Restitutio

  This is our second answer in our series on responding to your questions and comments.  In Off Script 38: Killing in War: A Christian View of Violence, we discussed whether it is appropriate for Christians to participate in war, concluding that Jesus’ command to love our enemies means that Christians should not kill others.  If you haven’t already, check out that episode first before listening or commenting on this one.  In this episode we respond to Zak’s comment.  He wrote: I really enjoyed this episode. It challenged my current worldview with scripture(a very good thing, even if not pleasant at times). I do have few questions. 1.Can none lethal self defense be put under “confrontational nonresistance” or is it always finding “exceptions to Jesus’ commands.” For example in the highly unlikely event that I would be walking a busy street and someone pulled out a gun and started shooting other people/family/etc. Would it be against the bible to(if I had the training)Disarm the individual. —— Links —— Listen to the episode that this comment came from: Off Script 38: Killing in War Check out these other posts on how Christians should love their enemies, including a full length debate between Christians on this issue More information about Christian pacifism: loveyourenemies.wordpress.com See other episodes responding to your questions and comments Intro music: “Protofunk” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

Welcome to our series answering your questions and responding to some of your comments.  We’ve been saving these up and over the next few weeks, we’ll address a number of them.  We’ve decided to do these in individual episodes, so if you’re not interested in the topic, you can just skip it and listen to the ones that matter to you.  As a result, these are each significantly shorter than our typical Off Script episodes. First up is a statement someone made on an old episode.  In Off Script 16: Christians Discussing Politics, we cited John Zmirak’s comment that he made on Unbelievable, a Christian talk radio show in London, as an example of inappropriate Christian discourse.  Zimrak said, I would vote for a dead moose strapped to the hood of a car in order to stop Hillary Clinton or really any of the Democrats in America because their policies are fundamentally incompatible with Christianity and really just with human decency. This episode responds to the following comment by Levi: A dead moose would in fact be less threatening to freedom of religion, the lives of the unborn, the sexual purity of our young people, etc etc etc. The left is an atheistic, perverted agenda and the Truth is, the Facts are such that no disciple of Christ should ever countenance no less support their godless agenda. —— Links —— Listen to the episode that this comment came from: Off Script 16: Christians Discussing Politics Check out these other posts on how Christians should think politically See other episodes responding to your questions and comments Intro music: “Protofunk” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

Have you ever heard the martyrdom argument for the resurrection of Jesus?  It goes something like this.  Jesus’ apostles faced persecution and martyrdom for their confession that God raised Jesus from the dead, sealing their witness with their blood.  Why would they die for a lie?  Their martyrdom unequivocally proves that they sincerely believed in Christ’s resurrection.  Since they were in a position to know if it was true or not, we have every reason to trust their testimony. However, if I asked you to prove to me that these apostles suffered martyrdom, how would you do it?  How do you know they died as martyrs?  The only apostle whose execution the bible records is James, the brother of John (Acts 12.2).  Furthermore, critics like Candida Moss have argued that the martyrdom stories we have are historically unreliable and are full of exaggerations at best and completely made up at worst.  This is where Sean McDowell’s research is so helpful for us.  He’s taken the time to sift through countless pages of primary documents to collect and then evaluate the martyrdom accounts of the apostles.  After rating the historical likelihood of each on a nine-point scale, he’s concluded that four of them definitely died for their faith: Peter, Paul, James the brother of Jesus, and James the brother of John.  In addition, he argues that two more have a probability greater than 50%, including Thomas and Andrew. —— Links —— Check out Sean McDowell’s book The Fate of the Apostles Follow McDowell on twitter: @Sean_McDowell Visit his personal website at seanmcdowell.org Listen to more Restitutio podcasts on apologetics Intro music: Jazzy Frenchy by bensound.com. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

