Gen 15:1-6
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I [am] your shield, your exceedingly great reward." But Abram said, "Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house [is] Eliezer of Damascus?" Then Abram said, "Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!" And behold, the word of the LORD [came] to him, saying, "This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir." Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Life-lessons
Today we took a little nine-mile hike through the forest to reach a spectacular 400' waterfall. Our group consisted of a handful of adults and a troop of boy scouts. Many ages and abilities were represented. We had only one goal though: start together and finish together.
We had some late starters but we quickly got them caught up to the troop. Many of the boys wanted to stretch their legs and fly down the trail. A number of the lads were content to cruise along in the middle of the pack. A few of the boys wished they hadn't gotten out of bed this morning...and they may not be able to do so tomorrow morning!! But we decided that since we started together, we would finish together.
We would go up a steep hill and our line of hikers would stretch out. We would gently slinky some of the way back together on the downhills but then slowly spread further on the next climb. After a bit we would arrest the lead and patiently wait for the tail to stumble back in. We started together and we hoped to finish together.
We tried different speeds of hiking: light-speed, snail-speed, exhausted-speed. If nothing else, we proved an old adage: "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link". We tried breaking the chain for a minute. We pulled the chain for a good bit. A number of times we let the chain flop down on the ground and rest. We started together and we were going to finish together.
You draw the analogies. There are many. But I am happy to report that we started together and we finished together...and my legs are a little stiff!
We had some late starters but we quickly got them caught up to the troop. Many of the boys wanted to stretch their legs and fly down the trail. A number of the lads were content to cruise along in the middle of the pack. A few of the boys wished they hadn't gotten out of bed this morning...and they may not be able to do so tomorrow morning!! But we decided that since we started together, we would finish together.
We would go up a steep hill and our line of hikers would stretch out. We would gently slinky some of the way back together on the downhills but then slowly spread further on the next climb. After a bit we would arrest the lead and patiently wait for the tail to stumble back in. We started together and we hoped to finish together.
We tried different speeds of hiking: light-speed, snail-speed, exhausted-speed. If nothing else, we proved an old adage: "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link". We tried breaking the chain for a minute. We pulled the chain for a good bit. A number of times we let the chain flop down on the ground and rest. We started together and we were going to finish together.
You draw the analogies. There are many. But I am happy to report that we started together and we finished together...and my legs are a little stiff!
Monday, December 5, 2011
Memory!!
http://52weeks52verses.blogspot.com/
I look forward to this. Praying about the first week's verse. Any ideas/recomendations for me?
I look forward to this. Praying about the first week's verse. Any ideas/recomendations for me?
Friday, November 25, 2011
Battle-Ready
1Timothy 3:1 "This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work."
Paul continues the passage with further guidance for the appointment and conduct of bishops in the church. But much can be learned from a simple word study:
The Greek word translated "bishop" is episkopos (an overseer, a man charged with the duty of seeing that things to be done by others are done rightly, curator, guardian or superintendent). It is related to the Greek words skopos (observer, watchman), episkopeō (to look upon, inspect, oversee, look after, care for), and skopeō (to look at, observe, contemplate, to mark, to fix one's eyes upon, direct one's attention to, to look to, take heed to thyself). Our word "scope" comes from these Greek roots.
There is also, I believe, another reason Paul used this word. In the Roman Empire, an episcopus was a military leader who would visit units to make them stand inspection. He would look for alertness, sharpness, and a battle-ready spirit. They hoped for his commendation. If the troops were unprepared and slovenly, they would receive a searing rebuke from the episcopus.
I have stood in the ranks of such an inspection many times during my military duty. We always spent weeks preparing for such a review. And our inspections went past the parade grounds to the rifle range, the obstacle courses, the training grounds, and even the barracks. It was a widespread event where you could fail for even the smallest spot of rust on your weapon!
My current job also incorporates attributes of the episcopus. Our bosses are encouraged to adopt MBWA...Management By Walking Around. The simple presence of our leader does much to encourage us in our work and to keep our minds focused on the tasks at hand. He doesn't need to speak, yell, harangue, or even work with us. He just needs to be there ready to offer his wisdom and experience should we need it.
The type of visit Paul seems to be demanding is not the casual drop-in our clergy has adopted as routine. (...or like my church where in over ten years not a single one of our six pastors has ever set foot in my family's home.) Rather, it is a visit that involves careful scrutiny of the situation. This kind of visit is by one who exercises profound care of the one he is visiting. Bishops are called bishops because they are the overseers of the flock of God. They are called to visit the sick, the imprisoned, the hungry, the angry, the content, and so on. They are given the care of the people of God. And in the Bible, the Supreme Bishop is God Himself. God has all men under His constant scrutiny. His eye lovingly scrutinizes each one of us intensely. He numbers the very hairs of our heads and is cognizant of every idle word that escapes our lips.
Do you have a bishop who takes the duty and honor of the episcopus? Does your pastor know you? Does he love you, care for you, watch you? Or does he even know your name? I recently heard of a pastor who spent so much time among his congregants that he could often recognize them by the sound of their walk! Imagine the time, the care, the energy that such an accomplishment would require?! It is so sad to think of what we are missing because our pastors do not heed Paul's commands. Nevertheless, it is awesome to know how much God loves us and is watching us. And I am filled with hope as I think of our heavenly home where eternal joy in the presence of Jesus and God awaits us!!
Paul continues the passage with further guidance for the appointment and conduct of bishops in the church. But much can be learned from a simple word study:
The Greek word translated "bishop" is episkopos (an overseer, a man charged with the duty of seeing that things to be done by others are done rightly, curator, guardian or superintendent). It is related to the Greek words skopos (observer, watchman), episkopeō (to look upon, inspect, oversee, look after, care for), and skopeō (to look at, observe, contemplate, to mark, to fix one's eyes upon, direct one's attention to, to look to, take heed to thyself). Our word "scope" comes from these Greek roots.
There is also, I believe, another reason Paul used this word. In the Roman Empire, an episcopus was a military leader who would visit units to make them stand inspection. He would look for alertness, sharpness, and a battle-ready spirit. They hoped for his commendation. If the troops were unprepared and slovenly, they would receive a searing rebuke from the episcopus.
I have stood in the ranks of such an inspection many times during my military duty. We always spent weeks preparing for such a review. And our inspections went past the parade grounds to the rifle range, the obstacle courses, the training grounds, and even the barracks. It was a widespread event where you could fail for even the smallest spot of rust on your weapon!
My current job also incorporates attributes of the episcopus. Our bosses are encouraged to adopt MBWA...Management By Walking Around. The simple presence of our leader does much to encourage us in our work and to keep our minds focused on the tasks at hand. He doesn't need to speak, yell, harangue, or even work with us. He just needs to be there ready to offer his wisdom and experience should we need it.
The type of visit Paul seems to be demanding is not the casual drop-in our clergy has adopted as routine. (...or like my church where in over ten years not a single one of our six pastors has ever set foot in my family's home.) Rather, it is a visit that involves careful scrutiny of the situation. This kind of visit is by one who exercises profound care of the one he is visiting. Bishops are called bishops because they are the overseers of the flock of God. They are called to visit the sick, the imprisoned, the hungry, the angry, the content, and so on. They are given the care of the people of God. And in the Bible, the Supreme Bishop is God Himself. God has all men under His constant scrutiny. His eye lovingly scrutinizes each one of us intensely. He numbers the very hairs of our heads and is cognizant of every idle word that escapes our lips.
Do you have a bishop who takes the duty and honor of the episcopus? Does your pastor know you? Does he love you, care for you, watch you? Or does he even know your name? I recently heard of a pastor who spent so much time among his congregants that he could often recognize them by the sound of their walk! Imagine the time, the care, the energy that such an accomplishment would require?! It is so sad to think of what we are missing because our pastors do not heed Paul's commands. Nevertheless, it is awesome to know how much God loves us and is watching us. And I am filled with hope as I think of our heavenly home where eternal joy in the presence of Jesus and God awaits us!!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
"Heaven is for Real"
Why do I live my life as though God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and Heaven are just mere concepts, words on paper, ideas passed down through the ages?? This is not to say that I don't believe in them...I do. But why do so many parts of my life reflect the fact that my activities/words/thoughts do not always stem from my spiritual beliefs? How can I love Jesus (like I sing and say I do) when there are people I have almost nothing but negative feelings toward? How can I long for Heaven (like I sing and say I do) when I spend nearly zero time thinking about it...and have very little information about it...and have no real-time experience with it? How can I say I follow Jesus when He told me that to do so meant I had to pick up my cross? (...and I don't make it a habit to be tortured for Jesus; or know many that do.) Why am I so fake, a poser, a hypocrite, a scab? I don't want to be.
Well, a book came across my path Friday evening and I finished it 24 hours later (it was only 150 pages and written in a smooth conversational style)..."Heaven is for Real" by Todd Burpo. It chronicles the author's son's visit to Heaven.
This little book made me smile, think, hope, cry, believe, and gain a better perspective on, well, stuff. It's hard to define right now; but some of those questions posed earlier I now am dealing with and considering in a positive manner. But the greatest joy gained has been the added knowledge of just how much God loves me. I recommend this story to you for no other reason than to offer the blessing of this wisdom.
Well, a book came across my path Friday evening and I finished it 24 hours later (it was only 150 pages and written in a smooth conversational style)..."Heaven is for Real" by Todd Burpo. It chronicles the author's son's visit to Heaven.
This little book made me smile, think, hope, cry, believe, and gain a better perspective on, well, stuff. It's hard to define right now; but some of those questions posed earlier I now am dealing with and considering in a positive manner. But the greatest joy gained has been the added knowledge of just how much God loves me. I recommend this story to you for no other reason than to offer the blessing of this wisdom.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Tolerance
"We see a deadly sin on every street corner, in every home, and we tolerate it. We tolerate it because it's common, it's trivial. We tolerate it morning, noon, and night. Well, not anymore. I'm setting the example. What I've done is going to be puzzled over and studied and followed... forever."
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Mind-blowing!
Marine GySgt Jethro Gibbs (one of my favorite TV-show personalities): "Family is more than DNA. It's the people who care most about you."
Jesus cared for people. Despite the outrage of public opinion, He chose, over and over again, to care for people that were considered unworthy of love. Many people (my own DNA-family included) consider me unworthy of love. I won't disagree with the merits of such a decision; rationally speaking they have probably made a good decision! What staggers me though is the number of people who love me that have no DNA connection to me whatsoever!
First and foremost of these is my wife. Through the miracle/mystery of marriage ("the two shall become one") we have become bound with ties stronger than DNA. Next are a number of elder men who, over the years, have chosen to give of themselves to mentor me in one area or another of my life. There are also a few men, my peers, who have the heart and patience to look past the grossness of "me" to the Spirit living inside me. They have truly taken on the mind of Jesus when they choose to love me.
Jesus cared for people. Despite the outrage of public opinion, He chose, over and over again, to care for people that were considered unworthy of love. Many people (my own DNA-family included) consider me unworthy of love. I won't disagree with the merits of such a decision; rationally speaking they have probably made a good decision! What staggers me though is the number of people who love me that have no DNA connection to me whatsoever!
First and foremost of these is my wife. Through the miracle/mystery of marriage ("the two shall become one") we have become bound with ties stronger than DNA. Next are a number of elder men who, over the years, have chosen to give of themselves to mentor me in one area or another of my life. There are also a few men, my peers, who have the heart and patience to look past the grossness of "me" to the Spirit living inside me. They have truly taken on the mind of Jesus when they choose to love me.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Scaredy-cat...
Islam scares me. I've been looking at the Koran and it scares me.
I am not shaking in my boots; nor am I petrified. Just very concerned at this force of evil arrayed against us. I have never much been interested in Islam. It was always just another religion to me. But after just a tiny bit of research I have changed my views. Here are some of my discoveries; I highly recommend you educate yourself concerning them:
I am not shaking in my boots; nor am I petrified. Just very concerned at this force of evil arrayed against us. I have never much been interested in Islam. It was always just another religion to me. But after just a tiny bit of research I have changed my views. Here are some of my discoveries; I highly recommend you educate yourself concerning them:
- The Koran preaches war/violence more than it does peace. It commands Muslims to convert all men to Islam. Failing that, they are to kill them. Should they themselves fail to take up the banner of this Holy War (jihad) then they themselves are to be killed.
- Thus Islam, at its very foundation, is radical, militant, violent, supremacist, and terroristic; both to its converts and its own adherents. Radical Islam is not the minority. It is the heart and true soul of the religion. "Peaceful" Islam (if such a thing exists) is actually not real Islam but pseudo-Islam.
- Mohammad was a terrorist, murderer, slaver, polygamist, pedophile, robber, marauder, and false prophet. (You have got to look up the history of this man; especially his interactions with the Arabs and Jews in Mecca and Medina.) Yet he is still considered Islam's most holy man.
- The Koran promotes violence, murder, slavery, prostitution, female genital mutilation, sexual gratification for men, and the limitation of rights for women. And by "promotes' I really mean to say "commands". It is right there in black and white. Read it. I was shocked to see it.
- The Koran itself, as a literary work, is repetitive, badly worded, unclear, and full of historical mistakes and outright lies.
- The Koran, as the bedrock doctrinal foundation of Islam (a religion demanding allegiance from all mankind), does not offer appeal or relevance to all people of all time and of all cultures.
These are just a few points made vividly clear to me in my first forray into discovering Islam. There is so much more darkness one finds when you study the history, culture, governments, and current state of Islam. There is a conspiracy of enormous proportions when you compare the shrinking pouplations of non-Islamic countries and the increased immigration of Muslims into them. I can only whisper to you, "Take a look."
Why do I care? A friend of mine told me that events on such a macro-level are hard to imagine let alone affect. He is probably right. But what I do see is a "force" I never imagined existed. And the exciting thing for me, a follower of Jesus, is the apparent direction this "force" is taking the world; Islam is marching us directly into end-times events. Which means we will soon get to be with our Lord!! That is what really excites me...and doesn't make me so scared!
Monday, October 10, 2011
Paradoxical
We just recently finished studying through the book of Romans at my church. The last chapter (16) was pretty much just Paul saying "Hello, I miss you!" to his many Christian friends in and around Rome. BUT...there was some powerful wording hidden in the midst of his farewell. Take a look at verse 17:
Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.
My pastor pretty much blew past this but my heart was screaming, "WHOA!!! Hold the horses! What is this!?!?" This verse seems to go against so much of Christian doctrine. The church teaches love, forgiveness, and gentleness. Today's Christian culture calls for understanding, openness, and a certain dose of tolerance. We are counseled to be supportive, to make ourselves attractive to the lost world around us. It seems we have a paradox; how can we embrace our enemies and avoid them at the same time?
Let's do a word study of the original language.
Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.
My pastor pretty much blew past this but my heart was screaming, "WHOA!!! Hold the horses! What is this!?!?" This verse seems to go against so much of Christian doctrine. The church teaches love, forgiveness, and gentleness. Today's Christian culture calls for understanding, openness, and a certain dose of tolerance. We are counseled to be supportive, to make ourselves attractive to the lost world around us. It seems we have a paradox; how can we embrace our enemies and avoid them at the same time?
Let's do a word study of the original language.
- "Note those" ...to look at, observe, contemplate; to mark; to fix one's eyes upon.
- "divisions" ...dissension, sedition
- "offenses"...trap, snare, stumbling block
- "doctrine"...teaching
- "avoid them"...turn aside, turn away, keep aloof, shun
It appears to me that we are adjured to keep away from those people actively opposed to our Christian walk. This is definitely food for thought. And a strict bridle on us should we choose to don it.
But the greater question is how to correlate the two opposing ideas...accept or avoid; love or shun; seek or flee.
One thing I do know is the importance of a living relationship with Jesus. His Holy Spirit in us will be the guiding force that promises to help us through the tough decisions and intimate challenges we face. Godspeed.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Church
Jonathan, you make an interesting point. Why do we work so hard at making church? Is there another way? Or has our culture pinned us in a corner concerning church life? Have we gone blindly along and apathetically accepted the established church that has been doled out to us?
I recently learned of a family that left such a church (it was a very good church, one not unlike many of today's Christian churches) and simply started meeting with other families who had also grown weary of the business that church had become. Their new "church" now fits seamlessly into their lives; it is no longer an event for which they take time off of life to participate in. They don't have to work at it. No production, no upkeep, no board meetings, no payroll, no advertising.
