Waiting is hard. It doesn't really matter what one is waiting for. One could simply be waiting for a letter, waiting for a friend who is late, waiting for the answer to an important question, waiting for a someone to apologize for hurting you. Waiting is hard.
I have been thinking lately about how God keeps us waiting. Allow me to explain, I have two friends, both incredibly active women, the kind of woman who makes everyone around her feel lazy just by being herself. About two years ago one of these women took ill, she was constantly tired, constantly sick and unable to do the vast majority of what she had previously accomplished. About a year ago the other woman came down with something similar. I have been spending some time with one of these women lately, we will call her Patty (not her real name), talking about how God keeps us waiting.
Please understand that our conversations have not been about the fact that God keeps us waiting, though that has certainly been a prevalent theme, but the methods he uses to keep us waiting. God stopped both of these women dead in their tracks, literally unable to do much of what they had been doing, waiting for God to let them go again. For myself and a few others the purpose has been the same, but the method quite different, I have not been sick, simply unable to take the next step. It seems, for the past couple of years, that whatever I try the answer is no. I am reminded of one of Paul's missionary journeys, Paul tried to go to several different geographic areas simply to have God turn him back. When Paul when to the wrong place God did not say "No, I want you to go here." God simply said, "No, try again." Paul spent time, probably months, traveling from city to city only to have God say, "No Paul, try again" each time. Finally Paul went to a port city, pretty much the last place he had left to try, and this is when God gave him a vision of a man from Macedonia begging Paul to come preach to them.
I often wonder what the purpose of this was, scripture never tells us why God did this, simply that he did. Similarly I wonder what the purpose of my friend Patty's illness is, and what the purpose of my current position is. I know that God has a purpose, this is never in doubt. I know that he is teaching her, and teaching me, preparing us for something. Ultimately I'm not sure I need to know what that something is, I suppose I'll probably find out someday, but at the same time I wonder if I have the capability of saying "I don't need to know." I want to know you see, it's in my nature, I want to understand, and maybe that is the lesson, that no matter how much I want to understand; I can't. I can't understand everything and sometimes I just have to trust that God does know what he is doing, even when I don't.
I wish I could say that I understood the lesson, that I have something valuable to teach anyone who reads this post, but the truth is that I'm not there yet. I trust God, I trust him enough to wait, even though I have no idea why I'm waiting.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Easter Lessons
It is Easter, certainly an important day in the Christian calendar, arguably the most important. Through a variety of circumstances I was unable to attend a church service this morning. This is the first Easter since I've been saved that I wasn't in attendance at an Easter Service somewhere. However, in looking at the way I have spent my day, while it doesn't yet feel quite like Easter to me, it has been a very good day, a day of learning, and a day of celebration. I went out for lunch, and please stay with my because I have a point, to an oriental restaurant near my home. I love sushi, and especially Octopus sushi, which I haven't been able to have for quite some time. So I ordered Chirashi, with octopus, which happens to come with Miso soup. Chirashi (pronounced with an almost silent C), is fish with pickled vegetables served over a bed of sweetened sushi rice. As I was eating the Miso soup I burned to front of my tongue so I was unable to taste the sweetness of the rice. At first I was disappointed because I thought that my meal was ruined, but as I kept eating I realized that the other tastes in the Chirashi, the saltiness of the smoked salmon, the slightly bitter flavor of the pickled vegetables; and the texture of the fish, especially the octopus, stood out much more than they ever had before. I wound up have a very different dining experience that I had ever had eating Chirashi in the past.
Like I said, stay with me, because of this experience I started thinking about my day differently, not focusing on the fact that I had missed the Easter service, but seeing what I had done. Every Easter I make it a point to read Isaiah 52-53 and Matthew 27-28. While I was reading, with everything that I've just explained circling around in my mind, it stood out to me what the crucifixion must have been like for the disciples. As Christians we tend to focus on the crucifixion as our redemption, on Good Friday we focus on the pain that Christ experienced in the crucifixion followed by a Sunday celebration of his resurrection. However I had never really taken the time to consider what it must have been like for the disciples.
For three years they had followed Christ, this man who made the most ridiculous claims, but then backed them up with miracles. A man who taught the law with an authority that they had never seen, but at the same time rejected many of the teaching of the Pharisees. They had come to believe that this man was truly the son of God, the messiah that the Torah promised would come. Then, in the course of twenty-four hours, this man is betrayed by one of their own and they see him beaten to within an inch of his life, mocked, abused, and then executed in the most painful way known to man...and God does nothing to stop it.
This man who is supposed to lead this as a king, who claims to be the son of the almighty God, is simply executed and their hopes, dreams, and beliefs all go with him. I can only imagine the kind of despair that the disciples must have felt as they watched Christ die, it was the worst day of their lives, it must have been. I wonder if they believed that he would rise again, all the evidence in scripture seems to suggest otherwise, that after the crucifixion they gave up. Then, the day after the sabbath, the Marys go to visit the tomb and find that Christ has risen, that he is alive, no wonder Thomas doubted.
Overtime as the disciples went out and spread the faith the worst day of their lives becomes the best, the crucifixion comes to be associated not with hopelessness and despair, but with redemption and hope. It certainly gives me a different perspective on my problems, I hope it does the same for you.
Like I said, stay with me, because of this experience I started thinking about my day differently, not focusing on the fact that I had missed the Easter service, but seeing what I had done. Every Easter I make it a point to read Isaiah 52-53 and Matthew 27-28. While I was reading, with everything that I've just explained circling around in my mind, it stood out to me what the crucifixion must have been like for the disciples. As Christians we tend to focus on the crucifixion as our redemption, on Good Friday we focus on the pain that Christ experienced in the crucifixion followed by a Sunday celebration of his resurrection. However I had never really taken the time to consider what it must have been like for the disciples.
