I am what I hate
Infested with sin
When I open the gate
And let the demon in
That old man dies
Uncountable times
Yet he still tries
To commit more crimes
Against God and man
And who I love most
I hate the plan
Of which he boasts
To hunt and destroy
And make me a slave
Stealing away my joy
As he digs my grave
Lust of the eye
And lust of the mind
Ways that I die
Aren't hard to find
It feels so good
Feeding lies and hype
But I know I should
Want a different type
Of passionate thought
Than this spiritual heist
Because I have been bought
By the blood of Christ
Help Jesus, there's no on else
Who can save me from myself
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
A Man That Needs To Die
There's a man in me that needs to die
With a heart of stone and an evil eye
He's the one who would take your life
And the one who'd betray his wife
He's the one who lies and steals
And does just whatever he feels
He's filled with lust and he's filled with greed
And he's so blind to who he needs
There's a man in me that needs to die
With an attitude that he's just fine
He follows the law and pays his bills
And donates cash to help the ill
He says of himself that he is good
Because he does what he thinks he should
He thinks that this life is his own
And doesn't see who's on the throne
There's a man in me that needs to die
Who can't see the plank that's in his eye
He works very hard to earn his grace
And can't see the gift in front of his face
He keeps his rules and pats his head
Not realizing inside he's dead
He thinks that he's pretty free from sin
Without really letting the savior in
All three men seem world's apart
But all three men need a new heart
Like the one that Jesus gave me
Bought with his blood on Calvary
Now there's a war in my heart and head
That will end when all three are dead
Come back come back my king and lord
And cut them down with your sword
Then there will be
Freedom
With a heart of stone and an evil eye
He's the one who would take your life
And the one who'd betray his wife
He's the one who lies and steals
And does just whatever he feels
He's filled with lust and he's filled with greed
And he's so blind to who he needs
There's a man in me that needs to die
With an attitude that he's just fine
He follows the law and pays his bills
And donates cash to help the ill
He says of himself that he is good
Because he does what he thinks he should
He thinks that this life is his own
And doesn't see who's on the throne
There's a man in me that needs to die
Who can't see the plank that's in his eye
He works very hard to earn his grace
And can't see the gift in front of his face
He keeps his rules and pats his head
Not realizing inside he's dead
He thinks that he's pretty free from sin
Without really letting the savior in
All three men seem world's apart
But all three men need a new heart
Like the one that Jesus gave me
Bought with his blood on Calvary
Now there's a war in my heart and head
That will end when all three are dead
Come back come back my king and lord
And cut them down with your sword
Then there will be
Freedom
Thursday, May 10, 2012
The Heart of the Matter
The situation: The kid gets into the candy jar when he is not supposed to. The kid runs and hides to unwrap and consume his ill gotten loot. Dad catches him and asks if he stole the candy. He says no with his candy covered mouth and holds up his candy covered hands.
Thief. Liar.
He didn't have to be taught how to steal, and he didn't have to be taught how to lie. The problem is in his heart. "Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him." (Proverbs 22:15 ESV)
However, this is not the world's assessment of the problem, and a wrong assessment is bound to lead to a wrong solution. Sadly, wrong thinking and wrong solutions have infested the minds of Christian parents as well.
Two popular lines of thinking are that the real issue is either low self esteem or environment. Both are wrong.
Dumb assessment/solution #1 is that the child must have a low self esteem, and if he just had a higher self esteem, he wouldn't do bad things. Right. How well has that worked over the past couple decades? We tried that and ended up with demon teenagers and adults who think amazingly high of themselves. I was one of them before, saturated in wickedness but thinking I was a really good person, before Jesus gave me a new heart. The "boost his self esteem" route will turn our candy thief into an arrogant candy thief who flips Dad off after stealing the candy. We need something better.
Dumb assessment/solution #2 is that the child's environment is the problem and we need to change it to correct his moral behavior. He's really just a victim of too easily accessible and too good tasting of candy and of bad friends, so let's hide the candy and shoot the friends. Is that how it went down with Adam and Eve? No. The tree was in the middle of the garden, easily accessible, with good tasting fruit, and they were the only people in a really good neighborhood. Really, what good would it have been to have the tree on a mountain with an electric fence around it? That wouldn't drive out folly. It's the same with the candy. You can move it to the roof and say "Look, my kids behave!" You'd also be a moron. Your kids still want to sin in their hearts, but it would be harder for them because they don't have a ladder. We need something better.
With the popular thinking the world offers, you can make kids proud, and you can make kids moral. If you do both, you make them into the type of people Jesus ripped into the most. Bad idea.
What we need instead of these surface changes, we need to go deep and teach children the heart of the problem is the problem with the heart. What we need is to teach them the Bible properly from a young age and discipline them properly. What we need is for them to get we are all sinners by nature and choice. What we need is to point them to Jesus as the answer to that problem. What we need is to address the root cause behind it all, not just effects of that root cause. What we need, for us and for them, is a new heart.
That is what creates humility instead of pride, and that is what leads to obedience out of love instead of compliance out of circumstance. That is the heart of the matter.
Thief. Liar.
He didn't have to be taught how to steal, and he didn't have to be taught how to lie. The problem is in his heart. "Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him." (Proverbs 22:15 ESV)
However, this is not the world's assessment of the problem, and a wrong assessment is bound to lead to a wrong solution. Sadly, wrong thinking and wrong solutions have infested the minds of Christian parents as well.
Two popular lines of thinking are that the real issue is either low self esteem or environment. Both are wrong.
Dumb assessment/solution #1 is that the child must have a low self esteem, and if he just had a higher self esteem, he wouldn't do bad things. Right. How well has that worked over the past couple decades? We tried that and ended up with demon teenagers and adults who think amazingly high of themselves. I was one of them before, saturated in wickedness but thinking I was a really good person, before Jesus gave me a new heart. The "boost his self esteem" route will turn our candy thief into an arrogant candy thief who flips Dad off after stealing the candy. We need something better.
Dumb assessment/solution #2 is that the child's environment is the problem and we need to change it to correct his moral behavior. He's really just a victim of too easily accessible and too good tasting of candy and of bad friends, so let's hide the candy and shoot the friends. Is that how it went down with Adam and Eve? No. The tree was in the middle of the garden, easily accessible, with good tasting fruit, and they were the only people in a really good neighborhood. Really, what good would it have been to have the tree on a mountain with an electric fence around it? That wouldn't drive out folly. It's the same with the candy. You can move it to the roof and say "Look, my kids behave!" You'd also be a moron. Your kids still want to sin in their hearts, but it would be harder for them because they don't have a ladder. We need something better.
With the popular thinking the world offers, you can make kids proud, and you can make kids moral. If you do both, you make them into the type of people Jesus ripped into the most. Bad idea.
What we need instead of these surface changes, we need to go deep and teach children the heart of the problem is the problem with the heart. What we need is to teach them the Bible properly from a young age and discipline them properly. What we need is for them to get we are all sinners by nature and choice. What we need is to point them to Jesus as the answer to that problem. What we need is to address the root cause behind it all, not just effects of that root cause. What we need, for us and for them, is a new heart.
That is what creates humility instead of pride, and that is what leads to obedience out of love instead of compliance out of circumstance. That is the heart of the matter.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Do You Fear What I Fear?
"My biggest fear for you is not that you will be an atheist, but that you will create a picture of God that accommodates what you want, and you will collect verses to back that up, and you will build your own system of knowledge, and you will worship an idol, and you will call it Jesus - a god who has no power, a god who has no authority, a god who has no justice, a god who has no strength, a god who sort of winks at evil, a god who is just like us. And the thing that I fear, I fear for those people that don't fear God. If you don't fear God, I fear for you." - Mark Driscoll
It is too easy to focus first or only on the aspects of God we like and practically or totally ignore those we don't.
In doing that we make God out to be a Santa Claus who winks at evil like its no big deal.
Instead we should first focus on the power, the authority, the sovereignty, the righteous judgment, and the wrath of God who hates evil and crushes his enemies, and that we can't measure up to our own standards of goodness, let alone His.
In doing that and developing a healthy fear of God first, we are more equipped to love what he loves, hate what he hates, and then his love means something real to us.
I didn't connect the dots at the time when I first cried out to Jesus and had an overnight transformation, but I remember what I tried to suppress while I was living for myself, proud of all the time and money I had to waste, loving pornography more than real intimacy, and making false gods out of everything in my life - that voice of God very clear in the back of my head telling me that if I kept this up and didn't change, I was going to hell.
How wonderful it is to think that while I was rebelling against him with my entire life, God was already pursuing me and setting me on a path that led straight through the cross of Jesus Christ into his loving arms! There is no way I'd be there without God first giving me a glimpse of who he is, and that picture looks nothing like an old grandpa who loves but lacks power.
Fear God and love God.
Grace and Peace friends.
It is too easy to focus first or only on the aspects of God we like and practically or totally ignore those we don't.
In doing that we make God out to be a Santa Claus who winks at evil like its no big deal.
Instead we should first focus on the power, the authority, the sovereignty, the righteous judgment, and the wrath of God who hates evil and crushes his enemies, and that we can't measure up to our own standards of goodness, let alone His.
In doing that and developing a healthy fear of God first, we are more equipped to love what he loves, hate what he hates, and then his love means something real to us.
I didn't connect the dots at the time when I first cried out to Jesus and had an overnight transformation, but I remember what I tried to suppress while I was living for myself, proud of all the time and money I had to waste, loving pornography more than real intimacy, and making false gods out of everything in my life - that voice of God very clear in the back of my head telling me that if I kept this up and didn't change, I was going to hell.
How wonderful it is to think that while I was rebelling against him with my entire life, God was already pursuing me and setting me on a path that led straight through the cross of Jesus Christ into his loving arms! There is no way I'd be there without God first giving me a glimpse of who he is, and that picture looks nothing like an old grandpa who loves but lacks power.
Fear God and love God.
Grace and Peace friends.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
A Father's Joy
My after-work time at home is normally very good - peaceful home, respectful wife, joy filled kids, all by the grace of God. The other night I experience a particularly glorious dad moment that blew me away. It started with my kids fighting.
"Anda, you're nuts."
Yes, but that is beside the point!
So the girls were supposed to be feeding the dogs, but one was in the doorway with a chair blocking the other, and the one in the back had the scoop for the dog food. "Give me the scoop." "Get out of the way." "Give me the scoop." "Get out of the way." "Go sit on the stairs."
After some contemplation time, I took them into their room one at a time. "What's your sin?" "I was thinking about myself and not my sister." "That's right, in that moment you didn't have love in your heart. Who did you sin against?" "My sister." "Who else?" "You." "Who else?" "God." "That's right, you need to tell all three that you are sorry."
Then I witnessed prayer, heartfelt apologies, and reconciliation. It was beautiful and glorious and just how it should be between God's kids, and it certainly beats an unmeant "SORRY. Humph."
Christian parents, take the time for settling down, getting kids to understand their specific sin, getting at the heart, and encouraging real apologies, real forgiveness, and real reconciliation. It's awesome.
Props to Mark Driscoll for excellent teaching through Proverbs that illuminated some areas regarding child rearing I needed to pay more attention to, and to Jesus for using him so mightily and for never ending work on my own heart.
Grace and Peace friends.
"Anda, you're nuts."
Yes, but that is beside the point!
So the girls were supposed to be feeding the dogs, but one was in the doorway with a chair blocking the other, and the one in the back had the scoop for the dog food. "Give me the scoop." "Get out of the way." "Give me the scoop." "Get out of the way." "Go sit on the stairs."
After some contemplation time, I took them into their room one at a time. "What's your sin?" "I was thinking about myself and not my sister." "That's right, in that moment you didn't have love in your heart. Who did you sin against?" "My sister." "Who else?" "You." "Who else?" "God." "That's right, you need to tell all three that you are sorry."
Then I witnessed prayer, heartfelt apologies, and reconciliation. It was beautiful and glorious and just how it should be between God's kids, and it certainly beats an unmeant "SORRY. Humph."
Christian parents, take the time for settling down, getting kids to understand their specific sin, getting at the heart, and encouraging real apologies, real forgiveness, and real reconciliation. It's awesome.
