tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-358275192024-03-14T00:51:25.426-04:00Being The BodyTom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-84338614757266239652013-12-30T13:50:00.004-05:002013-12-30T13:50:52.291-05:00How not to construct a structure... <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Once, three people
were selected for a competition that challenged them to construct the best
possible aviary using a limited set of materials and resources. The three
people selected for the competition were a mathematician, an engineer and an
old farmer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Each of them
was given basic tools, and a pile of lumber to complete their aviary. They were
permitted to select the placement for their project but, were only allowed forty-eight
hours to find the best place and to finish the construction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When it came
time for the judges to decide the winner they begin by examining the
mathematician’s work. She had chosen to build her aviary in a city park where
the pigeons were already flying in to eat the breadcrumbs offered by pedestrians.
She had used her extensive knowledge of geometry to construct an impressive structure
that maximized the utility of the materials. The ceiling was high enough to
allow the birds room to flit about and the sides were open enough to allow
grand viewing of the birds as they came home to roost. The structure was both
elegant and functional. Because of her expertise, none of the material went to
waste and almost a hundred pigeons were able to roost in her aviary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhERDvEHkZJPkfnkeL9IwmMnt2OgZppqgJE2iK0WNOSzFByBmlIFM2a-xBtTt-yNvu-bpxZchDD5slypfqeFHRU2LO4-GvYNOS5FjvWK7KUvoQ3s-bvYjBGPbLHEPuSm1TVvpoeMA/s1600/banksey+bird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhERDvEHkZJPkfnkeL9IwmMnt2OgZppqgJE2iK0WNOSzFByBmlIFM2a-xBtTt-yNvu-bpxZchDD5slypfqeFHRU2LO4-GvYNOS5FjvWK7KUvoQ3s-bvYjBGPbLHEPuSm1TVvpoeMA/s320/banksey+bird.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Next, the
judges looked at the aviary created by the engineer. He had chosen to construct
his aviary in a private park located near a fountain the pigeons used for
drinking water and bathing. His design was
far more basic and utilitarian but it was nearly three times the size of the
mathematicians. Again, he had used all of the material, but he had spent much
of his time studying the strength of the wooden planks and worked out that it
he could split many of them in half without compromising their strength. He already
had just over two-hundred pigeons roosting in his aviary with some room to
spare.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Lastly they
came to the old farmer who had constructed his aviary on top of an old building
in the middle of the city. In contrast to the others, his was not a large
structure at all. The judges stared in disbelief as the farmer stepped into the
small lean-to structure he had made and sat on what appeared to be a long bench.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“That is not
a proper aviary,” said one of the judges in disbelief. The others joined in “That
will never attract the birds … How will that thing keep the pigeons safe?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I don’t
know much about what a ‘proper aviary’ is,” replied the farmer, “but please
come and rest your bones here with me for a spell. Perhaps you will find the sounds and sights interesting”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The judges
sat on the bench and one by one began to see hand made bird feeders and small gutters
made into bird baths scattered on the
rooftops of all the buildings around them as far as they could see. Birds of
every kind that can be found in the city were flitting about from rooftop to rooftop.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first
judge exclaimed, “Why there must be a thousand birds here. How did you do this?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> “I watched and listened to the birds and went
to the places they would normally go. While they may go to the park to scavenge
for scraps or to the fountain to get water they always build their nests here.
So I constructed the things that they need where they already were,” the farmer replied.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The second
judge remained unconvinced and flipped through his copy of “Aviary Rules and Etiquette.”
Pointing to a page from his book he said, “The proper way is to construct a
structure and gather the birds inside…” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A second
judge joined in, “The only birds worth counting are pigeons. All other species
of birds are too fickle and dirty. They will come and go constantly messing up
the number of birds you can count as roosting in your aviary. What’s more they
will always make a mess of things. Pigeons know how to behave in an aviary and
I don’t see very many pigeons around here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I think you
misunderstand,” the farmer replied, “I set out to find birds in the city and
provide them with a better home. I don’t care much for a rule book you
constructed about which birds can be counted or what kind of structure you
think I should have.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the end
the farmer lost the competition but gained a friend. The first judge apprenticed
himself to the farmer and together they began constructing their “new aviaries”
and teaching others to do the same. Whenever a person would comment on the
beautiful bird songs filling the neighborhoods or the variety of colorful birds
filling the area the farmer, the judge, or one of their apprentices would introduce
them to the art of building a new aviary. Scores of people who were not, professionally
trained aviary experts became bird enthusiasts. Soon countless new aviaries
were built and many birding enthusiasts, freed from rigid judgementalism, began
enjoying the many birds that called the city home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The diversity
of the bird population in the city stabilized for the first time in many
generations. Birds thought to be irrelevant or rare began to flourish and as a
result the biodiversity of plant life, insects, and other small animals became
stronger. This led to better physical and mental health for the human
population as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZRKD6u6sDpJCj_lV362IuLnCXFLEgAJlCi5PkwolNa9Hw-2qDBictFY6AYgb5xtV3Itk37grnMkf2csfLN5mvatsv3MTLYKFQpY15_tfYbdpjb6NBXOoTkUaWo94sQ2gCDz7HZw/s1600/bird+barcode.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZRKD6u6sDpJCj_lV362IuLnCXFLEgAJlCi5PkwolNa9Hw-2qDBictFY6AYgb5xtV3Itk37grnMkf2csfLN5mvatsv3MTLYKFQpY15_tfYbdpjb6NBXOoTkUaWo94sQ2gCDz7HZw/s640/bird+barcode.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The farmer
had a presented the judges with a perspective problem. Rather than follow
tradition and man-made rules he saw the beauty in all birds. Instead of finding
a way to attract the birds to a structure he contrived and created, he sought
the birds where they were and brought life to them. Rather than form an official
club or society, he taught others how to do what he did and then released them
to do it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">We can
sometimes have the same kind of perspective problem. Imagine if we took the
aviary out of the story and replaced it with “church plant.” The mathematician could
become a theologian and the engineer could be a church growth expert (or you
could replace these two with any number of other “official church offices”).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">How we view
who fits into our mold of church membership often effects who we try to reach
and who we count as members (or even saved). We can view membership in the church
as a privilege we have earned by being good enough, voting for the proper
people, saying the right prayer, or by attending all the right services and
camps. We can come to the conclusion that only a certain type of person is fit
for the kingdom and focus our energy and efforts there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We can
attempt to attract people to the structures we build (physical and organizational)
and try to locate the church in a “sanctified” time and space. People outside
of these structures can be ignored if we simply label them as “lost”
reinforcing the conclusion that their exclusion is their own doing (If they
would just grow up and clean up their ways they could be more like us).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I for one
will have none of this and prefer the way of the farmer…</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-55842067577219540552013-10-04T08:51:00.002-04:002013-10-04T08:51:28.111-04:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV8ho8s53M6zjOSFZMosYEUw6F-z1Z71GPEsp-YV5GuNfJx1748XrUITHmnANYHO7_NoT1TXapH2Ktqye_yaR9TXYiBNKg1CpDT0EucGK6k0XGrGklXu1It5_GPvuPbBCuuGR4WA/s1600/catapillar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV8ho8s53M6zjOSFZMosYEUw6F-z1Z71GPEsp-YV5GuNfJx1748XrUITHmnANYHO7_NoT1TXapH2Ktqye_yaR9TXYiBNKg1CpDT0EucGK6k0XGrGklXu1It5_GPvuPbBCuuGR4WA/s1600/catapillar.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.454545021057129px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.454545021057129px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.454545021057129px;">Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.454545021057129px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.454545021057129px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.454545021057129px;">― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.454545021057129px;"><br /></span>
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Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-33364883898984276292013-08-29T12:10:00.001-04:002013-08-29T12:16:35.365-04:00Why how we view the atonement matters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAbgp9Erg1OjVegjpMvC4A2dHa3-WcsM2GRPuOe0MqDsBhR8bSk9rvz-IMiZMBZlTvRZ8rxE1JDeE82Oiofrfdm4abyI84ab9nAgepmipGlvyo3O_EdFqXCFTKU-YNjd_5bvgv-Q/s1600/banksy+love+vs+peace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAbgp9Erg1OjVegjpMvC4A2dHa3-WcsM2GRPuOe0MqDsBhR8bSk9rvz-IMiZMBZlTvRZ8rxE1JDeE82Oiofrfdm4abyI84ab9nAgepmipGlvyo3O_EdFqXCFTKU-YNjd_5bvgv-Q/s320/banksy+love+vs+peace.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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Why should it matter how we view the atonement? </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Do we make
the bible overly complicated?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Could it could be stated something like this;
"as humans we read the bible and attempt to come up with complex
theologies and doctrines for what are really very simple truths."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Take for example the biblical truth of the atonement of
Christ for our sins. On the surface, the truth is simple: "Our world is
wrecked by sin to the point we can’t help but see it as good or ordinary. God
put on flesh and entered the world as Jesus. He died on a cross to atone for
our sins." This seems a pretty straight forward thought, right?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
The problem is our natural, and very human, curiosity makes
us ask why. Why did God have to die to forgive our sins? When the kid I was
mentoring stole my iPod neither he nor I had to shed blood for me to forgive
him. When our neighbor started yelling profanely and threatening our young
children and the teenager who was watching them, I did not need a sacrifice to
offer him forgiveness.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Because this kind of sacrifice seems to defy logic lots of
really smart people, starting with the writers of the new testament, have taken
great pains to nail down exactly what happened in this sacrifice/forgiveness
thing that God did for us. For thousands of years commentators, pastors, and
theologians have tried to offer explanations to explain it and most often have
turned to metaphor to help us understand it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
The thing that makes this so important is the metaphor you
believe can shape the way you understand atonement and that can have massive
impact on how you view and relate to God and other people. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
To better explain what I mean let us look at the differing
ways to view the atonement metaphors<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">Christ
our Ransom or </span></b><b><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">Christus Victor</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to
give his life a ransom for many.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="right" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: right;">
<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Mar&c=10&v=45&t=NIV#45">-Mark
10:45</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
This presentation of Christ’s death as a ransom is
fairly widespread in the New Testament. The word used here is <em><b><span style="background: white;"><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3083&t=NIV">lytron</a></span></b><span style="background: white;"> </span></em>which means <span style="background: white;">the price for redeeming or a ransom<b> </b>paid
for slaves and captives. The word, which we translate</span> ‘ransom’ or
redeem,’ is found in two contexts, the above quotation in Mark and the
following passage link it directly to Christ’s death:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
For there is one God; there is also one mediator between
God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for
all.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="right" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: right;">
<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=1Ti&c=2&v=5&t=NIV#top">-
1 Timothy 2:5-6</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br />
In the medieval period this metaphor of ‘purchase’ or ‘ransom’ gained great
popularity. The Devil, it is thought, had as a result of the fall obtained
certain rights or ownership over humankind. Freedom from this bondage needed to
be won by means of a payment. The Devil demanded the blood of Christ and so God
paid it to purchase our freedom.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
The problem with this metaphor is those who take it
literally must then admit that God is not all powerful since he had to bow to
the devil's demands. Why couldn't God simply have removed the devils ownership
from mankind by shear will. This view leaves us cowering in a corner in fear
seeing the devil or demons at work in the world who are stronger than God.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
The Christus Victor is a sub view of this metaphor. In this
view God did not bow to Satan’s demands. Instead Jesus died entered Hell and
defeated Satan. His victory grants us freedom from the evil one’s claim over
us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
This view was developed to attempt to hold the first point
of view literally and yet deal with its shortcomings. The problem is it still
leaves the Devil holding the atonement cards with God not being all powerful
and able to deal with him directly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">Moral Influence Theory <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN">Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals
I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of
bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from
you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full
of blood! Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take
up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. "Come now,
let us settle the matter," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they
shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good
things of the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the
sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. </span><br />
<span lang="EN">-<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="EN"><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Isa&c=1&v=14&t=NIV#14">Isaiah
1:14-20</a></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN">With what shall I come before the LORD and bow
down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with
calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten
thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what
is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God. </span><br />
<span lang="EN">-<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="EN"><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Mic&c=6&v=6&t=NIV#top">Micah
6:6-8</a></span><br />
<br />
The moral
influence view of the atonement teaches that humans want to do good but are
lost in their sin. In this view the purpose of Jesus was to incite progressive
moral change for humanity. This moral change came through the teachings and
example of Jesus which show us the way to God.</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span lang="EN">People who
hold this view point out that this reading of these Old Testament verses are
supported by Jesus in places like Matthew 25 where He directly links the
measure of His judgment with social justice. If taken too literally this
metaphor could easily to lead a view of God is a creditor who requires us to
build up enough karma through good works to earn atonement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span lang="EN">The problem
with the moral influence metaphor is there is no reason for the cross. Jesus
could have come here and taught us how to live and then ether just stayed here
with us (saving all the time between his first and second coming) or could have
ascended and waited for judgment day without the messiness and pain of the crucifixion.
