Who Let The Dogs Out!!?? (Woof...woof...woof...woof)

Well, you know it had to happen. Ever since I started affectionately calling our evangelism class, The Evangelism Dog Pound, that goofy "song" has been ringing in my ears the whole time. For those of you who know me, it comes as no surprise.


There's really nothing like taking a totally secular and crass song and turning it to describe what might be one of my favorite bible teaching classes of all time; and we've only completed the second of six sessions.


Frank, our godly doggy trainer, has taken something I've grown up with and heard all of my life and presented it in such a way that has made me rethink and rework every preconceived notion I had about the gospel to begin with. Can we say the word "r.e.m.o.l.d?"


His starting trick was a great opening. "The gospel is not a plan--it's a person." If I'm understanding correctly, the intent was the personhood of God. How God has revealed Himself by condescending to our tiny, puny brains in creating things in which we can see Him. Not to take away from the marvel and beauty of a mere tree, but considering that He spoke these things into existence--I think the word "condescending" is in order here. But as with anything, I would like to take things a little further and also point out that God revealed His personhood in Jesus Christ. Everything about Jesus Christ clearly points to God in every way. Jesus is God in the flesh (John 1:14). Who He was, is and every claim He made, Jesus could do this because He was God. Interestingly enough is the book, What Jesus Demands From the World by John Piper. In it, not only does Dr. Piper clearly state the claims that Jesus made, but goes as far as to say that Jesus actually has and more importantly can make demands on people's lives. Not just the ones who believe and follow Him, but also on the ones who reject and despise Him. Don't believe it. Read in the bible Matthew 28:18. His authority is over all.


But I digress and much to the dismay of my trainer, have rabbit trailed and should be duly scolded as he discouraged any rabbit trailing at all. With ears lowered and tail tucked, I press on.


We started with memory verse homework (which my dear hubby and other lovable pooches aced) and then was led into The Gospel Presentation, Part 1 in our training manual. God, as creator and owner of all, was the first point--and well He should be. :) Frank masterfully divided the word of God to us as He described God revealed in creation. Romans 1:20-23. He gave us complete definitions of eternal power and divine nature.


(Eternal Power: This is a specific statement of God's never-failing power over all things. This reflects His creation and preservation of the world (Colossians 1:16-17. Divine Nature: This is a general statement regarding God's kindness and grace to all men (Matthew 5:45). It summarizes the revealed attributes of God.)


Now we get to the interesting part and this may be where I lose some of my faithful readers. But I hope that you will stick with me to the end here and as Frank's dogmatic (cheap, I know) theme kept resounding like a sweet gentle breeze on a hot summer's day--we'll bring it all together. The law of God is revealed in the heart of every man. What!? That's right. Not just believer's hearts, but every heart--believer or unbeliever. His good and perfect law is imprinted on every man-person. Now how that plays out in our lives is another point entirely, but we can be assured that God, in His infinite grace and mercy, has made us in His image--Genesis 1:26, the likeness of Him--actually "them"--but that's another hip hoppity trail. So what do we do with all of that. We follow His will perfectly and never disobey the creator and owner of all. Woohoo!! See, I told you if you stuck to the end--there'd be a gentle breeze ablowin'. Well, actually, that's not the whole, entire truth.

There is one little sidebar. No one, and I mean nobody except Jesus Christ Himself, could, can or is going to keep God's moral, perfect and holy law--ever. Romans 3:10-11, and 23, Ecclesiastes 7:20 and Isaiah 53:6a spell that out in no uncertain terms. The only perfect human to ever (or is ever going to) walk the face of the earth, Jesus, taught in Matthew 5:21-28 about the breaking of God's law. To really heap it on, not only can we not, in our natural selves, lead sinless, morally perfect lives, but if we don't--a holy and righteous God has every right, privilege and prerogative to be judge, jury and executioner for every soul He made and that means the "d" word..."death." Romans 6:23. Now at this point, there are many who might be wondering if we could possibly do some good deeds. In other words, for every bitter thought or selfish action, we might possibly pay for some penance by being a do-gooder. In other words, right a wrong. A program not in the bible. In fact, just the total opposite. Nothing we can do or say can right a wrong. Only the creator and owner of everything can set those kinds of rules. In keeping with scripture, the more we work on our behalf, the more pewtred it is to a holy God. Titus 3:5 and Ephesians 2:8-9 are pretty clear about that. Just to pose a perspective question to you--if our works could save...who would get the glory?

