The Top 10 Articles of 2015

As 2015 will soon come to a close, it's time to look back at the articles that sparked the most interest in 2015. The list below starts with the most popular article and is based on unique page views:

1. "Why I am Post-Reformed" by Danny Dowell
2. "Grace which Moves" by Danny
3. "Why Christianity" by Danny
4. "God's Consistent Nearness to the Christian" by Michelle Dowell
5. "Numbers and Names" by Danny
6. "Love as Debt" by Danny
7. "Unpredictability of Life" by Michelle
8. "6 Articles on Grace" by Michelle
9. "Trusting the Goodness of God" by Danny
10. "Keeping Focus in Christianity" by Danny

Thanks for visiting the blog this year!

Christian Maturity

Often we think of Christianity as giving up things.  I suppose it is a viewpoint often promoted by the church either directly or by misunderstanding.

It is true that God asks us to follow Jesus and to leave many old ways behind.  But Christianity is never so much about what we give up as what we gain.

The prize of fellowship with God.  Christianity is not understood until it is understood as joy.

Not simply joy delayed, but present joy.  We have a faith which encourages and promotes true joy.

The world and forces of darkness wish to present to us the false notion that we give up so much and receive so little.  Really we receive so much and give up so little.

A Rhetorical Makeover

At times the theology of today needs a rhetorical makeover.  Often what is said is not wrong, but we live in an age where ideas spread quickly and are taken out of context easily.

Often we need to clarify and speak simply our message as Christian to not be misunderstood.  This is a good thing for the Church because the Church is hindered not so much by simple expressions as it is hindered by those who refuse to clarify their thought.

We need to speak clearly with compassion and truth.  God meets us where we are.

He asks us to follow him and leave where we.  Christianity is a joyous religion.

Christian communication needs to communicate that joy.  The gospel is good news.  Preaching and Christian writing should try to communicate the joy and goodness of Christian faith.

True Respect

True respect between people requires an ability for them to disagree without damaging the relationship. We can have fellowship with people who we do not agree with on every point.

There are many essentials in the Christian faith, but there are many non-essentials where we may have liberty. In relationships with respect we can have fellowship with those whom with we disagree in non-essentials.

Too often we find we or others cannot have respectful dialogue or fellowship with those who disagree with us in non-essentials. Often an over zealousness to defend the Christian faith on non-essential issues is a sign of a weak faith.

A weak faith often cannot distinguish what is important or not important in faith. It cannot grasp that not all truth is worth fighting over. Too often we see minor debates over the small meaning of this or that verse become overblown issues.

There are certain over arching essential principles where there must be unity, but there are a massive number of important but minor key ideas in Christianity where we can respectfully disagree with others whom we have complete fellowship because the issues are minor and of not much consequence.

Christianity is about finding what God finds important. If God finds the poor, justice in the public sphere, missions, heaven and hell important then we must find these things important important (and God does find all of these things important).

Christianity in Post Christian Culture

Often in the political sphere and other spheres Christians try to expound views that are godly. They attempt to argue for change.

Often the issue is that the culture has already rejected most of the presuppositions that we argue from. We cannot win debates in culture because all our presuppositions are rejected.

The church needs to accept that it is not the dominate force today in the western world. The church will be more healthy once it realizes that it is on the margins of society today.

Often the church wastes a great deal of time in meaningless dialogue because the church feels it has sway. The church needs to stop expounding change to the culture on the basis of argument and focus on spreading the gospel.

The church's presuppositions are being radically rejected because Jesus is being rejected. If we want to change society we must first have society meet Jesus in a meaningful way.

Only by re-introducing true biblical faith into the culture can Christian's hope to have culture listen to messages of change in relation to society. The gospel is foundational to all Christian ethics.

Christianity and Group Effort

Christian missions or church growth is a group effort. Often the focus on missions or evangelism focuses on one person.

I suppose it is because often the story of the success of one person is easy to tell. Often stories of success in Christian work suffer because they focus on atypical results.

