Matt Postiff's Blog

I offer further background on the conscience-based COVID-19 vaccine exemption letter that I posted a couple of days ago.

1. Stated from the perspective of the church and its leadership, conscience decisions are often not uniform within a single church or denomination. In the non-religious community and even in the religious community, it is commonly thought that a particular church or denomination either has or does not have a conscientious objection to vaccines, or certain medical procedures like blood transfusion, or to war, or other such matters. While this sometimes may be the case, it is not always so. The Bible teaches explicitly that there may be within a single church some who conscientiously object to a certain practice while others do not. Two individuals who differ on a particular matter can still be members of the same church and in good fellowship with one another. From the church's perspective, these are matters of indifference that should not divide the community of Christians.
2. There are some issues which do not fall into the "matter of conscience" bucket at all. "You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, pay taxes," etc. are not matters where conscience exemptions can be claimed. Vaccines are in the conscience category.
3. One’s conscience can choose differently at a later time if it receives new information that impacts how it adjudicates the matter at hand. Therefore, if information comes to light in the future, a person's decision about some matters may change, without there being any validity to a charge of inconsistency. The frequency of such conscience objections can be reduced by the authorities giving good, objective, full disclosure, rather than merely making pronouncements from on high. A mandate itself grates against the consciences of some (see Part 3), and to some is evidence that the thing mandated cannot stand on its own merits.
4. The conscience can be troubled by inconsistent information. For example, the COVID vaccine was said unequivocally to be effective. Yet we now know that it was only partially effective for a short period of time, approximately 6 months. This inconsistency is a significant input to the conscience decisions of religious citizens. Another example: general masking of the population was known for decades to be largely ineffective against airborne viruses like the influenza; so at the start of the pandemic masks were not needed according to Dr. Fauci; then masks were mandated; now on CNN we hear that cloth masks—the type most people are wearing—are not appropriate for an airborne virus. Which is it? The inconsistency throws the conscience into a confused state and weighs against a clean-conscience decision in any direction.

I offer the following thoughts in support of the conscience-based COVID-19 vaccine exemption letter that I posted yesterday.

1. Conscience operates on a case-by-case basis. It does not operate on a class or category basis. That is, if a person took some vaccines but not others, he could not necessarily be charged with inconsistency. For example, an individual’s conscience might be fine with some vaccine given that it is satisfied with the information about it, its risks to life and ability to serve God, side-effects, efficacy and longevity of efficacy, testing, length of usage, etc. But another vaccine may not be satisfactory to that individual’s conscience because of shortcomings of that particular vaccine in the aforementioned categories.
2. Conscience operates freely and fully at a mature age. A person may have received vaccination as a child when his sincerely held religious beliefs were not yet fully formulated nor freely exercised. This does not undercut a present conscience objection to a particular vaccine.
3. Conscience operates in such a way that a person must be fully convinced. Romans 14:5 teaches that each person must fully convinced in his own mind about his choice in which there are differences between people. The example given in the Bible is that some may choose to eat certain foods; others may not. Those choices are up to individual discretion in accordance with the conscience.
4. Conscience operates on a person-by-person basis. Two people in the same Christian church may disagree on a particular issue, both parties being fully sincere in their beliefs. This idea is itself a Christian teaching and recognizing it is part of our free religious exercise. To reiterate: this idea—that not every person in a church has to share the same view on matters of conscience—is a matter of doctrinal importance in the Christian faith. To demand that my views line up exactly with that of my church or denomination is an impingement on my free exercise of religion. The fact that I cannot “find” a church that agrees with all my views or will support an exemption based on those views does not mean that my views are unworthy of conscience protections. It may simply be that I have different views than the church, or that the churches I have asked to help with an exemption do not want to put their names “out there” as supporting an exemption because of potential persecution by authorities.

December 29, 2021

Re: COVID-19 Vaccine Religious Exemption

To Whom it may Concern,

As a follower of Jesus Christ and one who sincerely adheres to His teachings, I believe that following my conscience is integral to my free religious exercise—not only as respects the United States Constitution, but as required by God, who is the highest authority.

Christianity teaches that the conscience is part of the make-up of every human being; that God endowed it with certain basic moral knowledge; that it guides the individual in deciding what he should do when something bothers his conscience; that the conscience is informed by religious teaching and study; that it is influenced by information of all sorts that the individual encounters; and that it cannot be safely violated because purposeful violation of the conscience damages its future healthy function and constitutes disobedience to God.

Christian teaching about the conscience importantly includes that each person must be fully convinced in his own mind before taking a course of action (Romans 14:5). The Bible warns against taking an action that violates the conscience. It also warns against violating the principle that "whatever is not of faith is sin."

