Prayer—A Treatise On Human Incompetence

Romans 8:26-27

 

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. ²⁷ Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26-27).

 

Introduction

 

          Some of you know I celebrated a birthday this last week.  My wife and I went out to dinner, just the two of us, to a pretty fancy restaurant.  This restaurant offers a free dinner if you come in on your actual birthday.  We went to the same restaurant on my wife’s birthday and received the same deal.  But the place is pretty expensive, so even though we received a free meal the bill was quite high.  We wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again. 

          One category on the menu that can really get you is the wine list.  I thought one glass of wine with dinner would be appropriate but as I perused the options I was reminded that this establishment was not shy about its prices.  I had to be very careful here.  I found the cheapest glass of wine and ordered it as if it were my preference.  To which the very courteous food server responded, “Very good sir.”  ‘Look at me’ I thought with my wife observing in admiration, ‘I did very good.’

          We enjoyed an intensely delicious meal after which we received the bill which strangely resembled a mortgage payment.  I apparently accidentally ordered the wrong glass of wine.  A little embarrassed I asked the waiter to double check, which he graciously did.  After my perceptive and attentive wife confirmed that I did in fact say “Twomey” rather than “Roth” I thanked the waiter, paid the bill and became, once again, reacquainted with the reality that I know nothing about wine and that it is moderately irresponsible for me to hold a wine list in my hand.

          I share this little story because I think most of us have a general notion of our own limitations in a variety of areas in life.  I would never fix my own brakes nor would I perform surgery on myself.  And when my mechanic or my surgeon seeks to explain what they’re doing to my car or my body, I generally arrive at the conclusion (after a little courteous head-nodding) that I am entirely at their mercy.

 

We Know In Part

 

          As a pastor, having been educated both experientially and institutionally in the field of ministry and theology, one would think that I have my field of expertise and that I can confidently tread the waters of the ministerial enterprise of being a Christian and helping others along that path.  And I won’t pretend that, at some level that is not the case.  But it does seem that every step forward I take (have ever taken) in the landscape of Christian maturity and piety, I come to see another acre of unexplored territory. 

          How emphatically true Paul’s words are, “For we know in part…” (1 Corinthians 13:9).  I don’t want to be misunderstood here.  I am not remotely suggesting that the knowledge of God and the things of God are so vast that it becomes a meaningless gesture to take those steps forward.  The verse does say “we know”.  And I don’t think it is a stretch to say that that knowledge, as minute as it might be when one contemplates the infinite breadth of the Godhead, is true knowledge and the most precious treasure contained in our souls. 

          But what the Apostle Paul seems to be saying here is that our prayer list is like a wine list and we really don’t know what to order.  We may know how (pos in Greek) to pray, but we don’t know “what” (ti in Greek) to pray.  Now our initial response to such news may be to simply disengage in prayer.  Why would I bother praying when I really don’t know what to pray for?  But these two short verses should encourage us in just the opposite direction.

 

Prayer and Magic

 

          We may all have various explanations as to why we engage in the sin of lethargy when it comes to prayer.  Maybe it’s our schedule, maybe we’re shy, embarrassed, inarticulate, confused, distracted, etc.  But maybe we just think it doesn’t matter.  We expect prayer to be magic and because it doesn’t appear to magically work, we have grown cold in the exercise of it.  Can you imagine how active your prayer life would be if it were magic?  You could go from house to house healing people, feeding people and solving people’s various problems.  We could all be Dumbledore!

          But we seldom stop to consider how self-deifying (making ourselves God) such a notion actually is.  Someone might say, how could it be wrong to heal, to feed and to solve problems?  Certainly as human beings we should do what we can to minister in these areas within our own limited capabilities.  But it is quite beyond us, even if we had the power, to have the wisdom of God when it comes to having the final say in governing the course of human events. 

Of whom but God can it be said, “The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble” (Proverbs 16:4)?

