In The Public's Eye

So, there's this thing going around.  Unless you're the loom-smashingest of Luddites and abstain from all forms of technology, you've definitely seen the Ice Bucket Challenge.  The original idea was to capitalize on the schoolyard-style dare system, where you challenge someone else to either donate $100 to ALS research or take a large bucket of ice water directly to the dome.  Since it appears that no one has turned down the bucket, the system has morphed into a "do the challenge and donate some amount anyway" rather than the straight cash-or-dare mentality, and it's estimated that by the time it's all said and done around $20 million dollars will have been raised for ALS research.

I like the donating.  I like the way the viral nature of the internet has spread the idea to all corners of the world, drawing in donations from places and people who would likely never have otherwise given.  I just don't necessarily like the methodology that had to get us here, because in the end, it's still all about the person doing the giving, not the person being given to.

"Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matthew 6:1-4, NIV)

Long story short, the Ice Bucket Challenge bothers me.  I realize that morality and righteousness don't depend on my misgivings and opinions, but I don't see this sort of attitude given much credence in scripture.  In fact, Christ rather explicitly says that making a spectacle of good deeds robs them of worth.  Maybe not in temporal terms, but at least some on an eternal level, and that's really the point.  I love the giving, I just hate spectacle.  Yes, I'm a cynic, and a killjoy, and probably whatever else you'd like to throw into the bin, but there really is no place for spectacle in faith.  I distrust spectacle, emotionalism, and persuasive pathos in basically all of its forms, but doubly so when couched in the context of virtue or spiritualism.  So let's be honest here, verse 2 could very, very easily be rewritten in a modern context to say:

"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it, as the hypocrites do on Twitter and on Facebook and on Instagram, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full."

There's something wrong with the way that we as a culture and a race have been forced to shoehorn such a positive, altruistic act towards the needy into a me-centric culture that needs to be recognized for every little thing.  Yes, people are giving, and that's awesome.  But how often is this just an easy way to feel good for not changing your behavior (in that it's just another thing to post online and be noticed for)?  How much does that apply to people you know?  Would those same people have donated if someone had just challenged them to donate and walked away, never to know the results?  Would you have done so?  Judge your own conscience for yourself—I certainly don't have the resources nor the authority to try—but be very honest with yourself about this.  If you feel that your motives and actions are pure, then so much the better.  I would caution, though, our culture tells us that everything we do needs to be about us on some level, and I have a bit of a feeling that Christ would not have been seen online with a bucket over his head calling out people to match his donations.

How To: The Bible

Welcome back again.  I apologize for the lapse in updating.  I was away for a week on a missions trip, and by the time I got back, I was drained.  Anyway, I hope the previous post got through to you.  Because I’m psychic, however, I can hear a few of you through my computer screen:

“Okay, I get it, I need to read the Bible.  But it’s just so... big!”

Yeah, it’s intimidating.  66 books is a lot, but don’t think about it as a whole like that.  Most of you have read that many books by the time you graduate from high school (at least, if you’re being good and doing your schoolwork like I never did).  As with the proverbial elephant, we eat this thing one bite at a time, and here’s a nice list of precepts to keep handy.  These will help you to no end in your study and reading of the Scriptures.  I know they helped me.  Unlike past posts (and future ones, too), today’s lesson won’t feature a whole lot of scripture to back up what I’m saying.  Not that it can’t, but I’m trying to keep these things to a manageable word count here.

1) Prayer

Absolutely never start digging into the Word without opening in prayer.  It doesn’t have to be long, or even all that deep, but start by getting your head right.  Remember that there is always something new to see and learn, no matter how familiar the passage.  Ask God to reveal his Truth, and you’ll be surprised at how often it happens.

2) Did you pray already?  Okay then.

3) Ignore verses, read passages.

I know this seems obvious, but the writers of the Bible never put numbers into their letters, in the same way that Shakespeare never put those little line numbers in the margins of his plays and sonnets.  Those were added at a later date as reference guides and research tools, and they have NO direct impact on the text itself.

