Category: Hear From the President

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

March 14 is Albert Einstein’s birthday. He was born 134 years ago. Einstein has always been a fascinating personality to me. More than a hundred years ago, he wrote a paper describing a radical insight into the nature of light, which turned the conventional physics of that day on its head and led to the development of Quantum Theory. What may be less recognized is the potential impact that Einstein’s ideas had on theology.

Disciplines like physics and chemistry are called “hard sciences.” Not because they are difficult, but because those physical phenomena respond to the scientific method, yielding testable predictions through controlled experiments that can produce accurate and quantifiable data. Disciplines like sociology, political science and theology are less exact, more difficult to quantify and don’t easily yield predictable results outside the experimental environment. So they are sometimes called “soft sciences.”

Einstein showed that hard sciences are not so hard after all. He realized that what were considered established ideas about the nature of matter were too simplistic. Light, for example, behaved in some unfathomable way, as both a wave and a particle. This apparent paradox defied a simple scientific explanation. Einstein said, “What I see in nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility.” The idea of light acting as both a wave and a particle is still a difficult concept to grasp. It is an idea that would seem to belong to a soft science, not physics.

As scientists probe ever further into the realms of the very large and the incomprehensibly small, they have found even more extraordinary paradoxes. Stephen Hawking, a brilliant contemporary theoretical physicist has written, “Quantum physics is a new model of reality that gives us a picture of the universe. It is a picture in which many concepts fundamental to our intuitive understanding of reality no longer have meaning” (The Grand Design). According to physicist Lisa Randall in Knocking on Heaven’s Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World:

We are poised on the edge of discovery. The biggest and most exciting experiments in particle physics and cosmology are under way and many of the world’s most talented physicists and astronomers are focused on their implications. What scientists find within the next decade could provide clues that will ultimately change our view of the fundamental makeup of matter or even of space itself—and just might provide a more comprehensive picture of the nature of reality.

I find this a fascinating topic to explore. In some ways, it has helped me in my journey to appreciate the triune nature of God. When I see that paradoxes exist in nature, it is not so difficult for me to accept that the nature of the Creator of light would also seem, to my limited human understanding, also somewhat paradoxical.

Albert Einstein was not a “believer” in the traditional sense. Though he considered himself an agnostic, he was a firm critic of atheism. He would have deplored the strident voices of some scientists today who angrily insist that God does not exist. He wrote, “In view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognize, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what really makes me angry is that they quote me for the support of such views.”

Although Einstein did not believe in a personal God, he never missed chapel service at Princeton when prayers were being offered for Jews trapped in the concentration camps. He maintained, “even though the realms of religion and science in themselves are clearly marked off from each other,” there are “strong reciprocal relationships and dependencies as aspirations for truth derive from the religious sphere.” He once explained that “science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”

Einstein died in 1955. It is not only the hard sciences that owe him a debt of gratitude. When asked how he came to his great new discovery, he said: “I stood before the universe and listened.” He showed that being scientific does not mean making everything understandable with absolute certainty. He demonstrated that great new advances in knowledge come only when we let a reality, far greater than our previous understanding would allow, determine how we are to know it and in humility let it tell us its nature.

In this way, Einstein surely opened the door for some to recognize the legitimacy of the so-called “soft science” of theology; for in theology we stand before a Reality that far exceeds our understanding. But when we listen in humility at the place where God has personally made himself known, we can indeed have real, if not absolutely comprehensive, knowledge of God. And that place is a person, Jesus Christ.

Christian theology is not unscientific and science does not and cannot rule out a reality greater than ourselves—greater than our universe. Doing so would be, well, unscientific. As Einstein wrote:

Everyone who is seriously interested in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe—a spirit vastly superior to man, and one in the face of which our modest powers must feel humble.

With love in Christ’s service,

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I encourage you to read the Mozambique prayer update linked at left, which updates us on the situation faced by our members in Northern Mozambique. Their homes have been flooded and their crops destroyed. They were already some of the poorest people in the world. I am thankful that we are able to help them come through this crisis through prayer and financial assistance.

The situation in Mozambique reminds me of how much we take for granted. In the developed world, we don’t really need to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Our supermarkets have great variety from which to choose. It is the same with water. Millions of people in the poorer parts of the world must pray, “Give us this day our daily water”—and then walk several miles to get it. We, on the other hand, are spoiled for choice. In the Western world, bottled water is a multi-billion dollar business. My local supermarket offers at least 12 varieties, each promising to be superior to the others. Some people argue that none of them is actually better than plain old tap water, which is one hundred times less expensive. Maybe that’s true. I don’t know.

Though I am not an expert on water, Jesus was. He not only turned water into wine, he walked on it. And in the beginning, he created it. You will remember the account in John’s Gospel, where Jesus met the Samaritan woman who was drawing water from a well. He told her he could supply her with a never-ending supply of what he called “living water.” This water was so superior that whoever drank it would never be thirsty again.

Clean drinking water was scarce in Jesus’ day, so the woman naturally asked him how she could get this exceptional water. The phrase “living water” usually meant moving, flowing water. The woman knew there was no flowing water nearby. The only water available locally was in that well. Jesus was using a play on words. He explained, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14). This was a great metaphor since water is essential to life. Just as the physical body needs water to continue living so does the spirit.

