Drifting away

One cool thing and one thought provoking thing i've just read:

'[the Old Testament] even contains the promise of a new covenant (Jeremiah 31) that would supercede the old one. Not in it's aims or provisions, but in its effects.' (The Revelation of God, Peter Jensen P78 italics mine)

Also, i was reading in last months NewFrontiers magazine about a recent plant in Accra, Ghana, and thinking how much i'd love to be there, church-planting, walking along those dusty roads.
Then, from 2 Corinthians i read Paul's take on Church planting, which involved:

danger from rivers
danger from robbers
danger from my own people
danger from Gentiles
danger in the city
danger in the wilderness
danger at sea
danger from false brothers
toil and hardship
often going without food
being cold and exposed
the daily prssure of anxiety for all my churches.

Thank God for Jesus Christ, the all surpassing gain!

Hove Actually

Take some time to visit Kath Arnold's blog, another recipient of a Bish redesign.

I don't see Kath much, a mission week in my first year, a summer mission to Bulgaria, Transform, Forum, but i still think of her as a good friend.

She's also one of the most real Christian bloggers i know, not afraid to shy away from the darkness that following God will bring us into contact with. She's also looking after two of my best mates doing Relay in her patch next year...so hopefully i'll be seeing a lot more if her then!

The Historicity of Adam

I'm not sure how long or relevant or even true this'll be. But i want to write it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, as i've said before, because i think it's important, secondly because i want to work out what i think about certain aspects about it, thirdly, it'll stop me watching Celebrity X-Factor, which really is too much! A lot of this relies heavily on the essay written by John Stott on the subject in his BST Romans book, but not all of it. I'd reckon what's true biblically speaking is John, and any nonsense in there is me.

Why does it matter?
I think there are two major reasons why the historicity of Adam matters. The first is the inerrancy of scripture. Many genealogies in the Bible trace themselves back to Adam, nowhere that i can see in Genesis is the account of Adam and Eve mentioned to be mythical, so it seems that the writer of Genesis wanted us to take it as real. If Adam was a metaphor, or an idea, the genealogies don't work, and scripture seems to be letting itself down right from the start, which leads us to the top of a very slippery postmodern slope. Secondly, because of imputation. Paul's argument in Romans 5 about the imputation of ones mans sin and another man's righteousness neccesarily depends on Adam being a real guy, just as it depends on Christ being fully human. No one is seriously doubting the existance Jesus of Nazareth, regardless of who they regard Him to be. I think Adam is just as important in this argument. I think Paul treats him (Adam) as real rather than metaphor here, as he talks about one man versus one man, not anything else. So the historicity of Adam has implication for inerracny and for imputation.

Adam means 'man' in Hebrew, so people would point out that as an early objection. I should probably make it clear here that i regard myself as an every word literalist when it comes to parts of the Bible like this (thus, i believe the earth was created in six periods of 24 hours) but i'm not really sure that it matters and i don't see any call from Genesis for dogmatism over this. I certainly wouldn't burn for it, it's just what i believe about creation. As i said earlier, i think scripture intends us to take Adam and Eve as real people. The Bible tells us that they married, and later on Paul tells the men of Athens that every person was 'made from one man'. This can be coupled with Paul's comparison and contrasting argument based around Adam and Jesus from Romans 5. So it scripture clearly intends us to believe in the existance of one man, named Adam, who's sin bought death into the world.
There appears to be little in science that contradicts this (and i'm leaning heavily on Stott's arguments here). All humans share the same anatomy, physiology and chemistry, and this points to all coming from a common ancestor: 'genetic evidence indicates that all living people are closely related and share a common recent ancestor' (Dr Christopher Stringer, Natural History Museum). This is where it starts to get exciting. How recent was that recent ancestor? Genesis 2-4 places Adam in a garden, which we can assume he looked after. During the Neolithic era, placed between 10000 and 6000 BC The New Stone Age dawned, which was marked by the appearance of gardens especially in eastern Turkey near the head of the Ephrates and Tigris rivers (Genesis 2:10 and 14) So science seems to back up what we already believe from the Bible, especially as the next chapters of Genesis have Adam, Eve and their decendants cultivating the land and working livestock.
But what about the evidence that there was some form of Homo around in parts of Africa long before Adam is placed in history. Well, for a start, if i personally had to back a winner between the Bible and fossil records, i know who i'd choose. I'd say that that Bible mentions Adam as the first human, and therefore he was, and the fossil records are wrong. Stott puts forward the view that the other types of Homo around at the time can be discounted from the Bible as we are not their decendants. They were not created in the image of God. As Stott puts it, they could be homo sapiens without being homo 'divinus', that is, in God's image. So whether God created Adam as the first in a new line with a divine image that none of the other human races at that time had and that Adam became the Federal head of those people, and their death entered the world through his sin, or whether, like me, you think it's just as likely that the other types of Homo are erroneous and that Adam was the first of any human, the problems caused by this argument do not seem very problematic.

