Welcome Benjamin

I doubt this is news to anyone who reads this blog, but Micah and I were surprised and very glad to welcome Benjamin Eager Wiginton to the world on Wednesday. He was a month early, which made his middle name (a family name) fitting. He was 6 lb 1 oz, and 19 inches. He is very healthy and should be going home with us later today.

I feel like I should have something profoundly moving and theological to say about him along the lines of the the heavenly Father's love for those of us who trust in Christ, who are His adopted children. I'm sure I'll be figuring out more about that in time, but right now I'm just overwhelmed by the joy of being his dad. I've not historically been one to enjoy close contact with babies, so the fact that I have so much love for him and feel so comfortable with him tells a story in itself.

For those of you who like pictures, here are some.

Misconceptions About Satan (Part 1)

There are a lot of misconceptions about Satan among Christians. In this post I'll address some that portray Satan as bigger and stronger than he actually is. If you take the Bible as seriously as I do, then by then end of this list you will probably want to comment about the great deal of power that Satan does have, so in part 2 I'll talk about the misconceptions about Satan that go to the opposite extreme. Here we go...

Ten misconceptions about Satan that give him too much credit:

1. Satan is God's exact opposite.
Too often Christians think of Satan as being God's evil twin. This kind of dualistic thinking puts Satan on the same level as God and draws more from pagan influences than from the Bible (think yin-yang). Satan is not some sort of evil balance to God's goodness. Instead, Satan was created by God (originally as a good angel) and is nowhere close to being as powerful as God. There is no question of which one will be victorious in the end because it is not a fair fight. God is infinite, and Satan is finite.

2. Satan is everywhere.
Only God is present at all times in all places. Only God is always with you. Satan is bigger and faster than we are, but he can't be everywhere at once.

3. Satan knows everything.
Only God knows everything. Satan is good at figuring things out and is definitely smarter than I am, but he is not omniscient. If he knew everything (the future, etc.), he would have known it was a bad idea to rebel against God.

4. Satan can hear your thoughts.
There is absolutely nothing in the Bible that would lead us to think that Satan can read minds or hear people's thoughts. On the contrary, Solomon says to God in 1 Kings 8:39, "You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men." Satan might have a pretty good idea of what you're thinking by watching you and getting to know you (my wife is good at that, too), but he doesn't actually hear our thoughts.

5. Satan can plant a thought in your mind.
I hear this one used a lot in Christian circles as an excuse for hateful, lustful, or otherwise impure thoughts. Many Christians have bought into the Loony Tunes theology that the devil is always sitting on your left shoulder, whispering evil thoughts into your mind's ear. But if Satan can't read minds, he definitely can't control thoughts. Besides, Jesus taught clearly that impure thoughts are sinful in themselves. If Satan could plant those thoughts in our minds against our will, then Jesus couldn't have found us guilty of thinking them.

6. Satan's power on earth is unlimited.
There are places in the Bible that call Satan the "god of this world" and other similar titles. Many Christians have read too much into these titles and think that Satan has unlimited power, at least on earth. The most obvious place to see that this is not true is in the first chapter of Job, where Satan has to go and ask permission from God before he's allowed to test Job. Satan has no power at all beyond what God permits.

7. Satan is responsible for everything we consider to be bad.
I have heard people give the devil credit for causing everything from earthquakes to faulty sound systems. We shouldn't be so quick to say that he's behind everything we don't like. Anyone who has children knows that they don't always understand when something is meant for their good (curfews, vegetables, shots, etc.). Blaming every unpleasant situation on Satan ascribes near-sovereignty to Satan, and those who do this will undoubtedly end up labeling many of God's actions as demonic.

8. Satan can make you sin.
The devil did not make you do it. When we sin, we have chosen to do it ourselves and are completely responsible for it. Satan often presents us with temptations, but he is not capable of forcing us to give in. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

9. Satan is the cause of every temptation.
The Bible does say that Satan offers us temptations, but it also talks about temptations that happen when Satan is not around: "But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death" (James 1:14-15). Everyone since Adam and Eve, with the exception of Jesus, has been born with a sinful nature. We are quite good at providing our own temptations.

