All Men Know God but Supress this Knowledge (Apologetics part 5)

The blog posts the last few months have been about defending the Christian faith, a topic called apologetics. This post will be the longest and final one. It tries to put everything together and show how it could potentially work. The most recent post was about our ultimate source of authority. There are only two choices: God or man. God’s Word doesn’t answer to anyone else because God doesn’t answer to anyone else.

Assuming that Scripture reveals the crucified and risen Savior as the only hope for mankind (see “When Soliders Come in the Night”), we must know what the Scriptures teach about people. The Bible teaches us that all men know God. Like a son who has an indivisible bond to his father, we are creatures who have an indivisible bond to our Creator. We cannot escape it. But since man is in rebellion against God, he uses every bit of his intellect to suppress this knowledge.

The following passage is one of the most critical ones on apologetic method:

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20).

In apologetics, we must start with the assumption that man knows God, though he tries to suppress this knowledge.

What does it mean that all men know God?

ALL HAVE PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
This is not just some vague concept that “a higher power must exist”. It is personal knowledge of the one true God. God makes His eternal power and divine nature clearly seen through everything He has created. God has pre-programmed each of us with clear and convincing knowledge of the following:

• God is our Creator – we know that we are creatures made to worship the Creator
• God is our Lawgiver – we know what is right and wrong
• God is our Judge – we know that there will be a day of judgment where good will triumph over evil.

This personal knowledge of God cannot save us from sin. It only makes us aware of our guilt.

ALL TRY TO SUPPRESS KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
After the fall of mankind (in Genesis 3), man runs away from God rather than towards God. Scripture teaches that, "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.” (Rom. 3:10-11). Instead of using his intellect and reason in submission to God, man uses them in rebellion against God.

ALL ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE
Because all men willfully suppress their knowledge of God, they will be held responsible. Therefore, Scripture teaches that all are “without excuse.” This only makes sense if we have a personal knowledge of God. It doesn’t make sense to be held responsible to some entity you don’t know. In those cases, you plead ignorance (e.g. “I didn’t know that the speed limit was 55 mph”). But no one will be able to plead ignorance on the day of judgment.

How does this apply to apologetics?

Man has an innate sense of who God is, yet he chooses to suppress it. But, it can never be suppressed completely. It’s like holding down 3 beach balls under water with only two hands. You can push one or two down, but you can’t get all of them. One task in apologetics is to find out where someone has suppressed that knowledge of God and where he has not been able to suppress knowledge. This means that everyone who rejects God will be living inconsistently at some level.

Inconsistencies in life are seen everywhere. For instance, an animal rights activist who wears leather shoes lives inconsistently. One task in apologetics is to help someone see how their suppression of God leads to inconsistency. Dr. Edgar at Westminster calls this “Disclosure”

DISCLOSURE

Our two hypothetical characters are back. Mr. Believer is now meeting again with Mr. Skeptic. Mr. Skeptic doesn’t believe in God and believes that everything is left up to chance. Rather than being created by God, humans are the product of random mutations that take place in evolution. But Mr. Skeptic also has a sense of justice, what is right and wrong. He believes that this sense of justice is found in every human being. He knows it’s wrong to lie, steal, and kill. He also knows that since he’s only human, he hasn’t followed this perfectly.

After reading how Van Til applied Scripture in apologetics, Mr. Believer uses a different approach. He doesn’t appeal to Mr. Skeptic’s reason because he knows that his intellect will do its best to suppress knowledge of God (see “If you Start with Man, you End with Man”). Mr. Believer tries to disclose Mr. Skeptic’s inconsistency in his beliefs and then appeals to Mr. Skeptic’s innate knowledge of God.

Mr. Believer says, “If everything is left up to chance, then who is to say what is right or wrong? If we are just a bunch of highly-evolved molecules, who can say it’s wrong for someone to kill you, Mr. Skeptic, and take all your money? Evolution teaches survival of the fittest, right?”

Mr. Skeptic says, “I know it’s wrong to steal and kill, but I’ve never thought about it that way before”.

After disclosing this inconsistency, Mr. Believer can ask Mr. Skeptic to consider the Christian faith, which is the only way someone can truly live consistently. Dr. Edgar calls this step “Homecoming”:

HOMECOMING

Mr. Believer continues, “Consider where you get your sense of justice. At its very core, chance can’t produce morals. You have a sense of justice because you are a creature made in God’s image. You have knowledge of who God is. Therefore, you know that God is the ultimate source of justice and a day of judgment is coming. You will be held accountable for you sins just like everyone else, even if you don’t believe that will happen. Ray Comfort uses the following illustration: ‘If you step out onto the freeway and say, ‘I don’t believe in trucks’, your belief will not change reality.’”

Mr. Believer then pleads with Mr. Skeptic to get right with God by sharing the gospel (see “Contending for the Faith”). In a nutshell, Mr. Believer lovingly tells Mr. Skeptic: “Give up your sin and give up living for yourself. Give up any hope of earning God’s favor because you have nothing good to offer God. Throw yourself before your Creator and Judge and plead for his mercy. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved”.

