Bruce Waltke is a Reformed evangelical theologian who has written numerous books and commentaries as well as taught at several theological seminaries in his career.  Earlier this month Waltke was asked to resign from his position at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, FL allegedly because of his position that theistic evolution and Christianity are compatible.  Waltke has make a now famous statement that if we do not hold to theistic evolution that we make Christianity just another cult. 

Justin Taylor has linked to a very helpful, well written, and thought-provoking article by Carl Trueman who addresses the issue of whether or not Christianity is seen as a cult and if it even matters.  Below is an excerpt from the article as well a link to the read the whole post.

"The question of evolution is a tough one, but it is not to be
determined by whether rejection of it leads those who despise
Christianity as whole to regard us as a cult. That is an utterly
irrelevant point.  What I want to know is whether evolution is
consistent with biblical teaching, particularly Genesis 3, Romans 5 and
I Corinthian 15. Which form of evolution is it at which we are looking
(there being significant disagreements even within the scientific
community)? What about the scientific objections of men like Michael
Behe? And how come some people, with little or no scientific training,
and who spend their lives telling us how difficult it is to understand
messy, written texts - texts designed to, ahem, communicate in a
relatively direct fashion -- seem to think that scientific data is
univocal, unequivocal, and perspicuous on this point? Funny how old
Enlightenment views of science can be found alive and well in the most
postmodern quarters, isn't it?"

Read the entire article here. 

You can listen to my message from Luke 2 entitled "Walking Away From Jesus" by clicking the link below.

Click here to listen.

Today is Thomas Jefferson's birthday.  The 3rd President of the United States would be 267 years old today.  Jefferson is of course one of the most famous presidents to ever hold office and his list of accomplishments are impressive by any presidential standard.  It seems to me that he is best remembered for two things:  The Louisiana Purchase and the principle of "Separation of Church and State" (with Lewis and Clark being a close third).

The expressed principle of the separation of church and state was written in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802:

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely
between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his
faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach
actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence
that act of the whole American people which declared that their
legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between church and State"

Jefferson is referring here primarily to the so-called "establishment clause" of the First Amendment to the Constitution.  Although not widely known, the eager travelers making their way to the New World were certainly in search of a place where they could practice what they would consider to be an undefiled religion, but were not necessarily looking for a state that was disestablished from said religion.  At the time of Jefferson's writing to the Danbury Baptist Association, two colonies were still operating with established churches.  Massachusetts would be the last colony to break away from the establishment of a church.  The foundational principle behind the need to break a church-state unity were the benefits that were bestowed upon those who claimed allegiance to the established church, and more importantly the lack of benefits to those who did not.  Thus, the establishment clause prohibits government from respecting or preferring one religion over another, and prohibits government from establishing a state religion.  In this way, Americans will not gain or lose benefits and privileges based on their religious preference.  Nor will Americans be coerced to "convert" to any religion, but may worship freely how they see fit (known as the Free Exercise clause). 

We can thank Jefferson, and others, who worked to see this conviction become the law of the land and protect our freedom as worshipers.  There is no question that progress had been made in this light as the years progressed from the beliefs and teachings of the reformers some two centuries previous.  Today I am able to worship without concern of losing life or liberty because of the influence and determination of a man like Jefferson.  For that, I am thankful.

What becomes interesting is how the phrase "separation of church and state" becomes a catch all for everything religion-minded in the world of government and politics.  Christians are branded heretics for voting based on their convictions because of "separation of church and state", as well as any other religious minded people.  However, the intentions of Jefferson himself must have been motivated in part by his own self-interest and religion.

Although I am sure that Jefferson worked through this matter on principle as a whole and not based entirely on selfish motives, the fact remains that Jefferson never really knew what he believed when it came to faith.  However, he strongly knew what he didn't believe, including the teachings of John Calvin, of which he labeled as "demonism."  When you consider that the established church of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Haven, and Plymouth colony were all founded by Calvinist Puritans, then the potential additional motives of Jefferson should become clear.  We have to remember that when Jefferson, Madison, and others were thinking through the Bill of Rights, there was no Bill of Rights to lean against as a standard for thinking.  And an entire world history of state-established churches stood against them.  So, the principle that Jefferson and others were working from was their own personal conviction concerning how the government of these new United States should view religion.  We can say then in part that Jefferson's bold conviction that this new country should not show preferential treatment to any religion came about because Jefferson himself was unsure of his own religious preference and uncertainty that religion was of any value.  I am not suggesting that if Jefferson were a devout Calvinist, Methodists, or anything else that he would have not still held the personal conviction of religious freedom from government.  I am saying that we cannot ignore the way his own heart and mind must have influenced his feelings for the new country he loved so much.  Therefore, we have to be careful when citing the "separation of church and state" as a reason to not vote based on personal conviction when the very phrase used to support such a position came about because of personal conviction.

Finally, we can only hope that Jefferson turned to Christ in his last days.  He more than once labeled himself as a "sect unto himself" which is contrary to the message of the Bible.  Interestingly, it is the same message we hear from folks today.  Nothing changes.

So a big thank you to Thomas Jefferson for serving our country and helping us move forward.  I am pretty sure I would have voted for ya. 