Successful Christian mission or church growth is rarely because of the efforts of one person. Usually success is because or groups of people working together with a common vision.

Keeping Focus in Christianity

Christianity has a core and a periphery. All truth is important, but not all truth is essential.

It is often forgotten in many churches what is of absolute importance and what while important is not essential. Our concern for the purity of the church should be more focused on what is of absolute importance than what is at the edge.

Often what is at the edge of Christianity dominates the discussion. Concerns about style in music or method of distributing the Lord's super or exact details of how this or that should look in the church dominate. All of these things are good and well, but they are always at the side.

The church's focus should always be at the heart of Christianity--the good news of the offer of grace to sinners because of Christ's perfect life, death, and resurrection. If we get the center of Christianity right everything else will fall into place.

It is our union with the risen Jesus which makes people better. Too often we see people trying to improve the behavior of their church by preaching law day in and day out.

Often the problem of behavior in church is not a failure to understand law, but to really grasp grace. It is grace which shows us the greatness of the love of God for us. Often we cannot truly grasp how far we are from righteousness until we see what perfect love is and perfect love does.

Often it is more grace that transforms us than law. We try to faithfully live out law because of and only because of grace.

Why Christianity

At times we will see praises of Christians living out their faith even though it does not make sense. They are praised for what they are trying to do against reason.

It is certain that persevering in hardship is extremely praise worthy.  But what is odd is how many Christians see following Christ in extremely difficult times as irrational.

You see we fail to miss the point that having Jesus as our Lord is worth more than the whole world.  If we have the whole world but lack Jesus we have nothing is the repeated message of the bible.

But why is our relationship with Jesus so important.  The point of course is that we have either an eternity of fellowship with the living God or we don't.

An eternity with God or an eternity separate from God is at stake.  The treasure of the Christian is God himself.

Persevering through extreme difficulty is certainly praise worthy, but it is not irrational.  What is irrational is for us to see persevering in faith at any point as irrational.

We need to grow and begin to see as Paul did that nothing is in a sense worth knowing other than Christ and Christ crucified.  It is not to put down intellectual learning about the world, but rather to say that without the knowledge of Christ all other learning falls flat.  And with the knowledge of Christ all leaning takes on its true meaning.

The world is good and all in it.  But all things need to be understood in their relation to their creator God and his work in the world.

Worldview and Assumptions

Often Christianity is criticized by its critics for bringing assumptions by which it views the world. Scholarly method, according to many critics, unlike Christianity has no assumptions.

It is of course a secularized view of Descartes' mythology which glorifies in the human ability to know all. The irony is that increasingly most thinkers in their disciplines acknowledge that it is impossible to have any semblance of rational thought without assumptions. However, rarely is this realization ever acknowledged in the secular battle against religion.

Naturalism and evolution are viewpoints with assumptions. You will find many who claim that the case many expound against God is fully rational and has no assumptions of its own but there are innumerable assumptions these positions have.

The point of this is not to examine the assumptions of Christianity and secular method but simply to encourage Christians to not feel the field is being played fairly. Often the secular method demands far more in way of proof from Christianity than it requires of itself.

At times it argues that the secular viewpoint is "simpler" and should be the "default viewpoint" and thus the "burden rests on religion." Whatever the case, often the argument is played on terms stacked against religion.

If secular viewpoint required of its own views the rigor it often requires of Christianity (that there be not a single assumption) it would have to admit that it has many viewpoints and assumptions which it begins with. For those who believe in God it is important to remember in discussions with those who expound secular worldview that often the world refuses to give religion a rational consideration.

Expectations

One of the greatest discouragements in living out our faith can be unrealistic expectations. Unrealistic expectations about how Christianity will radically change our lives and how far we will get in sanctification.

Often the reality is that spiritually new Christians quickly find just how bad their life is. It is easy to judge our living as good or okay when we compare ourselves to the world.

Once we see the reality of the world as God sees it life is radically different. I often find Christians who seem to have no sense of sin troubling.