There is no such thing as a denominational or church-wide conscience. The operation of the conscience is necessarily an individual matter because the conscience is influenced by each person’s own experiences, culture, knowledge, etc. It cannot rightly nor practically be dictated in all details by any religious organization. In our own church, we have people of different views about many matters, including that of vaccination in general and the COVID-19 vaccination specifically. Neither the pastor nor the church doctrine dictates such matters. In sum, my convictions are my own and not necessarily represented by others identifying as Christians. I am personally responsible to God my judge for my own actions (Rom 14:4).

In accordance with my sincerely held religious belief, my conscience is not clear about taking the COVID-19 vaccine. Therefore, I claim a religious exemption at this time from the requirement to be vaccinated.

Sincerely,

Your Name

by Pastor Matthew Postiff, Ph.D., Th.M., November 17, 2021

I wrote this today in memory of a dear fellow servant who passed on Monday in South Africa. It is directed at his family and the churches there who mourn his passing.

Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. (Heb. 13:7 NKJV)

Regrettably, I am unable to be with you all today as you remember the life and ministry of Dr. S. Wilfred Matham. My name is Matt Postiff. I have been pastoring Fellowship Bible Church since 2006 and involved in its ministry prior to that time when its founding pastor, Raymond Saxe, was leading the ministry. Therefore, about 22 years ago, we became acquainted with Dr. Matham through the connection with Pastor Saxe.

Before I was married I was able to enjoy Dr. Matham’s company in my home. Afterward as well, my wife Naomi and I had the privilege of hosting Dr. Matham and his wife in our home from time to time when they came to the United States to visit their supporting churches. We supported the Mathams for many years along with a few EBC works that he told us about.

The text in Hebrews 13:7 exhorts us to remember those who taught us God’s word. Although this applies to those who are presently our teachers and preachers, it also applies to those who came before and who spoke God’s word to us. Pastor Matham is one of those key men who upheld the text of Scripture as the authoritative voice of God in the church and for the world. He exalted the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore Pastor Matham himself is worthy of our remembrance.

The Bible adds that we are to consider the outcome of the conduct of such people. Ample testimony was given during the service at EBC Eersterust in Pretoria, South Africa this evening to the conduct of our brother. And the outcome of that deportment is indeed is worthy of our consideration. We think of churches impacted in the States, first, because that is how Dr. Matham impacted us. But we also recognize his evangelistic and church planting work; his missionary work; his expositional teaching and Christian academics in the Bible colleges where he ministered. His relational warmth and his seriousness about the things of God, his leadership role in the EBC, and his personal holiness all are worthy of our consideration. These things were wrought in him by the Spirit of our God (Galatians 5:22-25), after the God the Father was shown to him by God the Son (Matt. 11:27). The outcome of his work is something that he has left as a legacy—a family, churches, saints edified, unbelief challenged, and a heritage of exalting Christ Jesus.

The third and final word of this Scripture—besides remembering such men and considering the outcome of their lives—reminds us that we have something to do. We must follow the faith of such men. Not that they are infallible guides, but such faithful servants have a lot to teach us even though they are gone. They have left foot tracks for us to observe. Men and women there in South Africa and here in the States must take up the mantle of our dear brother and follow his faith. The church will die if we do not follow the faith of our fathers, that precious truth deposited in the first century and handed down through a line of God’s servants into our care. We must follow and be the next generation’s Pastor Mathams where we are.

May God bless you and keep you, my dear Christian brothers and sisters. May He make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He show a smiling countenance upon you and give you peace. May the grace of our God, and the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be your portion.

Love and Prayers,

Pastor Matt Postiff

on behalf of Fellowship Bible Church of Ann Arbor, Michigan

Here is the next installment of Bible literacy in minutes:

Of serious personal importance is that at some point in the future, barring one very unique exception, each of us is going to die. As zerohedge.com says, “On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.” The Bible said it first: “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). But what is death? What happens after you die? Many people believe in ideas like reincarnation or soul sleep or annihilation. Those things are not found in the Bible. What does the Bible say about death?

Of most personal importance is that at some point in the future, barring one very unique exception, each of us is going to die. As zerohedge.com says, “On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.” The Bible said it first: “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). But what is death? What happens after you die? Many people believe in ideas like reincarnation or soul sleep or annihilation. Those things are not found in the Bible. What does the Bible say about death?

Death means “separation.” In physical death, the spirit leaves the body. In Genesis 35:18 it speaks of a mother who was dying in labor, and it says “as her soul was departing (for she died)…” After death, the body is buried or cremated, but the spirit departs and goes either to Heaven or Hades.

For the Christian, when the spirit leaves the body, it is immediately with God in Heaven (2 Cor. 5:8). In the future, the Christian escapes the state of death when his or her body is raised again and rejoin their spirits. After that, they will enter the glorious kingdom of God and then Heaven, and live forever.