Church has become an ingrained part of their life and their life has become the church. Church no longer is the place where they go to fellowship. That happens throughout the week. Church isn't where they go to evangelize or where they bring their friends to get them saved or where they drop off their kids to get them to behave better. That all happens during the course of their everyday lives. Church oozes out of them during the regular hours of their lives and not just during the posted services.
This concept of church-life has many interesting repercussions. For starters, many lives are freed up from the traps of "ministry". So many kind-hearted Christians get pulled into service-oriented ministries in order to prop up their establishment-churches. But when the church is your life there is no need for any of those ministry positions. Every life is a ministry to others when you enter into church-life. You don't need youth ministers; every adult parent in your group naturally becomes one. You don't need a helps ministry; needs are cared for when they are seen by those in your fellowship. You don't even need a pastor as the church defines one. When every person in the fellowship digs into the Word daily the wisdom of God will be ever-present. It is amazing what leadership (and where He will bring it from) God can bring into a fellowship that enters into church-life.
All those servants who struggle under the weight of the establishment are now able to simply carry Jesus' yoke, which is much lighter than man's. Their hearts will still want to serve and they will. But I venture to think that their service for the Kingdom will have a greater and wider reach than the doors of their church building. Their service will travel further than their boards or elders could envision. They will enter into real life; the kind of life Jesus disgusted so many by getting knee deep into.
But the greatest blessing that church-life will bring is its impact on the world. The heaviest charge brought against the church is its hypocrisy. And the church is guilty. Church-life, however, is a Jesus-inspired movement into true spirituality.
Can a change occur that will rock the foundations of Christendom? I hope for it but doubt it. Love has grown cold in the churches of the world and a great apostasy is in full swing.
Can a change occur in you and me? I think it should. I pray it will.
I recently learned of a family that left such a church (it was a very good church, one not unlike many of today's Christian churches) and simply started meeting with other families who had also grown weary of the business that church had become. Their new "church" now fits seamlessly into their lives; it is no longer an event for which they take time off of life to participate in. They don't have to work at it. No production, no upkeep, no board meetings, no payroll, no advertising.
Church has become an ingrained part of their life and their life has become the church. Church no longer is the place where they go to fellowship. That happens throughout the week. Church isn't where they go to evangelize or where they bring their friends to get them saved or where they drop off their kids to get them to behave better. That all happens during the course of their everyday lives. Church oozes out of them during the regular hours of their lives and not just during the posted services.
This concept of church-life has many interesting repercussions. For starters, many lives are freed up from the traps of "ministry". So many kind-hearted Christians get pulled into service-oriented ministries in order to prop up their establishment-churches. But when the church is your life there is no need for any of those ministry positions. Every life is a ministry to others when you enter into church-life. You don't need youth ministers; every adult parent in your group naturally becomes one. You don't need a helps ministry; needs are cared for when they are seen by those in your fellowship. You don't even need a pastor as the church defines one. When every person in the fellowship digs into the Word daily the wisdom of God will be ever-present. It is amazing what leadership (and where He will bring it from) God can bring into a fellowship that enters into church-life.
All those servants who struggle under the weight of the establishment are now able to simply carry Jesus' yoke, which is much lighter than man's. Their hearts will still want to serve and they will. But I venture to think that their service for the Kingdom will have a greater and wider reach than the doors of their church building. Their service will travel further than their boards or elders could envision. They will enter into real life; the kind of life Jesus disgusted so many by getting knee deep into.
But the greatest blessing that church-life will bring is its impact on the world. The heaviest charge brought against the church is its hypocrisy. And the church is guilty. Church-life, however, is a Jesus-inspired movement into true spirituality.
Can a change occur that will rock the foundations of Christendom? I hope for it but doubt it. Love has grown cold in the churches of the world and a great apostasy is in full swing.
Can a change occur in you and me? I think it should. I pray it will.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Yell
Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.
This little verse hides an immense secret. Here's the secret: God does not want me to yell. Now it's not a secret. Now I know. I should not be yelling. No yelling at my kids or any kids. No yelling at my coworkers. No yelling at my wife. No yelling behind closed doors. No yelling in public. No yelling...ever. And the words we speak should not be harsh, negative, mean, or noisy. hmmmm...
This little verse hides an immense secret. Here's the secret: God does not want me to yell. Now it's not a secret. Now I know. I should not be yelling. No yelling at my kids or any kids. No yelling at my coworkers. No yelling at my wife. No yelling behind closed doors. No yelling in public. No yelling...ever. And the words we speak should not be harsh, negative, mean, or noisy. hmmmm...
Prayer
I spent the afternoon praying.
After lunch, I came home and took a shower and prayed all afternoon. I prayed until dinner. It was wonderful.
I prayed for everyone I could think of and every thought that came to mind. I asked Jesus question after question and His peace flowed through my body. I loved it.
No wonder Jesus kept trying to get away!
It's one of those things that, even if I did it for a long time, I don't mind doing it again. The only reason I stopped was because of meeting I had scheduled.
Now I know that God didn't call me to spend every afternoon praying the way I did. Tomorrow, I'll be so busy, I will have to pray as I go. Such are church days.
Sometimes I wonder if church is supposed to be so much work. We work so hard to put on church for the people that come, and I wonder if that's what Jesus had in mind when He talked of the church.
I don't want to say that what we're doing is wrong. I firmly believe that the men who are running the church I'm apart of fully believe they are following the Lord's leading with every decision they make.
I recognize my questions as questions of youth and although I'm to old to blindly make foolish accusations and call for change, I would still like to understand how things got the way they are and why they should stay that way.
I'm all for change as long as it's a good change. I just spend a lot of time in meetings and doing things that I don't see the benefit in doing. But I'm still young...ish and I know it. So I'll keep doing things in faith that they have a purpose that I don't know about yet.
And I will continue to pray that God deliver me from what is useless.
After lunch, I came home and took a shower and prayed all afternoon. I prayed until dinner. It was wonderful.
I prayed for everyone I could think of and every thought that came to mind. I asked Jesus question after question and His peace flowed through my body. I loved it.
No wonder Jesus kept trying to get away!
It's one of those things that, even if I did it for a long time, I don't mind doing it again. The only reason I stopped was because of meeting I had scheduled.
Now I know that God didn't call me to spend every afternoon praying the way I did. Tomorrow, I'll be so busy, I will have to pray as I go. Such are church days.
Sometimes I wonder if church is supposed to be so much work. We work so hard to put on church for the people that come, and I wonder if that's what Jesus had in mind when He talked of the church.
I don't want to say that what we're doing is wrong. I firmly believe that the men who are running the church I'm apart of fully believe they are following the Lord's leading with every decision they make.
I recognize my questions as questions of youth and although I'm to old to blindly make foolish accusations and call for change, I would still like to understand how things got the way they are and why they should stay that way.
I'm all for change as long as it's a good change. I just spend a lot of time in meetings and doing things that I don't see the benefit in doing. But I'm still young...ish and I know it. So I'll keep doing things in faith that they have a purpose that I don't know about yet.
And I will continue to pray that God deliver me from what is useless.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
What is love...?
Going to the grocery store at 11:00 at night to buy chicken fried rice stuff to make said meal for your son's class for lunch (they read Mulan this week)...then staying up even later to cook the rice and chicken; supposedly it tastes better when the chicken and rice are precooked and then stir-fried cold. We will see in the morning. The house does smell good tonight though.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Introspection
God loves us so much. He is such a good Daddy. If one were to compare His love for us His children to my love for my children you would probably send me to prison!
- I lose patience so easily...He is the God who has waited 2000 years for His people to recognize His Son as their Savior.
- I readily put my desires and wants (let alone my needs!) ahead of others...God planned from the beginning of time to give up His Son to death for me.
- I let the faintest slights and wrongs infuriate and aggravate me...God casts my sins away as far as the east is from the west, repeatedly.
- When I actually do something good I try to make sure everyone knows it...God labors in love with no recognition, though He is the Creator and Sustainer of ALL things and is worthy of all praise and adoration.
A little introspection has proven useful to me today. It has drawn me closer to the nature of the Lord. But it does hurt a little.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Reconciliation
At a recent Bible study we read some verses that I had read before (they were underlined in my Bible and had some vague notes scribbled near them); but this time they jumped off the page like never before. They seemed to answer a question that has always floated around in the back, and sometimes the front, of my mind. The question is: "Now that I am saved, what now?"
It is a huge question with an even larger array of answers. It is a question that looms over the parking lots of the great Billy Graham and Harvest Crusades as thousands, who minutes before surrendered their lives to Jesus, head to their cars. It echoes in the confines of their Hondas, Fords, and Chevys as they meander home. It whispers to them as they trudge back to their lives and their jobs and their families. And for many, oh so sadly, it often goes unanswered. They either quickly stop asking the question or don't know where to search for the true answers. A frustrated few may get overloaded with answers from well-meaning, over-exuberant Christians. God's Word, the Bible, is indeed full of such answers. (A cute little acronym for B.I.B.L.E. is: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.) Some, I am sure, don't like the answers. Others will get seduced and manipulated by those offering another path. And thankfully, a very few will truly surrender to God and wait on His answer as they search His Word.
I will not pretend to fully know or understand the answer. But these verses, I believe, do provide a part of it:
2Corinthians 5:17-20 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.
So, what is this ministry of reconciliation? Reconciliation is defined as: 1) exchange [of the business of money changers, exchanging equivalent values]; 2) adjustment of a difference, restoration to favour, to unite, to make one. By His death, Jesus reconciled us to the Father. He exchanged His perfection for our sin. When God looks at us (His believing children) He does not see low-life sinners; He only sees Jesus. This reconciliation is His love for us in action.
Once we are saved and become that new creation in Christ, we are given our marching orders: enter into the same ministry of reconciliation. God reconciled the world through Jesus; and now He uses us! We are His ambassadors! We have the keys to His Kingdom! We must love the world in the same way that Jesus did. He forgave, consistently and eternally. He had compassion because He cared more for others than Himself. He cared for all men, not esteeming or judging one man over another. He taught others about His Father; and the words of His teachings were fully backed by His actions. There is no greater love than for a man to lay down his life for his friends; and Jesus did just that and more...He died for His friends, for His enemies, for strangers, and for all men of all times.
This exact same ministry is the one we are called to; and it scares me. I can hardly believe that God calls me to such an important part of His work. I know that the government has strict qualifications for its ambassadors and there are only a few of them; God requires that all of His citizens become ambassadors for Him! Wow. And our main purpose is to unite all men to Him in peace. I can't help but think that my own perceived purposes in life are not quite correct. And that I don't come close to carrying them out correctly either!
But God loves me; and He is waiting, even now, for me to come to Him and obey. I just have to decide. He will handle the rest.
It is a huge question with an even larger array of answers. It is a question that looms over the parking lots of the great Billy Graham and Harvest Crusades as thousands, who minutes before surrendered their lives to Jesus, head to their cars. It echoes in the confines of their Hondas, Fords, and Chevys as they meander home. It whispers to them as they trudge back to their lives and their jobs and their families. And for many, oh so sadly, it often goes unanswered. They either quickly stop asking the question or don't know where to search for the true answers. A frustrated few may get overloaded with answers from well-meaning, over-exuberant Christians. God's Word, the Bible, is indeed full of such answers. (A cute little acronym for B.I.B.L.E. is: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.) Some, I am sure, don't like the answers. Others will get seduced and manipulated by those offering another path. And thankfully, a very few will truly surrender to God and wait on His answer as they search His Word.
I will not pretend to fully know or understand the answer. But these verses, I believe, do provide a part of it:
2Corinthians 5:17-20 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.
So, what is this ministry of reconciliation? Reconciliation is defined as: 1) exchange [of the business of money changers, exchanging equivalent values]; 2) adjustment of a difference, restoration to favour, to unite, to make one. By His death, Jesus reconciled us to the Father. He exchanged His perfection for our sin. When God looks at us (His believing children) He does not see low-life sinners; He only sees Jesus. This reconciliation is His love for us in action.
Once we are saved and become that new creation in Christ, we are given our marching orders: enter into the same ministry of reconciliation. God reconciled the world through Jesus; and now He uses us! We are His ambassadors! We have the keys to His Kingdom! We must love the world in the same way that Jesus did. He forgave, consistently and eternally. He had compassion because He cared more for others than Himself. He cared for all men, not esteeming or judging one man over another. He taught others about His Father; and the words of His teachings were fully backed by His actions. There is no greater love than for a man to lay down his life for his friends; and Jesus did just that and more...He died for His friends, for His enemies, for strangers, and for all men of all times.
This exact same ministry is the one we are called to; and it scares me. I can hardly believe that God calls me to such an important part of His work. I know that the government has strict qualifications for its ambassadors and there are only a few of them; God requires that all of His citizens become ambassadors for Him! Wow. And our main purpose is to unite all men to Him in peace. I can't help but think that my own perceived purposes in life are not quite correct. And that I don't come close to carrying them out correctly either!
But God loves me; and He is waiting, even now, for me to come to Him and obey. I just have to decide. He will handle the rest.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Writer's cramp
Deu 17:18 "Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel."
Have any of you ever tried or attempted this? Have you ever written a copy of the Word for yourself? I wrote the first chapter of Genesis and it took about an hour and a half. My little children were very curious as to what I was doing! Take away distractions (...very difficult for many of us!!) and I would venture to say that you could write the average chapter in an hour. Psalm 119 may take a little bit longer!
So, at an hour a day, with 1189 chapters in the Bible, it will take you about 3 years and 3 months to complete your own copy of the Bible. Intrigued? Challenged? I am.
Jos 8:32-35 And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, he [Joshua] wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. Then all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the priests, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the stranger as well as he who was born among them. Half of them [were] in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them.
Have any of you ever tried or attempted this? Have you ever written a copy of the Word for yourself? I wrote the first chapter of Genesis and it took about an hour and a half. My little children were very curious as to what I was doing! Take away distractions (...very difficult for many of us!!) and I would venture to say that you could write the average chapter in an hour. Psalm 119 may take a little bit longer!
So, at an hour a day, with 1189 chapters in the Bible, it will take you about 3 years and 3 months to complete your own copy of the Bible. Intrigued? Challenged? I am.
Jos 8:32-35 And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, he [Joshua] wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. Then all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the priests, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the stranger as well as he who was born among them. Half of them [were] in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Discipline
Athletes are disciplined. They workout religiously, often with creative and wild techniques.
Top-level students are disciplined. They study like zealots.
Vegetarians and vegans are disciplined. They eat very restricted diets, with no exception.
Soldiers are disciplined. Marines even more so.
People in recovery try very hard to be disciplined. They do what they have to to avoid relapse.
Christians are...who am I kidding!! I am ashamed to even call myself by the name of the Lord and Savior of this world. Forgive me Lord. Strengthen me with Your disciplines.
Top-level students are disciplined. They study like zealots.
Vegetarians and vegans are disciplined. They eat very restricted diets, with no exception.
Soldiers are disciplined. Marines even more so.
People in recovery try very hard to be disciplined. They do what they have to to avoid relapse.
Christians are...who am I kidding!! I am ashamed to even call myself by the name of the Lord and Savior of this world. Forgive me Lord. Strengthen me with Your disciplines.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Wise Guys
After the wise men bestowed their gifts on Jesus they went home. They were warned to avoid King Herod in a divinely appointed dream and they obeyed. I wonder, though, how the rest of their lives played out...?
Their long journey and expedition had come to a glorious and wild end. Their worship of the King of kings was clouded by political intrigue. And now, having triumphantly fulfilled their quest, they were headed home...while the baby Jesus headed the opposite direction to Egypt to avoid Herod's bloodthirsty rage. I wonder if they would have rather stayed with and protected the new baby Messiah?
Years of studying, of calculating, and of craning their necks skyward had led them to the single most dramatic discovery of the natural world (http://www.bethlehemstar.net/). And now it was over. I wonder if they returned to their lives and were pulled into the busy-ness of their old routines; or did they ponder the outcome of that little baby Jesus and his Jewish parents?
I wonder what effect Jesus has had, does have, and will have on my life?
Their long journey and expedition had come to a glorious and wild end. Their worship of the King of kings was clouded by political intrigue. And now, having triumphantly fulfilled their quest, they were headed home...while the baby Jesus headed the opposite direction to Egypt to avoid Herod's bloodthirsty rage. I wonder if they would have rather stayed with and protected the new baby Messiah?