When we become physically thirsty, water satisfies us. However, we are not just physical creatures. We are made in God’s image and we have a spiritual appetite, whether we recognize it or not. We can become hungry and thirsty spiritually for a restored and right relationship with God. Jesus explained that he was the source of the “spiritual water” that can quench the thirst of the spirit. By drinking the living water one can live and never thirst again.

The woman was astonished, not only by his extraordinary offer. In fact, she may not have fully understood it at the time. What astonished her was that Jesus spoke to her in the first place. She was a gentile, a woman and had a somewhat dubious reputation. She was used to being shunned by her own people. A Jewish man should have gone to great lengths to avoid her. Nevertheless, Jesus accepted her and offered hope and encouragement.

This story teaches us that Jesus offers his forgiveness to everyone. No matter how many sins one has committed, Jesus offers new life—and he offers it to all humanity. By reaching out to an outcast Samaritan woman, Jesus showed that his kingdom is for everyone from every nation, every tribe and every culture.

Our denomination is greatly blessed to be truly “international”—not just in word but in fact. I am humbled that the Holy Spirit sees us as a “safe place” to bring people looking for grace and truth. We did not go seeking several thousand members in Mozambique. They were looking for a “well” to satisfy their thirst for truly knowing and worshiping God. Right now, their need is physical as well as spiritual and so we will continue to do what we can to help them. However, let’s not forget our own backyard. Physical food and drink is not the critical need for most Western nations. But they are spiritually undernourished and in desperate need of wholesome spiritual food and clean living water.

When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, he opened up a whole new perspective to his ministry. His disciples were shocked to find him talking to “that kind of woman” (John 4:27). But they eventually came to understand that Jesus had a ministry to all the world—not to just a select few.

We are privileged to participate in that ministry today. Think about it next time you see the array of rather expensive “superior” bottled waters on your supermarket shelf. Remember, the best water of all is free. You just have to know where it comes from.

Your brother in Christ’s service,

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

As our understanding of who God is (our theology) developed, we began using the term “Incarnational Trinitarian Theology” to identify and summarize our understanding. However, use of that term (and others like it) might cause some problems. First, it might confuse some who are not trained in theology. Second, it might be used by some who do not understand it well. Third, it might be overused and thus become cliché. Last, it might become a denominational label that could lead some to misunderstand what we actually believe and teach.

Along with this letter, we’ve included an article from Gary Deddo titled, “Answering questions about our theology” (click on the link in the column at left). I urge you to read it carefully. As Gary notes, it is helpful to think of Incarnational Trinitarian Theology as describing how we believe rather than merely what we believe. Of course, all orthodox Christians accept the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation. But for us, they are more than two doctrines on a list of many—they are the heart of our faith and worship.

Why is that not so for all Christians? Partly because these truths are deep mysteries beyond our fallen human imaginations. Also, these doctrines at times are poorly taught or not taught at all. Thus it is easy to drift away from this defining core and begin to emphasize secondary (even tertiary) issues. When that happens, everything becomes distorted.

This was seen clearly in the way Jewish religious leaders resisted Jesus. Those leaders looked to Scripture as a source of truth, but disagreed about its details. Nevertheless, they were united against Jesus. And so Jesus told them, “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want” (John 5:39-40, The Message). Note how Jesus placed himself at the center as the living key to interpreting Scripture. He himself was the source of their life. If they would accept and understand that, they would put their petty disagreements in perspective and come together in acknowledging him as Messiah. Instead, they saw him as a heretic and plotted to kill him.

As Christians today, we can make the same mistake. Even if we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, we can sideline the fundamental truths that define who he is. The result is the fragmenting of Christianity into competing “schools” of thought with their own doctrinal distinctives. This leads to a “my Christianity is better than yours” mentality. Though the distinctives may be accurate, they emphasize peripheral matters. The result is that the reality of who God is and what he has done for us in his Son is diminished, if not lost. Division within the Body of Christ results.

That is why we need to avoid using labels in ways that imply that we are setting ourselves apart as having a Christianity that is superior in comparison to others. The reason we use a label at all is to remind ourselves (and others, if they are interested) of the focus of our renewal—the reality of what is revealed in Jesus Christ according to Scripture.

Also, in using a label, we must avoid implying that we are slavishly beholden to some systematic theology or to certain theologians—even those identified as Incarnational or Trinitarian. There are approximately 50 systematic theologies extant today. However, there is no single concrete, uniform, particular school of thought called “Trinitarian Theology.”

For example, Barth, the Torrance brothers and Thomas Oden drew on many other theologians throughout the ages and on the writings of the early church councils. Rather than seeking to establish a new theology, they were seeking to serve Jesus Christ and to build up his church through their teaching and research. Yes, they might be described as “Incarnational Trinitarian Theologians” because they saw that these particular elements of Christian faith were being neglected or even forgotten. They discerned that the church needed to get back on the central path of Christian faith.

When we use the term, “Incarnational Trinitarian Theology,” we are referring to the fact that Jesus is the lens through which we read and interpret the Bible and how we have come to know God. Consequently, any other doctrinal points should flow from and fit with the Trinitarian nature of God. Our role in the administration of our denomination is to pass on the best formulations of Christian theology that we can find—especially on the major issues. We are blessed to incorporate the ideas of the great theologians of Christian history and we can learn from those alive today. But we do not do so slavishly and biblical revelation always has the controlling authority.