The Bible is a series of stories and letters, so read like it.  Read whole sections, or even whole books if time allows.  Imagine that you are receiving this writing as a whole, as the churches did in the past.  By setting too much weight on the numbers and chapters, we’re tempted into taking verses out of context, and letting them stand alone, which by the way...

4) NO verse ever stands alone.

I actually had a gentleman come to my door once to try to get me to come to his church.  The problem was, this gentleman was a heretic, and espousing a completely false doctrine.  He also had exactly one verse in the entirety of the Bible to prove his statements with.  This is almost ALWAYS a problem.  The Bible can never, ever contradict its own theology.  The point is furthered when the passage this young man was quoting to me was preceded not two verses beforehand by a verse declaring it to be “a great allegory”, which of course this sect was taking literally.  This kind of stuff is much harder to do when you’ve trained yourself to see context at all times.

5) The Bible can never mean what it never meant.

Context, context, context.  I can not say it enough.  If you don’t know what the Bible says in context, then you’re so much more likely to fall prey to the twisting of the Scriptures by unprincipled men.  This should also go without saying, but the Bible wasn’t written in English.  Because of the myriad word choice we have in English for similar subjects and ideas, we have different versions of the Bible.  Wherever you see an interesting word choice, or a phrase that catches your eye, I highly recommend you look up the original wording.  My personal favorite site is biblehub.com, where you can look up any passage or verse and get the greek or hebrew concordance for the words.  As a study tool, this site is a must-have.

More important than the specific words, though, might just be the historical context into which the passage was written.  So much of the Bible is written to an audience that has the same reference pool, which we don’t have today.  When the Bible speaks in Revelation of overcomers being given a “white stone”, we have absolutely no idea what to do with that image.  By researching the world of Asia Minor and the Mediterranean in that time, we realize that a white stone was given to victors in the Olympic games as an entry token to the post-race celebrations.  Things like this are why study is so important.

6) The Bible interprets itself when interpretation is necessitated.

While concordances and the writings of scholars are great study aids, they should never, ever be taken above the Word itself.  The Bible (through the Spirit of God) will always reveal its own meaning to those who desire to learn.  While that can sound hokey, the alternative is to leave the Bible open to interpretation by any outside source.  Men who know comparatively little would attempt to define the meanings of ultimate truth and judge omniscience itself by lesser terms!  How can that be?

Some passages in the Bible are unclear.  We run into this most often when dealing with prophecy, though newer Christians can be tripped up by many passages due to the audience being different, as discussed above.  Never try to set your personal doctrine by unclear passages.  Confusion is a prime weapon in the Adversary’s arsenal, and he would welcome a chance to trip you up and get you doing something contrary to the true meanings of Scripture.  If you don’t know, seek counsel from a more experienced brother or sister.  But beware taking outside sources too literally, because...

7) NOTHING establishes doctrine aside from the Word of God itself.

The Bible has very little to say about the minutiae of daily life.  It shouldn’t need to, frankly.  Universal truth and doctrine is found within the 66 books of Biblical canon, and nowhere else.  Your pastor can not tell you with absolute certainty that going to a bar is a sin.  Your youth leader can’t compel you to stop listening to a kind of music by arguing that “God doesn’t like it”.  If it isn’t written in black and white (or especially red!) text, then it isn’t doctrine.

For specific examples in daily life, God reveals his will to each of us personally.  He speaks to us through the Word, but also through his voice and his Spirit, giving us hints as to what we should be doing with our time, money, and energy.  If God tells you that you shouldn’t go to that concert because it’s being played in a nightclub, then don’t!  You absolutely shouldn’t.  But (and this is a biggy, guys), that doesn’t mean that’s true for everyone else.  This is called specific revelation, and what God says to you is for you only, unless he specifically tells you it’s a message for the world or for the church as he did with the prophets of old, like Elijah.  But ask yourself how many prophets like that are around today, and be very, very clear about your calling before you try to step into that roll, becuase God doesn’t take a very kind view to people abusing his Word.

