Saturday, August 5, 2017

Christian History Made Easy Chapter 12 A Global Gospel




Chapter 12    A Global Gospel


1. What’s in this Video?
How Pentecostalism originated.
How neo-orthodox theologians and fundamentalists both reacted against theological liberalism.
How evangelicalism grew.
How the ecumenical movement has affected relations between Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestants.
2. What Was Happening during this period ?
The Modern Age emphasized human potential, progress, and the material world.
Theological liberalism called attention to “the universal fatherhood of God, the universal brotherhood of man, and the infinite value of the soul.”

 3. Who were the Pentecostals ?
Pentecostalism grew during the fundamentalist-modernist controversies.
In 1900, Charles Fox Parham had founded a Bible college in Topeka, Kansas.

Parham and his students became convinced that speaking in unknown tongues ought to accompany the “second blessing” of “Christian perfection.”
Parham and his students became convinced that speaking in unknown tongues ought to accompany the “second blessing” of “Christian perfection.”
The Pentecostal movement spread, soon reaching the Azusa Street Apostolic Gospel Faith Mission in Los Angeles.
In 1914, several Pentecostal groups merged to form the Assemblies of God.
4. Liberalism & Fundamentalism

 Two reactions to theological liberalism: fundamentalism and neo-orthodoxy.

“Fundamentalist” originally referred to those who accepted these 5
doctrines:
1. Jesus was uniquely divine.
2. Jesus was born of a virgin.
3. Jesus died as a sacrifice for sin.
4. Jesus will come again.
5. The Bible is “inerrant.”

•In 1922, a liberal pastor named Harry Emerson Fosdick preached a message,
“Shall the Fundamentalists Win?”
•John D. Rockefeller distributed the text of the sermon nationwide.
•According to Fosdick “These are the things we have stood for: tolerance, an
inclusive Church, the right to think religion through in Modern terms.…

 They call me a heretic. I am proud of it.”






5. What was the The Scopes “Monkey” Trial?

 In the early 20th century, fundamentalists increasingly rejected any belief that might be associated with liberalism.

 In 1925, some fundamentalists convinced the Tennessee legislature to outlaw teaching evolution in public schools; this became known as the Butler Act.


 In the end, Scopes was convicted of violating the Butler Act and was fined.

 Prosecutor William Jennings Bryan offered to pay Scopes’ fine.

 The modernist-fundamentalist controversy continued.


Inherit the Wind enjoyed a record three-year run on Broadway and was subsequently made into an Academy Award-nominated film starring Spencer  Tracy and Frederic March. A total of three film versions have been made and screened countless times to students as “educational” material. But few people have ever read the actual trial transcript, which is radically different from the movie. Even the original playwright, Jerome Lawrence, acknowledged that the work was “not history.”


6. What was the Ecumenical Movement?

Throughout the 1920s and 30s, tensions between liberalism and fundamentalism split several churches and denominations.

In 1938, attempts were made to form a World Council of Churches that would bring denominations together.


7. What was Neo-Orthodoxy ?

In Europe, neo-orthodoxy had arisen as a response to theological liberalism.

Karl Barth, a Swiss pastor, had been trained by theologically liberal
professors in Germany.

Having found theological liberalism lacking, Karl Barth looked for answers in the Scriptures.

“The Word of God” became central to Barth’s theology.

 According to Barth, the Bible is not the Word of God per se.

 The Word of God is the living event of God’s self-revelation in Jesus.

 The Bible becomes God’s Word when the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus through the Bible.

 Some aspects of Barth’s theology reflected historical Christian orthodoxy.

 Other aspects were very different from what Christians had believed throughout history.

 Barth’s approach to theology became known as neo-orthodoxy.


Neo-orthodoxy defines the Word of God as Jesus (John 1:1) and says that the Bible is simply man’s interpretation of the Word’s actions. Thus, the Bible is not inspired by God, and, being a human document, various parts of it may not be literally true. God spoke through “redemptive history,” and He speaks now as people “encounter” Jesus, but the Bible itself is not objective truth.

