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Archive for September, 2010

Encouragement that the Bible really teaches the perseverance of the saints

Posted in Book Commentary, Scripture on September 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Or, to put it another way, the Bible teaches that God grants faith and the strength to persevere in that faith.  God grants pardon for our sins because of Jesus, we receive joy in him, and God receives all the glory.  What a great exchange!

Kevin DeYoung is a pastor, writer and prolific blogger, and I think he would call himself a friend of Bethlehem.

I was very encouraged by his posting this week, Does the Bible Really Teach the Perseverance of the Saints?

He quotes extensively from Herman Bavinck’s book, Reformed Dogmatics:

In his intercession before the Father, Christ acts in such a way that their faith may not fail (Luke 22:32), that in the world they may be kept from the evil one (John 17:11, 20), that they may be saved for all times (Heb. 7:20), he is to behold his glory (John 117:24). The benefits of Christ, which the Holy Spirit imparts to them, are all irrevocable (Rom. 11:29). Those who are called are also glorified (8:30). Those who are adopted as children are heirs of eternal life (8:17; Gal. 4:7). Those who believe have eternal life already here and now (John 3:16). That life itself, being eternal, cannot be lost. It cannot die since it cannot sin (1 John 3:9). Faith is a firm ground (Heb. 11:1), hope is an anchor (6:19) and does not disappoint us (Rom. 5:5), and love never ends (1 Cor. 13:8) (Emphasis in bold mine).

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An excellent wife who can find?

Posted in commentary, Scripture on September 17, 2010| 1 Comment »

Ours is a pretty happy home, largely because Dianne pursues the good of her family and frequently counsels me on how I can better serve the children.

And she pursues our good because it is an overflow of what Jesus has done for her.  Whether it is dealing with the common things of family life, issues related to Paul’s disability, or her own cancer, I know I will hear these words from her, “God will help us.”

Because she manages our household, she also manages most of Paul’s medical care.  After he had two seizures on Wednesday, she was on the phone Thursday morning with the neurologist’s staff.  She would not describe herself this way, but as I listened to her explain the situation, I was struck by many of her qualities exemplified in that phone call:

  • Her knowledge of and passion for her son
  • Her desire to serve him
  • Her persistence in pursuing his good
  • Her ability to articulate clearly and purposefully
  • Her ability to listen and understand new information
  • Her kindness to whoever was on the other end of the phone
  • Her genuine gratitude

It isn’t like this is unusual for her – she demonstrates these qualities all the time.  So I don’t exactly know why the Holy Spirit encouraged me to listen differently to this phone conversation.  Maybe it was to encourage me to pause and thank God again for this woman.  I am happy to do so!

An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.  Proverbs 31:10-12

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“But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”

Posted in News, Scripture on September 16, 2010| 9 Comments »

That verse in the title, found in John 9:41, came to mind as I read one of the comments attached to Amy Julia Becker’s blog posting on why she declined prenatal testing for her third pregnancy.

Happily, the vast majority of comments were positive, including several similar stories of good decisions women made to let their babies live.  A couple of dads even weighed in.

A genetic counselor, however, wrote a comment on his or her sorrow at how prenatal testing was presented.  What grabbed me was this statement:

No judgement (sic), no pushing- that’s how my appointments work. I mainly want patients to feel comfortable and informed, no matter what they choose.

No matter what they choose?

It sounds all very soothing and helpful and reasonable.  How often is this comfortable ‘choose what is right for you’ given as the final answer.

That ‘choice’ statement would be nonsense even if people considered disability to be normal.  But we know the direction of the culture is against our children with disabilities.

And no matter how prepared a parent is, this issue is never neutral.  Disability frightens people.  There is no safe space where ‘non-judgmental’ conversations exchanging objective information can happen.

What children (and their parents) really need are advocates, not professionals who will make parents feel comfortable about whatever decision the parents make.  I’m good enough at self-justification to not even need that kind of ‘counsel’.

Hopefully you’ve read enough on this blog to know we live in the real world of hurt and loneliness and financial difficulty associated with disability.  There are no romantic notions here about disability being easy.  We live with an entirely different framework than the culture, however, knowing that God is sovereign over all things and has promised to help us.

And, frankly, this counselor is disingenuous.  The desire to help people feel comfortable with any decision means that the counselor is comfortable with the idea of aborting a little human being on the basis of disability.  I am not comfortable with that, and don’t ever want to be comfortable with that, and I don’t want anyone else thinking it is ok to be comfortable with that decision.

