Category: Hear From the President

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Author William Paul Young is a friend of GCI. He has been a featured speaker at several of our conferences, and has been interviewed multiple times on our web program, You’re Included. Many of us have read Paul’s novel, The Shack, which has sold over 20 million copies worldwide since it was first published in 2007, making it one of the best-selling books of all time.

As you probably know, Paul’s book has been turned into a movie also named The Shack. The cast, made up of bigger celebrities than is typical for Christian movies, includes Sam Worthington, Octavia Spencer, Aviv Alush, Graham Greene, Radha Mitchell, Alice Braga and Tim McGraw. The film is being released in the U.S. on March 3. To view a trailer, click here.

The release of The Shack provides a great opportunity for personal evangelism. There are not many movies you can take your unchurched friends to that give a compelling and faithful presentation of the gospel in non-preachy terms. The Shack does that, and it will surely elicit conversation, in part because of the controversy surrounding the book and the movie. According to some critics, The Shack advocates non-biblical, even heretical, teachings about God and salvation, but such claims typically fail to take into account several points about the book:

• It’s a work of fiction—a novel written in a literary style known as allegory where, in highly unusual ways, characters and events stand for abstract ideas or events.
• The Shack makes qualifying statements that show the author does not intend that the book be taken as equivalent to Scripture.
• To understand its core message, The Shack must be read in its entirety. As the narrative unfolds, its characters grow and change in their understanding of God and life. Lifting statements and ideas out of the flow of the narrative will lead to wrong impressions concerning the book’s ultimate and concluding message.

GCI recommends The Shack (both the book and the movie), though our recommendation (as is the case whenever we recommend non-GCI resources), does not mean we necessarily endorse all that the book and movie convey. In order to engage in discussions about the movie and the book, it’s good to be aware of answers to some of the questions and objections related to The Shack. Thankfully, there are good resources to help us. Here are ones we recommend:

• The book The Shack Revisited by Baxter Kruger, which presents the Trinitarian theology inherent to the story told in The Shack. As the book’s subtitle says, There Is More Going On Here than You Ever Dared to Dream.
• The booklet God, the Bible and the Shack by Gary and Cathy Deddo.
• Questions and Answers About The Shack—supplement to the Deddo’s booklet. Here from that document is one of the most frequently-voiced questions, followed by the Deddos’ answer:

Is Young wrong to depict God the Father as a woman?

Some have objected that God the Father is represented throughout most of [The Shack] as a woman since in the Bible God is always identified with the masculine. Several comments are in order. First, [Paul] Young is clear that God is not said actually to be feminine, but that the Father only appears to Mack in that form (pp. 91, 93). And the reason this is the case is explicitly stated in the book. Mack, out of his past experiences and reactions to them, has developed a distorted view of the masculine. In appearing to Mack in a female form, God presents himself to Mack in a way that wouldn’t be saddled for Mack with a load of misunderstanding. It’s a temporary measure and an accommodation to help Mack begin to gain a proper understanding of God.

Also Young makes clear that God’s appearing to Mack first as a woman and then as a man was to break our stereotypes of God (our idols?) so that we come to see that God is neither male nor female (p. 93). Young’s point is that God is not a creature at all, and is not a gendered being. Gender doesn’t apply to God since God is not a human being (p. 201).

Neither of these two points is misleading nor unbiblical. God does adapt his revelation to us without misrepresenting himself. The incarnation is the strongest case in point. God is not a creature but he comes to us as a real creature. God meets us in time and space, in person, face to face that we might know him and have the actual benefits of his saving work for us.

God also is neither male nor female though we often end up thinking of God as being masculine in some sense. While we know God is not a physical being, we still think that most everything else about God is masculine and not feminine. However, masculinity and femininity are attributes of human creatures. God is not a creature at all. It would be wrong to say that God is masculine in every way men are except that he does not have male physiology. We cannot project upon God human masculinity, just without the body parts. That would be idolatrous, a mythological projection.

On the other hand, it should be noted that in the Bible God is compared to having characteristics of some creatures that are female. Jesus compares himself to a hen gathering her chicks. According to Mayer I. Gruber of Ben Gurion University in Israel there are four unequivocal human feminine images for God (Isaiah 42:14; 45:10; 49:15; 66:13). [1] In these passages God is compared to a human mother. There are three places where God is likened to a mother bird (Deuteronomy 32:11; Isaiah 31:5; Matthew 23:37). [2] God is also likened to a mother bear (Hosea 13:8). [3] Other references may have a feminine reference to God but do so in a way not nearly as directly or concretely as these. [4]

In the Bible God can be described as tender-hearted, compassionate, responsive to the cries of his people, and even as nursing them. So God and Jesus are not exclusively depicted in masculine terms. At the same time we shouldn’t make the opposite mistake of thinking that God is female in some human sense. Young agrees. He says God is not feminine but can be described as having feminine characteristics. Admittedly his book is meant as a corrective, especially to benefit those like Mack, who think of God in terms of a human male. But it’s clear that while a corrective is his agenda, the larger truth about God is clearly noted: God is neither male nor female.

What can be and should be noted is that while God is indirectly compared to the feminine, in the Bible, God is never addressed directly as She or Mother. Address to God does exclusively use the verbally masculine parts of speech. That pattern should serve as the normative pattern of our address to God. But our pattern need not, any more than the biblical use, exclude our using feminine descriptive language for God’s character, attitude, actions or inclination. That is what Young has done. In fact, the name he gives the Father the whole time the Father appears in female form in The Shack is Papa!

We can only speculate why the biblical pattern consistently uses the masculine in address to God. It could be that the grammatical structure points to a proper ordering, structuring of relationship (taxis) between us and God. By comparison we are all feminine in relationship to God, and so we are all to address God in the masculine. But this is speculation. It is a mystery, but one that calls for a certain pattern we have been given for properly addressing God. We have no authority to alter that pattern.

But regarding our language for God, we should also recognize that grammatical gender does not indicate human creaturely gender. So, for example, in some languages mountains are grammatically feminine! But that doesn’t mean they are in some essential way female. God is the good and faithful author and creator of both masculine and feminine. The duality of our creaturely reality reflects something that is true of God—who is not a creature. But we must still conclude that God is neither masculine nor feminine in the ways that his creatures are even if our patterns of address ought to use the masculine pronoun.

_________________

[1] Cited in Roland M. Frey, “Language for God and Feminist Language” in Speaking the Christian God, ed. Alvin F. Kimel, Jr. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1992), p. 29. Isaiah 42:14, “For a long time I have held my peace, I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor, I will gasp and pant.” Isaiah 45:10, “Woe to anyone who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’ or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?'” Isaiah 49:15, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” Isaiah 66:13, “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem” (NRSV).

[2] Deuteronomy 32:11, “As an eagle stirs up its nest, and hovers over its young; as it spreads its wings, takes them up, and bears them aloft on its pinions.” Isaiah 31:5, “Like birds hovering overhead, so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it, he will spare and rescue it.” Matthew 23:37, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing” (NRSV).

[3] But not in a stereotypically feminine role: “I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs, and will tear open the covering of their heart; there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild animal would mangle them” (Hosea 13:8, NRSV).

[4] We have in mind here especially references to God personified as Wisdom, which takes the feminine pronoun in Hebrew. In the New Testament, however, the Spirit is used with the neuter pronoun and when referred to as the Comforter, that Greek title for the Holy Spirit (paraklētos) takes the masculine pronoun! When it comes to God, the pronouns used clearly do not indicate biological gender!

