The magical healing power of coffee

This week has been an interesting one. I am preaching again this week and the scripture passage has me really excited. When I initially took a look at the two passages that I would be preaching on I figured that last week's sermon would be the "easier" to write. Leave it to God to really point out some cool things in this week's passage and I am really excited to share them on Sunday.

This morning I did a bit of catching up on my blog reading. Both of the blog posts from my good friend (and fellow seminary alumni) Brad were excellent. His first post was on the topic of healing. I was really interested in what he had to say seeing that I just covered the miraculous spiritual gifts. His life experiences also bring a unique perspective:

"Healing, and specifically God’s power in healing, floats through my mind every once and a while, and it has been on my mind again the past few days. I work in a hospital providing care to people recovering from serious injuries and illnesses. Some of my patients are in the hospital a few days, and I have worked with people who have stayed in the hospital for many months."

Brad goes on to say:

"As I stated in my beginning, I believe that God can heal absolutely anything and everything, but there is a qualifier to that, which is that God works healing according to his will. And this can be hard for us to grasp and accept."

The overall point that Brad is making is that sometimes God brings the healing that we desire and other times he does not. Unfortunately we don't always know the reasons why or why not. God's healing is not dependent upon us. It doesn't matter if we have "enough" faith. What matters is God's will. His will is that one day there will no longer be a need for healing but between now and that day comes we cannot fully know why God does or does not heal someone. I would highly recommend the post as it helps shed some light on the subject.

Brad's second post this week was on one of my favorite topics: Coffee. He picked up on a news story this week that had this headline:

"Two cups of coffee a day cuts overall risk of dying by 10 percent, research shows"

He goes on to point out the fatal flaw (pun intended) in the headline: it doesn't matter what we do–we cannot actually cut the risk of dying. The mortality rate in human beings is hovering right around 100%.

"So no matter how much coffee I drink, or how much I exercise, or the amount of broccoli I eat, or any other habit, good or bad, that I may practice, will have any bearing on the ultimate fact of my death. Death will indeed come for me one day. My habits may influence the length of life to a small degree, and they may also influence its quality, but they will not stave off death’s inevitable arrival."

Death on this earth is inevitable. It's coming and we cannot avoid it. But death her on this earth is not the end:

"Whenever it may come, I believe as a Christian that only one thing will really matter: my standing with God. In the parable of sheep and goats in Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus is seen separating people into two groups, those who knew him truly, and those who didn’t. The ones who knew him as his own receive their inheritance, being joined with him forever, while those in the other group are cast out into the darkness."

And I have to give the punchline away. It really is the most important thing in life.

"This is truly the Good News. Earthly life will end but for the Christian it is merely the gateway to their eternal presence with God."

Both posts are really worth the read...especially with your next cup of life-prolonging coffee.

 

Do Globes prove the Earth is round?

Yesterday I came across something that caused me to think about my position on Spiritual Gifts. Spiritual Gifts are the abilities that God has given to every Christian in order to instruct or improve the church. There are several lists of these gifts in the Bible and the major ones can be found in Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 1 Corinthians 12:28 and Ephesians 4:11. Within those lists are what we term as "miraculous gifts." These gifts include: prophecy, healing, miracles, speaking in tongues and interpreting tongues. When it comes to these gifts there are two basic schools of thought. The first position is that of Cessationism which means that these gifts were only around while the Apostles were alive. After the Apostles died the gifts ceased to exist. The second position is that of Continuationsim which means that these gifts continue to exist in the same way that they did in the days of the Apostles.

In my blog post yesterday I shared how 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 has mistakenly been used to support the view of Cessationism. The reason that I brought up the 1 Corinthians 13 passage is that my earliest memories of discussing the validity of the miraculous gifts had centered around this passage. I have personally heard it used as an argument against the present day existence of the miraculous gifts. And–truth be told–I have used it myself. But if the passage is a bad argument for Cessationism does that mean that Continuationism is correct? No; just because a particular supporting argument is proven to be wrong doesn't mean the premise is wrong. For example just consider the "globe argument."

The globe argument starts with the initial premise is that the earth is a sphere. In order to support the premise the globe argument cites the fact that globes–which depict the earth–are spheres. Therefore–the argument goes–because globes are spheres and they depict the earth then the existence of spherical globes prove that the earth must also be a sphere. Of course we can easily see that just because globes are spheres doesn't mean that the earth must be a sphere. Would cubical globes prove that the earth is a cube? The supporting argument is wrong but that doesn't mean that the earth is not a sphere.

