Dr. Al Mohler (President of the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, KY) writes on his blog of the letter written by Albert Einstein one year before his death to Eric Gutkind. In that letter, Einstein indicates his lack of faith in a personal God and affirms a vague belief in some unnamed “force” in the universe (and this before George Lucas’ Star Wars).

What are we to make of this? If Einstein rejected faith in God, what does that say about the validity of Christianity? It says nothing. Einstein was blessed with a tremendous intellect and a scientific mind. However, the necessary preconditions for true scientific inquiry and discovery lie within the Christian worldview. The God who made and sustains all things is the true absolute constant in the universe. He is the constant that assures the viability of E=mc2. I believe Einstein HAD a faith- in science. He looked for unifying answers to life in it. His discoveries are no less valuable, though the presuppositions by which he ordered his life are sorely lacking. As Cornelius Van Til put it, Einstein had to borrow Christian “capital” in order to transact business in the scientific realm.

Mohler offers this accurate critique of Evangelicalism’s fascination with celebrity that is evident in some who’ve claimed Einstein as a theist:

Evangelical Christians are prone to over-excitement when any famous person, living or dead, is claimed as a believer in God. This is not an attractive habit, and it often leads to intellectual embarrassment. The truth of the Gospel and the reality of the self-revealing God are not enhanced by vague expressions of a non-theistic spirituality or a sense of nothing more than an inexplicable sense of meaning in the cosmos.

Beyond this, the witness of an honest Christian is far more powerful than a listing of the rich, intelligent, and powerful who may or may not have believed in some kind of God. Attempts to claim Einstein for theism reveal a deep intellectual insecurity.

Our faith rests not on the affirmations of the bright and beautiful but on the self-revelation of the God “in whom we live and move and have our being ” (Acts 17:28). Apart from Him, we have no basis for scientific inquiry, rational thought, or life itself.

Ours is a narcissistic culture. That’s a fancy way of saying we are lovers of self and our own pleasures. The sad reality is that we are all products of our culture to some degree- our blind spots keep us from seeing just how self-centered we really are. Francis Schaeffer was right when he wrote over 20 years ago that the two priorities for Americans are personal peace (leave me alone and don’t bother me with anything) and affluence (I want it all and I want it now!).

What’s the cure for self-absorption, aka narcissism? Marriage and parenting sure help as they surface new levels of self centeredness. But even then we can retain our consumer driven mentality that it’s “all about the customer- me!”

The best cure for naricissism is worship. Corporate worship becomes the time when it becomes all about God. We need God-centered worship. We need a focus outside of ourselves and onto Him who created all things and redeemed us in Christ.

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Crossway publishes the English Standard Version (ESV) which we use here at HLPC. As noted in an earlier post, the ESV Study Bible is coming out this October. If you pre-order by THIS THURSDAY, May 15th, you get a 35% discount. Just wanted to pass that along! You can pre-order HERE.

I always enjoy the columns that Andree Seu writes for World Magazine. In this article, “Mind Tricks” , Andree reminds us of the need and benefit of exposure to the Scriptures as the only source of what to believe and how to live. She draws insight from C.S. Lewis’ A Grief Observed. Good stuff. Here is an excerpt:

When I drift away from close daily intimacy with [God] in his Word, I begin, ever so subtly, to reconstruct him in my own image. This process begins to happen some time before I realize it, of course, when I am still convinced that I know exactly who God is. It’s only when I come back to the Bible that I realize how dangerously close I had come to constructing an idol — a god made to look and sound like the desires and opinions of Andree Seu.

Who’s with me? Friday, May 16th…

Pray for Myanmar. We all are well aware of the staggering death tolls left by the cyclone in that nation, governed by a military junta. What makes this situation even more distressing is the arrogance and callousness of the government as it refuses aid from other nations, especially the U.S. One news network reported that they are refusing aid in an effort to “save face.” Saving face means doubling or tripling the death toll as disease and starvation take their toll. It’s amazing to think that there are individuals whose pride takes such priority over compassion for their own people.

This from World Magazine (AP story):

All of the food aid and equipment that we managed to get in has been confiscated,” U.N. World Food Program spokesman Risley said.

“For the time being, we have no choice but to end further efforts to bring critical needed food aid into Myanmar at this time,” he said.

At least 62,000 people are dead or missing in Myanmar, entire villages are submerged in the Irrawaddy delta and aid groups warned that the area is on the verge of a medical disaster.

The U.N. has grown increasingly critical of Myanmar’s military rulers’ refusal to let foreign aid workers into the country while the junta appeared overwhelmed and more than 1 million homeless people waited for food, medicine and shelter.

“The frustration caused by what appears to be a paperwork delay is unprecedented in modern humanitarian relief efforts,” Risley said. “It’s astonishing.”

Let’s pray for the suffering people of Myanmar and that aid will be provided. Pray that somehow God could use this to advance the gospel in that nation.

This is most appropriate as we approach the celebration of Pentecost and well worth your reading. This is from Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening as he reflects on Hebrews 12:2 and its call that we be those who are “looking to Jesus”:

It is always the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus. But Satan’s work is just the opposite; he is constantly trying to make us look at ourselves instead of Christ. He insinuates, “Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end; you do not have the joy of His children; you have such a wavering hold on Jesus.”

All these are thoughts about self, and we will never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self; He tells us that we are nothing, but that Christ is everything. Remember, therefore, it is not your hold of Christ that saves you- it is Christ that saves you- it is Christ, it is not your joy in Christ that saves you- it is Christ’s blood and merits.

Therefore, do not look so much to your hand with which you are grasping Christ as to Christ; do not look to your hope but to Jesus, the source of your hope; do not look to your faith, but to Jesus the founder and perfecter of your faith. We will never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our deeds, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. If we are to overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by “looking to Jesus.” Keep your eye simply on Him; let His death, His sufferings, His merits, His glories, His intercessions be fresh upon your mind. When you waken in the morning look to Him; when you lie down at night look to Him. Do not let your hopes or fears come between you and Jesus; follow hard after Him, and He will never fail you.

Carry around a copy of Tim Keller’s book, The Reason for God. I had it with me when I went to give blood on Monday and had several ask me about the book, its contents, and why I was reading it.

As a matter of fact we are. How so? Rick Phillips of Second Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Greenville, SC puts it well when he writes of his own congregation:

Second Presbyterian Church is a Pentecostal church. In fact, there are no other kinds of Christian churches than Pentecostal churches. By this, I mean that the present age of God’s people is defined and energized by Christ’s outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Pentecost is this Sunday. Phillips makes the point that while Christmas and Easter get deserved attention, our appreciation for what Pentecost means for us is often lost. Pentecost was the outpouring of God’s Spirit on His people after Christ’s ascension in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Phillips goes on to say:

Pentecost was the summer harvest feast of the Jews, with the particular distinction that its great day was on the eighth day, which was a special Sabbath. The eighth day, of course, is the day of the resurrection, which we call Sunday. As such, the gift of the Holy Spirit is directly linked with the resurrection of Jesus. As the Pentecostal church, we enjoy resurrection life through the power of the Spirit. Paul tells us of the fruit of the Spirit, which is the character renovation the Spirit intends to do in each of our lives, granting us the blessings of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). Whereas Israel broke God’s covenant through unfaithfulness, we are sealed with the Spirit to receive all the blessings covenanted to us in Christ (cf. Eph. 1:13-14; Heb. 8:9-10).

This is a very helpful article that you can read here.

(HT: Reformation21)