________________

I close now with a comment made by one of my GCI pastor friends:

If you like The Shack, you’ll love our church!

Happy movie viewing to you all,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I sometimes talk with believers who struggle to understand how the Holy Spirit, like the Father and the Son, is divine—one of the three Persons of the Trinity. I typically offer them examples of how, in Scripture, the things said about the Father and the Son, which assume they are personal, are also said about the Holy Spirit. I then note the many titles ascribed in the Bible to the Holy Spirit (see the list below). Lastly, I share some of what Jesus taught concerning the Spirit. In this letter, I’ll focus on that teaching.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit in three ways: Holy Spirit, Spirit of Truth and Paraklētos (a Greek word translated Advocate in the NIV, Counselor in the RSV, Helper in the ESV and Comforter in the ASV). Scripture shows that Jesus did not view the Spirit as a mere reservoir of power. The word paraklētos, which means “one called to the side of,” is commonly used in Greek literature to refer to a person who takes up the cause of another and defends them. In John’s writings, Jesus refers to himself as a paraklētos, then refers to the Holy Spirit using the same term.

On the evening before his crucifixion, Jesus told his disciples that he was going away (John 13:33), though he promised not to leave them “as orphans” (John 14:18). Instead, he promised to ask the Father to send “another Comforter [Paraklētos]” to be with them (John 14:16, ASV). By saying “another,” Jesus was indicating that there was a first (himself), and that the one to come, like himself, would be a divine Person of the Trinity, not just a power. Jesus had been serving as their Paraklētos—in his presence (even in the midst of terrible storms), the disciples found the courage and strength to go outside their “comfort zones” to participate with Jesus in the ministry he was doing on behalf of all humanity. But now Jesus was going to leave and they were, understandably, deeply disturbed.

Up to that time, Jesus had been the disciples’ Paraklētos (note 1 John 2:1, where Jesus is called “an Advocate” [Paraklētos]). But now (particularly post-Pentecost), the Holy Spirit would be that Advocate—their ever-present counselor, comforter, helper and teacher. What Jesus promised his disciples, and what the Father sent, was not a mere power, but a Person—the third Person of the Trinity, whose ministry is to lead and guide the disciples in the way of Jesus.

We find the Holy Spirit operating in personal ways throughout the Bible: in Genesis, he hovers over the waters; in Luke’s Gospel, he overshadows Mary. He is mentioned 56 times in the four Gospels, 57 times in Acts, and 112 times in Paul’s epistles. In these references we find the Spirit, in distinctly personal ways, comforting, teaching, guiding, warning, determining and distributing gifts, interceding for us when we don’t know what to pray, assuring us of our adoption, and freeing us to call out to God as our Abba (Father) just as Jesus did. Note Jesus’ instruction:

When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you. (John 16:13-15)

In communion with the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit has a distinctive ministry. Instead of speaking about himself, he points people to Jesus who then takes them to the Father. Instead of doing what he wills, the Holy Spirit implements the Father’s will in accordance with what the Son declares. The divine will of the one, united, triune God is thus expressed by the actions of the Father, through the Word (Jesus), performed by the Holy Spirit. We now can enjoy and benefit from the personal presence of God ministering among us by the Holy Spirit, our Paraklētos. United in being, act, will and purpose, yet distinct in three divine Persons, we worship and adore the Trinity.

Thankful for the Holy Spirit and his ministry,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It’s common to hear people complaining that theologians use long, complex sentences full of esoteric terms to address matters that seem irrelevant to everyday life. Perhaps you’ve felt that way at times, but have you considered that all of us are theologians of a sort? We all have opinions about God—whether he exists or not, and if he does, whether he is actively involved with his creation or is uninvolved, watching us (as the song made popular by Bette Midler declares), from a distance. This song, written by Julie Gold, does not claim that God is uninvolved with his creation, but that the troubles we sometimes face in life look less overwhelming from the “distance” of God’s perspective. Given that God’s view of things is often quite different than our own, it seems we all are in need of a theology adjustment.

The all-important question: Who is God?

In GCI, our theology adjustment came about (and continues), in part, through the writings of theologians who carefully conform their reasoning to God’s self-revelation in Jesus, the Living Word of God, communicated to us by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, the written Word of God. These theologians begin with the all-important question, Who is God?, which leads to asking Who is the God revealed in Jesus?, then Who are we in relation to God, in Christ? These questions, rather than being irrelevant, are fundamental to all aspects of life, including faith and morals.

Broadly speaking, theologians study God and his relation to the world. Accurate theology begins with inquiring about the nature or character of this God who is revealed by Jesus to be the tri-personal, relational being who created humanity (male and female) to image God as relational beings. No matter our level of theological expertise and training, when we read the Bible based on this foundational understanding, we avoid many common errors in biblical interpretation. Reading Scripture on any other basis is like trying to make orange juice by squeezing the tree instead of the fruit!

Let me give you an example of this error. One of the most well-known verses in the Bible is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes shall not perish but have eternal life.” To understand the fullness of this scripture, we must begin by asking Who?—who is this God who loves the world so much? Our knowledge of who he is, what he has done and said, and what he wants for us is essential for us to enjoy being in a relationship with him—one that affects every part of our lives.

In his first epistle, the apostle John declares that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). Thus we understand that in sending his Son to save us, God was acting out of his nature. God, as love, is the one who loves—an understanding that contradicts the wrong views of God held by many, that in turn, lead to wrong views concerning how we are to love, live, work, play, marry, parent, purchase and worship. Our view of God affects all of life! That’s why we all need to aspire to be good theologians. And so I ask, do we need a theology adjustment?

A theological adjustment on the battlefield

T.F. Torrance often told of his service as a military chaplain in the British army during World War II. On one occasion he came across a young soldier on the battlefield who was mortally wounded. Looking up at Torrance, knowing he was about to die (and thus about to meet God), he asked, “Padre, is God really like Jesus?” Torrance assured him by saying, “He is the only God that there is, the God who has come to us in Jesus, shown his face to us, and poured out his love to us as our Savior.” Torrance then prayed for the young man as he took his last breath. That was not the first or the last time Torrance was asked the same question, and he welcomed it, though he was troubled when it was being asked by Christians who did not seem to know who God truly is.

T.F. focused much of his teaching on the communion God established with humankind in Christ, a communion that takes place in time and space. Torrance, along with other Trinitarian theologians, was careful to point out that Jesus came to reveal God as a tri-personal, loving, relational being who desires relationship with us. Jesus then commissioned his church to proclaim the good news that in Christ, through the Spirit, we have access to God our Father. As the world’s Savior, redeemer and reconciler, Jesus is the One through whom we enter communion with the Father, Son and Spirit, and through whom we receive eternal life. This gospel is the sole foundation for all good theology for it is what Jesus taught and exemplified. It is also the message the apostles taught the early church and the message we teach.

