It's a little after midnight, Shannon and Jayden are asleep, and I don't have any seriously pressing homework due tomorrow. I guess that means I have some free time on my hands, since I'm a good 45 minutes away from my typical bed time. I've got so much I want to get out, but don't know where to start. Even if I did know where to start, I wouldn't have time to get very far. Still, I do have a little free time and want to post something.
I have five classes this semester, including American Government, Intro to Ethics, and New Testament Survey. Just as I managed to do with history last semester, I underestimated the extent of thought-provoking information that would be covered in American Government, so, once again, I find my brain seemingly overloaded. It's funny that, no matter what the class, previously held ideas of mine are questioned constantly. Now, this is not always a negative thing. In a number of ways I find where I may be imposing my own reason over the words of Jesus, putting words in His mouth that He really didn't say. On the other hand, however, I am realizing very clearly that the war between wrong and right is thicker and heavier than we tend to consider. By the way, Biblical Christianity is more on the defensive side of the ball than we like to think, too.
Now, I understand that by going to a secular school I freely put myself in the middle of it, and had I continued my education under more conservative instruction my mind would be more at ease. I didn't think that was the way God wanted me to go, though, and still don't. Even though I am facing challenges and criticisms quicker than I can turn my head, I am certain God is working in all of it to get me where He wants me to be. In the mean time, He has helped me understand the value of faith.
The analogy of the armor of God in Ephesians is very popular among Christians. There has been an innumerable amount of discussion and preaching on the matter, and we have been given a lot of different perspectives on application. Lately, though, the shield of faith has been of particular interest to me.
It's simple, really, so I won't try to drag it out. As I mentioned before, nearly every day I find myself in the middle of the ongoing attack against Biblical Christianity. I've learned a lot by way of defense of my belief, and in plenty of cases the absurdity of the ungodly claims are too simply clear. There are other cases, though, where the answers aren't so clear, and the arguments against Christianity seem to have some validity.
So what do we do in those cases? The shield of faith. Satan's attacks against the truth of God have been called "fiery darts." I like to imagine an antagonist realizing arrows are dangerous, but lighting them on fire causes a rush of destruction before the attacked can even think about what to do. Satan likes these kinds of arrows: "blow them away before they can even realize it." Now I like to consider the words, "take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." (Ephesians 6:16 NIV). Extinguish the fire, eliminate the "shock and awe" of the attack, give yourself some time - time to think, read, study, consider, seek the perspectives of others, weigh the evidence, and, most of all, PRAY. After all, why would you storm out on Someone with whom you've had a relationship at the heated accusation of some unrelated third party? And don't let the third party accuse you of ignoring reason to side with faith. That's what the attacker wants you to do! He wants you to trust his "reasoning" before taking time to consider the whole of the issue.
As I've stated before, I believe there is an acceptable answer to every criticism of true faith in Christ. Sometimes it takes faith - the shield of faith - to make possible the search.
I have five classes this semester, including American Government, Intro to Ethics, and New Testament Survey. Just as I managed to do with history last semester, I underestimated the extent of thought-provoking information that would be covered in American Government, so, once again, I find my brain seemingly overloaded. It's funny that, no matter what the class, previously held ideas of mine are questioned constantly. Now, this is not always a negative thing. In a number of ways I find where I may be imposing my own reason over the words of Jesus, putting words in His mouth that He really didn't say. On the other hand, however, I am realizing very clearly that the war between wrong and right is thicker and heavier than we tend to consider. By the way, Biblical Christianity is more on the defensive side of the ball than we like to think, too.
Now, I understand that by going to a secular school I freely put myself in the middle of it, and had I continued my education under more conservative instruction my mind would be more at ease. I didn't think that was the way God wanted me to go, though, and still don't. Even though I am facing challenges and criticisms quicker than I can turn my head, I am certain God is working in all of it to get me where He wants me to be. In the mean time, He has helped me understand the value of faith.
The analogy of the armor of God in Ephesians is very popular among Christians. There has been an innumerable amount of discussion and preaching on the matter, and we have been given a lot of different perspectives on application. Lately, though, the shield of faith has been of particular interest to me.
It's simple, really, so I won't try to drag it out. As I mentioned before, nearly every day I find myself in the middle of the ongoing attack against Biblical Christianity. I've learned a lot by way of defense of my belief, and in plenty of cases the absurdity of the ungodly claims are too simply clear. There are other cases, though, where the answers aren't so clear, and the arguments against Christianity seem to have some validity.
So what do we do in those cases? The shield of faith. Satan's attacks against the truth of God have been called "fiery darts." I like to imagine an antagonist realizing arrows are dangerous, but lighting them on fire causes a rush of destruction before the attacked can even think about what to do. Satan likes these kinds of arrows: "blow them away before they can even realize it." Now I like to consider the words, "take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." (Ephesians 6:16 NIV). Extinguish the fire, eliminate the "shock and awe" of the attack, give yourself some time - time to think, read, study, consider, seek the perspectives of others, weigh the evidence, and, most of all, PRAY. After all, why would you storm out on Someone with whom you've had a relationship at the heated accusation of some unrelated third party? And don't let the third party accuse you of ignoring reason to side with faith. That's what the attacker wants you to do! He wants you to trust his "reasoning" before taking time to consider the whole of the issue.
As I've stated before, I believe there is an acceptable answer to every criticism of true faith in Christ. Sometimes it takes faith - the shield of faith - to make possible the search.
posted by Jonathan Branch at 11:13 PM
1 Comments:
It is good to see a new post. I thought most had foregone the practice. There haven't been a lot of updates lately. It sounds like your studies continue to challenge you to understand your faith in light of the world we live in. I have been confronted several times recently with the scripture concerning our armour. I love the visualization of physically oposing the devil and his advances. The sheild of faith is said to quench the darts. Often we think of a sheild as being metal, causing the flaming arrows to deflect and hit our neighbor or setting on fire our surroundings. I believe these sheilds were made from wood and leather, then soaked in water. They were heavy but could take an arrow, and quench the flaming tip. Notice the sheild had to be raised and presented properly to be effective. The sheild is said to be of faith, i.e. faith is the material make up of our spiritual sheild. The Bible teaches us that faith is " the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. When we are attacked by the devils firey darts and arrows, we need to present our hope of heaven, and evidence of God and all that is in the eternal realm that our attackers cannot see. Finaly, our faith is not a subjective faith that is dependent on ourselves and our limited resources, but an objective faith getting it's strength and power from the object our faith is in: Christ and His Promise of salvation. Our faith is defensive weapon that protects us and sustains us, and isn't used to hit the attacker over the head, but to prevent him from doing us harm. In a day when historical realities and records are questioned as if they are so much smoke and mirrors,it is good to know our faith is given the credentials of evidence and substance by the very creator of the universe!
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