This is a simplistic example, but hopefully it shows how it can be applied. Each person is different. Yet, before the gospel can make sense, each person must be gently and humbly reminded that God is Creator and Judge (something they already know).

We must start with God to end with God (Apologetics part 4)

In my last post, a hypothetical person (Mr. Believer) tries to reason with another hypothetical person (Mr. Skeptic). He tried to use human logic to prove God's existence, but human logic was turned against him.

Mr. Believer starts reading Van Til and is encouraged that even though he is not as smart as Richard Dawkins, He has something more powerful than human reason. God Himself has revealed His truth. Van Til teaches him that there are only two options: we start with man or we start with God.

STARTING WITH MAN
If you start with human logic, the best you can get is some “god” made up by the human mind. This is idolatry and not the God of the Bible. In the skeptical mind, god is rejected.

The Trinity is an example. Christians believe that God is 3 persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All three 3 persons are fully God. What does the unbeliever logically conclude? The answer is that Christians believe in 3 Gods. But, Scripture teaches that there is only One God. If human logic is in the final judge of what is true, then the Trinity must be rejected. Thomas Jefferson said, “Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra…” (Dawkins, 34)

STARTING WITH GOD
If human logic cannot lead us to God, the right starting point must be the Bible. If God is infinite and beyond our complete understanding, then we only know Him if He reveals Himself to us. Going on human logic is like 5 blind men feeling an elephant and coming up with 5 different conclusions on what it is. One thinks that the elephant is a tail, or a trunk, etc…

In Scripture, God speaks to us with complete truthfulness and authority. We can trust His revelation, even if our finite minds can’t completely understand certain things (e.g. the Trinity, the creation of the universe out of nothing, etc…)

GOD DOES NOT ANSWER TO MAN
Mr. Believer sees that human beings choose to follow one authority over another. The two options are God or man. For the Christian, the Scriptures are the final authority. God’s Word doesn’t answer to human logic, reason, or opinion.

Why must this be the case? Why does Scripture have to be accepted on its own authority?

The other option is to prove the Bible with our limited knowledge. For example, let’s say that I have 5 things that prove that the Bible is true:

1. The Virgin Birth of Christ.
2. The Raising of Lazarus from the dead.
   
3. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
4. The Testimony of the Disciples (11 out of the 12 died as martyrs for their beliefs).
5. My own spiritual experience (Jesus has changed my life).
   

We assume that modern archeologists and historians prove the first 3. The last 2 are personal testimonies.

These seem to work well. But what happens if archeologists find some counter evidence that destroys two of these? Now, we’re down to 3…does that mean that the Bible is now 60% as reliable as before? Archeology could find some other evidence to bring our total back up to 5, but, the next day, some of it could be rejected. I think you get the point. Human understanding is limited, error-prone, and is corrupted by sin. History and science are constantly being updated.

The best case is that the skeptic accepts all of these pieces of evidence. That doesn’t necessarily lead to believing in the Bible.

Van Til says that even if you prove the existence of the virgin birth, the raising of Lazarus, or the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that cannot convince skeptics that God exists. The skeptic’s reply is, “So what? You’ve shown us that strange and awesome things can happen in this world. Just because we don’t have an explanation for it doesn’t mean you can say a miracle has happened. That cannot be proven until you have exhausted all other possible explanations” (this is the argument presented by Dr. William Adams in God at Work, New York, 1933).

Van Til also says that even if you prove that God has made you into a different person, that cannot convince skeptics that God exists. Your religious experience could be from God, from drugs, or even something else. The skeptic’s reply is, “I can’t argue with your experience, just like I can’t argue with you if you feel hot or cold. If you are cold, the reason could be that you left your window open. If you say that Jesus has changed your life, you have given me a reason that your life is different. The reason could be right or it could be wrong” (argument presented by James Leuba in God or Man, New York, 1933).

So even in the best case, human understanding cannot be our final authority. God expects us to accept His authority and not our own. He is the Creator and we are the creation.

As we look through the Bible, we see countless reminders of this. "Thus says the Lord" is used 400 times in the Bible. Jesus says, "Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35).

Peter says that God's Word is more reliable and certain than what can be seen with the eyes and heard with the ears. Peter, James, and John had the opportunity to see the glory of Jesus Christ at the Transfiguration. Peter claims that God's Word is more reliable than what he saw and heard. The reason is that Scripture comes from God, not man.

"And we have something more sure [than what we can see and hear], the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." (2 Pet 1:19-21)

In future posts, I’ll go into detail on what the Bible actually says about unbelief and how to reason with skeptics.

If you Start with Man, You end with Man (Apologetics part 3)

In my last two posts, I’ve tried to describe what we’re learning about apologetics at Westminster.

The first post was about the foundation of our hope: absolute conviction that the death, resurrection, and future return of Jesus Christ is the only hope for mankind.

The second one was about the faith we seek to defend: nothing short of the God of Scripture. Only Christ saves. A general belief in God cannot.

In my last post, I said that most of the popular apologetic methods only lead to Theism, not Christianity. And since Theism ultimately cannot save, we shoot ourselves in the foot by using methods that lead to Theism.

