Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Influential book list

Someone asked me the other day to put a list of recommended books together. I have done that in the order that they most influenced me. Of course the Bible would be my most influential book, but that's kind of assumed. The links are to amazon.co.uk because the person who asked me for the list lives in the UK. Hope the list is useful to you.

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Monday, March 17, 2014

Post Modern Google+ Post Response

Original text, posted publicly 20140315 on Google+. I have added numbers to each sentence to make it easier to refer back to them and address each:
“(1) To all you wild bible people out there, take note. (2) Religious fanaticism is a mental disorder. (3) You can be spiritual or religious, and love God, without shoving it down people's throats. (4) Everyone has their own truth. (5) Respect the ones different from yours. (6) The reason Jesus said I am the way and the light was not so you would worship him as an idol, but so that you would follow in his footsteps. (7) He has the right path in the sense that he was a nonconformist to the society, he followed the natural laws, not the ones of rome and he wanted everyone to LOVE AND RESPECT EACH OTHER. (8) I dont know how you all missed all that but go and reread it if you still dont get it. (9) If you are the Christians who are cool, I salute you. (10) I am one of those too. (11)Jesus, among others, has been one of my greatest teachers. (12) Showed me I dont have to be bowing down to authority of man only of the natural God. (13) He was a misfit, like me. (14) I think he is awesome. (15) I also like Buddah for teaching enlightenment. (16) I am part Moroccan but I never got into Muslim but I have been in many churches and participated in many faiths. (17) In the end I chose meditation in nature. (18) I landed on theistic agnosticism, because for me, Religion is man's interpretation of God. (19) I want to be with God alone in nature. (20) That is where I find him. (21) I respect all other religions and faiths, and always think people should do what brings them LOVE and PEACE in their heart. (22) If it doesn't bring either of those, you are probably not in the right religion. (23) Look again. (24) Search like I did. (25) Go to every church of every religion you can. (26) One day you will find the true path for your heart to find peace. (27) One love, one light. ”
(1) Jesus was a ‘wild Bible person’. So much so that He believed even the little dots over the i and the cross of the t were important. Matthew 5:18-19
(2) Jesus was a religious fanatic. So much so that he upset the schemes of those who were using religion to take their followers’ money. John 2:13-22.
(3) Jesus was spiritual (Luke 4:1) and loved God (John 14:31), and never feared to tell people the truth, especially those who didn’t want to hear it. Positive example - Woman at the well: John 4:1-42. Negative example - Scribes & Pharisees: Matthew 23:1-36.
(4) Jesus is the one truth. There is no other: John 14:6-7.
(5) Jesus did not lend any credence to other truths. He cared about their freedom which comes from true truth and not falsehood. John 8:31-32.
(6) Jesus specifically said the “Way, Truth, & Light” comment in the context of convincing the disciples to worship Him as God. He was not merely asking them to ‘follow in his footsteps’. John 14:1-11.
(7) Jesus conformed to God’s law perfectly, not some imagined ‘natural law’. 2 Cor 5:21 , John 8:29,55. Jesus did rebel against religious works and those promulgating them. John 8:12-59. Jesus did preach turning the other cheek (Matthew 5:38-48), but He also taught that telling the truth (especially when it was hard to hear) was more important than just getting along with people. Positive example - Rich young ruler: Mark 10:17-22. Negative example - Peter’s blasphemy is condemned: Matthew 16:21-23.
(8) I agree. Re-read all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John). Jesus will surprise you.
(9) Jesus was un-cool and warned us that we would be un-cool: Matthew 10:16-33.
(10) Actually she doesn’t know the Father or the Son, because she denies His deity in (6). 1 John 2:21-25.
(11) Jesus is more than just a teacher. He is God. John 13:12-17, John 10:22-39, Colossians 1:15-21.
(12) Actually we are to obey the government we are under as it is placed there by God: Romans 13:1-7.
(13) Jesus was not a mistake, Galatians 4:3-7. He is the return of the original intent of mankind, Romans 5.
(14) Jesus is more amazing than people who don’t know Him, can imagine. He does more than teach love and respect: Hebrews 1:1-4, He is to be worshiped forever: Revelations 4 & 5.
(15) Buddha’s teaching was one of self works to reach enlightenment. Self works are anti-Christ since they depend on our work instead of His (Ephesians 1:1-9). 2 John 7-11 says that anyone who does not teach Christ and His work is evil. Galatians 1:6-9 says that anyone teaching any other ‘good’ news shall be cursed. Therefore Buddha is not good, but evil and likewise his teaching.
(16) Islam teaches an adherence to the 5 pillars in the hopes of Allah’s mercy upon you. This is works based relition again and the same passages and comments apply to Islam as did to Buddhism. See comments in response to (15).
(17) Looking at creation and confusing it with God is foolish and deserving condemnation. Romans 1:18-23.
(18) Jesus doesn’t care about religion and condemns those who foster it: Matthew 23:1-36. He cares about pursuing us in relationship: John 6:35-40.
(19) We must seek the Son, Jesus. Without Him we cannot access the Father. John 14:1-11.
(20) Yes, Creation does point to God, but equally does His word: Psalm 19.
(21) Jesus did not respect all other religions or faiths, He only cared for worship based in truth (Matthew 5) and He promised to separate those who did not believe the truth from those who do: Matthew 25:31-46.
(22) Only Christ can secure us love and peace from the Father. Romans 1:1-17.
(23) Searching the Bible is the way to know the true message of Jesus. Acts 17:11-12.
(24) Yes pursue Christ and He will open to you. Matthew 7:7-11 & John 10:7-18.
(25) No, do not waste your time pursuing things which only bring you death. Proverbs 9:1-6, 13-18.
(26) Don’t waste time, you could die at any moment. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3.
(27) Unless Bob Marley believed that Christ’s death and resurrection paid for our sins, he is in hell. Don’t be fooled. Titus 3:3-7.

