What if Christians and about 2000 years of Christian theology were wrong, and the Law hadn’t been ‘nailed to the cross’?
What if God never changed the ‘rules’?
What if the word in our Bibles most always translated as ‘Law’ was often better translated as ‘instruction’ or ‘teaching’? And believers were rightly taught to see it as good and not a burden? What if the Law was something to be thankful for and to praise God for, as Psalm 119 teaches us?
What if all that the church has taught about the meaning of ‘grace’ and ‘freedom’ really meant something else?
Imagine for a bit, some identifying marks of the ideal congregation of saints.
They are joyful people, sharing freely with each other. You notice them!
They are kind and gentle.
They enthusiastically gather together many times during the week for study and prayer.
They rest on the seventh day from their daily-provision work. They stay away from shopping or restaurants on that day. And they don't see that day and those choices as a burden, but as a delight!
They gather together for feasts and fellowship 7 times a year, and not at all on christmas and easter.
They don't eat pork or shellfish.
Are those things hard to do? Impossible to accomplish? Of course not! Now suppose these people didn’t do these things because they were ‘rules’ or because they would get something out of it, but because they knew that their living this way brought delight to God? Suppose these people searched out the Scriptures (the Old Testament) and looked for and joyfully observed all that GOD had commanded, being willing to put aside all customs and traditions that didn’t fully uphold and agree with God’s instruction?
If ‘love’ is defined from God’s perspective, instead of from a human emotional or legalistic (following the letter rather than obeying the spirit of the law - which is harder to do) viewpoint, things might look different in congregations today.
The foundation of a believer’s faith has to be truth. And contrary to postmodern ideas, truth isn’t something individually determined. There is only ONE truth, and it exists regardless of people’s belief in or acceptance of it.
Most people in churches today call themselves Christians. But in reality, it isn’t Christ they follow, but Paul. They are actually Paulians!
Truth is…the ONE truth is…Christ never abolished God’s Law. Never, not the smallest bit. And He even taught that anyone who did teach that any part of it was abolished would be considered least in His Father’s kingdom. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in/by the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in/by the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19, ESV)
Truth is…read in context, it is not clear that Paul ever taught that it was abolished either! Peter pointed out that some of the things Paul spoke of were being twisted by those who were ignorant of the truth, and that this twisting led to lawlessness. There are some things in (his letters) that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. (2 Peter 3:16b -17 ESV)
Truth is…if God did not speak through the prophets beforehand, in the Scriptures (Old Testament, remember) that something was going to happen...it isn’t true.
The Scripture is full of teaching of the Messiah; the gospel has been proclaimed from creation! The end has been told from the beginning! And God’s prophets never told us His Law would be ended, or be reserved for a select group of people, or be changed. His Law is forever. And one law was meant for one people. Older and younger brothers together, the same family. The Law was never meant to remain written on tablets of stone. It was always meant to be engraved on a willing, yielded heart.
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (Ezekiel 36:26-27 ESV)
And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. (John 10:16 ESV)
What if?
December 19, 2009
December 15, 2009
Why is there church on Sunday? Part 4
How easy it is to subtly manipulate the simple instruction of God! How prone we are to walk according to our own understanding, all the while thinking we are pretty holy!
This is as true of our day as it was in the days Yeshua walked among us. Then, He lashed out at the religious teachers of the day for their twisting and manipulation of the pure truth of the ways of God. The christian church is just as guilty of this as the Jewish religious leaders.
But so are we individually. Each of us faces the battle with self will.
It has been hard to review this respected pastor's response to the question of why we don't worship on the Sabbath. I am perplexed almost beyond words at how what he says can come out of what I read in the Bible.
It's not just a case of differing opinions. What he says just isn't there. How can hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of dedicated and sincere believers, have gone along with this? Are they wrong? Or am I? Are there two versions of 'right'?
What if I'm totally out in left field, being the only one who isn't seeing what they see? What is going on here? Reading through the almost full page of this intelligent, learned and highly respected pastor's explanation of how the 'church fathers' (an unsavoury bunch on the whole, if you've ever read up on them) have 'proved beyond doubt that the early church worshiped on the Lord's Day' has been disheartening.
Who am I to question him? I have no education, no seminary or theological training. I only read the Bible, study it, ponder its words, pray for understanding and try to walk in the path of the ways of this revelation. Is that enough? I read it literally, then pray for understanding of its patterns, themes and examples.
I have to ask...why is it so important to the church to do away with the Sabbath? How has what was given as a sign of the covenant, and as a gift of rest and time to a nation of former slaves (as we were also, slaves in bondage to sin) become such a foul thing to the christian church?
It isn't as if they have simply transferred the day of rest to Sunday. While this was perhaps truer many years ago (though my father has shared his abhorrence of the 'Sunday thou shalt nots' of his childhood) today on Sunday we meet more christians from our former church at Costco than we do any other day of the week!
Some of what this pastor says is so beautiful. Yet almost in the same sentence, he makes a totally baseless claim. Example: The Lord's Day should never deteriorate into a legalistic, Old Testament, or Jewish Sabbath. Sunday should be experienced as a delight rather than a drudgery freighted with burdensome lists of DOs and DON'Ts. (To be honest, however, I don't see a problem in our culture or churches of keeping the Sabbath too strictly.) Presumably his reference to a 'Jewish Sabbath' means one that includes the man-made burden of additional rules which all but smothers the original beauty of the commandment. He appears to equate such an experience with 'a legalistic, Old Testament' observance. The Sabbath was always intended to be a joy and a delight. He even quotes God's words from Isaiah 58 on this at the end of his response, though apparently meaning the christian 'sabbath' of Sunday instead:
If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath, and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy day honourable, and if you honour it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.
THIS is an 'Old Testament Sabbath'! How is this legalistic?
How quickly we like to apply all kinds of human rules to how we do things. According to this pastor, we should worship on Sunday because that's just the way its been done for years; the Bible says we should (it doesn't - see Parts 1-3) and so do the church fathers (they actually do, but many of them were very antisemitic and there was motivation for breaking with the Jews).
How about if, on the Biblical Sabbath, we just rest from our labour that provides for ourselves during the week, and allow those who work for us (including bus drivers and shop clerks) to have a break too, whether they take it or not?
How about if we refrain from making too many rules for ourselves and others, and focus instead on the wonderful gift we've been given, and cultivate a genuine desire to please the Giver in how we use this gift?
How about if we refrain from making rules for or passing judgement on how others observe this day, beyond being available to them to together search out the Biblical truth, then letting them make up their own mind?
How about if we don't substitute a day of rest with frantic, intense 'study' or 'worship' or 'good deeds' that exhausts us or frazzles our family?
Sunday is actually a wonderful day to spend in some study, prayer, praise and corporate gathering. It's just not the Sabbath.
This is as true of our day as it was in the days Yeshua walked among us. Then, He lashed out at the religious teachers of the day for their twisting and manipulation of the pure truth of the ways of God. The christian church is just as guilty of this as the Jewish religious leaders.
But so are we individually. Each of us faces the battle with self will.
It has been hard to review this respected pastor's response to the question of why we don't worship on the Sabbath. I am perplexed almost beyond words at how what he says can come out of what I read in the Bible.
It's not just a case of differing opinions. What he says just isn't there. How can hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of dedicated and sincere believers, have gone along with this? Are they wrong? Or am I? Are there two versions of 'right'?
What if I'm totally out in left field, being the only one who isn't seeing what they see? What is going on here? Reading through the almost full page of this intelligent, learned and highly respected pastor's explanation of how the 'church fathers' (an unsavoury bunch on the whole, if you've ever read up on them) have 'proved beyond doubt that the early church worshiped on the Lord's Day' has been disheartening.
Who am I to question him? I have no education, no seminary or theological training. I only read the Bible, study it, ponder its words, pray for understanding and try to walk in the path of the ways of this revelation. Is that enough? I read it literally, then pray for understanding of its patterns, themes and examples.
I have to ask...why is it so important to the church to do away with the Sabbath? How has what was given as a sign of the covenant, and as a gift of rest and time to a nation of former slaves (as we were also, slaves in bondage to sin) become such a foul thing to the christian church?
It isn't as if they have simply transferred the day of rest to Sunday. While this was perhaps truer many years ago (though my father has shared his abhorrence of the 'Sunday thou shalt nots' of his childhood) today on Sunday we meet more christians from our former church at Costco than we do any other day of the week!
Some of what this pastor says is so beautiful. Yet almost in the same sentence, he makes a totally baseless claim. Example: The Lord's Day should never deteriorate into a legalistic, Old Testament, or Jewish Sabbath. Sunday should be experienced as a delight rather than a drudgery freighted with burdensome lists of DOs and DON'Ts. (To be honest, however, I don't see a problem in our culture or churches of keeping the Sabbath too strictly.) Presumably his reference to a 'Jewish Sabbath' means one that includes the man-made burden of additional rules which all but smothers the original beauty of the commandment. He appears to equate such an experience with 'a legalistic, Old Testament' observance. The Sabbath was always intended to be a joy and a delight. He even quotes God's words from Isaiah 58 on this at the end of his response, though apparently meaning the christian 'sabbath' of Sunday instead:
If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath, and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy day honourable, and if you honour it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.
THIS is an 'Old Testament Sabbath'! How is this legalistic?
How quickly we like to apply all kinds of human rules to how we do things. According to this pastor, we should worship on Sunday because that's just the way its been done for years; the Bible says we should (it doesn't - see Parts 1-3) and so do the church fathers (they actually do, but many of them were very antisemitic and there was motivation for breaking with the Jews).
How about if, on the Biblical Sabbath, we just rest from our labour that provides for ourselves during the week, and allow those who work for us (including bus drivers and shop clerks) to have a break too, whether they take it or not?
How about if we refrain from making too many rules for ourselves and others, and focus instead on the wonderful gift we've been given, and cultivate a genuine desire to please the Giver in how we use this gift?
How about if we refrain from making rules for or passing judgement on how others observe this day, beyond being available to them to together search out the Biblical truth, then letting them make up their own mind?
