UN LLAMADO A LA RACIONALIDAD

UN LLAMADO A LA RACIONALIDAD

La racionalidad puede ser definida como las conclusiones que pueden ser sostenidas por las evidencias. Muchos han tildado al Dios de la Biblia y el cristianismo como irracionales ya que según ellos no existe evidencia fuerte para concluir que un ser supremo exista y por otro lado vivir bajo el estándar del mismo. Si pudiéramos presentar la evidencia para ambos (esto es el cristianismo y la existencia de Dios) entonces la categoría de “irracionales” no estaría sobre nosotros sino sobre aquellos que se rehúsan a aceptar la evidencia.

rationalidad

UN LLAMADO A LA RACIONALIDAD

Recientemente me vi envuelto con una persona que afirmaba que las iglesias que no tengan apóstoles (modernos) no están siguiendo el plan de Dios al establecer 5 ministerios. Le mostré con calma el contexto en el que Ef.5 toma lugar y en adición a eso lo llevé para que observará los requisitos para el apostolado establecidos por Pedro en Hechos 1 en el momento de la elección del sucesor de Judas y como se vuelve imposible que un ser humano cumpla con estos requisitos hoy. Esta persona en  cuestión decidió abandonar la racionalidad y arremetió contra Pedro, aludiendo a que Pedro no era nadie para hablar y firmar una base ya que había negado al Señor. Yo estaba manejando y por poco salgo del camino al escuchar semejante desacierto en intento pobre de defensa contra la evidencia firme con la cual había colisionado de frente.

Ser racional tiene que ver con razonar correctamente. Es probable que en una gran mayoría las personas tengan pereza de analizar y razonar correctamente. En lógica los silogismos siempre son herramientas útiles para llegar a la verdad. Existen silogismos simples y también compuestos. Considero que un silogismo sano (aquel que está bien construido y cuyas premisas son verdaderas) una vez establecido como tal es un poderoso escudo, con la capacidad de ser impenetrable. A manera de ejemplo simple considere:

1.     Los martes llueve por la tarde.

2.     Hoy es martes.

3.     Por lo tanto, hoy lloverá.

Observe cómo alguien es racional al concluir correctamente partiendo de las premisas o evidencias que se encuentran disponibles. La racionalidad es fundamental en todos los círculos de la vida y con mucha más razón debería de serlo en aspectos de la fe.

Uno de los problemas principales es ignorar la enseñanza implícita y tratar de validar únicamente aquello que está explícito. Dios realmente desea que nosotros reunamos evidencias y razones a partir de esas evidencias (1Tes.5:21; Hech.17:11; Is.1:17). Aquellos que se hacen llamar evangélicos, aluden a la presencia del Espíritu Santo en la obra de milagros, sensacionalismo e intervención directa en sus vidas. Por lo que en el círculo filosófico a esto se le conoce como “Fideísmo” donde se alude a tomar un salto de fe y creer algunas cosas de las cuales no existe evidencia. Existen pasajes explícitos que hablan de tener al Espíritu y que él mismo obraba milagros en el siglo primero. Implícitamente se enseña que esa obra directa del Espíritu tenía un periodo explícito y un propósito específico (Jn.16:13). Ignorar la evidencia implícita sería irracional. De hecho es el Filósofo Cristiano Thomas B. Warren quien define de forma clara lo que es ser irracional. Él escribe en su libro “Logic and the Bible” lo siguiente:

Todo hombre que arrogantemente rechace el uso de lógica (válida) en conexión con el estudio de la Biblia, parece no reconocer que están obrando de forma irracional. Y ¿Qué es ser irracional? Es (1) rechazar el adecuado rol de la evidencia, razón y conclusión y (2) sostener que la voluntad de Dios para el hombre hoy solamente se puede leer mediante declaraciones explícitas de la Biblia sin tener que razonar correctamente a través de esos declaraciones explícitas hasta correctamente inferir aquello que está implícito”.

El estudio de la Biblia debe de ser realizado con extremo cuidado, en oración y de forma sistemática. No todo en la escritura que está de forma implícita se aplica a nosotros hoy en día.

Siendo racionales con la cuestión del Espíritu Santo y la supuesta manifestación en nuestros días debemos llegar a conclusiones que únicamente son extraídas de la evidencia presente. Considere con migo:

1.     El Espíritu Santo obró de formas sobrenaturales durante la infancia de la Iglesia

2.     No vivimos en el periodo de la infancia de la Iglesia.

3.     Por tanto el Espíritu, en nuestros días no obra de igual forma.

Recuerde que si las dos premisas son verdaderas y la conclusión lógica es extraída de la misma, entonces no hay forma de ser irracional. El ser racional se vuelve vital ya que conocer toda la verdad (explícitamente como implícitamente) es lo que libera al hombre del pecado y del error (Jn. 8:32). Todo lo que Dios enseña implícitamente es igual de autoritario como aquello explícito. Se requiere que realmente el hombre sea sincero consigo mismo y con Dios en la búsqueda de la verdad.