Let me explain with two specific examples.

EVIDENCE FOR GOD IN DESIGN: In this example, both the believer (we’ll call him Mr. Believer) and non-believer (Mr. Skeptic) agree to study creation and then draw some conclusions using human logic. Mr. Believer hopes to convince Mr. Skeptic to believe in God and trust in Christ. Mr. Believer holds up the flagellum of a bacteria and points out all the intricate parts. “Look at the rotor, propeller, and drive shaft. See the numerous protein structures used to make a complex device that works as a motor. You need all of them working simultaneously for a bacteria to propel itself. Natural selection can’t produce a complex system through evolution because too many pieces have to come together all at once. Therefore, there must be a designer of some kind” (see https://sites.google.com/site/evidenceofgod/biology/flagellum)

EVIDENCE FOR GOD IN A FIRST CAUSE: Mr. Believer then turns his attention to the origins of the universe: “Anything with a beginning must have a cause. Makes sense, right?” As a firm believer in the law of cause and effect, Mr. Skeptic nods in agreement. Mr. Believer continues, “We agree that science teaches us that the universe came into existence through a Big Bang billions of years ago. I will show you that the Kalam Cosmological Argument proves God’s existence. It goes like this:

1. Anything with a beginning must have a cause.
2. The universe had a beginning.
3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.
   

Mr. Believer anxiously waits for Mr. Skeptic’s response. He’s hoping that he will come around and even thank him for showing him the light.

Mr. Skeptic says, “I see the complexity of a bacteria’s flagellum. I see how it looks like it’s designed. But, how do you jump from that and conclude that there is a God or some kind of designer? In fact, Richard Dawkins, the author of God Delusion has a perfectly good explanation, one that I think is even better than yours.

Now Mr. Believer is skeptical…..

Mr. Skeptic continues, “Imagine if you were living in England during the 1700s and someone showed up with a jumbo jet and a computer. They show you these amazing marvels of modern technology that defy all possible explanations. Therefore, you conclude that this man is a god. That sounds ridiculous for us today, but not so ridiculous if you were living in the 1700s.

We’re living in the 21st century. Science has advanced a lot, but it doesn’t have all the answers. I believe that in due time, science will find an explanation for how a bunch of random proteins can come together to form a complex system like a bacteria’s flagellum. Religious people like to take a problem that we can’t solve and then conclude that “God did it”. Science isn’t content to just chalk things up to God, you know what I mean?”

Mr. Believer wasn’t expecting that kind of answer. When he and Mr. Skeptic agreed that they would use human observation and reason as their starting point, he wasn’t expecting it to be turned around on him.

Mr. Skeptic continues, “Religious people like to point to the origin of the universe as proof that God exists. You guys have something I’ll call, “God of the Gaps.” Whenever you see a gap that science can’t explain, your default explanation is to plug in God. I know that I don’t have all the answers. But, at least we’re working on them, and we have the scientific method to help us discover truth.

Religious people believe in God, but don’t realize that they have an even bigger problem to solve. For instance, “Who created God?” Basically, if there is such a being as an all-powerful God who can create the entire universe out of nothing, what’s His story? How did He get here? As rational thinkers, don’t we subscribe to the laws of cause and effect? Or, are you going to grant your God a special exception? If God created the universe, then something would have created Him, and then something else would have created that- on and on we go….

As Dawkins says in his book, “Any God capable of designing anything would have to be complex enough to demand the same kind of explanation in His own right. God presents an infinite regress from which He cannot help us to escape.” (God Delusion, 109).

Mr. Believer then realizes that he got himself into this mess. He initially agreed with Mr. Skeptic that they would use the human laws of logic to discuss the existence of God. He was hoping to win over Mr. Skeptic by validating his way of thinking. He sheepishly tells him, “I’m not sure I have anything better. Dawkins is a pretty smart guy, and I know I’m not as smart as he is. Let me do some more research and get back to you.”

As they leave, Mr. Believer was thinking that he needed some other approach to apologetics. He had heard about a guy named Van Til who taught at Westminster seminary. Van Til did all of his apologetics by starting off with God. He thought to himself, “I’ll need to pick up some of his stuff because the stuff I’ve been using seems to have severe limitations….”

Contending for the Faith (Apologetics part 2)

“I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3)

The faith that we defend is the faith delivered to us in God’s Word. Christians are not called to defend Theism (the belief that there is a god or some god out there).

I’ll illustrate with an example.

A few years ago a prominent atheist named Andrew Flew changed his mind and decided to become a Theist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_Flew). He did this after looking at the evidence for a higher power. Flew died a few years afterwards (still as a theist I believe). The tragedy is that theists and deists die in their sins and suffer eternal punishment just like atheists. If all we can do is lead people to theism (believe in some god out there), we have failed in proclaiming the crucified and risen Christ, the only hope for mankind.

What we aim to defend is nothing short of “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), not the buffet-style faith where you pick and choose your Christian entrees.

What is this whole counsel of God?