It is clear from Luke <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Luk&c=22&v=39&t=NIV#39">22:39-44</a>
that the cross was not desirable but that it was the only way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">Penal substitution</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="separator" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we
considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was
pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are
healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our
own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="right" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: right;">
<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Isa&c=53&v=4&t=NIV#top">-Isiah<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="background: white;">53:4-6</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by
Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the
shedding of his blood--to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his
righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed
beforehand unpunished he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present
time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="right" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: right;">
<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rom&c=3&v=23&t=NIV#23">-
Romans <span style="background: white;">3:23-26</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">God made him who had no sin to be
sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="right" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: right;">
<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=2Cr&c=5&v=21&t=NIV#21"><span style="background: white;">- </span>2 Corinthians 5:21</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who
is hung on a pole." He redeemed us in order that the blessing given
to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we
might receive the promise of the Spirit.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="right" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: right;">
<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Gal&c=3&v=13&t=NIV#13"><span style="background: white;">- </span>Galatians 3:13-14</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The penal substitution metaphor originates
from the idea that divine forgiveness must placate divine justice, that is,
that God is not willing or able to simply forgive sin without first requiring a
payment for it. This metaphor emphasizes that God, in the person of Jesus
Christ, by his own sacrificial choice, was punished (penalized) in the
place of sinners (substitution), thus satisfying<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>the demands of justice so
God can forgive the sins of humanity. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br />
In this metaphor God is a cosmic judge who hears the case prosecuted by
the devil against humanity. The case is rock solid and we are easily found
guilty. The judge, being a righteous magistrate, has no choice but to convict
us. Then at the last minute, the judge himself stands up and says he will pay
the fine so that humanity can go free.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
The problem is this represents a crude model of justice at
best, and suggests that sin is a “crime”, which must be “paid for”. Logically it
seems to be an offence against justice that an innocent person should be
required to suffer in the place of the guilty. It leaves God looking much like
a vindictive bipolar drunk who cannot make up His mind whether to punish us or
love us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Governmental Atonement<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
For
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. <sup> </sup>God
presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his
blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness,
because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand
unpunished—<sup> </sup>he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the
present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith
in Jesus.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
-
<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rom&c=3&v=23&t=NIV#23">Romans
3:23–26</a> </div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 150%;">Then the LORD God said to
the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived
me, and I ate.” So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done
this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl
on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put
enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he
will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
To the woman he said, “I
will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will
give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule
over you.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
To Adam he said, “Because
you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded
you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from
it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and
you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat
your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; or dust
you are and to dust you will return.”<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
-<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Gen&c=3&v=13&t=NIV#13">Genesis
3:13–19</a></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 5.25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
We know that the whole creation has been
groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
-<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rom&c=8&v=22&t=NIV#22">Romans
8:22</a></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 5.25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
Look at the birds of the
air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly
Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you
by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about
clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet
I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of
these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here
today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe
you—you of little faith?<br />
<span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: right;">-</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; text-align: right;">
</span><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Mat&c=6&v=26&t=NIV#26" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: right;">Matthew
6:26–30</a></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 5.25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
The metaphor used here gives us a<span style="background: white;"> view of </span>forgiveness of sin where God is to be regarded
not as an offended judge (as in penal substation), or as a creditor (as in
Moral influence), but as the moral governor or care taker of the<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"> universe (thus the name governmental). </span>A
creditor can remit the debt due to him at pleasure; a judge may punish as he
sees fit; but a ruler must act, not according to his feelings, but with a view
to the best interests of those under his care.<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"> God could not have simply overlooked sin and needed the
atonement to appease Him as cosmic king and governor not because He needed it
but, because He was responsible for all of creation and it needed it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">The Reconciler or
Neo-Orthodox Reconciliation<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
But
you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us;
you, LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
-<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Isa&c=63&v=16&t=NIV#16">Isaiah
63:16</a></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 5.25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
"I myself said, " 'How gladly
would I treat you like my children and give you a pleasant land, the most
beautiful inheritance of any nation.' I thought you would call me 'Father' and
not turn away from following me. But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so
you, Israel, have been unfaithful to me," declares the LORD.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
-<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jer&c=3&v=19&t=NIV#19">Jeremiah
3:19-20</a></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 5.25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
For
God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to
reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;">-<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Col&c=1&v=19&t=NIV#19">Colossians
1:19–20</a></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
He
came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who
did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become
children of God—<sup> </sup>children born not of natural descent, nor of
human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
-
<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jhn&c=1&v=11&t=NIV#11">John
1:11–13</a></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
For
those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you
received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the
Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, <i>“Abba,</i> Father.” <sup> </sup>The
Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. <sup> </sup>Now
if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if
indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
-<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rom&c=8&v=14&t=NIV#14">Romans
8:14–17</a></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 5.25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
This metaphor paints the picture of a divine family. We are
all the children of God but that relationship is broken. We are out of fellowship
with our divine family. God shows His love and ends the estrangement by taking
responsibility for our sins on the cross and welcoming us back to the family<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;">. </span>This metaphor seems to be further supported by Jesus
parable of the prodigal son who having broken the relationship with his family
is reconciled to them without having to do anything to receive that
forgiveness.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
The problem with this metaphor is there is no real payment
for sin. God fixes the broken relationship but there seems to be no real reason
for Christ to die to heal that relationship. This metaphor also leaves open the
implication that God universally healed the relationship with humanity and thus
all are saved. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Summary<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Whatever the bible says
about atonement it does not define it. Instead, it offers a wide variety of metaphors
and images to communicate the spiritual truth its significance and the
implications. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Jesus is named savior, Shepard,
Lord, master, teacher, Bridegroom, foundation, cornerstone, lion, lamb of God,
king, priest, prince of peace, the second Adam… The Church is depicted as the
bride, the body, the family, the vineyard, the temple…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We don’t expect that
Jesus is a literal piece of rock that a literal building is being built on or
that He has a lion’s mane . It is the
same way with atonement because the work of Christ on the cross is far to
enormous in its scope and to rich in its meaning to be captured in a single
image or definition. Our words simply fall short of being able to communicate
the depths of this spiritual truth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I believe we should
view atonement not as a single metaphor that is better than all the others but
we should understand them as all working together to show us a bigger picture
of the truth. To explain let me use another metaphor:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">A plumber
can use a wrench to fix a leaky pipe. A 2 ½ inch wrench works wonders on
smaller pipes. It can be used to tighten or loosen pipes under sinks and in
basements equally well. No plumber, however, would go to a job with only a 2 ½ in
wrench because she knows there are situations where a 3 or 4 inch pipe will be
involved. In those cases a 2 ½ inch pipe will be less than useless (trying to
use it could damage both the tool and the plumber). She will have a toolbox
full of larger wrenches and other apparatuses that better fit the job at hand. This does not make any one tool
better than the others. Though some may be inferior, they all are used to
accomplish a job.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">So it is
with the many metaphors of the atonement. They all point to some truth about
the mysterious work of God in saving and restoring humanity yet none of them
are able to capture the whole truth of who God is and who we are in God. Atonement
then has many views, each one agrees that something needs to be done so that
humanity can live in victory and have a proper relationship with God and each
one is helpful in understanding and communicating an aspect of that truth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-83785397226247795832013-04-01T13:14:00.001-04:002013-04-01T13:14:35.272-04:00Lets Really Give Legislating Morality a Try<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This is the second in a series of posts exploring the current debate about the Church and </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">marriage</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> law.<br /></span></span></i></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">In my </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">previous</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> post <a href="http://being-the-body.blogspot.com/2013/04/first-let-me-be-clear-on-what-these.html" target="_blank">Civil Law & The Church</a> </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I argued that </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">historically</span><span style="line-height: 18px;"> the Church only causes damage when we attempt to impose "Christian" moral laws on our </span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">society</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">.<br /></span><span style="background-color: white;"><br />**First the ground rules**</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I
hate being defined by theological litmus tests because I think they miss the
mark in so many ways. That does not mean we can’t or </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">shouldn't</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> engage in
theological discussions on matters that we feel strongly about. It is just that
we should be a little more humble and gracious in how we describe people who
differ from our understanding of God and his grace.<br /> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;">In
that vein, this series of blog posts will not even attempt to address or debate
the theological issues swirling around marriage rights. We will not be
considering whether the fact that Jesus spoke against divorce but was silent on
homosexuality is important or not, or what it means that so many in the church
are willing to overlook Paul’s teachings on gender roles and on celibacy but not his teachings
on homosexuality. There are a great many other forums offering space to debate
these issues so please feel free to use them.</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;">Our
purpose here then is to look at marriage, equality, and civil rights vs religious
rights.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">**Now the second discussion**</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I'd like for us to consider what it would mean if we really attempted to impose such laws in a </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">balanced</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">manner</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">, since i</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">t must be observed
that all sin,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><strong>any</strong><span class="apple-converted-space"> sin, is a serious matter, because
“sin” is “lawlessness” 1 John 3:4</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">If
our goal as Christians is to legislate morality, we should go all the way and
really legislate against sin. I know there have been </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">humorous</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> attempts at this before that take scriptures from old testament law and attempt to apply them in todays world. <br /><br />I stand with many in the Christian tradition that believe many of these texts are cultural and do not apply. Therefore since we have selected certain texts as legitimate
for use in this arena let’s just use the scriptures currently sited for keeping
gay marriage illegal as a guide for our new laws.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Sodom and </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">Gomorrah were destroyed because of the gays right?</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;">"Now this was
the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and
unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.</span> They were haughty and
did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have
seen.” Eze 15:60</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5MdJownodA8R1vNuv0MDiEJHFNMwvlnp9o4vxL8UOUHCzW_zRicHfBztq1WxH3FGrvazKYxHW7feczlxcwG1rcnb0fy3Tw0beilKrRqSwKVj4jI8WqdOB3_K65Of5LWrYQYKb0Q/s1600/consumer_jesus_banksy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5MdJownodA8R1vNuv0MDiEJHFNMwvlnp9o4vxL8UOUHCzW_zRicHfBztq1WxH3FGrvazKYxHW7feczlxcwG1rcnb0fy3Tw0beilKrRqSwKVj4jI8WqdOB3_K65Of5LWrYQYKb0Q/s640/consumer_jesus_banksy.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><span style="line-height: 115%;">First
let’s pass a law keeping all stockbrokers, payday loan providers, and pawn
shop owners from </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">receiving</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> tax breaks, getting </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">government</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> backed loans (including student loans for their children), and from any type of court protection (sue them all you want since they don't have any standing in court). Ezekiel does say the sin of Sodom was they were greedy and over
fed and unconcerned for the poor, and Paul does say the greedy will not inherit
the kingdom of God so we are just being helpful and keeping them from an unbiblical lifestyle. If they truly repent and change their lifestyle, sell all their positions and give the money to the poor, then we can consider allowing them to hold "respectable jobs."</span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">While we are at it we should also pass laws to keep anyone who is overweight from eating unhealthy food, after all overfed people need to be protected from a lifestyle of </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">gluttony</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">. Let us make sure they can only eat salad when in public.</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Paul clearly gives his </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">protegee</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">Timothy</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> direction on what kind of people merit exclusion from the Kingdom.</span></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We also know that the law is made not for the
righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy
and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers,</span>
for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders
and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine.
1 Tim 1:9-10</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i><i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Let’s make sure we honor the whole passage here and pass laws making sure anyone found guilty of being deceitful or committing perjury
loses their civil rights that are </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">associated</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> with </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">those</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> sins. Paul does tell Timothy they are the same category as
murders and sexually immoral people. Deceitful
people will ruin the sanctity of voting and of our court system. We should keep
them from participating in polls or from actually voting and certainly from testifying in
court.</span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">When Paul wrote the </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">epistle</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> to the Romans he </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">laid</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> out sound doctrine </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">against</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> all sorts of perversions. Lets make sure to not ignore any of this passage.</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Therefore God gave them over
in the sinful desires of their hearts … They have become filled with every kind
of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent,
arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their
parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Rom
1:24-31 NIV</span></span></i></blockquote>
<i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFA5YOJqCzdpm51blHwqiZfHb5cYknY-TIEqra5dUYgmJbOXoRPmT92KzYK-RsUm4TkVWN1dixNDieS63iLZqd8Bxfurz44vZCrh83aXQVulpgsUwN-aGwMJOfkDTPh0m3xtc3yg/s1600/gossip+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFA5YOJqCzdpm51blHwqiZfHb5cYknY-TIEqra5dUYgmJbOXoRPmT92KzYK-RsUm4TkVWN1dixNDieS63iLZqd8Bxfurz44vZCrh83aXQVulpgsUwN-aGwMJOfkDTPh0m3xtc3yg/s320/gossip+2.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">We need to pass a law to make sure gossips, slanderers, and boastful people are dealt
with. Let’s make sure they have no
access to newspapers, TV, or any type of social media what so ever since granting them access to these things would only show we are condoning their lifestyle. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This kind of sin runs deep so lets make sure we are clear on </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">whether</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> this includes celebrity gossip magazines, websites, and TV shows or not.</span></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It
seems like I read about a society like this before… Oh yes it was the Pharisees
and </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">Sadducees</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> and Jesus had some really harsh things to say to them about this
kind of behavior. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">You
see Jesus really hit the nail on the head when he talked about specks and planks.
The religious leaders of Jesus day were incensed
that he accepted people into his circle even though they were sinners. At
nearly every interaction Jesus left their heads spinning as He showed them they
were just as dirty as those they condemned. <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">So
whether you believe homosexuality is a sin or not, I’m not sure how you can
advocate against granting or denying civil rights for a person based on their sinfulness. Since doing
so would logically invite legislation against all us for all kinds
of sins. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Let us instead deal with sin on a </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">spiritual</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> level and with civil law on a civil level. </span></span><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-18192764753118835112013-04-01T10:18:00.001-04:002013-04-01T10:22:46.383-04:00Civil Law & The Church<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">First let me be clear on what these posts are and what they are not.<br /><br />I
hate being defined by theological litmus tests because I think they miss the
mark in so many ways. That does not mean we can’t or shouldn't engage in
theological discussions on matters that we feel strongly about. It is just that
we should be a little more humble and gracious in how we describe people who
differ from our understanding of God and his grace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In
that vein, this series of blog posts will<b> not </b>even attempt to address or debate
the theological issues swirling around marriage rights. We will not be
considering whether the fact that Jesus spoke against divorce but was silent on
homosexuality is important or not, or what it means that so many in the church
are willing to overlook Paul’s teachings on gender roles and on celibacy but not his teachings
on homosexuality. There are a great many other forums offering space to debate
these issues so please feel free to use them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Our
purpose here then is to look at marriage, equality, and civil rights vs religious
rights.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Let’s
start with a simple question.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Should
the church be in charge of or even concerned about how marriage is defined in the secular realm? </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In
the heart of this question, we should consider what kind of reactions the
church has evoked in the name of Christ with other attempts to legislate morality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Much
of the church has failed the world on right to life issues, angrily proclaiming
that abortion is murder while condemning and attacking women who have
abortions. Some ‘Christians’ are downright nasty to anyone who says, ‘hey, hold
on, let’s talk about this.” I have</span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> been </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">verbally</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> abused by </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">Christians,</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> some of whom who know me, because I wanted to talk about the issue instead of just covering my mouth with red tape and dutifully standing up with them. I believe that we should value all life, including
the mothers who feel trapped with no options.</span></span></span></div>
<br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">“I must say that I am still passionately
pro-life, I just have a much more holistic sense of what it means to be for
life, knowing that life does not just begin at conception and end at birth, and
that if I am going to discourage abortion, I had better be ready to adopt some
babies and care for some mothers.” </span></i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">- Shane Claiborne</span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> Further muddying these waters many Christians who
vehemently oppose abortion, because it is the murder of a fellow image bearer, fully
support the death penalty, torture, drone strikes, etc and do not see the problem with their own logic. We need
to learn how to love EVERYONE, including the mothers, fathers, abortion clinic
doctors, criminals, and </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">enemy</span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> combatants.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">But should the Church be concerned with the
kind of reactions people have to our values? </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Isn't</span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> the truth the truth no
matter what?</span></span></b><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Let
us just for a moment consider that this line of argument is valid. Consider the
actual outcome of legislating all of our moral values (because the truth is the
truth like it or not).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_JnP8HMHeLA6U0RReWg390knJzMexRib9L1H_5GcuN1M6tpwMxzauPhg2WNO_VxW0u7s2n9k1wtJritXU3m2cMrdoxVDPd4NsZhK1mYxhS0etHA5_z3mRslb7z9xwq4ELREz1uA/s1600/temprence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_JnP8HMHeLA6U0RReWg390knJzMexRib9L1H_5GcuN1M6tpwMxzauPhg2WNO_VxW0u7s2n9k1wtJritXU3m2cMrdoxVDPd4NsZhK1mYxhS0etHA5_z3mRslb7z9xwq4ELREz1uA/s200/temprence.jpg" width="155" /></a><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
temperance movement, rooted in America's Protestant churches, first urged
moderation in drinking, and ultimately demanded laws prohibiting alcohol. This eventually
led to prohibition, which didn't really stop anyone from drinking. Several
underground bars or speakeasies could be found in most every city and
moonshine, illegal alcohol, could be purchased by anyone who expended any
amount of effort to find it. Prohibition only fueled the illicit trade of alcohol
which fed organized crime giving people like Al Capone and John Dillinger great
wealth and power</span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Similarly
attempts at legislating our moral views have done nothing to stem the tide of
abortions or show the love of Christ to those who are hurting or lost, they
have only shown the world how judgmental and blind a group of people we can be.
They have also given rise to groups like Planned Parenthood, which assists in hundreds
of thousands of abortions every year. This group now has the power to hold good
organizations like Susan G Komen foundation hostage as they co-opt their message
in the name of defeating “Christian” moral legislation.<br /><br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2PmTy8Cqr0h067MmqnpCJCLPW38bd4ZMgdzK5dAREFJSrEHiZj3YvgIHKe00S_qe4RSHmcmU_rSht6XBct7QFSwrfut1vJTXebgXN4Y2J4ZjtSkmlkIbo8dPFQDx3j0D4UN3wEg/s1600/planned-parenthood-express-mckinney-texas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2PmTy8Cqr0h067MmqnpCJCLPW38bd4ZMgdzK5dAREFJSrEHiZj3YvgIHKe00S_qe4RSHmcmU_rSht6XBct7QFSwrfut1vJTXebgXN4Y2J4ZjtSkmlkIbo8dPFQDx3j0D4UN3wEg/s640/planned-parenthood-express-mckinney-texas.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />Moral laws did nothing to stop drunkenness and nothing to stop abortion they only helped organize and give power to
groups opposed to the church’s stated values.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It is my contention then that the church gains nothing and risks everything by becoming so embroiled in secular politics. We cannot </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">legislate</span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> transformation and no matter how many laws we pass we won't change hearts.</span></span></span></div>
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Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-13947066018499958192012-08-14T11:02:00.001-04:002012-08-14T11:02:19.241-04:00Are you without blemish?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Summary
Statement: of Ephesians 1:3-5</b></u></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">God
finds pleasure in adopting us into His family. He does not see all
the ways we fall short or fail to live up to the standards we absorb
from the world around us. God sees us as holy and perfect without
defect.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Historical
Context:</b></u></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Alexander
</span></span></span></span></em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">the
</span></span><em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Great
had conquered </span></span></span></span></em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">vast
territories in a shorter time than anyone else in recorded history</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">.