So, when we say that we believe and teach Incarnational Trinitarian Theology, we are describing how we understand and believe Scripture based upon Jesus as the centerpiece of God’s plan for humanity. It is perhaps more like your computer’s operating system rather than one of many programs you load into it. Individual doctrines are like the software applications, which must be able to interface with the operating system if they are to work properly. But it’s the operating system that orders, organizes, prioritizes and produces all other useful results.

The focus of our renewal as a denomination has been the very theological issues that have been central to historical, orthodox Christianity. We are not the only branch of the church that neglected or even misunderstood the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation. We hope that we might benefit other parts of the Body of Christ with what we have learned. It is in this spirit that we offer our Speaking of Life and You’re Included videos. If you have not viewed them, I urge you to do so. They will help us all keep the Center in the center, feed our continuing renewal in the Spirit, and enable us to join with all Christians down through the ages in giving witness to the glory of our triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Yours in Christ’s service,

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I enjoy reading a book or watching a movie in which a good story unfolds. I especially enjoy it when I know how the story ends, yet still I am compelled to read or watch to the end to see how it unfolds. The old American television series Columbo, starring the late Peter Falk, is a great example.

Each episode of Columbo revolved around the perpetrator of the crime, whose identity is already known to the audience. He would eventually be caught and exposed. The intrigue was generated by seeing how Columbo would go about solving the crime. The series was not so much a traditional “whodunit?” as a “how to catch them.” The gospel of God’s grace is rather like that. Jesus has completed the work of saving us, although not all understand that. There is great joy when the proverbial “light bulb” turns on and someone does get it!

Not long ago, I received a letter from an 87-year-old gentleman describing how he had hated me for leading so many changes in our fellowship. But now he understands and so he apologized. No apology was needed—he made my day and I am still enjoying his letter.

Christians often say that the gospel is good news, but then add a great big “IF.” I’m sure they are sincere, but this addition turns the gospel into a proposition or a possibility of what could be true if certain works are first performed. For them, the gospel is good news, but only for those who qualify. For everyone else, it is not good news at all.

The wonderful truth is that the actual gospel is not a contract, which tells us what God will do “IF” we first do our part. Rather, it is the announcement concerning what God has already done—what he has already established in and through his Son, Jesus Christ. It is vital to understand the difference.

The actual gospel speaks of the fact of our forgiveness in Jesus and gives us something real to believe in. The gospel with an “IF” appended speaks of the possibility of our forgiveness, but then proclaims that we must also believe in something else, such as our faith, or our repentance or our performance, before that possibility becomes reality. One is the truth of God’s grace; the other is legalism.

This legalism projects a false reality that Jesus’ forgiveness does not exist unless you first measure up. However, no one can measure up to the perfection of God. Even when we become believers, we still have our times of failing to do what is right. And the blessing of the grace of God is that we are forgiven in Jesus Christ. He stands in for us as our great high priest and takes our weak and imperfect repentance and faith and then by the Holy Spirit shares with us his perfect faith and repentance on our behalf. And God gets all the glory.

Sadly, some reject this, objecting that it means that you can just sit back and do nothing. But that is not where a correct understanding of grace leads you. Presuming upon God’s grace is not receiving God’s grace. It is not responding to grace as grace. Grace is not an impersonal abstract fact or principle, like gravity. Grace is not an exception to the rule of law. It is God’s offer of a restored, reconciled relationship of fellowship and communion with him in faith, hope and love. Grace, then, calls for a particular response. The apostle Paul tells us that God has reconciled the cosmos to himself. He then goes on to implore us to be reconciled, to live in line with the reality of that reconciliation (see 2 Corinthians 5:18, 20)—to wake up and smell the coffee! Such an ordered or disciplined response is not the enemy of grace but how we receive and benefit from it, or rather, benefit from our restored relationship to God through Jesus Christ!

In Colossians 1:29 (NIV, 1984), Paul explained how he proclaimed Christ: “To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” The gospel of grace in Jesus Christ energizes and moves us just as it did Paul. It brings about “the obedience of faith,” which was the aim and goal of his entire ministry (see Romans 1:5; 16:26 RSV).

Accepting God’s grace is not a license for laziness. We should remind ourselves every day what Christ has done and is doing for us. Our motivation is the fact that he has accepted us, not the fear that he might reject us. Paul tells us: “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” (Titus 2:11-12 NIV, 1984).

Before I began to really understand grace, I regarded the Bible largely as a rule-book that God gave to tell us what to do and not do. In doing so, I missed the point of many of the narratives in the Bible. I saw God as detaching and not attaching, disconnecting and not connecting with us. Do the right thing and you belonged to his “in” crowd. Disobey and you were “out.” The more I focused on obeying the law, the more I also seemed to miss God’s purpose to develop a loving relationship with each of his children. My view became one of seeing God as ruling people out, breaking them with “rods of iron.” Thankfully, I did not totally lose sight of God’s mercy, but I really did see him as a cosmic sheriff and myself as his deputy!

