MY STATEMENT OF FAITH [basic stuff I believe]
This entry is
sort of my statement of faith. I believe in the Trinity. I believe in a real
Hell. I believe in a real Heaven. I believe in the literal Death, Burial and
Resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe in the full Deity of Christ. I believe
in the Physical Return of Jesus to the planet. I do not believe in the Rapture
as a separate event from the Second Coming. I believe that all men must be
saved, Born Again thru faith In Jesus Christ or they will not go to heaven. I
believe in the continuation of the Gifts of the Spirit for the function of the
church today. In short, I agree with the historic majority view of all
Christians today [Catholic/Orthodox/Protestant] on most major Christian
doctrines except for Paedo Baptism [infant baptism] and would disagree with
some Protestant views of the cessation of the Gifts of the Spirit and the late
development of Dispensational Theology. NOTE- You will find that I view both
Catholic and Orthodox expressions of Christianity as ‘Christian’. I believe
strongly in the doctrine of Justification by faith. Note- I am a Trinitarian in
doctrine, there are many divisions in various religious groups [Christians,
believers in Jesus, etc.] on how best to express the Trinity. While I do my
best to be open and understand the difficulty in arriving at an easy to
understand language of the Trinity [as Augustine and other church fathers
expressed] yet I hold to the doctrine of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as 3
distinct persons who make up the God head.
1966 WERE WALKING TO ZION
Merry Christmas to all [and happy
holidays to you politically correct types].
I debated on posting today-
you’re normally obliged to do some type of Christmas thing.
But last night I was thinking
about an experience that one of the guys at the halfway house shared with me-
and I thought maybe we’d go with that.
And if possible- turn it into
some type of Christmas story.
Okay- over the past few years I
have developed all sorts of images- scenes- bible verses- they are here in my
office and in my backyard.
These are simply reminders for
prayer.
For instance- in my yard I have
this gazebo- it has all the names of the guys I have prayed for- for years.
I have the thing looking like a
modern day Tabernacle of Moses.
Huh?
Yeah- in the Old Testament we
read about this Tent system that God ordained when the people were in the
wilderness.
It’s called the Tabernacle of
Moses.
It was simply this 2 room
portable tent- with various items of worship in and around it [the courtyard
was the outer area].
So- in my ‘remake’ I have sort of
the same things- I even covered this gazebo with outdoor hanging material- you
know- like a tent.
I also started playing my
harmonica every day- I started this about a year ago.
Now- I’m no musician- but I read
some verses over the years that seemed to incorporate this type of harmonica
‘prayer’ in with regular type prayer.
Okay- last thing.
This last year I started making
staffs- yeah- you know- things that people carry around while they are walking.
I even brought one or 2 down to
the mission- I was carving on them while hanging out with the guys.
So- right now I have 5 of them-
and they surround all these spots I mentioned.
So- that’s sort of the imagery
that I feel the Lord gave me- ways to see the community of people when praying
for them.
Okay- I’m talking with John Boy
the other day.
John Boy is one of the first guys
to stay at the halfway house.
He’s dying of cancer- and he
kinda came with the idea that he would die while staying with us.
John was an addict for most of
his life- and is trying to ‘die clean’ [those are his exact words].
So- when I take the guys into
town to run errands and stuff- I take John too.
He loves getting out- you can see
his pictures on my Facebook page- he’s the one holding the ax.
So John tells me this story- this dream he had about
20 years ago.
He was climbing this mountain
[journey in life] and when he gets to the top- he could see all the other
people climbing their mountains too.
When you get to the top- you see
all these roads leading to one central thing.
It’s a tent- a ‘tabernacle of
Moses’ type [I asked what type because John is an American Indian- he told me
it was not an Indian type].
As all the trails are leading to
the tent- all the people are carrying staffs [Hmmm?]
As they near the tent- you smell
incense [which I forgot to mention- I’m always burning them- even now].
And last but not east- there is
this beautiful sound of a harmonica playing from inside the tent.
John does not remember what the
song was- I took his bible and outlined my ‘harmonica song’ from the book of
Revelation [it says those who overcame the beast stood on a sea of glass and
had these harmonicas/harps. There are multiple verses in the book of Revelation
that I get the idea from- but the actual words I use are in chapter 5 starting
in verse 9].
I marked the song and asked him
to read it later.
Yeah- I felt in many ways Johns
dream was prophetic- it had meaning.
Okay- now the Christmas part.
We read in the bible that Jesus
was the bread of life who came to us thru the Virgin Mary.
He was born in a lowly stable
[ark- box]- yet was Divine in nature.
A type of the Ark of the Covenant
that was in the Tent of Moses- it held the 10 commandments [Deity- Gods
character- inside a fleshly tent].
Jesus was God and man- not half
God and half man- but fully God and fully man.
That’s why the images with the
‘Moses tent’ had both Gold and precious metals- as well as the skins of
animals- showing a combination of deity along with humanity/flesh.
Over time the tent system would
be replaced with a temple- that was basically the tent in a more permanent
form.
This temple- built 2 times
[really 3- King Herod built the 2nd temple into this grand
masterpiece right before the time of Christ- it was the temple that the
disciples referred to when speaking to Jesus].
This temple had a huge veil- a
blanket type material that separated the 2 rooms on the inside.
This veil represented separation
from God- sinful man could not approach a holy God.
The high priest went alone once a
year behind the veil- and he would offer the blood of a sacrifice for the sins
of the people.
During the crucifixion of Christ
we read that an earthquake shook the ground-
and the ‘veil of the temple was torn apart- from top to bottom’.
This signified that thru the
Cross we now all have access to God- no more veil.
Yes- the whole thing pointed to
Christ- there are entire books written about all the things in detail- how they
all have meaning.
But for today- I’ll end with that
picture in my mind- my friend John has reached the top of the mountain- he
hears the harmonica playing- he smells the incense from the room.
Oh- one more thing.
John said when he got to the
tent- in his dream- that everybody left their walking canes outside.
There was no more need for them.
John the Apostle tells us that in
that day there will be no more crying or pain or anything like that.
Yeah- we will leave our canes at
the door.
Amen.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1962 VIRGIN BIRTH
I wanted to close up the last
couple of posts on the common misunderstandings of Christianity and Islam.
But also mention a few things
about the halfway house.
Okay- the last misunderstanding
between Muslims and Christians is the term Son of God.
This term is found in the New
Testament- and around this time of year we celebrate the Virgin Birth as well.
Strict Muslims are not supposed
to see- or ever read this term.
Why?
Islam teaches that to say Jesus
is the Son of God- that it denotes a sort of sexual relationship between God
and man [woman].
Of course the church does not
teach this- when Christians say – Son of God- they are speaking about Jesus in
a unique way.
He ‘came out’ from God- was
‘Generated’ from God- in a way that no other creature can lay claim to.
Now- when the church uses this
statement ‘first begotten of God’ or ‘the first born among many brothers’ [both
found in the bible].
The church is not saying that
Jesus was the actual ‘first created being’ from God.
Okay- I know this gets a little
tough- but it’s hard to clear up the misunderstanding without a little theology.
So- historically- the church
interprets these terms as meaning Jesus has the first place- the Preeminence
over all creation.
Grant it- those who reject the
Christian teaching about the Deity of Christ- they think the church is denying
the bible- in these areas- when she says these terms do not mean Jesus was
created.
To be fair- I think the New
Testament does tech that Jesus is not a created being [John 1:1- The Word was
God- speaks about Christ].
But I also see how others can
view these verses differently.
The main point today is the
church does not believe that Jesus was the product of a sexual physical
relationship between God and Mary.
No- Son of God means- to the
contrary- that the Holy Spirit came upon Mary in a non physical way- and she became
pregnant- thus ‘The VIRGIN Birth’.
But- because devout Muslims are
forbidden to read this term- Son of God- some have made New Testament
translations that leaves the term out.
Instead of ‘Son of God’ these
bibles say ‘he that was generated from God’.
Okay- it kind of means the same
thing- I’m not against making the change [though some are- because it is not an
actual translation form the Greek].
But if it’s done so Muslims can
read the New Testament without violating their faith- then I’m for it in that
limited use way.
Okay- obviously Christians and
Muslims have many other things they see differently- but in the last 3 posts I
wanted to hit on some of the main things.
Often times when studying
different religions- we [as humans] have a tendency to read what others have to
say about a group.
But it helps- a lot- if you read
what the group itself actually says.
Now- you still might find some
shocking stuff- stuff that is downright in opposition to your faith- but if you
read it straight from the ‘horses mouth’ at least you know you’re not opposing
something that the other group might not even believe!
Okay- I guess we’ll skip the skip
the few things about the halfway house.
I wrote a couple of posts the
last week or so about my friend Huey who fell off of a pier and hurt himself
pretty bad.
He spent the weekend at my house-
he probably broke a few ribs- but does not want to go to the doctor so I put
him up for a couple of days.
All is going real well with the
halfway house- we already had a judge release an inmate to the house.
It’s kind of funny- the guy we
sent down to represent the house- Andy- was a drunk on the streets about a
month ago.
Yeah- it worked out well.
That’s it for now- figured I
would not post on the terrible tragedy of the killing of the little kids.
That story has already consumed
the news cycle- no need for more.
Talk to you later- John.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1961 What is the main message of
the bible?
I want to continue with the
strain of thought from the last post.
But first- some politics.
Yesterday Susan Rice pulled
herself out of the race for Secretary of state.
Obviously the president felt it
would be bad to have her at the center of a huge nomination process- being
she’s at the heart of the Benghazi scandal.
Okay- what’s the big deal?
Yes- once again- some on the left
side of the aisle [not all] have accused the other side of not being ready for
a Black woman secy of state.
Huh?
Yes- the pundits were out saying
‘when will the Repubs ever be ready for anyone but a White male holding the
office’.
You know- for the money these
guys get [MSNBC] you think they would maybe educate themselves on the main
subject of their job.
We haven’t had a White- male
secretary of state for around 20 years [last one was Larry Eagleburger].
As a matter of fact- the last one
a Repub president had- just happened to be a Black woman – with the last name
of Rice! [Condi].
Sad- these race baiters are
destroying the fabric of the country- and they are doing it on the altar of
vanity.
Sure- they think [make it sound
like] they are the defenders of the minorities- but they hold an elitist
attitude- one that has scorn for the rest of the country [outside the media
market of NYC].
At the end of the day- they
misinform their viewers- they believe that their racist charges are true- and
they incite a sort of ‘reverse racism’ by creating an underlying distrust of
those who are not like them.
Okay- in the last post I
discussed the main message of the bible- what the main purpose is.
Over the years- as Christianity
developed- the church had councils and meetings to hash out various
controversies.
Over time- these meetings
produced the historic creeds of the church.
Now- as a Protestant- I am not an
‘anti- traditional’ one.
I have read- taught- studied the
creeds and the councils- and I’m on the side of those who hold to the creeds.
But- this has tended to cloud the
main message of the New Testament.
Which is called The Good News.
What was the message the Apostles preached in the book of Acts?
The bible says they ‘preached the
word’.
This was not simply a ‘bible
message’ per se.
That is- they were not doing what
many modern preachers do- simply going thru the bible to find various verses-
about all types of subjects- and then making application.
No- they were preaching Christ-
they were telling the world of their day that Christ came as the promised
Messiah and died and rose again.
Then they told the people if they
had faith- and they became followers of ‘This Way’- they would be justified by
God- in a way that the law would not be able to do.
This is the heart of the New
Testament message- that people are now saved by faith in the death and
resurrection of Christ- as opposed to the old way of Law.
This is the basic message- what
we call the good news.
But- like I said above- in the
world of politics and religion- this simple message has been obscured.
Many people reject Christianity
because of the hard line creeds and statements that came out of the church
councils.
Many object to the way the Church
has defined the doctrine of the Trinity.
Now- I’m with the creeds on this-
but I do understand how Muslims- Jews- and even many Christian ‘groups’ have
also had problems with the historic definition.
A friend asked me the other day
about the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Now- at first I had no idea why
he asked- but I told him I try and take a much more gracious position then you
might hear from the average Christian teacher.
I told him they did break away
from the historic position of the Trinity- but I also told him there have been
many believers- all thru the history of the church- that have done the same
thing.
I did a quick review of the Arian
controversy [not Aryan- like the racist group].
In the early centuries of the
church there was a famous Catholic bishop by the name of Arias.
He held to the same belief that
the present Jehovah’s Witnesses do- that Jesus was not God- in the same sense
that God the Father is God.
Okay- eventually the church
overruled him- but there was a time where this belief was widely accepted- and
taught- in much of the church.
Till this day there are entire
groups of Christians that never rejected this initial belief- and they have
been around since the days of Arius.
So- when discussing this with my
friend- I tried to say I do understand how other religions have a problem with
the historic way we have defined the Trinity.
He then told me his dad- who was
a heathen his whole life- married a wonderful Jehovah Witness woman later in
life- and he has become a devout believer.
So- in a way he was glad to see
that even though the church does not believe the same way his dad believes- yet
at the same time- there have been- and continue to be- many sincere believers
who have had the same ideas as his dad and step mom.
Okay- said all that to say this.
Many good Muslims- who try to
serve the Lord to the best of their ability- they see this doctrine as the
major point of Christianity.
That is- they do not see the main
message spoken about in the New Testament as the simple truth that God sent
Jesus as the Messiah- more than a prophet- though a prophet he was.
But he came as the fulfillment of
the promise that God made all thru out the history of Israel.
That someday a Messiah would come
and he would not just die for the Jewish nation- but for all people groups.
And that all those who are
struggling to please God thru their own obedience to the law- they are now free
from ‘the law’ and can come to God based on the obedience of Christ.
Now- this would later become a
debate- both in church history- and in the pages of the bible itself.
We read in the New Testament that
some were accusing the apostle Paul of teaching that we can go out and sin-
break the law- because we are now under grace.
Paul defended himself against
this charge- and said we- as children of God- do God’s will.
He did not teach it was okay to
break the commandments.
But- he did teach we are not
justified- made acceptable in the sight of God- thru our doing of the
commandments.
He taught that this system of
trying to please God thru the obedience of the law was flawed from the get go.
Simply because all men are
sinners- and no man could ever keep the law 100%.
Therefore God made a New Covenant
with man [as opposed to the Old Covenant which was based on the law and works].
In this new ‘deal’ Jesus dies for
the sins of the whole world- and all who now believe are forgiven by God and
have eternal life.
This is a free gift that God
gives to man based on the death of his Son.
Jesus said ‘For God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten Son- that whoever believes in him will not
perish but have everlasting life’.
This is the Good News- this is
the main message of the bible.
When I hear people of other
faiths- or even people who have joined various sects of Christianity- when I
hear them have sincere objections to the Trinity- or to some other doctrine- I
try and bring them back to this main message of the bible.
This simple message of Christ
dying for the sins of men- and freeing man from the struggle of trying to
please God by keeping the law- that’s the old Testament that is no longer in
force.
Paul the apostle wrote the
Corinthian church and he said he was worried that satan was blinding their
minds form the SIMPLICITY that is in Christ.
I have found this to be true over
the years- many people have all types of objections to Christianity.
Some have to do with politics and
the Western world.
Some have to do with the way the
church has come to define certain doctrines.
But for the most part- many of
these well meaning objectors have never really understood what I just showed
you- that none of these things are the main message of the bible.
No- the main message of the bible
is that because of Christ we now have a New Covenant with God.
Not one that is based on our
ability [or inability] to keep the law.
No- that was doomed from the
start- no man could do it.
But this New Deal we have is
completed in Christ- we can come boldly to the throne of grace- because Jesus
made the way.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1913 FATHER JOHN
We did another ‘all nighter’ last
night.
Now- to my old partying buddies-
not that.
I got with Henry yesterday- a
street bro. - and we hit the Half Price book store [his and my favorite spot]
bought a bunch of books- and came back to the Casa.
I BBQ’ed a bunch of stuff [will
post the pics- on Face Book- for those who read these from the Blog].
And we had a good fellowship.
I gave Henry the choice of what channel
he wanted on all night [the guy’s crash in the living room- so whatever they
want to leave on the tube- I set it for them.
I would let them choose themselves- but I have a bunch of remotes- and I
don’t want them waking me up ‘John- the TV wont work’ type of thing].
So Henry picked the classic
country- geez- I had no idea?
Okay- at the bookstore we spent
at least an hour- I can spend 2 hours just going thru the books- I have before.
In one of the isles- Catholic
cubby type thing- I met a nice Christian brother.
Sometimes I’ll give my card with
the web site on it- most people at the bookstore are readers [ya think?]
As I offered him my card- he told
me – ‘yes- I am a reader of Christian stuff- I’m a Catholic priest’.
I told father John that’s great-
I have many Catholic readers- and even a few priests/pastors who read my stuff.
We had a really good
conversation- I do dialogue well with priests.
I have studied Catholic theology-
history- the whole 9 yards.
And I told John- if anything- I
get more complaints that I’m ‘too catholic’ than the other way around.
I will try and visit John- he
runs a Catholic retreat here in C.C.- I know the exact spot- it’s a huge
building right off the highway.
It’s a big ‘dome’ type structure-
with a Gold top.
He told me ‘no- it’s not a
mosque’.
For years that’s exactly what I
thought it was.
I will make a visit to father
John’s place- he invited me to do lunch.
Anyway- Henry is still crashed
out on the couch- we will hit the mission a little later- and maybe check up on
John David- my friend in the hospital.
I’m looking forward to him
getting out [he had open heart surgery last week].
I’m going to partner with David
in setting up a halfway house- that’s his dream/calling.
All in all we had a good day- I will
post the pics right after this post.
There are some news stories that
I could cover- but maybe I’ll do that tomorrow.
Enjoy the day- pray for the
brothers I mentioned yesterday- and for all my friends- they do [we all do]
need prayer- thanks.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1905 DID THE JEWS KILL CHRIST?
Kinda want to try and wrap up for
the week- maybe one more post in the morning?
I posted some pics of the street
guys yesterday- want to make a few comments.
I like taking the pics and
posting them right when I’m with the guys- I’ll tell them ‘hey- right now your
pics are going to the site’- they love it.
I also want to wrap up a few
final points about the church- and the 2 extremes that she strayed into over
the centuries.
In the last few posts we have
been discussing the over emphasis on natural Israel- the promises of God- found
in the Old Testament- concerning the restoration of the land- the re-building
of the temple- stuff like that.
The church also has a sad history
of anti Semitism- racism against Jewish people.
To our Catholic friends- the
church has tried to deal with it in the last 30 years or so.
The present Pope- Benedict- who I
do like [I have read his books] got into some trouble a couple of years ago.
It was a noble attempt to try and
heal some long time divisions within the church.
It has been said when the
Protestants disagree with something- they go out and start their own church.
When Catholics disagree- they
start their own order.
I like that- funny- and true.
So- part of the Catholic
divisions is the older type churches- the ones who rebelled against the noble
reforms of Vatican 2 [The last church council- held between 1962-65].
Within the Catholic Church there
are disagreements over what the council was trying to do.
Liberal Catholics believe the
church was trying to trend into a more liberal institution.
Conservatives say that’s a
misreading- that the church still held to her conservative roots- and was
simply trying to be more Ecumenical.
Either way- one of the results
was the more traditional type churches- sometimes called Tridentine [the ones
who prefer the old Latin Mass].
These churches kind of split off
from Rome and have been worshipping using the Latin mass [which was originally
a violation of Vatican 2].
Vatican 2 said the Mass should
now be done in the vernacular- the language of the people.
So- Benedict made a noble attempt
to bridge this division- and he allowed for the Tridentine churches to do the
Mass in Latin- and he also restored an old prayer- about the Jewish people-
which simply said we pray for the conversion of Jews.
Okay- was this a big thing?
To simply say Christians are
praying for the conversion of Jews- is that real bad?
In my mind- not a big thing.
Might it offend some of our
Jewish friends?
Maybe.
But that’s the tradition of the
church- to want people to come to belief in Christ.
But- because of the history of
anti Semitism- this became a big thing.
‘How dare you pray for our conversion’
type thing.
So the church has had to grapple
with how she looks at the Jewish people.
Historically- there were times of
persecution of the Jews.
Most of us are familiar with the
inquisitions.
The ones in Spain did ‘force’ the
Jews to convert- and there were ‘inquiries’ made to see if the Jewish people
really converted.
Some were put to death during
this time.
During the protestant Reformation
of the 16th century- out of Germany- which was Martin Luther’s home
country.
There were anti Semitic writings
penned by Luther.
Some of these writings were later
used- in Germany- under Hitler- to justify anti Semitism.
Very sad history.
Now we have the ‘over emphasis’
[in my view] of the role of natural Israel- and the End Times [last couple of
posts].
So- as you see- we have been to
both sides of the aisle on this.
Why did anti Semitism play a role
in the church?
Understand- we have bibles- that
as Christians we accept as the Word of God.
There are also statements in our
bibles- well- to be honest- might not have been written the same way- the same style- if we
‘re-wrote’ them today.
Huh?
Bare with me a moment.
When the Mel Gibson’s movie came
out- the Passion of the Christ- the criticism was he stuck very closely to the
bible text- and it was indeed a violent crucifixion.
The writings of the apostle John
specifically talk about the ‘Jews killing Jesus’.
There are other themes like this
in our New Testament.
It’s not hard to see how these
statements could lead to anti Semitism.
One of the things that the Pope
recently clarified- which I absolutely agree with- is that when we read these
things in our bibles.
We should not read them as saying
‘all Jews- of all times- are responsible for the death of Christ’.
No.
In the bible story- the Jewish
leaders conspired with the Roman govt. to ‘kill Christ’.
Many [all] of the original
believers in the Messiah were indeed Jewish.
And the ‘anti Semitic’ statements
in the New Testament were written by Jews- who were simply saying that they
believed that some of their Jewish brothers were missing the boat by not
accepting Jesus as the Messiah who was to come.
Okay- as you can see- we- the
church- have a long history with this.
I would like to make one last
comment before we close our talks on this.
For many years- as a bible
teacher- writing- doing radio- etc.
It never dawned on me how these
statements can indeed be offensive to our Jewish friends.
I mean say if you read ‘the
Italians killed Christ’ or the Germans- etc.
That would indeed be problematic
if you were trying to get your kids to read the bible.
The same thing with our
references to the Arab world.
There are verses- in the Old
Testament- that talk about Syria- Iraq [Babylon] and other Arab/Persian nations
as the ‘enemies of God’.
So- when we use our bibles- in
the modern day- it’s vital to understand that today- the kingdom of God is not
about natural borders- or ethnic backgrounds.
It’s about Christ’s new kingdom-
the kingdom of God.
All nations and races are
welcome- we do not discriminate.
And we- as the church- do confess
our sins against our Jewish friends- against our Arab friends- yes- we confess.
In the heated political
environment of our day- the post 9-11 world- it’s hard to avoid animosity- and
at times- hatred- towards others.
But we- as the people of God-
should strive for forgiveness and unity- at least unity as people who live in a
global society.
Yes- maybe we- as preachers
especially- should re-think how we phrase things.
Yes- there are out and out statements
in the bible about the ‘Jews killing Jesus’.
But in context- it would be wrong
to put this on all Jews of all times- and if we ‘adjust’ the way we say these
things- I think God would be well pleased.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1904 JERUSALEM DIVIDED?
I want to pick up a little from
the last post- but I also got with the street guys yesterday and maybe will
make a few comments.
Yesterday we talked about the
first century context of the Jewish people- as it relates to the Messiah.
That is the Jewish nation was
waiting for centuries for the promised one who would come and deliver them.
Jesus showed up on the scene and
claimed to be the One.
The early followers of Jesus- all
Jews- did not fully grasp the spiritual nature of Gods kingdom.
He would teach them principles
about the kingdom that seemed to go against the flow of normal life.
‘The last shall be first’
‘He that dies shall live’
‘You have heard an eye for an
eye- but I say love your enemies…’
All these principles were showing
them that the Kingdom that Jesus was talking about was a spiritual kingdom-
that would also affect the world as we know it- but at its heart it was not
about material stuff.
Okay- now- the Jewish people at
the time of Christ were wanting a national deliverance- they were pre-occupied
with getting free from the rule of Rome- and their hopes- like many people
today- were tied up in the advance of their nation- their people.
But you have the writings of the
early apostles talking about this new kingdom- where Jesus died for all people
[Jews and Gentiles] and he ‘reconciled both [groups] unto God in One Body on
the Cross’. [Ephesians]
So- your getting a different
picture here- Paul the Apostle is saying that we are all now part of this new
community of God- he says ‘we are now partakers with the Jewish people- we are
this new commonwealth’.
The actual teaching- from the
bible- is very advanced for its time.
I mean if you think about it-
these words were written 2 thousand years ago- and they speak about relations
between groups that the modern church seems to miss.
When we- in our day- appeal to
the Old Testament verses about God giving land to Israel- and we couch all of
our ‘end times’ preaching in scenarios that have one side killing the other- or
when Western Christians visit the ‘Holy Land’- talking about the staging of the
final ‘assault’ [Armageddon] and how many Arabs [Muslims] will be slaughtered
by a Jewish army- lead by Christ- I mean do we really realize what we are
saying?
I just read Revelation chapter 4-
and it had nothing to do with this post- but as a side note it said there was
thing angel flying in heaven- preaching the ‘everlasting gospel’ to all nations
that dwell on the earth.
The gospel means ‘good news’- we
often read the book of Revelation- and use it to back up the scenarios I just
spoke about.
But this verse says the intent of
God is to tell the good news to ALL ETHNIC GROUPS.
No one is left out- do you hear
this?
Arabs- Jews- everyone- the good
news is Christ brought us all back to God by his death for us.
That’s good news.
Would it be good news if I said
‘hey Arab- guess what- Christ is coming back- oh- he will lead a war against
you and your kids- if you get lucky you might be killed by Christ’.
Now- I know this sounds absurd-
but that’s the majority teaching in the American Protestant church today.
Just last night I caught a little
of the coverage of the Democrat convention.
They were reporting on a ‘big’
news event.
What was it?
That the Dem’s took the wording
out of their platform that said they believed Jerusalem should be the undivided
capitol of Israel.
Why would this big a big deal?
It dates back to the 19th
century- and the rise of what we call Dispensational theology.
Basically the development of this
whole teaching that I just covered.
Eventually the teaching would
influence large swaths of American Protestantism.
And it would seep in to the
political world.
Yes- the actual statement that
Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel- found in the political parties of our
day- stem straight from the influence of the Dispensationalists of the 19th
century.
Okay- what am I saying?
Do I advocate for the
Palestinians getting half of Jerusalem?
[See- now I’m getting into
politics]
Practically speaking- I don’t see
how that could ever be workable.
You have Hamas- a recognized
terror group by the U.S. - holding elected positions in Palestine.
So- I don’t see how this same
group can share Jerusalem- practically speaking.
But- when you begin basing your
political agenda on your view of the bible which might very well be wrong- then
that’s when we get into trouble.
See?
The New Testament apostles saw
Jesus as the Messiah that they were waiting for.
All Jewish people do not see it
that way- that’s their right- they have the freedom to believe the way they
want.
Arab people have the freedom to
believe the way they want.
Christians have the freedom to
believe the way they want.
We as believers should share the
Good News with all people groups.
That’s our mandate.
I just fear that much of what we
are preaching is not good news.
See?
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read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
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I have posted lots.
1897 WHITE’S CREATED
AIDS TO KILL BLACKS
Okay- we spent the last few days talking about the Todd Akin
comment.
Akin is running for senator in Mo.
He said that ‘legitimate rape RARELY produces a pregnancy-
because a woman’s body has ways of shutting that stuff down’.
Yikes!
So- the national media has spent days on this.
Last night I caught a short clip of ABC world news with
Dianne Sawyer.
It teased an upcoming special 2 DAY coverage of Mormonism.
So- I figured instead of my usual channel surfing- I would
watch the entire 30 minutes of ABC news at 5:30.
It was revealing.
For their political coverage- they showed a few negative ads
about Ryan/Romney [none of Obama].
They covered the abortion views of Ryan.
Then they said ‘okay- that’s it for political coverage’.
Was that political coverage?
No.
It was free ad time for the President.
How so?
Many of the web ad’s that are produced- by both sides- only
produce them for the purpose of various media outlets picking them up and
showing them on their shows.
Yes- nothing wrong with the strategy.
But- when the so called unbiased media only plays the ads of
one side- they are spending hundreds of thousands giving free ad time to one
side.
What about the Mormon coverage?
ABC began a 2 night ‘world coverage’ of Mormonism.
Like I said before- I am very aware of their teaching- I
have Mormon friends- but quite frankly- the media realize that if they high
light the religious beliefs of Romney- it will hurt him.
So- during the coverage they used words like-
‘strange- peculiar’ [fits in with MSNBC’S mantra of
referring to Romney as weird- member of a cult]
‘imposing temples’
‘secret rituals’
‘all male leaders’
‘suspicious’
Got it?
Now- you might ask ‘so John- if these things are true- then
what’s wrong with the media exposing it’.
That’s the point.
When President Obama was running in 2008- his church
background had almost no coverage at all.
The little coverage it did get was by Fox- or those in the
media saying his religion is off grounds.
Matthews [MSNBC] kept accusing the conservatives of imposing
a ‘religious test’ on Obama.
So- the church Obama belonged to was a Black Liberation
church.
Now- for the record- much of what you read on my site has a
very strong strain of liberation theology in it.
Yes- my defense of the poor- the illegal alien- many of my
themes are indeed found in liberation theology movements.
In the past I covered this teaching- how it rose from the
Catholic bishops in Latin America- how the Catholic church had debates within
their church over it.
All in all- in some ways I actually defended Liberation
Theology- and even Rev Wright [to a degree].
So- having said that- what were some of the beliefs of
Obama’s church?
Rev Wright [Obama’s pastor for 20 years] believed that AIDS
was created by the White man [the govt.] for the purpose of infecting Blacks to
kill them.
Wright worked closely with Farrakhan in Chicago- and they
often espoused hatred for the White race.
How much of this did you ever see on the news?
Did ABC do a 2 night ‘world coverage’ of the ‘strange
beliefs’ of Obama’s church?
Now- how much of this affected the President?
Obama’s defense was he never heard Wright say any stuff like
this- though he said Wright was one of the most influential men in his life.
He was married by Wright.
Wright baptized his kids.
And Obama titled one of his books after a phrase from the
pastor [The Audacity of Hope].
Now- as a listener of both the right and left- I also get to
hear [radio] stuff that you don’t hear on the news.
These are actual quotes from President Obama
‘White man’s greed rules a world in need’ [he was quoting
from his own book- he did an audio version of it]
‘White’s move into the suburbs because they don’t want to
pay for the education of inner city kids’
Does he really believe this?
If you are White- and you move out of the city- he says you
did this because you are racist.
Not because you want to escape the crime- pollution- have a
better school for your kids.
No- according to the Presidents own words- it’s because you
don’t want your money going to educate inner city kids [mostly Black kids].
Why are these actual quotes important?
They show you that the beliefs of rev. Wright did indeed
affect the President.
Yet- you never heard any of this from the media- they would not
dare cover the religious beliefs of Obama.
They said it was outrageous that anyone would ask.
As I watched last night- I was reminded of all the comments
I heard these past few weeks by the media.
Bashir [MSNBC] said outright that Christians should not vote
for Romney because he denies the Trinity.
A major Democrat funder said Romney does not give to
charity- but to ‘his cult’.
On and on.
I personally do not believe we should pick a candidate
because of his faith.
Other Christians do indeed differ- I have friends who will
not vote for Romney because he is Mormon.
The point I’m making is this is what you call media bias.
You would never see a so called news man say ‘you should not
vote for Obama because he is a Black Liberation Christian’.
Now- you will hear that from others- but never from the news
itself.
Yet- we have heard all of the above from so called main
stream news sources.
If we- as Citizens- are expected to make informed votes- then we either need to
know all of the above- about both sides- or none of the above- about both
sides.
I assure you- if the world news covered the statements- of
the president himself- and the beliefs of the church he attended for 20 years.
That the 2008 election would have been much different.
But the media had their man- and they did all they could to
cover him in a favorable light.
Now- they are covering his challenger in an unfavorable one.
They are outright saying he is a cult member- that he denies
the Trinity- that his church is strange- weird.
They are covering Romney’s religion nonstop.
Yet- the church belief that the White man created AIDS to
kill Blacks- well that’s a personal religious belief.
We have no right to know that.
O- Sorry.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1886- DIVINE LOGOS
Okay- just read Isaiah 65- one
chapter left.
These past few weeks I have been
going thru the last 15 or so chapters of the book.
There are lots of great themes to
do- maybe I’ll take a pic of the verses I wrote down and hung up here in my
study.