Props to Mark Driscoll for excellent teaching through Proverbs that illuminated some areas regarding child rearing I needed to pay more attention to, and to Jesus for using him so mightily and for never ending work on my own heart.
Grace and Peace friends.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Who I Am Apart From Jesus
I lived 30 years of my life not knowing Jesus. One day he broke into my life and changed my heart and renewed my mind. He made me a new creation and put his spirit in me. He gave me a love for him that will not be shaken in the end - not because I am so strong, but because he is so gracious and loving. This post is about who I was before that happened, and who we all are apart from Jesus.
The Bible is brutally honest about who we are apart from God's gracious intervention. The fact is that we are wretched sinners by nature and by choice, and all of what I say below is dead on regarding who I was before God saved me. For those who know me personally, these things may not seem to be wholly true, but that is because you don't really know me. Only one person apart from Jesus comes close, and you are not that person.
So here goes. Apart from Jesus, I am:
One who does evil continually. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5 ESV)
Impure. Who can say, "I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin"? (Proverbs 20:9 ESV)
Not righteous or good. Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. (Ecclesiastes 7:20 ESV)
Full of evil and madness. The hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. (Ecclesiastes 9:3b ESV)
Wicked and estranged. The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies. (Psalm 58:3 ESV)
Lost, going my own way. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6 ESV)
Rebellious. I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; (Isaiah 65:2 ESV)
Among those who have loved darkness. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. (John 3:19 ESV)
A slave to sin. Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. (John 8:34 ESV)
A child of the devil. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. (John 8:43, 44a ESV)
A stiff necked resister of the Holy Spirit. "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, (Acts 7:51, 52 ESV)
Unrepentant, storing up wrath. Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. (Romans 2:4, 5 ESV)
Without fear of God. As it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Romans 3:10-18 ESV)
Hostile to God. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:7, 8 ESV)
Spiritually foolish. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV)
Spiritually dead, among the children of wrath. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1-3 ESV)
An enemy of the cross of Christ. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. (Philippians 3:18, 19 ESV)
Dead and in debt. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13, 14 ESV)
Defiled and unbelieving. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. (Titus 1:15, 16 ESV)
A slave to passions and pleasures. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. (Titus 3:3 ESV)
Under the power of the evil one. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. (1 John 5:19 ESV)
That was bad news. Thank God for good news. Thank God for Jesus. Thank God for grace.
The Bible is brutally honest about who we are apart from God's gracious intervention. The fact is that we are wretched sinners by nature and by choice, and all of what I say below is dead on regarding who I was before God saved me. For those who know me personally, these things may not seem to be wholly true, but that is because you don't really know me. Only one person apart from Jesus comes close, and you are not that person.
So here goes. Apart from Jesus, I am:
One who does evil continually. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5 ESV)
Impure. Who can say, "I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin"? (Proverbs 20:9 ESV)
Not righteous or good. Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. (Ecclesiastes 7:20 ESV)
Full of evil and madness. The hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. (Ecclesiastes 9:3b ESV)
Wicked and estranged. The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies. (Psalm 58:3 ESV)
Lost, going my own way. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6 ESV)
Rebellious. I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; (Isaiah 65:2 ESV)
Among those who have loved darkness. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. (John 3:19 ESV)
A slave to sin. Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. (John 8:34 ESV)
A child of the devil. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. (John 8:43, 44a ESV)
A stiff necked resister of the Holy Spirit. "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, (Acts 7:51, 52 ESV)
Unrepentant, storing up wrath. Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. (Romans 2:4, 5 ESV)
Without fear of God. As it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Romans 3:10-18 ESV)
Hostile to God. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:7, 8 ESV)
Spiritually foolish. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV)
Spiritually dead, among the children of wrath. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1-3 ESV)
An enemy of the cross of Christ. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. (Philippians 3:18, 19 ESV)
Dead and in debt. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13, 14 ESV)
Defiled and unbelieving. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. (Titus 1:15, 16 ESV)
A slave to passions and pleasures. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. (Titus 3:3 ESV)
Under the power of the evil one. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. (1 John 5:19 ESV)
That was bad news. Thank God for good news. Thank God for Jesus. Thank God for grace.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Grocery List
A sister at work posted this.
Louise Redden, a poorly dressed lady with a look of defeat on her face, walked into a grocery store.
She approached the owner of the store in a most humble manner and asked if he would let her charge a few groceries.
She softly explained that her husband was very ill and unable to work, they had seven children and they needed food.
John Longhouse, the grocer, scoffed at her and requested that she leave his store at once.
Visualizing the family needs, she said: 'Please, sir! I will bring you the money just as soon as I can.'
John told her he could not give her credit, since she did not have a charge account at his store.
Standing beside the counter was a customer who overheard the conversation between the two The customer walked forward and told the grocer that he would stand good for whatever she needed for her family. The grocer said in a very reluctant voice, 'Do you have a grocery list?'
Louise replied, 'Yes sir.' 'O.K' he said, 'Fine....put your grocery list on the scales and whatever your grocery list weighs, I will give you that amount in groceries.'
Louise hesitated a moment with a bowed head, then she reached into her purse and took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. She then laid the piece of paper on the scale carefully with her head still bowed.
The eyes of the grocer and the customer showed amazement when the scales went down and stayed down..
The grocer, staring at the scales, turned slowly to the customer and said begrudgingly, 'I can't believe it.'
The customer smiled and the grocer started putting the groceries on the other side of the scales. The scale did not balance so he continued to put more and more groceries on them until the scales would hold no more.
The grocer stood there in utter disgust. Finally, he grabbed the piece of paper from the scales and looked at it with greater amazement.
It was not a grocery list, it was a prayer, which said:
'Dear Lord, you know my needs and I am leaving this in your hands.'
The grocer gave her the groceries that he had gathered and stood in stunned silence.
Louise thanked him and left the store. The other customer handed a fifty-dollar bill to the grocer and said; 'It was worth every penny of it. Only God Knows how much a prayer weighs.'
So dear heart, trust God to heal the sick, provide food for the hungry, clothes and shelter for those that don't have as we do.
I will also add to it this -- be the answer to someone's prayers.
Louise Redden, a poorly dressed lady with a look of defeat on her face, walked into a grocery store.
She approached the owner of the store in a most humble manner and asked if he would let her charge a few groceries.
She softly explained that her husband was very ill and unable to work, they had seven children and they needed food.
John Longhouse, the grocer, scoffed at her and requested that she leave his store at once.
Visualizing the family needs, she said: 'Please, sir! I will bring you the money just as soon as I can.'
John told her he could not give her credit, since she did not have a charge account at his store.
Standing beside the counter was a customer who overheard the conversation between the two The customer walked forward and told the grocer that he would stand good for whatever she needed for her family. The grocer said in a very reluctant voice, 'Do you have a grocery list?'
Louise replied, 'Yes sir.' 'O.K' he said, 'Fine....put your grocery list on the scales and whatever your grocery list weighs, I will give you that amount in groceries.'
Louise hesitated a moment with a bowed head, then she reached into her purse and took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. She then laid the piece of paper on the scale carefully with her head still bowed.
The eyes of the grocer and the customer showed amazement when the scales went down and stayed down..
The grocer, staring at the scales, turned slowly to the customer and said begrudgingly, 'I can't believe it.'
The customer smiled and the grocer started putting the groceries on the other side of the scales. The scale did not balance so he continued to put more and more groceries on them until the scales would hold no more.
The grocer stood there in utter disgust. Finally, he grabbed the piece of paper from the scales and looked at it with greater amazement.
It was not a grocery list, it was a prayer, which said:
'Dear Lord, you know my needs and I am leaving this in your hands.'
The grocer gave her the groceries that he had gathered and stood in stunned silence.
Louise thanked him and left the store. The other customer handed a fifty-dollar bill to the grocer and said; 'It was worth every penny of it. Only God Knows how much a prayer weighs.'
So dear heart, trust God to heal the sick, provide food for the hungry, clothes and shelter for those that don't have as we do.
I will also add to it this -- be the answer to someone's prayers.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Whose Way
Sometimes God does big amazing things in our life, and it is right to give him credit. Sometimes God does little amazing things in our life, and it is also right to give him credit. I'm such a bonehead I too often steal it for myself. I try not to, but I surely do. I do remember giving him proper credit for that 200+ bowling game I prayed for that one time. I do remember giving him proper credit for stopping the rain just long enough to make my run that one time, when I was on that whole "I'm going to dunk a basketball" kick. I do remember giving him proper credit for helping me fix broken hardware at work and get moving again.
These are not things that are important by the standards of eternity. They have nothing to do with my salvation, building myself or others up, or surviving in this broken world. They're just little gifts God throws at me, and all of us who ask, perhaps just to say "I'm still here, I still love you, and I touch every aspect of your life. Don't forget it."
I haven't.
Even when I go into my escape from reality in the form of Halo: Reach, I often, not always, remember to give God credit for those "can't believe that happened" victories. It's a rarity for me to see a Cutting Crew, Buck Wild, Extermination, or Perfection, but I do see them -- nice gifts from my dad in the game I enjoy playing.
Then there's those times in game that I see one such gift ahead of me, with the path all laid out, and I take it upon myself to get greedy and hurry it up and wreck the whole thing. The one I remember most vividly was when I had a 19 kill 0 death spree going with on Countdown. Our team was about to win the game. Perfection, in the bag. Didn't happen. Why not? Greed. Sinful, selfish, greed. I didn't just want the Perfection, I wanted the Rampage you get with 20 kills straight. So I chase some guy with a sword up a ramp way too far -- no way I can reach him before he riddles me full of bullets, but I try anyway, knowing in the back of my head I'm a dead man.
Moron.
All I had to do was play it the same way I had for the rest of the game. But at the last minute I decide that what's been working isn't good enough. What I have isn't good enough. I want more, and I want it faster. So I take matters into my own hands and the whole thing self-destructs.
Isn't that what we are prone to do in life sometimes?
God's got the plan and us in the palm of his hand. He's in control, we've nothing to worry about -- we just need to go along for the ride listening to his voice. But, oh no, we want more, and we want it faster. God's way sucks -- time to do it our way.
For the record, just so you know, Our Way sucks. It's the road Neo stared down in The Matrix, and it ends in the same place for all of us -- Big Fat Mess, Nowhere. It's not where we want to be. Just get in the car and let God drive.
Grace and Peace
These are not things that are important by the standards of eternity. They have nothing to do with my salvation, building myself or others up, or surviving in this broken world. They're just little gifts God throws at me, and all of us who ask, perhaps just to say "I'm still here, I still love you, and I touch every aspect of your life. Don't forget it."
I haven't.
Even when I go into my escape from reality in the form of Halo: Reach, I often, not always, remember to give God credit for those "can't believe that happened" victories. It's a rarity for me to see a Cutting Crew, Buck Wild, Extermination, or Perfection, but I do see them -- nice gifts from my dad in the game I enjoy playing.
Then there's those times in game that I see one such gift ahead of me, with the path all laid out, and I take it upon myself to get greedy and hurry it up and wreck the whole thing. The one I remember most vividly was when I had a 19 kill 0 death spree going with on Countdown. Our team was about to win the game. Perfection, in the bag. Didn't happen. Why not? Greed. Sinful, selfish, greed. I didn't just want the Perfection, I wanted the Rampage you get with 20 kills straight. So I chase some guy with a sword up a ramp way too far -- no way I can reach him before he riddles me full of bullets, but I try anyway, knowing in the back of my head I'm a dead man.
Moron.
All I had to do was play it the same way I had for the rest of the game. But at the last minute I decide that what's been working isn't good enough. What I have isn't good enough. I want more, and I want it faster. So I take matters into my own hands and the whole thing self-destructs.
Isn't that what we are prone to do in life sometimes?
God's got the plan and us in the palm of his hand. He's in control, we've nothing to worry about -- we just need to go along for the ride listening to his voice. But, oh no, we want more, and we want it faster. God's way sucks -- time to do it our way.
For the record, just so you know, Our Way sucks. It's the road Neo stared down in The Matrix, and it ends in the same place for all of us -- Big Fat Mess, Nowhere. It's not where we want to be. Just get in the car and let God drive.
