The Tulip Driven Life

The more I hear about Rob Bell, Deepak Chopra, the more I get excited. Coming from a fundamental, conservative, staunch Calvinist, that may sound surprising. And on one hand, I am not excited about the deception these men have caused. Satan is no doubt well-pleased with them. But I do know that the devil is God's devil, and as we see in Job, the devil only does what God allows, and we know that God only allows what will ultimately bring about His greatest glory and His people's greatest joy. And while I realize many of my friends who are fundamentalists are probably amening this at this point, I don't think you, and perhaps even some of my friends who call themselves Calvinists, will be in my next paragraph. God's greatest glory and our greatest joy will be, in part, the damnation of billions of soul into hell where the wrath of God against their sins will eternally be poured out. Can I get an amen for that? And this is why I say that, unless we can amen that last s...

The question was this: Jim and Sue had been plannign to have a child for two years. Finally, she became pregnant. However, their marriage had been a rough one, and by the time she was in her thrid month of pregnancy they had decided to divorce. At that point, both parents were ambivalent about the pregnancy. They had both watned the child, but now things were different. Sue finally decided that she did not want to raise a child alone and did not want to raise Jim's child. She wanted to get on with her life. However, Jim had long wanted a child, and he realized that the developing fetus was partly his own because he had provided half of its genetic makeup. He did not want Sue to end the pregnancy. He wanted to keep and raise the child. The case was currently being heard by the court. Although the primary decision is a legal one, do you think that Jim had any moral rights in this case or should the decision be strictly Sue's? Why or why not? My answer: This is an interes...

I adapted this from an online conversation I had concerning Rob Bell, his new book Love Wins, and his theology on salvation and hell. Love wins? It depends on what you mean by that. God wins, and God is love, but that is not all God is. So yes, God wins, and in the goodness of God's love, He also wins. But I think the tacit assumption is that God's overarching, highest attribute is His love, and that His love obligates Him to save all of mankind (at least for Rob Bell, and if you like Bell I would think your leanings would at least be in that direction). But, Scripture is quite clear, that God extends love to whomever He wills, because it is His sovereign choice to extend it however He sees fit. We, as fallen, sinful, God hating humans, deserve nothing less than eternal torment in hell, however, Rob Bell seems to disagree with that, perhaps you do too. So when you have our sinfulness and wickedness to where God calls us sons of the devil and not sons of God, and you have God...

Tonight I discussed with some friends why a particular youth group that some of them attend segregate their youth by gender. We had a bit of a disagreement and it got rather tense, but I would like to articulate my position for others (and hopefully them if they read this). I do not understand why we should segregate youth where boys sit on one side of the room and girls on the other. The answer given by a guy who attends this youth group did make some sense- he said they do this for the unsaved that may be visiting. For instance, say an unbeliever walks in, sits next to someone of the opposite sex, and is distracted by them because of his insatiable lust; by obligating guys to sit next to guys and girls to sit next to girls, this distraction and problem is alleviated, or so the reasoning goes. While I think that line of reasoning carries some weight, I do not think it actually works all that well. I was also told that in this particular youth group, as well as another, that guys a...

EDITORS NOTE 11/29/2020: Having re-read my review and seeing where Platt is now, it is clear to me that he has socialistic tendencies, and I can no longer recommend this book, even with qualifications.  Radical is a New York Times Bestseller and I believe was number one on Amazon for a while. It is written by Pastor David Platt, regarded as the youngest mega church pastor ever. The book is just over 200 pages long, and is a light, quick, yet very convicting read. In fact, it is probably the most convicting book (outside of the Bible of course) that I have ever read.  The subtitle of the book is "Taking Back Your Faith From The American Dream," and that is exactly what Platt does in this book. We have grown comfortable and complacent in our faith, living in luxury and spending our time and energies on stuff- we have become materialists. And not just secular America, but Christian, evangelical America.  While we may all agree that we are neither thankful enough no...