Tag Archives: John

An answer to an emailed comment (2)

Posted on March 16, 2015 by | Comments Off on An answer to an emailed comment (2)

New message receivedThis morning before I headed off to class, I checked my email to discover a comment from a disgruntled reader who used the prayer list contact form to send me a few comments about this blog. Normally, as I have shared in the past, I do not respond to many of these types of emails because there is normally no point in doing so. Since reading the comments and after taking the time to teach my morning class, I was able to clear my head and to pray about how to handle the situation. I now feel the need to answer the complaints that this person had against this blog. My answers are based off my understanding of scripture and the common-sense approach I take towards my faith.

What right do I have to have such a hard stand against lifestyle choices?

This is a question that faces all Christians and it usually has to do with the traditional and fundamentalist view on homosexuality. Although the person I received the comment from did not name if this was what they were upset about, I am simply taking a guess based on the sensitivity of this topic. To be completely honest, the Bible teaches us, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). For me, it is not my place to question what the Bible, what the Lord has set as being acceptable and unacceptable. As a Christian, I have to accept the reality that the apostle Paul wrote about in two places in his first letter to the church in Corinth: For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:20) and  Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men (1 Corinthians 7:23). Paul also urged through his letter to the church at Rome, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (Romans 12:1). With these verses alone, it is important to understand that if we make the claim to be a Christian then it is not by our own rules, standards, or morals we are to live by. Even the apostle Peter understood the calling for the children of God to live to a higher authority than themselves:  Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy (1 Peter 1:13-16).

When we seek to follow after the Lord and live according to His standards, not out of a demand for our obedience, but out of our love for Him, we begin to understand just how sinful we are. As Christians, we should forsake our sins – this means to turn away from them and ask for forgiveness, and avoid the situations that could cause us to yield to that temptation. Too many simply focus on the Biblical view of homosexuality, but there are other sins, other “lifestyle choices” that God finds just as distasteful that both Christians and the lost engage in. God finds gluttony (overeating) sinful: For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple (Romans 16:18), and For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags (Proverbs 23:21). Then there’s the list of sins that Paul mentions often in his writings, Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21). All of these are sins and lifestyle choices that people often make and when we consider what the apostle James wrote, For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all (James 2:10), it is clear that all sins are equal in the sight of God. Homosexuality, overeating, adultery, and the other “lifestyle choices” mentioned by Paul are all sins – equally.

As a Christian, my goal is to hear my Lord and Savior tell me those words Jesus told the crowd in a parable: Well done, thou good and faithful servant… (Matthew 25:21b); I don’t want to be ashamed and stand amid ashes when I stand before Jesus. Paul wrote to the church in Jerusalem: Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth (Hebrews 12:4-6). In other words, I should resist the temptation to sin as a child of God; when I choose to continue in sin, I choose the rebuke and chastening of the Lord. The apostle John wrote, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Yes, God will forgive us of our sins when we ask forgiveness but the consequences of our choice to sin will remain.

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God’s scale of justice – perfect and just

Posted on March 9, 2015 by | Comments Off on God’s scale of justice – perfect and just

scale of justiceLady Justice, a sculpture that has come to represent the American justice system, has a sword, a blindfold, and the scale of justice. For generations, we have prided ourselves in creating a just nation where the laws are equally applied to all, regardless of race, gender, and a handful of other criteria. Yet with all that has happened, with all the changes in society, and with changes in what is considered as proper behavior, we still have an imperfect system. At times, it seems that justice is simply another commodity where wealth and fame seem to influence. There are also times when the laws that have been passed with the noblest of intentions have a greater negative impact than the original problem. Yet, with these problems, most Americans still have faith in the laws of our land.

The scale of justice and Jesus’ blood

A while back on the USA television network, there was a commercial that featured the actors and actresses involved with the various shows on the network. On this particular commercial, the featured stars would share some of their life philosophy as a part of the “USA Characters” promotional to draw interest to the programming. One actress shared her views on God, “I believe all paths lead to God…” We live in a multi-cultural society and have been taught since the early 1970s that all things are equal. We’ve been taught not to judge the faith of others by our faith, but to be understanding, to be tolerant, and to be receptive and respective of their faith. Being a product of public education and having parents that did not raise me in church, for most of my life I believed that it was acceptable and right to have this kind of attitude – to live and let live. There are several problems with this kind of mindset; the end results are that there are going to be people who will spend and eternity in the Lake of Fire and for the believer, shame as they try to explain their “tolerance” to the Lord.

As a Christian, I have a moral and ethical responsibility to warn others of the dangers of living a life that is not acceptable in the eyes of the Lord. Keeping the Old Testament Laws does not save one’s soul, nor does doing good deeds, living a good life, or treating others with kindness. The only thing that makes a life acceptable to the Lord is this: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Jesus further clarified this in two other verses: He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36) and Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life (John 6:47). Luke, the author of the book of Acts, so eloquently wrote, Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Our salvation depends on our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ – nothing else will make our life acceptable to the Lord. To assure that we understand the seriousness of this judgment: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6).

There are those that believe that when the day comes and they stand before the Lord, He will use his scale of justice and will weigh their good works against the evil or bad deeds they have done. The scriptures are clear that this is not how the Lord will judge; the apostle John wrote: And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works…  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:12 & 15). Even the Old Testament teaches that it is not by any good deeds we can earn our way to Heaven: The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one (Psalms 14:1b-3) and But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away (Isaiah 64:6). The apostle Paul wrote on this very subject: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). It is only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ that we can be delivered from our sins and are reconciled to God.