I can’t go through everything in detail, but here are a few critical points:

TOTAL POWER AND SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD: “Our God is in the heavens; He does all that he pleases” (Ps. 115:3). He “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Eph 1:11). This means that God is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, and its rightful Lord. “For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Col 1:16-17). Therefore, we owe Him our worship and obedience (1 Cor 10:31).

TOTAL SINFULNESS OF MAN: As human beings, we have failed to give our Creator the honor that is due Him. “None is righteous…no one understands; no one seeks for God”. (Rom 3:11). “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Is. 64:6, NIV).

TOTAL GUILTINESS OF MAN: “It is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment” (Heb 9:27). What will that judgment be like? This Judge considers lust the same as adultery (Matt 5:27) and anger the same as murder (Matt 5:22). Christ says, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matt. 12:36). This is a God who will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing. (Ecc. 12:14). I have heard that 50% of all murderers in the United States are never caught or brought to justice. God will bring all of them to justice. But He will not just punish murderers. He will punish adulterers, thieves, liars, and all other sins. It is a fearful judgment where every thought, word, and deed will be brought before the all-knowing, all-powerful, and completely holy God.

TOTAL GRACIOUSNESS OF GOD: God provided a way for His justice and holiness to be satisfied without destroying all mankind in Hell for eternity. Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, died as a substitute for sinful humanity: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)

There is much more, but in summary, we are to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved (Acts 16:31). The reason is that God commands all people everywhere to repent because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:30-31).

Unfortunately, most apologetic methods do not lead to these points. Most methods go to human reason as the final court of appeal. In the past, I have appealed to a person’s intellect, such as showing them fulfilled prophecies in the Bible, archaeological evidence, or reasons to believe in the resurrection of Christ.

These apologetic tools can be useful, but the problem is that the sinful human mind is a terrible judge of what is ultimately true. Our ultimate trust rests not in ourselves but on God and His Word. The faith that we defend in contained in the Scriptures, and the Scriptures themselves are the final court of appeal.

In future posts, I'll explain what I believe to be the Scriptural method for defending the God of the Scriptures.

When Soldiers Come in the Night

"Apologetics" is a fancy word that means "defending the faith". I'm taking Apologetics 101 at Westminster, and God has been teaching me a lot. Over the years, my apologetics has been geared at reaching the mind- coming up with good, logical reasons why someone should consider the Christian faith. Some people might even consider me an expert in this, which is not a good thing. What I mean is that all Christians (not just seminary students, pastors, or other experts) are given the joy and responsibility of being ready to give an answer for the hope that we have.

"But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15)

The challenge of course, is learning to speak the truth in love by sharing the truth of the gospel with gentleness and respect.

To fully appreciate this verse, our professor did an excellent job of giving us some background info. Peter is writing to a group of Christians who are suffering intense persecution. He reminds the persecuted believers that Heaven, and not earth, is their home. God has caused them to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Christ from the dead (1 Pet 1:3) and given an everlasting inheritance kept in heaven (1 Pet. 1:4). The joys of heaven will sustain them as they are "grieved by various trials" (1 Pet. 1:6). "For this is a gracious thing, when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly" (1 Pet 2:19).

Church history tells us that Nero was the emperor at the time. He despised Christians and would have his soldiers burn them alive. Simply naming the name of Christ would bring the sentence of death.

When the soldiers would come, the temptation was for a Christian to think that those with the power over life and death (Caesar or his soldiers) were ultimately Lord. If a Christian would give up faith in Christ, he and his family would be spared. If not, they would die. That kind of power is not something we experience in the USA, but it would be fearful. Peter tells them:

"Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy...." (1 Pet 3:14).

Peter reminds them that neither Caesar nor his soldiers run the universe. Christ is still Lord. Christ ultimately has power over life and death. Christ ultimately will raise us from the dead. Unless we're fully convinced of these facts, we're not ready to give an answer for our hope.

How about today? We don't have Roman soldiers coming at night. Yet, how will you and I respond if cancer comes? Loss of a job? Loss of a family member? Loss of health? Are we fully convinced that Christ is Lord over all?

When the soldiers came in the night for Christians, they undoubtedly asked, "Why are you willing to die for your Christ? Give him up and live!"

At that moment, they were "to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you" (1 Pet. 3:15). Who is Christ and why would you die for him? What are you placing your hope in?

Christians have hope beyond this life. A few weeks ago, our professor shared about his mother, who was nearing death. He was calling credit card companies to close accounts. He could always tell who was a Christian on the other end of the phone and who wasn't. Christians could offer words of hope in this trial. Others could not. One who tried to come up with something simply stopped mid-sentence: "I hope...ummm I hope...." There was simply nothing she could offer to someone whose mother was about to die. What a tragedy to go through life without Christ!

The next few posts, I'll go into detail on

1. What is the faith that we defend?
2. What is the method for doing this?

Key Lessons Learned in the Sovereignty of God

The sovereignty of God means that God works everything according to His purpose and plan. Nothing surprises God or is outside His control. Ephesians 1:11 describes God as one "who works all things according to the counsel of his will." If everything (with regard to man and creation) is not under God's ultimate control, that means chance is ultimately under control. R.C. Sproul remarked, “there is not a stray molecule in the universe". This means that all who have a relationship with God as our Father through His Son Jesus Christ can rejoice in all situations. God didn't spare His own Son, but gave Him up for all of us, so how will He not also graciously give us all things?

