The Life of Saint Augustine--Book Review of Confessions

Saint Augustine (354-430) was one of the most influential church fathers. His powerful ministry has impacted the church in astonishing ways. He was the primary source for many Catholic teachings; however, his views on salvation were completely rejected by the Catholic Church. Those views, commonly known today as Calvinism, are the roots of early Protestantism and continue to be debated today.

Augustine’s Confessions is the autobiography of his road to salvation. In it he delves deeply into his sinfulness and the foolishness of his material pursuits until the book is climaxed with his dramatic salvation experience. He begins with a discourse concerning infancy and childhood and how even the youngest children show signs of a sinful nature. As a young boy, though, Augustine recalls an interest in religion. This is surely an outcome of his family, which he describes as an unsaved father but a devoutly religious mother. It becomes evident that Augustine had great affection for his mother and her tremendous and persevering love for him. Despite this upbringing he began rebelling as a young man. He describes stealing and sexual sinfulness. However, at the age of nineteen Augustine found a different passion that soon replaced his rebellious attitude: The search for wisdom. He was introduced to a philosophy book and was hooked on it from then on. At this time, for the greater part of the book Augustine traces his search for knowledge as he becomes a rhetoric teacher and grows in his studies. Manichaeism, a cultic belief system that he held in his early years, was soon rejected in favor of philosophy. Throughout all of this, Augustine found himself miserable and empty. He compared himself to a beggar and explains that the beggar was probably happier than he. Eventually he became attracted to the Christian faith, something that he formerly rejected. Finally, after the testimonies of friends Augustine came to the end of his rope. Through a very unique and climactic salvation experience he came to Christ and became a dedicated Christian. Thus God answered the many desperate prayers his beloved mother sent up to God. Although Augustine had desires for marriage formerly, he decided to stay single and be devoted to the church after he was saved.

Confessions is a deeply powerful and hard-hitting book. By looking into Augustine’s rocky road to salvation the reader sees parts of his own struggle to follow the Lord. Emotional depth and a great desire for the glory and supremacy of God mark this Christian classic.

The book is written in a very unique style. Unlike many autobiographies, the entire work is written in prayer form. Throughout it Augustine breaks into periods of passionate doxology and praise to the God who showed His matchless grace to him. Augustine’s purpose in the work is to magnify God and bring Him glory through sharing his story with anyone who will read. In all these things his counter-culturally God-centered worldview is evident. The God-oriented lifestyle and mindset that this man held is evident on every page. This flies in the face of the prevailing humanistic philosophy that was prevalent in that day and that he was schooled in early in life.

Augustine’s Biblical knowledge is deep and insightful. He possesses the ability to relate any event in his life with the clear text of scripture. For instance, throughout his explanation of his philosophical studies he makes the connection between his utter emptiness and the fact that he wasn’t seeking wisdom in Christ (a reference to Colossians 2:1-3). He seems to have a good handle on the nature of God and he especially emphasizes God’s omnipresence many times in his discourses. Although such dedication to solid doctrine his evident, there are many instances where Catholic teachings are referenced, such as the fact that he cites his baptism as the moment of Regeneration and holds the sacraments in high regard.

Augustine’s deeply controversial views on salvation are clear for all to see, also. He explains that the Manichees believed in the elect and it seems he believed the Bible taught it also. However, his views on total depravity and the fall of man are especially clear in his writings. He holds that man is desperately wicked from birth and seeks out satisfaction in sin. He draws a very convicting picture of the utter sinfulness of the love and glory of anything besides God. For this reason he dismisses his intellectual knowledge as vanity because it was done in utter selfishness and was not for God’s glory alone. For Augustine, the only fruitful pursuit in life is to lift up the name of the Lord and magnify Him.

Though virtually all sides of the fence disagree with this scholar—the Catholics with his view of salvation and the Protestants with his many agreements with Rome—one can not deny the impact that Saint Augustine has had on the church. His powerful intellect and pious spirit continues to amaze those who look back on his life. His accomplishments and spiritual fervor are to be admired; however, as Augustine would have it we must thank God for giving the church the rich heritage that is found in this man and remember that all good things are His gifts to us.