Or what created being could righteously call “for a famine” (2 Kings 8:1)?  If prayer were magic and you were given the autonomous power to “form light and create darkness…make well-being and create calamity” (Isaiah 45:7) how would you wield such power?  For what would you pray?  If God called for a famine could you, with the same wisdom, authority and end game in sight, call for its end?

 

Helps In Our Weakness

 

          Perhaps we can begin to see just how weak we are in this category.  And how unreasonable our complaints when our prayers are not answered in the manner in which they are submitted.  Again, our natural inclination might be to cease in prayer altogether—which would be, and has been, a monumental error.  Because it is with our weakness in mind that the Apostle Paul writes of the Spirit who “helps” synantilambanomai. 

          There is tremendous force in this word “help”.  It carries the idea of the Spirit taking part in our burden.  The word was used of assistance offered to an infant unable to support himself or the sick “tottering and hardly able to walk.”^[1]  It doesn’t require deep examination to see the (what is called) the economic relationship of the Trinity working in harmony on the part of the children of God.  It is by the blood of Christ that we approach the Father and it is by the intercession of the Spirit that our prayers are, as it were, refined.

 

Groanings

 

          The passage begins with the word “likewise” hosautos, beckoning back to the universal and collective groaning of creation (verse 22) and our own groaning (verse 23) in anticipation of our final resurrection (verse 23).  We read now of a groaning extending to our prayers.  What do we make of this groaning?  What is taking place here?

          The noun “groanings” stenagmos merely means to sigh, as one oppressed.  It is the word from the Septuagint found in Exodus 6:5 where God “heard the groaning” of the enslaved Israelites.   Paul adds to the description the notion that the groanings “cannot be uttered” alaletoios.  I think it would be a mistake at this point to draw the conclusion that God is operating via some secret language, e.g. the “tongues of angels” (1 Corinthians 13:1) that is utterly disconnected from rational thought lest we draw the conclusion that God is entirely unknowable (which itself would reveal something we can know about God—that He is unknowable—hence a self-refuting position). 

          Going down that road would leave us at the mercy and direction of impulses or “passions” epithymiais (2 Timothy 3:6).  Or we may fall into a George Benson[2] epistemology where we try “to talk it over but the words get in the way.”  If we dispense with knowable, godly thoughts and propositions we are left at the unpredictable dispatch of temperament, caprice and whim.  Truth, beloved, loves a definition, and anyone who is not willing to at least make an effort at offering a definition is (whether wittingly or not, I won’t suppose to say) prefers the water remain sufficiently murky.

          It must be briefly stated that this passage is not addressing the gift of tongues.  Time does not allow a thorough examination of that subject, suffice it to say for now that the gift “tongues” was not, even in the New Testament era, universally given to Christians, “Do all speaks with tongues” (1 Corinthians 12:30)? the implied answer being ‘no’.  But this passage addresses the condition of all believers.

          Enough of what it is not, what do we make of these groanings?  Similar to the groaning of creation and the inward groaning of the believer due to his fallen estate, we have the Spirit induced groanings which proceed from the believer in prayer.  Whether we are praying for the weak, the sick, the unregenerate, the poor or the proud or the wealthy, we reach the end of ourselves to sufficiently vocalize what must truly take place. 

          Could not the most brilliant scribe in all of Israel have written, and offered, a beautiful, poetic and (even if not a prophet) relatively accurate prayer to God for deliverance from slavery?  I would say ‘yes’.   And yet in writing it, would he not have eventually, if he were a wise man, come face to face with his own inadequacy?  Would he not then groan?  If a child finds him/herself in danger and screams (because of the great fear and/or limited vocabulary) unintelligibly, that doesn’t mean there is no describable problem?  Certainly not!  It merely means that they/we currently have not the ability to express it.

          But the mother knows the voice of her child.  And when the cry for help comes, it is the mother who will properly evaluate the nature of the cry and the proper course of action in response. 

 

Intercession

 

          It is just here that the “intercession” hyperentynchano takes place.  Intercession means to plead for someone, to intercede on someone’s behalf.  The passage is not easily worded, but for the sake of simplicity it unfolds in this way: 

 

·       We don’t know what to pray.  This is the current weakness addressed.