Grace and Peace
Friday, January 20, 2012
Hey God
Hey God
I want a better world
One without crying
And death and pain
One where our tears
Don't pour down like the rain
Hey God
I want a better world
One without mothers
And kids in need
One where our fears
Don't feed animal greed
Hey God
I want a better world
One without fathers
Who run away
One where goodbye
Is not a word we say
Hey God
I want a better world
One without losing
The ones we love
One where we meet
Again with you above
I want
Life, not death
Peace, not war
Happiness
On heaven's shore
Hope, not hurt
Any more
Please just give
Us something more
Let it be
Truth, not lore
That's all that
I'm asking for
Hey God
I want a better world
With you someday
I want a better world
One without crying
And death and pain
One where our tears
Don't pour down like the rain
Hey God
I want a better world
One without mothers
And kids in need
One where our fears
Don't feed animal greed
Hey God
I want a better world
One without fathers
Who run away
One where goodbye
Is not a word we say
Hey God
I want a better world
One without losing
The ones we love
One where we meet
Again with you above
I want
Life, not death
Peace, not war
Happiness
On heaven's shore
Hope, not hurt
Any more
Please just give
Us something more
Let it be
Truth, not lore
That's all that
I'm asking for
Hey God
I want a better world
With you someday
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Holy Roman Gods, Batman
Let's take a trip in the way back machine to the Roman Empire and look at three dudes.
First, Augustus. He started out as Gaius Octavius Thurinus, and later was named Gaius Julius Caesar. 27BC is where the title Augustus comes in -- a title which subsequent emperors were also given. Go look up a list of Roman emperors. It's interesting to see all the man-glorifying crap that was slapped on the end of their names. The Augustus title is not a political title, but a religious one. It stood for authority over humanity and nature, meaning something like "the illustrious one" or "the revered one". He also used the title "divi filius" for himself quite often, meaning "the son of a god". On top of that, he allowed worship of himself as a living god. When Augustus died, he was deified like Julius.
Second, Tiberius, the next emperor. Like his predecessor, he was given the same title Augustus, but he didn't go around flaunting divine titles and he refused to be worshiped as a living god. He didn't care much for temples dedicated to him either, but he did allow one to be built in Smyrna. Tiberius was very unpopular by the time of his death, and the senate refused to vote him divine honors.
Third, Caligula, who had the phrase "Let there be one Lord, one King". Of course, it seems he thought that "one" should be him. He appeared in public dressed as various Roman gods, referred to himself as a god when meeting with politicians, presented himself as a god to the public, replaced the heads of various Roman gods on statues replaced with his own, and encouraged people to worship him as a living god, Neos Helios -- the New Sun. Got pride?
Now, this phrase "divi filius" is not the same as "dei filius" -- "divus" seems to be lesser than the "deus" used for Roman gods like Jupiter and Mars. Dei filius is what the early Christians used for Jesus -- the divine Son of God, who is the same "stuff" as God. In other words, God in the flesh.
So, given this little history lesson, I find two things worthy of mention.
First, I find it curious that when Jesus was walking around on the earth, the emperor at the time, Tiberius, refused to be worshiped as a living god. In contrast, Jesus accepted worship from people, from the wise men who came to visit him as a toddler to after his resurrection. The emperor before and the emperor after didn't, but this one did. Curious, indeed.
Second, it seems that the claims of the early Christians could certainly piss off some leadership. Here, with Augustus, Caligula, and beyond, you have men born into wealth and power who say either "I'm a god" or "I'm a son of a god", encourage temples to be built to them, encourage worship of themselves, and so on. All the while you have Jesus' followers saying that there is one God who became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, born poor in a no name town to a teenage girl. On top of that, the title they use for him puts him above all, including deified emperors and greater "gods" like Jupiter.
There's quite a difference between a man trying to be God and God becoming a man. The former sends one to hell, and the latter saves many from it. I'll take door number two, Jesus.
First, Augustus. He started out as Gaius Octavius Thurinus, and later was named Gaius Julius Caesar. 27BC is where the title Augustus comes in -- a title which subsequent emperors were also given. Go look up a list of Roman emperors. It's interesting to see all the man-glorifying crap that was slapped on the end of their names. The Augustus title is not a political title, but a religious one. It stood for authority over humanity and nature, meaning something like "the illustrious one" or "the revered one". He also used the title "divi filius" for himself quite often, meaning "the son of a god". On top of that, he allowed worship of himself as a living god. When Augustus died, he was deified like Julius.
Second, Tiberius, the next emperor. Like his predecessor, he was given the same title Augustus, but he didn't go around flaunting divine titles and he refused to be worshiped as a living god. He didn't care much for temples dedicated to him either, but he did allow one to be built in Smyrna. Tiberius was very unpopular by the time of his death, and the senate refused to vote him divine honors.
Third, Caligula, who had the phrase "Let there be one Lord, one King". Of course, it seems he thought that "one" should be him. He appeared in public dressed as various Roman gods, referred to himself as a god when meeting with politicians, presented himself as a god to the public, replaced the heads of various Roman gods on statues replaced with his own, and encouraged people to worship him as a living god, Neos Helios -- the New Sun. Got pride?
Now, this phrase "divi filius" is not the same as "dei filius" -- "divus" seems to be lesser than the "deus" used for Roman gods like Jupiter and Mars. Dei filius is what the early Christians used for Jesus -- the divine Son of God, who is the same "stuff" as God. In other words, God in the flesh.
So, given this little history lesson, I find two things worthy of mention.
First, I find it curious that when Jesus was walking around on the earth, the emperor at the time, Tiberius, refused to be worshiped as a living god. In contrast, Jesus accepted worship from people, from the wise men who came to visit him as a toddler to after his resurrection. The emperor before and the emperor after didn't, but this one did. Curious, indeed.
Second, it seems that the claims of the early Christians could certainly piss off some leadership. Here, with Augustus, Caligula, and beyond, you have men born into wealth and power who say either "I'm a god" or "I'm a son of a god", encourage temples to be built to them, encourage worship of themselves, and so on. All the while you have Jesus' followers saying that there is one God who became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, born poor in a no name town to a teenage girl. On top of that, the title they use for him puts him above all, including deified emperors and greater "gods" like Jupiter.
There's quite a difference between a man trying to be God and God becoming a man. The former sends one to hell, and the latter saves many from it. I'll take door number two, Jesus.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
John And Jesus
Around the time of Jesus' ministry on earth, students of a particular teacher would serve them. If they lived today, they'd get their Starbucks, pick up their dry cleaning, and wash their car. There, however, was one job they would not touch with a ten foot pole -- untie the teacher's sandals and was his feet. That job was left for the lowest of slaves.
Enter John the baptizer, who says that he is preparing the way for the Lord and told people to bear fruit that lines up with repentance from sin, rather than relying on their ancestry to be right with God. Some people think he might be the messiah, the savior, the one promised in prophecy that people were expectantly waiting for.
What does John say to this? "I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." (Luke 3:16) So John says that there is someone coming, and he is not worthy to untie his sandals, the job relegated to the lowest of slaves in that culture. The one to come must be great, indeed.
That one is Jesus. So what does Jesus say about John? "I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John." (Luke 7:28a) So, by Jesus' description, John the baptizer is the greatest man that has ever lived. Yet, John is not worthy to untie Jesus' sandals.
Now fast forward a bit to the Last Supper. What does Jesus do? He washes the feet of his disciples. He does the job of the lowest of slaves, yet he is the one who is much greater than the greatest person that ever lived. Why? Mark records Jesus saying to his disciples "You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:42b-45)
So to be great, those who follow Christ must not be great as those in the world attempt to demonstrate greatness, but rather as Jesus demonstrates greatness -- through serving others in humility. The first glorifies a man; the second glorifies God, and Jesus is all about glorifying God.
For the one who does this and belongs to Jesus, it's good news, as "the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than [John]." (Luke 7:28b) The lowest in Jesus' kingdom is greater than the greatest person who ever lived. That's awesome.
So how does one get into the kingdom then? How does one belong to Jesus? How does one find the ability to live a life for God and others instead of a life for self? He doesn't do it through his own strength, that's for sure. He does it through the power of God's Spirit in him -- the result of a transformed heart, mind, and life.
As Jesus told Nicodemus, "I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3). Make no mistake, a man cannot brag that it was his own decision to "become born again" -- rather, it is God doing the transforming work in a person's life, for "the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8)
So what do you do if you are not a born again believer in Jesus Christ who has had his heart of stone replaced with a heart of flesh that wants to live and die for God? Agree with God that you are in fact a sinner with no hope of saving yourself, and then turn from your sin to Jesus, who paid the price for your sin so that you don't have to. Ask him to save you. He doesn't say "no" to that.
Let's recap:
- John the baptizer is the greatest guy who ever lived
- If you're in God's kingdom, you're greater than John
- Jesus, bringer of the kingdom, was the ultimate example of a servant leader
- We're supposed to be like Jesus
- The only way to be like Jesus is to be born again
- The only way to be born again is to repent and trust Jesus for salvation
See, the external is not enough. Jesus helps fix the problem at the core -- our hearts, the internal. Jesus gives us a heart for God, a heart for him. If you don't have that, you might just be externally religious, looking good to men on the outside but dead on the inside. That's worse than being externally wicked, looking bad to men on the outside. If you're in the latter category, repent of your sin and turn to Jesus. If you're in the former category, repent of your religion and turn to Jesus.
There's a lot of variety in what a man may need to turn from -- but there is only one he needs to turn to.
Grace and peace, friends.
Enter John the baptizer, who says that he is preparing the way for the Lord and told people to bear fruit that lines up with repentance from sin, rather than relying on their ancestry to be right with God. Some people think he might be the messiah, the savior, the one promised in prophecy that people were expectantly waiting for.
What does John say to this? "I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." (Luke 3:16) So John says that there is someone coming, and he is not worthy to untie his sandals, the job relegated to the lowest of slaves in that culture. The one to come must be great, indeed.
That one is Jesus. So what does Jesus say about John? "I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John." (Luke 7:28a) So, by Jesus' description, John the baptizer is the greatest man that has ever lived. Yet, John is not worthy to untie Jesus' sandals.
Now fast forward a bit to the Last Supper. What does Jesus do? He washes the feet of his disciples. He does the job of the lowest of slaves, yet he is the one who is much greater than the greatest person that ever lived. Why? Mark records Jesus saying to his disciples "You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:42b-45)
So to be great, those who follow Christ must not be great as those in the world attempt to demonstrate greatness, but rather as Jesus demonstrates greatness -- through serving others in humility. The first glorifies a man; the second glorifies God, and Jesus is all about glorifying God.
For the one who does this and belongs to Jesus, it's good news, as "the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than [John]." (Luke 7:28b) The lowest in Jesus' kingdom is greater than the greatest person who ever lived. That's awesome.
So how does one get into the kingdom then? How does one belong to Jesus? How does one find the ability to live a life for God and others instead of a life for self? He doesn't do it through his own strength, that's for sure. He does it through the power of God's Spirit in him -- the result of a transformed heart, mind, and life.
As Jesus told Nicodemus, "I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3). Make no mistake, a man cannot brag that it was his own decision to "become born again" -- rather, it is God doing the transforming work in a person's life, for "the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8)
So what do you do if you are not a born again believer in Jesus Christ who has had his heart of stone replaced with a heart of flesh that wants to live and die for God? Agree with God that you are in fact a sinner with no hope of saving yourself, and then turn from your sin to Jesus, who paid the price for your sin so that you don't have to. Ask him to save you. He doesn't say "no" to that.
Let's recap:
- John the baptizer is the greatest guy who ever lived
- If you're in God's kingdom, you're greater than John
- Jesus, bringer of the kingdom, was the ultimate example of a servant leader
- We're supposed to be like Jesus
- The only way to be like Jesus is to be born again
- The only way to be born again is to repent and trust Jesus for salvation
See, the external is not enough. Jesus helps fix the problem at the core -- our hearts, the internal. Jesus gives us a heart for God, a heart for him. If you don't have that, you might just be externally religious, looking good to men on the outside but dead on the inside. That's worse than being externally wicked, looking bad to men on the outside. If you're in the latter category, repent of your sin and turn to Jesus. If you're in the former category, repent of your religion and turn to Jesus.