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Saturday, March 2, 2013

I just don't get restoration theology

I'm not sure that's the official name for it. But it's this 'newish' gospel that people have been preaching, it says that Jesus' death on the cross not only restores those elected, but also begins the restoration of the Earth itself and we as believers must assist Christ in that restorative act. Usually this manifests in efforts by the local church to improve the socio-economic status of those around them and even improvements to the environment around them.

Now of course I'm not against caring for the poor and needy, nor am I against taking care of the Earth. I'm an out-doors guy and understand the value of caring for what we were entrusted with. Gen 1:28-30;  2:15. And more importantly I'm very happy to serve the poor and needy as Christ did and the early church did. Mark 6:53-56; Acts 2:45. But in this case, Jesus healed the sick as an opportunity to get their attention to preach the truth to them. It wasn't merely to make them better, though He of course cared and valued that. His actions were clearly to create a venue to teach. Mark 1:21-28; 2:1- 12; 3:1-6; 5:1-20; 6:30-43 (esp vs 34); etc...  Jesus in fact said He came to preach and teach. Mark 1:35-39. He sent the apostles out to teach: Mark 6:7-12. I can't find any scriptures where He said: "I come to restore the earth and make this world better." If someone can point me to scriptures where He says this, I would like to learn about them.

I'm not trying to lose the kindness and love that Christ shows to people, and that we are to show to people as models of Him. If we don't love them, how can they hear our message? But that's the point, we should have the goal of them hearing our message and our service to them should be for them to hear. If we are merely serving, just to raise up their socio-economic status, then I don't see how Christians are any different from secular organizations who do community service projects. My favorite example are men's fraternities in college. Most frat houses do lots and lots of community service. They feed the poor, they raise money for cancer, and they build shelters for the needy. But their ultimate goal is to party hard on the weekend. They are not trying to preach a message of faith and repentance in the slightest. Service without message makes the church no different.

To get back to this restoration theology, I don't see any scripture supporting mankind's efforts to restore the earth. In fact the scriptures I see show Christ coming back and creating the new heavens and new earth after throughly destroying the old one.

