MOVED TO NEW HOST

I have now moved my blog to a new host at www.andyrobinson.org.uk

Newday

Newday is an event for over 7,000 young people. Held in Norwich it as a fantastic opportunity for young people to gather together to worship God, receive top quality teaching and put their faith into action as the hit the streets of Norwich and the surrounding towns in social action and evangalism.

Visit www.Newday.xtn.org for more info

Is Masturbation a Sin?

FREE MP3: To listen to a talk on this issue then press here, or download here.

Clearly masturbation is not directly referenced in the bible. There is no “Thou Shalt Not …” for this. Equally the scripture “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might[1]” is not a scripture to support it either.

When this action takes place it is rarely, and I would use the word never, that lustful thoughts and imagination (commonly porn too) are not present too. That being the case, Jesus words in the Sermon on the Mount clearly and directly apply – If you look lustfully, either with you natural eyes or your minds eye, then you are committing adultery with her in your heart. If you tell me that you don’t have lustful thoughts etc and simply think about cars or something then one might argue that you have bigger problems.

Let us remember that sex was created by God and it was good. He created it for us to enjoy, to allow us to reproduce and to produce ONENESS. In Genesis it says .

Genesis 2:24 ESV  Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Let me be clear ONENESS is not ONE (being on ones own), but TWO becoming ONE. All sexual experiences that produce ONENESS within the context of marriage between one man and one woman are legitimate. Thus any sexual experience outside that context is not legitimate because it is outside of the context within which God designed and planned it to occur.

So is masturbation a sin? It is if you consider sin to be doing things that God has said not to (LUST), or doing them outside the context or environment that God intended and communicated to us (Self Gratification, not producing oneness between a husband and a wife) then yes, it should be considered a sin.

FREE MP3: To listen to a talk on this issue then press here, or download here. 

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[1] Ecclesiastes 9:10

What’s Wrong with the Shack

The Shack – Part 1

Overall

I thought the book as a whole was really enjoyable. It tackled some pretty hard core topics such as the trinity, why do bad things happen, death, crime and forgiveness in the form of a story. The main character, “Mack”, is a father who takes his kids camping while his wife goes away. On the trip his youngest daughter is abducted and murdered. The story follows the emotions, thoughts and spiritual journey of Mack as he meets God and gets some answers to the many questions he has.

I have heard so much spoken about this book. Some for and some against. Some say it is a “Must Read” others say “If you haven’t read it … DON’T” So what is all the fuss about? I read it to make up my own mind and I think to be honest I have mixed feelings.

I really enjoyed reading the book, but to be honest I enjoyed the Da Vinci Code too, anyway I found the story gripping, compelling even and so read in just a day or two. I had to keep reading to find out what happened. The story is very emotive and so really draws the reader in. It is the that gives me some concerns as there were one or two things in the book that did not sit all that comfortably with me. That said the book does tackle some very difficult issues very well which then leads me to my “mixed feelings position”. This leads me to the point where I must ask “Becasue there are good bits, do they out weigh the poor bits”. There are good bits in the book of mormon, but I would never recomend one reads it!

I thought I would write down some of my concerns here and see what everyone else thinks too. At the end I will then put everything into a paper (and make it avaialble on the blog of course).

So please let me know your thoughts too.

Today I will look at the most obvious area of contention …. that of the Trinity

The Trinity

Let us first of all look at how the biblical theology presents the Trinity to us.

The Trinity is “God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God”. (Grudem, Systematic Theology)

Ok let’s look at “The Shack” and compare that to our definition of the trinity.

       I.            God eternally exists as three persons

a.     I think “The Shack” does OK here. It clearly shows that the trinity is made up of 3 distinct people (Papa, Jesus and Sarayu) But then I think most of us get the “3 people part”. It’s how they are all one were our brains start to hurt.

     II.            Father

a.     Now this is where the book traverses into heresy in my view as it depicts “God the Father” as an African-American woman (Mother). We are skating on the very thin part of the ice here as we move away from how God chooses to describe himself in the bible. Whilst the book does “try” to give some explanation as to why God is depicted as a woman this is simply wrong as the bible gives us no indication. In fact the bible tells us that “God is spirit” [John 4:24] and so is not gendered because he is spirit. Jesus tells us in John 6:46 “not that anyone has seen the father except he who is from God” which tells us two things. First of all that no one has seen God other than Jesus and Jesus refers to him as Father and so I believe it extremely inappropriate to depict him in any way other than is reveled in scripture.  We are looking at the “invisible qualities and divine nature” [Rom 1:20] of God here. The bible reveals the divine nature of God as being that of “Father”. Jesus refers to God as Father only, never mother!