One of the reasons he was so successful because imported Greek
values to all the areas he concurred.</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
Alexander insisted on making major cities the center for education
and philosophy.</span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span lang="en-US">1
2</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0.02in; text-indent: -0.01in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Alexander
was driven by certain ideals. These ideals are reflected in Greek
myths and poetry. The Greeks saw humans as the center of everything.
The naked human form was the highest for of beauty and worship. The
Greeks were driven by their ideal of beauty, courage, achievement.
How good are you , how well can you climb to the top, how good
looking are you, how brave are you... So Alexander wants to make the
world Greek. He wants to take the Greek world view and wants to make
it everyone’s world view everywhere.</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0.02in; text-indent: -0.01in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> He
would conquer a city and in the process destroy it and then re-build.
He would build a gymnasium A key idea of the Greek worldview is that
it is holistic. So you would go the the Gym and you would offer
incense to the Gods, you would do all these sports (discus, javelin,)
sweat, work out, tone your body. And then along the edge of the gym
would be all these classrooms where you would learn to write
classical Greek, learn poetry, and philosophy, and the myths of the
Gods. So you would send your kids to school each day and he/she would
be immersed in the Greek world view. </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Ephesus
had all the conveniences of a modern Roman city: a gymnasium, a
stadium, theaters, and a central marketplace.</span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0.02in; text-indent: -0.01in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> The
Greeks would build a beautiful temple to the Gods. In Ephesus</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Alexander
would incorporate the Greek goddess Dianna and Artemis. The Greeks
restored a huge temple to this goddess and increased its splendor and
reputation</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
</span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">4
</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">They
made it the banking capitol of Asia minor bringing wealth and
success.</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0.02in; text-indent: -0.01in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The
Greeks were masters of using mass media for propaganda. The theater
in Ephesus, which</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
had a seating capacity of some twenty-four thousand,</span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
would put on the stories of the Greek Gods. Often times a Greek
theater would have no back and would be built in such a way that the
back of the stage would overlook the city. So when you sat in the
theater and watched these dramas featuring Greek mythology and
philosophy your own city would be the backdrop </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">,
People would quickly begin to see their stories in the myths they
encountered in the theater. </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0.02in; text-indent: -0.01in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"> The
main street of Ephesus connected the theater with the harbor and was
flanked on either side by a colonnade. Another important feature the
Greeks added to the the city was the agora, the marketplace, located
southeast of the harbor bringing goods from all over the world to
their doorstep.</span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span lang="en-US">7
</span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The
people of Ephesus were able to dine on food from far off lands, wear
fashions from exotic regions, and read literature from scholars they
would never meet in person.</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0.02in; text-indent: -0.01in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> The
Greek worldview was designed to just move in and take over. Something
happens, however, when you begin to place the worth of a life on how
much you achieve and how pretty you are. If your value comes from how
pretty you are, if you worth comes from how you do at athletics, if
your merit and standing in the community is based on how well you do
in class and how clever you are you begin to view others in that same
light. What subtly happens is you are going to end up putting worth
on human life.</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Soranus
</span></span></span></span></strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">of
Ephesus </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">wrote
“a practical guide to gynecology, obstetrics, and pediatrics.”</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
In it he</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
described a method of assessing the health status of newborns titled
“How to recognize the newborn that is worth rearing.” He suggests
that the following characteristics are indicative of a worthy infant:
“... its mother has spent the period of pregnancy in good health,
it has been born at the due time, when put on the earth it
immediately cries with proper vigor, it is perfect in all its parts,
members and senses, its ducts are free from obstruction and the
natural functions of every member are neither sluggish nor weak ...</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
conditions contrary to these indicate the infant not worth rearing.”</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> Classical
Greek literature asserts this same philosophy. Aristotle said “As
to the exposure of children, </span></span><em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">let
there be a law that no deformed child </span></span></span></span></em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">shall
live.” In his work The Republic Plato writes: “The offspring of
the inferior, and any of those of the other sort who are born
defective, they will properly dispose of in secret, so that no one
will know what has become of them.” A deformed child just doesn’t
fit into the Greek world view. </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> An
infant that was deformed or even weak was viewed as a sign of divine
displeasure. It was thought to be a curse from the gods. A family
with a deformed baby must somehow have a problem with the gods. So
they had to get rid of the baby because they didn't want any of that
divine displeasure to rest on their household, and they certainly
didn't want their neighbors to know, that would be a blow to the
status of the whole family.</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> This
gruesome practice, that was perfectly legal under roman law, is
sometimes translated as exposure and encouraged throughout ancient
Rome. To get rid of an unwanted infant one might resort to abortion
(very risky in those days) or drowning, but the preferd method was
infant exposure where, “the family would simply take the child out
beyond the city and abandon it to die from exposure to the
elements.”</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">8</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> Ephesus
had a mountain on the norther edge of the city. This mountain is
considered by some scholars to be the sight of the baby dump, others
place it closer to the main city gates. If you lived in this city in
the ancient world, this is where you would take a deformed, weak, or
unwanted child and leave it to die.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> Since
Ephesus was a large port city with commercial traffic coming and
going to both Rome and Asia Minor it also became a slave trade
center. A common practice in the ancient world was to raise children
into young adulthood to be slaves. People would go up and would sort
through the rejected babies looking for ones who might make good
slaves. So they would look for deformed babies who still held some
potential. They would then bring babies back home and raise them
ether as personal slaves or to be sold.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Literary
Context:</b></u></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">n
Ephesians Paul addresses masters and slaves, so his intended audience
is both masters and slaves. The people who first heard this letter
would have included folks who had gone up on that mountain and sorted
through babies who they thought might make good servants and it would
also have included folks who had been raised as slaves, knowing full
well their status was because they had been rejected at birth.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>I. God sees us with our blemish (1:3-4)</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><i>Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in
Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as
he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and blameless before him. In love</i></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
</span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span lang="en-US">9</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The
word for blameless is</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
</span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="el-GR">ἄμωμος</span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">a
</span></span></span></sup></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
and it means “without defect, without blemish.’</span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span lang="en-US">10</span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
God chose you before the creation of the world to be holy and without
defect. He looks at you and He doesn't see a long list of how you
don't measure up. He sees you as holy and with out defect.</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><b>
</b></i></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>II. God chose us (1:5)</b></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> </i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><i>In
love </i></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><i>5 </i></span></span></span></sup></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><i>he
predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according
to the purpose of his will</i></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span lang="en-US">9</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
This
is the verse that cinches it. God chose to go up the mountain and
rescue us not to raise as slaves but for adoption into His divine
family even before we were born. He did not just do this on a whim it
is all part of His eternal rescue plan.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Original
meaning:</b></u></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> It
is doubtful that the first people who heard this got into a heated
discussion about predestination vs freewill. The first people to hear
this probably wept. Adoption for them was going up the mountain and
taking the abandon babies that were all screwed up and raising them
as your own.</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> Paul
begins “in love God decided beforehand to make you His children.”
This text calls out the idea that a deformity is a sign of Gods
displeasure. This text says God is the God who hikes up on the
mountain and brings home the unwanted, the discarded, and makes them
part of his family.</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Modern
meaning:</b></u></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> Think
of the messages we are sent about our value, our worth, and how we
measure up or more likely all the ways we don't. We live in a culture
that constantly reminds us that we are not good enough. If you go
through a checkout isle you are confronted by a plethora of magazines
telling you are not the right shape, you don't make enough money, you
have bad hair... If you turn on the television or radio you are
blasted by marketers telling you how bad your life is and how if you
just had their product you could finally measure up.</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> According
to this text the gospel is me coming to the place of realizing I was
the baby on the hill left for dead and God hiked up there to get me.
God created each of us, He chose us to be adopted into His family. He
looks at us and does not see all the ways we fail or don't measure up
to some standard. He looks at us and loves us, He takes pleasure in
bringing us into His family.</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> If
we can live this text it will profoundly effect the way we live.
Every time we are reminded about our deformities about all the ways
we fall short this text should leap into our hearts and onto our
tongue. If we can take this text seriously we must recognize that God
has some weird kids and He loves them all, even if we find them
strange or even offensive.</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Implications for Ministry:</b></u></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> The
Reverend Martin Luther King </span></span><em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Jr</span></span></span></span></em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">.
</span></span><em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">once
said "It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian
America </span></span></span></span></em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">is
eleven o'clock on Sunday morning.” </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The
Church has a way of becoming a social club. If we are going to take
this text seriously we need to accept that w</span></span><strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">e
are not called to be tolerant!</span></span></span></span></strong></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span></span></strong><span style="font-size: small;">The
very idea of tolerance implies enduring or putting up with something
you don't like or value. Tolerance does not value people but simply
puts up with their behaviors or beliefs. We cannot build authentic
relationships with each-other on tolerance alone, because tolerance
can only look the other way. </span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Tolerance
might deal with differences, but it can't embrace us in full. God far
exceeds mere tolerance, He showers all of us with grace. We are to
represent God and so we must not just occasionally tolerate people we
don't like, we too must show grace and acceptance.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"> The
church should be a gathering of people where we can stand up and say
we are wretched, and everyone will nod and agree and then remind us
that we are also beautiful...</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> When
we look through the eyes of Jesus, we begin to see new things in
people. In the murderers, we see our own hatred. In the addicts, we
see our own addictions. In the saints, we catch glimpses of our own
holiness. We can see our own brokenness, our own violence, our own
ability to destroy, and we can see our own sacredness, our own
capacity to love and forgive. When we realize that we are both
wretched and beautiful, we are freed up to see others the same way</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> God
loves each of us just as we are, but he loves us so much he doesn't
want us to stay that way. We must never confuse acceptance with
agreement. Acceptance is not an agreement of people’s choices,
beliefs, or behaviors. We must see ourselves as in-process, none of
us has arrived or achieved some ultimate level of spiritually
superiority. While we must always extend grace and acceptance to
everyone, we should always hope and pray that none of us will remain
spiritually stagnate.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> There
is a place for "appropriate judgment," but only among
disciples who are in close personal relationships with each-other in
which they have invited one another fully into their lives. This kind
of judgment is done only in private and it takes the form of
discernment and loving feedback. The end goal is for both disciples
to be continually transformed by this relationship.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<em> I
do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but
what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that
the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it
is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is,
in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I
cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no,
the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing.</em></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<em style="line-height: 150%;">The
Apostle Paul to the church in Rome 58 A.D. (</em><span style="color: navy; line-height: 150%;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rom&c=7&v=15&t=NIV#comm/20"><span style="font-size: small;">Rom
7:15-20</span></a></u></span></span><span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;">)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Works cited:</b></u></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">1.
Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>The
Bible exposition commentary</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
(Ac 18:23). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">2.
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Discipleship
Journal, Issue 32 (March/April 1986)</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">.
1986. NavPress.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">3.
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Discipleship
Journal, Issue 122 (March/April 2001)</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">.
2001. NavPress.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">4.
Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Commentary
Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
(Ac 19:27). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">5.
Myers, A. C. (1987). </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>The
Eerdmans Bible dictionary</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
(342). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">6.
Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Commentary
Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
(Ac 19:29). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">7.
Myers, A. C. (1987). </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>The
Eerdmans Bible dictionary</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
(342). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">8.
</span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Price,
Christopher. 2004. “Pagans, Christianity, and Infanticide.”
www.christiancadre.org</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">/member_contrib/cp_infanticide.html
Last accessed August 11, 2012.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">9.
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>The
Holy Bible: English Standard Version</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">.
2001 (Eph 1:3–4). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">10.
Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Vol.
