Purer In Heart

By Kent Heaton

Mrs. A. L. Davison penned the beautiful words to the song, “Purer In Heart, O God.” She writes: “Purer in heart, O God, help me to be; may I devote my life wholly to thee. Watch thou my wayward feet, guide me with counsel sweet; Purer in heart, O God, help me to be. Teach me to do thy will most lovingly. Be thou my friend and guide, let me with thee abide; Purer in heart, O God, help me to be. That I thy holy face one day may see. Keep me from secret sin, reign thou my soul within; Purer in heart, O God, help me to be.” The people of God have longed needed to reflect upon the sentiment of purity. Lost in the garden is the innocence of a sinless world yet redeemed in Christ at a cross of purity. Followers of the crucified Savior must seek to devote their lives wholly to the purity of Christ.

Jesus was pure of heart. He sought the counsel of God in everything he did and said (John 14:10-11). The will of the Father reigned in his heart (Luke 22:42). He learned obedience in suffering (Hebrews 5:8) and through this test left an example of purity. In the sermon on the mountain Jesus explained the nature of purity. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). The nature of purity opens the senses of man’s heart to the revealed nature of God. The reason we do not see God is because we try to see him from impure minds and hearts.

The task before all who claim to know God is to cleanse the heart from the defilements of the world. We fight a great battle with the forces of evil (Ephesians 6:10-18) and the battleground is our heart. Purity is measured by the ability to discern good and evil (Hebrews 5:14) and to seek those things that are above (Colossians 3:1-2). To be pure in heart is to seek those things that are pure. “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8) .

Meditating on things that are pure suggests the removal of those things that may cause impurity. “I will sing of mercy and justice; to You, O Lord, I will sing praises. I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness. Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; the one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, him I will not endure. My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; He who walks in a perfect way, He shall serve me. He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; he who tells lies shall not continue in my presence. Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord” (Psalms 101:1-8).

The purer one makes the heart the clearer God becomes. Every part of life is the pursuit of purity. “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled” (Titus 1:15). What we see on television, movies, books, magazines, radio, computers, internet; all of those things that come into our lives must be filtered by the purity of God. Let us all seek to be pure in heart to one another, to our fellow man and especially to God. What the world needs now is pure people seeking pure motives from a pure heart. &

Responding to a Deist

By Bob Myhan

A deist who reads the Forest Hills Faith Builder has attempted to defend the concept of a law of morality apart from an objective written revelation from God, such as the Bible. He writes:

“There are self-evident rules of morality. These rules are not written in a God-inspired book. They are axiomatic. The basic simple rule is that we should treat others as we would like to be treated and not treat others in a way that we wouldn't want to be treated.”

If, as this deist reader alleges, the “rules of morality” are “self-evident” and “are not written in a God-inspired book,” why does he give us only one rule? And the one he gives us is written in a God-inspired book (the only God-inspired book—the Bible).

^“Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt. 7:12)

I do not think our deist reader is ignorant of the fact that his so-called “self-evident” “basic simple rule” of morality is written in the Bible. Why, then, does he say that it is “not written in a God-inspired book”? It is because he denies that the Bible is “God-inspired.”

He continues his defense thusly:

“That's not to say that Christians, Deists, Atheists, etc. always abide by that rule. But all are born with intelligence, the ability to reason, a conscience, and feelings of ought and empathy. (Richard Packham offers this enlightening piece of information: In the wake of the 2000 school shooting, Newsweek Magazine, whose cover story in its March 13 issue was "Murder In The First Grade," did a feature story inside called "How Kids Learn Right From Wrong" (pp 33-34). It was an excellent survey of the latest research and findings from child psychologists and educators, and traced the development of the moral sense in the child, and what promotes it and what destroys it. It was fascinating. For example, they have determined that the very young child is by nature empathetic, and feels the emotions of another child who is hurt or sad. It seems to be instinctive.) Which means a law of morality comes built into us by God and not through some holy book that Yahweh has inspired which is interpreted every which way by his devoted followers. But, as Packham notes, this God-given law of morality needs to be promoted and encouraged.”

It is obvious that “all are born with intelligence, the ability to reason, a conscience, and feelings of ought and empathy.” But this is far from proving that “a law of morality comes built into us by God and not through some holy book that Yahweh has inspired which is interpreted every which way by his devoted followers.”

Having intelligence doesn’t mean we don’t have to learn facts; having “the ability to reason” doesn’t mean we don’t have to learn how to reason; and having “feelings of ought and empathy” doesn’t mean we don’t have to learn what we ought to do or how we ought to feel. Nothing we have to learn can be said to be “built into us.”

When a man intuitively knows that his argument is weak he sometimes feels the need to use prejudicial language. It is irrelevant whether or not the Bible “is interpreted every which way” by those who believe it to be inspired by God. Do all those who believe in a subjective morality agree on the demands thereof? No. But our deist reader simply can’t help making a pejorative comment about the Bible whenever he has the chance.

He then concludes his defense of a subjective moral law thusly:

This basic law of morality spans all religious and non-religious people; proving that this law of morality is not exclusive to Christians.

First, he has not proved the existence of a subjective moral law. But if he had done so, he would have also proved that each person is a law unto himself. One would have no right to judge another for he could not know whether the same moral law was given to all!

Second, no one who believes the Bible denies that all people are under the same basic moral law—that which is revealed in the Bible. &

The Greatest Library Ever

By Bob Myhan

The greatest library ever is not the Folger Shakespeare Library with its more than 225,000 volumes.

Not the ancient Alexandrian Library with over 400,000 scrolls (including a copy of every scroll then known to exist).

Not the Vatican Library which contains over 1,000,000 printed books plus 50,000 manuscripts.

Not the Bodleian Library which has over 5,000,000 books and 60,000 manuscripts.

Not the British Library which automatically receives a copy of each new book published.

Not the Bibliothique Nationale with more than 20,000,000 volumes and more than 500,000 magazines.

Not the Library of Congress with over 20,000,000 books and 32,000,000 manuscripts.

It is the Bible with just sixty-six books: five books of law, thirteen books of history, five books of poetic wisdom, eighteen prophetic books, four biographical books and twenty-one epistles. &