I also wanted to engage in a
conversation on the Divine Logos.
Huh?
Well yeah- maybe a little
scholarly sounding- but my goal has been to ‘upgrade’ our level of teaching.
When I say ‘our’ I’m talking generally
about the present day church in America- and the obsession with ‘the now’.
That is ‘what do I get out of
this- monetarily?’
Yeah- that’s the rave of the day.
So- every so often I do my best
to walk the other road- to give the other side of the coin.
So- a few weeks ago I was at my
daughter’s house- we usually have the whole family over for the b-days and
stuff.
And my kids like playing those
word games.
So they bought some game- don’t
remember the whole name- but part of the name had LOGOS in it.
I just quipped ‘you do know what
that means’?
Now- I kid around so much-
sometimes they have a hard time believing me- like ‘sure- you’re making it up’.
No- for real!
Logos means WORD.
It’s the Greek language- which
the New Testament was written in- and it simply means WORD.
My 2nd oldest said ‘I
should have known that’.
My oldest daughter- Bethany- just
turned 27- Becky is a couple of years younger.
They both have degrees from
A&M University here in Texas- top notch school for sure.
So that’s why Becky ‘should have
known it’.
Anyway- this word is a favorite
in the writings of the apostle John.
In both the gospel and his 3
little letters [1st, 2nd and 3rd John] he uses
this term to describe Jesus.
‘In the beginning was THE WORD and
the word was with God…’
That’s the Greek word- Logos.
It should be noted that the early
Greek philosophers had a concept much like this.
All the way back to the time of
Plato- Socrates and Aristotle [around 500 years before Christ] the Greeks were
speaking about a universal principle- some type of ‘unifying theory’ that would
be the basis of all knowledge.
They spoke about this principle
as THE LOGOS.
So- some of the critics of
Christianity did use this as a criticism of the church- they say ‘see- the
disciples were just making stuff up- borrowing themes that were already there’.
Do they have a point?
A point- maybe- but that’s all.
In the letters of John we also
read him refuting a cult of the day- called Gnosticism [Gnosis is the Greek
word for knowledge. They believed that they had secret knowledge that the
others did not have. A modern twist on
this is sometimes referred to as Revelation Knowledge- it’s a form of this
‘special knowledge’ idea that existed in the early days of the church.]
An off shoot of this group were
called the Docetists.
These guys were pseudo
Christians- they held to some form of Christian belief- but denied the true
faith of the church.
They taught that Jesus was ‘a
phantom spirit’ that is- they denied what we refer to as the incarnation.
That God became man in the person
of Christ.
John was one of the youngest
disciples- and he also outlived the others.
His writings are probably the
oldest in the N.T. [Revelation]
So- he was around long enough to
refute the growing philosophical challenges to the church.
So- putting all this together-
when John said Jesus was the Divine Logos- he was not ‘stealing’ that idea from
the earlier Greek philosophers who were indeed looking for a Logos principle.
No- he was saying ‘look- we- the
followers of Christ- have found the thing you were looking for all the time- he
is the Wisdom- the Logos of God’.
See?
Okay- I haven’t read John in a
long time- nor have I ever studied Greek.
But- I do have a Greek lexicon [a
book that gives you the Greek word before it was translated into English].
And back ‘in the day’ when we
were young believers- seeking to learn the faith- these were the basic tools of
the trade.
But today- well- the tools are
motivation- success stuff.
Learning how to invest- make a
buck [or 2] - how to ‘create your world’.
Yeah- we really don’t have time
for all that silly stuff like the Logos.
After all- it’s all Greek to me.
Yeah- I know.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1859- NOT A CHANCE
Went Down to the mission
yesterday- saw the guys.
Dirk has his van running good-
put the new radiator in [a few posts ago].
Gave Henry a ride back to the
boat dock where he works- there were these beautiful Pelicans all lined up
along the dock- never saw so many in a row like that.
On my way back to the house I saw
a few cars in front of me make a detour- I realized there was a cop car with
his flashing lights parked in the local speed trap.
Of course they’ll stop you for
anything- I had gotten a ticket for driving without my license in the same spot
a while back.
My inspection sticker has been
expired since around May- of last year.
Yeah- I know.
I took it to the inspection guy a
couple of month’s back- it failed for the tires.
So- as I saw the cop- I did a
detour too- and went to another shop [yeah- I know].
I figured ‘Lord- I just helped
the guys out- maybe I can get a break’.
So as I sat in the waiting room-
doing one of those silent prayers ‘Lord- blind his eyes to the tires’.
You say ‘John- I thought you
weren’t one of those positive confession type guys’.
I’m not- but when you’re in a
bind you do what you have to.
The kid comes back ‘sir- your
tire failed- your brake light is out- and you have a hole in the catalytic
convertor’.
The plan didn’t work out too
well.
Okay- let me finish a few more
comments on proofs for the existence of God.
Yesterday I got into it a little
with Dirk- and the other week I mentioned my friend Mike.
I have known Mike for a long time
[the homeless artist] and I never knew he was really into the science shows and
all.
As we talked Mike told me how
over the years he has spoken with Christians/preachers and he has said ‘why do
you think God created everything- Fungus and bacteria seem to produce on their
own- maybe the cause for all things is that’.
Now- this was a good question-
Mike told me that the only response he ever got was ‘the bible says God made
everything’.
Okay- I got the point.
I told Mike that what he has
observed over the years- the shows he has seen- that these things are good-
they are true- science and God do not contradict.
I simply explained to Mike that
fungus is part of the material world- and science teaches us that the material
world did not always exist.
Therefore- if fungus did not
always exist- it could not be the ‘creator’ of everything else.
Mike never heard this simple
truth.
He actually thought about it-
kind of in a way- a look on his face- like ‘geez- I just lost the last thing I
clung to’ type expression.
He thought it through- understood
what I said [I went a little more in depth] and then responded ‘well- maybe
some other non physical being did it- instead of God’.
I simply gave him the argument I
posted around 2 posts ago.
Okay- what was Mike seeing in the
fungus?
He saw what we call Secondary
causes.
That is there are many things in
the natural world that do indeed re produce on their own.
Things grow and develop.
God made the creation to be self
sustaining in a way.
Yet- many good people have heard
‘bad’ arguments- things that are false on its face- and don’t really know it.
The most popular ‘misstatement’
today is ‘everything was made by CHANCE’.
Now- I’m not a physicist- but
this statement- on its face- is not true.
Why?
Look carefully- chance is NOT A
THING.
Okay- chance is NO THING.
Chance is NOTHING.
When people make this statement
they do not realize what they are actually saying.
This statement says ‘chance is
the actual cause of creation’.
They are giving what we call
Ontological status to the word Chance.
They are treating it as in if
chance was a living thing- a real thing- not simply a word that describes the
odds of something.
Okay- the other misconception is
‘Given enough time- anything can happen’.
Is this true?
No.
If you took a room- were able to
seal it- nothing gets in- nothing gets out.
And you have nothing in the room.
How many years would it take for
you to open the door- and find a functioning world?
People- planets- stars- parades- horses-
stores- etc.
I mean- is it possible- over a
long period of time- for this to happen?
No- this is simply not possible-
not scientifically possible.
But if you knew there were some
being who had control over the room- who did have access to it- and had the
power to create.
Well then it would be possible
for the room to contain things.
When it comes down to it- there
are really only 2 choices.
Either everything popped into
existence from nothing [this is impossible].
Or something caused everything to
be here [the Christian view].
When people realize this- that
this debate is not about ‘well- you believe in faith and the bible and fairy
tales- and I believe in fact’.
Actually no you don’t [you being
the atheist- unbeliever].
No- in this debate there really
is only one rational conclusion- that someone is responsible for ‘everything in
the room’.
The other explanation ‘everything
in the room came from chance- given enough time’ is not an option- at least not
a logical one.
See?
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
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Profile- I have posted lots.
1844- POPES HOMILY
Got with the homeless brothers
yesterday- found out Football Jim died a few months ago.
Sad to see him go- will write
more on Jim another time.
Spent another few hours with Mike
[few posts back- Scapegoat].
Mike shared more of his story
with me- serious [bad] stuff- he knows I’m chronicling it on the site- he’s
fine with it.
I will tell more about this also-
but not today.
What I want to do today is a post
for my Catholic friends.
Note- I have Protestant friends
who get offended when I use examples from the church- or when I watch [or every
so often attend] the Mass.
There are reasons they get upset-
and it takes time to explain why I think it’s important for me to keep in touch
with ‘the ancient church’.
For the most part- I have been a
student of church history [and the early church fathers] for the past 25 years.
It’s impossible to read deeply
into church history without having an appreciation for the older more
traditional churches.
Over time you begin to view these
churches [Catholic, Orthodox] as sort of older relatives- like an uncle or
grandpa- maybe they don’t know all the current techniques and all [like using
computers!]
But over time you realize they
know more [or are right more often] then you thought when you were younger.
So this has been my experience on
the journey.
Okay- this past Sunday I watched
the Mass on TV.
Every so often if the church is
celebrating a special memorial they will broadcast the service from Rome.
This past Sunday was Pentecost
Sunday- so I watched the Pope give the homily from Rome.
Let’s cover the main verses he
used.
The homily was good- but you have
to pay attention to the verses/chapters to get a full understanding.
The chapters quoted from were
Genesis 11, Psalms 103, Acts 2, John 16, and Galatians 5.
Because it was Pentecost Sunday
the message was on the story we find in Acts chapter 2- when the Holy Spirit
came to the church.
We read that the believers were
gathered at Jerusalem- waiting for the ‘promise of Jesus’ that he would send
them the Spirit [John 16].
When the Spirit came- all the
disciples in the upper room began speaking Gods word to the multitudes that
were gathered at Jerusalem for the special holiday.
They spoke ‘in tongues’ [unknown
languages] and the people were amazed because they all heard the message in
their own native tongue.
This was a Divine miracle that
enabled the message to spread to all the different ethnic groups that were at
the city.
After Peter preaches the gospel
to them they repent and believe and are baptized- and the ‘Lord added 3,000
SOULS’ to the church that day.
The Pope contrasted this with the story in
Genesis 11- The famous Tower of Babel.
This records the time when God
divided the people by giving them different languages.
The people were building a tower
and city that would reach ‘unto heaven’ [a symbol of mans efforts to reach God-
or be like God- on his own- Humanism].
The bible says they ‘wanted to
make a name for themselves’.
They were more interested in
‘leaving a legacy’ then in glorifying God.
God looked down and realized they
were going to unite- in a wrong way- to build this city of man.
The bible says he came down and
divided their languages in that day.
They were unable to communicate
with each other and left off ‘building the city’.
This is where we get the term
‘babble ’ from- when you can’t understand what a person’s saying- he’s
‘babbling’.
In Galatians 5 we read about the
fruit of the Spirit- and how we ‘thru the Spirit wait for the hope of
righteousness which comes by faith’ [a main theme of the Apostle Paul’s
writings].
And in John 16 we read the
promise Jesus made- that he would leave them and send ‘the comforter’- the
Spirit- and he would guide them into all truth.
So we see the contrast of the
biblical stories about language.
In Genesis 11 God divides the
languages of men because they are rebelling against him.
In Acts 2 God ‘reverses’ this
division by allowing them all to hear again in ‘one language’.
The Cross allows humanity to be
united again.
The apostle Paul writes the
Ephesians and says Jesus reconciled both groups [Jew and Gentile- which
represented the major division of the time] by dying on the Cross for all men.
And that all men [who believe]
now have ‘access to God by one Spirit’.
All in all- it was a good
message.
The purpose of the gospel is to
unite men- not divide them [I know Jesus said he came to bring division-
families would be divided- mother- father against child. In context he was
saying there was a reaction to being a follower of him. Sometimes families will
even reject a child because they choose the Christian faith. We see this today
among various religious groups.]
But the overall work of the Cross
unities men- in Christ [2 become one- Ephesians- One New Man].
And we once again can share ‘a
common language’.
The language of the Cross.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to ‘click’ the note App on my Facebook
Profile- I have posted lots.
1837- DID THE HILLS CLAP HANDS?
I usually end the week with a
‘week in review [news]’ type thing- but being I posted 2 political things
yesterday- let’s do something spiritual.
The other week I mentioned I just
went thru a course [again] on early Christianity.
The teacher- a famous scholar of
the day- came from a liberal background in scholarship.
I do like the man- though I come
from a different view- I believe the bible is inspired by God- and is ‘the word
of God’.
Now- that statement can be
expanded on- and at times I have done that.
There are Fundamentalist
positions on biblical inspiration that at times leave much to be desired.
The bible has various forms of
literature within it.
Poetry- Apocalyptic [Revelation,
Daniel] - Symbolic- etc.
So inspiration- or reading the
bible ‘literally’ simply means when you read those portions- literally- you
read them as you would any other form of literature in the same class.
Example.
In Psalms [poetry type category]
you read that ‘all the hills clapped their hands and sang’.
Okay- did the writer ‘literally’
mean this?
No- he was using poetry to
describe the majesty of God.
But some people do think these
verses should be read ‘literally’ and that in some way nature ‘clapped hands’.
The same with the book of
Revelation- when we read about the Dragon- or the number of the beast- we
realize these are symbols- or riddles- that we need not take ‘literally’.
Will there be an actual number-
or code- that some future govt. will stamp on people’s heads or hands?
Probably not.
Have there been
teachers/preachers who have taught this kind of thing- who have said ‘we live
in a day like never before- where you can actually mark someone in the
head/hand thru computer chips’.
So you have people who refuse to
get social security cards- or avoid using the computer marker at the grocery
store.
But these ways of looking at the
bible are too simplistic- and don’t fit the actual style of the writer.
Is this the only time in history
when we have the ability to mark people on their bodies?
Of course not- we read in the
bible itself that in the Old Testament they actually ‘branded’ slaves- had ways
to bore a hole in a person’s ear to show he belonged to an owner.
But we never think of this- we simply
accept what we hear and that’s that.
The other day I was talking to a
very knowledgeable man in the bible- he has read it [like me] hundreds of times
over the years.
One time I mentioned to him the
debate [among scholars] over the days of creation we read about in Genesis
chapter 1[and 2].
I gave him various ways people
interpret the text.
I said ‘you know- Genesis one
says God created the Sun on day 4- but he made light on day 1’.
Now- I mentioned this as someone
who does take the bible ‘literally’ but who also leaves room that the earth is
much older than 6 thousand years.
To my surprise- my friend never
thought of this ‘problem’.
He asked ‘what day was the sun
made?’
Now- I know he has read the text
a lot- but it never dawned on him that the Genesis account has this ‘problem’.
How do we solve it?
Some say ‘God made another source
of light for the first 3 days’.
Okay- I don’t go for that.
But I do ‘go for’ the possibility
that God is not giving us a scientific account of the creation of the world- be
he is giving us a way we can grasp it- being everyone who reads the text is not
a scientist.
One interesting view is God was
using the 6 day [7] ‘form’ to categorize the order of things.
Day 1- light. Day 3- luminaries
[things that give light]
Day 2- sky, water. Day 4- fish- fowl [things that fill the sky-
water]
Day 3- land- vegetation. Day 5- animals, humans [things that eat the
stuff]
So it seems like the first ‘3
days’ correspond to the things created on the last ‘3days’.
Okay- is this the only way to see
it?
No.
But it shows you that sometimes
there is more to the story than meets the eye.
You say ‘John- I will just take
it like it says- the bible says it- that settles it’.
Actually I’m fine with that- but
the ‘super’ literal way does force the reader to come up with another source of
light for the first 3 days- so that interpretation has its problems as well.
Point?
Just because we have symbol-
poetry- prophecy- and various forms/styles of literature in the bible- this
does not mean the bible is wrong- or ‘full of holes’.
No- it means when we come across
these various styles we leave enough room to interpret them in the style they
were written.
Okay- there’s obviously much that
can be said on this subject- maybe I’ll do more over the next week or so.
Like how we got our bible- the
development of the Canon [how we know which books are in- and which are not
‘in’].
There were other writings that
the early church debated over.
Some of these other writings were
considered out and out lies.
But not all- some of the other
books were considered okay- but for various reasons they did not make it into
the bible.
And a few that made it in were
disputed- for various reasons.
The church did not have a
‘complete’ canon until the 4th century.
It is true that the early
Christians had a basic unanimity on what was in and what was out.
But not until the 4th
century was it decided for sure.
So maybe I’ll do a few posts on
that.
I do come from the ‘conservative’
view on this- I do believe the bible is ‘the word of God’.
But that does not always mean you
take every verse ‘literally’ in the sense that the ‘hills clapped their hands’-
Got it?
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to ‘click’ the note App on my Facebook
Profile- I have posted lots.
1835- PREACHERS AND MONEY- WHAT
DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
Let’s try and cover a few basic
principles today.
For some reason the past few
weeks I have kind of hit on the money/prosperity gospel somewhat.
I really did not plan this- but
it is such a major part of today’s church that the issue comes up a lot.
When I covered the verses in 1st
Peter the other day- one of the ‘suffering’ verses went on to say ‘the elders
[church leaders] that are among you I exhort… take oversight of the flock among
you…not for filthy lucre [money] but of a ready mind’.
You see this theme all thru out
the New and Old testaments.
The apostle Paul wrote to the
Ephesian church and said ‘he that does not have a job- get one- so you can have
to give to those in need’.
Now- he applies this principle to
the leaders as well.
In the book of Acts- chapter 20-
he calls the church leaders from the city of Ephesus to give them some final
words before he departs.
He tells them ‘the whole time I
was with you- I worked to provide for my needs- and the needs of those who were
with me- I coveted no mans money’.
He said he did this to leave THEM
[the church leaders- ministers] an example that they would follow.
The basic principle is church
leaders were not to ‘go into ministry’ with the idea [goal] of ‘reaping a
financial harvest’.
Now- this teaching runs all thru
out the bible.
So how come so many modern themes
violate this teaching?
We all have a tendency to ‘see’
what we want to see- and throw the rest out.
You can find verses that speak
about providing for the needs of those who are feeding us the word of God.
The apostle Paul said ‘don’t
muzzle the ox that treads out the corn’.
Meaning?
Support those who are feeding you
the word.
Okay- got it.
Jesus said to his men ‘when you
go into a city and they give you a place to stay [for the night!] and feed you-
then take it- the worker is worthy of his hire’.
So we see the basic principle of
helping those out who are teaching us Gods word- while at the same time the
warning- and example that the Apostle Paul gave us- that you are not doing this
for the money.
Paul told the Corinthian church
that when he was with them he preached the gospel free of charge.
In the Old Testament book of
Nehemiah- he was used of God to restore the city of Jerusalem that was broken
down and he became the governor during the rebuilding.
He asks God to look upon him and
bless him because he did not take the regular salary- that he had the right to
take- but was giving the other leaders an example that they are not in this for
the cash.
The same type of thing that Paul
did.
So if we take a balanced view-
from the whole bible- we come up with a teaching that says ‘yes- it’s fine to
support your teachers/preachers- but- they are not to become rich from this
support- and we also need some of them to do it for free- to work a regular job
as well- to give an example to others that they too should work- and not see
ministry as a career choice- from which you become wealthy’.
Now- this type of teaching will
simply be rejected by those who don’t like it- they will continue to justify a
‘I’m in this for a financial harvest’ type thing- and simply by pass all the
scriptures that seem to be contrary to their personal desire.
When we recently overviewed the book
of James I showed you how one of the main themes from James is the warning
[rebuke] of the rich and his praise for the poor.
Many years ago- when I used to
listen and get into the Prosperity gospel- I remember one of the main teachings
came from the letter of James.
It focused on James’ writing
about the tongue- a good confession.
As well as his exhortation to not
be double minded.
But these verses were actually
used in contradiction to the main point of James.
They were used to say ‘maintain
your confession of wealth- if anyone tries to tell you anything different- you
must reject it- don’t be double minded- keep the wealth confession and you will
receive a 100 fold harvest’ [which by the way is another distortion from the
teaching of Jesus].
So even though James says ‘beware
you rich- your money and riches are rotting- they are fading away- they are a
witness against you in the Day of Judgment’.
Or ‘Has not God chosen the poor
of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom’.
‘Do not the rich call you before
the courts and blaspheme that holy name by which your are called’.
I mean this theme is all thru out
the letter- yet the teaching among the prosperity group managed to bypass all
these themes- and simply pick a few verses out and turned them into a modern
day financial scheme.
Okay-enough for now- I guess I’ll
paste my first little book at the bottom of this post.
I wrote it years ago and
eventually put it on a disc and sent it out.
It really is amateurish in a way
[in my view] but there are lots of verses I reference that might help those who
are interested in this subject.
Okay- that’s it for now- read and
enjoy.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to ‘click’ the note App on my Facebook
Profile- I have posted lots.
1830- DO CHRISTIANS SUFFER?
This past week I read the 1st
letter of Peter [in the New Testament].
I read a chapter a day- and
meditated on some key points.
I marked all the verses that
dealt with the Christian doctrine on suffering. This teaching- found thru out
the bible- has been neglected in much of the modern type Christianity.
Many systems of preaching and
belief in our day have developed an idea that because Jesus suffered for us-
therefore we need not suffer.
I’m sure some of my
readers/friends have in some way been aware [affected?] by this- it’s almost
impossible to have not been.
Many of the number one
bestselling books [Wal mart] have these themes- most of what you would call ‘TV
Evangelists’ teach this type of thing.
And many of the most popular Mega
Churches of our day have some form of it within their ranks.
So- in the old style of actually
writing out each verse- here we go.
‘For this is thankworthy- if a
man for conscience toward God- endure grief- suffering wrongfully’
‘But if you do well and suffer
for it- and take it patiently- this is acceptable with God’
‘For even hereunto were ye
called- because Christ also suffered for us- leaving us an EXAMPLE that ye
should follow his steps’
‘But if ye suffer for righteousness
sake- happy are ye’
‘For it is better- if the will of
God be so- that ye suffer for well doing rather than evil’
‘For as much then as Christ hath
suffered in the flesh- arm yourselves likewise with the same mind’
‘If any man suffer as a
Christian- let him not be ashamed- but let him glorify God on this behalf’
‘Wherefore let them that suffer
according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well
doing- as unto a faithful creator’
‘But the God of all grace – who
hath Called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus- after that you have
suffered a while- make you perfect- stablish- strengthen- settle you’.
Okay- that’s the jist of it.
‘So why John are there so many
teachings that leave this out’?
Good question.
Many of the teachers are well
meaning people- and they do have one side of the coin.
There are many verses in the
bible that do speak about God blessing us- meeting our needs- delivering us out
of trouble.
But none of these verses ‘do
away’ with the ones I just quoted.
Peter himself said that Christ
not only died to bring us back to God [redemption] but he also suffered for us-
leaving us an example that we were to follow.
Peter says it’s better to suffer
for well doing- then for evil doing.
Yet both are redemptive in
nature.
How?
Peter’s most famous suffering
recorded in the bible is his very famous denial of Jesus.
The bible says after he did this
he wept and was broken.
He went thru pain because of his
sin- and even this suffering played a role in shaping the apostle.
Later on- we read in Christian
history that when Peter was put to death in Rome- he requested that he be
crucified upside down because he felt he was not worthy to die the same way as
his Lord.
Geez- you would think he never
got over the guilt.
Yes- the bible is clear on the
matter- there are times when we are called to suffer.
We can’t ‘confess’ our way out of
it- or ‘create our own world’ out of it.
We can’t rebuke the devil ‘out of
it’.
There are simply times when we
are called to suffer.
Now- this does not mean we sit
around every day and wait for the thing to happen- no- we are commanded by God
to take up our Cross daily and to follow him.
But the actual phrase ‘Take up
the Cross’ carries with it the idea that there is a price to pay.
Okay- what’s my goal in covering
this?
Am I trying to ‘put’ a bad
confession on you?
No- but I’m trying to show you
that if you are feeling guilty because in your mind things might not have
turned out as well as you hoped.
Maybe years ago you started well-
had good Christian friends- some who went on to ‘fame’ [Yikes!!]
Others had ‘good’ lives.
And maybe you have questioned
God- ‘what did I do wrong- why am I different’.
You’re not!
That’s the point.
One of the verses I left out was
Peter saying when you go thru these trials- don’t think it strange- but
understand that you have many brothers and sisters in the world who are also
experiencing the same pain as you feel right now.
Yeah- that’s the jist of it.
If we hold on to the ideas/teachings-
that come to us by well meaning people- encouraging people- I mean who can dis
like Joel Osteen!
But we need to balance it out
with the Word.
Yes- many of these teachings go
by the name ‘Word churches’ or ‘word people’ and I’m glad that they do quote
the word.
But the Word also contains all
these verses as well.
The Word shows us that there are
things we will go thru in life- and we should not be taken by surprise when
this happens- God told this to us from the start.
Okay- I was thinking I might
throw in a few more things about the writings of Peter- some Non Canonical
writings- the Gospel of Peter- and the Revelation of Peter [apocalypse].
Being I just ended a study form a
liberal scholar- these writings came up.
They are early Gnostic writings
that fall into the category of Pseudopigraphy [writing under the name of
another person- note- I rarely use this word because my spell check does not
have it- but I wanted you to see it- just beware I might have a letter or 2
off!].
I wanted to cover a few
interesting tid bits from them- and to explain why we do not have them in our
bibles today.
But I think I'll let that wait
for another post.
For today- re-read these verses
on your own- if you haven’t read the book of Peter in a while- read it the next
few days- look for these key themes.
The other day I mentioned the
book of James.
I read it a couple of weeks ago.
I realized that I also mentioned
‘off the cuff’ that James was a leader at the first church we see in the bible-
the Jerusalem church.
In Acts 15 we read that Peter,
James and John are Pillars of the church.
They were spiritual ‘support
beams’ if you will- what they said [and say] is very important.
If you remember- when I mentioned
James I shared how he praises the poor- and warns the rich.
Here in Peter we see the biblical
doctrine of suffering.
When I get to John [probably will
do 1st John] I’ll hit on some key themes as well.
The point being- these key
figures- these ‘Pillars’ they seem to be ‘out of touch’ with many of our modern
day teachings.
I wonder who’s right?
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to ‘click’ the note App on my Facebook
Profile- I have posted lots.
1827- SCHOOL LOANS AND HOW MANY
TIMES DID THAT ROOSTER CROW?
I want to try and do both
‘politics and religion’- lets start with politics.
This story is a couple of days
late [the big one this week is the anti Romney ad that the Obama campaign
released- saying he would not have killed Bin Laden].
This story is last week’s fight
over keeping the cost of federally funded student loans from doubling in July.
Basically in 2007 congress passed
a law to keep the interest rates low- and it expires in a few months.
Now- both sides of the aisle
actually agree on this- they just disagree on how to pay for it [around 6
billion in cost].
The Dems in the senate want to
‘tax the rich’ yes- they are not afraid to keep going to this pool- even though
eventually this pool will run dry [not saying all the rich will become poor-
but ultimately you drive the wealth from the country- people put their money
where it won’t cost so much to keep!]
The Dems in the house want to tax
the oil companies.
The Repubs want to pay for it by
taking some money out of Obama care.
Okay- as the battle lines were
drawn- the Repubs control the house- so they passed it- with about a dozen Dems
on board- with the money coming from Obama care.
The President threatened to veto
it- and the Dems began accusing the Repubs of waging ‘a war on women’s health’.
Boehner [speaker of the house]
actually got mad and said the Dems are waging a phony fight.
Who’s right?
Okay- as an independent- there
are some points on both sides- but the ‘war on women’ is a stretch.
Why?
The fund in the health care law
that the Repubs want to use- is a fund for preventative care- less than 1 % of
this fund is targeted for women’s health.
The President and the Dems were
the first ones to tap into this fund- as sort of a slush fund- when they needed
the money for- of all things- a tax cut!
Yes- in the recent fight over
extending the payroll tax cut [Social Security] the Dems came up with the idea
to tap into this same preventive fund- and they used the money [billions] to
give people a tax cut.
Now- when they did it- it was not
a ‘war on women’ it was a ‘good thing’.
When the Repubs did it- it was a
war on women’s health.
So- this is gridlock- this is why
our country is becoming more and more dysfunctional as the days go by.
I have said this over the past
few years- if we don’t actually elect people who will deal with the real issues-
the big one being the cost of Medicare- which at the current rate will consume
around 50 % of all federal spending in a few years- if we don’t elect people
who will do this- then all the other little ‘campaign’ talking points will mean
nothing.
Okay- this past week I went thru
a course by Professor Bart Ehrman.
He teaches at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
He teaches Christianity and the
New Testament and has been popular the last couple of years because he had a
N.Y. times best seller- Misquoting Jesus.
Whenever I study a course- I
usually do a parallel teaching on the blog.
Not word for word- I usually have
a background in the subject already- and if the course goes too ‘off course’ I
dump it and just finish the blog study by memory.
This time I never planned on
covering the course from the get go- because I knew Ehrman was what you would
call a Liberal scholar.
Now- Liberal and Conservative- in
the field of Theology- are not political matters.
Liberals are those who hold to the
critical view of the bible that was developed in the 19th century-
primarily out of the German universities- men like Rudolph Bultman were leaders
in the field.
This ‘way’ of interpreting the
bible- called Higher Criticism- had some good points to it- but at the end of
the day they came to reject the historical accuracy of scripture- and said that
the Gospels were written by unknown men who wanted to simply convey spiritual
truths that Jesus taught.
Conservative teachers [like me]
hold to the belief that the bible is indeed historically accurate- and the
‘Inspired Word of God’.
Okay- as I went thru the course-
I honestly expected Bart to make a better case for his side.
I really learned nothing knew- I
was already familiar with the critic’s points- and he made the same ones that
the conservative side has already refuted.
Now- let me give you a few
examples.
When I first started reading thru
the bible as a new believer- I did find some of these ‘discrepancies’ myself.
I noticed that in Matthews’s gospel
the story about the denial of Jesus says Peter will deny Jesus 3 times before
the ‘rooster crows’.
In Marks gospel it says ‘before
the rooster crows twice’.
When I first saw this- it really
wasn’t that big of a deal to me- and one time I mentioned it to my Pastor- a
good Baptist man who was trained in a Fundamentalist school- and to my surprise
he was not aware of this.
I also noticed a few more things
like this over the years- and my pastor simply was never trained in these
areas.
Now- I mention this only to point
out that if you get a well rounded education- it really should include some of
these so called discrepancies.
Some of the Higher Criticism is
helpful- some not.
But to avoid these textual
problems- simply because you’re a Fundamentalist- does more harm than good-
especially when your parishioners are learning the stuff on their own!
Okay- I ‘solved’ the problem of
the denials by simply seeing that even though one gospel says ‘before the
rooster crows’ and the other ‘twice’- that at the end of the day one writer is
simply giving you more detail.
It really is not a contradiction-
if Matthew said ‘before the roster crows once’ then yes- that would be a
problem.
But he simply gave less detail
than the other writer.
Okay- after becoming familiar
with Ehrman- and knowing that he is famous in the field of liberal scholarship-
I thought for sure he would come up with something better than this.
But in actuality- this was one of
his main examples of why the bible is not historically accurate.
I couldn’t believe it.
Now- to be fair- there are other
things like this that do happen- but they are all minor details of the story
[John’s gospel seems to indicate that Jesus was crucified on a different feast
day than the other writers say].
But all these minor details in no
way justify rejecting the gospels as historically accurate.
Let me just hit on a few things
that the higher critics have right.
They do point to the fact that
the early followers of Jesus lived in an Oral culture- things were passed along
by word of mouth for the most part.
The writing of books [scrolls]
did take place- but it was not an easy- or cheap trade.
We live in a day of books and
internet access and all sorts of ways for the printed word to be distributed-
but in the early church it was not like this.
So- the gospels were probably
written about 20-50 years after the death and resurrection of Christ.
What?
Yes- this is true.
The more conservative scholars go
with the earlier date [some go as early as 15 years after Christ] but no one
claims that the gospels were written at the same time as Christ walking the
earth.
Yes- the stories were transmitted
orally [oral culture] but they were written later on.
Now- the ultra liberal scholars
say ‘see- how could they have known all the facts if they were written so much
later’- and Ehrman uses the example of the game ‘telephone’ [or something like
that?].
Where you have one person in
class tell something to the next in line- and at the end of the line you get a
different account.
Ehrman says ‘see- we have no idea
what/who Jesus really was’.
Okay- the main discrepancy that
Bart used- was the rooster crowing.
He actually sounded mad on the
C.D. [I listen while I work!] and he said ‘well- which is it [damn it!!] did
the rooster crow once- or twice!’
And then he jumped to the
conclusion that the gospels were really fake stories that were made up by
unknown men- well meaning men- but they had no real historical truth to them.
This my friends is what I call a
‘leap of faith’.
