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Where to start

2/20/2022

Two common items I notice that are missing in the church today are biblical literacy and discipleship, in that order. For many in the church there is this common assumption that mere Bible reading is equal to Bible study. That notion is far from the truth. In addition when people merely read their Bible they tend to read their world view into the text. This behavior leads to a great deal of problems.

When churches conduct discipleship their general take is to have young Christians or new members attend a series of classes, usually about 12, that cover the things Christians do and how to grow as a Christian. This approach is unbiblical and not as connective as people hope it would be. A careful look at the gospels will give us a clear understanding of what discipleship should be.

The way Christians should approach the Bible can be done in two manners. I encourage people to simply read their Bible as if they are reading their favorite naval such as Harry Potter, The Hobbit, or Tale of Two Cities or any book they enjoy reading. The Bible is full of stories and this is the manner by which children gain the basic understanding of the Bible, which is done in Sunday school. However, Bible Study is far more detailed and complicated.

I view Bible reading as if you are on a speed boat on a large mountain lake on a clear sunny day moving across the water at full speed. You’re enjoying the moment, no care in the world. You are enjoying the scenery and the beauty of all nature displays but you’re not really taking in the details. The rush and exhilaration of the boat moving at a great speed across choppy waters and the wind blowing through your hair, if you have hair. You’re experiencing the fun in the moment.

Bible Study is very different. Bible Study is like going across the same lake on the same day yet you’re doing so in a glass bottom boat. You take your time. You examine the details both under the water and above. You identify the various fish and plant life and the structures under the water where the plants grow and the fish hide. You scan the wood line, the edge of the water and the sky to notice the various trees, animals that may appear, the way the mountains are formed and where the tree line ends. The details allows you to learn more about what is going on around you that you had no involvement in forming. You merely learn from this information and grow as a person. You identify your small self in this bigger world.

I often tell people if they wish to learn about the Bible more they need to get away from the Bible. The biblical authors never intended to provide a great deal of detail in their narratives. They simply wrote according to their perspective and we are witnessing that perspective as we read their stories. However, these writers lived in a culture and time in history that is very different from our culture and time in history. Even today the culture in the Middle East is greatly different from our culture in Western Civilization, yet, the time of the biblical authors experienced things we don’t today regardless of what culture you live in. Their knowledge of the greater world was very limited compared to our knowledge of the world today. As we read the Bible we musts be aware of that difference. So, find sources that will help you learn more about first century Rome and the surrounding cultures and people. How did they live? How did they link? What was their daily life like? What were the political tensions taking place at the time? What were the livelihoods of the various social economic atmospheres? How did people conduct business daily?

Then, I encourage people that if they wish to gain a deeper connection with God and His plan for salvation they should get deep into God’s Word. I usually guide them to read a chapter of Proverbs a day. Not to merely read them but to meditate on what is being said, read them several times a day. When asked where they should start I suggest starting with John and then the other gospels. In the Old Testament I suggest Genesis and then Exodus. Skip the other three; Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These contain so much of the law that for a beginner they can be confusing. Skipping on to the historical books Joshua to 2 Kings and then on to Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. Reading these will help them get a good picture of Israel becoming and operating as a nation. I encourage people to take Romans slow, using a “study guide” can be useful. Maybe using several study guides will be more beneficial. Remember, Bible Study is not something you rush through. Time is of the essence. Bible Study is very much like developing a relationship with someone. You will not learn everything about that person in 15 minutes or an hour. The Word of God won’t change as you get deeper into it, you will.

I have some friends who are professors in Biblical Studies and Theology. I have often heard them say that people don’t need to learn the biblical languages and using them in our sermons is pointless. I have to disagree. Language is key to understanding how people think. The use of words exposes the world a person lives in. The same is true of the people in first century Roman Empire. I don’t have the time or the space to go into greater detail about the Greek language but their use of words is more precise than our lazy English language. I encourage people to use various translation of Bibles to help them gain a deeper understanding of what the author may be saying. Now there are people who strongly disagree with that notion on the grounds they believe that there is only one true translations to read from and all other translations are heresies. Such argument is comparing apples to apples. No English translation is perfect. Every English translation of the Bible has mistakes, and due to their practice of exegetical study and handling of hermeneutics they are led to imperfections in the translations. Therefore, I do not believe the Bible is infallible but we can learn from its pages. The Spirit of the Word of God is infallible and that is important to remember.