  • Rev. 3:12 -- "... the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God, out of heaven."
  • Rev. 6:12-17 -- "... the stars of the sky fell on the earth, ... the sky vanished like a scroll, ...and every mountain and island removed from its place..."
  • Rev. 8:6-13 -- ... hail and fire... third of trees and grass burned up...; third of the sea becomes blood, third of living creatures in the sea are killed; third of the rivers and springs ruined and people die; third of sun, moon, and stars are struck;
  • Rev. 9:13-19 -- a third of mankind is killed by plague
  • Rev. 16:17-21 -- final plague is brought destroying many things & people with hailstones
  • Rev. 21:1-2; 5,6 -- new heavens and a new earth, the first earth had passed away; Jesus makes all things new

If Jesus is going to destroy the old one and replace it with a new one, why should we work so hard to maintain it? Again, not saying we shouldn't help the poor and needy. Nor am I saying we shouldn't be involved in government and social structures as individuals. Of course we need to let our light shine in the darkness. (For instance I'm kind of against home schooling my kids b/c it removes an opportunity to shine into the darkness.) But the whole point of letting that light shine is to bring people to Christ. Not to merely make the current structures better.  This new restoration theology seems to have a goal to improve the socio-economic status as a means to its own end. And that's my problem with it.

Let's just leave the gospel alone, the way it has been understood for 2000 years. The penal substitution of Christ on the cross to redeem us from our sins and restore us to a right relationship with the Father. (Romans 3:23-26, 6:23, 5:6-11, 10:9-13). Let's not try to reform and add to it with this restoration concept if it's not supported by scripture.



A little post script. I don't want to be an arrogant jerk. If there is some scriptures supporting restoration theology, please someone post them so I can learn. Maybe I'm missing some major component and theme in the New Testament. In the end, my goal in life is to magnify Christ. If my theology is short-changing His glory, then I am very open to correction.

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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Generous Orthodoxy Leads to Loss of Mission

Read this article tonight:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/tim-suttle/will-evangelicalism-last_b_2727883.html

 Two troubling paragraphs:
"Mission fosters the capacious orthodoxy necessary for us to stick together. Mission allows for the generous diversity of thought which is essential to a healthy evangelical gene pool. Biologists teach us the less diverse the gene pool, the more at-risk the species. The more homogeneous our beliefs become the less likely evangelicals are to survive. We need a rich, diverse orthodoxy. As the evangelical truth-police work to silence all minority reports, they are actually working against the overall health of the tribe.

Those who wish to functionally excommunicate Rob Bell and others like him are alienating the very Christians who promise to provide the kind of theological diversity essential to our healthy future. We should be welcoming Bell's voice, not silencing it. If evangelicals have a future together, it will not be the way of those who cry "heresy" and let slip the dogs of war. It will be with those who unite around mission and prefer a rich theological landscape."

The Bible and orthodoxy are not something that needs a diversity. It is not acceptable or compatible to say that 'everyone gets into heaven' as Bell does, and what Jesus says in John 6:37-40: "37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 ForI have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” Jesus is quite exclusive. He only permits into heaven, those He has called.

His biodiversity argument doesn't make any sense at all. God spent the entire Old Testament calling out his people to separate them from the diverse orthodoxy around them. Jesus carried that torch further in His ministry showing how the religious elite had perverted God's message of grace.

The second paragraph doesn't make any sense compared to Jesus and Paul's in the New Testament. Both of them fought for orthodoxy continuously. Jesus didn't 'generously diversify' His message to include the religious elite's view of works and hereditary based salvation. Paul opposed Peter in front of a group of church leaders in Galatia when Peter tried to act like a Judizer and put salvific value in circumcision. 

Both of these paragraphs highlight what my own church so often promotes: "Let's spend our energies helping God restore the earth. This is our most important goal." I would argue, the Bible describe's God's most important goal as giving Him glory and enjoying Him forever. We do this best when we do as His Son called us to do, and that's to make disciples from here to the nations. Disciples who individually dedicate themselves to Christ as Lord of their life, and then influence the area around them with His light to draw others to saving faith. 