Psychosis: God's Gift to Me

Before I get into the present discourse, let me be very clear with my intent. I have searched my heart over the past couple of days, searching by God's Spirit for a hint of pride in me as I planned to write this. I do not want to seek the praise of men, for that would be to usurp God of His rightful place of preeminence and place myself in the spotlight. So let me be clear that I do not intend for anyone to admire me, the worm. I have no strength, nor character, nor existence apart from my one true love, Yahweh God. In the words that follow my goal is the same as that of the Apostle Paul: "For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me" (Rom. 15:18).

As some of you know, I have had psychosis for nine years now. For two years I was in remission and had no symptoms, which is common in the disease. There are times when I, quite frankly, would rather not live than to deal with it. It flairs up randomly and drags me kicking and screaming into periods of intense confusion and uncertainty. However, I glorify my Lord for what He has given me, and am beginning to see this ailment not as a curse, but as a gift.

I just heard a Pentecostal shrug and grunt at his computer. "A gift? Why would God give you a gift that is painful and not enjoyable?" Indeed my friend, it is not so much a matter of perspective than priority. For if my goal is to remain healthy and pain free then I have good reason to be in despair. However, by the Spirit's power that is not my priority; my priority is to be further conformed to the image of Christ. With that goal in mind, might I submit to you that hard times may be even more profitable than good times. Let me repeat that so that you understand me: Tribulations bear much more lasting and valuable riches than does prosperity. Consider this passage from Romans:

And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.--5:3, 4

Do you see, Christian, the great string of valuable pearls that are born out of tribulations? Perseverance, proven character, hope. Are these not more valuable than any earthly treasure? Than health? Therefore, I am learning by the power of God to change the way I look at my illness--to see it as a source of great wealth, a tool that God has hand-picked for me in love to draw me ever nearer to Him and to bestow on me true wisdom in Christ. Indeed I have already seen great benefit from the illness. I attribute the character and mental strength that God has given me to my growth through it. I see how even now good things have been wrought in me through the instrument of the illness. Most of all being how the daily struggles have served to drive me further and further into the arms of the Savior, who is my Rock and my ever present help.

Think for a moment about the cancer patient. One struggling with cancer may greatly despise the thought of having to go through chemotherapy. It is a painful, horrible procedure. But would we not all agree that the chemotherapy is good for this man who is so sick? Thus it becomes evident that the patient hates what is for his ultimate benefit. Even so God has given me an unpleasant disease in order to purge me from that cancer called self and sin with the ultimate intent to present me complete in Christ (Col. 1:28). And, like the sick man, I do not enjoy what I am going through. For "all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful," but I hope that having been trained by it to yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11).

Therefore, when trials come your way, child of God, do not murmur and complain as those who are lost do, but rejoice in hardships, knowing that in them you are greatly blessed. Praise God in the hard times, for in that, not in health or prosperity, is the victory.

The Purpose of Discussing Theology

Some of my closest friends deny the need to discuss theology. They feel that it bears no fruit, only causes division and gives a bad testimony to outsiders. Is this contention true and useful? I do not believe so. In fact, in my view, the discussion of the Bible is extremely edifying and Biblical. However, many today approach the practice with very bad attitudes and thus the outcome of such endeavors is always disastrous. We need to learn with the help of the Holy Spirit how we must approach a delicate thing such as this, for if we handle theology inappropriately we will cause divisions in the church and ultimately prove ourselves to be hypocrites.

