Bridges and Bioethics

Bridges are an important part of transportation. They help us get from one place to another over seemingly impassable chasms. You may wonder why I have not just included a list of do’s and don’ts to help in your travels. Well, if you can be aware of the deeper elements of culture and the process through which you will
pass, you are better able to think through some very complicated issues of “Cross-Cultural Adjustment.”

Bioethics is one of the sensitive areas which invites people to seek out the fundamentals of faith, of anthropology and morality. The role of Christians is irreplaceable in forming an ethical social conscience and civil principles, by means of serious but respectful dialogue. This new cultural situation calls for a thorough preparation in bioethics, both for church leaders and for those lay men and women who are working in this crucial area.

"We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too. Don’t you remember, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preached God’s Good News to you. You yourselves are our witnesses—and so is God—that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers. And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children. We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory."                            - 1 Thessalonians 2:8-12

Book suggestions: bioethics, assurance of salvation, purity, Jerry Bridges

The Story

The Bible begins with the story of creation and ends with a vision of God’s recreation. Peppered generously between alpha and omega are a host of other stories. While stories dominate Scripture, they rarely enter the Christian worker’s strategies. Leland Ryken cogently asks:

Why does the Bible contain so many stories? Is it possible that stories reveal some truths and experiences in a way that no other literary form does—and if so, what are they? What is the difference in our picture of God when we read stories in which God acts, as compared with theological statements about the nature of God? What does the Bible communicate through our imagination that it does not communicate through our reason? If the Bible uses the imagination as one way of communicating truth, should we not show an identical confidence in the power of the imagination to convey religious truth? If so, would a good starting point be to respect the story quality of the Bible in our exposition of it?

Is it not time for today’s Christian workers to revitalize one of the world’s oldest, most universal and powerful art forms—storytelling? I believe so. I also believe that Christian workers, with training and practice, can effectively communicate the finished story of Jesus Christ and connect it to the target audience’s unfinished story. Presenting an overview of Old and New Testament stories that unveils the history of redemption will highlight for the listeners the Storyline (Jesus Christ) of the sacred Storybook (Bible). Should this happen, the gospel will be much more easily understood, and more frequently communicated to family and friends.

For everyone

We should seek to have all we do become loving service to Him. Paul had this sense of worship in mind when he wrote at the beginning of the application section of the book of Romans, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—which is your spiritual worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (12:1-2).

Universalism in the seventeenth century should be seen partly as reaction to the particularism of high Calvinism, which with its doctrine of limited atonement excluded any kind of divine will for the salvation of all people. Revulsion against the apparent cruelty of the God who created the reprobate for no other purpose than to damn them, led firstly to Arminianism, in which the Gospel genuinely offers salvation to all people; a further step leads to the Quaker doctrine that saving grace is given to all people, but may be resisted; the extreme position is that all people will actually be saved. A further factor promoting universalism was the Platonic tradition, revived during the Renaissance, along with an interest in Origen and the early Greek Fathers, who could plausibly be thought to represent a form of Christian doctrine earlier, and therefore purer, than Augustine, to whom the Calvinists appealed.

With regard to salvation, God has always had only two categories of people those who are His people and are saved and those who are not His people and are lost.

If an isolated person responded to God’s revelation in his heart and in nature, how would he ever hear about Christ?

1. God desires that all men be saved (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9).
2. God seeks for those who acknowledge their spiritual need and seek Him (Ezekiel 34:11; Luke 19:10).
3. When people are seeking the true God two things happen:
a. God brings the message to them by prompting a Christian to go to them (Acts 16:6-10).
b. The person hearing the message will respond in faith (Acts 16:13,14).
 
An illustration: Suppose a person was lost underground in a dark cave and suddenly found a little lighted arrow pointed a certain direction. Whose fault would it be if he failed to follow it? Obviously his own. God’s “little arrows” are His revelation in man’s heart and nature. We can trust the good and loving Savior to bring the message of salvation to the one who seeks Him.

 Everyone who is saved may not have every i dotted or every t crossed on a fancy doctrinal statement, but they WILL have right beliefs about God, including comprehension of and humble acknowledgement to the belief that Jesus is the ONLY way to God, and that no-one comes to the Father but by him. (John 14:6)