Signs you or someone else is doing it wrong:

- A passage or verse has been modernized to fit a situation.

- A word used in a verse doesn’t match up to the meaning of the original word in the original language.

Man, these just seem so obvious it hurts.  Paul never had a smartphone.  He has no opinions on whether or not they are the devil in disguise.

- There is only one verse in the entire Bible that can be used to back up an argument or philosophy.

This is almost ALWAYS in direct opposition to numerous other passages in the Bible that contradict it, which are always conveniently ignored (looking at you, Jehovah’s Witnesses...)

Anyway, there’s the basics.  Keep this handy, write them in the cover of your Bible if you wish, and you should have a much firmer foundation for reading.  Just remember to read.

More Than A Book

Glad to see you again.  Last week, we opened up a series on the Bible, and what it should mean to a growing Christian.  This week, I’d like to continue that thought.

If, as we discussed last Monday, the Bible is a true book—so what?  My math textbook is true also.  Surely truth is not exclusive to the Bible, right?  Well, that’s not quite as simple as it might sound.  To start with, the Bible doesn’t go through revisions.  It hasn’t been updated or abridged.  No new passages or fundamental truths are added at any point in history.  And the crazy part is that it all agrees with itself.

Think about that for a moment.  Just ponder over the idea of dozens of writers all writing the same thing, never contradicting the basic tenants of the writings, despite most living decades apart, if not hundreds or thousands of years after the rest.  I dunno about you, but that part kinda blows my mind on its own.

The fact is that as a believer, you can not treat the Bible like any other book, because it’s not like any other book.  No other book claims to be the inspired breath of God himself.  Many books claim to know truths, some even claim to be divinely inspired.  But only the Christian Bible claims point blank to be written by the very Spirit of God.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” (2 Tim 3:16, ESV)

“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Pet 1:20-21, NASB)

The Bible is the Rock of all true believers.  It is the compass by which we find our moral North, the map by which we find our way through the darkest of life’s passes.  This is not a book that can sit idly on your shelf if you call yourself a believer (and wow, does it ever hurt to write that sentence.  Talk about conviction...).  You can not call yourself an apprentice and never show up to work.  You aren’t a student if you never show up to class.  And you aren’t much of a Christian if you never read what God has to say to you.  Sitting in a pew and drinking up some doctrine is all well and good (assuming you have a good teaching pastor), but you don’t make it long in a desert with only a sip of water.

Next week, I’ll give out a list of precepts for reading the Bible; things you can use to make the study of the Scriptures much easier on yourself, but for the time being, I’m going to leave you all with this word, from Charles Spurgeon (and I HIGHLY recommend you take the time to read the full text of this most excellent oratory) (underline added):

“This Bible is a book of authority; it is an authorized book, for God has written it. Oh! tremble, lest any of you despise it; mark its authority, for it is the Word of God. Then, since God wrote it, mark its truthfulness. If I had written it, there would be worms of critics who would at once swarm upon it, and would cover it with their evil spawn; Had I written it, there would be men who would pull it to pieces at once, and perhaps quite right too. But this is the Word of God; come, search, ye critics, and find a flaw; examine it, from its Genesis to its Revelation, and find an error. This is a vein of pure gold, unalloyed by quartz, or any earthly substance. This is a star without a speck; a sun without a blot; a light without darkness; a moon without its paleness; a glory without a dimness. O Bible! it cannot be said of any other book, that it is perfect and pure; but of thee we can declare all wisdom is gathered up in thee, without a particle of folly.”

