Reasonable vs Unreasonable Doubt

I've been plagued a lot throughout my pre-Christian and Christian life by doubts about the Bible. I don't know how many who read this will have had the same experience, but if it counts for anything, I've been there, and I still travel through doubting castle from time to time. It can happen at any time: while you're at work, while reading the Bible, or more commonly while talking to lost friends. What do we do when the doubts hit? Are we in sin for that nagging thought in the back of our minds that we could be wrong? I'll  let you answer that yourself, but for now let me just share what helps me categorize the doubts themselves so that I can address them accordingly.

There are unreasonable and reasonable doubts. It is my belief that no one can come across the Bible, read through it, learn a bit about its history and assembly, then have a reasonable doubt about its authenticity. No one can come across problem passages within, and after researching it, have a reasonable doubt about its truth. Can there be unreasonable doubts that arise? Yes, of course. Maybe an analogy would help to clarify the two. Say that there was a murder and the accused is on trial. It is  reasonable to doubt that the defendant is guilty of a murder if there is no fingerprint evidence on the weapon. It is unreasonable to doubt that the defendant is guilty when there is fingerprint evidence, but the defendant says, "Someone made me hold the gun and pulled my finger on the trigger." Now, is that unreasonable explanation from the defendant at all possible? Yes! But is it reasonable? No, not really at all.

If we categorize our doubts about the Bible the same way, we can better address their nature and then battle them accordingly. Does it appear reasonable? Investigate it a little bit and you'll see how the truth prevails. Does it appear unreasonable? Why are you thinking about it at all? Once examined, I think you will find that any doubt, whether reasonable or unreasonable, will never be confirmed after some research of the Bible. Additionally, any time a Christian leaves the narrow and bright path to travel down these dark ones, they inevitably end up returning to Christ. Why is that? Nothing else can satisfy a believer's heart but truth.

“Lord, to whom else shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life." - John 6:68

Sleeping Advice from George Muller

"I want to encourage all believers to get into the habit of rising early to meet with God. How much time should be allowed for rest? No rule of universal application can be given because all persons do not require the same amount of sleep. Also the same persons, at different times, according to the strength or weakness of their body, may require more or less. Most doctors agree that healthy men do not require more than between six or seven hours of sleep, and females need no more than seven or eight hours.

Children of God should be careful not to allow themselves too little sleep since few men can do with less than six hours of sleep and still be well in body and mind. As a young man, before I went to the university, I went to bed regularly at ten and rose at four, studied hard, and was in good health. Since I have allowed myself only about seven hours, I have been much better in body and in nerves than when I spent eight or eight and a half hours in bed.

Someone may ask, "But why should I rise early?" To remain too long in bed is a waste of time. Wasting time is unbecoming a saint who is bought by the precious blood of Jesus. His time and all he has is to be used for the Lord. If we sleep more than is necessary for the refreshment of the body, it is wasting the time the Lord has entrusted us to be used for His glory, for our own benefit, and for the benefit of the saints and unbelievers around us.

Just as too much food injures the body, the same is true regarding sleep. Medical persons would readily agree that lying longer in bed than is necessary to strengthen the body actually weakens it.

It also injures the soul. Lying too long in bed not merely keeps us from giving the most precious part of the day to prayer and meditation, but this sloth leads also to many other evils. Anyone who spends one, two, or three hours in prayer and meditation before breakfast will soon discover the beneficial effect early rising has on the outward and inward man.

It may be said, "But how shall I set about rising early?" My advice is: Do not delay. Begin tomorrow. But do not depend on your own strength. You may have begun to rise early in the past but have given it up. If you depend on your own strength in this matter, it will come to nothing. In every good work, we must depend on the Lord. If anyone rises so that he may give the time which he takes from sleep to prayer and meditation, let him be sure that Satan will try to put obstacles in the way.

Trust in the Lord for help. You will honor Him if you expect help from Him in this matter. Pray for help, expect help, and you will have it. In addition to this, go to bed early. If you stay up late, you cannot rise early. Let no pressure of engagements keep you from going habitually early to bed. If you fail in this, you neither can nor should get up early because your body requires rest.

Rise at once when you are awake. Remain not a minute longer in bed or else you are likely to fall asleep again. Do not be discouraged by feeling drowsy and tired from rising early. This will soon wear off. After a few days you will feel stronger and fresher than when you used to lie an hour or two longer than you needed. Always allow yourself the same hours for sleep. Make no change except on account of sickness."