This is a great idea in theory, but it was put to the test this a few weeks ago when Teresa and I traveled to Harrisburg, PA to attend a weekend marriage conference. We were in a hurry to leave Friday afternoon after class. On our way out, Teresa had Beni's leash in one hand, was carrying a bag or two, and also had her keys in the other hand. She stopped by the mailbox to check our mail. We then packed our car, dropped off Beni at a friend's house, and started our 2-hr drive from Philly to Harrisburg. Everything good so far....then we get a phone call.

We missed the call, but it turned out to be the apartment management. The guy sounded somewhat frustrated. It turns out that Teresa had left all her keys on the mailbox, and someone in one of our other apartments had picked them up and called the apartment management. A part of me wanted to panic and start worrying about our mail, our apartment, etc...By God's grace, I didn't get angry at Teresa and I realized that it was an honest mistake that anyone could have made. We decided to trust God with the whole thing. We didn't think about it the whole weekend.

When we got back, the guy who picked up our keys met us in the parking lot. He was somewhat distressed as he wasn't sure what had happened to us. He thought we might have been attacked, robbed, or something. He thought we had gone out of town, but wasn't sure. All he knew was that our keys were left behind, the apartment was locked, nobody was answering (not even our dog). He came really close to calling the police to report the situation. But, he was glad to see us.

We were glad he picked up our keys. It was cool to know that he was watching out for us, kind of like a distressed parent waiting for a teen who hasn't come home yet. And by God's plan, I had met this neighbor earlier when he was trying to revive his car battery. I offered to give him a jump start if he ever needed it. And through this previous encounter, we got to meet and establish friendly relations.

As we were talking in the parking lot and reflecting on the first time we met, other neighbors stopped by and joined the conversation. When one neighbor saw that a crowd had gathered, she jokingly wondered if it was a block party!

A prayer and desire of ours has been to meet our neighbors, get to know them, and share Christ through our words and our lives. God answered this desire through Teresa leaving her keys dangling outside the mailbox! This is the kind of thing that could have led me to anger and frustration at Teresa. But, God did something wonderful with it.

God truly is sovereign and works all things for our good and ultimately His glory.

"Why Westminster?" (part 3 of 3)

Teresa and I applied to 3 seminaries before deciding to attend Westminster (see earlier posts for which ones we considered). The applications themselves were pretty time-consuming given the fact that we were working at the time and serving as volunteer youth directors at Rock Chinese Church. Between work, church, ministry, family, and friends, we somehow squeezed in seminary apps also! The applications were straightforward:

1. Provide info about personal and ministry history
2. Write an essay about how we became followers of Christ and how that affects us today. Also discuss why we want to go to seminary and what we think God wants us to do afterwards
3. Collect letters of recommendations. All schools required at least one from our pastor. One school had about 5 recommendation forms, including one from our spouse. One school only needed 2.
4. Apply for financial aid. This turned out to be more work than we expected. In many cases, we had to repeat steps 1-3 above.
   

Teresa was a big help in this whole process- collecting and filling out forms for both of us!

We applied to 3 schools: Phoenix, Southern, and Westminster.

We chose Westminster for several reasons. They all ended up starting with the letter "S" for some reason....

1. SAME THEOLOGICAL OUTLOOK FOR ALL CLASSES
Westminster is based on the Westminster Confession (http://www.pcanet.org/general/cof_chapi-v.htm), which goes into considerable detail on Christian beliefs. There are some statements on the nature of God's word, God's power to choose who will be saved, etc... that are not accepted by all Christians. While any system of theology is man's attempt to understand what God's Word says, we agree with the vast majority of the confession and see its value in giving some consistency to theological training. We don't expect to enter a classroom to have one prof contradict what was said by another one.

One seminary we looked at had a very generic statement of faith, and this allows for a greater diversity of views. This has the benefit of giving students greater exposure to different ideas within evangelical Christianity. However, professors may take different positions on different points of doctrine. So, a student may go to one class hearing one thing and then go to another class and hear something completely different. Students are then left to pick and choose which doctrines they like or which ones they don't.

2. STRENGTH IN THE LANGUAGES
Westminster believes very strongly in training up "specialists in the Bible", so it requires 3 semesters of Greek and 3 semesters of Hebrew so that graduates will be equipped to read God's Word in its original languages. This means fewer classes in other areas, though. We felt that other subjects can be learned in-depth by reading good books (e.g. church history). It's not as easy to pick up a book on Biblical Hebrew and teach yourself.

3. SPOUSAL SCHOLARSHIP
Westminster has a 2-for-1 deal if you are married. The spousal tuition waiver means that spouses get to go for free! Teresa still had to apply and get accepted to her MDiv counseling program. But once she did, she is able to take as many classes that I'm taking.

