Month: May 2020

If You Have Love For One Another

If You Have Love For One Another

I was in junior high school when I first remember learning of the Holocaust. I didn’t understand what it was all about at the time and I didn’t really grasp the horror of it all until some time later when I was looking at a magazine. I think it was Life Magazine. I saw several full page photos of the victims. It was shocking and made me wonder how could anyone do that to anyone, let alone to an entire group of people. So I did what a lot of us do when we see something horrible and we’re not quite ready to process it; I set it aside in the back of my mind.

Memories of the initial horror of seeing those holocaust pictures in the late 1960’s were revisited recently when I came across a New York Times article about the holocaust. As horrific as the killing of thousands of innocent Jewish people was, I was sickened to learn in this article that the Nazi’s gathered groups of disabled people and murdered them as well. This was especially hurtful to learn as I’ve long held a special place on my heart for the disabled. My dad was crippled by polio in the early 1950’s, my sweet little brother Doug, was born mentally retarded (now called mentally disabled) in 1957, our beautiful daughter Megan was born with Spina Bifida in 1986, and our sweet granddaughter Remi, was born with Down Syndrome in 2021.

The holocaust was born out of Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany. He was a German political leader in the 1930’s who rose to the rank of Fuhrer in the 1940’s German Nazi party. He believed that the Jews were Germany’s enemies, and that they were an inferior race. Full of hate and racism, he sought to get rid of the Jews by killing them, and create a country full of “perfect” people of which he, of course, would be their leader. Interestingly he did all of this while claiming to be a Christian, and denouncing Christianity at the same time.

It’s also interesting how he got so many people to follow him.

Thinking about all of this made me wonder if Hitler’s hatred for the Jews may have been fueled by his misguided so-called Christian beliefs. Regardless, whatever Hitler thought and did was wrong on so many levels. His basic beliefs were skewed to say the least. I suspect if he had a Bible he didn’t read it. If he’d actually read and studied the Bible, he might have learned that the Jews weren’t responsible for Jesus’s death on the cross, but it was us; it was actually our sins that nailed Him on the cross:

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2

By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:14

Secondly, all of us are disabled in some way or another.  None of us are perfect; there is no such thing as perfect people or the the perfect race. We all have flaws and imperfections, physically, emotionally, and spiritually; including and especially sin.

Anyone who thinks they’re perfect and are constantly seeking perfection, are guilty of the sin of pride, and that’s regardless of whether they realize it or not. 

Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the unplowed field of the wicked, produce sin. Proverbs 21:4

Only God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are perfect, and it is not until we receive Jesus in repentance and faith does God change the way He sees us.  If Hitler had read the Bible he would known this as well:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. Psalm 18:30

Fortunately I’m not Hitler’s nor anyone else’s judge, but the Bible tells us that when we become a believer there should be a change in our life, in the way we think and in the things we do; life before Jesus and life after Jesus, there should be a difference. In John 13:35 Jesus tells of one distinguishing characteristic of the believer: 

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” 

My Creed is Jesus Christ

My Creed is Jesus Christ

Here’s a picture of me and my 5th grade Sunday School class sometime around 1964 or 1965. I’m on the second row, second from the left.

And, here is a 1966 newspaper clipping of my 6th grade confirmation class. This was at Southport Methodist Church in Southport, Indiana, which was the church our family attended and of which we were members while I was growing up in Indianapolis. I have a lot of fond memories from when I attended this church, especially when I was young. It was here that I first trusted in Christ around the age of 12, although I don’t believe it was a saving faith.

Two or three years after this photo was taken, our church changed its name to “Southport United Methodist Church.” I continued my membership there into my young adult years, with increasing periods of inactivity off-and-on during my late teens and early twenties.

Then one night in my mid twenties God got my attention after listening to Billy Graham speak on television a couple of nights earlier. I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about all the sin in my life, and I cried out to Him in repentance and faith. I believe it was at this time that I was born again, as it was from this point forward that my life began to change.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8

I began reading my Bible and started going back to my old Methodist church. However, after a while, a couple of things began to bother me. My Sunday School class studied books that seemed more philosophical than biblical, and many of the pastor’s sermons were light on Bible verses and heavy on modern-day stories.

Around this same time, I was listening regularly to Charles Stanley from First Baptist Atlanta, on the radio. His sermons were jam-packed with Bible verses and Bible stories. This style of preaching was new to me, and I found myself very drawn to it. While I liked my old church and the people, God had different plans for me.

In 1988, I was convicted to be baptized by full water immersion at age 33, and to become a member of Providence Baptist Church in Riverview, Florida. It was a series of events that led up to both my change in church membership and in my relationship with God. I wrote about this experience in a previous chapter titled “Another Gospel.” In short, God was calling me to draw closer in my relationship with Him.

Nowadays I do lean more toward Reformed or Calvinistic theology however I prefer to be known simply as a biblical Christian. I respect Martin Luther as a hero of the Reformation. I like John Bunyan, a Puritan who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress, and I like Charles Spurgeon, who was a renowned 19th-century Baptist preacher and a moderate Calvinist who affirmed the doctrines of grace.

The late Dr. John MacArthur, the late Voddie Baucham, the late R.C. Sproul, Alistair Begg, Paul Washer, and Sinclair Ferguson are some of my favorite present-day Calvinistic and/or Reformed preachers.

At the same time, I also like Arminian preachers and evangelists such as the late Dr. Charles Stanley from First Baptist Atlanta, the late Dr. Adrian Rogers from Love Worth Finding, and of course, the late Dr. Billy Graham, who is probably the most well-known evangelist of the 20th century. Now I do acknowlege there were some issues concerning Billy Graham’s ministry which I will not go into here but I do believe God used him to point many people to Christ, including me. I also like and use the evangelism tools from Ray Comfort’s Living Waters Ministries.

I believe God uses both Arminians and Calvinists to preach the gospel message and to teach us about the Bible. I appreciate this quote from Arminian pastor Leonard Ravenhill,

“Think like a Calvinist, live like an Arminian.”

I also like this quote from Martyn Lloyd-Jones: “I am a Calvinist: I believe in election and predestination; but I would not dream of putting it under the heading of essential. I put it under the heading of non-essential… You are not saved by your precise understanding of how this great salvation comes to you.”

So, whether you lean toward Arminianism or Calvinism theology, to me it’s really a non-essential issue.

I find debates between Arminianism and Calvinism interesting to a point, but I don’t like it when it turns into a soteriology or theology argument. Those who find themselves in frequent debates on this subject would make much better use of their time by sharing the gospel with a lost and dying world. Our job is telling; God’s job is saving.

I acually most prefer Christian apologist Ken Ham’s position concerning this topic. He rejects man-made theological labels like Calvinist and Arminian, preferring to describe himself simply as a biblical Christian. He states, “I’m both Calvinist and Arminian, and I’m neither Calvinist nor Arminian. When I say I’m both, it’s because, in many ways, I agree with both. When I say I’m neither, I’m saying I’m not one or the other.” He argues that man-made labels that often confuse Christians and that we have to be careful about defining things in human terms when we are dealing with a sovereign, infinite God. I agree with Ken Ham and I do appreciate his public stance on this matter.

I also like the response that Charles Spurgeon once gave to someone who asked him about his theology. Although he preferred to think of himself as a “mere Christian,” he also said, “I am never ashamed to avow myself a Calvinist,” and, “I do not hesitate to take the name of Baptist, but if I am asked what is my creed, I reply, ‘It is Jesus Christ.’”