Living in Jesus’ story

By shaping and enhancing our faith, good theology helps us live in the middle of Jesus’ story, which, in turn, leads to good practices grounded in the reality of who God is and what he is doing throughout the universe. The universe is being reshaped by the first coming of Jesus, and will continue being reshaped until he returns. There is no other centerpiece to Christianity than Jesus—no commandment, no day of the week, no secret code, nothing but the life, death, resurrection, ascension and promised return of Jesus. Apart from all physical creation, Jesus has opened a new chapter of life for all humanity—a new chapter that all who respond to his calling may experience. Note C.S. Lewis’ comment:

The New Testament writers speak as if Christ’s achievement in rising from the dead was the first event of its kind in the whole history of the universe. He is the “first fruits,” the “pioneer of life.” He has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because he has done so. This is the beginning of the New Creation: a new chapter in cosmic history has opened. (Miracles, p. 237)

Rejoicing in life’s new chapter,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Wanting to give her only the best, I took Tammy to Burger King for lunch (“Be Your Way”), then to Dairy Queen for dessert (“Something Different”). You’d think I’d be embarrassed by this tacky use of corporate slogans, but as McDonalds says, “I’m Lovin’ It.” And now I must beg your forgiveness (and Tammy’s!). But kidding aside, forgiveness is a key in building and maintaining relationships that are long-lasting and life-giving. This is true in relationships between leaders and followers, husbands and wives, and parents and children—human relationships of all kinds.

Forgiveness is also a vital component in the relationship that God has with us. God, being love, has covered humanity with a blanket of forgiveness, which he has extended to us unconditionally (meaning that this forgiveness is unmerited and unearned by us). As we, by the Spirit, embrace and live into that forgiveness, we understand more and more how magnificent and glorious God’s love, exhibited in his forgiveness, truly is. In meditating on God’s love for humankind, David wrote this: “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:3-4). I too marvel when considering the great power and lavish generosity of God in creating and upholding our immense universe, which includes a world he knew would require the death of his Son on behalf of seemingly insignificant and certainly sinful creatures like you and me.

In Galatians 2:20, the apostle Paul rejoiced that Jesus Christ, in love, gave himself for us. Yet this glorious truth of the gospel often is drowned out by the “noise” of our fast-paced world. If we’re not careful, we can fail to pay attention to what Scripture says about God’s love, exhibited in his lavish forgiveness. One of the most powerful lessons about God’s forgiving love and grace in the Bible is Jesus’ Parable of the Prodigal Son. Theologian Henry Nouwen said he learned much about it by carefully studying Rembrandt’s painting, The Return of the Prodigal Son (see above), which portrays the remorse from the wayward son, the unjustified darkness of jealousy from the resentful brother, and the inescapable loving forgiveness from the father who represents God.

Another profound example of God’s forgiving love is the enacted parable recounted in the book of Hosea. Lived out through the prophet Hosea’s own experience, the parable illustrates God’s unconditional love and lavish forgiveness for wayward Israel as a powerful illustration of the forgiveness that he extends to all people.

God told Hosea to marry a prostitute named Gomer. Some believe this means he was to take a wife from the spiritually adulterous northern kingdom of Israel. In any case, it was not the kind of marriage anyone would want, as Gomer repeatedly left Hosea to have a life of prostitution. At one point Hosea buys Gomer back from presumed slave traders, yet she continued to run off with lovers who promised her material gain. “I will go after my lovers,” she said, “who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink” (Hosea 2:5). Regardless of Hosea’s attempts to stop her, Gomer continued seeking companions in sin.

We cannot help but be moved by what Hosea did in taking his wayward wife back time and again—extending to her loving, unconditional forgiveness. Perhaps Gomer tried at times to make things right, but if that was the case, her repentance was short-lived. She was soon back to her adulterous ways, chasing after other lovers.

Hosea’s loving and forgiving treatment of Gomer illustrates God’s response of faithfulness to us even when we are unfaithful to him. This unconditional forgiveness is based not on how we respond, but on who God is. Like Gomer thinking she would find freedom by entering new forms of slavery, we forsake God’s love by trying to do things our own way. At one point Hosea had to pay for Gomer’s freedom with material possessions. God, who is love, paid a much higher price for our freedom—he gave his beloved Son Jesus as a “ransom for all people” (1 Timothy 2:6). God’s indestructible, never-failing, never-ending love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:7 NKJV). It also forgives all things, for love “keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Cor. 13:5 NIV).

Some who read Hosea’s story might contend that to keep on forgiving without repentance affirms the offender in their sin—it amounts to approving the behavior of the sinner. Others might contend that if you keep on forgiving, you will cause the offender to think they can get away with anything they want. But receiving freely-given forgiveness necessarily involves admitting that one needs that forgiveness—and that is true no matter how many times the forgiveness is extended. The one who presumes upon God’s forgiveness, using it to justify repeated offences, does not receive that forgiveness at all, for they have not acknowledged their need for forgiveness.

Presumption upon forgiveness, means rejecting rather than receiving God’s grace. Such presumption never yields a joyful, reconciled relationship with God. Nevertheless, such rejection does not cause God to withdraw his offer of forgiveness. God’s offer of forgiveness in Christ to all people is unconditioned by anything we are or anything we do.

Those who have embraced God’s unconditional forgiveness (as did the prodigal son), do not presume on that forgiveness. Knowing that they have been unconditionally forgiven, their response, rather than presumption or rejection, is one of relief and gratitude that yields a desire to reciprocate with kindness and love. When we receive forgiveness, our minds are released from the bondage that so easily builds walls between us, and we experience the freedom to grow in relationship with each other. The same is true when we unconditionally extend forgiveness to those who have offended us.

Why would we want to unconditionally forgive those who had offended us? Because that is how God, in Christ, has forgiven us. Note Paul’s statements:

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Colossians 3:12-14)

When we receive and rejoice in the unconditional forgiveness God has extended to us in Christ, we can truly value the blessing of extending life-giving, relationship-building, unconditional forgiveness to others in the name of Christ.

Rejoicing in the way forgiveness has blessed my relationships,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In GCI, our high view of the Bible aligns with Jesus’ declaration concerning the Hebrew Scriptures: “These are the very Scriptures,” he said, speaking of what we refer to as the Old Testament, “that testify about me” (John 5:39). Believing that Jesus is God’s self-revelation to humanity, it is our commitment and practice to follow this important teaching from our Lord, reading the Bible through what we might refer to as the interpretive lens of Jesus Christ. Doing so means reading Scripture in a way that both prepares us for Jesus, then leads us to him as the Bible’s intended ultimate fulfillment. Unfortunately, not everyone follows this Christ-centered method of biblical interpretation, instead often falling into one of two ditches as I’ll now explain.

Ditch one: Viewing Scripture as outdated and thus irrelevant

The first ditch involves the erroneous belief that Scripture, being ancient, is not relevant in our modern era. With this perspective, Scripture is seen as “past truth,” “dusty truth” or a bunch of “old love letters.” People fall into this ditch when they fail to understand that the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of the Bible in a way that makes it relevant in all times (including our own). They also fail to understand that the Spirit works in all times to illuminate the understanding of the believing and worshiping church so that it can discern the application of Scripture in its time. In GCI, we believe that the Bible, being timeless, has relevance for all people in all times. As God’s gift to humanity, it is authoritative, compassionate and reliable, providing wise instruction in good and right living (relationships). As we trust in that gift, and in the Spirit’s ongoing work of illuminating our minds to receive it, we will avoid the ditch of believing that the Bible is an irrelevant relic of the past—a false belief that leads to confusion, speculation and captivity to the prejudices of our current time.

