Green Leaf Press Quarterly Newsletter April, 2007
Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
We believe that. We are not ashamed of the truth nor afraid of the truth;
we are advocates of the truth. We recognize that God is the foundation of
all that is real and that all truth is ultimately grounded in him.
It is not truth or faith. It is truth and faith. Faith without truth becomes
foolishness. Consider the "Heaven’s Gate" cult in San Diego
that committed group suicide because they had faith in a leader that told
them that the comet, Kohoutek, appearing in the night skies, gave hope for
their destiny. On the other hand it is impossible to live without faith. We
cannot know everything. We cannot chemically test every morsel of food that
enters into our mouths. Nor can we be absolutely assured, ahead of time, that
the person that we marry will be virtuous and will care for us.
Faith should be founded in knowledge and reason, but we need to know that
there are limits. Substantial elements of faith must deal with probabilities.
For example, are we to believe the testimony of the eleven disciples and,
in a very short time, thousands of people (who had the means to know otherwise)
that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead? Or are we to believe that Jesus
and the disciples and the early Christian community were all liars or were
all deluded? It seems eminently reasonable to choose the former possibility
over the latter.
The Bible makes it plain that in this life we are daily engaged in a spiritual
battle, with ultimate consequences, whether or not we choose to recognize
it.
For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities,
against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against
the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." Ephesians
6:12
Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring
lion, seeking some one to devour. (I Peter 5:8)
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the
kingdoms of the world and the glory of them: and he said to him, All these
I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me. (Matthew 4:8,9)
Our defense is truth, righteousness, faith, and the word of God (of course,
there is more). (Ephesians 6:13-17)
It is important that we keep before us passages that encourage us to make
purposeful and constructive use of our minds:
Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for
the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence; (I Peter
3:15)
We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge
of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. (II Corinthians
10;5)
In this line, I would commend to you an article in Newsweek, April 9, 2007,
"The God Debate" with and extensive dialogue between Rick Warren
and Sam Harris. Sam Harris is one of the most articulate atheists of our day.
He is the author of The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation. Both
books have sold well, and have gained considerable attention. If you will
read the Newsweek article, you will see that Rick Warren holds up his end
of the conversation quite well. On the other hand, Sam Harris alerts us to
concerns that unbelievers have. Many of us may not be as knowledgeable or
as well versed as Rick Warren, but he illustrates what we should be about.
We are to be prepared and we are to give answer!
And that is the business that Green Leaf Press is in. To encourage Christians
and those who are interested in Christianity to make good use of their minds
and to equip Christians and to inform others of the considerable strengths
of the case for believing in Jesus Christ. We are currently in a period of
transition from primary reliance on direct mail to heavier reliance on the
Internet. As a result our book sales have been slow for the past several months.
Unfortunately, too much of this ministry depends on me–and frequently
things do not get taken care of as soon as they should. I have just finished
doing our income tax–a part of which was keeping track of mileage for
ministry and medical purposes. I was amazed at the degree of my participation
in several churches, the Presbytery, and Green Leaf Press. I understand better
why things do not happen as fast as I think that they should! With all that
I rejoice in the Lord, and am grateful for useful things to do.
We appreciate your prayers, your interest, and your support. I hope that you
find this Newsletter helpful. If you know of someone that we should add to
the mailing list, please let us know. The main purpose of these newsletters
is to let people know about Green Leaf Press, our thinking regarding this
ministry, and how we carry out this ministry. We do not consider it to be
a fund-raising letter, but, of course are grateful for the support that we
receive.
Foster H. Shannon, President
Green Leaf Press, Inc., P.O. Box 880, Alhambra, CA 91802-0880 Phone: (626) 281-7221 FAX:323-221-4334
www.gogreenleaf.com
E-mail
Board of Directors: Richard Erdman, Eric Hoey, Al Soo Hoo, Bibiana Soo Hoo, Warren Potter, Dean Rowley, Foster Shannon, Janis Shannon, Darrel Sager, John Van Genderen, Matthew Welde
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