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ThinkRhema has moved to thinkrhema.com, please head over there to check it out.

Not gone, just busy

For the few, but committed people in this audience. I haven’t stopped writing. I’ve just been incredibly busy with a new job, finishing a home renovation, and getting ready for my daughter to arrive. Thank you all for your patience and understanding. I’ll have some more material for you soon.

Blessings.

-Dan Stephens

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A bit over a week old, but an excellent piece on the Chick-Fil-A issue as it pertains to how thoughtful Christians should probably react.

The Provocative Christian

I had a seminary professor who was what I call a true liberal. By that I mean, she really believed in and lived according to the idea that we all have the liberty to hold our own opinion of things, live by them, and express them. Our differing opinions, when shared and engaged, make us wiser and stronger. To her, disagreement was an opportunity for learning and growth. Being a true liberal she was always open to hearing what others said and even when she disagreed with them it was as a learning experience, characterized by respect in the midst of disagreement. The disagreements could at times be serious and important, from the nature of God, to the reality of the resurrection of Jesus, or even if the crucifixion was necessary for the forgiveness of sin. In a seminary those are hot topics and could at times produce a shower…

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About me and Think Rhema

I am Dan Stephens.  Man of faith.  Husband of Skylar.  Father of Keaton (actually, she’s due in October).  Son of Joe and Sheryl.  Brother of Benjamin, Jon, Isaac, Bethany, and Brianna.  Christian thinker in the lineage of Paul, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, and Edwards.  Former Marine Reservist.  Alum of Clark College and Washington State University (Vancouver Campus).  Soon to be a working on my Master of Arts in Counselling at Western Seminary.

Rhema simply means “written word.”  So in brief, this blog is sort of a reading journal (consequently, early posts will “jump in” because I don’t want to go back to the start in books that I’m already reading ).  It’s also sort of a Christian literary review.  But hopefully it develops into more than that – what specifically, God will direct.  Has this been done before?  Yes.  I am neither the first, nor the only person to undertake such a project.  But God has brought me here, and it is not for me to question, but to obey.  If the only people that ever read this are friends, family, and mentors, that is fine with me.  If God blesses this endeavor to become a fruitful ministry, it will be an immense blessing.

There are several aims of this blog, and only by God’s grace will I be successful in any of them.  The first and most important aim is that God be glorified in every last word that I write; that believers be encouraged in their faith and incited to fruit-bearing study and lifestyle; and that unbelievers be pointed to Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ.  The second aim is to demonstrate through my studies, informal reading, and writing, that Christian Scripture is fully sufficient to guide us through modern life, has always been sufficient, and will always be sufficient.  Because I believe that scripture is sufficient, I believe that thorough teaching and meditation on scripture is an effective address to emotional and spiritual burdens – in any age in history.  The third aim is to show by example that all that is required for a deep and thorough knowledge of scripture is the choice to invest the necessary time and energy, and not necessarily higher formal education.  Though I will eventually be formally educated in theology and interpretation of scripture, a lay person can (and should) do the work to understand and apply scripture by meditating (thinking thoroughly) on it.  As a practical matter, not everyone in the Church can be a theologian or pastor, even in Old Testament Israel there was only one tribe assigned to ecclesiastical duties, and the other eleven were essentially the laity; even so, the laity are encouraged to think on and study scripture – rhema theos – the written word of God.  In fact, the Jews in Berea were praised for their study of scripture, because when they received the Gospel, they back-checked scripture to be sure that the apostles were not selling a bill of goods (Acts 17:10-11).  Think Rhema aims to encourage lay people to similar endeavors in scriptural study and discernment.

And [God] gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.  Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.  (Ephesians 4:11-16)

In addition to scripture, God has given gifted teachers to the Church, and we are poor stewards of this gift if we fail to study the teaching and writing of these teachers in the light of scripture.  This blog will serve as a venue to consider the gifts of current authors with scriptural scrutiny.  Valid teaching will be in agreement with scripture, equip believers for the work of ministry (on the entire range from relational ministry to vocational ministry), edify the Church, enable unity of mind and heart, and facilitate maturity.  All of that will be accomplished so that nonbelievers will be pointed to Christ, and so that believers will be encouraged in Christ, enabled to exercise discernment, and to grow to better reflect Christ.