Embracing this notion of choice also validates the idea that we are god, entirely able to make whatever decision we want to concerning a human being who is entirely defenseless.

If we claim this kind of sovereignty over our own lives (and little babies’ lives) and attempt to justify ourselves before God, there is nothing standing between us and the righteous wrath of God.

But, we can have full confidence that every sin, including aborting or encouraging the abortion of a child with a disability, is completely covered by what Jesus did for us in obedience to the Father at the cross.  When God calls and gives us faith, we are entirely clothed in the righteousness of Jesus.  And that allows us to live a different kind of life entirely, under his good care.

After all, it is God alone who makes these bold statements about his sovereignty over disability:

Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Exodus 4:11

Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” John 9:3

And we have clear instructions from God about how to think about those who are weaker:

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 1 Corinthians 12:21-26

And God alone will have the final say:

For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:30-31

So let us never put on a neutral tone regarding the choices people face with their unborn children with disabilities.  Let us remind counselors that their duty is to actively counsel against bad decisions, not justify every decision.  Parents need to know the truth about the good and the bad in raising a child with a disability, be offered ideas for dealing with issues, and receive support in their deepest moments of grief – so that the child is allowed to live.

We can do this boldly in the midst of another’s deepest pain and confusion because we have a promise no secular counselor can ever offer, and it is one we can bank everything on:

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:19

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“When would you like to schedule the procedure to terminate?”

Posted in News on September 15, 2010| 1 Comment »

Lisa Belkin maintains the Motherlode Blog for the New York Times Magazine.  Unlike most parenting blogs, she frequently covers the subject of disability.

And I was delighted to see “Deciding Not to Screen for Down Syndrome” as the headline of her blog yesterday.  She invited Amy Julia Becker, who is pregnant with her third child and already the mother of a girl with Down syndrome, to explain why she was not going to have prenatal testing on her third child.

This is not a defense of life under the umbrella of the sovereignty of God – there is not one mention of God.

But it highlights the fact that some of the most dangerous people our babies with disabilities will face are not ‘out there’ in the culture.  Rather, it is the doctors, the very ones who should be caring for these precious, vulnerable, little ones, who are too often recommending a child’s destruction.

One answer to that: a program at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in which medical students meet families experiencing disability to get the real story.  I liked that idea.

This is not sufficient to change the culture, of course.  Only Jesus can do that.

But may God use this article to make many mothers and fathers – and hopefully doctors – pause to think before they make a horrendous, final choice about their child.

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“God’s wisdom means that God always chooses the best goals. . .”

Posted in Book Commentary on September 14, 2010| Leave a Comment »

With all the doctoring that we have been doing lately for Paul, I have found I don’t have any mental space for my normal reading schedule.  The result: The little number in black that documents my unread personal emails is sitting at over 1,300 (thankfully my work email is mostly caught up!).  The books I began over the summer have mostly been untouched for several weeks.  My google reader keeps telling me I have more than 1,000 unread posts waiting for me.  I haven’t used my electronic access to scholarly journals in weeks.

This isn’t normal for me as I love to read.  That space in my head normally dedicated to this issue of disability and the Bible has been swallowed up in this medical issue for Paul.

But it is a great example of how finite I am – which leads to worshiping the God who is not limited in any way!

And I’m grateful for books that let me read helpful chunks about who God is in smaller bites – like Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology.

Yes, it is more than 1,200 pages long.  Yes, it looks intimidating.

But when I need something to get me oriented on who God is, this book is very helpful.  It is organized, written well, and covers an extraordinary amount of material.  It should be on every Christian’s shelf.

Here’s an example of something that helped me yesterday:

“Wisdom: God’s wisdom means that God always chooses the best goals and the best means to those goals. This definition goes beyond the idea of God knowing all things and specifies that God’s decisions about what he will do are always wise decisions: that is, they always will bring about the best results (from God’s ultimate perspective), and they will bring about those results through the best possible means. . .

Yet we must also remember that God’s wisdom is not entirely communicable: we can never fully share God’s wisdom (Rom. 11:33). In practical terms, this means that there will frequently be times in this life when we will not be able to understand why God allowed something to happen.  Then we have simply to trust him and go on obeying his wise commands for our lives: “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will do right and entrust their souls to a faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4:19; cf. Deut. 29:29; Prov. 3:5-6). God is infinitely wise and we are not, and it pleases him when we have faith to trust his wisdom even when we do not understand what he is doing.” (Grudem, pp. 193, 195)

Books like these are no substitute for the Word of God.  But faithful men like Wayne Grudem certainly help keep me oriented to who God is and who I am in relation to him.