They may be truly sincere believers who fail to understand scripture. But without a sense of personal sin they truly lack a grasp of scripture.

It can be a failure of many churches to push those who seem spiritually "perfect" into leadership. Of course those people only seem perfect because when you speak with them they are oblivious to all the areas in which they sin and need to grow.

We all fail and all are in need of grace and growth. The awareness of sin and desire to improve is a gift from God. We cannot grow if we do not accept that we are in need of grace and that we have much need of growth.

God asks more of us than we can ever do. But he provides salvation not based on our limited efforts but freely based on the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus to all who believe.

Complexity in Life and Faith

Life is full of complexity. You see the multifaceted nature of everything when you study something for a day, or a year, or even decades. That's how long it takes to truly attempt to learn all the details of something at times.

The same goes for knowing the Bible, God, and living a Christian life. Often people want it to be simple: Hear the message once and respond, and that's it. Or go to church, and you've got it. Those are good thing, but there's more.

The gospel is simple in a way. But it also has a beautiful depth to it too. When you accept Christ, all you need to know are some basic truths. But after that, growing in knowledge is important.

What more is there to grow in knowledge, you may be asking. Here's a starter list to help you see what topics there are:

• Grace. The true meaning of grace.
• Law/Commands/Sin. How this relates to grace, too, but we must first see why we need and are given grace. And learning how God's commands really are good for us.
• Wisdom. Since life is complex, sometime discernment and good judgment are needed. The Bible helps us in learning wisdom.
• Love. What it means to truly live out those two commands. It is active and much more. I've created a list of 6 posts on loving others.
• How God has related to humans throughout history. This includes feeling loved and accepted by Christ if you're a Christian.
• The Trinity.

I hope you don't feel overwhelmed by the list. It's more of a privilege to think of the wealth of interesting things that help us grow closer to God.

Learning about these things can aid in living in a Christian way.

We Cannot Please Everyone

We cannot please everyone in life. It is an absolute.

If we are a Christian we cannot please atheists. If we vote one way we cannot please others who vote other ways. It is easy to think that we can get out of the rut of always displeasing someone by saying nothing on any issue.

Of course it is not the case. If we interact with enough people we will soon find there will be those who are displeased that we refuse to state our minds and take a side! They may have a good point to a degree as well!

It is the nature of life that people will be displeased by what we have to say at times. Often people will argue against Christianity, that it makes people unhappy, the thought of ultimate reality and heaven and hell. Well it can be said for almost any religion or any position which expresses itself.

Christianity is not unique in it's absolute claims. I think what is unique in argumentation in the current day is a widespread effort to malign the church by pointing out issues in specific areas.

Of the millions upon millions of professing Christians in the United States the faults and errors of certain leaders are held against all in a way which is quite odd. You find entire websites lampooning the religion for oddities in worship and what not.

It is a great oddity at times how often atheists who came to atheism by "rising to a higher" level of thought have very few strong arguments against the religion and rather resort to massive attacks against how they hate the culture of people who adhere to the religion.

I suppose I am not exactly being fair, but you can find a great many websites that condemn the whole of the Christian faith with little more reason than one thousand odd things I don't like about people who are Christians.

It is interesting that atheists even put up and enjoy such non-sense and do not condemn fellow atheists with such an approach. I suppose people delight more in making fun of others rather than being fair which is the point of scripture on the human condition all along.

Happiness in the Christian Life

Some traditions and common sayings in Christian circles may lead people to believe that Christianity is only about self-denial. The Bible mentions this, but the Bible has a specific meanings for it, and when done in the right way (following the true meaning of it and with wisdom), it leads to happiness.

Christianity is about seeking your happiness and the happiness of others in God. The self-denial of Christianity promotes the long-term happiness of ourselves.

Often people focus too much on the denial, of not doing things, like denying themselves pleasure instead of positively doing things for others. When we help and love others we find we are much happier than if we were always alone.

When we talk about the Christian life, it's important to not forget the freeing aspect of Christ's work for us and how God's commands are really good and freeing in a sense. Sin is what tries to convince us that there is a better way than God's commands when truly there's not.

