Restitutio

It’s impossible to understand the kingdom of God or Jesus without having a grasp of the history-changing promises God made with Abraham and David.  To Abraham God covenanted the land and to David, a descendant to rule.  Ultimately these two covenants find their fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth–the Messiah. This is lecture 2 of the Kingdom of God class, originally taught at the Atlanta Bible College.  To take this class for credit, please contact ABC so you can do the work necessary for a grade. Notes: defining a covenant בְּרִית: agreement, alliance, covenant, pact The brit milah (Hebrew: בְּרִית מִילָה‎‎, pronounced [bʁit miˈla]; Ashkenazi pronunciation: [bʁis ˈmilə], “covenant of circumcision”; Yiddish pronunciation: bris [bʀɪs]) is a Jewish religious male circumcision ceremony performed by a mohel (“circumciser”) on the eighth day of a male infant’s life. (Wikipedia) ἡ διαθήκη: a will, covenant, contract Καινή Διαθήκη: new testament where do we have covenants in our society? marriage, homeowner associations, airports Abraham (Land Promise) Gen 12.1-4: the pre-covenant 1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. move to this land and I will bless you make your name great bless those who bless you and curse those who dishonor you all families of earth will be blessed in you Gen 12.5-7 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.  7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. Abram obeyed: this is the key to everything v7 is the first land promise Gen 17.1-12, 23-27: the blood covenant 1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”  3 Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him,  4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.  5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. Abram gets renamed Abraham (a father of a multitude of nations) ironic that the first Hebrew is “the father of many peoples” 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. v7 everlasting covenant!

What role does doubt play in your life?  Do you think of it as something to push aside and ignore or do you pursue your doubts to get answers?  In this episode we examine the role of doubt for Christians, avoiding both extremes of refusing to engage with doubt as well as obsessing on it.  Our goal is to face doubt honestly and ask God for help as we do the hard work of getting good answers. Links: See Sean Kelly’s Off Script on Resting from Work Apologetics Class podcast episodes (on Restitutio) Releveant.com articles on doubt Unbelievable podcast with Justin Brierley William Lane Craig’s apologetics site: ReasonableFaith.org Craig Blomberg’s Historical Reliability of the Gospels Tim Keller’s book Reasons for God and Making Sense of God Intro music: “Protofunk” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

Today we begin a new class on Restitutio on the Kingdom of God. Jesus said the kingdom was like a treasure hidden in a field—it’s so valuable it’s worth selling everything to purchase. He said to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness above what we eat or wear. In this class we’ll spend a great deal of time exploring what the bible teaches about the kingdom, including hope, gospel, and way. We will also work through the main reasons why Christianity lost the kingdom before looking at how some Christians recovered it. This class will not only provide a panoramic and nuanced view of the kingdom, but it will also offer a cohesive proleptic ethic to aid navigating our complex world while remaining true to Jesus, the king of the coming kingdom. In this first lecture we look at the bookends of the bible: Genesis and Revelation. By developing a robust creation theology we’ll have a better grasp on what the end will be like. In addition to looking at Genesis, we’ll consider some of the marvels of God’s creation, including relativity, quantum theory, the hydrologic cycle, and bees. In the end my goal is to convince you that God did a good job making our world so it makes sense that he would want to restore it in the end. This is lecture 1 of the Kingdom of God class, originally taught at the Atlanta Bible College.  To take this class for credit, please contact ABC so you can do the work necessary for a grade. Notes: eschatology = study of the end two key restoration texts Matthew 19.28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. ἡ παλιγγενεσία: (1) state of being renewed with focus on a cosmic experience, renewal, (2) experience of complete change of life, rebirth NASB: regeneration Acts 3.21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. ἡ ἀποκατάστασις: restoration this is what the whole bible is about! creation theology close your eyes and picture earth ever since 1972 when an astronaut took this picture, called “The Blue Marble” during the Apollo 17 lunar mission, this is how we think of earth if I asked an ancient Israelite to picture earth, they would think of soil, land, crops so, we have to be very careful about reading our own assumptions into what the bible says we need to adjust our thinking to the bible rather than the other way around the first book of the bible begins with a poem, detailing God’s creation of universe Genesis 1 what repeats? And God said let there be and God saw that it was good and there was evening and there was morning—the ?? day every stanza begins with, “And God said” and “let there be” every stanza ends with, “and God saw that it was good” and “it was evening and morning” more patterns God creates heavens on day 1 God populates heavens on day 4 God creates the waters on day 2 God populates waters on day 5 God creates the land on day 3 God populates the land on day 6 orderliness of creation! billions of stars, galaxies, and quasars and they move in totally predictable ways millions of plant and animal species w/ highly specialized niches determined by insanely detai