The first thing I would like to share is a principle I learned as a young Christian. When I was first saved I was converted through the ministry of Calvinists; therefore I assumed that I was one, not knowing the avid hostility that there certainly is toward that belief. I sought to discuss the issue of Reformed theology with friends without knowing much about it; and as you can imagine the outcome was not in my favor. However, there was a deeper issue in my life, rooted in immaturity, other than simply not knowing my side of the argument. That problem was I had not allowed the doctrines of grace to be deeply rooted in my practical Christian life before I thought I could go and reform America. Put simply, I was speaking with my mouth what had not become real in my heart. I strongly believe that a person should not debate or discuss theology until he has allowed it to affect his life and practice. Debating viewpoints is not the summum bonum of theology, but love is (see 1 Timothy 1). Therefore, our primary goal in knowing and studying theology must always be to spurn us on to love God and neighbor before it becomes intellectual ammunition.

Now that we have our priorities straight we can move on to the actual topic. Is discussing theology useless? Is it profitable? It is my contention that it is not only profitable, but necessary. This is an outgrowth of a high view of the scriptures and God's truth.

If we are conservative evangelicals, we believe that the scriptures are inerrant and are God-breathed. As God-breathed we believe that the 66 books of the Christian Bible are absolute truth. Unlike the postmodern world we live in, we believe that truth can be known. The question becomes, then, to what lengths are we going to strive to know truth, and what is the value that we put on defending and spreading the truth. This, in fact, is the very basis of debating and hashing over theology: The defense and propagation of truth.

Some believe that debates look bad to unbelievers. This is simply false, however; for the opposite is true. Rightly done, debates proclaim to the world our concern for God's truth. When two Christians come together, it should shout to the world "We believe that truth can be known, and we care enough about knowing that truth to come together and seek it out." So brothers, let this be the overriding principle when we talk over our views. We must not be a bad testimony to those who oppose us by showing disrespect for the word by insults and careless and empty rhetoric.

In closing, we live in a day and age that is so relational that objective truth is downplayed. Do you, Christian, have a love for the truth and a longing for it just like you have a love for others? For my friends, we have the very truth of God in the canonical scriptures! Let us have a high view of God's word and exemplify our reverence for it when the time comes to defend it against opponents.

The Evolution of Evolutionists by Design

It seems singular and strange that Evolutionists never seem to be want of a theory on how the world evolved rather than be created by Sovereign Design... uhm, MIRACULOUSLY! However, it has occurred to me that this is a designed evolution of theories. Quite simply, when we logically explain to the Evolutionist the illogical holes in his theory, he will simply evolve his theory to circumnavigate the new problem. For instance, when the fossil record never presented transitional forms, we had a new theory sprout like every green thing on the third day! That is it is now held that transitional forms make major leaps to another form. So what have we here? Why, a merry-go-round! So what I am saying is just this, when we proclaim the logic to the illogic of the degenerate, then we will come to naught. Christ pierced the heart, and so must we! We must proclaim the gospel and address the heart, not the intellect, with the issue of sin rather than the origin of man. Now I am not saying that these issues aren't important. They are, we must continue to guard against these wicked teachings that they not enter the Church and kill us like a mutant cancer. I am proclaiming wither we must go in carrying out the commission! Christ did not address the external nor the intellect; but rather, the heart.

And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven." (Matthew 9:2)

Soli Deo Gloria

A Contextual and Honest Explanation of Romans Nine

Romans chapter nine is a passage that is not often mentioned by non-Calvinists. When brought up, it is often dismissed as speaking of nations, or is explained away by the philosophical construction of "Foreknowledge." Why is this passage treated with such contempt, you ask? The answer is simple: It greatly disturbs long-held traditions of those who kick against God's word. A friend of mine recently posted an appendix in an attempt to explain why Romans nine does not teach the sovereignty of God, however once again the clear teaching of the passage was muddled by the beloved man-made doctrine of free will. This note is first and foremost an attempt to edify the saints of God with scriptural truth, even if from a weak and lowly vessel. Secondly, it is a humble invitation to this friend of mine, who seems to be very certain that Calvinism is false, to test her traditions with scripture. It is my contention that one can not go verse-by-verse through this chapter without being confronted with uncondiional election--God's sovereign choice (and right) to choose who will go to Heaven or Hell. I know that this doctrine is hated in today's church, but Spurgeon made a good point when he said that we must not dull the sharp edges of some doctrines in order to make them more acceptable to our flesh (see Spurgeon, A defense of Calvinism).

