DOES TRINITY HAVE A POSITION ON THE END TIMES? WHAT IS IT? HOW CAN I FIND OUT ABOUT IT?
Ask a group of adults or teens for topic they would like to be discussed in class or sermon, and inevitably, the theme of end times and prophecy will emerge. Your questions are good ones.
The theological term for end times is eschatology. It literally means the study of last times. Trinity would affirm the Bible as the source of our understanding of what God will do as he brings time to an end. You may explore what the Bible teaches about this subject by reading the book of Revelation, the epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians I & II and Matthew 24. The Westminster Confession of Faith is a summary of what the Bible teaches on an array of important topics. (The Westminster Confession of Faith was developed and adopted in the 15th century as a creedal statement for Presbyterian Churches.) It is a part of our constitution and would represent a summary statement of Trinity's position on the end times.
Here is an overview of Trinity's position on the end times:
- After death, our bodies decay but our souls return to God who created them. The souls of the righteous dwell with God and the souls of the wicked are released to hell.
- When Christ returns, at the end of time, those who are Christians will be changed into his likeness. All the dead will be raised and united with their souls.
- A day of judgment will follow in which God will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ. At that time, the righteous will go into everlasting life and the wicked will be released into eternal torment.
- No one, other than God himself, knows the day when Jesus Christ will return to earth to establish his eternal kingdom. But knowing that this Day of Judgment and restoration will certainly occur, we are to be diligent in our service to Jesus Christ.
If you wish to pursue your study of this topic, I would suggest Anthony Hoekema's book, The Bible and the Future, published by Eerdman's Press. He was professor of systematic theology at Calvin Seminary before his death in 1988.
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Why do you seem to do a sermon on everything except the importance of tithing to the church?
I liked the directness of this question. At a time when the giving to most churches is declining, sermons on tithing would seem to be appropriate. At Trinity we have tried to encourage our congregation to put Christ first in their lives and to follow him in all the arenas of their lives: in their work life, in their family life, in their recreational life, in their social life, and in their financial life. As you might imagine, many people have been turned off by a church�s over emphasis on finances. Many have left such experiences with the thought: "they are only interested in my money". Perhaps we have moved too far in the other direction.
Jesus spoke more about money than almost any other subject. His parables as well as his teachings frequently allude to the way we use or abuse money. Tithing is a biblical principle. The word tithe means 10%; and tithing means giving the 10% of our income to the Lord. We encourage storehouse giving at Trinity; that means we encourage our members to give the first 10% of their income to the work of Christ at Trinity, and then give over and above that to other areas that God may lay upon their hearts.
We recognize that there are some families facing such financial difficulties that it would be an impossible hardship for them to give 10% of their income to the Lord. On the other hand, we have seen God bless in amazing ways when people have tried to follow Proverbs 3:9 "Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barn to be filled to overflowing, and your eventual brim over with new wine." We encourage you, if you are not at this point in time tithing your income, to take steps over the next year or so to raise your giving at Trinity to the Lord to 10% of your total income.
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How do you reconcile the scientific measurement of the Earth's age and age dollars contend the Bible gives for the age of the church?
Thank you for asking this question because it indicates a desire to understand the truth that comes from the Bible as well as the truth that comes from the world around us. It was Francis Bacon who wrote: "God gave us two books, the book of nature and the book of Scripture, and I read deeply in both of them."
I think it is very important to understand that God has revealed himself to us both in Scripture and in nature. I say this because some have relegated Scripture to the realm of fantasy, or emotion, or imagination, and have denigrated its truth value. We believe that wherever the Bible speaks or teaches on a given subject, its teaching is true and reliable. At the same time, it must be admitted that the Bible is not a book of science; it was never intended to be written with the precision of the 21st-century metrics. So its teachings must be understood contextually and culturally and grammatically.
Some have suggested that God has revealed himself only in Scripture, and therefore are suspicious of claims from the Academy that might impinge on one's understanding of Scripture. I think, however, that God has revealed himself in nature as well as in Scripture. There are many, many truths that have been ascertained through research and study and reflection on nature that add depth to our understanding of God's creation.
So it is an admirable endeavor to understand how both Scripture and nature reveal insights about God's creation. The difficulty comes when it appears that science and the Scripture are in conflict. And the conflict may well represent a bias on either side. On the one hand, those who interpret the Scripture may interpret it inaccurately and thus draw conclusions that were never designed to be drawn by what God revealed in his Word. For example, the expression �the corners of the earth� was understood by some to support a flat earth. But this was interpreting a literary expression as a dogmatic teaching. On the other hand science has not been without its bias. The evolutionary influence on science has flavored the conclusions that have been drawn in many different areas of science and led to apparent contradictions with the Scripture.