How about if we don't substitute a day of rest with frantic, intense 'study' or 'worship' or 'good deeds' that exhausts us or frazzles our family?
Sunday is actually a wonderful day to spend in some study, prayer, praise and corporate gathering. It's just not the Sabbath.
Why is there church on Sunday? Part 3
A Reformed pastor is asked why there is church on Sunday, not Saturday?
His response was that while the command to observe the Sabbath is still valid, the church is not required to keep the Jewish Sabbath. He points out (using 'proof texts' though not in context) that since 'many things changed' about the 'Old Testament legislation', 'we should not be surprised if there were changes not only with respect to the worship, but also to the Sabbath itself.'
Next he insists 'In fact we do also see that the day of worship switched from the seventh to the first. This was undoubtedly inspired by Jesus' resurrection from the dead on Sunday. The first day, the day of the resurrection, is also called in Scripture, "The Lord's Day" (cf Luke 24:1; John 20:19; Revelation 1:10). In God's Word it is clear that the first Christians immediately began meeting together on that day (John 20:19, 26; Acts 2:1; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). This should not be confused with the fact that everywhere the apostles went, they naturally conducted their first evangelistic efforts in the Jewish synagogues on Saturdays (Acts 9:20; 13:5, 14; 14:1; 17:1-4, etc). But Christians worshipped together on Sunday.
There are a lot of proof texts given here. In summary, I examined each one and could find no evidence at all to support the christian church and this pastor's claim that the day of worship had been changed to Sunday, not that the church is not required to keep the Biblical Sabbath.
A brief note before diving into the rest of this: Scripture (which I call the Old Testament) does not actually say the Israelites must gather together at the temple to worship on the Sabbath. They did that, at least from some point, and it is not bad, but it was never commanded. The NT writers also do not say christians must go to church (be that Saturday or Sunday). While it is not a bad thing at all to gather once a week (or even more) for study of the Word and corporate praise, it is NOT commanded!! That is a human tradition.
The weekly Sabbath is a day set apart by God, on which He ceased from His labour, and on which He calls His people to do the same. His intent is for us to treat His weekly Sabbath as a joy and a delight, a privilege, not a burden to want to be released from!
Now let's get back to these Biblical claims for a change in Sabbath day. I'll list them below with notes, and in greater context if necessary.
1. The claim for the first day being called 'The Lord's Day': Luke 24:1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. Note that the phrase 'on the first day of the week' is an interpretation and is debatable. The Greek actually directly translates as 'And day one of the Sabbaths'. This phrase is sometimes also translated as 'the day after the Sabbath'. Since in the time period of Passover, there were weekly Sabbaths as well as special Sabbaths, the 'day after the Sabbath' does not necessarily mean it was also Sunday, the first day of the week. So to read into this passage that the day was Sunday (even though it may have been) is already reading an assumption into the text.
An equivalent to this verse, Matthew 28:1 (in direct translation from Greek) reads 'And late on Sabbath, in the evening of day one of Sabbath, came Mary the Magdalene and the other Mary, to view the tomb.' If you read this literally, it says they came late on that Sabbath! In those days, some considered a Hebrew day to run from evening to evening, so the day after the Sabbath could be considered to begin around sundown on the Sabbath. If that Sabbath was a weekly one, in our timeframe, that would be on Saturday after sundown. NOT Sunday. And it actually reads 'and late ON Sabbath' perhaps they were there even before the Sabbath was completely over, which would make sense. If the tomb was less than a Sabbath day's walk for them (one of the additional rules) they would be permitted to walk, as long as they were not carrying a heavy load (another rule).
John 20:19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." This phrase, in Greek, directly translates as 'It being then late in that day, in the day one of the Sabbaths...' If you read all of John 20, the timing is the same as when Yeshua appeared to the Marys. 'That day' whichever day of the week it was, was busy! This verse, in its direct translation from the Greek, agrees with what Yeshua said in Matthew 12:8, that 'The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." He appeared to his disciples at the close of that day. This verse, however, does NOT tell us that Sunday is now replacing the Sabbath as 'The Lord's Day.'
Revelation 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. This is the ONLY place in the New Testament where the phrase 'The Lord's Day' actually appears. Reading Revelation, you quickly see that 'The Lord's Day' is not referring to Sunday, but the 'great and terrible Day of the Lord' ... the Judgment Day. There is NOTHING here, either in this verse or in its greater context, to indicate that the day John received his revelation on a Sunday!
2.The claim that christians 'immediately began meeting together on that day' (Sunday): From John 20:19 (above) we see that the 'christians' who were actually the Hebrew Jewish disciples, did not immediately organize a church service! They were gathered together for 'fear of the Jews'. If the Jewish leaders had crucified Yeshua, would they be next? The text simply read literally, they were hiding in fear, not meeting to worship.
John 20:26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." This again, says nothing about the disciples meeting to worship, though perhaps this time they were. Eight days later would technically be a week and one day, not the following Sunday.
Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. Of course they would have been all together in one place...it was commanded in the Torah that all Israelite men meet for Shavuot (Pentecost) in Jerusalem. It does not say what they were doing.
Acts 20:7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. The weekly Sabbath day (work ceased on the ‘day’, people generally didn’t work at night) ends at sundown on what is our Saturday. At the close of the Sabbath, a religious (man-made) ceremony called Havdalah is held to mark the separation between the holy (Sabbath) and the common (the six days of work). After this bread may be 'broken' as part of a meal. In the account of Acts 20, it is more likely Paul was planning to leave in the morning (of our Sunday) and stayed late into the night talking.
1 Corinthians 16:2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. There is nothing here either about Sunday being a worship day. The Greek direct translation actually says 'one of the Sabbaths' not 'the first day of the week'. Even translated 'first day' the verse goes on to say 'each of you' meaning this is an individual responsibility, not a corporate one that might happen at a meeting.
Next...a look at the teachings of the 'church fathers' used as further support for Sunday replacement of the Biblical Sabbath
His response was that while the command to observe the Sabbath is still valid, the church is not required to keep the Jewish Sabbath. He points out (using 'proof texts' though not in context) that since 'many things changed' about the 'Old Testament legislation', 'we should not be surprised if there were changes not only with respect to the worship, but also to the Sabbath itself.'
Next he insists 'In fact we do also see that the day of worship switched from the seventh to the first. This was undoubtedly inspired by Jesus' resurrection from the dead on Sunday. The first day, the day of the resurrection, is also called in Scripture, "The Lord's Day" (cf Luke 24:1; John 20:19; Revelation 1:10). In God's Word it is clear that the first Christians immediately began meeting together on that day (John 20:19, 26; Acts 2:1; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). This should not be confused with the fact that everywhere the apostles went, they naturally conducted their first evangelistic efforts in the Jewish synagogues on Saturdays (Acts 9:20; 13:5, 14; 14:1; 17:1-4, etc). But Christians worshipped together on Sunday.
There are a lot of proof texts given here. In summary, I examined each one and could find no evidence at all to support the christian church and this pastor's claim that the day of worship had been changed to Sunday, not that the church is not required to keep the Biblical Sabbath.
A brief note before diving into the rest of this: Scripture (which I call the Old Testament) does not actually say the Israelites must gather together at the temple to worship on the Sabbath. They did that, at least from some point, and it is not bad, but it was never commanded. The NT writers also do not say christians must go to church (be that Saturday or Sunday). While it is not a bad thing at all to gather once a week (or even more) for study of the Word and corporate praise, it is NOT commanded!! That is a human tradition.
The weekly Sabbath is a day set apart by God, on which He ceased from His labour, and on which He calls His people to do the same. His intent is for us to treat His weekly Sabbath as a joy and a delight, a privilege, not a burden to want to be released from!
Now let's get back to these Biblical claims for a change in Sabbath day. I'll list them below with notes, and in greater context if necessary.
1. The claim for the first day being called 'The Lord's Day': Luke 24:1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. Note that the phrase 'on the first day of the week' is an interpretation and is debatable. The Greek actually directly translates as 'And day one of the Sabbaths'. This phrase is sometimes also translated as 'the day after the Sabbath'. Since in the time period of Passover, there were weekly Sabbaths as well as special Sabbaths, the 'day after the Sabbath' does not necessarily mean it was also Sunday, the first day of the week. So to read into this passage that the day was Sunday (even though it may have been) is already reading an assumption into the text.
An equivalent to this verse, Matthew 28:1 (in direct translation from Greek) reads 'And late on Sabbath, in the evening of day one of Sabbath, came Mary the Magdalene and the other Mary, to view the tomb.' If you read this literally, it says they came late on that Sabbath! In those days, some considered a Hebrew day to run from evening to evening, so the day after the Sabbath could be considered to begin around sundown on the Sabbath. If that Sabbath was a weekly one, in our timeframe, that would be on Saturday after sundown. NOT Sunday. And it actually reads 'and late ON Sabbath' perhaps they were there even before the Sabbath was completely over, which would make sense. If the tomb was less than a Sabbath day's walk for them (one of the additional rules) they would be permitted to walk, as long as they were not carrying a heavy load (another rule).
John 20:19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." This phrase, in Greek, directly translates as 'It being then late in that day, in the day one of the Sabbaths...' If you read all of John 20, the timing is the same as when Yeshua appeared to the Marys. 'That day' whichever day of the week it was, was busy! This verse, in its direct translation from the Greek, agrees with what Yeshua said in Matthew 12:8, that 'The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." He appeared to his disciples at the close of that day. This verse, however, does NOT tell us that Sunday is now replacing the Sabbath as 'The Lord's Day.'
Revelation 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. This is the ONLY place in the New Testament where the phrase 'The Lord's Day' actually appears. Reading Revelation, you quickly see that 'The Lord's Day' is not referring to Sunday, but the 'great and terrible Day of the Lord' ... the Judgment Day. There is NOTHING here, either in this verse or in its greater context, to indicate that the day John received his revelation on a Sunday!