·       Because of the Spirit’s work, the believer will pray, but the prayers are subject to human fallibility and amount to groaning.

·       The Holy Spirit intercedes in such a way as to present our prayers to God according to God’s own will.

 

Thomas Schreiner expresses it well:

 

The Spirit fills this lack by interceding for the saints. Indeed, verse 27 indicates that he intercedes for them according to God’s will, that is, he articulates the will of God in his intercession. Believers are weak in that they are unable to enunciate fully the will of God in their prayers. The Spirit compensates for their deficiency.^[3]

 

          Perhaps it is easiest to understand that in the same way that Jesus intercedes (Romans 8:34) and presents us holy to the Father by His own blood, the Spirit intercedes and articulates and presents our prayers in such a way that they conform to the will of God.

 

Searching and Knowing

 

          The passage speaks of God who “searches” the hearts of men and “knows what the mind of the Spirit is.”  What does God find when He searches our heart?  It might be easy to answer with the typical Calvinistic truth, that He finds a great deal of sin.  I am always a little concerned when someone finds comfort with the words “But God knows my heart”.  As someone once said, “that God knows our hearts…that’s the the bad news.” 

          It would appear, at least in this passage (and in much of Romans) that Paul highlights the heart kardi as that aspect of man that is under the operation of the Spirit of God.  In Romans 1:21 he describes the natural rebellious man have having a “foolish” and “darkened” heart.  A similar thought is conveyed in Romans 2:5, where wrath is being stored up due to an “impenitent heart.”   

He then begins to explain that true circumcision of “a matter of the heart” (Romans 2:29).  Later he will explain that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).  In Romans 6:17 Paul is thankful that his readers have “become obedient from the heart.”  Earlier in this very chapter Paul will make the distinction between those who walk “according to the flesh” versus those who walk “according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4). 

          All of this to say that when God searches the heart of a Christian, though He will certainly find sin, He will also find a heart cultivated by the labor of the Holy Spirit yielding an unutterable longing to conform to the will of God, in our lives and in all of creation.  This was the work of the Spirit in that hour we first believed, placing our souls in the hands of Jesus and the Father as the Savior of our souls and Master of our lives.  It is the first (first in priority and often first chronologically) prayer of those who are the objects of God’s grace.  And when God searches the hearts of the elect, this is what He will find.

 

And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought (1 Chronicles 28:9).

 

          It may be a profitable endeavor for us to ask ourselves if this is what God finds when He searches our hearts.  Not to suggest a theology of perfectionism, but a theology of confession of sin and sincere faith in the One who delivers from sin and leads us in life by the wisdom of His counsel. 

          The Father knows, by the effective work of the Spirit who belongs to Him and He knows the “mind” phronema of the Spirit.  This is not the normal word for mind nous, but a word which means mindset or way of thinking.  In other words, the Father knows what the Spirit has in mind—what His holy and sanctifying intentions are. 

          We pray with the general notion (though it may appear specific to us) that we are to subject all things to Christ, put off the old man and put on the new, glorify God in our thoughts, words and deeds and tend to the needs of our neighbors.  We are a temple under construction and when in our prayers we order wooden pillars, the Spirit submits a request for granite.  When we ask for ease, the Spirit intercedes, elevating the petition to strength and long-suffering.  We ask for wood, hay and straw, but when the Spirit flies to the Father on our behalf the words are transformed to gold, silver and precious stones.

          How much greater than magic is the gift of prayer.  To list the tome of passages which elevate the value and power of prayer would be an endeavor pushing past the length of any single sermon, but James says it succinctly:

 

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16)

 

          The Father is engaged in a divine, powerful and perfect work in the lives of us individually and the creation as a whole.  One of the means by which God accomplishes this work is through the fallible prayers of saved sinners, presented to Himself in their perfection through the Spirit of God.