There's a lot of variety in what a man may need to turn from -- but there is only one he needs to turn to.
Grace and peace, friends.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Do What For Who?
I was listening to a co-worker at lunch today describe some of the annoyances and other issues going on in his life. I've heard similar accounts a time or two before and couldn't help but think later "man, he needs Jesus in his life." Now that I say it, I wonder how many times one of my Christian brothers, and former co-worker, thought the same thing about me. This person is not very receptive to Christianity from what I can tell, and I admittedly don't try to steer any conversation in that direction with him. In my own weakness and self-righteousness, I admit I don't really care to have him in the lunch group because of the attitude I perceive he has toward Christianity -- as well as the worldly topics of conversation.
Now that I write it, it sounds like I have too much of a religious attitude that I need to repent of and get dealt with. After all, it was the Pharisees and teachers of the law who were the worst ones in Jesus' day -- and he told them to repent as well, being the worst ones enslaved by pride.
But that particular shortcoming is not what I wanted to deal with in this post -- rather it is my lame motivation behind the thinking "man, you need Jesus in your life." In this case, and others, I thought a person needed Jesus in his or her life because of some issue or attitude -- usually having to do with relationships with other people. While it is true that being transformed by God's Spirit can certainly improve strained relationships, that is absolutely the wrong motivation for coming to Christ.
I am somewhat sickened that the attitude revealed here reminds me of false teacher Joel Olsteen and his message that God just wants you to be rich, healthy, and have good relationships. What a load of crap. How was Jesus' relationship with people? Well, his family thought he was crazy during his earthly ministry. Many of his followers left him when he said something too tough for them to swallow. He was continually at odds with the religious leaders, who eventually murdered him because he claimed to be God.
When speaking about how people should view him, Jesus said "I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:35-37)
Clearly, Jesus is not all about fixing our personal relationships. He is all about us repenting of our sin and coming into a relationship with him, and God the Father through him.
And that is what the motivation for pointing someone to Jesus should be. It should not be "hey man, turn to Jesus, he can make stuff in your life better." Jesus can do that, but that doesn't mean he will. In fact, some things might get a whole lot worse, depending on your perspective. After all, those who hate Jesus don't care much for his followers, either. Think about the typical Hindu or Muslim on the other side of the world who is the first in their family to come to Christ -- it is not going to go well for them, considering how coupled religion, culture, and family are in much of the non-western world.
So again, our motivation should not be "Jesus can fix some of your problems" but rather "Jesus has already fixed the one big problem." He is, after all, Lord and Savior, not Genie and Magician.
Shalom, friends.
Now that I write it, it sounds like I have too much of a religious attitude that I need to repent of and get dealt with. After all, it was the Pharisees and teachers of the law who were the worst ones in Jesus' day -- and he told them to repent as well, being the worst ones enslaved by pride.
But that particular shortcoming is not what I wanted to deal with in this post -- rather it is my lame motivation behind the thinking "man, you need Jesus in your life." In this case, and others, I thought a person needed Jesus in his or her life because of some issue or attitude -- usually having to do with relationships with other people. While it is true that being transformed by God's Spirit can certainly improve strained relationships, that is absolutely the wrong motivation for coming to Christ.
I am somewhat sickened that the attitude revealed here reminds me of false teacher Joel Olsteen and his message that God just wants you to be rich, healthy, and have good relationships. What a load of crap. How was Jesus' relationship with people? Well, his family thought he was crazy during his earthly ministry. Many of his followers left him when he said something too tough for them to swallow. He was continually at odds with the religious leaders, who eventually murdered him because he claimed to be God.
When speaking about how people should view him, Jesus said "I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:35-37)
Clearly, Jesus is not all about fixing our personal relationships. He is all about us repenting of our sin and coming into a relationship with him, and God the Father through him.
And that is what the motivation for pointing someone to Jesus should be. It should not be "hey man, turn to Jesus, he can make stuff in your life better." Jesus can do that, but that doesn't mean he will. In fact, some things might get a whole lot worse, depending on your perspective. After all, those who hate Jesus don't care much for his followers, either. Think about the typical Hindu or Muslim on the other side of the world who is the first in their family to come to Christ -- it is not going to go well for them, considering how coupled religion, culture, and family are in much of the non-western world.
So again, our motivation should not be "Jesus can fix some of your problems" but rather "Jesus has already fixed the one big problem." He is, after all, Lord and Savior, not Genie and Magician.
Shalom, friends.
Monday, December 19, 2011
The Genealogy Of Jesus
Jesus is probably the most talked about ever. As well, he is probably the most disagreed about person ever, despite having a rock solid record of his coming to Earth, his ministry while here, his sacrificial death on the cross to atone for our sins, his bodily resurrection, and his ascension into heaven. As we approach Christmas where believers focus on the incarnation -- God becoming flesh in the person of Jesus Christ -- let's take a quick look to see what the Bible has to say about his ancestry, as presented in the four gospel accounts.
Mark is easy; he doesn't deal with it. Maybe that's a little weird, but it is not without purpose. Mark was writing to a Roman audience -- generally a multicultural audience who didn't care a whole lot about genealogy and cared quite a bit about getting things done. Mark's gospel account also happens to be the most fast paced and action oriented of the four. Jesus went here, said this, did that, went there, did this, and so on. Jesus was a doer, and he got the job done.
Luke is different; he's an investigator. He's writing the book for a guy named Theophilus, who was taught about Jesus and wanted to know the truth behind what he was taught -- or if it was all bunk. From what I understand from people who know Greek, well, Luke's writing is very articulate. He was also a doctor. In short, he's a really smart guy bankrolled by a really rich guy who's funds aren't going to run dry -- he did his homework. And what does that homework say? Jesus is from the line of David, through his adoptive father Joseph. Luke also makes sure to record that Mary's pregnancy is a miracle from the Holy Spirit -- not some horrid offense against the betrothed couple where Mary had physical sex, violating the sanctity of their marriage.
Matthew was a follower of Jesus, and he wrote to a Jewish audience, so he's got a different agenda. Things not important to those Mark and Luke wrote to are of vital importance to Matthew's audience. Right up front, in the first sentence, Matthew makes sure to say that Jesus was both a son of David and a son of Abraham. He also, like Luke, makes sure to record that Mary's pregnancy is a miracle from the Holy Spirit, plus he adds that Joseph didn't even have sex with Mary until after Jesus was born. I think this is so there was no question at all -- not only was Mary a virgin when she became pregnant, she was a virgin when she gave birth. On top of that, Matthew does something not normally done, in that he includes the names of women in his genealogy of Jesus -- including Mary, which seems to imply that she also is from the line of David. Again, this is probably done so there is no question -- if adoptive father Joseph and biological mother Mary are both from the line of David, there's no argument!
And now we get to John. John is writing to Greeks, who are steeped in philosophy and don't really know a whole heck of a lot about Jewish history and religion. So rather than go down that road, John choose another one. Using terms like the Logos (the Word), and echoing the beginning of scripture, he shows that Jesus is the eternal Son of God -- the second person of the Trinity become the God-man on earth. Jesus' earthly line doesn't matter here -- the fact that he is the eternal creator and sustainer of all things does.
So there we have the God-man's coming to earth recorded from three different perspectives. Why does it matter?
Prophecy and truth.
If Jesus was just the product of two teenagers messing around, the Bible would be a horrid lie. He would not be the promised savior from the line of king David in fulfillment of prophecy, and other things the Bible says about Jesus would not necessarily be true. If Jesus is not God in the flesh come to save us, we who claim the name of Christ are terribly duped and are spreading evil. Really it's the same issue as Paul brings up in one of his comments on the resurrection of Jesus -- which says that if Jesus did not in fact rise from the dead, we're rightfully the laughing stock of the world. Thank God that is not the case, and that we do have good evidence, historically and experientially, that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
So what about prophecy as it applies to the birth of Christ over two thousand years ago? There's a lot that can be written here -- more than I know about myself for certain -- but let me throw out a couple that I think are particularly relevant to my post.
First, Micah 5:2 -- "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days." Who's origin would be from ancient days? No mere mortal man for sure. Biblically that leaves the messiah to be an angel, as the Jehovah's Witnesses believe, or God himself, who Jesus actually is.
Second, Isaiah 9:6 -- "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Exactly who is going to be born that we're going to call "Mighty God" and "Everlasting Father"? No mere human for certain. No angel or other created being, either. You don't call anything created "Mighty God" nor "Everlasting Father" -- even Jesus himself was the one who said "call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven." Only one can fit this prophetic description, and that is the God-man Jesus.
Let's also not forget a few other comments recorded early on in the gospel accounts about the baby Jesus. Mary was told to name him Jesus in the first place, because he would save people from their sins, and Jesus means "savior." The name for your child meant more back then in that culture than they do to us westerners. Also, when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple, a prophet there said that he had finally seen God's salvation and could now die, and a prophetess gave thanks to God and started telling people who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem that he, Jesus, was it. On top of that, the wise men who understood prophecy about the promised messiah came to find Jesus and worship him, bringing him gold (for a king), incense (for a priest), and myrrh (for his death, the purpose for which he came!). Now please note, when these wise men worship Jesus, who was a toddler at the oldest by then, no one rebukes them -- and people have been rebuked in other places in the Bible for worshiping angels. Angels certainly are, by Biblical description, much more intimidating than a kid in a diaper. So who is this child again?
God in the flesh. Our Lord. Our Savior. Jesus Christ.
Mark is easy; he doesn't deal with it. Maybe that's a little weird, but it is not without purpose. Mark was writing to a Roman audience -- generally a multicultural audience who didn't care a whole lot about genealogy and cared quite a bit about getting things done. Mark's gospel account also happens to be the most fast paced and action oriented of the four. Jesus went here, said this, did that, went there, did this, and so on. Jesus was a doer, and he got the job done.
Luke is different; he's an investigator. He's writing the book for a guy named Theophilus, who was taught about Jesus and wanted to know the truth behind what he was taught -- or if it was all bunk. From what I understand from people who know Greek, well, Luke's writing is very articulate. He was also a doctor. In short, he's a really smart guy bankrolled by a really rich guy who's funds aren't going to run dry -- he did his homework. And what does that homework say? Jesus is from the line of David, through his adoptive father Joseph. Luke also makes sure to record that Mary's pregnancy is a miracle from the Holy Spirit -- not some horrid offense against the betrothed couple where Mary had physical sex, violating the sanctity of their marriage.
Matthew was a follower of Jesus, and he wrote to a Jewish audience, so he's got a different agenda. Things not important to those Mark and Luke wrote to are of vital importance to Matthew's audience. Right up front, in the first sentence, Matthew makes sure to say that Jesus was both a son of David and a son of Abraham. He also, like Luke, makes sure to record that Mary's pregnancy is a miracle from the Holy Spirit, plus he adds that Joseph didn't even have sex with Mary until after Jesus was born. I think this is so there was no question at all -- not only was Mary a virgin when she became pregnant, she was a virgin when she gave birth. On top of that, Matthew does something not normally done, in that he includes the names of women in his genealogy of Jesus -- including Mary, which seems to imply that she also is from the line of David. Again, this is probably done so there is no question -- if adoptive father Joseph and biological mother Mary are both from the line of David, there's no argument!
And now we get to John. John is writing to Greeks, who are steeped in philosophy and don't really know a whole heck of a lot about Jewish history and religion. So rather than go down that road, John choose another one. Using terms like the Logos (the Word), and echoing the beginning of scripture, he shows that Jesus is the eternal Son of God -- the second person of the Trinity become the God-man on earth. Jesus' earthly line doesn't matter here -- the fact that he is the eternal creator and sustainer of all things does.
So there we have the God-man's coming to earth recorded from three different perspectives. Why does it matter?
Prophecy and truth.