2.The claim that christians 'immediately began meeting together on that day' (Sunday): From John 20:19 (above) we see that the 'christians' who were actually the Hebrew Jewish disciples, did not immediately organize a church service! They were gathered together for 'fear of the Jews'. If the Jewish leaders had crucified Yeshua, would they be next? The text simply read literally, they were hiding in fear, not meeting to worship.
John 20:26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." This again, says nothing about the disciples meeting to worship, though perhaps this time they were. Eight days later would technically be a week and one day, not the following Sunday.
Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. Of course they would have been all together in one place...it was commanded in the Torah that all Israelite men meet for Shavuot (Pentecost) in Jerusalem. It does not say what they were doing.
Acts 20:7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. The weekly Sabbath day (work ceased on the ‘day’, people generally didn’t work at night) ends at sundown on what is our Saturday. At the close of the Sabbath, a religious (man-made) ceremony called Havdalah is held to mark the separation between the holy (Sabbath) and the common (the six days of work). After this bread may be 'broken' as part of a meal. In the account of Acts 20, it is more likely Paul was planning to leave in the morning (of our Sunday) and stayed late into the night talking.
1 Corinthians 16:2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. There is nothing here either about Sunday being a worship day. The Greek direct translation actually says 'one of the Sabbaths' not 'the first day of the week'. Even translated 'first day' the verse goes on to say 'each of you' meaning this is an individual responsibility, not a corporate one that might happen at a meeting.
Next...a look at the teachings of the 'church fathers' used as further support for Sunday replacement of the Biblical Sabbath
Why is there church on Sunday? Part 2
Having examined the context of Colossians 2:16 to determine there is no validity here for the statement that 'the church is no longer required to keep the Jewish Sabbaths', lets look at some other statements made by the Reformed pastor in his answer to the person asking why we worship on Sunday.
'Remember', he responds, 'before Jesus rose from the dead, the Old Testament legislation was still in effect. Not only did God's people in Jesus day worship on Saturday, they also had priests, offered sacrifices and circumcised believers and their children. Following Jesus resurrection, however, many things changed. The Old Testament priesthood changed because now Jesus is our only High Priest and every believer is a priest (cf. 1 Peter 1). The sacrificial system changed because Jesus was the once-for-all sacrifice for sin and believers now offer their lives and praises to God as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1, Hebrews 13:15). The sacrament of circumcision was changed to baptism because 'bloody' sacraments were no longer appropriate after Jesus' blood was shed (Colossians 2:11-12). We should not be surprised if there were changes not only with respect to the worship, but also to the Sabbath itself.'
The main assertion in his response is that the Levitical system which is part of the Torah, is ended, changed to a new system. On this he bases an assumption that the Sabbath also has been changed. But are his claims valid? Has the priesthood changed?
In Exodus 19:6, at Mt Sinai, God tells Israel 'you shall be for me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation'. ALL of them were meant to be a kingdom of priests. In 1 Peter 2:5 and 9, Peter echoes this.
While the Levitical system remained, believers in Messiah were to consider themselves a SPIRITUAL priesthood. Interestingly, Revelations 5:10 and 20:6 tell us this entire priesthood will reign on the earth! So it does not appear that the spiritual replaces the physical but completes it.
Remember that the physical system is a shadow of the spiritual. The written Torah is a shadow of Yeshua, the Living Torah. HE is the Torah we are to follow. The written is valid, but incomplete. Therefore, it is not finished or ended, it exists to point us to the Living Torah. Perfection can't be attained through the written Torah, but it exists for a purpose. If it is indeed overturned, then the words of the prophets such as Isaiah would be false.
There are many references to continued sacrifices in the days after Messiah returns. Look at these from Isaiah 56:
1Thus says the LORD:"Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.2Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast,who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil." 3Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, "The LORD will surely separate me from his people";and let not the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree."4For thus says the LORD:"To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant,5 I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters;I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. 6"And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants,everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer;their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar;for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples."8The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,"I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.
Has the sacrificial system changed? Not if burnt offerings and sacrifices are still to be made after the final gathering (Isaiah 56).
The pastor cites Romans 12:1. This verse does not say the system has changed. It is instead an explanation of our spiritual worship. The physical system was well explained in the Torah, remember. Hebrews 13 continues the explanation of this spiritual sacrifice. But it too does not say the Levitical system had ended.
Has circumcision been replaced with baptism? The proof text here is Colossians 2:11-12. This passage speaks, as do the previous passages, of the spiritual Torah of which the written Torah is a shadow. It is further explanation. It does NOT say that circumcision has been changed to baptism. As a matter of fact, that statement in particular is a huge and illogical jump in reasoning.
Now it bears saying here that the Torah clearly calls for sacrifices to be offered to God at the temple in Jerusalem. And that is no longer possible. But that does not mean the system has necessarily ended. It appears, instead, to be an even greater pointer to the sacrifice Yeshua made. That the Israelites could no longer cover their unintentional sins with animal sacrifices offered in the prescribed manner should have made them even more aware of their need for Messiah. Perhaps had they cried out as a nation, He would have opened their eyes to the truth. Instead, they replaced the Levitical system with one of their own making, called rabbinic Judaism.
All in all, there is not convincing Biblical evidence given, that the statements the pastor makes are valid. If it is not proven that the church is no longer required to keep the Jewish Sabbath, if it is not proven that the Old Testament priesthood changed, that the sacrificial system changed and that circumcision has been replaced with baptism...then what?
Next in Part 3...the claim that the day of worship has been switched from the seventh to the first.
'Remember', he responds, 'before Jesus rose from the dead, the Old Testament legislation was still in effect. Not only did God's people in Jesus day worship on Saturday, they also had priests, offered sacrifices and circumcised believers and their children. Following Jesus resurrection, however, many things changed. The Old Testament priesthood changed because now Jesus is our only High Priest and every believer is a priest (cf. 1 Peter 1). The sacrificial system changed because Jesus was the once-for-all sacrifice for sin and believers now offer their lives and praises to God as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1, Hebrews 13:15). The sacrament of circumcision was changed to baptism because 'bloody' sacraments were no longer appropriate after Jesus' blood was shed (Colossians 2:11-12). We should not be surprised if there were changes not only with respect to the worship, but also to the Sabbath itself.'
The main assertion in his response is that the Levitical system which is part of the Torah, is ended, changed to a new system. On this he bases an assumption that the Sabbath also has been changed. But are his claims valid? Has the priesthood changed?
In Exodus 19:6, at Mt Sinai, God tells Israel 'you shall be for me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation'. ALL of them were meant to be a kingdom of priests. In 1 Peter 2:5 and 9, Peter echoes this.
While the Levitical system remained, believers in Messiah were to consider themselves a SPIRITUAL priesthood. Interestingly, Revelations 5:10 and 20:6 tell us this entire priesthood will reign on the earth! So it does not appear that the spiritual replaces the physical but completes it.
Remember that the physical system is a shadow of the spiritual. The written Torah is a shadow of Yeshua, the Living Torah. HE is the Torah we are to follow. The written is valid, but incomplete. Therefore, it is not finished or ended, it exists to point us to the Living Torah. Perfection can't be attained through the written Torah, but it exists for a purpose. If it is indeed overturned, then the words of the prophets such as Isaiah would be false.
There are many references to continued sacrifices in the days after Messiah returns. Look at these from Isaiah 56:
1Thus says the LORD:"Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.2Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast,who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil." 3Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, "The LORD will surely separate me from his people";and let not the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree."4For thus says the LORD:"To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant,5 I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters;I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. 6"And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants,everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer;their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar;for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples."8The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,"I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.
Has the sacrificial system changed? Not if burnt offerings and sacrifices are still to be made after the final gathering (Isaiah 56).
The pastor cites Romans 12:1. This verse does not say the system has changed. It is instead an explanation of our spiritual worship. The physical system was well explained in the Torah, remember. Hebrews 13 continues the explanation of this spiritual sacrifice. But it too does not say the Levitical system had ended.
Has circumcision been replaced with baptism? The proof text here is Colossians 2:11-12. This passage speaks, as do the previous passages, of the spiritual Torah of which the written Torah is a shadow. It is further explanation. It does NOT say that circumcision has been changed to baptism. As a matter of fact, that statement in particular is a huge and illogical jump in reasoning.
Now it bears saying here that the Torah clearly calls for sacrifices to be offered to God at the temple in Jerusalem. And that is no longer possible. But that does not mean the system has necessarily ended. It appears, instead, to be an even greater pointer to the sacrifice Yeshua made. That the Israelites could no longer cover their unintentional sins with animal sacrifices offered in the prescribed manner should have made them even more aware of their need for Messiah. Perhaps had they cried out as a nation, He would have opened their eyes to the truth. Instead, they replaced the Levitical system with one of their own making, called rabbinic Judaism.
All in all, there is not convincing Biblical evidence given, that the statements the pastor makes are valid. If it is not proven that the church is no longer required to keep the Jewish Sabbath, if it is not proven that the Old Testament priesthood changed, that the sacrificial system changed and that circumcision has been replaced with baptism...then what?
Next in Part 3...the claim that the day of worship has been switched from the seventh to the first.
December 14, 2009
Why is there church on Sunday?
A Reformed Church pastor was asked the following question:
Why is there church on Sunday? The Ten Commandments say that the seventh day, or Saturday, is the Sabbath. Jesus, in Luke 4, worshiped on Saturday. Aren’t Christians worshipping on the wrong day?
His response agreed it was correct that Jesus worshipped on Saturday, and that Luke 4 teaches it was His custom to worship weekly with the people of God. The Ten Commandments include the commandment to honour the Sabbath, he says, that has not changed. In fact, he affirms, the Sabbath was ordained in creation! It affords believers and their families the chance to receive one of God’s chief blessings. He goes on to make some statements, backing them up with Scripture. I’d like to take a closer look at them.
His first statement is the subject of this piece, and also the foundation on which the rest of his explanation is built. In it he claims that while the fourth commandment remains valid, the church is no longer required to keep the Jewish Sabbath! On what does he base this claim? On Colossians 2:16.