I pray for my wife, my children and our church.  But I continually walk away from those prayers with a sense of deficiency, as if I haven’t the wisdom to say the right things or make the proper requests.  But what if I knew that every time I prayed some shortsighted, inadequate prayer for my children that the Holy Spirit took that prayer and edited it to perfection and presented it to God to the eternal benefit of my beloved quiver full of arrows…would I not engage in that activity with renewed vigor? 

We are told that we have not because we do not ask (James 4:2).  In light of this passage, have we ever truly considered what we don’t have because we don’t ask? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Questions for Study

 

1. What does it mean that we “know in part?”  What human limitation is addressed in these two verses (pages 2, 3)?
2. Have you ever thought that prayer should be like magic?  What would be the problem if that were the case (pages 3, 4)?
3. How do you see the Trinity at work in this passage (pages 4, 5)?
4. Discuss what the “groanings” are and are not.  Why is this an important issue to understand (pages 5, 6)?
5. Explain the intercession of the Holy Spirit when it comes to our prayers (pages 6, 7).
6. When God searches your heart, what does He find (pages 6, 7)?
7. What is the mindset of the Holy Spirit?  What is He doing?  What are His intentions (page 8)?
8. Why should the knowledge contained in this short passage be a great incentive to prayer (page 9)?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

^[1] Calvin, J. (1998). Romans (electronic ed.). Albany, OR: Ages Software.

[2] Lyrics from his 1976 hit, Masquerade.

^[3] Schreiner, T. R. (1998). Romans (Vol. 6, pp. 443–444). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

Separating church, state doesn't preclude religion

The Rev. Paul Viggiano

Posted: Daily Breeze 05/04/2010 08:47:10 PM PDT

Judge Barbara Crabb's declaration last month that the National Day of Prayer, traditionally celebrated on the second Thursday in May, is unconstitutional provides yet another example of how the church and state dialogue resembles a sitcom - "Don't miss the fun when our stars don't realize they're talking about different subjects!"

People talk past one another. Both sides grow frustrated because the other guy just doesn't get it. Is separation of church and state preferable? What's the alternative? What do people mean when they say they believe in a separation of church and state?

If the separation of church and state means the president should not wear an Episcopal mitre (Pope's hat) and speak ex cathedra (with papal authority), I agree.

If the separation of church and state means the Joint Chiefs of Staff should disregard the recommendation of modern-day prophets to engage in holy wars, I agree.

If the separation of church and state means the government should not create a church where senators are the clergy and the Supreme Court administers the sacraments, preaches sermons and excommunicates sinners, I agree.

I'm a Christian and a pastor. And I'm an advocate of the separation of church and state. I can say this because I realize that church is not synonymous with God.

The Scriptures tell us that the church is an institution created by God and the state is an institution created by God. But they have separate roles.

The church shouldn't arrest people and the state shouldn't baptize people. These institutions should remain separate. But the separation of church and state is not the same as the separation of God and state.

One need merely stroll the nation's capitol, with all its granite carvings paying homage to God, or peruse the nation's documents from the Mayflower Compact to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to realize that God was never asked to stand at the doorstep of our nation's civil affairs. Do we think our Founding Fathers (and earlier Pilgrims and Puritans) had a corporate split-personality disorder while composing the instruction by which our nation was to be governed? If they believed in separation of God and state, why so much God talk?

Let's, for a moment, suppose the Founders were victims of their own religious environment. Maybe they accidentally or inadvertently included God's name out of mere habit. Maybe they made a mistake that needs to be rectified. What then is the religion which is to undergird our political convictions? I can anticipate the steamy response. "No religion!" For the sake of argument let's change the term. Let's not call it religion, let's call it a "life and world view."

For many, religion is not merely lighting candles and chanting mantras. It does not end at quiet times, fasting and gesticulations. It is a life and world view. It is the means by which people determine what is right and good and true. It is how people determine how to raise their children, love their spouse and even vote for a candidate.

Having a life and world view is a universal necessity of humanity. Everyone has a life and world view that governs their decisions. You can call it by another name, but it's your religion. It's your bottom line. If someone asked you to prove it, you couldn't. It's immaterial. It's a conviction, a faith. Like love, honor, courage and beauty, it's abstract. You may see its results but you can't see it. Like time, energy, space and mass, it is a necessary part of your reality but it cannot be observed.