I know that many of you grew up believing as I did. Our experience was not as unusual as we may have thought. As I have gotten to know Christians in other denominations, I find that this is typical, even among many who have been Christians for many years. That is why we need to understand and be reminded daily that it is his grace—not law—that disciplines us. God has caught us, like Columbo caught those criminals. He is the author and the finisher of our faith. It is the best “whodunit” and “how did he catch ‘em” story of all.

With love in Christ’s service,

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Artists typically depict prayer as going upward from us to God. They might show a person kneeling in a beam of light, or looking up with hands outstretched to heaven. In the illustration below, the artist depicts another dimension of prayer—its roots and soil. It reminds me of Paul’s words to the church at Ephesus to be “rooted and grounded in love” (Ephesians 3:17—KJV throughout).

Although I see most of you only once a year or less, I feel close to you all. That closeness is not about email, but a relationship of unity in the Holy Spirit that is grounded in prayer. I pray frequently for our elders and their families as I do for all our members and their families. I do this not as a duty or mere discipline, but because I want to maintain my relationship with all of you even if we are not able to be together as often as I would like.

I learned this idea of prayer relationships from my reading of the apostle Paul’s writings. Long before Facebook and Skype, Paul maintained a strong network of personal relationships across the Mediterranean world. He prayed that God’s blessings would rest upon the churches that he planted and served. These were not just general “catch-all” prayers. He was often quite specific. To the Thessalonians he wrote: “Night and day praying exceedingly that we…might perfect that which is lacking in your faith…. To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness” (1 Thessalonians 3:10, 13). To the Romans: “Without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers” (Romans 1:9). To the Philippians: “Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy” (Philippians 1:4). And to the Colossians: [We] do not cease to pray for you… I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you (Colossians 1:9; 2:1).

Day and night Paul prayed for God to intervene and that the Holy Spirit might guide and direct these Christians. As earnestly as he believed in the power of his intercession for them, he believed in the blessing that their prayers would bring upon him: “Now I beseech you…that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me” (Romans 15:30). “[God] will yet deliver us; ye also helping together by prayer for us” (2 Corinthians 1:10-11). “Praying…for me…that I may open my mouth boldly” (Ephesians 6:18-19). “This shall turn to my salvation through your prayer” (Philippians 1:19).

Paul understood that a pastor-congregant relationship is a heavenly one—developed and maintained through prayer, by the Spirit. It is the same today, no matter where the congregation may be. Because we are participants in God’s life through Christ’s vicarious life for us, our prayers are ultimately rooted and grounded in the intercessory voice of Jesus as our Faithful High Priest (Hebrews 2:17; 7:25).

In Atonement: the Person and Work of Christ, T. F. Torrance wrote this: “Prayer is the link between world history and the intercession of Christ in heaven. So far as the church in history and on earth is concerned, therefore, the great connecting link between world history and the heavenly session of Christ is to be found in prayer and intercession.”

Paul’s prayers focused on all kinds of relationships—not only between Christians, but also between church and state. Remember Paul’s words to Timothy: “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

Do you see why I like the illustration shown above? Rather than presenting prayer as something vague and ephemeral, it brings it right down to earth. When we pray, we are joining in the work of the kingdom of God, supporting each other and those we serve in a vast “underground” network of prayer relationships that are rooted and grounded in love.

Your brother in Christ’s service,

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Black History Month reminds us of the important people and events of the African Diaspora. It is celebrated annually in the US and Canada in February and in the UK in October. Carter G. Woodson and The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History announced the second week of February to be Negro History Week. In 1970, this was expanded to Black History Month and President Gerald Ford formally acknowledged it in 1976.

 

During Black History Month in the US, we acknowledge the contribution that African-Americans have made to our nation. They have held some of the highest offices in our government (including president) and have made their mark in the sports world. Thousands of less recognizable African-Americans have and are making significant contributions to our national life in academia, science and the arts (see the P.S. below).

Black History Month also reminds us of the tragic record of misunderstanding, prejudice and cruelty that has been a part of our history. Thankfully, things have improved. However, I shudder when I think that only a generation or so ago much of this country was still mired in outright segregation and blatant prejudice.

Of course, this is not just an issue in the US—and here it is not just a white and black issue and not just a matter of race. The genocide in Rwanda at the end of the last century was a clash of two tribes of the same race. The deadly Bosnian conflict was between peoples who share a common language, much common history and possibly ancient ancestry. The cruelties of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia were perpetrated mainly by Europeans on Europeans. Imperialist Japan and Communist China committed atrocities against fellow Asians. In the long and sordid history of racial/nationalistic conflict, no people can plead “not guilty” to prejudice and discrimination.

Sadly, these atrocities are often committed in the name of God. It is sobering to remember that those who do these things have often used the Bible to justify their actions. Surely, this is one of the greatest perversions of Scripture. Regrettably, such teaching continues and still affects the way some think about others and even about themselves. I have friends who grew up with segregation who tell me that the scars take a long time to heal. And I wonder if, perhaps, the greatest damage is done by those who, considering themselves superior, look down on fellow human beings.