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Monday, January 2, 2012

Daily Bible Reading 1/2/2012

Some friends and I are trying to read through the Bible this year. I'll be posting comments I make on the passages I'm reading as I read them. I'm following the One Year Bible Reading Plan where you jump around and get a passage of OT, NT, Psalms, and Proverbs.

Gen. 3 always catches me.
1) Eve makes up her own religion in Gen. 3:3. She add's a prohibition of touching to God's command in Gen. 2:16-17 not to eat. We are the same way, at least I am. I produce new rules to relate to God in an effort to 'protect' myself from wrong doing. When I add to God's law, I change what He, in His perfection, has laid forth, and it leads me to eventual ruin like it did Eve.
2) Eve sort of works her way up to the sin in Gen. 3:6. She sees its good for food, that it looks good, and that it will make her wise, and then she dives in. Aren't we the same way? Don't we see a sin and justify it to ourselves slowly but surly to assuage the pain of the sin we our flesh desires us to commit?
3) Adam does nothing to defend his Wife from sin in Gen 3:6. Do I do anything to help my wife? I mean I try to set a good example, but it's not that great. And how do I defend her without being over-bearing and nagging? We don't do any Bible study together or pray together. I'm sure I drop the ball in many other relationships as well in helping to protect my loved ones from sin.
4) God is so merciful to them in Gen. 3:9-24. God promised in Gen. 2, that He would kill them if they ate of the tree. And yet he mercifully doesn't kill them, and instead talks to them. He of course lays out consequences for their actions, but even in the laying of consequences He provides the 'proto-evangelion', the first prophecy of Christ. There is an implied slaying of an animal in Gen 3:21 to make skins to cover their nakedness which does a much better job than the fig leaves they had made for themselves in Gen. 3:7. Another fore-taste of Christ's infinitely better covering of our sins. And He prevents us from living forever in a tainted sinful flesh. I couldn't bear permanent life associated with Sin. He is so kind to us despite ours and our forebears complete lack of deserving. (english major's toss some help to a nerd's poor english on that last phrase...)

Matt. 3:1-6 is a striking display of the call to repent and its affect on people. Such that the call would drive them into the wilderness to be cleansed. Do I have the strength to call people to repent, and help lead them to Christ?

Psalm 2 is such a scary warning of false belief. I pray those who have made new years resolutions have not resolved to oppose God. It will not go well with them.

Prov. 1:7. Being in Afghanistan was a big maturation change for me. I realized while I was there, that if I wanted to become a leader it was time to pick up that mantle and stop messing around. Actually it was John Snow who taught me to 'put the boy aside'. Given that charge, I want to be a wise leader. And to do so, I must fear the Lord above all.
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Tuesday, June 14, 2011

1 Peter 1 Gospel Moment 8

1 Peter 1: 22 - 25 -- Lastly as a result of the Gospel and our salvation, we are to serve others. Why? Because if the point of salvation was merely to redeem us, then God would take us home as soon as we are saved. Instead it is our role to share the gospel with others who don’t know Him. How do we get ourselves heard? By serving them. Just as our Lord did. He did miracles and served even those who were outside of His normal community, so that their hearts would be softened to His message of grace. We shouldn’t be serving out of a desire merely to elevate someone’s socioeconomic status. Our goal in service is to preach the good news of new birth. We must tell people that they, like us, are sinners and desperately need the blood of Christ to pay off the debt that we owe to God as a result of that sin. We must tell them that they not only have to intellectually understand this information, but they must repent and believe it so that they can be born again. This is the good news. This is the greatest news ever heard by man. Praise to our Lord for providing this amazing news to us.
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1 Peter 1 Gospel Moment 7

1 Peter 1:20 - 21 -- We are believers in Christ because not only did He die for us, but His sacrifice was ruled acceptable to the Father. How do we know it was acceptable? That it was an effective payment for the debt owed? Because Christ was raised from the dead. Death could not hold Him! What amazing wonderful good news. We can inherit that same perpetual life, raised from the dead as it were, ourselves because of the work of Christ. Look at the evidence of the empty tomb. Believe that it’s barren status is the receipt that proves Christ’s redeeming work was and still is effective. And the best part is that we get to give glory to God as a result of His work. We don’t have to have any focus on ourselves, but instead get to spend eternity praising Him and lifting Him up. What a privilege that the creator God of time and space would permit our eternal praise to Him. What great glorious news!!!
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1 Peter 1 Gospel Moment 6

