Truth and Ice Cream-Redux

Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.

A Christian apologist today gives a lecture called, “Christianity is not Ice Cream.” It is a talk about truth, relativism, and what we mean when we say that Christianity is true. You see, you and a friend can argue about the best flavor of ice cream all day, your opinions can conflict, you may never convince your friend that mint chocolate chip is superior to cookie dough, but you both walk away from the discussion realizing that ice cream flavor is a matter of opinion.

Not so with Christianity. People may have different preferences about religion, and they may be deeply sincere about their tastes, but at the end of the day it is false that religion is a matter of opinion. When we say Christianity is true, we are affirming the same kind of truth when we say that 2+2=4. Christ is the way and the truth and the life for all of us, in spite of what our opinions on the matter may be.

This has been Every Thought Captive, a worldview minute sponsored by Quail Lake Community Church. For more information, please visit quaillake.org.

Jeremiah 34-Lying

Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.

There is a great deal of value in keeping our promises. We are too often accustomed to people in the public eye, and often in our own lives, who are untrustworthy, and that can sometimes erode our sense of how important it is to be truth-telling people. In Jeremiah 34 we have the story of King Zedekiah and two promises he makes. The first is a promise of loyalty to a foreign king. The second is a promise he makes to God to free all the slaves in Jerusalem.

Zedekiah was a fool and broke both promises. Because he became disloyal to the king, he suffered a fate worse than death, and because he recaptured all the slaves he freed, God gave him into the hands of his enemies. We discover in this story that the habit of breaking promises—of lying—is a powerful relationship killer. On the other hand, truth telling is a character trait God wants me to develop; it will enrich my relationships with others as well as with Him.

This has been Every Thought Captive, a Christian worldview minute sponsored by Quail Lake Community Church. For more information, please visit quaillake.org.

Jeremiah 33-Call to God

Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.

How well would you communicate with someone if you did not speak their language? If you wanted to talk to them, how much effort would it take to communicate? No doubt it would take a good deal of work and time. Now ask yourself, how well do you communicate with God?

In Jeremiah 33, God tells the prophet, “Call to me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” The word for “call” here means a deep and serious request, and is sometimes used to describe the roars of animals. When God tells Jeremiah to call out to Him, he certainly does not intend it to be shallow and half-hearted. I should ask myself, have I called out to God in this way?

I communicate well with my wife because we talk on a daily basis. I may not communicate with God well because I have not put the same amount of effort into talking with Him.

This has been Every Thought Captive, a Christian worldview minute sponsored by Quail Lake Community Church. For more information, please visit quaillake.org.

Reading and Images, Redux

Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.

You should never underestimate the advantages of reading a good book. Learning to read good books trains and develops the mind and the soul in ways that nothing else can. In his book, Full Gospel, Fractured Minds?, Rick Nanez makes the case that Christians need to return to reading in order to more fully develop the gifts God has given each of us. Because we live in a world saturated with images, our minds learn to process information in superficial ways. We are accustomed to break-neck pacing in commercials and even our evening news casts assume you have little to no attention span as a ticker constantly displays tiny chunks of information not at all related to what the anchor is talking about.

But when you read, you force your mind to follow a train of thought and remain focused on a single idea. As a result, reading helps develops our ability to reason well. This faculty is especially important for Christians-we are, after all, people of The Book.

This has been Every Thought Captive, a Christian worldview minute sponsored by Quail Lake Community Church. For more information, please visit quaillake.org.

Beckwith, Tenure, and ID

Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.

The controversy over Intelligent Design continues to swirll, not only in public school systems, but in the noteable university of Baylor, as well. Francis Beckwith, a professor known for his prolific writing and recognized expertise on church/state issues, has recently had his tenure blocked in large part because of his support of Intelligent Design. This basically means the school is trying to squeeze him out of his job.

The reasons officially stated by Baylor have been uncovered as either false or disingenuous, and what the controversy boils down to is that a handful of influential people don’t want defenders of Intelligent Design at their school.

It is always ironic to find these cases where academic freedom flows in only one direction. More and more Intelligent Design is becoming a rigorous and serious field of scientific inquiry, but many people are still afraid of its consequences. For them, we simply cannot have professors who believe there is a Creator, even if the evidence points in that direction.

This has been Every Thought Captive, a Christian worldview minute sponsored by Quail Lake Community Church. For more information, please visit quaillake.org.

Screening Babies for Gender

Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.

If you could genetically screen your next child, what might be some good reasons to do so? Scientists can now screen for many harmful diseases and potential problems, and a growing population of parents is screening embryos so their children will not be born with problems such as cystic fibrosis. But an alarming number of parents are beginning to screen embryos based on gender.

According to a recent study, as many as 42 percent of the clinics that provide this kind of service to parents performed the screening purely for gender purposes.

When parents select their babies just because they are a boy or a girl, it reflects the narcissism rampant in our culture today. For these parents, having children is more about them than it is for the kids. What is next? Should we start rejecting children for their hair or eye color? In this kind of Brave New World, Christians need to stand up for God’s kind of unconditional love.

This has been Every Thought Captive, a Christian worldview minute sponsored by Quail Lake Community Church. For more information, please visit quaillake.org.

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Shaping Worldview-The Body of Christ: Redux

Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.