There is nothing in the Scriptures to indicate that any people are inferior or are excluded from God’s saving grace on the basis of ethnic origin or skin color. God is “not wanting anyone to perish” (2 Peter 3:9). The book of Revelation explicitly expresses great joy that heavenly worship involves those “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9; 7:9; 13:7; 14:6). Jesus paid the same price for everyone. No race, nation, tribe or people group are outside the embrace of his love. As the old song goes, “red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in his sight.”

The Bible is clear that God created humanity in his image, with one common ancestor. There is, in actuality, only one race—the human race. Within this human race, by God’s design, there is great diversity in culture, language, skin color and other physical characteristics. It is interesting that the Human Genome project has discovered that every human being on the planet is 99.9% genetically identical. There is only one-tenth of one percent of DNA that differentiates us from one another, no matter our race.

Furthermore, Jesus has done everything to forgive and redeem us all. When the angels appeared to the shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus, they said it was good news for all peoples (Luke 2:10). Jesus taught that he would “draw all people” to himself (John 12:32) and from east and west, north and south (Luke 13:29). The apostle Paul declared that Jesus was the new Adam, the new head of all humanity (Romans 5:14; 1Corinthians 15:45) and that, in Christ, there is one new humanity (Ephesians 2:15). We celebrate this truth and there is no one who should be appreciated any less than another.

When Carter Woodson created Black History Week, he hoped that racial prejudice would eventually be eliminated when black history became fundamental to American history. We have made progress, but we are not quite there yet. There are still many tragic examples of hatred and oppression in the world today. So we still need Black History Month. It reminds us of where we have been and where we need yet to go. The more we learn about the accomplishments of our brothers and sisters, the more we learn to appreciate the variety God has given his children.

GCI is multi-racial, multi-ethnic and multi-national. We may be a small denomination, but we are a rich tapestry of many peoples from many different backgrounds and nationalities, working together with the same purpose. Let’s thank God for that.

Your brother in Christ’s service,

Joseph Tkach

P.S. Can you name the notable African-Americans pictured here? See the answers below.

Upper left corner: George Washington Carver was an American scientist, botanist, educator and inventor. Carver’s reputation is based on his research into and promotion of alternative crops to cotton such as peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes, which also aided nutrition for farm families. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops both as a source of their own food and as a source of other products to improve their quality of life. The most popular of his 44 practical bulletins for farmers contained 105 food recipes using peanuts. He also developed and promoted about 100 products made from peanuts that were useful for the house and farm including cosmetics, dyes, paints, plastics, gasoline and nitroglycerin.

Upper right corner: Finishing his master’s degree, Lonnie G. Johnson joined the Air Force and was assigned to the Strategic Air Command, where he helped develop the stealth bomber program. His other assignments included working as a systems engineer for the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Cassini mission to Saturn. Johnson also created the Super Soaker squirt gun, which became one of the most popular toys in the world.

Lower left corner: Author of more than 30 books, economist, social theorist and political philosopher Dr. Thomas Sowell served on the faculties of several universities, including Cornell and the University of California, Los Angeles. Also, he worked for think tanks such as the Urban Institute. Since 1980 he has worked at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Lower right corner: Zora Neale Hurston was a novelist, playwright, folklorist and anthropologist. She was born in 1891 in the tiny town of Notasulga, Alabama and raised in Eatonville, Florida. While earning her bachelor’s degree at Barnard College in New York, she studied under pioneering anthropologist Franz Boaz, whose work inspired her to collect the African-American folklore that would inform her most famous literary works, such as Their Eyes Were Watching God, Mules and Men, Jonah’s Gourd Vine and Tell My Horse.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Some claim that Trinitarian theology teaches universalism, the belief that everyone will be saved, regardless of whether they are good or bad, repentant or unrepentant, accepting or rejecting of Jesus, and that, consequently, there is no such thing as hell. I have two problems with this claim, which is a “straw man” argument (a logical fallacy). First, accepting Trinitarian theology does not necessitate belief in universalism. Noted Swiss theologian Karl Barth did not teach universalism. Neither did theologians Thomas F. Torrance and James B. Torrance. In GCI, we teach Trinitarian theology, but not universalism. Our website clearly states our position:

Universalism is a biblically unsound doctrine, which says that in the end all souls, whether human, angelic or demonic, will be saved by God’s grace. Some Universalists argue that repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ are irrelevant. Universalists typically deny the doctrine of the Trinity, and many Universalists are Unitarians. Contrary to universalism, the Bible teaches that there is salvation only in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). In Jesus Christ, who is God’s elect for our sakes, all humanity is elect, but that does not necessarily mean that all humans will ultimately accept God’s free gift. God desires that all come to repentance, and he has created and redeemed humanity for true fellowship with him, but true fellowship can never constitute a forced relationship. We believe that in Christ, God makes gracious and just provision for all, even for those who at death appear not to have yet believed the gospel, but all who remain hostile to God remain unsaved by their own choice.

Careful students of the Bible recognize that though we need not rule out the possibility that everyone will in the end repent and receive God’s gift of salvation, the scriptures are not conclusive. Therefore we are not dogmatic about this issue.

My second problem is this: Why should the possibility that all would be saved arouse hostility and accusations of “heresy”?