The spirit of a non-Christian leaves the body and goes to Hades immediately. Jesus told about a man who died and was buried, and was in torment in Hades (Luke 16:22-23). Hades is like a local county jail. Non-Christians will be resurrected from this place and then will be judged according to their works (Revelation 20:13). But no one can be saved by doing good works—you cannot do enough good to outweigh the bad things you have done or thought or said (Romans 3:20, 28). Therefore, this works-based judgment will result in a negative outcome and non-Christians will be sent to the final place of the dead, which is called Hell. If Hades is like the county jail, Hell is like the state penitentiary. Such judgment is a highly unpleasant thought, but it is taught by Jesus, and after all, He does define what Christianity is.

The upshot of all this is that every human being has an eternal future. The destination depends on whether you are a follower of Jesus by faith—or not. Where will you be?

Here is the fifth installment of Bible literacy in minutes:

At some future point, God has said in the Bible that there will be an event called the rapture. This word simply means “to be taken away” or snatched up. According to the Scripture, people who believe in Jesus will be taken immediately to heaven if they are alive. This is the one exception to the rule that everyone dies. Or, if they have died before the return of Jesus begins to unfold, their bodies will be raised up to life, and they will go back to heaven.

Following this event will occur a time of great difficulty on the earth. This period is called the Tribulation. The Bible presents it as lasting for 7 years. It is the subject of much of the last book in the Bible called Revelation.

At the end of the great time of trial, Jesus will return at what is called His “second coming.” It is “second” because He already came once, at which time He died for sinners and rose again from the dead. At the second coming, He will invade the earth and intervene in world affairs by setting up His kingdom. His kingdom will be worldwide and will be governed out of Jerusalem. This kingdom will be the true “golden age” of world history, and will last 1,000 years.

Then there will be a resurrection of all the rest of those who have died, and each one will be judged. Those who do not trust in Jesus Christ will be cast into Hell.

In the end, God will re-make the heaven and earth. The current earth will be burned up and everything on it will be gone. God’s people will forever dwell with Him on the new earth—which is what we normally think of as heaven. There, God’s people will enjoy His good gifts, and serve God amid a perfect society. This is the answer to the global pain and suffering that we see all around us in the world today.

Here is a brief listing of the few papers I have published. I had to consolidate these into one place for another purpose, so I figured it would be good to keep a record here as well.

Coming to Grips with Genesis: Biblical Authority and the Age of the Earth: A Review Article, DBSJ Vol. 14, 2009, 31-58.

God and Counterfactuals, DBSJ Vol. 15, 2010, 23-73.

From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective: A Review Article, DBSJ Vol. 19, 2014, 95-103.

Cherry Picking Theology?, Inside Sources, July 31, 2015.

Essential Elements of Young Earth Creationism and Their Importance to Christian Theology, DBSJ Vol. 21, 2016, 31-58. This was cross-posted at SharperIron.

Today's question from an email:

Are elements of race/ethnicity etc. a result of sin?

It is an important question today. I will give you a quick outline of what I see Scripture to teach on this matter.

1. There is a single human race, not multiple races (Acts 17:26). We all descend from Adam and Eve.

2. There are different nationalities, ethnicities, people groups, cultures, etc. The Scripture uses the phrase tribe, tongue, people, nation to refer to this concept (Revelation 5:9, 13:7, 14:6). Other words are used, such as clan and families (Gen. 12:3).

3. Two main points of Babel: a) it was the event that brought different languages into the world; b) God designed it to induce the people to spread out and fill the earth. They had stuck together generally and were not obedient to God's command. So God scattered them (Gen. 11:9).

4. Babel is not firstly about the creation of different ethnicities. However, as people with the same language congregated into small groups and then scattered over the face of the earth and became isolated from one another, they began to become specialized in not only language, but culture and appearance as they intrabred mainly with those in the same group. Thus we have different people groups, and within each group common characteristics like skin color, shape of face and eyes, etc. Cultural differences developed at the same time.

5. God designed this variation into the human DNA from the beginning so that there would be a glorious variety among the human race, even as there are among the various kinds of creatures--so many dogs and cats and fish and horses and so on. Among humans, this variety would have come out without Babel--and even without the fall of Adam and Eve--but it would not have then been found in such pronounced groupings as the language barriers have helped to create. Without sin, the world would be full of all people living together with no negative thought associated with their wide variation in appearance.

Two parents have a child and the child looks similar to them but also different than each one. A child may have blue eyes but have two brown-eyed parents (like in my case, due to recessive genes from the grandparent generation). Even today, a single set of parents can have a white baby and a black baby. See here and here for examples.

