Josh Benner

Category: Faith

  • Difficulties as seasons for joy

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    In his book “Above the Line,” Ohio State’s football coach Urban Meyer talks about his coaching philosophy. One of the things Meyer talks about in his book is what he calls “the R factor.”

    And by the R factor, Meyer is talking about the Response Factor. In the book, Meyer says: “We don’t control the events in life, and we don’t directly control the outcomes. But we always have control over how we choose to respond.”

    While this is certainly true on the football field, Meyer goes on to talk about how this is also true in life. (more…)

  • American missionary killed: the cost of the gospel, the necessity for wisdom

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    An American missionary, John Allen Chau lost his life on a remote island off the coast of India last week.
    His goal was to share the gospel with the Sentinelese tribe. Their island is a protected area, which is isolated from the outside world. The tribe has also been violent towards visitors in the past.

    Chau attempted going to the island and the Sentinelese shot arrows at him, forcing Chau to flee. But he returned again, tragically losing his life.

    I’m conflicted about this story. It is certainly very unfortunate that this man lost his life. I appreciate that he had a desire to go somewhere and share the love of Jesus with people who didn’t know it. (more…)

  • Thanksgiving Everyday

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    We have opportunities throughout the day, everyday to either be thankful or thankless.

    I heard someone ask the question a few days ago, “Why does God make some people more miserable than others?” I was struck by that. There are certainly some people who have different challenges in life than others do. (more…)

  • Majority of surveyed Christians don’t believe church is necessary

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    Recently, Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research released their “State of Theology” survey. In the study, 3,000 American Christians were surveyed on various theological and moral positions.

    58% of respondents agreed with the statement “Worshipping alone or with one’s family is a valid replacement for regularly attending church.”

    It’s one thing for a non-Christian to believe that. But for Christians?! The Christian life is not a solo sport. There are several reasons why worshipping and  involvement in a local church is essential to our Spiritual growth and to Christian living. (more…)

  • Wrath and judgment – did God command genocide in the Old Testament

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    When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them.
    -Deuteronomy 7:1-2
    In Deuteronomy 7, the Israelites are just outside the land and the Lord gives a challenging command. The Israelites are told to wipe out the nations who inhabit the land.
    It’s not a popular idea. It’s a notion that many find reprehensible and immoral. For skeptics and people who believe in other religions, it’s fodder for them to undermine the teachings of the Bible.
    God is using Israel as a divine judgment for cleansing the land against wicked nations who lived totally contrary to the will of God. It was divine mercy that God had allowed these nations to exist as long as they did. But their sin eventually reached a braking point.
    The judgment was divine and righteous judgment.
    In this judgment, everything needed to be destroyed. The people, but not just the people. Also their livestock, also their crops, also their gold and possessions.
    It was all given to the Lord. The point wasn’t plunder for the Israelite’s gain because victory was from the Lord and everything was given to the Lord.
    Part of the reason why they had to be wiped out was that it was trying to preserve the Israelites from idolatry.
    It’s a very challenging idea. It’s a very unpopular idea.
    For a student of the Bible, I’d like to include a few thoughts on this challenging passage.
    God is just. 
    The fact that God doesn’t wipe out anyone immediately due to their sin is evidence of God’s grace and mercy. No one deserves grace. We willingly sin and transgress against the holy and righteous God of the universe.
    This judgment wasn’t Moses’ idea, or later, Joshua’s idea. It was God’s judgment. It wasn’t the Israelite elders who decided they should do this. God decided.
    And it was ultimately God who was enacting his judgment.
    Judgment for a particular time and place
    It was not meant to be a worldwide judgment. It was clearing out the land. Once the Israelites were in the land, there aren’t any indications that they were supposed to become raiders just attacking other groups or committing violence for its own sake.
    This command was for the Israelites in the specific context of the Promised Land.
    Israel never followed through at carrying out this judgment 
    While it might seem unfair or unnecessarily harsh, The Israelites never actually fully enact the devoting of their enemies to destructing in the land.
    And it is to their own peril and difficulty as they will historically be plagued by idolatry and turning away from the Lord.
    Picture of future judgment 
    For anyone who will not bend a knee to God, there will be a day of reckoning. This is a foretaste of the final judgment. There is an eternal consequence for rejecting the Lord, because without his saving grace, we are dead in sin.
    Opposing the Lord comes with severe consequences.
    God is just.
    And no one dies who would have otherwise repented. No one goes to hell because they didn’t have enough time.
    It’s not because God is mean. Not because he’s unfair.
    But because he is holy and righteous. And God cares about his own holiness.
    The good news is that God has made a way for people to avoid all of that. It’s a matter of trusting in the gospel. Believing in the Lord.
    We can’t be good enough, we can’t earn it. Our only hope is Jesus. God with us. Who lived a sinless life so that all who believe in him could be forgiven.

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. His hobbies include working out, watching sports, and photography. Josh and his wife Kari live in Minnesota.

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