Ditch two: Idolizing Scripture (bibliolatry)

The second ditch people fall into is called bibliolatry (or biblio-idolatry). This error turns the Bible into an idol by elevating it to a level not intended by God. It seems that Jesus had this error in mind in John 5:39-40: “You study the Scriptures diligently” he said, “because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

Reading Scripture apart from the “interpretive lens” of Jesus’ person, life and work leads to multiple errors of interpretation including ones that justify blatantly un-Christian behavior. For example, some people neglect their God-given responsibilities toward society in a belief that Christ’s soon return will take care of the problems of society. Such errors arise when Scripture is interpreted using self-contrived methods that impose meanings on the Bible unrelated to what is conveyed by reading Scripture through the “lens” of Jesus. Those who fall into the ditch of idolizing Scripture transfer their trust in God’s gift of the Bible, and the working of the Holy Spirit in and through that gift, over to their own powers and methods of rational analysis. The result is an interpretation at odds with the character and purposes of God expressed to us in and through Jesus Christ.

Some will take my comments concerning bibliolatry as an attack on the idea of the primacy of Scripture (Sola Scriptura). But I am not demeaning the Bible, instead I am pointing out that it is a mistake to elevate the Bible (the written Word of God) to the point of seeing it as equal with Jesus, the Living Word of God. Here are three examples of that error:

• Several years ago, I explained to an unmarried church member that he should not greet everyone at church with “a holy kiss.” In his desire to “live by every word of God” (including 2 Corinthians 13:12), he was failing to understand that Paul was not issuing a mandate on how Christians should greet one another, but advocating the Christian use of a common custom of Paul’s day. That practice is not a cultural norm in North America in our day (though it’s still followed in some parts of the world). Paul’s instruction on this custom was like writing your married son and saying “Give your wife and children hugs and kisses from Grandma every day.” These are not general instructions for everyone in the church in all ages.

• Some use a verse or two of Scripture to claim we must always lift our hands when praying or singing in church. Though this practice can have deep personal meaning, that meaning is lost when the practice is mandated for all people—something Scripture does not do. The Bible gives multiple examples of positions in prayer including standing (1 Kings 8:22-23; Luke 18:10-14; Mark 11:25); sitting (Nehemiah 1:4); kneeling (Luke 22:41; Acts 9:40; 20:36; Daniel 6:10); bowing (Ezra 10:1; Psalm 95:6); lying prostrate (Numbers 16:22; 1 Chronicles 21:16-17; Matthew 26:39); lifting hands (1 Kings 8:54; 2 Chronicles 6:12-13; Ezra 9:5; Lamentations 2:19; Psalm 28:2; 141:2; 1 Timothy 2:8); looking upward (John 17:1); downcast eyes (Luke 18:13); and being adorned in sackcloth and ashes with fasting (Psalm 35:13-14; Daniel 9:3). When we look at all the biblical data, we find that there is no mandate for a particular position.

• Some insist that the Hebrew language must be used when we speak or write the names of God (this is typically referred to as the “sacred names” teaching). There are various problems with this teaching. First, there are no manuscripts of the Bible in Hebrew that are older than Dead Sea Scrolls. Second, in the New Testament, which was originally written in Greek (with a few passages in Aramaic), God’s name in Hebrew (Yahweh) is translated into the Greek words Kyrios (Lord) or Theos (God). These Greek (non-Hebrew) names are then used in quoting Jesus speaking about God. Given these facts, and in the absence of any biblical verse telling us otherwise, it is clear that there is no justification for claiming we must use the Hebrew names for God.

A Christ-centered approach to biblical interpretation does not support bibliolatry in any way. It does not view the Bible in any sense as on par with (equal to) God. The Bible, which has a derivative authority, does not have more authority than Jesus—unlike Jesus, the Bible does not forgive our sins or raise us from the dead. Therefore we do not pray to the Bible or in any other way worship it. When we read Scripture through the lens of Jesus, we see that it has a limited (though very important) scope. It does not contain all of God’s eternal knowledge (as does Jesus). And while the Bible gives us principles that apply to all situations in life, it does not explicitly give us all the information on every subject we need for daily living. For example, it does not tell us to brush our teeth, eat a balanced diet, whether or not to drive a car, or what kind of clothing to wear.

Bibliolatry typically involves a strict, woodenly literalistic approach to interpreting Scripture—seeking to get it to speak authoritatively to every conceivable topic. This practice distorts what is essential and central to the purpose of God’s gift of Holy Scripture, namely to reveal to us who God is, and who we are in relationship to him. In that context, it also reveals ethical principles concerning how we are to relate to one another. These principles, like all that Scripture declares, are fulfilled in Jesus Christ who directs us to the shape of the life we are to live as members of his Body under the new covenant. In short, the purpose of Holy Scripture is to reveal to us the triune being (love) and doing (loving) of God incarnate in Jesus Christ, along with our proper responses involving loving God (with all we are and have), then passing on that love to others, our neighbors.

Bibliolatry fails to distinguish between the authoritative sign (witness) and its source (author). We see this distinction when John the Baptist (sign/witness) points away from himself to Jesus (Source). Jesus the eternal, incarnate Son of God, is the Living Word (Source) and the Bible is the written Word (sign/witness). The written Word is authored by and points to the Living Word. The Living Word authorizes the written Word. Our relationship with the Living Word will necessarily lead to following what is revealed in the written Word—indeed, that is its designed purpose.

Conclusion

Though the Bible is our authoritative and irreplaceable connection to God, we worship God, not the connection. This is what Jesus was attempting to teach the scribes and Pharisees. While they likely knew the Hebrew Scriptures well, in saying to them, “you don’t know me or my Father” (John 8:19), Jesus was making it clear that we must distinguish the written Word of God from the Living Word of God, but not in ways that would separate them (as some erroneously do). God has joined the sign/witness and the Source and instead of pulling them apart, we must keep them together in proper relationship.

Practices that spring from bibliolatry (like mandating a holy kiss, hands lifted in prayer, or use of Hebrew in speaking God’s name) do not make us more “spiritual.” Our focus must be on what the Bible was written for: to help us know and then abide in a relationship with the triune God. We are spiritually alive as we live in communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That communion involves a life in which God knows our thoughts, and we embrace his revelation to us of his nature, seen in the person of Jesus. This communion with God, through Christ, by the Spirit is both the source and the content of true spirituality. The Bible, then, is God’s gift to lead us to and within that communion.

Thankful for the Bible, rightly understood,
Joseph Tkach

PS: To learn more about this topic, check out these GCI resources:

• For a You’re Included interview in which Mike Feazell interviews Jeff McSwain, click here.
• For a review from Terry Akers of the book, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, click here.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

My thoughts turned to some of the themes of science fiction when I learned of the discovery of an earth-like planet named Proxima Centauri b, orbiting a red star named Proxima Centauri. It’s not likely we’ll be able to find extraterrestrial life on Proxima b (given that it’s over 25 trillion miles away!), yet people will continue to wonder if there is human-like life beyond Earth. Well, the disciples of Jesus did not have to wonder—they personally witnessed the Lord’s ascension, and thus knew with certainty that the man Jesus now resides bodily beyond Earth in a place Scripture calls “heaven”—a place above and beyond the visible “heavens” of what we call the universe.