For three years they had followed Christ, this man who made the most ridiculous claims, but then backed them up with miracles. A man who taught the law with an authority that they had never seen, but at the same time rejected many of the teaching of the Pharisees. They had come to believe that this man was truly the son of God, the messiah that the Torah promised would come. Then, in the course of twenty-four hours, this man is betrayed by one of their own and they see him beaten to within an inch of his life, mocked, abused, and then executed in the most painful way known to man...and God does nothing to stop it.
This man who is supposed to lead this as a king, who claims to be the son of the almighty God, is simply executed and their hopes, dreams, and beliefs all go with him. I can only imagine the kind of despair that the disciples must have felt as they watched Christ die, it was the worst day of their lives, it must have been. I wonder if they believed that he would rise again, all the evidence in scripture seems to suggest otherwise, that after the crucifixion they gave up. Then, the day after the sabbath, the Marys go to visit the tomb and find that Christ has risen, that he is alive, no wonder Thomas doubted.
Overtime as the disciples went out and spread the faith the worst day of their lives becomes the best, the crucifixion comes to be associated not with hopelessness and despair, but with redemption and hope. It certainly gives me a different perspective on my problems, I hope it does the same for you.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Die to Live
Galatians 2:20 says "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me."
Scripture is filled with hard things, sayings and commands that are difficult to interpret and even more difficult to follow. For instance what did Christ mean when he said to the masses 'Anyone who does not eat of my flesh and drink of my blood is not worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven'? (a paraphrase) The above verse, one of a few in which Paul puts forth this idea, is one of these. What does it mean when Paul says 'I no longer live'? Obviously he does not mean this literally, if he were dead he could not have written the words.
I first began to understand this verse through a Japanese proverb, 'Live as though already dead', the meaning behind this was integral to the nature of the Samurai culture. The idea was that one was to be wholly devoted to one's lord, to the point that if the lord ordered one to kill oneself one could do so without hesitation. Hence Samurai were to live as though they were already dead so that they could be so wholly devoted to their lord.
Here Paul is speaking of the same thing, Christ is our lord, we are to be so wholly devoted to Christ that no matter what he asks of us we will do it without hesitation. This is not an easy thing to do, in fact the Apostle Peter failed at least once.
In John 21 we find a story of one of Christ's appearances after the resurrection. In this story Peter, feeling unworthy because of his failure and denial of Christ returns to his former profession, fishing. The story itself is very similar to the story in which Simon-Peter is first called as one of the disciples, however it ends with a test from the risen Messiah, one that Peter apparently fails. First let me explain the meaning of two Greek words for love, these are 'agape' and 'phileo.' These two words are both translated 'love' in the English text of the story, however there is an important difference between them, 'agape' (often refered to as Godly love) bears with it the idea of unconditional love. This would be similar to saying to someone with complete sincerity 'I love you and nothing you could ever do would change that love.' Now, obviously this is quite a statement if one means it with the full intent of the words, to say to someone that nothing they could possibly do would change one's love effectively gives them free reign in one's life to do whatever they wish for good or ill. The second word, 'phileo' is more akin to what we normally consider love, it is similar to saying 'I care deeply for you, but you could still mess it up if you do something really bad.'
In this story Christ asks of Peter 'Peter, do you agape me?' and Peter responds, 'Lord, you know I phileo you.' Again Christ asks of him 'Peter, do you agape me?' and Peter responds again 'Lord, you know I phileo you.'
The third time Christ asks 'Peter, do you phileo me?' and Peter responds (and I can almost here the pain in his voice when I read the text), 'Lord, you know I phileo you.'
Now please bear in mind that, while we often hold Peter up as an example of rashness and failure, he certainly fulfilled Paul's statement in Galatians 2:20, he did great things for God and died in a manner similar to Christ, being crucified upside down (according to tradition). From the teachings of Paul and the example of Peter we can certainly see how difficult it is to devote ourselves to Christ in the manner required. However we can also see that, even after repeated failure, it is still possible.
I encourage all of you, 'live as though already dead' and give all that you are to Christ, no matter how difficult that might be.
Scripture is filled with hard things, sayings and commands that are difficult to interpret and even more difficult to follow. For instance what did Christ mean when he said to the masses 'Anyone who does not eat of my flesh and drink of my blood is not worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven'? (a paraphrase) The above verse, one of a few in which Paul puts forth this idea, is one of these. What does it mean when Paul says 'I no longer live'? Obviously he does not mean this literally, if he were dead he could not have written the words.
I first began to understand this verse through a Japanese proverb, 'Live as though already dead', the meaning behind this was integral to the nature of the Samurai culture. The idea was that one was to be wholly devoted to one's lord, to the point that if the lord ordered one to kill oneself one could do so without hesitation. Hence Samurai were to live as though they were already dead so that they could be so wholly devoted to their lord.
Here Paul is speaking of the same thing, Christ is our lord, we are to be so wholly devoted to Christ that no matter what he asks of us we will do it without hesitation. This is not an easy thing to do, in fact the Apostle Peter failed at least once.
In John 21 we find a story of one of Christ's appearances after the resurrection. In this story Peter, feeling unworthy because of his failure and denial of Christ returns to his former profession, fishing. The story itself is very similar to the story in which Simon-Peter is first called as one of the disciples, however it ends with a test from the risen Messiah, one that Peter apparently fails. First let me explain the meaning of two Greek words for love, these are 'agape' and 'phileo.' These two words are both translated 'love' in the English text of the story, however there is an important difference between them, 'agape' (often refered to as Godly love) bears with it the idea of unconditional love. This would be similar to saying to someone with complete sincerity 'I love you and nothing you could ever do would change that love.' Now, obviously this is quite a statement if one means it with the full intent of the words, to say to someone that nothing they could possibly do would change one's love effectively gives them free reign in one's life to do whatever they wish for good or ill. The second word, 'phileo' is more akin to what we normally consider love, it is similar to saying 'I care deeply for you, but you could still mess it up if you do something really bad.'