And a warning from the same (underline added):

“But let me say one thing, before I pass on to the second point. If this be the Word of God, what will become of some of you who have not read it for the last month? "Month, sir! I have not read it for this year." Ay, there are some of you who have not read it at all. Most people treat the Bible very politely . They have a small pocket volume, neatly bound; they put a white pocket-handkerchief round it and carry it to their places of worship; when they get home, they lay it up in a drawer till next Sunday morning; then it comes out again for a little bit of a treat, and goes to chapel; that is all the poor Bible gets in the way of an airing. That is your style of entertaining this heavenly messenger. There is dust enough on some of your Bibles to write "damnation" with your fingers. There are some of you who have not turned over your Bibles for a long, long while, and what think you? I tell you blunt words, but true words. What will God say at last? When you shall come before him, he shall say, "Did you read my Bible?" "No." "I wrote you a letter of mercy; did you read it?" "No." "Rebel! I have sent thee a letter inviting thee to me; didst thou ever read it?" "Lord, I never broke the seal; I kept it shut up." "Wretch!" says God, "then, thou deservest hell, if I sent thee a loving epistle, and thou wouldst not even break the seal; what shall I do unto thee?" Oh, let it not be so with you. Be Bible-readers; be Bible-searchers.”

Let's Talk About Truth

My goal in writing for this blog is pretty simple: I aspire to offer help for people wishing to take their faith in Christ from average to awesome.  I can’t sugarcoat things: there’s a lot of aspects involved in this.  One needs a strong church family to be involved in, one needs to serve, discipleship is absolutely vital—but I realize that we need to start someplace.

I’ve tried to think about what is the absolute root of deep, growing faith; the kind of faith that produces results, not just parishioners.  There’s obviously plenty to choose from, but over and above all else, I think I’ve come to the conclusion that the way we treat the Bible means more than anything.  There is no other aspect of Christianity that has quite as much potential to spiritually make or break us.  So, in light of that, I’m going to spend the next few weeks writing about the Word of God.

To begin, though, we need to come to an agreement, and because of that, I’d like to bring up the topic of Truth.

We, as humans, have a remarkable propensity to modify our beliefs, to rationalize, and to mitigate.  In this day and age, truth is malleable.  It can be molded to the situation, and to whomever is speaking it at the moment.  The key—from the world’s perspective—is to know what is true for you.  We are told at every turn that what’s true is less important than what feels right, or what feels good.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the Bible holds no Congress with such ideas.  Almost nothing is more important to the Christian believer than the truth.

“For we cannot oppose the truth, but must always stand for the truth.” (2 Cor 13:8, NLT)

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32, NIV)

“‘These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates.  Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate,' declares the LORD.” (Zec 8:16, NIV)

The faithful believer knows with an ironclad certainty that there is a line between truth and lie that, no matter how thin, is never able to be bent, changed, or rewritten.  Right and wrong are not debatable topics to be decided by group consensus or mob rule.

So, the obvious question arises: what is truth?

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” (John 17:17, NASB)

Jesus prays that to his father on behalf of his disciples.  You can’t get a better first-party source than that.  But Jesus also had some other, equally blunt things to say about where truth comes from.

“Yeshua said to him, ‘I AM THE LIVING GOD, The Way and The Truth and The Life; no man comes to my Father but by me alone.’” (John 14:6, Aramaic in Plain English)

Jesus names himself as Truth, and the bearer of truth.  His words are God’s words, and thus the Truth speaks the truth.  The Bible says over and over that God is faithful and true, and that no falsehood can be found in him, but Truth goes further than merely not telling lies.  God is the sole source of all that is and always will be True.

If you call yourself a believer and a Christian, this is not a debatable term.  This is one of the ironclad, fundamental aspects of Christ: that God’s Word is the source of perfect, holy truth for every situation.  This means that many things we take as our beliefs may need to be modified in the light of what the Scriptures say.  Personally, I’m a big believer that once you’ve taken context and history into account, you must take what the Bible says to be true, no matter what.  This could mean that some of your new beliefs don’t fit in with those around you (in fact, if you’re doing it right, they often won’t).  It might mean that people label you as “intolerant”, “hateful”, or “arrogant”.