Years of studying, of calculating, and of craning their necks skyward had led them to the single most dramatic discovery of the natural world (http://www.bethlehemstar.net/). And now it was over. I wonder if they returned to their lives and were pulled into the busy-ness of their old routines; or did they ponder the outcome of that little baby Jesus and his Jewish parents?
I wonder what effect Jesus has had, does have, and will have on my life?
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Surfs Up
Just bought and watched Soul Surfer. I watched it in the theatres and loved it. The special features on the DVD made it a good buy.
After watching it, I am in awe at the way God works. Bethany Hamilton is, by all accounts, a brave, strong, Christian young woman. When that shark took her arm, though, she was a thirteen year old girl! She was 13!! She was also nearing the top of a sport that is known for its bikini-clad babes and adrenaline junkie men. The surfing world she lived in was far removed from the praise-filled halls of most Christian churches. Spiritually, it was a fairly dark world...and God was about to light it up!!
Bethany faced a test from God that was tough. God could have very well stopped that shark; He could have done a million things to keep it from biting her arm off. But He didn't. And in short order He was able to reveal a small sliver of His plan. Bethany would be assaulted by nearly every media agency in the world...and she gently brought the name of Jesus to every one of them. That little girl became a light in the dark world she surfed in. And, thus far, seems to have remained centered on the Lord. I pray she remains so!
In Bible College I took a course on the book of Matthew and noted over and over again the power and wonder of Jesus' ministry. I recently studied through Acts and saw the same awesomeness in Paul's ministry. A reoccurring question of mine is: Where is that awesomeness now? And the answer I believe to be the right one is this: There are very few Bethany Hamilton's out there. Let me explain...
Should the aforementioned awesomeness descend on me I would most likely not have the humility, pureness of heart, or love for Jesus to give Him all the glory. I would be seduced and tempted to keep some of the glory for myself.
This is why it was so inspiring to watch a young 13-year old surfer girl from Hawaii overcome tragedy and go on MTV and proclaim her love for Jesus. Wow. I love seeing how God worked in her life.
Create in me a clean heart, O Lord. And renew a right spirit within me.
After watching it, I am in awe at the way God works. Bethany Hamilton is, by all accounts, a brave, strong, Christian young woman. When that shark took her arm, though, she was a thirteen year old girl! She was 13!! She was also nearing the top of a sport that is known for its bikini-clad babes and adrenaline junkie men. The surfing world she lived in was far removed from the praise-filled halls of most Christian churches. Spiritually, it was a fairly dark world...and God was about to light it up!!
Bethany faced a test from God that was tough. God could have very well stopped that shark; He could have done a million things to keep it from biting her arm off. But He didn't. And in short order He was able to reveal a small sliver of His plan. Bethany would be assaulted by nearly every media agency in the world...and she gently brought the name of Jesus to every one of them. That little girl became a light in the dark world she surfed in. And, thus far, seems to have remained centered on the Lord. I pray she remains so!
In Bible College I took a course on the book of Matthew and noted over and over again the power and wonder of Jesus' ministry. I recently studied through Acts and saw the same awesomeness in Paul's ministry. A reoccurring question of mine is: Where is that awesomeness now? And the answer I believe to be the right one is this: There are very few Bethany Hamilton's out there. Let me explain...
Should the aforementioned awesomeness descend on me I would most likely not have the humility, pureness of heart, or love for Jesus to give Him all the glory. I would be seduced and tempted to keep some of the glory for myself.
This is why it was so inspiring to watch a young 13-year old surfer girl from Hawaii overcome tragedy and go on MTV and proclaim her love for Jesus. Wow. I love seeing how God worked in her life.
Create in me a clean heart, O Lord. And renew a right spirit within me.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Change
Thought I would redecorate a little bit. Hope you like the new layout, different colors, and pretty picture. I think I do. I know I like the picture. Just staring at it makes me feel better. It brings back all those great feelings I have had on similiar beaches. Just think, Heaven should be just like that...a constant wash of good!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Beans
This came across my path this week:
Get a bag of red beans and a bag of white beans. Pinto and lima work great. Split them up between you and someone who you are trying to love better (husband and wives, brothers and sisters, friends, coworkers). Each of you will get a pile of red and white beans.
Every time you say something encouraging, complimentary, and positive to the other person they get to give you a white bean. Every time you criticize, speak negatively, or utter any discouraging word then you get a red bean. You could even do this with another couple and make a competition out of it! You will be training yourself to be "nice"...and you might learn something about yourself. "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45)
Jesus set the example in this matter. He never spoke anything that could be examined in the light and found to be worthy of a red bean. "But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marveled at His answer and kept silent." (Luke 20:26)
The game is afoot!
Get a bag of red beans and a bag of white beans. Pinto and lima work great. Split them up between you and someone who you are trying to love better (husband and wives, brothers and sisters, friends, coworkers). Each of you will get a pile of red and white beans.
Every time you say something encouraging, complimentary, and positive to the other person they get to give you a white bean. Every time you criticize, speak negatively, or utter any discouraging word then you get a red bean. You could even do this with another couple and make a competition out of it! You will be training yourself to be "nice"...and you might learn something about yourself. "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45)
Jesus set the example in this matter. He never spoke anything that could be examined in the light and found to be worthy of a red bean. "But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marveled at His answer and kept silent." (Luke 20:26)
The game is afoot!
Salvation
Ephesians 2:8-10 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; [it is] the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
There is a pretty simple theology of salvation in this verse that was made stunningly clear to me this week. I have always felt overburdened by the enormity of "salvation". A friend of mine who went to Bible college spent a whole semester and read numerous dissertations concerning this core aspect of Christianity. And you would think that all professing Christians would be united in their understanding of God's salvation. But I digress...back to my moment of clarity this past week.
The above verse seems to define salvation as a 3-part process: "...by grace...through faith...unto good works..." It occurred to me that Christians adhere to one part, or a combination of parts, or place emphasis on one part over another.
Salvation starts with grace. We don't deserve it; we in fact deserve quite the opposite. This show of love from our God must remain at the forefront of our thoughts. We have to believe it. Guilt, rationality, logic, and culture will rail against our faith in God's grace. The end result of our faith in His love is a life lived doing His will. This is expressed through the good works we are so blessed to have the opportunity to do.
We don't start with works and try to earn our way to God. We don't carry on with faith devoid of action. We don't ever forget God's grace.
"...by grace...through faith...unto good works..."
There is a pretty simple theology of salvation in this verse that was made stunningly clear to me this week. I have always felt overburdened by the enormity of "salvation". A friend of mine who went to Bible college spent a whole semester and read numerous dissertations concerning this core aspect of Christianity. And you would think that all professing Christians would be united in their understanding of God's salvation. But I digress...back to my moment of clarity this past week.
The above verse seems to define salvation as a 3-part process: "...by grace...through faith...unto good works..." It occurred to me that Christians adhere to one part, or a combination of parts, or place emphasis on one part over another.
Salvation starts with grace. We don't deserve it; we in fact deserve quite the opposite. This show of love from our God must remain at the forefront of our thoughts. We have to believe it. Guilt, rationality, logic, and culture will rail against our faith in God's grace. The end result of our faith in His love is a life lived doing His will. This is expressed through the good works we are so blessed to have the opportunity to do.
We don't start with works and try to earn our way to God. We don't carry on with faith devoid of action. We don't ever forget God's grace.
"...by grace...through faith...unto good works..."
Monday, August 1, 2011
Judges 18
Such a sad, sad story. The tribe of Dan is about to inherit their portion of the land given them by God. Like a child on his birthday, they are about to open God's special present to them. But from the very first they go astray; and never return to the Lord. They remain steeped in their sin until the Captivity!! They take the present from God, slap Him in the face, turn their backs on Him, and then go and adopt their own idea of God.
I, like King David in Psalm 69:18, cry out to the Lord: "Draw near to my soul, redeem it; Deliver me because of my enemies." I sure don't want to be like Dan! Yet it is amazing how easy I can.
Revelation 7 includes a specific listing of how the special 144,000 will be divided up amongst the tribes of Israel. Two tribes are omitted from this list; Dan is one (Ephraim the other). I wonder if their longstanding rebellion against God is the cause for this omission...hmmm.
I, like King David in Psalm 69:18, cry out to the Lord: "Draw near to my soul, redeem it; Deliver me because of my enemies." I sure don't want to be like Dan! Yet it is amazing how easy I can.
Revelation 7 includes a specific listing of how the special 144,000 will be divided up amongst the tribes of Israel. Two tribes are omitted from this list; Dan is one (Ephraim the other). I wonder if their longstanding rebellion against God is the cause for this omission...hmmm.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Yard-works
Why do we do what we do?
I dug a hole for my new lemon tree yesterday. Fought through the thick layer of crabgrass and eventually found some moist dark soil that gave up its form quite readily. But then a snag; a rusted length of rebar was layed out across my pretty hole about a foot down. Once I wrestled it loose, a smattering of broken bottles and ceramic dishes barred my way. Eventually they too were cleared away and I was able to admire my hole; twice as wide and deep as the rootball. The tree was planted, the soil was packed and watered, and my mess cleaned up.
The motives of my heart are littered with undesirables. Most times I can rationalize or ignore them whilst pretending to have pure and noble intentions. And eventually the deeds are done and I move onto other tasks. But...will I ever dig a clean hole?
I dug a hole for my new lemon tree yesterday. Fought through the thick layer of crabgrass and eventually found some moist dark soil that gave up its form quite readily. But then a snag; a rusted length of rebar was layed out across my pretty hole about a foot down. Once I wrestled it loose, a smattering of broken bottles and ceramic dishes barred my way. Eventually they too were cleared away and I was able to admire my hole; twice as wide and deep as the rootball. The tree was planted, the soil was packed and watered, and my mess cleaned up.
The motives of my heart are littered with undesirables. Most times I can rationalize or ignore them whilst pretending to have pure and noble intentions. And eventually the deeds are done and I move onto other tasks. But...will I ever dig a clean hole?
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Greener Grass
There is much relief to be found in the Lord.
If I were in charge of my life I would make a lot of changes...a lot. But I am not in charge. I don't get to make the calls. I don't make the decisions. He does. And He doesn't make mistakes.
Anxiousness, worry, pain, discomfort...these conspire against me. They get my attention and plot against me. They try to get me to change course.
But God has me exactly where He wants me. What better place could I find?
If I were in charge of my life I would make a lot of changes...a lot. But I am not in charge. I don't get to make the calls. I don't make the decisions. He does. And He doesn't make mistakes.
Anxiousness, worry, pain, discomfort...these conspire against me. They get my attention and plot against me. They try to get me to change course.
But God has me exactly where He wants me. What better place could I find?
Monday, June 20, 2011
Food for Thought
Today, without the physical Jesus, without the twelve Apostles, with church life and the deep, inward experience of Christ impotent and weak, is there any hope that anything like the Twelve could ever appear again? Will there ever be men who live in constant, unbroken fellowship with Christ? It is a glorious question posed by an oftentimes controversial author; but I do believe a valid question! I will think on this throughout my week. Talk to you soon.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
This Will Not Settle Well
I listened to a teaching on a blistering, sensitive subject from one of the "Focus on the Family" pastors this past week. It was introduced with a strong disclaimer, which piqued my interest. The teaching was given to a gathering of 15-24 year-olds at a young adult conference. I still am not fully sure about my own thoughts on the subject but it was compelling. The topic was: "This Generation's Besetting Sin"; the answer was the aversion to marriage in our culture. I would love to hear your comments, thoughts, ideas, understandings, or wisdom you may have regarding this.
First off, I'd like to present some easily attained facts:
--Divorce rate in America: %40-%50
--2nd and 3rd marriage divorce rates: %60-%73
--Marriage rates, by contrast, have been steadily declining: only %52 of adults are married (compared to %72 in 1960)...%82 of young adults in San Francisco have never been married
--4 out of 10 babies in America were born to unmarried mothers
--Birth rates (per 1000 population) have plummeted from 37.2 to 19.1 the last 60 years (13.5 in the US)
--There are nearly half as many marriages in the UK now as there were 40 years ago
--The population replacement rate is a well-established 2.1 children per woman. The US recently fell to 2.09, Europe is at a 1.47. It is estimated that fundamental Christians are reproducing at a demoralizing 1.36 (...Muslims are twice that!)
--The average age when men are getting married is 28...26 for women.
Why are Americans (the figures for Christians hardly vary and are often worse, sadly) waiting to get married, not getting married, not staying married, and not having children? There are hundreds of reasons...just ask around at church this weekend! But before you do, I think a better approach would be to ask God some questions first.
God instituted marriage in the Garden of Eden. His purposes for marriage include three widely accepted functional arrangements: lifelong companionship/partnership, an arena for sexual expression, and procreation. God's Word readily reveals these.
But many believe there is more! A second major possibility for God’s purpose for marriage is one of spiritual enlightenment. John Piper (2007): "The main meaning of marriage is to display the covenant-keeping love between Christ and His church. In other words, marriage was designed by God most deeply, most importantly, to be a parable or a drama of the way Christ loves His church and the way the church loves and follows Christ." Ephesians 5:22-33, which offers some of God's instructions for Christian marriage, concludes: "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is great – but I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” It seems that marriage is pattered after Christ’s covenant commitment to His church. I have actually considered this before http://jonathansfriend.blogspot.com/2011/05/wedding-bells.html. There can hardly be any higher meaning and purpose of marriage than to put the covenant relationship of Christ and His church on display. An argument can thus be put forth that marriage is essential to the Christian walk (with some vary rare exceptions as seen in Matthew 19:11-12 and 1 Corinthians 7:26). More on this mystery later.
A third possible divine purpose for marriage is one of transformation. What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy; to make us selfless rather than selfish? Ephesians 5 shows us that marriage should be Christ-like. It gives insight into the fact that assuming the role of a husband requires one to sacrificially love their wife as Christ loved the church and came in all humility to die for her; and assuming the role of the wife requires one to humbly submit to her husband, relinquishing self as their top priority. Philippians 2 calls us to become the servant-rulers that He created us initially to be in Genesis 1:26-30, denying our selfish ambitions for the sake of considering others more important. The oft-times crucible of marriage quickly uncovers who you are...one likely reason why so many marriages fail.
Thus, it seems that God’s intentions for marriage are not what most of us imagine them to be. He has not designed marriage as a place where we try to get our needs met; sexual, material, or otherwise. God uses marriage to direct us towards Himself, to be conformed into the image of Christ. He uses difficulties and challenges to refine our character and strengthen our faith.
Many avoid or opt out of marriage, mistakenly believing that God’s ultimate goal for them is "happiness." They have been defrauded. God desires for His people joy, not happiness. This also have I lightly touched on http://jonathansfriend.blogspot.com/2011/03/happinesspart-1.html.
Many are too selfish to enter into the selflessness of marriage and then child-rearing. Others are too lazy. Others too scared. Some are scarred emotionally/psychologically/physically. Some have been raised by their parents to wait. Many put marriage on the back-burner to focus on career/money/enjoyment/education. A large number have been seduced by a culture that no longer respects the sanctity of the marriage bed and even the marriage vows. Tolerance has taken its toll on marriage. Maybe you can add to the list.
And now I come to the interesting assertions of the aforementioned speaker. He noted that marriage was of such importance, of such vital significance that Christians should be doing it...and shining brightly for the Lord in the process!! Marriage is essential and should be prepared for and looked for with intensity and hopefulness. To do otherwise is against God's plan and as such falls into the catergory of sin. Young people need to be actively encouraged to be ready for marriage whenever God presents it to them. Sexual maturity is reached between the ages of 13-16. Why should a young person unnaturally bury the natural sexual forces in their bodies for 10, 15, 20 years while the world tells them to wait for marriage? A study of sexual activity outside of marriage shows that they, of course, are not burying anything!! And the natural consequences of those sins are sickeningly on display nearly everywhere in the world around us.