b.     We also move into the whole discussion of making a likeness of God. What does that mean? Well, it is the point that we are not to try and take the invisible God [1 Tim 1:17, Heb 11:27] and attempt to make him visible. That is to create a representation of God that we look on as God. The second commandment [Exodus 20:4-5] tells us that we “shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them”. This is where I would have problems with statues, or paintings of God. Even if they are used to help us focus on God I believe the bible clearly tells us that God is a jealous God and will not share himself with anything.

c.      Jesus is the “image of the invisible God” [Colossians 1:15]. This is the only acceptable image of God that the bible permits that of Jesus. As Jesus was visible then I have less of a problem with creating images or representations of Jesus because he did come to earth as a man. Likewise the Holy Spirit. Clearly the Holy Spirit was made visible in the form of a dove, or tongues of fire and so again has been made visible. However, God the Father is a different ball game. We cannot take the creator God and try and make him part of creation by comparing him to something he created or made by something we, a created being, created. We are not to compare God to anything. God says through the prophet Isaiah “To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him?” (Isaiah 40:25) Paul warns the Romans that “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man … they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” [Rom 1:21-23,25]. As “God is spirit” [John 4:24] we cannot render an image, a picture or a look-a-like without falling foul of all this scripture.

  III.            Son

a.     The book here does fine in depicting Jesus as a man of Jewish decent, a carpenter, fully human and fully God.

  IV.            Holy Spirit

a.     Again the book takes a stab at describing the Holy Spirit and a shimmering, free spirit kind of person.

 

Read the next article in the series … Part 2 – What’s Wrong with the Shack

 

Your View

 

 

What's Wrong with the Shack

The Shack – Part 1

Overall

I thought the book as a whole was really enjoyable. It tackled some pretty hard core topics such as the trinity, why do bad things happen, death, crime and forgiveness in the form of a story. The main character, “Mack”, is a father who takes his kids camping while his wife goes away. On the trip his youngest daughter is abducted and murdered. The story follows the emotions, thoughts and spiritual journey of Mack as he meets God and gets some answers to the many questions he has.

I have heard so much spoken about this book. Some for and some against. Some say it is a “Must Read” others say “If you haven’t read it … DON’T” So what is all the fuss about? I read it to make up my own mind and I think to be honest I have mixed feelings.

I really enjoyed reading the book, but to be honest I enjoyed the Da Vinci Code too, anyway I found the story gripping, compelling even and so read in just a day or two. I had to keep reading to find out what happened. The story is very emotive and so really draws the reader in. It is the that gives me some concerns as there were one or two things in the book that did not sit all that comfortably with me. That said the book does tackle some very difficult issues very well which then leads me to my “mixed feelings position”. This leads me to the point where I must ask “Becasue there are good bits, do they out weigh the poor bits”. There are good bits in the book of mormon, but I would never recomend one reads it!

I thought I would write down some of my concerns here and see what everyone else thinks too. At the end I will then put everything into a paper (and make it avaialble on the blog of course).

So please let me know your thoughts too.

Today I will look at the most obvious area of contention …. that of the Trinity

The Trinity

Let us first of all look at how the biblical theology presents the Trinity to us.

The Trinity is “God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God”. (Grudem, Systematic Theology)

Ok let’s look at “The Shack” and compare that to our definition of the trinity.

       I.            God eternally exists as three persons

a.     I think “The Shack” does OK here. It clearly shows that the trinity is made up of 3 distinct people (Papa, Jesus and Sarayu) But then I think most of us get the “3 people part”. It’s how they are all one were our brains start to hurt.

     II.            Father

a.     Now this is where the book traverses into heresy in my view as it depicts “God the Father” as an African-American woman (Mother). We are skating on the very thin part of the ice here as we move away from how God chooses to describe himself in the bible. Whilst the book does “try” to give some explanation as to why God is depicted as a woman this is simply wrong as the bible gives us no indication. In fact the bible tells us that “God is spirit” [John 4:24] and so is not gendered because he is spirit. Jesus tells us in John 6:46 “not that anyone has seen the father except he who is from God” which tells us two things. First of all that no one has seen God other than Jesus and Jesus refers to him as Father and so I believe it extremely inappropriate to depict him in any way other than is reveled in scripture.  We are looking at the “invisible qualities and divine nature” [Rom 1:20] of God here. The bible reveals the divine nature of God as being that of “Father”. Jesus refers to God as Father only, never mother!

