Another article from the Final Word

Do you ever read the religion section in the newspaper? Well, it is not my usual custom to do so but just recently I stumbled upon an article in ‘The Review ’. There is a section called “Give Me The Bible” with a weekly biblical thought. I was intrigued by the title and the subject for the week – Original Sin. I didn’t have to get very far to see that the author of this little article was not going to do what the title suggests. You see the title suggests that the author is going to give his readers “the Bible”. But two sentences into his article he says, “I do not believe this is a doctrine taught in the Bible, but is popular in the religious community”. May I suggest that both parts of that sentence are erroneous.

#1. The idea that this doctrine of original sin is not taught in the Bible
#2. The idea that this doctrine of original sin is popular in the religious community.

While it is true, unfortunately, that many things that are popular in the religious community are not necessarily taught in the Bible, this is not one of those teachings. First of all, there is nothing more misunderstood and therefore not accepted as the doctrine of original sin.

Pastor John MacArthur laments the widespread loss of biblical reality among the religious community when he says, “we are rapidly losing sight of sin as the root of all human woes. And many Christians are explicitly denying that their own sin can be the cause of their personal anguish. More and more are attempting to explain the human dilemma in wholly unbiblical terms: temperament, addiction, dysfunctional families, the child within, codependency, and a host of other irresponsible escape mechanisms promoted by secular psychology. The potential impact of such a drift is frightening. Remove the reality of sin, and you take away the possibility of repentance. Abolish the doctrine of human depravity and you void the divine plan of salvation. Erase the notion of personal guilt and you eliminate the need for a Savior.”

As MacArthur explains, the church (the religious community) has lost sight of the doctrine of original sin. It is not popular in the world and therefore it is no longer a popular teaching in the church. But, this is where our problem lies – we are taking our cues from what is popular in the world or what is accepted among the majority instead of what the Word of God says!

The author of the article in the paper goes on to try and defend his position that original sin is not taught in the Bible. But nothing could be further from the truth. All of God’s Word teaches this very important doctrine. The Bible tells us that sin is not simply the wrong things that I do or even not doing the things that I should. We are not sinners because we sin, but we sin because we are sinners. The Bible describes sin as a nature that manifests itself in the sins that we commit. Our very nature, the internal character that is the essence of who we are as persons, is sinful.

So, where did this nature come from? Well, our answer lies in the title “original sin”. Its origin comes from the fall of man recorded for us in Genesis chapter 3. It was here in the garden where Adam (as the representative for all mankind) sinned by rejecting the Creator God as Lord and Authority over his life. While Adam’s sin plunged us all into ruin, you and I have often made the same irrational decisions of rejecting God and wanting to be our own authority. This is what was intended by Friedrich Nietzsche when he once stated, “if there is a god, how can I bear not to be that god?”. What a tragic statement and yet maybe Nietzsche was more willing to be honest about his own heart’s battle than the average person. He was revealing that he wanted to be god and lord and ultimately this is the sin of every man and woman. If we think it is unfair that Adam’s sin is part of our being even before we are born, just remember that our constant rebellion against God demonstrates that we too have voluntarily committed many actual sins for which we are guilty. In Psalm 51, David cries out to God for mercy upon his sin. He is so overwhelmed by his sin (a specific act that he had committed) that as he looks back on his life and realizes that he was sinful from the beginning. As far back as he can think of himself, he realizes that he has had a sinful nature. In fact, when he was born or “brought forth” from his mother’s womb, he was brought forth in iniquity. Some have mistakenly thought that the sin of David’s mother is in view here, but this is incorrect. The entire context has nothing to do with David’s mother but all to do with David’s personal sin.

But there is good news with this message as well. While we are all born “in Adam”, God has devised a way for us to be saved or redeemed from our sin. The Bible says that there is a second Adam. And just as we are represented by Adam in his sin, God has sent a Man to represent us in “His righteousness”. Adam, our first representative sinned – and God counted us guilty. But Christ, the representative of all who believe in Him, obeyed God perfectly – and God counts us righteous. One of my favorite verses is Romans 5:8 that says “even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. The question has to be asked, when did Christ die? Was I even alive yet? Of course not, but notice how the Bible considers me already a sinner when Christ died for me. I hadn’t committed any actual sins but I was already guilty and in need of a Savior. Jesus died in my place, the innocent for the guilty.