10. Satan can prevent God's plan from being carried out.
This is closely related to 6 and 7. Satan is frequently credited with having brought about circumstances that prevented Christians from accomplishing their ministry goals, and thus Satan is said to have gotten in the way of God's plan. For example, Satan gets the credit for bringing rain on the day a group was going to pass out tracts on the street, making the electricity go out during a worship service, making the Supreme Court outlaw prayer in schools, etc. The first problem with this is that we are claiming to know God's plan in advance. The second problem is that we are claiming that Satan's power is greater than God's. God is big, and God is in control.

That's all for now... check back soon for part 2.

Quote of the Day

If you're one of the three people who have read this blog before, you know that sometimes I complain about people misusing Greek and Hebrew when studying or teaching the Bible. One of my pet peeves is when big points are made based solely on a study of some particular word in the original language. Today I ran into an excellent explanation of why this isn't a good idea in John Feinberg's book No One Like Him:

"How do we use Scripture to determine the meaning of each attribute [of God]? A typical method defines a divine attribute by appealing to the meaning of the biblical term that names the attribute. Hence, if we understand the etymology and basic 'dictionary meaning' of terms that speak of God as eternal, loving, wise, etc., we automatically know what the divine attribute is.

This strategy for defining the divine attributes is seductive (as well as very popular) but methodologically flawed. It confuses defining a term with defining a concept.

. . . In order to understand the concept a writer wants to communicate, we must understand his words as he uses them in a particular context. That means that we are not likely to ascertain any thought pattern (concept) associated with the word by looking at it in isolation from a specific sentence, and certainly not by looking at the root words from which it is derived."

Twitter and the Southern Baptist Convention

The annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention is wrapping up today. I was not able to attend, but thanks to the internet I hardly feel like I've missed it. This year's meeting will probably be remembered most for Tuesday night's landslide victory in favor of appointing a "Great Commission Resurgence Task Force", which was essentially a vote to implement the GCR Statement. But the second most significant aspect of the convention seems to have been the rise of Twitter in alerting the world to every ugly detail of the proceedings.

This year everyone and their mother brought their Twitter-activated cell phones into the convention hall, and people watching the live internet feed signed up for Twitter accounts as well. As thousands of "tweets" (I hate that word) went out yesterday with the hash tag #SBC2009, the whole world was watching. Unfortunately, the founders of the SBC did not have Twitter in mind in 1845, and the meeting is no more twit-friendly today than it was then.

I should explain something about the Southern Baptist Convention to those of you who are unfamiliar. Unlike many denominations who are ruled from the top down by appointed priests or elders, the SBC is ruled from the bottom up by its churches. Each church in the denomination can send a maximum of ten messengers (essentially delegates) to the annual meeting, and these messengers are the ones who have the power to vote, introduce motions, etc. This year there were nearly 9,000 registered messengers. Because the power is in the hands of the messengers, the churches are in charge of the bureaucracy and not the other way around. This democratic structure is what allowed the SBC to reverse its drift toward liberalism 30 years ago while many other denominations could not be rescued. It is a beautiful thing in my opinion.

Part of the beauty of our Baptist democracy is freedom of speech, in that any messenger can introduce any motion that they wish. When you put out open mics for a group of 9,000 people, it's impossible to avoid hearing some very strange and embarrassing statements coming through the loud speakers. As far as I know, someone has said something crazy every year since 1845. Usually the crazy motions contain a technical flaw related to the rules of order and are thrown out, and even if they manage to go to a vote they get dismissed by the other messengers.