6. As for the "Ham curse" as some call it, I wrote about that several years ago. Let me be clear that it is unsupportable from Scripture to suggest that dark skin color is a curse from God. See also this post from Answers in Genesis that touches on the same topic.

7. Bottom line: elements of race/ethnicity etc are NOT a result of sin. They ARE a result of God's creative design of the human race. How humans use those things, and twist them, and criticize them, and exalt them, and so on, THAT is a result of sin in the heart of mankind.

Here is a new installment of Bible literacy in minutes:

According to secular belief, world history started over 4 billion years ago, and the plant and animal creation came about because of evolution—time, chance, and random mutations. The Bible’s record of earth history is very different, although with regard to the last 4,000 to 6,000 years of human history the secular account and the Biblical account overlap very neatly.

The Biblical account of history starts somewhere around 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. In the span of just under a week’s time, God created the world and filled it with plant and animal life. The creation had an appearance of age after God’s work was done, but in reality, creation jump-started world history. God created two human beings to be managers over his creation. They were named Adam and Eve. They lived in an ideal, brand-new world.

Very soon, however, sin entered the world, and with it came death. Over 1600 years passed and a catastrophic flood enveloped the entire earth’s surface as a judgment from God. Out of that devastation one family remained intact—Noah and his three sons, and their wives. From them the earth is now populated.

The first 39 books of the Bible focus on a single people group—the Semite people, starting with Abraham. Later, God used Moses to organize a growing group of Abraham’s descendants into a nation. This nation resided in what we know as Palestine, or Israel. It has existed from around 1440 B.C. to the present. During the 700s B.C., a world power named Assyria harassed the northern tribes of Israel. After them arose the Babylonians, followed soon after by the Medo-Persians. In the fourth century B.C., Alexander the Great raised the Greek empire to prominence, and after that the Roman empire dominated the region.

A rabbi named Jesus was born and lived during the opening years of the first century A.D. He was more than a rabbi, however, and died on a cross at the hands of the occupying Roman government. He was buried, but then many witnesses saw him alive again. He started the church, which has spread worldwide since the first century until the present day.

These are some of the events that the Bible highlights for us as significant in world history. In another video we will consider what the Bible says about the future of our world.

Today's question came in the email and had to do with whether the mentions of David in Jeremiah and Ezekiel refer to resurrected King David, or to the Messiah.

Jer. 30:9 "And David their king, Whom I will raise up for them."

Ezek. 34:23-24 "I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them--My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken."

Ezek. 37:24-25 "David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statues, and do them. Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where you fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children's children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever."

Hosea 3:5 "Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days."

MacArthur consistently takes David to refer to the greater David = Messiah Jesus in all the cases above.

My problem with that interpretation is that there are other easy ways to refer to God's anointed, and I wonder why the prophets say "David" if they meant "Messiah."

David, like all OT saints, will be resurrected and enjoy the millennial kingdom (Dan. 12:2-3). It is very plausible that he will hold a significant place of rule over the kingdom as a prince under the Messiah. Perhaps Solomon will as well. After that, there are only a few historical kings who were "good." Maybe they all will have some sort of role in the millennial kingdom. Obviously Jesus will outshine them all by a large margin!

My Bible outlines are now available on Kindle.

Another installment of literacy in the Bible:

We mentioned in the video about God’s role for government and the video about abortion that God did—and still does—permit society to exercise capital punishment. This is clear from Genesis 9:6. But does this run afoul of another well-known text of the Bible in the Ten Commandments? Look at Exodus 20:13, where the sixth commandment says “You shall not murder.” In saying this, does God contradict himself? Or does Moses contradict God when he wrote “You shall not murder”?

The key to resolving this question is the difference between murder and killing. The old King James version says “You shall not kill.” But that is a bad translation. Murder and killing are two different things. Granted, they have a similar outcome for the person who is dead, but morally they are entirely different. In a just war, for example, people are killed, but the soldiers are not guilty of murder. A policeman who kills a gun-wielding perpetrator at a crime scene is not guilty of murder either. When a home invasion ends in the death of the homeowner, this is murder. When the same home invasion ends with the death of the invader, that is justifiable homicide, meaning that the homeowner is not guilty of murder because he was simply defending himself and his family.

So, the answer to our question is NO—capital punishment is not murder. Instead, it is a justifiable penalty assigned for certain horrific crimes. Otherwise, God himself would be guilty of murder for allowing and even predetermining the death of certain individuals. Even Jesus himself was killed—was God at fault? No indeed. According to 1 Peter 3:18, Jesus died in the place of unjust people so that He might bring us to God. He voluntarily came to the earth to do that. Certain humans were guilty of putting Him on the cross, to be sure. But in effect it was our sins that killed him. So are we guilty of murder?