As an added plus, Westminster is well known for training up counselors, and counseling is a field that Teresa wants to learn more about.

In summary, there are lots of great seminaries out there, and there's not a one-size-fits-all. Different seminaries are better suited for different kinds of ministries. This is the journey God led us through, and if any of you have more specific questions, do send us an email or post a question.

"Why Westminster?" (part 2)

Going to seminary and specifically to Westminster has been a journey several years in the making. My earlier posts discussed how God led us to full-time seminary. This post will continue exploring how God led us specifically to Westminster in Philadelphia.

During our search process, we read through the websites of seminaries. But that would not be enough. Visiting would be critical in helping us decide. Choosing a seminary means choosing the instructors and mentors who will shape you, and visiting would help us know these instructors and mentors.

We did our best to pare down our original list of 20-30 seminaries to a small handful that we could actually visit. Since this was such a large list, we had the luxury of being extremely picky.

• We tried to identify seminaries that were passionate about Biblical truth and doctrine (especially in a culture that empowers individuals to define truth for themselves or rejects certain teachings of scripture)
• We tried to identify seminaries that take the gospel of Jesus Christ very seriously (as the gospel is a life-and-death matter with eternal consequences)
• We tried to identify seminaries that combined head-knowledge and heart-knowledge (God's truth is not cold and dead; rather, it should lead us to deeper and greater adoration of God Himself).

Many schools would have these characteristics! This is the list we ended up with:

• Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) - Wake Forest, NC - One of the first things that caught our eye was a conference that SEBTS was going to host with C.J. Mahaney (author of Cross-Centered Life) on the gospel. SEBTS calls themselves a "Great Commission Seminary", a name that is backed up with actual numbers. Something like 40% of their graduates go into the mission field, which seems higher than other seminaries.
• Westminster Theological Seminary (WTS) - Philadelphia, PA - It was founded less than 100 years ago during a time of seismic shifts in American seminaries. Many seminaries in America started rejecting God's Word (the Bible) as the foundation for Christian faith. Slowly and subtly, the Bible was molded to be more acceptable to modern culture. For example, people liked the idea of the Bible as a moral "how-to" book and the notion of Jesus as a teacher with great things to say, but they didn't view the Bible as a book with spiritual truth about the evilness of mankind and the need for a savior. During this spiritual earthquake, several professors from Princeton Theological Seminary left and founded Westminster.
  
• Phoenix Seminary - Phoenix, AZ - Wayne Grudem teaches at Phoenix, and one of his theology books helped ignite a hunger in me for learning and teaching theology. Phoenix's motto is "Scholarship with a Sheperherd's Heart", and we were impressed with their strong emphasis on heart transformation during seminary. What you learn should flow from your head, into your heart, and into your hands (as service to God and man). This "head, heart, hands" imagery still sticks with me today.
• Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS)- Dallas, TX - We found the academic rigor to be one of their strengths - their degree for pastors is a 4 year (not 3 year) program, and they teach every book of the Bible. We also know a lot of pastors who have come from DTS.
• Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) - Louisville, KY - This was a late visit (we had already submitted our application to WTS). SBTS is a large seminary (4x larger than WTS) and is blessed with lots of resources and great professors. We enjoyed the solid and scriptural teaching from the classes we visited. The professors at Southern seemed more down-to-earth and engaging than the professors at Westminster (Westminster has Presbyterian roots, and we were able to see where the "stuffy Presbyterian" stereotype comes from).
  

Teresa and I applied to 3 of these schools. Next time I'll share which ones we applied to and how we ended up at Westminster.

Why Westminster? (part 1)

"Why Westminster?" is probably the second most frequently asked question that I get (the first one being "Why Seminary?"). With so many great seminaries out there, it was a tough decision. If there was only one seminary that taught Biblical truth and nurtured spiritual growth, the decision would be a no-brainer. But, with so many to choose from, the initial array was quite overwhelming.

We have found that choosing a seminary much more difficult than choosing a college. For instance, engineering programs at well-known 4-year universities are all very similar. A recognized EE program would teach you the fundamentals of how to solve electrical engineering problems no matter where the program is located. Of course there are differences (i.e. how prestigious the school is, private vs. public, size of student body). But, any good school would teach you how circuits, systems, and computers work, and some of the physical laws that govern them.

However, seminaries are quite different and have different views on spiritual truth. I once heard a preacher mention "bad theology that closed every church in Europe" or something along those lines. Ouch! Our pastor reminded us that choosing a seminary means choosing the professors and theology that will shape and mold you. Of course we as Christians should never let the teachings of man overrule the teachings of God. All the seminaries we would consider would all claim to submit to God's Word. Yet, all the seminaries we checked out had differences, and some of them quite large.

Teresa and I started with a list of 20-30 seminaries that we listed in a spreadsheet (sounds a bit nerdy, but we're both engineers....). If we had unlimited time and money, I supposed we could've visited all 30. But, being mere humans, we had to prioritize our list. We scoured the mission/beliefs/doctrine pages of seminaries. We learned quite a bit about what each school and its professors were passionate about.

