I’ve recently been reading Finally Alive by John Piper on the subject of the new birth. It is a great book and begins with the story of C.S. Lewis’ conversion/regeneration/new birth. Lewis states:
I know very well when, but hardly how, the final step was taken. It was more like when a man, after long sleep, still lying motionless in bed, becomes aware that he is now awake.
That description of the born again experience has stuck with me that past couple days and I recalled to mind an old Keith Green song that similarly bears the same truth. The following excerpt from Green’s “Your Love Broke Through” says basically the same thing Lewis said of his conversion experience:
Like a foolish dreamer, trying to build a highway to the sky
All my hopes would come tumbling down, and I never knew just why
Until today, when you pulled away the clouds that hung like curtains on my eyes
Well I’ve been blind all these wasted years and I though I was so wise
But then you took me by surpriseLike waking up from the longest dream, how real it seemed
Until your love broke through
I’ve been lost in a fantasy, that blinded me until your love broke through
In thinking about how waking up from a long sleep reflects the new birth experience, I have attempted to draw from my own “sleeping” experience. When asleep, I am not conscious of my body, soul, mind, even my very existence. I lie there in bed dead to all awareness or conciousness until the moment I wake. After waking I am fully aware of my existence and begin to “live” again.
The deadness of the unregenerate heart causes it to be unaware that it is spiritually dead. Ephesians 2 says that we were dead in trespasses and sins. Titus 3 says that we were saved when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared. We are dead in sins until God appears and wakes us up through regeneration, or the new birth. I do not want to diminish our dead and desperate condition before God by using the phrase “wakes us up.” We are dead in sin. The rigamortis has set in. We cannot nor will not make any move toward God and repentance until the Holy Spirit regenerates our dead hearts and breathes spiritual life into us. At that point, the conversion experience is like a new birth, like waking up from the longest sleep.
When I sleep, I have no awareness of time (indeed, by body’s internal clock works lest I should never wake up), therefore, I could sleep forever and not know it if it were possible. So it is with the spiritually dead — they are unaware that they are spiritually dead and were it not for the grace of God, they would never be aware of their spiritual deadness.
The ultimate point is that salvation/regeneration/the new birth etc. is all the work of God and not man. Soli Deo Gloria.
23
Jul 09
Does What I Watch On T.V. Really Matter?
The television, I believe, will go down in history as the single most distracting and harmful modern invention for Christians. For all the talk about using it for the gospel and for good, we must admit that many if not most of us use it for any reason but good. I speak from experience. As a Christian of nearly 21 years, I am ashamed to admit to the things I have seen and the time wasted on television. I have liked action (read: violent) and horror movies since my college years. Friday the 13th, Halloween and zombie flicks are just a few of my favorites.
But it’s just entertainment, right?? Wrong. I told myself that for years. These movies and the majority of others expose the believer to worldviews and lifestyles that are forbidden and condemned in Scripture. In your average R-rated horror movie, you will see violence (usually extreme), explicit sex, an inordinate amount of profanity, and a worldview that is void of regard for God or His creation. But wait, you see this things (in some degree or another) on T.V. too! The Bible is very specific regarding these things:
The list could go on and on. God hates the lifestyles depicted in most movies and television shows. Think shows that do not have this stuff in them are ok? Ask yourself what worldview is being presented. Are the people following the pattern of the world or are they trying to live by God’s principles in Scripture? The best example I can conceive of is John & Kate Plus 8 contrasted with the Dugger family. The former, living for themselves, the latter living for Christ and raising their children to do the same.
Some movies/shows are not necessarily compromising but still should be watched carefully. Commercials are ridiculous. Male enlargement, Viagra, fast food commercials using sexual innuendo and the like are all the product of a society obsessed with sex. When the commercials come on at my house, the mute or previous channel button gets pressed. Face it. For $60 a month, there are very very few channels a committed believer can watch.
What comes next then? For me it was getting rid of the junk I had in my movie collection. After coming to terms with the fact that as a disciple of Jesus Christ I had to clean up my entertainment habits, I made the decision and commitment to get rid of the movies that compromised my faith. I can’t say that watching violent movies made me want to kill or be violent, but they sure gave me a worldly mindset and I began to hate it. I can say that my heart and life is better off now. I have a renewed zeal for Scripture and a fierce hatred of the worldliness that once entangled me. Life is too short to spend filling our hearts with junk unfit for the kingdom of God.