In case you missed it, Phil Mickelson is the 2010 Master's champion.  And if you did miss it, then you missed one of the most memorable and touching sports moments in recent history.  The Master's is the annual golf tournament that makes all others pale in comparison; it is every pro golfer's dream to wear the "green jacket", the emblem of a Master's champion.  Today that jacket is on the shoulders of Phil Mickelson - and rightfully so.

Mickelson's victory comes in the midst of the ongoing sex scandal of Tiger Woods.  His own demons, most notably the continuing fight of his wife and his mother against the enemy of breast cancer, have been largely overshadowed with the darkened affairs of Woods.  As a friend of mine recently put it, "these problems were of no fault of his own."  Here are a few points of observation and the reason why Mickelson's victory is so important.

First, Christians should be ready and willing to forgive Tiger and accept his numerous apologies.  It is the epitome of hypocrisy for Christians, whose very name points to the fact of our own forgiveness, to ignore the command to forgive others.  Scripture is clear on our response to others who are in need of forgiveness:  "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you" (Colossians 3:13).  I a not suggesting that in our act of forgiveness we by default become huge Tiger Woods fans.  But accepting Tiger's apology and forgiving him of his illegitimate behavior is not something we as Christians should simply consider.  It is something we should do.

Second, we should understand that our own forgiveness of Tiger will not change Tiger.  Nor will a world-wide sex scandal.  Ultimate change, lasting change, permanent change comes from the heart.  It never comes from humiliation.  It never comes from embarrassment.  It never comes from not wanting to be caught again.  It never even comes from intellectually wanting to change.  It always comes from the heart.  This is why in Scripture the heart is always referred to as the spiritual-spring of every person.  When people truly change, it means their heart has changed.  We have already seen evidence of this from Tiger's first tournament back on the tour.  His temper, his attitude, his inability to truly be a good role model were once again on display by the time he reached his 42nd hole.  He managed to keep it together on will power alone for the first couple of days.  But eventually what is in anyone's heart will rise again to the surface.

Thus, the victory of Mickelson is incredibly important at this time in golf history.  The battles that he is enduring far outweigh the self-inflicted wounds of Tiger.  We are talking about the life and death of the two people Phil loves most dearly.  Yet, in the midst of those battles and in the midst of shanking golf shots in the dead center of trees and bushes, Phil remained a role model.  Professional athletes will of course get upset at times because they want to win.  But even when tempers arise, we can tell a good deal about the heart of a person by the way they handle their frustration.  I just simply believe, after watching Phil play four days battling both the course at Augusta and the looming situation with his family, that this man has something special.  That makes this an important victory.  Our children need to learn that sheer talent, being the best in the world, and having all the world's money will not always bring you success.  Sometimes the most difficult roads that are paved with concern and hurt bring us our greatest success. 

Just ask Phil.  He'll tell you.       
   

Once a month at First Baptist Church Evergreen there is a Saturday morning men's breakfast.  Although I loathe anything labeled "Saturday morning", these times of fellowship have been very encouraging.  For the last two months Pastor Drew and I have been speaking on great heroes in church history and this coming Saturday I have the responsibility of telling the life story of John Calvin in about 25 minutes.

Without spoiling anything for Saturday, what is most striking about studying and teaching the stories of these servants of old is the way God orchestrates the events of their lives to coincide with His purposes and plans.  Just in the 16th and 17th century alone, pivotal years in the life of the church, we reflect on giants such as Luther, Calvin, Tyndale, Zwingli, Bucer, and Knox, and discover some rather shocking truths in the way their lives were used by God, truths that stand in rather blatant contrast to our contemporary understanding of knowing and doing the will of God.  It must have been a great joy for Calvin, who placed God's absolute sovereignty at the center of his theology, to reflect back on his life during his declining years and see the ways he was used that had absolutely nothing to do with his own master planning, 5 step process, or 6 week "knowing God's will" Bible study.  For example:

Calvin was moved from university to university by his father because his father kept changing his mind about what he wanted Calvin to do.  Through these changes in university, Calvin met some influential people in his life, people who were friendly to the reformation.

Calvin, while fleeing France because of persecution, was forced to take a route through Geneva.  It was the only road open at the time due to imperial conflicts.  He would stay there the rest of his life (except for a brief period in exile).

Because of a controversy that arose in the elements of the Lord's Supper, Calvin ended up being exiled to Strasbourg where he ministered, wrote the second edition of the Institutes, and married.

In other words, much of what happened in Calvin's life, what we would understand as "God's will", happened as Calvin was simply living life day by day.  The more I study these great giants of our faith, the more I see how God brings about his will in our lives much of the time without giving us the recipe beforehand.  Not that we shouldn't plan and prepare, on the contrary, having a vision and goal is biblical and commendable.  Just know that usually God will intervene and direct your life in very unforeseen ways.  I am becoming more and more irritated with "here is how you know God's will" books, sermons, and discipleship courses (although there are a few good ones out there).  In a future article I will highlight verses that describe God's will and, amazingly, they have nothing to do with whether or not you should change jobs.  God certainly cares about your job and has a definite plan in store for you concerning your job, but our obedience to God's will is to get closer to him everyday.  To be a people of prayer.  To love on others as best we can.  To love the church and faithfully serve her.  And to live day by day, knowing that God is faithful to do what God will do. 

That is something I am all to happy to be learning.  Because I can promise you, a year ago today I would have never imagined I would be writing this article sitting in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.  But here I am.