Neo-orthodoxy teaches that the Bible is a medium of revelation, while orthodoxy believes it is revelation. That means that, to the neo-orthodox theologian, revelation depends on the experience (or personal interpretation) of each individual. The Bible only “becomes” the Word of God when God uses its words to point someone to Christ. The details of the Bible are not as important as having a life-changing encounter with Jesus. Truth thus becomes a mystical experience and is not definitively stated in the Bible.

The neo-orthodox view of sin is that it is a rejection of our responsibility to treat our fellow man well. The result of sin is dehumanization, accompanied by unkindness, unforgiveness, loneliness, and a myriad of societal ills. Salvation comes to those who have a subjective encounter with Christ—no acceptance of a set of truths is necessary. Neo-orthodoxy places an emphasis on social work and our ethical responsibility to love others.

 Barth’s reaction against liberal theology influenced Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German student.

 Bonhoeffer heard the gospel while studying in New York City.

 During World War II, Bonhoeffer protested the Holocaust and became involved in the Valkyrie plot to destroy Hitler.

 On April 5, 1945, Hitler decreed Bonhoeffer’s death.

 He was hanged at a concentration camp, using piano wire.

 Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 “Cheap grace is our church’s deadly enemy.... Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again.... Such grace is costly because it costs one’s life; it is grace because it cost God his Son’s life.... Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son to be too dear a price to pay for our life.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer
8. How did modern Evangelicalism develop?

 In the middle of the 20th century, several conservative Christian leaders attempted to steer a course between:

 Fundamentalism; and Neo-orthodoxy, liberalism, and the ecumenical movement.

 In October 1941, several of these conservative Christians gathered at Moody Bible Institute to lay the foundations for the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).

 Billy Graham and Carl F.H. Henry both deeply influenced the future of the “new evangelicals.”

 Billy Graham rose to national prominence during an evangelistic crusade in 1949.

 Graham emphasized unity for the sake of evangelism.




 9. Evangelicals and Catholics?

In 1962, Pope John XXIII gathered more than 2,500 Catholic leaders for the Second Vatican Council.

They stated that non-Catholics “are not deprived of significance in the mystery of salvation.”

In the last session of Vatican II, the pope removed the sentence of excommunication that had been placed on Eastern Orthodox Christians in AD 1054.

“Evangelicals and Catholics Together” (1994): A statement signed by 40 Catholics and evangelicals emphasizing shared values and beliefs.

“The Gift of Salvation” (1997): A statement by evangelical and Catholic theologians agreeing that “justification is received through faith.”

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI declared that organized groups of Christians outside the Roman Catholic Church are merely “ecclesial communities” that should “not be called churches in the proper sense.”


10. Christianity: Present & Future

Generation X—children born between the mid-1960s and early 80s—were the first generation to be identified as post-modern.

Postmodern means “after the Modern Age".

In the 21st century, Christianity is growing faster in the southern hemisphere than in the northern hemisphere.

Africa and Latin America have experienced an amazing explosion of Christianity!

Approximately 2 billion people today identify themselves as Christian:

530 million in Europe

510 million in Latin America


390 million in Africa

300 million in Asia

250 million in North America

If trends continue, the majority of the Christian population will live in Africa or Latin America no later than year 2025.

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God and Capital Punishment


God and Capital Punishment

by Frank Chesser, M.S.
[NOTE: The author of the following articles is an A.P. board member.]

In 1984 leaders of 13 major denominational churches in Florida signed a joint document condemning capital punishment. They described the death penalty as being extremely harmful, immoral, an action that encourages violence and demonstrates disrespect for human life and is inconsistent with the love of God.1 The conduct of these religious leaders is a classic example of refusing to think right about God. Capital punishment is a principle that is divine in origin and permanent in nature. It embraces all of time. God intends for the death penalty to be employed as an act of justice by duly authorized authorities for as long as man should inhabit the earth.