In this story Christ asks of Peter 'Peter, do you agape me?' and Peter responds, 'Lord, you know I phileo you.' Again Christ asks of him 'Peter, do you agape me?' and Peter responds again 'Lord, you know I phileo you.'
The third time Christ asks 'Peter, do you phileo me?' and Peter responds (and I can almost here the pain in his voice when I read the text), 'Lord, you know I phileo you.'
Now please bear in mind that, while we often hold Peter up as an example of rashness and failure, he certainly fulfilled Paul's statement in Galatians 2:20, he did great things for God and died in a manner similar to Christ, being crucified upside down (according to tradition). From the teachings of Paul and the example of Peter we can certainly see how difficult it is to devote ourselves to Christ in the manner required. However we can also see that, even after repeated failure, it is still possible.
I encourage all of you, 'live as though already dead' and give all that you are to Christ, no matter how difficult that might be.
Monday, February 16, 2009
The Importance of Apologetics
Wow...ok, I meant to post this Sunday...it's been a frustrating week.
Anyway, in the last post I discussed the importance of theology for our Christian walk. While I'm sure more could be said (in fact more has been said, many books have been written on the subject) I would like to move on and briefly discuss the importance of Apologetics to the Christian walk. I was doing research for an article when I stumbled across this website, the author's 'proofs' that God is imaginary are, by and large, not well thought out, nor well researched. However they don't have to be, the majority of the Christian church today knows little to nothing about the study of apologetics, while the proofs given on the website are a very poor example of arguments against Christianity, they still serve to sway young Christians who know little about their faith.
We are currently in the process of losing an entire generation of young Christians. According to George Barna (whose statistics I honestly find to be suspect much of the time...but statistics are statistics and even suspect ones can show us something) some 85% of teens leave the faith. While there are a great many reasons for this one of them is simply a lack of education in their faith.
In churches we tend to teach the surface material of scripture, the stories. We encourage youth to witness, to pledge themselves to Christ, to wait abstain from sex until marriage; all good things, and things youth certainly need to hear. However what we do not do is educate them on the why's:
Why is the bible trustworthy?
Why should I even believe in God?
Why is it important for me to live a holy life?
Why are my doctrinal beliefs important?
Why is Chrsitianity any more true than any other religion?
and the hows:
How do I deal with discrepincies within scripture, or between scripture and science?
How do I know that Christ is God, or even real?
How do I respond when my faith is challenged?
The study of apologetics forces us, as Christians, to think through our faith. As Christians we are responsible for explaining to others why we believe, why we have hope. However if our reasons are superficial that is what people will see when we witness, a superficial believer. The study of apologetics is about much more than being able to answer tough scientific, literary, or philosophical questions about Christianity when over-educated snobs ask said questions. Indeed, the true value, and the true joy, of apologetics is in challenging one's own faith. Asking yourself the hard why and how questions and then finding the answers.
This discipline is, I believe, especially important for youth who will, inevitablely, be challenged in this way at some point in their lives, probably sooner rather than later. The study of apologetics in now way discounts faith, in fact it strengthens one's faith and adds to it knowledge and, hopefully, understanding.
I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes, this was said by Galileo Galilei, "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended them to forgo their use."
Quote taken from: http://thinkexist.com/quotes/galileo_galilei/
Barna Statistic taken from: http://theworldfrommywindow.blogspot.com/2006/09/survey-question-summary-why-are-teens.html
Anyway, in the last post I discussed the importance of theology for our Christian walk. While I'm sure more could be said (in fact more has been said, many books have been written on the subject) I would like to move on and briefly discuss the importance of Apologetics to the Christian walk. I was doing research for an article when I stumbled across this website, the author's 'proofs' that God is imaginary are, by and large, not well thought out, nor well researched. However they don't have to be, the majority of the Christian church today knows little to nothing about the study of apologetics, while the proofs given on the website are a very poor example of arguments against Christianity, they still serve to sway young Christians who know little about their faith.
We are currently in the process of losing an entire generation of young Christians. According to George Barna (whose statistics I honestly find to be suspect much of the time...but statistics are statistics and even suspect ones can show us something) some 85% of teens leave the faith. While there are a great many reasons for this one of them is simply a lack of education in their faith.
In churches we tend to teach the surface material of scripture, the stories. We encourage youth to witness, to pledge themselves to Christ, to wait abstain from sex until marriage; all good things, and things youth certainly need to hear. However what we do not do is educate them on the why's:
Why is the bible trustworthy?
Why should I even believe in God?
Why is it important for me to live a holy life?
Why are my doctrinal beliefs important?
Why is Chrsitianity any more true than any other religion?
and the hows:
How do I deal with discrepincies within scripture, or between scripture and science?
How do I know that Christ is God, or even real?
How do I respond when my faith is challenged?
The study of apologetics forces us, as Christians, to think through our faith. As Christians we are responsible for explaining to others why we believe, why we have hope. However if our reasons are superficial that is what people will see when we witness, a superficial believer. The study of apologetics is about much more than being able to answer tough scientific, literary, or philosophical questions about Christianity when over-educated snobs ask said questions. Indeed, the true value, and the true joy, of apologetics is in challenging one's own faith. Asking yourself the hard why and how questions and then finding the answers.
This discipline is, I believe, especially important for youth who will, inevitablely, be challenged in this way at some point in their lives, probably sooner rather than later. The study of apologetics in now way discounts faith, in fact it strengthens one's faith and adds to it knowledge and, hopefully, understanding.
I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes, this was said by Galileo Galilei, "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended them to forgo their use."
Quote taken from: http://thinkexist.com/quotes/galileo_galilei/
Barna Statistic taken from: http://theworldfrommywindow.blogspot.com/2006/09/survey-question-summary-why-are-teens.html
Sunday, February 8, 2009
The Importance of Theology
First of all let me apologize for not posting in so long, I have been very busy the last couple of weeks and haven't been online for more than ten to fifteen minutes at a time. It was originally my goal to update this blog at least once a week and I have not, I am sorry for that. Now, onto the post.