But when the democratic proceedings of the SBC hit Twitter yesterday, the world did not understand. The vast majority of the tweets had to do with the off-the-wall motions that were brought up during the open mic time. Many of those watching from outside got the impression that if something was said at a microphone, then surely it must be the voice of the denomination. In addition to Twitter, videos of the open mic times have been posted to YouTube and promoted on a number of blogs. Thanks to these user generated media, rumors are spreading all over the internet that the Southern Baptist Convention is going to boycott Pepsi, ban Mark Driscoll's books from Lifeway stores, do other terrible things to Mark Driscoll, ban all secular music, and start using only the King James Version of the Bible. All of these were made as motions by who-knows-who, but none will happen.

As the tweets went out from the convention, outsiders' responses ranged from cries of sadness by members of other denominations to cries of "I told you so" by liberal critics. What none of them understood was that everything was proceeding as usual, that the strange motions are individual opinions, and that the denomination as a whole is as strong as ever. The truth finally came to light Tuesday night when the very forward-looking GCR Task Force (see first paragraph) was approved by a vote of 95% to 5%. Once that motion was approved the Twitterverse got quiet very quickly, as it tends to do when there is a lack of things to criticize.

This year's convention will bring changes to the denomination. The GCR Task Force will likely recommend some significant changes, some fresh new leaders will start taking the reigns (David Platt is the most obvious), and some of the old leaders may even step down as a result of their opposition to the will of the messengers. But one needed change that I doubt anyone foresaw is a shift toward a style of meeting that does not lend itself to the huge misperceptions that were broadcast this year on Twitter. I do not have any ideas of how to accomplish this, and it might not be possible at all if we're to preserve our democratic structure. Either way, next year the SBC will have no choice but to acknowledge that Twitter has power to change the world's perceptions about issues much bigger than what a celebrity had for breakfast.

Top 10 Bad Bible Teachings

I accidentally started thinking about this when I was writing one of those silly, narcissistic facebook notes where you answer questions about yourself. I answered a question about pet peeves, and now I can't stop answering that question.

These are ten of the most common errors in biblical interpretation that I hear taught in various places. All of these are taught with good intentions, and most even have truth somewhere in them. That's why they're common, but that's also why we have to be more careful. My hope in posting these errors is that some people who teach the Bible will read this and be driven to invest even more time and study in their preparation to teach.

Here's the list:

10. The practice of 'claiming' promises that are in the Bible
Some of the promises God makes in the Bible are intended for us and some are not. For example, I once heard someone 'claim' the promise of Joshua 1:3, "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you." This was a promise made to Joshua and the Israelites, and I seriously doubt that God intended it to mean He would give land to every person who reads this verse. There are legitimate applications of this promise for Christians in that we will receive an eternal inheritance from God, but to use that verse to demand something from God in this life is irresponsible. Also, there are lots of promises in the Bible that none of us would ever want to claim. If you doubt this, go read Nahum 3:5-6.

9. Using a commandment from the Law of Moses as an ethical imperative
Huge portions of the New Testament are dedicated to the teaching that Jesus fulfilled the Law and that we are no longer bound by it. Yet, it is still common to hear someone quote a verse in Leviticus as proof that something they don't like is sinful. For example, it's common to hear someone quote Leviticus 19:28 as evidence that it's a sin to get a tattoo. There's just no way to get that kind of teaching to fit with what the New Testament says about the Law. From a Christian perspective, ethical imperatives can only come from the New Testament.

8. Dismissing a commandment from the Law of Moses as unimportant
On the flip side of #9, we have to remember that the entire Bible is still the Word of God. Just because the Law is not binding on followers of Christ doesn't mean it's unimportant. After all, why would the Son of God fulfill every word of an irrelevant document? Even when certain commands in the Old Testament are explicitly reversed by the New Testament, there are still principles in those verses that can teach us important truths about God an how He wants us to live. For example, many of the dietary laws of the Old Testament had to do with avoiding the pagan practices of the culture around them. If the Israelites weren't supposed to boil a goat in its mother's milk, then maybe we shouldn't behave the same way as the culture around us either.