Geez- if we did this was all
other biographies- we would have no ‘factual’ histories about anyone.
I’ll end with a note to my
Catholic readers.
A couple of years ago I read the
Popes book- Jesus of Nazareth- I did a brief review on the blog and I really
liked the book a lot.
One of the things the Pope deals
with [remember- Benedict was a priest from Germany- where the whole school of
higher criticism arose] in the book is this whole debate over the historical
accuracy of the bible.
At one point- as he graciously-
yet boldly defends the conservative view- he is talking about the liberal view
that the gospels were written by these unknown men who basically made the
stories up.
The Pope asks ‘and just how did
these men manage to write the most popular books of all time- books that came
to be revered and known and loved by generations and generations- and yet no
one even knows the names of the authors?’ [I did ad lib a little here]
The bottom line is- if the
gospels were written by a bunch of anonymous men who simply wanted to convey
some spiritual truths about Jesus- and they managed to stay hidden for all
these centuries- this theory has more holes in it than say- a rooster crowing
once or twice.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John
1825- PHILOSOPHY [conclusion]
Today let’s wrap up the last
philosophy post for now.
Over the last 6 months or so I
have posted around 25 posts- covering the pre Socratic thinkers [800 B.C.] and
we made it all the way up to the 19th century.
The main philosophical thought of
the 20th century was called Logical Positivism.
This idea said there were 3
stages to Western thought/culture;
First- Infancy [religious/myth]
Second- adolescence [philosophy]
Third- adult [science/empirical]
This idea said that man in the 20th
century has finally advanced beyond the silly stages of religion and has now
moved into a stage where the only true things are empirical in nature.
That is- for something to be
true- you must be able to show it scientifically [or mathematically].
It did not take too long before
the critics figured out the major flaw with this idea.
This philosophy states ‘the only
truth is empirical’ this statement in itself [as well as all the books written
on it] is not an empirically proven statement.
Therefore- according to its own
criterion- it is false.
This particular aspect of the
philosophy was called The Verification Principle [had to be proven/verified
scientifically to be valid].
Pragmatism- this is the only home
grown philosophy that had its roots in the U.S.
Founded by Dewey and Peirce- this
thought denied objective reality and states that ‘whatever works- use it’.
Of course being ‘pragmatic’ in a
practical way is fine- we do want things to work.
But at its core Pragmatism says
there are no real ethics- no right or wrong- just things people do.
In the beginning of the 20th
century you had the British thinker/mathematician Bertrand Russell.
Russell was a good man- raised as
a Christian.
But as a young man he read a book
by John Stuart Mill [19th century] that questioned one of the
classic arguments for the existence of God [the argument from first cause].
Mill said ‘if everything has to
have a cause- then why not God- who caused him’.
Russell accepted Mills claim- and
became an influential atheist/agnostic.
The main flaw with this argument-
that everything ‘has a cause’ is that it’s false.
The law of Cause and Effect
[Causality] does not state that everything has a cause- it says that ‘every
effect has a cause’.
That is- there is nothing in existence-
an effect- that came from nothing.
Some argued that there was no
initial cause- but an infinite series of ‘little’ cause and effects that go on
forever.
This too is wrong- it leads to
another problem called the Infinite Regress.
If there is no First cause- then logically you
can never arrive at ‘Now’
There had to have been a starting
point somewhere [Einstein has since proved this] and the starting point [Big
Bang] could not have come from nothing.
This too is a very common belief
among many well meaning people- that somehow science has taught us that all
things came from nothing.
This could not be further from
the truth- this is referred to as Creation Ex Nihilo- which too is
scientifically false.
The only other option- beside the
Infinite Regress- and the creation out of nothing- is there had to have been
some type of first cause- who is not limited to the material realm.
By nature this being would have
to be Metaphysical [outside the physical realm] and would have to be self
existent- having no beginning.
To have a First cause- who
himself is infinite- is indeed consistent with the principals of logic- and at
the end of the day is the only reasonable explanation for the existence of all
other things.
Okay- as we end our posts on
philosophy for now- why did I cover this?
Thru out the history of the
church Christians have grappled and challenged the other world views- and have
done a good job at it.
The Christian perspective is not
some silly religious way of life that has no real proof.
To the contrary- the church has
had the upper hand in all these debates down thru the centuries.
But in today’s ‘media market’
Christianity- the proliferation of self help books [everyday day a Friday?]
The nonstop talk about becoming
rich- or sending your money to ‘my ministry’ as a ‘seed faith’ to become rich.
In this environment- many
outsiders see the church as an irrelevant- never ending drum beat that they
can’t wait to switch to another channel.
This is not the history of the
church- and the church has historically won the debate on the reality of God.
It’s just the average person does
not know it.
So- for the Christian to be
learned in these fields- to have a working knowledge of the opposing world
views- is a good thing.
Why do so many believers avoid a
field like philosophy?
The apostle Paul warned the
Colossians ‘beware of the philosophies of men’.
He also wrote to his protégé
Timothy ‘beware of the oppositions of science- falsely so called’.
The word for science in this text
is Gnosis- the Greek work for knowledge.
In the early days of the church
there was a Christian cult that rose up- called Gnosticism.
More than likely- Paul was not
saying that all science- as we use the term today- is bad- but he was warning
against a particular from of science- called Gnosticism.
The same with the warning on
philosophy- while you could apply it to all philosophy- that is to say that we
should be careful when people try to give us opposing ways of thought- yet in
context it seems like the apostle is dealing with the philosophies that oppose
Christian thought.
For the first 1500 years of the
Christian church the study of Theology and Philosophy went hand and hand.
After the Protestant Reformation
[15th century] many Protestants avoided the field- which I think was
a mistake.
So- as we close up this subject
for now- maybe review a few of the posts on the blog that I did these last few
months- become more familiar with the apologetic arguments for the existence of
God.
Christians do not have to argue-
or oppose atheists- or other religions that hold a different view than we do.
But we should be able to give a
defense for the faith- to explain to society around us why we believe the
things we do.
At the end of the day- we really
do have the winning argument.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John
1822- CHOSEN BY GOD
Good morning to all my on line
friends.
Today let’s cover the book of
Ephesians and John 17.
I stumbled on them this past
week- not realizing the similarity of themes.
In the past I have taught
complete bible studies- both on radio and at the same time on the blog.
It took a little longer- because
I would write on a chapter- then take 2 or 3 radio programs [15 minute shows]
to cover it on air.
I’m not even sure- I think I
might have already done a full Ephesians study on the blog?
Ephesians is written by the
apostle Paul- though some scholars believe it was written by one of Paul’s
disciples- they think it might be more of an elaboration on Paul’s other
epistle to the Colossians.
There are various reasons that
some scholars do stuff like this- won’t go into all the reasons- in my mind
when a bible letter says within the text that Paul wrote it- then I go with
that.
The short letter [6 chapters]
starts off with a declaration that God chose the believers before he even made
the world.
That God had a predestined
purpose for them to have become children of God and for this new people of God
to reveal the ‘manifold wisdom of God’ to everyone one [thing] else.
One of the verses says that even
the angels and powers in heaven ‘learn’ the things of God thru the church.
This really is an amazing
statement- that God uses the church to reveal Divine truths to the whole
universe!
This theme of God choosing us
[them] before the world- to fulfill a purpose that he planned before the world-
is a major theme in the first 4 chapters of the book.
He wants them to see that this
calling- this place where they are at at the present time- it is a sort of
Divine appointment with destiny- that God had planned this before the creation
of the world.
And it is now ‘in time’ that they
are living out this Divine plan.
In John chapter 17 we read the
prayer of Jesus.
Jesus says that he has 'finished’
the work that God gave him to do- which was to reveal God to these disciples
that God has given to him.
He says ‘all mine are thine- and
thine are mine- and I am glorified in them’.
Jesus also hits on the theme of
this being a work of God that he pre-planned before the world was made.
He prays ‘don’t take them out of
the world- but keep them from the evil’.
The same theme that we see in the
‘Our Father’.
I find it interesting that one of
the more popular ‘end times’ teaching of our day is the Rapture.
Tim Lahaye has popularized this
idea in his very successful series of books about the end times.
In the 1980’s- the number one
best seller among Christian books [I think it was actually number 1 for all
categories?] was Hal Lindsey’s ‘late great planet earth’.
He too took the same line as
Lahaye and taught the idea that God was going to take all the Christians ‘from
the earth’ and that the world would wonder where they all went.
I have covered this in the past-
how the church came to teach this- how the historic church did not teach it-
and why I believe the Rapture- as a separate event from the 2nd
coming- has no real biblical basis.
The point for this post is part
of the prayer of Jesus is ‘I pray not that you would take them out of the
world’ which on its face seems to be the opposite of what the Rapture doctrine
teaches.
Okay- Jesus revealed the Father
to his men.
The apostle Paul told the church
‘God chose you for this before the world was made’.
Jesus believed that these
disciples [and by extension the church] were ‘given to him’ by the pre ordained
will of God.
What all this means- in a
nutshell- is that where you are at right now- all the things you are going
thru- God knew it before it ever happened.
And he still picked you for the
job!
The Apostle tells them to be
strong in the Lord- to pray always- and put on the whole armor of God.
Yes- just because they were
chosen- did not mean they could sit around all day doing nothing- they were
chosen for a purpose- and it was up to them [by grace] to walk in that purpose.
I would encourage you to try and
read these chapters this week- Ephesians is short- but has a lot of good stuff
in it.
As you read- look for the theme
of God choosing the church before the ‘world was made’.
Notice how often this idea ‘pops
up’ in the writing of Paul- and how it plays a major part in the life of the
church.
Read- and apply- the
instructional aspects of the letter [on family- husbands and wives- children-
workers and bosses].
And practice- as much as
possible- the ‘put on the armor of God’ teaching found in chapter 6- that
section ends with ‘pray for everyone’.
That- in my mind- is the most
important part of the instruction.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John
1820- WHERE THE GRAPES OF WRATH
ARE STORED
Let’s end the week with a look at
the death of Christ.
Today- Good Friday- is the day we
remember the Passion.
In Psalms 22 we see a Messianic
prophecy- the words king David spoke thru the Holy Spirit.
These are the words- feelings-
that Jesus had on the night before he was crucified- he went to the Garden of
Gethsemane [literally- The Olive Press] and was in extreme anguish.
In this Psalm we read ‘I am a
worm and no man’ ‘all that see me laugh at me- they think my cause is hopeless’
‘I cried and prayed and you never heard me- I have no rest day or night’.
Read the psalm later today- see
the pain he went through.
The garden of Gethsemane was an
Olive garden at the base of the ‘The Mount of Olives’.
It was a place where olives were
crushed- the process allowed the oil to come forth- which was a picture of what
Jesus was going thru- he was ‘being crushed’ so the oil [Spirit] would come
forth to the world [Acts 2].
In the prayer he says ‘Father- if
it’s possible- remove this cup- never the less- not my will but yours be done’.
Many of us are familiar with this
phrase ‘thy will be done’ but we miss the cup part.
What was the cup?
The cup stood for ‘the cup of the
wrath of God’ it was a symbol of the judgment of God coming upon the sins of
the world.
When Jesus said ‘take away the
cup’ he wasn’t afraid of dying- but he ‘feared’ the separation that was going
to take place from God.
As he ‘drank the cup’ [the sins
of the world] he would become ‘the container’ of the wrath of God- he would be
cursed from God as a ‘sinful’ thing.
The apostle Paul says ‘he-
[Jesus] became sin for us- who knew no sin- that we might become the
righteousness of God in him’ [Corinthians].
So Jesus struggled with the cup.
In the book of Revelation chapter
14 we see an image of the cup and wrath.
There are angels coming out from
the throne- we see Jesus sitting on a cloud and angels all around.
The angel says ‘thrust in your
sickle and reap- for the harvest of the earth is ripe’ and we see the
‘Winepress of wrath’.
The picture is this angel reaping
the earth- gathering the ‘grapes of the earth' [Steinbeck- the Grapes of wrath]
and casting them into a winepress [another type of pressing- like the olive
imagery].
The Winepress is ‘outside the
city’ [very significant image] and the blood from the press goes out for 184
miles.
This is a scene of judgment and
wrath.
During the civil war the north
used this verse as their theme song- The Battle Hymn of the Republic ‘mine eyes
have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord he is Trampling out the Vintage
where the grapes of wrath are stored’.
Yes- the winepress was an image
of where the grapes of wrath waited for the pressing- when the blood would come
forth.
Now- this next part really
deserves a full study- but let me do a brief overview.
The writer of Hebrews [probably
Paul] speaks about an altar that sits ‘outside the city’ where the animal’s
bodies were burned.
In Old Testament Jewish law- some
of the animals bodies were not fully burned at the time of the offering- the
blood that was used for the Day of Atonement was not a complete burnt offering-
the animal blood was used.
So- the Jewish people had a spot-
outside the gate of the court [outside the city] where the bodies were burned.
Now- the writer of Hebrews says
this is a type- a picture- of the final sacrifice of Christ that took place ‘outside
of the law’.
That is Jesus established a New
Covenant in his own Blood- not part of the Old animal sacrificial system.
Okay- his death took place
‘outside the gate’- that’s important to see.
Now- as Jesus struggled with his
impending death- he came to a point where he sweat drops of blood- he then said
‘if this cup cannot pass unless I drink it- then so be it’.
He drinks the cup ‘of the wrath
of God’ and in a sense he becomes the place ‘where the grapes of wrath are
stored’.
He himself becomes the final sin
sacrifice for humanity- the place of pressing- where the ‘wine/blood comes
out’.
As we finish this Holy Week-
getting ready for the resurrection celebration this Sunday- let’s not forget
that Jesus drank the cup- he became sin for us who knew no sin.
Yes- as the North sang ‘mine eyes
have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord he is trampling out the vintage
where the grapes of wrath are stored’.
They weren’t seeing that the
place where the grapes of wrath were stored were inside the Son of God- he
drank the cup ‘to the dregs’ and was ‘trampled on’ by God’s wrath.
Yes- Jesus said ‘I am a worm and
no man’ he was in anguish for you- and me.
Amen- and amen.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John
1819- KENOSIS
Being its Passion week- I do at
least want to recommend everyone try and read Isaiah 50.
This chapter speaks about the
willingness of Christ to bear the reproach of the Cross ‘he gave his back to be
whipped- his beard to be pulled out’.
In Christian theology we call
this the Kenosis [Philippians] it’s the willing act of Jesus to empty himself
of all the Divine privileges- his glory- while at the same time retaining his
deity.
Many of the early church councils
struggled with this division- that is how to understand that Jesus always was
God- and yet he ‘gave up’ the unique privileges of that deity when he hung on
the Cross.
The bible says he ‘emptied
himself and became obedient unto death- even the death of the Cross- therefore
God has highly exalted him and given him a name above every name- that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is
Lord- to the glory of God the father’.
Yes- this is what distinguishes
the Christian faith from all the other religions of the world.
That’s not to say that the other world religions have no value- they do.
Many teach good virtues- loving
your fellow man.
Others hold to the traditional
belief in God and hold to the same apologetic arguments that the Christian
church uses.
But the distinguishing factor is
we believe that Jesus died for our sins- the founder of ‘our religion’ didn’t
just give us good precepts- or examples.
No- we believe he actually died
for us- and redeemed us back to God the father by his death and resurrection.
The epistle to the Romans says
‘we therefore have peace with God thru our Lord Jesus Christ’.
Amen- and amen.
Okay- now a few notes.
2 or 3 posts back I mentioned how
we should get ready to see a new narrative- how the media will begin telling us
a particular kind of story about the Supreme Court and the political wrangling
going on over health care.
Sure enough- to my surprise- the
next day the President cane out and took on the court in an unprecedented way.
Many legal experts- on both sides
of the aisle- were shocked.
The president used language like
‘a bunch of unelected judges overturning the will of the people’.
He said how there were many
judges and legal experts who believe that the law [health care] is
constitutional and should not be overturned.
He used language that was kind of
deceptive- making it sound like the possible overturning of the law would
almost be an illegal act.
I mentioned this in the other
post- that if you carefully followed this law getting challenged in the courts-
it split about 50-50.
And as I listened to the various
arguments- to me it is not a stretch to think the law will be overturned.
But the president made it sound
like the overturning of it would be political judicial activism.
I don’t think he actually knows
what that means- when the term political activism is used it’s referring to
judges who ‘legislate from the bench’.
That is they make new law- law
that has not been in existence until their ruling.
A good example would be the Roe v
Wade case [abortion].
The court found a ‘new’
constitutional ‘right to privacy’ in their ruling.
Now- however you believe about
the ruling- the point is that’s what ‘judicial activism’ refers to- not the
possibility of the court finding a new law unconstitutional.
The president also said if the
court overturned his law- that it would be unprecedented.
What?
The court has declared around 150
laws to be unconstitutional since the late 1700’s.
This would not be unprecedented
in any way.
The day after he made these
charges- he got so much criticism for overstepping his boundaries- there are 3
branches of govt.- Judiciary, Executive and Congress- and for any president to
try and influence a decision like this is usually considered way out of bounds.
It is true that FDR had battles
with the court- as well as other presidents- but for a president to use the
language Obama did- well it was way over the line.
So yesterday he back peddled
some.
I mean it was so bad that one of
the other challenges to the law- taking place right now in the 5th circuit
court of appeals- the judge interrupted the lawyer for the govt. and asked her
if the president believes the courts have the right to rule against the law.
He told the lawyer for the
justice dept to bring back a 3 page- single spaced- explanation form Eric
Holder to explain their position.
This judge basically let the
administration know that the courts are not going to put up with such a public
attack on their independence.
So anyway that’s where it stands
as of now- hopefully some things will settle down and we will see what happens
when the ruling comes out in a couple of months.
Okay- try and read the chapter I
mentioned today- maybe read Philippians chapter 2 as well- that’s the chapter I
quoted from- and mediate on the death and resurrection of Jesus- he died for
the whole world.
When Jesus was born the angels
said ‘peace on earth and good will towards men’.
Christ came into the world to
bring peace- to offer to all mankind a new and living way.
As Christians- it’s not our job
to condemn all the other religions of the world- but to show them the
difference between the Christian faith and the other well meaning faiths- and
to let them know that Jesus died for all- all are welcome.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John
1818- WHO IS BARRY?
Last night I was channel surfing
the news shows- and I caught Lawrence O’Donnell doing another one of his ‘anti
Mormon’ critiques.
Yes- MSNBC has an ongoing
narrative where they speak about Romney as a ‘strange- weird- cult member’.
I saw this months ago- and they
have been faithful to their task.
So anyway O’Donnell is covering
the ancient teaching of Brigham Young [the co-founder of the Mormon religion- a
follower of Joseph Smith] and he’s quoting all the racist teachings that he
held to.
Specifically that mixed marriages
are wrong.
Now- I could quote the actual
Christian bible- yes- the Protestant/Catholic bible- and find this teaching in
there.
Yes- the bible O’Donnell believes
in!
But that would solve nothing.
Many old time preachers did teach
this doctrine- from many various denominations.
Do we [I] believe that mixed
marriage is wrong?
No.
But you do have some
fundamentalist groups who still teach this.
So O’Donnell is fulfilling his
task to portray Romney as a cult guy- and he spends a big portion of the show
telling everyone that Romney’s religion is racist.
Now- you could find stuff like
this out- with all the other candidates- even the President- yet this network
is really not a news network- they are simply Obama devotees.
Axelrod- the presidents campaign
guy- a few weeks back tweeted that Romney’s religion does not allow women to
enter the temple when they are menstruating.
He left the tweet up for a little
while then pulled it.
What?
I have heard other Mormons say
this is a false charge- I really don’t know if the church ever taught it- but
it’s possible.
Why?
Again- you do have certain health
standards in the Old Testament- that if you read them- they speak about
‘uncleanness’ when a woman is menstruating.
We find verses on Dwarves not
being able to serve God.
People [men] whose ‘stones’ are
crushed not being able to serve God [testicals are stones].
So if you wanted- you could trace
all these things- not just to Brigham Young or Joseph Smith- but you could also
tie them in to the Christian faith.
Now- do most sane Christians
believe these ‘strange’ teachings are still in effect?
Thank God- no.
But if your goal is to simply
slander the opponent- then have at it.
One example.
Over the last few years- as a
news watcher/reader- you pick up on certain clues along the way.
Maybe a story won’t make it into
the mainstream [for various reasons- to cover up for a person- etc.] But as you
read the other columnists- you see little pieces of the puzzle.
So- one of the charges that the
‘right’ has made against Obama is that he had a different name when he grew up-
and went to school.
Some say he held the name ‘Barry
Sotero’.
They claim his identity is in
question because he might have been legally adopted by his stepdad- thus
throwing the whole citizenship issue back into play.
Now- I have never read/heard a
‘mainstream news’ report on this- so I never brought it up [to me- it’s just as
bad as raising the history of Romney’s church up- a belief he- and most Mormons
do not hold to].
But as an avid reader of all
stripes [both Liberal and Conservative writers].
I noticed something about a year
ago- Maureen Dowd- a liberal columnist who writes for the N.Y. Times- she
started referring to the president as Barry.
She gives no reason for it- she
does not try and defend her use of it- she simply knows that he did indeed use
this name- from what I can tell- all the way right up into his years in
college.
Then why would you have never
heard about this until now?
Because the media have a
narrative- a story they want to tell [and also believe in].
They tell one that has the
opponents of the president as a bunch of weird cult members- people who reject
mixed marriages- people whose women can’t attend church when they are on their
period- who have houses that have elevators for their cars [Romney].
These same media people were so
entranced by a particular image of a man- an unrealistic messianic image- that
they were so taken captive by- that one of them quit their job as a reporter-
right on the spot- to simply join the most ‘transformative presidency’ in the
history of man [Linda Douglas- who was reporting on the 2008 election].
You had another reporter [George
Stephanopoulos] who admitted on national TV that he cried- very loudly [I guess
like when you can’t get a word in type thing?] when he watched the inauguration
of the president.
Chris Matthews famously said a
thrill goes up his leg when he simply hears words proceeding from the
presidents mouth.
Now- I don’t hate the man.
I don’t even like Romney.
But as you attempt to navigate
between what’s best- what’s true- what’s fake.
For us to get treated to the 200
year old teaching of some strange leader of a religious sect- and yet for us to
not even know that the current president never even came to the mainland of the
U.S. until college- is striking.
Yes- the president lived in
Indonesia- spent time in Kenya- visited the African continent- wrote about the
anti Imperial mindset of the African colonies.
He was influenced by stories and
people whose view of America was negative.
He lived among them- went to
school with them.
Wore their Muslim garb [yes].
Prayed the Muslim prayer.
Used the name Barry.
And never stepped on the lower 48
until college.
Now- does this mean he’s a bad
man?
No.
But for us to know that
menstruating Mormons cant attend temple- and to not know any of this- well
that’s what you call media bias.
That’s not journalism.
Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like
the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on.
Thanks- John
1815- HEAD TRANSPLANT
I have been reading the San
Antonio paper the last few weeks- and they have been running some ad for dental
implants [fake teeth].
They have the ‘before/after’
pictures- whenever I see the ad- I think ‘before what? A complete head
transplant’!
Yes- the before shots remind me
much of my homeless buddies- the after shots look like glamour pictures for the
‘most beautiful person in the world’ contest.
This last week I have reached a
sort of milestone- a few years ago I began praying [more than usual] for all
types of criminal cases that I read about- or see- on the news.
I actually painted their names
all over my gazebo- the back fence- and yes- right on the back and sides of the
house [along with lots of bible verses].
I have hundreds of
pictures/articles cut from the paper- their pinned to my office walls.
You say ‘John- I know you mean
well- but do you think this is normal’.
Actually no- neither does my
wife.
I have been threatened ‘if you
keep doing this- I will paint the whole house’.
My paints [and brushes] have been
hidden [by others!]- and when Christmas comes around- I tell the kids ‘hey-
just get me another 5 gallon bucket of paint- I’m running low’ [yes- this part
is a joke].
Some of the more severe cases-
the ones that stick in my mind- I paint their names- the others I just pin up
the article.
Sometimes I see the cases more
than once- at the time of the crime- and then when they get sentenced.
This week Jacob Gonzales was
sentenced to life without parole.
He plead guilty to a triple
homicide he committed last year- shot 3 girls in cold blood.
The worst homicide the city has
ever seen.
So I had written the name of
Jacob down- and saved the article.
As I looked for a spot to paint
the name- I realized that I already wrote the name Jacob- in big letters- on a
ladder on my gazebo [long story- bible verse about Jacobs Ladder].
So it kinda just fit.
I knew his case was significant-
I do ‘forever’ pray for these guys [and women] and being it was a local case-
and he will be in jail for life- he would benefit more from the prayers.
During my normal reading for the
week- I was reading Jeremiah chapter 31.
I usually focus on one or 2
chapters a week- and if I remember I comment on them at the end of the week.
As I read chapter 31- it starts
with a verse that should be added to the previous chapter.
Sometimes you run into a chapter
like that- our bible chapters and verses are really ‘man made’ that is the
chapters themselves are not inspired- just the content [chapter divisions].
So I thought ‘heck- let me go
ahead and see if the Lord has something for me in chapter 30’.
Now- this is the week where I
added Jacob to my prayer group- again.
And I felt there was some special
significance to his case.
In Jeremiah chapter 30 the Lord
says ‘this is the time of Jacobs’s trouble- and I will save him out of it’.
It would take too long to teach
the actual doctrine of Jacobs Trouble- but it is a long- and sometimes
controversial teaching that we find all through the bible.
I say controversial because many
[most?] Protestants have an ‘end time’ teaching about this [called
Dispensationalism] that I don’t agree with.
I hold more to the historic
churches’ view on these passages [Catholic, Orthodox, etc.]
But Jacob- in the bible- is the
son of Isaac- the son of Abraham.
God changes his name to Israel
[he is the father of the 12 tribes of Israel].
And the name obviously holds a
lot of significance in the bible.
The ‘trouble’ part refers to the
passages we find in the bible that speak about a very troubling time for Israel
as a nation- in many of the End Time books/movies- it’s called ‘The Great
Tribulation’.
But the significance for me- this
week- was God kinda spoke to me thru the connection of this kid Jacob- who I
prayed for all week.
Yes- Jacobs’ time of trouble.
In chapter 31 [Jeremiah] God
tells Israel ‘there is coming a time when I will make a new covenant with you-
not like the one I made with you during the time of Moses’.
This fits in with what I taught
last week- how the apostle Paul said we are not under the old law [Moses and
the 10 commandments] but under a new covenant- the new and everlasting covenant
of the Blood of Jesus.
In the chapter it says God will
write his law on our minds and hearts- it won’t just be an outward law- written
on tables of stone- but one written on the inside.
Yes- he says ‘all things will be
new- I will never remember your sins any more’.
You know- I guess complete head
[heart] transplants can happen- but it takes a miracle from God.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John
1812- John 3- Ephesians 2 [and
the chicken!]
I want to cover the 2 bible
chapters that I mentioned the other day- John chapter 3 and Ephesians chapter
2.
But first- some business.
I wrote a post the other day
about ‘confiscating’ the little plastic bags at my local grocery store [HEB].
And some of you might be thinking
‘see- crime does pay’.
For your information- the bags
were probably worth about 25 cents.
The other day I went to take out
the chicken thighs for dinner- I couldn’t find them!
Then I thought ‘gee- my truck has
been smelling like dead bodies lately’.
Yes- the chicken was left under
the back seat for 2 days- cost- about 6 dollars.
Lesson? Don’t steal the bags
anymore- cost? Priceless.
Okay- John chapter 3 is the
famous chapter where Jesus tells Nicodemus ‘a man cannot see the kingdom of God
unless he is born again’ [or born from above].
We also have the famous John 3:16
verse ‘for God so loved the world…’
If you read the chapter- both
Jesus- and John the Baptist speak about those who believe- they are not
condemned- and those who do not believe are judged.
Yet Jesus says he came into the
world- not to condemn it- but to save it.
In Ephesians chapter 2 the
apostle Paul says we are ‘saved by grace- not of works- lest any man should
boast’.
Both chapters emphasize the role
faith plays in salvation.
Okay- where did I come up with
these chapters for the reading of the week?
They were both quoted from during
the mass on Sunday [as a Protestant- I always try and watch the mass on Sunday-
as well as doing our own home church meeting].
‘John- do Catholics believe in
being born again’?
Yes- very much so.
Being born again is actually a
vital doctrine within Catholicism.
For a brief review of
Catholic/Protestant teaching- on my blog- on the front page to the left- you
will see a bunch of studies that I have highlighted- click the ‘Protestant
Reformation- Luther’ and you will get a more in depth discussion on some of the
differences- and points of agreement.
But for this brief post-
Catholics [and Orthodox] believe the new birth takes place at baptism- for the
most part Protestants/Evangelicals believe it takes place at the point of faith
[added to a long list of ‘altar calls’ or ‘5 steps of conversion’ etc.- in
short- Protestants have their own sacramental system- they just don’t know it!]
I say- mostly- because there are
many various groups within the Protestant movement that also would agree that
water baptism is the point of being saved [church of Christ- various
Pentecostal groups- etc.].
Now- I hold more to the historic
Reformation view [faith] but I do not see a ‘grave’ departure from scripture
with those who put more of the emphasis on baptism.
There are verses in John 3- Jesus
says ‘a man must be born of water and the spirit’.
Plus- the last half of the
chapter starts with a discussion over ‘purifying’.
There was a debate- going on at
the time- between Jesus and John’s followers- about baptism- the chapter says
the debate was about ‘purifying’.
Overall- it’s not unreasonable-
in my mind- to hold to the more traditional emphasis on the importance of the
role of baptism.
Yet- Christians fight- vehemently-
over this.
In this part of the country it’s
common for a Baptist- Assembly of God- or Church of Christ believer to view the
‘other team’ as a cult over this- this to me is very sad.
The main point?
Regardless of how much of a role
water baptism plays in your particular denomination- the main point is we are
saved by faith- thru the death and resurrection of Christ.
In the Ephesians chapter- Paul
actually hits on some pretty deep themes- that the death of Christ removed the
‘wall of separation’ between Jew and Gentile- and we both are made into ‘one
new man’.
This shows us the role that the
Cross should play in society- it should bring various groups and cultures
together- not divide them.
It would take a little too much
time for me to go into what the ‘wall of separation’ was in Paul’s day.
But he wasn’t speaking about our
sins separating us from God [though this of course is true].
But he was speaking about the
role the law [10 commandments] played at the time.
Paul- a zealous teacher of the
Jewish law [Pharisee] held the law in high esteem- and often it became a
barrier between the Jew and Gentile.
Some of the more fame seeking
Pharisees [the ones we see Jesus interacting with in the gospels] used the fact
that they were the nation that received the law under Moses- as an ‘I’m better
than you’ mentality.
Paul says ‘the law of
commandments that was against us- Jesus nailed them to his Cross’ [Colossians].
He also says in his letter to the
Galatians ‘if righteousness comes by the law- then Christ died in vain’ strong
words indeed!
The point he is making is we-
believers- are no longer under the condemnation of the law- no longer under the
continual threat of God striking us down at any moment because of our sin.
We have been saved by grace and those
who ‘walk in the Spirit’ are no longer under condemnation [Romans 8].
So- Jesus nailed the law to the
Cross- and the barrier that separated Jew from gentile- as well as sinful man
from a Holy God- has been ‘taken away’ by Christ.
I must note that the apostle Paul
himself- who is famous for this teaching- always added the caveat ‘do we now
sin because we are not under the law? God forbid!’
He was accused- by the strict
sect of the Pharisees [known as Judaizers] of teaching a ‘lawless gospel’.
No- he- as well as most Christian
denominations today- teach that the 10 commandments are still very important-
and as believers in Christ we will naturally- by our new birth- fulfill the
law.
But it is no longer this sword of
Damocles hanging over our head.
Okay- for those who haven’t had
time to read the chapters yet- try and read them over the weekend- they are
short chapters- think about what I said in this post- look for the emphasis on
faith- the role that faith plays in our salvation.
I’ll be back in a few days- but I
need to go now- need to get another pack of chicken thighs before the store
gets crowded.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John
1783- THE BISHOP
Kinda wanted to cover some contemporary issues going on in
the ‘church world’ being we just spent a few weeks in the ancient history
stuff.
But it might take too long- some current debates in
Evangelical circles concern a recent round table discussion with T.D. Jakes- a
man I like- but he got in some hot water, again- because of his background as a
Pentecostal Oneness minister.
This group has disagreed with historic Christianity on the
Trinity- and over the years some of the Reformed brothers [Protestants] have
hit him hard on the issue.