The creeds of the early church were not dogmatic on the nature of hell. The biblical metaphors are of flames, outer darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth. They are meant to convey what it is like for a person to be lost forever in a self-enclosed “world,” with their own selfish heart and desires, adamantly rejecting the source of all love, goodness and truth. If taken literally, these metaphors are conflicting. But metaphors are not intended to be taken literally—they illustrate various aspects of the topic. What we gain from them is that hell, whatever it is, is not where we want to be. To have an ardent desire that all humanity be saved and that no one suffer in hell, does not necessarily make a person a heretic. What Christian would not want every person who ever lived to repent, receive forgiveness and experience reconciliation with God?

The idea of all humanity, transformed by the Spirit of Christ and in heaven together, surely is to be desired. That is, in fact, exactly what God desires. He wants all people to come to repentance and not suffer the consequences of rejecting his gracious provision for them. God wants this because he loves the world (cosmos), just as we read in John 3:16. God tells us to love our enemies, just as Jesus loved and served even his betrayer Judas Iscariot at the Last Supper (John 13:1, 26) and on the Cross (Luke 23:34).

However, the Bible does not guarantee that all will necessarily accept God’s love—it warns that there very well may be people who will refuse God’s forgiveness, rejecting the redemption and the adoption he has for them. Still, it is difficult to believe that anyone would make such a choice. And it is even more difficult to imagine that any would persist in rebellion against having a loving relationship with God. As C.S. Lewis described in The Great Divorce, “I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside.”

Universalism should not be confused with the universal or cosmic scope of the effectiveness of Christ’s saving work. In Jesus Christ, who is God’s elect for our sakes, all humanity is elect.

That does not mean we can say for certain that all humans will ultimately accept God’s gift. But surely we can hope that they do. According to the apostle Peter, God does not want “anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Furthermore, God has done everything possible to save us from the terrible and horrific situation that is hell.

Yet, in the end, God will not violate the deliberate and persistent choice of those who willfully and deliberately reject his love and turn away from him. In fact, for God to absolutely override their minds, wills and hearts he would have to undo their humanity—he would have to uncreate them. Of course, were he to do that, there would be no human being there to freely receive God’s costly gift of grace, which is life in Jesus Christ. God has created and redeemed humanity for true fellowship—a relationship with him that cannot be forced.

The Bible does not blur the difference between believer and unbeliever, and neither should we. When we say that all people are forgiven, saved and reconciled in Christ, we mean that while we all belong to Christ, not all are in communion with him. While God has reconciled all to himself, not all are yet trusting and living in that reconciliation. Therefore the apostle Paul says, “that God was in Christ, reconciling the world (cosmos) to himself…” So, “be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:19, 20, NASB). And that is why ours is a ministry, not of condemnation, but of the announcement of Christ’s finished work of reconciliation.

Our focus is to bear witness to the biblical revelation and orthodox teaching concerning God’s own character, mind, heart, purpose and attitude towards all people, manifested in Jesus Christ. We preach the universal or cosmic Lordship of Jesus Christ and so hope in the cosmic reconciliation of all those created according to his image. Since the Bible tells us that it is God’s desire for all to come to him in repentance to receive his gracious and costly forgiveness, that is our desire as well.

With love, in Christ’s service,

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

When she was younger, my daughter Stephanie would ask me to tell her a story. Now she is a young adult, but we still enjoy sharing stories. Sometimes one of us will ask a question or make a comment and the other will reply with a quote from a famous movie. I’ll caution, “Don’t take that route because it’s a dangerous area,” and she will reply, “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” recalling the line from The Wizard of Oz. Or, it may be a quote from A Few Good Men. She will say, “I want the truth” and I will reply, “You cannot handle the truth.” Or, at an appropriate moment, she will toss out a quote from The Princess Bride like, “I do not think that word means what you think it means.” And I’ll have to think again about the meaning of a word I just used.

These exchanges are entertaining and sometimes hilarious. Though they may seem trivial, they enhance our father-daughter bond.

It is the same when I am with friends. We swap stories. Sometimes it’s the same stories, over and over again. We never tire of them because they are a part of our shared experience and the cement that binds us together.

It has made me realize that our lives are remembered more as dramatic scenes than carefully planned sequences of events. In The Sacred Romance, Brent Curtis and John Eldredge put it this way:

The deepest convictions of our heart are formed by stories and reside there in the images and emotions of [a] story…. Life is not a list of propositions, it is a series of dramatic scenes. As Eugene Peterson said, ‘We live in a narrative, we live in a story. We have a beginning and an end, we have a plot, we have character.’ Story is the language of the heart. Our souls speak not in the naked facts of mathematics or the abstract propositions of systematic theology; they speak the images and emotions of story (p. 39).

How true—and that is why the gospel itself is presented not as an index of theological propositions, but as an interpreted story. The same story, told and explained from four different points of view, brings together the plot of every human being’s life story. And don’t be surprised by this—it is a love story. It is the story of God’s love for us, individually and collectively.

God is seeking us—he has and is sharing his love with us. When we read in John 3:16 that, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” we see that the gospel is not just about Jesus. It is about you and me and every human being who has ever lived. His story weaves all our stories together. Only by listening to God’s story can we make sense of our lives.

While Jesus engaged in direct teaching, sometimes even explaining himself to his disciples, he understood the value of a good story as a teaching tool. Some of his most important lessons were taught through his parables. These parables are nearly always about something that happened to somebody. Who Jesus is and what he wants us to understand is about life—life lived out through a history of relationships between God and his people and among his people.