1 Peter 1:17 - 19 -- Remember to fear the Lord God who knows what you have done. It’s not like you can hide your sin from Him. Seek Him and His forgiveness. If you are already saved, don’t forget that your salvation applies to your sins even after your conversion. It’s so common to forget who we are and our new lives and to turn back to our works-righteous ways. Remember that we were redeemed with something so much more precious than mere silver or gold. We were redeemed or bought back to the Lord’s family by the most precious blood of Christ Himself. We are not redeemed by the futile way of works righteousness that our man- made religion has set before us as supposedly effective. Don’t turn back to that old way. Don’t just follow your fathers’ ways blindly. Don’t return to that body of death. Remember it was with
precious blood. From the lamb, unblemished and spotless. The perfect God-Man sacrifice that perfectly represents us and propitiates the Father’s wrath. This blood of the ever living Christ.
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1 Peter 1 Gospel Moment 5

1 Peter 1:13-16 -- Holiness is the call for those who have been saved. This is part of our response to the offer of grace. This is the repentance part of ‘repent and believe’ that Christ calls us to in response to His offer of His Lordship and the gospel. We are not to try and be perfect prior to our salvation. Nor are we to work our way into His good graces. Instead, after we are saved we are to be Holy as He is Holy. This is a great test to see if you are saved/born again or not. If you don’t have a desire to be Holy because of the Spirit’s residence in you, then you probably don’t have the Spirit and are not born again. If you’re not born again, then please today seek the Lord and believe in the effectiveness of Christ’s sacrifice for your sins, which you have committed in treason against God who rightly judges you guilty of those sins.
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1 Peter 1 Gospel Moment 4

1 Peter 1:10 - 12 -- Even the prophets in the Old Testament prophesied of the grace that was to come to us. This grace is unmerited favor, or put another way it’s a free gift. I mean we’re talking about the most precious substance in the universe, the blood of Jesus, poured out for us. Just think the 5 liters of blood in Christ’s human body was sufficient to cover over the sins of all who have been saved before and after His death. What a small volume to cover such a large number of people. This blood that God set out to spend on us for the propitiation of His wrath has to be supremely valuable and powerful to satiate the terrible wrath of the Father that we all have earned. And yet for all its power and value, we get the benefits of it for free!!!

But a free gift doesn’t do anything for the one who would receive it if he never gets it. This is why Peter goes out of his way to mention that his audience heard of the gospel from others. This is our responsibility, if we have already learned the gospel. We must share it with others. Not because we are required to, though we are, but because it should burst out of us because of how good the news is.
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1 Peter 1 Gospel Moment 3

1 Peter 1:8 & 9 -- We rejoice with inexpressible joy and are filled with glory for God because of our faith in Christ, this despite never seeing Him with our own eyes. Why do we rejoice? Because we have obtained the outcome of our faith, the salvation of our souls!! Again this is fantastic, wonderful news that we should share with all. God’s nature requires that He judge sin. That sin is part and parcel of all human beings as a result of the Fall. But merely placing faith in Christ grants us salvation of our very souls. The part of us that will live forever, either in torment or glory. As the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 2: “how can we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?!” So this day, if you’re unsure of whether you will be in Heaven, seek Him and join with the saints in greatly rejoicing!
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Thursday, June 9, 2011

1 Peter 1 Gospel Moment

1 Peter 1:3-5 -- God receives all blessing and honor for causing us to be born again. What does it mean to be born again? It means to be born spiritually, not just physically as we did on our exit from the womb. If we are not born again, then we are not saved. We must be made completely new as a result of Christ’s work. This requires us to repent and believe in His ability to make us new. If we don’t repent and try to somehow take a little Jesus and a little of our own works then we are not saved. If we don’t turn away from our old selves then its proof that we haven’t trusted in a new Lord. It’s not that we have to ‘clean ourselves up’ prior to faith, but that as part of faith we commit to turn away from our old selves.