Your life and world view resides in your psyche (Greek for soul) and you received it. Your parents, your teachers, your friends, your favorite artist, rock star or comedian have all contributed to your religion. People comfort themselves by calling it by another name, but it is their religion. Even a person's conviction to remove Judeo-Christian ethics and prayers from politics is itself a religious conviction.

I am for the separation of church and state. But the separation of religion and state - of a life and world view and state, of God and state - is a logical impossibility. And there is no reason why a life and world view derived from the Scriptures is less qualified to have a voice in politics than any other life and world view. Any thinking person realizes they have a god - not identifying who or what that god may be does not excuse the reality.

The Rev. Paul Viggiano is pastor of the Branch of Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Torrance (e-mail: pastorpaul@integrity.com).

 

Abortion doctor shooting reveals loss of moral compass

By Rev. Paul Viggiano

Posted: 06/04/2009 04:05:11 PM PDT

During the moral and political decay of France in the early 1800s, political economist Frederic Bastiat wrote, "When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law." The killing of late-term abortion doctor George Tiller, while he served as an usher during a church service, is a horrifying example of a citizen losing both.

 

Twenty-first century America, similar to 19th century France, has lost its ethical and legislative moral compass. Laws are ungodly, unenforced or snubbed altogether. Border laws are meaningless; we exterminate our infants by the millions; in 2004 the mayor of San Francisco issued marriage certificates to homosexual couples in defiance of the laws of his own state. We are truly entering into a time of unprincipled civil mayhem, and vigilantism is an insidious temptation that must be resisted.

 

The isolated radical behavior of Scott Roeder, who allegedly killed Dr. Tiller, is patently unbiblical and immoral. It was during a darker political period that the apostle Paul instructed Christians to subject themselves to the governing authorities. Whatever we may think of the current moral corruptions of our judicial, legislative and executive branches, they pale in comparison to Nero. There is a proper method of dealing with a society's ills that doesn't include shooting ushers as they seat people in church.

 

God has graciously given Americans a peaceful means to change laws and displace ungodly leaders. Citizens needn't attempt a coup d' tat and violently rush the White House or Capitol Hill; they merely need to vote. After all, the United States does not have a king who wields sovereign power. Strictly speaking, the closest thing we have to a king is not the president, House, Senate or Supreme Court but the people themselves. The president and legislators are like CEOs and the people like a board of directors who displace them as they see fit. This is the process and it must be respected.

 

From a pastoral perspective my primary concern is not with the Scott Roeders of the world. There is a much more subtle disease festering within the borders of a nation that is losing its sense of self - one that doesn't want to be under God but can't quite define just who it wants to be under. Roeder is merely an exaggerated personification of a nation of people who are beginning to dislike each other.

 

The unity naturally engendered by speaking a similar language, marrying the opposite sex or protecting innocent babies has hit the exits. This ethnic and moral tribalism is tearing our country apart. It is becoming increasingly difficult to love our neighbors when we see our neighbors engaging in behaviors ranging from unhealthy to atrocious while the magistrate plays his fiddle.

 

The great 19th century Princeton theologian Charles Hodge warned that governments that fail to rule their people in a proper and godly manner are tempting their citizens to take the law into their own hands. For years we've been electing leaders who make laws that tempt us to hold our neighbors in derision. Nothing will put my children at each other's throats as much as being a father who refuses to properly administer justice.

 

Nonetheless, ungodly laws never justify ungodly behavior. The pro-life movement is largely a Christian movement. I am not a pacifist and recognize there is a time for war. But the type of warfare in the pro-life movement is a warfare of thoughts and ideas. It is not a wrestling with flesh and blood but against wickedness itself.

 

Christians are called to participate in the political process with zeal and conviction. If, after all, the closest thing we have to a king is the people, it is the responsibility of the people to collectively operate as a king submitting to the king of kings. But as individuals we are still called to love our neighbors - even the ones with whom we vehemently disagree. Christians must overcome the natural antipathy they find welling up in their souls toward their neighbors because their leaders have no sense of true justice.