So in the recent discussion it happened again- basically
Jakes says he holds to the Trinitarian view today [One God- 3 Persons] though
his background stated it by saying ‘One God- 3 manifestations’.
You say ‘gee John- doesn’t sound like something to kill each
other over’- well- we do- trust me- we do.
I have known and been friends with Pentecostal Oneness
brothers before- and I personally accept them as Christians.
No- I don’t use the words they use when defining the
Trinity- but I don’t completely out and out reject them a total heretics.
I used to listen to Jakes- and for the most part I felt
comfortable with him- the main reason I do not tune in to these guys anymore is
the whole persona thing- ministries- ‘churches’ huge organizations- who for the
most part are clearing houses for the well intended Pastors- but the entire
image of the ministry becomes the persona of a man.
This type of atmosphere actually violates the principles we
find in the bible- that the churches in the bible did not have the image/gifts
of a person- no matter how good that person is- as the central organizing principle
of the group.
Basically- in the bible- the churches were truly centered
around the person of Christ.
And in many contemporary situations- well- everything
[especially the ‘tithes’] usually goes to the promoting of the image of a
person [TV- teaching materials- etc.].
And very often millions are spent promoting a person- which
is a violation of the principles of leadership we find in the New Testament.
So anyway- I said that to simply say I always liked Jakes-
and yes- as somewhat of a history buff- sure- I know the difficulty with his
past connections [the actual term for the ‘heresy’ is called Modalism- which
describes the belief that God is one who manifests in 3- they don’t say ‘3
persons’].
So I know the scoop- but the reason I don t watch/hear these
men anymore is because I just get turned off by the whole ‘dial 1-800- Bishop’
type thing- I mean I like reading/studying from ‘real’ Bishops.
Men like N.T. Wright- former Bishop in the Church of
England- or Bishop Sheen- a popular Catholic Bishop who you can catch on the
tube every so often- yes- ‘real’ bishops in the sense that they are well versed
in a wide field of learning- Philosophy- scholarship- church history- yeah- I
like hearing Bishops.
But in today’s world- you have Bishops ‘ordaining’ Bishops
by the boat loads- and when the way you contact them is thru a 1-800 number-
well then I think we have a problem.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John
1775- WHAT DID HE SAY?
Let’s do a little review today. I know the history posts go
a little long sometimes- and many Christians do not see the value in studying
church history.
But I have found over the years that a lot of independent
type churches- good men- good people- but cut off from the broader church- well
these churches have a tendency to get off in a rut- a particular doctrine or
style of teaching- and after a while it becomes impossible to get these good
church folk back on the balanced course.
A few examples. Many years ago- as a young Pastor- I had
lots of good Pastor friends who too were doing their best to do what they felt
God wanted.
At the time- I began having difficulty with many of the most
popular interpretations of the bible that these good men were using.
After a while I realized that some of the stuff was so off
course- that if they didn’t make some major course corrections at the time-
that they were going to end up spending
their entire Pastorate teaching stuff that is out right false.
I have talked a lot about this over the years- and the
examples are too numerous to cover them all- but a good example is the ‘Camel
going thru the eye of a Needle’ verse.
One time Jesus and his men were going thru town and a
young rich guy asks Jesus what he must
do to be saved.
A pretty straight forward question- right to the point.
Jesus tells the guy to keep the law- the guy asks which
ones.
Ah- now you’re digging yourself in brother.
So Jesus says to love God and his neighbor- these are the
top ones.
He asks ‘and who is my neighbor’?
Jesus goes on and gives an explanation- and he also tells
the guy to go and sell all he has and give it to the poor- and follow him.
The guy goes away sad
because he was rich.
Then Jesus says ‘it’s harder for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of heaven than for a Camel to go thru the Eye of a Needle’.
What?
The disciples [I think Peter?] say ‘then who can be saved’?
Jesus says with men it is impossible- but not with God- with
God all things are possible.
[just a quick side note- I haven’t read all these stories in
a while- trust me- they are all in the bible- but I might have mixed a few
together- but the main point stays the same]
Okay- in context- what could Jesus be saying about the camel
and the needle?
It sure seems like he’s using a figure of speech that would mean ‘look- the guy is too
attached to his money to fully give himself over to being a follower of me-
maybe down the road he will change- but he’s not ready yet’.
Seems reasonable to me- don’t you think?
But wait- in the group of pastors/teachers that were popular
at the time- one of the main teachings was how to get rich- and they saw
financial increase as the main thing- I mean that’s what they focused on all the time.
So what do you do with verses like these?
You simply change them- you make them say what you want.
So the ‘true’ explanation for the Camel and the Needle
became ‘the Eye of the Needle is the name of a low passage way thru the wall
into the city- and the merchants- if they have lots of stuff- well the Camel
has to stoop low to get thru’.
Aha- so what seems to mean ‘rich folk will have a hard time
making the kingdom’ really means something else- as a matter of fact- it means
the opposite- because the Camels that have to ‘scooch’ belong to the owners who
have a lot of goods- thus the Camel has to get low.
Okay- maybe as rank amateurs this stuff was not the
unpardonable sin- but many of these men are still teaching this type of stuff-
and this one example is the tip of the iceberg- I could go on for a long time
quoting all them but that’s not the point for now.
The main point is- if Christians separate themselves from
the broader church- not just talking about ‘going to church’ but talking about
the broad understanding that the people of God have- the books and teachings of
those who have gone before us- not just one small group- but the whole
community- then we will avoid these kinds of pitfalls.
As we do a few more posts in the coming weeks on church
history- we will see this was one of the things restored by the Protestants
Reformers during the 16th century.
Luther restored what’s referred to as the Literal Sense-
that when you read the bible- you should be able to take it at face value- as
much as possible.
Sure- you also want to ‘hear God’ speak in a personal way-
but if what your hearing is the exact opposite of what the text is saying- well
then we do have a problem.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John
[1773] LUTHER CLASHES WITH ROME
Let’s do another post on the Protestant Reformation. I’ll
probably only do a few more before I transition into another study.
By the way- all the studies I do thru out the year are
posted in the February posts of the following year.
Okay- last we left off Luther was just beginning to butt
heads with the church [Tetzel] over the abuse of the sale of indulgences that
was going on in Germany.
In a previous post I mentioned how the priest- Tetzel- was
selling these ‘get out of Purgatory’ type coupons in the area where Luther
operated out- Saxony.
Actually- Tetzel never entered Saxony itself- but was
selling these out of a bordering city- and many of Luther’s students/parishioners
were being hoodwinked into spending their money to rescue a loved one out of
Purgatory.
Tetzel is known for a jingle he started in connection with
the sale of the indulgence- it goes ‘as soon as a coin in the coffer rings- a
soul in Purgatory springs’- ouch!
Like I said before- the church never taught this- they did
teach the Treasury of Merit [previous post] but the way Tetzel used it was a
real abuse of the teaching of the church at the time.
Now- Luther responds to the abuse by writing the famous 95
thesis. This is the act that is often associated with the launching of the
Reformation- the act that got the ball rolling.
The 95 thesis were simply 95 questions challenging the whole
practice of the sale of indulgences- there was no mention of the doctrine of
Justification by Faith- which will become the trumpet sound that springs out of
the Protestant Reformation.
Luther takes these questions- written in Latin- and nails
them to the university church door at Wittenberg. Sometimes while reading
church history this ‘nailing to the door’ is seen as a sort of vandalism - you
know- ‘he nailed them to the door!’
In actuality Luther was simply using the system of the day
that one scholar would use in order to bring up an official point of contention
with the church- Luther wrote the Thesis in Latin- which was the scholars
language- not the language of the common man.
But Luther’s students quickly translated the Thesis into the
vernacular [German] and it was said that in 2 weeks the paper made it into
every village of Germany.
The challenge was a spark in the lives of many Christians
who also believed the church was off track and that someone needed to rebuke
her- and they picked Luther as the man for the job.
Now- the Catholic church wanted Luther to go to Rome and
discuss the situation there- Luther’s friends warned him not to go- so they
agreed to meet- a few times- in Germany.
The first meeting was in 1518 at Heidelberg- Luther actually
gave a great defense of his argument and convinced some other top Catholic
scholars that he was right [as a side note- the church had already scheduled
this meeting because of a controversy that rose up between the Augustinian
order of monks and the Dominicans. They were debating over which philosophy was
more consistent with church teaching- Nominalism or Realism- for those of you
who have read the posts this past year- I taught this when doing our posts on
philosophy].
One man- Martin Bucer- wrote a stirring account of Luther-
Bucer would later influence another young Swiss priest with Reformation teachings- his name is John
Calvin.
As a side not Calvin will become one of the 3 big heavy
hitters of the 16th century Reformation [Ulrich Zwingli is the 3rd].
Luther will meet again in Augsburg- and debate the leading
Catholic scholar of the day- Cardinal Cajetan.
Then he goes to the city of Leipzig- and debates the leading
German scholar- Johann Eck.
And his last meeting with the church will be at the famous
Diet of Worms [pronounced- Vurmtz] and it will be here that Luther makes his
last stand and officially will break with the church and launch the Protestant
Reformation.
It should be noted that Luther held what we call a High
Church position for most of this time- he still saw the church at Rome- and the
Pope- as a legitimate expression of true Christianity- his beef was what he saw
as an abuse of the system- by the priest Tetzel.
As time progressed- the other beliefs of Luther- founded
upon the bible- did come into contention with Rome.
The main disagreement eventually became the teaching in the
bible called Justification by faith. I have written a study on the topic on the
blog- I have also written a bible study on the book of Romans and Galatians.
For those of you who can- try and read Romans chapters 2-4 and
Galatians 2-3- these are the key chapters that cover the teaching.
Down the road I will cover the official teaching of both the
Protestants and the Catholics on the doctrine of justification- the Catholic
Council of Trent- referred to as the Counter Reformation- spells out the
official teaching of Rome- and there are a few papers put out by the Reformers
that explain their belief.
Since the 16th century Reformation there have
been efforts made by Protestants and Catholics to bridge the gap as much as possible-
to try to come to some common language since the historic split.
I like some of the efforts that have been made- and recently
both groups put out a statement that jointly said we all believe that we are
saved by Gods grace thru Christ- that’s good.
But as we get into some of the actual discussion- you will
see the points at which the 2 sides disagreed- and the main one was on the act-
the actual thing that happens- when a person is declared just- the Reformers
said it takes place when a person has faith- believes- the Catholic church said
it takes place at baptism- water baptism.
This- as well as a few other things- will be a defining
distinction between the 2.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John
[1770] TREASURY OF MERIT
Let’s pick up where we left off 2 posts back. We were
talking about Martin Luther and the events that led up to the Protestant
Reformation.
In order to understand the key act that caused the protest-
we will have to teach some Catholic history/doctrine.
In the 16th century Pope Julius began the effort
to build St. Peters basilica in Rome. He got as far as laying the foundation
and died. Pope Leo the 10th would pick up after him.
The church needed to raise money for the project- and the
German prince- Albert- would play a major role.
It should be noted that both Catholic and Protestant
scholars agree that the Popes of the day were pretty corrupt. They came from
what we call the Medici line of Popes.
If you remember last month I wrote a post on the
Renaissance- I talked about the Medici family and how they played a major role
in supporting the Renaissance that took place in the 13th century in
Florence Italy that would spread to the region.
Well this very influential family also played a big role in
who would get top positions in the church.
At the time of Luther and prince Albert- if you had the
right connections and the money- you could literally buy a position in the
church.
Albert already held 2 Bishop seats- and there was an opening
for an Archbishops seat in Mainz [Germany] and he wanted that one too.
It should be noted that official Canon law [church law] said
you could only hold one seat at a time- Albert was bidding on his 3rd one! And
he was too young for all of them.
So even the Pope and the officials held little respect for
what the church actually taught at the time.
So Albert opens up negotiations with Leo- and the bidding
starts AT 12,000 Duckets [money] Albert counters with 7,000- and they agree on
10,000. How did they justify the numbers? 12- The number of Apostles. 7- The 7
deadly sins. 10- The 10 commandments.
Yes- the church was pretty corrupt at the time.
So Albert works out a plan with Leo- he will borrow the
money from the German banks- and pay the banks off by the Pope giving Albert
the right to sell Indulgences.
What’s an Indulgence?
Okay- this is where it gets tricky.
The ancient church taught a system called The Treasury of
Merit. This was a sort of spiritual bank account that ‘stored up’ the good
deeds of others over the years.
You had the good deeds of Jesus at the top- but you also had
Mary and Joseph- the 12 Apostles- and other various saints thru out time.
The way the ‘bank’ worked was you could tap into the account
by getting a Papal indulgence- a sort of I.O.U. that had the Popes guarantee
that it would get so much time out of Purgatory for a loved one.
The actual sacrament that accesses the account is called
Penance [confession].
When a penitent does penance- he confesses his sin to the
priest- and he is absolved by the authority of the church that the priest has.
The priest usually tells the person ‘say so many Hail Mary’s- Our Father’s’ and
that’s a form of penance.
One of the other things the church practiced was called Alms
Deeds. This term is found in the bible and it means giving your money to the
poor- it is a noble act that Jesus himself taught.
In theory- part of the sacrament of penance was tied into
Alms Deeds- you can access the account thru the practice of giving to the poor-
which also meant giving to the church that helps the poor- and in the hands of
the Medici line of Popes- meant outright giving money to the Pope.
So now you see how the abuse worked its way into the pockets
of the faithful.
Albert now had the permission from Leo to sell these
indulgences in Germany- and he would pick a certain corrupt priest to sell them
in a place called Saxony- the region where Luther operated out of.
It should be noted that the Catholic Church never taught the
crass act of ‘buying your way out of Purgatory’. The practice of including
giving money as a part of the sacrament of penance was tied into the biblical
principle of giving to the poor- a good thing.
But Tetzel and others abused the official meaning of the
indulgence- and did make it sound like you could by your way out of Purgatory
[in theory- a loved one might be in Purgatory for so many years- and through
the indulgence you are actually getting time off for them- because the good
deeds of others are now applied to the account].
The money Albert would raise- half would go to Rome for the
building of St. peters- and half would go to pay off the banks in Germany- it
was a sad system- and a sad time for the church as a whole.
It would be wrong to judge the entire church at the time as
being corrupt- you did have many sincere Priests and Catholic men and women who
saw the abuses and did not take part in them.
But there was corruption at the top- and this would
eventually lead to the breakup of the church- and the launching of what we now
call the Protestant Movement.
As a side note- it should be said that many Catholics and
Protestants are not aware of the whole treasury of merit system- and the church
never officially changed her position on the doctrine.
There were 3 Church councils since the time [Trent- 1500’s,
Vatican 1- 1800’s and Vatican 2- 1962-65]. The Treasury of Merit never came up
for change.
Obviously Protestants don’t believe in Purgatory- and it’s
not my purpose in these posts to change Catholics into Protestants or vice
versa- but to give all sides a clear view of the issues that divided us- and to
try and be honest- and respectful during the process.
Does the bible teach anything like a Treasury of Merit? Well
actually it does. The bible teaches that the righteousness of Christ is the
treasury that people can access- by faith- and become righteous in the sight if
God.
The idea- applied to Christ- is good.
But in the hands of the Medici Popes- and the ambitious
prince of Germany- it would lead to disaster.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John
[1752] IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
Was gonna do one last post [for now] on Libya- we will need
to cover the whole development of how we began to view/and act over a 6 month
period- we acted [as a nation] contrary to our public statements. We swore-
over and over again- that we were not targeting the man [or his family] and he
swore [before the U.N. - by his rep.] that we were lying- and did indeed
already kill a few of his grandkids [which was true] and were going after him.
Then- on national T.V. - we saw him flee Sirte [his
hometown] and get bombed by both NATO and American planes [ours were Drones].
We destroyed a bunch of vehicles- left a lot of dead bodies- but he made it to
a tunnel.
Then he got pulled out- ended up with a bullet in the head.
O- forgot- this happened a day or 2 after Hillary Clinton visited Tripoli [her
first visit] and said ‘we are waiting for you to capture or kill him’ [oop’s!]
She later had to ‘clarify’.
She also was caught on tape- laughing and rejoicing over his
death- okay- many people did- but if your saying publicly- ‘that’s not what we
want’- then it looks bad.
Of course the other Arab nations want the U.N. to
investigate- they were being told- by us- that we were not going after him. He
begged for a peaceful resolution [he did do this!]. But we basically said no.
There are lots of questions to still be answered on this
thing.
Okay- yesterday I wrote a quick note about a conversation I
had with a new friend who just joined my site. She was into some new age stuff-
we talked a little- I defended historic Christian belief- then she blocked me.
Let’s talk a little about Apologetics/Theology. Apologetics
is the field where Christians Defend the Faith.
In our day- it is common for believers to be ‘left in the
dust’ when they bang up against an atheistic scientist [they not all are!] or
someone versed in Philosophy [Sartre or Camus- atheist thinkers- or Hitchen's
and Dawkins].
Many times these various fields of study are too much for the average believer to feel like he
can engage in- in an intelligent way- and ‘win’ the argument for the Christian
view.
But church history has a long- and very successful- track
record doing this very thing.
A few weeks back I did about 5 posts or so on Philosophy- a
field I like to study. But if you do too many of those posts at one time- then
it can get a little heavy [and boring!] So I try to break it up by only doing
so many at a time. The same goes for Theology- Church History- etc.
But over time- if we become well versed in these various fields-
it will help us defend the Christian view- in an intelligent way- without being
mean about it [I try!]
But sometimes you will offend people- even if you try to be
nice- because you’re engaging in a conversation that says ‘yes- as Christians
we believe in ultimate truth- and that truth is in the person of Jesus Christ’
yes- that will offend some.
My approach to these types of debates is I’m what you would
call Ecumenical- I believe that Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox- and all the
other ‘churches’ that profess Christ- I believe they are all Christian.
Now you might say ‘well John- doesn’t everybody?’ Actually
no- many of the most knowledgeable Apologists do indeed go after the other
groups. Quite often you will have a strong protestant defender [usually from
the Reformed faith] that will really hit the Catholic church- in my view- too
hard.
While it is true that historically Catholics and Protestants
have differences- I have often found that Many ‘average’ Catholics/Protestants
are not really aware of the real differences- they often have very limited
perspectives about the ‘other side’ and these limited ideas [often wrong] seem
to stay with the people- for most of their lives.
One example- the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception- what
is it?
The teaching became Official- only in the last 2 centuries
of the Catholic church- though it was held
by many- it finally became official in the last 2 hundred years [ 1854
for the Immaculate Conception- 1950 for the Assumption of Mary doctrine].
The doctrine teaches that the Virgin Mary- Jesus Mom- was
born ‘without the taint of original sin’. Now- what does that mean?
Some Protestants think the Catholics teach that Mary was
‘sinless’ in the same way Christ was sinless.
Actually- that’s not the official doctrine [see- it’s
important to know the official teaching when we engage like this]. The actual
teaching- that has the churches Imprimatur on it- is that Mary WAS A SINNER-
just like the rest of us- but in order for Jesus to have been born from a pure
vessel- that the actual work of the Cross- Redemption- it was applied to Mary
‘ahead of time’.
Yes- the official teaching is that Mary ‘was saved’ from her
sin- just like the rest of us- thru the Cross. The difference is the
forgiveness that came to Mary- came to her before she was born- yes- the
teaching does teach that Mary was born ‘without sin’ but not like Jesus was
without sin- but she was ‘without sin’ because her salvation was applied ahead
of time- way ahead of time- before she was born.
Okay- do Protestants believe in this teaching? No. But is it
‘so way out of line’ to the point where we should view our Catholic brothers
and sisters as ‘non Christian’ because of it? No- not in my view.
Plus- many Catholics don’t even realize that this is what the
doctrine teaches- many think it is talking about the birth of Jesus- being born
without sin- by the act of the Holy Spirit descending upon the Virgin Mary and
Mary conceiving.
No- this is what we call ‘The Virgin birth- conceived by the
Holy Ghost’. Jesus being born from a virgin with no earthly father.
This is not the Immaculate Conception.
So right here alone [trust me- there are many more examples
that I could give] Both Catholics and Protestants usually get the doctrine
wrong- yet they remain divided their whole lives- over something that they are
not even right about.
So I have found this type of stuff to be a problem while
striving for Christian unity- and many Christians prefer to see the ‘other
side’ in a negative light- and will continue to view them that way- till they
die.
I always feel bad when I lose a friend from the site-
sometimes you can’t help it [other times it is my fault!] but sometimes it’s
because we have views about things- strongly held views- and when others hold
to a different view- well we try and avoid them.
One day I received a Friends Request- to my surprise- it was
from a young Catholic priest- I did not know him but he must have read a few
posts of mine and liked them. He often gave me Thumbs Up comments on the posts-
and at times would tell me he loved the posts.
Most were my Theology/Church history posts.
Often times Catholics and Protestants can agree and enjoy
these types of studies. I love studying and teaching on the Church Fathers and
early Christian history- and these sources all have a very strong Catholic
flavor to them- so I see my fellow Catholics as being a part of a long
tradition of Christian history.
Many famous converts to the Catholic Church [Bishop John
Newman- converted from the Anglican Church] convert because they read the
Church Fathers- and when you read them- it’s obvious to see the catholic nature
of the early church in these men’s writings.
So anyway I was very happy to have a Catholic priest as one
of my ‘on line students’ [and honored].
But one day- during one of my studies [covering one subject
for a month or so] to my surprise I saw he was gone [yes- the dreaded block]. I
thought- geez- wonder why?
I realized it was right in the middle of a study I did on
Islam- and while I was doing the posts- I was also going thru a study on Islam-
by the same guy who teaches it to the U.S. govt. - yes- it was a prof. [I think
named Espinoza?] who teaches Islam to our govt. employees [sort of like a
tolerance type thing].
Though the teacher was Catholic- yet he was VERY much pro
Islam- I mean to the point where I had to reject some of the stuff he was
saying- and finish the study from my own education on Islam.
At one point- he taught that the spread of Islam thru out
the world had a wonderful- liberating effect on all the women in the lands
where Islam spread. I mean it was so obvious that the man had no idea what he
was talking about [in this area] that I realized he was not a good source [this
happens every so often].
And it was more troubling that this was the guy Obama picked
to teach Islam to our govt. employees [don’t get me wrong here- he teaches our
govt. workers- not to convert them- but more of an informative type thing- just
like you would teach any other course about sexual harassment- or whatever].
Anyway- in one of my posts while teaching on my site- I did
refer to Mohamed as ‘the prophet’- now- I don’t receive Mohamed that way
myself- but because I was teaching some Muslims who did recently join the site-
well I used the title in this way.
I think that might have been the ‘last straw’ for my
student/priest- he ‘went on Pilgrimage’ right after that post.
Okay- today’s point is we all should try our best to be
‘tolerant’ that is- we should give people as much grace/mercy as possible- but
at the same time we also need to be honest about the Christian faith.
Yes- as Christians we believe salvation comes thru Christ-
he was not just ‘one religious leader among many’ no- we believe he is the Way-
the Truth- the Life/light- no man comes to the Father- but by him.
Sometimes we do our best not to offend- we might even go out
of our way to receive people- other religions and systems that are not
Christian- that’s okay- I have Muslim and Jewish and all types of friends- I’m
glad they are my friends!
But we also have to be honest about our beliefs- and every
now and then that might- just might- earn you a BLOCK.
[1746] CULT? Three 6’S? Not a Christian?
Okay- let’s talk a little about some of the ‘big’ stories.
Actually- these stories are small but the media wants to make them big.
At the debate the other night- Cain took some heat- you
know- he’s been hawking the 999 plan on taxes- and now that he’s rising in the
polls they have to bring him down a notch.
So they slammed the plan- Bachmann even exposed the secret
agenda behind the plan- yes- right there in front of the whole world- she said
‘you know what you get when you turn the 999 plan upside down’?
And yes- we now know the truth- you get 3 upside down 9’s.
Okay- let’s get a little serious here. Another ‘religious’
test popped up on the trail- you had the Baptist Pastor from Dallas tell a
reporter that Christians should prefer other Christians when they vote- and
Romney is not a Christian.
He went on to say that he thought Romney was a fine man- but
that historically Mormonism is a cult.
Was he right?
Let me say this- I
have read scholars my whole life- study theology and Christianity- am very open
to the other Christian churches- and even my approach to Mormons and Jehovah
Witnesses has been one in which I try to have open dialogues with people- not ‘cover
up’ their doctrinal flaws- but to be open and show as much charity as possible.
Okay- I know of no serious scholar who would disagree
theologically with the Baptist Pastor. Now- was the approach he took right? At
a political type meeting? Probably not.
Are there more appropriate ways to engage in dialogue with
Mormons- who overall are very good people- serve the country well and for the
most part are honorable? Yes—there are better ways to talk about it than saying
Romney is ‘not a Christian’.
Let’s talk a little bit about why most bible scholars do
hold the ‘cult’ view.
Historically- Christianity is what we call Trinitarian [for
the most part- this is also a very long study]. Sometimes we refer to this as
Nicene Christianity [from the famous council at Nicaea].
Or we can look to a few other church councils that hammered
out the language of the Trinity.
I am Trinitarian- I hold to the historic belief on this-
just to be upfront at the start.
Now- have all ‘Christians’ at all times held to the doctrine?
No. Now- some will say ‘Then they are not Christians’ okay- I agree.
But the way I define ‘Christian’ while making the argument
from history- I am speaking of all those who saw themselves as part of the
church [men like Bishop Arius- who rejected the Trinity] and yet did not agree
with the historic position.
Church history is littered with men/movements that fall into
this category.
Muslims and Jews [even some Messianic Jews] also take the
side [doctrinally] with those ‘Christians’ who reject the Trinity. Why? Both of
these religions believe that exalting Jesus to Deity [being God] violates the
teaching that there is only One God [the Father].
Many of these same objections are made by the various
‘Christian churches’ that also reject the Trinity.
Okay- the historic Christian doctrine- accepted by
Catholics, Orthodox and most Protestants- says that God is One- and there are 3
persons in the God Head. The famous Christian him says ‘God in 3 persons-
Blessed Trinity’.
So- the belief is there is only one God- yet 3 persons in
the God head.
The various groups who disagree with this doctrine usually
say it’s a contradiction- and they have various ways they try to explain it.
They will point to bible verses that say ‘Jesus is the
Firstborn of all creation’ or ‘Jesus is the beginning of the creation of God’
and they will argue that Jesus was the first creation of God- but not ‘God’ in
the sense of True God.
Most scholars will show you that looking at these few
verses- in context of the entire bible- show us that they are not meaning that
Jesus was actually created- but that he has pre imminence among the whole
creation- he is Lord of all.
I really did get into the debate- have taught it in the past
on the blog- and today’s intent isn’t to do it all over again.
But- we needed to cover that to say this- what then is the
Mormon belief?
While most churches
that disagree with the Trinity- usually disagree by saying the doctrine is
Tritheistic [meaning you believe in 3 Gods] Mormons actually go the other way-
they believe/teach that you actually do have 3 Gods- that the Father and the
Son and the Spirit are 3 different Gods.
Okay- that’s the main reason [there are lots of other
things] that scholars classify Mormons as ‘non Christian’.
But it’s really hard to have these debates in the political
arena- and because of the various ways we use the term ‘Christian’ [most of the
times in the media it covers a much wider range than what we use in studying
theology] I would not say ‘Romney is not a Christian’.
Why? Because I would have to qualify it by explaining all of
this- and you do have many groups that have branched off from historic
Christianity- who never accepted the final councils on the Trinity- and many of
these groups would still be defined as ‘Christian’ in a broad sense- say if
your studying Sociology and not Theology.
Now- you ask ‘geez John- this can get a little confusing-
does the bible actually give us a test on this’.
Glad you asked.
The only biblical
‘test’ that is where you have a clear cut statement on ‘if you believe this
your okay- if you believe this you’re not’- the statement comes from the
epistle’s [letters] of the Apostle John [New Testament].
In 1st John and 2nd John he talks
about those who believe that Jesus is the Christ- they are ‘from God’ ‘Born of
God’ and those who say that ‘Jesus has not come in the flesh’ these are not ‘of
God’ these are ‘the anti christ’.
It’s interesting to note- that in the entire bible- the few
times the actual word ‘anti christ’ is used are in these passages.
So the test- if you want to look at it this way- is a
Christological test- do you believe Jesus is the Christ [Messiah]. And ‘do you
believe he has come in the flesh’ [what we call the Incarnation].
That’s the test- you do not have a ‘Trinitarian’ test so to
speak- though the doctrine itself is found in the bible.
Why would the apostle John give these 2 criteria as ‘the
test’? Because for the 1st century Jewish believer- Jesus did indeed
come as the promised Messiah- and the question is indeed ‘do you believe he is
the promised one- or not’.
The other ‘test’ is a little more tricky- but in the 1st
century you began having a challenge to the main belief of Christians- it came
from the Gnostic ‘cults’. These were the quasi ‘Christian’ groups that mixed in
Greek concepts of matter with Christian belief.
The last few weeks we discussed their ideas a little- and
one of the ideas that Plato taught was that matter itself was evil.
This is not the Christian view- the Christian view is that matter
[creation] is from God- it is good- not inherently evil.
Okay- so you had a division of the Gnostics [which their
name meant Knowledge- they believed they had secret knowledge about these
things that the average Christian did not have] called Docetists.
These guys taught that Jesus was not Really a human being-
who came ‘in the flesh’. Why did they teach this? Because they also taught that
matter/flesh was evil- and Jesus could not have really been ‘in the flesh’.
This doctrine violates the very clear N.T. teaching that
Jesus was indeed born of the Virgin- and was fully God and fully man- thus the
apostle John was targeting them when he said ‘if anyone does not believe that
Jesus has come in THE FLESH he is not from God’.
Got it? Okay- we did
a little teaching today- as you can see these types of debates cannot really
take place in a 30 second news sound bite.
So even though most scholars [if not all?] would agree with
the teaching that Mormonism does not fit in with historic Christianity- yet to say
‘this guy is not a Christian’ without being able to make the distinctions that
I just did- well it just sounds bad- to be honest.
I personally could vote for Romney- to me it would be more
of an issue of his political positions- if I felt he could do a good job- I
personally would not use the ‘religious test’ on the guy- but you do have a
large group of Evangelicals who would not vote for him- mainly because of this
very issue.
I think these issues are important- and people should be
aware of them. I also think the term ‘cult’ or ‘he is not a Christian’ if we
are going to throw those words out- they need to be surrounded by the above
context- when they just pop out on a short sound bite- without the time to
explain them- then it’s probably better not to throw them out at all.
[1744] LIVING IN THE REAL WORLD?
I read an article the other day- some guy got busted for
assault- because of Facebook. It went on to say how he posted a status update
when his mom died- and he was waiting for his estranged wife to ‘like’ it.
She never responded- so he did what any normal person would-
he jumped in the car and drove over to her house. Okay- I’m gonna ad lib here
‘knock knock’ she comes to the door and he says ‘go into that damn computer
room right now and Like the status’!
One thing lead to another- and he got busted.
What’s wrong with this picture? I mean he was talking to
her- in the ‘real world’ face to face- yet instead of saying ‘ex- are you sad
that mom died’- no- he says ‘go like the post!’
Okay- this will be the last post for a while on philosophy-
I think I did about 3 or 4 the last week or so-
I used to do one subject and stick with it for around a month.
Then at the end of the study [Physics, History, etc.] I
would stick them all together on the blog as a single study.
But I realized that new friends who are just reading the
site- post by post- they might think that’s all I write about- so now I’m
trying to just do a few at a time.
Okay- we made it all the way to Plato and his famous school
that he founded at Athens [Greece]. Though Socrates was his teacher- yet
Socrates never founded an actual school.
Like I said earlier- Plato had a view of Reality that was a
bit strange. He was an Idealist- not in the way we use the term today [mostly]
but he believed that Ideas themselves were the real world- and what we
see/experience in the material world are not ‘as real’.
Plato believed that knowledge was A Priori- which means the
actual knowledge about a thing exists before the thing comes into being.
The famous example he used was a Chair. He would ask ‘what
is that’ pointing to a chair. The student would respond ‘a chair’ Plato would
say ‘and how do you know this- how did you obtain that knowledge’ and he argued
that in the Idea realm- there is a perfect form of Chairness that exists- and
that’s why we can identify ‘the chair’ in the material realm.
Now- Plato’s most famous student was a man named Aristotle.
He actually respected his teacher a lot- but there was some tension between the
2. Plato was more of a down to earth type guy- liked to wear plain clothes- did
lots of his teaching by walking around the classroom- interacting with people.
Aristotle was more of a ‘Fancy Pants’ type guy. He had a
little bit of the elitist thing going on. He was more of a book worm than
Plato- and he would eventually start his own school to compete with Plato’s
Academy.
