Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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Unrighteous Indignation

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No Indignation or AngerI am reminded of James 1:20 which tells me that my anger does not produce the righteousness of God. What prompts the mention of this verse is that I found myself a couple of times this week regretting some comments I made on articles and blog posts.

My issue is not so much what I said as how I said it. In Ephesians 4:15, Paul tells us to speak the truth in love. I think that there was truth in my comments, but there was very little love.

Jesus reserved his anger for those who knew better. Those who knew the Law of God and thought themselves experts at keeping it were often the target of his wrath when they got it wrong. With sinners who struggled to think that they could be accepted by God, Jesus was amazingly gentle.

Jesus found a way to let people know that he accepted them without condoning the sinful behavior. Hookers, addicts, poor people, cripples and extortionists loved him. It was the religious leaders who hated him.

How does this apply to me? The point is that if I take it upon myself to convince someone of his error if he is unwilling to see it, I am on dangerous ground. If that person is unwilling, my attempt to convince him will only result in my frustration which will result in the type of comment I alluded to at the beginning of this post.

I am resolved to let the Holy Spirit do his job. My job is to be prepared to give answers in a gentle and respectful manner.

Technorati Tags: Holy Spirit,conviction,anger,love,truth

Enemies of Faithfulness

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There are many things that can be listed as potential enemies to faithfulness. For the purpose of this post I have chosen three that I think are significant. These three are:

  1. Lack of a prophetic voice
  2. Lack of discipline
  3. Lack of understanding

Lack of a prophetic voice

Ravi Zacharias has pointed out that one of the failings of King Solomon is that there is no evidence that he allowed a prophetic voice to be heard during his reign. David had Nathan who called him to account for his misdeeds with Uriah and Bathsheba. Solomon had no such person to confront him.

Solomon started out as a shining example of one who was dependent upon God and who followed after Him. Poor choices soon began to take their toll in his life and in the Nation of Israel. His many wives lead Solomon to worship idols and other false Gods. He also explored philosophies that are contrary to the revelation that he had available to him. He did all these things while not allowing a representative of the living God to call him to account.

Solomon became unfaithful because he stopped listening to God. In the same way, if I stop reading Scripture, if I shy away from fellowship, if I avoid Biblical preaching, I will walk away from God and will become unfaithful.

The prophetic voice is crucial to faithfulness.

Lack of Discipline

King Saul did not lack for a prophetic voice. He has such a voice in Samuel, who frequently was used by God to give instructions to the king. What Saul lacked was the discipline to put into practice the instruction of Samuel.

Saul’s disobedience with regard to the destruction of the Amalekites led to him being rejected by God as king over Israel as recorded in 1 Samuel 15. In the dialog between Samuel and Saul in this chapter, we find the famous line, “to obey is better than sacrifice.” Obedience to what God commands is much more important than religious ritual.

In the same way, I can be undisciplined in my Christian walk. I need to be intentional in my efforts to read Scripture, pray and interact with other believers. If I do not have discipline in these areas, I will move in the direction of unfaithfulness. Left unchecked, gross immorality will be the result.

I should note this is not an endorsement of legalistic rigidity. The emphasis should be on the pattern and the motivation. I am not called to a “check box” mentality. If I am in relationship with God, I need to daily spend time communicating with him through prayer and Bible reading. Some days I can invest a longer time, some days shorter, but it needs to be daily. I need to be disciplined in this.

Discipline is crucial to faithfulness.

Lack of Understanding

One of the requirements that God placed upon the kings of Israel was that they were to write out their own copy of the Law. Obedience to this command would allow the king to understand the requirements and prohibitions that God placed on the king and the people of Israel.

Rehoboam is an example of one who displayed a lack of understanding. Solomon, his father, left the nation under a heavy tax burden. Instead of relieving the burden when he became king, Rehoboam increased it which resulted in much of his kingdom seceding under the leadership of Jereboam. Had Rehoboam consulted the law of Moses, he would have known of the prohibitions against building up an army and would have understood that his role was to protect and guide the people. The king was to function for the benefit of the people and not the other way round.

In the same way, I feel the need to ingest enough Scripture so that I understand God’s mind on the issues that face me on a daily basis. Lack of understanding is an enemy to faithfulness.

How can I be faithful to God if I do not spend sufficient time in his word so that I understand what he requires of me?

Understanding is crucial to faithfulness.

The common denominator

The common denominator in these three items is Scripture. I need to allow it to convict me, I need to be interacting with it daily, and I need to work hard at understanding it. These three activities are the antidote to the three enemies of faithfulness I outlined above.

By reading Scripture, I gain a sense of what to do. By practicing obedience, I can put the Scriptural commands into practice. By the reading of Scripture, I also gain a sense of when I am going wrong, thus allowing the prophetic voice to provide correction before I go completely off the path.

Thank-you God for providing such a resource. Scripture is crucial to faithfulness.

America’s Colosseum Spectacle

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News & HighlightsI like that social media allow for real time interaction with people from around the world. One of the people I have made contact with is a blogger from Japan who is posting at http://holyfirejapan.blogspot.com/ named Steve Barrett.