I live in Lynchburg, Va which had, I believe still has, the most churches per capita of any city in the US. However, even here with so many churches and a Christian University and at least two seminaries in the area, I find an extraordinary number of Christians who have no idea what they actually believe. Much of modern Christianity tends to downplay the importance of scholarly religion such as theology and apologetics, and at the same time build up the importance of faith, prayer, and daily practice of a few basic tenants. Now I don't want to come across as saying that such things are not important, I believe that daily prayer and bible study are incredibly important. I also believe that faith, both in God's greatness and in his goodness, are also very important (I personally struggle with the latter at times). However the study of scholarly Christianity such as theology and apologetics is equally as important.
Theology is the study of various aspects of who God is and what he does, it can be broken down into a number of various parts, but to put it simply Theology is the study of what we actually believe. Good theology is the study and collation of what the bible actually says about a variety of subjects and what doctrines we can deduce from what the scripture says. For instance, as Christians we believe in the trinity, that the father, son, and holy spirit are three persons in one divine being. However the word trinity is not found anywhere in scripture, nor is the phrase 'the father, son, and holy spirit are three persons in one divine being'. The doctrine of the trinity is a theological doctrine taken from the collation of what the bible says about the father, the son, and the holy spirit, and their relationship with one another.
If theology is not studied and such doctrines are not clearly understood cults rise up, there have been a plethora of cults throughout the history of Christianity that arose because of a misunderstanding of one or two passages of scripture. One of the, currently, most well known of these is the Jehovah's Witnesses, which arose because of one man's attempt to show in what year Christ would return. Other cults have denied the deity of Christ, the humanity of Christ, the omniscience of God, the omnipotence of God, even the existence of the Holy Spirit. Lack of understanding about our Christian beliefs allows us to be 'blown about by every wind of doctrine'. Now this does not mean that every Christian should be a scholar of theology able to write books and publish scholarly articles. However, every Christian SHOULD have at least a passing familiarity with what they believe about God the father, Christ, the Holy Spirit, Sin, the place of the Church, the end times, angels, and demons and why they believe those things.
In an age of ever increasing knowledge and the ever increasing availability of knowledge it is essential to our witness as believers that we be able to intelligently, and coherently, articulate our beliefs to those who do not share them.
I live in Lynchburg, Va which had, I believe still has, the most churches per capita of any city in the US. However, even here with so many churches and a Christian University and at least two seminaries in the area, I find an extraordinary number of Christians who have no idea what they actually believe. Much of modern Christianity tends to downplay the importance of scholarly religion such as theology and apologetics, and at the same time build up the importance of faith, prayer, and daily practice of a few basic tenants. Now I don't want to come across as saying that such things are not important, I believe that daily prayer and bible study are incredibly important. I also believe that faith, both in God's greatness and in his goodness, are also very important (I personally struggle with the latter at times). However the study of scholarly Christianity such as theology and apologetics is equally as important.
Theology is the study of various aspects of who God is and what he does, it can be broken down into a number of various parts, but to put it simply Theology is the study of what we actually believe. Good theology is the study and collation of what the bible actually says about a variety of subjects and what doctrines we can deduce from what the scripture says. For instance, as Christians we believe in the trinity, that the father, son, and holy spirit are three persons in one divine being. However the word trinity is not found anywhere in scripture, nor is the phrase 'the father, son, and holy spirit are three persons in one divine being'. The doctrine of the trinity is a theological doctrine taken from the collation of what the bible says about the father, the son, and the holy spirit, and their relationship with one another.
If theology is not studied and such doctrines are not clearly understood cults rise up, there have been a plethora of cults throughout the history of Christianity that arose because of a misunderstanding of one or two passages of scripture. One of the, currently, most well known of these is the Jehovah's Witnesses, which arose because of one man's attempt to show in what year Christ would return. Other cults have denied the deity of Christ, the humanity of Christ, the omniscience of God, the omnipotence of God, even the existence of the Holy Spirit. Lack of understanding about our Christian beliefs allows us to be 'blown about by every wind of doctrine'. Now this does not mean that every Christian should be a scholar of theology able to write books and publish scholarly articles. However, every Christian SHOULD have at least a passing familiarity with what they believe about God the father, Christ, the Holy Spirit, Sin, the place of the Church, the end times, angels, and demons and why they believe those things.
In an age of ever increasing knowledge and the ever increasing availability of knowledge it is essential to our witness as believers that we be able to intelligently, and coherently, articulate our beliefs to those who do not share them.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Homosexuality Again
As I'm sure everyone knows by now President Obama has decided to allow homosexuals to serve openly in the military. This has caused quite a stir among some of my Christian friends and so I decided to respond to the new situation. Let me first reiterate that I believe that homosexuality is a sin, that it is condemned in scripture, and that it is undoubtedly wrong.
That being said, homosexuality is a sin, just like any other sin. Scripture clearly teaches that the consequence for all sin is the same, and that all sins are equal in the eyes of God. Romans 8, Colossians 1, and James 4 all teach that to engage in sin is to be hostile to or an enemy of God. Romans 1, 2, 3, and 9 tell us the punishment for sin and that God is preparing his wrath for the day when sin will be judged. In 1 Corinthians 6 homosexuality is placed alongside fornication, adultery, stealing, coveting, and drunkenness; and again in 1 Timothy 1 it is placed alongside lying, murder, patricide and matricide, kidnapping, and perjury.
As humans it is our wont and our want to differentiate between sins. Drunkenness is worse than lying, but not as bad as kidnapping. Adultery is worse than fornication but not as bad as stealing. However scripture makes no such differentiation when speaking from the eyes of God, it is only in our human willfulness that we find the need to say, 'see, I'm better than him so I'm ok.' As Christians we often fail to understand that sin is sin to God, the one is the same as the other, whether it is a little white lie or mass murder, they are the same. I am just as much a sinner as the man next door, and the man on death row. Our human judgments have nothing to do with the effects of sin on my spiritual life and my eternal state.
