There are so many things that are happening in our world that are problematic. Here in Canada, speech is being censored, gas prices are continuing to climb, travel is still being limited, jobs are still being withheld from certain people, manufactured food shortages are in the works, communist universal basic income bills are going through parliament, our Prime Minister is pushing climate change action, and people continue to kill babies in the womb.
As I scroll through my news feeds, it is easy to find stuff to expose and correct, but it is challenging to find things worth celebrating here in Canada. My news feed is bombarded with stories that display an unbridled, hastened shift away from any moral foundation. The common moral foundations which society seemed to agree on have been removed. This shift has been spurred on by embracing the postmodern philosophical worldview - where truth is based on subjective feelings and experience. No longer do we strive to understand what is true, but simply what we want to believe is true. God has given our nation up to what seems right in their own minds (Rom. 1:24), leading to a nation that thinks men can be pregnant, drag queens can teach children about sexuality, and schools see no harm in teaching children about masturbation. Unsurprisingly, these news stories are championed and celebrated by our culture, and they eclipse stories worthy of celebration. It's so easy to get caught up in all this bad news that we sometimes forget to celebrate the victories. So, for a change, I want to share some good news that you may have already heard. There have been some favourable outcomes in the provincial courts in British Columbia and Alberta regarding rulings made in cases involving different pastors. On May 2, after nearly a year of being wrongly convicted, the criminal charges on Tim Stephens were dropped! On May 12, two dozen covid violation tickets against three BC pastors who faithfully opened their churches despite the tyrannical restrictions were dropped. These tickets would have totalled $55,200. And this hasn't just happened in the western provinces, but over here in Atlantic Canada as well! God's word says, "Rejoice in the Lord always..." (Php. 4:4). The dropping of these criminal charges and tickets is something that we can rejoice about! It shows how God vindicates and provides for those who stand for what is right. But notice the word "always." That's how often we should rejoice! But this news seems like a needle in a haystack of perversion. How can we rejoice in a time when there is so much bad stuff that is taking place? That's something I've been thinking about recently and something I asked you about this week. This is what I heard from you:
These people get it! We can be thankful amid all this bad news because of what God is doing and where history is ultimately leading. Take, for instance, the tickets that these BC pastors had received. It was troublesome news, and yet God used them for the good of His church. Gathering now meant there was a price. And with the price came the motivation needed to grow closer together. Fellowship became sweeter, deeper and more personal for many. He also used them to reveal the tyranny of the unjust leaders in Canada and expanded the witness of His church. People took notice. And some who never would have come into a church, came. Depending upon the church, these people would have heard a clear gospel message - and some even got saved! God used these tickets as a means to grow his church. That's something to rejoice about! And now it seems he again is using the tickets to advance his kingdom. Truth is being revealed through the court cases, and the church is being vindicated. So Paul writes, "Rejoice in the Lord always..." (Php. 4:4) Always? Yes, always! Now, I'll admit, it's easier to grumble, criticize and complain than it is to rejoice and be thankful! I even find this true when it comes to writing. It's much easier to expose the bad things in Canada and criticize it for what it is than to sit down and write about thankfulness and things to be thankful for. As I'm writing this, I see other news items come across my news feed, and I'm torn between writing about thankfulness or focusing on them and ripping them apart. I'm struggling with why I am writing about this topic when there are troublesome current events in Canada that seem to be more pressing - Events that pose a threat to our nation's sovereignty, such as the International Treaty on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response that's been presented by the WHO. Why write about thankfulness in such a time as this? Because as important as it is to expose sin and error in our nation, thankfulness keeps our witness winsome (Php. 4:5) and guards our hearts and minds against worry and bitterness (Php. 4:6-7). Too much criticizing turns people away and makes our hearts cynical. It often leads to grumbling, which is a sin that we are told to avoid (Php. 2:14; Jas. 5:9). Yes, we are to warn and instruct others of sin; but grumbling stems from a heart attitude where we believe God is not sufficiently good, wise, faithful, loving, powerful or competent. This is to be avoided - and we do that through thankfulness. Which, by the way, is God's will for us. Paul writes, "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thess. 5:18). God's word is clear; it's our emotions and opinions that get in the way. We find it difficult to be thankful because we either think we deserve better or fail to understand God's sovereign activity. So when times are troublesome, we need to remember some key truths.
Though Canada is in a mess morally, and there are so many troublesome events taking place, try to see what God is doing in our nation. He's not asleep at the wheel or powerless to bring an end to the madness; rather, He is actively leading everything according to His plan and purpose. So be vigilant not only in your stand for the truth, but in our watchfulness of his work in your country.