Now this is a pretty big statement that he makes here. According to the Law of God, refusing to honour His Sabbath was an offense punishable by death! Did GOD change His Law? Or is it a new ‘human tradition’?
Bear in mind that, in the New Testament letters (the Apostolic letters), we have only one side of the discussion. The writers are giving answers, but we don't see the questions. So to flatly state 'this is what Paul (Peter, James) meant' is a bit presumptuous. (And to build an entire religion on it is something else.)
We can carefully examine the context of statements within letters, and try to understand them in light of other historical evidence of the day. We MUST regard each statement in light of the Torah (instruction, Law) found in the Old Testament, for if they are of YHVH, they will not break His commands. Yeshua Himself warns that anyone who breaks the least of His commandments will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:19).
Let's take a closer look at Colossians 2:16…in its context of the entire chapter of Colossians 2.
1For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. 6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 8See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. 16Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. 20If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" 22( referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
Paul (generally agreed to be the writer) encourages the Colossian congregation to reach greater understanding of the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Messiah. THAT understanding will help protect them from being led astray by arguments which sound good but are designed to lead them away from truth. Yeshua is the embodiment of the Law of God, perfectly fulfilled.
Paul encourages the Colossians to walk after HIM (Yeshua), to become rooted and established in HIS truth. To themselves walk in the perfection of the Law! Not to walk in the shadow of an outward conformity only, but to walk (run, as in Psalm 119:32) in the fulness of the Law lived out from the purity of a renewed heart. NOT to substitute false truth presented through human interpretation, and walk after it.
Human arguments and worldviews (philosophy) are very attractive, yet empty. Human nature rebels against submitting to the truth of our need to be saved. We can’t contribute to our salvation; we can only humbly accept it. Our sin nature doesn’t want to do that!
Paul reminds the Colossians that their debt of sin (with its sentence of death) was cancelled! That those who held power over them in their weak state of sin are effectively made powerless! He warns them not to let themselves again become enslaved to the bondage of human tradition, of human attempt to merit God’s grace.
Two of the main issues of the day were emphasis on strict rules for purity, and honouring the Sabbath and holy days. Paul touches on this here in verse 16.
Other historical documents bear out this 'scrupulosity concerning meats' (purity) their 'superstition as respects the Sabbaths' (note the plural...this includes high holy Sabbaths), their 'fancies about fasting and new moons' (Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus).
Man-made ‘fence laws’ were enacted so if any law were broken, it would be the fence law and not the Law of God. This is a fine sounding argument but ineffective. It controlled only the outward behaviour and had no impact on the heart state out of which obedience is meant to come.
Paul compares this man-made emphasis on how to celebrate holy days or how to eat (the human teaching of ritual purification of the hands, for example, so as not to transmit ‘uncleanness’ to food) with the worship of angels and the practice of ‘asceticism and severity to the body’. None of these things are Scriptural. Paul told them not to let anyone judge them based on man-made rules. What he was NOT teaching them was to do away with the Sabbath! That is a ludicrious conclusion.
Based on the context of verse 16, it is the opinions on HOW to observe the Law that the writer was discussing. The Sabbath, the holy days, the (simple) food laws God gave, were given to point us to our need for Messiah. They spelled out righteousness for us and showed us our shortcoming and our need for saving. They show us what righteousness looks like. They are not Messiah! They cannot save us! They show us HIS righteousness. They are a shadow of Him. IN Him is all the fullness of the teaching and instruction (the Law) of God, perfectly shown. HE is the light to the nations that Israel, because of sin, could never be.
These simple laws had become covered over with human laws that became an enormous burden for the people. So, Paul reasons, why then do you turn back to these empty attempts at self justification? These are human laws and teachings! Paul strongly writes that BECAUSE Yeshua has cancelled the record of debt that was against them, thereby disarming the rulers and authorities who held power over them, they are not to again allow anyone to judge them in their celebration of holy days or in how they ate their food, and submit themselves again to the teachings of the human rules and human laws.
In context, Paul could not be referring to the Torah, the Law of God given at Mt Sinai. There is no evidence here that the Law of God regarding food and drink or holy days is altered in any way. And most clearly, there is NO evidence that Paul is establishing a new law of his own, that the Sabbath and the holy days are ended!
Finally, it is said that whenever you see a ‘therefore’ statement, look what it is there for!
Reading the verse before as well as verse 16, it reads: And you…God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Therefore (because HE forgave you) let no one (no human) pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
Because HE forgave you and cancelled the sentence of death you were under, don’t let any human (religious) ruler or authourity pass judgment on you, as to their opinions of how you eat, drink or worship. Only God has the right to do that! Our human interpretation of what is acceptable to God can only ever be a shadow. In Christ is found the truth.
Next time...based on the assumption described above (that the church is not required to keep the Sabbath) the Reformed pastor gives his reasons (backed up with Scripture) for the change of Sabbath to Sunday.
Why is there church on Sunday? The Ten Commandments say that the seventh day, or Saturday, is the Sabbath. Jesus, in Luke 4, worshiped on Saturday. Aren’t Christians worshipping on the wrong day?
His response agreed it was correct that Jesus worshipped on Saturday, and that Luke 4 teaches it was His custom to worship weekly with the people of God. The Ten Commandments include the commandment to honour the Sabbath, he says, that has not changed. In fact, he affirms, the Sabbath was ordained in creation! It affords believers and their families the chance to receive one of God’s chief blessings. He goes on to make some statements, backing them up with Scripture. I’d like to take a closer look at them.
His first statement is the subject of this piece, and also the foundation on which the rest of his explanation is built. In it he claims that while the fourth commandment remains valid, the church is no longer required to keep the Jewish Sabbath! On what does he base this claim? On Colossians 2:16.
Now this is a pretty big statement that he makes here. According to the Law of God, refusing to honour His Sabbath was an offense punishable by death! Did GOD change His Law? Or is it a new ‘human tradition’?
Bear in mind that, in the New Testament letters (the Apostolic letters), we have only one side of the discussion. The writers are giving answers, but we don't see the questions. So to flatly state 'this is what Paul (Peter, James) meant' is a bit presumptuous. (And to build an entire religion on it is something else.)
We can carefully examine the context of statements within letters, and try to understand them in light of other historical evidence of the day. We MUST regard each statement in light of the Torah (instruction, Law) found in the Old Testament, for if they are of YHVH, they will not break His commands. Yeshua Himself warns that anyone who breaks the least of His commandments will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:19).
Let's take a closer look at Colossians 2:16…in its context of the entire chapter of Colossians 2.
1For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. 6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 8See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. 16Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. 20If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" 22( referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
Paul (generally agreed to be the writer) encourages the Colossian congregation to reach greater understanding of the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Messiah. THAT understanding will help protect them from being led astray by arguments which sound good but are designed to lead them away from truth. Yeshua is the embodiment of the Law of God, perfectly fulfilled.
Paul encourages the Colossians to walk after HIM (Yeshua), to become rooted and established in HIS truth. To themselves walk in the perfection of the Law! Not to walk in the shadow of an outward conformity only, but to walk (run, as in Psalm 119:32) in the fulness of the Law lived out from the purity of a renewed heart. NOT to substitute false truth presented through human interpretation, and walk after it.
Human arguments and worldviews (philosophy) are very attractive, yet empty. Human nature rebels against submitting to the truth of our need to be saved. We can’t contribute to our salvation; we can only humbly accept it. Our sin nature doesn’t want to do that!
Paul reminds the Colossians that their debt of sin (with its sentence of death) was cancelled! That those who held power over them in their weak state of sin are effectively made powerless! He warns them not to let themselves again become enslaved to the bondage of human tradition, of human attempt to merit God’s grace.
Two of the main issues of the day were emphasis on strict rules for purity, and honouring the Sabbath and holy days. Paul touches on this here in verse 16.
Other historical documents bear out this 'scrupulosity concerning meats' (purity) their 'superstition as respects the Sabbaths' (note the plural...this includes high holy Sabbaths), their 'fancies about fasting and new moons' (Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus).
Man-made ‘fence laws’ were enacted so if any law were broken, it would be the fence law and not the Law of God. This is a fine sounding argument but ineffective. It controlled only the outward behaviour and had no impact on the heart state out of which obedience is meant to come.
Paul compares this man-made emphasis on how to celebrate holy days or how to eat (the human teaching of ritual purification of the hands, for example, so as not to transmit ‘uncleanness’ to food) with the worship of angels and the practice of ‘asceticism and severity to the body’. None of these things are Scriptural. Paul told them not to let anyone judge them based on man-made rules. What he was NOT teaching them was to do away with the Sabbath! That is a ludicrious conclusion.
Based on the context of verse 16, it is the opinions on HOW to observe the Law that the writer was discussing. The Sabbath, the holy days, the (simple) food laws God gave, were given to point us to our need for Messiah. They spelled out righteousness for us and showed us our shortcoming and our need for saving. They show us what righteousness looks like. They are not Messiah! They cannot save us! They show us HIS righteousness. They are a shadow of Him. IN Him is all the fullness of the teaching and instruction (the Law) of God, perfectly shown. HE is the light to the nations that Israel, because of sin, could never be.
These simple laws had become covered over with human laws that became an enormous burden for the people. So, Paul reasons, why then do you turn back to these empty attempts at self justification? These are human laws and teachings! Paul strongly writes that BECAUSE Yeshua has cancelled the record of debt that was against them, thereby disarming the rulers and authorities who held power over them, they are not to again allow anyone to judge them in their celebration of holy days or in how they ate their food, and submit themselves again to the teachings of the human rules and human laws.
In context, Paul could not be referring to the Torah, the Law of God given at Mt Sinai. There is no evidence here that the Law of God regarding food and drink or holy days is altered in any way. And most clearly, there is NO evidence that Paul is establishing a new law of his own, that the Sabbath and the holy days are ended!
Finally, it is said that whenever you see a ‘therefore’ statement, look what it is there for!
