Faith, Fiction, Friends

How Can I Be Right with God? by R.C. Sproul.

Are People Basically Good? by R.C. Sproul.

Top photograph by Marc-Olivier Jodoin via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

“How Can I Be Right with God?” by R.C. Sproul

It doesn’t get more R.C. Sproul-ish than How Can I Be Right with God?

It’s the classic teaching of the Reformed faith.

Sproul starts in Geneva, Switzerland, at the Reformation Wall(or what’s officially known as the Monument to the Reformation). It’s a huge monument, with four figures depicted at the center – John Calvin, John Knox, William Farel, and Theodore Beza. With Martin Luther, these four articulated justification by faith alone, the main doctrine of the Reformers and the major difference with Catholic teaching.

He describes the three major crises in Luther’s life that led to his understanding of the biblical teaching of justification; how Luther and the reformers “understood the biblical teaching of justification in terms of forensicjustification;” the great exchange, or how mankind’s sin was imputed to Christ; how the reformers understood the means of salvation; and what happened at the Council of Trent when the Roman Catholic Church defended its doctrines, and how much turned for the reformers on a single word, sola, as in sola fide– justification by faith alone.

R.C. Sproul

Sproul continues with the three major aspects of saving faith: notitia, the content of faith, or what you believe; assensus, agreement or intellectual assent; and fiducia, which has to do with trust. He covers the remission of sins and then concludes with a discussion of peace with God.

It’s a short work, easy to read in an hour or less. But How Can I Be Right with God?is bedrock Reformed teaching, and it succinctly describes the basics of the Reformed faith.

Related:

What is Repentance? by R.C. Sproul.

Can I Have Joy in My Life? by R.C. Sproul.

What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean? By R.C. Sproul.

How Can I Develop a Christian Conscience? by R.C. Sproul.

What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean? By R.C. Sproul.

Top photograph by Joshua Earle via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

“What is Repentance?” by R.C. Sproul

More than 50 years ago, the Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn published a small volume entitled We Never Make Mistakes, comprised of two novellas. The two offer devastating accounts of what daily life could be during the Stalin regime. A regime that “never made mistakes” or never admitted that it made mistakes grinds down the human spirit, eventually creating people who also “never make mistakes.”

We in the West don’t live in Stalinist regimes today, but we have our own variant. How many times do we see Hollywood stars, politicians, and other celebrities, when caught making a mistake or doing something wrong, begin their apology with the word “if,” as in, “If I offended anyone.” That’s not an apology. It’s not a change of heart. It’s not showing true remorse or repentance. What it is, at most, is a feeling of regret that the individual was caught doing wrong.

The Biblical concept of repentance is radically different. In What is Repentance? by R.C. Sproul, he explains that the word “repentance” is translated from the Greek word metanoia. “Generally speaking,” Sproul writes, “metanoia has to do with the changing of one’s mind with respect to one’s behavior. It contains the idea of ruing. To rue something means to regret a particular action. It carries with it not only an intellectual assessment but also an emotional or visceral response. The feeling most often associated with repentance in Scripture is that of remorse, regret, and a sense of sorrow for having acted in a particular way. This, repentance involves sorrow for a previous form of behavior.”

In other words, repentance has nothing to do with sorrow at being caught, but with sorrow for doing something wrong in the first place.

R.C. Sproul

Sproul goes on to draw pictures of repentance from the Old Testament, the model of King David (who did many things wrong but experienced genuine remorse for those wrongs), and a discussion of the concept of repentance in the New Testament. It is a short book but it is packed with insight and wisdom – and explaining what used to be obvious.

In a time and culture that focuses on self, always being right, and never admitting wrong, What is Repentance? is a refreshing counterpoint.

How Can I Develop a Christian Conscience? by R.C. Sproul.

How Can I Develop a Christian Conscience? by R.C. Sproul.

Top photograph by Mitchell Hollander via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

"Can I Have Joy in My Life?" by R.C. Sproul

Happiness is big, and perhaps it’s always been big. Its pursuit is enshrined in the U.S. Declaration of Independence. The comic strip Peanuts told us happiness was a warm puppy. Before it was a common expression, “Don’t worry, be happy” started life in 1988 as a song by Bobby McFerrin that went to No. 1 on the charts. The most popular course today at Yale University is one on happiness. I even knew of a Christian who justified leaving her husband and family for another man because “God wants me to be happy.” Yes, happiness is a major cultural idea.

Yet try finding the concept of happiness in the Bible. The word “happy” as translated in the King James version of the Bible is actually better translated as “blessed,” and more contemporary translations use “blessed.” God never promised happiness, at least as we understand it in human terms. He promised a lot of other things – grace, forgiveness, salvation, protection – but not happiness, at least as we understand it in popular culture. He did, however, promise joy, and joy in all things and circumstances.

In Can I Have Joy in My Life?, the late R.C. Sproul considers this promise of joy, and suggests that joy can be found not only when life is good but also when one is experiencing hardship, suffering, and difficulties.

Joy is not only an attitude or a way of thinking; it is a quality of our existence as believers. It can be found in all things, Sproul says, including pain, suffering and loss. He suggests that the idea of happiness is more aligned with what benefits ourselves and our own circumstances, while joy is what benefits others. It is not self-directed but other-directed. The source of our joy is “the assurance we have in redemption in Christ,” he says, and the knowledge that our name is written in the Book of Life.

R.C. Sproul

Until his death in December of 2017, Sproul led Ligonier Ministries, based in Sanford, Florida. He wrote numerous books, articles, sermons, and speeches on Christianity, church history, theology, Calvinism, Reformed theology, and related topics. The Crucial Questions series now includes some 30 topics which are free as eBooks, and volume on conscience is a part of the series.

We live in a time and culture that prizes happiness to such a degree that we willingly sacrifice what matters. Instead, as Sproul writes, we should consider joy, for joy in our lives will accomplish far more than any transient idea of happiness.