This passage also points to the hope we have in God to secure our salvation to the end of time and beyond. It is He who protects our salvation and ensures that our salvation is imperishable and will not fade away. This is fantastic news!! Its the greatest news of all that God is ensuring our salvation and not us.
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Monday, June 6, 2011

1 Peter 1 Gospel moment

I was looking through 1 Peter 1 for opportunities to preach the gospel and came up with a few. I'll post them once a day for the next few days.

1 Peter 1:1-2 -- Peter points out the Trinitarian function of our salvation. The Father chooses, The Spirit sanctifies, and The Christ spent His blood on our behalf. As a result of this we have grace and peace in the fullest measure. Now who is this grace and peace between? Is it between the believers and the ‘world’? No because Peter is going to refer soon to his readers (and our) impending trials. This grace and peace are between us and God as a result of our salvation through Jesus. This is the good news!! The bad news is that God has a just right to destroy us for our sin, and yet because of His great, unending, amazing mercy, He created a perfect way to both judge our sin on His son and also bring Him the greatest glory imaginable by redeeming His sinful creation. This is the news we should shout from the roof tops and share with everyone we meet. This peace and grace is available, if we but obey Christ and repent and believe that He is capable to save.
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Monday, April 25, 2011

Functional Universalism

Do We Really Believe What We're Saying? from The Church at Brook Hills on Vimeo.

This video is convicting to me. Very convicting. Do I spend all of my energy to partner with the Spirit to save the lost? Do I actually care about them? and prove it by my actions & words?

I have so much to grow in to and learn. I must pursue courage. And honor my Lord.

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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

How do we comfort ourselves after we sin, when we know better?

A friend asked me: How do we comfort ourselves after we sin, when we know better? Especially in the context of 2 Peter 2:20-22

It is good to feel remorse for our sin, b/c it does pain the Father and our sin is what caused Him to sacrifice His Son on our behalf (Isaiah 53). However we should not dwell on it after we have sought forgiveness b/c He removes our iniquity as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103). If we dwell in our sin afterwards it is temptation by the Evil one to try and make us forget who we have been changed into. It's like Satan is trying to pull us back to the corpse and dead body that we have left behind.

It's times like this that helps me to remember: 1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This couldn't be any clearer. If we confess our sins, He will forgive us and cleanse us. Don't forget these words. Memorize them. That's what I've had to do.

It also helps me to read through Psalm 51. This is the Psalm David wrote confessing his sin and seeking God's forgiveness after he had committed adultery and murder. Remember David did these terrible things long after he was king and had served the Lord for many years. He also went on after this to continue to serve the Lord and remain in fellowship with Him. Over the years, different parts of the psalm have grown on me. Lately the vs 13 & 14: "13Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness" have gathered more of my attention. Not that my sin should be a positive excuse, but that by seeing my sin it forces me to come running back to my Lord, seeking His favor and then propelling me to tell others of how great He is to forgive even me, the lowliest of repeated sinners. And thus I can see God putting to good use even my sin. Not that He wants me to sin, but that He can even use my ungodliness to His purpose.

If you want to look for examples of patience with sin, Psalm 103, mentioned above, is a great one. But also just look at the whole context of the Old Testament. God could have, and probably should have, left the Israelites for forgetting Him throughout their entire history. And yet He always remains consistent. He always maintains a remnant of followers. He always returns to them to bring them to Him.

Does that hit what you were asking about?
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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Read/Listen to Romans!!

You should read Romans all the way through. It will answer a lot of your questions. I would also recommend a sermon series to go along with it. Sermon series are perfect for commuting. You're in the car/train any way might as well redeem the time.
A few good ones would be:
-- Phil Smuland from my church in College: http://www.cov-pres.org/teaching/Romans.php This was really the sermon series that awakened my love for the word and the Lord. Downside is it's like 96 sermons.
-- Tommy Nelson from a church called Denton Bible in Texas. I really like Tommy's teaching style: http://dbcmedia.org/sermons/romans-complete-mp3-series/ This one is only 49 messages
-- R.C. Sproul is pretty big/famous theologian: http://www.ligonier.org/learn/sermons/?scripture=5 I like R.C. A lot too. This is about 60 sermons give or take.