It’s important to know that Jesus Christ, who is fully God (the eternal Son of God), remains fully human (the now glorified man Jesus). As C.S. Lewis noted, “the central miracle asserted by Christians is the incarnation”—a miracle that continues forever. In his divinity, Jesus is omnipresent, but in his continuing humanity he now resides bodily in heaven where he serves as our High Priest, awaiting his bodily and thus visible return to planet Earth.

This God-man Jesus is Lord of all creation. As Paul tells us in Romans 11:36, all life that exists is in, for and by him. As John says in Revelation 1:8, Jesus is the “Alpha and the Omega,” who “is and was and is to come.” And as Isaiah 57:15 declares, Jesus is “the high and exalted One” who “lives forever.”

The exalted, holy, eternal Lord Jesus Christ is executor of his Father’s plan to redeem the world. Note the important statement about that plan in John 3:17: “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Those who say Jesus came to judge, in the sense of condemning or somehow punishing the world, are simply wrong. Those who divide humanity into two groups—one predetermined by God to be saved, and the other predetermined to be damned—also are mistaken. When John (perhaps quoting Jesus) says our Lord came to save “the world,” he is referring to all humanity, not just a predetermined part. Note these other verses:

• “The Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14).
• “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10).
• “Your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:14).
• “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:19).
• “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Yes, Jesus is Lord and Savior of the whole world and, indeed, of all creation. That’s Paul’s point in Romans 8 and John’s point throughout Revelation. What the Father has done through the Son and in the Spirit cannot be broken into parts. As noted by Augustine, “the external works of God [towards creation] are indivisible.” The Triune God, who is One, works as one. His will is one and undivided.

Unfortunately, some people teach that Jesus’ shed blood redeems only those God decreed to be saved. The rest, they claim, were decreed by God to be condemned. This understanding says, in essence, that God has a divided will and purpose for his creation. But there is no Bible verse that teaches that idea, and any such assertion misrepresents and ignores the key to it all, which is an understanding of the nature, character and purpose of the triune God revealed to us in Jesus.

If it were true that God is equally predisposed to save and condemn, then we would have to conclude that Jesus did not accurately represent the Father, and therefore we are not able to know God as he actually is. We would also have to conclude that there is an intrinsic disunity in the Trinity and that Jesus revealed only one “side” of God. As a result, we’d not know which “side” of God to trust—should we trust the side seen in Jesus, or the side hidden in the Father and/or the Spirit? These wrong-headed ideas contradict John’s Gospel where Jesus clearly proclaims that he has made the invisible Father fully and accurately known. The God revealed by and in Jesus is the one who comes to save, not condemn humanity. In and through Jesus (our eternal Mediator and High Priest), God gives us the power to become his eternal children. By his grace, our nature is transformed—giving us, in Christ, a perfection we never could achieve on our own. That perfection involves an eternal, perfected relationship and communion with the transcendent, holy Creator God that no creature can achieve—not even Adam and Eve before the fall.

It is by grace that we have communion with the triune God who transcends space-time, existing in the eternal past, present and future. By, in and through that communion we are nourished by God, body and soul, giving us a new identity and an eternal purpose. In our union and communion with God, we are not diminished, nor are we absorbed or turned into something that we are not. Rather, sharing by the Holy Spirit in Christ’s resurrected and ascended humanity, we are brought to fullness and ultimate perfection in our humanity with him.

Yes, we live in the “now”—within the limits of space-time. Yet, through our union with Christ by the Spirit, we transcend space-time, for as Paul notes in Ephesians 2:6, we are even now seated with the ascended God-man Jesus Christ in heaven. In our temporality, we are here on earth, tethered to time and space. Yet, in a way beyond our full understanding, we also are citizens of heaven in eternity. Though living in the present, we already, by the Spirit, are participating in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. We already are connected with eternity.

Because this is our reality, we proclaim with conviction the present reign of our eternal God. From that vantage point, we look expectantly forward to the coming fullness of the kingdom of God in which we will live forever in union and communion with our Lord. Assurance of this eternal inheritance gives us a hope that roots us, then sends us out to an ever-restless culture searching for the change that makes an eternal difference.

Rejoicing in this view from eternity,
Joseph Tkach

PS: On January 19, GCI’s Board approved my appointment of Dr. Greg Williams to the office of Vice President. I felt it important to appoint Greg to this position to coordinate the 2018 move of our Home Office from Glendora, California, to Charlotte, North Carolina. In this new position, Greg will continue as Director of Church Administration and Development (CAD) and will add oversight of media and our educational programs, both throughout the move and once we have relocated. In his expanded responsibilities, Greg will be working closely with me and Mat Morgan on personnel and other issues as we work as a team to tackle the increased work load (due to the move), seeking a smooth transition.

By way of clarification, I note that the Vice President serves at the discretion of the President of the denomination, for the duration of projected assistance, and is not seen as filling a permanent position. In any case of emergency, the Vice President would serve as Interim President, reporting to the Board which would be led by the Vice Chair, who presently is Russell Duke. That said, we do not anticipate any emergencies, and I am in good health, but as a ministry of Jesus Christ we feel it is important to have a secure plan for the unforeseen future, and to best organize leadership for the present ministry. I will continue to give oversight on the move to Charlotte, and will be continuing my church visits, President’s letters, and Speaking of Life programs as we progress through this important move to North Carolina.

Thank you for your prayers for leadership during these eventful times. I appreciate the assistance that Greg has provided already with both GCI-USA (via CAD) and with our international leadership. We look forward to continued growth as we serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

If you’re like me, you’re amazed by cell-phone technology. At times, I have to be reminded that the device I use to take pictures, send messages, search the Internet, and play music and videos, is also a phone. Not being tethered to a cord brings a sense of freedom, but that sense disappears when the battery runs low and I must plug into a power source. Then there’s the panic that sets in upon realizing I forgot where I laid my phone! What seemed so freeing, is revealed in such moments to be less than true freedom.

“Cell-phone theology”

I share this cell-phone illustration to remind us how easy it is to misconstrue the nature of true freedom, settling for freedom that is not freedom at all. In thinking this through, I coined the term “cell-phone theology” to refer to a line of thinking that leads to false views of freedom. Cell-phone theology sees freedom the way someone (rather shockingly) described freedom to me: “It’s the ability to do whatever I want, whenever I desire.” That viewpoint misdefines freedom as absolute autonomy. But we’re never absolutely autonomous. Just try to stop breathing for ten minutes with no device to assist, and you’ll see what I mean.

Contingent freedom

Theologians refer to the freedom we actually have as “contingent freedom”—a freedom that, rather than absolute, is dependent (contingent) upon a number of things, one being time itself. Though time travel makes for fascinating movies, we know we can only live in the here and now, moving through time in linear fashion. We have freedom to act within time, and we can somewhat plan for and have an effect on the future, but we don’t have freedom to act apart from or control time.

What’s most important to know is that our freedom, in the ultimate sense, is completely dependent (contingent) upon God who created and now sustains time. Our freedom, being contingent, is dependent upon on what God has done, is doing, and will yet do within his good, yet fallen creation. To imagine life in isolation from God is not only a mistake, but a deception that leads to all sorts of slavery, particularly of the moral, spiritual and relational kind.

Grace and freedom

In its fallen state, humanity, to one degree or another, is in bondage—bondage to death, temptation, unchosen suffering, unjust circumstances, and to our past. Conversely, true freedom leads to life and harmonious relationships. It comes as a gift from God, extended to us by and in Jesus, through the Holy Spirit. This grace is received as we live out a deliberate relationship with God in faith (trust/belief), hope and love—for God and for his ways. Understanding this connection between God, grace and true freedom helps protect us from the bad doctrine and practice of a “cell-phone theology.”