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When I was in high school, I took chemistry. By no stretch of the imagination was I good at the subject. I took it because I wanted to do lab experiments. Well, that's where I became familiar with an expression I thought was common to everyone – the litmus test. Have you heard of that expression? The term comes from chemistry, where litmus paper is dipped into a solution to determine the PH of that solution. The paper turns a particular colour depending upon the PH factor.
In society, the expression "the litmus test" is used metaphorically to refer to a test in which a single factor (such as an attitude, event or fact) is decisive in determining the state of a specific thing. For instance, many people have been using whether a church stayed open despite the restrictions as the test of whether that church is faithful and healthy. But is that even fair? Is that even the determining factor of the state of a church? Yes, to some degree, gathering in person is a sign of a healthy church. You can't be a church if you aren't assembling. I mean, it's in the word church! The word literally means a called-out assembly. However, if this is the litmus test of a healthy church, then we got a problem. You see, throughout the last couple of years, there has been a mixture of churches that refused to close - some that I would never recommend someone to attend. This week I was sent an article about The Church in the Vine, which is located in Edmonton, Alberta. They tried to follow different health protocols, which were reasonable. However, when it came to restricting attendance and permitting health officials to go in and observe that they were following the mandates, they refused to comply. Though I respect them for refusing the health officials to come in and disturb their worship service, I would not recommend someone to enter their church. It is a hotbed of heresy. They are a full-fledged NAR church with women pastors that promote, teach and adhere to new revelations given by God. They are governed by emotionalism, attractionalism, experience, and mysticism over the clear teaching of God's Word. Here's an unpopular opinion. Ready? Some churches that closed their doors when the government restricted gathering are more doctrinally sound than some that stayed open. And some that stayed open should have closed for good. Merely gathering and being active cannot be the litmus test – and this is evident in the book of Malachi. During that time in history, there was a lot of worship activity taking place. The doors were open, and people were coming to the priests to offer sacrifices. The priests were actively performing their duties. Yet, God calls for them to bring all this to a close. He literally says, "Oh, how I wish someone would close the doors." What was happening for God to say this? The activity taking place was in violation of God's clear instructions. They offered sacrifices that were blemished and abhorrent to God. So, is there a litmus test that can be used to determine the state of a church? The answer is yes. The test is how close that church adheres to God's Word. I think it's clear that discernment is needed when determining the state of a church. Though the church in the Vine gathered and did not restrict attendance, there were some red flags regarding their worship. For instance:
These are just some red flags that a quick website and Facebook search can find. How many red flags do you need until you recognize the church is not healthy and should be avoided? We can't know the red flags in a church unless we are doing the litmus test. But this demands something from us - consistent reading and studying of God's Word. We need to know God's word to apply God's word rightly. And we need to handle God's word rightly to apply it rightly. If we interpret scripture with a humanistic hermeneutic, it will do us no good in determining an activity that goes against God's Word. It would be like trying to do the litmus test without the paper, or at most with a different type of paper that wouldn't display an accurate result. There are some things that we should be looking for in a church. Signs that it is spiritually healthy. Last week I asked a question on my Instagram story about what you considered were signs of a healthy church. I loved what each of you had to say! I'll admit, sometimes it feels like I'm writing to an audience of one - so it's always encouraging to hear from you! Here's what some of you had to say:
All of these can be backed up with multiple scripture verses. But what is the overarching sign of a healthy church? A devotion to sound doctrine. As one person replied about what makes a healthy church, "They hold to sound doctrine, everything will fall in line after that." When you read about the early church in Acts, there are four things that they devoted themselves to (Acts 2:42). The first thing that is mentioned is the apostle's teachings; after that came fellowship, the Lord's Supper and prayer. It's been said, "Orthodoxy leads to orthopraxy." Or in other words, right doctrine leads to right living. So what does a church look like that is devoted to sound doctrine? Well, that's another blog for another time. When I was younger, my parents gave me a bible for Christmas. On the "presented to" page, my Dad wrote my name and then at the bottom, he wrote three bible references. One of those bible references was 2 Timothy 2:15 - "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." This verse has propelled me always to strive to understand, handle and teach God's Word accurately.