Aristotle’s school was named the Lyceum. Aristotle was more
of a Realist than an Idealist. He believed that this material world was more
than just a copy of the Idea world. He taught that Substance and matter were
very real- and that contained within the thing is the actual form and future
potential of ‘that thing’.
For instance- the Acorn has within it the actual form of the
Oak Tree. This form did not come from an Idea world- it came from the thing
itself- the Acorn.
So matter has within it both the potential of its future
form- as well as eventually becoming that thing.
For Aristotle- knowledge is more A-Posteriori- that is we
obtain knowledge about a thing- from the very thing itself. We see/touch and
experience that thing- and by our senses interacting with the substance- we get
knowledge- after the fact.
Okay- to Aristotle all substance has both Form and Matter.
Then what he called substance- had 2 categories as well. The ‘substance’
[actual thing it is] and the Accidens [not accidents- not a typo].
The Accidens was simply the outward appearance- what we see
on the outside. It might not be what the substance really is- or it might.
This teaching would eventually become a major way that our
Catholic friends would come to define the doctrine of Transubstantiation- during
the 13the century the great thinker Thomas Aquinas would re-discover [and
introduce] Aristotle’s teaching back into the church.
In his theological works [Summa Theologica] he would use
Aristotelian thought to explain how the Bread and Wine become the actual Flesh
and Blood of Christ. Thomas explained that the actual substance of the thing
was Flesh and Blood- but the Accidens- what you’re seeing on the outside- looks
like Bread and Wine.
Catholic scholars have debated for centuries on whether or
not they should stick to the hard line teaching from Thomas on this. They are
not challenging the belief in the Real Presence [that Jesus is really there at
the Eucharist] they simply wonder whether or not explaining it this way is
right.
Finally- after many years of certain Catholic scholars
asking this question- in 1965 the Pope [I think it was Paul the 6th?]
put out a Papal Encyclical [an official Vatican teaching] and he stated clearly
that the way Aquinas taught it is the official doctrine of the church- so that
settled that.
Okay- Plato was an Idealist [Dualist] and Aristotle was a
Realist. That’s the major difference.
I will note that Aristotle’s most famous student was
Alexander the Great. And during the great conquests of Alexander he took with
him a whole team of scientists who brought back all types of specimens of
things and he gave them to his famous teacher Aristotle- to advance the cause
of learning at the Lyceum school.
It has been said that Alexander’s efforts at collecting and
bringing these things back after their victories- that this was probably the
most expensive scientific endeavor of all time- right up until the modern space Era.
Note- I try to avoid too many ‘big words’ in these posts.
Not because people don’t understand them- but because I forget how to spell
them! And in this post- there are around 10 words that my spell check has no
idea how to spell- so just a warning- there might be a few misspelled words in
this one.
[1740] THE UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING- PLATO.
I caught a show the other night on Link TV. It was a spin
off from this famous Platonic quote- it was called ‘The examined life’.
They interviewed some of the most prominent philosophers of
our day. Cornell West, Peter Singer- a few others [I think the name is Singer?]
I found it interesting that Singer- who specializes in Ethics- tried to make
the case that you really don’t need religion/God in order to do ethics- all you
need is to work from the basic principle that says ‘try to treat others like
you too want to be treated- and then you will have a foundation for morals’.
Now- I caught the contradiction right away- do you see it?
Who is he quoting? This is the great moral principle- given to us by Jesus
himself- called the Golden Rule.
This actual principle- in Theology [the study of God] we
call Natural/Moral law. The Argument is based on the reality that all people
[not animals- Singer- get to it in a moment] have within them this moral
compass [Romans 1] and that this in itself is proof that there must be a higher
moral being- a transcendent being- who has put it in man.
I just found it funny that Singer- who is supposed to be a
prominent atheist/agnostic thinker- would fall flat on his face like this.
Singer advocates for legal Rights for animals- and has also
argued that viability of the new born baby should determine its personhood- he
says that we should be able to abort babies up until around the age of 1-
because they can’t really survive on their own until that age.
Sad.
Okay- why do Philosophy- or Physics- or any other of a
number of schools of thought? Because
too often Christians abandon these fields- and then when someone from that
field says ‘this is why we don’t need God’ we usually have no answer.
When we think about philosophy- most of us think about the 3
great big shots- Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. While it is true that these
guys were the major guys at right around the 5th century B.C.- yet
we actually date the beginning point to the early 6TH Century B.C.
to a man by the name of Thales.
Thales accurately predicted a solar eclipse in the year 585
B.C. and he gained notoriety because of this. Thales was the first Greek
thinker to grapple with the idea that there must be one reality that makes up
all things.
He would argue that Water was this element- that contained
being and Motion and life. Many of these pre Socratic thinkers were obsessed
with the idea of motion- where did it come from?
Thales observed that streams and rivers- and all types of
water sources flow- so to him this was a logical source of motion.
This idea- that only one element makes up all reality- is
called Monism. Monism is not be confused with Monotheism- the belief in one
God- Monism actually leads to another religious view- called Pantheism- the
belief that God is everything- and everything is God.
This is not the historic Christian view.
Now- the pre Socratic guys- Parmenides, Zeno, Heraclitus-
these guys would challenge Thales view that water was the main thing.
Some said ‘maybe it’s Air’ another said ‘Earth’ and some
Fire. These 4 elements [Earth, Air [wind] Fire and Water- are the 4 basic
elements of the early Greek philosophers.
We see these things in the naming of musical groups [Earth
Wind and Fire] as well as the themes in movies [fantastic 4- based on 4 basic
elements- powers].
Now- one of the thinkers said ‘wait- maybe the reality
behind all things is not any one of these elements- maybe there is a 5th
dimension [another musical name- and also the famous Bruce Willis flick- called
the 5th Element] a Boundless being- outside of time and matter-
maybe this 5ht element is the foundation for all things.
Of course this view would lead to the more developed view of
God that Socrates and his followers would embrace- an early view of God- much
like the later Christian view [absent the Trinity].
By the way- the view that 2 or more elements make up all
reality is called Pluralism- not to be confused with religious Pluralism [that
all religions lead to the same God]. The most common form of Pluralism is
Dualism [2 realities equally true] but all non Monists who embrace more than
one reality are Pluralists.
Okay- maybe a bit much with the 10 dollar words- but it
might spark the interest of some.
The church has debated for centuries on whether or not
Philosophy should be taught to Christians. One of the early church fathers-
Tertullian- said no- his famous quote is ‘what does Jerusalem have to do with
Athens’.
Meaning what does Philosophy have in common with
Christianity [Athens- Greece was the seat of philosophy in Jesus’ day].
For the most part- the early church fathers would embrace
the study of philosophy- and try to make arguments for the Christian faith by
presenting Christianity as ‘thee’ philosophy that best answers the questions of
man.
These early Christian thinkers are called Apologists- men
like Justin Martyr are in this class.
Apologist is a word we use to describe those who defend the
faith- it comes from the Apostle Peter’s letter in the N.T. where Peter says
‘give an answer to those who ask you about the faith’. In the Greek language-
the original language the N.T. was written in- this phrase is talking about a
defense- an ‘apology’ in the sense of ‘making the case’ not in the common sense
of apologizing.
In the book of Acts- chapter 17- we read the famous sermon
of the apostle Paul- given at Mars Hill.
He was in Athens at the time- and he was debating with all the philosophers of
the day. He tells them ‘as I was looking around town- I saw that one of your
altars is addressed to The Unknown God’.
He would go on and declare unto them that this Jesus is the
true God- the one raised from the dead.
Paul also said ‘in Him we live and MOVE and have our being’.
Kind of a popular verse quoted by preacher’s today- but we often overlook the
significance of the MOVE part.
I mean- why say we MOVE in him too? Paul was a smart guy- he
knew these children of Socrates questioned where motion came from [Remember
Thales?] So he was basically saying ‘I am declaring to you the one true
reality- the true 5th Element- the missing God particle from your
system’ and he went on and preached Christ- being raised from the dead.
Paul knew that you can’t really do true philosophy- to
grapple with the questions of life and being and ‘motion’ without realizing
that God is indeed the ultimate answer to all things.
Even Peter Singer- who claimed that you don’t need God or
religion in order to do Ethics- even he unknowingly quoted Jesus in attempting
to give a basis for his Philosophy- yes- he quoted a God- one unknown to him-
just like the altar at Athens- but a God never the less.
An inescapable 5th element- the missing part to
the whole puzzle.
[1722] EXODUS
Let’s continue our brief over view of the bible. The book of
Exodus begins with Israel going into Egypt [connected with the end of Genesis]
and the first 15 chapters deal with God raising up Moses and using him to
deliver his people out of bondage.
We see the 10 plagues on Egypt- because they won’t ‘let
God’s people go’ and we finally see the great parting of the Red Sea and
Pharaohs armies drowning in the ocean.
God’s people receive the 10 commandments at Mount Sinai and
they begin a very long wilderness journey [40 years].
The book ends with the building of the Tabernacle [a tent
system that was the central focus of worship during their travels].
The book itself is a good read- not as slow as the next 3 to
come [Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy] and it is the continuation of the
promise that God made to Abraham in the book of Genesis. If you remember- God
told Abraham if he left his home land and went into a strange land that God
would bless him and make him into a great nation.
The Promised Land of course was not Egypt- but Canaan
[modern day Israel/Palestine] yet we read a few occasions when things got rough
during the journey- That Abraham [and his kids] would lose faith and for
various reasons [famine] go ‘down into Egypt’.
So Egypt kind of represents a time of doubt- slavery for
God’s people. During their wilderness
journey- after God delivers them out of Egypt- they go back to their
complaining ways.
At various times they say stuff like ‘why did you deliver us
Moses- we have no food/water out here- only if we could go back and have the
onions and good food we had in the good old days’.
This mantra becomes a stumbling block for Israel- time and
again God will supernaturally provide the food and water [Manna, Quail- water
from a Rock] and time and again they will complain.
Eventually we will read the story of them taking their
Promised Land [the book of Joshua] but yet even at that point- they still have
their doubts [12 spies go in to check the land out- only 2 come back with ‘a
good report’- the others say ‘the land looks great- but the people living there
are too much for us to defeat- we look like grasshoppers in their sight].
Like I said in the post on Genesis- you can view the Old
Testament as the story of one man and his family.
God makes the initial promise to Abraham- and the rest of
the Old Testament [Law, Prophets and wisdom books] cover that story.
It’s important to understand that all of these earthly land
promises- they take on a much broader meaning in the New Testament- if you
carefully read the writings of the apostles [especially Paul] you will see that
they viewed the coming of Christ- and his death, resurrection and ascension to
God- as the ultimate fulfilling of this promise.
Lots of language says ‘we are now all heirs of these
promises- Jews and gentiles’ lots of language like that.
This has been a very contentious point in church history-
most of the early church [Catholic, Orthodox] did accept this view [Saint
Augustine was very influential in this area] and later on many Protestant
churches would reject it.
But I think for the most part that the historic church got
it right- while the Protestant view has some merits as well [Amillennialism,
Dispensationalism are the various names given to these views].
Okay- out of all the figures in the bible- only 2 are said
to be Mediators- those 2 are Moses and Jesus.
A mediator is the person who acts as the go between- when 2
parties enter into a covenant. Moses is the mediator of the Old Covenant- Jesus
of the new.
In the gospel of John we read that ‘the law came through
Moses- but grace and truth came through Jesus’.
John also says ‘The word became flesh and dwelt among us’.
John uses the imagery of ‘the Word’ [called Logos Christology] a lot in his
writings when referring to Jesus.
The words ‘Dwelt among us’ literally mean ‘he pitched his
tent among us’ the same image of the tent [tabernacle] that was set up during
the wilderness journey that we just spoke about.
This tent that was set up and taken down for the 40 year
period of wandering [which eventually becomes the Old Testament Temple under
King Solomon] was indeed a picture of Jesus.
Just like God was ‘in the tent’- the Ark that was in the
Holy of Holies- the inner room- so likewise God was ‘In Christ- reconciling the
world back unto himself’.
John said ‘The Word became flesh’. God became man- lived
among us and redeemed us back unto himself thru Christ- once again we see that
the entire bible- all the figures and stories and experiences- point to one
thing- Jesus, the Christ- The Son of the Most High.
[1716] CREATION
Today I want to talk a little bit more about the bible and
science- maybe over the next few weeks I’ll do a sort of overview of the Old
Testament- like I just did with the New Testament.
I think it’s important for believers to have a basic grasp
on some of the ideas about creation- evolution- and the whole debate in
general.
I have written a lot in the past on the various theories-
and won’t try and cover it all again- but just give some parameters that kind
of frame this debate.
The other day I saw a news clip of an actor that I used to
like- Matt Damon. I always liked Good Will Hunting and the Boerne Identity
flicks. Some reporter asked him a question that kind of pit the right against
the left [politically]. He replied with some ‘high faluttin’ language- I mean
you could tell he really thinks he is the Good Will guy- but he did it in a way
that said ‘you inferior intellects of the world- why must we have to put up
with you’!
Sort of like when Tyson gave his speech on the inferior
skills of those who were losing to him- they were losing because they were
truly behind the advanced world of scientific boxing [not because Tyson fought
you like ‘you stole something from him’ the quote of a defeated foe]. I sensed in Damon's response a feeling that
you pick up when the media tries to cover this whole debate.
The other day they showed a clip of some kid asking Perry
‘why do you not believe in evolution’ and Perry actually answered in a good
way- he said ‘in Texas the schools teach both creation and evolution [actually
that’s not true] and that evolution has some gaps to it’.
You then heard the mom in the background saying ‘ask him why
he rejects science’ and of course you knew which way the report was going.
The history behind the way Christians view the book of
Genesis [and creation] has varied lots over the years. Many old earth
creationists [like myself] have argued for a ‘less literal’ hard line stance on
the Genesis account- yet also not fully accepting the evolutionary view of
things.
Others are what you would call Theistic evolutionists- they
believe evolution is God’s way of doing things.
And others hold to a literal 6 day creation- with no room
for any sort of symbolism at all.
All these views have some type of problem with them-
something that you could find and say ‘see- this is why this view is wrong’.
And as I read the different views- I try and stay open to
the best arguments from all sides.
As you read Genesis chapter 1- you see the Account of God
creating all things. You have the 6 days of creation with God resting on the 7th
day.
You do see somewhat of a framework right in the 6 days. For
instance- on day 1 you have God making light- yet he doesn’t create the sun and
luminaries until day 4.
On day 2 he creates the sky and water- day 5 birds and fish.
Day 3 he makes the land and plants- and day 6 he makes man
and animals.
So you see a sort of ‘2 tiered’ system here- God making on
the first ‘3 days’ the things that correspond on the last [2nd set]
of ‘3 days’.
Now- this does not mean you have to spiritualize the whole
thing- but there is room here for more than meets the eye.
The strict creationists argue that even though God made the
light on day 1- and the sun and stars didn’t appear until day 4- they actually
teach that for the first 3 days God had made another source of light- that we
don’t know about- and this source lasted for only the first 3 days.
I see problems with a rigid view like that- I would prefer
to see it the way I just showed you- that God is doing the creating- and it is
done in 6 days- yet we are not getting a scientific account here- God is
showing us things that we could grasp as regular folk who are picking up the
bible and reading it for the first time.
So as you can see these types of debates can go on for a
while.
The main point I want to make is the Church has always had
room for true science to ‘fit in’ with the text- the church has not always
taken a hard line ‘creationist stance’ on these things.
And at the same time there are many problems with the actual
theory of evolution [Perry’s gaps] problems that I see that many of the media
folk have no grasp on. For instance you do have a whole bunch of science that
does seem to say that one species of a thing can never- ever evolve into
another thing.
The science on this very fact has caused many scientists-
unbelieving scientists- to ask ‘is it time for us to re think the theory’. But
when you listen to the news people- or to Mom telling her kid ‘ask him why he
doesn’t believe in science’ you realize that many of these ‘enlightened folk’
have no idea what they are talking about.
Yes- they sound like the Matt Damons and the Tysons of the
world ‘you have no place with us in this advanced world of the intellect- we
have surpassed your Neanderthal ideas- we are the new generation’.
Yes- I see the lines
being drawn already- the Perry’s of the world are now going to be contrasted
with the enlightened folk- I just wish both sides would spend a little more
time listening to each other- and realize that we are not as far apart on some
of these things as we think- we might be able to all get along someday- but who
knows when that day will get here.
[1711] HE NAILED IT TO THE CROSS
[Correction- in the
last post I mentioned birds having a different respiratory system than other
animals. The mistake I want to correct is birds do have a sort of lung system-
but they don’t have a diaphragm- they don’t breathe in and out- the same way other
animals/people do. Everything else in the post is accurate- just wanted to
clarify this part].
‘For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and
has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the
law of commandments expressed in ordnances- that he might create in himself one
new man so making peace….and you who were dead in sins God made alive…by
canceling the record of debt that stood against us..He took the law and nailed
it to his Cross’ Ephesians chapter 2 and Colossians chapter 2.
Okay- as I have said in the last few posts- most of our New Testament was made up of the
letters that the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in the 1st
century. The main themes of these letters are the death and resurrection of
Christ- the Cross- what that means to us.
These 2 chapters mentioned above deal with what’s called a
Mystery. In the N.T. writings of Paul- mystery simply means the revealing of a
truth for the 1st time. One of these truths was the reality that
Jesus took the law [10 commandments and all the regulations that man could not
live up to] and he nailed it to his Cross.
Now- when he did this- he not only reconciled [brought us
back] us to God- but he also removed the ‘enmity’ that caused ethnic divisions
between the Jews and non Jews.
In today’s terms we would say the death of Christ removes
all racial/ethnic barriers between the people groups of the world. When people
read these types of verses- maybe for the first time- it does seem to go
against the common understanding that most Christians have.
We often are raised in a good church as kids- I went to
Catholic school for the first few years of my life- then switched to public
school so I could hang out with my friends. But I still went to CCD classes
right down the block from my grade school.
And for the most part I learned Christianity from good
priests- and the process was worth it [though many of my Protestant friends
will be upset with me because I say stuff like this]. And like most ‘good’
kids- some of the stuff stuck with me- but lots just fell away.
Eventually I would go thru some crisis things- got in some
trouble in Texas- was a young kid on my own- and did get into reading the
bible.
That’s what really did it for me- reading these truths-
straight from the bible- thinking ‘geez- I never knew the bible actually said
stuff like this!’
And Walla- a Texas convert! But as time progressed- and I
began to get serious about studying church history and the whole realm of
Christianity- I came back to an appreciation of my early Catholic roots- I
didn’t have to ‘hate’ the Catholics- like many of my friends did [and do] I
just needed to see the overall view of the bible- and understand that many
churches- like all institutions- do have a tendency to get lost in the
bureaucracy as time moves on.
So my goal at this season is to simply re introduce a lot of
the bible teachings- along with a healthy appreciation of the historic
churches.
The above verses talk about the New Covenant- like I said
these past few days- the New Covenant is the new ‘deal’ that God made with man-
saying ‘My Son died for you- if you believe- by faith- you will be saved’. Now- this deal- as opposed to the old deal
[called the Old Covenant] is really great news-
That’s what the word Gospel means- good news. Of course for
people who are not familiar with the bible- it just seems so strange to read a
verse that says ‘Jesus took the law- the commandments that were against us- the
ones we could never live up to- and he nailed them to his Cross’.
I mean this goes against what most well meaning Christians
believe- that if they try their best- keep the churches rules- obey the
commandants- then they will be saved.
But that’s actually approaching God with an Old Covenant
mindset- not seeing salvation as a free gift- but something you earn.
How did the church in general get away from truths like
this? After the first century church moved on- you did have the church go thru
lots of stages. Some Protestants hold a view that in the 4th
century- under the Emperor Constantine- that the church became pagan/Catholic-
and that this started a 1000 year process of the Dark Ages.
I find this view to be too harsh- and prefer to see it like
this. Yes, the early church did go off the rails at times- yet there were also
many good things that did happen during the so called Dark Ages. At one point
the only institution that existed for the protection of society was indeed the
Catholic Church.
Nations appealed to her as the final arbiter for justice and
fairness in the world.
As the 2nd millennium of the Christian era
progressed- you had the development of the University system and the rise of
the independent nation states. Germany, England, France- many nation states
began to develop armies/navies- and there was a sense of real independence from
Rome.
This allowed for a sort of dynamic where the leading
scholars of the day [Luther, Calvin, etc..] to be able to break away from what
they saw as too much church tradition- and start a movement that would get
closer to the bible.
We call this the Protestant Reformation- took place in the
1500’s. Okay- during these debates the Protestants wanted to get back to the
basic teachings of the New Testament and in a noble effort- they replaced the
style of church- and basically removed the communion table as the central focus
of the mass/service- and replaced it with a pulpit.
That is- the new focus was the bible. Okay- we got some good
things- and bad things- from this. Now- most of my Protestant friends would say
‘bad- what’s bad!’
Like everything in life- it takes time to see things- and
this is one of those things. What slowly happened in protestant churches was
the focus shifted from the ‘Table of the Lord’ to the person speaking. In Many
present Protestant churches- you basically have a large theatre where people
come to hear speaking every Sunday- and this has become a very limited view of
what ‘church’ is.
So even though the Protestants meant well- they in a way did
remove Christ [as represented thru the Lords Table] and replaced him with the
speaking office- and exalted the speaking office to a degree that is really not
seen in the churches we read about in the bible.
So as you can see- we have all made some mistakes- and in
time we can see the things that need to be corrected- and make those
adjustments.
I prefer to see my Catholic past as a good thing- having
been blessed to have had a chance to learn abut God and Christian history- even
though I didn’t pay attention too well.
And I also thank God for the various Protestants expressions
of Christianity that I have come in contact with over the years.
I would encourage all my friends to make an effort to get
back to the bible- read these chapters I mention every so often- mediate on
these truths- think about them ‘wow- the New Testament teaches that Jesus took
the law- and nailed it to his Cross’.
This doesn’t mean we can now go out and kill, steal- commit adultery.
But it means we are saved by God’s grace. The gift of faith is given freely- we
don’t save ourselves through trying real hard to live up to the church rules.
Yes- the bible calls this good news- and if you think about
it- it really is.
[1709] MORE ON THE BIBLE
Let’s cover a little more doctrinal stuff- and if I get a
chance I’ll do some practical stuff too. Okay- in the last post I covered some
historical stuff about the bible- I mentioned how Catholics have 15 more books
in their bibles than Protestants.
Why did this happen- or how? Okay- this might get a little
technical, but those of you who have been reading my posts this past month will
remember that I covered some ‘Intertestamental’ history- which means the years
between the last book of the Protestant bible [Malachi] and the first New
Testament book- Matthew.
These years are actually covered historically in the
Apocrypha- during this time we also had a translation of the Old Testament from
Hebrew into Greek. Remember how I spoke about Hellenization- which was the
attempt by Alexander the Great to introduce one Greek language and culture into
all the conquered territories.
Well one of the things the Greeks did was had the Jewish bible
[our Old Testament] translated from Hebrew into Greek. This version is called
the Septuagint- which gets its name from the so called number of scholars who
translated it- it means 70.
Okay- this version was also popular in the early church-
why? The early believers did read Greek- Greek was the common language of the
first few centuries- when the church was born. [thus our New Testament is in
Greek- originally]
Now- the early Christians had sort of a common consensus on
what made up ‘the bible’. They accepted the Old Testament books- because these
books were recognized by the Jews as being Canonical [which means inspired by
God]. But what about the N.T.?
Like I said in the last post- the early church had a
collection of writings that they used/understood to be ‘from God’. That is they
had the acceptance- generally- from the Christian community. But they did not
have ‘a bible’ like we have today- that is everyone walking around with a bible
in book form [called codex in those days- an early book] they all did not own
copies of the bible.
Remember- publishing as we know it today- didn’t arrive on
the scene until right around the turn of the 16th century with the
Guttenberg printing press. So any copies of books- or any efforts to put a
bible together- well it would make sense to maybe include some history books
along with it.
And this is also why some of the early letters seem to have
‘copied’ parts of other letters in them [Jude and 2nd Peter] not because they
were plagiarized- but because books were not easily purchased- and it was
acceptable- for standards of the day- to include some material from another
writers pen [with his permission] in your own letter.
Okay- now when the early believers decided it was time to
actually say ‘these books are in- these are not’. They had general agreement on
what was in- with a few exceptions. Some early believers had the Letter of
Barnabus in their bibles- others did not have Revelation. Some believers
haggled over 2nd Peter [because of what I mentioned above] and
others wanted a few more books in.
But the basic corpus of our N.T. was accepted by the church
at large.
Now- after a few centuries the church felt it important to
put her stamp of approval on the books. And the early church had a council or 2
and finally agreed on what we have today.
One of the early Popes asked a church father- named Jerome-
to make a Latin translation of the bible. Jerome included the Old Testament and
the N.T. - and he also included the 15 books of the Apocrypha. Why?
Jerome’s bible- called the Vulgate- was translated from the
early Greek Old Testament- the Septuagint. Now- the Septuagint is/was a good
scholarly work- but the original Old Testament was in Hebrew- not Greek. The
Septuagint did have the Apocrypha in it.
And the inclusion of the Apocrypha was a utilitarian thing
to do- if you could get these historical books in the bible- then good- you
don’t have to have early believers trying to get hold of a separate history
book that would fill in the blanks- remember- books were hard to come by.
Okay- Catholics and Protestants have argued over whether
these extra books should be in. Protestants [and some Catholics] argue that the
Old Testament books are called ‘the Law and the Prophets’ these books are
quoted hundreds of times in the N.T. - even by Jesus. Yet there are no quotes
from the Apocrypha.
This side argues that the Jewish people did not believe
these books to be inspired- and that the N.T. itself does not put the same
weight on these books as they do with the Old Testament.
The Catholic scholars argue that there are a few allusions
to the Apocrypha in the N.T. [there are a couple- can go either way in my view]
and they do make the point that all the bibles did have these books in them
right up until the Protestant Reformation [remember- the Latin Vulgate did have
the Apocrypha- though Jerome did say in the notes that the Jewish people did
not recognize them on an equal plain with the ‘Law and the Prophets’- the Old
Testament].
Okay- then during the 16th century Protestant
Reformation- at one point in the debates the Catholic scholars argued with
Luther- and they did quote from the Apocrypha to prove some doctrinal points.
Luther and the other Reformers challenged the canonicity of
the books- and with the plethora of English versions of the bible being printed
for the first time in centuries- the Protestants did not include these books in
their versions.
The Catholics stuck with the books.
Okay- do debates like this mean we can’t agree on the actual
message of Christ? No. There is really no problem in reading the Apocrypha-
even if you’re a Protestant. We [Protestants] don’t accept them as ‘canon’ yet
as readers of history- we should be able to read them.
And even if our Catholic brothers and sisters do accept them-
there are really no major doctrinal departures from the rest of the bible. To
be honest- there are a few references that Protestants do have problems with-
but overall they don’t undermine the main message of the N.T.
And just a point of interest- the first 2 books [1st,
2nd Esdras] have been challenged- even by Catholic scholars- as not
being part of the bible. Yet in 2nd Esdras we find a reference to
Christ that does seem to be prophetic. It speaks of a king entering Jerusalem
and he is standing in the middle of the people- handing out Palms.
This depicts the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem- which is in
the gospels [Palm Sunday]. So it is interesting that this reference might
actually be prophetic in nature.
Okay- got into the weeds somewhat- but wanted to show you
guys that all Christians agree on the main points- and just because there are
things we disagree on- yet the message of the Cross doesn’t change.
Bishop Fulton Sheen used to say ‘we might not all be able to
sit in the same pew- but we can all meet
on our knees under the shadow of the foot of the Cross’ Amen.
[1708] OVERVIEW OF THE BIBLE
Let’s cover some biblical history- that is the making of the
bible itself. A few days ago I did a post on Jesus as the fulfillment of the
promises of God made to natural Israel. The post showed how the early Jewish
people saw Jesus as their Messiah- the promised one that they were always
looking for.
The earliest mention of the promise goes all the way back to
the Garden of Eden. God tells Eve that her child shall bruise the serpent’s
head- and the serpent [actually the ‘seed’ or child] will bruise his heel.
There have been works of art [statues/paintings] depicting this scene for
centuries. It was fulfilled at the Cross.
So we have the 4 gospel accounts- Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John- and these accounts give us the history of Jesus- his miracles and
teachings- and they show us the fulfillment of God’s promise- made centuries
before- that he would send them their Messiah.
Out of the 4 gospels- only one- John- has a different
outline. The first 3- we call them Synoptic gospels. They follow the same basic
structure- Johns stands alone.
John’s gospel contains no teachings about the end times-
like the others. John doesn’t mention the parables- or the Sermon on the Mount.
John’s gospel focuses more on the last week of the life of Christ- while the
others cover the 3 years of Jesus earthly ministry [none cover the early years
of Jesus- except for the account of Jesus being left behind at the temple when
he was 12 years old].
The whole bible [Old and New testaments] have 66 books- 39
Old- 27 new. Only 3 original apostles actually wrote parts of the N.T. Matthew,
John and Peter. Out of these 3- John wrote the most. He has his gospel- the
three epistles [1st,2nd and 3rd John] and the
book of Revelation.
The majority of the N.T. is made up of the collection of the
apostle Paul’s letters. Paul is without a doubt the most influential person in
the N.T.- besides Christ.
We also have the historical account of the early church-
called The Acts of the Apostles- written by the same Luke that wrote the
gospel. Luke was a doctor- and an historian. Then you have what’s called the
General epistles- the kind of stand alone letters- Peters 2 letters, Jude, a
few more like that.
And the New Testament closes with the apocalyptic book
[prophecy] of Revelation- written by John [most think the apostle- some think
another John- called ‘John of Patmos’]
Okay- one of the major themes of the N.T. is what we hit on
the other day- a teaching called Justification by Faith. This is the main
thrust of Paul’s doctrinal epistles [Romans, Galatians] and becomes a point of
contention in the early church. The teaching is simple- it means the N.T. is a
covenant- made by God with man [and with Jesus] that says God will give eternal
life to all those who accept the death and resurrection of Jesus. That Jesus
died for the sins of man- and because you believe in this free gift- your
are/will be saved.
Now- the bible obviously says a lot more than this- but this
doctrine becomes one of the main ones because this is the controversy that the
apostle Paul dealt with for most of his ministry years.
I mentioned this the other day in a previous post.
Paul also has 3 epistles [letters] that are called The
Pastoral epistles- these are 1st, 2nd Timothy and Titus.
These are called Pastorals because these young men were protégés of Paul- he
trained them up as local leaders who he could recommend to the early believers
as trustworthy leaders- after he would leave a community.
These men did not function like what we usually call Pastors
in our day- that is sort of a speaker
preaching every Sunday at the ‘Main church’ building- but they were
spiritual overseers- they led the flock in a way that if problems arose- these
men could be looked to as honest guides.
Remember- in the 1st century- you did not have
means of communication like we have today- so if Paul left a community [which
is what the word church means in the bible- Greek- Ecclesia]. And if a problem
rose up- like those who were coming in and saying the Gentiles had to become
circumcised and keep the law- then the believers could look to the men Paul
left his stamp of approval on.
Paul would of course correspond with these early
communities- thus the letters- but until the letters arrived- the ‘Timothy’s’
would do.
Okay- the last book of the bible- Revelation- has gotten a
lot of use- often too much- in the sense that we- especially lone wolf
Protestant groups- have really done loops with the book.
Overall- the theme is about Christ [Lamb of God] being the
central focus of this new kingdom of Priests and Kings [us] and even though
there will be tough times [lots of the images of tests and trials] yet at the
end of the day- we are ‘married’ to this Lamb [Jesus is called the groom in
scripture- and the church is called the bride. God restores in the last book of
the bible- what was lost in the first book- relationship- pictured as marriage]
and we all live in a new heaven and new earth- and the story ends well.
Okay- just a few more points. The main message of the bible
is that God made man [Genesis] he wanted man to be in communion [friendship]
with him. Man sinned and this began the long process of God making promises to
man [through/to the nation of Israel- and eventually it would extend to all
men- thus the apostle Paul working with the Gentiles] that he would save man
thru the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
All people who simply accept this benefit- they will be
children of God. The focus should not be on anti Christ- or when the end of the
world will happen- or on any other of a host of teachings that the church likes
to dwell on- but the focus is God loving man so much- that he sent his Son to
die for man- and we can be saved thru him.
Over the coming weeks I hope to do a little more on the
development of the bible- why do protestants have 66 books- and Catholics have
an extra 15? I’ll cover it fairly- giving the Catholic view as well as the
Protestant one- and promise not to push only one view. But things like this are
real questions that honest people have- and I want to help people get a better
hold on the thing.