Excellence in teaching? There it was. Right there at the dog pound. First rate angus beefy scripture thrown to us hungry pack of hounds. Frank then wrapped it up by "bringing it all together." Presuppositional apologetics was used. The word "presupposition" is defined in dictionary.com as the act of presupposing; a supposition made prior to having knowledge (as for the purpose of argument). So in opportunities to share the gospel (I Peter 3:15) we, as believers in Christ, are called to precisely and accurately share the hope that we have in Christ with others. The starting point is a presupposition of who God is and who man is as defined by God Himself in His holy word.

Now admittedly there are were two points of yapping for me that I need a little more guidance on. I'll take the last one before the first.

Toward the end of the training, Frank mentioned that when evangelizing, we must go for the heart and bypass the intellect. That made me yelp. Growing up in a charismatic setting...heart was the leader and intellect was completely bypassed. Engage the heart, the intellect was for those who were not at the mature level of the Holy Spirit's guidance. It was the way that the Holy Spirit led...not through the mind, but through the "heart." I sat there flashbacking to this higher, gnostic form of religion that one could only be saved if they "felt" like they were saved. Since the heart is such a central way of "feeling", popularly used today in the Valentine's Day culture that we live in, I questioned. But Frank, in his great desire for godliness, exhibited much restraint and great patience (as he continually has with me in the past) and plainly and simply defined what was meant by this-which, by the way, I was the only one who was misunderstanding this tidbit, so it was obviously all me and not Frank. When Jesus shared with those who had listening ears, He went for the heart. He did not engage in a match for match wits with them. He would not be led down the many rabbit trails that were thrown at Him. References? In Mark 10, Jesus addresses the heart of a rich young ruler and we find out where exactly his heart is. John 3 starts with a man named Nicodemus who comes to Jesus at night, asking Him about how to be saved. John 4-The woman at the well. Jesus talks to her about living water. That is what he (Frank) meant by going for the heart and not the intellect. Herein we can add another freedom to the previous session's list. The freedom in not having to match wits with someone else. It's not about trying to outsmart them or have enough evidence to combat every single objection someone has. It's about the freedom to freely talk about the heart issues that every single person faces in any given race, culture, and social status.

Here's the second yelp-filled question. This happened earlier in the night. Another fellow canine asked, what I thought, was a great question. In the context of man's sin and ability to understand his depravity before a holy God--can anyone claim ignorance? In other words, can someone just flat out truly believe that they didn't know--they had no idea about the moral and holy law. Now, to be fair, I may have misunderstood his question and completely distorted and perverted the original intent of what he was trying to ask. Anyone who knows me is, at this point, not surprised. But his question spurred my own thoughts and questions toward what the bible says man's responsibility is before God.

Romans 1:20 clearly states that man is without excuse. Because He (God) clearly wrote Himself on every person's heart, there will be no man that will be able to stand before His judgement throne and give an excuse of ignorance. Ephesians 2:5 says that we are dead in our transgressions. Colossians 2:13 says that we were dead in our transgressions. II Corinthians talks about spiritual blindness. So how do we reconcile all of this? We are fully responsible and without excuse, yet those who are dead--how can they see? How can they hear? They're doornail dead-right? Ultimately, I put it under the wonderful and gracious heading of God's sovereignty. But in the quietness of my own heart, I still pray that I will better understand it more to be able to give an answer for those who ask--realizing the limitations of my feeble and wimpy intellect.

So, because of all of this unruly yapping, our trainer wisely posed the question back to us as homework. Over the next two weeks we are to figure out the following question:

Can anyone claim ignorance when it comes to God's holy law? As with any seasoned cheater, cheater pumpkin eater--I am posing the question to you, the reader of this bloggy. Please respond in the comments section (or feel free to E-mail me) as I would love to hear what you have to say. It will ultimately help me with my homework and hopefully get me out of the doghouse I'm in with all of my fellow dogsters. Any in-context, biblical support gets their very own pigs ear doggy treat.

Thank you for letting me share and I'm already looking forward to the next session, should the Lord allow. Blessings, dear Frank, for your incredible leadership and guidance as this wild dingo gets muzzled in truth! Woof!