b.     We also move into the whole discussion of making a likeness of God. What does that mean? Well, it is the point that we are not to try and take the invisible God [1 Tim 1:17, Heb 11:27] and attempt to make him visible. That is to create a representation of God that we look on as God. The second commandment [Exodus 20:4-5] tells us that we “shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them”. This is where I would have problems with statues, or paintings of God. Even if they are used to help us focus on God I believe the bible clearly tells us that God is a jealous God and will not share himself with anything.

c.      Jesus is the “image of the invisible God” [Colossians 1:15]. This is the only acceptable image of God that the bible permits that of Jesus. As Jesus was visible then I have less of a problem with creating images or representations of Jesus because he did come to earth as a man. Likewise the Holy Spirit. Clearly the Holy Spirit was made visible in the form of a dove, or tongues of fire and so again has been made visible. However, God the Father is a different ball game. We cannot take the creator God and try and make him part of creation by comparing him to something he created or made by something we, a created being, created. We are not to compare God to anything. God says through the prophet Isaiah “To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him?” (Isaiah 40:25) Paul warns the Romans that “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man … they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” [Rom 1:21-23,25]. As “God is spirit” [John 4:24] we cannot render an image, a picture or a look-a-like without falling foul of all this scripture.

  III.            Son

a.     The book here does fine in depicting Jesus as a man of Jewish decent, a carpenter, fully human and fully God.

  IV.            Holy Spirit

a.     Again the book takes a stab at describing the Holy Spirit and a shimmering, free spirit kind of person.

 

Read the next article in the series … Part 2 – What’s Wrong with the Shack

 

Your View

 

 

Should Chrsitians Date Non-Christians ?

This is by far the topic that I am asked about most often. It is the most searched for question on my site. Hardly a day goes by where someone, in one way or another does not ask this question “As a Christian should I go out with (date) someone who is not a Christian“

Where shall I start. Well for those of you who want to listen to a talk I did that covers this subject then you can listen or download for free by selecting on of these links.

It is a very controversial subject and one that is hard to get in to a simple blog page. So I have prepared a small paper on the subject which you might find helpful. You can download it here

Sex Isn’t The Problem (Lust is) by Joshua Harris

This is a fantastic book which I highly recommend to any single person, young or old. In fact even as a married guy I found it useful to challenge my thoughts and things like my TV and DVD Movie choices.

The book looks at those difficult areas like pornography & sexual fantasy. It tackles questions like “Is is OK to masturbate? Is masturbation a sin?”,  and so much more. He brings a real focus to the causes of these things and grounds our response firmly in the grace and power of the Cross of Jesus.

I am now recommending this book to all the youth, teens and 20s I deal with as I think this book will set many free from the success/failure loop that many find themselves in. It ensures that at all times the reader is assured of the grace of God and their position before God being secure in what Jesus achieved on the cross and is not dependant on their performance in over coming lust, masturbation or any of the things discussed in the book. We want to overcome sin because of a superior satisfaction in Jesus. This book explains in a very practical way how. There is no “quick fix” or magic formula but as you read the book you will discover the heart of God for you and the power of the Cross to win!

Please read it !

 

Sex Isn't The Problem (Lust is) by Joshua Harris

This is a fantastic book which I highly recommend to any single person, young or old. In fact even as a married guy I found it useful to challenge my thoughts and things like my TV and DVD Movie choices.

The book looks at those difficult areas like pornography & sexual fantasy. It tackles questions like “Is is OK to masturbate? Is masturbation a sin?”,  and so much more. He brings a real focus to the causes of these things and grounds our response firmly in the grace and power of the Cross of Jesus.

I am now recommending this book to all the youth, teens and 20s I deal with as I think this book will set many free from the success/failure loop that many find themselves in. It ensures that at all times the reader is assured of the grace of God and their position before God being secure in what Jesus achieved on the cross and is not dependant on their performance in over coming lust, masturbation or any of the things discussed in the book. We want to overcome sin because of a superior satisfaction in Jesus. This book explains in a very practical way how. There is no “quick fix” or magic formula but as you read the book you will discover the heart of God for you and the power of the Cross to win!

Please read it !

 

Is Smoking a Sin ?

What a question – “Is smoking a Sin?”

This is something that has long been debated and, in my opinion, the answer has changed as we have discovered more and more information on the effect of smoking on our health and well being.

I have written a paper that I have cleverly entitled “Is Smoking a Sin” where I examine the whole issue of Smoking and focus on some key areas:

• Addiction
• Rebellion & Deceit
• Health
• Free Choice & Pleasure

The outcome for me was interesting, not because I smoke (I don’t), but because what I discovered affects so much more than smoking. Whilst looking at the area of addiction I was convicted as to my own addiction to caffeine. Whilst looking at the issues of health and looking after the body God has given me I wondered if I do all I could to look after it. So don’t think “I don’t smoke so this does not apply to me”. Take a look!