The age of the Earth is not specified in Scripture. There have been those historically who have tried to use the genealogy records to imply the age of the earth; but these genealogy records were never intended to inform us of the age of the earth; and thus they are being used inappropriately if conclusions are drawn from them about the age of the earth. On the other hand, science has been rather fluid in its dating of the Earth.
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Can anyone other than the clergy read and understand the Bible?
I appreciate this question, because sometimes when I listen to preachers, I wonder where they got the insights that they bring forth from the Bible. When they quote from the Hebrew or Greek, it can make the average person feel handicapped in studying God's word.
One of the phrases that emerged from the Reformation was the phrase "the perspicuity" of the Bible. This was used to indicate that the Bible in general could be understood by the average person. Perspicuous means that something is plain to the understanding; it is not obscure. Reacting to the Roman Catholic Medieval church, which taught that only the clergy could understand the Bible, especially since the Bible was available only in Latin, the Reformers wanted Christians to know that they could understand the Bible if they would read it and study it for themselves. Of course, like any great literature, to understand the Bible requires work on our part. Like any great literature, we need to understand the context, the historical setting, the meaning of the words, and the way that they are used. Paul wrote to Timothy and gave him this great promise: "reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all of this." (2 Timothy 2:7) One of the books that has helped many Christians understand the Bible is entitled How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth, written by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart.
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How can I explain to a nonbeliever that the Bible is from God and that it is his word?
I like this question. It implies that you are trying to share your faith with those who are distant from God. I commend you for this undertaking. I do not think we can convince someone who is not a Christian that the Bible is God's word. A better approach is to simply share insights you are learning from the Bible, and perhaps offer a copy to your friend and encourage him to read it, beginning with one of the Gospels. The Westminster Confession Of Faith, a constitutional document of our church, makes the following statement about the Bible: "we may be influenced by the testimony of the church to value the Bible highly and reverently, and Scripture itself shows in so many ways that it is God's Word; for example, in its spiritual subject matter, in the effectiveness of its teaching, the majesty of its style, the agreement of all its parts, it's unity from beginning to end it, the full revelation of the only way of man's salvation, it's many other incomparable outstanding features, and its complete perfection. However, we are completely persuaded and assured of the infallible truth and divine authority of the Bible only by the inward working of the Holy Spirit, who testifies by and with the Word in our hearts.
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How did the teachings about Christ get passed down before being recorded in the Gospels?
This is an important question, because many accuse the Bible, especially the Gospels, as being written long years after the events which they narrate; the implication being that we cannot trust what the Bible says because it was written so long after the fact. This question has been answered by Lee Strobel, in his book, The Case For Christ, in the first three chapters: can the biographies of Jesus be trusted? Do the biographies of Jesus stand up under scrutiny? Were the biographies of Jesus reliably preserved for us? And then chapter 4 answers this question: is there credible evidence for Jesus outside his biographies? And then chapter 5 addresses the question: does archaeology confirm or contradict Jesus� biographies? In short, he explains how the writers of the New Testament recorded their narratives about Jesus within a short time after his death and resurrection. They were eyewitnesses of these accounts, and they used the records of eyewitnesses to compile their narratives about Christ. If what they recorded had been erroneous, there were people living at the time of these events who would have raised their objections.
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What does the Bible teach about women serving as pastors?
This is a difficult question to answer; serious students of the Bible have disagreed about its answer. According to some, the Bible teaches that women, although equally gifted as men, are not permitted by Scripture to serve as pastors in the local church. Often, the passage from 1 Timothy 2:11 is quoted: "a woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man; she must be quiet." On the other hand, there are those who teach that women are not only equally gifted as men, but that they have equal rights to use their gifts throughout the ministries of the church. They would view 1 Timothy 2:11 as a statement that reflects the cultural restrictions placed on women at the time of the writing of this letter; and not a restriction from the office of pastor for woman. Some have argued from Ephesians 5:22-24, that since a wife should be submissive to her husband, placing a wife in the position of a pastor would compromise her submission to her husband. Others would not see this as a limitation to the office of pastor, seeing the submission in the context of their marriage and not in the context of the larger church.
In our denomination, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the local church is given the permission to decide as to whether it will invite women to serve as pastors. In some of our churches, there are women pastors, but many, like Trinity, have not yet asked women to serve as pastors.
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Are there any real absolutes today?