The speaker did not broach the subject, but the issue of procreation is quintessentially linked to this discussion. I have wrestled with these thoughts in the past but usually just brush them aside. This past week I was unable to do that. I could not stand before my Lord otherwise. And here is where I stand, shakingly, now. There seems to be something distinctly wrong with the way today's young, Christian, married couples hold off on conceiving children and then tightly limit the number of children they choose to conceive. I know that most, if not all, of you reading this will yell "FOUL!" and click off right about now! But before you do, I would ask: Why do we choose when to have babies and when not to, if at all?! Put aside rationalizations and hip-pocket prepared defenses. Search your heart and I am sure you will find the same answers I did, the same answers as discussed earlier: selfishness, greed, fear, demands of society, cultural pressure, lack of faith, worry. There is so much more to discuss concerning this and I will save it for another day. But I cannot leave Psalm 127:3 untouched: "Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from Him." (NLT) Knowing this, why would anyone refuse to allow children conceived in the blessings of the marriage covenant into their lives? Christianity, especially and even notably those in ministry, must surely have missed out on what God wants to do for them through the gift of children. I even think that God wants to use these children in much the same manner as He wants to use marriage: to functionally, spiritually, and transformingly draw us closer to Him!! I know that I desire this and I pray that you do too.
First off, I'd like to present some easily attained facts:
--Divorce rate in America: %40-%50
--2nd and 3rd marriage divorce rates: %60-%73
--Marriage rates, by contrast, have been steadily declining: only %52 of adults are married (compared to %72 in 1960)...%82 of young adults in San Francisco have never been married
--4 out of 10 babies in America were born to unmarried mothers
--Birth rates (per 1000 population) have plummeted from 37.2 to 19.1 the last 60 years (13.5 in the US)
--There are nearly half as many marriages in the UK now as there were 40 years ago
--The population replacement rate is a well-established 2.1 children per woman. The US recently fell to 2.09, Europe is at a 1.47. It is estimated that fundamental Christians are reproducing at a demoralizing 1.36 (...Muslims are twice that!)
--The average age when men are getting married is 28...26 for women.
Why are Americans (the figures for Christians hardly vary and are often worse, sadly) waiting to get married, not getting married, not staying married, and not having children? There are hundreds of reasons...just ask around at church this weekend! But before you do, I think a better approach would be to ask God some questions first.
God instituted marriage in the Garden of Eden. His purposes for marriage include three widely accepted functional arrangements: lifelong companionship/partnership, an arena for sexual expression, and procreation. God's Word readily reveals these.
But many believe there is more! A second major possibility for God’s purpose for marriage is one of spiritual enlightenment. John Piper (2007): "The main meaning of marriage is to display the covenant-keeping love between Christ and His church. In other words, marriage was designed by God most deeply, most importantly, to be a parable or a drama of the way Christ loves His church and the way the church loves and follows Christ." Ephesians 5:22-33, which offers some of God's instructions for Christian marriage, concludes: "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is great – but I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” It seems that marriage is pattered after Christ’s covenant commitment to His church. I have actually considered this before http://jonathansfriend.blogspot.com/2011/05/wedding-bells.html. There can hardly be any higher meaning and purpose of marriage than to put the covenant relationship of Christ and His church on display. An argument can thus be put forth that marriage is essential to the Christian walk (with some vary rare exceptions as seen in Matthew 19:11-12 and 1 Corinthians 7:26). More on this mystery later.
A third possible divine purpose for marriage is one of transformation. What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy; to make us selfless rather than selfish? Ephesians 5 shows us that marriage should be Christ-like. It gives insight into the fact that assuming the role of a husband requires one to sacrificially love their wife as Christ loved the church and came in all humility to die for her; and assuming the role of the wife requires one to humbly submit to her husband, relinquishing self as their top priority. Philippians 2 calls us to become the servant-rulers that He created us initially to be in Genesis 1:26-30, denying our selfish ambitions for the sake of considering others more important. The oft-times crucible of marriage quickly uncovers who you are...one likely reason why so many marriages fail.
Thus, it seems that God’s intentions for marriage are not what most of us imagine them to be. He has not designed marriage as a place where we try to get our needs met; sexual, material, or otherwise. God uses marriage to direct us towards Himself, to be conformed into the image of Christ. He uses difficulties and challenges to refine our character and strengthen our faith.
Many avoid or opt out of marriage, mistakenly believing that God’s ultimate goal for them is "happiness." They have been defrauded. God desires for His people joy, not happiness. This also have I lightly touched on http://jonathansfriend.blogspot.com/2011/03/happinesspart-1.html.
Many are too selfish to enter into the selflessness of marriage and then child-rearing. Others are too lazy. Others too scared. Some are scarred emotionally/psychologically/physically. Some have been raised by their parents to wait. Many put marriage on the back-burner to focus on career/money/enjoyment/education. A large number have been seduced by a culture that no longer respects the sanctity of the marriage bed and even the marriage vows. Tolerance has taken its toll on marriage. Maybe you can add to the list.
And now I come to the interesting assertions of the aforementioned speaker. He noted that marriage was of such importance, of such vital significance that Christians should be doing it...and shining brightly for the Lord in the process!! Marriage is essential and should be prepared for and looked for with intensity and hopefulness. To do otherwise is against God's plan and as such falls into the catergory of sin. Young people need to be actively encouraged to be ready for marriage whenever God presents it to them. Sexual maturity is reached between the ages of 13-16. Why should a young person unnaturally bury the natural sexual forces in their bodies for 10, 15, 20 years while the world tells them to wait for marriage? A study of sexual activity outside of marriage shows that they, of course, are not burying anything!! And the natural consequences of those sins are sickeningly on display nearly everywhere in the world around us.
The speaker did not broach the subject, but the issue of procreation is quintessentially linked to this discussion. I have wrestled with these thoughts in the past but usually just brush them aside. This past week I was unable to do that. I could not stand before my Lord otherwise. And here is where I stand, shakingly, now. There seems to be something distinctly wrong with the way today's young, Christian, married couples hold off on conceiving children and then tightly limit the number of children they choose to conceive. I know that most, if not all, of you reading this will yell "FOUL!" and click off right about now! But before you do, I would ask: Why do we choose when to have babies and when not to, if at all?! Put aside rationalizations and hip-pocket prepared defenses. Search your heart and I am sure you will find the same answers I did, the same answers as discussed earlier: selfishness, greed, fear, demands of society, cultural pressure, lack of faith, worry. There is so much more to discuss concerning this and I will save it for another day. But I cannot leave Psalm 127:3 untouched: "Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from Him." (NLT) Knowing this, why would anyone refuse to allow children conceived in the blessings of the marriage covenant into their lives? Christianity, especially and even notably those in ministry, must surely have missed out on what God wants to do for them through the gift of children. I even think that God wants to use these children in much the same manner as He wants to use marriage: to functionally, spiritually, and transformingly draw us closer to Him!! I know that I desire this and I pray that you do too.
Monday, June 6, 2011
To pray, or not to pray...that is the question
"...Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints..." (Ephesians 6:18)
The great "armor of God" passage directly precedes this verse and basically concludes with this verse. I don't really remember it being taught in the many studies I have participated in. I have also heard a minister admit that he has oftentimes fluffed over it. Why? Because it shows us how much we don't get it. Consider that phrase: "praying always"...hmmm. Do we do that? I would have to say that I do not. I could, of course, rationalize that Paul was using hyperbole. But I remember that he uttered this directive more than once:
Col 1:9 "For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;"
1Th 5:17 "pray without ceasing,"
2Th 1:11 "Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of [this] calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of [His] goodness and the work of faith with power,"
1Ti 2:8 "I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting;"
In addition, the example of Jesus is wildly awash with prayer. This is seen, not just in the Gospels, but also in what we are told about Jesus' current activities: "Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." (Hebrews 7:25) and also "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us." (Romans 8:33-34)
So, the question begs, what is our response? Do I fluff over this call to prayer? Is it just another, in a seemingly endless line, of those instructions stemming forth from the Bible and decreed from the pulpit for the righteous and doctrinally inclined? I think not. Jesus wants a relationship with us. I can think of no other way that better pulls us out of the quicksand of earthly existence and brings us into the spiritual plane. We can turn to prayer in every living activity that I can think of. Even sleep!! I remember the instance of preparing and giving a Bible study...it was incredible! Probably the best I ever did...and it was in a dream!!
I have experienced what refocusing on God through prayer can do to my mental/emotional state. Putting God squarely in the center of my thought life manifests itself directly in my actual life. Unfortunately, I don't do it "unceasingly". But I want to. I need to. I have to.
The great "armor of God" passage directly precedes this verse and basically concludes with this verse. I don't really remember it being taught in the many studies I have participated in. I have also heard a minister admit that he has oftentimes fluffed over it. Why? Because it shows us how much we don't get it. Consider that phrase: "praying always"...hmmm. Do we do that? I would have to say that I do not. I could, of course, rationalize that Paul was using hyperbole. But I remember that he uttered this directive more than once:
Col 1:9 "For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;"
1Th 5:17 "pray without ceasing,"
2Th 1:11 "Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of [this] calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of [His] goodness and the work of faith with power,"
1Ti 2:8 "I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting;"
In addition, the example of Jesus is wildly awash with prayer. This is seen, not just in the Gospels, but also in what we are told about Jesus' current activities: "Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." (Hebrews 7:25) and also "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us." (Romans 8:33-34)
So, the question begs, what is our response? Do I fluff over this call to prayer? Is it just another, in a seemingly endless line, of those instructions stemming forth from the Bible and decreed from the pulpit for the righteous and doctrinally inclined? I think not. Jesus wants a relationship with us. I can think of no other way that better pulls us out of the quicksand of earthly existence and brings us into the spiritual plane. We can turn to prayer in every living activity that I can think of. Even sleep!! I remember the instance of preparing and giving a Bible study...it was incredible! Probably the best I ever did...and it was in a dream!!
I have experienced what refocusing on God through prayer can do to my mental/emotional state. Putting God squarely in the center of my thought life manifests itself directly in my actual life. Unfortunately, I don't do it "unceasingly". But I want to. I need to. I have to.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
The One Command
What is Jesus' greatest command?
Informal surveys show that only one out of ten Christians know the answer to this. I didn't know it. Even fewer people (me included, again!) know that the question is actually made simpler by the fact that Jesus actually only ever gave one command!! Are you intrigued? I was...and thus proceeded to blitz through the book that posed this question (The Love Revolution by Gaylord Enns...this blog will never do it justice so you would be best to just stop here, get a copy of the book, turn to John 13-15, and prepare to have the eyes of your heart opened!! But I have been so affected by the reading of it myself that I cannot help but continue on...).
Mat 26:26-28 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke [it], and gave [it] to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave [it] to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
With these words, spoken at the Last Supper, Jesus officially ended the Old Covenant and established the New Covenant. I will not attempt to delve into covenant theology; but know that a major transition just took place. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews: "In that he states "A new [covenant]," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." (Heb 8:13) So the Old Covenant, the Law, the Ten Commandments (which were intrinsically linked to the Old Covenant...check out Exodus 20-24 where the Covenant is established and agreed upon) have now been surpassed by the New. So, what commands are given as part of the New?
1Jo 3:23 "And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment."
Jesus gave us this, His one and only command, moments after the establishment of the New Covenant!! (John 13:34-35) "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." He then reiterates it a number of times in the teaching that followed and repeated it verbatim later that night as they headed to the Gethsemane Garden (John 15:12).
The other writers of the New Testament all were in on the gig too!!
Rom 13:8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.
1Thes 4:9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another
1Pet 1:22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,
1John 3:11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another
1John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
1John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another
1John 4:12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
2John 1:5 And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another.
Rom 12:10 [Be] kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another
Gal 5:13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not [use] liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another
Eph 4:2 ...with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love
1Thes 3:12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we [do] to you,
Hbr 10:24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,
1Pet 3:8 Finally, all [of you be] of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, [be] tenderhearted, [be] courteous;
1Pet 4:8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins."
Rom 13:9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if [there is] any other commandment, are [all] summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Gal 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, [even] in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Jam 2:8 If you really fulfill [the] royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well;
1Pet 5:14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Amen indeed! Suddenly, Jesus' teaching about the goats and sheep in Matthew 25 takes on so much more significance for me: "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did [it] to one of the least of these My brethren, you did [it] to Me'...Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do [it] to one of the least of these, you did not do [it] to Me.'" (Matt 25:40,45) When we love one another we are, in very real fact, loving God because we know that as part of the New Covenant He has taken up residence inside each one of us! Eph 2:18-22: "For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner[stone], in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." And don't forget this powerful revelation: "To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Col 1:27)
I don't fully understand what has happened to me over the last few days but it seems to me that this command should and needs to be at the center of everything we do! And I humbly realized that in my life it is not. But I so desire to obey Jesus in this, His one command to us. May the love revolution begin in my heart and mind...and yours too!! Amen. Just dreaming of the results this will enact in my life brings a smile to my heart. Thinking of what it could do for our Lord's Church staggers me. Contemplating how it will affect the world around me gives me hope.
Informal surveys show that only one out of ten Christians know the answer to this. I didn't know it. Even fewer people (me included, again!) know that the question is actually made simpler by the fact that Jesus actually only ever gave one command!! Are you intrigued? I was...and thus proceeded to blitz through the book that posed this question (The Love Revolution by Gaylord Enns...this blog will never do it justice so you would be best to just stop here, get a copy of the book, turn to John 13-15, and prepare to have the eyes of your heart opened!! But I have been so affected by the reading of it myself that I cannot help but continue on...).
Mat 26:26-28 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke [it], and gave [it] to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave [it] to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
With these words, spoken at the Last Supper, Jesus officially ended the Old Covenant and established the New Covenant. I will not attempt to delve into covenant theology; but know that a major transition just took place. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews: "In that he states "A new [covenant]," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." (Heb 8:13) So the Old Covenant, the Law, the Ten Commandments (which were intrinsically linked to the Old Covenant...check out Exodus 20-24 where the Covenant is established and agreed upon) have now been surpassed by the New. So, what commands are given as part of the New?
1Jo 3:23 "And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment."
Jesus gave us this, His one and only command, moments after the establishment of the New Covenant!! (John 13:34-35) "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." He then reiterates it a number of times in the teaching that followed and repeated it verbatim later that night as they headed to the Gethsemane Garden (John 15:12).
The other writers of the New Testament all were in on the gig too!!
Rom 13:8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.
1Thes 4:9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another
1Pet 1:22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,
1John 3:11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another
1John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
1John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another
1John 4:12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
2John 1:5 And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another.
Rom 12:10 [Be] kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another
Gal 5:13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not [use] liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another
Eph 4:2 ...with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love
1Thes 3:12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we [do] to you,
Hbr 10:24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,
1Pet 3:8 Finally, all [of you be] of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, [be] tenderhearted, [be] courteous;
1Pet 4:8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins."
Rom 13:9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if [there is] any other commandment, are [all] summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Gal 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, [even] in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Jam 2:8 If you really fulfill [the] royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well;
1Pet 5:14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Amen indeed! Suddenly, Jesus' teaching about the goats and sheep in Matthew 25 takes on so much more significance for me: "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did [it] to one of the least of these My brethren, you did [it] to Me'...Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do [it] to one of the least of these, you did not do [it] to Me.'" (Matt 25:40,45) When we love one another we are, in very real fact, loving God because we know that as part of the New Covenant He has taken up residence inside each one of us! Eph 2:18-22: "For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner[stone], in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." And don't forget this powerful revelation: "To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Col 1:27)
I don't fully understand what has happened to me over the last few days but it seems to me that this command should and needs to be at the center of everything we do! And I humbly realized that in my life it is not. But I so desire to obey Jesus in this, His one command to us. May the love revolution begin in my heart and mind...and yours too!! Amen. Just dreaming of the results this will enact in my life brings a smile to my heart. Thinking of what it could do for our Lord's Church staggers me. Contemplating how it will affect the world around me gives me hope.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Music to my Ears
It occured to me this week, whilst reading of David and Saul's relationship, that singing is at least one activity we do here and now that we will for certain be doing in the there and forever.
Makes me consider music, lyrics, melodies, and rythmn a little bit differently, a little more spiritually.
Makes me consider music, lyrics, melodies, and rythmn a little bit differently, a little more spiritually.
Wedding Bells
It is mind-tingling to see how Jesus describes His relationship with us:
"Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed [are] those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!' " And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God." (Rev 19:7-9)
and...
Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them [and be] their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." (Rev 21:2-4)
and...
And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. (Rev 22:17)
and...