• Some schools seemed passionate about the importance of scripture as the final authority for our faith
• Some schools seemed passionate about the gospel or the Great Commission
• Some schools seemed passionate about trying to be more culturally relevant (adopting the message of the Bible to make it more acceptable to today's culture).
• Some schools seemed passionate about spiritual and character growth (not just intellectual growth)
• Many schools seemed similar to one another (e.g. there are 6-7 seminaries in the Southern Baptist Denomination)

In my next post, I'll discuss the 5 seminaries we decided to visit and what drew us to each one.

In other news....Teresa and I have now finished summer Greek, and we're relieved to have a little break from class before the fall semester starts up in about 2 weeks. We're hoping to catch up on rest, settle in a bit more, and hang out with each other. There is a Renoir exhibit that we want to see before it ends. The student rate is a lot cheaper, so we plan to go after we get our student IDs =)

Why Seminary (part 3 of 3)

FULL TIME VS. PART TIME

So, with conviction that God wanted me to go to seminary, we also had to think about whether we would go full or part time. Part-time would give us the opportunity to continue serving at Rock Chinese Church of Austin as volunteer youth directors. One danger of seminary education is that it becomes "head-knowledge" and cause spiritual stagnation. Part-time would allow us to continue investing in people and building them up in Christ. However, part-time would take longer, and it would be more difficult to focus on studies. Pastor Gaylord helped us to think through this by asking us if our priority was to equip ourselves for ministry or to serve in ministry. Since our priority was to equip ourselves, we decided to go full-time.

One of my Intel coworkers did part-time seminary while working full time, raising a family, and serving at church. I'm not sure how he did it (he said his wife was very supportive and that he had basically zero free time). If I remember right, the program took him 6 years, but he finished and got a degree! Teresa already says that I try to do too many things at one time, so juggling part time seminary and part time work would certainly cause undue strain on our marriage.

The downside of going full-time is that we've had to uproot and move out of Austin. There's certainly more financial cost (neither of us are working), but time and time again, God reminds me that He is my security, not money.

Last year, I had the joy of reading through the Old Testament from beginning to end. One historical account continues continually encouraged me to place my trust in God Himself and not what can be seen, tasted, or touched.

Amaziah, King of Judah had hired 100,000 mercenaries from Israel, his northern neighbor, with 100 talents of silver. He felt like he needed some extra hands to help him fight a war. But, God sent a prophet to Amaziah and this is what happened:

"But a man of God came to him and said, "O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the LORD is not with Israel, with all these Ephraimites. But go, act, be strong for the battle. Why should you suppose that God will cast you down before the enemy? For God has power to help or to cast down." And Amaziah said to the man of God, "But what shall we do about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?" The man of God answered, "The LORD is able to give you much more than this." Then Amaziah discharged the army that had come to him..." (2 Chronicles 25:7-10)

Though Amaziah is not recorded is a "good" king from the eyes of God, in this moment, he exercised faith. He trusted the Word of the Lord: "The LORD is able to give you much more than this."

May God's Word encourage you as it has encouraged me in whatever circumstance you are facing.

In future posts, I'll discuss the process by which God led us to Westminster Seminary (vs other great seminaries out there).

Greek lessons

Alex and I have been in Philly for almost a month now, and we're amazed at how quickly it's flown by. We're approaching our third full week of Greek class. Class has been really intense, but it's also grown us a lot too. Our approach to our academic studies together now is slightly different than our approach as single undergrads. We're learning that we need to take time out of our schedule to work on our relationship and that if it means that we need to cut our studying a little short, that it's ok. In the past our tendency would have been to put in as much energy into learning the material as possible, but we're realizing that it's ok not to make straight A's and that grades are not what we worship. Not that we're not working hard still and putting in a lot of effort now :P. But it's ok to rest our bodies and our minds, and we shouldn't feel guilty if we're not studying 8 hours a day.

We've really been encouraged by the Westminster staff to keep our focus not on the accumulation of knowledge but to realize that the purpose of this time is to learn the skills to be able to know and love God more and to remember the Gospel and His death on the cross. I'm always very refreshed after the prayer time that starts every class. Even though I may have come in with insecurities or worries about not knowing the material, I am reminded of God's faithfulness and ability to provide the understanding that we need to master this material. Each day is another opportunity to trust God with something impossible, and each day He is our help. Every day He calms our hearts and reminds us of His infinite power and mercies through His death on the cross, and guards our hearts with the fact that in the cross we have everything.

Still have not found a church home, although we've visited several. You can pray that God will lead us to the church home he has prepared for us, and that we wouldn't rely on our own knowledge or understanding. Pray also that God would help us to prioritize what's really important in this stage of life and that we would be ok with saying no to things.

Praise God for things like google video chat and great pastors like PG who are willing to chat with us and give us wise counsel through this uncertain time. :) We miss ACC and Rock a lot, and have been thinking a lot about passages like 1 Thes 2:19 that express Paul's longing for the churches he ministered to.

¹⁹For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? ²⁰For you are our glory and joy.