Have you ever read the book of Ruth?  Though it’s only four chapters, it contains timeless truths that can help us today.  Our culture puts an incredible amount of pressure on spouses to never change, be perfectly compatible, and fulfill our deepest longings that it’s no wonder that singles often can’t seem to find the right one.  However, the lesson of Ruth’s life is that she pursued God and then he took care of finding her a spouse and even built her a lasting dynasty. —— Notes —— 1|Tragedy Strikes Ruth 1.1 The famine in the land left people with few options find a way to get food from someone who has some move to a land that is not experiencing famine starve Ruth 1.2-5  The widow’s options go back to family remarry (these were arranged) depend on charity of others practice prostitution starve Ruth 1.6-14 Naomi decides everyone should go with option 1 Ruth 1.15-18 Ruth abandons her country, her gods, and her family Background on Moab Moab was the son of Lot and his firstborn daughter (Gen 19.29-33, 37) God commanded Israel not to harass or fight with Moab (Deut 2.9) (but) Balak hired Balaam to curse Israel before they came into the promised land (Num 22.1-6) Moabite women seduced Israelite men to worship Baal (Num 25.1-3, 9; 31.16) God commanded that no Moabite should enter his assembly (Deut 23.3-6) During time of judges, Eglon, king of Moab, conquered Israel (Judges 3.12-14) 2|Ruth Gleans Ruth 2.1-12 Gleaning in the barley fields was an accepted norm for the poor Deut 23.25; 24.19, Lev 19.9 Mat 12.12 Ruth 2.20 Boaz is a potential redeemer 3|Ruth Proposes Ruth 3.1-14 Levirate marriage Deut 25.5-10; Gen 38.6-10 “Any childless widow had the right to expect her dead husband’s brother to marry her. If no brother existed, some more distant male relative was required to perform this duty.  Whichever relative married the widow became her “go’el” (redeemer or protector).  The first son born to the widow by the new marriage was counted as a child of the dead husband and inherited his property.”[1] 4|Boaz Redeems Ruth 4.1-17  Boaz does the right things and Naomi and Ruth both benefit Although she has every reason not to, Ruth chooses Yahweh and his people.  Even if it is a forbidden love, she wants the God of Naomi.  Instead of spurning her, this great lover accepts Ruth and provides for her.  She comes under the protection of his wings and he takes care of the rest.  Not only does he provide her with a husband and the means to thrive, but he grafts her into the ancestral tree that one day would sprout the branches of not only king David but even Jesus the Messiah!  Ruth is no longer an unfortunate Moabitess widow, but a matriarch—the great grandmother of David—and the premier example of a heart who found the love of her life. [1] Great People of the Bible and How They Lived, (Reader’s Digest Association, 1974), p. 132 —— Links —— To go deeper into this topic, check out Off Script 23: Worshiping Love For a great message on dealing with frustration and disappointment in marriage, see Podcast 12: Don’t Let Them Go (Keith Daniel) More podcasts and resources on marriage Intro music: Jazzy Frenchy by

Mary Willson, director of women’s initiatives for the Gospel Coalition, wrestles with a couple of the Old Testament texts that critics use to show that God hates women, including Deuteronomy 21.10-14 and Numbers 5.11-31.  First she looks at how we perceive these ancient scriptures from the perspective of our own culture, then she shows how they functioned in their original historical contexts.  She concludes that God gave these laws to protect women not oppress them. —— Links —— Check out Mary Willson’s writings at the The Gospel Coalition Intro music: “District Four” by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

