Last night, millions watched the debate between Kelly and Brian Sabient (representing atheism) and Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron (attempting to prove God’s existence without using faith or the Bible). I have reviewed as much of the video as I can stand and have come to some interesting conclusions.
At first, I was disappointed in Ray’s use of Scripture in his opening comments. He had made a commitment to prove God’s existence without the Bible and then proceeded to use the Bible, handing ammunition to his enemies who took full advantage of the moment and exploited his mistake. After much thought and prayer about the matter, I’ve come to the conclusion that Ray had not choice but to use Scripture.
This was his chance to speak to millions of “on the fence” people who might not otherwise have the opportunity to hear the gospel. Further, Ray believes that the Word of God has the supernatural ability to pierce through the hardness of the human heart. And finally, Christianity has made the mistake before of attempting to prove God’s existence without the Bible and our attempts at doing so have failed to convert people or change our surroundings. A convincing argument for a Creator might be fabricated from the witness of nature, but a converting faith is only borne on the wings of God’s inspired revelation of Himself to mankind. What was Ray’s mistake? It was in agreeing not to refer to faith or the Bible to begin with.
The reason I could not stand to watch the entire debate online, stopping the stream early instead, was because of the knot that formed in my stomach as I listened to Kelly blaspheme God in such an extreme way. My heart breaks for her. It is apparent to all who watched that atheism leads to intellectual arrogance and belligerence toward Christians. This rebellious attitude is not only proof of the fall of mankind into sin, left unchecked it always leads to the ultimate end of a soul unable to repent because of the hardening of the heart through the deceitfulness of sin. Should Kelly continue choosing to blaspheme God, she will inevitably push her will beyond the point of ever humbling herself before her Creator. She expressed that she’d rather go to hell than to live in eternity with a God she perceives as unfairly violent toward sinners. I hope this isn’t a self-fulfilling prophecy for her.
The thought that terrifies me the most is that they have become preachers of a false gospel. It isn’t that they question a Creator, it’s that they persuade others to purposely break the command not to blaspheme the Holy Spirit (a misinterpretation of Jesus’ intent, by the way). I’ve encountered the writings of Richard Dawkins and other such rationalists who purport that Christians are guilty of indoctrinating generations of people into believing in a warmonger-god. Yet the skeptics themselves are actively and intentionally recruiting followers to join them in their hate-filled, angry tirade against the very God who bought them with the price of His own dear Son.
At the end of the day, there will be millions who simply will not believe the gospel record. This is nothing new and we cannot naively assume that we’ll ever rid the world of atheism or agnosticism by simply arguing science or Scripture alone. What does seem to be new is the intensity with which atheism belittles people of faith. It is as though the battle lines are being drawn more clearly. The forces of light and darkness are engaged in a more intense form of warfare than at any other time in the recent past. Perhaps we’re moving toward a climax.
Perhaps it is that the day is soon coming when men will make their final choices concerning God and His Son. Should you accept the record of the Bible as inspired and inerrant, as I do, then you’ll discover that the Bible itself predicts the rising intensity of this debate toward the ultimate battle between Jesus and the forces of darkness. Thankfully, we who believe, already have the rest of the story laid out before us, and… Jesus wins!
The other day, Angie and I happened to tune in to one of America’s most popular preachers. I’m usually careful not to jump to judgment when it comes to another man’s message. I know the pressure placed on pastors to invent and deliver the perfect message, but I could not help but become a little upset about the blatant misuse of Scripture.
The speaker quoted Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.” In context, this verse refers to the spiritual ignorance of people who assume they can worship God and other gods at the same time with no contradiction. This preacher, however, applied the verse to eating healthier. His explanation was that because we are ignorant of the content of food today, we are physically being destroyed. His more specific application had something to do with cold cuts, hot dogs, and other processed meats.
Granted, I need to eat healthier, but is it okay to take verses and apply them in the way they sound rather than in the way they were intended? It reminded me of the old saying that “a text without a context is a pretext.” I have no problem with preaching a fresh and relevant Bible-based message about eating healthy, but there are much better texts to be used.
Another popular preacher chooses verses from translations to make applications not according to the literal meaning of the verse, but according to which translation makes his point best. I promise, I try not to be picky. I can get along with preachers from a variety of perspectives, but I’m offended when God’s book becomes our little box from which we draw a word of encouragement for each day. When we handle Scripture in this way, we miss the truth of it.
Great men have endured great persecution to defend a literal, historical-grammatical interpretive approach to Scriptures. That is, we ought to interpret Scriptures according to the historical context and the grammatical meaning rather than simply the context of our modern felt need. Paul admonished young Timothy to be very careful to “rightly divide the word of truth.”
As a surgeon with a delicate procedure, so preachers must approach every sermon as though eternal life depended on it for some lost soul. It is a grave offense to utilize Scripture in a haphazard way. We must handle the word of life carefully. God wants to speak to us today through His word, which is always fresh and always relevant, but we need not help Him out in the task of making it more relevant than it already is.
“But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching…” -Titus 1:3
To every preacher of the Word, God has committed a sacred trust. He has called and commanded us to proclaim the content of His everlasting word week after week. There are many challenges to preaching as an effective means of communication today. We battle against popular sports on Sunday, longer work weeks which displace Sunday as “the Lord’s Day,” and the decreased attention span of Americans who are addicted to high-resolution, image-oriented marketing. But perhaps the greatest danger to preaching today is the preacher himself.
There is a constant challenge from within the field to weaken or water down the proclamation of God’s Word. Church growth gurus tell us that the world doesn’t want lengthy sermons anymore, but I would contend that the church is as much to blame for this trend as the world. Rather than giving into the pressure to preach all-positive little sermonettes, let us return instead to the biblical idea of proclamation.
One temptation the church has faced is to use the pulpit as a veritable soapbox, spouting the latest political or moral opinions without much scriptural backing. At best we often loosely attach a remote verse and contort its interpretation to fit the principle we desire to communicate. Or worse, we attempt to compete with the world by offering a better self-help message than that which may be found in thousands of bookstores in the self-help section. The pastor, instead of being a theologian before the congregation becomes a mere pop-psychologist.
Another obstacle to biblical preaching is the overwhelming tendency to compete with the world’s marketing strategies, a tactic doomed for failure. Lacking the resources and expertise for the field, the church ends up being seen as a cheap imitation of the culture. In our drive to stay “relevant” we forget that the Word of God, if preached accurately and passionately, is timeless in its application to the needs of mankind.
So, what is the purpose of preaching? It is to proclaim, to make manifest, and to put on display the content of the Word of God. John R. Rice said that our preaching should be filled with “profundity wrapped in simplicity.” It is not our task to make God’s Word interesting, neither is it justifiable to make it boring. The Bible has an intrinsic, transforming power all its own. It merely needs a herald, one who will announce the good news of God to a world gone mad.
If I could think of a word to describe the approach of the Old Testament prophets to preaching, it would be “simplicity.” In a culture of idolatrous self-gratification the prophets faithfully proclaimed their message of “thus saith the Lord.” The last thing the world needs on Sunday is a shallow rehashing of world events by armchair politicians or another self-help message in an age of self-obsession. Rather, let us put on display the Word of God, as it is.
We dare not dumb down the Word, make it boring, or market it to the flesh. Rather, we must live up to the command and the calling to proclaim it loud and clear. If we want to restore preaching to a place of prominence in our culture today, we must remain faithful to this basic task of being God’s spokesmen. The world may not like our message, but they will come to listen. We may end up in chains in the end, but as Paul said, “the word is not bound.” Let us unleash God’s truth to do it’s proper work in the hearts of mankind!