The only hope for individuals and the nations they form is a humble faithful trust and submission to Christ as the savior of souls. If there is no faith in Christ as savior, there is no hope of Christ being Lord.

We would do well to learn from the image of Jesus given by John in the Revelation while considering how the world is to be redeemed: John is told to "Behold the Lion." We like the power of that image - so successfully used by C. S. Lewis in "The Chronicles of Narnia." But when John turns, he doesn't see a lion but a lamb - a gentle, harmless beast of sacrifice. It is the lamb that redeems - not with bullets, but with his own blood.

 

The Rev. Paul Viggiano is pastor of the Branch of Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Torrance (e-mail: pastorpaul@integrity.com).

 

To Homeschool Or Not To Homeschool

My son handed me a paper entitled Why I Do Not Homeschool he had downloaded from the internet.  The paper was written by a gentleman named Tim Challies who is identified as a Christian and Reformed Calvinist.  In his paper he explained why he and his wife chose not to homeschool their children.  It was a well-written and gutsy article but, IMO, fell short.  I’d like to explain why.

 

The paper was presented in two parts.  In the first part Mr. Challies discussed strong and weak Christians and the various convictions people might have for homeschooling or sending their children to private or public schools.  I am not sure how helpful this first part was.  Suffice it to say, everyone has some conviction which launches motivation and we should all evaluate our strengths, weaknesses and forbearance toward one another.  It wasn’t until part 2 (http://www.challies.com/articles/why-i-do-not-homeschool-part-2) that Mr. Challies offered his reasoning in answer to his title.

 

It is not my purpose here to make an argument for or against homeschooling.  I am simply seeking to point out what I found to be logical and interpretive shortcomings of his thesis.

 

In short, Mr. Challies and his wife want their children in public school “For Missions.”  I certainly applaud his desire to play his part in the Great Commission and prepare his children to do the same.  But his reasoning, I believe, begins to unravel when he seeks to explain how enrolling his children in public school provide the best method to this end.

 

Mr. Challies answers the objection that children “are unready to be evangelists” by observing that children are “filled with the same Holy Spirit as you and I.”  Being filled with the Holy Spirit, in Mr. Challies’ estimation, stands in isolation as the necessary prerequisite for ministry.  He, therefore, draws the conclusion that “They are equipped to reach out…”  With all due respect, being filled with the Holy Spirit does not necessarily equip one for ministry.  This can easily be shown in 1 Timothy 3:6 where Paul warns against a new convert being an elder lest he “become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.”  The new convert most certainly has the Holy Spirit but this does not mean they are equipped for ministry.

 

Mr. Challies explained that he and his wife feel that homeschooling their children would inhibit their ability to “reach out to the neighborhood.”  If they kept their children at home they could not “honor God” they would “lose credibility…lose friendships and lose access to the hearts of both children and their parents.”  He had earlier pointed how grieved he was that none of his neighbors had been to church.  As a Christian with four children between seven and seventeen, who we have homeschooled from day one, I must say that this has not been our experience.  Many of our neighbors have been to our church and we have long and deep relationships with those neighbors—people who send their children to private and public schools.  In homeschooling we have not lost credibility, friends or access to hearts.  I am not entirely sure why we would.  There are numerous other ways to access neighbors than by sending your children to the same school. 

 

Fear of “worldliness,” Challies explains, is not a legitimate concern which would lead one to homeschool.  He explains “we do not avoid worldliness by secluding ourselves from the world.”  At a certain level that may be true.  Forming an agrarian cloister group may be at odds with the call to “come out from among them” (2 Corinthians 6:17).  In other words, separating from the world isn’t necessarily geographical.  But Mr. Challies seems to utterly ignore the Apostle Paul’s admonition: “Do not be deceived: Bad company ruins good morals” (1 Corinthians 15:33).

