19 Oh, how great is Your goodness, Which You have laid up for those who fear You, Which You have prepared for those who trust in You In the presence of the sons of men!
20 You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence From the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion From the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be the Lord, For He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city!
The Bible teaches moral absolutes, which contrasts with a world that promotes moral relativism. We have to rely on God's wisdom to show us what is truly good, and to depend on God to release His goodness in our lives through Christ. But, no one can produce this true goodness in and of themselves; the Bible tells us none is righteous. We are responsible to follow Christ and point people to the One who is truly good, who wants us to know and experience Him.
+++++
In a world that is rushing headlong to destruction, we can find a sense of goodness in the presence of Almighty God. The book of Nahum, chapter 1, contains these words:
5 The mountains quake before Him, The hills melt, And the earth heaves at His presence, Yes, the world and all who dwell in it.
6 Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, And the rocks are thrown down by Him.
7 The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him.
8 But with an overflowing flood He will make an utter end of its place, And darkness will pursue His enemies.
A professor from Canada has attracted quite a following, and recently, he had some words of challenge to the Church. That professor would be one Jordan Peterson. The Daily Citizen website of Focus on the Family noted recently:
Even though Peterson has publicly denied his atheism and philosophical materialism, he has not declared kinship with any traditional faith, be it Christian or otherwise. But he has certainly shown an inordinate interest in some of the deepest things Christian and that is certainly worth watching.
Peterson, not too long ago, released a 10-minute video called, Message to the Christian Churches. He speaks to the issue of men being involved with the Church. The article says:
Today’s man belongs in Church and this video is a powerful and passionate call for all churches in every community to put out a man-sized welcome mat to each and every one. In fact, Jordan Peterson says every church should put out a billboard (literally) in their community welcoming every man to find a home there.
“Invite the young men back” Peterson tells all pastors with his trademark moral gusto. He adds, “Say literally, to those young men, ‘You are welcome here. If no one else wants what you have to offer, we do.’”
Here is a portion of the appeal, in Peterson's own words:
The Christian Church is there to remind people, young men included, perhaps even first and foremost, that…
They have a woman to find.
A garden to walk in.
A family to nurture.
An ark to build.
A land to conquer.
A ladder to heaven to build.
And the utter, terrible catastrophe of life to face, stalwartly, in truth, devoted to love and without fear.
Perhaps a health crisis in the life of Peterson's wife has pushed him closer to the Christian faith. That seems to be the point of an article at the God Reports website that was released not too long ago. The article opens up this way:
Mom’s rare form of cancer offered a bleak 0% survival rate, but she declared to her husband – mystically – “I’ll be better by our anniversary.”
Daughter Mikhaila Peterson dismissed the proclamation as “spooky weird.” But when Mom recovered a month later on the day of her anniversary, Mikhaila “couldn’t logic my way out of that.”
“How did you get better?” she asked Mom.
“God,” was her cryptic reply.
Mikhaila is now a professing Christian, according to God Reports, with her mother's close call with death being what the article calls a "critical factor" in her conversion. Here's what occurred after that encounter I described earlier:
Mikhaila didn’t immediately become a Christian.Note the progression in Jordan Peterson's life: from atheism to at least an affinity for Christianity. And, a crisis may have been a catalyst in the process. Certainly, it appears that God is at work in this family's life, and can be a reminder to us of these Bible's message and the goodness and hope that it can bring. Peterson certainly related that sense of goodness in that passage I shared earlier.
She was going through a painful divorce, and other things in her life were not good.
She opened up to a friend, who encouraged her to pray.
“Just ask God to reveal himself to you,” the friend told her.
She did. Things turned around in her life.
“There were like four parts of my life that were heading in a bad direction,” she relates. “They all kind of turned to head in a better direction.”
She took this to be the proof she was seeking from God. She now identifies as a Christian.
“I’m mostly just reading the Bible a lot, multiple times and trying to understand as much as I can,” she says.
Jordan Peterson is known as a philosopher, an intellectual, an insightful person. He is eligible, like any other intellectual to be a follower of Christ. There are those that claim faith and reason are incompatible. Jesus taught we are to love the Lord with our minds. But, worldly reason, humanistic wisdom are certainly at odds with the gospel, so we have to make sure that our mental energy is consumed by a passion to know God better.
No comments:
Post a Comment