Particularly that He is absolutely trustworthy, no matter the situation or circumstance in which I find myself.

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“Thus endeth the theological lesson for today!” – Linus VanPelt

Posted in Uncategorized on September 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Thanks to Daniel Knight who was searching through books I read as a boy, read these strips to his mother who then suggested them for the blog.

From Take it easy, Charlie Brown by Charles M. Schulz.

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“We have to remind ourselves what God’s word says” – Mary Horning

Posted in commentary, Quotes on September 11, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday I posted a short clip of Krista Horning’s interview on KTIS last week, and today I have a clip from her mother, Mary.

Theirs is a hard story, full of questions about God.  Yet God transformed it, using promises from his word.

To quote Mary, “God is sovereign, and God is good.”  Yes!

I am grateful to God for the entire Horning family and his faithfulness in holding them up through many difficult things.

Again, thank you to KTIS and the Faith Radio network for making this interview freely available on their website.

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A word from Krista Horning, author of Just the Way I Am

Posted in News, Quotes on September 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »

If you do not have the time to listen to the entire interview of Mary and Krista Horning on KTIS, here is about a two minute clip of Krista talking about her personal situation and God’s preciousness in her life.

This is how Christian hedonists talk – sorrowful, yet always rejoicing!

Copies of Just the Way I Am are still available through Desiring God.

Thank you to KTIS and the Faith Radio network for making this interview freely available.

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Making fun of disability makes much of Christ in what ways?

Posted in commentary, News on September 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Stephen Hawking has written a new book, The Grand Design, in which he makes statements about God, or at least asserts that God is not necessary to explain the universe.

This isn’t a post about that.  James Anderson wrote a helpful reply if you are interested in exploring  that issue further.

No, this is a lament:  There are ‘Christians’ who seem to think Dr. Hawking’s disability is worth mentioning in their usually-inadequate defense of  God or the Bible.  And by ‘mentioning’ I mean they use it in ways to make fun of or defame Dr. Hawking.

There were enough negative references to his disability on Twitter that a Washington Post blogger wrote a column on it.

I was hoping this was an over-statement – how could anyone be so rude?  Or childish?  Or uninformed?  Unfortunately, after I read the comments attached to a couple of major newspaper articles, I saw the same thing as that Post blogger.  It wasn’t many, but enough to be discouraging.

I expect this new book from Dr. Hawking will be an item for a while.  So, even if it is only a few who conduct themselves badly in public, let’s help people in our churches understand two things:

  1. Stephen Hawking is not an idiot; Christians (and everyone else) look foolish when calling him that.  He may be an opportunist – there is a reason he writes ‘popular’ works rather than limiting his writings to peer-reviewed journals and seminars – but he is no ‘idiot’ in the sense that most people mean.
  2. Dr. Hawking’s disability is no indicator of his standing before God.  God is completely free to do whatever he wants to with his creation, including creating geniuses to live with significant disabilities who will deny him.

I find it difficult to do this without being judgmental or self-righteous.  That, of course, doesn’t invite people to consider the heart-work that needs to happen which results in a changed attitude and actions.  It does us no good if people feel bullied into silence.

Yet, when people in our churches make a direct connection between disability, disease or suffering and God’s displeasure, they are contradicting the Biblical accounts of Job, the Apostle Paul and the man born blind.  That can’t go unchallenged, even if the challenge needs to be winsome.

And that ultimately becomes a statement about God and his sovereignty over his creation.

Of course I disagree with Dr. Hawking’s conclusions about God.  That breaks my heart.

But it also breaks my heart when those who claim the name of Jesus decide sarcastic remarks about disability will somehow make Jesus look beautiful.

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“When your child’s body is cut open, your heart is cut open” – Krista and Mary Horning’s interview on KTIS

Posted in Book Commentary, Uncategorized on September 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Stephanie Kay of the Faith Radio Network opens the hour with a recent, powerful interview she had with Joni Eareckson Tada.

Krista and Mary follow that interview about 26 minutes into the podcast – you can listen to it here!

God is glorified in this interview.  Krista and Mary offer phenomenal statements about God’s sovereign care.  I am grateful to God to know the Horning family; they have encouraged my family countless times, and I know this interview will encourage you to see God for who he really is.

Yes, God is sovereign and God is good.

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