 

Mr. Challies’ argument that it is “far better to let them see it (what the world has to offer) when their hearts are tender, their confidence is in their parents, and their abilities are limited” is, at the risk of sounding harsh, simply naïve.  “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child” (Proverbs 22:15).  Children are easily deceived.  And for a small, immature (even Christian) child to be in an environment where the lion’s share of their attentive hours is bombarded with something quite contrary to a Christian life and world view seems foolish.  He continues this thought by explaining, with words I found chilling, that he believes “it is easier for children to avoid worldliness when they are exposed to the world.”  Of course there may be a sense where this is true (but I would want to be holding my child’s hand through this experience), but the Apostle Paul counsels otherwise:  “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. ¹² For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret” (Ephesians 5:11, 12).

 

Mr. Challies then makes the argument that if you visit a Christian college, experience will show that you will “not find a difference” between children who were homeschooled or attended public or private school.  I am not sure what kind of scientific study this is, or what he means by “experience.”  One can just as easily say “experience shows there is a great difference.”  But these types of assertions mean little until you show what difference you’re looking for and how many people actually demonstrate the difference and what they would have been like had they gone to a different school, etc.  In short, there is a great difference between a valid argument and a bald assertion.

 

I do appreciate that Mr. Challies made a public argument and he seems willing to participate in irenic dialogue and reconsideration of his points.  I hope my critique has not seemed harsh; it was not my intention.  As I said, merely wanted to point out what I saw to be logical and interpretive shortcomings.

 

Pastor Paul Viggiano

Branch of Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church

pastorpaul@integrity.com 

 

 

Not Fit For Public Consumption

After five years and 70 columns, the Daily Breeze (our local paper) has found numerous reasons not to publish my opinion any longer (not officially of course).  Guess that's what blogs are for.  The latest for your consideration:

A Godless Constitution?

By Paul Viggiano

 

          July 4, 2013 the Los Angeles Times ran a full page ad (though nowhere on the page indicates it to be an ad) encouraging the people of the United States to “Celebrate Our Godless Constitution.”  The ad frames six founding fathers accompanied by dubious, out of context, quotations designed to enlighten the reader to the general disdain these fathers had when it came to God’s unwanted intrusion into the political affairs of men.  The ad was sponsored by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

          This splash of tabloid revisionist history would be humorous if it didn’t seem to be effectively dismantling the fabric of American culture.  Whatever one thinks this country is, or should be, the notion that the founders and their predecessors did not view America as a Christian enterprise requires a tower of suspended disbelief. 

An immense volume of photos, along with an exhaustive textual record of the holocaust was secured to the end that people would not doubt that the event occurred (though in one generation there are many who do just that), we have even greater assurance and evidence that our founders understood the disastrous consequences of a nation that appealed to anyone less than the “Supreme Judge of the world” to justify their political transactions, to wit, our founding documents and the very buildings where our political leaders engage in their deliberations.

E.g. Moses, holding the Ten Commandments, is the central figure atop the building where the U.S. Supreme Court meets; The Ten Commandments are also found in the Supreme Court courtroom; Bible verses are etched in stone in virtually every federal building and Monument in our nation’s capital.  James Madison stated that “We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind…to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” 

Patrick Henry said “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”  Since 1777, every session of congress has opened with prayer by a preacher subsidized with tax dollars.  52 of the 55 founders of the Constitution were members in good standing of orthodox Christian churches.

The Mayflower Compact opens with the words “In the name of God, Amen” followed by “Having undertaken, for the glorie of God, and the advancement of the Christian faith and honour of our king & country, a voyage to plan the first colonie in the Northerne parts of Virginia.” 

The introductory paragraph of The Declaration of Independence appeals to the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.”  Jefferson found it fitting, and within the boundaries of his views of politics to indicate that “men…are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”  He justified his intentions by “appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world.”

It is certainly true that the establishment clauses of the First Amendment indicate that “Congress will make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”  And to this I say ‘Amen,’ for no clear thinking person would desire a state run church.  But the separation of church and state, at least according to the founders, was quite different than the separation of God and state.