Okay- try and read some of the N.T. these next few days-
overview some of the letters I mentioned- maybe read John’s gospel- Romans. I
would wait on Revelation for now- I hope to give some hints that will make it
easier to understand- so after I cover that a little more- then that would be a
good one to read too.
And as you read Johns gospel- notice how many times the word
Believe appears- being connected with those who believe have eternal life.
That’s one of the strongest promises in the bible- and its Jesus doing the
talking! So maybe memorize a few of them- like the famous John 3:16 verse-
those types of verses last a lifetime- and longer.
[1702] FATHER GUIDO
As I young Italian kid growing up in N.J. - right across the
Hudson you saw the bright lights of N.Y.C. - back in the day [70’s] you had the
rise of SNL [Saturday Night Live] it became an instant hit with the locals- and
we were all treated to the ministry of Guido Sarducci- the Catholic comic who
took his skit to the big screen.
Of course if you were an Italian Catholic- you could make
fun- but if you weren’t- hey- don’t talk about my religion/culture! Italians
are a proud people- and often times the Macaroni and Meatballs [which I just
made this past Sunday] fit right in with the religious/cultural tradition- that
is you tend to associate your religious views along with everything else- and
in a way I’m okay with that [though you will find many teachers/preachers who
are not.]
Italians also had a way of making excuses for those among us
who had some type of physical/mental handicap. In Today’s world we realize that
even the word Handicap is politically incorrect- but back in ‘the day’ we
didn’t know any better.
It’s a funny thing with us Italians- we seemed to come up
with some excuse- and that same excuse would get passed around- sort of like an
oral tradition- and you would hear it used many times over.
I had a friend whose brother had somewhat of a disability-
wasn’t too bad- but you could tell. And I guess his mom [good Italian family]
always told him ‘if any of the boys ask about your brother- tell them that when
he was young a bowling ball fell on his foot’. So I [and the other hoodlums]
grew up- with this inner fear of bowling- why?
Another commonly used ‘tool’ was ‘the piano fell on his
head’ geez- can we come up with something a little more believable? I mean
after hearing that one a few times- I began asking myself ‘what’s wrong with us
Italians- cant we either avoid ordering pianos- or avoid living in apts where
people do order them- or at least not walk underneath them anymore’. Look- we
are a proud people- and I’m sure brother Guido likes his job [at the furniture
store] but enough is enough- someone needs to go down there and tell Guido
‘look brother- you have dropped so many darn pianos these last few years- your
gonna do real damage to the entire Italian community- go get a job at the Pizza
Parlor- please- before you kill us all!’
Well this gets me to the point- we- as people in general-
associate our heritage with our religion [whether German Lutheran- Italian Catholic-
or whatever]. We connect who we are- with what religion we embrace. As a proud
Italian myself- I was glad to see- as I studied the history of Christianity and
theology- that the Catholic church does indeed have a strong heritage- and that
it’s okay to view the church as a good Christian church.
Now- this statement alone is enough to lose lots of ‘blog
readers’ I mean in the realm of Protestant Christianity- this statement is
often considered unforgiveable. But most ‘learners’ who study original sources-
the church fathers- etc. most of us come to this conclusion based on the facts-
that you see a very strong Catholic form of Christianity- very early on [2nd
century].
You actually see some writings that speak about an early
order for the Mass- and it’s surprisingly similar to what you see today. But of
course you also have many doctrinal disagreements that Catholics and
Protestants have fought over- and often times these 2 groups are disagreeing
over things- that weren’t even part of the original ‘disagreement’ [16th
century reformation.]
This discussion- cultural Christianity- has made it into the
news in recent days. You had the tragic murders take place in Oslo- Norway- and
the media has gone back and forth over whether or not the killer should be defined
as a Christian Terrorist.
Oreilly made headlines by taking the N.Y. Times to task for
doing a front page story on it- using the Christian term. Others have said that
he was indeed a ‘Christian terrorist’. Some of the debate hinges on this ‘cultural
Christian’ view. That is- if your view of Christianity is ‘lets go back to the
medieval crusades- and re claim Europe once again for the white Christian
population’ then the man was truly ‘Christian’ in a sort of cultural way-
seeing it more as an historic cultural movement- and less thru the eyes of ‘a
personal relationship with Jesus’.
As a matter of fact- the Oslo shooter says this very thing
in his writings- that he chose to become a Christian by being baptized at the
age of 15- in Norway’s state church- yet he does not see himself as having a
personal relationship with Christ.
But these distinctions- though very alive and real amongst
many Christian groups- are hard to make when simply covering the story of some
nut who rants about going back to the crusades and fighting off the
encroachment of radical Islam- so in a way- I think Christians cant totally
disclaim the man- yet we can emphasize that true Christianity- like Oreilly
said- does not teach murder.
Many years ago I went back North to attend the funeral of my
uncle. I loved my uncle, as a kid he would take me- and my cousin Tara [his
daughter] to the Ringling bro’s circus in N.Y. he would take us out to eat
Chinese- and do stuff like that.
My dad [I later found out] always put up the cash- but my
uncle enjoyed doing it. As the years went by- I realized that my uncle- Rudy-
actually was involved with crime. How far up he made it on the ladder- I never
really new. But I began to realize that he did have some involvement in the
Italian mob scene in the area.
One time I was talking about some event that took place in
N.J. [N.Y.] I think it was the world’s fair. I remember- my uncle had no
recollection- then my dad quickly jumped in ‘oh Rudy- that’s when you were on
vacation for a few years’ a few years? Who goes on vacation for a few years? O-
now I get it- he was in jail [you know- the piano thing].
I used to do paint jobs with ‘the crew’. My dad, my uncle-
and a few other guys. Juny was ‘the boss’. We actually did real- professional
house painting- learned the trade and did it for a few years in Texas. But I
later realized that they were all doing the crime thing [not my dad- he was in
the group because they grew up together]. One time- a customer did not want to
pay- after the job was done- I later found out that my dad and my uncle went
and ‘made him an offer he couldn’t refuse’ he paid.
Anyway- I went back to Jersey and preached at his funeral.
Boy- the place was packed- I mean it was like going to the casting of the God
Father movie. As I talked- I simply did my best- realizing that many of these
guys- like I said earlier- they have a culture- a tradition of being Italian-
and Catholic. As I spoke I simply talked about the reality of the promise of
eternal life in Christ- and shared about the lord’s supper- and gave some
spiritual insight [I hope!].
Instead of trying to convince them to ‘change their
religion’ I simply tried to focus them back on the main teachings of ‘their
religion’ that all true Christianity is built upon the Cross- having the gift
of eternal life because Jesus died and rose again. I emphasized the reality
that all of these truths are based upon Christ- he purchased eternal life for
us all- it’s not simply a matter of ‘what religion are you’ type of a thing.
After the funeral I had many people come up to me and thank
me for the message- but I remember one person in particular. He looked to be
around my age at the time [30’s] probably an Italian boy- grew up in the area
[I guess] and probably did lots of the stuff I did as a kid.
In a way- I wondered if that would be me- or if he would be
me- if we simply made a few different decisions in the early days.
He came up to me- looked me straight in the eye- and thanked
me so much for ‘the talk’ I got the sense that he saw- for the first time- what
everything was really about- that it’s not just a cultural thing- that life and
death are very real things that we all deal with- and that he didn’t have to
leave his religion- he just needed to understand more about what his church is
all about.
Yeah- I was glad to see that he ‘got it’. I felt like I
succeed that day- on the task of telling the truth- without having to make
people believe everything I believe- just enough truth- truth that was right
there before him his whole life- truth that just needed to break though.
Of course you can only do so much with these short trips- I
mean if I had the time- I would have liked to have gone downtown- you know- to
that piano store- and had a talk with old brother Guido- maybe speak to his
union boss [who might have been at the funeral- you know- the mob connection]
but time was running short. I guess there are kids living in Jersey right now-
walking the same streets to school- ordering pizza at some famous spot-
watching re runs of Father Sarducci. And of course- I’m sure they know someone-
some friend or relative- well yes- when they asked ‘what happened to so and so’
the response was ‘the piano fell on his head’ geez- one word of advice to my
Italian buddies- stay away from the damn pianos.
[1696] LITTLE BOY LOST
The other day we saw the tragic story of the little Jewish
boy who went missing on his way home from summer camp. This day he was without
a ride, and his mother thought it would be okay for him to walk home the few
blocks. After he didn’t show up she called the police.
They eventually discovered that he had been abducted by a
member of their own community- and was tragically killed. The Jewish community
in this area of Brooklyn is known as an Hasidic community. My mom was born and
raised in Brooklyn- and as a boy I remember going to the city and seeing these
strange looking guys with funny looking hair and dress.
This community dates back around 2300 years or so. During
the Intertestemental period [the time between the last Old Testament book-
Malachi- and the book of Matthew] you have quite an interesting history. It was
during these 400 years that we saw the rise of the Greek world under Alexander
the Great.
In the Greek world you had some very influential
philosophers; Socrates most famous student was Plato- Plato’s most famous
student was Aristotle- and his most famous student was Alexander the Great.
Alexander sought to implement the ideals of his teacher- he
wanted to unify the known world under one people/culture- a belief that
Aristotle held- a sort of ‘unified theory’ [Einstein] that would seek to bring
all learning/knowledge together under one supreme [Divine] principle.
Alexander’s experiment was called Hellenization- which was
the Greek worlds attempt to impose Greek culture/language on all their
conquered enemies- and at the same time allow them to hold on to the their own
culture too. Alexander did amazingly well at this experiment- at the young age
of around 24 he had accomplished most of his mission. The cities were a sort of
composite of Greek culture mixed in with their own culture- this is where we
get the modern term Cosmopolitan.
Alexander died young and his kingdom was divided between 4
generals- one of them- Ptolemy- would himself make it into the history books
because of his keen intellect.
The system of cosmology developed under him would last [and
work!] until some 17-18 hundred years later when it was overthrown by the
Copernican revolution during the time of Copernicus and Galileo.
Alexander’s generals would do their best to carry on the
system of Hellenization- and other nations generals would keep the system going
even after Greece fell. One of them- Octavian [Roman general] makes it into the
history books by another famous name- Julius Caesar.
Alexander established a great library in the Egyptian city
of Alexandria [named after him] and many of the great writings were preserved
during this time.
The writings of Aristotle would be discovered again during
the time of Thomas Aquinas [13th century Catholic genius/scholar]
and this would lead to Scholasticism [a peculiar school of thought
developed/revived under Aquinas] and give rise to the Renaissance.
Okay- before the birth of Christ- the Jewish people resisted
the imposing of Greek culture upon them- you had the very famous resistance
under the Jewish Maccabean revolt- where the Jews rose up and fought the wicked
ruler Antiochus Epiphanies- and till this day the Jewish people celebrate this
victory at Hanukah.
Eventually Rome would conquer the Greek kingdom and the
Jewish people were allowed to keep their culture and temple- yet they were
still a people oppressed. Hassidism [getting back to the beginning] developed
during this attempt to not lose their Jewish roots- the Pharisees of Jesus day
came from this movement.
Alexander was pretty successful in his attempt to unify
language- even though the bible [New Testament] was written by Jewish writers-
living under Roman rule- yet the original bible is written in the Greek
language.
Bible scholars till this day study the Greek language to
find the truest meaning of the actual words in the bible [I have a Greek
Lexicon sitting right in front of me].
It would take a few centuries before a Latin version
appeared on the scene [the great church father- Jerome- would produce the Latin
Vulgate].
Yet it would be the re- discovery and learning of the Greek
texts [under men like Erasmus- and the Protestant Reformers] that would lead to
the Reformation [16th century] and other movements in church
history.
Of course the tragedy of the little boy lost is very sad-
and the roots of Jewish culture are noble and good- Pope Benedict refers to the
Jewish people as ‘our elder brother’ because of the Jewish roots of
Christianity. The original church was made up of Jewish believers- people who
were waiting for the Messiah for centuries [actually Millennia] and they were
convinced that this Jesus- this Jewish itinerant prophet- was indeed the one
that was to come.
When you read the sermons in the book of Acts- you hear
Peter, Paul- and especially Stephen [ Acts 7] relating the person of Jesus to
the prophecies that were spoken about the Messiah in the Old Testament- these
early Jewish believers were convinced- in no uncertain terms- that Jesus was
the Messiah who was foretold to come.
At the Jewish trial of Jesus- the high priest asks ‘are you
claiming to be God’s Son’ Jesus- one of the few times he did this- said ‘you
said it’. The priest throws up his hands and says ‘what more need do we have of
witnesses- he himself has said he claims deity’.
In John’s gospel we read when Jesus said ‘Abraham saw my
day- and was gad’. They asked him ‘how could Abraham see your day- you’re not
even 50 years old’ Jesus replied ‘BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS- I AM’ They were incensed-
the words I AM were the words used to describe God. The bible says they took up
stones to kill him.
The great Christian writer- C.S. Lewis- spent many years as
an atheist- yet as an intellectual he read all the great writings of history-
and he said that no matter how hard he [and other atheists] tried to reject
God- that history was filled with writings- both pro and con- about God.
As a matter of fact- there was no other underlying theme-
some scarlet thread- woven thru out the entire history of man- that even came
close to this testimony of the reality of God.
Many agnostics of Lewis’ day said ‘we believe Jesus was a
good person- even a Rabbi- Prophet- great messenger of God’ Lewis said Jesus
did not leave this option open to us. Jesus said he was indeed the Son of God-
Deity come down- born from a virgin- crucified- died and was buried. On the 3dr
day he rose again- according to the scriptures- he is seated at the right hand
of God and will come again- to judge the living and the dead.
Yes kingdoms have come and gone- great men and despots have
either honored this Jesus- or despised him- but today we still talk about
Jesus- King of Kings and Lord of Lords- we have only one option- either we
confess him as Lord- or we call him a madman- which one will you choose?
[1667] VARIOUS MUSINGS
Took a ride to the city of Bishop the other day- on the way
I had a tire blowout on the highway [no spare] and managed to drive it [still
had air in it- the radial tread ripped off] to a shop to get a new tire. I had
one of my homeless friends with me and we were gonna have a fellowship day with
Eliseo at his ranch- instead we will do one this Wednesday.
Those of you in the area who know where Eli lives- we will
be there at around noon. Bring some food and meet us there, everyone is
invited. As a side note- Eli, I got your message last night. I think little
Rudy called too- I will try and get back with him, if he wants I’ll pick him up
Wednesday for the ride.
Okay- after the blowout I did a fish fry/b.b.q. at the house
with Henry and Chris [homeless bro’s] and we had a great time. My only mistake
was I put the fish out first- about 10 pieces- and I thank the Lord I at least
got 1!
Let me try and hit a few things today. Last week I had a
good visit with a J.W. [Jehovah’s Witness]. He rang the bell and I told him I
was a Christian and that I love having discussions and I did about a 20 minute
historical overview of Christianity and the development of the doctrine of the
Trinity [which is a major sticking point] and I tried to come down in a nice
way- being honest about the historic problems many believers/various groups
have had with the doctrine- and at the end of the talk I of course emphasized
the bible verses that do indeed speak about the Deity of Christ and left it at
that.
He was nice enough to come back by around an hour later and
he dropped off a pamphlet put out by their group that discusses the Trinity. He
asked me to read it and I did.
The teaching was fairly honest about the various historic
disputes that Christians have had over the Trinity. It did cover the reality
that there were Bishops and early church leaders who did indeed argue against
the doctrine. It did a good job at showing how some early Christian leaders
were indeed influenced by Greek philosophy and that some think that that’s
where the doctrine developed from.
The pamphlet made the case that ‘the bible’ does not teach
the Deity of Christ- and that these doctrines were later introduced by Catholic
church leaders who paganized Christianity primarily thru Constantine’s
‘baptism’ of Christendom with the Roman state.
I’m very familiar with all these debates- many Christian
scholars have made this exact same argument. Muslims and Jews also reject the
doctrine of the Deity of Christ [and the Trinity] and often times you hear
these same arguments made.
During the 4th century of the Common Era
Constantine became the Roman Emperor and the church hotly debated these issues.
The Bishop Arius [who denied the deity of Christ- that Christ is God] fought
against the opposing view [that Christ is indeed God] and the bishop Athanasius
was the warrior who defended the deity of Christ.
After Athanasius died his tombstone would read ‘Athanasius
against the world’ he was the driving force in the 4th century who
swayed the tide back to orthodoxy.
Now- the church would have a few 4th [and 5th]
century church councils that would settle the matter concerning the nature of
Christ and his deity- and the final decision was that the Trinity was indeed
true and the Jesus is indeed God.
The other side stayed with the idea that Jesus was a created
being- a god- but not thee God. Some of these churches exist till this day.
They are primarily oriental churches. If you visit them they seem just like any
other ancient type church- the Mass, Saints, Mother Mary- yes- the whole 9
yards. But they stuck with the Arian view [Bishop Arius] and deny the deity of
Christ [and thus the Trinity].
How should I respond? Let me just say that I am a
Trinitarian who believes in the deity of Christ- Christ is fully God and fully
man. The J.W. pamphlet made a good defense for their view- and they were not
totally ‘deceptive’ in their argument. But they did quote lots of bible verses
that kind of backed up their side- and they quoted some from Isaiah. But they left
out chapter 9.
The famous passage that says Jesus is the ‘Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace’ very strong language indeed.
What about the argument that the early Catholic bishops
polluted the true teachings of Jesus by introducing Greek thought into Jesus
true teachings? It is true that Greek philosophy had a belief that there was a
pre existing principle of wisdom- a ‘divine logos’ if you will.
The only problem with the argument that the Catholic bishops
were the culprits who introduced Logos Christology into the doctrines of the
church is that the New Testament itself has ‘Logos Christology’ in it. What is
Logos Christology?
Logos is the Greek word for ‘Word’. Christology is the study
of Christ. Logos Christology is the description of Jesus found in the writings
of the apostle John that describe Jesus as the Eternal Word of God.
John wrote the gospel of John, the 3 letters- 1st,
2nd and 3rd John- and the book of Revelation [some scholar’s dispute
that John authored the last one]. In these writings Jesus is called the Word of
God- he is described as the Word that was ‘with God, and was God’ [John 1].
So the bible itself has Greek influences- because it was
written in Greek! And even though the pre Christian philosophers had a concept of
a personified wisdom [the Jews also- read Proverbs 8] yet the New Testament
also speaks of Jesus as this Eternal Word of God who was indeed ‘true God from
true God’.
So I think the talk I had was good- I understand that many
groups of people have had difficulty with the doctrine of the Trinity and the
accusation that Constantine and the Catholics ‘hijacked’ the true religion of
Jesus has been made by many groups over the years. Yet at the end of the day
the doctrine of Jesus being God is clearly found in the bible [and yes, even in
the Old Testament] and we as Orthodox Christians confess Jesus as God- not because of the Greeks- or the Catholics-
or because of any other influence that ‘snuck in’ we confess him as God because
‘the bible tells me so’ Amen and Amen.
[1662] THIS GENERATION WILL NOT PASS AWAY UNTIL ALL THESE
THINGS HAPPEN
Let’s cover a little more on the End Times. Here in my study
I have a couple of books that would fit in the category of Preterism. Preterism
is the view that some Christians hold that says all the events spoken about by
Jesus in these end times chapters were fulfilled in the 1st century.
The books are by R.C. Sproul [not a full Preterist] and Gary
Demar [a full Preterist]. Demar's book is called ‘Last Days Madness’ and if you
want a full study of this view- that would be the book to get.
Now- am I a Preterist? No. Like I said before- I try real
hard to stay in the classical mainstream of Christian thought- and though
Preterists make a good case- in the end I think they go too far.
But let’s talk a little about why certain believers have
found it necessary to even make a defense like this. In the chapters of the
bible that talk about the last days- there are frequent statements made that
seem to indicate that the things being discussed would take place ‘quickly’
‘shortly’ or at least in the lifetime of those hearing the message at the time.
Jesus says ‘truly I say to you- this generation will not pass away until ALL
these things are fulfilled’. Another time Jesus says ‘some of you standing here
will not die until you see the kingdom come’.
So its passages like these that have caused some to make the
effort to fit all the end times stuff within the 1st century. You
say ‘but how can anyone think that the 2nd coming and the final
judgment and all the end times events- how could they think it happened in the
1st century?’ Well before you scoff too much- believe me- these guys
make a really thorough case. For instance they will show you verses in the Old
Testament that use the same End Times language that Jesus uses about ‘my
coming’ and the ‘judge will come to judge the world’ and they will show you that
these prophecies were actually fulfilled by certain judgments that took place
against the nation of Israel.
And there are Parables of Jesus that speak about his
‘coming’ and in some cases it is speaking about his resurrection and ascension
and being seated at Gods right hand- that is ‘the coming’ was more of a view of
Jesus ‘coming’ to sit on the right hand of God after he fulfilled his earthly
mission. So as you can see, those who make this argument are not totally out in
left field.
Okay- how do we answer the critics on the sayings about
‘this generation will not pass until all these things happen’. Like I said in
the last post- some say Jesus was talking about a future generation- at least 2
thousand years down the road- who would be alive when the 2nd coming
would happen. The problem with this view is in the New Testament you have the
Greek language as the original language that you study when looking at these
verses [the bible was originally written in Greek] and when you look at this
terminology being used in other places- it is always speaking about the
generation living at the time of the statement.
So that would make it hard to make the case that Jesus was
speaking about some future generation down the road. Others say that ‘this
generation’ can refer to a certain ethnic group [the Jewish nation]. While this
can apply- yet again this is not the normal way the phrase is used.
So what’s the answer? I do believe that some of the ideas
from the Preterists can help here. In the Old Testament there are what you call
Dual Prophecies- prophecies that are fulfilled ‘twice’. If you study the events
that took place during ‘the generation’ living at the time of these statements-
they did indeed see these things happen. I mean you even have reports by 1st
century historians [Eusebius- lived in the 3rd or 4th
century- was a 1st century historian] that said at the time of the
destruction of the temple [A.D. 70] there were accounts of people seeing
chariots in the sky and all sorts of signs that Jesus mentioned in the Last
Days passages.
Maybe tomorrow I will get a little more into some of the
signs- but the fact is you can find just about every element of Jesus Last
Times teaching being fulfilled in some way within the actual generation of
those who heard him speak at the time.
However Christians decide to come down on these issues- it’s
important to see that the prevailing American Evangelical view- that ‘this
generation’ is speaking about the generation of people living at the time of
the ‘blooming of the fig tree’ which is defined by some as the birth of the
nation of Israel in 1948- that this teaching is not to be found in the bible.
While we do not know the time of Jesus return- and the ‘end
of the world/age’ [another important distinction] we do know that the signs
that Jesus gave us do count for something- it’s not wrong to look at the
general signs of increased wars and natural disasters and the like- and to see
that his coming is drawing near. Most commentators who have used these verses
recently- even in the secular media- have actually been using them in context.
So we should avoid
the temptation to date set- try not to add things into the passages that are
not there [the fig tree meaning Israel in 1948] and avoid mocking the actual
teaching in the bible that Jesus will indeed return some day- the apostle Peter
said that in the End Times some would mock and say ‘where is the promise of his
coming- we have been hearing it for our whole lives’. So we don’t want to fall
into the category of mockers- yet we don’t want to date set either- no man
knows the day- not even the Son.
[1661] THE FIG TREE
Let’s do a little more on Eschatology [end times stuff]
today. Over the last few weeks these things have been in the news because of
the Harold Camping prediction and you have heard various news folk- as well as
believers giving their slant to all the popular verses that deal with the
subject.
Some media people were quoting ‘no one knows when the last
day will happen- not even the Son, only God’. Then you have had a few other
popular verses seep into the flow. The main portions of the bible that deal
with the end times are Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. John’s gospel does not
have an ‘end times’ discourse- possibly because he covers the subject in length
in the book of Revelation.
The main gospel on the subject is Matthew- Mark’s gospel
seems to be a shorter compilation possibly taken from Matthew. By ‘taken’ I
mean Mark was a scribe/recorder- he was the personality we see in the book of
Acts- John Mark. If you remember- he had a falling out with the Apostle Paul
and Mark ‘went home’ while Paul took Silas and they embarked on the great
missionary journeys of the Apostle.
You don’t hear that much about Mark after the ‘falling out’
but we know that Mark would later pen the 2nd gospel and he was also
a recorder [secretary] for the Apostle Peter [might be important to remember
this- if I get to it?]
So anyway mark seems to have borrowed from Matthew [some
scholars think the familiarity between the gospels should be attributed to
another unknown common source- referred to as Q- I prefer to simply see it as
the writers being familiar with what the other writers were writing- and in the
1st century you did not have Plagiarism as we do today- where it
would be illegal to copy something verbatim from another writer- that’s why
Mark- who also probably penned 2nd Peter- not as a Plagiarist who used
Pseudepigraphy- writings by authors who pretended to be someone else- but as a
scribe who was familiar with the other source documents of the time. 2nd
Peter has come under scrutiny because chapter 2 seems to have borrowed heavily
from the letter of Jude. At some spots it looks like a direct copy. But as
Peter’s scribe- it would not have been out of the ordinary to have included-
verbatim- a passage from Jude and to have attributed the entire letter to
Peter. Or Peter might have simply been familiar with Jude's letter and it would
not have been wrong according to 1st century writing standards to
have done this. But skeptics in our day try to use this to say the bible is a
forgery- so that’s why it’s important to be familiar with the debate and to
have a good response.]
Okay-lets at least try and start a little end times stuff.
Matthews 24 begins with Jesus and the disciples walking away from the Temple
and Jesus says ‘see all these buildings- truly I tell you that there will not
be left one stone on top of another’.
The disciples then ask Jesus ‘when will this happen- and
what will be the sign of the end of the age/world, and the sign of your
coming’. Now- this sets the stage for the entire scope of the answer. Jesus
told them one thing ‘the temples coming down some day’ and they ask a few
things.
Some scholars believe that the entire answer Jesus gives-
about the end of the world and the coming tribulation- some teach that all
these things did happen by A.D. 70- that’s when the Roman general Titus [future
emperor] attacked the city of Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. Jesus
prediction about ‘one stone not being left on another’ was fulfilled to the tee
because the temple stones were overlaid with Gold and the looters burned the
stones to melt the gold and in the process they literally laid every stone out.
In the Matthew discourse Jesus also warned the disciples
that ‘when you see these things beginning to happen- let those in the city flee
to the mountains’. As Titus made his way towards Jerusalem some early
communities took his words literally and did use the mountains as a place for
protection. The community at Qumran hid their writings in ‘the mountains’ that
overlooked the Dead Sea- some 2 thousand years later these writings [scrolls]
would be discovered- those are the Dead Sea Scrolls of today- one of the
greatest archeological finds of history.
And there were Jewish believers at Jerusalem who did indeed
flee to the mountains and they escaped the slaughter. So there certainly were
things that Jesus spoke about in his 'end times’ teaching that were fulfilled
in the 1st century.
But what about the other famous portions? As various media
persons were quoting a few famous parts of this discourse [this is the 4th
famous discourse known as the Olivet discourse in Matthew- 5 famous long
sections of Jesus’ teaching] it would help us to know the entire context of the
discourse [which includes chapter 25 by the way].
One of the famous verses is ‘when you see the fig tree
putting forth leaves- you know that summer is near- so when you see these signs
you know the end is near’. In American evangelicalism this verse has been made
popular by men like Hal Lindsay who teach that the fig tree is ALWAYS a symbol for the nation of Israel and
therefore Jesus was saying that when Israel becomes a nation again [which
happened in 1948] that within ‘a generation’ the end will happen.
This view uses a few other verses to come to this
conclusion. Jesus famous ‘this generation will not pass away until all these
things happen’ and a few other scriptures. Simply reading the chapter in
context does not seem to be saying this at all. The parallel passage in Luke
says ‘and all the trees’. It seems like Jesus is simply saying ‘just like when
you see a tree blossom- so when you see these signs know that the time is
near’.
There really is nothing in the actual text to indicate that
this is speaking about 1948. But because of these verses having been used like
this many preachers have tried to date the coming of Christ within ‘the
generation’ from1948. Lindsey put out a book saying that 1988 was a ‘special
time’ why 88? 1988 was 40 years [biblical generation] from 1948. Then some
changed the biblical generation to 70 years- which makes this decade real
important.
The problem with all these dates is there based on a faulty
premise- that Jesus was saying that within a generation of the ‘fig tree
blooming’ the 2nd coming will take place- he never said that. As far
as I can tell 1948 plays no significant role. Of course Israel becoming a
nation again at that time was a great thing- but as a date to begin setting off
some type of spiritual clock- that’s not in the bible.
Okay- maybe I’ll do a few more of these over the next few
days. Try and read these chapters the next few days and get a feel for the
overall meaning [the context] when we become familiar with the overall meaning
of the passage- it keeps us from getting lost in the Fig Tree ones.
[1660] THE RAPTURE?
I spoke with a friend yesterday about the Harold Camping
prediction that obviously failed. They know someone who is really into Camping
and that person was being set up for the disappointment. On CNN they had a
Baptist preacher who warned against this type of date setting- yet he spoke
confidently about ‘the Rapture is the next event on Gods calendar- followed by
the 7 years of great tribulation’.
I’m sure this fine pastor felt like he was providing a
balanced voice compared to Camping’s date setting- yet I felt his
interpretation was almost as ‘bad’ as what Camping was doing. Why?
My first introduction to ‘the Rapture’ came as a new
believer who started attending a fine Baptist church- they were an
‘Independent, Fundamentalist, Pre-millennial’ Baptist church – and yes- they
managed to fit all this on the sign!
The standard teaching says that in the New Testament there
are 2 separate events that make up the 2nd coming. The first event
is called The Rapture- that Jesus secretly comes all the way back to the earth
and stops short in the sky [his feet don’t touch the ground] he ‘catches away’
all true believers [normally the Catholics, Orthodox and other historic
churches get ‘left behind’] and then begins a 7 year tribulation period.
After the tribulation you have the other part of the 2nd
coming- called the Revelation of Jesus- some Christians say this happens after
3.5 years of tribulation- others after the 7 year period.
Some say Jesus comes back after a 1000 year literal reign on
earth [post millennial] others say before [pre- millennial].
And then you have various ways they interpret the end time
judgment- some say you have what’s called ‘the Bema seat’ a separate judgment
for believers- and then the ‘Great White Throne judgment’ the general judgment
of the wicked.
O.K. does the bible specifically teach that the Rapture
event is a separate event from the 2nd coming? No- in my view the
bible does not teach this. Now- I’m sure that most of my Protestant readers are
surprised that I hold to this view, because in American Evangelicalism this
view is almost like the Trinity- in some circles it divides the true believers
from the heretics.
Classic Christianity does not hold this view- this idea
became popularized the 1800’s under a man by the name of John Nelson Darby and
the idea spread to America in the 1900’s- primarily thru the revivalist strain
of Christianity- and the ‘bible school/conference’ movement.
The historic churches just stuck with the classic idea that
there will be one second coming- and there will be a resurrection and final
judgment. I pretty much fall into this category myself.
You would be surprised how much thought has gone into this
idea- I mean you have entire schools of thought- who call the other side
heretics- just because they believe a 3.5 year tribulation as opposed to a 7
year one.
The word rapture comes from the Greek phrase used in Paul’s
1st letter to the Thessalonians- chapter 4. That’s the rapture chapter.
The apostle says that Jesus will return and catch up [catch away] the believers
into the air- they will forever be with God. This event is biblical- I believe
it will someday take place. I simply believe this event to be the 2nd
coming- not another event that you would define as the rapture.
I believe if you simply read the 2nd coming
passages in the New Testament- that you would see this to be the most
acceptable view. Jesus actually says ‘after these things [the great
tribulation] then the sign of the coming of the Son of Man appears in heaven’
and he goes on to say ‘one will be taken- the other left’. It seems pretty
clear to me that the event where ‘one is taken- another left’ takes place
‘after these things’ Jesus actually gives us the time table.
To be fair- the other side has many-many ways to ‘get
around’ these verses- I just feel that after all is said and done- that the
best way to view The Rapture is to see this event as the actual 2nd
coming.
I have written a lot about this over the years [under the
End Times section] and my purpose today is not to ‘prove’ whose view is right-
I have found those tasks to be next to impossible. My point is if a believer
[or group of them] chooses to break away from the historic church’s position on
anything, then you need to think thru it very carefully. Most classic Christian
churches have had very wise and knowledgeable men who thought long and hard
before they articulated doctrine.
This is not to say that the majority view is always right-
but it’s simply a safe guide to stick with the majority Christian view most of
the time. I’m very aware of the minority report when it comes to the Rapture
doctrine- I just feel like the portions of scripture that are used to ‘prove’
the doctrine are not strong enough to overthrow the classic belief.