If Jesus was just the product of two teenagers messing around, the Bible would be a horrid lie. He would not be the promised savior from the line of king David in fulfillment of prophecy, and other things the Bible says about Jesus would not necessarily be true. If Jesus is not God in the flesh come to save us, we who claim the name of Christ are terribly duped and are spreading evil. Really it's the same issue as Paul brings up in one of his comments on the resurrection of Jesus -- which says that if Jesus did not in fact rise from the dead, we're rightfully the laughing stock of the world. Thank God that is not the case, and that we do have good evidence, historically and experientially, that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
So what about prophecy as it applies to the birth of Christ over two thousand years ago? There's a lot that can be written here -- more than I know about myself for certain -- but let me throw out a couple that I think are particularly relevant to my post.
First, Micah 5:2 -- "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days." Who's origin would be from ancient days? No mere mortal man for sure. Biblically that leaves the messiah to be an angel, as the Jehovah's Witnesses believe, or God himself, who Jesus actually is.
Second, Isaiah 9:6 -- "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Exactly who is going to be born that we're going to call "Mighty God" and "Everlasting Father"? No mere human for certain. No angel or other created being, either. You don't call anything created "Mighty God" nor "Everlasting Father" -- even Jesus himself was the one who said "call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven." Only one can fit this prophetic description, and that is the God-man Jesus.
Let's also not forget a few other comments recorded early on in the gospel accounts about the baby Jesus. Mary was told to name him Jesus in the first place, because he would save people from their sins, and Jesus means "savior." The name for your child meant more back then in that culture than they do to us westerners. Also, when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple, a prophet there said that he had finally seen God's salvation and could now die, and a prophetess gave thanks to God and started telling people who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem that he, Jesus, was it. On top of that, the wise men who understood prophecy about the promised messiah came to find Jesus and worship him, bringing him gold (for a king), incense (for a priest), and myrrh (for his death, the purpose for which he came!). Now please note, when these wise men worship Jesus, who was a toddler at the oldest by then, no one rebukes them -- and people have been rebuked in other places in the Bible for worshiping angels. Angels certainly are, by Biblical description, much more intimidating than a kid in a diaper. So who is this child again?
God in the flesh. Our Lord. Our Savior. Jesus Christ.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Destroy Your Bar
I ran through a possible scenario in my head tonight that ended up with me yelling at a bunch of people. Yeah, I do that. The daydreaming thing from childhood hasn't gone away, but now I'm loud and angry in my daydreaming, and what I'm angry at is religion.
I hate religion. I am so prone to religion.
Here's an example. In watching a non happy Disneyland world TV show tonight with the family, that wickedness came out in the way I thought about one character's immoral actions who professed to be a Christian. It also came out in thought in something I almost said to Novalee after joking that Jamie was going to kill me and I'd see her in heaven later -- "be a good girl and I'll see you there." Yuck, vomit. Filth. Judgmental and performance based nonsense that divides people into "good and bad" instead of "bad and Jesus."
Think I just went off the deep end and said Christians have license to sin willy nilly? No. Those born again of the Spirit of God don't want to sin; however, when we do -- and we all do -- God doesn't love us any less.
Don't believe that we all still sin and think you're "good" now? You're prideful. Pride is the worst sin and the one that got Satan kicked out of heaven. Pride and religion go together a lot. If you think you're "good" like I have and sometimes do, maybe you should think about that and examine the motives behind your actions and examine the how you think.
Don't believe that God still loves us the same when we sin? He loved us so much that he died on a cross while we were sinners and hated him. If he loved us less after he bought us with his blood and our hearts were turned to him, that would be insane. Last time I checked to the best of my ability, God isn't insane.
Now I'm off on a tangent, so back to the ranting in my head. It made me think of one thing religious people do, and that is make bars. Not places you serve drinks, but lines that divide -- on one side is the good people who get a pat on the head and on the other side is the bad people who get a pat somewhere lower than their head and a lot harder.
Consider a vocational or lay leader in a religion. If you can tolerate disagreement and discussion easily and you're trapped in religion, then I'm talking about yours. If you spin up easily and I might piss you off if I disagree with you, then I'm talking about someone else's. Whatever you like to keep reading, I don't care. For the record, this equally applies to mainline protestant denominations, evangelical Christians, and whatever other labels are out there. Just get a picture in your head and pay attention to the point.
Okay, this leader, he's good at what he does. He checks off all the do this boxes and the don't do that boxes. He's respectable and the church looks up to him. He reads his Bible every day. He goes to the Wednesday night service regularly. He gives ten percent. He doesn't smoke, drink, cuss, or waste his time on frivolous pursuits. He's the one to imitate in behavior -- except in thought, he's all screwed up. He's better than the others in the church. Some poor soul comes in off the street who's a broken mess and he wants to help this pathetic person become an upstanding gentleman just like him. He thinks God blesses him more than the rank and file members because he dots all his i's and crosses all his t's.
How about that rank and file member of the church? Maybe he works a tough job that's really demanding on his time, and he doesn't get paid that well. He has a hard time reading his Bible as much and giving as much as the first guy. He smokes and drinks, but he kind of hides it and feels a little guilty about it because those uppity people at his church give him funny looks when they smell something on him. But he thinks to himself that he's trying, and that at least he's not as bad as his neighbors who don't even go to church and are fighting all the time.
How about those neighbors? They work hard. They pay their taxes. Their kids don't cause trouble in the neighborhood. They don't really invite the previous family over a lot though; they feel a little ashamed about that shouting match and don't want to risk it coming up in conversation. They declined the same neighbor's invitation to church in the past, saying that they were glad Jesus worked for them, but that they didn't really need him. After all, they were decent people, not like those scumbags in prison who murdered and stole and set buildings on fire.
How about those scumbags? Bottom of the barrel right? Not much more to say? You know what they think? "At least we're not as bad as that child molester and that rapist over there."
All these people are the same. Yes, that's right, the same. They're all blinded by some form of religious pride. There's concern for image and obligating God and not needing God and all of that as we go through the list, but there's also one thing that all of them have in common. That stupid bar. That piece of crap that they use as a measuring stick to say "I'm above the line and you're below the line, so let me pat myself on the head and give myself a gold star." It is so easy for us to compare ourselves with other people and make ourselves look good, and it's so wicked.
That's not the gospel.
You know what the gospel is? The real bar is so high we can't reach it. Our religious effort and moral behavior won't get us there. God's not grading on a curve here. The standard is perfection and to be with God we have to be perfect. How the heck are we going to do that? In comes our intercessor Jesus, God in the flesh. He took the punishment for our sins on himself and when we put our trust in him, he gives us his righteousness. When we are in Christ, we look perfect before God. Now that's good news!
In short, those in Christ are not better people -- just sinners who are loved and forgiven, and who God is working on to make more like his Son Jesus Christ -- so if you've got a bar forged by religious pride, destroy it.
I hate religion. I am so prone to religion.
Here's an example. In watching a non happy Disneyland world TV show tonight with the family, that wickedness came out in the way I thought about one character's immoral actions who professed to be a Christian. It also came out in thought in something I almost said to Novalee after joking that Jamie was going to kill me and I'd see her in heaven later -- "be a good girl and I'll see you there." Yuck, vomit. Filth. Judgmental and performance based nonsense that divides people into "good and bad" instead of "bad and Jesus."
Think I just went off the deep end and said Christians have license to sin willy nilly? No. Those born again of the Spirit of God don't want to sin; however, when we do -- and we all do -- God doesn't love us any less.
Don't believe that we all still sin and think you're "good" now? You're prideful. Pride is the worst sin and the one that got Satan kicked out of heaven. Pride and religion go together a lot. If you think you're "good" like I have and sometimes do, maybe you should think about that and examine the motives behind your actions and examine the how you think.
Don't believe that God still loves us the same when we sin? He loved us so much that he died on a cross while we were sinners and hated him. If he loved us less after he bought us with his blood and our hearts were turned to him, that would be insane. Last time I checked to the best of my ability, God isn't insane.
Now I'm off on a tangent, so back to the ranting in my head. It made me think of one thing religious people do, and that is make bars. Not places you serve drinks, but lines that divide -- on one side is the good people who get a pat on the head and on the other side is the bad people who get a pat somewhere lower than their head and a lot harder.
Consider a vocational or lay leader in a religion. If you can tolerate disagreement and discussion easily and you're trapped in religion, then I'm talking about yours. If you spin up easily and I might piss you off if I disagree with you, then I'm talking about someone else's. Whatever you like to keep reading, I don't care. For the record, this equally applies to mainline protestant denominations, evangelical Christians, and whatever other labels are out there. Just get a picture in your head and pay attention to the point.
Okay, this leader, he's good at what he does. He checks off all the do this boxes and the don't do that boxes. He's respectable and the church looks up to him. He reads his Bible every day. He goes to the Wednesday night service regularly. He gives ten percent. He doesn't smoke, drink, cuss, or waste his time on frivolous pursuits. He's the one to imitate in behavior -- except in thought, he's all screwed up. He's better than the others in the church. Some poor soul comes in off the street who's a broken mess and he wants to help this pathetic person become an upstanding gentleman just like him. He thinks God blesses him more than the rank and file members because he dots all his i's and crosses all his t's.
How about that rank and file member of the church? Maybe he works a tough job that's really demanding on his time, and he doesn't get paid that well. He has a hard time reading his Bible as much and giving as much as the first guy. He smokes and drinks, but he kind of hides it and feels a little guilty about it because those uppity people at his church give him funny looks when they smell something on him. But he thinks to himself that he's trying, and that at least he's not as bad as his neighbors who don't even go to church and are fighting all the time.
How about those neighbors? They work hard. They pay their taxes. Their kids don't cause trouble in the neighborhood. They don't really invite the previous family over a lot though; they feel a little ashamed about that shouting match and don't want to risk it coming up in conversation. They declined the same neighbor's invitation to church in the past, saying that they were glad Jesus worked for them, but that they didn't really need him. After all, they were decent people, not like those scumbags in prison who murdered and stole and set buildings on fire.
How about those scumbags? Bottom of the barrel right? Not much more to say? You know what they think? "At least we're not as bad as that child molester and that rapist over there."
All these people are the same. Yes, that's right, the same. They're all blinded by some form of religious pride. There's concern for image and obligating God and not needing God and all of that as we go through the list, but there's also one thing that all of them have in common. That stupid bar. That piece of crap that they use as a measuring stick to say "I'm above the line and you're below the line, so let me pat myself on the head and give myself a gold star." It is so easy for us to compare ourselves with other people and make ourselves look good, and it's so wicked.
That's not the gospel.
You know what the gospel is? The real bar is so high we can't reach it. Our religious effort and moral behavior won't get us there. God's not grading on a curve here. The standard is perfection and to be with God we have to be perfect. How the heck are we going to do that? In comes our intercessor Jesus, God in the flesh. He took the punishment for our sins on himself and when we put our trust in him, he gives us his righteousness. When we are in Christ, we look perfect before God. Now that's good news!
In short, those in Christ are not better people -- just sinners who are loved and forgiven, and who God is working on to make more like his Son Jesus Christ -- so if you've got a bar forged by religious pride, destroy it.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Joe Dude's Bible Thoughts: Jude 1 (Verses 9-25)
Verse 9
This is an interesting verse because of the lost extra-biblical source that Jude quotes, "The Assumption Of Moses" according to Origen. Some texts have been found that are either from this book or from a different one called the "Testament Of Moses". What has been found doesn't contain anything related to this dispute however. The whole thing seems a little sketchy.
I also think that's a totally wrong focus on the verse.
Let's look at what Jude says and the point he is making. The first immediate thing that comes to mind is "Don't !@#$ with the devil!" If Michael, one of the princes of God's angels, left it to God himself to rebuke Satan, who are we? Don't mess with him and don't talk to him -- go to God and ask him to deal with it.
Verse 10
The bigger point here is that, while super-powerful Michael didn't dare rebuke Satan to his face, the merely human false teachers Jude is dealing with blaspheme all kinds of stuff they don't get. I'm not sure if that means with their words, or with their immoral lives, or what.
The latter part of the verse brings Romans to mind -- "although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves".
In short, God gives people what they want. If they want to make themselves or something else their god, he will let them and give them over completely to their false and godless ways. Jude puts the false teachers in this category -- these are people who have become like "unreasoning animals" living life worshiping the gods of pleasure and self instead of God himself.