In this last episode of our 500 class, we’ll cover a bunch of 20th century American groups including Christian Science, the Evangelicals, Plymouth Brethren, Pentecostals, Calvary Chapel, Vineyard Churches, Christian and Missionary Alliance, the Way International, the Worldwide Church of God, Scientology, the Moonies, and Megachurches (Rick Warren, Craig Groeschel, and Joel Osteen).  It’s a whirlwind, but it should aid you in making some interesting and helpful connections between present day Christian groups and their past. This is lecture 15 of a history of Christianity class called Five Hundred: From Martin Luther to Joel Osteen. All the notes are available here as a pdf. —— Notes —— Christian Science (a.k.a. Church of Christ, Scientist) (85,000) 1866 – Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910) experienced healing from back pain after studying the Gospels and devoted her life to studying healing 1875 – published findings in Science and Health early 20th century had major growth but declined towards the end   Evangelicals/Born Again Christians (similar to fundamentalists, but different focus) National Association of Evangelicals[1] defines an evangelical as someone who believes in The need for everyone to have a “born again” experience The engagement in missionary and social reform efforts The obedience to the Bible as ultimate authority Sacrifice of Christ on the cross as a central focus   Plymouth Brethren (1 million) 1827 meeting in Dublin, Ireland by John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) Father of dispensationalism including pre-tribulational rapture Dallas Theological Seminary’s Professor Dr. Chafer’s 1948 Systematic Theology I. Scofield Bible’s 1909 Study Bible W. Bullinger’s 1909 Companion Bible (finished in 1922) Hal Lindsey’s 1970 Late Great Planet Earth (a Dallas Theological Seminary graduate) Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins’ 1995 Left Behind 12-part series Met together in the name of the Lord without reference to a denomination 1831 – first meeting held in England at Plymouth; 1845 – assembly at Plymouth had 1,000 people Distinctives Avoidance of traditional symbols (no crosses, unembellished rooms, no stained glass) No membership, what matters is who is written in the Lamb’s book of life in heaven No clergy, but they have elders and sometimes support a “full-time worker” Weekly communion as a separate meeting from worship service (Quaker feel)   Pentecostals (279 million) Holiness Movement Asa Mahan (1799-1889), Charles Finney (1792-1875), Phoebe Palmer (1807-1874) 1881 – Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) founded (currently 1.2 million) 1895 – Church of the Nazarene founded (currently 2 million) Charles Parham (1873-1922), a holiness preacher, formulated the doctrine of “initial evidence” 1901 – During a service, a woman asked for prayer and the laying on hands to be filled with the holy spirit and started speaking in tongues. William Seymour (1870-1922) One of Parham’s students, an African American 1906 – Seymour went to LA and ignited the Azusa Street Revival, which lasted until 1915 People came from all over to see/experience tongues, including Europe

How do you deal with difficult people? Jesus teaches us that there’s nothing noteworthy about showing love to those who love us. Rather, he says we are to be like God who sends rain on the just and the wicked. He calls us to love annoying people, boring people, monopolizing people, vengeful people, shallow people, prideful people, and all other kinds of difficult people. We are not free to set our own artificial boundary on love, instead we must love without limits. Listen to this powerful message by Victor Gluckin, originally taught at Revive 2018.  This sermon will challenge you to strengthen your relationship with God since he alone can sustain you with his love so you can freely love those who don’t love you back. —— Links —— Listen to all the other messages from Revive 2018 Find out more about pastor Victor Gluckin at his church website or follow him on Twitter Browse other Restitutio episodes with Victor Gluckin 115 Don’t Put It on a Cart 79 Proud of Our God 66: What I’ve Been Saved From 24: Now Is Our Time To Speak Intro music: “District Four” by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

The 1800s was an exciting time for Christianity in America. At the same time that secularism and liberal Christianity made huge gains, several renewal movements occurred throughout the land, including the Second Great Awakening. In this episode you learn about the birth of the Protestant missionary movement with the Moravians and the Baptists, how the various Adventist denominations got their start, and last of all the most successful made-in-America religion–Mormonism. These thumbnail sketches will help you understand a number of groups that are still around today. This is lecture 14 of a history of Christianity class called Five Hundred: From Martin Luther to Joel Osteen. All the notes are available here as a pdf. —— Notes —— Pietism (late 17th c. to 20th c.) Movement within Reformed and Lutheran countries (happened during Enlightenment) 1675 – Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705) published Pious Desires The earnest and thorough study of the Bible in private meetings Laity should share in the spiritual government of the Church Knowledge of Christianity must be attended by the practice A sympathetic and kindly treatment of Christians of other groups Universities should give more prominence to the devotional life Rather than pleasing rhetoric, preach to implant Christianity in the inner man Emphasized inner life and conversion Millennialism (Pietists had millennialist leanings) Continued baptizing infants but de-emphasized it in favor of conversion experience Halle in Saxony established as center of Pietism   Moravians (Unitas Fratrum) Descendants of the 15th Hussites; persecuted during 30 years war in Bohemia In late 17th c., they went to Poland; 18th c. they went to Saxony 1722 – Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760), a Pietist who attended school at Halle (godson to Spener) gave the Moravians land which became the community of Herrnhut 1731 – Some Moravians went to the coronation of the King of Denmark. 1732 – Johann Leonhard Dober (1706-1766) chose David Nitschmann (1695-1772) as his travelling companion; petitioned the Danish government for passage to St. Thomas in Virgin Islands Teaching them about God and how to read and write In less than a century, the Pietist Moravians sent 300 missionaries throughout the world and baptized some 3,000 converts. Moravian motto: “In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; and in all things, love” Today, around 825,000 members worldwide (largest concentration is in Tanzania)   Modern Missions 1792 – William Carey (1761-1834) published An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens Used the best available geographic and ethnographic data to map and count the number of people who had never heard the gospel “It is inconsistent for ministers to please themselves with thoughts of a numerous auditory, cordial friends, a civilized country, legal protection, affluence, splendor, or even a competency. The flights, and hatred of men, and even pretended friends, gloomy prisons, and tortures, the society of barbarians of uncouth speech, miserable accommodations in wretched wildernesses, hunger, and thirst, nakedness, weariness, and painfulness, hard work, and but little worldly encouragement should rather be the objects of their expectation. Thus the apostles act