GOD AS EXECUTIONER

It is incomprehensible that anyone with even a superficial knowledge of the Bible would object to the death penalty. The Bible is replete with examples of capital punishment with God as the executioner. Was God acting immorally, exhibiting disrespect for human life, and in defiance of His own nature when he destroyed the world of Noah’s day with a global flood? Can a man descend to a depth of sin and evil that he no longer deserves to live? The mind is the axis of life. The minds of the objects of God’s wrath were incessantly evil. They were barren of a single good thought (Genesis 6:5). They feasted on vileness like vultures on the rot of dead flesh and filled the earth “with violence” (Genesis 6:11). Had they forfeited the right to life? Is not God sovereign over all that is? Is He not the source of life? Does He not retain the right to decide when life should end? Is it possible for God to act in a manner inconsistent with His own nature? Is a man thinking right about God when, by implication, he accuses God of acting immorally? “But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God?” (Romans 9:20). The flood alone is proof of the moral justice of capital punishment and of its complete compatibility with the whole of God’s nature.

God executed capital punishment against Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim (Genesis 19). The inhabitants of these wicked cities had perverted the very core of man’s sexual being as designed by God. They were sick with sin. They coveted the unnatural and abnormal. They heaped dishonor upon “their own bodies” (Romans 1:24). They yearned after “strange flesh” (Jude 7). Their sexual passions were “vile” (Romans 1:26). They could not “cease from sin” (2 Peter 2:14). They had reached the point of no return. Did they deserve to live? God utterly destroyed these cities with burning sulphur and emblazoned the memory of them before the minds of men “for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 7).
Was God acting improperly when He slew Er, Judah’s firstborn, because he was wicked (Genesis 38:7), killed his brother Onan, because he refused to submit to the Levirate marriage law and perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel (Genesis 38:8-10), or when “it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock?” (Exodus 12:29). Does man have the right to call God into account for His actions? “Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘why have you made me like this?’” (Romans 9:20). Who is weak, frail, puny, sinful man to question the conduct of God? God destroyed the army of Egypt in the Red Sea (Exodus 14:26-28). He killed Nadab and Abihu because they “offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them” (Leviticus 10:1). He slew some in Israel who loathed the gift of manna, looked backward with longing eyes to the food provisions in Egypt, and demanded a change in diet (Numbers 11:4–34), and killed the ten spies who returned from Canaan with an evil report (Numbers 14:37). Is a man spiritually rational when he depicts such actions of God as immoral and dishonoring to human life?

God destroyed the families of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in the heart of the earth and 250 princes with fire because they rebelled against the authority of Moses and demanded access to the priesthood (Numbers 16:1-33). He then slew 14,700 in Israel who accused Moses and Aaron of killing “the people of the Lord” (Numbers 16:41). He executed capital punishment upon a large number of Israelites who expressed contempt for the leadership of Moses and God’s provisions of grace in the wilderness (Numbers 21:5-6). He slew 23,000 in Israel for fornication and idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:8), commanded an additional thousand to be executed by the hands of judges (Numbers 25:1-9), and granted Joshua a victory over a coalition of five armies by killing more soldiers with hailstones than the army of Israel had slain in battle (Joshua 10:11).

God executed a host of men in Bethshemesh because of their lack of reverence for the Ark of the Covenant (1 Samuel 6:19), killed Nabal for his wickedness (1 Samuel 25:38), and slew Uzzah for touching the ark (2 Samuel 6:7). He killed 70,000 men of Israel as an act of judgment upon David and Israel because of sin (2 Samuel 24:15), used a lion to slay a disobedient prophet from Judah (1 Kings 13:24), and slew Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom (2 Chronicles 13:20). He executed 102 soldiers in Israel who refused to honor His authority through Elijah (2 Kings 1:1-12), used an angel to kill 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night (2 Kings 19:35), and slew Jehoram, the fifth king of Judah, with a bodily disease (2 Chronicles 21:18-19). God killed Ananias and Sapphira for lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-10) and slew Herod for refusing to glorify God (Acts 12:23). Is a man thinking right about God when he arrays God’s love against God’s holiness, justice, and wrath and depicts capital punishment as harmful, immoral, and lacking in respect for human life?