The expression "rightly handling" is also translated as "rightly divide" and has in mind the idea of cutting a straight line or laying a straight path in the teaching of God's Word. There's a right and a wrong way to handle and teach God's word. Sadly, in many churches, God's word is mishandled, manhandled and at times not even handled. How we read and interpret scripture matters. In many churches, a humanistic hermeneutic influenced by postmodernism is employed. Now, that's a mouthful! So, let me break down some of those words to try to explain what I mean. Postmodernism is a philosophical worldview that focuses on the reality of an individual, making truth relative to what a person perceives to be true in his reality. Those who hold to this worldview dismiss objective truth (truth outside of a person's experience) and assert that truth cannot be known for certain. As a result, they deny any universal truth claim and absolute truth. The tell-tale sign that someone adheres to this worldview, or at the very least is influenced by it, is the expression, "Well, that may be true for you but not for me." Postmodernism is humanistic. Something that is humanist over-emphasizes humanity, especially individuals within a society. This humanistic worldview has influenced how many Christians read and interpret the Bible. That brings us to our third word – hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is the method or principle of interpretation. In the church, a humanistic hermeneutic influenced by postmodernism is one where the interpreter interprets the bible passage based on their own individual reality and experience. So what does that look like in the church? Well, let me give you a few different scenarios.
These are three typical scenarios where the humanistic hermeneutic is being employed and even encouraged. This is not how we are to read, handle and interpret the Bible. To put it bluntly, it doesn't really matter what we think of the passage. We don't want to know what we think it means; we want to know what the author intended it to mean to his original audience. An author writes a book in a historical setting with an intended purpose and audience in mind. They choose their words intentionally to build their story or argument. This is called authorial intent. And it really should be something we are familiar with. We understand that when we read a book, we don't jump in the middle of it and say, "Ah ha, the author is saying this," when we have not read what proceeded it. We also don't pick up Pilgrims Progress, a book written by John Bunyan to allegorically describe the Christian journey, and use it as a recipe book. Why? Because that's not the author's intent! Yet, for some reason, we forget to discover the author's intent when it comes to the books of the Bible, and we jump into interpreting it with our own thoughts. I think what's helpful to mention here is that the Bible consists of 66 books written by 35 authors. Each book is written with an intended audience and purpose in mind. It would be best if you learned the author's intent before you attempt to interpret what a certain passage means. Thankfully, the author's intent is found in the book they have written and often is clearly stated. I'll give you two examples:
Now, why am I harping on this? The humanistic hermeneutic I've mentioned seeks to replace authorial intent with an individualized perspective. This is appealing because it opens the scriptures up to what we want them to say, and we get to reshape them into something more palatable - something more fitting with our culture, our agenda, or even the sins we want to continue doing. The issues that are found in many churches, some of which I have discussed on other blogs, are not because they don't read the Bible; it's because they interpret it based on a man-centred hermeneutic that emphasizes individualized truths and distorts the simple meaning of scripture. As a good student of God's Word who desires to handle God's Word rightly, you need to discover the author's purpose. But that demands work! It demands study! It requires getting to know the historical setting in which the book was written. There's a method of interpretation that seeks to do this. It's called the Historical-Grammatical method of interpretation. Now, you might be cautious about using a method, thinking that it's unspiritual. I can hear it now - "Ya, but the Holy Spirit is your teacher. He's the one that will lead you in the truth. Just listen to him!" This spiritual approach may actually open the door to a humanistic hermeneutic since it relies heavily on personal revelation. Furthermore, it goes against other clear teachings of scripture like 2 Timothy 2:15 which portrays the Christian as a worker who works hard to rightly handled God's word and Proverbs 2:4 that refers to a seeker of truth as someone who works hard to discover the truth like a man seeking and minging for precious jewels. Everyone uses a method; the only question is how close does that method bring you to rightly handling God's Word? I'll state it plainly – the historical-grammatical method of interpretation is probably the best approach to studying God's Word. You may have never heard of this method; however, it has been around since Martin Luther and the protestant reformation. This method was a reaction against the Four-Fold method of interpretation that gave rise to wild ideas and allegorizations of the Bible – especially in books like Song of Solomon. The Historical-Grammatical method sought to ground God's Word in the historical context in which it was written. The method asserts that each biblical passage has ONE basic meaning, which was firmly rooted in historical truth, and relayed accurately according to common principles of human language. This method directly opposes the humanistic hermeneutic that is prevalent in the church today, which seeks to rip the truth from its historical foundations. It guards us against attempting to think, "what does this mean to me" as it prompts us to think, "what did it mean to the author and the original audience." So what steps are taken with this method? There are three steps:
So there you have it, the historical-grammatical method of interpretation, which seeks to ground the biblical passage in its historical setting so that we can rightly understand it and then apply it to our lives today. Let me end with this final thought. What would happen if more churches forsook their humanistic hermeneutic and instead embraced this method? What would the church look like then? |
AuthorHello! I'm glad you found my blog. My name is David Hanson, and I am a concerned Christian who desires for the church of North America to become aware and begin to think biblically of what is happening around them in society. It's time for the church to awake and speak into the current events of the day. We alone have the truth to navigate life effectively. That truth is the Word of God. Archives
May 2022
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