Agreeing #1
My hope is that this blog is more than a reflection of my thoughts, which in light of the supposed 80,000 new blogs created each day hopefully seperates me from the ontourage of people who think that they are worth being heard. In some ways I do want to be heard, but my hope is that my heart, along with those whose hearts are also shared, is a reflection of what God desperately wants to say to us. After saying that, I recognize my own need to be careful in my selections. At any rate, I wanted to post some thoughts that have impacted and expressed my own heart.
On morality and "elements of truth in other religions":
"But (Jonathan) Edwards did raise the question, When can the breadth of the benevolent effects of self-love be broad enough, so that it can be called true virtue? In 1755, 17 years after he preached the sermon on 1 Corinthians 13, Edwards gave an extremely radical answer. He said, Only when it embraces the good of the whole universe of being. Or more simply, Only when it embraces God. For until then, self-love embraces "an infinitely small part of the existence" because it does not embrace God.
If there could be a cause [like self-love] determining a person to benevolence towards the whole world of mankind, or even all created sensible natures throughout the universe, exclusive of the union of heart to general existence and love to God--not derived from that temper of mind which disposes to a supreme regard to him, nor subordinate to such divine love--it cannot be of the nature of true viture.
...What Ewdwards aims to do is show that God is central and indispensible in the definition of true virtue--to keep God at the center of all moral considerations, to stem the secularizing forces of ethical thinking in his day. Edwards could not conceive of calling any act truly virtuous that did not have in it a supreme regard to God. This is why Edwards seems to me so utterly relevant to our day, and why he is a model of God-centered thinking."
-John Piper in Future Grace, pages 389-90
The reason why I have been compelled to post this is because of my whole-hearted agreement with Piper (and Edwards) that in today's spill canvas of ethics we as followers of Christ must in all things, especially moral considerations, include and embrace God. The religion that says, "We are just like Christians. We believe in loving our neighbors as ourselves" has no "element of truth" for us to consider. God must be the center of all motivation, and therefore, in theory and practice, no faith except Christianity can claim any truth in regards to virtue.
So why was this so important to share? My hope is that it spurs you on to firmly grasp the truth God has only shared in His Word as it has me. What a wonderful gift.
In full agreement,
Lane
In Christ,
Jake (Comment this)