1</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">:
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Greek-English
lexicon of the New Testament: Based on semantic domains</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
(electronic ed. of the 2nd edition.) (699). New York: United Bible
Societies.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
</div>
Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-49185876726916043252012-01-15T17:38:00.001-05:002012-01-15T17:42:43.525-05:00Jesus and Geography<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div>
Robert Pattinson</div>
<br />
<div>
The Pentagon</div>
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Obama</div>
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<div>
Alaska</div>
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Japan</div>
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Oval office</div>
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Capitol Hill</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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What do all these have in common?</div>
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<div>
They give is a concrete picture, an image we can see in our mind.</div>
<br />
<div>
Names like praetorium Golgotha and Antipas were loaded with meaning in Jesus time.</div>
<br />
<div>
</div>
Who was the king who committed to try to kill baby Jesus?<br />
<br />
<div>
Herod the Great</div>
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<div>
Herod Antipas was his son. He came to power when Herod died.</div>
<br />
<div>
That's when the Angel told Joseph that it was safe to return to Jerusalem with Jesus.</div>
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<div>
They settled in the town of Nazareth in Galilee.</div>
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<div>
That is about the time Herod Antipas began his rebuilding and expansion project for the city of Sepphoris...</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div>
Sepphoris has been revealed as a cosmopolitan city of great wealth and beauty, the largest and most important city in all Galilee (according to roman historians). Even after Herod built Tiberias and moved his capital and residence there, Sepphoris continued to be a prominent and influential city.</div>
<br />
<div>
<br />
Sepphoris was "perched like a bird" on a four hundred-foot hill. The city commanded a panoramic view of Lower Galilee, including the towns of Cana, and Nazareth, four miles to the south. The Jewish historian Josephus called it "the ornament of Galilee."</div>
<br />
<div>
<br />
Sepphoris boasted a 4,000-seat amphitheater, built into the eastern side of the hill. Its stage was 156 feet wide and 27 feet from front to back. Herod’s rebuilt city included his palace, an upper city and a lower city, a new city walls, an extra large market place, a colonnaded street, and a residential area. Several large cisterns (like water towers of today), one holding a thousand gallons, supplied running water for the city. It was a fancy sophisticated and rich place.</div>
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<div>
</div>
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<div>
During Jesus’ early years, Herod Antipas was restoring, developing and fortifying Sepphoris. It served as his principle residence and the administrative center of Galilee, until he built Tiberias in A.D. 18-20.</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div>
Why are we talking about Sepphoris?</div>
<br />
<div>
Well it was less than 4 miles from a tiny village named Nazareth.</div>
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<div>
<br />
Jesus father, Joseph, was identified by the word tekton.</div>
<br />
<div>
This word was used to identify, a carpenter, a builder, or any craftsman.</div>
<br />
<div>
</div>
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<div>
This would mean that they were construction craftsmen, skilled in wood and or stone work. Since it was the practice of a father to teach his son his trade or skill, and since we don't see Jesus studying under a rabbi (remember he got his authority at his baptism) Joseph probably trained Jesus for this vocation.</div>
<br />
<div>
<br />
Nazareth was a very small village, presumably lacking in the kind of construction projects that would provide sufficient work for skilled builders. With extensive building in progress less than an hour’s walk away, it is likely that Joseph and Jesus would have been employed in Sepphoris.</div>
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<div>
</div>
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<div>
</div>
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<div>
There is evidence to lend credibility to this theory because Jesus was well acquainted with much of the predominantly Greek and Roman culture.</div>
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<div>
</div>
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<div>
When He used the word "hypocrite" for instance:</div>
<br />
<div>
</div>
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<div>
The word Hypocrite means actor or pretender, literally "one acting under a mask," . It is a Greek word, not Jesus native Aramaic, and would be primarily used to speak about the actors in a Greek style theatre. Such as the one built at Sepphoris around when Jesus would have been a teenager.</div>
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<div>
</div>
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<div>
So Herod the king who's father had committed genocide, and who maintained his power with the roman military muscle ran the kingdom from his fancy city on a hill.</div>
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<div>
</div>
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<div>
Imagine what it would feel like to look up at the spectacle from the poor little village of Nazareth below it. Only a few hundred people lived in Nazareth, it had no civic structures... People still went to a well for water...</div>
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</div>
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<div>
Herod then built another huge town called Tiberius (named after Ceaser and built on a grave yard).</div>
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<div>
</div>
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<div>
So what does all this mean...</div>
<br />
<div>
</div>
<br />
<div>
Jesus is recorded as going to Nazerath,Cana, Capernum (a small village next to Tiberius) and all kinds of other places around this great wealth and power. But he never goes to these places during his ministry. He never goes to the capital to lobby or seek an audience with the powerful folks there who were running the day to day political operations of that whole region.</div>
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<div>
</div>
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<div>
In fact the text is very careful about where he goes and what roads or paths he takes to get there. He always avoids the places of imperial power. Although he does go to the places of religious power (as we have seen at the temple and we will see with pagan temple at cessarea philipi)</div>
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<div>
</div>
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<div>
By the lake in the area of Zebulun and Nephtali these were land allocations given by God to the former Egyptian slaves (not the fancy Greek names provided by the empire). By using these names the text is underlining the fact that the land is Gods not the empires.</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div>
Jesus reminded people why they had come to the desert in the first place. They could gone to Sepphoris the theater... and watched a great play about a girl who meets a boy who happens to be a vampire and who's vampire family takes her in and defends her against other vampires, culminating in a fiery battle inside a dance studio... until she wakes up in the hospital with a broken leg...</div>
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<div>
Sorry that was totally uncalled for ;-)</div>
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<div>
</div>
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Or</div>
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</div>
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They could have gone to tiberous to lobby the rich rulers and advisers to the king to "take their countyr back to its religous roots...</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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But they came to the desert to seek a new way to live, to seek a truth that was/is deeper than the plastic and fake ways of the world. They came out because they has a sense that a new world was possible and they needed to see/hear that a new world that was emerging.</div>
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</div>
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<br />
<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Luk&c=7&v=24&t=NIV#comm/24">Luk 7:24</a><br />
After John's messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?<br />
<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Luk&c=7&v=24&t=NIV#comm/25">Luk 7:25</a><br />
If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces.<br />
<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Luk&c=7&v=24&t=NIV#comm/26">Luk 7:26</a><br />
But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.</div>
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<div>
</div>
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<div>
This takes place at Capernum just a stones throw away from Tiberius (Herod's new shinier imperial city) where John sets on death row waiting to be beheaded...</div>
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<div>
Why didn't Jesus rush to save John?</div>
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<div>
</div>
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<div>
More on that next time...</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div>Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-49274665042825774402011-07-30T14:57:00.005-04:002011-07-31T18:46:58.935-04:00Shut your mouth...<p class="MsoNormal"></p><span><span><div><span><span>Paul taught his disciples to shut up about the moral decay in their culture. </span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div>The story of the riot in Ephesus: In Ephesus Paul finds disciples who are eager to learn, they receive Christ and are baptized. Paul speaks publicly and from house to house, night and day making disciples and sending them out for perhaps three years . The city is shaken to its foundations as great numbers of people believe and join Paul in the work of making disciples. Many of them burned their books of magic and abandoned idol worship. From Ephesus Paul was able to direct a great disciple making movement and churches were founded in cities for up to 100 miles around. Ephesus rapidly became the leading center of the Christian world. In all respects Paul had a successful public ministry in Ephesus. </span></span><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span>But the idol makers, seeing a decline in their business, incite an immense mob to riot against Paul and these new churches. They chant their slogan, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians,” over and over as they drag leaders of the church into a giant arena filled to capacity with idol worshipers. The Mayor then steps in and disbands the crowd by saying “You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess.” The crowd leaves because no one in the crowd can argue with the Mayor’s points. </span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span>It is important here to look carefully at what the Mayor said. The words “robbed temples” are the Greek word hierosylos and it means stealer of things from a temple, or one who desecrates and commits sacrilege. The word blaspheme is the Greek word blasphēmeō and it means: to insult, slander, curse, to use malicious talk, or defamation of character. The Mayor challenges the mob to bring one witness who has heard the disciples of the way say anything negative about Artemis, or one person who has witnessed them desecrate an idol. No one from this massive crowd has any evidence that Paul or his fellow Christians have said or done anything slanderous to the local religious traditions. </span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span>We know Paul was not shy about his beliefs. All of the evidence tells us that Paul was at the center of this movement writing letters and teaching in public places. Paul is training and sending others out to speak for Christians as well. Scholars believe that several of Paul’s epistles, including a letter to the church at Corinth, were written and sent while Paul was in Ephesus. In many of Paul’s other ministry journeys he is recorded as giving speeches to large crowds. Paul is even anxious to get in front of this huge mob to speak to them. </span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span>Paul is not vague, but also not confrontational, about the difference in idol worship and worship of the one true God. In the letter to the Corinthians Paul says, “An idol is nothing at all in the world” he goes on to call them “so called gods.” He does not call on the Corinthian disciples to publically criticize the idol worshipers. In fact, Paul talks about them eating food sacrificed to idols in the idol’s temple. He does not chastise them for associating with the idol worshipers, it even seems expected that they would be in close contact with nonbelievers and new believers. At Mars Hill, Paul uses the idols of the local populace and even quotes one of their poets. He then turns these things on their head to teach the crowd about Yahweh but, he never once insults these cultural icons. </span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span>We know that Paul was not quiet about his beliefs regarding idols and idol worship. We know Paul had tremendous influence. We know there were thousands of Christians in and around Ephesus who had regular contact with the Ephesian people. Despite all of this, no one can recall a single time the Church was disrespectful or publically ridiculed the pagan worshipers. Paul never called on the church to make signs and form a protest line at a concert or speech. Paul never called on the church to stage a book burning. Paul never instructed the disciples of the way to pester and ridicule their friends, family and coworkers about the decline of their culture. Paul does not instruct the church to endorse a particular political party or candidate. </span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span>Paul is an excellent example of how Christians should carry on in the face of cultural resistance. He knew that to engage in hierosylos and blasphēmeō</span></span><span><span> damages one’s witness. Because we have failed to listen to Paul, the world today knows more about what the church is against than what it is for. How then should we conduct ourselves in a culture of moral decline and idol worship? What should be the churches public response to having less of a cultural influence than other religious traditions or new age spiritual practices? We must find ways to lead people into experiencing redemption in Christ that don’t involve a bullhorn. We must find ways of helping broken lost people find redemptive love without shame and condemnation. We must live amongst the people of our culture and love them as Jesus loves them.<br /><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span>http://www.being-the-body.blogspot.com/</span></span></div><div></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.being-the-body.blogspot.com/"></a></p></div>Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-6282149648400600712011-03-16T22:05:00.003-04:002011-03-16T22:43:38.162-04:00Who's theology?<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">What is Theology?</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">The word theos is Greek for “God,” and -ology which is from the Greek word logos meaning study of or “word.” Most literally then the word theology means "study of God" or “words about God” (not to be confused with the words from God). It is the articulation of an individual's or a community’s beliefs about God.<br /><br />As such theology will always fall short from a complete & accurate description of the God of all creation. Despite the fact that our theology falls short, and sometimes entirely misses the point, it is still a necessary way to provide an anchoring point. When it is done well it is our humble attempt to explain what we mean when we confess that “Jesus is Lord," and when we say that it should subvert and redefine what the we count as “rational.”<br /><br />Just as a toddler tries to form sentences, and she can’t quite get her mouth around the words, so it is with us trying to communicate who God is and what the kingdom of God is like. But just as we take great delight in hearing our tiny children talk about things they can not yet understand, God takes pleasure in us, with our halted uttering and incomprehension, trying so hard to grasp the infinite mystery with our finite comprehension.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">It is destructive then for us to treat out theology as if it is written in stone. We are at our worst when we fail to to leave room for possible errors in our theology, we risk making our theology an idle. When we build our theology up and act as if it is somehow written by God himself, when we fail to see how our theology falls short, we fail to recognize our own humanness. After all our best guess is probably laughable from God's point of view.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">How we develop and treat our theology has massive implications for how we live. Theology is a practice and a craft that is rooted in the other practices of the Church (e.g., mission, evangelism, worship, communal prayer, preaching, hospitality to the poor and the stranger, living life together, service to our neighbor, nonviolent encounter/witness to our enemies...). Our theology should help us to be the church, and it should push us to more faithfully be a community of disciples of the way of Jesus in our time and in this place.<br /><br />When we as the church are at our best, we recognize that people will always be in process and no one individual's theology will completely line up with our communal theology. We celebrate this diversity as a strength that brings a balance to our understanding of God. Our tradition is a wide stream that allows much room for how we try to articulate our understanding of God.<br /><br />As such we should constantly be on the look out for new and different ways to speak the message that has been entrusted to us. We should pull words and phrases from our culture and turn their meaning on its head, just as Jesus and the early Church did. </p>Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-61159588490890911652011-03-11T10:20:00.004-05:002011-03-11T13:40:52.110-05:00Blessed are the...<div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />We would like invite you to take a fresh look at the beatitudes with us in the hopes that they will lead us to be the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world". </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">“(the beatitudes) give us not only a way to see God, but a way to see our world, and they give us something concrete to do about what we see, as they call us to participate in God's kingdom.” -Anne Howard</span></div><div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"> "Blessed are the..."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span">Lets stop right there. It is easy to read into something a meaning that is not there, without a proper understanding of the context in which it is said. Or we could say w</span><span class="Apple-style-span">e cannot get a proper understanding of Jesus message if we do not understand what exactly he is saying. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >The word Blessed is the Greek word makarios, and it means blessed or happy.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >However this </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; ">makarios</span><span class="Apple-style-span" > is not a word used in asking for or even invoking blessings, such as "Lord I ask that you bless this person," or "We ask God to bless this ministry." That word would be eulogeō, and it (</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; ">eulogeō)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; "> does not appear anywhere in the beatitudes.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Raymond Brown describes makarios as "not part of a wish list and not to invoke a blessing. Rather it is to recognize an existing state of happiness or good fortune."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Kenneth Bailey further adds "We could say it affirms a present reality or it points out a state of spirituality that is already present."</span></div></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >The beatitudes are the first and longest message of Jesus that we have a record of. Up until this point, Jesus has been announcing that the kingdom of heaven was, near and at hand, He had been calling for people to repent to re-orientate their lives. Now, in what could be described as a manifesto of His kingdom, Jesus unveils the foundations and character of life in that kingdom. Here He teaches the ethical guidelines for life in His kingdom; and the guidelines point to the quality of righteousness that characterizes life in the kingdom, here and now as a present reality not as something God left us longing for.</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); " ></span></div></div></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" ></span></span></span></div><span><span ><br />It is not asking for a blessing but neither is the second line a reward for the first line. "Jesus does not say you will be blessed if you..." We could say it like this: "Joyful is my friend Neil because he will inherit his family's business." Neil is already joyful and will eventually inherit the business. There is nothing for him to do. The first statement affirms his joyful state and the second presents a future that allows him to even now to live a life of joy.</span></span><div></div><div><span><span ><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Jesus goes on to affirm that these </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; ">makarios</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; "> blessed ones make up the membership of the kingdom of heaven, which is already theirs.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >With this firmly in hand let us gather together and read Jesus words with a fresh understanding of what kind of blessings we have and what kind of lives we are called to live.</span></div>Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-40032413897879033122011-03-03T20:05:00.008-05:002011-03-04T15:42:36.079-05:00What you look for you will find (or where is heaven?)<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><blockquote></blockquote></span></div></span></div><span><span><blockquote></blockquote>When you picture heaven what do you picture?</span></span><div><span><span>Go ahead and close your eyes and try to visualize it now...</span></span></div><div><span><span><br />You may think of Angels floating on clouds playing on harps (because everyone loves harp music). Or you may think of a place where dis-embodied spirits float to and fro, perhaps you envision mansions and streets of gold. But these fanciful images are placed into our collective mind by culture not by scripture.</span></span></div><div><span><span><br /><blockquote>"Think of all the jokes that begin with someone showing up at the gates of heaven, and st. Peter is there, like a bouncer at a club, deciding who does and who doesn't get to enter. For all of the questions and confusion about just what heaven is and who will be there, the one thing that is the generally agreed-upon notion that heaven is, obviously, somewhere else. And so the questions about heaven often have an otherworldly air to them."