Category: Law and Gospel

65. Adam4d’s “Jesus is David”

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Adam Ford is the man behind the prolific and often viral producing online comic-strip Adam4d.  He’s a Christian, a husband, and father of three young boys.  Back in 2014, he quit his job to create comic strips full-time.

Since launching the Contradict – They Can’t All Be True Facebook page to help promote my book by that title, I have regularly found myself sharing Ford’s work.  Those posts generally draw many likes and shares.  His strips are often times found on many other Christian social media pages, typically groups or individuals who accept that the Bible is the inerrant, inspired Word of God, by groups and individuals who are not labeled as liberal Christians or heretics!

When he’s not using presuppositional apologetics to tear down false-worldviews, or picking apart the lies of Darwinian Evolution, Ford is typically highlighting the pitfalls of legalism and self-justification within Christian circles, or the way verses are often times ripped out of their context and twisted to mean something that was never implied within the text.

The Gospel typically has predominance in his doctrinal and homiletical comic strips, so he gains many fans who recognize that we truly are saved solely by the work of God that faith really is a gift and work of the Holy Spirit.

But sometimes, even when we are pointing to Jesus as the author and perfecter of our faith, the only one who works in our conversion and salvation, we can still twist Scripture.  And when Jesus and his saving work is front and center, it’s easier for us conservative mongergists to clap, clap, clap and share, share, share, however, at times the Scriptures aren’t accurately divided between Law and Gospel and we shouldn’t click that button.

I think Adam Ford took a misstep when he was taking a swing at the prosperity Gospel preachers in his strip entitled, “Good News: We Are Not David.”  I saw many people share this strip, people I personally know, but I couldn’t hit the like button this time, and I couldn’t hit the share button without posting a critique.

For this episode, I gathered Conni Schramm, back from episodes 7 and 64, Jon Rutherford, back from some recent episodes, and Jonathan Platt, who was sitting on the wall like a fly, but kept  hopping on a mic to interject questions.

Here are the extensive show notes that are almost a direct transcript if you can’t devote yourself to listening for an hour: Podcast David Comic.

Andy Wrasman3 Comments

43. Is Smoking Sinful?

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Reconnect Episode 43Heaven and Hell

 

Wil Hunemuller wrote a blog post entitled, “Smoking to the Glory of God”. I shared it to my Facebook page, Contradict – They Can’t All Be True. The comment section exploded! Many Christians on my page argued that smoking is a sin. The arguments that smoking is addictive and harmful to one’s health were the two most recurring arguments to support the sinfulness of smoking.

The verse that was often cited for smoking being a sin due to the bodily harm it is known to cause was 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”

No verse was supplied by the commenters who said smoking was sinful because it’s addictive. The verse I think that shows us that addiction can be sinful is 1 Corinthians 6:12, which says, “”I have the right to do anything,” you say–but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”–but I will not be mastered by anything.” I believe the closing line about not being mastered by anything can describe what occurs when a person has an addiction.

Do these two verses put the nail in the coffin that smoking is sinful and no Christian should partake in any smoking, at any time, for any reason, unless he or she sins?

To address the addiction argument, I ask the question, “Are all addictions sinful?”

I would also state, “Just because something is addictive, that doesn’t mean a person must be addicted to whatever that thing is.”

Are any of us not addicted in some way? Aren’t we all addicted to sin? I mean, can any of us stop sinning? Even when we really want to stop? Isn’t that the definition of addiction? And if you say, you don’t have that problem, I’m afraid you are deceiving yourself.

To the argument that smoking is sinful because it causes harm to one’s body, I simply ask the question, “Do we really want to go down that route?”

As the discussion was unfolding on my Facebook page, I received a message from Joel Oesch, a guy who I have played basketball with and who now teaches Theology at my Alma mater, Concordia University Irvine. He shared with me an article he had just published on his blog entitled, “Thank you for smoking!”. Joel’s arguments for Christian smoking were similar to Hunemuller’s, namely, smoking can serve as a means to build authentic Christian community. Such a concept will likely come as a shock to many Christians, so for this episode I invited Joel to respond to the arguments posted about smoking being a sin.

Joel does a great job of bringing us to see the problem that is bigger than smoking – our sinful nature. He also does a great job explaining our current difficulty of being a part of embodied community – you are after all reading this online! Smoking helps bring us into embodied community and it breaks down all sorts of social barriers – have your doubts? Please give a listen to this episode and hear Joel out. He provides great arguments and explanations. Listen with an open mind and Bible. We visit 1 Corinthians 6 and look at the context of those two key verses at the top of this post, and we also take a look at Romans 14. We unpack an important word that describes the “sin” or “not sin” debate concerning smoking and other issues like it that are divisive in the Body of Christ and how we should navigate them together –adiaphora. If you don’t know what adiaphora is, then you must listen!

I welcome all feedback in the comments section. If I don’t reply, I apologize, but I will read it.

Show Links

“Smoking to the Glory of God” by Wil Hunemuller

“Thank you for smoking!” by Joel Oesch

Fishing for Leviathan – Joel’s Website

The Christian Gentlemen’s Smoking Companion

Health Benefits to Smoking

 

Andy Wrasman2 Comments

27. Law and Gospel

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Andy and Wes discuss Law and Gospel.