When we struggle to learn how to live out a Christian worldview, one discipline can be of great help to us, but is often neglected. The community of the Church-the body of Christ-can be an invaluable tool in shaping us into disciples.

In the fellowship of believers we can be sharpened, as the Proverb states, “as iron sharpens iron.” Another believer can help me see things in a way I have not yet considered, or they can help correct a problem with my take on Scripture. Hearing God’s word preached each week is an encouragement to me and can help me see things the way God sees things.

According to Scripture, it is very good when the church dwells together in unity; the early church devoted themselves to teaching and fellowship; we build each other up as we are healthy members of the body; and we should not neglect gathering together. Your church is a great place to learn to be like Christ.

This has been Every Thought Captive, a Christian worldview minute sponsored by Quail Lake Community Church. For more information, please visit quaillake.org.

Jer 32-A Prayer for the Confused

Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.

When you go to God in prayer and have something to ask of him, how does your prayer usually begin?  When you need something from God, what is typical of the content and structure of your prayer?  If you are anything like me, you usually spend your time with God asking for things.  There is nothing wrong with this kind of prayer, but we can learn something from the prophet Jeremiah.  In chapter 32, he is confused about a real estate transaction and wants clarification from God.

We should note, though, that his actual request is at the end of his prayer.  Jeremiah first spends several minutes praising God and declaring his glory.  By focusing his prayer in this way, he put his attention on what was important—on God and not his confusion.  This kind of focus in my prayer life can not only change my perspective but can bring a powerful measure of peace to my soul.  When you pray this week, try beginning with God.

This has been Every Thought Captive, a Christian worldview minute sponsored by Quail Lake Community Church.  For more information, please visit quaillake.org.

Williard-The Great Omission: Sinning

Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.

Has it ever bothered you, if you are a follower of Christ, that you often don’t see the moral transformation in your life you think you should see?  I imagine we all find ourselves dealing with this frustration from time to time.  Dallas Willard, in his book, The Great Omission, notes that, “We want to do good, but we are prepared, ready, to do evil.”  In other words there is a part of us that wants to act like Christ but there is a stronger part of us that is always ready to rebel whenever the situation requires it.

Willard notes that unless we are prepared to become apprentices in the Kingdom of God ready to put into practice the words of Christ, we will remain locked in moral defeat.  If, however, we are ready to actually act out the words of Christ and apply them to every day life we will find that we begin to better understand ourselves and the Kingdom of God.

This has been Every Thought Captive, a Christian worldview minute sponsored by Quail Lake Community Church.  For more information, please visit quaillake.org.

Williard-Great Omission: Discipleship

Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.

Dallas Willard’s new book, The Great Omission, opens with this observation: “The word ‘disciple’ occurs 269 times in the New Testament.  ‘Christian’ is found three times and was first introduced to refer precisely to disciples of Jesus….The New Testament is a book about disciples, by disciples, and for disciples.”  Part of Willard’s point in this book is to rejoin two concepts that are often pulled apart.  To be a Christian is to be a disciple.

Discipleship is not reserved for the super spiritual.  In fact, the act of being a follower of Christ is the first and most fundamental request made of believers in the New Testament.  As far as the early church was concerned being a disciple was not optional if you wanted to become a Christian. Their point of view was that their entire lives belonged to Christ.

Have I become stuck in a rut where I am a Christian in name but not lifestyle?  Do I try to follow Christ’s example with every breath?

This has been Every Thought Captive, a Christian worldview minute sponsored by Quail Lake Community Church.  For more information, please visit quaillake.org.

Ruth 2-Redux

Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.

How does God answer prayer? Well, in the life of Ruth, we read Naomi's prayer over her that God would help her find a homeland. We also read Boaz's prayer over Ruth that God would repay her for her kindness to his relative Naomi.

As it turns out, Ruth did find a home-it was Naomi’s. And Ruth was repaid for her kindness-when she married Boaz. In both cases, God used Naomi and Boaz to answer their own prayers.

From time to time we fall into a rut when we think God will work something out for the people we pray for by some other means we do not know or see. We often pray not expecting to be the person God uses to answer prayer. But as we see with Naomi and Boaz, God will often use us as His way of answering our prayers. Be alert-God may be answering prayer through you and your faithfulness.

This has been Every Thought Captive, a Christian worldview minute sponsored by Quail Lake Community Church. For more information, please visit quaillake.org.

Wilberforce-The Movie

Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.

In February of 2007, Walden media will release a film titled, “Amazing Grace.” It is the story of William Wilberforce and the British abolition movement. In case you did not know, a large part of why England abolished the slave trade in the early nineteenth century is the work of Wilberforce and his colleagues in Parliament.

Still referred to as the “Renewer of Society” in England, Wilberforce was a deeply committed Christian and a tireless voice in his chosen profession—politics—for the cause of abolition. He is one of the more recent examples of a follower of Christ who was so overcome with his Savior and do driven by his grasp of theology and morality that he literally changed the world. I often wonder where the next Wilberforce is, and what they will change. The answer to that question begins with how gripped we are by Christ and how motivated we are by our doctrine and God’s ethical requirements.

This has been Every Thought Captive, a Christian worldview minute sponsored by Quail Lake Community Church. For more information, please visit quaillake.org.

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