Poetry is About Poems

Poetry is not about poetry--it is about poems. The joy is searching for the ones that strike us deep and not pretending to like everything we read. We are free to like good poems only!


"...The devil claimed man by bargain as this:
For an apple he said, man was bought and sold;
God answered and said the bargain was his:
'With mine to be thine how durst thou be so bold?
Man mine, sin thine; wherefore thou art now told
Thou bought naught; then take naught; thy bargain is done;
Wherefore God and man shall be set at one.'
Now blessed be he,
For we that are bound, lo, now are made free..."


 -Anonymous (Middle English Carol) From "A Sacrifice of Praise"



Why do I love this verse? The use of "bargain" as it displays man's lack of power in the transaction. Man has entered into a spiritual battle which he sees very little of and this poem is a glimpse into the battle (in this case a bargain). The phrase "man mine, sin thine" is an excellent contrast between our God and the slanderer. A contrast which has been brought about by the blood of Jesus. It is by the blood that we can say we are God's and have been divorced from sin and the law (Romans 8:2).  I love how the Devil's bold claim is overturned by God's bold love for mankind.

This is my exhortation to get out there and find some poetry that speaks to your soul. Happy reading.

The Bible's First Promise

January 1

The Bible's First Promise

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head” — Gen 3:15 ESV

This is the first promise to fallen man. It contains the whole gospel and the essence of the covenant of grace. It has been in great measure fulfilled. The seed of the woman, even our Lord Jesus, was bruised in His heel, and a terrible bruising it was. How terrible will be the final bruising of the serpent’s head! This was virtually done when Jesus took away sin, vanquished death, and broke the power of Satan; but it awaits a still fuller accomplishment at our Lord’s second advent and in the Day of Judgment. To us the promise stands as a prophecy that we shall be afflicted by the powers of evil in our lower nature, and thus bruised in our heel; but we shall triumph in Christ, who sets His foot on the old serpent’s head. Throughout this year we may have to learn the first part of this promise by experience, through the temptations of the devil and the unkindness of the ungodly, who are his seed. They may so bruise us that we may limp with our sore heel; but let us grasp the second part of the text, and we shall not be dismayed. By faith let us rejoice that we shall still reign in Christ Jesus, the woman’s seed.

- Charles Spurgeon (Faith's Checkbook)

A Taste of Newton

Right now I'm getting back into the Letters of John Newton... and boy it's been good. Here's a letter that Newton wrote to William Wilberforce's wife.

"My dear Madam - I did not hear of your late illness till I was informed you were much better. I praise the Lord for your recovery, and hope you will have reason to praise him for all his chastisements, for surely they are sent in love, for the sake of the supports with which they are accompanied, and the fruits which (by his blessing) they produce; they deserve a place in the list of our own peculiar and covenant mercies. Of Mr. Thornton's recovery I had the pleasure to be informed by himself. May the Lord long preserve him and you for many years, for the comfort of your friends and the glory of His name. Your letter was truly welcome. All yours are so, and therefore I do not choose to remain longer in your debt than I can avoid, that I may have hope of hearing from you again. I observe your experience is a mixture of joy and complaint, and thus is must be till the Lord shall be pleased to put an end to our conflict with indwelling sin. Both are right. We have reason to mourn that there is such an opposition within us to all that is good; and we have reason to rejoice, for Jesus is all-sufficient, and we are complete in him. We cannot but mourn to find that our passage lies through fire and water; we ought to rejoice that this difficult way will lead us to a wealthy place, where joy will be unspeakable, glorious and endless. We may well mourn that our love to the Lord is so faint and wavering; but oh! what a cause of joy to know that his love to us is infinite and unchangeable. Our attainment in sanctification is weak and our progress slow; but our justification is perfect, and our hope sure. May we so look to the bright side of our case as not to be cast down and discouraged, and may we maintain such a sense of the dark side as may keep us from being exalted above measure. You say you are not as you once were. It is generally true that the time of espousals, the beginning of our profession, is attended with sensible sweetnesses and liveliness when we are led into a different dispensation. The young believer is like a tree in blossom. But I have a good hope that you seem to have lost in point of sensible affections you have proportionally gained in knowledge, judgment, and an establishment in the faith. You see more of your own heart than you did or could in those early days; and you have a clearer view of the wisdom, glory, and faithfulness of God, as manifested in the person of Christ. Tough the blossoms have gone off the fruit is found, and, I trust, ripening for glory. The Lord deals with us as children. Children, when they are young, have many changes and trials, and calls you to live more directly upon his power and promises in the face of all discouragements, to hope even against hope, and at times seems to deprive us of every subsidiary support, that we may lean only and entirely upon our beloved."