However, in American Christianity (I cannot and so will not attempt to speak for Christianity outside of the United States) we have made a few sins the scapegoats for all sinfulness, while other sins go unnoticed. Homosexuality tops the list for many Christians as one of the most heinous sins possible, along side the viewing of pornography, child molestation, and murder. We tend to look at these sins and, while many Christians may not admit it even to themselves, see them as irredeemable.
On the other hand we have allowed divorce to become the norm, often not even seen as being sinful. We take offense at many cultural cuss words while the name of God is openly taken in vain (which both Exodus 20:7 and Deuteronomy 5:11 tell us God will not fail to punish.) The American church as a whole has adopted a very unhealthy understanding of what is and is not sin and it has lead us to treat certain sins much more harshly than we should and other much more lightly. A man that I deeply love and respect made a comment about President Obama's decision that pained me greatly on this point. This man declared that he could not, in good conscience serve in the American military if homosexuals were allowed to serve openly. I wanted to ask him if he would be willing to serve beside men and women that he knew were liars, or gossips, or adulterers, or any of the other sins listed above. 'What is the difference?' I wanted to ask, what is it that makes homosexuality so much worse than any of these?
Now please do not misunderstand me, I am not arguing that we should lie down and accept the homosexual agenda that is so obviously at work in this country. However we, as American Christians, desperately need to reorient our view of sin and of sins. American Christians must come to an understanding of the open sinfulness that is so rampant throughout our churches and address it more directly instead of simply directing all of our vehemence against those few sins that it is socially correct to abhor and condemn. I make this simple request, let us begin to see sin, all sin, as sin and treat it as such, instead of singling out certain sins for special hatred.
That being said, homosexuality is a sin, just like any other sin. Scripture clearly teaches that the consequence for all sin is the same, and that all sins are equal in the eyes of God. Romans 8, Colossians 1, and James 4 all teach that to engage in sin is to be hostile to or an enemy of God. Romans 1, 2, 3, and 9 tell us the punishment for sin and that God is preparing his wrath for the day when sin will be judged. In 1 Corinthians 6 homosexuality is placed alongside fornication, adultery, stealing, coveting, and drunkenness; and again in 1 Timothy 1 it is placed alongside lying, murder, patricide and matricide, kidnapping, and perjury.
As humans it is our wont and our want to differentiate between sins. Drunkenness is worse than lying, but not as bad as kidnapping. Adultery is worse than fornication but not as bad as stealing. However scripture makes no such differentiation when speaking from the eyes of God, it is only in our human willfulness that we find the need to say, 'see, I'm better than him so I'm ok.' As Christians we often fail to understand that sin is sin to God, the one is the same as the other, whether it is a little white lie or mass murder, they are the same. I am just as much a sinner as the man next door, and the man on death row. Our human judgments have nothing to do with the effects of sin on my spiritual life and my eternal state.
However, in American Christianity (I cannot and so will not attempt to speak for Christianity outside of the United States) we have made a few sins the scapegoats for all sinfulness, while other sins go unnoticed. Homosexuality tops the list for many Christians as one of the most heinous sins possible, along side the viewing of pornography, child molestation, and murder. We tend to look at these sins and, while many Christians may not admit it even to themselves, see them as irredeemable.
On the other hand we have allowed divorce to become the norm, often not even seen as being sinful. We take offense at many cultural cuss words while the name of God is openly taken in vain (which both Exodus 20:7 and Deuteronomy 5:11 tell us God will not fail to punish.) The American church as a whole has adopted a very unhealthy understanding of what is and is not sin and it has lead us to treat certain sins much more harshly than we should and other much more lightly. A man that I deeply love and respect made a comment about President Obama's decision that pained me greatly on this point. This man declared that he could not, in good conscience serve in the American military if homosexuals were allowed to serve openly. I wanted to ask him if he would be willing to serve beside men and women that he knew were liars, or gossips, or adulterers, or any of the other sins listed above. 'What is the difference?' I wanted to ask, what is it that makes homosexuality so much worse than any of these?
Now please do not misunderstand me, I am not arguing that we should lie down and accept the homosexual agenda that is so obviously at work in this country. However we, as American Christians, desperately need to reorient our view of sin and of sins. American Christians must come to an understanding of the open sinfulness that is so rampant throughout our churches and address it more directly instead of simply directing all of our vehemence against those few sins that it is socially correct to abhor and condemn. I make this simple request, let us begin to see sin, all sin, as sin and treat it as such, instead of singling out certain sins for special hatred.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Misquoting Jesus
I have been reading the book Misquoting Jesus by Bart D. Ehrman recently, and I swear I thought it was name Misquitoing Jesus for the longest time. I have to say that I am personally not a fan of the book so far. Ehrman's scholarship is good (not great but good given that it was written for a non-academic audience, however the fact that the vast majority of his citations come from previous books he has written rather than other scholars concerns me.) However he freely admits at the beginning of the book that he traded in his faith for academic acceptability early one.
This fact is evident throughout the book as he attempts to pick apart the Christian scriptures and the doctrines of inerrancy (that scripture was an accurate report of events in its original autograph and divinely protected until today) and authority (that scripture is authoritative for life and godliness). While he does a good job of pointing out several of the larger problems with the doctrine of inerrancy in particular, he fails to understand that there may be purposes at work beyond his current understanding.
I seem to find this problem quite often, both among unbelievers, and among believers, as well as in my own life. As humans we tend to want to believe that we can understand anything. If something is outside of our understanding then it must be wrong, or false. As I said in my last post I am going through some difficult times, my first response to this was "God, why are you letting this happen?" It didn't make sense and, being human, I doubted God's goodness and his willingness to help. It was quite some time before I was able to accept that God had a purpose in allowing this to happen that I simply didn't understand.
The same is true for Ehrman here, he sees something that he can't explain and his first reponse is "God must be wrong." If it doesn't make sense to him then the problem must be in the text or in the faith, not in him, if something doesn't fit into his worldview then it must be the world's problem, not his own. I would encourage anyone reading this book to read it with a grain of salt because of these issues and some issues of unsupported scholarship and vague claims that appear in the book.