Reading the verse before as well as verse 16, it reads: And you…God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Therefore (because HE forgave you) let no one (no human) pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
Because HE forgave you and cancelled the sentence of death you were under, don’t let any human (religious) ruler or authourity pass judgment on you, as to their opinions of how you eat, drink or worship. Only God has the right to do that! Our human interpretation of what is acceptable to God can only ever be a shadow. In Christ is found the truth.
Next time...based on the assumption described above (that the church is not required to keep the Sabbath) the Reformed pastor gives his reasons (backed up with Scripture) for the change of Sabbath to Sunday.
December 2, 2009
In the Beginning, God...
In the Beginning…Genesis One Verse One
Some people today claim that the Biblical account of creation is a myth, in an otherwise true book. Is this consistent with the rest of Scripture? In other words, can you believe in evolution, even in a limited way, and also believe in the God of the Bible?
Read through and consider carefully what the Bible teaches. None of these verses have been chosen to fit a preconceived idea; they are chosen simply because they refer to how and why the universe came to be. It is left to you to ponder and consider if and how it matters:
References to creation are sprinkled throughout the Bible. In Job 38-39, in poetic style, God identifies Himself and speaks:
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said… Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me: …Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.Who determined its measurements—surely you know? Or who stretched the line upon it?On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone? …Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb… and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed' …Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?
In reference to the lunar/solar cycles:
Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?
Regarding man: Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?
Regarding idols such as the wild ox worshipped for its fierceness: Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?
Throughout these chapters, God speaks and clearly claims full responsibility for creation in all its intricacy. This is in poetic form, though, could it be mere imagery? Are there further non-poetic claims in the Bible?
For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name! (Amos 4:13)
He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name; who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress. They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. (Amos 5:8-10)
In Isaiah 42:5, God, identified specifically as the Creator, speaks again and does not refute Who He is: Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it:
In Isaiah 44:24, God Himself claims to be the only one who created and sustains His creation: Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,
In Isaiah 45:12, God (verse 1 reveals who is speaking) specifically and unequivocally claims: I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.
Again in Isaiah 45:18, which specifically claims that the earth was not created to sit empty, but formed for a specific purpose: For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it;he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!):"I am the LORD, and there is no other.
In Jeremiah 5:22, in a stern warning from God (against those who turn against Him), God identifies Himself as Creator of the sea: Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it. But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away. They do not say in their hearts,' Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.'
David, described by God as a man after His own heart, indicating that God approves of him, in Psalm 33:6, also testifies that God spoke creation into existence, just as claimed in Genesis: By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
While many of David’s songs of praise are written in poetic style, the claims to God’s authourship of creation are clear: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech,and night to night reveals knowledge.There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
Again in Psalm 136:5 and 104:8, among many others: …to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever …The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.
Psalm 104:9 references the flood, and God’s promise to Noah to never again destroy the earth with a flood: You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.
The New Testament also speaks of creation and its Creator, never disproving what Genesis clearly says. John 1:1-3 clearly says that nothing happened by chance in creation, nothing was made without a Creator: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas preach that man’s understanding is without value or life (vain), that only God is to receive worship. …we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.
In Paul’s famous speech at the Aereopagus (the place in Greece for philosophical discussion), when he had the opportunity to speak to learned people, this is what he unhesitatingly claimed: The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man…
Hebrews 11:3 recognized that it takes faith to believe what we were not there to see. It also confirms that what is was made out of what is not (something made from nothing). By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
In 2 Peter 3, the writer speaks of a time coming (now) when people would refuse to believe that God did create the universe, just as recorded in the Scripture. It also explains why those people would refuse to believe: …I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation." For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.
Some people today claim that the Biblical account of creation is a myth, in an otherwise true book. Is this consistent with the rest of Scripture? In other words, can you believe in evolution, even in a limited way, and also believe in the God of the Bible?
Read through and consider carefully what the Bible teaches. None of these verses have been chosen to fit a preconceived idea; they are chosen simply because they refer to how and why the universe came to be. It is left to you to ponder and consider if and how it matters:
References to creation are sprinkled throughout the Bible. In Job 38-39, in poetic style, God identifies Himself and speaks:
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said… Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me: …Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.Who determined its measurements—surely you know? Or who stretched the line upon it?On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone? …Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb… and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed' …Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?
In reference to the lunar/solar cycles:
Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?
Regarding man: Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?
Regarding idols such as the wild ox worshipped for its fierceness: Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?
Throughout these chapters, God speaks and clearly claims full responsibility for creation in all its intricacy. This is in poetic form, though, could it be mere imagery? Are there further non-poetic claims in the Bible?
For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name! (Amos 4:13)
He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name; who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress. They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. (Amos 5:8-10)
In Isaiah 42:5, God, identified specifically as the Creator, speaks again and does not refute Who He is: Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it:
In Isaiah 44:24, God Himself claims to be the only one who created and sustains His creation: Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,
In Isaiah 45:12, God (verse 1 reveals who is speaking) specifically and unequivocally claims: I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.
Again in Isaiah 45:18, which specifically claims that the earth was not created to sit empty, but formed for a specific purpose: For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it;he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!):"I am the LORD, and there is no other.
In Jeremiah 5:22, in a stern warning from God (against those who turn against Him), God identifies Himself as Creator of the sea: Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it. But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away. They do not say in their hearts,' Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.'
David, described by God as a man after His own heart, indicating that God approves of him, in Psalm 33:6, also testifies that God spoke creation into existence, just as claimed in Genesis: By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
While many of David’s songs of praise are written in poetic style, the claims to God’s authourship of creation are clear: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech,and night to night reveals knowledge.There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
Again in Psalm 136:5 and 104:8, among many others: …to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever …The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.
Psalm 104:9 references the flood, and God’s promise to Noah to never again destroy the earth with a flood: You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.
The New Testament also speaks of creation and its Creator, never disproving what Genesis clearly says. John 1:1-3 clearly says that nothing happened by chance in creation, nothing was made without a Creator: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas preach that man’s understanding is without value or life (vain), that only God is to receive worship. …we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.
In Paul’s famous speech at the Aereopagus (the place in Greece for philosophical discussion), when he had the opportunity to speak to learned people, this is what he unhesitatingly claimed: The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man…
Hebrews 11:3 recognized that it takes faith to believe what we were not there to see. It also confirms that what is was made out of what is not (something made from nothing). By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
In 2 Peter 3, the writer speaks of a time coming (now) when people would refuse to believe that God did create the universe, just as recorded in the Scripture. It also explains why those people would refuse to believe: …I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation." For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.
November 22, 2009
Joseph Girzone's A Portrait of Jesus Review
Joseph F. Girzone
A Portrait of Jesus
(Note: while I’ve read more of this book, for the sake of keeping this short, only 3 chapters have been chosen randomly for the review. For the sake of reading ease, I've chosen to use 'Jesus' throughout, though I generally prefer to use a variant of His Hebrew name.)
Joseph Girzone is a retired Roman Catholic priest who has written several popular books. Reading the comments found on the back cover of A Portrait of Jesus, he is praised as someone who ‘draws on the wisdom of the centuries’, ‘writes with humanity and spirit’, ‘guides readers toward a more satisfying religious experience’ and who defines ‘just what intimacy with God actually looks like.’
Foreword: There is a real longing expressed here for ‘ecumenism’ or unity between different religious perspectives. There is an example described of this kind of hoped for unity between the authour’s Roman Catholic congregation and an Orthodox Jewish congregation. This is confusing because the belief system of the Roman Catholic church (who are seen by Orthodox Jews as idol worshippers) is completely against the belief system of the Orthodox Jewish religion. How can such complete opposites in belief have ‘unity’?
He mentions that many pastors and priests were surprised to hear his talks about Jesus, that they had been taught theology and Scripture in Seminary, but not Jesus. He writes, “People have a hunger for Jesus and for a genuine understanding of what His Good News really is, whether they are Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, or even those who cannot identify with any faith. Jesus’ Good News responds to the deepest needs of the human soul, no matter what the person’s belief or lack of belief, and is intimately tied up with our understanding of who Jesus really is and how He thinks and feels.’ He doesn’t explain how a Hindu or a Buddhist or one with no faith can know their hunger is for Jesus. It seems to describe the belief that ‘all paths lead to God’, but that some of the people who are currently Hindus, Buddhist or atheists just don’t know that yet.
There is an interesting comment that ‘We are in the process of reevaluating all our previously accepted values, the very pillars of our civilization.’ This is true, but bear in mind that it is the same message that Rick Warren presents. ‘Emergent church’ pastors such as Brian MacLaren have been saying for years that ‘everything must change.’ This statement sets the tone for the book, that it will present information which will challenge our previous assumptions of who Jesus is and what He came for. Bear in mind that Jesus is first of all obedient to God (even to what was a cursed and shameful death) and also that He fully upheld Scripture (the Old Testament) as accurately describing Who He is and what He came for. Anything anyone else says should challenge our unscriptural assumptions and point us clearly to the Bible as the written Word of the One who is the Word made flesh.
Chapter 1: The people of Jesus day were definitely burdened with laws that regulated every detail of their life. Not only under Roman oppression, they had the good Law of God (read Psalm 119) twisted and distorted by the hundreds of added traditions of the elders, which had often over-ruled God’s simple commands.
He writes that there are 613 commandments in Scripture and 365 prohibitions, but this is wrong. There are 613 laws, divided into 248 positive ones (you shall love the Lord your God) and 365 prohibitions (do not commit adultery). Of the 613, some are for men only, some for women only, some only at particular times of life (marriage, birth, death), and many for priests only. This is one of many instances where you should be able to expect, as someone who teaches and studies the Bible, that he be aware of what is and isn’t correct. Throughout the book, he often gets small details (and sometimes not so small) of the Bible just plain wrong.
He is also inaccurate in implying that these 613 laws were the main cause of the people’s burden. The ‘law’ that he says Paul described as the ‘unbearable burden that no human being could carry’ was what was commonly called ‘the law of Moses’ and included the enormous burden of these man-made additions to God’s Law. This is important to note, because the claim follows that Jesus came to set people free from ‘the law’ implying that it was God’s Law that was the burden.