I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants,

This is the introduction to this tremendous chapter. The context becomes clear--Paul is anticipating his audience's response to his teachings: "Well, Paul, if Jesus really is the Messiah, hasn't He failed miserably, since the Jews have rejected Him?" And Paul responds that although he is very broken in his heart over the fact that his countrymen have rejected the Messiah, he knows that the word of God has not failed. He says this is because "not all Israel are descended from Israel." In other words, God's people are not God's people simply by physical descent. How are they made His people, then?

but: "THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED." That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. For this is the word of promise: "AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON." And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, "THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER." Just as it is written, "JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED."

Mankind is made God's people through God's sovereign election of individuals. The result of God's choosing was that Isaac and Jacob were God's people and Ishmael and Esau were excluded from God's blessings. Many make the argument from this text that the election is nations, not people; and the election is unto lands, not salvation. How one gets this interpretation is hard to understand, for the text is simply not speaking of nations, but of God's election of Isaac and Jacob as the people of God. Yes, the result of this election is that Israel came from Jacob and not Esau, but what IS Israel? Israel is the chosen people of God; and Paul says that the reason that this is so is because God chose Jacob as a child of promise, and passed over Esau. Thus, Jacob was chosen as a member of God's true people, while Esau was excluded from salvation. Salvation was not given to the Edomites because they are not the people of God even though they descended from Abraham; only the children of promise are the people of God--And they are determined not from a bloodline but from God's sovereign choice. We are made children of promise through faith in Abraham's seed, Christ, as Paul clearly sets forth in the rest of the context of Romans:

and he (Abraham) received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, (4:11)

and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised. (4:12)

For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, (4:16)

And in Galatians:

Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. (3:7)

And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. (4:28)

Does that phrase, "children of promise," sound familiar to you? It should, for Romans 9 is about God's sovereign choice of those who are children of promise (9:8).

This is the Biblical way to view Romans nine. By comparing scripture with scripture we see that in Paul's theology New Testament believers are the children of promise and heirs of Abraham's covenant through faith in Christ; and Romans nine teaches us that it is God's sovereign choice that determines who is included in that category. That Paul has this in view is evident from what follows from Romans nine.

What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION." So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH." So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

God has mercy on some, and hardens some. He includes some into His fellowship and chooses some as His people, while passing over some. Paul gives an example that God restrains mercy from some by the example of Pharaoh, who was raised to power in Egypt for the very purpose that he would display God's power in that nation through the magnificent plagues and destruction of him and his army. Don't believe me? Read Exodus 14:16, 17:

As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land. As for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.

How was God honored through Pharaoh and all his army? By God showing His wrath and making His power known (Romans 9:22) in their death when the waves crashed over them. Some say "Well, Pharaoh hardened his own heart." I agree. The traditional Calvinistic view of hardening is God restraining His common grace toward sinners (as seen in Romans 1 and elsewhere). Thus God was simply allowing Pharaoh to live in accordance with his sinful heart. Continuing on in our study:

You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?" On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,

Paul anticipates the very objection that is still given against God's sovereignty. The argument Paul anticipates is, in essence, "Well, we're all just puppets if this is true, aren't we?" This same exact argument was given to me in a discussion yesterday about Romans nine! It seems that those who wish to deprive God of His rightful throne have not come up with better arguments over 2,000 years. Paul does not entertain these opponents nor does he apologize for dealing a death blow to their view of man's autonomy, but replies with a sobering rebuke; saying in effect "Who do you think you are?" (See Sproul's commentary on Romans).