Verse 11
Jude gives some examples of others who went their own way instead of God's way. Cain out of anger, Balaam out of greed, and Korah out of pride and a rejection of authority.
Verses 12 through 15
Jude calls the false teachers a bunch of names and says they're going to hell.
He doesn't cater to the wolves. He shoots them. Lord, give me the same kind of boldness.
Verse 16
"Loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage" sounds so much like slick TV preachers (Joel Olsteen, cough cough) that are always upbeat and don't have anything bad to say about anyone -- wolves who through out a "God wants you to be rich and healthy" message to the world.
Ever see the camera pan out across the audience, I mean congregation, for these liars? There's a ton of people there. Like I said, God gives people what they want. You want God, you get God. You want some godless bull!@#$ message that makes you feel happy, you get a steaming pile.
Verse 17 and 18
False teachers are not anything new.
Verse 19
"It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit."
This punch hits hard.
In the past when I heard "false teacher" my mind would go to other religions outside the mainstream Christian denominations -- Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses for example.
Next my mind would go to the liberal views in the main denominations that promote all kinds of nonsense -- gay is okay, the Bible isn't God's authoritative word, Jesus wasn't necessarily divine, the resurrection doesn't really matter, there is no hell, everyone's going to heaven, and so on.
My mind is starting to shift from that a little bit -- closer to home. And rightly so -- it's not the obviously erroneous stuff that kills people, it's the subtle stuff. It's the religious people who check the boxes, speak Christianese really well, and have no heart for God and live like the rest of the world, seeking only the pleasures of the world in self-deification and living for today instead of eternity.
God help me to not be a Spirit-less religious guy, because I am so easily sucked into religion. Show us all where were are stuck in religion and KILL IT.
Verses 20 through 23
Hang on Christian, and help your brothers and sisters hang on too! It's a bumpy ride, but Jesus has our back.
Verses 24 and 25
That's right, Jesus rocks!
This is an interesting verse because of the lost extra-biblical source that Jude quotes, "The Assumption Of Moses" according to Origen. Some texts have been found that are either from this book or from a different one called the "Testament Of Moses". What has been found doesn't contain anything related to this dispute however. The whole thing seems a little sketchy.
I also think that's a totally wrong focus on the verse.
Let's look at what Jude says and the point he is making. The first immediate thing that comes to mind is "Don't !@#$ with the devil!" If Michael, one of the princes of God's angels, left it to God himself to rebuke Satan, who are we? Don't mess with him and don't talk to him -- go to God and ask him to deal with it.
Verse 10
The bigger point here is that, while super-powerful Michael didn't dare rebuke Satan to his face, the merely human false teachers Jude is dealing with blaspheme all kinds of stuff they don't get. I'm not sure if that means with their words, or with their immoral lives, or what.
The latter part of the verse brings Romans to mind -- "although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves".
In short, God gives people what they want. If they want to make themselves or something else their god, he will let them and give them over completely to their false and godless ways. Jude puts the false teachers in this category -- these are people who have become like "unreasoning animals" living life worshiping the gods of pleasure and self instead of God himself.
Verse 11
Jude gives some examples of others who went their own way instead of God's way. Cain out of anger, Balaam out of greed, and Korah out of pride and a rejection of authority.
Verses 12 through 15
Jude calls the false teachers a bunch of names and says they're going to hell.
He doesn't cater to the wolves. He shoots them. Lord, give me the same kind of boldness.
Verse 16
"Loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage" sounds so much like slick TV preachers (Joel Olsteen, cough cough) that are always upbeat and don't have anything bad to say about anyone -- wolves who through out a "God wants you to be rich and healthy" message to the world.
Ever see the camera pan out across the audience, I mean congregation, for these liars? There's a ton of people there. Like I said, God gives people what they want. You want God, you get God. You want some godless bull!@#$ message that makes you feel happy, you get a steaming pile.
Verse 17 and 18
False teachers are not anything new.
Verse 19
"It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit."
This punch hits hard.
In the past when I heard "false teacher" my mind would go to other religions outside the mainstream Christian denominations -- Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses for example.
Next my mind would go to the liberal views in the main denominations that promote all kinds of nonsense -- gay is okay, the Bible isn't God's authoritative word, Jesus wasn't necessarily divine, the resurrection doesn't really matter, there is no hell, everyone's going to heaven, and so on.
My mind is starting to shift from that a little bit -- closer to home. And rightly so -- it's not the obviously erroneous stuff that kills people, it's the subtle stuff. It's the religious people who check the boxes, speak Christianese really well, and have no heart for God and live like the rest of the world, seeking only the pleasures of the world in self-deification and living for today instead of eternity.
God help me to not be a Spirit-less religious guy, because I am so easily sucked into religion. Show us all where were are stuck in religion and KILL IT.
Verses 20 through 23
Hang on Christian, and help your brothers and sisters hang on too! It's a bumpy ride, but Jesus has our back.
Verses 24 and 25
That's right, Jesus rocks!
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Perfect Hater
One of my cousins posted a link the other day that had that wonderful bunch of chaps from the Westboro Baptist Church in it. If the name doesn't ring a bell, that's the "God hates fags" group. If that still doesn't ring a bell, excellent. Your head will probably hurt less and your dinner has a better chance of staying down. Let's keep it that way.
That's enough about that group itself. I could go on a long rant that includes in it points about jacked up theology, wrong motives, and causing God's name to be blasphemed and dishonored. That wasn't my original intent, so I'll leave it at that. I wanted to see what the Bible said about hate -- in particular hate coming from God, as I've heard and read mixed things that warrant clarification.
The cliche phrase always comes to my mind -- "hate the sin and love the sinner" which sounds good to me. Interestingly, the phrase came from Ghandi, not the Bible. Even so, is it sound advice for the Christian? We'll see.
I wanted to get some other thoughts, so I went to a website that generally has very solid answers and read this:
"Even as Christians, we remain imperfect in our humanity and cannot love perfectly, nor can we hate perfectly (in other words, without malice). But God can do both of these perfectly, because He is God. God can hate without any sinful intent. Therefore, He can hate the sin and the sinner in a perfectly holy way and still be willing to lovingly forgive at the moment of that sinner's repentance and faith."
That sounds pretty harsh to me. I guess it's because I am human and don't get what "perfect hate" is and how God can love perfectly and hate perfectly at the same time. To me, God hating someone sounds more like "I want to squash you like a bug." That is obviously not the truth, otherwise we would have all be squashed long ago.
Next I did a search in the Bible for words with "hate" and found a lot of people hating people, people hating God, God hating people's actions, people being told not to hate and so on. I found the following three verses that deal with God hating people directly:
- "The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers." (Psalm 5:5)
- "The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence." (Psalm 11:5)
- "but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert." (Malachi 1:3)
So based on that, I must conclude that the website is correct, and God does in fact hate the wicked. Ouch! Remember that "the wicked" includes me and everyone else on the planet. We have all sinned against a perfect God and are deserving of nothing but his wrath.
Even so, God loved the whole world so much that he sent Jesus to take the sins of the world upon himself and be the payment we cannot pay. This love is expressed well in Romans 5:8, which says "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." In other words, while we hated God and were his enemies, and while he hated us for it, he still loved us and died on a cross for us. I don't really GET that kind of love, deep down. I don't think I will on this side of eternity.
I think the explanation of how God's love and hate play together is explained well in this: "Mysterious but true is the fact that God can perfectly love and hate a person at the same time. This means He can love him as someone He created and can redeem, as well as hate him for his unbelief and sinful lifestyle."
Does that mean we should do the same? Absolutely not. We're flawed humans and told many times in scripture not to hate. We can't love perfectly like God, nor can we hate perfectly like God. The advice "Love the sinner and hate the sin" is absolutely appropriate for us mere mortals!
That's enough about that group itself. I could go on a long rant that includes in it points about jacked up theology, wrong motives, and causing God's name to be blasphemed and dishonored. That wasn't my original intent, so I'll leave it at that. I wanted to see what the Bible said about hate -- in particular hate coming from God, as I've heard and read mixed things that warrant clarification.
The cliche phrase always comes to my mind -- "hate the sin and love the sinner" which sounds good to me. Interestingly, the phrase came from Ghandi, not the Bible. Even so, is it sound advice for the Christian? We'll see.
I wanted to get some other thoughts, so I went to a website that generally has very solid answers and read this:
"Even as Christians, we remain imperfect in our humanity and cannot love perfectly, nor can we hate perfectly (in other words, without malice). But God can do both of these perfectly, because He is God. God can hate without any sinful intent. Therefore, He can hate the sin and the sinner in a perfectly holy way and still be willing to lovingly forgive at the moment of that sinner's repentance and faith."
That sounds pretty harsh to me. I guess it's because I am human and don't get what "perfect hate" is and how God can love perfectly and hate perfectly at the same time. To me, God hating someone sounds more like "I want to squash you like a bug." That is obviously not the truth, otherwise we would have all be squashed long ago.
Next I did a search in the Bible for words with "hate" and found a lot of people hating people, people hating God, God hating people's actions, people being told not to hate and so on. I found the following three verses that deal with God hating people directly:
- "The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers." (Psalm 5:5)
- "The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence." (Psalm 11:5)
- "but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert." (Malachi 1:3)
So based on that, I must conclude that the website is correct, and God does in fact hate the wicked. Ouch! Remember that "the wicked" includes me and everyone else on the planet. We have all sinned against a perfect God and are deserving of nothing but his wrath.
Even so, God loved the whole world so much that he sent Jesus to take the sins of the world upon himself and be the payment we cannot pay. This love is expressed well in Romans 5:8, which says "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." In other words, while we hated God and were his enemies, and while he hated us for it, he still loved us and died on a cross for us. I don't really GET that kind of love, deep down. I don't think I will on this side of eternity.
I think the explanation of how God's love and hate play together is explained well in this: "Mysterious but true is the fact that God can perfectly love and hate a person at the same time. This means He can love him as someone He created and can redeem, as well as hate him for his unbelief and sinful lifestyle."
Does that mean we should do the same? Absolutely not. We're flawed humans and told many times in scripture not to hate. We can't love perfectly like God, nor can we hate perfectly like God. The advice "Love the sinner and hate the sin" is absolutely appropriate for us mere mortals!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Joe Dude's Bible Thoughts: Jude 1 (Verses 5-8)
Verses 5-7
Jude gives some examples of those destined for hell. First are those who saw God's awesome power as Moses led them out of Egypt yet did not believe. Second are angels who would have even been in the presence of God, yet rejected him. I think it is implied by the text that these demons are those angels that pridefully rebelled against God with Satan. Third are those people from Sodom and Gomorrah completely given over to wickedness and their own pleasures.
I don't know why Jude picked these particular groups of creatures, but there is definitely a lesson to be learned from each of them.
When we see God's might and power and still reject him, that's evil. Each of us has a time in our life when the push from his Spirit to turn away from sin to him is the strongest it will ever be, yet sadly many reject that push and turn away from God forever, condemning themselves to hell. I can't imagine being one of those delivered from slavery in Egypt, crossing through the Red Sea, seeing God lead as a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire, and still not believe in him. Yet, I am also reminded of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus that Jesus told -- where at the end he says that the rich man's brothers will not believe, even if someone were to rise from the dead.
When we desire a higher position than God has given us, that's evil. Especially evil is pride. Satan had this to such an extent that he wanted to be God. I would say thank God we're different, but that's not necessarily true. How often in our lives have we wanted to be God instead of God? Maybe we wouldn't say it or think it like that, but how often have we behaved that way and then found ourselves in deep water? As people we have a fine way of allowing Jesus to sit on the throne of our lives until things get a little too good or a little to bad and then we kick him off the throne and try to do things our own way. It never works out well, and it never will.
When we make ourselves our own gods and decide our main purpose in life is not to glorify God, but to seek fulfillment from carnal pleasures, that's evil. For many the sins of the men of Sodom and Gomorrah are obviously wicked -- "well, thank God we're not like that!" Yet how often do we seek our own different pleasures first in this world? Maybe it's television or games. Maybe it's sports or hobbies. Maybe it's food and drink. Maybe it's home and family time. There are many things in this world we are free to enjoy in Christ, but, as Paul wrote, not everything builds up. When we let something other than God enslave us and take over, we're in trouble.