Jesus did not come to set people ‘free’ from God’s Law. Also, at no time did He ever disobey any part of God’s Law. There is evidence that at times He ignored the added laws of the elders, especially where they conflicted with the original intent of God’s own instruction. If Jesus had disobeyed even the smallest of God’s laws, He would have been disqualified from being the sinless sacrifice for our own sins. Sin is defined as disobedience to God’s Law (1 John 3:4-5).
There are a number of other odd claims in the book, that do not have any Scriptural backing, such as ‘Jesus…definition of a holy person (is) an individual who allowed all their God-given uniqueness to grow within to full maturity and in the process becoming a beautiful human being’ and, referring to Jesus, ‘He (did not) wear special clothes like the scribes and the Pharisees’ and the claim that while Mary was on time, Jesus was three days late to the wedding in Cana. That particular example has all kinds of other assumptions in the story! Very odd and more concerning, they are imaginative additions to the real facts we are given, and are used to paint a picture that we are then supposed to believe as truth. That is not a good basis for discovering Who Jesus actually is, as is the premise of the book.
Chapter 6: This chapter opens with a favourable quote from Thomas Merton, the new age Catholic-Buddhist mystic. In it, he laments that he does not necessarily know if he is following God’s will.
This chapter deals with what to do after first deciding to follow God. How does one know what to do? Joseph Girzone likens it to starting out ‘on an untraveled road in the dark.’
He describes how when he was a child, it seemed simple. He felt ‘deep down that it was really Jesus’ when he took the wafer and wine of the Eucharist, and went to Mass each day in order to be ‘close to Jesus in the Eucharist’. When troubles came, he crumbled, and ‘that beautiful sense of Jesus presence left me, never to come back’. He began to search the scriptures and the writings of the mystics as well as ‘the directories of spirituality for a way to holiness that made sense’. He could not figure out how God expected us to be perfect, yet ‘He made us all so flawed.’ Contrast that with Genesis 1:28-31, where God calls His creation ‘very good.’
There is discussion on ‘spiritual growth’ where he likens it to natural physical growth. Peter is described as spiritually immature because he could not ‘control his impulsive outbursts’. ‘Jesus…knew it (spiritual maturity) would happen in time, when he had grown to the point where it would happen naturally as an outflow of his inner spirituality.’ In contrast, the Bible describes Peter as changing completely and instantaneously when he was baptized by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. This was after he had been completely humbled by the realization of his three time rejection of Christ. There was no ‘spiritual growth’ but an enabling by the power of the Holy Spirit, in a repentant and humbled heart, to be completely changed.
The fact is, we do not ‘grow spiritually’ as a result of OUR spirituality. We ‘grow’ as we yield to the truth of the Word, and live in humble obedience to it. God grows us, we don’t. We yield and obey, and receive what we are given. That is our part.
Joseph Girzone carefully and accurately describes the need for humility before God, and the need to curb actions that are harmful to ourselves or others. Yet he goes on to claim that Jesus ‘did not spell out everything in detail’. That isn’t quite true, and demonstrates a legalistic mindset. The commandments God gave, that Christ expected us to follow, and taught simply and clearly (without all the extra baggage added on by the traditions of the elders) are not too hard to follow! Our problem is we want our own way; when we are enslaved by our sin nature, it naturally wants to rule in God’s place. We constantly, even without consciously realizing it, look for loopholes...if it isn't spelled out in detail, we find a way around it. We re-interpret and obey our version.
Only when we submit to dying to our sin nature (daily, see Luke 9:23) and are spiritually dead to sin and raised with Christ (Romans 6) are we given a new heart and are born again, this time to follow in obedience, no longer enslaved to sin. Time and again, Jesus taught that it was what came from the heart that mattered. And a heart that was enslaved to sin could never please God. Only a new heart and a new spirit could do that, and only He could give that. We have no need for legalistic 'details' to be 'spelled out' in the Law, our Father promises to guide us in how to please Him.
The remainder of the chapter describes how we are to ‘fulfil our role in a mystical body…Each day we add our little colored fibers to the threads that are being woven into the tapestry of God’s plan, not just for our little parish, not even just for the Church at large, but for the perfecting of the human family.’ The descriptions paint a picture of humans bringing true peace to the world through their right spiritual growth. Yet Scripture paints a different picture. True peace will only come to the world when the Prince of Peace rules it.
Chapter 14: Peter is described as wanting ‘to construct a shrine to commemorate the event’ of the transfiguration (Matthew 17) yet Matthew 17, Mark 9 or Luke 9 do not say that at all. “Three tents” are not a shrine!
The parable of the workers in the vineyard from Matthew 20 is explained as Jesus hinting ‘at things that will happen in His Kingdom after He leaves.’ Yet it is actually describing what will happen in His Kingdom after he returns!
He claims that ‘In these examples…(Jesus) is also brutally realistic in warning His followers that the Kingdom of heaven on earth is a family of spiritually weak, crippled people who need redemption, so don’t expect it to be the perfect society.’ He goes on to describe the example in Matthew 13:47-50, saying ‘He compares the Kingdom of heaven to a fisherman who went out fishing. When he finished, he hauled the net ashore and began sorting the fish. Some were good, others stank to high heaven. So, also, the kingdom on earth, the Church.’ Yet this isn’t at all what this parable is speaking of. It is speaking of those who are God’s and those who are not. Matthew 13:49-50 actually reads that ‘the angels will separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is a very different picture than the book describes, and it is an important difference. In Matthew 7, Jesus warns that not all who call Him Lord are actually His.
The warning is given that ‘His Kingdom on earth…will always be filled with sinners exhibiting all kinds of offensive behavior. Do not expect the kingdom to be filled with all nice people. It never will be, neither at the top or at the bottom or at any other level.’ This contrasts enormously with the example of the true believing community in Acts 2:37-47, and with the descriptions of the ones who will not be included in the kingdom that are given in 1 Corinthians 5:10-12, 6:9 and Ephesians 5:5.
There is a quote which implies it is from Jesus (but has no reference) which says ‘If you want to have peace within yourself, and with your neighbors, learn to forgive.’ He claims that Jesus intends us to ‘try to understand the pain and tortured spirit that gave rise to such person’s offensive behavior. Then, when you see their pain, or their oddness, you pity them, and do not take on the anguish they are trying to pass on to you. It makes such good sense. It is not easy, and Jesus realized it is not easy, but it is the only way to preserve peace and serenity.’ This might sound good at first read, but it isn’t so. Yes, we are to forgive, as He has forgiven us. This is critical. But our forgiveness does not bring peace to the earth; neither did He come for that reason. Jesus Himself clearly said “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34)
Conclusion: Much of his writing is quite beautiful and poetic, it sometimes takes effort to go beyond the illusion and carefully examine what is actually being said. Yet it is so important to do that, because though there is some truth here (as defined by the Word) much of what he says is not scripturally sound. There is glaring inconsistency and a great deal of inaccuracy, sometimes in details, but often in very important matters. This continues from beginning to end. Even in the last chapter, words are attributed to Jesus that are completely out of context, misapplied, or fabricated.
In a book that claims to be a ‘Portrait of Jesus’ those details are critically important. A picture is given of Jesus that is inaccurate and manipulated.
Do you want to know Who He is? Then open the Bible, beginning at Genesis, and pray for the Holy Spirit to open your mind as the minds of the disciples were opened by Jesus (Luke 24:32) so they could understand the Scriptures written about Him. The Good News begins in creation. The Scriptures Jesus so often referred to are only what we today call the Old Testament. That section of the Bible is where you will find the Good News of Who He is. That is a much better thing to do than to spend the time reading A Portrait of Jesus.
October 24, 2009
Predestination or Free Will Part Two
The Calvinist doctrine of total depravity states that it is God who changes the hearts of some from rebellion to willing obedience, and that man has absolutely no part in this. One person is saved and another condemned not because of anything in them, but only at the will of God. It states that God completely and at His will accomplishes the salvation (justification) of certain sinners, as well as ensures their sanctification.
The term ‘total’ in this context refers to sin affecting every part of a person, not necessarily that a person is as evil as possible. This definition has general support, even from those opposed to other points of this doctrine. While proof texts can be found in support of total depravity and predestination, there are other texts which refute this doctrine.
There are two camps of interpretation, generally in total opposition to each other. Yet we know that Scripture, interpreted properly, can never contradict itself. The imbalances are in our own interpretations.
Going back to the very beginning, we read in Genesis 1:28 that God blessed man and in Genesis 1:31, pronounced all creation, including mankind as the rulers of it, as not just good, but very good. There was no defect in all of creation.
‘Very good’ means that at that point there was no ‘sin nature' in man (Genesis 2:25). This may be because man was created not being aware of evil (Genesis 3:22 and Romans 7:8-9). In perfect creation, mankind was allowed the choice of either obeying or disobeying God’s law. They were warned that disobedience would result in certain death (Genesis 2:17). Their eyes were not opened to evil (Genesis 3:5).
God did not create humans with only the option of obeying; He allowed them choice, even knowing in advance how they would choose. He did not make them choose to disobey. Neither did He make them so they would naturally default to disobey. From the information clearly given, we see that He gave them free will to choose to obey or disobey, and that at the time they received that free will, they were without any defect.
The parents of all humankind chose to disobey the law God gave them (Genesis 2:17) and act according to their own understanding (Genesis 3:6), bringing the curse of death (separation from Life) not only on them and the generations to come, but placing the creation over which they ruled in bondage as well (Romans 8:20-22). All the rest of humankind followed suit (Genesis 6:5).
In His mercy, God did not allow sin’s consequences to result in immediate death, though decay and the breakdown in relationship between God and man, and man and creation began immediately (Genesis 3:7, 17-20). God revealed His promise to them in Genesis 3:15 and until that time came to pass, protected them (Genesis 3:22-24) Though humankind retained the ability to choose either to resist the sin nature and walk with God (Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham) by far the great majority did not. In general, for humankind, every inclination and thought of their heart was evil, all the time (Genesis 6:5, 8:21). While this was the majority, it was clearly not everyone.