Are we to believe, at this point in Paul's argument, that he is not speaking of election to personal salvation? How does one reconcile "vessels of mercy/wrath" with the previous argument that this passage speaks of nations? By Paul's own argument that theory is overthrown. Indeed, most who hold to that belief, when attempting to interpret this chapter, make a sudden switch from Paul speaking of nations in his arguments about Jacob and Esau to speaking of individuals in this portion. What in the context, though, warrants such a switch? Nothing of course. Isaac and Jacob were vessels of mercy; Esau, Ishmael and Pharaoh were vessels of wrath. This is the simple reading of the text. Paul now includes us in his argument.

even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

Thus Paul shows us our place in the discourse. We are called, just like Jacob, as children of promise and vessels of mercy through God's sovereign choice. It astounds me that some would argue that the calling of Jacob in 9:11 would be completely disconnected from our calling in 9:24, saying that the former was a calling unto a nation while the latter is unto salvation. That view is 100% inconsistent and it butchers the text.

God is completely sovereign in His choice of who will be His people. Romans nine does not teach about nations and lands while every other chapter in Romans deals with salvation. As we have seen, Paul's own words shatter the arguments of those who would isolate the chapter from its greater context. We must not diminish any hard doctrine, and though the doctrine of God's sovereignty is detestable to our flesh we must learn to submit to God's rulership over the earth and acknowledge that God is the potter and we are the clay. We can not overrule God's plans with our puny wills, for His counsel will stand forever.

The faith of the Leper who was cleansed.

I was studying Matthew 8 last night for my class on Matthew for school. The first 4 verses outline the story of the leper.

"When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, a leper came and worshipped Him, saying, 'Lord if you are willing, You can make me clean.' Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, 'I am willing; be cleansed.' Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, 'See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.'

First off you see the wonderful boldness of the leper here. He was not allowed to have any close contact with anyone because of his disease. He was instructed to yell out, "unclean, unclean" every time somwhere came near, so they would keep there distance. Obviously here in this passage, he ignored that and came boldy to Christ. He came worshipping Christ as the Holy Son of God. He knew who he worshipped, he knew he could come boldy to Him because he knew only Christ could have the power to cleanse him.

I love seeing how he put his faith in action here. He didn't dilly dally or doubt. He came knowing full well that Christ had the power to save him.

In verse 2 when the leper says "If you are willing", it is not to be mistaken and misinterpreted that this man doubted the power and authority of Christ. I honestly believe this man had a better grip on the power of Christ and the authority He holds than most others do.
For this man knew that just because he was in want of a healing and just because he asked in faith, it did not mean that Christ was willing to provide that healing. He knew Christ had the ultimate say in whether this man would walk away healed or not.

In the commentary that I must read for my class, the commentator said that, of course Jesus was willing to heal him. "God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." He argued that God would heal everyone who asked to be healed, His will is for all to be healed.
It's a shame, for the most part I've agreed with everything this commentator has said on passages thus far. On this though, I'd have to disagree.

First things first, where did the leper come up with the knowledge that Christ was really the Son of God? Where did he get the faith to come bodly before Christ, knowing that Christ COULD heal him? Where did this faith come from?? I believe firmly that it was by God's Holy Spirit! How else could he know with such certainty that this man could cleanse him? I believe it was faith given by God and God alone. This man was empowered by the Holy Spirit to come boldly to Christ. There, I must add also that just because God does the saving in a persons life, it doesn't mean we aren't given the responsibility to come. It's just that God saves, and empowers us to even come to Him. Make no mistake about it, we are accepted of Christ we don't accept Him.
The reason I tied salvation into this, is because leporasy is often a picture of sin and this entire passage is a wonderful picture of salvation. Ok.. back off the rabbit trail now.

Secondly, if the Lord was willing to heal everyone who has asked Him for healing, why hasn't He??? I mean really, if this God is so willing to do this, what's holding Him back? Are we so strong and He so weak that all is based on the amount of faith we have?? Does He only work if we have ENOUGH faith??
The leper understood very well that ONLY if the Lord was willing would he be cleansed by Him. He never doubted that the Lord could heal him, it was is the Lord willing to heal him?