MAN AS GOD’S EXECUTIONER

God often used man to administer judgment upon men and nations whose sin and rebellion called for the cessation of life. He used the sons of Levi to slay some three thousand men who had sinned in worshiping the golden calf (Exodus 32:27-28). He used Israel to stone a man who
blasphemed the name of God (Leviticus. 24:10-14) and a man who violated the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32-36) and to bring judgment on His enemies (Numbers 21), and He praised and blessed Phinehas for appeasing His wrath in slaying two adulterers (Numbers 25:6-14). God’s statement to Abraham, “for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Genesis 15:16), points to the inevitable judgment that would befall the inhabitants of Canaan when their sin reached the full mark. At the close of his life, Moses reminded Israel of the end of God’s grace, mercy, and forbearance with the seven nations in Canaan, and said, “And when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.” (Deuteronomy 7:2). God used the nation of Israel to execute judgment upon the people of Canaan for their longstanding idolatry and sin (Joshua 1-12).

God used Israel to administer capital punishment upon Achan and his family (Joshua 7). The period of the judges was a spiritually tumultuous period in Israel’s history as the people “did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way” (Judges 2:19). They adopted the idolatry and wicked ways of the pagan nations. God utilized the king of Mesopotamia; Eglon, king of Moab; Jabin, king of Canaan; the Midianites, Ammonites, and Philistines to bring judgment upon them. As they manifested repentance, God would raise up judges to lead Israel in freeing the nation from the oppression of these heathen rulers and punishing them for their own idolatry and sin. Rivers of blood flowed across the land during this chaotic period as God used men to inflict capital punishment upon other men because of their impenitent sin and rebellion.

The Ammonites were descendants of Lot. They were pagan, idolatrous, cruel, and exceedingly corrupt. They refused to aid Israel in a time of great need and joined Moab in hiring Balaam to curse them (Deuteronomy 23:4). In the early days of Saul’s reign, they threatened to gouge out the right eyes of all the men in the city of Jabesh (1 Samuel 11:2). And the “spirit of God came upon Saul” (1 Samuel 11:6), and God employed Saul and Israel to kill the Ammonites until “it happened that those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together” (1 Samuel 11:11). The Amalekites shared kinship with the Ammonites in idolatry, cruelty, and wickedness. When Israel ascended out of Egypt, the Amalekites attacked them from behind, killing the most vulnerable: the elderly, weak, and feeble (Deuteronomy 25:17-18). God reminded Saul of this act of inhumanness and said, “Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them.” (1 Samuel 15:3).

David was a “man of war” (1 Chronicles 28:3). He was a sword of
judgment in the hand of God to execute the penalty of death upon the enemies of God, whose corruptness of life called for their destruction. He often inquired of the Lord, seeking His will concerning battle engagements. He said of God, “He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.” (2 Samuel 22:35). In a summary of some of his military victories, inspiration asserts, “And the Lord preserved David wherever he went.” (2 Samuel 8:14). God’s role for David’s life was for him to function as a hammer of God’s judgment upon heathen nations steeped in idolatry and iniquity and to secure and bring peace to Israel, thus creating a tranquil environment for Solomon to construct the Temple. It was this very point that David pressed upon the mind of Solomon in the closing days of his life (1 Chronicles 22:6-19).

God used Abijah, the second king of Judah, to render judgment upon Jeroboam and Israel because of their apostasy and idolatry. Five hundred thousand men of Israel perished in this conflict. Judah was victorious because “they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers” (2 Chronicles 13:18). Asa, the third king of Judah, faced an Ethiopian army of a million soldiers, the largest army mentioned in the Old Testament. He implored God for divine aid. “So the Lord struck the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah” (2 Chronicles 14:12). During the reign of Jehoshaphat, the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Edom descended upon Judah. In Jehoshaphat’s prayer before the congregation of Judah in Jerusalem, he expressed the nation’s helpless state and their total dependence upon God. God executed judgment upon the wicked nations by turning their swords against one another until “and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.” (2 Chronicles 20:24).

Idolaters and enemies of God, the Syrians affirmed that God was only a local Deity with limited power (1 Kings 20:28). God employed Israel to punish Syria and they “killed one hundred thousand foot soldiers of the Syrians in one day.” (1 Kings 20:29). An additional 27 thousand were killed by the weight of a wall that fell upon them in the city of Aphek (1 Kings 20:30). God utilized Jehu to judge the wicked house of Ahab. “So Jehu killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men and his close acquaintances and his priests, until he left him none remaining.” (2 Kings 10:11). He then killed all the worshipers of Baal until he had “destroyed Baal out of Israel” (2 Kings 10:28).