Many of you are old enough to remember when Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon. I have seen newspapers the day after that great event that declared “We landed on the moon!”. The newspapers are not just American newspapers but newspapers from all over the world. Why would they say “we” and not just simply Neil Armstrong? There was an understanding that what he did represented all of mankind. In fact, we still quote his words today – “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. In the same way, Adam in his sin took all mankind down with him. But, in the most glorious way, Christ defeated sin and death and hell when he died and rose again. So for all of those who believe and trust in Christ, we are made alive with Him and our “original or inherited sin” is defeated!

For further study read:
Rom. 5:12-21
I Cor. 15
Psalm 51

Article from the Final Word!

Whether you are home-schooling your children or not, we can all agree that God’s Word teaches that our homes should be the center of our children’s learning. The home is where it all begins and any education that our children might receive should be secondary to what they receive from us as parents. If it is true that God expects us as parents to be constantly teaching and training our children then it is critical that we are good educators. But how can we be good educators unless we ourselves are good learners? This is where the “classical” model has been so helpful. The goal of a classical education is to teach students “how” to learn by equipping them with the tools of learning. An early emphasis is placed upon basic learning skills, followed by formal instruction in logic and finally by development of clear verbal and written mechanisms of expression in each subject studied. In other words, the classical model uses a model of education called the Trivium. The Trivium divides the education process into three stages: grammar, dialectic and rhetoric. Students begin by learning the fundamental facts and rules of each subject. This is how we usually teach our children from the earliest ages up until approximately fifth grade. Teaching methods such as singing, drilling, chanting and recitation are emphasized. The second stage of learning is the dialectic stage. Here students are taught how to analyze, reason, question, evaluate and critique. The third and final stage of the Trivium is rhetoric. In the study of rhetoric, students learn how to express what they know and what they are learning. Debate, apologetics, speech and writing are emphasized during this stage.

Again, the goal of a classical education is to teach students “how” to learn and to give them the proper tools to do so. My biggest disappointment with education (my own and when I was on staff in a Christian school) has been in this very critical area. While most educators attempt to at least take their students through the grammar stage of learning (driving home truths), what I saw missing greatly was the second and third stages. It is in the area of “logic” that so many of our educators and churches are failing. While we may pour out information to our students and children, we have not taught them how to reason and logically think through ideas yet alone to be able to articulate these truths and reason with others in a persuasive manner.

In fact, it seems to be that most educators do not even see these stages as important parts of a student’s education. But, as we look at Scripture, these are critical parts of what God requires us to do as we teach our children. Our first priority as parents is to pass on the faith to our children. If we desire to do this, we must help our children walk through all three of these stages. We must pour truth into them (using tools like the Heidelberg Catechism), then help them when they have questions to reason and think logically. Then finally to be able to take these very truths and present them to others in a way that is winsome and persuasive. So much of what I am describing is wrapped up in God’s mandate to parents to pass on the faith to their children.

In conclusion, let me make a couple of important points. First, please do not see these stages as age-related. It is not as if you move from one stage to another when you go from elementary school to middle school or high school to college. In fact, you and I are constantly going through all three stages all the time. Anytime we learn something new or take on a new project (remodeling the house or gardening) we learn in this same manner. The only way we can truly say we got to the final “rhetoric” stage is when we have mastered the material enough to be able to put it into action or to teach it to others. Second, the most important tools in educating our children (and ourselves) are good books. Of course, for the Christian this begins with God’s Holy Word. Reading is absolutely critical and unfortunately, we are battling our culture at every turn in this area. Years ago it was normal for children to take a good book along with them on a long trip in the car. But, as you know, this is not the case anymore. Our culture has now moved to an electronic and image-based culture which has altered our sensibilities. We no longer read to cause ourselves to “think” but we quickly skim over to get needful information. Since God’s Word is God’s means to salvation, we ought to take very seriously the importance of reading and thinking through text (and no, not text messages). If you and I believe that knowing God is the most important thing for this life and the next, then knowing God’s Word (which is His means of making Himself known) is critical. So, if you and I have no taste or attention span for reading and mulling over texts of Scripture we have a serious problem that can affect our spiritual walk. Finally, there is one final element that I think must be emphasized in our educating of our children. Men, God calls us to be the “leaders” in this area. Whether it be in our church or in our homes, we are to model this to our wives and to our children. We must take the challenge to be “learners” first and then to teach others also.