The plain teaching of the New Testament is that there most
definitely will be a Second Coming- and this event does not take place in 2
stages- the Rapture is the 2nd coming.
[1640] THE APOSTLE-
Got up early yesterday and decided to take a drive thru the
old towns that I used to drive thru on my way to work. I used to pass up this
historic community, German Catholics [the name of the town is Violet] but I
never stopped to check out the little area where they live. They still have the
original historic church they built in 1906- it’s closed down but it sits right
next to a more modern one. It was cool seeing this old community- though I
drove past it hundreds of times- it was nice to finally stop.
As I continued my tour I hit Robstown- another town I have
driven past lots- have also been there lots of times as well. As I drove thru
the main street I saw a few Pentecostal Revival tents set up- the signs had
various bible verses on them. I also noticed some signs along the main road
that simply said ‘Robstown for Jesus’. I of course didn’t mind seeing it- but I
had the sense that some of the ‘more refined’ locals probably cringe at seeing
the signs right off their main road. Often times Real Estate people don’t
appreciate anything that might turn off a potential buyer.
I finished my tour by heading back to Corpus. I thought
about the movie The Apostle [Duvall]. It’s one of my favorites- Duvall sort of
documents the experience of a typical southern Pentecostal preacher who winds
up killing his wife’s new boyfriend by accident. The story line traces the redemption
of the title character and how he eventually gets busted and pays his dues. I
heard Duvall talk about doing research for the movie and all- how he always was
fascinated with the independent southern protestant type preachers and he had
great respect for them. And I liked the overall ecumenical spirit of the movie-
at one point Duvall is traveling thru an area [Louisiana?] and he sees this
Catholic procession and simply says ‘they do it their way- I do it mine- but we
all get the job done’.
We all have our own biases and prejudices- it’s foolish to
deny that- but it helps if we simply try and view other people/groups in the
best possible light. Sure- at the end of the day we will still have our
disagreements, but we might also learn from each other. I remember when first
reading thru the bible and attending one of Duvall’s type churches- one of the
big verses we hit on was when Jesus says ‘don’t call any man on earth Father-
for you have one Father- God’. We used to use this one to blast Catholics. Was
Jesus talking about Catholics? Besides the fact that officially the church
really didn’t exist yet- we also read the apostle Paul referring to himself as
Father when writing the Corinthian church- he says ‘you have ten thousand
teachers but I am your father in the gospel- I begat you thru the gospel’. Paul
was the ‘spiritual Father’ of the Corinthian church [community]. Paul was an
Apostle and the gift of an Apostle is like being a spiritual father.
So what gives- was Paul violating Jesus’ teaching? In the 1st
century when Jesus was speaking you had the Jewish religion- Judaism- that had
splintered into various sects [groups]. You could say ‘I follow rabbi so and
so’ these different sects- and those who adhered to them- were said to be under
the Father [Rabbi] of that school. In essence Jesus was simply rebuking the
Party spirit- that thing that Paul himself rebuked the Corinthians for. Some of
them said they followed Paul, others Apollo’s, etc. So a little bit of
historical context- and we have our answer. But as a new believer who was
zealous for the bible- I really had not time for all that stuff- I just read
‘don’t call anyone Father’ and that was that.
My short ride was enlightening- I saw the historic German
community who brought their faith to this continent over a hundred years ago-
sure they have ‘their way’ of doing it- like Duvall said. I also saw the
Pentecostal revival meeting- with the classic tent and all [just like in
Duvall’s flick] and they were proudly proclaiming Christ. Some feel we need to
rid society of all vestiges of religious faith- they look to radical Islam- or
to the Pro Lifer’s and say ‘we just need to get rid of the whole bunch’. One of
the most popular thinkers of the last century was a man by the name of John
Paul Sartre- he followed in the field of thinkers that are referred to as
Existentialist’s. Sartre was an atheist- though the ‘father’ of existentialism
was a Christian [Soren Kierkegaard- 1800’s].
Existentialism is a philosophy that says there is more than
just head knowledge- pure rationalistic approaches to God and life. Kierkegaard
wrote his famous book Fear and Trembling- he talked about how when God told
Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice- that Abraham had to rise above pure
rational thought [God says ‘don’t kill’ and yet he’s asking me to kill my son].
Kierkegaard says true faith rises above rational thought and embraces God in an
experiential way.
Sartre wrote a few books too. Titles; Nausea, No Exit, Being
and Nothingness. He was famous for saying ‘Man is a useless passion’. Jesus
warned of the danger of looking to human systems and saying ‘father’ that is
choosing any system of man [like atheism] over and above the Fatherhood of God.
You might be part of the Catholic community of Violet that brought their faith
to the area over a century ago- or maybe your more comfortable ‘under the tent’
with my Pentecostal friends- either way the job gets done. But you do need to
find a ‘tent’ a community that embraces the reality of God- because if you
place yourself outside the tent- then according to Sartre- you are a useless
passion.
[1639] THE SOCIAL STUFF- During the recent debates about the
budget the whole issue of funding for abortion came up. Some said it should
have been dealt with others said put it off for now. I was in the camp that
said let’s not try and add it on right now- our military people were facing the
loss of their checks and I felt like we really needed to just pass something
without getting into the whole abortion debate.
Now- having said this- I am without a doubt ‘Pro-life’.
Whenever we have these types of debates everyone seems to get really pissed-
almost as in if the Pro Lifers want to strip women of their ‘reproductive
rights’. Last night one of the news shows presented it as the pro lifers were
just as dangerous as Al Qaeda. While it is true that there have been extreme
groups who advocated for the justifiable killing of abortion doctors- the
majority of Christians [like in the upper 99 %] do not hold to this view.
One time while having a discussion with a liberal pro
abortion person- the person argued for their position- as they became heated
they began using language about disabled people that went like this ‘how dare
those conservatives force women to have mentally retarded children- the mom has
to put up with the crap of dealing with that person their whole life- the mom
has no life- just taking care of this mentally retarded person..’ the person
went on describing the ‘mentally retarded’ person as a ‘non human’. I said just
listen to the way you are speaking about the person- I’m sure the mother of
that child loves that child- does not view the child as some type of animal
that they are forever condemned of taking care of because of the conservatives.
When these debates are held in our country we need to
understand that we are always talking about human life- if people want to
debate when that life starts- fine. Or if they feel the quality of the life of
the person might be less than a fully healthy child- fine. But understand that
no one should have the right to take another human life- even if that life
seems less valuable then what you deem worthy of life.
I heard a story a few weeks ago about a famous French
scientist- I believe he was the one who discovered the gene that causes Down
Syndrome- either way he was a leader in the field. He was a personal friend of
Pope John Paul the 2nd and it was a time in the world where many
nations were dealing with the whole issue of legalizing abortion. Because of
the doctors work in the field- he had lots of patients who suffered from the
disability. At one point there was a video put out advising doctors to let
their patients know whether or not they want to take the test to see if their
child [unborn] has the disease. The video advised strongly for doing the test
so the woman could abort the less than desirable child. Somehow one of his
child patients saw the video. On his next visit to the doctor he jumped into
the doctors arms [young boy] and said ‘please help us- they want to kill us’.
The doctor made it his goal to defend the rights of these innocent victims-
people who do have value- who understood what the real issues were. The child
pleaded for this adult to protect him and all others who shared his disability.
As this debate will continue to rage in our country- I hope
we can all at least view people as human beings- people who do have value- even
if we deem their value less than a fully healthy person [which I do not agree
with!] These are not things we are talking about- a simple ‘reproductive right’
of a woman. While I’m glad that there are free clinics and other outlets for
women to find health care- and yes- reproductive health care does matter. It’s
just not right to categorize another human life as a simple matter of a woman’s
reproductive right- that child [in many cases a young girl] has rights too.
[1635] CULTS- I was thinking of covering the 4th
Pillar of Islam today [our current study on Islam] but as I was walking into my
office I noticed a pamphlet from the local Jehovah’s Witness group- it was an
invite to their meeting. My kids must have found it on the door.
Over the years I have had great talks with the Witnesses as
well as the Mormons. I’m always upfront from the start- I tell them I do teach
the bible and church/religious history and as our talks begin I cover the basic
historical background of their groups. I tell them why historic Christianity
often defines them as a Cult- I try and be open and nice- yet I tell them the
reasons behind this label.
Most times they are open and willing to talk- I hear them
and they hear me. I have had numerous occasions where the younger Mormon kids
would come back and really get into the stuff I was teaching- one kid said
‘wow- you know all the stuff we know’ I quoted a few key verses and he really
was learning. I had a husband and wife Jehovah Witness team come over- as I was
doing the basic study [me teaching them some stuff] the husband had one of
those ‘aha’ moments. I was teaching/explaining something from the book of Acts
and he said ‘your right- God showed me that too!’ he was really excited.
I say all this to say we often view people as ‘the enemy’ I
think some of the reason for them being open to what I have to say is the fact
that most of the homes they knock on often view them in a real negative light.
Almost as if they were enemies. Now- I am very aware of the doctrinal differences
between these groups and historic Christianity- and there are real reasons for
the cult label- but I try to see them thru the lens of honest people- who for
whatever reason [often raised in the group] they are trying to serve God to the
best of their ability. If you view them thru this more merciful angle- as
opposed to evil cult members- then you can have an open door that goes both
ways.
One of the sad things about current Christianity is the
tendency- in many groups- to focus on the things that we disagree on. There are
many good Christian churches who view the church down the block as a cult-
often times these churches actually believe the same thing on 99 % of their
doctrine- yet they have a disagreement on water baptism- or an end time doctrine-
or the gifts of the Spirit- and these differences are deemed worthy of the cult
label. It’s really a sad thing.
I caught the show Journey Home the other night- it’s the
Catholic show hosted by Marcus Grodi- he does interesting interviews with ex
protestants who have ‘returned home’ to the Catholic church. The guy he had on
was a former Fundamental Baptist minister who is now Catholic. For those of you
who are not familiar with Christian fundamentalism- this is no minor change.
Most Fundamentalist Baptists hold to a very anti Catholic stand. Anyway it was
interesting to hear his journey- how he came to learn church history and he was
open to the story of Christianity down thru the ages. I felt he was a little
too defensive of his Catholic faith- he quoted a bunch of verses from the book
of Acts to kinda say ‘see- they were Catholics’ in the fully orbed sense of the
word [Bishops, 7 sacraments, etc.] I did like the brother- it was just you
could sense the old protestant reasoning in using proof texts to carry your
argument thru to a quick, pat conclusion. Often times this way of proving
‘who’s right’ overlooks the importance of learning over a period of time- thru
becoming familiar with lots of sources and at the end of the day you see that
no ‘one church’ can really lay claim to their church being fully found in the
bible.
What I mean by this is the bible gives us the story of the
beginnings of Christianity and we really see the church in her infancy while
reading the bible- we don’t yet see any particular Christian church fully
formed in the scripture. Though many churches have their arguments- they will
quote verses all day on why they are the ‘true church’ or ‘best one’ yet I like
the more moderate approach- True Christians are found in all denominations and
the ‘true church’ consists of all those in the various groups who truly embrace
Christ.
So for today- be patient with the door knockers- maybe you
are a door knocker? If so, let’s all sit at the table- listen to each other and
try to view people thru the lens of mercy. If my first thought of you is
‘radical Muslim’ or ‘evil cult’ then it will be next to impossible for me to
relate to you in an open and honest way. I am not advocating the view that ‘all
religions lead to God’ I’m simply asking that we be more patient with people-
try and understand where they are coming from- I really have had some very open
talks with lots of these groups- very upfront with them- I say ‘this is why
historic Christianity views you as a cult’ yes I say that- but I say it in a
way- during an ongoing conversation- that allows them time to respond and share
their view- and I too respond and have an open conversation. I have found this
to be the best way to relate to various religious groups- hope you do to.
[1630] EPISTEMOLOGY- Lets do a little more on how we learn-
know stuff. The actual ‘study’ of how we know things is called Epistemology.
Today’s popular movement is called Post Modernism- a challenge to the classical
idea of Modernism. The classical way of looking at knowledge said there are
things that are ‘really true’ and things that are not- this is called Objective
Truth. The Post Moderns say words are limited [true to a degree] and because
words are simply vehicles that transmit ideas that are not really ‘true’ in the
classical sense, then it is wrong for one group [like Christians] to say to
another group [non- Christians] that Jesus is the Way- Truth and Life [Johns
gospel]. So the battle lines are drawn. It should be noted that a growing
number of believers are describing themselves as Post Modern and they argue
that it is possible to be Christian and Post Modern at the same time. Okay- as
more of the classical type- I believe it is possible to get to objective truth-
that the pursuit of what’s true is not a vain pursuit- and yes- though we are
all limited in our understanding, yet to even have this conversation requires
an element of Absolute Truth. If the Post Modernist says ‘words have no
objective truth- only relative truth- they only convey what the hearer decides
they convey’ then I can say ‘Oh- so if I
take your words to mean there is such a thing as objective truth- that’s okay’?
O know you idiot- you’re not hearing what I’m saying! So you see that the Post
modernist needs his words to mean something- to convey a specific thing to the
hearer- if the hearer can make the words mean whatever he wants- then you can’t
even engage in the discussion- got it? So anyway- as I’m thinking about
scrapping my Islam course [and just teaching it from stuff I learned myself- in
the immortal words of defense secy. Bob Gates ‘on the fly’] I do want to
utilize whatever objective truth I can pick up along the way- while at the same
time realizing all people have their own biases and we need to listen with a
careful skepticism. I ordered a course on Physics a while back- good course-
but the instructor- though smart- made a classic mistake in Logic as he taught
the course. He often said ‘the universe was created BY CHANCE’. Now- as a
purely grammatical- logical argument- this incorrect [a fallacy]. Why? What he
really means to say is ‘there are unknown causes in the universe that created
the effect of existence- we do not know what these causes are- but we believe
that thru a series of actions- which have no particular direction [chance]
these unknown causes have caused the effect of the universe’. Okay- I don’t
want to be nitpicky- but when I hear an intelligent person say ‘everything was
made BY CHANCE’ and for him to get away with this without a rigorous challenge-
then the Christian thinker has failed in his task to challenge the skeptic on
his own terms- to show that even though the person may be an expert in his
field [Physics] yet this does not mean he can get away with fallacious
arguments- arguments that are invalid from the get go. So as we progress over
the coming weeks/months on the various fields of study- we want to be open to
learn from others who have specialized in their particular fields of study- we
want to be open minded enough to learn from people who reject the faith- yes
atheists can teach us things- there are
areas of knowledge that all people have that can benefit the rest of us.
And we want to weigh all things that we hear- we all make mistakes- and are susceptible
to error. Just because my Physics ‘teacher’ screwed up in a classic way- a way
that most apologists recognize right off the bat- I mean you have to be an
amateur ‘arguer’ of truth to make this type of mistake- yet I didn’t reject the
entire course- I still learned valuable insights from the man. So I think this
is the best approach to take- listen to all sides of a matter- doubt the things
that seem a little off- do some research- check into it yourself- and at the
end of the day let a variety of sources be your pool of knowledge- don’t just
rely on one source. Proverbs says ‘In the multitude of counselors there is
safety’. Be sure you’re listening/hearing from the multitude [broad range of
thought and learning] because often times single sources can be right in one
area- and off in another.
[1627] CATHOLIC VERSUS MORMON AND OTHER STUFF. Okay- as an
avid news watcher, these last few weeks we have seen a sort of shift in the
Liberal versus Conservative media. Lawrence O’Donnell [MSNBC] has decided to
deride Beck [FOX] on the air. Now- O’Donnell is smart- he does realize that the
ratings for MSNBC are truly dismal- so he’s trying to get Beck to engage so he
can get some free advertising. Of course the classic way of getting better
ratings has been abandoned by MSNBC years ago [you know- the old ‘unbiased
reporting of news’ scheme]. So anyway Beck has gone for the bait a few times
and O’Donnell keeps casting out the line. First- O’Donnell is Catholic and Beck
is Mormon- and Lawrence is using this as a hook. He is also taking it upon
himself to ‘instruct’ his audience in Catholic doctrine. Now- I like these guys
[well not really] but as an outside observer let me try and help some of the
viewers a bit. Lawrence- as a ‘good’ [let's say well meaning] Catholic does not
speak for his church- that is as a Protestant believer- I have studied lots of
Catholic history and Doctrine- and I consider the Catholic Church part of the
broader Body of Christ- and the facts are- Lawrence does not know ‘the facts’.
He challenged Beck on some recent end times musings- he says the majority of
Catholics have modernized and don’t believe the ‘old stuff’ anymore; burning
witches, putting kids to death for cursing their parents, anti homosexual
relationships- Lawrence says the church has advanced and Catholics really don’t
believe the old stuff anymore. Now- Doctrinally the church has rejected many of
these Old Testament commandments [burning witches] just like most Protestant
denominations. Yet the church does not ‘not believe’ the book of Revelation
anymore, which is what he lumped it all in with. The official teaching of the
church- dating back to the 16th century Council of Trent [you know- little
details that I like to refer to as facts] is that the bible is- quote ‘the
words that the Holy Spirit dictated’. Now- the language used at Trent was so
strong- that the church actually holds to a less literal belief than what the
words imply. Most believers do not believe in the idea of a mechanical
inspiration of the bible- that is that God actually spoke all the words of the
bible to the authors [with the exception of portions of scripture that do
record God speaking- 10 commandments, etc.] So, the official teaching of the
Church- set down at Trent- is the bible is the ‘word of God’. Yes indeed, the
Catholic Church still believes in the book of Revelation. Now- Lawrence says
‘well- not literally’ and he quoted a verse or 2 about Dragons pouring out water
from their mouth and the woman fleeing and… well- I’m familiar with the verse-
and it is symbolic. I don’t know of anyone- including Beck- that takes this
verse ‘literally’. Now- Does Lawrence even know what ‘literal’ means? When
Christians use the term ‘taking the bible literally’ this term does not mean
that all the verses in the bible are actually literal. For instance the book of
Psalms says ‘the hills skipped and danced for joy’ the verse from Revelation
that I just mentioned is prophetic language. You have figures of speech also
used- the apostle John says ‘there are many other works that Jesus did that are
not recorded in this book [John’s gospel] and I suppose if all the works were
written down that all the world could not contain the books that would be
written’ now- should we read this language ‘literally’ or was John using a
common figure of speech to make a point? When the bible uses poetry, prophecy,
symbol, etc.. when these passages are read- taking them literally means reading
them in context. So when you read about dragons- or hills jumping for joy, or
other portions like that- well they are meant to be read in their context. The
Catholic Church does indeed still believe in the book of Revelation- literally.
I think Lawrence has actually made some good points- I am not a defender of
Beck- nor do I hold to the end time views of Beck. My ‘end times’ theology is
basically Catholic. I would recommend Scott Hahn’s book ‘The Lambs Supper’
which is an excellent Catholic teaching on the book of Revelation- Hahn is an
A-1 Catholic scholar- he teaches Catholic doctrine- real Catholic doctrine. And
Hahn does an excellent job at showing us how the book of Revelation is centered
around Christ and the reality of the church and the kingdom of God. I am not
totally throwing O’Donnell under the bus- I think he has said some good stuff
about this not being ‘the end of the world’ and other things- but it’s not good
to have a Catholic news man say ‘this is what Catholics believe’ when he
obviously does not know what Catholics believe. Yes, Beck does need to be
reigned in a bit- but don’t do it at the expense of confusing people about the
church. A persons personal view is fine- but don’t tell people what the church
does or does not believe- especially if you’re not familiar with the material-
o well- I forgot- being misinformed about the facts has never really mattered
that much at MSNBC- I’m sorry.
Just a note- The Catholic Church has ‘modernized’ since the
famous Council at Trent- Vatican Council 2 [1962-65] did indeed try and bring
the church more into modern times. And there have been statements made that say
the reading/teaching of the bible should not be taken in a way that rejects the
modern advances of science. But the official belief of the bible being the Word
of God is still official Catholic doctrine. Many Protestants confuse the
Catholic belief by thinking the church accepts Tradition over the bible- this
is actually not so. The official belief of the Catholic Church is that the
voice/teaching of God comes to us thru both Tradition and the Bible- they do
not say Tradition is over the Bible. There are lots of common misconceptions
that Protestants and Catholics have made about each other over the years- I
don’t think it will do either side any service for MSNBC and FOX to get into
this type of debate on the air. It takes more time than a few sound bites to
teach it right- it would be better to just leave it be.
[1623] CHRIST CHURCH? A few weeks back I was going to write
a post from the words of St. Peter found in the New Testament ‘The time has
come that judgment must begin at the house of God [Christ’s church= house of
God] and if it starts there- what will the outcome be for the rest of the
world?’ [paraphrased it]. Right after the ‘thought’ the major events off the
coast of Japan hit and we have this trilogy of disasters to deal with
[Earthquake, Tsunami, Nuclear meltdown]. I did find it ‘strange’ that the recent
events started with Christ Church New Zealand- and seemed to spread from there.
I heard a Geologist the other night- he had previously predicted the earthquake
that hit Ca. during the World Series a few years ago. He said the sign of the
dead fish recently washing up in Ca. was not a coincidence- he said the fish
can sense a change in the earth’s magnetic field [prior to an earthquake] and
that in Japan these fish kills are actually called ‘earthquake fish’. Wow. You
do hear lots of talking heads during these types of events- yet it would be
nice to know the truth on these types of things. The last year or 2 we had
earthquakes along the Pacific Rim; Chile, New Zealand and of course Japan. If
you look on a map you see the Pacific Ocean and you can draw a circle around
the perimeter- the part that affects us is the West coast- so they already have
a run on Iodide pills [fear of the radiation crossing the Pacific from Japan]
and some are predicting an earthquake. The other night I caught a quick news
flash of Saudi Arabia sending troops into Bahrain to fight back against the
protestors- as it flashed by quickly- I said ‘geez- this is a major event- and
it’s getting lost in the media frenzy’. Then O’Reilly spent 15 minutes on a
real important life changing story- a stripper who works with a snake- the
snake bit the woman on her breast- the snake died from the silicone from the
breast implant. Another news show spent almost the whole hour on sports- even
the president did another March madness prediction- at a time when the world
has protestors in the streets- who thought we would help them [Libya] and they
are actually saying ‘Obama- where are you- where’s Bush?’ Now- whatever your
view is on intervening [no fly zone- etc.] the fact is if the feeling around
the globe is that we are not taking these things seriously enough- then the
image of the president doing March Madness picks does not look good. So what do
we make of it all? When Peter said ‘judgment must 1st start at Gods
house’ he of course was not directly talking about the city of Christ Church,
New Zealand. Yet in a prophetic sort of way- these types of things can be signs
of what’s to come. One of the important developments has been the fact that the
Arab/Persian nations have indeed chosen to ignore the pleas from the U.S. to go
easy on the protestors- and they simply have said ‘screw you- look at what you
did to Egypt- we are gonna go the Gadhafi route’ [to a degree]. Saudi Arabia
crossing into Bahrain- a small Persian Gulf nation where we have lot of troops
stationed [and the 5th fleet docked] is a major development. The
markets [both Asian and U.S.] have fallen over the fears that the Nuke disaster
is already as bad as Chernobyl- and the unrest in the Middle East and Africa is
not getting better. So we pray- we show the world that we don’t just throw our
hands up and say ‘the end of the world is here’ but we also recognize it is in
mans nature to deny the reality of judgment- the reality that mankind faces
times where things build up and the planet suffers for it. In the 19th
century there was a movement in Christian theology called ‘Liberal theology’-
not liberal in politics- but a whole genre of teaching/thought that challenged
a lot of the ‘old time’ beliefs [like original sin] and focused on the ability
of modern man to rise above the ignorance of the past [even in religious
thought] and man was on the road to a true Utopian society that would never
fail. This belief was strong- both in the universities of Germany as well as in
the politics of the Western world. Then you had the world wars- 8 million
people killed in the first one- and 50 million in the 2nd one. Men
like Karl Barth [a Swiss theologian- teacher] would challenge the liberal view
of mans ‘inner divinity’ and he would blast the Christian world with his famous
‘the epistle to the Romans’ his commentary on Paul’s famous treatise- released
in 1918. Though Barth is what some describe as 'Neo- Orthodox’ [the strong
Reformed teachers don’t appreciate Barth very much] yet he did bring the church
back to the biblical doctrines of original sin and mans inability to ‘save
himself’. Barth saw the reality of the WW1 and rejected the Utopian belief that
man was so advanced that he would reach for the sky- and grab it! Today we see
lots of shaking in the world- some are focused on March madness- some find it
profitable to do a story on a stripper- we need to keep our eyes [and bibles]
open- mankind is in need of God- man has gone thru stages where he thought the
‘old belief’ in God would fall away- to the contrary- the govt’s of man [apart
from God] seem to be the thing that’s falling away.
[1612] BEHOLD, I AM MAKING A COVENANT. BEFORE ALLYOUR PEOPLE
I WILL DO MARVELS- SO AS HAVE NOT BEEN CREATED IN ALL THE EARTH OR IN ANY
NATION, AND ALL THE PEOPLE AMONG WHO YOU ARE SHALL SEE THE WORK OF THE LORD-
FOR IT IS AN AWESOME THING THAT I WILL DO WITH YOU. OBSERVE WHAT I COMMAND YOU
THIS DAY- EX. 34:10.
In our Exodus study
we are actually in chapter 23, but these past few weeks I have been reading
thru some key passages and before we get too far in the study I want to make
sure we hit them. In the above verse God is telling the people that this
deliverance- an actual historical event that took place around 1400 years B.C.-
that this Divine change taking place- was a world changing event that had
greater implications than what they presently
understood. In chapter 23 the Lord tells the people that he is sending
his messenger [angel] before them- and they need to pay close attention to the
words he is speaking. In the bible [especially the Old Testament] the angel of
God at times is associated with God himself. In the book of Revelation God is communicating
a prophetic vision to the apostle John thru angels [messengers]. Basically God
is telling his people that they need to stay on message- and that the message
needs to be in line with his character [my messenger- the things I have/will
say]. In another chapter we will hear God tell Moses ‘put the words/law I give
you into the box’. God tells Moses to put the 2 tablets of the 10 commandments
into the Ark of the covenant- as opposed to what Moses might say or think. The
point being all of us [Christian ministers, Jewish leaders, Imams] we need to
make sure we are speaking the words of God, not man.
At this time [as I write] I have friends reading these posts
from all over the spectrum. Many have been reading straight from the blog site-
others from various other spots where these posts show up. As a Christian- I of
course hold to the biblical teaching that Jesus is the Messiah- the ‘Son of
God’ who came to redeem man and died and rose again for the sins of man. Now-
why the emphasis on the term ‘Son of God’. In Islam- many good Muslim people
are taught- from their youth- that to even read/say this term is blasphemous.
Why? In Islam many believe that using this term means that God ‘had sexual
relations’ with the Virgin Mary- and many good Muslims sincerely will not
listen to a Christian teacher because they are taught that to even hear the
term is wrong. So as Christians we need to explain that in Christian teaching
this term does not mean that- the Christian faith teaches that the Holy Spirit
did a miracle with the Virgin Mary and Mary became pregnant with Jesus- not by
a sexual act- but by a Divine miracle. So some bible versions- in an effort to
overcome the obstacle that Muslims have
about the term ‘Son of God’ [because they see this term in a different way than
Christians] have substituted the words ‘Son of God’ with ‘the one who
originates from God’. There is a debate among Christians on whether or not this
is right [many Christians do not think this interpretation is acceptable] but
it seems to be an honest effort among Christian missionaries to introduce the
bible to the Muslim people in a way that allows them to get past the first
obstacle- of not even wanting to read the words ‘Son of God’. Okay- said all
that to say this- in this study of Exodus- we are reading a real biblical
account of what took place in time- an account that Christians, Muslims and
Jews all believe in. So as much as I want to continue to make the case for the
reality of Jesus as the Son of God, the Messiah- yet at the same time I want to
also teach the biblical account in a way that all 3 faiths can learn from. And
I want to be able to be a voice of moderation in the conversation
Often time’s radical voices from all 3 of the above
religions are the voices that seem to get the most notice. Last night I caught
an interview with the lawyer who went to the Supreme Court and won the case for
the Christian church to protest at the funerals of dead soldiers. Here in the
U.S. we have this Baptist church [Westboro Baptist church] that has been
holding up picket signs at the funerals of soldiers that say mean- offensive
things ‘God hates fags’ and stuff that should not be said. Yet they won their
case because it is a free speech issue- and on the program I watched, they let
this lawyer- who is also a family member of the preacher of the church- she
went on and shared her view about God and the bible- and to be frank it is a
very ignorant view- a bigoted idea of God and the bible, yet it is a view that
prevails among many Christians [not the ‘God hates fags’ view- but other
separatist ideas] and it leaves no room for having a moderate conversation
among the other religions of the world. So as we progress in this study- we see
the importance of the word of God- the commands and character of God. We see
that God is up to something that is bigger- more important than the people
understand at the time- and we see that things take time. At the end of the
chapter God says as he brings the people into the land- they will not take all
the land at once- lest the wild beats take over the land- but he will gave them
a little land at a time, just enough territory to establish a functioning
society- before gaining new ground.
I think we all need to re evaluate and take a look at the
present landscape [both symbolically and geographically] and give things some
time to settle in- to establish rule and order before we take too much area at
once. Right now in Libya- there seems to be a standoff between the protestors
[rebels- they don’t like this term] and Gadhafi. The country- though big in
geographical terms- is relatively small in population [compared to Egypt- 80
million people]. Libya has 6 million people- 90 % live right off the
Mediterranean coast- and the forces in the east [major city- Ben Ghazi] are up
against Gadhafi’s stronghold in the west- Tripoli. As I watch all the reports
we need to be careful that we don’t misread the situation—even though there
were reports of civilian deaths- it does not look like Gadhafi has opened up
his air force on the civilian population- not in a way it was reported at
first. So even though we [the west] condemn the deaths that have taken place-
I’m not sure that we are seeing what some have described as a Genocide [which I
too said in the beginning]. So maybe the Middle East, Africa- and even parts of
Asia- maybe it’s time to sit back and regroup some. I’m speaking to those who
are wanting freedom- NON VIOLENT protestors who are protesting to gain human
rights- I’m not talking military strategy here! And in today’s chapter [and the
verse I quoted at the top] God is saying to the people ‘I am doing an awesome
work in the world right now- obey me- listen to my words- I will give you bread
[instruction] every morning [the Manna on the ground] I have given you my words
[WORDS THAT HAVE SAID- DON’T KILL! TO
ALL SIDES] make sure you organize your new found freedom around these things-
don’t use this freedom for a chance to sin- to release anarchy/lawlessness
[read Galatians chapter 5] but instead use this new freedom to serve God and
love your fellow man’.
[1604] IS IT POSSIBLE TO PROTEST TOO MUCH? A couple of days
ago I started teaching the story of Moses and God’s delivering of his people
from Egypt- I talked about the Ark of the Covenant and the fall of Pharaoh- try
and go back and read those posts- and for the next few days I want to simply
tell the story found in the book of Exodus [Old Testament]. In Exodus chapters
15- 16 we read the story of the great deliverance of God- in the previous
chapters the people were under bondage to oppressive rulers [much like the
autocratic rulers in the Arab/Persian world right now] and the people
cried/protested and God heard them and he sent them new leaders [Moses] and
this new leadership was needed in order for the old guard to pass away. Now- as
they proceed on the journey the first spot they come to is a place named Marah-
which means bitterness [present day Suez canal area]. They traveled for 3 days
and found no water- and at Marah there is water- but the water is bitter, it’s
not fit for human consumption. So they complain and Moses finds a stick/tree
branch and puts it in the water and the waters ‘are healed’. In Christian
teaching this branch is a symbol of Christ [who the bible calls the true vine-
also the apostle Peter calls the Cross ‘the tree’] and the symbol means that
when people believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ- in a
spiritual way the ‘waters are healed’ [people are brought back to God thru the
Cross]. The next spot they get to [Elim] has plenty of food and good water.