Israel descended into such depths of sin that God raised the sword of Assyria against them and destroyed their national identity in Assyrian captivity (2 Kings 17:5-23). Judah emulated Israel’s conduct and God utilized Babylon to execute judgment upon them. He later used the Medes and Persians to judge Babylon. Isaiah specifies ten pagan nations who suffered the judgment of God because of their grievous sin (cf. Isaiah 13-23). The New Testament closes with God’s answer to the martyrs of Christ who cried, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:10). God administered judgment upon the enemies of His Son and the church and declared, “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her!” (Revelation 18:20).

Is a man thinking right about God when he sees all of these biblical examples, yet still declares the death penalty to be harmful, immoral, disrespectful to human life, and inconsistent with the nature of God?


DIVINE LAWS DEMANDING THE DEATH PENALTY

Following the global Flood, God reiterated the need for the increase of the human family (Genesis 9:1). Sin had changed everything, and the tranquil co-existence between man and animal had been supplanted with hostility (Genesis 9:2). The vegetarian status of both man and animals prior to sin had now been changed to allow man to consume meat (Genesis 1:29-30; 9:3).2 Divine permission to eat meat was accompanied with a prohibition regarding the consumption of blood. “But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” (Genesis 9:4), because the “life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). Since human life reflects the image of God, the most severe possible penalty is attached to the action of murder that brings it to an end. “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” (Genesis 9:6).

This principle and penalty embraces all of time. Civil government is ordained of God (Romans 13:1). It is an expression of God’s concern for man’s well-being, and when functioning faithfully, it discourages lawlessness and promotes peace and serenity. Romans 13:4 describes authorized civil authorities as ministers of God, persons who do not bear “the sword in vain,” and avengers divinely bound to execute “wrath on him who practices evil.” The sword is a symbol of capital punishment and, when wielded by the state, is an action authorized by God. Any man who attempts to sheathe the state’s sword is in rebellion to God and His will. He is resisting “the ordinance of God” (Romans 13:2). God placed the sword in the hand of the state, and no man has a right to remove it.
“He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.” (Exodus 21:12). The willful taking of life demands the life of the perpetrator. In ancient times, God granted the right of vengeance to the victim’s nearest relative, designated as the “avenger of blood” who shall “put the murderer to death” (Numbers 35:19). Cities of refuge were provided for accidental slayings, allowing one to live in peace and safety whose act of killing was unintentional (Numbers 35:6-15). Moreover, the taking of life for self-defense purposes is not murder, and such action is not subject to the death penalty. The need and desire for self-preservation is divinely implanted. It is as natural and inherent to life as food and drink. It would be wholly inconsistent with the nature of God to design man with such a potent need and then refuse him the right to exercise it. Preserving one’s own life or the life of any innocent victim from the murderous intent of evil doers is perfectly compatible with both the nature of God and the nature of man as designed by God. Exodus 22:2 envisions just such a case as a man kills a thief caught breaking into his home at night in defense of himself and his family and is rendered guiltless.

“And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death” (Exodus 21:15). “And he who curses his father or mother shall surely be put to death.” (Exodus 21:17). Mothers descend into the depths of pain and anguish in order to bring life into the world. God’s mothers and fathers are heaven’s gift to children. Parents functioning according to God’s pattern for the home are children’s first insight into the nature of God. Parents are god-like in a child’s eyes. Parents who love God set the feet of their children on the road to eternal bliss. To strike or curse such a parent is an assault upon the heart. It inflicts mental and emotional pain that far exceeds physical suffering. It undermines the peace and joy of the home, the bedrock of society, and afflicts the heart of God.

“He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death.” (Exodus 21:16). Kidnapping was punishable by death. Stealing a man for slave traffic invited the death penalty even when the victim was yet in the thief’s possession. Robbing a man of his personal freedom was a capital offense. Exodus 21:22-23 contemplates an expectant mother’s losing her life or the life of her miscarried child as she endeavored to shield her husband from an aggressor. The aggressor was to be put to death. Exodus 21:29-30 envisions the death of a man or woman by an ox known to have a violent nature. Unless the relatives of the victim agreed upon financial compensation, the owner of the ox was to suffer the death penalty.