Paul loved the churches he ministered to, and you could see his joy in their spiritual growth. But he, like us, had to physically be away from them, but his heart was still with them. Now we get it. Now we understand.

On a more serious note, the hoagies and pizza here are really awesome! We also found a great italian market that sells $2 cannolis. Yumness.

Why Seminary Now? (part 2 of 3)

Before I continuing my earlier post on "Why Seminary?", I wanted to introduce reasons why seminary isn't for everyone.

REASONS NOT TO GO TO SEMINARY

PRIDE and SELFISH AMBITION. I heard that the gifted preacher Charles Spurgeon didn't go to seminary. He was serving the Lord and was encouraged by his father to get a seminary education. His father arranged for him to meet the president of a well known seminary in England. Spurgeon went to his home and waited in the parlor of his house two hours, as the president's assistant thought he was someone else. After the two hours, the president had to leave to catch a train. Because of the mix-up, he didn't get to meet him.

As Spurgeon left the president's house, he was confused and wondered what was God's plan. As he pondered this, he felt that God spoke to him through a verse in Jeremiah: "And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not" (Jer. 45:5). Spurgeon realized that he was already serving the Lord and didn't need to go to seminary. He realized that seminary would in fact be a stumbling block for as it would tempt him to greater pride.

RESTORE YOUR SPIRITUAL HEALTH. An acquaintance of mine has written about "how he sold his soul in seminary." Rather than help in grow in his relationship with Christ, he found that the busyness of studying took so much of his time and energy that his relationship with Christ began to grow cold.

We also heard that seminary cannot give you what you don't already have. One of the seminaries we visited made this clear to us. The admissions officer told us something along the lines of" "Seminary isn't going to give you a heart for God, a desire to share the gospel, or love for people. If you don't have these things, seminary isn't going to give them to you. Seminary can only help you do what you are already doing better".

REFLECTIONS

These thoughts led us to some good soul-searching. I was challenged me to think about my reasons. Was I going out of pride or to fill my head with knowledge? Or, is it truly for God and His glory? A formal education (whether its engineering, teaching, law, etc...) is not good or bad in itself. The motivation makes all the difference in the world. One can go into any endeavor with the aim of bringing glory to God or bringing glory to self.

Though an engineer doesn't need a degree to do his job, a degree lays a good foundation. This knowledge can be self-taught, but it is often better and more efficient to learn from other teachers. In the same way, a pastor, teacher, or elder doesn't need a seminary education. God's Word is sufficient so that "the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim 3:17). There are also plenty of solid books written by godly men on theology. But, there is something to be said about taking the time to be properly equipped and to learn from others.

If God has called me to serve as a pastor, shouldn't I be willing to invest the time and money to learn and be equipped? Pastors are doctors of souls. Someone looking for a doctor to perform surgery should make sure that the doctor is properly trained. Someone who is looking for a pastor to nurture their souls should make sure that the pastor knows God and His Word.

On future posts, I'll discuss why we decided to go to seminary full time (instead of part time), and why we decided to go to Westminster.

Why Seminary? (part 1 of 3)

Teresa and I started attending seminary at Westminster (http://wts.edu/) this summer. "Why seminary?" is one of the questions we get asked. I hope to capture some thoughts that I've had to wrestle with and think through the past few years.

One of the earliest seeds of seminary was sown while I was doing chip design. I joined a fellowship group called Intel Bible Based Christian Network (IBCN). The lunchtime fellowship studies matured my understanding of God and the gospel through an evangelism training class and a class on doctrine. The doctrine class was taught by a co-worker who went line-by-line through his church’s doctrinal statement. I used to think that doctrine was boring- why bother with details that divide the church and create denominations? But, as he went through it, he explained the theological, practical, and eternal significance of what the Bible teaches. The class challenged to think through topics such as the “Inerrancy of Scripture”. For instance, why does my church believe that scripture is the final authority for what we need to know about God? Other branches hold church tradition or the teachings of the church as equal to scripture. Or, even the incarnation of Christ (What does it mean that Christ is 100% God and 100% man? What difference does it make?). Can a true Christian continue to live in sin and rebellion against God?

The great need for understanding Biblical doctrine led me to read Wayne Grudem’s Bible Doctrine from cover to cover. The book fed my great hunger to know the truth revealed in scripture. Yet, at the same time, I also grew in my hunger for knowledge. While I was reading and growing, I had the great joy of teaching youth and adults at church. Teaching God's truth and helping others understand and apply God's truth excited me far more than the engineering work. I began to think about whether God wanted me to leave engineering and serve Him in the church (or even possibly on the mission field).

Though I have plenty of ministry opportunities at work and church, I began to evaluate whether engineering was my life’s calling. I enjoyed the engineering work and the thrills designing computer chips. But I could not see myself doing that for the rest of my life. God wanted me to be willing to leave an engineering career. Chip design is a great steady job, I have great working relationships with my co-workers, and I enjoy the work. Yet, God was asking me, “Are you willing to use the gifts, talents, and abilities I have given you to serve the church?”

I'll try to answer these questions more fully on my next post, titled "Why Seminary Now?" Hopefully it'll be up in a week or so.