I will deal with discipleship in my next blog. Discipleship is far more than a class room instruction. Discipleship should go beyond the class room in a church on a Sunday morning or midweek service.

Doesn't Seem Fair

2/14/2022

Our society in America today possesses a strange dynamic these days. On one had there is this call for equality. Everyone needs to be treated the same, earn the same income, and be afforded the same rights. Then on the other hand if there is anything that may offend anyone that thing, whether it be someone’s comment, a book, a movie, a statue, or whatever, needs to be removed, or as it is best known today as “cancelled.” The Cancel Culture was a rampage during President Trump’s administration and continues on to this day. However, many are lashing back.

Not that long ago Dave Cappelle was attacked by the transgender community for his comments about transgender ideology in one of his shows. This past month Joe Rogan was being attacked for his views on his pod cast, The Joe Rogan Experience on Spotify. Neil Young went so far as to make an ultimatum with Spotify that either they remove Joe’s show or Neil will remove his catalog. Well Neil’s attempt to intimidate and threaten Spotify didn’t work. The result was a few more artist, of which I cannot name because I don’t know them and frankly don’t care, removed their catalogs as well. Joe was offered $100 million to move his show over to another venue, of which Joe declined due to Spotify staying committed to Joe’s show.

The world attempts to judge the church calling out our hypocrisy because we are not demanding equality. Here is the problem with that, equality and unity are not the same thing. We are to be unified in the love of Christ as one mind and one body by one Scripture. The Word of God is our standard of living. Yet, nowhere in Scripture is there any instruction that we are to be equal. On the contrary, Scripture gives us a picture that people are not equal.

For example in the parable of the Master and the three servants (Matthew 25: 14-30). In the story a man was going on a trip, a journey and he called three of his servants and entrusted them with his property. To one servant he gave five “talents,” talents was a form of money not skill or ability, to another two talents were given, and the last was given one talent. The Scripture states that each were given according to his ability. I’m not going to go into the rest of the story, I want to focus on this point, given according to his ability. We all do not possess the same ability and we are all not called to do the same thing in life. There are people who are called to do great things in life. As I think back on history I can point out individuals who stood out among the rest to do things that none other could do or wanted to do. Cultures and Societies needed leaders who get the people united for a common purpose.

Then think about this, among the ranks not everyone was the leader. Some may have possessed qualities that stood out from the common people, yet, they were not the leader. They were generally followers but may have lead a smaller group of people. Or some played a role that wasn’t as significant as others but they had their part.

Then there are those behind the scenes. They do the common work, they provide the support needed for others to get the job done. This doesn’t mean that their role is not important or insignificant. They are doing according to their ability.

When we watch a sporting event there are usually one or two players that carries the team. Commentators speak about these individuals more than any of the others. After the game they are the one’s people want to speak to.

Let’s take NASCAR for example, it is my favorite sport, all of the attention is on the driver, however, the driver does not do everything. There is the pit crew who change tires, fuel the care and do minor adjustments to make the car perform better while on the track. This includes the crew chief who sits on top of the box communicating with the driver on the performance of the car and if there are any changes needed to make the car run better. Then there is the spotter. This individual sits up high above the track watching out for the driver of any cars around them and if it is safe to move in front of someone or if there is a wreck on the track. The spotter also may look at the condition of the car to give news to the crew on problems no one else can see. Then there are those who build the car. Now they don’t build all the cars the same way. There are cars manufactured to run short tracks, tracks that are less than one mile. They build cars for Supper Speedways, tracks that are over two miles but do not have any unusual turns that require the driver to slow down into the turns. They build cars for road courses and cars for all other tracks. They build the car specifically for any given track. Finally, there are those who work behind the scenes. They work in the office making deals with sponsors, making appointments for the driver to do commercials, human resources, legal, people who order parts, logistics, and so on. There are so many hands in the operation of a race team but not everyone is the driver or the crew chief.

Children are told that when they grow up they can be anything they want. Let’s face the truth, that simply is not true. We all do not possess the same skills and abilities. There are people who are good at math, others are good at science, and some possess strong critical thinking skills. There are people who work will with their hands building and creating amazing things from metal work to baking a cake. There are others who are good at managing money and running a business. And, unfortunately, there are those who are blessed to make the day work for them. Not everyone can be the President of the United States. That is impossible. What can be done is everyone can give their best at what they do.

When the man returns from his trip he takes account of what his servants have done with his property. The outcome was good for the first two. They invested what they were given and returns more than what they were given. The man responded to their efforts, “Well done my good and faithful servants.” Then he rewarded them with more.