We live in an age of relativity. The content of many movies today would lead one to question whether there are any absolutes today. In the cafeteria of ideas, the only absolute seems to be tolerance. Tolerance is defined today, not as the right to disagree agreeably with another person, but as the right to consider all points of view as correct. In other words, the only absolute seems to be that no one can claim absolutes for their point of view. Nowhere is there a greater contrast between the world around us and the Word of God than in this area. The Bible is a book of absolutes, because it brings to us, truths about life and how we are to live life from God's perspective. When Moses came down from the mountain, he did not give the people of God 10 recommendations; rather, he brought God's word to them in the form of 10 Commandments. When God commanded us to speak the truth in love, to be kind to one another, not to speak falsely with our neighbors, not to steal, not to let any unwholesome talk him out of our mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, (Ephesians 4:25-32), he was giving us an absolute way of living.
Some view absolutes, commands in the word of God, as a form of Biblical legislation, designed only to show us our sin. But I do not think that this perspective does justice to the Word of God. When God gave to Moses the 10 Commandments, as recorded in Exodus 20, he was giving to God's people, to those who had been read redeemed from slavery in Egypt and brought into God's family, the pattern of living that pleases God. In the New Testament, the commands that Jesus gives us in the Sermon on the Mount, or that Paul gives us in he Ephesians 4 or Colossians 3 or in Romans 12 are simply a delineation of the way of life that those who love God, and who trust in him for strength, are to live.
These absolutes reflect the will of God for his people. With the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the fellowship of believers, the disciplines of grace, we are to do the best we can to follow these absolutes. Of course, we will fall short on occasion. That is why God made such a gracious provision for our forgiveness, (1 John 1:9-if we confess our sins. He is gracious and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all in righteousness). But John is also very clear that those who claim to live in Christ must walk as Jesus did, (2 John 2: 6).
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People tell me that my pro-life belief that life begins at conception is faith- based and not fact-based. How do I respond?
This is an important question because it strikes at the heart of the sanctity of all human life, both born and unborn. This question is also important because it implies that you are taking a stand against abortion, and in the current political setting, this could not be more necessary.
Because God is the creator of human beings, and because human beings are created in his image, all human life is sacred. In our culture, as we have moved away from a belief in God, we've also moved away from a belief in the sacredness of human life. So abortion is on the rise, as is euthanasia.
From a scientific perspective, we know that life begins when a sperm fertilize an egg. Before that takes place, there is no life, no new developing embryo. Then once this takes place life begins. The logical question would be: is this human life, is this life that will develop a person who is creating the image of God? It surely is not animal life, it's not plant life, so it must be human life. And if that's true, then it's sacred to God and should not be destroyed. For a more detailed explanation, Google the Jeremiah Project, and you will find a list of excellent books on the topic of pro-life.
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Did some or many of the events in the book of Revelation happen in the first few centuries A.D.?
Thanks for asking this question. The book of Revelation is a book that gives us a picture of what is happening in life as we move toward the return of Christ. Many of the events that are described in Revelation reflect the suffering that the early church was experiencing. But Christians today experience suffering and find in the book of Revelation practical encouragements for us to remain loyal to Christ. In many ways, the book of Revelation is an exhortation to Christians as they face difficulties in life, not to turn away from Christ but to turn to Christ and continue to trust him. Christian scholars disagree on the extent to which this book describes only events facing the early church in contrast to describing a pattern of future events that will take place just before Christ returns. One of the best books that addresses the overall issue of Christ's return is written by Anthony Hoekma, entitled The Bible and the Future.
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Why did God harden certain people's hearts in the Bible?
This is a question that is often asked after someone has read the account of Moses and Pharaoh in the early chapters of Exodus and Paul's reference to this experience in Romans 9. The idea that God would intentionally harden someone's heart against spiritual realities seems illogical and the irrational. However, in Romans 9:17-18 we read these words, "for the Scripture says to Pharaoh: I raise you up for this for a purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden." This is a very difficult passage, partly because we have grown accustomed to viewing God as a kindly old man, who wants to make us feel good about ourselves. We no longer see God as the one who is high and lifted up, who rules over the affairs of his world, who does as he pleases and no one can stay his hand.
God has the right to do with his creation as he pleases. This is not to infer that God ever treats any of us unjustly or unkindly. So how do we reconcile a loving God with the statement that God harden the heart of Pharaoh in order to demonstrate his power in Egypt, long ago when Moses and the Israelites were in slavery? Some help comes from Romans chapter 1, where Paul tells us that when a person chooses to turn from God, God allows a person to experience the consequences of his choices. So if Pharaoh chose to harden his heart against God, God allowed him that choice.
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