Steve posted a Twitter comment (@stevetsunami) about the hysteria of American media in their coverage of the events in Japan. As a result of my recent experience in Rome his comment triggered some thoughts about news media.

I previously posted about the similarities of television and movie violence to the spectacles of the Roman Colosseum. When I wrote that post, I did not think to include television news in my musings. Someone once jokingly said of TV news, “if it bleeds, it leads.” In other words, the most shocking story is the one that gets the most attention. We, as fallen human beings, seem to gravitate toward shocking.

Perhaps this stems from a need to find someone worse off than we so that we feel better about our own conditions by comparison. Perhaps there is something in the suffering that provides perverse stimulation. Perhaps it allows the viewer to feel superior to his peers, like the person who likes to always be ready with an “I told you so.” Whatever the impulse behind hysteria and overstatement, it is wrongheaded and sometimes very creepy.

I suspect that sometimes the stories are chosen and overstated for their support of the political or social world view of the news editor. For example, before “global warming” morphed into “climate change,” every cataclysmic event was heralded as a consequence of man’s destruction of his environment. This exposed the semi-religious fervor of many in media for the “green” movement.

The only good motivation for knowing about a tragedy is to pray and to find ways of helping. The good news is that historically, Americans have responded to disasters (how we use this word so glibly) in a positive way. We have sent supplies and personnel to help alleviate suffering around the world.

The question I have to ask myself as I consume any news is “toward what end is this driving me?” Is the news vendor trying to lead me in a particular direction? If so, what is that direction and is that a direction that God is leading me to go?

We are called to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. We need to be aware of what is happening around us but not loose confidence that God is in control The question to be asked is what would God like me to do in response to the needs around me? How can I make a difference?

Technorati Tags: disaster,relief,Colosseum,Violence,news

My Response to a Rob Bell interview

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Rob BellA friend asked me to comment on an interview with Rob Bell that can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Vg-qgmJ7nzA. I thought that I would post my response here with some minor edits. These points were stream of consciousness and not in any logical order:

  • I believe Rob Bell is genuinely trying to be helpful to people
  • I believe that Rob Bell unnecessarily muddies the theological water and causes confusion.
  • Everything I know about Rob Bell, I’ve learned from the few web clips I’ve seen in the last week or so. I would say that he is one who cares for people, is concerned about ministering to them and doesn’t want to offend (these are all positives). However, every strength used to excess becomes a weakness. To avoid confrontation when it is required, is no longer a positive. I want a doctor to care about me deeply, but I also want him to give me an accurate diagnosis and treatment regimen. He has to tell me the bad news for me to get better. This, I think is where Rob Bell fails, he doesn’t want to give the bad news for which we know The Cure.
  • Jesus talked about eternal punishment – “Woe to you Chorazin . . . Tyre & Sidon would have repented, etc.”
  • Luke 16 shows Jesus’ view about eternal blessing / punishment – Story of the rich man and Lazarus – Jesus thought eternal punishment is a real possibility
  • Paul tells us in Romans 1 that the problem is not the lack of truth but the suppression of it. I heard a thought attributed to C. S. Lewis that may be helpful: In the end there are two categories of people, those who say to God “Thy will be done” and those to whom God says, “thy will be done.” I believe that there will be no-one who stands before the judgment seat of Christ who will be able to say, “you didn’t give me enough data on which to choose.”
  • I think we should keep Mark 9:40 in mind “For the one who is not against us is for us” before we throw Rob Bell under the bus. We need to clearly teach what Scripture says about Heaven and Hell, pointing out where Rob deviates from Scripture, being careful not foment a personal attack on Rob Bell or apply labels to him.
  • How do you attribute justice to God if there is no Hell? Do we really want to believe that Hitler, Stalin, Nero and Pol Pot are in Heaven given the lack of evidence that they ever repented? Choice always implies a consequence. Romans 1 tells us that at some point, God just lets people go in the direction that they want to go. Do we really think that people will shake their fist in the face of God in this life and then repent in the next?
  • I’m OK with the idea that there will be surprises about who is in Heaven when we get there. The church has been too cavalier with applying litmus tests to faith over the years. I don’t know if you remember the “Lordship Salvation” discussion a while back. Some argued that you are not truly saved unless you acknowledge that Jesus is Lord of your life. Others argued that one could be saved and then move toward understanding that Jesus is Lord. Much of the discussion was theological nit picking and navel contemplation. We argue over the fine points of theology while people who don’t believe are dying without Jesus. So while I am frustrated by Rob Bell’s waffling on eternal punishment, I have to applaud his desire and efforts to bring people into the Kingdom of God.
  • Rob Bell is accountable to God for what he teaches. Are there people who will go to Hell because they have false security as a result of Rob’s teaching? Perhaps, but I should be far more concerned about whether or not I’ve made the most of the opportunities God has given me. I have failed often and need to be tolerant of the failures of others.

Am I off base on any of this? Please feel free to comment below.

Technorati Tags: Rob Bell,Heaven,Hell,theology

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