You can download the full document for free right here

Can I Date a Non-Christian?

Listen for FREE to a talk I gave that includes this topic

Initial Assumptions
First of all let’s look at some basic assumptions. I am assuming that the person asking the question is a Christian. That is they are a true follower of Jesus, that their desire is to live the life that Jesus called us to live, that they believe that the entire bible is the inspired word of God, authored by men, inspired by the Holy Spirit and is valuable for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness.

Dating a non-Christian in contrary to the whole of scripture
Personally I believe that the bible, both old and New Testament show unequivocally that for a Christian to date a non-Christian, is contrary to scripture. That is for a Christ follower (christian) to date a non-christian (someone who is not a Christ follower) goes against the teaching of the bible. I will therefore layout why I believe this to be the case and show how scripture leads me to this conclusion

What does the bible say?
We see throughout the Old Testament the Lord commanding Israel not to “intermarry” with the nations around them. They are repeatedly told not to take wives for their sons from outside the children of Israel. Exodus 34:1-17 gives examples of this and Exodus to Chronicles and beyond is littered with similar examples.

Exodus 34:10-17 (New International Version)
Then the LORD said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you. Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same. “Do not make cast idols.

This was an Old Testament dating scenario and I believe the same is true today. Now one might argue that “things were different back then. They had arranged marriages” well of course this is true, but regardless of the parents selecting a spouse or, as is the case in our culture, you selecting your own spouse the principle hold up equally well. The principle being outlined here is one of joining together unequally. We read here and throughout the old testament that we should not “intermarry” that is marry a non-Christian. And, if we believe that the purpose of dating is to prepare for marriage we cannot date a non-Christian either. This does of course raise another topic for discussion, that of “Why Date? Is it to prepare for marriage or for fun and experience gathering” and I will discuss this in another document at a later date. For now I think that “ultimately” dating will lead to marriage … hopefully at some point.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (English Standard Version)

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord,and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me,says the Lord Almighty.” This passage talks again about not being married to unbelievers, they have nothing in common. What union is there between Christ and the devil? Take that into to the context of Sex the bible says that when we have sex that “the two become one flesh”

This being the case what are we doing uniting our body, the temple of the holy spirit

with that of an unbeliever. What union is that?

1 Corinthians 6:15-17 (New International Version)
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

Whilst I am not in any way likening a non-Christian to a prostitute I am saying that the same principle applies. We could read this as “Do you not know that he who unites himself with [an unbeliever] is one with her in body? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with [an unbeliever]?”

This I feel is pretty conclusive, but, just in case you were thinking that this is all about marriage, and you are only talking about dating … let’s look at the process of dating. Even if everything is really platonic, and above board part of you is still involved with this other individual. Part of you is still given to them … your heart. The bible addresses this for us in Proverbs 4:23

Proverbs 4:23 (New International Version)
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

We are told as Christians that “above ALL else” we should guard our heart. That we should be careful to keep it whole and not break it. We need to only share it with those who will have the same care and honour for their own heart – Another Christian. How can we share something so precious as our heart with someone who will not have the same regard for it, or for the affairs of our heart – Namely Jesus !

I know what you are thinking, If I go out with them I will be able to introduce them to the church, to God, to Jesus, they will get saved and we will all live happily ever after! My answer is …. NOT!

1 Corinthians 15:33 (New International Version)
Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
Deuteronomy 11:16 (English Standard Version)
Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them;

Why do you think it says “So not be mislead” or “take care”? Because we are easily and often mislead! Don’t think you are the stronger part here. You are not. It is easier for them to draw you away, that for you to draw them up.

This brings us full circle back to Exodus 34:16 “do not choose wives from outside of Israel for your sons as then they worship their gods they will draw your sons away and they will do the same” [My paraphrase]

People in the world have gods of worldliness, of selfishness, or greed and lust. You will be drawn away no matter how smart you think you are.

Let’s look at one final example: Solomon. He was the wisest man on the face of the earth, and I am sure that none of us would venture to say we are smarter than he was. Yet this very thing, dating and marrying none Christians was the thing that “mislead” him.

1 Kings 11:1-3
King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.”

1 Kings 4:29
“God Gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore”

Solomon, even with all his wisdom was led astray by his unbelieving wives. Don’t be misled, dating a non-Christian is folly, a mistake of gigantic
proportions.Conclusion

Nehemiah 13:23-27 (English Standard Version)
In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people. And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, andGod made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin. Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?”

I believe that the bible is clear. Marrying and therefore dating non-Christians is not Gods best for us. Don’t do it!
If you want to download this as a document to use with your group please click here