0:30 – Law and Gospel Intro  Reconnect Episode 27

2:35 – What is God’s Law?

5:20 – What is the Gospel?

6:40 – When does a person need to hear Law?  When does a person need to hear the Gospel?

10:00 – Public preaching of God’s Word needs both Law and Gospel.

14:20 – Don’t weaken the Law of God.

18:30 – The Law found in the Sermon on the Mount

20:55 – Can we meet God’s standard in this life?

25:00 – God’s Law is written on all men’s hearts.

27:00 – Knowing that God’s Law is written on the hearts of men, most adherents of other religions are likely already in terror of God’s Law and need to hear the Gospel, not more Law.

31:20 – Christianity has both Law and Gospel.  Other religions just have the Law.

35:00 – What is the hermeneutical principle of distinguishing Law and Gospel in a Scriptural text?

52:00 – Closing words

Show Links:

Walther’s Law and Gospel

Law and Gospel posts at AndyWrasman.Com

Andy Wrasman3 Comments

23. Law and Gospel on Facebook

Reconnect Episode 23
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I (Andy) have recently noticed, on the Contradict Facebook page I administer and on other pages, that most posts on homosexuality speak just the Law of God ( i.e. his standards, commands, and expectations). The Gospel is typically missing.

I took a photo of a gay wedding cake and then added the text, “Jesus died for this sin too!” off to the side of the image. With this single statement the Gospel is proclaimed, and at the same time homosexuality is still shown to be sinful.

jesus died1

Jesus is the Savior of all adulterers. I am one of them. To clarify, in Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount”, he defines adultery as any lust. He defines murder as hating anyone. Jesus essentially shows us that we all have broken God’s Law, that we are all sinners in need of divine redemption. He provided that redemption through the shedding of his blood for our sins, through his life, death, burial, and resurrection.

“To share or not to share?”  That is the question.  In this episode George shares why he chooses to abstain from sharing religious posts on social media sites, while I share why I am in full support of such posts.  To close George shares four Facebook posts pertaining with homosexuality and wants to know if I’d share them or not.  Putting the Law and Gospel principle into action, I decide to share or not to share.

To learn more about Law and Gospel watch the videos with Law and Gospel in their titles in the following playlist I created on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS-hGmUdPsUnbaRFbrhQqhy9zj-h5mwub

Andy Wrasman4 Comments

“You will die!” – One approach to Christian Apologetics

Dear readers, whoever you are.

This isn’t exactly what one usually would consider when they think of defending the Christian faith; the statement, “You will die.”  It’s not pretty.  It’s not nice.  We try not to think about it.  We try to push death out of our minds.  That’s why they call them casualties and not deaths!  That’s why they call them viruses, or the bird flu, or the swine flu, and not plagues! (Paraphrasing Henry Rollins) We don’t want to think about death!

To quote the Black Sabbath song, “After Forever,” “When you think about death do you keep your cool?”

Well to quote the song more, “I’ll be prepared when you’re lonely and scared at the end of our days.”  The answer in that song by Black Sabbath of course is “Jesus Christ is the only way to love.”

I know a pastor who sets up shop at university campuses.  He shares the good news of salvation with people.  However, if a person rejects the news.  If they are complacent, if they are ambivalent, he challenges them to consider the alternatives… what if there is no God, then you die and you are in the ground.  What if there is a God?  And you have rejected him? What if that God is Jesus?  What then?  Are you so sure… do you keep your cool when you think about death?

He told one student, “Well, just remember you are going to die.”  And the student left the conversation at that, but came back to him a month later and said, “Do you remember the last thing you said to me?”  The pastor did not.  The student said it had troubled him ever sense talking to him.  He finally came face to face with his own personal death, and was he so sure… was he so certain that he would be reincarnated as his faith taught.  The pastor shared, “Jesus will save you from that death. He paid for all of your sins.”

Part of apologetics is just properly explaining the Christian faith, and God’s Word can be divided into two camps, Law, and Gospel.  God’s Law shows us that we are sinners, that God’s wrath is upon us and that we justly deserve his eternal punishment.  God’s Gospel shows us our savior.  To learn more about Law and Gospel, click here.

So, you will die.  Worried?  Well, maybe you shouldn’t be complacent?  Don’t put off considering what lies beyond this life.  To be fair, I’ll say look to all religions, but I’d recommend looking to Christianity first, and I say this because it is objective, read 1 Corinthians 15 to know what I mean. That passage will show you the center of the Christian faith.  It will tell you where the Christian faith stands or falls.  It will show you that you are a sinner and that you will die for those sins, yet it also will show you the good news that Jesus died for sins, was buried, and on the third day rose from the grave as according to the Scriptures.

For more on sharing the Gospel on a college campus using a table-top evangelism style approach, listen to Reconnect Episode 6: Contradict – Campus Evangelism.

>>>Order Andy Wrasman’s book, Contradict- They Can’t All Be True.<<<

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