Tethered to God

True freedom comes from acknowledging that we truly are tethered to God, our creator and redeemer, so that we might live in relation to him whether we acknowledge him or not. Think about it—existence itself is God’s gift. If God forgot us, even for a nano-second, we’d cease to exist. God alone has life in himself and we are all upheld in our existence by his grace of creation (Hebrews 1:1-3).

Some might not like my use of the word “tethered” (bound), seeing it as something contrary to grace and thus quite negative, as if we are bound to God against our will. But understand this: by grace, and for love, God has bound himself to us through Christ so that we can experience the true freedom that is ours being tethered, through Christ, to him. “For freedom Christ has set us free,” is how Paul puts it in Galatians 5:1. By the grace of God, we are bound to a relationship that involves an exchange of gifts: God freely gives us freedom, and we freely receive it as we freely give (surrender) ourselves to him. True freedom thus is about living in a worship relationship with the ever-gracious God of love.

The fruit of true freedom

The better we understand true freedom, the more we will experience God’s peace, joy, love, forgiveness, renewal—his grace in its many forms. When we live in correspondence to our freedom in Christ, we are set free to be truly human as God created us to be as his children and partners. True freedom is based on our receiving his freedom in our relationship with God and expressing it in our relationships with one another.

When people think they are free to misuse their life in one way or another, they typically are not thinking of how their actions affect others—how they hurt parents, children, a spouse, their communities or even countries. Instead of thinking about the purpose and direction of human life, and about how their attitudes and behaviors affect others, they are focused on the self and some personal, typically empty, gain.

Some say being free is about rugged individualism. But more often than not, rugged individualism is just another form of slavery to sin (see Galatians 5:1). In contrast, God has set us free for real participation in what he is accomplishing for all humanity. That participation leads to thankful obedience, an obedience moved by faith, resulting in great joy—a joy both in the here and now, and forever in eternity. Don’t forget that Jesus described the fullness of God’s kingdom as a wedding feast—a joyful celebration with great abundance.

Freedom for real relationships

Because we humans are “tethered” together through our shared history within time and space, being truly free is not about being able to choose, without constraint, between various alternatives. The freedom God gives us is not about standing aloof from others. A Christian aphorism applies here: “True freedom is not freedom from, but freedom for.” True freedom is not freedom to be detached from others, but freedom to understand that we are interconnected in relationship and then to live into that truth. Said another way, true freedom is not realized in solitary detachment from people, but in communion with them. As followers of Jesus, we have been freed to live in this fallen world with people who know of the hope we have in the glorious future that is ours through God’s promise, and also with those who do not yet realize that hope (see Galatians 5:13 and Romans 8:1-2).

There is an obvious difference between humanity’s typical view of freedom (focused on self) and God’s view of freedom (focused on living in our true humanity, received daily as a gift from him). The life of true freedom involves dying to our self-centeredness, and living instead in a way that is centered in the worship of God, lived out towards others through an obedience that comes from faith in God and all that he has accomplished and still promises to us.

Free within God’s freedom

Theologian Karl Barth reminds us that God’s freedom takes precedence over human-centered expressions of freedom. In Church Dogmatics, he wrote this: “In this positive freedom of his, God is also unlimited, unrestricted and unconditioned from without” (CD II/p. 301). Barth’s point is that God’s freedom, rather than being limited by something outside himself, is grounded in his own being. His freedom is not conditioned—God is free to be true to himself, to his own nature and character, and nothing can prevent him from being faithful to his good, just, holy and blessed name. This stands in marked contrast with false notions of divine freedom that involve projecting our own views or fears on God, seeing him as arbitrary, capricious and thus completely unlike the nature and character we find in Jesus. God has a certain nature and character, and his freedom is to be true to that nature and character as revealed in Jesus Christ.

God in his freedom is never compulsive, erratic, unfaithful, or tyrannical. Instead he is always faithful to who he is as the Triune God of love. We should therefore not imagine that our human freedom (which is contingent upon God’s freedom), is about acting on our whims, impulses, and arbitrary or disordered desires, unaccountable to anyone or anything. True human freedom depends on knowing God and his sovereign freedom, which makes it possible for his grace to be unconditional, unforced, and thus given freely to the undeserving like you and me.

Freely given, freely received

God has solely determined and established the blessing of his grace upon us in order for us to experience true freedom. Further, while his freedom is not dependent on anything (our response or behavior included), we experience that freedom when or as we respond to Christ in repentance with faith, hope and love. Our freedom is a gift freely given and so to be freely received as we are moved and set free by the Holy Spirit who ministers on the basis of the completed work of Jesus Christ. Thus we experience freedom because Jesus, by his Word and Spirit, has set us free (John 8:36)—first in relationship to him, and then to live out that freedom in community with other people.

As we respond to Christ, we find increasing freedom to live untethered by the whims of this world’s ever-changing culture with its capricious demands and arbitrary conditions. In freedom, we live in joyful proclamation that the reign (kingdom) of God currently exists, all the while expectantly awaiting its coming fullness. As we participate here and now in what God is doing, we are sent into the world to make a difference, helping others know and experience the true human freedom that is found in relationship to God as Lord and Savior. Oh, and as we go, let’s not forget to take our cell-phones! But remember, your phone (as amazing as it is) is not your freedom, though, perhaps, it will now remind you of what true freedom actually is.

Living in the wonderful freedom given us by God our creator, reconciler and redeemer,

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

For several years now, GCI’s auditor has been a firm named CapinCrouse. Some time ago, on a trip to our Home Office, their lead auditor mentioned that she grew up in a small town in South Dakota. Pleasantly surprised, our Treasurer, Mat Morgan, replied that he hailed from the same town! As the conversation ensued, she mentioned that her father was a long-time police officer in that town, and Mat (now both surprised and a bit chagrined) realized that he had received his first traffic ticket from our auditor’s dad! (I think Mat would want me to mention that he was just a teen at the time.) Anyway, all of us were reminded that, just as the Disney ride song says, “it’s a small world after all.”

Perhaps you’ve met someone for the first time, only to learn that you know some of the same people, or that your parents attended the same school at the same time. I’ve had such experiences, and the theory sometimes employed to explain them is called six degrees of separation. As illustrated below, the theory states that any person on earth can be connected to any other person through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries.

There have been several tests of this theory, including the Small World Project at Columbia University where the project team instructed a large group of “searchers” to send out multiple emails intended for a particular recipient that they did not know. The catch was that they could not send the emails directly to the intended recipient. Instead, each email was sent to a person they already knew, who was then instructed to forward it on to someone they knew, etc. The hypothesis was that the email would eventually reach the targeted recipient. Unfortunately (perhaps due to lack of cooperation), most of the original emails never reached their target. However, confirming the six degrees of separation theory, hundreds of emails eventually did reach the intended recipient in six or less steps.

Though the six steps of separation theory needs further testing, its premise has been confirmed in research, and in our experience as we’ve discovered multiple, unexpected connections with other people. Such experiences should not be a big surprise to us, understanding as we do that our tri-personal, relational God created a relational world. And it’s not just humanity that God placed in relational networks—all creation exists in a relational web that reflects the fact that our triune God is relational in his being and doing. As part of the Body of Christ (the church) we participate in Jesus’ relationship with the Father and the Spirit. It is in and through Christ, by the Spirit, that we are interconnected with each other. No wonder we crave good and right relationships!

