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The Power of the Spoken Word: The Voice of God

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Clark Goble| Leave a comment
By Clark Goble | January 13, 2011

Whenever I think of powerful speaking voices my mind automatically flashes back to the voice of NFL Films, John Facenda. For twenty years Facenda narrated NFL films; he had a way of making every game seem larger than life and more important than it actually was. Even a young fan could sense the drama in Facenda’s baritone voice … Facenda is one of the reasons I am a diehard NFL fan. Certainly, his voiceovers illustrate the power of the spoken word. His work for NFL Films earned Facenda the moniker, “The Voice of God” – perhaps this is the most apt nickname ever given as it is God who possesses the most powerful speaking voice of all time.

Let us remember that God “spoke” the world into existence. From Genesis Chapter 1:

  • 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
  • 6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.
  • 9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.”
  • 11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.”
  • 14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.”
  • 20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.”
  • 24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.”
  • 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
  • 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
  • 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.”

If you’re like me, it is hard to read those passages without hearing John Facenda’s voice speaking the words of God yet, in reality, God’s voice was far more amazing and awesome than any human could ever muster. It is even more amazing to contemplate Christ’s role in creation as the second part of the Trinity. The Gospel of John says that Christ was with God in the beginning and that He was God. It was through Christ that all things were created and that nothing was made without Him. It’s hard to understand, but when God the Father created the world it was through God the Son. Christ played an integral role in creation.

We spend so much time trying to explain the origins of life and of our world that we sometimes fail to be awed by the miracle of creation. We fail to recognize the power in God’s speaking voice.

Football fans celebrate John Facenda because he had the power to bring them to the edge of their seats. Mankind should celebrate and worship the God of the Bible because He has the power to speak worlds and life into existence!

----> Clark Goble is a disciple of Christ, a husband, father, student, and writer. He welcomes your comments and encourages you to leave one here or email him at cdgobleATgmail.com. You can follow his twitter updates at http://twitter.com/#!/CDGoble
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The Problem With Postmodern Skepticism

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Clark Goble| Leave a comment
By Clark Goble | January 11, 2011

In a recent article I wrote about the shift in worldview that I have witnessed in my lifetime. As a child, nearly everyone I knew views the world through a Christian lens. Even those who didn’t attend church or consider themselves Christians recognized that faith in Christ was a valuable attribute to possess. “Men of God” were to be respected and revered. This isn’t necessarily true now. Our culture has experienced a dramatic shift in worldview. Faith, especially Christianity is often openly mocked. Anyone who claims to have found absolute truth in the form of the Bible is open to criticism and ridicule as our culture shift from viewing the world through a Christian lens and now views it through the lens of a skeptic. In this day and age we value skepticism and tolerance to the point that there is no room for absolute truths outside of the realm of science. Scientific advances, so it seems, has proven that if something can’t be observed, it isn’t real.

Scholars call this new worldview Postmodernism. It is a worldview that has relegated Christianity to the past. Faith in Christ has become a relic of a past age when mankind had yet evolved to the point of recognizing that all spiritual paths are valid. The only spirituality that is valued by the skeptic is that of the “spiritual seeker.” The man or woman who is open to a generic spirituality, believes that all roads are equally valid, and values tolerance over truth fits in well within postmodernism. Why?  Perhaps it is because this generic faith is one that refuses to identify anything as absolute. A man or woman who is astute enough to know there must be a god out there somewhere chooses this kind of seeker mentality over the claims of the Christian because it is just generic and vague enough to escape the challenges of the skeptic who respond to all claims of the fantastic with “that’s nice, prove it” (www.skeptic.com).

However, there is a problem with this skeptical worldview – it is a lie. Skepticism works well in the scientific community because it drives our scientists to perform better and to get results; however, it fails miserably when extended to the realm of the humanities; art, literature, love, and yes … even theology. These pursuits are just as valid as any scientific field yet they are more difficult to define and observe. Who would suggest that love doesn’t exist simply because it is hard to observe empirically. It reminds of a quote from the Dead Poet Society:

“We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”

While it may be hard to illustrate what love looks like, we know it exists because we can recognize the how it affects the world around us. Science would say the same about an invisible force as gravity. It can’t be seen, but we recognize it as truth because of its affects on the world around us.

The same can be said of God.

You haven’t seen Him. But you can certainly recognize how He affects the world around us. You know He is real because you have bought into generic spirituality in an attempt to define Him in a way that isn’t objectionable. The problem is that if He is real, He isn’t generic. He is a specific being that exists in a specific way. It is up to you to learn about Him … on His terms … not on the terms of the skeptic. You see, the skeptic challenges God to prove He is real. The Bible teaches that He already has in the person of Jesus Christ … it is up to you to embrace Him.