Here’s one of the beautiful things, though: we aren’t called to argue on behalf of the truth of God’s Word.  Jesus is Truth, and his truth defends itself as his words and his terms are played out in life.  The sight of someone who firmly and rightly handles truth is startling, especially in this day and age.  It’s very hard for someone to see it and not have a response to it.

Knowing this, think about what beliefs you take as “true” that could stand to be re-evaluated in light of the Scriptures you claim to believe in.  Do you even know what the Bible says about such topics?  We’ll cover more on that in the coming weeks, so I hope to see you here again next Monday.

Hide And Seek

I'm going to write a post about something that gives me a lot of trouble personally.  I've never been one of those people with a deep spiritual "connection".  I've never heard God speak to me in a distinct way.  I've never once felt the presence of a spiritual battle or a demon.  In fact, for a majority of my life, God seems to feel quite distant.  He's hard for me to find.

The problem, though, is that all I know how to do to fix this doesn't seem to help.  If I had to paraphrase what I was raised to know as a child, I would probably diagnose my troubles as being that I just don't believe strongly enough, or I'm not doing enough.  I need to read the Bible more, or pray more, or have more faith (aside: has that statement ever been truly helpful?  If I knew how to just have more faith, wouldn't I already have done it?).

What the church doesn't tell us very often (if ever) is that it's okay to seek.  In fact, God brings this topic up a lot in the Scriptures.  Consistently, over and over again, he gives the same promise:

"But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul." (Deu 4:29 NASB)
"...if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven.." (2Chr 7:14 ESV)
"I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me." (Pro 8:17 NASB)
"You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart." (Jer 29:13 NASB)
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Mat 7:7 NASB)
"God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us." (Acts 17:27 NIV)

Point blank: if you look for God, you will find him.  And you know what's really beautiful about those promises?  Not one time does the Bible require that you look for God in a certain way or place.  The Creator of the world all everything in it does not limit himself to being found by mere Bible study.  If you look for God in creation, you'll find him.  If you look in science, you'll find him there, too.  If you look in history, or art, or in whatever truly speaks to you, he will meet you there.  There's a fantastic lyric in a song that I like that sums this idea up pretty well:

"Don't try to change who you are / because who you are is how I made you to discover Me."

So don't get discouraged when God seems distant.  There will always be times when that's true.  It's not a reflection of your faith, or effort—and sometimes nothing to do with your behavior, either.   Keep searching.  If your heart is honest and earnest, God will meet you where you are.

Symptoms and Cures

Right near my office, there’s a great place I love to eat: DoubleDave’s.  It’s cheap pizza at its best, and I can eat about a pie and a half on a good day (always skip the crust, it’s just dead weight).  Right next door to it, though, is a shop that troubles me.  It’s one of those little stores that’s selling “vape” paraphernalia.

I’m sure you’ve seen similar places by now.  This new “safe” alternative to cigarettes is all the rage and these shops are popping up like particularly aggressive dandelions.  It’s not the shop in and of itself that gets me, though, it’s the slogan.  Printed in broad letters across the window are the words “COMBAT YOUR HABIT”, implying that by swapping your cancer sticks out for new technology, you win at life.

The problem with this slogan is that it’s a complete and utter lie.

This slogan is a particularly insidious example of the world’s ability to stifle and silence shame.  The truth of the matter is that your problem is not that you smoke cigarettes—it’s that you’re addicted to nicotine.  The voice of the world whispers, saying that if you simply change the symptom; if you stop using the stuff that blatantly kills you with tar and cyanide, then you can enjoy feeding your addiction without feeling bad!  It’s just base deflection, it’s not solving anything, and it’s certainly not uplifting you as a person.  You just traded a fast death for a slow one, and one that attacks your brain instead of your lungs.