Christians protecting Muslims while they prayed in Tahrir Square, Egypt in 2011 On January 27, 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order 13769, called “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,” in which he banned immigration from seven countries, including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.  This unpopular order caused much controversy throughout the US and led to significant litigation, delaying it’s implementation.  Much of the president’s motivation for this order (and subsequent revisions) is to protect Americans from terrorists posing as refugees.  In this episode we look at few significant biblical passages on sojourners (immigrants) and attempt to stake out a Christian position on this subject.  Whether you are for or against immigration, this episode should help you think through your position from a distinctly Christian perspective. Links: 99% Invisible podcast on the Sanctuary Movement of the 1980s: podcast 1, podcast 2 Washington Post article: ‘Now they live in the light’: A Syrian refugee family finds only love and compassion in America “World Poverty, Immigration, & Gumballs” by Roy Beck visually demonstrates how immigration cannot solve world poverty Jeff Palmer, executive director of Baptist Global Response: “Caring for Refugees from the Middle East” (interview with Darrell Bock on The Table Podcast) Info about Stan and Pam Chee’s ministry to Chinese students at the University of Toronto Intro music: “Protofunk” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

In the last episode (Boundaries for Same-Sex Attraction), we looked at what the bible says about same-sex attraction.  In this one, we consider seven important questions about gay and lesbian Christians: How should same-sex attracted Christians think of themselves? Isn’t the Christian sexual ethic harmful to gays and lesbians? Is having same-sex feelings a sin? Can someone go from gay to straight? Do people choose to be gay or are they born gay? As a Christian, how should I treat gay people? How can we support same-sex attracted folks who choose Christ over their sexual gratification? Links: Becket Cook’s podcast, YouTube talk Sam Allberry’s book: Is God Anti-Gay?, website: LivingOut.org Rosaria Butterfield’s book: Secretly Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert Jackie Hill-Perry podcast Mark Yarhouse’s book: Homosexuality: The Use of Scientific Research in the Church’s Moral Debate Wesley Hill: Celibacy as a Call to Love (YouTube) Intro music: “District Four” by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. Notes: Becket Cook’s story can help us think through some really tough questions related to same-sex attraction.[1]  Our culture pressures us through songs, movies, and stories about finding romance to believe singleness is inferior to relationships.  It’s easy to get the impression that to achieve human flourishing and experience humanity to its fullest, you need to get married (or at least be in a serious relationship).  What does that say about Jesus?  Are we saying he wasn’t a full human being?  Did Christ mope around, longing for romance?  Did the great missionary Paul think singleness was a curse?  Far from it, he wrote, “To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am” (1 Cor 7.8).  He goes on to extol the benefits of celibate singleness, including freedom from worrying about how to please a spouse and freedom to serve the Lord better.  He concludes, “So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better…Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is [i.e. single]” (1 Cor 7:38, 40). Question 1: How should same-sex attracted Christians think of themselves?  Sam Allberry, author of Is God Anti-Gay, an excellent book, writes: The gospel of Jesus is wonderful news for someone who experiences same-sex attraction.  I used the term “same-sex attraction” just then because an immediate challenge is how I describe myself.  In western culture today the obvious term for someone with homosexual feelings is “gay.”  But in my experience this often refers to far more than someone’s sexual orientation.  It has come to describe an identity and a lifestyle. When someone says they’re g

Is it a sin to be gay? What does the bible say about same-sex attraction? In this episode you’ll become familiar with the relevant scriptures that talk about homosexuality. You’ll also learn what arsenokoitai (ἀρσενοκοῖται) means in 1 Corinthians 6.9, a key battleground text for discussions of biblical sexuality. Here the Apostle Paul pulls from the Greek translation of Leviticus 20.13 as well as Roman sexual sensibilities to condemn both active and passive participants of same-sex acts.  Whether you believe in accepting gay lifestyles or think homosexual behavior is sinful, it’s important to get a grasp on what the bible says about this incredibly controversial subject. Notes: Creation provides the foundation for what the bible says about human sexuality: Genesis 2:23-24 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”  24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. God’s original design was a man and a woman, complementing each other in marriage.  However, when our first parents rebelled, humanity fell from its original condition.  The serpent asked, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” (Gen 3:1).  After Eve confirmed God’s restriction not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the serpent said, “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3.5).  He wanted the first people to distrust God, to think he’s holding them back, to imagine he’s restricting them from enjoying something good.  As a result Adam and Eve committed high treason against their maker in an act of open rebellion.  Consequently “fallenness” contaminated them and their descendants ever since. Romans 5.12, 17, 18, 19 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…17 because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man… 18 one trespass led to condemnation for all men…19 by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners… Today we are imperfect mirrors stamped with God’s image, but broken in all kinds of ways.  Some of us are tempted with losing our tempers, others with adultery, still others with greed.  Our fallen condition means that from birth we are out of tune with how God wants for us to think and live.  Of course, redemption is available in Christ today and ultimately complete restoration will flood our world when the kingdom comes, healing everyone from sinful impulses, physical sickness, and relational dysfunction. Although the incident in Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19) is the first mention of same-sex desire, it’s not particularly helpful for figuring out the bible’s position on homosexuality, since the men of the city wanted to rape the visitors.  (Rape, of course, is condemned throughout scripture.)  Instead, we’ll begin in the Law of Moses with two texts in Leviticus. Leviticus 18.22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. abomination: something that causes disgust or hatred.  Example: “Although once common, torture is now an abomination to the civilized peoples of the earth.”[1] Lest you think abomination is a radical word, solely used for sexual acts, here are some other abominations in scripture: for Egyptians to eat with Hebrews (Gen 43:32) the gold and silver on idols (Deut 7:25) child sacrifice (Deut 12:31) eating unclean animals (Deut 14:3) practicing magic or sorcery (Deut 18:9-10) prideful eyes, lying, shedding innocent blood, devising