“You shall not permit a sorceress to live.” (Exodus 22:18). Sorcery strikes at the very heart of the sovereignty of God. It is an attempt to circumvent God and take charge of one’s own life. As are all efforts to rid man’s mind and life of God and His restraining influences, it appeals to the lust of the
flesh. It fosters defilement (Leviticus 19:31). The Canaanites were engrossed in every form of sorcery and it was one of the reasons God removed them from the land (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). Saul’s consultation with the witch of Endor is cited as one of the reasons God “killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David” (1 Chronicles 10:13-14). Sorcerers were to be put to death by stoning (Leviticus 20:27).

All forms of perverted sexual activity, such as incest (Leviticus 20:11-12,14), homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13), and bestiality (Leviticus 20:15) were subject to the death penalty. There are complexities associated with man’s sexual being as designed by God that transcend human comprehension. This truth is mightily reinforced by God’s law concerning even the touching of a man’s genitals. Foolish indeed is the man who refuses to perceive this truth and proceeds to tamper with this aspect of life. Perverted sexual conduct is an egregious assault upon the very core of a man’s being. There is no action of man that calls for more intense judgment. The homosexuality of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim incurred a judgment that God will not allow man to forget. It is a repetitive theme in both Testaments, a sign-post from God regarding His attitude toward this grievous sin (Jude 7), and the last book in the Bible holds it up as the epitome of sin (Revelation 11:8). A nation is doomed if it allows this sin to reach a level of national acceptance.

“The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.” (Leviticus 20:10). Heterosexual relationships outside of marriage were punishable by death. Adultery injures the marital relationship like no other sin. There is something unique about the one-flesh relationship in marriage, and there is something unique about the sin that severs it. The stringent nature of Matthew 19:9 bears witness to this truth. Relaxing the rigidity of God’s marital law is to man’s own peril. It is senseless to tamper with the things of God. Those who think right about God would never consider such conduct. There is nothing that creates more excitement in the halls of hell than for man to attempt to modify God’s marital laws intended to protect the sanctity of the home, the foundational unit of society.

Idolatry was a capital punishment offense (Deuteronomy 17:2-7). This grievous evil, the source of so many sins, plagued Israel for almost the whole of their national life until their return from Babylonian captivity. False prophets aiming to lure Israel into idolatry were to be killed (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). Family members, such as one’s wife, son, daughter, brother, or friend who endeavored to entice their family “secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods” (Deuteronomy 13:6) were not to be pitied, spared, or concealed but were to be stoned to death (Deuteronomy 13:8-10). Rumors concerning a city’s involvement in idolatry were to be thoroughly investigated, and if found to be true, the city in its entirety was to be destroyed, and even the spoil of the city was to be burned (Deuteronomy 13:12-17).

Acts of rebellion against decisions made by a tribunal of priests and judges in execution of God’s law were subject to the death penalty (Deuteronomy 17:8-13). Prophets who dared to speak where God had not spoken, or who prophesied in the name of an idol were to be slain (Deuteronomy 18:20). Harlotry by the daughter of a priest was punishable by death (Leviticus 21:9). Child sacrifice to an idol was subject to death by stoning (Leviticus. 20:2). Desecrating the Sabbath with work called for the death penalty (Exodus 35:2). Capital punishment was to be administered to any non-priest who attempted to usurp priestly functions (Numbers 3:10), to a non-Levite who encroached upon Levitical responsibility in performing the services of the tabernacle (Numbers 18:22-23), to any Levite who neglected or refused to give his own tenth of the tithe received from Israel (Numbers 18:25-32), and to any Kohathite charged with transporting the sacred furniture of the tabernacle, if he looked upon or touched any of it (Numbers 4:15,20).

A man proven to be a false witness was to be put to death if such was his intention regarding the accused (Deuteronomy 19:16-21). Capital punishment was to be inflicted upon an incorrigible son (Deuteronomy 21:18-21), a new bride who was verified to be guilty of fornication prior to marriage (Deuteronomy 22:13-21), a man who raped an engaged or married woman (Deuteronomy 22:25-27), and one who blasphemed or cursed God (Leviticus 24:10-16).