For Zion's sake I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp [that] burns. The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD will name. You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married. For [as] a young man marries a virgin, [so] shall your sons marry you; and [as] the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, [so] shall your God rejoice over you. (Is 62:1-5)
I know that my own personal wedding with my wife was pretty awesome. The feast (party) shortly afterwards was cool. The honeymoon was incredible. And the marriage itself is something I would never want reversed.
I can't help but believe that all this pales weakly in view of what our relationship with Jesus should be now...and what it will be in eternity.
"Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed [are] those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!' " And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God." (Rev 19:7-9)
and...
Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them [and be] their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." (Rev 21:2-4)
and...
And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. (Rev 22:17)
and...
For Zion's sake I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp [that] burns. The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD will name. You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married. For [as] a young man marries a virgin, [so] shall your sons marry you; and [as] the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, [so] shall your God rejoice over you. (Is 62:1-5)
I know that my own personal wedding with my wife was pretty awesome. The feast (party) shortly afterwards was cool. The honeymoon was incredible. And the marriage itself is something I would never want reversed.
I can't help but believe that all this pales weakly in view of what our relationship with Jesus should be now...and what it will be in eternity.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Hail to the Chief
Define your relationship with God? Do it right now.
I suspect that most of us would try to relate it by comparing it to one of the human relationships we have. There are many of them: romantic, familial, professional, spiritual, friendly. Human relatioship attributes would probably include some of the following:
I suspect that most of us would try to relate it by comparing it to one of the human relationships we have. There are many of them: romantic, familial, professional, spiritual, friendly. Human relatioship attributes would probably include some of the following:
- it changes
- it is both experiential and empirical (observable)
- it is often difficult to define
- it can become dormant
- it is not predictable; while sometimes very predictable
Are these true of our relationship with God? I would say yes. Are they true of His relationship with us? I think not.
I was thinking the other day that our relationship with God can end up being like our one with President Obama. We don't see him personally face-to-face, ever. He doesn't come over for dinner or hang out with us in any of our day to day activities. But we do know an awful lot about him (some true, some not). Nevertheless, for the most part, we respect him and give him titles. But we never grow close to him; nor will we. He is worlds removed from us. Is it any different with Jesus? Is He close to us in our daily life? What do we know about Him? Is He worlds removed from us?
How does Jesus become a daily part of your life, experientially present? Matthew 25:34-40.
How do we know Jesus? 1Cor 2:2, 2Cor 13:2-8
Is He worlds removed from us? 1 John (the whole book but especially chapter 4 and most especially v.12-13)
I don't think we can hope to define our relationship with God by any comparison to our human understanding of relationships: (1Cor 2:9-16) But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." But God has revealed [them] to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is [rightly] judged by no one. For "who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
All journeys start with first steps. First steps require an understanding of walking. And walking begins with baby steps. Relationships are no different; neither is our one with Jesus. These verses are my baby steps. One day I hope to be walking and running with Jesus...and then to one day walk in His divine light for always (Rev 21:24).
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Happiness...a little rabbit trail.
In case you were wondering, the actual English word "blessed" comes from a German word bletsian meaning "blood"--which automatically reckons me back to the Old Testament system of sacrifices. It seems, however, that this was not the case for the translators.
The Oxford English Dictionary confirms that the word "bless" is from the Old Teutonic (German) bletsian, from heathen blood sacrifices. German: das Blut. English: blood.
The meaning, then, was "to mark (or affect in some way) with blood (or a sacrificial animal)". Interesting choice of translation for a word associated with goddness from God, wouldn't you say?
The sense development of the word "bless" was greatly influenced by its having been chosen (in the early English church ceremonies) to translate the Latin (benedicere) and the Greek (eulogeitos). Latin writers used the verb form benedicere to translate the Greek, preferring to offer the literal sense of the Greek. The Latin word benedicere, to bless, derives from the Hebrew bentsh, to recite the Jewish grace (blessing) after meals.
It is thought that a strictly English word was desired to get away from the Catholic expressions and the Semitic language as well. The word "bless" was not a literal translation, but it did have religious overtones, heathen as they were! So, there was a long and varied series of associations - Jewish, heathen, Christian - to blend in the English use of the word "bless". Therefore - "blessing" is a word which has a position in Christian vocabulary by reason of long-standing usage...if not any true linguistic meaning or translation.
Maybe this is why I initially was having difficulty arriving at the true meaning/understanding of this word. It does not directly translate from eulogeitos or barak!
BUT - there is a modern version which does have a direct translation, and it is to this version that I must make mention. The version is the Spanish. In Ephesians 1:3 we read "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." In the Spanish, the word bendito is the part participle of the verb bendecir. It means, literally, "to say good things or good words".There is no doubt to Spanish speaking people what this word means. Decir, to say or to tell, is one of the most common Spanish words. The Spanish translators, not having the issues the English translators seemed to have, translated directly from the Greek (via the Latin). The English equivalent to bendición is "benediction", also from the Greek by way of Latin. So, eulogeitos => benedicere => bendición => benediction => "praise".
Just a thought for your evening snack.
Extra Credit...Want to know the Jewish word commonly associated with "blessing" in Hebrew? It is beracha. Sometimes this is understood as praising or lauding. However, many sources indicate that beracha more accurately refers to a flow of increase and bounty. Even more interesting is the word meaning benediction, prayer, praise, or blessing...berachot. More on this next time.
The Oxford English Dictionary confirms that the word "bless" is from the Old Teutonic (German) bletsian, from heathen blood sacrifices. German: das Blut. English: blood.
The meaning, then, was "to mark (or affect in some way) with blood (or a sacrificial animal)". Interesting choice of translation for a word associated with goddness from God, wouldn't you say?
The sense development of the word "bless" was greatly influenced by its having been chosen (in the early English church ceremonies) to translate the Latin (benedicere) and the Greek (eulogeitos). Latin writers used the verb form benedicere to translate the Greek, preferring to offer the literal sense of the Greek. The Latin word benedicere, to bless, derives from the Hebrew bentsh, to recite the Jewish grace (blessing) after meals.
It is thought that a strictly English word was desired to get away from the Catholic expressions and the Semitic language as well. The word "bless" was not a literal translation, but it did have religious overtones, heathen as they were! So, there was a long and varied series of associations - Jewish, heathen, Christian - to blend in the English use of the word "bless". Therefore - "blessing" is a word which has a position in Christian vocabulary by reason of long-standing usage...if not any true linguistic meaning or translation.
Maybe this is why I initially was having difficulty arriving at the true meaning/understanding of this word. It does not directly translate from eulogeitos or barak!
BUT - there is a modern version which does have a direct translation, and it is to this version that I must make mention. The version is the Spanish. In Ephesians 1:3 we read "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." In the Spanish, the word bendito is the part participle of the verb bendecir. It means, literally, "to say good things or good words".There is no doubt to Spanish speaking people what this word means. Decir, to say or to tell, is one of the most common Spanish words. The Spanish translators, not having the issues the English translators seemed to have, translated directly from the Greek (via the Latin). The English equivalent to bendición is "benediction", also from the Greek by way of Latin. So, eulogeitos => benedicere => bendición => benediction => "praise".
Just a thought for your evening snack.
Extra Credit...Want to know the Jewish word commonly associated with "blessing" in Hebrew? It is beracha. Sometimes this is understood as praising or lauding. However, many sources indicate that beracha more accurately refers to a flow of increase and bounty. Even more interesting is the word meaning benediction, prayer, praise, or blessing...berachot. More on this next time.
Happiness...Part 3
Some more thoughts about where blessings come from...
- The word “blessing” is not used very often in classical Greek writings. The concept is of Hebrew origin and permeates the Old Testament writings. Its origin is not from man's mind or insight but from God.
- The word the translators of the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) chose to use for the Hebrew barak was eulogeitos. (Eulogeitos is an adjective meaning “well spoken of; praised“. Eulogew is a verb: “to speak well of; to praise; to call down God's gracious power“. Eulogia is the noun form, meaning “praise; fine speaking”) This Greek word actually provides the English word “eulogy” which litearally means “good word”. The meanings attached to this word, eulogeitos, are: to praise, to celebrate with praises, to cause to prosper, to make happy, to bestow blessings on, to be favored of God. So, among Greek speaking Jews, this was a common word for praise, thanksgiving, respect, etc.
- God has been thinking about us in favorable terms and He has had a mental attitude of love, grace, and mercy toward us, present since before the beginning of time. God makes an initial move toward us because of this mental attitude of love. He provides us His graciousness, His gift of salvation, His spiritual gifts, all of which are manifestations of His love toward us. He thought "good words" toward us. He has provided all blessings for us as an expression of His love.
I can tell you, that seeing God's love for me is already starting to make me feel very, very good...dare I say, happy?!
Happiness...Part 2
So, I was going to think on the idea of our "souls"...but I ended up back at happiness. We'll get to souls later...God willing! But I got thrown back into happiness because I was reading Gayle Erwin's "The Spirit Style" and he states that happiness "can't be quantified". WHAT!?!? That kinda blew me away. I had known where I was going with the whole happiness thing because I knew that in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus began with the Beatitudes which are blessings. And the Greek word used for blessing is makarios which is translated "happy". I thought that Jesus had basically outlined the formula for happiness in this Sermon...but to see Gayle Erwin say you can't define happiness stopped me in my tracks. So I decide to start all over and go back to the very beginning. Blessings didn't start on the Sermon on the Mount. They have been around for a long, long time.
“And God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’” (Genesis 1:22) Thus begins God’s interest in His creation. The next day He creates mankind. “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” (Genesis 1:28) His very first words to animals and then humans are a blessing. So what does it mean to be blessed by God? What did this entail? What exactly does Moses (the author of Genesis) mean when he writes “God blessed them”?
A word study of “blessed” results in the following, surprising, information:
"Blessed" (the Hebrew word barak): to bend the knees, to kneel. Its parsing (grammatical structure) is imperfect, which means it is used in the sense of being progressive, a process, and ongoing. The stem (the part of the word that is common to all its inflected variants) is piel which is difficult to interpret even for advanced scholars (which I am definitely not) but basically points to the subject doing the action in a strong and real way (the intensive nature).
At first glance, this proves to be a strange translation. This word barak is used 331 times in the Old Testament. Most all of these instances were to convey the meaning of respect or adoration; though a couple of times there was actual, physical kneeling going on. My personal feeling is that Moses, having been raised in the palace of Pharaoh, would have understood firsthand the concept of kneeling and obeisance before an exalted ruler. He also had had a particularly close relationship with God. (A short read of Exodus and Numbers will show God demonstrating His power and dominion in numerous ways both to and through Moses.) He knew without doubt that God was the Lord Creator of the world. Naturally, you would kneel to this sovereign God in adoration, praise, thanksgiving, supplication, and fear. Most Biblical encounters between humans and God (and even His messenger angels) did result in the human falling, often involuntarily, to his knees or laying prostrate on his face. So it seems that Moses wanted to directly relate this veneration of God towards His blessings. This is absolutely appropriate since all goodness does in fact stem from Him and only from Him. Thus it is before Him we must bend as we seek blessings. He is our Lord, our Sustainer, and our Source. He is our Blessing.
So I have arrived at a good understanding of where blessings come from; but the question still remains, ‘What form does blessing take?’ And, does it lead to happiness? I have some asking, seeking, and knocking to do. See you soon.
“And God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’” (Genesis 1:22) Thus begins God’s interest in His creation. The next day He creates mankind. “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” (Genesis 1:28) His very first words to animals and then humans are a blessing. So what does it mean to be blessed by God? What did this entail? What exactly does Moses (the author of Genesis) mean when he writes “God blessed them”?
A word study of “blessed” results in the following, surprising, information:
"Blessed" (the Hebrew word barak): to bend the knees, to kneel. Its parsing (grammatical structure) is imperfect, which means it is used in the sense of being progressive, a process, and ongoing. The stem (the part of the word that is common to all its inflected variants) is piel which is difficult to interpret even for advanced scholars (which I am definitely not) but basically points to the subject doing the action in a strong and real way (the intensive nature).
At first glance, this proves to be a strange translation. This word barak is used 331 times in the Old Testament. Most all of these instances were to convey the meaning of respect or adoration; though a couple of times there was actual, physical kneeling going on. My personal feeling is that Moses, having been raised in the palace of Pharaoh, would have understood firsthand the concept of kneeling and obeisance before an exalted ruler. He also had had a particularly close relationship with God. (A short read of Exodus and Numbers will show God demonstrating His power and dominion in numerous ways both to and through Moses.) He knew without doubt that God was the Lord Creator of the world. Naturally, you would kneel to this sovereign God in adoration, praise, thanksgiving, supplication, and fear. Most Biblical encounters between humans and God (and even His messenger angels) did result in the human falling, often involuntarily, to his knees or laying prostrate on his face. So it seems that Moses wanted to directly relate this veneration of God towards His blessings. This is absolutely appropriate since all goodness does in fact stem from Him and only from Him. Thus it is before Him we must bend as we seek blessings. He is our Lord, our Sustainer, and our Source. He is our Blessing.
So I have arrived at a good understanding of where blessings come from; but the question still remains, ‘What form does blessing take?’ And, does it lead to happiness? I have some asking, seeking, and knocking to do. See you soon.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Happiness...Part 1
Sustainable happiness. That sounds like the resource we need to be looking for. Oil, gas, wind, geothermal, coal, nuclear--putting these aside for the moment I would like to ponder the search for happiness.
When was the last time you were really and truly happy? When did you just settle back, sigh deeply, and declare to all who would listen: "I am supremely happy?" Moments of bliss and seconds of ecstasy I am sure we all experience. But can we string enough of them together to last a whole hour, an entire day, a week, a lifetime? And, an even tougher question, can we be happy even when we're not? Because I believe we feel happiness at different levels. Physical is probably the easiest to attain. Emotional happiness isn't much harder to manipulate. And what about mental happiness? Is there even such a thing? Mental happiness...happiness of the mind. I guess since there are entire agencies devoted to "mental health" that mental happiness is a valid level. And what about the soul? We have "chicken soup for the soul"; but what is the soul?
STOP.
I am going to have to stop this discussion right here because a bigger thought has entered the fray. What is the soul, a soul, your soul?? We'll come back to happiness. I have to work on this soul thing first.
When was the last time you were really and truly happy? When did you just settle back, sigh deeply, and declare to all who would listen: "I am supremely happy?" Moments of bliss and seconds of ecstasy I am sure we all experience. But can we string enough of them together to last a whole hour, an entire day, a week, a lifetime? And, an even tougher question, can we be happy even when we're not? Because I believe we feel happiness at different levels. Physical is probably the easiest to attain. Emotional happiness isn't much harder to manipulate. And what about mental happiness? Is there even such a thing? Mental happiness...happiness of the mind. I guess since there are entire agencies devoted to "mental health" that mental happiness is a valid level. And what about the soul? We have "chicken soup for the soul"; but what is the soul?
STOP.
I am going to have to stop this discussion right here because a bigger thought has entered the fray. What is the soul, a soul, your soul?? We'll come back to happiness. I have to work on this soul thing first.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
A Star in the East
"I saw a star in the east."
"There are plenty of stars in the east."
"But this one moves... and the dream I had last night, I didn't tell you about the dream. In the dream I saw an angel, bright as the sun, fly through the sky blowing a trumpet. He flew from the East to the West and many people followed. No one knew what was going on, but everyone knew it was something big. We followed it to find the birth of a lamb. As soon as the lamb was born, people tried to kill it, but it ran away and was hidden. Then, for some strange reason, it came out of hiding, walked into the midst of its enemies, and lay down. The people killed it and were rejoicing, but the body of the lamb changed into a mighty lion and rose and scattered his enemies. It was amazing. What do you think it means?"
"I think it means you are drinking too much wine before going to bed."
"But it's not just me. Your brother told me this morning that he had the same exact dream and looking at the star, he says it's like the angel. We're following it tonight. The lion is the king of the animals. Maybe we are going to witness the birth of a king."
"But you saw the lamb. the lion didn't come till later."
"I don't understand it, but I'm still going. Would you like to join us?"
"Ha! and follow a star to see something I don't understand? I never understood you astrologers anyways, always looking at the stars. Don't you realize that so many of us work to make sure you have food and shelter so you can spend your time outside, letting your dinner get cold looking up at the stars? You should spend your time thinking more about what's down here. There are plenty of things around here that you can spend your time looking at instead of the stars."
"That's true, but then I wouldn't have noticed the star. I don't think that understanding this world is all there is to it. I believe the answer is up, and not down."