If a man ‘walked with God’, trusting in Him and His ways and obeying His commands, God accepted his trust (and the resulting obedience), as righteousness. It seems implied in Scripture that even though such men as Enoch and Elijah were taken directly to heaven, this was based not on their attaining perfection before God in their own actions, but rather in their faith, perhaps taken together with the imputed righteousness of Messiah, to come to pass in its time. They were then justified before God through the future blood of Yeshua, and sanctified through their faith, which bore the 'fruit' of right responses in action.
Genesis 6:9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
Genesis 15:6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Psalm 106:30-31 But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was checked. This was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come.
Ezekiel 18:20 The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.
James 2:22-24 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
There is no Biblical evidence that God wills and causes people to obey Him. On the other hand, there is specific evidence that God hardened the hearts of men (Exodus 9:12; 10:1, 20 and more, Deuteronomy 2:30), leading to judgment. The stubbornness of Pharaoh and Sihon was clearly described as having come from a direct act of God, in order that His glory might be shown.
John 12:40 describes God hardening the hearts of those who willfully and persistently commit evil, who have proven themselves unrepentant. In judgment, He hardens them so they are unable to ‘see’ and repent. See also Isaiah 6:10 and Matthew 13:14. In the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13) the tares never turn into wheat, they remain tares.
No man can come to the Father unless the Father first draws him. Without that draw, we remain dead in our sins (Romans 4:17 and Ephesians 2:1). So it ALL, ALWAYS, begins with God. How can a dead man choose anything?
But He draws us, through the spirit of Messiah (John 12:32), and once again gives us that choice that Adam and Eve were given. Will we obey Him or follow our own understanding? There is no Scripture evidence that God ever removed, or caused to be removed, that ability to obey that He originally put into humankind, once He first draws us.
We can know that He does not draw only some and not others, for He clearly states it is not His will for ANY to perish (Ezekiel 18:23, 32, Ezekiel 33:11, 1 Timothy 2:4 and 2 Peter 3:9) but instead to turn and repent, and live. It is implicitly understood (meaning there is no direct evidence to say otherwise) that man CAN (is able to) obey God and respond to His draw, but in the vast majority, he chooses not to. It is this response of obedience or rejection that man is ultimately judged for.
While nothing on heaven or earth can separate us (against our will) or snatch us away from the love of Yeshua (John 10:28 and Romans 8:35-39), there is no evidence that we cannot walk away willingly, grieving the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 63:10) through our rebellion.
Judas Iscariot came to Yeshua willingly and believed. Since we are given evidence that the other disciples were called, it is implicit that Judas was too. There is no evidence that Messiah ever separated Judas from Himself (John 6:39; 17:12-13; 18:9). Yet Judas was lost, and that was foreknown. We also see that Ananias and Sapphira disobeyed and received judgment immediately (Acts 5) also Demas walked away from trust in God, and his position as fellow worker with the apostle Paul, back to trust in worldly things (2 Timothy 4:9-11, see also Colossians 4:14 and Philemon 1:24).
Paul told Timothy (2 Timothy 3:15-17) that everything he needed to know for salvation (being made right with God through God’s act) and sanctification (our response of a holy life) were to be found in the Torah. There was no ‘New Testament’ in their day; he was speaking of the Old Testament. It is also written in Psalm 102:18, Romans 4:23-24, Romans 15:4 and 1 Corinthians 10:4-13 that the things in Scripture (Old Testament) were written for our benefit.
Hebrews 11 speaks at length of God’s calling and what our response is to be, using many examples from Scripture. In the deliverance from Egypt, 600,000 men plus women, children and a mixed multitude (Exodus 12:37-38) were delivered from bondage into freedom. Yet ultimately only two (Joshua and Caleb) entered the Promised Land.
From this account and many others similar to it, we understand that while many will be called (redeemed, freed from bondage), only a remnant will actually receive the promise, and this based on their response. This is a common theme in Scripture.
We see the New Testament bearing witness to this with Yeshua's words in Matthew 7:13-14, that many (He spoke of the Israelites, the redeemed people) would be on the road to destruction, and few (the remnant), those who were on the hard road, would FIND the narrow gate that leads to life. The entire chapter of Matthew 7 speaks of our choice, and the results. We also read in Matthew 22:14 that many are called, but few are chosen.
We also see the New Testament showing us that Messiah died for the sins of ALL men (Romans 5:12,18, Romans 8:32, 2 Corinthians 5:15, 1 Timothy 2:6, Hebrews 2:9, 1 John 2:2); that his blood is sufficient to cover the sins of anyone. John 12:32 promises that Messiah will draw ALL men to himself. But it is clear that not all will respond. Only those who were foreknown would respond.
That foreknowledge does not mean that God makes us believe. It means He knows ahead of time who would respond (Romans 8:29). It is to those that the promise of life and the assurance of help are given. This is promised in Deuteronomy 7:9 and confirmed in the New Testament.
In the coronation of Solomon (1 Chronicles 28 specifically verse 9) we see God warning that IF Solomon does not respond rightly to God, THEN he will be ‘cast off forever’. 1 Kings 8:28-61 gives the request of Solomon to God on behalf of the people, with God answering in 2 Chronicles 7:12-16. Again we see an ‘if, then’ situation. The response of the people mattered to God. And it was His choice to make it so.
Israel was not chosen by God on their own merit (Deuteronomy 7 especially 6-7), but they received the benefit of God’s promise to their forefather Abraham. God promises to bless a thousand generations of the one who obeys Him.
It is God who initiates the process of our redemption by His drawing all men unto Himself through Messiah (John 6:44 and 12:32). Even the very faith that is needed to respond is available only as His gift (Romans 5:2, Ephesians 2:8-9). It is our right response to accept the gift, and submit to live in obedience to it. It is He alone Who is able to make us holy, as and if we are willing to respond to His Word in humility and obedience. We take Messiah’s yoke upon us (Mathew 11:28-30) and work together with him.
The written Word, which is the message of the Word made flesh (John 1:14), is able to give us understanding (through the Spirit) about salvation and sanctification (2 Timothy 3:15) as we commit to read and obey it. The first of the commandments is to hear (listen to) and obey God (Deuteronomy 6:3-4) this is cited by Yeshua in Mark 12:29-30 as the most important command.
Just as God offers the gift of salvation through Messiah, He can also refuse to offer it. That is His right as Giver. He can harden the hearts of those who reject Him, or those He chooses. But evidence in Scripture tells us that is the exception, not the rule. In His grace, he is patient, not wanting anyone to come to destruction, but to repent and come to life (2 Peter 3:9).
In conclusion, this free will of man needs to be understood in its boundaries. And it is very limited. It begins and ends with God; it is only available because of Him. There is nothing we can add to our salvation. Our ability to respond is given by God. Our only part is to accept this grace and to submit to live in it. The ability to become sanctified after being saved is also given by Him, as we submit to the work He does in us. We are to ‘work out our salvation with fear and trembling’ (Philippians 2:12) always remaining in His grace (Acts 11:23) and empowered by His Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10-16).
The term ‘total’ in this context refers to sin affecting every part of a person, not necessarily that a person is as evil as possible. This definition has general support, even from those opposed to other points of this doctrine. While proof texts can be found in support of total depravity and predestination, there are other texts which refute this doctrine.
There are two camps of interpretation, generally in total opposition to each other. Yet we know that Scripture, interpreted properly, can never contradict itself. The imbalances are in our own interpretations.
Going back to the very beginning, we read in Genesis 1:28 that God blessed man and in Genesis 1:31, pronounced all creation, including mankind as the rulers of it, as not just good, but very good. There was no defect in all of creation.
‘Very good’ means that at that point there was no ‘sin nature' in man (Genesis 2:25). This may be because man was created not being aware of evil (Genesis 3:22 and Romans 7:8-9). In perfect creation, mankind was allowed the choice of either obeying or disobeying God’s law. They were warned that disobedience would result in certain death (Genesis 2:17). Their eyes were not opened to evil (Genesis 3:5).
God did not create humans with only the option of obeying; He allowed them choice, even knowing in advance how they would choose. He did not make them choose to disobey. Neither did He make them so they would naturally default to disobey. From the information clearly given, we see that He gave them free will to choose to obey or disobey, and that at the time they received that free will, they were without any defect.
The parents of all humankind chose to disobey the law God gave them (Genesis 2:17) and act according to their own understanding (Genesis 3:6), bringing the curse of death (separation from Life) not only on them and the generations to come, but placing the creation over which they ruled in bondage as well (Romans 8:20-22). All the rest of humankind followed suit (Genesis 6:5).
In His mercy, God did not allow sin’s consequences to result in immediate death, though decay and the breakdown in relationship between God and man, and man and creation began immediately (Genesis 3:7, 17-20). God revealed His promise to them in Genesis 3:15 and until that time came to pass, protected them (Genesis 3:22-24) Though humankind retained the ability to choose either to resist the sin nature and walk with God (Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham) by far the great majority did not. In general, for humankind, every inclination and thought of their heart was evil, all the time (Genesis 6:5, 8:21). While this was the majority, it was clearly not everyone.
If a man ‘walked with God’, trusting in Him and His ways and obeying His commands, God accepted his trust (and the resulting obedience), as righteousness. It seems implied in Scripture that even though such men as Enoch and Elijah were taken directly to heaven, this was based not on their attaining perfection before God in their own actions, but rather in their faith, perhaps taken together with the imputed righteousness of Messiah, to come to pass in its time. They were then justified before God through the future blood of Yeshua, and sanctified through their faith, which bore the 'fruit' of right responses in action.
Genesis 6:9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
Genesis 15:6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Psalm 106:30-31 But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was checked. This was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come.
Ezekiel 18:20 The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.
James 2:22-24 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
There is no Biblical evidence that God wills and causes people to obey Him. On the other hand, there is specific evidence that God hardened the hearts of men (Exodus 9:12; 10:1, 20 and more, Deuteronomy 2:30), leading to judgment. The stubbornness of Pharaoh and Sihon was clearly described as having come from a direct act of God, in order that His glory might be shown.