Stories that convey life lived out in relationships are what attract our attention. Journalists call this “human interest.” That is why they will so often report the news from the point of view of someone who is directly affected by a situation or interaction with others.

Have you noticed how, in his State of the Union address, the US President has real, live people present and tells their story amid the routine facts and figures? A recent article on public speaking made a point that would benefit us all in giving sermons: a well-told story inserted in your speech “gives you permission to talk for another 10 minutes.”

This is why, for the last couple of years I have seen the value of telling stories about our church fellowship collected from around the world. I have noticed how much our members love to hear about each other. I could pass on this news by relaying statistics from reports that come across my desk, which are needed for planning purposes. But what you and I find most inspiring and memorable are the stories of what is happening to people and what is being done by people.

I want to continue sharing such stories, and I am asking for your help. I tend to receive more stories from our International areas than I do from the US. I realize that some of our overseas areas lend themselves to colorful incidents in exotic places. Perhaps you feel that nothing exciting happens in your more “ordinary” location. Don’t you believe it! Don’t assume no one is interested in what is happening in your neck of the woods. Remember—your congregation is ministering with Jesus 24/7. That means there are many things happening—some inspiring and exciting, perhaps some that seem “ordinary.” But if you find them interesting, there is a good chance that the rest of us will too.

So, pastors and ministry leaders, I am asking you to send me some of your stories (with pictures, please!). And let me say, once again, thanks for all you do as you co-minister with Jesus!

Your brother in Christ’s service,

Joseph Tkach

P.S. You may email articles and pictures for use in GCI Weekly Update to Ted.Johnston@gci.org.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

For most of us, there is nothing more intimidating than a chalkboard covered with math equations. But what looks to most of us like an unfathomable jumble of signs and symbols can be to a mathematician a thing of great beauty. For those who understand, a well-crafted equation has the elegance and symmetry of a classic poem or a great work of music.

Numbers can indeed be fascinating. Let me show you what I mean by looking at the one mathematical symbol that we probably all recognize—the Greek letter ∏. We learned in elementary school to call this symbol Pi.

Pi is used to represent the relationship between the circumference and diameter of a circle. It’s the answer to the question: What is the size/ratio of the circumference of a circle to the length of its diameter? Pi is an irrational number, which means that it cannot be expressed exactly as a simple fraction. In fact, it can’t be expressed exactly at all—it is what is known as a non-repeating decimal.

For centuries, mathematicians have tried to calculate a more precise value of Pi. Here it is to 100 decimal places: 3.1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510 5820974944 5923078164 0628620899 8628034825 3421170679. Though mathematicians have calculated Pi to 10 trillion places, they have found no discernible, repeating patterns. Because of this anomaly, contained in Pi are all of the number series sequences found in all of life. In Pi you will find your telephone number, your social security number, your birth-date, your marriage date and the date of your death and more! However, this anomaly does not make Pi unusable—expressing it as the imprecise fraction 22/7 is still good enough for most practical purposes.

Even if the field of higher mathematics is alien territory for most of us, I think we can see why those who have studied it find a beauty, and even spiritual inspiration there. Astronomer Johannes Kepler said, “Geometry is one and eternal shining in the mind of God. That share in it accorded to men is one of the reasons that man is the image of God.” Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz said, “The pleasure we obtain from music comes from counting, but counting unconsciously. Music is nothing but unconscious arithmetic.”

Sir Isaac Newton said, “God created everything by number, weight and measure.” Euclid observed how, “the laws of nature are but the mathematical thoughts of God.” Galileo Galilei noted that, “mathematics is the alphabet with which God has written the universe.” And Einstein said, “God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically.” Like particle physicists working on the cutting edges of discovery, mathematicians are finding it necessary to express their conclusions in language sounding more metaphysical than strictly scientific. The distinguished mathematician Paul Albert Gordan (1837–1912) anticipated this when he wrote, “This [axiomatic math] is no longer mathematics, it is theology.”

Of course, God is the greatest mathematician. He can count the birds that fall from the sky, the number of hairs on our heads and even remember the number of tears we have shed. Paul reminds us how we can understand something about God from looking at his creation. And of course, the best look that we have at what God is like is in the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus came to be one of us and revealed the Father and the Holy Spirit. From this, the church formulated the doctrine of God’s Trinitarian nature. Understanding God as a Trinity does not exhaustively explain everything, but it does encapsulate essentially what we need to know and possibly can know. You could say that the doctrine of the Trinity “explains” God like 22/7 expresses Pi as a fraction. We can’t get to the last decimal of Pi and we can’t explain everything about the truth, reality and being of God. But knowing God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit is complete and accurate enough to allow us to grasp the true nature of God in our everyday lives and to join in a full relationship with him. A real relationship with God, when lived through Jesus Christ, does not require, first, a comprehensive understanding. Our understanding follows our being in a reconciled relationship to God through Jesus Christ—who does have a comprehensive understanding of God and shares with us all of what we can fathom.