-Rob Bell</blockquote></span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span><br />Where and how you begin the story, and where and how you end the story, shapes and determines the story you’re telling.<br /><br />One way to look at the big picture of the Bible is to see how scripture follows a story-arc, we call this narrative theology. It traces through the bible building as it tells the story of God and his creation which was broken and he how seeks to restore it. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is one story of the Kingdom of God coming near and it culminates with Heaven and Earth merging into one when God and humanity dwell together in the Resurrection.<br /><br />But this is not how we tend to tell God's story. We tell a story of brokenness and sin. We talk about how this world is broken and marred by this "original sin." We tell our story of being "born into" this sin. This has become the dominate way to tell the "Christian" story. </span></span></div><div><span><span><br />There is nothing wrong with telling the story of how sin entered the picture, and how it effected all of creation. Indeed it is important to acknowledge the fact that sin still infects creation to this very day. But, when we begin with sin when the fall is the starting place, and the death of Jesus on the cross is the ending, then our story becomes one of escape instead of restoration. </span></span></div><div><span><span><br />The story begins in Genesis 1 NOT in Genesis 3. The story begins with a good and loving God creating and stepping back and declaring "it is good." And then this good and loving God then creating us in his image. Our story starts in the Garden, with everything just as God intended it to be, with God walking with the man and woman...</span></span></div><div><span><span><br />And </span></span></div><div><span><span><br />The story does not end in some sort of tribulation period and great climatic battles...</span></span></div><div><span><span><br />The story ends in <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rev&c=21&v=1&t=NIV">Revelation 21 </a><blockquote>"Then I saw 'a new heaven and a new earth,'for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.”</blockquote><br />If you took out sin from the Bible you’d have a four page pamphlet, kinda like a Gospel tract. But, unlike a tract it would be a story we would want to read. You’d begin with Genesis 1 and 2 and end with Revelation 21 and 22. You begin with a perfect garden and end with a perfect city. Genesis 1 and 2 paints a picture of a participatory lifestyle where God and man <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px; "><em style="font-style: normal; ">co-habitate</em></span> </span>the same time and space. </span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span>Revelation 21 and 22 paints a picture of a participatory lifestyle where man engages with God and they <span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px; "><em style="font-style: normal; ">co-habitate</em></span> </span> the same time and space. There’s no distinction between heaven and earth in Genesis and the fusion of heaven and earth at the end of Revelation leaves no distinction between the two. </span></span></div><div><span><span><br />All things have been made new, and the story ends here….on earth, the same place it began.<br /><br />A story that begins with Genesis 3 begins with sin, and if you start with this premise in your story then your goal is the removal of sin. To get rid of the problem. But a story that begins at Genesis 1 the goal is “how do we get back” to shalom and restoration and peace. What is the larger story that you are telling? Is it just how to get rid of sin?</span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span><blockquote>"A proper view of heaven leads not to escape from the world, but to full engagement with it, all with the anticipation of a coming day when things are on earth as they currently are in heaven." - Rob Bell</blockquote>Heaven is where God is storing Earth’s future, bringing hope not rooted in escape but engagement, not evacuation but reclamation, not in leaving but in staying and overcoming.<br /><br />Or to put it another way materiality is not the issue, rebellion is the issue.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><blockquote>"When Isaiah predicted that spears would become pruning hooks, that's a reference to cultivating. Pruning and trimming and growing and paying close attention to the plants and weather they're getting enough water and if their roots are deep enough. Soil under the fingernails, grapes being trampled under bare feet, fingers sticky from handling fresh fruit... For there to be new wine someone has to crush the grapes. For their to be no more war someone has to take the sword and get it hot enough in the fire to hammer it into the shape of the plow." - Rob Bell</blockquote></span></div><div>So go back and read <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Gen&c=1&v=1&t=NIV#top">Genesis 1 and 2</a> and then read <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rev&c=21&v=1&t=NIV#top">Revelation 21 and 22</a> and think of what heaven will be like. Read the prophets when they reveal glimpses of what God has in store for the world:</div></div><div><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Isa&c=2&v=1&t=NIV#top">Isaiah 2 </a> & <span><span><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Isa&c=11&v=1&t=NIV#top">Isaiah 11</a> &</span></span> <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Isa&c=25&v=1&t=NIV#top">Isaiah 25</a> & <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Amo&c=9&v=13&t=NIV#13">Amos 9 </a>...</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>"By the way when the writer John in the book of Revelation gets a current glimpse of the heavens, one detail he mentions about crowns is that people are taking them off, chapter 4. Apparently, in the unvarnished presence of the divine a lot of things that we consider significant turn out to be, much like wearing a crown, quite absurd." - Rob Bell</blockquote></div><div>Now what do you think heaven will be like?</div><div><blockquote></blockquote><span><span>Final note <blockquote>"On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there." <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rev&c=21&v=25&t=NIV#25">Revelation 21:25</a> . </blockquote><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div>What are gates for? Gates are for keeping people in and/or out... Hmmm</span></span><blockquote><blockquote style="font-size: medium; "></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: medium; "></span></blockquote></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><span><a href="http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/ideas/v1/ideapage/blog-id/Recommend/article-id/961">Also check out my "official" review <span><span>here.</span></span></a></span></span></div>Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-86823015179519258872011-02-28T11:22:00.007-05:002012-08-21T11:02:02.840-04:00Love wins Redux<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1mkivgr8G76RlTlvzHJgm0mRvo05RgLuS0QgYhmzMczlRBrQyB3HAj_PCS1v4PPtjJT5OZDoHp2YKpnba0x2rH34PVNEvRExaL3klrF4KTDciaUNo_FmNSRQyf7hPtUzuYzsZeQ/s1600/IMAG1506.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578826939294233890" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1mkivgr8G76RlTlvzHJgm0mRvo05RgLuS0QgYhmzMczlRBrQyB3HAj_PCS1v4PPtjJT5OZDoHp2YKpnba0x2rH34PVNEvRExaL3klrF4KTDciaUNo_FmNSRQyf7hPtUzuYzsZeQ/s400/IMAG1506.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 400px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 267px;" /></a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span">Ok so a few things...</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span">1. Yes I have the book so quit asking (photo provided)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span">2. No the book is NOT for sale</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span">3. Saying mean things about my family or myself will not get your comments posted nor will it stop this book from getting published (and adding "I mean this in Love" does not make your post Christ like).</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span">4.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 24px;">The book is biblically based and includes EVERY reference to Hell in the bible. So please stop trying to post <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">anonymous<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span>references that only include a bible verse describing Hell. I have read them before and they are all included in the book.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">5. As you can see from the picture this is an uncorrected proof. I find it important to say verbatim what it says, so I am not going to correct its grammar, thats the job of the editor who I'm sure will correct it before you buy it.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span">OK so with all that out of the way <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">I’m not sure I want to go too in-depth about the book because I think it is important for folks to explore it for themselves. As you would expect the book, much like the video, is full of questions (more so than answers). I am fighting the urge to do a more extensive review before it is published because I think people should read it and wrestle with the questions themselves.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">When I say he lands on solid orthodox ground I don't mean this has been some sort of bait and switch and he ends up just agreeing with the neo-Calvinists (As <a href="http://julieclawson.com/2011/02/28/love-always-wins/">Julie Clawson</a> points out there is a sometimes huge difference in evangelical orthodoxy and Christian orthodoxy). What I mean is he always uses The Bible as his reference point, He does not end up saying Jesus was a space alien or some other </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 15px;">ridiculous</span><b style="line-height: 24px;"> </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">thing. To put it more simply I can not find anything in this book that contradicts the <span class="Apple-style-span">N<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><em style="font-style: normal;">icene Creed</em></span></span> (though again I'm sure there are scores of folks who will disagree).</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; line-height: 24px;">In describing the history of the Christian church and what Christians have believed over time he says:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">"...however you answer these questions, there is a good chance you can find a Christian or group of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">Christians</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"> somewhere who answer in a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">similar</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"> way. It is a wide stream we are swimming in."</span></span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;">I will say that in the same way He writes about angels and animals in “Sex God” (speaking about abstinence and self indulgence) he explores the issues of Heaven and Hell, Judgement and Eternity. He avoids buying into the traditional narrow views on both sides and delves into scripture, inviting the reader to question, explore, and make their own judgments.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">Here are a couple of other reviews by others who have also read the book (but again don't take our word for it read it yourself):</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span">“In the current religious climate in America, it isn’t easy to develop an imagination, a thoroughly biblical imagination, that takes in the comprehensive and eternal work of Christ in all people and all circumstances in love and for salvation. Rob Bell goes a long way in helping us acquire just such an imagination. Love Wins accomplishes this without a trace of soft sentimentality and without compromising an inch of evangelical conviction in its proclamation of the good news that is most truly for all.” – <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Eugene H. Peterson</strong>, Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology, Regent College, and author of The Message and The Pastor</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span">“Love Wins is a bold, prophetic and poetic masterpiece. I don’t know any writer who expresses the inexpressible love of God as powerfully and as beautifully as Rob Bell! Many will disagree with some of Rob’s perspectives, but no one who seriously engages this book will put it down unchanged. A ‘must read’ book!” – <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Greg Boyd</strong>, senior pastor at Woodland Hills Church and author of The Myth of a Christian Nation</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Love-Wins/Rob-Bell/e/9780062049636/?itm=1&USRI=love+wins+a+book+about+heaven+hell+and+the">http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Love-Wins/Rob-Bell/e/9780062049636/?itm=1&USRI=love+wins+a+book+about+heaven+hell+and+the</a></em></span></div>
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Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-330392898586671512011-02-26T23:03:00.010-05:002011-03-05T09:11:01.790-05:00Love WinsA number years ago I read a blurb from a well known preacher who quoted a book called Velvet Elvis and explained why the author is a heretic. This well known preacher explained that the author said directly that he did not believe in the virgin birth. He even provided a chapter and page number.<div><br /></div><div>I took this well known preacher for his word and decided to not read the book. Then several months later one of my mentors suggested I should read books by people who I disagreed with as it would help me sharpen my understanding of what I believed. So of course I picked up Velvet Elvis straight away.</div><div><br /></div><div>I found that what the well known preacher said was true the author DID say exactly what was claimed on the exact page where he claimed it was. HOWEVER it was used in an example of doubt, and two pages later the author said he fully affirmed the virgin birth and orthodox Christianity!</div><div><br /></div><div>This left me in a very interesting spot. This well known preacher had ether prejudged the book and author with out reading the book (sloppy at best) or he had purposely lied and used the quote out of context to discredit the author (dishonest and self serving at worst).</div><div><br /></div><div>I have gone on to read every thing the author has ever published, watch his thought provoking videos, and listen to his weekly sermons . This author has had a profound effect on my life and my ministry.</div><div><br /></div><div>It would seem the same folks are at it again. In a blog post and a series of tweets they are using social media to attempt to discredit the authors latest book, and most people are ignorantly copying and reposting what they have to say. Here are a few of the comments that people have copied and re-tweeted over and over again:</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; "> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; "><a href="http://www.google.com/url?url=http://twitter.com/JohnPiper&rct=j&sa=X&ei=EtJpTfrfO9SDtgezgqjnAg&ved=0CBYQsQcwAw&q=rob+bell&usg=AFQjCNGosgZ8q_mBnpAfUnqm7cAzDhxuEQ" class="fl" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204); cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; "></a></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; "><a href="http://www.google.com/url?url=http://twitter.com/JohnPiper&rct=j&sa=X&ei=EtJpTfrfO9SDtgezgqjnAg&ved=0CBYQsQcwAw&q=rob+bell&usg=AFQjCNGosgZ8q_mBnpAfUnqm7cAzDhxuEQ" class="fl" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204); cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; ">@JohnPiper</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; ">: Farewell</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; "> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; "><em style="font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; ">Rob Bell</em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; ">.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; "><em style="font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; ">Rob Bell's</em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; "> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; ">following deserves the death it has received from swallowing the poisonous pill of theological liberalism.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; "> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; "><a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=%23RobBell+site%3Atwitter.com&tbs=mbl:1&tbo=1&hl=en&safe=active&sa=X&prmdo=1&output=search&prmd=ivnsblo&ei=ItFpTYznNY2Ttwe7q93mAg&ved=0CAQQsQcwAA" class="fl" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204); cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; ">#<em style="font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; ">RobBell</em></a></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; ">There's nothing loving about preaching a false gospel. This breaks my heart. Praying for <em style="font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; ">Rob Bell</em></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; "><em style="font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; "><br /></em></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; "><em style="font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=%23Robbell+site%3Atwitter.com&tbs=mbl:1&tbo=1&hl=en&safe=active&sa=X&prmdo=1&output=search&prmd=ivnsblo&ei=IdNpTeEBiLq2B-6qiecC&ved=0CAkQsQcwAQ" class="fl" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204); cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; ">#<em style="font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; ">Robbell</em></a>. Sad and its's leading people astray from Truth</span></em></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; "><em style="font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "></span></em></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; "><em style="font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; "><br /></em></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; "><em style="font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; border-collapse: separate; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; ">The sad thing here is that NONE of these folks have actually read the new book, it is not even out yet. They are taking a blurb from a marketing guy at a publishing house who has probably never met the author and a very short video that simply asks a few questions (but provides no answers) and holding them up as proof.</span></em></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><b>I HAVE READ THE BOOK!</b></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br /></span></span></div><div>As a book seller I received an advanced pre-pub review copy. The author does go in the direction that this well known preacher claims. But, he once again does it to cause us to ask serious questions, to dig deep and wrestle with our beliefs. The author then lands on what I consider solid orthodox ground (though I'm sure the well known preachers legions of minions will disagree).</div><div><br /></div><div>I wanted to wait until I could do a proper review of the book to do it justice, but I guess I'll just post verbatim where he lands so every one who cares to read what he actually says can. (note the author works through this at length and I highly suggest you get a copy of the book when it is out and judge for yourself)</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>First he articulates what ALMOST seems to be a universalist point of view:</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>"Could God say to someone truly humbled broken and desperate 'sorry too late?' Many have refused to accept the scenario in which somebody is pounding on the door apologizing, repenting, and asking God to be let in only to hear God say through the key hole 'Doors locked, sorry If only you had been here earlier, I could have done something but now its too late."</blockquote></div><div><br /></div><div>But he then goes on to give a brief over view of Revelation and focuses on the last few chapters. He lands with this:</div><div></div><blockquote><div><br /></div><div>"... In speaking of the expansive, extraordinary, infinite love of God there is always the danger of neglecting the very real consequences of God's love. Namely God's desire and intention to see things become everything they were intended to be. For this to unfold, God must say about a number of acts and to those who would continue to do them 'Not here you won't.' </div><div><br /></div><div>Love demands freedom. We are free to resist, reject, and rebel against God's ways for us. We can have all the hell we want."</div><div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>I certainly hope all those who saw fit to re-tweet this garbage tweet an apology after they calm down and get a chance to actually read the book.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">**P.S. (or a note added afterward) I welcome comments, even thoes which disagree with me. However if you wish to try to convince me of the state of my or my families salvation, call into question my personal theology, or simply try to be rude I will not post your comments.***</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">Please See also My edits and notes about this post <a href="http://being-the-body.blogspot.com/2011/02/love-wins-redux.html">Love wins Redux</a> And for further quotes please see </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 51); font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; font-size: medium; "><a href="http://being-the-body.blogspot.com/">What you look for you will find (or where is heaven?)</a></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"> </span></span></span></div>Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com84tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-64213332703670731702011-01-25T21:31:00.005-05:002011-01-25T22:55:55.318-05:00New Economics<blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote>When you think of the early church what do you think of? <div><br /></div><div>Many Christians sight the church as recorded in the book of Acts as a kind of model for the way a community of believers should function. But, they almost always read it through a different lens, placing emphasis on some parts and completely ignoring others.</div><div><br /></div><div>Often the text that is sighted reads:</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; "></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; ">They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; ">Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; ">...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; ">Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; ">praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. - </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold; white-space: nowrap; "><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Act&c=4&v=1&t=NIV#comm/31" style="text-decoration: underline; ">Act 2:4</a>2-34, 46-47</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div></blockquote><div>The last line is usually held up as a standard and the rest of the text is picked apart and broken down as a how to manual.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some read that they broke bread and ate together simply as communion. </div><div>Others say it was a meal and place emphasis on the fact that they shared it in homes.</div><div>Most point out that they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching but, have trouble agreeing on exactly what was being or should be taught.</div><div>Some believe miracles and signs MUST accompany every sanctified gathering.</div><div>Others believe these signs and wonders stopped happening long ago.</div><div><br /></div><div>And while many of these may be important points they are not a full reading. They miss something important. The verses most over looked and least often sighted read:</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; "></span><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; ">All the believers were together and had everything in common.