Perspective On Eternity

A Response to William Clifford ( Click Here to read the original text) William Clifford makes some pretty strong claims against those that hold to any sort of belief with insufficient evidence. It would be best to respond to him by breaking down his argument into two parts: First, he claims that one cannot begin to believe something until there is sufficient evidence and second, one should challenge all that they already believe . These are the two points that I will address below. The first of the two assumptions made by Clifford is that no one should begin to hold to a belief until they have weighed all the evidence. He says that this is our “duty to mankind”, and by believing in something with insufficient evidence you affect many around you into believing this false accusation.” He says that the word belief “is rightly used on truths which have been established by long experience and waiting toil , and which have stood in the fierce light of free and fearless questioning.

Solid Vision To be a genuine servant leader you must first have a proper perspective and then that perspective must be lived out as shown in our integrity and finally the leader must have a solid vision. Vision is really the third level of perspective a leader must have, which is a perspective on the future (see part 1 about the first 2 levels). Vision is more than a clever statement or idea. In order to explain clearly the necessity of having a vision I must answer three questions: “what is vision”, “what is needed for vision” and then lastly “why do we need vision.” Almost every leadership book will cover the topic of vision at some point and will usually give an exhaustive definition and explanation of each aspect of what a vision should include. In general there are three aspects to how they each define vision. Autry describes the first aspect as the purpose, which answers “why are we here?” (Autry 26) George Barna defines the purpose for the leader by stating th

Integrity A proper perspective is the foundational characteristic of a servant leader but without integrity he will surely fail.  Every Christian leader must show evidence for the active work of the Holy Spirit in their lives and not take lightly the expectations of holiness.  Scripture tells us that leaders are judged at a different standard than those in which they are leading and/or teaching ( James 3:1 ).  For this reason they are expected to live with a responsibility to be an example in the area of integrity to those around them ( 1 Peter 5:3 ).  My intention in this post is not to discuss the general ideas of integrity as outlined for all believers but to specifically focus on the demands put on leaders in the New Testament regarding their lifestyle. In God's word the most comprehensive list of the character traits of a leader are found in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1.  In each of these exhaustive descriptions of a leader they begin with the need to be “above reproach” ( T