"People with their heads down do better at their work."
"People with their heads down get run over by carts in the street."
"Fine, go and see this baby lamb. You don't do anything around the house anyways. Wait... what are you packing frankincense for?"
"You can't go and see a king empty handed. I have to bring something."
"But that's our best stuff! At least take a smaller bottle."
"To a king who is rich, this may not mean much. It may be tossed aside with other treasures as soon as I leave the room, but to us, it's our best. If i don't give my best, than I dishonor the king."
"But he doesn't even know you. He won't know you didn't give the best."
"But I will. I would be lying to a king. Whether or not I get caught shouldn't motivate me to lie to a king... or anyone for that matter."
"You're impossible."
"Speaking of impossible, come see us off tonight and you'll see the star move like I told you."
"I think this is a waste of your time."
"Which, according to you, is practically worthless anyways."
"Okay. I'll see you off. When do you think you'll be back."
"As soon as I've done all I've set out to do."
"I won't wait up."
"There are plenty of stars in the east."
"But this one moves... and the dream I had last night, I didn't tell you about the dream. In the dream I saw an angel, bright as the sun, fly through the sky blowing a trumpet. He flew from the East to the West and many people followed. No one knew what was going on, but everyone knew it was something big. We followed it to find the birth of a lamb. As soon as the lamb was born, people tried to kill it, but it ran away and was hidden. Then, for some strange reason, it came out of hiding, walked into the midst of its enemies, and lay down. The people killed it and were rejoicing, but the body of the lamb changed into a mighty lion and rose and scattered his enemies. It was amazing. What do you think it means?"
"I think it means you are drinking too much wine before going to bed."
"But it's not just me. Your brother told me this morning that he had the same exact dream and looking at the star, he says it's like the angel. We're following it tonight. The lion is the king of the animals. Maybe we are going to witness the birth of a king."
"But you saw the lamb. the lion didn't come till later."
"I don't understand it, but I'm still going. Would you like to join us?"
"Ha! and follow a star to see something I don't understand? I never understood you astrologers anyways, always looking at the stars. Don't you realize that so many of us work to make sure you have food and shelter so you can spend your time outside, letting your dinner get cold looking up at the stars? You should spend your time thinking more about what's down here. There are plenty of things around here that you can spend your time looking at instead of the stars."
"That's true, but then I wouldn't have noticed the star. I don't think that understanding this world is all there is to it. I believe the answer is up, and not down."
"People with their heads down do better at their work."
"People with their heads down get run over by carts in the street."
"Fine, go and see this baby lamb. You don't do anything around the house anyways. Wait... what are you packing frankincense for?"
"You can't go and see a king empty handed. I have to bring something."
"But that's our best stuff! At least take a smaller bottle."
"To a king who is rich, this may not mean much. It may be tossed aside with other treasures as soon as I leave the room, but to us, it's our best. If i don't give my best, than I dishonor the king."
"But he doesn't even know you. He won't know you didn't give the best."
"But I will. I would be lying to a king. Whether or not I get caught shouldn't motivate me to lie to a king... or anyone for that matter."
"You're impossible."
"Speaking of impossible, come see us off tonight and you'll see the star move like I told you."
"I think this is a waste of your time."
"Which, according to you, is practically worthless anyways."
"Okay. I'll see you off. When do you think you'll be back."
"As soon as I've done all I've set out to do."
"I won't wait up."
Sunday, February 20, 2011
In case you were wondering...
California Flag
In 1836, Juan Alvarado and Isaac Graham led a revolution against Mexican rule. During this first revolt, rebels were able to capture Monterey and declared California "a free and sovereign state". The Lone Star Flag of California contained a single red star on a white background. The red star on a white field was the proposed first flag for the 1836 revolt. The star, both in California and in Texas, represents freedom and independence. The "lone" star on the flag symbolized independence, similarly to the Texas "lone star", The shape of a five point star is very old, and appeared as early as in Babylonian and Sumerian cultures. It represented the five senses, the five planets (in ancient astronomy) Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn, and Venus, the five classical elements (earth, air, water, fire, aether (look it up...it is cool)), and much more.
Although that rebellion failed, it inspired the design of the flag of the Bear Flag Revolt. The original Grizzly Bear Flag was raised for the first time in Sonoma, California, June 1846, by the men who became known as the "Bear Flaggers“. The first Bear Flag was designed by William L. Todd, a nephew of Mary Todd - the wife of Abraham Lincoln. The flag was influenced by the 1836 California Lone Star Flag. The bear was designed to be a symbol of strength and unyielding resistance. Plus there were many grizzly bears in California in those days.
The United States had declared war on Mexico in May 1846. Mexico surrendered California in 1848 and it became a territory. In 1848 just as the Mexican War was coming to an end, gold was discovered in the Sacramento Valley. News of the discovery brought thousands of prospectors from all over the United States. Many of them arrived in 1849, and thus became known as “Forty-niners.” Between 1848 and 1860, California’s population increased from about 26,000 to 380,000. Those who were not lucky finding gold stayed in California and became farmers and ranchers.
California became the 31st state on Sept. 9, 1850.
The Bear Flag was officially adopted in 1911.
In 1836, Juan Alvarado and Isaac Graham led a revolution against Mexican rule. During this first revolt, rebels were able to capture Monterey and declared California "a free and sovereign state". The Lone Star Flag of California contained a single red star on a white background. The red star on a white field was the proposed first flag for the 1836 revolt. The star, both in California and in Texas, represents freedom and independence. The "lone" star on the flag symbolized independence, similarly to the Texas "lone star", The shape of a five point star is very old, and appeared as early as in Babylonian and Sumerian cultures. It represented the five senses, the five planets (in ancient astronomy) Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn, and Venus, the five classical elements (earth, air, water, fire, aether (look it up...it is cool)), and much more.
Although that rebellion failed, it inspired the design of the flag of the Bear Flag Revolt. The original Grizzly Bear Flag was raised for the first time in Sonoma, California, June 1846, by the men who became known as the "Bear Flaggers“. The first Bear Flag was designed by William L. Todd, a nephew of Mary Todd - the wife of Abraham Lincoln. The flag was influenced by the 1836 California Lone Star Flag. The bear was designed to be a symbol of strength and unyielding resistance. Plus there were many grizzly bears in California in those days.
The United States had declared war on Mexico in May 1846. Mexico surrendered California in 1848 and it became a territory. In 1848 just as the Mexican War was coming to an end, gold was discovered in the Sacramento Valley. News of the discovery brought thousands of prospectors from all over the United States. Many of them arrived in 1849, and thus became known as “Forty-niners.” Between 1848 and 1860, California’s population increased from about 26,000 to 380,000. Those who were not lucky finding gold stayed in California and became farmers and ranchers.
California became the 31st state on Sept. 9, 1850.
The Bear Flag was officially adopted in 1911.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Proof is in the Pudding
BIBLE PROOFS…HOW CAN I KNOW IT IS TRUE?
1)Science
2)Prophecy
3)Textual Evidence
4)Archaeology
5)Historians
1)Science: there is a great deal of scientific evidence that supports the Bible.
Statements Consistent With Paleontology:
The Bible refers to many of the common animals we know today. The list includes lions, wolves, bears, sheep, cattle and dogs along with various kinds of birds, rodents, reptiles, and insects. What is interesting is that this extensive list includes three animals that we no longer recognize: behemouth (brachiosaurus), leviathan (kronosaurus), tanniyn (dinosaur).
Behemoth has the following attributes according to Job 40:15-24. It “eats grass like an ox.”
It “moves his tail like a cedar.” (In Hebrew, this literally reads, “he lets hang his tail like a cedar.”)
Its “bones are like beams of bronze,His ribs like bars of iron.”
“He is the first of the ways of God.”
“He lies under the lotus trees,In a covert of reeds and marsh.”
Leviathan has the following attributes according to Job chapter 41, Psalm 104:25,26 and Isaiah 27:1. This is only a partial listing—just enough to make the point.
“No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up.”
“Who can open the doors of his face, with his terrible teeth all around?”
“His rows of scales are his pride, shut up tightly as with a seal; one is so near another that no air can come between them; they are joined one to another, they stick together and cannot be parted.”
“His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth go burning lights; sparks of fire shoot out. Smoke goes out of his nostrils, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.”
“Though the sword reaches him, it cannot avail; nor does spear, dart, or javelin. He regards iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee; slingstones become like stubble to him. Darts are regarded as straw; he laughs at the threat of javelins.”
“On earth there is nothing like him, which is made without fear.”
Leviathan “played” in the “great and wide sea” (a paraphrase of Psalm 104 verses 25 and 26—get the exact sense by reading them yourself).
Leviathan is a “reptile that is in the sea.” (Isaiah 27:1) {Note: The word translated “reptile” here is the Hebrew word tanniyn. This shows that “Leviathan” was also a “tanniyn” (dragon)}
Statements Consistent With Astronomy
The Bible frequently refers to the great number of stars in the heavens. Here are two examples.
Genesis 22:17Blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
Jeremiah 33:22“As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.”
Even today, scientists admit that they do not know how many stars there are. Only about 3,000 can be seen with the naked eye. We have seen estimates of 10^21 stars—which is a lot of stars. (The number of grains of sand on the earth’s seashores is estimated to be 10^25. As scientists discover more stars, wouldn’t it be interesting to discover that these two numbers match?)
The Bible also says that each star is unique.
1 Corinthians 15:41"There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory."
All stars seem alike to the naked eye. Even when seen through a telescope, they seem to be just points of light. However, analysis of their light spectra reveals that each is unique and different from all others.
The Bible describes the precision of movement in the universe.
Jeremiah 31:35,36'Thus says the LORD,Who gives the sun for a light by day,The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night,Who disturbs the sea,And its waves roar(The LORD of hosts is His name):“If those ordinances departFrom before Me", says the LORD,"Then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.”'
The Bible describes the suspension of the Earth in space.
Job 26:7 "He stretches out the north over empty space;He hangs the earth on nothing."
Statements Consistent With Meteorology
The Bible describes the circulation of the atmosphere.
Ecclesiastes 1:6 "The wind goes toward the south,And turns around to the north;The wind whirls about continually,And comes again on its circuit."
The Bible includes some principles of fluid dynamics.
Job 28:25 "To establish a weight for the wind,And apportion the waters by measure."
The fact that air has weight was proven scientifically only about 300 years ago. The relative weights of air and water are needed for the efficient functioning of the world’s hydrologic cycle, which in turn sustains life on the earth.
Statements Consistent With Biology
The book of Leviticus (written prior to 1400 BC) describes the value of blood.
Leviticus 17:11‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’
The blood carries water and nourishment to every cell, maintains the body’s temperature, and removes the waste material of the body’s cells. The blood also carries oxygen from the lungs throughout the body. In 1616, William Harvey discovered that blood circulation is the key factor in physical life—confirming what the Bible revealed 3,000 years earlier.
The Bible describes biogenesis (the development of living organisms from other living organisms) and the stability of each kind of living organism.
Genesis 1:11,12 'Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.'
Genesis 1:21 'So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.'
Genesis 1:25 'And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.'
The phrase “according to its kind” occurs repeatedly, stressing the reproductive integrity of each kind of animal and plant. Today we know this occurs because all of these reproductive systems are programmed by their genetic codes.
The Bible describes the chemical nature of flesh.
Genesis 2:7 'And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.'
Genesis 3:19 'In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground,For out of it you were taken;For dust you are,And to dust you shall return.'
Mental and spiritual health is strongly correlated with physical health. The Bible revealed this to us with these statements (and others) written by King Solomon about 950 BC.
Proverbs 12:4 'An excellent wife is the crown of her husband,But she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones.'
Proverbs 14:30 'A sound heart is life to the body,But envy is rottenness to the bones.'
Proverbs 15:30 'The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,And a good report makes the bones healthy.'
Proverbs 16:24 'Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.'
Proverbs 17:22 'A merry heart does good, like medicine,But a broken spirit dries the bones.'
Statements Consistent With Anthropology
We have cave paintings and other evidence that people inhabited caves. The Bible also describes cave men.
Job 30:5,6 'They were driven out from among men,They shouted at them as at a thief.They had to live in the clefts of the valleys,In caves of the earth and the rocks.'
Note that these were not ape-men, but descendants of those who scattered from Babel. They were driven from the community by those tribes who competed successfully for the more desirable regions of the earth. Then for some reason they deteriorated mentally, physically, and spiritually. (Go into a bad part of your town and you will see this concept in action today.)
Statements Consistent With Hydrology
The Bible includes reasonably complete descriptions of the hydrologic cycle.
Psalm 135:7 'He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth;He makes lightning for the rain;He brings the wind out of His treasuries.'
Jeremiah 10:13 'When He utters His voice,There is a multitude of waters in the heavens: And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth.He makes lightning for the rain,He brings the wind out of His treasuries.'
In these verses you can see several phases of the hydrologic cycle—the worldwide processes of evaporation, translation aloft by atmospheric circulation, condensation with electrical discharges, and precipitation.
Job 36:27-29 'For He draws up drops of water,Which distill as rain from the mist,Which the clouds drop down And pour abundantly on man.Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds,The thunder from His canopy?'
This simple verse has remarkable scientific insight. The drops of water which eventually pour down as rain first become vapor and then condense to tiny liquid water droplets in the clouds. These finally coalesce into drops large enough to overcome the updrafts that suspend them in the air.
The Bible describes the recirculation of water.
Ecclesiastes 1:7 'All the rivers run into the sea,Yet the sea is not full;To the place from which the rivers come,There they return again.'
Isaiah 55:10 'For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,And do not return there,But water the earth,And make it bring forth and bud,That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater,'
The Bible refers to the surprising amount of water that can be held as condensation in clouds.
Job 26:8 'He binds up the water in His thick clouds,Yet the clouds are not broken under it.'
Job 37:11 'Also with moisture He saturates the thick clouds;He scatters His bright clouds.'
Hydrothermal vents are described in two books of the Bible written before 1400BC—more than 3,000 years before their discovery by science.
Genesis 7:11 'In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.'
Job 38:16 'Have you entered the springs of the sea?Or have you walked in search of the depths?'
Statements Consistent With Geology
The Bible describes the Earth’s crust (along with a comment on astronomy).
Jeremiah 31:37 'Thus says the LORD:“If heaven above can be measured,And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath,I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the LORD.”'
Although some scientists claim that they have now measured the size of the universe, it is interesting to note that every human attempt to drill through the earth’s crust to the plastic mantle beneath has, thus far, ended in failure.
The Bible described the shape of the earth centuries before people thought that the earth was spherical.
Isaiah 40:22 'It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.'
The word translated “circle” here is the Hebrew word chuwg which is also translated “circuit,” or “compass” (depending on the context). That is, it indicates something spherical, rounded, or arched—not something that is flat or square.
The book of Isaiah was written sometime between 740 and 680 BC. This is at least 300 years before Aristotle suggested that the earth might be a sphere in his book "On the Heavens".
Statements Consistent With Physics
The Bible suggests the presence of nuclear processes like those we associate with nuclear weaponry. This is certainly not something that could have been explained in 67 AD using known scientific principles (when Peter wrote the following verse).
2 Peter 3:10 'But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.'
The television is a practical device that uses electromagnetic waves (which transmit its video signal). The Bible contains passages that describe something like television—something that allows everyone on earth see a single event.
Matthew 24:30 'Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.'
Revelation 11:9-11 'Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.'
2)The Proof of Prophecy
One of the strongest arguments for the accuracy of the Bible is its 100% accuracy in predicting the future. These future predictions are called “prophecies.” The Old Testament was written between approximately 1450 BC and 430 BC. During that time, many predictions of the future were recorded in the Bible by God’s prophets. Of the events that were to have taken place by now, every one happened just the way they predicted it would. No other “sacred writing” has such perfectly accurate predictions of the future.
Messianic Prophecies
The Old Testament books in the Bible (all of them written between 1450 BC and 430 BC) contained hundreds of prophecies about an “anointed one” (“Messiah” in Hebrew) who would arrive in their future. The Messiah would “deliver” or “save” all the Jewish people, bringing them to paradise or heaven. These prophecies also stated that the Messiah would save all the other people (commonly referred to as Gentiles) in the world “through the Jews.” For this reason, people who are not Jewish need to learn about the Messiah, too.