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; ">Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold; white-space: nowrap; "><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Act&c=4&v=1&t=NIV#comm/31" style="text-decoration: underline; ">Act 2:4</a>4-45</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; "></span></div><div><br /></div><div>Now these words appear right smack dab in the middle of the first and second set of text we looked at. But they are not quoted on church websites, or listed in most doctrinal statements.</div><div><br /></div><div>WHY?</div><div><br /></div><div>I believe it is because it make us uncomfortable.</div><div><br /></div><div>In our have it your way culture it is almost a sin to say you have to share. The prevailing attitude is "I have worked hard for what I have and no one is going to take it from me."</div><div><br /></div><div>A bit later in the story this idea of sharing of possessions is affirmed.:</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; "></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; ">After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; ">All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; ">With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; ">There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; ">and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. - </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', arial, helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; white-space: nowrap; " ><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Act&c=4&v=1&t=NIV#comm/31" style="text-decoration: underline; ">Act 4:31</a>-35</span><div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>The early Church took this idea of sharing of resources seriously.</div><div>So did the monastic communities that sprung up a few hundred years latter.</div><div>So did the Celtic Christian communities that sprung up after them.</div><div>And the early <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 15px; "><em style="font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; ">Anabaptists,</em></span> and the catholic worker movement, and Mother Teresa's Missionaries of charity, and the new monastic movement today.</div><div>They all read this text and took it seriously. </div><div><br /></div><div>So why don't we?</div><div><br /></div><div>There is a story of an elderly Rabbi who is known for communing with God. One day his disciple says "Rabbi I have a question, Why does God allow all the poverty, war, and human suffering in the world to exist?"</div><div>The Rabbi says "You know I have often wanted to ask God about that."</div><div> "Then why don't you ask him then?' responded his disciple</div><div>Looking at the ground the Rabbi responds "Because I'm scared."</div><div>"Rabbi Why are you scared?" asks the disciple. </div><div>"Because I'm scared he will ask me the same question."</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://being-the-body.blogspot.com/">http://being-the-body.blogspot.com/</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-28654878211527854482010-12-07T09:56:00.006-05:002012-04-10T19:05:16.077-04:00The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span">Mr Mike Timmon's recent letter (Your opinions: Column is light on scripture) caught my attention. While I do not know him and thus cannot pretend to know his theology I think some the bible verses he pointed out are indeed very relevant to our time. I however, am a text guy and so I prefer to read the text for what it is instead of reading my own cultural ideals into it.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span">The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is found in Gneisses and according to the text God judges it for being wicked and immoral. The scripture Mr. Timmon's quoted in Jude does indeed speak about the story however it does not say anything at all about homosexuals. In the original language and most translations It actually reads "They indulged in gross immorality." If we really want to know what the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were perhaps we should consult the bible itself. Speaking through the Prophet Ezekiel God says:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span">"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen." -<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: nowrap;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Eze&c=16&t=NIV#comm/50" style="text-decoration: none;">Eze 16:50</a></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span">In the original language the word translated as "detestable things" (tow`ebah) is used elsewhere to speak of of eating shellfish, wearing clothes made of mixed fabrics, and interracial marriages.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span">In a time when our country forcefully occupies two others, where we have an epidemic of obesity, and record numbers of families loosing their homes to foreclosure perhaps we should be reading the story of Sodom and Gomorrah with a little more interest in what it actually identifies as wickedness.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">As for the rest of the scripture Mr Timmons used, is there any solid evidence that the gay teenagers were indeed married since that is what those texts are about? If not then the text once separated from the rhetoric is at</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"> best unrelevant.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">Most Christians in the west focus on personal guilt and judgement. The common theme seems to be "If everyone would just be good enough, then God would come back and take us home." This is a dangerous stream of thought professed most notably by the Pharisees of two thousand years ago. I believe the Phrase Jesus used was </span>"Why do you look at the <span class="criteria">speck</span> of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye"</span></div>
</div>Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-36084538873184625372010-11-29T16:12:00.012-05:002010-11-29T21:40:49.957-05:00What does it really mean to "have it all?"<span class="Apple-style-span"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; ">What does it really mean to "have it all?"</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Some of us might answer that it involves a house furnished with a big screen TV, a car in the driveway and perhaps even a boat in the garage. Or a cushy job making six of seven figures, invites to exclusive lavish parties, and extravagant vacations to exotic locals around the globe. Success, especially in America, is often equated with massive monetary gain.</span></span></span></span><p style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-collapse: collapse; "><br /></p><p style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-collapse: collapse; "></p><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">As Americans we are culturally indoctrinated to think of more money as good, and less money as bad. So then it is no </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">surprise</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> we're so easily blindsided by an unusual verse in the Book of James:</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div></span><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Your gold and silver are corroded.Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">You have lived on earth in luxury</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; ">and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter."</span></blockquote><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> The Apostle James Brother of Jesus (as recorded in The book of James chapter 5)</span></span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Rich people are told to "weep and wail" because of the misery that is coming upon them?</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> What kind of "misery" could financial wealth possibly bring?</span></span></span></div><div><p style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-collapse: collapse; "></p><p style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-collapse: collapse; "></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">At this point, it would be easy enough to tread the familiar modern </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">interpreters</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> path that money is not evil in and of itself; it's the love of money that is evil, stuff isn't bad just don't idolize it. Then we could back it up by sprinkling in a verse or two like</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><a target="_blank" href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/search/?q=1ti+6:10" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">1 Tim. 6:10,</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> and quoting the prayer of Jabez (Lord increase my lands...).<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "> B</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; ">ut, what if we were to take it a step further. What if instead of dismissing this passage because it is culturally uncomfortable we were to unpack it, explore it, and trust the spirit to guide us through it?</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Since the text wasn't written in English (I know thats shocking to some folks) lets look at a couple of key pieces of language here.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"…weep and wail…" is actually the words </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><em><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">klaiō </span></span></span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><em><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ololyzō</span></span></span></em></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><em><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">klaiō is a </span></span></span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">sign of pain and grief and </span></span></span></span></em></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ololyzō is a </span></span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">loud cry or a lament</span></span></span></span></em></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This is no small regret (like oh I wish I had gotten my new SUV in Forest Green instead of Metallic Blue). It is a call to shrieking loud lamentations. (like the Middle Eastern Mourners as they carry a casket through the stre</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ets crying out and loudly lamenting a life and all its possibilities that have been lost forever).</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Wealth is the word </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ploutos</span></em></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ploutos is an </span></span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">abundance of external possessions</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And is found elswere in scripture:</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><table id="table_bible" class="table_bible" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; "><tbody><tr id="1Ti_6_17_1125017"><td class="td_bible_verse_heading" valign="top" width="68" align="left" style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 8px; white-space: nowrap; font-weight: bold; "><span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap; "><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=1Ti&c=6&v=17&t=NIV#comm/17" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(198, 0, 36); "><span class="Apple-style-span" >1Ti 6:17</span></a></span></td><td class="td_bible_text" valign="top" style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 13px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 8px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in <b>wealth</b>, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment<br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table></span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><table id="table_bible" class="table_bible" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; "><tbody><tr id="Hbr_11_26_1144026"><td class="td_bible_verse_heading" valign="top" width="68" align="left" style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 8px; white-space: nowrap; font-weight: bold; "><span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap; "><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Hbr&c=11&v=26&t=NIV#comm/26" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(50, 67, 149); "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Hbr 11:26</span></a></span></td><td class="td_bible_text" valign="top" style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 13px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 8px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the <b>treasures</b> of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward</span></td></tr></tbody></table></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><table id="table_bible" class="table_bible" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; "><tbody><tr id="Rev_18_15_1185015"><td class="td_bible_verse_heading" valign="top" width="68" align="left" style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 8px; white-space: nowrap; font-weight: bold; "><span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap; "><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rev&c=18&v=17&t=NIV#comm/15" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(50, 67, 149); "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Rev 18:15</span></a></span></td><td class="td_bible_text" valign="top" style="padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 13px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 8px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >The merchants who sold these things and gained their <b>wealth</b> from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn and cry out: " 'Woe! Woe, O great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls! In one hour such great <b>wealth</b> has been brought to ruin!' "Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off.</span></td></tr></tbody></table></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The phrase "lived on earth in luxury" is the words </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">tryphaō and </span></span></em></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">spatalaō</span></span></em></span></em></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">tryphaō is </span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">to live delicately, luxuriously, to be given over to a soft and luxurious life.</span></span></span></em></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">spatalaō is </span></span></em></span></em></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">to lead a voluptuous life, to give one's self to pleasure</span></span></span></em></span></em></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></em></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">They are only used once in the whole New Testament. The use of them together suggests softness of luxury and or a breakdown of moral restraints; going beyond pleasure. Together these phrases picture a life without self-denial, which offers no resistance to any hunger or craving, and promises comfort and enjoyment despite the cost to others. </span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This was writen in the early days of the church. In such a time a person could display his wealth in basically three ways: by means of food, clothing, or <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 15px; ">possessions,</span> particularly if they were made of precious metals. Those who were wealthy ate well, dressed extravagantly and spent lavishly, but James says these things will rot, be eaten, or corrode. </span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ZUcuYguwz17MuehnTIn3l7ttVybNp-kNwLr-ctNSTqATbFuxzDn5mjfIE5s6RzSE-0D4Ente-yyygfUxxarXOy_S85YBaEkew3PL23OsjX4U0lmWgls0KvDSlQLtMpwAn8iLtw/s1600/wall_street.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ZUcuYguwz17MuehnTIn3l7ttVybNp-kNwLr-ctNSTqATbFuxzDn5mjfIE5s6RzSE-0D4Ente-yyygfUxxarXOy_S85YBaEkew3PL23OsjX4U0lmWgls0KvDSlQLtMpwAn8iLtw/s320/wall_street.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545158581065001570" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 225px; " /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">"You have lived on earth in luxury</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; ">and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter."</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk6Ndch5Ab9agy5-aXAhnuz22N_6EGmXxccx6gN9F8ePWfL00-npOKbBW55DeUEnrvu-ZrivwcRniXi3aY-euhtPC2KXXG9w4y1w4TApMZJNzhgrLdlDJlVsM35KD69N6ikUNZhA/s320/junkfood+2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545155317441736114" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px; " /></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); font-size: 16px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 19px; ">We are frequently in conflict with our own nature... We have an instinct to stand up against oppression, to cheer for the under dog, to reject marginalization, and shout at the top of our lungs when we see injustice.</span></div></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />But, we are also creatures shaped by our culture of greed and self loathing. </span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We long for the things that are out of our reach, things that are just a little better than what we have now. Those things that we are told will satisfy our cravings, and make us better, more fulfilled, more well liked people. </span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And we are urged, by subtle and not so subtle messages, to look the other way over some injustice here or there to get these things (the ends justify the means right?).</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 19px; "><div align="left"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But, everything eventually turns to dust and rust</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><div align="left"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Advisers spend a lot of energy convincing us that we will be happy if we just buy that new shiny car... But after a few years, especially if you live in a cold climate where they spread copious amounts of salt on the roads, it starts to turn into rust.<br /><br />This is the case for everything we lust or long for. (even other people) They always return to dust or rust.</span></span></div><div align="left"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div align="left"><div align="left"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We live in a culture that promises to fulfill that yearning that need for Glory in a million ways. It has been said marketers can invent a new way to fall into debt every single day. That is they are skilled at convincing us that they have tapped into a new way to find fulfillment and happiness...</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><div align="left"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><div align="left"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But it is all Dust and Rust! Even if it provides us that fulfillment for a short time it always fall short in the end.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><div align="left"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">One of the central, if not THE central claim, of Jesus is this...</span></span></div><div align="left"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><div align="left"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Gods Glory has come to earth! The fulfillment of the very things we long for the very things that our culture trys to sell us, but always falls short, is present and is at hand. It has arrived and is available for anyone who is willing to accept it.But only if you are willing to let go of all the lies, of all the dust and rust that our culture sells us!</span></span></div></div><div align="left"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div align="left"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Because you can't grasp what has been offered if your hands are still full of the shopping bags.</span></span></div><div align="left"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: normal; font-size: 16px; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVQm7IUoSE2CysmYP5-qOUbMby3fkmnLcYc3SkhSVIVnyCwP-Q03vWtCphDZQKfe8GvhNmzieaTP9Ab2hgwIkz_KVAz6hq-aNFKc6CqppzjRRjZdK-QnOz0uIg64RAXt4E1Fm67w/s1600/consumer+jesus+2.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVQm7IUoSE2CysmYP5-qOUbMby3fkmnLcYc3SkhSVIVnyCwP-Q03vWtCphDZQKfe8GvhNmzieaTP9Ab2hgwIkz_KVAz6hq-aNFKc6CqppzjRRjZdK-QnOz0uIg64RAXt4E1Fm67w/s400/consumer+jesus+2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545162610488253186" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 269px; height: 400px; " /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span"><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><br /></span></div></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span></span></div></div></span></span></span></span></div>Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-15160824132259648372010-08-21T12:16:00.001-04:002010-08-21T12:20:28.694-04:00Redefining Lostness<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">We have been looking at the parable we often call the parable of the prodigal son. We have unpacked quite a bit already and we are only half way through. What we have learned so far is good and right and true, and I affirm it. But, I believe we will find the second half of the parable far more challenging. And so I decided we should back up just a touch and examine the context in which Jesus gives this parable, in order for us to better understand the message Jesus is giving.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Lets back up to the beginning of the chapter Luke 15:1</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">Then Jesus told them this parable:</span></span></span></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">Who are these parables aimed at?</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">Well they are about lostness and there are tax collectors and sinners present... so it must be Jesus preaching to the lost.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">But what does the rest of the text say? Who else was there?</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">When the text says “Jesus told them this parable” what is that in response to?</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">Jesus begins telling these parables in response to <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">the Pharisees and the teachers of the law...</span></span></span></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">So I ask again, who are these parables aimed at?</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">See we know Jesus came here to seek and save the lost. Jesus himself says so more then once. But I wonder do we really understand lostness?</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">One of the dangerous traps we can fall into is to think Jesus spent all his time with tax collectors and prostitutes and said things like its not the healthy that need a doctor but the sick...</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">But Jesus recognizes another kind of sickness too. But its a little more subtle... See Jesus spends time with these religious elite, these <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal"> Pharisees and the teachers of the law.