As human beings, created in the image and likeness of God, we are each given a conscience.  This conscience is used by God to speak to each of us, to nudge us back into the path we’re supposed to be on (and consequentially, closer to Christ).  The problem is that people don’t like to be told we’re wrong, and we’ll go to any length to quell the voice of guilt.  We hang out with those who indulge in similar habits, we talk openly about obviously wrong choices, we rationalize to any length to avoid having to feel bad for what we do.

I have seen this everywhere.  I once read an internet article regarding one of the most heinous, unnatural sins I’ve ever heard of, and the way it went about this was as blatant as it should be unsettling.  “After your first time”, the article said (I’m paraphrasing, of course), “you’ll feel a sense of guilt.  You’ll most likely feel ashamed, like you did something horribly wrong and disgusting.  This is normal.  It’s just the way society has conditioned you to feel.” (emphasis added)

What an artistic lie!  Sin has never been anything but sin, and we all know what’s right and wrong.  Modern society didn’t just decide that cheating on your wife is taboo.  It wasn’t after the Enlightenment that murder became frowned upon.  The feminist generation didn’t tell us that pornography is a debasement of women and sexuality.  These things have never been right, and never have the actions been accepted at first blush.  Someone has always had to fight to silence their own conscience first.  And because man knows right from wrong in his heart, he stands condemned by it.

“Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17, NASB)

“…holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith. (1 Tim 1:19, ESV)

What in your life do you feel guilty about?  Might there be a reason for that?  The Bible should convict you of things you’re guilty about; that’s part of its purpose—but as always, the news doesn’t end there.  There’s always forgiveness and mercy for those who show humility and repent.  Try it out.  Talk to God about what comes to mind.

Necessity

Necessity is the mother of invention.

It’s an old phrase, and largely, it’s true.  I think, though, that maybe we don’t give it enough scope in our daily lives.  It has applications far beyond the realm of inventions and gadgetry.  In fact, I think I might make it even more true with just a simple word selection:

Necessity is the mother of change.

When life is good, we tend to live in our ruts.  After all, nothing’s broken, so why fix it, right?  The problem is simply that ruts don’t keep things from deteriorating.  A good CEO knows that what works today might just only work because the opposition isn’t forcing your hand at that time.  It holds just as true in business as in regular life that if you aren’t moving forward, then you’re falling back.  The comfortable ruts get dug a little deeper each day.  And then it hits: we’re in it in a bad way, but how to get out?  The tire tracks are so deep we can’t turn either way, we’re locked into the path we’ve chosen, no matter where it’s leading us.

Recently, my wife and I re-watched Iron Man 3, which I think is a pretty darn awesome movie.  In it, though, there’s a line.  It’s a good line, even if it is really cheesy coming from the villain.  “You gave me the greatest gift of all: desperation.”  Of course, the bad guy uses it as justification to do awful things, but the fact is that without that push, his goals might never have been achieved.  The Bible says something similar to that, strangely enough.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matt 5:3 (NASB)

Poor in spirit refers to someone who is brokenhearted, someone who genuinely grieves over something, who would give anything to alter the circumstances of their life at that time.  Those who are not poor in spirit over the state of their lives don’t feel the need to change.  Those who don’t feel the need to change don’t see the purpose in trusting in a higher power than themselves.  Ergo, those who don’t need Jesus don’t inherit his kingdom.  God has pretty intense plans for all of us, ones that our human minds could not possibly foresee or comprehend beforehand (1 Cor 1:15, Jer 29:11), but he will not meet anyone on terms that they try to dictate.  God demands that we come to him looking for HIS best, not ours.  That’s why this verse is the first thing Jesus says to the masses in his famous sermon; because everything else God has planned for our lives—peace, joy, prosperity, love, salvation, grace—all hinges on that idea of desperation.  We have to come to God continually, expecting nothing, asking for everything.  God wants to give you freedom, in whatever shape his will gives it.

So, how bad do you want it?