7. Using Proverbs 29:18 to prove that "casting a vision" is important
Yes, it's important for leaders to have an idea of where they want to go in the future. That's true. What's not true is that you can prove that point by tossing around the line, "Where there is no vision the people perish" (KJV). It's funny to me that Christian leadership gurus who would never dare preach from the King James Version in their churches suddenly adore it when it comes to this verse. Check a modern translation and you'll find out why. The "vision" that the Bible is talking about has nothing to do with modern leadership principles. It's talking about the literal sort of vision that God would give to a prophet and use to reveal truth to His people. In other words, it's the Word of God that keeps us from perishing, not the vision-casting abilities of a pastor.

6. Using Philippians 4:13 to say we can literally do anything
The verse reads, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." This is truly a great verse--in context. If you read the two verses that come before it you can see what Paul means by it. He has been through many hardships, and by the power of Christ he can endure them all. This shows us that by trusting Christ we can face any situation God brings into our lives. It does not mean that if you had just a little more faith in Jesus you could bench press an extra 20 pounds, or levitate, or make all your wildest dreams come true.

5. Drawing distinctions between the different Greek words for "love"
All of us who've been around Christian culture for a while have heard that there are several words for "love" in Greek and that each word refers to a specific kind of love. Usually the crowning moment of this lesson is that 'agape' is the kind of love God has for us and is the best love of all. I hate to be the one to burst the bubble, but this is just not true. Some of the Greek words that have made it into this teaching are never found in the Bible at all. The ones that are in the Bible are used interchangeably in a variety of contexts. In fact, there is one instance in the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament) when 'agape' actually means 'rape'. When you're trying to figure out what a Greek word for 'love' really means, the context of the verse is the best way to find out. Usually it just means love.

4. Using John 3:16 to say God loved the world "so much"
John 3:16 is certainly one of the greatest verses in the Bible about the astonishing love that God has shown in giving us His Son. But, the word "so" in that verse does not mean "so much". It would actually be better translated "thusly" or "in this way". John 3:16 is not about the amount of love that God has for the world but the way in which He shows that love. That doesn't mean God loves us any less than we've always thought, it just means that the verse isn't talking about the amount of love.

3. Using Revelation 3:20 to say that Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart
In this verse Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock..." I think we can say from Scripture that the Lord legitimately offers a call to be saved to everyone who hears the gospel. But, this verse is not about that. This verse is addressed to a local church that has essentially shut Jesus out of their congregation. Jesus is knocking on the door of the church in this verse, not the door of someone's heart.

2. Taking Jeremiah 29:11 out of context
I know I'm messing with a lot of people's favorite verse here, but you need to know what it's really about if it's going to be your favorite verse. Here it is: "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" This verse gets claimed pretty often in the fashion of #10 on this list. But before you claim it, read the verses and chapters that surround it. All of the false prophets are telling the people of Judah that everything is going to be fine, but Jeremiah is delivering an unpopular message from God that their nation will be destroyed and that they will become slaves in a foreign land. First of all, this verse is addressed only to the people of God, so it applies today only to people who know and trust God. Secondly, it is given as a message of hope as the people are about to be carried off into exile for 70 years. What it means is that even though God takes His people through some incredibily difficult times, He has a plan that is bigger and better than we understand.

1. Saying that the Great Commission really means "As you go"
The verse says, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..." (Matt. 28:19). The mistaken teaching is that if we knew Greek we'd know that it really means "as you go" instead of "go". I've written about this before, so I won't go into too much detail. The basic truth is that if you knew Greek you would find out that it still means "go". The Greek is a little weird, but I dare you to find a translation of the Bible that says "as you go". The reason you won't find one is that even in Greek it really is a command, not a passive suggestion. How are you going to reach all nations "as you go" anyway? Jesus' words tell us that we really should go out of our way to share the good news.

That's all. I hope this makes you want to study your Bible more.