Notice something else here, the man didn’t say to the servants, “Well done my good and successful servant” or anything that boosted their ego. We are not called to be successful or wealthy or popular. The man gave them according to their abilities and then blessed them when they invested what they were given. We need to do the same, find our ability, our skills and talents and invest in them. When we do, we will be given more. Luke says, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand more.” (Luke 12: 48b) We need to be ready for the return of the Master to give an account of what we have been given.

Our society works against this idea. With they advancement of technology teens and young adults are more focus on becoming popular through social media now days rather than being productive. If they don't receive a level of acknowledgement by receiving "likes" on their videos they feel no value in life. Being famous and popular is more important than being productive and self sufficient.

The existential question means, "What is the meaning or purpose of life?" Rather than search within themselves to find their skills and abilities people are allowing society dictate what they should be. We are all not equal, we do not have the same calling on our life, we do not possess the same abilities and even if we do we vary in those abilities. I enjoy art and playing my guitar yet I know there are people are far better skilled than I am but I do not measure my value on level of abilities. I am to more focused on being faithful with what I have.

A culture of Offense

2/7/2022

Here for the past few years we have been seeing an up rise to attack various areas of our culture from the removal of monuments and statues remembering Confederate leaders from public and government grounds, the renaming of public schools and the attempt to rename Army instillations. We are also witnessing the removal of certain books and movies due to their content that illustrate the mind set of the culture of that time and any that makes light of stereotypes. The idea, in my opinion, is if these things are removed the problems in our culture will be fixed. If monuments and history books are removed or rewritten then the supposed hate of that time will not flow into our culture today. Avoiding something will only cause a repeat of that time. A common saying goes if we do not learn from our past we will be doomed to repeat it.

Just last week the co-host of the television show "The View" Woopy Goldberg made a statement, an ill informed statement, about the holocaust had nothing to do with race. Due to her comment there was a huge backlash and she was placed on suspension for two weeks. In part I believe this was a double standard against ABC, who is owned by Disney, who fired Gina Carano's comments about the current political climate being equal to the Nazi Germany. That is her view and her constitutional right, the freedom of speech. She wasn't making any threat against anyone in our political atmosphere. Hey, the Democrats have said the same thing about those on the other side of the political spectrum yet we don't see any repercussions against their freedom of speech. If anyone knows their history they will see that such claims are usually made out of ignorance and are uneducated on so many levels.

What is very interesting about the Cancel Culture is how they attempt to use Jesus to justify their attempt to end division and offending others. What is clear is their rhetoric exposes their lack of knowing anything about Jesus. Something I believe the reason for Cancel Culture is we are witnessing the stepping stones being placed to end religious liberties and to silence the church in our culture. Using Jesus is merely a smoke screen. Why do I say that? Well if anyone who has done any serious Bible reading will know that Jesus said he did not come to bring peace to the earth but he came with a sword (Matthew 10:34). What is the purpose of a sword? To cut things, to divide, to kill. Jesus offended the religious leaders all the time with the things he said that exposed them, when he did miracles on the Sabbath, which he did often, and especially when he equated himself equal with God.

When the topic of the gospel comes up people are offended to hear that they have sin in their life and with sin comes consequences. People don't like to view themselves as bad people and sin does that. Sin makes us look bad, nasty and ugly. To remove that ugliness, to look good in their eyes, they feel they need to remove that which makes them look ugly, the identity of sin. People are well aware that sin separates us from God and separation from God means no eternal life in heaven.

I'm offended by the world and by many things taught in the church. However, I don't believe silencing those things should anyone's purpose in life. If you believe it is your purpose and mission to silence those things that offend you in our culture, you have a very large task to deal with because you will find something around every corner that will offend you. To all my Christian brothers and sisters, our purpose in life is not to change the world. That is impossible. We are never called to do such a task. Our purpose in life is to be faithful with what the Lord has given us and to produce spiritual fruit that brings glory to the father. We are called to spread the seed of the gospel no matter where that seed may fall, what type of soil that seed may land upon. Some are called to plant and some are called to water but it is God who does the growth. We cannot change people's hearts, only the Spirit can, we cannot change lives, only the Spirit can. We can be an influence but I promise you, we will offend people, there is nothing we can do to avoid that, to prevent it no matter how nice you say something, people don't want to hear that they are not good people and sin separates us from God. We will face suffering and tribulation for our efforts.

Where to start

Doesn't Seem Fair

A culture of Offense

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