CONCLUSION

Capital punishment is ordained by God. God intends for the death penalty to occupy a permanent place in society for as long as the world stands. Opposing the death penalty is an act of defiance against God, the nature of God, and the will of God. Those who manifest aversion to capital punishment are refusing to think right about both God and sin.

ENDNOTES

1 Jon Nordheimer (1984), “Death Penalty Assailed By Florida Church Leaders,” New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/27/us/death-penalty-assailed-by-florida-church-leaders.html, November 27.
2 Eric Lyons (2003), “Were All Men Vegetarians Before the Flood?”, Apologetics Press, http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=11&article=1257.






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Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Christian History Made Easy Chapter 11 Ageless Faith in an Age of Reason




1. What’s in this Video?
  • How the optimism of the Modern Age led to missions and social reforms—but also to false beliefs about God.
  • How William Carey became a missionary in India.
  • How camp meetings and revivals called people to repentance during the Second Great Awakening.
  • Why the 19th century became an era of social reforms.
  • How Pope Pius IX, Dwight Moody, B.B. Warfield, and the father of theological liberalism responded differently to the challenges of the Modern Age.
2. 2.What Was Happening during this period?


•The Modern Age began in the late 1700s and lasted until the mid-to-late 1900s.
•Much of the Modern Age was characterized by an optimistic emphasis on
scientific evidence, efficiency, and progress.

3. What was Carey’s Successful Failure? 

•Among some Christians in England, the emphasis on progress resulted
in a passion for missions.
William Carey started as a shoe cobbler— but not very successfully
•Carey was an excellent linguist, having taught himself five languages!
•He opened a language school—but was not particularly skilled as
teacher.
•God called Carey the teacher to become Carey the preacher.
•Two years passed before Carey’s sermons attained the minimum acceptable quality for ordination.
•Soon, Carey sensed God’s call to be involved in international missions.
•Some Calvinistic Baptists (Particular Baptists) in Carey’s day decided that evangelism was not necessary.
•One church leader told Carey, “When God pleases to convert the heathen, he’ll do it without consulting you or me!”
•Carey persisted, showing from Scripture that Calvinism and missions go hand-in-hand.
•Some Calvinistic Baptists (Particular Baptists) in Carey’s day decided that evangelism was not necessary.
•One church leader told Carey, “When God pleases to convert the heathen, he’ll do it without consulting you or me!”
•Carey persisted, showing from Scripture that Calvinism and missions go hand-in-hand.
•But in India:
  •        A doctor stole Carey’s support.
  •        Carey’s wife lapsed into insanity.
  •        Two of their children died.
  •        A fire destroyed much of his work.
•Still, Carey persisted; he translated the New Testament into 24 Indian languages and laid the foundations for thousands of future missionaries.

4. What was the Camp Meeting movement?

•On the American frontier, some aspects of modern thinking led to the acceptance of universalism—the belief that God will never condemn anyone.
•One result of such unbiblical theology was spiritual darkness and
apathy.
•In the early 1800s, many American Christians began to seek a renewed vision of God’s truth.
•“Camp meetings” were one expression of this desire for a renewed awareness of God.
•One of the most significant camp meetings occurred in August 1801, in Cane Ridge, Kentucky.

5. What was the Restoration Movement?

•After the Cane Ridge meeting, Stone became convinced that Christians should leave denominations behind and return to the Bible only.
•His goal was to restore New Testament Christianity.
•In 1824, Stone joined with Alexander Campbell, who held similar ideals.
•Elements of their Restoration Movement continue today in the
Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, and Disciples of Christ

The Restoration Movement has been characterized by several key principles:
1. Christianity should not be divided, Christ intended the creation of one church.
2. Creeds divide, but Christians should be able to find agreement by standing on the Bible itself (from which they believe all creeds are but human expansions or constrictions)
3. Ecclesiastical traditions divide, but Christians should be able to find common ground by following the practice (as best as it can be determined) of the early church.
4. Names of human origin divide, but Christians should be able to find common ground by using biblical names for the church (i.e., "Christian Church", "Church of God" or "Church of Christ" as opposed to "Methodist" or "Lutheran", etc.).
5. Thus, the church 'should stress only what all Christians hold in common and should suppress all divisive doctrines and practices'.

