How Willingly Do People Go to Hell? :: Desiring God Christian Resource Library

I remember a while back listening to a Tim Keller sermon on hell. In the sermon series that he was in, each week he tackled a typical "problem" that New Yorkers (where his church is) have with Christianity. The sermons are excellent, and I would eagerly recommend them. However, I felt uneasy about the sermon on hell. Keller takes C.S. Lewis' stance, that no one is 'sent' to hell, but that they go there willingly. In this article, John Piper argues against Lewis' stance.

How Willingly Do People Go to Hell? :: Desiring God Christian Resource Library

Pictures of the past 2 weeks

Life officially feels different. And what a blessing! Things are generally going well. Life is all about expectations, and we're constantly reminding ourselves, "This is normal, we knew it would be like this!" whenever we're tempted to feel worried or discouraged. Cohen's gaining wait, sleeping reasonably well, and eating plenty. It's going to be ridiculous how many pictures we'll have of this guy by his 18th birthday!

This is right after his bath, on his birthday. The gold heart is monitoring his heart rate.

Passed out on the futon

He's got a pretty good things going on here with the carseat.

Relaxing on his favorite pillow

Cohen's first family picture!

Aunt and Grandma

Proud Grandpa

This one's a little blurry, but it's my favorite picture so far.

Welcome, Cohen

All throughout the Bible it is made abundantly clear that God is the giver of life, and the one who brings conception. God blessed Eve with a third Child, Seth, after the death of Abel, would continue the line of the promise. God granted Sarah and Abraham a child through the promise that he made to them. Samson birth was appointed by God, that he would complete the tasks that the Lord had assigned. Hannah bore Samuel after pleading with the Lord for a son. David was formed in the womb by the Lord. John the Baptist was blessed with the Spirit before he was born. Jesus' birth was foretold to Mary and to Joseph, and appointed before the dawn of time.


We praise God for his mercy on us in granting us a son. We have done nothing to deserve the Lord's kindness, and we dare not take it for granted. In his grace and mercy, God grants that thousands of children would be born daily to parents who do not acknowledge his rule and his grace. Thank you, Father, for this gift! Thank you for putting it in our hearts to love you and to serve you. May you be honored in the life of our son, Cohen Samuel Lawrence. May Jesus Christ be glorified in this home.

The Lord is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

The Lord is good to all,

and his mercy is over all that he has made.

Ps. 145:8-9

More posts coming...

I apologize for the complete lack of updates. We haven't given up on the blog. In the past several weeks we've been preparing to move, I've been applying for a job (which had a rather long interview process), and trying to keep my head above water in my classes. We have some good photos to post and we'll have some more soon. Check back!

PS. Check out the "Better Bibles Blog" link that I added to the sidebar. These guys are all involved in Bible translation in one way or another, and the blog deals with interesting and difficult translation issues. Very interesting.

Have you 'mastered' salvation by grace?

I've been recently lamenting the fact that I so struggle with legalism - that I struggle to really get the gospel of grace. Martin Luther is one of the most helpful theologians for this type of feeling.

Martin Luther:

“Particularly when you hear hear an immature and unripe saint trumpet that he knows very well that we must be saved by the grace of God, without our own works, and then pretend that this is a snap for him, well, then have no doubt that he has no idea of what he is talking about and probably will never find out. For this is not an art that can be completely learned or of which anyone could boast that he is a master. It is an art that will always have us as pupils while it remains the master. And all those who do understand and practice it do not boast that they can do everything. On the contrary, they sense it like a wonderful taste or odor that they greatly desire and pursue; and they are amazed that they cannot grasp it or comprehend it as they would like. They hunger, thirst, and yearn for it more and more; and they never tire of hearing about or dealing with it, just as St. Paul himself confessed that he has not yet obtained it (Phil. 3:12). And in Matt. 5:6 Christ calls those blessed who hunger and thirst after righteousness.”

What's the difference between God's people in OT and NT?

How are God's people delineated in the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant?
How about under the New Covenant?
Are there any important parallels or distinctions to be drawn between the two?
Do these parallels or distinctions play out in any important ways practically or theologically?

I've been reading through Ezekiel for a little while now. It's one of the most difficult books in the Old Testament for me. There are some really mysterious scenes and some unique language. Plus, there are few (if any?) direct references to Ezekiel in the New Testament that shed any light on the book. However, there are a few sections in the book that are absolutely amazing - some of my favorite passages in the Old Testament. One is chapter 16, which is terrible and beautiful at the same time. Another amazing chapter is 34, where God says that he will send his servant to be the shepherd of his sheep.

God condemns the "shepherds of Israel" in verses 1-10, bringing against them charges of neglecting to provide and protect. He goes on to say that He himself will shepherd his people. In God's description of his own shepherding, we get an important glimpse into the Old Covenant definition of the people of God. In verses 15 and 16, God says,

"I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fast and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them i justice."