What's the Point of Going to Heaven?

I am more conservative than most guys my age. I like being a Southern Baptist, driving a Grand Marquis, and wearing sweaters. Even as a teenager I enjoyed old hymns more than the praise and worship sets at youth camp, which at the time usually made scratching “a back next to ya” a prerequisite to glorifying God. One of the popular songs during those years--which I have since come to appreciate--was I Could Sing of Your Love Forever. Often during this song the worship leaders would pause to tell us over the sound of gentle guitar strums that this was what we would one day be doing in heaven for all eternity. As they went on to repeat the chorus several more times, I secretly became a little less excited about heaven. “But hey,” I thought, “singing a really long praise song sure beats going to hell.”

I was glad when I later learned that eternity is not what the 1990’s worship leaders said it was. Singing will certainly be a part of what we do, but the Bible tells us that the eternal existence of believers will be a fully functional, multi-faceted life that’s lived in physically resurrected bodies inside a perfect city called New Jerusalem (Rev. 20-22). Personally, this sounds much better to me than a never-ending song service.

Still, the guys at camp did get the most important thing right, which is that the central focus of heaven is the presence and glory of God. Ever since Adam and Eve were banished from Eden, God began revealing His plan to bring us back into His presence. The signs were increasingly clear: Noah’s ark, Mt. Sinai, the tabernacle, the temple, the incarnation of Christ, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit all point forward to a time when “the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Rev. 21:3). In fact, Jesus’ definition of eternal life is, “that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent,” and, “to see my glory” (John 17:3, 24). Heaven may be more than singing, but it is all about worship.

The 17th century theologian John Owen wrote, “Many will say with confidence that they desire to be with Christ and to behold his glory. But when asked, they can give no reason for this desire, except that it would be better than going to hell.” Jesus is the point of having eternal life, not just a means to it. Without understanding this even people who consider themselves Christians are likely one day to hear Him say, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matt. 7:23). The way to eternal life is not just to know that heaven is good but to trust in and worship Christ as the reason for living eternally.

Is the Church Relevant?

**A note of business: Lately I've been posting notes on Facebook rather than blogging since what I write is much more likely to get read there than here. This time I have double posted as an experiment to see whether anyone cares about this blog. If you want the blog to keep existing, make a comment so that I know someone reads it.**

Recently one of the students at our Thursday night College Bible Study submitted the discussion question, “Do you think the church is relevant in today’s culture?” This is a great question. How can an institution based on ideas that are thousands of years old be relevant to a culture that is increasingly bored with organized religion and obsessed with whatever is new? The ongoing debate about this issue has made relevant one of the biggest buzz words in American Christianity. But what does it truly mean to be relevant?

The world defines relevance in its own way. In the last two centuries or so the idea has arisen that whatever is newer is better. Our consistent progress in technology has led to the assumption that all changes in culture are also forms of progress. This results in constant pressure on churches to reflect whatever is the latest trend and to concentrate on whatever people are feeling “right now”. Ironically, churches that give in to this pressure often find themselves in an embarrassing situation years later when they are still basing their ministry on the trends of decades past and are unable to attract younger generations. Battles ensue, new trends replace old ones, and the cycle repeats.

The most defining element of any true church, however, is that its central message is the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is certainly not a new or trend-setting issue, nor do most people perceive this message as important to their lives. In fact, the Bible itself tells us plainly that the lost world around us will never think our message is relevant. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,” and, “we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” But Paul also tells us in this same passage that even though the gospel is irrelevant in the eyes of the world, “to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” This is possible because “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

God has ordained the church to be the institution that preserves and preaches the gospel. Our message means the difference between eternal life and death for every human being. It is easily the most relevant issue of all time, but no one can grasp its relevance until they believe it and are born again. Although the world does not understand it, the church is relevant to everyone because the gospel is relevant to everyone. The church only becomes irrelevant when the gospel stops being its focus.