This fact is evident throughout the book as he attempts to pick apart the Christian scriptures and the doctrines of inerrancy (that scripture was an accurate report of events in its original autograph and divinely protected until today) and authority (that scripture is authoritative for life and godliness). While he does a good job of pointing out several of the larger problems with the doctrine of inerrancy in particular, he fails to understand that there may be purposes at work beyond his current understanding.
I seem to find this problem quite often, both among unbelievers, and among believers, as well as in my own life. As humans we tend to want to believe that we can understand anything. If something is outside of our understanding then it must be wrong, or false. As I said in my last post I am going through some difficult times, my first response to this was "God, why are you letting this happen?" It didn't make sense and, being human, I doubted God's goodness and his willingness to help. It was quite some time before I was able to accept that God had a purpose in allowing this to happen that I simply didn't understand.
The same is true for Ehrman here, he sees something that he can't explain and his first reponse is "God must be wrong." If it doesn't make sense to him then the problem must be in the text or in the faith, not in him, if something doesn't fit into his worldview then it must be the world's problem, not his own. I would encourage anyone reading this book to read it with a grain of salt because of these issues and some issues of unsupported scholarship and vague claims that appear in the book.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
What Does It Mean To Be A Christian In Hard Times?
This is a question I've been asking myself lately. Some of you know that I have been going through difficult times lately, both financially and emotionally. I have tried to write about this several times now and haven't been able to, always rewriting posts to be about some other, non-personal subject. I think this is because I'm honestly not entirely sure how to answer this question. We all, I especially, want to be respected. I like to be viewed as the teacher, the one with all the answers. However this is a question that I struggle with. Obviously we rely on God for everything, this is easy to say when one knows how it will be provided. 'I rely on God for my rent payment' and he provided through my paycheck. As a child I might 'rely on God' for my food and clothing and he provided through my parents. I find that he still provides through my parents much more than I would like.
However, it is much more difficult to say 'I rely on God for my rent payment' when I'm really not sure where its going to come from. It is painful to realize that my faith often extends only as far as the reach of my arm. I wish I could say that I never fail in faith, that I am always confident that God will provide whatever I need, but the knowledge in my mind all to often fails to reach my heart. I 'know' that God will provide, just as I 'know' that he has me here for a reason, God knows my path before I walk it and he knows the currents of my heart before they ever shift. However, what I know so often fails to inform what I believe, while I 'know' that God will provide for my needs I look at my checking account and think 'I am so screwed.' The knowledge and the belief fail to meet one another.
I find this frustrating to no end because, much as I try, I am often at a loss for how to correct it. I do believe that I am growing, or at least I hope, but my struggle if far from over. So I ask, what does it mean to be a Christian in hard times? Am I really any different from anyone else dealing with these difficulties? I know that I should trust God, rely on him and know that everything works out for God for those who love him and do his will. However I find that when I look at my bank statement, or my credit card bill, or any of my other bills, my faith often fades away and is replaced by desperation.
However, it is much more difficult to say 'I rely on God for my rent payment' when I'm really not sure where its going to come from. It is painful to realize that my faith often extends only as far as the reach of my arm. I wish I could say that I never fail in faith, that I am always confident that God will provide whatever I need, but the knowledge in my mind all to often fails to reach my heart. I 'know' that God will provide, just as I 'know' that he has me here for a reason, God knows my path before I walk it and he knows the currents of my heart before they ever shift. However, what I know so often fails to inform what I believe, while I 'know' that God will provide for my needs I look at my checking account and think 'I am so screwed.' The knowledge and the belief fail to meet one another.
I find this frustrating to no end because, much as I try, I am often at a loss for how to correct it. I do believe that I am growing, or at least I hope, but my struggle if far from over. So I ask, what does it mean to be a Christian in hard times? Am I really any different from anyone else dealing with these difficulties? I know that I should trust God, rely on him and know that everything works out for God for those who love him and do his will. However I find that when I look at my bank statement, or my credit card bill, or any of my other bills, my faith often fades away and is replaced by desperation.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Submission
I know, I know, I promised to post about the Justice of God and I will...eventually...I think...but I keep getting sidetracked.
I was thinking yesterday about how submission has become a bad word in our society. As Americans we are taught that we are to be free and independent, which all too often translates to arrogant and selfish. However the idea that we are supposed to submit ourselves to the authority of another is...distasteful, to say the least. However submission is a very important teaching in scripture. We are to submit to the government (Rom. 14 and Titus 3), we are to submit to one another (Eph. 5), and women are to submit to their husband (also Eph. 5, and 1 Peter). Most importantly we are to submit to Christ, this is taught continually throughout the New Testament. The word most commonly translated submit (or be subject to) holds the meaning of submitting to one of greater authority (the exception to this is where Christians are commanded to submit to one another where a different word is used that holds the idea of willingly submitting to one of equal or lower authority).
The same word is used of slaves when they are commanded to submit to their masters. It is also clearly taught that we are the slaves of Christ. However the meaning here is not commonly understood in American society. When we think of slavery we think of black slavery in early America, which was a horrible thing. However this scriptural idea hearkens back to the idea of the Bond Slave in the Pentatuech. In Hebrew slavery slaves were released at certain intervals (every seven years I believe), however if a slave trusted and loved his master he could chose to continue his slavery. To do this he would place his right ear on the door post and allow his master to pierce it with an awl. This meant that he was willingly entering into a lifelong slavery to his master. This is the relationship that the New Testament draws on when it speaks of the Christians submission to Christ and (in my opinion) the wives submission to the husband.
The slave (or Christian) trusts his/her master (Christ) so much that they willingly give up their freedom in order to be the slave of his/her master. The term speaks of a total submission to the will of another. As Christians we are to be totally and completely submissive to the will of God in every way, a difficult task to accomplish, but what is required of us.