Here are five posts related to this topic:

• Our True Selves: "Often our feeling about Christianity from the outside or inside is that it may destroy our personality. ... The reality is that we find our true selves when we accept God. ..."
  
  
• Suffering as Non-Ideal: "Various Christian groups have promoted suffering as a Christian virtue. While the bible does suggest that suffering produces virtue, the bible does not promote a life of suffering. ..."
  
  
• The Word "Sacrifice" Should Be Used More Carefully
  
  
• Pleasure Is Not the Enemy
  
  
• Reflections on Being "Selfless"

Our Way

One of the most common objections to Christianity is that elements of the faith do not please us. The objections rarely come in such a simplistic and honest form, but many objections if inquired further boil down to "I do not like a God who would ask this of me."

It is most common to believe what we like. It takes great fortitude to believe something to be true that we do not like. And this is the issue with faith in Jesus.

For all the attractive and compelling reasons to have faith in Jesus we do not like what he has to say about or lives. To accept the good news of the gospel we must first accept the bad news about ourselves.

It is abundantly apparent that we need the gospel. We are all fallen and sinful, but we do not like to accept our nature.

We always like to push things off and ignore the reality of things. It is easier to say that God is wrong about the nature of people than it is to deal with the fact that God is right about our nature and we have a lot to fix.

The gospel is abundantly good news. We are welcomed into eternal fellowship with God. But we first have to accept that God is right about our nature and that we are in need. The good news is only good once we accept the fact of our need.

Convenience and Christianity

In the modern world we seek conveniences constantly. This or that will make our lives convenient. We place conveniences as an absolute good.

We often wonder why the world around us is falling apart. In part it is because dealing with the problems around us is inconvenient until the problems affect us.

The Christian message comes and tells us that what is of real significance and that the significance will be a great inconvenience to our lives. We are called to be like the man who found a pearl of great value in his field and sold everything he had to get the field.

We often find that this or that keeps us from the gospel or this or that good thing. We are always people of excuses. We do not like the truth about ourselves--it is inconvenient. This is the issue; we often make up excuses because that is the easy path.

We are always too busy to do this or that but never too busy to spend three hours playing golf or watching sports every Saturday. Christianity is a religion of joy.

True joy is fellowship with God, but true joy comes with a cost. Sometimes true joy pushes into our lives and displaces some temporal joys which are getting in the way.

You see Christianity in no way suggests that joy, even joy in the world, is wrong. But it calls for priorities and sees the need to at times act even when it is inconvenient.

Biblical Miracles

Certain people have had difficulty with the concept of biblical miracles because they seem to violate or pass around the laws of nature. It is as if the laws of nature are an absolute which cannot be changed.

Of course the teaching of scripture is that in the beginning there was nothing. You see the idea of the laws of nature being distinct from creation is completely un-biblical. God created and continues to uphold all of the universe.

The laws of nature are a product of God's creative power. He chose how the world works. And he can as Creator choose at any moment to suspend or pass around those laws at his pleasure.

Often man gets bent up about biblical principles and objects against them because he does not like them. Miracles are impossible because of this or that many say. Miracles prove that Christianity is an incoherent system some say.

The reality is that from start to finish Christianity is a coherent system of belief. You cannot reject Christianity because miracles disprove Christianity, because the existence of the Christian God would entail the possibility of miracles.

It is often the case that most objections against Christianity and why the religion is "not possible" all fail once we understand the nature of the Christian God, the nature of man, and the relation of God and man. Of course understanding these things does not prove Christianity to the skeptic, but most objections to Christianity simply miss understanding the Christian message on issues.

Often people find a quick objection which "defeats" Christianity and move on because they do not like what it says about humanity. Humanity tends to be painted in Christianity in a far too dark light for most people's liking. Many people feel that man is naturally good and we really don't like the morbidity of the religion.