Deseo retar a cualquier hombre que sostiene que la Biblia contiene pasajes  explícitos puestos ahí para mi, para usted o para cualquier ser humano que viva en este momento. Para determinar lo que el hombre de hoy debe de hacer para agradar a Dios de las cosas enseñadas en la Biblia, uno debe de inferir de la Biblia aquellas cosas que han sido expuestas explícitamente. El verdadero cristianismo no depende de un fideísmo ciego o un “salto al vacío”. La fe verdadera es la obediencia a las cosas de las cuales podemos razonar de forma implícita como explícita, a los mandamientos de Dios. Recuerde en todo momento que si algo es irracional no pertenece a Dios. Tal como lo afirma Hebreos 5:14 en la segunda parte, deberíamos de tener los sentidos ejercitados y que mejor manera haciendo uso de la racionalidad. Que Dios nos ayude a todos a ambas cosas: tanto a reconocer la ley de la racionalidad así como a honrarla.

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The Addiction of Success

The Addiction of Success

The false philosophy of pragmatism states “If it works, it must be right.” This philosophy rewards success above all other things. People like success because it makes them feel good about themselves. It makes them feel like they have accomplished something. This feeling, however, is at the root of works-based salvation, and it is contradictory to the Christian doctrine of salvation by grace. “Success” is not the standard for right and wrong, nor will it lead us to salvation, for what is “successful” in the eyes of men is not as far as God is concerned.

success standard

Success is not the standard for right and wrong.

Jesus said this, “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10). This may be a hard teaching to accept for someone who is trying to work his way to heaven, but it is liberating for those who believe and love the truth. In other words, Christians who are faithful to the Lord need not seek to conform to the worlds’ standards of success. One may be a faithful Christian without having made one significant worldly accomplishment. One need not make a million dollars before he is thirty years old. One need not travel across the globe to become famous. One need not be educated by the world’s standards. We are free from such carnal expectations!

Success is addictive. Once you get a taste, you want more, and it will suck away your life until it is gone. Jesus said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth . . . But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . . For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

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The Debt We Owe Paul

The Debt We Owe Paul

When one reads Paul’s words to the Gentile church in Colossae, he has a renewed appreciation for the work that Paul did and just how important it was that Gentiles become equal members with the Jews in the church Jesus established. Take time to read the closing verses of chapter one to see how Paul viewed his place in the kingdom. These same verses show the way all of us should see our place in the kingdom.paul debt

Paul saw himself as a minister of Christ who had been entrusted with a stewardship of the gospel to take the gospel to the lost (verse 25). When the church met in Jerusalem to discuss circumcision (Acts 15), the end result was that they “…saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me (i.e., Paul), as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter” (Gal. 2:7). Paul devoted the rest of his life to establish the church in Gentile cities.

Paul saw that completion of his work would fully reveal that the mystery of the gospel, hidden for many generations, and would take the riches of that gospel to the Gentiles (verses 26-27). Paul was chosen by God to be the one whose work focused on getting the message to the Gentiles. When the church began, it at first did not see the gospel was for every creature. Paul’s work showed how wrong they were.

Paul saw that it was God’s will “…to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles” (v. 27). Under the Old Testament the Gentiles were described as being “…strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope” (Eph. 2:12). Look at these verses in Colossians to see how all of this changed. “Christ in in you, the hope of glory.”

Paul saw his work as preaching Christ, “warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom” (v. 28). The end result was “…that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (v. 28).

What does this have to do with those who are members of the church at Palm Beach Lakes? Had the early church failed to realize that Gentiles were to be part of God’s family, we would still be without hope, without Christ and separated from the promises God made. Paul did his work and now all men see that heaven’s plans include us!

One other matter. Do we not also share in Paul’s work of getting the hope of the gospel of Christ to all men? Is it not also our ministry to preach Christ, to warn every man and to teach them in wisdom? Are we not, in this respect, like Paul and our task to take the gospel into our world, and to do all we can to present every man look like Jesus, to be perfect in Christ? Paul did his work—let’s do ours!

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Do You Have a Passion?

Do You Have a Passion?

Got Zeal?

Got Zeal?