First notice that God identifies all of the sheep of whom he is speaking as being His. The sheep belong to him. They are his people. In verse 31 he says again, "And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture." Then, notice that God declares that he will destroy some of his sheep! Verse 2o is even more explicit:

"Behold, I , I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep."

As the passage continues, it's important to notice different ways that God begins to refer to his sheep. In verses 17, 19, and 21, God distinguishes between the sheep he will destroy and the one's whom he will save. Then all of a sudden in verse 22, he refers to "my flock" as the one's whom he will most certainly save. These are the one's over whom he will appoint his servant David as their shepherd. This, of course, is Jesus.

The simply conclusion that can be drawn from this text is that under the Old Covenant, not all of God's people (sheep) were truly God's people (God's flock). How does this compare with the New Testament people of God?

In John 10, Jesus declares himself to be "the good shepherd", directly and purposefully pointing to himself as the fulfillment of Ezekiel 34:23. However, Jesus' description of his relationship with the sheep is different from God's relationship with the sheep in Ezekiel 34. Whereas God says that some of the sheep will be judged and others will be saved, Jesus says in John 10:27-28,

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand."

All of these sheep will be saved. In Ezekiel 34 there were 3 categories.

1. Sheep who will be saved (Jews and those self identified as part of the Jewish Community)
   
2. Sheep who will not be saved ((Jews and those self identified as part of the Jewish Community)
3. Non-sheep, who will not be saved (Gentiles)

In John 10 (and today) there are now only 2 categories of people:

1. Sheep (Jews and Gentiles)
   
2. Non-sheep (Jews and Gentiles)
   

Three brief points to be drawn from this comparison:

1. Since the beginning of time, no one has ever been saved by their nationality. No Jew was every saved for being a Jew. Jews (sheep) who loved God were saved, Jews who did not love God were not saved. The revolution which Jesus brought was not to change the mode of salvation from ethnicity to faith.
   
2. With regard to baptism - In the Old Testament, all of the sheep received the sign of the covenant, circumcision. However, under that covenant, though all were circumcised, some sheep were saved and some were not. Under the New Covenant, all of the sheep receive the sign as well. And as we have seen, all of the sheep are also saved. Only regenerate believers are sheep, and only regenerate believers are to receive the sign of the covenant. The "rule", to put it crudely, which transcends the Testaments/Covenants would be this: All of the sheep (God's people) are to receive the sign of the covenant.
   
3. With regard to the local church - in the Old Testament, Israel, the community of God's people was composed of both saved and unsaved people. Under the New Covenant, the community of God's people is composed only of saved individuals. So, where there certainly will be a mixture of save and unsaved on any sunday morning in a local church, there must also be some distinction made as to who are the community of believers and who are not. This distinction is accomplished with church membership and sustained with church discipline.
   

Vacation Pictures

Part 1: Keating-Milner wedding in Oklahoma City

What an awesome wedding weekend! We were so thrilled and honored to be a part of such a gospel-centered wedding. Seeing friends from China was really great also. We hadn't realized how much we miss seeing these people!

We had a rough start to our vacation - a canceled flight from Louisville to OKC. We ended up getting in to OKC only an hour behind schedule, but without our bag. So our pictures don't start until Saturday evening, which is when we got our bag, and our camera.

Megan and Kelcy - 29 weeks and 21 weeks (I think) respectively

DK and Megan

The China crew, plus a few spouses and girlfriends

Part 2: Virginia Beach

The majority of the week was spent hanging out with Ian's parents - swimming, eating, talking, a little shopping - which was really fun and relaxing. We didn't, however, take any pictures of us with them. These next pictures are with our friend Leslie and her and Kevin's new baby, Harper. She was born in April, but this is the first time we've met her.

Leslie and Harper

Megan, getting some practice

We intended to spend most of the day Friday with Ian's sister, Christina, and her family, but it wasn't meant to be. It started raining on Wednesday and pretty much didn't stop before we left. Friday afternoon plus Virginia Beach tourism equals traffic nightmare. What should have been a 1 hour drive took three hours. So our visit was cut a little short, but we had a really good time.

Tyler (5), in the middle-back, always like to do strange things with Megan's hair. In this picture she has curlers. Mary (9) on the right and Lucy (4) in the front.

Tyler, Tom, and Andy - the Rohrer men. Andy (2) is looking a lot more grown up than the last time we saw him!

Finally, here's the whole family. Plus two more yet to be picture - baby Lawrence (coming end of October) and baby Rohrer (coming mid December)!

We had such a great week, we're so thankful to Ian's parents for hosting us :) - it was hard to get on the plane yesterday morning and see our vacation coming to an end! Ian starts classes on Tuesday, and both of us will be back at work tomorrow morning. We praise God for already answering so many prayers about our life here in Louisville. He gives good and unique gifts in each season of life.