Skepticism says the Bible isn’t true … yet it describes, defines, and reveals communications from God that fit into the world we observe around us better than any other “generic” faith. Christianity takes the “generic” god that you know is out there somewhere and makes Him a very specific God who reveals absolute truth to the people He created.

Praise the God of absolute truths!

----> Clark Goble is a disciple of Christ, a husband, father, student, and writer. He welcomes your comments and encourages you to leave one here or email him at cdgobleATgmail.com. You can follow his twitter updates at http://twitter.com/#!/CDGoble
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How Did Christ Change You in 2010?

Posted on December 28, 2010 by Clark Goble| Leave a comment
By Clark Goble | December 28, 2010

This time of the year I inevitably find myself considering where I stand in my walk with Christ. I believe it is profitable for Christians to intentionally take an inventory of themselves and prayerfully consider if we are more like Christ than we once were. Christians call this process sanctification. Sanctification is the process by which the Holy Spirit conforms us to the image of Jesus Christ. Too often, we take the initial step of accepting the gift Christ has offered us, but we fail to submit to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to change us. Sanctification is sometimes a painful process. Scriptures teach that our sinful nature will sometimes battle against the Spirit (Galatians 5:17); yet ultimately, it is for our own good. Sanctification prepares us to be used for God’s work (2 Timothy 2:21) and helps us to reflect Christ’s nature to a world that desperately needs more of Him.

This year has been both profitable and difficult for me.

My school studies and role as a Bible Study teacher have afforded me the opportunity to spend far more time than ever before engaging God’s Word. This time spent studying the Scriptures has changed me. I’m far more cognizant of my own sin and more forgiving of the sin found in others than ever before. I believe this change has been reflected in my writing. I am more likely to produce Bible studies or to view things in light of Scripture than ever before. Perhaps, I’ve discovered the world needs less of my commentary and more of His. My past passion for discipleship has been coupled with a high view of restoration. By restoration, I am talking about God’s desire for mankind to be restored into a full relationship with Him. Too often, we criticize the sin in  the world with no concern for the sinner’s restoration. I’ve been guilty of doing this. I’m not saying that we ignore sin or fail to label it for what it is … I’m just saying that everything we do as Christians should be done with the aim of restoring one another to God; after all, that’s why Christ died and rose again.

In the past year, I’ve also become more aware of some sin that is prevalent in my life. Mainly, selfishness and jealousy. Too often I put my needs ahead of others and resent it when the needs of my family or friends outweigh my own. This is in direct opposition to the example of sacrificial love that Christ has shown me.  Additionally, I sometimes find myself being jealous of the blogs and ministries of others. As a Christian, I need to rejoice more when God uses other people to spread His agenda to restore the lost. I need to be content with the 700 hits my blog gets every month and remain steadfast in the knowledge that God will use me as He sees fit. These are sins that I ask God to forgive and intend to fully repent for as I move forward in the new year.

I also pray that this new year will mean new opportunity. My desire is to write longer works and publish them as ebooks on Amazon.com and other outlets. Currently I am working on a comparative religion piece titled, “Why Christians Make Better Buddhists” along with a book aimed at helping divorced people claim the restoration that God is offering them through Christ. These are only my plans … my real prayer is that God will use me as He sees fit.

Please allow me to encourage you to take a similar inventory of your life. Where are you in your walk with Christ. Has He changed you? Are you willing to submit to the urges of the Holy Spirit? What will you do if Christ asks you to do something difficult? If you haven’t accepted Christ’s offer of restoration please consider making it your starting point … it might change your life next year.

Clark

----> Clark Goble is a disciple of Christ, a husband, father, student, and writer. He welcomes your comments and encourages you to leave one here or email him at cdgobleATgmail.com. You can follow his twitter updates at http://twitter.com/#!/CDGoble
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The Relationship Between Faith and Reason

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Clark Goble| 1 Comment
By Clark Goble | December 17, 2010

Within this debate Christopher Hitchens suggests that all religions are poisonous because their adherents replace reason with the idea that faith is a virtue. Hitchens is suggesting that reason and faith are unable to coexist in one person; rather, anyone who displays faith is doing so without the aid of reasoning. I find this proposition ludicrous in every conceivable fashion. I only need to flip through my mental Rolodex of favorite authors for concrete examples of faith and reason flourishing in the same mind; Augustine, C.S. Lewis, Dallas Willard, William Lane Craig … I could fill this page with examples that dispute Hitchens’ notion. In his arrogance, Hitchens dismisses every religious person who has every lived as incapable of exhibiting reason – it is a point he has made repeatedly and I believe is based on a faulty interpretation of what faith is.