</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <table width="480" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <col width="68"> <col width="412"> <tbody><tr valign="TOP"> <td width="68"> <p align="LEFT"><a href="#comm/36"><b>Luk 7:36</b></a></p> </td> <td width="412"> <p align="LEFT">Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <table width="480" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <col width="68"> <col width="412"> <tbody><tr valign="TOP"> <td width="68"> <p align="LEFT"><a href="#comm/1"><b>Luk 14:1</b></a></p> </td> <td width="412"> <p align="LEFT">One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <table width="480" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <col width="68"> <col width="412"> <tbody><tr valign="TOP"> <td width="68"> <p align="LEFT"><a href="#comm/1"><b>Mar 7:1</b></a></p> </td> <td width="412"> <p align="LEFT">The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table width="480" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <col width="68"> <col width="412"> <tbody><tr valign="TOP"> <td width="68"> <p align="LEFT"><a href="#comm/2"><b>Mar 7:2</b></a></p> </td> <td width="412"> <p align="LEFT">saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed.</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">So when Jesus tells these Parables he has a mixed crowd of listeners in mind, and he tells them in response to the religiosity of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">Now with that firmly in mind lets listen to the first parable found in Luke 15:</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'</span></span></span></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">Now to us at first glance this parable appears to be about The good Shepard Jesus rescuing a poor lost sheep. But remember the context is important. Jesus is speaking to the <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal"> Pharisees and the teachers of the law, folks who have the scriptures memorized. And they have a firm tradition involving these Sheep and shepard immages:</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">God speaks through the prophet </span></span></span></span></span><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><b>Jeremiah</b></span></span></span></span><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal"> and says:</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 92%; widows: 2; orphans: 2; text-decoration: none"> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:msmincho;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">"My people have been lost sheep; their </span> shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">And again later God speaks through the prophets</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p align="LEFT" style="margin-left: 0.55in; text-indent: -0.47in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 92%; text-decoration: none"><br /></p> <p align="LEFT" style="margin-left: 0.55in; text-indent: -0.47in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 92%; text-decoration: none"> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:msmincho;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the </span>shepherds who tend my people: "Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done," declares the Lord."I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><span style="color:#000000;"> </span><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">He's talking about the priests and false prophets of the fallen kings of Judah and Israel. God calles them shepards who led astray and poorly cared for the sheep entrusted to them.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">And who does does Jesus cast as the shepherds in the first parable? </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">In response to <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">the Pharisees and the teachers of the law</span></span></span></span></span> questions he says <b>“</b><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><b>Suppose one of you”</b></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">Now if your <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">in this position what do you say?</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">Jesus has just publicly put them in the place of their ancestors and given the chance to monday night quarterback.</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">Of course they are going to say they would go after the sheep, after all sheep are dumb animals. So, its not the sheep's fault it got lost.</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">Then Jesus continues:</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.'</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."</span></span></span></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">Who wouldn't search for a lots coin?</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">Again its not the coins fault it got lost!</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">But Jesus is not so much trying to teach in these first two parables as he is trying to set them up for his final Parable.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.'</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.</span></span></span></span></span> <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms, arial, helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "</span></span></span></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">Who is lost?</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">The younger son certainly, but is he alone in his lostness?</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">And its not as if he is a dumb animal or a simple coin... So, who's fault is it that he is lost?</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">Jesus set the religious folks up so that they would see themselves as the older brother...</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">And if we take the father figure to be God, as I believe Jesus intended, who are you?</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">I know we like to say “I was the younger son...”</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2">But what about the Older son?</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2; orphans: 2"><br /></p>Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-76224894935943473392010-05-11T09:31:00.003-04:002010-05-11T12:58:52.603-04:00How do you stop a man from walking down that road?<div align="center">How do you stop a man from walking down that road (or how I hit a man).</div><br />As evening approached I reflected on what a good day it had been. I had taken a Sabbath rest and felt refreshed, but also felt the pressure of the world returning. I had to preach the next morning and still needed to rework my notes, check my sermon for length, and do a test run.<br /><br />After bedtime stories and prayers with my three kids, I decided to go out and pick up milk and donuts for breakfast hoping to smooth out our morning and give myself a little more time to prep.<br /><br />It was a rainy evening and as I drove home my mind kept going over the text I was given to work on for the sermon. I decided to turn off the radio and try out some of the wording I was playing with. By this point I knew the text from memory and not having the wording on paper it felt right to just talk out the phrasing.<br /><br />As I got closer to home the rain stopped and the traffic lightened.<br /><br />I was still talking out loud when I saw him. A dark figure, it was more like a flash than any defining features. He stumbled out into the road just in front of me. Instinctively I slammed on the breaks and laid on the horn. I cut the steering wheel in the opposite direction he had come from. But in a matter of seconds I watched his head collide with my windshield and then disappear again...<br /><br />My van came to a stop and for a brief second I couldn't breathe, my body was stuck in neutral as my brain tried to process the last 30 seconds. Then all at once the adrenalin kicked in and I jumped out of the van.<br /><br />The van was parked across one and a half lanes partially blocking traffic, and a man lay five or six feet in front of it. Cars began trying to drive around the van nearly running over the man in the road. I quickly stood in the lane and flagged the cars down until one of them stopped to block the traffic.<br /><br />I enlisted the help of a second motorist to find someone with a cell phone and get help. Then I knelt down next to the man. He was bleeding from his mouth and the top of his head. I silently cried out to God "This is an emergency, if there is someone else in line to speak to you then you need to ask them to step aside because we need you NOW!"<br /><br />The man began to stir and I gently put my hand on him. "What is your name," I asked.<br />"Arthur," he replied. He then began trying to sit up and asked, "Where's my beer? I need my beer." I replied with as much authority as I could muster "NO... Arthur what you need is to lay down right here." He reluctantly complied.<br /><br />I'm not sure what came over me as I'm not usually pushy in my evangelism. But, I looked into his eyes and asked, "Arthur do you know Jesus loves you..." He said he had heard that before and wasn't interested.<br /><br /> I admit at this point I had no sense of time it felt as if it had been an eternity. It must not have been more than a minute or so though because the driver who had stopped to block the other lane arrived from her car with a blanket, and the other driver I had enlisted to find a cell phone reported rescuers were on there way. Help had arrived in the form of other motorists, but professional help was no where in sight. I couldn't hear any of the sirens that I expected should have been screaming our direction.<br /><br /> Arthur's objections about our lack of concern for his beer subsided, he closed his eyes and lay his head down. This did very little to calm me... With my hand still on his arm I closed my eyes and began to pray fervently for the Lord to keep Arthur with us, and to speed the rescue workers. The smell of spilled beer and blood heightened the desperation of my prayers.<br /><br />As the first officer arrived I felt the life draining out of me. I fell back and just sat there on the ground muscles shaking and mind reeling. What had just happened to me, to Arthur... Where was God at this moment?<br /><br />It was then that I felt a hand on my head and heard the prayers of the woman who had blocked the other lane and brought the blanket. I couldn't tell what she was saying but in that moment I had a very real sense that Jesus was there on the road with us, laying next to Arthur (despite Arthur's objections), sitting next to me (despite my disbelief), working in and through this woman. I'm not sure how long I sat there on the wet asphalt, just existing in this sacred moment in presence of Jesus.<br /><br />I heard more commotion and looked up to see and hear the paramedics saying "hang in there buddy..."<br />"His name is Aurthur," I found myself saying more forcefully than I intended.<br /><br /> By this point there were several police officers all around blocking traffic and securing the scene. An older officer with stripes on his sleeve walked up to me and offered his hand. I reached out and he pulled me to my feet. Firmly gripping my hand he placed his other hand on my shoulder in a reassuring gesture.<br /><br />He looked into my eyes and said, "You are going to be OK, Arthur is going to be OK. This was not your fault..." He handed me his blackberry and said "call your wife, dispatch has already called but she will be worried and need to hear from you." There was Jesus again speaking to me reassuring me, and reminding me of of those closest to me.<br /><br />Then my friends arrived with a much needed hug. One scooped up the groceries I had been allowed to retrieve from my van and carried them back. The other walked me to her car slowing her pace to match mine, which was painfully slow probably due to still being in shock. I cracked a joke about the messiness of her car and the usual energetic smile returned to her face as she also joked about it. Somehow even though I knew nothing was OK yet, I felt everything would be OK.<br /><br />I preached the next day, a shorter sermon than I may have had I had time to lengthen it. And attempted to visit Arthur in the hospital. After some initial denial from security we found Arthur not in the morgue or intensive care as I had feared, but resting peaceful on the second floor. He had a few bandages but no visible trauma. I prayed for him and left him a bible and our phone number.<br /><br />Exactly one week latter and less than a block from the scene I stopped my van and watched in disbelief. What I saw just didn't make sense. There was Arthur walking not across the street but down the middle of a lane. At first I wasn't sure what I should do, but disbelief quickly turned to frustration and inaction became a non-option.<br /><br />I rolled down my window and yelled "Arthur, Get out of this road... Your going to get hit by a car AGAIN." Arthur looked at me with a blank uncaring look and continued down the middle of the other lane.<br /><br />I believe many people are affected by traumas and have the scars to prove it yet they continue to walk down roads they know are dangerous.<br /><br />So the question that is burning in me is this:<br />How do you stop someone from continuing down the wrong road?<br />If people are not willing to be awakened by a traumatic event such as being hit by a car, what are we to do to shake them out of their sleep?Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-90492293794673548952010-03-17T08:38:00.006-04:002010-03-17T10:50:57.211-04:00Fish and loves and storms?I've been reading <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Mar&c=6&v=1&t=NIV#top">Mark 6</a> over the last couple of weeks. A little part of this story has troubled me since I stumbled upon it. 6:52 "for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened."<br /><br />What has that got to do with being afraid of being in a boat in rough weather and seeing a "ghost Jesus" walking on water? I thought heart hardening is something that happens to slave keeping Pharaohs and ruthless killer Kings, not disciples of the bread of life who are charged with ushering in the Kingdom of God.<br /><br />"They had not understood" is the words syniēmi. It is actually used twice here "syniēmi syniēmi." When something is repeated in the ancient world it is the writers way of saying it is important, as in "<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Act&c=9&t=NIV#4">Saul Saul why do you persecute me</a>..." And " <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Isa&c=6&t=NIV#3">Holy Holy Holy is the lord God Almighty</a>."<br />Syniēmi means to put a perception together with the thing perceived.<br /><br />And when the text speaks of hearts being "hardened" it is the word pōroō.<br />Pōroō means to grow callous become dull and lose the power of understanding.<br /><br />The disciples could not put together what they were seeing with what they knew, and so they were becoming dull or loosing their power of understanding.<br /><br />The obvious meaning of this "not understanding" verse seems to be that the disciples were too hard hearted to realize that Jesus had the power of God. If He could multiply the bread, surely He could walk on the lake and calm the wind.<br /><br />But, Jewish Patriarchs and Prophets had done many miracles in Israels history and historians like Josephus tell us that there were Jewish "wonder workers" or miracle workers at that time too. And Jesus had already shown his power over nature by calming the storm in <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Mar&c=4&v=1&t=NIV#top">Mark 4</a>.<br /><br />So, maybe there was more that they "had not understood" about those loaves...<br /><br />John records a detail about the "feeding of the five thousand" that Mark does not:<br />Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Feast was near. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" <em>He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. - </em><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jhn&c=6&v=1&t=NIV#top">John 6:2-6<br /></a><br />In <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Mar&c=7&v=1&t=NIV">Mark 7</a> Jesus refers to himself and or his healing power as bread as he deals with the Syrian Phoenician Woman and her daughter. there is a hint of this being a test for his disciples, but more on this in another post.<br /><br />A little farther in his narrative Mark tells us Jesus recounts the incident with his disciples:<br />The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. "Be careful," Jesus warned them. "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod." They discussed this with one another and said, "It is because we have no bread."Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketful's of pieces did you pick up?" "Twelve," they replied. "And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketful's of pieces did you pick up?" They answered, "Seven." He said to them, "Do you still not understand?" - <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Mar&c=8&t=NIV#4">Mark 8:14-21</a><br /><br />You can almost feel Jesus frustration, "Do you STILL not understand!"<br />They didn't syniēmi syniēmi (understand) about "The Bread".<br /><br />There is this other time Jesus tried to teach something else about "Bread" too...<br /><br />While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body." Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them. - <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Mar&c=14&v=1&t=NIV#top">Mar 14:22-24</a><br /><br />This time Jesus doesn't hint around, he comes right out and says my broken body and spilled blood will be a new covenant for a new kingdom. He goes on to instruct the Disciples to "Do this in remembrance of me..." He knows that his time is short and he passes the baton to them.<br /><br />So Now back to our original text... In light of all this talk of bread, and seeing how Jesus uses bread to represent the coming of the kingdom in other places. How does this help you syniēmi syniēmi what is going on here?<br /><br />Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Mar&c=6&v=1&t=NIV#top">- Mark 6:45-52<br /></a><br />We understand His body was broken so that the nourishment He had to offer could feed our souls. Or at least we think we understand. But, are we more like the first disciples than we care to admit?<br /><br />Jesus is not trying to teach about HIS power! He is trying to teach the disciple about their power through him.<br /><br />Think about it...<br /><br />He was asking them to test them about the loaves and fish after already showing HE had the power to multiply the loves. He purposely stayed on the mountain and sent them into the storm after already showing HE had the power to keep them safe in the storm. He traveled around with them teaching and healing then sent them out in twos and threes to do the same.<br /><br />He knows they believe in him, but he wants to know if they believe in themselves. Do they trust in the power of the kingdom of God even when they cannot see Jesus?<br />Do we still not see or understand?<br />Are our hearts hardened?<br />Do we have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?<br />And don't we remember?Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-54733991168562485312010-01-13T17:40:00.007-05:002010-01-13T18:47:02.709-05:00Lack of faith = lack of power?<p></p><p></p><p><br /><a name="1"></a></p><p>Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?” And they took offense <em>(skandalizō)</em> at him. Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. <a onclick="return startInsertHandler('comm', 1);" href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Mar&c=6&v=1&t=NIV#comm/1">Mar 6:1</a>-6</p><p><br />Jesus came to his Home town the folks that should know him best show that they have heard of the miracles and teachings he has been doing by the nature of their questions. </p><p>So why the doubt?</p><p><br />Although many people believe his power was limited and he couldn't any miracles because Jesus was met with disbelief, I don't think this was the case at all.</p><p><br />Mark uses the word skandalizō here. We find Jesus using the same word in a couple of other places...<br /><a name="table_bible1"></a><br /><br />Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.<br />But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly Fall away <em>(skandalizō). <a onclick="return startInsertHandler('comm', 16);" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=35827519#comm/16">Mar 4:16</a>-<a href="file:///Bible.cfm?b=Mar&c=4&v=17&t=NIV#17">17</a></em><br /></p><a name="table_bible"></a><p><br /><br />"You will all fall away <em>(skandalizō)</em>," Jesus told them, "for it is written: " 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'<br />But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."<br />Peter declared, "Even if all fall away <em>(skandalizō</em> ), I will not."<br />"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "today-yes, tonight-before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times."<br />But Peter insisted emphatically, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the others said the same. <a onclick="return startInsertHandler('comm', 27);" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=35827519#comm/27">Mar 14:27</a>-31</p><p><br />Jesus was able to do miraculous things with and even through his disciples, and yet he clearly says they will all skandalizō.</p><p><br />And while we are talking about doubt I seem to remember an incident involving walking on water in which there was some degree of doubt...</p><p><br />Its interesting to me that Mark places this story here in the text. It is a sharp contrast to the healing of the bleeding woman, raising of the dead girl, calming of the storm, and healing of the deamon posest man. In all of these other examples Jesus appears to have tremendous power.<br /></p><p>So are we really looking at a lack of power?</p><p><br />Often when someone asks me why Jesus would say he is the only way I feel as if they are asking why some are excluded. I have however found that their question seems to be framed a little wrong.</p><p><br />They are viewing Jesus statement as if he is some kind co dependant God. Like he is saying love me or else I'm going to punish you forever.</p><p><br />But that's not what he is saying at all.</p><p><br />In a house fire children tend to hide from firefighters. The house is smoky and hot, there are probably loud fire alarms going off and the firefighters are wearing Darth-Vader looking costumes. In this situation a firefighter may come crashing through the door and reach out for the child saying “I'm here to save you.” if the child resists the firefighter may say “The house is on fire, come with me or you will die.” The firefighter is not saying “If you don't choose to hang out with me I'll kill you.” He is saying “I've come to help you, there is no other way out, no one else can come in here to get you.”</p><p><br />Jesus is saying “This world is burning up, I'm here to save you. I'm not going to force you to come with me. But you need to know I'm the only one coming for you, there is no one else...”<br />I think the same kind of thing is going on in Mark 6. God desires restoration physically and spiritually. But he won't force his will on anyone. Those who are rocky soil, who fall away, who lack faith may not fully enter the Kingdom of God and receive that restoration.<br />As the pithy christian saying goes “God loves you but he won't force you to love him.”</p><p></p><p></p><p><a href="http://being-the-body.blogspot.com/2010/01/jesus-left-there-and-went-to-his.html">http://being-the-body.blogspot.com/2010/01/jesus-left-there-and-went-to-his.html</a></p>Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-82056225442633227162010-01-05T12:31:00.000-05:002010-01-05T12:32:19.710-05:00Our goal as Christ-followers is simply not to be good at the great commandment, but to be great at it"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment."<br /><br />With this simple quote from Jesus Mark Batterson (no relation) begins to unpack what it might mean to really begin believing Jesus not just believing in Jesus. He invites us to cut away the politics and the unnecessary drapery (some of which is beautiful), and simply explore what following Jesus is in the simplest, rawest, purest form possible<br /><br /> Primal takes you on a journey to rediscover the true meaning of the great commandment.