Jackie Hill-Perry used to dress like a boy to go out and pick up girls. She ended up in a long-term relationship with another woman, but then she came to a sudden realization that she was living a lie. She’s completely changed her life and now embraces her femininity and even got married to a man (Preston Perry). She’s a poet, a hip-hop artist, and a powerful speaker.  This is her testimony.  Warning! This episode contains sexually explicit content and is not appropriate for children. Notes: Watch”My Life as a Stud” on YouTube here and here. Listen to “The Art of Joy” album here Also, see a powerful piece about the conversation Adam and Eve may have had after the Fall Visit Jackie Hill-Perry’s official website at jackiehillperry.com More Restitutio posts about same-sex attraction Intro music: “District Four” by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

Meet Becket Cook.  He’s a very well-connected gay fashion set designer who has traveled the world, attended the Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmys, etc., and rubbed shoulders with Hollywood’s A-list actors.  One day he saw Christians reading their bibles in a trendy coffee shop in LA and engaged them in conversation.  One of them invited Cook to church and he went to check it out.  That Sunday God encountered him in a spectacular way that instantaneously changed his life from that day forward.  God gave him a vision of his holiness and in a moment Cook knew that God was real, Jesus was real, eternal life was real and that homosexuality was wrong.  In addition to his testimony, I ask him what questions he gets asked, including: Can you be a Christian if you’re gay Isn’t it unfair that you don’t get to have a partner for the rest of your life? Are you straight now that you’re a Christian? Are people born gay? Cook answers these questions confidently and biblically.  Throughout this interview his enthusiasm for God and life will draw you in.  Even though his conversion was nearly eight years ago, Cook says he wakes up every day “in awe of God and his holiness and his grace on me.” He’s just about to finish up his seminary degree at BIOLA (Talbot), working with JP Moreland and others.  His goal is to develop a ministry that helps the church understand homosexuality biblically, theologically, culturally, and personally. Notes and Links: To get in touch with Cook or to book him to speak at your church or event, visit becketcook.com or email him becket@becketcook.com Watch his excellent talk at BIOLA from 2014 on YouTube Check out these other Restitutio posts on Christians who struggle with same sex attraction Also, watch these YouTube testimonies about Christians who’ve left the gay/lesbian lifestyle Rosaria Butterfield Christopher Yuan Jackie Hill Wesley Hill Sam Allberry Caleb Kaltenbach Intro music: “District Four” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.  

The best chapter on resurrection in the bible is 1 Corinthians 15. In it, the Apostle Paul masterfully lays out the Christian position on resurrection while overcoming common objections in the culture. As it turns out, people living in Corinth thought the idea of resurrection seemed real bizarre.  Looking at tombstone inscriptions, Plato’s Phaedo, and Celsus’ criticism of Christianity, we can get a sense for why the Corinthians balked at resurrection.  However, there’s no way around it; if we get rid of our belief in resurrection, then Jesus himself is not raised and our faith is worthless.  But, since Jesus is risen, we know that resurrection is possible and it awaits God’s people on the last day. Notes: More episodes on resurrection Podcast 56: Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus (William Lane Craig) Podcast 57: More Evidence for the Resurrection (NT Wright) Podcast 47: Resurrection Implications (Richard Hays) Intro music: “District Four” by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

How does salvation work?  Is Israel still God’s chosen people or are they on the same footing as everyone else now that the Messiah has come?  In Off Script episode 17, Is Jesus the Only Way to God?, Brian wrote in, inquiring if a Torah-observant Jew could be saved even if he or she didn’t believe in Jesus.  He sharpened his question by pointing out how painfully aware many Jews are of how Jesus’ followers have horribly mistreated their people over the centuries. In this interview, Matthew Elton deftly works his way through several of Paul’s epistles, giving special attention to Romans 9 to find an answer.  Whether you are interested in Jewish-Christian relations or struggle to understand the doctrine of election, this bible-heavy interview is sure to stimulate your thinking on these important issues. Notes and Links: Check out Off Script 17: Is Jesus the Only Way to God? Listen to another interview with Elton called Churchology vs. Christianity from way back when he was still in high school. Visit here to read a number of Elton’s theological articles, especially the one called “A Free Will Perspective on Romans 9 and Predestination“ Intro music: “District Four” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.