Ministries:
Adult | Teens | Children

Pastor's Pen's:
2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004
2003 | 2002 | 2001

Sermon Series:
Apostles Creed
Dealing with Feelings
Jonah
Get Real
Promised Land Living

Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Email:
Pastor Scott Carson
carson@gracechurchwi.org

Secretary Patti Hall
pattihall@gracechurchwi.org

PASTOR'S PENS 2007

Grace Church of Burlington January 7, 2007  “Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself, but because It contradicts them.”             If you want to know what someone’s view of abortion is; if you want to know where they stand on gay marriage, homosexuality, pre-marital sex, adultery, euthanasia; if you want to predict on which side someone will line up in the Culture War wracking America, virtually all you have to do is get an answer to this question: Does the person believe in the divinity and authority of the Word of God? When you know where someone lines up in their view of Scripture, you will also know where they line up on virtually every major social/moral issue.             Just name the issue: same-sex marriage; the morality of abortions; capital punishment for murder; the willingness to label certain actions, regimes, even people evil; skepticism regarding the United Nations and the World Court; radical feminism; strong support for Israel; or a willingness to criticize the moral state of Islamic societies. While there are exceptions – there are, for example, secular conservatives who share the Bible-believers' social views – belief in a God-based authority of the Bible is as close to a predictable dividing line as exists.             Frequently, the dividing line in America is portrayed as between those who believe in God and those who don't. But the vast majority of Americans believe in God and sadly, belief in God alone rarely affects people's values. Many liberals believe in God and so do many conservatives.             What really matters then is not whether people believe in God but what Text, if any, they believe to be divine. What’s their rule book? What’s their values source? Those who believe that God has spoken through a given text will generally think and behave differently from those who believe that no text is divine. Those who do not will sometimes get their values from other texts but usually they derive their values from their social circle, their own feelings or conscience.             That a belief or lack of belief in the divinity of a Book dating back over 2,500 years is at the center of the Culture War in America and between religious America and secular Europe is almost unbelievable. But it not only explains these divisions; it also explains the hatred that much of the Left has for Jewish, Protestant and even Catholic Bible-believers. They detest anyone who holds that the Bible is God’s Word and it’s teachings are our source of moral values. For the Left, such beliefs are irrational, absurd and immoral.          And that is exactly too how most conservatives regard most leftist beliefs, such as:  there is nothing inherently superior in a child being raised by a mother and father rather than by two fathers or two mothers; men and women are not basically different, but only socially influenced to be different; Marxism was scientific; that the Soviet Union was not an evil empire; morality is relative to the individual or society; there is no moral judgment to be made about a woman aborting a healthy human fetus solely because she doesn't want a baby at this time; material poverty, not moral poverty, causes violent crime; embryonic stem cell research should be funded by the government without question. This divide also explains why the wrath of the Left has fallen on those of us who lament the exclusion of the Bible at a ceremonial swearing-in of an American congressman. The Left wants to see that Book dethroned. In a nutshell that’s really what the present cultural war is really about.             At Grace Church we hold without apology that the Bible is our final authority for faith and practice. It is not only our source for moral values, we believe that It is the only road map to heaven. It’s also our source for a fulfilled or abundant life.             But it’s easier to talk the talk than it is to walk the walk. That’s why during 2007 we are focusing on Back to the Book. We want to encourage every person in the Grace Church family to spend time every day in God’s Word.    For the next four weeks I’ll be preaching on the authority of Scripture from Psalm 119. And if you have not yet signed one of the commitment slips saying that by God’s grace, you will be in your Bible every day – let me challenge you to do that today. The Bible must be our road map on how to live a life that is worthy of our Lord. And we must faithfully consult the “map” if we are going to walk in a way that pleases Him. Will you join us in committing to being in His Word every day?