One of the key differences between Cessationism and Continuationism is whether or not the miraculous gifts continue exist in the same way that they existed in the day of the Apostles.

Basing theology only on experience or observation can be both tricky and dangerous. Experiences and observations can easily be misleading or misinterpreted. Experiences can also be a very rare or even a singular in occurrence–sort of like the Cubs winning a World Series–and cannot be interpreted as a pattern of any sort. But in the case of the miraculous gifts we must rely on what we observe and experience to be our guide. Do we see these gifts being practiced today in the same way that they were practiced in the early church?

It is my assertion that we do not.

In Acts 2 we read of the Apostles being able to speak in foreign languages that they had not learned through the power of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 3 we read how Peter and John healed a lame man that was instantaneously able to walk again. In Acts 5 we read how Peter was able to give a true prophecy regarding Ananias and Sapphira. Also in Acts 5 we read how Peter was able to heal multitudes of sick people. In Acts 20 we read how Paul was able to raise Eutychus from the dead (after he had bored him to death with his preaching...but I digress).

We don't see these gifts being practiced in these ways today which means–at least from our experience and observations–that they have ceased to exist in the same way as they did for the Apostles. This doesn't mean that God doesn't still use miracles. What it does mean is that no one can truly claim to have one of these miraculous gifts unless they are practicing these gifts in the same way that we see them existing in the Bible.

I might not be a firm Cessationist but I am very skeptical of Continuationism.

What does (or doesn't) Paul say about miraculous gifts?

"Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."

Something that I came across this morning caused me to think about my position on Spiritual Gifts. Paul tells us that the Spiritual Gifts were given "for the common good" of the church. They are the abilities that God has given to every Christian in order to instruct or improve the church. Paul also gives us several lists of gifts in Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 1 Corinthians 12:28 and Ephesians 4:11. Within those lists are what we term as "miraculous gifts." These gifts include: prophecy, healing, miracles, speaking in tongues and interpreting tongues. When it comes to these gifts there are two basic schools of thought. The first position is that of Cessationism which means that these gifts were only around while the Apostles were alive. After the Apostles died the gifts ceased to exist. The second position is that of Continuationsim which means that these gifts continue to exist in the same way that they did in the days of the Apostles.

The passage–1 Corinthians 13:8-12–that is quoted above is sometimes used as a proof-text by those that say the miraculous gifts are no longer in use. The claim is that Paul is talking about the time when the Canon of Scripture is closed. This claim is based on the phrase "but when the perfect comes, the partial with pass away" and is referring to the doctrine of the Inerrancy of the Bible. In other words these miraculous gifts were being used by the Apostles to authenticate and spread the Gospel message in an imperfect verbal form but once the Gospel was being circulated in the perfect written format the need for these miraculous gifts was no longer necessary.

While it might be true that the need for miraculous gifts is greatly reduced by the existence of the Bible, I don't think that this is what the passage is saying. And to be perfectly fair, I don't know that there are many Cessationists who believe that this is what the passage is saying.

The passage does give us the impression that miraculous gifts like prophecy and speaking in tongues will cease. But the reason that the passage gives for them passing away is that one day we will see "face to face" and "know fully." And that creates problems for those that want to claim that this passage is referring to the coming of Scripture. Even with written Scripture it is easy to understand that we do not yet see face to face nor do we fully know.

On top of that, it does not make any sense that this written passage of Scripture is referring to written Scripture. It might be argued that Paul did not view his writing as one day being considered Scripture. This argument would not account for the fact that Paul would then need to view the written Gospel message as superior to the spoken Gospel message. However in his instructions to the Thessalonians Paul gives equal weight to both:

"So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter."

Finally, it just doesn't make sense that this is what Paul is saying when we view the passage in the larger context of 1 Corinthians. In chapter 12 Paul brings up the topic of Spiritual Gifts and how the giving of these gifts should not be looked at as a popularity contest. Paul's point is that having a certain gift does not make someone superior or more important to the church than someone with a different gift. In chapter 14 Paul speaks about the use of these gifts in an orderly worship. Nestled in between these two chapters is what may be the most well known chapter in the Bible on love. Paul takes time between these two chapters to tell us how love is greater than anything else. His point is not to teach about the details of the cessation of particular gifts. Rather his point is to teach us that when these gifts do cease that we will still have love. Paul is telling us that when Christ returns and we finally see him face to face we won't have any need for Spiritual Gifts but we will still have love.

 

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.