Don't mistake it, this man's faith was amazing, his understanding of the Lord's power and complete sovereignty was astounding. But it was all the Lord, the Lord gave him this great faith and knowledge. And it was the Lord and the Lord alone that cleansed him, it wasn't anything the leper had done. Yes, the leper came to Christ to be healed, would he have been healed if not having come to Christ? NO! For that is how the Lord worked it out, His will was for the man to come to Him, but remember always that this leper and his coming on his free will was drawn by the Lord. And it was the Lord who was willing to cleanse from this disease.

The Lord has every right to not cleanse someone. And I've seen people who aren't cleansed, is God falling short? Is He not working because our faith is too small?? Absolutely not. Who are we, mere fallen men and women, the creatures, who are we to question our Lord and His plans? He's going to be glorified through it all.

Let us never forget that God is ABLE to save, heal, etc. He is ALL powerful. Nothing can stop Him! The point is, the Lord is not always WILLING to. Question not our Savior's ways, for you tread on dangerous grounds.

Four Thoughts for Forethought

I had a most intriguing week, several things occurred to me about our present society and its desperate depravity. I will attempt to limit those observations here to only four.

1.) I was doing as I do often objecting to the Twilight serious and to my shock, someone responded to that with this statement, "Twilight makes love seem real." I couldn't believe it! Can we not see this huge disconnect!? I mean, WHAT IS REAL ABOUT LOVING A !!!VAMPIRE!!!? Where is that in reality!? And that leads to the next disconnect. Every Twilight supporter universally agrees that Edward Cullen is the perfect suitor. OK, so then that makes him unlike any REAL man. What does that make Edward? UNREAL!!! Why is this so hard to grasp!? Perhaps it all roots in its being emotional pornography for women... but that is another topic for another time.
2.) I was observing that most of the individuals I know outside of the Church are just overgrown children. It came to me as like a brick to the face that most of the ladies in my acquaintance, again outside of the church, my age are two things: single and mothers. These women were never married. This came to me as a shock when I was observing one of their little children. The thought came to me that they have no family structure nor any example thereof. So we see, my brethren, my generation, the destruction of the family in our day. Behold, in our children's generation, the family will be virtually nonexistent.
3.) Sometimes I feel like I am in a rated "R" movie in my work environment with all the most horribly offensive oaths and swearing from left to right. This in a "professional" enviornemnt. This is only confirming my belief, it is not technology that makes a people civilized, but rather, the love of Christ. We are fast becoming a barbaric, heathen people.
4.) When I and some other degenerate are on conversation about holy matrimony, it often leads to the point of children. When asked how many kids I want, I often say 12 as just a round number denoting I want as many as with which the Lord blesses me and expresses my innate fraternal desire to have many kids. However, this fundamental hope of mine is often looked down upon, even in "Christian" circles. They say that I am looking for a woman to be a baby machine. This I find highly offensive as I think it a degrading picture of my wife future and a belief that I see her as naught more than an object. This is disgusting and putrid as this is not at all the case. And I could go on and on on this rant, however that is not my point. My point comes from the lady I noticed in front of my at the grocery store. She had three kids, adorable children, however, I observed this 30s something woman to have no wedding ring. Then the thought occurred to me. The Biblical image of a woman as after whom my heart desires is not infact the degraded creature but, rather, it is the modern woman, thrust forward into career yet is considered little more than a pleasure machine for self-centered men.

Now if you are anything like me, then this sort of thing will only perplex you until you can figure out how to fix it. My conclusion to this complex is that there is nothing we can fax because as wicked as these things or people are, we have to come to the conclusion that we were once just like them, lost in our sin and wicked. So for social problems, we must begin with ourselves. We must not loose sight of the fact that the problem begins with ourselves. However, you may ask the question, what of all them degenerate sinners!? Well, also remember that before you were redeemed, you were them. And what changed you? Certainly not yourselves. Nay, it was Christ! Thus the only solution to these many issues is to proclaim Christ and Him Crucified! This is our mission (Matt. 28:19) and we must simply trust Christ to enact His Will (Isaiah 14:27).

Soli Deo Gloria