It was clear to Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address that “this nation [was] under God,” as well as in his Emancipation Proclamation where he appeals to “the gracious favor of Almighty God.”  I am halted now merely by space and not further content of the founders recognition of a country’s need for the ultimate and transcendent authority found in the God of the Holy Scriptures. 

The Freedom From Religion Foundation boasts in their appeal to reason as they seek to beguile us toward the notion of a godless constitution and the liberty thereof.  Perhaps we would do well to ponder the godless political systems of the 20^th century under Sung, Minh, Pot, Lenin, Stalin, Mao et al.  The only liberty the tens of millions of innocent found under these godless systems was liberation from their own lives.  That doesn’t sound reasonable to me.

 

Tranquility in the Political

The election is over and we can, at long last, beat our political posters into plowshares.  Are you content with the results?  Coping with the elusive equanimity of spirit we hoped would accompany things going our way is a challenge we all must face.  

Battles have their place, but the peace twixt battles must be handled harmoniously and with a serenity which fosters civility—even among those who severely disagree.  The hangings in effigy, midnight beatings among neighbors, vandalism and artful digital gesticulations against pedestrian billboards must cease.

Soon (too soon for my taste) the next election will beckon us to once again participate in the process and we will all re-arm—hopefully with only thoughts and arguments, but for now we must resign to our destinies.  The election is over and the people have spoken—but from a deeper perspective, God has spoken. 

In a primary and ultimate sense it is God who makes kings and laws.  Those kings and laws can be a blessing or they can be a curse but mere man finds the acme of contentment in knowing there is a Supreme Governor of events who declares the beginning from the end— whose counsel shall stand.  To curse the results of the election is to curse the providence of God. 

Is this an encouragement to call good evil or evil good?  Far from it!  Does it mean those who believe in a sovereign God should be passive in the affairs of this world?  Certainly not!  We should pursue our convictions—be they ecclesiastical, familial or political with zeal and vigor.  But we are to be reassured that the world is not left to slapdash, uncertain promiscuities—as Einstein said, “God would not play dice with the universe.”  God has given us just what we need—or just what we deserve.

These words may only speak to those who believe in an omnipotent Triune God—who believe God’s hand is not too short to determine election results.  If that’s the case, more than half the readers will find some peace, though perhaps hoping for different results in the election.  If that half finds some peace, they’ll be better neighbors and everyone benefits.  

Peace of mind begins when we realize God is capable of utilizing ungodly people making ungodly decisions (I’m not saying who falls into this category) in His own incomprehensibly divine, just and glorious manner. 

For example, I never would have voted for Pilate for governor.  Let’s do the ciphering:  If not for Pilate there would have been no conviction of Jesus—If there were no conviction of Jesus there would have been no cross—If there were no cross there would be no redemption.  God had Pilate right where He wanted him.  And through a negligent politician, man was emancipated from sin.  I would never have voted for Pilate.  But when God revealed His secret plan, I am grateful that His will and not my will was done. 

It was this knowledge of God’s mighty hand that gave Joseph (the one with the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) solace when his brothers threw him in a ditch, sold him into slavery resulting in his imprisonment in Egypt.  Their purpose for the treachery was evil but God meant it for good. 

In the first century the followers of Jesus were about to face deadly and torturous religious and political persecution.  In that hostile context Jesus said “peace be with you.”  When the faithful are invited by God to peace, it’s not a ‘grin and bear it’ peace.  It’s a peace recognizing the invisible hand of a good God behind all of men’s decisions—even the evil decisions.

          The Apostle Peter calls his readers to honor the king.  The king was Nero, the psychopathic Caesar.  Peter wrote this knowing there was a King of kings, a ruler of the kings of the earth.  Solomon taught that the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it where He wishes.”

          We all wish things were better.  But true, unwavering peace comes through a yielding of our souls to a primary decision-maker who will not apologize for one moment of the history he’s ordained.  Nothing settles the heart better than knowing there is an able Captain at the helm—a Captain who is not only capable of sailing the ship, but governing the storm.  I’m hoping I can be that content person—for my neighbor’s sake.