I would suggest that the tension between faith and reason is not designed in a way that limits a person to having only one or the other; rather, a person may display a great deal of faith, a great deal of reason, both, or neither. While faith and reason are attributes that aren’t necessarily dependent upon each other, they do have the natural tendency to influence one another. In fact, they are so closely related that they are almost intertwined. Let’s take a moment to explore this concept.

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines faith as “something that is believed especially with strong conviction; especially : a system of religious beliefs.”  A person who displays a strong conviction in their religious beliefs inevitably base their faith in reason. Their reasoning may be illogical, faulty, or surprisingly concrete; however, it is reasoning just the same. For instance, if you ask me why I believe in God and my response is that I read about Him on the back of a cereal box, you may think that I’m displaying faulty reasoning skills – but it is reasoning just the same.  When asked the same question, a person with no reasoning skills would only be able to answer, “I don’t know why I believe in God … I just do.” While this person may be displaying a great deal of faith, they are displaying a lack of reasoning.

Anyone who is able to articulate a reason for their faith, regardless of what that reason is, is displaying reason and faith at the same time; thus, discrediting Hitchens’ point. What Hitchens is really saying is that anyone who engages their reasoning and comes to a conclusion other than the one he has reached is a buffoon.

This brings me to my next thought. It is quite possible for two intelligent people to engage their faith and reason with tremendously different results. In my case, faith told me that God was real and reason helped me deduce that Jesus Christ was the means by which He intended to offer me salvation. Another person may deduce that God is real and that living the middle way of the Buddhist is what He prefers us all to do. There is no doubt that one person is right and the other wrong, but only arrogance would suggest that one or the other was incapable of using logic. Both individuals may be bright and faithful people; they just reached different conclusions. This is where the virtues of debate, investigation, reason, and gut instincts interact with our faith. Thankfully, it is never too late to change one’s mind.

Coming to a belief in Christ can almost be considered a two-step process. In the first step, a person engages their faith to understand there is something bigger than themselves in the universe. Perhaps it is Buddha, pantheism, Wicca, Islam, or Christ. Whatever it is – it is there. Then there is the second step where a person engages their logical reasoning skills and determines that Christ is their Savior. Unlike Hitchens, I believe that most people who confess a belief in Christ have engaged both faith and reason.

When we fail to engage both attributes we get ourselves out of whack. Faith that is devoid of reason can be used to justify anything. When you display reason without faith you begin to believe that skepticism is a virtue and the end result is a Hitchens-like arrogance that serves to benefit no one.

My God wants me to engage the world and make disciples of Jesus Christ – I can’t do that if I have written everyone who disagrees with me off as being stupid. Thankfully, most people are capable of displaying both faith and reason is some measure. They may disagree with me, but I thank God that He is giving us all the chance to change our minds!

----> Clark Goble is a disciple of Christ, a husband, father, student, and writer. He welcomes your comments and encourages you to leave one here or email him at cdgobleATgmail.com. You can follow his twitter updates at http://twitter.com/#!/CDGoble
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Book Review: The Case for Christmas by Lee Strobel

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Clark Goble| Leave a comment
By Clark Goble | December 17, 2010

Book Review: The Case for Christmas by Lee Strobel
Published by Zondervan, 2009

The Case for Christmas is an abridged version of Strobel’s more in depth work, The Case for Christ. While I would recommend that readers interested in apologetics pass on this book in favor of The Case for Christ, I must say that this title is perfect for those who may be intimidated by a larger volume and are looking for something that is easily digested.

The Case for Christmas is also a perfect read for the holiday season and is highly recommended for anyone who wants to learn more about the true nature of Christmas. One of the highlights of this little book is that Strobel provides interviews with notable theological experts such as Craig Blomberg and D.A. Carson that the casual Christian or curious seeker may never read otherwise. Personally, I found Strobel’s interview with Louis Lapides of great interest and consider it the highlight of this short book. Lapides, who was raised in a traditional Jewish household, set out on a spiritual journey that began with strong agnosticism, explored Buddhism, and eventually culminated in Christianity. Lapides is a great example of a skeptic who took it upon himself to learn the truth of Christ. I’ll end this short review with the words of Lapides:

“… here’s my challenge to skeptics: Don’t accept my word for it, but don’t accept your rabbi’s either. Spend the time to research it yourself. Today nobody can say, ‘There’s no information.’ “

----> Clark Goble is a disciple of Christ, a husband, father, student, and writer. He welcomes your comments and encourages you to leave one here or email him at cdgobleATgmail.com. You can follow his twitter updates at http://twitter.com/#!/CDGoble
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