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December 2000 New Horizons

The Incarnation

 

Contents

Why Did God Become a Man?

Korean Christmases I Have Known

I Was Wrong!

So Many Books...So Little Time

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Why Did God Become a Man?

In the eleventh century, Anselm of Canterbury wrestled with the question, Cur Deus homo? (Why did God become a man?). His book-length answer is still a classic. Our Lord Jesus gave his own pithy answer in Luke 19:10, "For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost." What does our Lord affirm here? "The Son of Man" Jesus affirms that he is "the Son of Man." This was his favorite self-designation. The Gospels mention his calling himself the Son of Man some eighty times. William White, Jr., explains that this title reflects Daniel 7:13, where the "Son of Man" is one to whom is given universal and eternal authority, glory, and sovereign dominion. He is one from among men to whom is given divine prerogatives. Since only God can receive such prerogatives, the Son of Man is a God-man (Daniel 10:16). Thus, the Son of Man, Jesus, descended from heaven (John 3:13) and was dependent on God, as He had nowhere to lay His head (Matt. 8:20). He exercises an authoritative and redemptive mission (John 3:14). ... Read more

Korean Christmases I Have Known

My first Christmas in Korea was spent in Pyongyang, in what is now North Korea. It was in 1903, then the days of the old Korean king, seven years before Japan annexed the country. I don't remember anything about it, though I must have spent most of the day in the arms of my mother [being six months old— Ed. ], who had only one more Christmas on this earth and now lies in a cemetery near the city of my birth, in North Korea. "Korean Christmases" calls up many memories. There was one when my fundamentalist father sent me out to the country with a Korean laborer to cut down and bring back some mistletoe, so that we children might taste a bit of our motherland culture, some of which had pagan roots, for Father enjoyed catching someone under the mistletoe. There was the time when we made colored paper chains to decorate the crooked Korean pine, cut from a nearby hillside. There were the days we spent shelling the sharp—pointed popcorn that Father had so painstakingly and thoughtfully raised the ... Read more

I Was Wrong!

On a cold February day in the mountain town of Prescott, Arizona, Pastor Charles Perkins received a visitor. The man was not the usual church caller, but a homeless person. Explaining that he had no place to get out of the cold, he asked if he could sleep on the floor of the church that night. He had already stayed the maximum allowed time at the shelters in town, and now he had no other place to go. Considering the falling temperature, the pastor agreed. Shortly afterward, the man again approached the pastor and asked about his good friend who was still outside. Could he stay, too? Again the pastor agreed, but told them that they had to leave early the next morning to avoid conflicting with church activities. This soon became a daily practice, and before long about six men were involved. The session at Prescott Presbyterian Church (OPC) became aware of this situation, and considered a plan to shelter as many as seven men at the church. I attended the session meeting where the ministry was being ... Read more

So Many Books...So Little Time

How many of you," I asked the ladies in my workshop at a presbytery women's retreat, "believe that the Bible is the only infallible rule of faith and practice; that is, if we want to know the truth about what to believe or how to live, we look to the Scripture?" Every hand went up. "Good. Now, with that belief, how would you decide whether or not to read the next Stephen King novel?" There was a pause. Some of the ladies looked at the outline they had received, entitled "So Many Books...So Little Time...So What Do We Read?" Section 3, at which we had arrived, was entitled "Scriptural Basis." At this point, we divided into small groups; each group had a sheet with several scriptural references. The directions read: "Considering all of these passages, what biblical principle can you find to give guidance to your decision of what to read? What additional implications might there be (in these passages) for your reading?" What follows is a summary of our reading and discussion. The first group ... Read more

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