Of course if we take a realistic view of the state of the world and all that goes on in it we will see that Christianity paints an accurate picture of mankind. Man as a race is not nearly as good as he wishes he was.

Sometimes there are excuses that this or that is the fault of man's issues. There can be truth that certain societal or economic factors intensify the issues of mankind. Ultimately, however, there is nothing apart from God that really changes the heart of mankind to make it good.

Heaven

Take a moment and think of the key elements which you see in heaven. What are they and what is the most important element?

Is the most important element God? Is he on the list?

The bible describes many of the joys to be found in heaven. God is of course the chief joy in heaven.

It is always of some concern to meet Christians who speak of heaven in many glowing terms but God is absent from the speech. It is almost as if heaven is a delayed form of prosperity gospel where we are rewarded with material gifts for obedience.

It is true of course the bible presents heaven as a material world filled with material beauty and we have glorified material bodies. But it all pales in comparison to God.

God is our inheritance. We miss the great joy of Christian religion in this life when we forget that Christianity is about joy in relationship with God.

We are co-heirs with Christ and adopted into God's family. Only God can satisfy our deepest needs.

The spirit of Christianity

Christianity is not a religion which promotes isolation. It promotes fellowship and unity.

Often in life we find there are goods which the value of is diminished when there are many examples. If there were a thousand Mona Lisa paintings each an exact replica painted by the same artist each painting would be of little interest.

Rarity often heightens the value of things in the world. Christianity it is the opposite. It is fellowship and sharing which heightens the value.

The nature of grace is that it is free and infinite. You cannot hide it in isolation if you have it. It must be shared.

Grace which is hidden is lessened because in hiding the grace we lose track of its meaning. You see we don't simply believe things because we believe them; we believe things because we do them.

If we hide grace and act as if it is not important to share eventually our understanding of grace will weaken and we will be the poorer for it. Grace which we do not have some desire to share is not grace which is properly understood.

Grace is most glorious when shared and sharing grace increases its worth, not diminishes it.

Pascal's Wager

Pascal's Wager is a thought provoking argument for Christianity. I'm not sure it is even an argument for Christianity, but considering Christianity carefully.

The argument is basically the question "what is the cost if I am wrong?" Being wrong about Christianity (i.e. rejecting it and being wrong) carries a very high cost: an eternal separation from God.

For a position like atheism being wrong about atheism (basically believing in the Christian God for example) has relatively negligible cost. The cost is that a lot of people will consider you an inferior intellect for believing in God.

Pascal's wager does not even seem to be an argument for Christianity, rather a suggestion that we consider it very carefully.

Being wrong about Christianity is akin to being wrong whether the road we are about to drive down dead ends in a hundred foot drop. It is a call to carefully look at the claims of Jesus to see if they are true.

The Core of Christianity and the Periphery

In theology there is a core and a periphery to theology. All truth is important, but not all truth equally vital.

The distinction is not arbitrary or unimportant. You see that scripture says that if we have all virtue, but lack love then our faith is meaningless. If we have the whole world, but lack faith in God our life is meaningless.

You see faith and love are at the center of Christianity, they fall in essentials. It is of great importance to the church to recognize what is important and what is not so important.

You see many churches in the current day focusing heavily on minor points of scripture which are toward the periphery of Christianity in importance and completely neglecting elements at the core.

Ultimately we need to embrace all of the truth in scripture, but we also need to pay attention most closely to what scripture says repeatedly. Usually scripture repeats what is critical in many places and many ways. Often scripture explicitly says that a principle is vital.

The distinction is lost to many theologians and churches. It seems unimportant. The reality is it is of great importance. Minor debates over the meaning of a Greek word used only one or two times or a single Old Testament text often have as much fervor as debates over the meaning of justification by faith alone.

You see we completely lack an understanding of the structure of Christian theology if we get caught up in the tiny debates of nuance and do not care about debates at the very center of Christian faith.

It is of course completely unmodern to place certain truths at a much higher level than other truths. But the reality is that it makes complete sense and you see many situations where it is the case in life that one truth is far more vital than another truth.