At lunch recently, State of the Heart Ministries Director, Ross Jutsum, shared with me a “small world” story of his own. He later sent me this write-up:

On a visit to Vancouver, British Columbia to serve in our GCI congregation there, I spent a couple of days helping a dear and long-time friend of Tammy and mine—Martha Williamson, best known as Executive Producer and main writer of the television series, Touched By An Angel. Martha had asked me to record some piano music for a movie that was based in a restaurant where there was a grand piano and singing waiters. I played and recorded the actual piano music “backstage” on the set, while a tuxedo-clad Canadian actor was on camera “finger-syncing” what I was playing.

On the first break from shooting, I introduced myself and learned that the actor’s name was Glenn. I complimented him on his excellent “finger-syncing,” and asked what he did for a living. He answered that he was a composer. I then asked where he studied composition, and he replied “at the University of North Texas.” When I asked what years, he replied “1990 to 1994.” He also told me that he had completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition. I responded that I had been in attendance those same years and had received the same degree in conducting! In further discussion it became clear that we had been in some of the same classes and seminars. I explained that Martha had asked me to play the various tunes for this movie because she had heard me do something similar in the 1970s in Pasadena, California, where I was supplementing my income teaching at a small college.

During the next break in filming, Glenn approached me and asked if that college in Pasadena was Ambassador College. I answered is was, and asked how he knew about AC. He told me that while he was a doctoral student at North Texas, he was also a member of the WCG/GCI congregation in Fort Worth, Texas! We both had to admit that this was not blind chance—surely it was a “divine encounter.”

The magnitude and importance of the interconnectedness of God’s creation is something I appreciate more and more as I grow older. Whether pondering the micro-scale of quantum mechanics, or sharing in a gathering of hundreds of people at a family reunion, I find joy and amazement in experiencing God-ordained relationships, which I see as indicators that our triune God, who created and now sustains the universe, is inherently relational.

Thankful to recognize we are in relationship with God and one another,

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Philosophers and theologians refer to what is called the mind-body problem. This is not a problem about fine-motor coordination (like when you take a sip from a cup and spill a bit, or miss badly throwing darts). Instead, it’s about whether our bodies are physical, while our minds are spiritual; or whether humans are purely physical, or a combination of physical and spiritual.

Though the Bible does not directly address the mind-body problem, it does assume a non-physical aspect to human existence, distinguishing (in New Testament terms) between body (flesh) and soul (mind/spirit). Though the Bible does not explain how the body and soul are related, or exactly how they interact, it does not separate them nor present them as interchangeable, and it never reduces the soul to the body.

In thinking through the mind-body problem, it’s important that we begin with a foundational teaching of Scripture: human beings would not exist, and would not be what they are, apart from an actual, ongoing relationship with the transcendent Creator God who created all things and now sustains those things in their existence. The creation (including humans) would not exist if God were disconnected from it (in an absolute, entire way). The creation did not produce itself and does not sustain its existence—only God has existence in himself (theologians refer to this as God’s aseity). The existence of all created things is a gift from the self-existent God.

Contrary to the biblical witness, some claim that human-being is nothing more than a material thing. But such claims prompt this question: How can something as immaterial as human consciousness ever arise from something as unconscious as physical matter? A related question is this: Why does awareness of sensory information exist at all? Such questions give rise to many others concerning whether consciousness is a mere illusion, or is a real (though non-physical) property related to, yet distinct from, the material brain.

Almost everyone agrees that humans have consciousness (an internal thought-world of images, sensations, and feelings)—what is commonly referred to as mind, which is as real to us as our need for food and sleep. However, there is not agreement on the nature and source of consciousness/mind. Materialists view it as arising solely from the electro-chemical activity of the physical brain. Non-materialists (including Christians) view it as a non-material phenomenon that is not identical to the physical brain.

Speculation concerning consciousness falls into two broad categories. The first is physicalism (materialism), which teaches that there is no such thing as an invisible spirit world. The other is parallel dualism, which teaches that the mind may have non-physical properties or be totally non-physical, and therefore cannot be explained in purely physical terms. Parallel dualism views the brain and mind as interacting and working in parallel—when the brain is injured, a person’s ability to reason can be impaired. As a result, the parallel interaction is also impaired.

In the case of parallel dualism, when talking about people, the term dualism distinguishes between the observable and unobservable interaction between the brain and mind. The conscious mental events that are private to us as individuals are not accessible to others. People can grab hold of our hands, but they cannot grab hold of our private thoughts (and most of the time we’re glad God made it that way!). Moreover, certain human ideals that we hold within our minds are not reducible to material factors. Those ideals include love, justice, forgiveness, joy, mercy, grace, hope, beauty, truth, goodness, freedom, human agency and responsibility—things that have to do with life’s purpose and meaning.

As Christians, we refer to what is unobservable in explaining God’s activity and agency in the world, which includes what he does through created means (natural agency), or more directly through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit is invisible, his work is not measurable. Nevertheless, he acts upon and within the material world. His works are not predictable, nor reducible to empirical cause-and-effect chains. These works of God include not only creation itself, but the incarnation, resurrection, ascension, sending of the Holy Spirit and expected return of Jesus Christ to bring to consummation the kingdom of God and the establishment of a new heaven and earth.

Back to the mind-body problem: materialists claim that the mind can be explained physically. That view opens the possibility, but not the necessity, for minds to be reproduced artificially. Since the term Artificial Intelligence (AI) was coined, it has been an optimistic subject of computer developers and writers of science fiction. Over the years AI has become an essential part of our technology. Algorithms are programmed into all kinds of machines from mobile phones to automobiles. Software and hardware development has progressed to the point that machines have bested people in gaming experiments. In 1997, IBM’s Deep Blue computer beat the reigning world chess champion, Garry Kasparov. Kasparov accused IBM of cheating and demanded a rematch. I wish IBM had not refused, but they decided that the machine had worked hard enough and simply retired Deep Blue. In 2011, the Jeopardy quiz show hosted a match between IBM’s Watson computer and the two greatest Jeopardy champions. The champions lost by a significant margin. I can’t help saying (tongue-in-cheek) that Watson, which was just doing what it was designed and programmed to do, did not celebrate, though the AI software and hardware engineers did. That ought to tell us something!

Materialists claim that there is no empirical proof that the mind is separate and different from the body. They reason that the brain and consciousness are the same thing, and that the mind somehow arises from the quantum processes of the brain or emerges from the complexity of the brain’s processing. From the perspective of their worldview, there isn’t any non-material parallel processing. One of the so-called “angry atheists,” Daniel Dennett, goes even further, claiming that consciousness is an illusion. Christian apologist Greg Koukl points out the fundamental flaw in Dennett’s reasoning:

If consciousness was not real there would be no way to perceive that consciousness was just an illusion. If consciousness is required to perceive an illusion, then consciousness cannot itself be an illusion. Similarly, one would have to be able to perceive both the real world and the illusory world in order to know there is a distinction between the two, and to subsequently identify the illusory world as illusory. If all one perceived was the illusion, they would not be able to recognize it as such.

