention.

I talked to my pastor afterwards about my concern about our emphasis on feelings. He told me that it was meant to be said that if you have been convinced of the truth, then you should come down. Very well. I can grant that. Here’s my problem though. I certainly had no understanding that that was what was meant to be conveyed from where I was listening and I doubt anyone else reading this post would have that either.

I think the only reason someone should come down is if they think Christ is the truth and that the testimony of Scripture is accurate in what it says about him. Now if someone says “I just don’t know yet. I’d like to go and read some more on the topic before I decide,” I will reply with “Great!” I have no problem with someone wanting to study the claims of Christ more because I’m convinced if they do it fairly, they will see he is the truth. My evangelism is not Mission Impossible. I don’t have to convert them immediately. I can plant seeds or I can water them. God makes them grow and I leave it to him.

Yet I saw this as a microcosm of what is going on. It seems today that truth in the church is no longer what matters. Nowadays, it’s feeling and personal experience. The individual has trumped the truth. So much of our worship service is about us. In fact, this is how we determine if we had a good worship service. If we feel good when we leave, it was a good one.

Friends. When Paul was in prison before the governor Felix, he preached on subjects that Felix did not like to hear such as righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come. Felix, I’m guessing felt miserable at such times. However, can we say that that activity was glorifying God? Absolutely. Sometimes we need to feel miserable. Paul rejoiced that the Corinthians felt godly sorrow for it led to repentance.

This was more clear to me as I listened to something I had ordered earlier that week when I got home. I had ordered Greg Koukl’s “From Truth To Experience” from STR. (I recommend anyone getting STR’s “Decision Making and the Will of God” along with the earlier mentioned item.) Koukl spoke on how the church has become more focused on experience than truth. Everyone wants to hear personal revelation.

Friends. Our faith though is not about what is happening to us. It is about what God is causing to happen and that can be done largely through us. It is about the truth that God sent his Son to die for our sins and that he physically rose again whereby we could all be atoned for the sins we have committed.

We are spending way too much time, and that includes me, focusing on our experiences instead of focusing on the truth of Christ.  When was the last time you were really involved in a discussion on matters of the faith? I have a group of friends that I try to spend time with discussing great ideas. When I go to a Bible Study, while we have some laughs as I think we should, we try to dig into the text.

Friends. I doubt repentance will feel right usually. None of us like to admit we were in the wrong be it intellectually or in our actions. It needs to be done regardless. There is only one reason to believe in Christ and to follow him. It’s not because Christ will heal your marriage or help you with alcoholism or put a smile on your face in the morning. Oh he can do that, but that is not a guarantee in this lifetime. The reason you come is because he is the truth. We have no right to guarantee what Christ himself never did.

My suggestion? Those feelings can fool you easily. Trust the truth instead.

I’ve been talking to a friend of mine lately who has had his faith shipwrecked and I decided to bring up the point of beauty after he commented on the human brain. His comment was that our brains are wonderful. My question was “are they?” I was told he knew someone who disagreed, to which I asked if they were really wonderful. Then that got to asking if anything is truly wonderful or beautiful in itself. If we are not here, is there anything that is beautiful?

We live in an age where people say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This has become a popular maxim today, but it’s one I think entirely wrong. If you hold to this position, then I see no other conclusion other than that beauty does not exist in itself, but that you are calling some things beautiful. The problem is though that they are not beautiful. They are only beautiful to you.

Of course, we must say what beauty is. I find it a difficult term to define. I will use a simple idea that the beautiful is that which is good and true. When I use those, I mean that it fits the moral category in reflecting God’s nature as nothing can be beautiful unless it participates in the beauty of God. I say it is true because some aspect of it resonates with us.

The problem with those who deny beauty being objective is that we can easily say the same applies to anything else be it morals, meaning, or any other quality. We do not discover reality in that case, but we decide what reality is. If we think something is beautiful, then it is.

However, if nothing really is beautiful, then we are simply saying what is false and if we are Christians especially, we dare not say something false. If something is not beautiful, why say that it is? For the naturalist though, it seems that all beauty would be an illusion. We think something is beautiful, but that’s just our minds deluding us. What are we to say happens then when we realize that this is an illusion? Why should I consider anything beautiful when I know nothing is? Then the same goes to morality and meaning.

Ultimately, aesthetic qualities attributed to things will be meaningless. If we say “The Mona Lisa is beautiful” we cannot possibly be making an absolute statement and if it is a true statement, it must be absolute. Now if I said “I think the Mona Lisa is beautiful” that would be an absolute statement in one way. It would be absolutely true for all people in all times and all places that I, at this moment, think the Mona Lisa is beautiful. Now I could be wrong in my statement, but I could not be wrong in that I hold that idea.

However, if those statements don’t really speak of anything, then they are nonsensical. Why say anything is beautiful? We are not describing it. We are describing our reactions to it. It reminds me of the argument Hume used in that when we see a murder take place, we say that it is evil, but what we are doing is simply feeling evil and projecting it on the murder out there.

However, we are not using words to describe a feeling within ourselves. We are using words to describe an action in the real world. We are not saying I find evil in me and therefore that action is evil. We are saying that we find evil in the action itself. One can see though how the two can be closely aligned.

Now some of you might be saying “But before we came along, was there anyone to say X is beautiful?” The answer is yes. God was there. God is the one who knows what truly is beautiful and what truly isn’t. Let us remember also that God is seen in Scripture and by the saints as beautiful. If God does not possess beauty, how can anything else?

Friends. I am concerned by a secularist mindset that tells me that the things I value most in this life, including beauty are illusions. Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder. It lies in the nature of God and is reflected in his creation.