The Devoted Word

  I received the following email: I was curious how one could get ahold of the article entitled “Contra Atheism: Don't Coddle The Elephant” by Jeff Durbin published by American Vision on Nov 8, 2013. It seems to have vanished entirely from the internet. Thanks in advance for your help. It had. Well, I've resurrected it. It was written by Jeff Durbin of Apologia Studios.  — Gary DeMar _________________________ It's one thing to have a messy house. It's quite another thing (grotesque, actually) to allow an elephant into your home to make a splendid wreck of things. Atheists seem strangely comfortable allowing elephants into their living rooms to knock their lamps over. Unfortunately, Christians have a reputation of not mentioning the beast in the room and even coddling the massive creatures because Atheists have a reputation for biting the folks from animal control. Never-you-mind: Don't coddle the elephant—it doesn't belong there. Our Atheist friends want us to agree with them when they tell us the grand-legend that our ancestors were (once upon a time) fish. They want us to be committed to the idea that the universe is not subject to any personal governance, that it is unguided, and that we are all the descendants of highly-evolved societies of bacteria. Further, these products of time and chance acting on matter want us to devote ourselves to the notion that (in a godless universe) there is no good and no evil—only blind and pitiless indifference. ((Richard Dawkins, River out of Eden, 1995, pg. 131-32)) These bags of protoplasm are ferociously dogmatic and demand that other African apes stop their foolish commitments to the transcendent Creator—Who made them in the Imago Dei and sustains the universe—to come along with them and revel in their announcement that we are Orcs. We live, we die, and we are gone. We are absolutely gone when we die! So it is written, so let it be. Thus, it is decreed, that all bi-pedal bags of brutish matter adopt this system. Here, here! (I think the elephant just knocked over their china cabinet.) The Word coming down from the God they are warring against is clear. Yes, even Orcs understand the language of this King. He says: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:18-21, ESV) Because of our enmity with The Light, image-bearers of God despise being men and long to be considered Orcs in the strictest sense. However, the knowledge we have of the Creator (the One and Only) is inescapable. This knowledge of God is so unavoidable that the Word from the King is, on the last day, no image-bearer will stand before the court arguing that there wasn't enough light to wade through the darkness. The truth is: we love the darkness rather than the light and our lives are a rehearsal and perpetual practice of stuffing down the manifest knowledge of Him that we all have. This brings us to that gargantuan elephant tromping through the Atheist's kitchen. We cannot cease being what God has made us to be. Jumping into a lake and diving to the bottom while pretending to be a fish, doesn't make you a fish, it means you are holding your breath. You'll come up for air; eventually. Atheists want to be Orcs. But, they won't live consistently with the tough stuff required of the Orc-life. They kiss their children (they are precious,

Picking up the second part of Adam's designed purpose of "working" and "keeping" the garden, we discuss mainly the spiritual aspect of "keeping" the way of life. This includes the mediation of angels and the culmination in the New Adam, Christ. It newly inspires us once again toward the kingdom realities here and now, as well as those to come.

God set Adam in the garden with a two-fold purpose: to work and to guard ("keep") the garden of Eden. This discussion focuses on the God-ordained task of work, Adam's role in it throughout Scripture, Christ's fulfillment of it, and his body's execution of it as well. This culminates in the work to be done for the kingdom of the New garden of Eden pictured in Revelation 22.

Discussing Adam and Eden as recapitulations of the creation of the world, types of the temple of God, and their theological significance.

The review of the creation of Adam focuses on his dual aspects of earth and the breath of life. The OT poets focused upon these, and Christ fulfilled them in unique ways, passing the realities onto the New Adam, his church.

Several passages enlighten us as to the biblical theology of the Messiah in relationship to the sabbath. We see several of them here, in prophecy, in the Gospels, and in the book of Hebrews.

This final in the series of discussions on God's sabbath in creation week, and how it relates to mankind's spiritual rest, covers aspects of psychology, mental health, guilt, anxiety, ancestor "worship," as well as human progress and tyranny, and more.

The work and sabbath of God is the basis for the sabbath and work of man. The pattern for man is reversed: life/rest and then work. Man's true sabbath is to rest in God, then good works flow from it. This means the Old Law was ceremonial.

The dominion mandate is inseparable from the Image of God; both were corrupted in the fall, but Scripture shows they are fully restored and recapitulated in Christ Jesus. This is our call, our restoration, and our mission!

"Dominion" is obviously a biblical word and concept, and there is indeed a biblical theology of dominion; but many people have developed mistaken ideas about it. Whether in favor or opposed, mistaken views of "dominion" need to be corrected so we can return to faithful views and practice. Here are five things "dominion" or "dominion theology" is most definitely NOT.

Scripture sees the dominion mandate from multiple perspectives, but there is one thing it is certainly not supposed to mean for God's people. . . .

What does it mean to be created in the Image of God, exactly? Theologians have been quite diverse on this, but we have at least some answers---some very interesting ones in fact! Join us as we consider the Image in Adam, both male and female, humanity as a whole, its ultimate fulfillment in Christ himself, and more!

Animal as symbols appear in crucial theological areas: God, man, sacrifices, case laws, nations, tyrannies, food laws, prophecies, and more . . . all for important reasons to which we really need to pay attention today.

God's language of fruiting trees appears over and over again as imagery of abundance, life, and blessing. We see them associated with the righteous man, trees planted by the waters, giving fruit in due season; and we see them as symbols of nations, culminating in the trees of life for the healing of the nations in Revelation 22. Along the way we get an interesting glimpse at their symbolism as ladders to heaven, in Jesus' words to Nathaniel.

The second discussion of the theological use of rock, precious metals, and gems in Scripture. What about those glorified stones? What of those "stones of fire" as God calls them in Ezekiel? What about refinement and purity and holiness? What of these living stones and the stone cut out without hands growing to fill the earth? These are not just dull rocks. Pay attention, because this is talking about you and your God!

God created the dry land. He also calls himself and Christ "the Rock" over and over again in Scripture. Rocks feature in many prominent and important ways, and we must pay attention. - Eden especially contained special "glorified" rocks such a gold an...

God placed the sun, moon, and stars in the heaven for "signs" and for "seasons." Their theological significance is much greater than you think, especially when we contemplate the "end time" "signs in the heavens," stars falling from the sky, and a New Jerusalem in which there is no need for the sun!

We discuss the creational aspects of dry land, plants, seed-bearing grasses, and fruit-bearing trees---and the biblical theology built upon them. We revisit Noah with his vineyard, Christ the vine and we his branches, the wedding at Cana, the Trees of Life and Healing of the Nations in this New Covenant, and much more. . . .

The Bible uses the Genesis 1 concept of the "firmament" or "expanse" which divides the heavens in various places. Understanding the theology and imagery of the expanse will help us understand several passages about the heavens and eschatology / end times much better.

A look at some keywords in this passage that relate to the working of God in his sovereignty, and how the same ideas and images define both the salvation and the work of man in dominion.