Do you have a passion?  What really excite you?  What charges your zeal?  We all have different interests which cause us to perk up and get engaged.  For some people vintage automobiles really light their fire.  More than a few friends of mine would state this is a passion of theirs.  As a boy I remember going to “Graffiti Night”.  This was a citywide cruise and vintage car show.  I never knew so many people collected, restored, and even joined clubs dedicated to this passion.  In another field of activity are the quilters.  How much time could it take to make quilt?  Ha!  Squares and diamonds and all sorts of shapes and stitches everywhere of every color of the rainbow!  Having worked a number of years cleaning out homes for auctions, you would be stunned at how many quilters I have found lurking out there.  I have seriously emptied out rooms full of material because of other individual’s avid passion in this area.  Another serious passion of many folks is college sports!  If you want to get someone’s blood pressure up, jokingly tell them their team is inferior to any other team.  Boom!  Fight on!  Sport’s fans wear their passion on their sleeves.

When I look to the scriptures, there are many folks who demonstrate passion.  David’s passion for the Lord caused him to design a temple for his son Solomon to build for God, though God told him that He did not dwell in houses made with hands (Acts 7:45-51).  These men all had a passion, but they operated in a manner contrary than that to which God would have had them behave. Saul had a great passion for persecuting the Church. Philippians 3:6 and Acts 8:1-3 proclaim he ravaged the church and dragged men and women off to prison.  With great zeal Apollos went about demonstrating that Jesus was the Messiah from the Old Testament.  However, he had only been familiar with the baptism of John.  Aquilla and Priscilla had to expound the way of God more perfectly to Him.  All of these men had a passion, great zeal, but it was a “zeal of God, but not according to knowledge” (Romans 10:2).  This statement, applicable to these men was particularly assigned as a description by the apostle Paul to describe the nation of Israel who also went about following a path that was not that which God had prescribed.

Of course, there are people in scripture who had zeal that was not in conflict with God’s Will.  Jehu had great zeal for the Lord in destroying the house of Ahab and Jezebel (2 Kings 10:16).  Anna the daughter of Phanuel would not leave the temple, “but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.” “She spake of [Jesus] to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem (Luke 2:36-38).  Peter speaks of the righteous who “seek peace and pursue it”.  He preaches “Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?” (I Peter 3:13)  God desires His people to be passionate about Good works (the very thing we were created for according to Ephesians 2:10) for His son gave Himself a sacrifice that he might “purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for [such].

Do you have a passion for God and Good works?  Do have zeal to serve others?  Do you have a zeal for the Word of God?  Do you have a passion to meet your Lord Jesus in the clouds when he comes again?  It is wonderful to enjoy the blessings upon this earth which God has abundantly supplied us with.  You may, in fact, have many passions.  However, I pray your greatest passion is for the Lord and according to knowledge.  Seek him day and night as he desires.  Let His love consume you.  Fill your life with good works and let your passion glorify God.

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Believe in Jesus

Believe in Jesus

Our world has totally changed the meaning of what it means to believe in Jesus. What is widely believed is that when I simply say a “sinner’s prayer,” I have become a child of Christ. Those who teach that also believe that when one says that prayer he can never be lost again. How does the Bible use the word “faith”? How does God define it? Is faith simply saying a prayer written by a man, not by God?

James says that the manifestation of faith is not by saying, “I have faith,” but by showing faith in obedience to what God says. Read James 2:17-26 carefully. Faith without obedience to what God says is dead faith, and James says that dead faith will not save.

Hebrews chapter eleven is the chapter which emphasizes faith more than any other place in the Bible. There is a list which describes the heroes of faith and then shows that faith was far more than just saying words. There is not enough space to fully discuss this in this article, but open your Bible and see what these heroes of faith did, not what they said.

Verse 4. Abel’s faith offered the worship God specified. He did not just say, “I believe in God.” He worshiped.

Verse 7. Noah’s faith prepared the ark to save his entire family. He did not say, “I believe God; I put my trust in Him.” His faith built the ark.

Verse 8. Abraham’s faith went out from Ur. He did not say, “God spoke to me, I heard His voice.” His faith moved him a thousand miles from the land of his birth.

Verse 9. Abraham’s faith dwelt in tents, and he lived as a sojourner, never again in a house like he could have had in Ur. His faith made him to be a “gypsy.”

Verse 9. Isaac and Jacob’s faith stayed in tents. They could have at any moment returned to the land from which Abraham had come. They stayed (verse 15).

Verses 20-21. Isaac and Jacob’s faith blessed their children, knowing God would use them. Faith is not words said; it is action based on obedience, not just words.

Verses 24-29. Moses’ faith refused to be an Egyptian; chose to suffer; forsook Egypt; kept the Passover; and walked through the Red Sea. It was not just a simple prayer!

Verse 30. Joshua and Israel’s faith marched around Jericho. It was not just words saying, “I believe God has given us this city as a gift of grace.” Faith alone is a dead faith.

What about you? What has your faith brought about in your life? Do you have a living, saving faith?

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