Seriously. Listen to sermons, read Romans. Know who God is. You won't be disappointed.
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Monday, March 28, 2011

Can Christians be Warriors?

A friend asked me: Is it ok for Christians to use weapons? And what do these passages mean?

[Luke 22:36] Then said He unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.

[Mat 26:51] And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear.

[Mat 26:52] Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the swordshall perish with the sword.

Good questions.
When interpreting scripture you always want to understand the context in which it was written. Since the books of the Bible were written to a specific intended audience we need to understand that audience a little and try and hear as they would have heard. As an illustration, if I was trying to understand what a particular function did in a larget code block, I can't do that unless I understand the functions called before it and after it from the main().

So first thing is that Luke in general is written to gentiles (non-jews). In particular this part of the book is when Jesus is in the Upper Room, where He is celebrating the passover with His disciples right before He is captured by the Jewish religious ruling council. It's His last night, and He has a lot of rapid-fire issues He wants to bring up with them to prepare them for life without Him in the flesh. Among those issues is the state that they will find themselves while carrying out their lives in service to Him.

Reading back just a bit we see in Luke 22:35-38 that Jesus is comparing their preparedness when He sent them out on a little missions trip earlier in their service to Him, to how they will need to be prepared after He is ' numbered with the transgressors' i.e. punished and killed.

So catching up to 22:36 there are probably a couple of ways to look at this. In general Jesus was never against defending oneself, though He was willing to take condemnation if it meant expansion of His mission. Therefore this passage could mean that Jesus was warning His disciples that soon they would need to prepare for hardship by guarding their money and their light-weight possessions (enough to fit in a backpack, not extravagant living) and get a sword for defense. A verse later the disciples say they have 2. If Jesus thought swords were a problem, He would have prohibited the sword long before they got to the upper room, since they likely carried them all the way from home in Galilee. Jesus says they are enough. It could be that even though 2 swords for 13 men is no where near enough, it is enough given that they have Jesus.

On the other hand it could be that Jesus was suggesting that they metaphorically have the sword of the spirit (Eph. 6:10-17) and later when they say they have 2 physical swords His word: "Enough" could be a rebuke.

Of the two ways to look at it, I'd probably lean towards the first one. Seems like He's giving them a lot of 'going away' advice so why not warn them to defend themselves. In the ultimate sense, God will protect and bring us to heaven if we believe that His Son died on the cross for the sins that we committed against Him. So we don't really need to worry about being killed in the line of duty to Him.

Matt. 26:51,52 == Again we need to look at the context of the book and the original audience, so we know how to understand what the author wrote. Matt 26:47-56. Matthew was written to a Jewish audience. So everything that Matthew writes should be interpreted in that context. He often doesn't explain Jewish mindset or customs, b/c he assumes that the reader gets them by default. This understanding applies here b/c the Jews were expecting the Messiah to come back in strength and overthrow the oppressors. God had been silent between the last Prophet Malachi and Jesus for about 400 years or so. The Hebrews that welcomed Him into Jerusalem on 'Palm Sunday', 4 days earlier, waved palms b/c those were symbols of kingship in Hebrew culture. So with all that expectation of overthrow of the current power over them (the Romans), the Jews had a really tough time understanding that Jesus was not leading a political rebellion. Even His own followers didn't really get it until after He was dead.

We can see this understanding carried out b/c Peter uses his sword to cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest. Jesus immediately rebukes Peter and heals the servant's ear. Jesus makes the point that (a) He must suffer at the hands of the high priest so that He can die and pay the penalty of our sins. (b) Jesus makes the point that He didn't come to take a political kingdom, but to inaugurate a spiritual one.

This is the explanation of Mat. 26:52. Jesus is saying that if you try to take the world by force to convert them to my kingship then you're going about it the wrong way. If Jesus wanted to do things by force He could call down legions of angels. But He didn't. The father was calling Him to suffer.