In marriage women are to be totally submitted to the will of their husbands (am I gonna get it for saying that), and husbands are to put the needs of their wives above their own. Anyone who is married needs to read all of Eph. 5 22 to the end of the chapter. Take it apart and look at what it actually requires. The wife is to submit herself to a man who is to ALWAYS act in her best interest (not best interest does not mean what she wants, but instead what she needs) as a picture of the relationship between the Christian and Christ. And the husband is to always act in the best interests of his wife, as a picture of Christ's sacrifice to the church. The submission that scripture teaches is not a negative thing, instead it is a beautiful willingness to give all that one is to another whom one trusts completely.
I was thinking yesterday about how submission has become a bad word in our society. As Americans we are taught that we are to be free and independent, which all too often translates to arrogant and selfish. However the idea that we are supposed to submit ourselves to the authority of another is...distasteful, to say the least. However submission is a very important teaching in scripture. We are to submit to the government (Rom. 14 and Titus 3), we are to submit to one another (Eph. 5), and women are to submit to their husband (also Eph. 5, and 1 Peter). Most importantly we are to submit to Christ, this is taught continually throughout the New Testament. The word most commonly translated submit (or be subject to) holds the meaning of submitting to one of greater authority (the exception to this is where Christians are commanded to submit to one another where a different word is used that holds the idea of willingly submitting to one of equal or lower authority).
The same word is used of slaves when they are commanded to submit to their masters. It is also clearly taught that we are the slaves of Christ. However the meaning here is not commonly understood in American society. When we think of slavery we think of black slavery in early America, which was a horrible thing. However this scriptural idea hearkens back to the idea of the Bond Slave in the Pentatuech. In Hebrew slavery slaves were released at certain intervals (every seven years I believe), however if a slave trusted and loved his master he could chose to continue his slavery. To do this he would place his right ear on the door post and allow his master to pierce it with an awl. This meant that he was willingly entering into a lifelong slavery to his master. This is the relationship that the New Testament draws on when it speaks of the Christians submission to Christ and (in my opinion) the wives submission to the husband.
The slave (or Christian) trusts his/her master (Christ) so much that they willingly give up their freedom in order to be the slave of his/her master. The term speaks of a total submission to the will of another. As Christians we are to be totally and completely submissive to the will of God in every way, a difficult task to accomplish, but what is required of us.
In marriage women are to be totally submitted to the will of their husbands (am I gonna get it for saying that), and husbands are to put the needs of their wives above their own. Anyone who is married needs to read all of Eph. 5 22 to the end of the chapter. Take it apart and look at what it actually requires. The wife is to submit herself to a man who is to ALWAYS act in her best interest (not best interest does not mean what she wants, but instead what she needs) as a picture of the relationship between the Christian and Christ. And the husband is to always act in the best interests of his wife, as a picture of Christ's sacrifice to the church. The submission that scripture teaches is not a negative thing, instead it is a beautiful willingness to give all that one is to another whom one trusts completely.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Adds
I have several adds up on this site, however some of the adds that have been posted are agaisnt my personal views. If you see an add on this site that you find offensive, or that you believe does not corrospond with the views that I am sharing please let me know. Please put a comment on one of my recent posts letting me know that the add was on the site, please tell me the nature of the add, what was advertised, and the url that the add takes you to when clicked on so that I can block it. I would very much appreciate all of your help in this because the adds on the site rotate and I don't always know what goes up.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Christian Politics
Last night I found a pamphlet that, in my opinion, embodies everything that is wrong with the way Christians approach politics. The pamphlet was entitled 'What Harm Can Same-Sex Marriage Do?' and it proceeded to give several brief warnings about the potential 'problems' that same-sex marriage would present if it were allowed. Now let me say that I am not a fan of same-sex marriage. Any of you who read my post in response to Lisa Millers article in Newsweek know that I am against it. However the approach of the authors of this pamphlet is completely wrong and decidedly unchristian.
In brief the pamphlet outlined a number of potential dangers is same-sex marriage laws are allowed to pass. The majority of these 'dangers' were purely statistical in nature. A couple of these are as follows, 1) The number of divorces will increase (while this may be technically true it is a ridiculous argument. The only reason that the number of divorces would increase would be because there would be gay as well as straight people getting divorced. This would have no real impact on the Christian community or society in general.) 2)The number of people unfaithful to their spouses would increase (same objection as above, this is true only because there would now be gay as well as straight people being unfaithful to their spouse. However these gays that would be unfaithful to their spouses are already unfaithful to their partners, there would be no real change.)
Others had little to do with gay marriage, one argument was that Christian organizations would be forced to hire homosexuals. However this movement is already underway and has had some success (several years ago the Boy Scouts were forced to allow homosexual Scout Leaders) and has only limited connection to the fight over same-sex marriage. While the success of same-sex marriage may have some effect on this argument it, in my opinion, is likely to be minor and have little influence in the success or failure of this movement.
Overall the arguments listed were poor, however this is not my objection. The arguments listed were clearly designed to play on the fear and hate that exists within certain segments of the Christian community over the issue of same-sex marriage. The pamphlet did nothing to address the real issues behind the debate and instead made surface arguments designed to scare Christians into standing against same-sex marriage. Besides the fact that this tactic is unlikely to sway anyone that is not already against same-sex marriage, it does not display the Christian nature preached by Christ and his apostles.
We are commanded to be 'salt and light' to the world. We are commanded to love our neighbors and our enemies. We are commanded to obey the governments that are placed over us as long as they do not contradict the clear teaching of scripture. The tactic used by this pamphlet, which is common throughout Christian politics, flies in the face of these commands. As I said above it plays on fear and hate, the same tactics were used against President Elect Obama in the recent election. These tactics do nothing to support the Christian reputation and, in fact, damage it. I spoke recently about what it means to be set apart, this is an excellent example of NOT being set apart. The way Christians approach politics is just as hateful and dirty as anyone else, sometimes more so. If we are going to call ourselves Christians lets start being set apart in our actions instead of separatist in our culture.
