When life gets tough (which has been frequently so lately), I often turn to this hymn. And especially now, I dedicate it to a friend from church whose granddaughter is in critical condition in the hospital.
Be Still My Soul
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.
Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.
Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.
Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, believing, to Thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,
So shall He view thee with a well pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Monday, April 02, 2007
Death in the City - Chapter Seven
Death in the City Chapter 7 – The Man Without the Bible
There are a few instances where Paul addresses people who did not have the Bible such as Lystra (Acts 14) and Mars Hill (Acts 17). Romans 1 is addressed to a church made up mainly of Gentiles and possibly a significant minority of Jews. Though the Jews had scriptures, the gentiles would not have; so Romans 1 & 2 constitute an extended discussion about God based not on a written revelation but on the evidence from within (conscience) and without (nature). His example is important for us who deal with a generation which has never read a bible. How does one start to speak to a person like this, by quoting Bible passages? Paul didn’t (even though, interestingly, his words later became part of the bible).
There is, Schaeffer says, a moral law in our universe which corresponds to the character of the Almighty Himself. He writes: “There is no law behind God that binds God. Rather God Himself is the law because He is not a contentless God but a God with a character….when a man sins, he sins against the character of God, and he has moral guilt in the presence of the Great Judge.”
In knowing the truth, albeit suppressed, man is different from animals. He has “moral motions, [a] need for love, [a] fear of non-being, and [a] longing for beauty and for meaning.” All men, even a Marquis de Sade who says there is none, by their actions and in their writings, demonstrate what they deny, namely that an objective morality exists. Schaeffer writes: “I have always enjoyed the thought of Kruschev sitting at the United Nations, pounding on the table with his shoe and shouting, ‘It’s wrong. It’s wrong.’ Isn’t that an interesting thing for a materialist to say? He didn’t mean that something was merely counter to the best interests of the Soviet Union. He was saying something was wrong.”
Schaeffer makes reference to several thinkers: Levi-Strauss’ work which showed that all men, from primitive peoples to cultured societies, think in the same fashion; Michael Polanyi’s (in response to Francis Crick’s determinism) view that DNA’s chemical and physical properties alone cannot explain what a man is; Mortimer Adler’s view that man knows within himself that he is not the same as non-man.
Paul’s words in Romans is as applicable today as it was in the first century: men suppress the truth of what they know. All men, primitive, cultured, ancient, modern, eastern, or western know that man is more than what their theories explain.
He writes: “What Paul is stressing here is that when you turn away from God and follow other presuppositions, the more consistent you are to your presuppositions, the further you get away from reality itself….Therefore, a breakdown in morality occurs. God says to man in this position: You are under my judgment. And so these questions arise; ‘How are men without the Bible going to be judge?’ and ‘Is this just?’”
There are a few instances where Paul addresses people who did not have the Bible such as Lystra (Acts 14) and Mars Hill (Acts 17). Romans 1 is addressed to a church made up mainly of Gentiles and possibly a significant minority of Jews. Though the Jews had scriptures, the gentiles would not have; so Romans 1 & 2 constitute an extended discussion about God based not on a written revelation but on the evidence from within (conscience) and without (nature). His example is important for us who deal with a generation which has never read a bible. How does one start to speak to a person like this, by quoting Bible passages? Paul didn’t (even though, interestingly, his words later became part of the bible).
There is, Schaeffer says, a moral law in our universe which corresponds to the character of the Almighty Himself. He writes: “There is no law behind God that binds God. Rather God Himself is the law because He is not a contentless God but a God with a character….when a man sins, he sins against the character of God, and he has moral guilt in the presence of the Great Judge.”
In knowing the truth, albeit suppressed, man is different from animals. He has “moral motions, [a] need for love, [a] fear of non-being, and [a] longing for beauty and for meaning.” All men, even a Marquis de Sade who says there is none, by their actions and in their writings, demonstrate what they deny, namely that an objective morality exists. Schaeffer writes: “I have always enjoyed the thought of Kruschev sitting at the United Nations, pounding on the table with his shoe and shouting, ‘It’s wrong. It’s wrong.’ Isn’t that an interesting thing for a materialist to say? He didn’t mean that something was merely counter to the best interests of the Soviet Union. He was saying something was wrong.”
Schaeffer makes reference to several thinkers: Levi-Strauss’ work which showed that all men, from primitive peoples to cultured societies, think in the same fashion; Michael Polanyi’s (in response to Francis Crick’s determinism) view that DNA’s chemical and physical properties alone cannot explain what a man is; Mortimer Adler’s view that man knows within himself that he is not the same as non-man.
Paul’s words in Romans is as applicable today as it was in the first century: men suppress the truth of what they know. All men, primitive, cultured, ancient, modern, eastern, or western know that man is more than what their theories explain.
He writes: “What Paul is stressing here is that when you turn away from God and follow other presuppositions, the more consistent you are to your presuppositions, the further you get away from reality itself….Therefore, a breakdown in morality occurs. God says to man in this position: You are under my judgment. And so these questions arise; ‘How are men without the Bible going to be judge?’ and ‘Is this just?’”
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