<br /><br />Mark asserts "The truth is that most of us are already educated way beyond the level of our obedience." In essence he points out that we tend come up with a list of “dos” and “don’ts” and “OKs” and “not OKs” to show that we are different and hold that up to the world as Christianity.<br /><br />He also writes “I couldn't’t help but wonder if we have diluted the truths of Christianity and settled for superficialities. I couldn't’t help but wonder if we have accepted a form of Christianity that is more educated but less powerful, more civilized but less compassionate, more acceptable but less authentic than that which our spiritual ancestors practiced.”<br /><br />Mark concludes that "Our goal as Christ-followers is simply not to be good at the great commandment, but to be great at it." <br /><br />He ends the book with an invitation to all people to become part of the next reformation movement. A reformation that consists of being “a part of something that is bigger than you, more important than you and longer lasting than you.” It is an invitation to rediscover and rejoin the movement that turned the world upside down two thousand years ago.Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-34608768802560519362009-08-15T10:29:00.006-04:002009-08-15T11:32:26.569-04:00Have you been disorientated lately<span style="font-family:arial;">Mar 4:9 Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”<br />Mar 4:10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.<br />Mar 4:11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables<br />Mar 4:12 so that,<br />“ ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,<br />and ever hearing but never understanding;<br />otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!' ”<br /><br /><br />This is a hard story to unpack. Well its not hard to unpack, but its implications are hard to swallow.<br /><br />The crowds have come out to hear this infamous rabbi who teaches with a new authority.<br />But he refuses to just give them the rules.<br />There is no 5 steps to a happy marriage<br />No 13 steps to health and wealth<br />No lists of do's and don'ts<br /><br />Jesus keeps challenging them with strange stories that appear to be metaphors...<br /><br />But why?<br /><br />If Christ is truly God, the creator of all that is seen and unseen, is there not something more important for him to communicate to us then stories of weeds, yeast, and mustard seeds?<br /><br />Dan Stiver suggests in his book, Theology After Riceour, that parables contain “a surplus of meaning” AND are a “catalyst of new meaning.” emphasis mine.<br /><br />In other words parables do not simply instruct, they teach.<br /><br />Jesus's parables demand mental, spiritual, and emotional struggle and energy. As Ricoeur suggested the parables require a “re-orientation by disorientation”<br /><br /><br />Jesus's parables are not just truth claims to be mentally assented to, they draw the us in and make us re-examine our understanding our actions our very lives. There is personal development that the parable demands. Which is perhaps what we could miss if we are "ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding..."<br /><br />The things Jesus is teaching are impossible to articulate literally. The thoughts we arrive at through wrestling with the parables are just glimpses of the Kingdom of God. The dreams of God are so great that words just fall flat. Like trying to explain a sunset to a blind man Jesus attempts to shed a small light on our understanding of the way God intends things to be.<br /><br />The parable transcends a set of rules and commands that can be handed down through the generations. Rules and commands can not get us close to where we need to be. That's the problem we have faced since the beginning. Adam gave Eve rules without helping her to think about them. (compare what Eve tells the serpent in Gen 3:2-3 with what God tells Adam in Gen 2:16-17)<br /><br />The human mind needs to discover truth on its own merit. A parable, in a unique way, guides us down a path only to leave us at the doorstep of a newly discovered truth. If we just glance at it we miss the deeper reality Jesus is trying to show us. The parable invites us to question and explore the teaching and thoughts.The truth within a parable has to be discovered.<br /><br />Be careful that you don't try to boil a Parable down to try and set a new rule or static teaching...<br /><br />I play bass guitar. I often play with other musicians, guitarist mostly. When I play with a guitarist I need to be able to listen to a cord as they play it and pick out the root note (usually the lowest note). To do this I need to listen carefully hear the several notes being played and pick out the right one to play with.<br /><br />The right note for me may not be the right note for another guitar player who is playing along with us. He may be listening to the cord and playing several of the notes in the cord, one note at a time, as a scale. His notes are not better than or more correct than mine. He is listening and playing from a different circumstance.<br /><br />This gets infinitely more complicated if we add a totally different instrument such as a piano, or saxophone or even the human voice. All of which will hear the cord differently because of their need and subjective experience, and thus use the original guitarist's cord slightly differently.<br /><br />It occurs to me that no one ever says "your not playing the same notes." We are all aware that we contribute to the music together in our own unique way... As long as we stay in the same rhythm and stay in the right key, we all remain true to the music.<br /><br />So it is with Parables. We can find many meanings and applications hidden in Jesus Parables. When we listen to a parable we need to know Jesus is giving us several notes, and the spirit may make anyone of them, or any combination of two or more of them, come to the forefront in the time and place we find ourselves in. In this way the Parable can speak truth to our life and current circumstance.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Also interesting to note here...<br />The 12 were not the only ones who Jesus gave his secret to!<br />4:10 says<br />"Twelve and the others around " (NIV)<br />"Later, when Jesus was alone with the twelve disciples and with the others who were gathered around" (NLT)<br />"As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve," (NASB)<br /><br />Jesus waited for those who only wanted to glean a set of rules and or who were just out to see the new hip Rabbi who was shaking things up, to go away.<br />He waited until only those who were serious about wrestling with the issues he was raising were present.<br /><br />How can we know they were serious?<br />They are the ones who stayed behind and asked him...<br />And then he answers them.<br /><br />And verse 12 is a reference to Isaiah 6... Which is God warning the overly religious, yet shallow, people that he is far from happy...<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://being-the-body.blogspot.com/">http://being-the-body.blogspot.com/</a>Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-52651351209660129372009-07-09T15:38:00.003-04:002009-07-09T15:47:55.441-04:00Jesus was not Mr Rogers...Jesus was not Mr Rogers<br />And we do him a great disservice when we act like he was some Mr. Nice guy...<br /><br />the greek word praotēs:<br />“A settling down and quieting of anger”<br /><br />The Greek word orgē:<br />"burning anger, accompanied by pain, for an apparent injustice … done by someone who was not entitled”<br /><br />What makes you angry?<br /><br />There are 2 main types of anger in The Greek Language are:<br /><br />1. eris - contention, strife, wrangling, seeks revenge<br /><br />2. orgē - anger, movement or agitation of the soul, deep hurt<br /><br /><br /><br />Mar 2:23<br />One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.<br />Mar 2:24<br />The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"<br />Mar 2:25<br />He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?<br />Mar 2:26<br />In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."<br />Mar 2:27<br />Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.<br />Mar 2:28<br />So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."<br />This bread Concreated holy was only to be eaten by the priest and only in a holy place (lev 24)<br /><br /><br /><br />David was chosen by God to be King. There was only one problem... Saul still wanted to be king.<br /><br />So David and his men were on the run. And Saul was trying to kill them at every turn. They were considered enemy's of the state.<br /><br />Its hard to get much to eat when your wanted in every village, town, and city.<br /><br />So one day David went to the temple and asked the priest for food. The priest had none, so David ate, and shared, the Concreted holy bread.<br /><br />-----------------------<br />Jesus and his disciples were traveling and being hungry began to pluck and eat the grain in the fields they were walking through.<br /><br /><br />Who were the pharisees?<br /><br />The Pharisees considered this threshing wheat, a Sabbath violation.<br /><br />This was a natural thing to do and should not have drawn much attention. The problem was not theft. The law had a provision for this.<br /><br />Deu 23:25<br />If you enter your neighbor's grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to his standing grain.<br /><br /><br />But the Pharisees were so legalistic that they claimed this was a violation of the Sabbath observance.<br /><br />And so Jesus uses this Judo kind of move...<br /><br /><br />Mar 2:25<br />He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?<br /><br />Of course they had heard... Remember these were the best of the best students. They had memorized the scriptures. They knew the story of King David by heart.<br /><br /><br />Mar 2:27<br />Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.<br /><br />Bam!<br />The reason for the rules is to give people a rest, not make them work harder to avoid breaking the rules.<br />And then as if to twist the knife a little deeper he adds<br /><br /><br />Mar 2:28<br />So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."<br />Son of man is a title given to the mesiah. He's telling them he has the athority to make the rules, not them.<br /><br /><br />Mar 3:1<br />Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there.<br />Mar 3:2<br />Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.<br />Mar 3:3<br />Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."<br />Mar 3:4<br />Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.<br />Mar 3:5<br />He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.<br />Mar 3:6<br />Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.<br /><br /><br /><br />Which type of anger is Jesus displaying here?<br /><br />1.eris - contention, strife, wrangling, seeks revenge<br /><br />2. orgē - anger, movement or agitation of the soul, deep hurt<br /><br />If the man has a shrivled hand he faced all kinds of challenges.<br />He would be outcast from much of socity for his deformity...<br />Remember they had no toilet paper, so what hand does he wipe with, eat with...<br />This would have made it hard for him to get married or have a family<br />It probably would have made it hard for him to own or work land or a business.<br /><br />Jesus had a Popeye moment!<br />“That's all I can take, I can't takes no more!”<br /><br />He had lots of these, and we'll be looking at some of them in the coming weeks.<br />It should kinda reminds us of the prophets...<br /><br /><br />Isa 58:1<br /><br /><br />Amo 5:21<br />"I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.<br />Amo 5:22<br />Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.<br />Amo 5:23<br />Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.<br />Amo 5:24<br />But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!<br /><br /><br /><br />What are some examples in modern day life of these two types of anger?Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-7135776700387040092009-07-06T11:50:00.004-04:002009-07-06T12:12:30.500-04:00Who can never be gorgiven?So another thing to unpack in my journey through The Gospel of Mark...-<br /><br />Mar 3:29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."<br /><br />First lets look at the setting...<br /><br />Jesus said this in response to the Pharisees, the religious elite, who were calling the Jesus and the spirit he was infused with a demon or unclean spirit (see Mar 3:22). We can also see that this is one of the popular responses to what He was doing and saying because his family had come down "to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind." (see Mar 3:21)<br /><br />Often what happens is this verse is taken out of context and used to mean "if you have said somthing bad about The holy spirit, Jesus, God, the Church, The Pope, (or what ever other ax the person speaking has to grind) then God will turn his back on you and you get the punishment you deserve...<br /><br />But we can see from the preceding verse that Jesus is not talking about this.<br /><br />Mar 3:28 I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them.<br /><br />Which harmonizes well with the other things Jesus said:<br /><br /><br />Jhn 6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.<br />Jhn 6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.<br />Jhn 6:39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.<br />Jhn 6:40 For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."<br /><br /><br /><br />When Jesus said this to the religious elite he did so knowing they had an excellent knowledge of scriptures (most of them had them memorized). So when he uses the term Blasphemies he is drawing on a very specific understanding of what it means to blaspheme..<br /><br />Which brings to a more important point...<br /><br />What does it mean to use the Lord’s name in vain or blaspheme?<br /><br />This is a question that might seem self-evident to most people in western society. Whether you are religious or not, you would probably not even hesitate with your answer...<br /><br />I often struggled with how to reconcile my faith in God with my occasional under my breath damming of something or other. So I've done some researched on the original words used, naqa (vain), I read several commentaries, researched on-line, and prayed. These are the best explanations I have found.<br /><br />Some people believe the reason why this is a violation of the third commandment is because people are using God’s name in a “vain,” “worthless,” or “empty” way. In this case, to say “God damn it is not the same as seriously calling upon God to damn something or someone. For these people, if you say it seriously, fine, but if you say it casually, then you have used His name in an empty way and thereby broken the third commandment.<br /><br />If the principle that we are going by is that we are not to use God’s name and not really mean it, then I believe that we are very inconsistent in what we take offense to as a culture.<br /><br />Why don’t people get offended when others say “God bless you?”<br /><br />Do you think that every time someone says this that they really mean it?<br /><br />Do you think that in their mind they are talking to God, beseeching on your behalf for a blessing?<br />Just about every email I get ends with the phrase, “God bless.” I seriously doubt that that person actually said a prayer for me before he or she hit send. If this is the case, then why is saying ”God bless you” not just as much a violation of the third commandment as saying “God damn you?”<br /><br />Is it more biblical to ask for God’s kindness or judgment?<br /><br />I don’t think anyone who is honest with themselves can say that they are consistent in this regard. Saying “God damn it” and not meaning it should be just as bad as saying “God bless you” and not meaning it.<br /><br />This is the most important reflection so I have saved it for last. In fact, if what I am about to say is true, then other arguments really don't make any difference.<br /><br />The question is this: What does it mean to use God’s name in an empty or vain way?<br />OR<br />What does the third commandment really mean?<br />Or<br />What would the orginal hearers have understood it to mean?<br /><br />It is hard to tell from a simple word study on the Hebrew term naqa (vain). Also our understanding of a “name” and what it signifies is much different than what it meant in the context in which this commandment was given. What we have to do is to try to understand what it meant then, so that we can understand what it means now.<br /><br />It does us no good to anachronistically impose our understanding upon an ancient text. This is exegesis (reading into the text what we presuppose), not exegesis (letting the text speak on its own terms).<br /><br />This is what my studies have shown.<br /><br />The nations to which the Israelites were going had many gods. They were highly superstitious. Their prophets would often use the name of their god in pronouncements. The usage could be in a curse, hex, or even a blessing. They would use the name of their god to give their statements, whatever they may be, authority.<br /><br />To pronounce something in their own name would not have given their words much weight, but to pronounce something in the name of a god meant that people would listen and fear. They may have said;<br />“In the name of Baal, there will be no rain for 40 days.”<br />Or<br />“In the name of Marduk, I say that you will win this battle.”<br /><br />This gave the prophet much power and authority. But, as we know, there is no Baal or Marduk. Since this is the case, they did not really make such pronouncement and therefore the words of the prophet had no authority and should neither have been praised or feared.<br /><br />God was attempting to prevent the Israelites from doing the same thing. God was saying for them not to use His name like the nations used the names of their gods.<br /><br />He did not want them to use His name to invoke false authority behind pronouncements. In essence, God did not want the Israelites to say that He said something that He had not said.<br /><br />This makes sense. God has a reputation to protect. He does not want anyone saying “Thus sayeth the Lord” if the Lord had not spoken. All of you have experienced this. You have had people say you said something you did not say. This can be very damaging to your character.<br /><br />It is very destructive to your name. Why? Because it makes you out to be something that you are not. How much more important is it for God to protect His character? It is fitting that God would have put this as one of the ten most important commandments as the nation of Israel moved towards Canaan.<br /><br />What does this mean for us?<br /><br />Well, for starters we understand that the third commandment is certainly not focused on something so trivial as saying “God damn it!”<br /><br />The funny thing is that while some people may never think of using that phrase, people all over the Christian religious landscape are breaking the third commandment every day, damaging the Lord’s reputation. “Thus sayeth the Lord . . .” “God told me to tell you . . .” “God says that if you send in money to build our minstry you will be blessed.” I could go on and on, but you get the point.<br /><br />Using the name of the Lord in vain means that you do damage to His reputation and character through false and unsure claims. This is what Blaspheme is all about.<br /><br />They were trying to speak for God and comdeming the spirit that was in/working through Jesus.<br />And Jesus lets them know that what they are doing is highly offensive to the trinity...<br /><br />It has nothing to do with you having said somthing bad about The holy spirit, Jesus, God, the Church, The Pope, (or what ever other else people try to use this passage to mean)<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://being-the-body.blogspot.com/">http://being-the-body.blogspot.com/</a>Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35827519.post-46130865487653691422009-06-29T10:35:00.002-04:002009-06-29T10:41:12.551-04:00Finding ourselves in the wilderness...<div align="left"></div><div align="left">I have been meeting with a group of folks and sharing communion and life together. Our little ekklēsia (ek-klā-sē'-ä) has decided to begin reading the gospel of Mark together and discuss its implications as a community. Its kinda like open-source theology (open-source meaning anyone may contribute and theology meaning words about God).<br /><br />It sounds easy enough, I've read and re-read the Gospels tons... But as always happens when you undertake a serious reading of scripture, and approach the text with an open mind, new things crop up that you have never seen before and they can lead to questions and doubts and hopefully, in the best of circumstances, new understandings about how God moves in our world.<br /><br />This part of the story has really caught hold of me over the last week:<br /><br />Mar 1:12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.<br />(ESV)<br /><br />Mark uses a very active verb to describe what happened to Christ after his baptism in the Jordan.<br /><br />Matthew and Luke both have Jesus being "led" by the Spirit into the wilderness, but Mark doesn't paint the picture as something gentle. Mark has the Spirit driving, thrusting, propelling Jesus into the desert, the wilderness, the barrenness.<br /><br />Mark's statement "The Spirit immediately drove Him," makes it feel almost as if Christ went against His will...<br /><br />Jesus story begins with a Divine affirmation, a reunion of the trinity, a granting of authority but immediately leads to an extended even forced stay in the wilderness. But we find historically He is in good company:<br /><br />Abraham, wandered in the desert between the promise and the birth of Isaac.<br />Israel wandered between the liberation from Egypt and the entrance of the promised land.<br />David hid in desert caves between finding God's favor and stepping to the throne.<br />Elisha dwelt in the wilderness between receiving Elijah's spirit and bringing God's word to his people...<br /><br />You get the point.<br /><br />So what if bouts in the wilderness are an essential part of life in the Spirit?<br /><br />Could the desert wilderness represent the barren and harsh places in our own lives?<br /><br />Are they the places of trial and abandonment where we are forced to realize that we are not in control?<br /><br />Is the wilderness a terrifying space where we are able to realize we are completely vulnerable and completely dependent?<br /><br />Since we were banished from the Garden the wilderness has been a part of our journey.<br /><br />But this doesn't fit with much of what we are told in Western Christianity, does it?<br /><br />We are led to believe that "life in the Spirit" means constant joy, peace, happiness, and smugness (knowing all of the answers without even asking the questions). We are left to assume that any period of doubt, sadness, or just general unjoyfulness is the result of Satan's activity or OUR OWN sin's alienating power.<br /><br />But what if that's not always the case?<br /><br />What if there are seasons when the Spirit drives us out?<br /><br />What if there is a Divine Wisdom in wilderness that can be learned nowhere else?<br /><br />What if seasons in the desert are simply part of the path we are on following Jesus?<br /><br />What if the wilderness is an essential part of life in the Spirit?<br /><br />What if robust faith lives somewhere between absolute trust and deep doubt?<br /><br />What does it look like to really embrace our wilderness, not just endure it, or pray to be out of it, but to accept it and allow it to shape us.<br /><br />Where are the wilderness places in my journey, in your journey, in our manifestations of ekklēsia, in our world?<br /><br />What does it mean for us to embrace them?<br /><br />What do we have to learn from them?<br /><br />And what might the spirit be preparing us for?<br /><br />It's been a week of hard driving and penetrating questions for me as I wrestle my own theology and hope to see the word with new eyes and hear it with new ears...<br /><br />Please share any thoughts, questions, or answers from your own journeys.<br /><br /><br />http://being-the-body.blogspot.com/ </div>Tom Battersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15950405512386595628noreply@blogger.com1