It would be foolish and arrogant for mere mortals to claim we can ever thoroughly explain everything there is to know about God. He is so much greater than we are, having thoughts that are not our thoughts and ways that are so much higher than ours (see Isaiah 55:8). His unreserved compassion, endless mercy and unconditional love make no sense to our human ways of reasoning. As Paul wrote in his epistle to the Romans, “Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It’s way over our heads. We’ll never figure it out” (Romans 11:33, The Message).

Moses summed it up well in Deuteronomy 29:29: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” Because of Jesus, we know so much more than ancient Israel could have known. But let’s always remember that in our understanding we still “see through a glass darkly,” even while we are in fact enjoying a real and right relationship with God through Christ and by the Spirit.

One day, it will all become clear. Until then, I find it fascinating to look over the shoulders of mathematicians and scientists as they probe ever deeper into the mysteries of the cosmos—especially those who have the humility at the end of the day to say, “How great thou art.”

With love in Christ’s service,

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Author and evangelist Ravi Zacharias tells of being a graduate student when a new edition of Encyclopædia Britannica was released. It was a massive work that had taken 14 years to produce and he remembers being fascinated by the statistics: 200 advisors, 300 editors, 4,000 contributors, over 100,000 entries, 34 million dollars and 43 million words. In the last pages of that work, one of the editors had the audacity to conclude: “Herein contains the entirety of human knowledge.”

It didn’t, of course. It has been estimated that human knowledge doubles at least every five years. So in the 14 years it took to produce the encyclopedia, knowledge would have doubled and redoubled itself several times. So where is the “entirety of human knowledge” contained—Google perhaps? No, even with its amazing knowledge-mining capacity, Google can’t keep up.

The Bible makes no such boast, though it says this about God: “Great is our Lord…his understanding has no limit” (Psalm 147:5).

The Bible contains many stories of people, who in encountering God discovered the depth of their lack of knowledge and understanding. For example, when Jacob dreamed of meeting God at the top of a great ladder, his first words upon waking were: “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it” (Genesis 28:16).

Then there was Sarah’s maidservant Hagar who having fled Sarah’s abuse was amazed when God spoke to her, telling her to return home. Genesis 16:13 gives her reaction: “She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the one who sees me.’”

We used to say, “the camera doesn’t lie”—but that was before Photoshop. And we used to say, “seeing is believing”—but that was before sophisticated scientific instruments revealed a world beyond the limits of our human senses. No matter how far we probe into the atom or out to the edge of the universe, there is always more. As a result, much of what we now understand to be the nature of physical reality seems so unreal. Therefore, it is pompous to boast that anything we produce contains the entirety of human knowledge. And it is even more ridiculous to claim that we fully understand God, particularly if our knowledge leads in the direction of atheism.

The Christian faith acknowledges and even takes joy in deep mysteries beyond our powers of comprehension. Jesus tells us that “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son…” (Matthew 11:27a). But mystery does not rule out a true knowing of God—an apprehension, if not a comprehension, of who God is. Jesus goes on to say why: “…and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (verse 27b).

The fact that human beings cannot know God on their own power does not mean that God cannot make himself known to his human creatures. The early church had a saying: “Only God knows God, only God reveals God.” The transcendent God of the universe has done just that, personally revealing himself in his incarnate Son. The witness of the Christian church is not that we have found God, but that God has revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ.

Karl Barth once wrote: “In our hands even terms suggested to us by Holy Scripture will prove to be incapable of grasping what they are supposed to grasp.” However, as Cyril of Alexandria once said, “when things concerning God are expressed in language used of men, we ought not to think of anything base, but to remember that the wealth of divine Glory is being mirrored in the poverty of human expression.” So we must remember that even the words of the Bible, borrowed from human understanding and experience, refer beyond themselves to divine realities that far exceed the words themselves and the creaturely realities they come from.

Holy Scripture preserves for us a record of God’s acts of revelation, beginning with the prophets of ancient Israel and culminating with the apostles whom Jesus appointed. Those narratives and teachings introduce us to a God who makes known God’s invisible presence, even if now we “see through a glass darkly,” as the apostle Paul described it.

Such revelation does not tell us all that can be known about everything, but it is always profound in what it does proclaim. It is only because of the working of the Holy Spirit in and through Holy Scripture that we are put in actual contact with the living God and can hear this God speak again to our spirits. So, although the Holy Spirit does not speak directly of himself, he nevertheless goes where God wills, to surprise, to comfort and to reveal. Whether in Jacob’s dream or Hagar’s distress, God makes himself known and gathers people who respond to his outgoing love. God told Jeremiah, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3).

As we mature spiritually, we realize that there is much we do not know. While this makes us want to know more, we also realize that it is a relief to accept that there is much that we do not and cannot know. Our lack of knowledge and understanding keeps us looking to the One who knows it all, who wills to be known and has made himself known in Jesus Christ.

In this coming year, there will be many unknowns. The world economy will continue to cough and sputter along. Wars and rumors of wars remain a fact of 21st-century life. There will be catastrophes and technological advancements. Scientists will make discoveries, some of which will overturn previous understanding.

I pray that Grace Communion International will grow ever more sensitive to God’s leading in our lives. I pray that we respond as he shows us how he wants us to co-minister with Jesus in new and exciting ways that will shine light into the darkness as signs of the promise that God will make all things new.

With love in Christ’s service,

Joseph Tkach