There is little doubt that Adam's sin was real, and that we have participated in it, and that we need a Savior from it. That whatever you believe about Adam's historicity, you realise that through him sin entered the world. The we have participated in, and the sin we need to be rescued from by Jesus. The new Federal head, if only we would accept Him as Lord over us, if only we would be united with Him in His death. Paul's statement that 'sin entered the world through one man and death through sin' seems to confirm and be confirmed by Adam's real, personal existance.
Jesus was real. He existed, and He offers us freedom from the bondage that Adam sold us into. There is no doubt about His historical existence, i see little reason for there to be about Adams.

Flowerstand man

I've um...i've jumped on the bandwagon. I promised myself i wouldn't. Oh well, it'll be cool to have a whole record of the cool stuff that happens in the next 365 days of my life!

Great idea Becci.

At this velocity

I love my church. I love the fact that about ten different nationalities are represented there on a sunday, i love the fact that some of the worship songs are in Shona, which is the language spoken in Zimbabwe. I love the fact that you can go there, speak to people from Zimbabwe, have lunch with people from Kenya, and then buy stickers with people from Doncaster. I love the fact that we're all united by the cross. It's so amazing, and it's power so beyond my comprehension...it saves people from thousands of miles away! The cross is amazing.

Singing songs in Shona leads me to two conclusions:

I really want to go to Africa, like, now!
I can't wait for heaven!


The thought of leaving Fam in the not to distant future is actually really upsetting me!

Into the blinding light

This will make me smile for a long long long time.

Ant Adams spoke at RUCU tonight on Romans 6:1-14, the first part of what Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones calls the 'most liberating bit of the Bible', and it's pretty obvious to see why. Of course, as a Christian, i believe that the power of death, and sin, and the devil himself was disarmed totally by the resurection, that his reign is over, and that when Jesus returns He will dismiss him with a word. But, nonetheless, sin, and the devil, the god of this world, has some power left in this world. The devil influenced our mind, he poisons our sense of right and wrong, hurts our relationships with God and others, he lies to us, promising us joy and release, if only we listen to him. Isn't that he did with Jesus in the desert; 'worship me and all this will be yours'? He lies to us, and all too often i listen to him. But guess what, we are in Christ, IN Him. We died with Him, and we rose with Him. And this is the truth. A lot of life is dependant on that which is not absolute. Well, that Christ died on the cross and we are now dead to sin is an absolute. Thats all there is to it, it's objective truth. The gospel is not subject to our feelings, it doesn't change in the wind like we do...it is true. We are dead to sin. So when sin comes calling, as it will, ignore it. It has no right, no right at all to boss us around, to lie to us and to expect us to obey it's passions. We are in Christ. United to Him by His death and resurection. And thats the end of the matter. In Ants words, when sin calls, don't pick up. Desire God more, dwell on the gospel and the wonders of the cross, spend time with Him, read your Bible, tell your spirit that there is something better than sin. Because there is, and His name is Jesus, and He is life.

Two other things really struck me from tonight as well...