So what's our responsibility in all this? Do we have the right to defend ourselves? Yes. Do we have the requirement to do so? No. If it will advance the kingdom to be humble before someone's attack, then it is worth it to suffer for Jesus. All of this applies to our personal lives and behavior.

The state on the other hand is not a person. What applies to the person and His life does not apply to the state. Even though the state is an amalgamation of lots of individuals. It cannot behave like the individual in all areas because it doesn't make sense. The state has to act in the best interests of it's people which may not always favor the individual.
-- Luke 3:12-14 Jesus approves of soldering. Just not abuse of their power as individuals.
-- Romans 13:1-4 Paul discusses how we are to submit to the governing authorities b/c they've been appointed by God and have the right of the sword to carry out God's judgement on both internal matters and external matters.
-- 1 Peter 2:13-14 Peter tells us to submit to authorities again who have the right to punish evil-doers. Again they have that right to punish internal to their country and externally against other countries.

I could go on with other examples of warriors whom God approves of:
-- David. He was a warrior King who defended his people and attacked those who sought to oppress Him. He even expanded the nation of Israel to new, wider boarders.
-- Joshua. He led the people into the promised land and conquered many of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan.
-- Gideon. Led the people in the time of the Judges. With the Lord's help they vanquished the enemies of God.

And more and more. In all of the examples though, they are leaders of the state and are approved by God to make war, and more than that they are helped/protected by God to ensure that they win.
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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Pastor Bell vs. MSNBC


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If the video doesn't work here's the link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/vp/42098348#42098348

I don't know if Mr. Bashir is a Christian or not. He seems to be interviewing as a normal journalist would, seeking the truth and logically applying statements to understand their conclusions.

I appreciated this interview b/c it focused on logic and formal debate. There was no emotionalism that I could detect on the part of Mr. Bashir. And since we don't know if he is a Christian or not, it makes it easier to accept that he probably doesn't have a horse in the fight of whether Pastor Bell is orthodox or not.

Pastor Bell's chief argument against Mr. Bashir appears to me to be reducible to: "It's ok to believe whatever you want about Heaven and Hell as long as you can find someone in the history of Christianity who has believed it too." This seems terribly irresponsible for a pastor to tell his followers that truth and falsehood don't matter when it comes to understanding who God is. Isn't that the whole point of the second commandment? By not being clear, he is in effect suggesting to his parishioners that it's ok to worship a false god.

I also wanted to address a tweet I read about this interview earlier in the week:
"Not sure why everyone is claiming victory based on @realrobbell 's interview with Martin Bashir. Truth isn't based on who can argue better."
Sure a particular position (truth) can be correct, regardless of whether someone can argue well on its behalf. If my 4 year old can't put together a cogent argument to defend the pythagorean theorem, that doesn't make the theorem false. But if a particular truth is valid, there should be a logical defense of that truth. In our math example, a college math teacher (aka an expert in the field of math) could easily make the argument.

In this case we're not talking about a 4 year old being out of their depth, but we're talking to an expert in the field, a pastor talking about doctrine. In fact it's not just any doctrine, but it's a doctrine that the pastor in question seems to have studied well enough to write a book about it. If he can't argue his point cogently against a journalist who likely hasn't been to seminary and hasn't been studying the topic for the last x months, then how can we say that the 'truth' being defended by the pastor is valid? He of all people should be able to make logical arguments to defend it.

So no, truth isn't based on who can argue better. But if a qualified agent can't argue for a position they have established, then the veracity of that position is certainly questionable. Especially if their opponent argues better for their contrary position.

Where does that leave me? It challenges me to 1 Peter 3:15: "15but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect," I need to: (1) Honor Christ as Holy (2) be prepared by studying and thinking about what the Bible says about who Christ is so that I can honor Him as Holy (3) Join with the Spirit, and be able to cogently dialogue with others about the truths in the Bible, in order to lead them to the truth the Bible proclaims. (4) be gentle and respectful.

Anyone want to guess which of those 4 steps are the hardest for me?
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