And now that I've written about all three examples a little bit, I see how they could follow each other in succession from disbelief to pride to self-appointed godhood, but I don't think that's the intent here, especially given verse 8 below.
Verse 8
Jude brings out the commonality in the examples by comparing them to the problematic people that prompted his letter in the first place. The commonality in all of them is rejecting God's authority in favor of some other authority -- trying to make something else God in the place of God. For the Israelites in Egypt, it started with the golden calf. For the angels, it was themselves -- they wanted to be God, or at least the ringleader did. For the wicked men of those cities, they wanted to rule their own lives, thus making themselves their own gods as well.
All of the above trusted in something other than God, and Jude says the same thing about certain false teachers that appear to rely on the authority of their own dreams rather than scripture, or Jesus, or something a little more compelling than the product of a bad meal and background head noise. They ground themselves in experience, which is no ground at all. Based on their experience, they go on living like the devil, which reveals that they do not know God at all.
Really, to me, it just seems like an excuse to sin -- with a God sticker slapped on it. There's nothing new under the sun. As an example from the past, there were temples to fake gods with temple prostitutes. What was the thought process there? "Hmmm, we like to have sex with whoever, let's do that and call it worship." As an example from today, we like the "good life" here in the first world, so what do you see? Name It And Claim It, God's your magic genie. The Prosperity Gospel, God just wants you to be rich and healthy. Or how about even those who get the real gospel being bad stewards in the name of "enjoying God's blessings"? I know that one. It's devious, and it's dangerous.
I am not saying that experience is bad, but it better not be the sole basis for your faith. I had an incredibly transformational experience when my heart was turned toward Jesus, but that experience also lines up very well with the Bible as well. The two complement each other well. If I were to just have some very moving experience, but it didn't line up with the Bible at all, that would be a big problem.
There are people with very moving conversion stories to various religious systems that are similar to mine. There are people who have claimed to have special new revelation from God. There are people who have claimed to talk to angels and demons and the dead. There are people who claim to have dreams and visions that came from God. It is far too easy to just go after experience these days, but such experiences are worthless or outright harmful if they don't line up with God's Word. All of scripture points to Jesus, so if you've got some "new thing" that points away from Jesus or goes against what he said, you're deceived or just full of crap.
I'll stop here for now and go through additional parts of Jude next post. I never thought a one chapter book in the Bible would yield so much from my brain.
Jude gives some examples of those destined for hell. First are those who saw God's awesome power as Moses led them out of Egypt yet did not believe. Second are angels who would have even been in the presence of God, yet rejected him. I think it is implied by the text that these demons are those angels that pridefully rebelled against God with Satan. Third are those people from Sodom and Gomorrah completely given over to wickedness and their own pleasures.
I don't know why Jude picked these particular groups of creatures, but there is definitely a lesson to be learned from each of them.
When we see God's might and power and still reject him, that's evil. Each of us has a time in our life when the push from his Spirit to turn away from sin to him is the strongest it will ever be, yet sadly many reject that push and turn away from God forever, condemning themselves to hell. I can't imagine being one of those delivered from slavery in Egypt, crossing through the Red Sea, seeing God lead as a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire, and still not believe in him. Yet, I am also reminded of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus that Jesus told -- where at the end he says that the rich man's brothers will not believe, even if someone were to rise from the dead.
When we desire a higher position than God has given us, that's evil. Especially evil is pride. Satan had this to such an extent that he wanted to be God. I would say thank God we're different, but that's not necessarily true. How often in our lives have we wanted to be God instead of God? Maybe we wouldn't say it or think it like that, but how often have we behaved that way and then found ourselves in deep water? As people we have a fine way of allowing Jesus to sit on the throne of our lives until things get a little too good or a little to bad and then we kick him off the throne and try to do things our own way. It never works out well, and it never will.
When we make ourselves our own gods and decide our main purpose in life is not to glorify God, but to seek fulfillment from carnal pleasures, that's evil. For many the sins of the men of Sodom and Gomorrah are obviously wicked -- "well, thank God we're not like that!" Yet how often do we seek our own different pleasures first in this world? Maybe it's television or games. Maybe it's sports or hobbies. Maybe it's food and drink. Maybe it's home and family time. There are many things in this world we are free to enjoy in Christ, but, as Paul wrote, not everything builds up. When we let something other than God enslave us and take over, we're in trouble.
And now that I've written about all three examples a little bit, I see how they could follow each other in succession from disbelief to pride to self-appointed godhood, but I don't think that's the intent here, especially given verse 8 below.
Verse 8
Jude brings out the commonality in the examples by comparing them to the problematic people that prompted his letter in the first place. The commonality in all of them is rejecting God's authority in favor of some other authority -- trying to make something else God in the place of God. For the Israelites in Egypt, it started with the golden calf. For the angels, it was themselves -- they wanted to be God, or at least the ringleader did. For the wicked men of those cities, they wanted to rule their own lives, thus making themselves their own gods as well.
All of the above trusted in something other than God, and Jude says the same thing about certain false teachers that appear to rely on the authority of their own dreams rather than scripture, or Jesus, or something a little more compelling than the product of a bad meal and background head noise. They ground themselves in experience, which is no ground at all. Based on their experience, they go on living like the devil, which reveals that they do not know God at all.
Really, to me, it just seems like an excuse to sin -- with a God sticker slapped on it. There's nothing new under the sun. As an example from the past, there were temples to fake gods with temple prostitutes. What was the thought process there? "Hmmm, we like to have sex with whoever, let's do that and call it worship." As an example from today, we like the "good life" here in the first world, so what do you see? Name It And Claim It, God's your magic genie. The Prosperity Gospel, God just wants you to be rich and healthy. Or how about even those who get the real gospel being bad stewards in the name of "enjoying God's blessings"? I know that one. It's devious, and it's dangerous.
I am not saying that experience is bad, but it better not be the sole basis for your faith. I had an incredibly transformational experience when my heart was turned toward Jesus, but that experience also lines up very well with the Bible as well. The two complement each other well. If I were to just have some very moving experience, but it didn't line up with the Bible at all, that would be a big problem.
There are people with very moving conversion stories to various religious systems that are similar to mine. There are people who have claimed to have special new revelation from God. There are people who have claimed to talk to angels and demons and the dead. There are people who claim to have dreams and visions that came from God. It is far too easy to just go after experience these days, but such experiences are worthless or outright harmful if they don't line up with God's Word. All of scripture points to Jesus, so if you've got some "new thing" that points away from Jesus or goes against what he said, you're deceived or just full of crap.
I'll stop here for now and go through additional parts of Jude next post. I never thought a one chapter book in the Bible would yield so much from my brain.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Joe Dude's Bible Thoughts: Jude 1 (Verses 1-4)
I thought I'd jump around. Here we have the start of the shortest book in the Bible, written by Jude, the brother of James, both half-brothers of Jesus.
Verse 1
Jude also seems to be tracking with the idea of the elect -- those predestined by God to be saved -- when he says "to those who have been called".
The phrase "who are loved by God" could be a bit confusing, as it could imply that God doesn't love everyone. God does love everyone, demonstrated by the fact that he doesn't destroy us all immediately because of sin and demonstrated by Jesus coming into the world to save all who will receive him. However, God does not ignore sin, and only God's covenant love is extended to his adopted children -- those who put their faith in his son Jesus.
Verse 3
Jude wanted to write about the salvation and faith shared with other Christian brothers, but changed his mind to deal with more pressing issues of false teachings that were surfacing.
However, before he switches gears, he says something that appears to be of significance -- "the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints." That's an interesting way to put it, and I know I have until now overlooked it.
In Romans and Hebrews the same phrase is in there talking about Christ being our sacrifice for sins -- he died once for all. His death on the cross is what pays the penalty for sin, nothing more, and nothing less. In the same way, the final revelation about our faith came through Christ, in his teachings passed on to the apostles. Nothing more was or is to come -- we have all we need to know regarding our salvation, proper Christian thought and action, and so on.
Verse 4
It looks like Jude is concerned about false teachers creeping into the body of Christ -- "godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord."
This reminds me immediately of Paul in Romans 6 -- "What shall we say? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?" (verse 1) and "What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!" (verse 15). He says the same types of things elsewhere as well, and the point is clear -- just because we have freedom in Christ does not mean we have freedom to sin.
A person who thinks that their freedom in Christ gives them free reign to sin freely and be good with God is not in Christ. The person who is in Christ has a new heart for God that desires to know him and love him and flee from sin like Joseph fled from Potiphar's wife.
Verse 1
Jude also seems to be tracking with the idea of the elect -- those predestined by God to be saved -- when he says "to those who have been called".
The phrase "who are loved by God" could be a bit confusing, as it could imply that God doesn't love everyone. God does love everyone, demonstrated by the fact that he doesn't destroy us all immediately because of sin and demonstrated by Jesus coming into the world to save all who will receive him. However, God does not ignore sin, and only God's covenant love is extended to his adopted children -- those who put their faith in his son Jesus.
Verse 3
Jude wanted to write about the salvation and faith shared with other Christian brothers, but changed his mind to deal with more pressing issues of false teachings that were surfacing.
However, before he switches gears, he says something that appears to be of significance -- "the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints." That's an interesting way to put it, and I know I have until now overlooked it.
In Romans and Hebrews the same phrase is in there talking about Christ being our sacrifice for sins -- he died once for all. His death on the cross is what pays the penalty for sin, nothing more, and nothing less. In the same way, the final revelation about our faith came through Christ, in his teachings passed on to the apostles. Nothing more was or is to come -- we have all we need to know regarding our salvation, proper Christian thought and action, and so on.
Verse 4
It looks like Jude is concerned about false teachers creeping into the body of Christ -- "godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord."
This reminds me immediately of Paul in Romans 6 -- "What shall we say? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?" (verse 1) and "What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!" (verse 15). He says the same types of things elsewhere as well, and the point is clear -- just because we have freedom in Christ does not mean we have freedom to sin.
A person who thinks that their freedom in Christ gives them free reign to sin freely and be good with God is not in Christ. The person who is in Christ has a new heart for God that desires to know him and love him and flee from sin like Joseph fled from Potiphar's wife.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Obedience
God threw this one to me today so I thought I'd share
Jesus said "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (John 14:15)
If we're believers, what do we think when we hear that? A typical response I think is something like "Okay God, I love you, I'll keep your commandments." We better get the gospel when we say that, because if we don't get the gospel, one of two things will happen.
- Thing 1. Pride. We'll do well, in some areas, and say "Look how good I'm keeping A, B, and C compared to those other people. Man, I rock!" Never mind D through Z.
- Thing 2. Despair. We'll recognize our miserable failure to do what we said and give up. "I can't do this, it's hopeless for me!"
We need to get the gospel.
Jesus didn't say "To be saved, keep my commandments." He said "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." If you just read that as "Obedience doesn't matter" that is NOT what I said. Hold your thought and keep reading. Let's focus on the first part -- "If you love me..."
Well how do you get to the point of loving God?
"We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother." (1 John 4:19-21)
How did God first love us?
"In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10)
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (John 3:16-17)
"God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
So God first loved us through the cross. When we repent of our sins and turn to Jesus for our salvation, we get a new heart, a new nature -- one that desires God above all things. It is from this new nature that we can truly love God, and demonstrate it through obedience, which includes loving others.
But let me try to be very clear -- this obedience from the new nature is not a "try really hard to show my love" thing. It's a "by my new nature I will obey, because I love God" thing.
Or to put it another way getting rid of that pesky and confusing "you will" and clarifying the meaning:
"If you love me, you better keep my commandments to show it." No.
"If you love me, you're going to keep my commandments." Yes.
Not getting this right leads to works based self-righteousness that focuses on ourselves and what we do. It makes our perception of God's love for us, and possibly our state of salvation, dependent on our performance. That's evil.
Getting this right leads to to grace based Christ-righteousness that focuses on God and what he did. It makes our perception of God's love for us, and our state of salvation, dependent on the cross. That's good. That's God.