Hope this was helpful :)

Being Barnabas

Joseph was an early church brother who had such a reputation for being encouraging that the apostles took to calling him by the name Barnabas (Acts 4:36). I think every Christian wants to be an encouraging brother or sister (a Barnabas). We may have heard it time and time again described as being arrows pointing to Christ. I think this is a right and good desire rooted in benefits we have derived from a Christian family member or friend. A person who had an impact on our lives for God's glory. Here is how the apostle Paul worded his own desire in this area:

"I long to see you that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine" Romans 1:11 

However, in my own life I have found myself seeking to be known as an encouraging brother rather than focusing on the act of encouraging itself. Seeking the name "Barnabas" rather than the building up of the Church. Here are some signs you might have fallen into this same way of thinking.

• When you sin around people you are more disturbed with the feeling that you may have just been exposed as one who still struggles with sin rather than the sin itself. You may have been feeling pretty good about yourself thinking, "I am probably one of  the more encouraging people in this person's life" and now you are ashamed at the thought of going down in the rankings. Which brings me to the next sign.  
• You have some kind of ranking system or framework which you are constantly trying to fit yourself and others into. You make imaginary gains and losses on this chart (which exists in no one's mind but your own) and you take your eyes off of Christ as the goal. 1 Philippians 3: 13-14
• You are not being yourself. It is not wrong to have role models, but it can be wrong to compare yourself to them and try to mimic their personality and gifting. God has given His people a variety of gifts and yours may not be the same as your role model's. As such you may frustrate and confuse yourself trying to be someone you are not.1 Corinthians 12.

Let me reiterate that there is no sin in trying to be encouraging, but we (especially I) can fall into sin in seeking the title and office of "encourager". When we exhibit behaviors and attitudes like those above which is not an exhaustive list, the effects are twofold:

1. We will not be living up to out true potential to encourage others.

2. We will not be encouraged in the fullest way possible.

I worded those two results very carefully. Notice that we will still encourage Christians around us as we try and point them to spiritual realities and truths from God's word. We may also glean from these realities as we seek to share them with others. However, we can be missing out on the abundance of encouragement to be had in Christ because we insist on claiming some of the reward as our own. This can be in the form of coveting the thought of being called "encouraging" or that sinful pat on the back when we share a thought from the Word that blesses someone.

How then do we act? 

If our goal is to encourage the brethren we must realize that the best way to do this is by giving them the clearest and most unobstructed view of their beloved Savior, Jesus Christ. They are His sheep and when they hear His lovely voice, they are most blessed. Sometimes the most flashy arrow does more harm than good as it attracts more attention to itself than the object to which it points. The simple arrow points where all of the focus should be and delights in offering no distraction. The road signs we the need most long road trips are the clearest and simplest kind and we will probably never remember them. But they got us right where we wanted to be.

In order to have this effect we must be convinced in our own minds that Christ is the source for full encouragement in our own Christian walk. We must have a sense that being thought of as "encouraging"will never satisfy our souls like Christ can. We cannot build our houses with compliments on how encouraging we are. Compliment are nice and they let us know that we are on the right track, but by their very nature they have no substance in which to trust . The substance and shelter are Christ Himself. The house built upon our own merits and successes will always come crashing down on us when the floods come. My house has been swept away time and time again. So I sit in the rubble and thank God that by pointing people to Christ I am pointing them to a King's palace that is established and rooted firmly in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! And considering my house was just destroyed... I think I will join them on their way.

How a "lunch lady" taught Spurgeon

It doesn't get more 9 to 5 than being a school cook. And yet Mary Kings had a lasting effect on the spiritual life of Charles Spurgeon.

"The Prince of Preachers never forgot King and the formative role she'd played in his life. "A cook taught me theology!" he would often say. In fact, upon learning of her financial straits years later, the world-renowned pastor sent regular checks to support her from a distance.

After Spurgeon himself died in 1892, a professor in Belfast who'd known him wrote to The Christian World: '[Charles told me] it was 'Cook' who had taught him his theology. I hope I am not violating his confidence in mentioning this fact...'"

Here is the whole article from The Gospel Coalition