In brief the pamphlet outlined a number of potential dangers is same-sex marriage laws are allowed to pass. The majority of these 'dangers' were purely statistical in nature. A couple of these are as follows, 1) The number of divorces will increase (while this may be technically true it is a ridiculous argument. The only reason that the number of divorces would increase would be because there would be gay as well as straight people getting divorced. This would have no real impact on the Christian community or society in general.) 2)The number of people unfaithful to their spouses would increase (same objection as above, this is true only because there would now be gay as well as straight people being unfaithful to their spouse. However these gays that would be unfaithful to their spouses are already unfaithful to their partners, there would be no real change.)
Others had little to do with gay marriage, one argument was that Christian organizations would be forced to hire homosexuals. However this movement is already underway and has had some success (several years ago the Boy Scouts were forced to allow homosexual Scout Leaders) and has only limited connection to the fight over same-sex marriage. While the success of same-sex marriage may have some effect on this argument it, in my opinion, is likely to be minor and have little influence in the success or failure of this movement.
Overall the arguments listed were poor, however this is not my objection. The arguments listed were clearly designed to play on the fear and hate that exists within certain segments of the Christian community over the issue of same-sex marriage. The pamphlet did nothing to address the real issues behind the debate and instead made surface arguments designed to scare Christians into standing against same-sex marriage. Besides the fact that this tactic is unlikely to sway anyone that is not already against same-sex marriage, it does not display the Christian nature preached by Christ and his apostles.
We are commanded to be 'salt and light' to the world. We are commanded to love our neighbors and our enemies. We are commanded to obey the governments that are placed over us as long as they do not contradict the clear teaching of scripture. The tactic used by this pamphlet, which is common throughout Christian politics, flies in the face of these commands. As I said above it plays on fear and hate, the same tactics were used against President Elect Obama in the recent election. These tactics do nothing to support the Christian reputation and, in fact, damage it. I spoke recently about what it means to be set apart, this is an excellent example of NOT being set apart. The way Christians approach politics is just as hateful and dirty as anyone else, sometimes more so. If we are going to call ourselves Christians lets start being set apart in our actions instead of separatist in our culture.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Set Apart
Well, one of the comments on my last post led me to this one. I want to talk about what it means, and what it does not mean, to be set apart. When I spoke of holiness I said that the general meaning is to be set apart. However in modern Christian culture I believe that we have taken this idea too far. We are to be set apart, but not separate. Modern Christianity, at least in America, has developed into a highly separatist culture. Christians go to Christian Churches, watch Christian movies, listen to Christian music, hang out in Christian clubs, send their kids to Christian schools, read Christian books, and have little to no interaction with the non-Christian world, and then we call this be set apart. This is NOT being set apart, this is being separate. Christ did not separate himself from sinner, instead he spent much of his time WITH them. One of the Pharisees most common indictments of Christ was that he spent his time with tax collectors and prostitutes. This is equivalent in modern culture to spending our time in drug dens and strip bars. What set Christ apart was his actions, he spent time with sinner but did not partake in their sins.
In modern Christian culture we concern ourselves far too much with appearing Christian instead of actually trying to be like Christ. The non-Christian world views us as judgmental not because we are set apart as God commands but because we separate ourselves to the nth degree and then look down on those who are not separate. If we, as Christians, are to be effective for the cause of Christ then we must learn to be set apart instead of separate. Please don't think that I am encouraging you to go engage in sin, I am not, what I am saying is that we should be spending time with those who do. While nothing that I listed above is bad in and of itself the conglomeration of all of the separations is a separatist culture which can have NO POSITIVE EFFECT for Christ.
As for how to be set apart but not separate. We must learn what it means to eat with sinners and not sin. Every Christian has certain sins that are more tempting to him and certain sins that are less tempting. While one man may be tempted to excessive drinking another may be tempted to steal and another to lust. As Christians we must know what temptations we are prone too and what temptations we are not prone to. If we do this then it will be obvious who we can spend time with and who we can't. I have never been particularly tempted by alcohol, in fact I have never been drunk in my life. I drank through most of high school and never once got drunk, so I can say with clarity that alcohol is not a temptation for me, I can spend time with drinkers and drunks and not be tempted to partake in their sin.
We must also know who we can witness too. This takes some trial and error but it is essential that every Christian learn what group of non-Christians he/she can fit in with. In this way we can be set apart, but not separate; we can be in the world but not of it. Then, and only then, can we be truly effective in following the Great Commandment.
In modern Christian culture we concern ourselves far too much with appearing Christian instead of actually trying to be like Christ. The non-Christian world views us as judgmental not because we are set apart as God commands but because we separate ourselves to the nth degree and then look down on those who are not separate. If we, as Christians, are to be effective for the cause of Christ then we must learn to be set apart instead of separate. Please don't think that I am encouraging you to go engage in sin, I am not, what I am saying is that we should be spending time with those who do. While nothing that I listed above is bad in and of itself the conglomeration of all of the separations is a separatist culture which can have NO POSITIVE EFFECT for Christ.
As for how to be set apart but not separate. We must learn what it means to eat with sinners and not sin. Every Christian has certain sins that are more tempting to him and certain sins that are less tempting. While one man may be tempted to excessive drinking another may be tempted to steal and another to lust. As Christians we must know what temptations we are prone too and what temptations we are not prone to. If we do this then it will be obvious who we can spend time with and who we can't. I have never been particularly tempted by alcohol, in fact I have never been drunk in my life. I drank through most of high school and never once got drunk, so I can say with clarity that alcohol is not a temptation for me, I can spend time with drinkers and drunks and not be tempted to partake in their sin.
We must also know who we can witness too. This takes some trial and error but it is essential that every Christian learn what group of non-Christians he/she can fit in with. In this way we can be set apart, but not separate; we can be in the world but not of it. Then, and only then, can we be truly effective in following the Great Commandment.
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