6.  Who were the 19th-Century Evangelists?

•A former lawyer named Charles G. Finney was a key figure in the Second Great Awakening.
•Finney became a Christian in 1821; the day after he became a Christian, he became a preacher.
•At the same time, some of Finney’s opinions distorted historic Christian beliefs.
•Finney:
a. Rejected original sin.
b. Claimed Christians could be morally perfect in this life.
c. Presented conversion as a rational human choice rather than an act of divine grace.

     •Charles Spurgeon, the “Prince of Preachers,” was a Calvinist Baptist pastor in London.
     •He proclaimed God’s Word to more than 10 million people during his lifetime—an amazing feat before radio and television. 





•Throughout his life, Spurgeon defended historic Christian orthodoxy and called all people to trust Jesus.

•He also spoke out against American slavery, sponsored orphanages, and supported laborers when they were treated unfairly.




 7.  What were some Responses to Modernity?
•Optimism about humanity’s capacity to progress and to create a better world characterized much of the Modern Age.
•This optimism contributed to:
          a. The expansion of mission efforts; and
          b. The end of many social injustices, including enslavement and exploitation of Africans.
•This emphasis on progress and on human capacities for change also presented many challenges.
•Influenced by Immanuel Kant, science and history were gradually moved out of the domain of faith.
•Religious faith became a matter of subjective feelings and good morals—not objective truth.



•Four ways Christians responded to Modernity:
 A. Reflecting the Modern Age
 B. Resisting the Modern Age
 C. Rejecting the Modern Age
 D. Redeeming the Modern Age

A. Reflecting the Modern Age
•Friedrich Schleiermacher, the “father of theological liberalism,” developed beliefs that reflected modernity.
•The essence of faith is not any historical act of God; it is the individual’s sense of dependence on transcendent reality.

"What is the social gospel?"
The phrase “social gospel” is usually used to describe a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that came to prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Those who adhered to a social gospel sought to
apply Christian ethics to social problems such as poverty, slums, poor nutrition and education, alcoholism, crime, and war.
These things were emphasized while the doctrines of sin, salvation, heaven and hell, and the future kingdom of God were downplayed.
Theologically, the social gospel leaders were, overwhelmingly postmillennialist, asserting that Christ’s Second Coming could not happen until humankind rid itself of social evils by human effort.




B. Resisting the Modern Age
•Pope Pius IX denounced the idea that he “should harmonize himself with recent civilization.”
•He assembled the First Vatican Council in 1868.

•The council declared the pope to be infallible whenever he “defines a 
doctrine.”

C. Rejecting the Modern Age

•Dwight L. Moody rejected modern scholarship and ignored theological studies.
•He viewed the world as a “wrecked vessel” and worked passionately to share a simple gospel. 




D. Redeeming the Modern Age
•B.B. Warfield, principal of Princeton University, believed that faith in the accuracy and authority of Scripture could go hand-in-hand with serious theological scholarship.

•He contributed to a series of essays known as The Fundamentals.

•The Fundamentals took modern scholarship seriously while holding strongly to these five beliefs:
1. Jesus was uniquely divine.
2. Jesus was born of a virgin.
3. Jesus died as a sacrifice for sin.
4. Jesus will come again.

5. The Bible is free from factual errors; the Bible is inerrant.

The above post may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. It is being made available in an effort to advance the understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, social justice, for the purpose of historical debate, and to advance the understanding of Christian conservative issues.  It is believed that this constitutes a ”fair use” of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the Copyright Law. In accordance with the title 17 U.S. C. section 107, the material in this post is shown without profit to those who have expressed an interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
Federal law allows citizens to reproduce, distribute and exhibit portions of copyrighted motion pictures, video taped or video discs, without authorization of the copyright holder. This infringement of copyright is called “Fair Use”, and is allowed for purposes of criticism, news, reporting, teaching, and parody. This articles is written, and any image and video (includes music used in the video) in this article are used, in compliance with this law: Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. 107.





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