This is part two of our discussion about Charles Mathewes’ Washington Post article, “White Christianity is in big trouble. And it’s its own biggest threat.”  Check out part one here.  In this episode we consider gun control, immigration, the death penalty, and treatment of the poor in an effort to understand and respond to evangelicalism’s ongoing public relations problem.  Are “white evangelicals” as Mathewes puts it “a breathtakingly cruel bunch?” —— Links —— Read the original Washington Post article here Listen to part one of this discussion: Off Script 40: Roy Moore, Gay Wedding Cakes, and White Evangelicals Check out these Off Script episodes mentioned in this discussion: Off Script 38: Killing in War (A Christian View of Violence) Off Script 28: Seeking a Christian View on Refugees and Immigrants Off Script 37: Killing Criminals (A Christian View of Capital Punishment) Off Script 16: Christians Discussing Politics Intro music: “Protofunk” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.  

This lecture covers the two main types of criticisms leveled against Christianity during the Enlightenment period: biblical and philosophical.  In addition you’ll see how some Christians dug their heals in and worked hard to defend their faith while others gave ground but reinterpreted Christianity in a way that would not only survive the criticisms but also attract “cultured despisers.”  We’ll conclude with a brief sketch of unitarianism in America. This is lecture 13 of a history of Christianity class called Five Hundred: From Martin Luther to Joel Osteen. All the notes are available here as a pdf. —— Notes —— Early Views of Biblical Inspiration “The Holy Spirit did not simply inspire the meaning or sense of the words contained in Scripture, which the prophets and apostles then set forth, expressed, and embellished with their own words by their own will.  The Holy Spirit supplied, inspired, and dictated the very words and each and every utterance to the writers.” –Johann Quenstedt (1623-1687)[1] “The Hebrew Original of the Old Testament…is, not only in its consonants, but in its vowels—ether the vowel points themselves, or at least the power of the points—not only in its matter, but in its words, inspired of God” –Helvetic Consensus (1675)[2]   In the 18th c., we have Deism and Pietism. In the 19th c., we have higher criticism and revivalism. In the 20th c., we have secularism and Pentecostalism.   Enlightenment[3] (1650-1890) Not an organized movement but widespread current of thought Critical of superstition, enthusiasm, fanaticism, and supernaturalism Philosophy is no longer the handmaiden of theology but an independent field Though in France the Enlightenment was anti-Christian, it was embraced by Christians in other places like England and Germany Three phases (according to Alister McGrath) Demonstrating the rational nature of Christian belief (John Locke’s The Reasonableness of Christianity) Could derive Christian beliefs from reason alone Reason sits in judgment over revelation 1751 French Encyclopédie: multi-volumes covering all human knowledge and written by atheist Denis Diderot (1713-1784) and the Philosophes   Deism (17th-18th centuries) Revelation, ritual, and traditional practices minimized or written off as superstitious Clergy criticized for Keeping people in bondage Monopolizing truth using their authority Freedom to inquire and religious toleration Essence of religion is morality expressed in universal principles Idea that all religions contained the same basic moral precepts 1738: Pope Clement XII denounced Deism Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) Cut miracles out of the gospels[4] Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)   Philosophical Criticisms of Christianity 1656 – Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) excommunicated from Talmud Torah congregation 1777 – Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion by David Hume (1711-1778) Only have knowledge of what we directly experience (empiricist) Cannot determine cause from effect (the world does not point to a creator) Miracles were made up, based on hearsay, or the result of ignora