The Old Testament made these prophesies between 1450 BC and 430 BC. They were fulfilled between 45 and 95 AD. The following list is not fully complete and offers both the prophesy and the fulfillment:
The Messiah will be the offspring (descendant) of the woman (Eve)
Genesis 3:15
Galatians 4:4
The Messiah will be a descendant of Abraham, through whom everyone on earth will be blessed
Genesis 12:3; 18:18
Acts 3:25,26
The Messiah will be a descendant of Judah
Genesis 49:10
Matthew 1:2 and Luke 3:33
The Messiah will be a prophet like Moses
Deuteronomy 18:15-19
Acts 3:22,23
The Messiah will be the Son of God
Psalm 2:7
Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22
The Messiah will be raised from the dead (resurrected)
Psalm 16:10,11
Matthew 28:5-9; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:4-7; John 20:11-16; Acts 1:3 and 2:32
The Messiah crucifixion experience
Psalm 22 (contains 11 prophecies—not all listed here)
Matthew 27:34-50 and John 19:17-30
The Messiah will be sneered at and mocked
Psalm 22:7
Luke 23:11,35-39
The Messiah will be pierced through hands and feet
Psalm 22:16
Luke 23:33 and 24:36-39;John 19:18 and 20:19-20,24-27
The Messiah’s bones will not be broken (a person’s legs were usually broken after being crucified to speed up their death)
Psalm 22:17 and 34:20
John 19:31-33,36
Men Will Gamble for the Messiah’s clothing
Psalm 22:18
Matthew 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:34; John 19:23,24
The Messiah will accused by false witnesses
Psalm 35:11
Matthew 26:59,60 and Mark 14:56,57
The Messiah will be hated without a cause
Psalm 35:19 and 69:4
John 15:23-25
The Messiah will be betrayed by a friend
Psalm 41:9
John 13:18,21
The Messiah will ascend to heaven (at the right hand of God)
Psalm 68:18
Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9; 2:33-35; 3:20-21; 5:31,32; 7:55-56; Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20,21; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Pet 3:22
The Messiah will be given vinegar and gall to drink
Psalm 69:21
Matthew 27:34; Mark 15:23; John 19:29,30
Great kings will pay homage and tribute to the Messiah
Psalm 72:10,11
Matthew 2:1-11
The Messiah is a “stone the builders rejected” who will become the “head cornerstone”
Psalm 118:22,23 and Isaiah 28:16
Matthew 21:42,43; Acts 4:11; Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:6-8
The Messiah will be a descendant of David
Psalm 132:11 and Jeremiah 23:5,6; 33:15,16
Luke 1:32,33
The Messiah will be a born of a virgin
Isaiah 7:14
Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-35
The Messiah’s first spiritual work will be in Galilee
Isaiah 9:1-7
Matthew 4:12-16
The Messiah will make the blind see, the deaf hear, etc.
Isaiah 35:5-6
Many places. Also see Matthew 11:3-6 and John 11:47
The Messiah will be beaten, mocked, and spat upon
Isaiah 50:6
Matthew 26:67 and 27:26-31
The “Gospel according to Isaiah”
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
People will hear and not believe the “arm of the LORD” (Messiah)
Isaiah 53:1
John 12:37,38
The Messiah will be rejected
Isaiah 53:3
Matthew 27:20-25; Mark 15:8-14; Luke 23:18-23; John 19:14,15
The Messiah will be killed
Isaiah 53:5-9
Matthew 27:50; Mark 15:37-39; Luke 23:46; John 19:30
The Messiah will be silent in front of his accusers
Isaiah 53:7
Matthew 26:62,63 and 27:12-14
The Messiah will be buried with the rich
Isaiah 53:9
Matthew 27:59,60; Mark 15:46; Luke 23:52,53; John 19:38-42
The Messiah will be crucified with criminals
Isaiah 53:12
Matthew 27:38; Mark 15:27; Luke 23:32,33
The Messiah is part of the new and everlasting covenant
Isaiah 55:3-4 and Jeremiah 31:31-34
Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8:6-13
The Messiah will be our intercessor (intervene for us and plead on our behalf)
Isaiah 59:16
Hebrews 9:15
The Messiah has two missions
Isaiah 61:1-3 (first mission ends at “. . . year of the LORD’s favor”)
First mission: Luke 4:16-21; Second mission: to be fulfilled at the end of the world
The Messiah will come at a specific time
Daniel 9:25-26
Galatians 4:4 and Ephesians 1:10
The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem
Micah 5:2
Matthew 2:1 and Luke 2:4-7
The Messiah will enter Jerusalem riding a donkey
Zechariah 9:9
Matthew 21:1-11
The Messiah will be sold for 30 pieces of silver
Zechariah 11:12,13
Matthew 26:15 with Matthew 27:3-10
The Messiah will forsaken by His disciples
Zechariah 13:7
Matthew 26:31,56
The Messiah will enter the Temple with authority
Malachi 3:1
Matthew 21:12 and Luke 19:45
**A Special Note on Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53
Even a casual reader of the Bible will notice something “different” about Psalm 22 and Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12. They tell stories that perfectly parallel events in the life of Christ that took place much later. Psalm 22 is especially amazing since it predicted 11 separate things about Jesus’ crucifixion about a thousand years before they happened. We know that David (the author of Psalm 22) lived about 1043-973 BC and Isaiah lived about 740-680 BC. Both passages, written far ahead of the time of Christ, are strong proof that help you believe that the Bible was literally inspired by God.
Couldn’t Someone Just Write These Down and Pretend They Were Written Earlier?
Many people who do not believe in the Bible say this. However, manuscripts have been found that confirm that these various prophecies were written down 400-1,000 years before they actually occurred. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls put to rest most of such idle talk.
Other Prophesies
There are hundreds of other prophesies concerning nations, rulers, and events. I leave them for you to seek out. A good place to start would be the (former) nation of Edom and the nation of Israel.
3)The Proof of Textual Evidence
Both the Old and New Testaments are strongly supported by manuscript evidence (the evidence of early hand written copies). The famous Dead Sea Scrolls are one example of the Old Testament evidence. These documents came from the “library” of a settlement founded at Qumran before 150 B.C. and abandoned about 68 A.D. Some of the manuscript copies were made during that period, and some were written earlier (third century BC) and brought to the settlement. Ignoring spelling-oriented (orthographic) changes and similar small differences, the Dead Sea Scrolls match the Hebrew text behind today’s Old Testament, in spite of the passage of over 2,000 years (where one would expect errors to creep in).
Over 20,000 known manuscripts document the New Testament text. There is no literary rival in the ancient world to the number of manuscript copies and the early dating of the New Testament. There are more [New Testament] manuscripts copied with greater accuracy and earlier dating than for any secular classic from antiquity. There are 5,300 Greek, 10,000 Latin, and 9,000 miscellaneous copies of the New Testament that exist today and more continue to be unearthed via archaeology. This makes the New Testament the most reliable document of antiquity (a document written before the printing press). These manuscripts vary in size from a part of a page to an entire Bible (Old and New Testaments). The earliest New Testament manuscripts date from the second century (100-199) AD These manuscript copies were written in different languages by people of different nationalities, cultures, and backgrounds. In spite of all those differences between them, the New Testament texts all agree. (That is, those differences that we do observe between these hand written documents are occasional changes in the spelling of names or isolated cases of missing or changed words. Still, since we have so many copies, it is obvious to anyone but the hardened skeptic that they all represent the same text.)
In addition, the interval between the dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible. The average gap between the original composition and the earliest copy is over 1,000 years for other secular books. The New Testament, however, has a fragment within one generation from its original composition, whole books within about 100 years from the time of the autograph [original manuscript], most of the New Testament in less than 200 years, and the entire New Testament within 250 years from the date of its completion.
4)The Proof of Archaeology
There is a growing mass of evidence from archaeology that the Bible accounts deal with real people living in real places. If the Bible was false, we would expect new archaeological discoveries to do this. In fact, there is no known case where archaeology decisively disproves the Bible. This itself is strong evidence for the truth of the Christian message. We would also expect that in many cases there is no direct archaeological evidence one way or the other, yet; and this is what we find. However, there are some cases where archaeology does provide direct confirmation, and we have listed some of them:
Major Archaeological Finds relating to the New Testament:
Israel
Herod's temple, Jerusalem Lk 1:9
Herod's winter palace, Jericho Mt 2:4
The Herodium(possible site of Herod's tomb), Near Bethlehem Mt 2:19
Masada, Southwest of Dead Sea cf. Lk 21:20
Early synagogue, Capernaum Mk 1:21
Pool of Siloam, Jerusalem Jn 9:7
Pool of Bethesda, Jerusalem Jn 5:2
Pilate inscription, Caesarea Lk 3:1
Inscription: Gentile entrance of temple sanctuary, Jerusalem Ac 21:27-29
Skeletal remains of crucified man, Jerusalem Lk 23:33
Peter's house, Capernaum Mt 8:14
Jacob's well, Nablus Jn 4:5-6
Asia Minor
Derbe inscription, Kerti Huyuk Ac 14:20
Sergius Paulus inscription, Antioch in Pisidia Ac 13:6-7
Zeus altar (Satan's throne?), Pergamum, Rev 2:13
Fourth century BC walls, Assos Ac 20:13-14
Artemis temple and altar, Ephesus Ac 19:27-28
Ephesian theatre, Ephesus Ac 19:29
Silversmith shops, Ephesus Ac 19:24
Artemis statues, Ephesus Ac 19:35
Greece
Erastus inscription, Corinth Ro 16:23
Synagogue inscription, Corinth Ac 18:4
Meat market inscription, Corinth 1 Co 10:25
Cult dining rooms(in Asklepius and Demeter temples), Corinth 1 Co 8:10
Court (bema), Corinth Ac 18:12
Marketplace (bema), Philippi Ac 16:19
Starting gate for races, Isthmia 1 Co 9:24, 26
Gallio inscription, Delphi Ac 18:12
Egnatian Way, Kavalla (Neapolis), Philippi, Apollonia, Thessalonica Cf Ac 16:11-12, 17:1
Politarch inscription, Thessalonica Ac 17:6
Italy
Tomb of Augustus, Rome Lk 2:1
Mamertime Prison, Rome 2 Ti 1:16-17, 2:9, 4:6-8
Appian Way, Puteoli to Rome Ac 28:13-16
Golden House of Nero, Rome Cf Ac 25:10; 1 Pe 2:13
Arch of Titus, Rome Cf Lk 19:43-44, 21:6, 20
5)The Proof of Historians
Secular history supports the Bible. For example, in The Antiquities of the Jews, book 18, chapter 3, paragraph 3 the famous historian Flavius Josephus writes:
“Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works—a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.”
In 115 AD, P. Cornelius Tacitus (here is a pagan historian, hostile to Christianity, who had access to records about what happened to Jesus Christ) wrote the following passage that refers to Jesus (called “Christus,” which means “The Messiah”) in book 15, chapter 44 of The Annals:.
“Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve."
Mention of Jesus can also be found in Jewish Rabbinical writings from what is known as the Tannaitic period, between 70-200 A.D. In Sanhedrin 43a it says: "Jesus was hanged on Passover Eve. Forty days previously the herald had cried, 'He is being led out for stoning, because he has practiced sorcery and led Israel astray and enticed them into apostasy. Whoever has anything to say in his defence, let him come and declare it.' As nothing was brought forward in his defence, he was hanged on Passover Eve."
My dear reader, I gathered most of this information in a few hours. Thousands of scholars, teachers, and pastors spent over hundreds of thousands of hours gathering, compiling, translating, digging, travelling, and laboring to bring it to us. Lifetimes of knowledge and effort are contained therein. "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." (Luke 11:9) God has shown us the truth...Hear Him.
1)Science
2)Prophecy
3)Textual Evidence
4)Archaeology
5)Historians
1)Science: there is a great deal of scientific evidence that supports the Bible.
Statements Consistent With Paleontology:
The Bible refers to many of the common animals we know today. The list includes lions, wolves, bears, sheep, cattle and dogs along with various kinds of birds, rodents, reptiles, and insects. What is interesting is that this extensive list includes three animals that we no longer recognize: behemouth (brachiosaurus), leviathan (kronosaurus), tanniyn (dinosaur).
Behemoth has the following attributes according to Job 40:15-24. It “eats grass like an ox.”
It “moves his tail like a cedar.” (In Hebrew, this literally reads, “he lets hang his tail like a cedar.”)
Its “bones are like beams of bronze,His ribs like bars of iron.”
“He is the first of the ways of God.”
“He lies under the lotus trees,In a covert of reeds and marsh.”
Leviathan has the following attributes according to Job chapter 41, Psalm 104:25,26 and Isaiah 27:1. This is only a partial listing—just enough to make the point.
“No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up.”
“Who can open the doors of his face, with his terrible teeth all around?”
“His rows of scales are his pride, shut up tightly as with a seal; one is so near another that no air can come between them; they are joined one to another, they stick together and cannot be parted.”
“His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth go burning lights; sparks of fire shoot out. Smoke goes out of his nostrils, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.”
“Though the sword reaches him, it cannot avail; nor does spear, dart, or javelin. He regards iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee; slingstones become like stubble to him. Darts are regarded as straw; he laughs at the threat of javelins.”
“On earth there is nothing like him, which is made without fear.”
Leviathan “played” in the “great and wide sea” (a paraphrase of Psalm 104 verses 25 and 26—get the exact sense by reading them yourself).
Leviathan is a “reptile that is in the sea.” (Isaiah 27:1) {Note: The word translated “reptile” here is the Hebrew word tanniyn. This shows that “Leviathan” was also a “tanniyn” (dragon)}
Statements Consistent With Astronomy
The Bible frequently refers to the great number of stars in the heavens. Here are two examples.
Genesis 22:17Blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
Jeremiah 33:22“As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.”
Even today, scientists admit that they do not know how many stars there are. Only about 3,000 can be seen with the naked eye. We have seen estimates of 10^21 stars—which is a lot of stars. (The number of grains of sand on the earth’s seashores is estimated to be 10^25. As scientists discover more stars, wouldn’t it be interesting to discover that these two numbers match?)
The Bible also says that each star is unique.
1 Corinthians 15:41"There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory."
All stars seem alike to the naked eye. Even when seen through a telescope, they seem to be just points of light. However, analysis of their light spectra reveals that each is unique and different from all others.
The Bible describes the precision of movement in the universe.
Jeremiah 31:35,36'Thus says the LORD,Who gives the sun for a light by day,The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night,Who disturbs the sea,And its waves roar(The LORD of hosts is His name):“If those ordinances departFrom before Me", says the LORD,"Then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.”'
The Bible describes the suspension of the Earth in space.
Job 26:7 "He stretches out the north over empty space;He hangs the earth on nothing."
Statements Consistent With Meteorology
The Bible describes the circulation of the atmosphere.
Ecclesiastes 1:6 "The wind goes toward the south,And turns around to the north;The wind whirls about continually,And comes again on its circuit."
The Bible includes some principles of fluid dynamics.
Job 28:25 "To establish a weight for the wind,And apportion the waters by measure."
The fact that air has weight was proven scientifically only about 300 years ago. The relative weights of air and water are needed for the efficient functioning of the world’s hydrologic cycle, which in turn sustains life on the earth.
Statements Consistent With Biology
The book of Leviticus (written prior to 1400 BC) describes the value of blood.
Leviticus 17:11‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’
The blood carries water and nourishment to every cell, maintains the body’s temperature, and removes the waste material of the body’s cells. The blood also carries oxygen from the lungs throughout the body. In 1616, William Harvey discovered that blood circulation is the key factor in physical life—confirming what the Bible revealed 3,000 years earlier.
The Bible describes biogenesis (the development of living organisms from other living organisms) and the stability of each kind of living organism.
Genesis 1:11,12 'Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.'
Genesis 1:21 'So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.'
Genesis 1:25 'And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.'
The phrase “according to its kind” occurs repeatedly, stressing the reproductive integrity of each kind of animal and plant. Today we know this occurs because all of these reproductive systems are programmed by their genetic codes.
The Bible describes the chemical nature of flesh.
Genesis 2:7 'And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.'
Genesis 3:19 'In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground,For out of it you were taken;For dust you are,And to dust you shall return.'
Mental and spiritual health is strongly correlated with physical health. The Bible revealed this to us with these statements (and others) written by King Solomon about 950 BC.
Proverbs 12:4 'An excellent wife is the crown of her husband,But she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones.'