The responsibility of the child of God

I’ve never been to a seminary or Bible college; I approach my faith through a common sense approach much like the way I approach daily life. As a college instructor, I have a responsibility to warn students when their attendance and/or the work they submit is not to the standards that are defined for the course. When we go to our family doctor, he or she has a moral obligation to warn us if our sodium, cholesterol, or even weight is now what it is supposed to be. We have no problems following the recommendations of the mechanic who tells us what needs to be repaired on our car to keep up peak performance. Yet, when it comes to spiritual matters, many will not hesitate to ignore the Bible as a collection of fables and God as a myth. Even Christians have become dismissive of the more “radical” teachings of the Bible, claiming that somehow modern society is much different from the times of the Old Testament or the days when Jesus walked the Earth. In reality, while our technology may be different and various concepts of equality, morality, and justice may have also changed, human nature has not.

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Posted in Chrisitian Philosophy, Christian Responsibility, Our relationship with God, Personal Evangelism

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Society is changing; the Bible does not

Posted on February 24, 2015 by | Comments Off on Society is changing; the Bible does not

bible-620x508Society is changing; what was once deemed as unacceptable or indecent behavior is no longer seen the way it was even twenty years ago. As many of you know, I have taught at the college/university level for the past eleven years and during this time, I have seen many changes in society. While some of these changes have been good, many of them have been bad – bad for our communities, bad for the current and future generation, and bad for the church. Yes – I said bad for the church; many churches have compromised their stand and no longer hold fast to the foundation laid out in the Bible but have shifted to a more humanistic and inclusive world view to protect their relevancy in society. Unfortunately this does not make them more relevant in the role that the Lord laid out for the New Testament Church.

Society demands tolerance

Right now there are many Christians that are struggling with various social issues. On one hand, they want to honor the Lord but on the other, they do not want to be labeled as being intolerant or hateful. Society is changing and the world is seemingly doubling down on its efforts to get the church and Christians to conform to its world view. Yesterday, as I was listening to the news, there was a human interest story where one of the people being interviewed was bemoaning that Christians are just too judgmental and are violating one of the key teachings of Christ: Judge not, that ye be not judged (Matthew 7:1). The young man then began to say that Christians have no right to cast judgment on anyone because of the lifestyle they choose since God has told us not to judge. It should not surprise Christians that the world and those who are not Christians would mutilate the meaning of scriptures for their purposes and to justify their agenda. Even the apostle Paul had to deal with this very problem in his day and led him to pen this warning to the Christians in Corinth: And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).

Society is changing and so are the norms that go with it. Within sociology and anthropology, the term norm is simply a group or societal belief in the proper way a person should behave within society. Most of the time, norms are informal and are not codified into law but are observed by society because of the belief that the norm is the right or correct thing to do. I am reminded of the verse in Isaiah: Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20) as we witness society changing. While demanding tolerance for its world view, the lost world offers no such tolerance for a world view outside of what it has deemed as acceptable behavior. An example of such demands is that of abortion – or the murder of the unborn. The world hails abortion as a responsible and acceptable choice of birth control. Christians and others who oppose it are accused of wanting to deny women basic health care and the right to control their own reproduction. According to those who defend the practice, the debate over abortion was settled with Roe v. Wade and can no longer be tolerated. Society does not consider abortion as a legitimate moral issue but somehow managed to transform it into a social issue. There is now discussion within the Internal Revenue Service questioning if a church can lose their tax-exemption status if the pastor/clergy discuss opposition to abortion from the pulpit since abortion, especially since 2009, has morphed into a social-political issue revived by the Affordable Care Act.

Views on homosexuality are also changing as society changes. Until the mid-1970s, society opposed homosexuality and homosexual marriage. Christians who oppose homosexuality as a sin are often considered hypocrites; the world cites Christ’s teachings on divorce and remarriage: It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery (Matthew 5:31-32). Taken out of context, this verse seems to show just what the world wants us to believe – into shaming Christians and the church into accepting homosexuality because they have already accepted other deviations in God’s plan for marriage. The problem is that yes, those are the words of Christ but what he was doing was teaching the scribes and Pharisees that there was much more to Judaism than upholding the letter of the Old Testament law. Under the law, everyone is a sinner and worthy of the wages of sin. The law points to the need of God’s saving grace – something that cannot be earned by man observing the law. Marriage was an area where yes, the law did allow for divorce, but Jesus was expounding on what the law was teaching to show the religious leaders of the day there was more to fully observing the law than just what was written.

Another argument presented by the world is how Christians opposed interracial marriages; we often hear that the GLBTQ (Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transexual-Queer) movement is the inheritor of the African-American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. There are several problems with this argument that the Christian must stay firm on scripture and understand what the Bible really teaches:

1) God never forbade interracial marriage. The early recorded instance of an interracial marriage is in Exodus 2:21: And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. In Numbers 12:1, the Bible further expounds on who Zipporah was: And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. Moses was a Hebrew, probably about the same skin tone as a modern-day Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqi, or Iranian; Zipporah was an Ethiopian –  a black woman. As Miriam began to use Moses’ interracial marriage to question his leadership of Israel. The Lord stated: And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous (Numbers 12:6-10). Additionally, Song of Solomon is written to King Solomon, a Hebrew, by a black woman who was one of his wives. Again, no condemnation on interracial marriages can be supported by scripture.

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