Freedom.
When i was in Bulgaria over the summer, one guy, Todov, said he didn't want to become a Christian because he wanted to be free. There's a difference between freedom to, and freedom from though i believe. Todov, and so many others want freedom to, they want to follow their hearts desires, and they think that Christ, our wonderful risen Lord, will stop them doing that. Their hearts desires. Freedom to obey their mind. Our minds are fallen, are hearts broken and sinful. The devil pulls around our sinful nature for his own ends, he's not interested in our good, he's out for what he can get, he rors like a mortally wounded beast, ready to pounce and destroy any who he can.
Christ offers freedom from this. He offers freedom from the things that will not ever fulfill us, that will only ever make us feel emptier, more painful, more alone. I remember trying to fill the chasm in my being with any number of things i thought i wanted, that i thought i was free to do. None of them worked. I only felt more disassociated, more alone, more unfulfilled. Christ offers us freedom from those things, and freedom to persue our all in Him, to worship Him, the task for which we were created, which is therefore the only one which will fulfill us.

Presuming grace.
Paul tells us that grace abounding where sin increases is no excuse to keep sinning. And, obviously any Christian would agree, no one is ever going to come out and say that. But presuming grace is just as bad. How often i come to a point of no return with sin, where i'm about to say or do something and i know i shouldn't, but then tell myself that God is gracious and forgiving, and do it anyway. How awful is that when you think about it. What an abuse of the cross that is, what a perversion of grace that is. How often i do it. Lets not presume grace, lets live in it, stand in it and preach it, but not presume it. We are in Christ, so let us present ourselves to Him, as we should.

With the lights out its less dangerous

One thing i think is top about not having any exams, is the fact that its gone 4AM, i'm not that tired, its getting light outside, and i'm still not in bed. If i leave it any longer the dawn chorus will keep me up!

Oh our sufficient God. Though the crops and the vines fail as Habbakuk puts it, yet still i will rejoice in the God of my salvation. That we can worship Him, that we are saved by Him, that we are allowed to live at all. That He dwells in unapproachable light and yet we may aproach Him boldly. That He wants us to be part of His salvation plan through evangelism. Oh our awesome God...i wish i could describe him to you.

It's good to be reminded of those verses from Habbakuk. I don't like the times in my life where my mood is affected by my heart. I'd much rather have it affected by the gospel...to be humble, yet rejoicing at all times, regardless...that'd be cool.

Looking forward to hearing Ant Adams speak tonight at the RUCU main meeting.

*the birds are singing...it's time for bed*

Baptisms!

Some photos from Sunday's excitement...note how people around the pool are under umberellas and generally shielding themselves from the cold...yeh, the water was fun!
BUt seriously, it was a great, great day, and such an honour to be part of it. Grace...it's amazing!

Lazy days...

I got it wrong...i thought PURE was all about the gospel of grace and how great Jesus is, but it would seem that its all about 'warding off evil thoughts' ho hum. (HT: Bish)

Didn't make it to London in the end, as Dave had to work, which y'know, is fair enough on a weekday if you're not a student...but a good day nonetheless. It was cool getting up at eleven, and the going back to bed, as my housemate dave said when he got up briefly and then went back to bed...'this is just great'. Then into town, then went to Jess's to cause some general havoc (i would say i'm sorry Kat, but that would be a lie!)...its all good. At the moment we've got a slightly crazy idea to go to Milan with RyanAir...we can't even get to campus, literally a five minute walk, let alone Milan!

CEx was good again last night, y'know, just for a change. Although, since Becki got saved on sunday the dynamic has obviously changed... she was full of questions which is great...great. I think Anna was hit more with the 'my mind can't cope with the nature of the gospel, so its going to shut down' syndrome last night, but i was still pretty close, which is encouraging. I love the gospel.

I'll try and blog something useful/whatever by the end of the week, possibly on the 'Historicity of Adam', mainly bacause A) its important B) I'm just about to read John Stott on it C) Becki was asking last night C) it has implications for imputation D) i really want to!

SummerTime?

I love Thames Water. Today, as Reading slipped into its third day of nonstop rain, we got a letter from them saying 'information about the drought'. Note that, not a drought, not in case of drought, but the drought. Eh?

So anyway no more exams! Which is good. Off to London tomorrow to see Dave Thomas, then Karl Kenneday is playing at our union on Friday...thats going to be very cool...! I've got all these plans for what i'll do between now and graduation, mainly, buy books and read them! I might og and buy books now...how exciting!