Jesus said "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (John 14:15)
If we're believers, what do we think when we hear that? A typical response I think is something like "Okay God, I love you, I'll keep your commandments." We better get the gospel when we say that, because if we don't get the gospel, one of two things will happen.
- Thing 1. Pride. We'll do well, in some areas, and say "Look how good I'm keeping A, B, and C compared to those other people. Man, I rock!" Never mind D through Z.
- Thing 2. Despair. We'll recognize our miserable failure to do what we said and give up. "I can't do this, it's hopeless for me!"
We need to get the gospel.
Jesus didn't say "To be saved, keep my commandments." He said "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." If you just read that as "Obedience doesn't matter" that is NOT what I said. Hold your thought and keep reading. Let's focus on the first part -- "If you love me..."
Well how do you get to the point of loving God?
"We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother." (1 John 4:19-21)
How did God first love us?
"In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10)
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (John 3:16-17)
"God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
So God first loved us through the cross. When we repent of our sins and turn to Jesus for our salvation, we get a new heart, a new nature -- one that desires God above all things. It is from this new nature that we can truly love God, and demonstrate it through obedience, which includes loving others.
But let me try to be very clear -- this obedience from the new nature is not a "try really hard to show my love" thing. It's a "by my new nature I will obey, because I love God" thing.
Or to put it another way getting rid of that pesky and confusing "you will" and clarifying the meaning:
"If you love me, you better keep my commandments to show it." No.
"If you love me, you're going to keep my commandments." Yes.
Not getting this right leads to works based self-righteousness that focuses on ourselves and what we do. It makes our perception of God's love for us, and possibly our state of salvation, dependent on our performance. That's evil.
Getting this right leads to to grace based Christ-righteousness that focuses on God and what he did. It makes our perception of God's love for us, and our state of salvation, dependent on the cross. That's good. That's God.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Sola Scriptura
It's been a while, but I did say I was going to write a post about "sola scriptura" or "scripture alone". If you're not grokking what that means, it basically means the the Bible is THE authority for doctrine. To be very clear, that means we should hold to the doctrines clearly found in the Bible (directly or through valid logical reasoning of what the text says) and that we should NOT hold to doctrines that are not clearly found in the Bible (again, directly or through valid logical reasoning of what the text says).
I'm writing this to think more about this statement, which was a response to a man questioning whether or not the Bible was the only authority for truth -- "You can't really demonstrate sola scriptura from Scripture. The Bible doesn't expressly declare that it is the Christian's only authority. In other words, sola scriptura is essentially the historic confession of the Reformers, over and against the Catholic claim that it is Scripture plus the Church and Tradition. For us, then, it is a theological presupposition, our starting point rather than a proven conclusion."
It's a well said answer, but I'm not sure I agree with it. I think I can demonstrate the Bible is our only authority from Scripture, and I'm not going to do it with a verse, but with bigger ideas that surround a lot of verses. For some context, look up the following:
- The first parts of Matthew 15 and Mark 7, where Jesus is ripping the religious dudes for putting their traditions over the word of God.
- Colossians 2 where Paul argues against listening to reasonable human arguments for things that are really only self-made religion, which takes away from Christ.
So how does that tie into scripture alone? It's all in the DANGER.
When we go outside scripture for something, we're depending on men, fallible and sinful. Even the most well meaning men who love the LORD are bound to screw things up. That's kind of our whole problem in the first place. So let's go into the way back machine to when Moses was walking and talking and leading a bunch of grumblers and complainers through the desert.
God delivers the law. God's people want to follow the law. Leadership looks at something like "don't work on the sabbath" and tries to figure out how they should obey that. That's a good thing. Unfortunately over time you end up with a mess of rules that is put forth and accepted by many as what God wants, rather than looking at what God's Word is going for. For fun, go read some of the things rabbis way back wrote about proper washing of hands. It's absolutely insane, and it *started* with men trying to faithfully obey God -- but it went way off in the weeds. Jesus wanted, among other things, to get people out of the weeds and on the road.
So what about groups that claim Christ but don't have the Bible as the sole and ultimate authority? Off the top of my head I can think of Mormonism, Catholicism, and the Jehovah's Witnesses, who have more than the Bible -- as well as many, we'll call them "liberal" -- Christians who don't believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God.
In Mormonism you have other stuff (the Book of Mormon for example) and a claim to be the true church, but that the other stuff doesn't conflict with the Bible or is supported outright by it. In Catholicism you have other stuff (church tradition for example) and a claim to be the true church, but that the other stuff either doesn't conflict with the Bible or is supported outright by it. On top of that you have the idea that the extra stuff the Mormons say doesn't conflict really does. Then you have the Jehovah's Witnesses who claim our translations are jacked up so they have their own version of it, the New World Translation -- along with the claim that the Watchtower Society is the only group with the authority to interpret scripture.
Then you have Bible-only Christians who say this is all nonsense.
What we've ended up with in many cases are extra-biblical beliefs invented by men and taught as truth. Sound familiar in a way? There's nothing new under the sun.
Now before I continue, know that I'm not writing this to pound on and argue individual doctrines in different groups, but rather to point out that you need to start out with the Bible as your authority and go from there -- not start with extra junk you've been taught and shove it into what you read into the Bible. You can find some verses to support any fool thing you want to. Satan did tempting Jesus. The prosperity gospel people do. The "homosexuality and abortion are not sins" people do. We do, but we shouldn't -- we need to catch ourselves and read things in context and look for the plain simple meaning of the text!
With that said, I'll fairly pick on one thing from each of the groups I mentioned to make my point very clear.
- You don't START with the Bible and get different levels of heaven. Yes, I see in 1 and 2 Corinthians where people try to back that up with. If you didn't start with the Mormon doctrine you were taught about the celestial, terrestrial, telestial (what?), and so on, you wouldn't come up with that in reading the Bible. You know what you get when you read phrases like "third heaven" -- well, the atmosphere, space, and what is actually heaven, which is what Paul saw but had no words for. "The LORD will open the heavens to give rain / Anyone who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat / rain from heaven. Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens / stars of heaven. Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven." Hundreds more uses of heaven to mean three different and obvious things!
- You don't START with the Bible and get that Mary led a sinless life, was taken up into heaven like Jesus was, and is an intercessor for us now that we can ask to pray for us. That's not even a logical conclusion based on the biblical text. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed / Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother." Plus, where the Bible mentions talking to dead people, it's always in the context of sorcery, witchcraft, and so on, not asking them to pray for us!
- You don't START with the Bible and get that Jesus was Michael the archangel. Yes, I see in Hebrews where people try to back that up with, and I get the New World Translation of the Bible is different -- despite the fact that people who actually know Greek and look at it will tell you the translation doesn't match any source documents we have correctly! I've done the "Jesus Is God" post before, so go look that up if you really want to understand this; I'm getting a bit tired of writing, and this is a BIG one.
Now that I've probably pissed some people off, including friends and family, PLEASE take this advice: read the Bible for YOURSELF, ALONE, PRAYERFULLY, without drawing from what's been drilled into your head as much as you can -- and see what the plain meaning of the text is. God gave us a book that is simple enough to read and understand without us crapping it up and shoving our own ideas into it. It's a very dangerous thing that didn't end so well the first time.
I'm writing this to think more about this statement, which was a response to a man questioning whether or not the Bible was the only authority for truth -- "You can't really demonstrate sola scriptura from Scripture. The Bible doesn't expressly declare that it is the Christian's only authority. In other words, sola scriptura is essentially the historic confession of the Reformers, over and against the Catholic claim that it is Scripture plus the Church and Tradition. For us, then, it is a theological presupposition, our starting point rather than a proven conclusion."
It's a well said answer, but I'm not sure I agree with it. I think I can demonstrate the Bible is our only authority from Scripture, and I'm not going to do it with a verse, but with bigger ideas that surround a lot of verses. For some context, look up the following:
- The first parts of Matthew 15 and Mark 7, where Jesus is ripping the religious dudes for putting their traditions over the word of God.
- Colossians 2 where Paul argues against listening to reasonable human arguments for things that are really only self-made religion, which takes away from Christ.
So how does that tie into scripture alone? It's all in the DANGER.
When we go outside scripture for something, we're depending on men, fallible and sinful. Even the most well meaning men who love the LORD are bound to screw things up. That's kind of our whole problem in the first place. So let's go into the way back machine to when Moses was walking and talking and leading a bunch of grumblers and complainers through the desert.
God delivers the law. God's people want to follow the law. Leadership looks at something like "don't work on the sabbath" and tries to figure out how they should obey that. That's a good thing. Unfortunately over time you end up with a mess of rules that is put forth and accepted by many as what God wants, rather than looking at what God's Word is going for. For fun, go read some of the things rabbis way back wrote about proper washing of hands. It's absolutely insane, and it *started* with men trying to faithfully obey God -- but it went way off in the weeds. Jesus wanted, among other things, to get people out of the weeds and on the road.
So what about groups that claim Christ but don't have the Bible as the sole and ultimate authority? Off the top of my head I can think of Mormonism, Catholicism, and the Jehovah's Witnesses, who have more than the Bible -- as well as many, we'll call them "liberal" -- Christians who don't believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God.
In Mormonism you have other stuff (the Book of Mormon for example) and a claim to be the true church, but that the other stuff doesn't conflict with the Bible or is supported outright by it. In Catholicism you have other stuff (church tradition for example) and a claim to be the true church, but that the other stuff either doesn't conflict with the Bible or is supported outright by it. On top of that you have the idea that the extra stuff the Mormons say doesn't conflict really does. Then you have the Jehovah's Witnesses who claim our translations are jacked up so they have their own version of it, the New World Translation -- along with the claim that the Watchtower Society is the only group with the authority to interpret scripture.
Then you have Bible-only Christians who say this is all nonsense.
What we've ended up with in many cases are extra-biblical beliefs invented by men and taught as truth. Sound familiar in a way? There's nothing new under the sun.
Now before I continue, know that I'm not writing this to pound on and argue individual doctrines in different groups, but rather to point out that you need to start out with the Bible as your authority and go from there -- not start with extra junk you've been taught and shove it into what you read into the Bible. You can find some verses to support any fool thing you want to. Satan did tempting Jesus. The prosperity gospel people do. The "homosexuality and abortion are not sins" people do. We do, but we shouldn't -- we need to catch ourselves and read things in context and look for the plain simple meaning of the text!
With that said, I'll fairly pick on one thing from each of the groups I mentioned to make my point very clear.
- You don't START with the Bible and get different levels of heaven. Yes, I see in 1 and 2 Corinthians where people try to back that up with. If you didn't start with the Mormon doctrine you were taught about the celestial, terrestrial, telestial (what?), and so on, you wouldn't come up with that in reading the Bible. You know what you get when you read phrases like "third heaven" -- well, the atmosphere, space, and what is actually heaven, which is what Paul saw but had no words for. "The LORD will open the heavens to give rain / Anyone who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat / rain from heaven. Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens / stars of heaven. Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven." Hundreds more uses of heaven to mean three different and obvious things!
- You don't START with the Bible and get that Mary led a sinless life, was taken up into heaven like Jesus was, and is an intercessor for us now that we can ask to pray for us. That's not even a logical conclusion based on the biblical text. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed / Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother." Plus, where the Bible mentions talking to dead people, it's always in the context of sorcery, witchcraft, and so on, not asking them to pray for us!
- You don't START with the Bible and get that Jesus was Michael the archangel. Yes, I see in Hebrews where people try to back that up with, and I get the New World Translation of the Bible is different -- despite the fact that people who actually know Greek and look at it will tell you the translation doesn't match any source documents we have correctly! I've done the "Jesus Is God" post before, so go look that up if you really want to understand this; I'm getting a bit tired of writing, and this is a BIG one.
Now that I've probably pissed some people off, including friends and family, PLEASE take this advice: read the Bible for YOURSELF, ALONE, PRAYERFULLY, without drawing from what's been drilled into your head as much as you can -- and see what the plain meaning of the text is. God gave us a book that is simple enough to read and understand without us crapping it up and shoving our own ideas into it. It's a very dangerous thing that didn't end so well the first time.
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