SUPERMAN DOESN’T NEED A SEATBELT

By Dr. M. R. Dowler

Whether you’re a sports fan or not, most adults know who Muhammad Ali is. Ali died this past June at the age of 74 after a courageous thirty-year long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Muhammad Ali is professional boxing's only three-time heavyweight champion (1964, 1974 and 1978); and Sports Illustrated named him as the greatest athlete of the twentieth century. But despite Ali’s phenomenal boxing accomplishments, the thing that most people remember him for is his funny and sometimes arrogant rhyming trash talk. Muhammad Ali was definitely one-of-a-kind.

Years ago, while flying to an engagement, Muhammad Ali’s flight encountered turbulence caused by a storm. As the airplane began to toss about, the pilot informed all on board of the situation and ordered all passengers to fasten their seat belts. Everyone on the flight complied except Ali. When the flight attendant politely asked Ali to comply with the pilot’s order; he arrogantly responded, “Superman don’t need no seatbelt.” Not missing the irony of the moment the flight attendant replied, “Superman don’t need no airplane either.”

Anthropology is a scientific and theological term defined as study of humans. God created man in His own image (Genesis 1:27), although we do not know what His image is. The Bible tells us that part of God’s image is moral uprightness (Ecclesiastes 7:29; Ephesians 4:24). Theologically, the only true humans were Adam and Eve before the fall; and the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:7; Colossians 1:15). Simply stated, since the fall, all others (you and I) are a mere corrupted and distorted likeness of the original.

Humans are the crown jewels of God’s marvelous creation (Psalm 139:14), created with intricate design, detail and purpose; but not created for our benefit, but rather for His pleasure and glory (Isaiah 43:7; Revelation 4:11). We inherit part of His likeness through creation; and some receive more of His likeness through salvation and consecration (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18). Muhammad Ali accomplished great feats, but he was no Superman. Neither are we. Think about it.

THE THEOLOGY OF TRUE THANKSGIVING

By Dr. M. R. Dowler

Thanksgiving is this Thursday. Most of us know the basic facts of the origin of the first Thanksgiving; you know, the Pilgrims, the Indians, the food, etc, etc. But whereas our modern Thanksgiving observance bears little resemblance to the original, for Christians there is an element of thanksgiving that is often neglected----the “truth” within the context of our expressions of praise. I call this missing element the Theology of True Thanksgiving.

This past week the UK Oxford University Press issued its annual international word of the year; a new word to be added to their Oxford University Dictionary. The new word for 2016 is---post-truth, defined as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion or personal belief.” The reason for Oxford’s selection of post-truth is the nearly 2,000 percent increase of its usage since 2015 (mostly by the media), selected to capture the mood of our modern culture.

Humanity has been searching for truth from the beginning. The scriptures tell us a Roman Governor named Pilate once asked Jesus to define truth (John 18:38). So where can we find this elusive set of standards called truth? Certainly not on talk radio or in our dictionaries or philosophy textbooks. The ultimate expression of truth is provided by the Lord Jesus Christ when He described Himself as “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Truth is not emotion; it is logic, a cognitive knowledge of facts. All truth comes from God as found in the Bible.

Worship is not optional to the believer; we are commanded to worship our God (Psalm 95:6; 96:9; 100:1-5). The Theology of True Thanksgiving is all about worship “in truth” (John 4:24). Doctrine is not a glamorous subject, but it is essential to our expressions of praise, gratitude and thanksgiving. Simply stated, worship involves more than our emotions (2 Samuel 6:15-16); or as theologian Millard Erickson explained, “Unless we have accurate knowledge of the God we worship, there is no genuine worship in truth.” Anything less is just worthless platitudes (Matthew 15:8). Think about it and Happy Thanksgiving.

HISTORICAL ADAM AND THE ORIGINAL SIN

By Dr. M. R. Dowler

One of the features of the Scofield Reference Bible is the date at the top of the center reference column on each page. That year date is significant because it originated from research the church has possessed for hundreds of years. The dates are taken from Anglican Archbishop James Ussher’s history of the world first printed in 1650. Archbishop Ussher is considered one of the world’s greatest historians and his Annals of the World is a comprehensive history of biblical and significant ancient historical events.

One of the Ussher’s most prominent dates is 4004 BC (as seen in Genesis 1 and 2) as the year of the creation of the earth and the first man. Liberal theologians and atheistic evolutionists have ridiculed Ussher’s dates for decades; however, interestingly, a few years ago Ussher’s work was reopened by credible historians. After meticulous research they found that Ussher’s dates were very close to our more advanced records of ancient history. So was Adam really created in 4004 BC? Perhaps, or very close to that date.

Most of the major doctrines in the Bible are based on the reality of Adam. Many scriptures speak of the historical reality of Adam and Eve in the context of the original sin (Genesis 3:1-7). To remove this reality is to remove the reason for the cross and the rationale of the resurrection. Had Adam and Eve never existed, they would have never sinned; hence, Christ would have never had to come to die on the cross because salvation would have never been necessary (1 Peter 3:18).

We are all sinners (Romans 3:10, 23) and our sin is linked to the original sin committed by Adam in the garden (Romans 5:12). So how is it that God ties Adam’s sin 6,000 years ago to our sins today? Theologically, Adam was placed as the representative head of all of God’s human creation (1 Corinthians 15:21-22). Simply stated, Adam acted on behalf of all persons born after him, so that what he did curses all of us (Romans 6:23). But the gospel message is that faith in Christ releases us from the curse of the original sin (Romans 10:9-13). Think about it.

HEAVENLY ELECTION

By Dr. M. R. Dowler

The 2016 election season is almost over and the 45^th president will be chosen tomorrow. Despite all the heated rhetoric and insincere political promises, it is our Constitution that mandates the requirements, responsibilities and range of the office of the president. Ironically, the constitutional requirements to serve as president are very few---you must be a citizen for at least fourteen years and no younger than thirty-five years of age.

Historically, a new president was inaugurated on March 4th until the Constitution was amended in 1933 to change the inauguration date to January 20^th (or 21^st if the 20^th falls on a Sunday). This situation has only occurred a handful times in history---one in particular offers some interesting trivia. When James Knox Polk’s presidency ended on March 4, 1849, President-Elect Zachary Taylor refused to take the presidential oath because it was a Sunday. Therefore, Senator Pro Tem David Rice Atchison was named as Acting President for a day.

The word election has been a much-used word recently, but election is actually a Bible word, used six times in the scriptures (KJV). In several aspects, election is a hard doctrine to understand mainly because it comes totally from the mind of God. Election is tied to the doctrine of God’s foreknowledge and our spiritual predestination, teachings that are also hard to get your arms around. The main thing to understand about spiritual election is that it is personal (2 Peter 2:4), unmerited (Romans 9:11) and eternal (Ephesians 1:4).

Theologically, election is an act of God in eternity past in which He chose those who will be saved (Romans 8:29-30). It is vital to point out that spiritual election does not rule out human responsibility, i.e. “whosoever will may come” (Isaiah 55:1; Romans 10:9, 13; Revelation 22:17). Simply stated, election is God choosing you because He knew you would choose Him. David Rice Atchison never thought of himself as president, in fact he slept through most of his big day. It was his family who wanted everyone to know; they marked his grave “David Rice Atchison, President of the United States For One Day.” Rejoice today in the fact that God elected you to be with Him forever, and tomorrow do your Christian and civic responsibility by voting. Think about it.