The materialist (empirical) method cannot detect what is not material. It can only detect the material phenomena of observable, measurable, testable and repeatable things. But if the only things that can exist are things that can be empirically tested, then nothing that is one-of-a-kind (non-repeatable) can exist. And if that is the case, then history, a one-of-a-kind, non-repeatable series of events, cannot exist! Though convenient, it is arbitrary for some to declare that only things that can be known by one particular and preferred method can exist. In short, there is no way to empirically prove that only empirical/material things exist! It is illogical to reduce all reality to what can be detected by this one method. Such a view is sometimes referred to as scientism.

This is a big topic, and I’ve only scratched the surface, but it’s an important one—note Jesus’ comment: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (Matthew 10:28). Jesus was no materialist—he clearly distinguishes between the physical body (which includes the brain) and a non-material component of our humanity that is the essence of our personhood. When Jesus tells us to not let others kill the soul, it’s no stretch to say that he is referring to not letting others destroy our faith and belief in God, whom we cannot see, but whom we know, and trust, and can even feel or sense through our non-physical consciousness. Indeed, our belief in God is part of our conscious experience.

Jesus is reminding us that our minds are integral to our life of following him as one of his disciples. Our consciousness gives us the capacity to believe in God as Father, Son and Spirit. It helps us acknowledge the gift of faith that gives us “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Our consciousness enables us to know and trust God as Creator, to “understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Hebrews 11:1, 3). Our consciousness enables us to experience the peace that surpasses understanding, to know God is love, to believe Jesus is the Son of God, to believe in eternal life, to know true joy, to know that we truly are God’s beloved children.

Delighted to know the transcendent God in my conscious, private world of thought,
Joseph Tkach

PS: I want to express my deep appreciation for all the birthday cards I received in the last few weeks. It was an unexpected delight to receive so many—it would take me a very, very long time to send individual thank you cards in reply. I’m now officially an old man—I have the Medicare card to prove it!

This is our last issue in 2016. The next one will be published on Jan. 4, 2017. The letter below is the third in a series from Joseph Tkach addressing the origin, dating and Christian celebration of Christmas. To read an article (Some Thoughts About Christmas) that compiles all three letters, click here.

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Rejoice! Christmas is almost here. In celebrating Christ’s birth, many Christians display a Christmas tree. For them, the colorful lights and ornaments add to the ambiance of the season. Some Christians choose not to have a Christmas tree, and that’s fine, as long as they don’t buy into the false idea that having one is tantamount to joining in pagan worship. I chuckle at that notion because, though I love trees, I’ve never worshiped one, nor have Christians down through the ages. There is a strict and obvious difference between the pagan worship of trees and what Christians do in displaying a decorated tree during the Christmas season.

The Bible says a lot about trees. It tells us that God created trees for us to enjoy and to care for. It tells us that God placed two special trees in the Garden of Eden—the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Some commentators see the tree of life as symbolic of blissful eternal life in God’s presence. Others see the Garden of Eden as symbolizing heaven, with the tree of life symbolizing Christ through whom eternal life is gained.

In the book of Proverbs, trees signify life and happiness (Proverbs 3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4). Elsewhere, trees often symbolize God’s redemption. Note what Isaiah says about the promised Messiah: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit” (Isaiah 11:1). Other passages refer to the Messiah as “the Branch of the Lord,” “the Righteous Branch,” and “God’s Servant, the Branch.” These are references to God’s gracious work in raising up within our time and space a Messiah to give life and righteousness to all who believe in him (see Isaiah 4:2; Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12).

The Bible mentions multiple kinds of trees, including almond, acacia, apple, ash, aspen, balsam, broom, carob, cassia, cedar, citrus, cypress, date palm, elm, evergreen cypress, fig, gopher, holm, mastic, mulberry, mustard, nuts, oak, oil, olive, pine, poplar, sandalwood, spice, storax, sycamine, sycamore, tamarisk, terebinth and willow. In Hosea, God refers to himself as a tree: an evergreen tree! “O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit” (Hosea 14:8 ESV).

In the New Testament, the Greek word xulon is used for both the cross and trees, including the tree of life (Revelation 2:7; 22:2, 14, 19). Jesus compares himself to a tree as he hears women lamenting his plight: “For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:31). Jesus calls himself a green tree because of his eternal power and capacity to give new life.

No right-thinking Christian would ever worship a tree. They know God taught Israel to avoid idolatry, and it’s idolatrous to think that any part of God’s creation is divine. Embracing that belief set Israel apart from its pagan neighbors who viewed the sun, moon and stars as divine, and regarded vegetative and human fertility as making use of the power of the gods. Though God commanded Israel to reject such pagan notions, he did affirm the goodness of all that he created—distinguishing between the absolutely distinct, holy, particular and personal goodness of God (who alone is uncreated and thus divine) and the relative, limited (fallen-distorted) goodness of God’s created gifts.

This distinction between what is divine and what is created informs how Christians view the bread and wine served at the Lord’s Table. The communion elements are created, not divine. However, as signs of the real presence of our divine-human High Priest Jesus Christ, they are powerful reminders of God’s atoning work in and through Christ—both in the past and in the present, at the Table. In communion services within liturgical churches, before the bread and wine are consumed, the elements are lifted up to God in a prayer of consecration, given in recognition that the created elements have no power in themselves to give us fellowship and communion with God. Each and every time the Lord’s Supper is served, God graciously acts by his Spirit in making these created things to be channels of his grace to us as we worship Jesus for how he—on a tree!—poured out his blood from his broken body to conquer sin and death for all humanity.

It is interesting (and likely highly significant) that in the Bible the grand narrative of salvation is book-ended with key scenes featuring trees. Note this from fourth century church leader John Chrysostom:

Do you see how the devil is defeated by the very weapons of his prior victory? The devil had vanquished Adam by means of a tree [of the knowledge of good and evil]. Christ vanquished the devil by means of the tree of the Cross. The tree sent Adam to hell. The tree of the Cross brought him back from there. The tree revealed Adam in his weakness, laying prostrate, naked and low. The tree of the Cross manifested to all the world the victorious Christ, naked, and nailed on high. Adam’s death sentence passed on to all who came after him. Christ’s death gave life to all his children.

It’s not a sin, and thus there is no Christian prohibition against using decorated trees to celebrate the way Jesus created trees and then used them in fulfilling God’s plan for the redemption of humankind. When we use a Christmas tree as part of our celebration of the nativity of Christ, we do so as a mere sign (witness) of God’s great gift of his Son who brings eternal light and life into our dark world. We let the light of Christ, which shines down on those trees, reveal to us their true meaning. We refuse to let any pagan Grinch of Christmas trees past steal way that Christ-centered significance. The often star-tipped tops of our Christmas trees point humbly up to their transcendent Maker and Redeemer—the One who from heaven came down to us in the humble form of a servant, born in a manger in Bethlehem.

Jesus, the second Adam, redeemed the distorted relationships that through the first Adam had intruded into all creation (trees included). By dying on the “tree” of the Cross, Jesus brought redemption to humanity and light to the world. Through his sacrifice, he brought forgiveness, hope and salvation. We don’t worship trees, but because of what Jesus did, trees can serve as witnesses to God’s glory—reminders of his grace and love for all humankind.

I pray you have a joyous and fruitful celebration of Jesus’ incarnation,
Joseph Tkach

PS: For a related GCI article on Christmas trees and Jeremiah 10, click here. For a Christianity Today article on the history of the Christmas tree, click here.