In the excellent The Slavery of Death, Richard Beck says the book presents the gospel as he’d explain it to his kids. When reading that, I thought “This guy didn’t just write a book for fun or profit or strangers. He wrote it for his kids!” How cool is that?

Cool enough that it inspired me to dig for something to tell my kids that captures the gospel as I understand it. And, of course, my big plan is to tell them the gospel every night before they go to bed.

So, thanks in part to Richard Beck, every night when I tuck my kids in bed I say, “God loves you and he takes care of you. You love God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and people, and things will work out alright. You may have tough times along the way, but everything will work out.”

It’s not perfect, of course, but I think it covers just about everything. Plus, it makes me happy as a lark to hear them say “I lub God, Zesus, duh Holy Spearit, and peepul.”

“The mark of the Spirit in an activity is always the incommensurability of the result with the effort.”¹ Dallas Willard

Is there any better way to kill a conversation than to be ugly? I’ve seen a lot of mean-spirited arguments, and I’ve made a lot of mean arguments. A lot of it comes from well-intended believers¹, but the scriptures tell us to do better:

• “And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone… correcting his opponents with gentleness” (2 Timothy 2:25-26)
• “Remind them…to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.” (Titus 3:1-2)
• “…in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense…yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience…” (1 Peter 3:15-16)

So how do we do this?

Tim Keller suggests seven rules²:

• Carson’s Rule: You don’t have to follow Matthew 18 before publishing polemics.
• Murray’s Rule: You must take full responsibility for even unwitting misrepresentation of someone’s views.
• Alexander’s Rule: Never attribute an opinion to your opponent that he himself does not own.
• Gillespie’s Rule A: Take your opponents’ views in total, not selectively.
• Gillespie’s Rule B: Represent and engage your opponents’ position in its very strongest form, not in a weak ‘straw man’ form.
• Calvin’s Rule: Seek to persuade, not antagonize, but watch your motives!
• Everybody’s Rule: Only God sees the heart—so remember the gospel and stick to criticizing the theology.

I would suggest a few other rules³:

• Talk as if your opponent is present, even if he/she isn’t. Say nothing in tone or content that you wouldn’t say if he/she were there.
• When speaking directly to your opponent, repeat his/her argument in your own words before responding. Ensure that your opponent knows that you are committed to truth, both in understanding his argument and in responding to his argument.
• Be careful when condensing your opponent’s claims. When condensing a claim, you may remove fundamental assumptions that you mistake for unimportant nuances.

I struggle with the utter destruction commands given in the Old Testament.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” (1 Sa 15:2-3)

How do I respond that? How is God being just, merciful, fair, and loving in this command?

Bear with me here, but I think the answer may be simple. By thinking he is unjust in overseeing the death of women, children, and animals, I’ve assumed that justice comes through preservation of life. Statements like “How can you kill those people? That’s just wrong!” assume that what is best¹ is for those people to live. That assumption deserves a challenge, though. God redeemed the world through his innocent son’s death. He gives us eternal life when we die to our sinful selves. He liberates us from our sinful flesh when we die. To sum it up, God has ways of making physical death benefit those who die and those who live…whether an innocent person (Jesus) dies or a guilty person (us) dies. When I think of it like that, it seems possible—rather, doubtless—that it is best (see the first footnote again) that those women, children, and animals die, despite the visceral repulsiveness of such a thing.

Life is tough. Close friends die, politicians cheat, abusers prevail…and I’ve barely started. Genocide, starvation, unending wars…the list goes on. When I consider these things, I wonder if God cares. Is he really trying to help us out? Are we all alone? What is he trying to do to us? My emotions occasionally tell me he is, but the scriptures says otherwise.

• Ps 62:8: “…God is a refuge for us.”
• Hebrews 13:6: “The Lord is my helper…what can man do to me?”
• 1 John 5:14-15: “if we ask anything according to his will he hears us”</li>
• Matthew 7:11: “‘If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!’”

We get from those four scriptures the testimony of four people (David, the Hebrew author, John the Apostle, and Jesus) that God is on our side.

The testimony doesn’t stop there.

• Luke 12 tells us that God doesn’t forget sparrows
• Luke also tells in Luke 12 that God has numbered the hairs in our head
• Jesus encouraged his followers to relax by pointing the birds that survive despite not sowing, reaping, or gathering (Mt 6)
• Jesus later notes that the lilies grow without toiling (Mt 6)

So, now we have the testimony of nature—birds, our hair, and flowers—that God takes care of us and is interested in and familiar with the smallest details of our lives.

Of course, there are other testimonies (the sacrifice of Jesus being chief), but these testimonies should help me see that God isn’t disinterested. I need only look to other believers or nature to see that God is there and interested.

The Christian experience brings many confusions and complexities. In particular, knowing one’s heart can be quite a challenge. How do I know I’m a believer? How do I know I’m saved? Am I who I think I am? Tough questions, for sure.

I think some questions about our hearts can be answered with Titus 1:15:

To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure…

To those with a good heart, all things are pure. Is injustice pure? Is hatred pure? No. But injustice can be made justice, and hatred can be turned to love. The unjust or hateful person can change. The ugliness can be made pretty. More than that, the pure person sees light in the darkest hearts. He or she knows that God can shine light into that heart, should that person give God that opportunity.

Not so for the defiled heart. To the impure, nothing is pure. Injustice is all the unjust can do. The hateful heart will never love. Even if the unjust person could change, justice is built on selfishness. Love is a product of fear and a way for the loving person to get his or her way (because, let’s be honest, the loving person really just loves himself or herself). It gets even worse: a beautiful woman is a perversion; music is best used as a celebration of a wasted life; a fine wine can not be simply enjoyed without being abused. As Paul says, all things (whether truly impure or not) are impure to the impure.

Getting back to our question: What kind of heart do I have? Well, what is pure to me? Anything?

Alexander Campbell, co-founder of the American Restoration Movement, makes the following comments about the clothes one wears to worship ((from Alexander Campbell, The Millennial Harbinger, Vol. III, p. 439-440)):

On the Sabbath and in the cathedral the [English] nobility dress in their plainest garb...[they] appear in the sanctuary as though they sought not to be worshipped, but to worship God. But we [Americans] frequent the houses of prayer and the places of worship with all our "finery" upon us, as though our synagogues were theatres of fashion...

"Slovenly neglect and rustic coarseness," though also incongruous with good Christian taste, are nevertheless more tolerable in Christian assemblies, than the gaiety and style now in vogue amongst the American communities...

Taking the scriptures at face value, the following things are truth:

• “The sum of your word is truth” (Ps 119:160)
• “…your word is truth” (Jn 17:17)
• “…the Spirit is the truth” (1 Jn 5:6)