Proverbs 14:30 'A sound heart is life to the body,But envy is rottenness to the bones.'
Proverbs 15:30 'The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,And a good report makes the bones healthy.'
Proverbs 16:24 'Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.'
Proverbs 17:22 'A merry heart does good, like medicine,But a broken spirit dries the bones.'
Statements Consistent With Anthropology
We have cave paintings and other evidence that people inhabited caves. The Bible also describes cave men.
Job 30:5,6 'They were driven out from among men,They shouted at them as at a thief.They had to live in the clefts of the valleys,In caves of the earth and the rocks.'
Note that these were not ape-men, but descendants of those who scattered from Babel. They were driven from the community by those tribes who competed successfully for the more desirable regions of the earth. Then for some reason they deteriorated mentally, physically, and spiritually. (Go into a bad part of your town and you will see this concept in action today.)
Statements Consistent With Hydrology
The Bible includes reasonably complete descriptions of the hydrologic cycle.
Psalm 135:7 'He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth;He makes lightning for the rain;He brings the wind out of His treasuries.'
Jeremiah 10:13 'When He utters His voice,There is a multitude of waters in the heavens: And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth.He makes lightning for the rain,He brings the wind out of His treasuries.'
In these verses you can see several phases of the hydrologic cycle—the worldwide processes of evaporation, translation aloft by atmospheric circulation, condensation with electrical discharges, and precipitation.
Job 36:27-29 'For He draws up drops of water,Which distill as rain from the mist,Which the clouds drop down And pour abundantly on man.Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds,The thunder from His canopy?'
This simple verse has remarkable scientific insight. The drops of water which eventually pour down as rain first become vapor and then condense to tiny liquid water droplets in the clouds. These finally coalesce into drops large enough to overcome the updrafts that suspend them in the air.
The Bible describes the recirculation of water.
Ecclesiastes 1:7 'All the rivers run into the sea,Yet the sea is not full;To the place from which the rivers come,There they return again.'
Isaiah 55:10 'For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,And do not return there,But water the earth,And make it bring forth and bud,That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater,'
The Bible refers to the surprising amount of water that can be held as condensation in clouds.
Job 26:8 'He binds up the water in His thick clouds,Yet the clouds are not broken under it.'
Job 37:11 'Also with moisture He saturates the thick clouds;He scatters His bright clouds.'
Hydrothermal vents are described in two books of the Bible written before 1400BC—more than 3,000 years before their discovery by science.
Genesis 7:11 'In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.'
Job 38:16 'Have you entered the springs of the sea?Or have you walked in search of the depths?'
Statements Consistent With Geology
The Bible describes the Earth’s crust (along with a comment on astronomy).
Jeremiah 31:37 'Thus says the LORD:“If heaven above can be measured,And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath,I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the LORD.”'
Although some scientists claim that they have now measured the size of the universe, it is interesting to note that every human attempt to drill through the earth’s crust to the plastic mantle beneath has, thus far, ended in failure.
The Bible described the shape of the earth centuries before people thought that the earth was spherical.
Isaiah 40:22 'It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.'
The word translated “circle” here is the Hebrew word chuwg which is also translated “circuit,” or “compass” (depending on the context). That is, it indicates something spherical, rounded, or arched—not something that is flat or square.
The book of Isaiah was written sometime between 740 and 680 BC. This is at least 300 years before Aristotle suggested that the earth might be a sphere in his book "On the Heavens".
Statements Consistent With Physics
The Bible suggests the presence of nuclear processes like those we associate with nuclear weaponry. This is certainly not something that could have been explained in 67 AD using known scientific principles (when Peter wrote the following verse).
2 Peter 3:10 'But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.'
The television is a practical device that uses electromagnetic waves (which transmit its video signal). The Bible contains passages that describe something like television—something that allows everyone on earth see a single event.
Matthew 24:30 'Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.'
Revelation 11:9-11 'Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.'
2)The Proof of Prophecy
One of the strongest arguments for the accuracy of the Bible is its 100% accuracy in predicting the future. These future predictions are called “prophecies.” The Old Testament was written between approximately 1450 BC and 430 BC. During that time, many predictions of the future were recorded in the Bible by God’s prophets. Of the events that were to have taken place by now, every one happened just the way they predicted it would. No other “sacred writing” has such perfectly accurate predictions of the future.
Messianic Prophecies
The Old Testament books in the Bible (all of them written between 1450 BC and 430 BC) contained hundreds of prophecies about an “anointed one” (“Messiah” in Hebrew) who would arrive in their future. The Messiah would “deliver” or “save” all the Jewish people, bringing them to paradise or heaven. These prophecies also stated that the Messiah would save all the other people (commonly referred to as Gentiles) in the world “through the Jews.” For this reason, people who are not Jewish need to learn about the Messiah, too.
The Old Testament made these prophesies between 1450 BC and 430 BC. They were fulfilled between 45 and 95 AD. The following list is not fully complete and offers both the prophesy and the fulfillment:
The Messiah will be the offspring (descendant) of the woman (Eve)
Genesis 3:15
Galatians 4:4
The Messiah will be a descendant of Abraham, through whom everyone on earth will be blessed
Genesis 12:3; 18:18
Acts 3:25,26
The Messiah will be a descendant of Judah
Genesis 49:10
Matthew 1:2 and Luke 3:33
The Messiah will be a prophet like Moses
Deuteronomy 18:15-19
Acts 3:22,23
The Messiah will be the Son of God
Psalm 2:7
Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22
The Messiah will be raised from the dead (resurrected)
Psalm 16:10,11
Matthew 28:5-9; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:4-7; John 20:11-16; Acts 1:3 and 2:32
The Messiah crucifixion experience
Psalm 22 (contains 11 prophecies—not all listed here)
Matthew 27:34-50 and John 19:17-30
The Messiah will be sneered at and mocked
Psalm 22:7
Luke 23:11,35-39
The Messiah will be pierced through hands and feet
Psalm 22:16
Luke 23:33 and 24:36-39;John 19:18 and 20:19-20,24-27
The Messiah’s bones will not be broken (a person’s legs were usually broken after being crucified to speed up their death)
Psalm 22:17 and 34:20
John 19:31-33,36
Men Will Gamble for the Messiah’s clothing
Psalm 22:18
Matthew 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:34; John 19:23,24
The Messiah will accused by false witnesses
Psalm 35:11
Matthew 26:59,60 and Mark 14:56,57
The Messiah will be hated without a cause
Psalm 35:19 and 69:4
John 15:23-25
The Messiah will be betrayed by a friend
Psalm 41:9
John 13:18,21
The Messiah will ascend to heaven (at the right hand of God)
Psalm 68:18
Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9; 2:33-35; 3:20-21; 5:31,32; 7:55-56; Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20,21; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Pet 3:22
The Messiah will be given vinegar and gall to drink
Psalm 69:21
Matthew 27:34; Mark 15:23; John 19:29,30
Great kings will pay homage and tribute to the Messiah
Psalm 72:10,11
Matthew 2:1-11
The Messiah is a “stone the builders rejected” who will become the “head cornerstone”
Psalm 118:22,23 and Isaiah 28:16
Matthew 21:42,43; Acts 4:11; Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:6-8
The Messiah will be a descendant of David
Psalm 132:11 and Jeremiah 23:5,6; 33:15,16
Luke 1:32,33
The Messiah will be a born of a virgin
Isaiah 7:14
Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-35
The Messiah’s first spiritual work will be in Galilee
Isaiah 9:1-7
Matthew 4:12-16
The Messiah will make the blind see, the deaf hear, etc.
Isaiah 35:5-6
Many places. Also see Matthew 11:3-6 and John 11:47
The Messiah will be beaten, mocked, and spat upon
Isaiah 50:6
Matthew 26:67 and 27:26-31
The “Gospel according to Isaiah”
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
People will hear and not believe the “arm of the LORD” (Messiah)
Isaiah 53:1
John 12:37,38
The Messiah will be rejected
Isaiah 53:3
Matthew 27:20-25; Mark 15:8-14; Luke 23:18-23; John 19:14,15
The Messiah will be killed
Isaiah 53:5-9
Matthew 27:50; Mark 15:37-39; Luke 23:46; John 19:30
The Messiah will be silent in front of his accusers
Isaiah 53:7
Matthew 26:62,63 and 27:12-14
The Messiah will be buried with the rich
Isaiah 53:9
Matthew 27:59,60; Mark 15:46; Luke 23:52,53; John 19:38-42
The Messiah will be crucified with criminals
Isaiah 53:12
Matthew 27:38; Mark 15:27; Luke 23:32,33
The Messiah is part of the new and everlasting covenant
Isaiah 55:3-4 and Jeremiah 31:31-34
Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8:6-13
The Messiah will be our intercessor (intervene for us and plead on our behalf)
Isaiah 59:16
Hebrews 9:15
The Messiah has two missions
Isaiah 61:1-3 (first mission ends at “. . . year of the LORD’s favor”)
First mission: Luke 4:16-21; Second mission: to be fulfilled at the end of the world
The Messiah will come at a specific time
Daniel 9:25-26
Galatians 4:4 and Ephesians 1:10
The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem
Micah 5:2
Matthew 2:1 and Luke 2:4-7
The Messiah will enter Jerusalem riding a donkey
Zechariah 9:9
Matthew 21:1-11
The Messiah will be sold for 30 pieces of silver
Zechariah 11:12,13
Matthew 26:15 with Matthew 27:3-10
The Messiah will forsaken by His disciples
Zechariah 13:7
Matthew 26:31,56
The Messiah will enter the Temple with authority
Malachi 3:1
Matthew 21:12 and Luke 19:45
**A Special Note on Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53
Even a casual reader of the Bible will notice something “different” about Psalm 22 and Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12. They tell stories that perfectly parallel events in the life of Christ that took place much later. Psalm 22 is especially amazing since it predicted 11 separate things about Jesus’ crucifixion about a thousand years before they happened. We know that David (the author of Psalm 22) lived about 1043-973 BC and Isaiah lived about 740-680 BC. Both passages, written far ahead of the time of Christ, are strong proof that help you believe that the Bible was literally inspired by God.
Couldn’t Someone Just Write These Down and Pretend They Were Written Earlier?
Many people who do not believe in the Bible say this. However, manuscripts have been found that confirm that these various prophecies were written down 400-1,000 years before they actually occurred. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls put to rest most of such idle talk.
Other Prophesies
There are hundreds of other prophesies concerning nations, rulers, and events. I leave them for you to seek out. A good place to start would be the (former) nation of Edom and the nation of Israel.
3)The Proof of Textual Evidence
Both the Old and New Testaments are strongly supported by manuscript evidence (the evidence of early hand written copies). The famous Dead Sea Scrolls are one example of the Old Testament evidence. These documents came from the “library” of a settlement founded at Qumran before 150 B.C. and abandoned about 68 A.D. Some of the manuscript copies were made during that period, and some were written earlier (third century BC) and brought to the settlement. Ignoring spelling-oriented (orthographic) changes and similar small differences, the Dead Sea Scrolls match the Hebrew text behind today’s Old Testament, in spite of the passage of over 2,000 years (where one would expect errors to creep in).
Over 20,000 known manuscripts document the New Testament text. There is no literary rival in the ancient world to the number of manuscript copies and the early dating of the New Testament. There are more [New Testament] manuscripts copied with greater accuracy and earlier dating than for any secular classic from antiquity. There are 5,300 Greek, 10,000 Latin, and 9,000 miscellaneous copies of the New Testament that exist today and more continue to be unearthed via archaeology. This makes the New Testament the most reliable document of antiquity (a document written before the printing press). These manuscripts vary in size from a part of a page to an entire Bible (Old and New Testaments). The earliest New Testament manuscripts date from the second century (100-199) AD These manuscript copies were written in different languages by people of different nationalities, cultures, and backgrounds. In spite of all those differences between them, the New Testament texts all agree. (That is, those differences that we do observe between these hand written documents are occasional changes in the spelling of names or isolated cases of missing or changed words. Still, since we have so many copies, it is obvious to anyone but the hardened skeptic that they all represent the same text.)
In addition, the interval between the dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible. The average gap between the original composition and the earliest copy is over 1,000 years for other secular books. The New Testament, however, has a fragment within one generation from its original composition, whole books within about 100 years from the time of the autograph [original manuscript], most of the New Testament in less than 200 years, and the entire New Testament within 250 years from the date of its completion.
4)The Proof of Archaeology
There is a growing mass of evidence from archaeology that the Bible accounts deal with real people living in real places. If the Bible was false, we would expect new archaeological discoveries to do this. In fact, there is no known case where archaeology decisively disproves the Bible. This itself is strong evidence for the truth of the Christian message. We would also expect that in many cases there is no direct archaeological evidence one way or the other, yet; and this is what we find. However, there are some cases where archaeology does provide direct confirmation, and we have listed some of them:
Major Archaeological Finds relating to the New Testament:
Israel
Herod's temple, Jerusalem Lk 1:9
Herod's winter palace, Jericho Mt 2:4
The Herodium(possible site of Herod's tomb), Near Bethlehem Mt 2:19
Masada, Southwest of Dead Sea cf. Lk 21:20
Early synagogue, Capernaum Mk 1:21
Pool of Siloam, Jerusalem Jn 9:7
Pool of Bethesda, Jerusalem Jn 5:2
Pilate inscription, Caesarea Lk 3:1
Inscription: Gentile entrance of temple sanctuary, Jerusalem Ac 21:27-29
Skeletal remains of crucified man, Jerusalem Lk 23:33
Peter's house, Capernaum Mt 8:14
Jacob's well, Nablus Jn 4:5-6
Asia Minor
Derbe inscription, Kerti Huyuk Ac 14:20
Sergius Paulus inscription, Antioch in Pisidia Ac 13:6-7
Zeus altar (Satan's throne?), Pergamum, Rev 2:13
Fourth century BC walls, Assos Ac 20:13-14
Artemis temple and altar, Ephesus Ac 19:27-28
Ephesian theatre, Ephesus Ac 19:29
Silversmith shops, Ephesus Ac 19:24
Artemis statues, Ephesus Ac 19:35
Greece
Erastus inscription, Corinth Ro 16:23
Synagogue inscription, Corinth Ac 18:4
Meat market inscription, Corinth 1 Co 10:25
Cult dining rooms(in Asklepius and Demeter temples), Corinth 1 Co 8:10
Court (bema), Corinth Ac 18:12
Marketplace (bema), Philippi Ac 16:19
Starting gate for races, Isthmia 1 Co 9:24, 26
Gallio inscription, Delphi Ac 18:12
Egnatian Way, Kavalla (Neapolis), Philippi, Apollonia, Thessalonica Cf Ac 16:11-12, 17:1
Politarch inscription, Thessalonica Ac 17:6
Italy
Tomb of Augustus, Rome Lk 2:1
Mamertime Prison, Rome 2 Ti 1:16-17, 2:9, 4:6-8
Appian Way, Puteoli to Rome Ac 28:13-16
Golden House of Nero, Rome Cf Ac 25:10; 1 Pe 2:13
Arch of Titus, Rome Cf Lk 19:43-44, 21:6, 20
5)The Proof of Historians
Secular history supports the Bible. For example, in The Antiquities of the Jews, book 18, chapter 3, paragraph 3 the famous historian Flavius Josephus writes:
“Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works—a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.”
In 115 AD, P. Cornelius Tacitus (here is a pagan historian, hostile to Christianity, who had access to records about what happened to Jesus Christ) wrote the following passage that refers to Jesus (called “Christus,” which means “The Messiah”) in book 15, chapter 44 of The Annals:.
“Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve."
Mention of Jesus can also be found in Jewish Rabbinical writings from what is known as the Tannaitic period, between 70-200 A.D. In Sanhedrin 43a it says: "Jesus was hanged on Passover Eve. Forty days previously the herald had cried, 'He is being led out for stoning, because he has practiced sorcery and led Israel astray and enticed them into apostasy. Whoever has anything to say in his defence, let him come and declare it.' As nothing was brought forward in his defence, he was hanged on Passover Eve."
My dear reader, I gathered most of this information in a few hours. Thousands of scholars, teachers, and pastors spent over hundreds of thousands of hours gathering, compiling, translating, digging, travelling, and laboring to bring it to us. Lifetimes of knowledge and effort are contained therein. "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." (Luke 11:9) God has shown us the truth...Hear Him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)