Now- as they continue on the journey they begin missing the old stability they
had under the old regime [Pharaoh] they start to complain against the new
leaders and say ‘you led us out on this journey- now we have no good food like
the old days- we will all starve out here- we wish we never protested’ wow-
talk about rebels! Okay- Moses gets mad too- thinking to himself ‘man- I never
asked for this- and now I’m supposed to put up with this’ [sort of like some of
the leaders who have had to fill the gap after Mubarak fell- some of these
guys- being prodded by the U.S. govt. are being asked to keep the peace until
they can transition into a new Democratic rule]. God answers Moses and tells
him he will send them meat and bread- God supernaturally causes a bunch of
Quail [birds] to blow into the camp and they have lots of meat- and in the
morning when they woke up there was this wafer type bread that was on the
ground. The bread is called ‘Manna’ which actually means ‘what is it’. God fed
them for 40 years with this ‘unknown’ bread- and he tells Moses to put some in
a jar and save it as a memorial of Gods provisions. Eventually this jar with
the bread in it will go into the box [the Ark I wrote about a few posts back-
which had the 2 tablets of the 10 commandments it] and it will be a reminder to
future generations how God was with them on the journey. Okay- a few practical
points; it is possible to ‘protest too much’ that is after God initiated the
process of ‘new rule’ the people couldn’t just keep protesting their way into a
new govt., they had to ‘put up’ with some type of leadership along the way.
Right now in Egypt [2-2011] some of the people are split on what to do ‘should
we keep protesting’ some ask- others are saying ‘okay- we got Mubarak to step
down- we need to give some of these military leaders a chance to set some
things up for the elections to come’. In the case of Moses this was Gods will-
that is the people went too far in not even being willing to let Moses lead a
little. So some times as the protests succeed- there might also need to be a
few months of letting the new guys have a chance to get some stuff done. A few
interesting points; in chapter 16 the bible says ‘this happened on the 15th
day of the 2nd month’. Geez- that’s right around the same time that
the present Egyptian uprising also took place [I am aware the months of the
Jewish calendar are different than mine- but it’s still pretty good!] and in
the book of John [John’s gospel, chapter 6] Jesus has a conversation with the
Jewish leaders and he says he himself is ‘the bread of God that came down from
heaven’ he says the bread Moses gave them [the Manna spoken about here] was a
symbol of his own life and death on the Cross for the sins of the world- he
says ‘all who eat/receive me will live’. I find it interesting that in this
story the original Jewish people are eating the bread for all these years- and
the name of it means ‘what is it’. Both Muslims and Jews respect Jesus, they
see him as a prophet sent from God- yet in Christian theology we teach that Jesus
is much more than that- he is the ‘sent one’ [Jewish Messiah- the one who
originates from God] many well meaning Muslims and Jews ‘have’ Jesus sort of
like the Manna- they know the bread is there- they even ‘eat it’ [benefit in a
way from it] yet Jesus says ‘I am the true bread- the bread that comes down
from heaven and gives my life for the world’. As the Arab world is going thru
their own journey right now- facing many difficult days ahead- days where some
will be tempted to say ‘we regret this new found journey of freedom- we wish we
never left Egypt’ there will also be a chance to feed from the Manna- the bread
that has been there all along- the bread that many said of ‘what is it’ [or who
is this Jesus] Jesus himself testifies that it is speaking about him- he is the
true bread of life- the only ‘leader’ [new Moses] that can truly liberate- may
we all find true revolution thru him.
[1598] DON’T LOOK IN
THE BOX!- Let me try and do 2 things today; a short ‘memorable’ truth that is
in keeping with yesterdays spirit- and the current events in the Middle East
[never got to this part-will do it tomorrow]
First- How many of you remember the Raiders of the Lost Ark
movies- go ahead- raise your hand. Yes- those of you reading this- actually
raise your hand if you’ve seen the movie- believe me there is a purpose to
this. Okay- did you do it? Wow- see how easy it is to engage in stuff when no
one’s looking? Well yes, in the bible there is a famous story about ‘not
looking’- it has to do with the Indiana Jones movie. First [or 2nd?]
the Ark in the movie comes from a real story in the bible about a box [Ark].
Sometimes people confuse the Ark of Noah with this Ark- I heard Keith Olberman
[one of my favorite liberals- now with Al Gore’s channel, Current TV] mocking
someone- and in his mocking he talked about all the animals that might fit into
the ark- the problem was the person he was mocking was talking about this Ark
[small box] not Noah’s! Okay- in the book of Exodus we read the famous story of
Moses delivering the children of Israel out of bondage [okay- what country was
it again? O that’s right- Egypt- wonder of this is significant today? A
stubborn dictatorial leader- ruling Egypt- who can’t seem to read the writing
on the wall- guess not] and as they flee Egypt they do the Red Sea crossing and
they wind up spending 40 years wandering in the wilderness because of their
unbelief [too much to explain right now]. So- during their journey they get the
10 commandments and God sets up a tent [tabernacle] system that consists of
this small little building surrounded by a fence and in this little
room/building there is this box [Ark] that holds the 2 tablets of the 10
commandments. This box is covered with gold- has 2 angel statues on each side
of the lid and the lid covering the box is called ‘the mercy seat’. Now- this
‘seat/lid’ is actually the altar that the high priest puts the sacrificial
animal blood on once a year [Day of Atonement] to cover the sins of the people.
In a nutshell- the lid on the box allowed a holy God [represented by the 10
commandments- his character revealed in this symbolic way] to dwell with sinful
man- because the lid ‘atoned/covered’ the sins of the people- allowing God [in
the box] to dwell with the people. Got it? That’s the Ark of the Covenant- the
box in the Harrison Ford movies. Now- the movies tell the story about Indiana
trying to find this ancient artifact- because it is said to have this awesome
nuclear like power. Is this true? No. The idea comes from the bible [1st
Samuel chapter 6] one time the box was taken captive in one of the battles-
during its return to Israel [another long story] it winds up in this area where
the people look in the box and the bible says 70,ooo people died [some bible
versions say 70 people]. Wow- why did this happen? The lid covered the sins of
men- once you take a peek- lift the lid- you have removed the only covering
that man has for his sin- Gods holy character [the tablets] meets mans sinful
one- obliteration. That’s the story- not some secret nuclear device. In the New
Testament book of Hebrews [chapter 9] the same word used to describe the lid
[mercy seat] is mentioned again in connection with the Cross of Christ. In the
book of Romans [chapter 3] Jesus is said to be ‘the propitiation for our sins’
this is the same word- from the Hebrew language to the Greek [Old Testament
story was written in Hebrew- New Testament in Greek] for ‘Mercy Seat’ so what’s
the story? The lid on the box represents the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross
for all men- it’s because of Jesus that God can once again dwell [the same word
for Tabernacle- the whole tent system I just described] with men. The language
used to speak about the Incarnation [God becoming man in Jesus] speaks about
God dwelling [tabernacling] with men- in a very real way the box also
represents the humanity/Deity of Jesus- it was made out of wood [a type of
flesh] yet covered with gold [a type of divinity]. So Jesus is the covering
[actually for you theologians the New testament sacrifice of Jesus does more than
cover- it removes- but this post is supposed to be short!] and if you try and
approach God without the ‘lid on’ you get creamed- got it? Now you can tell
your kids the real story behind the box- and O yeah- someone let Keith in on
the secret! P.S. for all of you who raised your hands- please send me an email-
you’re the type we want for mailing lists! J
[1597] NO TEMPLE IN
IT- Let me try and communicate a few simple truths that hopefully will stick
with people- you know- stuff you hear and it makes you think differently from
here on out. I have been reading the book of Proverbs these last few weeks and
the proverbs teach us that wisdom allows you to communicate great truths in
short snippets. One of the proverbs actually says this. If you read the gospels
you’ll see Jesus using simple short stories [Parables] to teach great truths.
Okay- down the road I plan on teaching the book of Revelation- it’s really a
great book- if your able to ‘get thru’ the dragon heads and 666 and all the
other images that seem to preoccupy the current popular prophecy books that are
on the market today. Don’t get me wrong- the dragon heads and all that stuff do
mean something- but not what we usually read from the Lahaye books. One of the
images I read the other day [and many times over the years] is the picture of
the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven- John says ‘this city’ has
No Temple in it. Now- in the New Testament- many times- the imagery of the city
is speaking about the church- the corporate people of God. We also see a major
theme of the New Testament being the idea that thru Christ- our final Passover
sacrifice- the old system of sacrifice and ‘temple’ have passed away [Hebrews].
I mean these themes are major theological themes in the bible- that Jesus
‘suffered outside the city gate’ [Hebrews says the place where he died was
outside the city] and that this means that we are all accepted by God thru
Jesus- not because of our religious affiliation with ‘law and temple’ [in the
city gate] but because we approach God on the basis of the Cross of Jesus-
outside the gate- the place where there is ‘no temple’. See? So- this major
theme of the New Testament [the actual term we use- New Testament- is speaking
about this truth] can be summed up in a short prophetic glimpse [remember-
wisdom lets you say much in short snippets] by saying ‘I John, saw the holy
city- the New Jerusalem [the church] descending down from God and this city had
NO TEMPLE IN IT’ See? John is not really talking about the aesthetics of
heaven, in so much as he is giving us this great prophetic spiritual reality ‘I
see John- this image of NO TEMPLE simply means the New Covenant will be
established on the one sacrifice of Christ and not on the temple system of
continual animal sacrifices’. Yes- I think John [the apostle] would be glad if
we saw his Revelation thru this lens- a paradigm that exalts the person and
work of Christ- instead of a bunch of dragon heads.
[1581] COURAGE- Last
night I caught a real interesting show- it came on ‘by itself’ that is I must
have checked the programmer to come on every Monday at that time [I don’t
remember checking it]. Every Monday on EWTN [the Catholic station] I try and
watch the Journey Home- with Marcus Grodi- he has real interesting guests who
have converted from Protestantism back to the Catholic Church. It’s interesting
to see these stories- I have yet to see a convert that was not well informed
and knew the bible as well as church history- overall good show. So anyway
another show popped up [they moved the encore presentation from 10 to midnight]
and it was a profile of a group called Courage- I have heard a little bit about
them before- they are a Catholic 12 step program designed to help people who
are struggling with the gay lifestyle- it helps them return to the faith and
attempt to live chaste lives. Now- I know this subject is hot- I have gay
friends- lots of us have gay family members- and the country just had a big
debate about gays in the military- so it gets people riled up. I really liked
just listening to the stories the guys were sharing; one of the brothers was
living in San Fran. And he had a relative that invited him to a courage
conference in N.Y. He said he really never wanted to go- but his brother would
always ask him in a nice way- so he accepted the all expense paid trip and flew
to the city- he shared how spending a few days listening to other gay people
who have returned to the church- that he experienced a conversion himself. When
he went back to Ca. his friends told him ‘you even look different’ within 6
months he moved back to N.Y. A few of the other guys shared similar stories- it
was an honest show- I liked it because it wasn’t the normal ‘Christian verses
gays’ type thing you see all the time- but just an honest story about gay men
seeking to live celibate lives- they are not ‘fighting’ the church- joining the
parade of those wanting to make the church change its position on the subject-
they are just men who have returned to a former faith- and are seeking God.
These stories are also a lesson for Protestants- I can tell you- just watching
the show- I could hear in my mind the normal Protestant response ‘these guys
aren’t even saved’! Yet the conversion that the men experienced- it was obvious
that these men were sincere Christians- trying to overcome things that they
felt they needed to overcome. Now- I do realize that even this short note can
be highly offensive to those living the gay lifestyle- sort of like ‘who do
they/you think you are to say they need to overcome anything’ I hear you. I’m
familiar with the whole debate- I do understand that there are many movements
today that accept the gay monogamous lifestyle as a legitimate Christian way to
live. But the normal- traditional belief [which I do hold to] is we should love
and respect all people- even those in the GLBT community- and at the same time
be honest about what the bible says on the subject [basically the bible does
say it is a sin- this is a big debate amongst many scholars- teachers- and some
think otherwise- I wrote a post on this in the past, if I can find it I’ll
paste it at the end]. I do think that too many Christians respond the wrong way
in many of these debates- even during the recent ‘gays in the military’ debate-
some believers said ‘gays shouldn’t serve in the military because the bible
says it’s a sin’ Yikes! Look- I just gave you my own conservative view- I do
believe the bible says it’s not an acceptable lifestyle- yet to use that
reasoning to ban gays from any job- that’s just not a good approach in my view.
You very rarely- if ever- hear that argument made against those who are just
‘sleeping around’ as far as I know- at least when I was in the navy- just about
everybody did. I do understand the whole argument that some military leaders
made- that it affects certain ways the military functions- should we allow same
sex attraction to exist in living together- taking showers- etc. But that’s a
different concern- and basically Christians should not seek to ban gay people
from anything. The criteria should not simply be the sexual orientation of the
person. I felt bad for the gay pilot who was making the rounds in support of
overturning the ban [which did pass by the way] he was in the military for 19.5
years- almost enough to retire- and because he spoke out there were rumors that
they were going to discharge him- I mean if I were the one making the decision-
I would have never discharged him just because he was gay- especially after
almost 20 years of good service. So all in all I think believers [and humans!]
in general should try their best to not discriminate against people because of
race, sex- etc. And at the same time be honest about the churches’ belief- and
realize that there are a lot of people in society that don’t want the
church/Christians to tell them anything- that’s fine- that is Christians should
not take the position ‘we are at war with you guys- you’re on one side- we are
on the other’ Jesus simply never approached it like that [yes- he never spoke
specifically about the subject- but he never approached any sinful lifestyle
with that mindset- he loved people- was upfront about their sin ‘go and sin no
more- I don’t condemn you’ type thing- but never engaged in the way the
conservative right has done]. Okay- not sure why we went this way today- just
felt strongly that I needed to comment on it. John
[1573] Let me just give you guys a heads up today. These
past few months or so I have been doing a lot of posts on Philosophy. Sometimes
I do a bunch of history- or science- or another subject. For those of you who
come to the site strictly for bible teaching- yes- there are times where I do
an entire book of the bible- or cover a series on a biblical truth [Justification
by faith- etc.]. On the blog [corpuschristioutreachministries]- if you go to
the February 2010 posts- you can find all these studies. But for today let me
just do a brief overview of where we are at- by the way I also wanted to
mention the referendum in Sudan [Africa] today- today southern Sudan will vote
on whether or not they want to be independent from the North [I’m almost
positive they will vote for independence]. Sudan has been in a civil war for
over 20 years, around 2 million people have been killed [massacred] in the
process. The ruling north is predominantly Muslim- the South Christian [another
long story having to do with independence from Britain in the early days]. So
why should we pray for Sudan today and in the next few weeks? Because if the
South does break away- many Christians who live in the North will be in danger
of severe persecution as retaliation for the South’s vote- so let’s pray today
[1-9-2011] and in the next few weeks for Sudan. Okay- the brief overview I want
to do is to simply remind all our readers that the main truth- or thing we all
need to re-focus on is the reality that the Christian message is one of
reconciliation- that God, thru Christ- has ‘brought back’ the world to himself
as a Divine gift. In essence the Christian message is not ‘turn your life
around- be good- and then go to church and you will be saved’. Now- being good-
going to church- all of these things are good to do- but many times people get
the cart before the horse and the world never really understands the message of
the Cross. When the bible says ‘repent and believe the gospel’ it is not saying
‘stop sinning and believe the gospel’ in the sense that your telling a drug
addict ‘once you quit the habit then God will accept you’ the word repent in the
new Testament does of course carry with it the idea of ‘turn away from sin’ but
it mainly means ‘change the way you think’ or basically it means ‘are you
finally tired of what you’ve been doing? Then let’s try the God thing’ [of
course that’s my spin on it]. In essence the message of Jesus and the church is
‘God forgives and accepts people, not based on how good they are- but on the
fact that his Son died for you and rose again’. In the book of Romans the
apostle Paul says ‘If God gave his son for us- how much more will he freely
give us everything else’. People [Christian’s/ preachers] often make the
message confusing- sort of like if you don’t get all the details just right-
you aren’t ‘saved’. The fact is if God gave his son for us- paid such a high price
to save man- then why would he also go thru all the trouble to make ‘getting
saved’ so difficult- that most of mankind will miss out on it! The basic way we
are saved is thru faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ-
this is what the gospel [meaning good news] is according to the New testament
[1st Corinthians 15]. If you read the gospel of John, the letter to
the Romans- or the letter to the Galatians [all New Testament books found in
the bible] you will read the story of how God chose to save men when they would
simply believe in Jesus- yes- the gift of God is eternal life thru Jesus
Christ. Now- as a student of theology and history- I certainly am familiar with
all the many controversies surrounding the various churches and how they implement
the sacraments- or baptism- or ‘the sinner’s prayer’ when encouraging people to
accept Christ. The main point I want to make today is the reality that many
times in the New Testament the bible speaks about those who believe in Jesus,
that these are ‘the sons/daughters of God’ [John chapter 1]. If you just pick
up the bible this next week or so and read thru the gospel of John- you will be
surprised to see how many times Jesus himself connects simple belief in him
with eternal life ‘for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life’
3:16- ‘he that hears my words and believes on him that sent me has everlasting
life’ 5:24- ‘he that believes on me has everlasting life’ chapter 6- the last
chapter of John says ‘many other things did Jesus do that are not written in
this book [John’s gospel] but these are written that you might believe that
Jesus is the Son of God- and thru believing you might have life thru his name’.
I want you to think differently today about ‘Christianity’ or ‘going to church’
or ‘God’. Over these last few months I have engaged in lots of arguments for
the truth claims of Christianity- refuting the contemporary atheists- showing
the historical proofs for Christianity. For many people they hear things thru
out their lives- little bits of info that cause them to doubt certain aspects
of the faith- and then they use these arguments- often easily disproved- as
excuses to say ‘that whole Christian stuff is a bunch of bull’. So the
apologetic arguments for the reality of God are intended to ‘un-do’ many of
these excuses- but at the end of the day the message of eternal life is simple-
it’s a free gift given to all who will simply believe. I was going to post one
of the bible studies here at the end- but just go read one or 2 of the ones I
just mentioned from the blog- or pick up a bible and read a chapter or 2 a day-
I mean the book of Galatians is only 6 chapters, you could read it in a single
sitting. Okay- that’s it for today- remember try and pray for the church in
Sudan- that all will go well and there won’t be any violence because of the
vote- and do a little bible reading the next day or so. God bless, John.
[1572] HEGEL [modernity study cont.] Hegel is considered to
be one of the most influential thinkers of the modern era [along with Kant].
Hegel’s view of God and religion laid the groundwork [with Kant and a few
others] for liberal theology. Hegel taught an idea about God that said in the beginning
God was this ‘undifferentiated spirit’ [impersonal] who ‘separated’ himself
from himself- in this Divine separating part of him became cosmos, world, man-
in the history and development of man, man comes to self consciousness about
himself- about God- and in this process- God himself discovers who he is too!
Yikes! Obviously Hegel’s view did not sit well with historic Christianity.
Hegel was an idealist [like Plato]. If you remember earlier
in this study I taught how idealism is the belief that ultimate reality exists
in ideas or forms- the reality of horse or chair is first an idea/invisible
form- then what we see is sort of a second creation. Many of the early Greek
philosophers held to this view [Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, etc.]. Hegel
believed that because ‘God’ comes to this self realization of who he is thru
the development of human society thru time- therefore he saw the Divine in
human community [government]- primarily expressed thru Protestant forms of
Christianity- he divinized the state in a way.
When we study the various thinkers of the modern period
[1700’s-2000] it is hard to separate their strong views of religion and God
from their thought- but many modern teachers of philosophy have a tendency to
skip over the religious ideas of these men- often in the university setting
these thinkers are just looked at as philosophers- and their obvious religious
thought is kind of glanced over as ‘a symptom of the times they lived in’. This
is a big mistake in my view- while I obviously do not embrace Hegel's ideas
about God [he basically taught a form of Pantheism- a religious belief that
says God is the creation- not just the creator] yet it is important to see the
role Hegel will play in the influence of the higher critics that arose out of the
German universities of the 19th century. Many of the modern
religious thinkers were influenced heavily by Hegel [Rudolph Bultman] and his
ideas- in various forms- will continue to inform religious thought right up
until the 20-21st centuries.
I guess a good example to sum up Hegel would be the program
I was watching last night on Link T.V. It was a discussion amongst various
religious groups about God and how we should strive to know and understand and
respect the different beliefs people have [I agree]. Yet as the various people
shared their views- it was easy to see the eastern beliefs and how much they
differed from traditional Christianity. At one point they gave a quote from a
Catholic priest [Those of you who know me realize I consider fellow Catholics
Christians and am a student of Catholic as well as Protestant Christianity]. He
said there were 3 basic realities; 1- the other [God] 2- we are the other [we
are one with the divine] 3- there is no other [double yikes!!]. Obviously this
well meaning priest is not in good standing with the teachings of his own
church!
I don’t share this to
be mean- I think in today’s world it is vital for Christians to engage in
interfaith discussions- to respect other peoples beliefs and to work with other
religions [Islam, Judaism, Hindu- etc.] but we don’t want to confuse people about
what the historic Christian faith teaches about God. In Christian teaching
[Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox] God is an eternal personal being- not just
some ‘undifferentiated spirit’. God is not ‘us’. He made us, and the creation-
he reveals himself to man thru creation- his Spirit does indwell those who
believe in him and the redemption of Jesus Christ and his Cross- and God knew
who he was- long before we knew who we were!
So some of the deep thinkers have espoused ideas that do not
sit well with Christian tradition- never the less it’s good to study and be
familiar with the various thinkers of the modern era and to be able to refute
[in a nice way!] their errors and share with them the truth of the gospel. As I
study these various thinkers-I’m reminded of a term I learned when first moving
to Texas from N.J. As a Yankee living in
the south- I was often told that here in the south we don’t ‘fix it if it aint
broken’. And over the years I have learned that there is much truth to this
statement- thru trial and error.
One time I bought
this 1976 datsun 280 ZX. It was a used car- paid around a thousand for it. I
liked the car- ran fast and all. So one day I get this bright idea [yes-I am
going to fix something that ‘aint broke’] and decide to install a backup oil
pressure gauge- you know just in case the original one goes out. So I put the
new gauge in [cluster gauge- shows 3 different readings] and every now and then
I noticed the gauge would show no pressure! The first time this happened I
panicked and pulled over and realized that the pressure was okay- it was the
design of the gauge- the tube kept falling off the oil sending unit [the thing
the gauge hooks up to]. So one day while driving home- sure enough the gauge
reads zero pressure- O well I will fix it when I get home. I never ‘got home’.
The tube did fall off- but to my surprise all the oil managed to shoot out of
the small tube during the ride- yes- I blew my engine! So as I read Hegel and
some of the other thinkers in this study- and some of the theories they came up
with- I appreciate their efforts to inform modern thinkers- to give themselves
over to the field of philosophy- but in the end I get the sense that they are
trying to fix something that ‘aint broke’.
[1540] Jesus of Nazareth [pope’s book] chapters 3-4. Okay- I’m having a hard time ‘dummying down’
the Pope’s book- trying to explain it in simple terms- so those of you who
don’t get into it- just skip these posts and read another part of my blog.
Okay, Benedict covers three different ways of looking at the central message of
Jesus –The Kingdom of God. He borrows heavily from the church father Origen
[form the Alexandrian school- Origen is very influential on early Christian
thought- he also was a Universalist- in the end everyone gets saved- even
Satan!]. The Pope shows how Origen viewed the kingdom as the person of Jesus
himself- that is when you see Christ- you’re seeing the kingdom. Origen also
spoke of the ‘interior kingdom’ a spiritual reality of the kingdom ruling over
people’s hearts. Then the Pope speaks about the 19th- 20th
century emphasis as the Church as the Kingdom- he shows how the church began
seeing the kingdom as present in the world thru her- that is the church herself
is a divine presence of God in the earth- and the kingdom is here right now
thru the church. I agree with all 3 of the above views of the kingdom- I would
only disagree a little with the Popes perspective that the 3rd view
is primarily a late development [probably just reads that way because the book
is an English translation form the German- I can’t imagine a Pope as learned as
Benedict [one of the most intellectual ones in many years!] would miss this].
Right from the early days of Saint Augustine [City of God- 4th
century] the idea of the kingdom being present thru the church has been around.
The Pope also gets into those who saw the kingdom message of Jesus- and teach
that Jesus true Kingdom message was never grasped- and instead we messed up and
started ‘the church’. Liberal thinkers like Albert Schweitzer and Adolph Von
Harnack all played a role in this type of thinking, and early 20th
century ideas about re-thinking the kingdom in general- as well as the
philosopher Heidegger. In chapter 4 Benedict does an excellent job at
portraying Jesus as the ‘new Moses’ who delivers the New Law thru the sermon on
the mount- contrasting Moses receiving of the law at Mount Sinai. Jesus goes up
on a mountain and ‘sits’ [showing the plenary authority of the teacher- being
seated]. In the New Testament [Hebrews and the gospels] the religious leaders
are said to ‘sit in Moses seat’- or Hebrews says ‘Jesus sat down at Gods right
hand’. In Catholic theology the ‘seat’ [chair- cathedra] denotes the place of
authority. I live in a ‘cathedral city’- Corpus Christi. New York’s Saint
Patrick’s church is the cathedral for that area. That means the authority over
the regional diocese is ‘seated’ at the cathedral- where the regional Bishop
resides. So Benedict does a good job showing us Jesus as the ‘new Moses’ who
sits on the new mount and takes the plenary authority- he also says that Jesus
authority did not rest in the religious institutions of the day- like the
priests and Pharisees- that Jesus authority was real. The religious leaders was
too- but they were not sincere. Once again I find these types of observations
consistent with my own thought [and Protestants thought in general] and I find
it very surprising to see the Pope thinking along the same lines.
[1535] I AM THE TRADITION!- Just started reading the Pope's
book ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ it came out in 2006, but never had a chance to read
it. I recommend all our Pastor/Preacher friends to read it- especially those of
you who are familiar with the Historical Critical method of scholarship, and
those involved in the Prophetic movement. Benedict critiques the historical
method very well; he’s even funny at times! [In a scholarly way]. Just the
preface and intro give enough meat that if you’re not a ‘full book’ reader,
these would be enough! The critique for the modern prophetic movement is that
Benedict shows the real purpose of Prophets, as pictured thru Moses- he does a
superb job at explaining how Jesus fulfilled the ‘prophet like Moses’ prophecy
spoken by Peter in the book of Acts- excellent insights! Okay- let me cover a
little more Catholic history- at the risk of losing my Protestant readers- but
hoping to gain some Catholic ones. Being I’m talking about Popes and all, let
me cover some 19th century history. In France you had the French
Revolution [right at the end of the 18th century] and the feeling at
the time was to throw off all outside control- many of the nation states
rejected the Roman church for that simple reason, it was Roman! That is the
states were flexing their new felt independence and the spirit of enlightenment
and reformation that was running thru the land. In France you had 2 groups who
were at opposite sides; The Gaulincansist’s versus the Ultramontanists. The
first group represented the feeling of ‘lets break from the Roman church and be
free’ the latter group wanted to maintain ties with Rome- the term meant
‘beyond the mountains/alps’. Meaning from Frances geographic perspective, they
wanted to keep looking towards Rome. It was in this environment that the
Catholic Church would convene the first Vatican Council [called Vatican 1].
Pope Pius the 9th started his pontificate as a liberal type Pope-
open to new ideas and all, but as time progressed he took a more conservative
stance. The council- starting in 1870- would take a very hard line stance
against all the new ‘ism’s’ that arose over the last few centuries. Communism,
Democratic spirit, Protestantism- the church took a hard line and seemed to
come off as arrogant and unwilling to change with the times. The council would
affirm for the first time the doctrine of Papal infallibility and the Immaculate
conception of Mary- 2 doctrines that would make it much more difficult to
bridge the Protestant/Catholic gap. It’s important to note that the church had
a tradition of Papal infallibility for years- but it did not become official
Catholic doctrine until Vatican 1. All Catholics at the council did not agree
to the doctrine- a famous Priest by the name of Guidi would dissent and
challenge the Pope, he asked ‘what about the tradition’? Meaning what about the
authority of tradition that has come from a spirit of collegiality and
cooperation among the Bishops- if you push a strong doctrine of Papal
infallibility- the tradition will lose its power. Pius famously responded ‘I AM
THE TRADITION’. The council would never officially close- Victor Emmanuel would
sack Rome- The Vatican would lose most of the Papal states and there would
arise a sympathetic attitude towards the Roman church! Many felt bad that she
lost her standing in the world, this caused many Catholic states to rise up in
Support of the Vatican, and she actually gained more good will than before! I
would also note that when the council broke up, the leading Catholic scholar of
the day- Durlinger- did not accept the doctrine of Papal infallibility. Others
broke away with him and these Catholics survive till this day-primarily in
Western Europe [Holland, Switzerland, etc.] they are called The Old Catholic
Church and are Catholic in every way except for the doctrine of the Papacy.
Some view Pope Pius as a stubborn man who was not willing to change with the
times, but if you look at the overall political reality of the day- you can see
why he took such a tough stance, the church was feeling threatened from the
outside by many new movements and she felt that Christianity was under attack-
Pius felt it necessary to exert Papal authority, so he did. Vatican 2 [1962-65]
would ‘un-do’ the harsh spirit of Vatican 1 and be seen at a much more open and
‘liberal’ council- Pope John the 23rd [Pope during the council]
would shape the mood of the council with the saying ‘let the windows be open’
implying a new freshness and openness for the church. Vatican 2 would refer to
the Protestants as ‘separated brothers’ Vatican 1- heretics. Okay lets end for
now, I encourage all of our readers to try and know the various Christian
positions- don’t just allow rumor or gossip to form your opinions of others-
strive for an honest conversation with other Christian groups- give others the
benefit of the doubt- and if you still have sincere differences of belief, at
least they’ll be informed differences- not simply hearsay.
[1534] CATHOLIC/PROTESTANT POSITIONS ON THE BIBLE. Let’s do
a little teaching today. To all my Catholic/Protestant readers- when I teach on
our respective faiths- understand that for the most part I’m giving you the
official position of our churches. Now ‘official’ is a lot harder to say among
Protestants- but the ‘best’ statements on Protestant doctrine probably come
from the Reformed positions as stated by the creeds and statements of faith
that came out of the 16th century Reformation- and yes, there other
good statements as well [Baptist confessions, etc.]. When I talk ‘Catholic
position’ I’m giving you the official position as stated thru the Catechism of
the church- as well as the Encyclicals and decisions that have come from the
councils. The Catholic Church does actually have official positions on stuff!
[They call this the Magisterium- the church’s official teaching office]. It
should be noted that both Catholic and Protestant churches have ‘dissenters’
within their ranks- Priests, Preachers, Scholars- who break ranks with the
actual teaching of their own churches [Hans Kung- Catholic. Rudolph Bultman-
Protestant. Just to name a few]. In some situations where the clergy are ‘less
educated’ [I’ll be nice] sometimes they don’t know what the position of their
church really is. So that makes stuff a little harder. Okay- what do Catholics
and Protestants believe about the bible? Both groups believe the bible is the
inspired word of God, infallible- with no errors. Both groups also have notable
teachers within their ranks who dispute this- but remember- for the most part
this is the official position. The Catholic church’s most ‘meaty’ statement on
faith and doctrine still dates back to the 16th century Council that
took place in Trent. Though there have been other important councils [Vatican 1
and 2] yet the council of Trent is the most definitive. That council was for
the most part a clear restating of the historic position of the church,
especially reaffirming the 7 sacraments. The council also produced a document
on the church’s position on the bible- the church used stronger wording than
most Protestants, they said the bible came to us by the ‘Holy Spirit DICATING’
the words! In fairness, the Catholic Church does not hold to a mechanical type
dictation- that God actually said the words to the writers, but never the less,
that’s the statement. The Protestants are known for the famous 3 ‘Sola’s’ of
the Reformation [Sola= alone] Faith alone, Grace alone, Bible alone- basically
‘alone’ meant the bible was the final authority on the matter- though creeds
and councils were helpful, yet they can ‘err’. The able Catholic scholar, John
Eck [maybe Cajetan?] forced Luther to admit that the Pope and Councils could
make mistakes, and this was a fatal blow to any agreement between the warring
sides. Now, many Protestants also seem to be confused on the statement ‘the
bible alone’. The Reformers did not mean that we were to cast off all the good
things that came down to us from the church fathers- Calvin quotes Saint
Augustine a lot in his writings- the Reformers just meant that when deciding on
final matters, the bible has the last say. The Catholics held that both
Tradition [oral tradition passed down thru the church] as well as scripture had
a say. The main point today is both Catholics and Protestants agree that the
bible is ‘the word of God’. Catholics have a few more books in their bibles,
but we all agree that it is God’s word. [Just a side note- The Catholics say
the bible is ‘an infallible collection of infallible books’. The Protestants
would not accept this statement- they said ‘we have a fallible collection of
infallible books’. Most Protestants are not aware of this. The main reason the
Protestant side would not agree to ‘infallible collection’ is because that
would side with the position that the church did indeed possess infallible
authority, given by God, to make certain decisions that were binding- obviously
the Reformers would not go that far.]
[you can read more posts in the February posts]
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