John 12:40 describes God hardening the hearts of those who willfully and persistently commit evil, who have proven themselves unrepentant. In judgment, He hardens them so they are unable to ‘see’ and repent. See also Isaiah 6:10 and Matthew 13:14. In the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13) the tares never turn into wheat, they remain tares.
No man can come to the Father unless the Father first draws him. Without that draw, we remain dead in our sins (Romans 4:17 and Ephesians 2:1). So it ALL, ALWAYS, begins with God. How can a dead man choose anything?
But He draws us, through the spirit of Messiah (John 12:32), and once again gives us that choice that Adam and Eve were given. Will we obey Him or follow our own understanding? There is no Scripture evidence that God ever removed, or caused to be removed, that ability to obey that He originally put into humankind, once He first draws us.
We can know that He does not draw only some and not others, for He clearly states it is not His will for ANY to perish (Ezekiel 18:23, 32, Ezekiel 33:11, 1 Timothy 2:4 and 2 Peter 3:9) but instead to turn and repent, and live. It is implicitly understood (meaning there is no direct evidence to say otherwise) that man CAN (is able to) obey God and respond to His draw, but in the vast majority, he chooses not to. It is this response of obedience or rejection that man is ultimately judged for.
While nothing on heaven or earth can separate us (against our will) or snatch us away from the love of Yeshua (John 10:28 and Romans 8:35-39), there is no evidence that we cannot walk away willingly, grieving the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 63:10) through our rebellion.
Judas Iscariot came to Yeshua willingly and believed. Since we are given evidence that the other disciples were called, it is implicit that Judas was too. There is no evidence that Messiah ever separated Judas from Himself (John 6:39; 17:12-13; 18:9). Yet Judas was lost, and that was foreknown. We also see that Ananias and Sapphira disobeyed and received judgment immediately (Acts 5) also Demas walked away from trust in God, and his position as fellow worker with the apostle Paul, back to trust in worldly things (2 Timothy 4:9-11, see also Colossians 4:14 and Philemon 1:24).
Paul told Timothy (2 Timothy 3:15-17) that everything he needed to know for salvation (being made right with God through God’s act) and sanctification (our response of a holy life) were to be found in the Torah. There was no ‘New Testament’ in their day; he was speaking of the Old Testament. It is also written in Psalm 102:18, Romans 4:23-24, Romans 15:4 and 1 Corinthians 10:4-13 that the things in Scripture (Old Testament) were written for our benefit.
Hebrews 11 speaks at length of God’s calling and what our response is to be, using many examples from Scripture. In the deliverance from Egypt, 600,000 men plus women, children and a mixed multitude (Exodus 12:37-38) were delivered from bondage into freedom. Yet ultimately only two (Joshua and Caleb) entered the Promised Land.
From this account and many others similar to it, we understand that while many will be called (redeemed, freed from bondage), only a remnant will actually receive the promise, and this based on their response. This is a common theme in Scripture.
We see the New Testament bearing witness to this with Yeshua's words in Matthew 7:13-14, that many (He spoke of the Israelites, the redeemed people) would be on the road to destruction, and few (the remnant), those who were on the hard road, would FIND the narrow gate that leads to life. The entire chapter of Matthew 7 speaks of our choice, and the results. We also read in Matthew 22:14 that many are called, but few are chosen.
We also see the New Testament showing us that Messiah died for the sins of ALL men (Romans 5:12,18, Romans 8:32, 2 Corinthians 5:15, 1 Timothy 2:6, Hebrews 2:9, 1 John 2:2); that his blood is sufficient to cover the sins of anyone. John 12:32 promises that Messiah will draw ALL men to himself. But it is clear that not all will respond. Only those who were foreknown would respond.
That foreknowledge does not mean that God makes us believe. It means He knows ahead of time who would respond (Romans 8:29). It is to those that the promise of life and the assurance of help are given. This is promised in Deuteronomy 7:9 and confirmed in the New Testament.
In the coronation of Solomon (1 Chronicles 28 specifically verse 9) we see God warning that IF Solomon does not respond rightly to God, THEN he will be ‘cast off forever’. 1 Kings 8:28-61 gives the request of Solomon to God on behalf of the people, with God answering in 2 Chronicles 7:12-16. Again we see an ‘if, then’ situation. The response of the people mattered to God. And it was His choice to make it so.
Israel was not chosen by God on their own merit (Deuteronomy 7 especially 6-7), but they received the benefit of God’s promise to their forefather Abraham. God promises to bless a thousand generations of the one who obeys Him.
It is God who initiates the process of our redemption by His drawing all men unto Himself through Messiah (John 6:44 and 12:32). Even the very faith that is needed to respond is available only as His gift (Romans 5:2, Ephesians 2:8-9). It is our right response to accept the gift, and submit to live in obedience to it. It is He alone Who is able to make us holy, as and if we are willing to respond to His Word in humility and obedience. We take Messiah’s yoke upon us (Mathew 11:28-30) and work together with him.
The written Word, which is the message of the Word made flesh (John 1:14), is able to give us understanding (through the Spirit) about salvation and sanctification (2 Timothy 3:15) as we commit to read and obey it. The first of the commandments is to hear (listen to) and obey God (Deuteronomy 6:3-4) this is cited by Yeshua in Mark 12:29-30 as the most important command.
Just as God offers the gift of salvation through Messiah, He can also refuse to offer it. That is His right as Giver. He can harden the hearts of those who reject Him, or those He chooses. But evidence in Scripture tells us that is the exception, not the rule. In His grace, he is patient, not wanting anyone to come to destruction, but to repent and come to life (2 Peter 3:9).
In conclusion, this free will of man needs to be understood in its boundaries. And it is very limited. It begins and ends with God; it is only available because of Him. There is nothing we can add to our salvation. Our ability to respond is given by God. Our only part is to accept this grace and to submit to live in it. The ability to become sanctified after being saved is also given by Him, as we submit to the work He does in us. We are to ‘work out our salvation with fear and trembling’ (Philippians 2:12) always remaining in His grace (Acts 11:23) and empowered by His Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10-16).
September 17, 2009
Henri Nouwen and The Way of the Heart - Where The Way of the Heart Leads
Henri Nouwen ‘The Way of the Heart’ An Evaluation and Comparison to Scripture
Where the Way of the Heart Leads
Where has ‘the way of the heart’ led Henri Nouwen?
Here are several quotes from other books he’s written, one of them in his final year, when the teachings he had embraced throughout his life had come into their fullness
The God who dwells in our inner sanctuary is the same as the one who dwells in the inner sanctuary of each human being." (Henri Nouwen, Here and Now, 1994)
Prayer is "soul work" because our souls are those sacred centers where all is one... It is in the heart of God that we can come to the full realization of the unity of all that is, created and uncreated. (Bread for the Journey, Jan 15 and Nov 16 daily readings)
“Today I personally believe that while Jesus came to open the door to God's house, all human beings can walk through that door, whether they know about Jesus or not. Today I see it as my call to help every person claim his or her own way to God” (Henri Nouwen, Sabbatical Journey, 1998)
The belief that ‘God dwells…in the inner sanctuary of each human being’, whether a believer or not, is a fundamental concept of ‘God’ in panentheism. It states that ‘God is in all’ that the God of everything, who is above creation, is also IN creation and unites everything, that ALL is one. It is a belief embraced by mystics of all religions.
The belief that there are many paths to the unity of ‘God’, that every person has ‘his or her own way to God’, or that every person is on a journey TO God, therefore it is not necessary to ‘know about Jesus or not’, is called pantheism. It is the belief that all IS God. It too is a belief embraced by mystics of all religions.
The belief that all human beings will be saved, that ‘God’ dwells ‘in the inner sanctuary of each human being’, and since God will not destroy Himself, therefore there is no hell, is part of a belief system called universalism.
Henri Nouwen's teachings show he held to all of these beliefs.
The second edition of Henri Nouwen’s book “With Open Hands” (2006) has a foreword written for him by Sue Monk Kidd. She was at one time a Baptist Sunday school teacher who became involved with contemplative prayer. Her spiritual journey ended in Goddess worship.
Here are two quotes from her autobiography, called ‘The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman’s Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine’:
“Today I remember that event for the radiant mystery it was, how I felt myself embraced by the Goddess, how I felt myself in touch with the deepest thing I am. It was the moment when, as playwright and poet Ntozake Shange put it, ‘I found god in myself/ and I loved her/ I loved her fiercely’” (The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, p. 136). “Over the altar in my study I hung a lovely mirror sculpted in the shape of a crescent moon. It reminded me to honor the Divine Feminine presence in myself, the wisdom in my own soul” (p. 181).
Sue Monk Kidd’s autobiography was written a decade before Henri Nouwen asked her to write the foreword to his book! Henri Nouwen not only accepted Sue Monk Kidd's beliefs as valid, he openly endorsed them by allowing her to write the foreword to one of his books.
“Through the discipline of contemplative prayer, Christian leaders have to learn to listen to the voice of love. … For Christian leadership to be truly fruitful in the future, a movement from the moral to the mystical is required” (In the Name of Jesus, pp. 6, 31, 32).
These are just a few of many quotes that show the fruit of Henri Nouwen's beliefs took him. Yet this book can be found on the bookshelf of, and often enthusiastically endorsed by, almost every pastor. The teachings of this man have influenced modern Christianity enormously and detrimentally. Yet warnings usually fall on deaf ears.
Where the Way of the Heart Leads
Where has ‘the way of the heart’ led Henri Nouwen?
Here are several quotes from other books he’s written, one of them in his final year, when the teachings he had embraced throughout his life had come into their fullness
The God who dwells in our inner sanctuary is the same as the one who dwells in the inner sanctuary of each human being." (Henri Nouwen, Here and Now, 1994)
Prayer is "soul work" because our souls are those sacred centers where all is one... It is in the heart of God that we can come to the full realization of the unity of all that is, created and uncreated. (Bread for the Journey, Jan 15 and Nov 16 daily readings)
“Today I personally believe that while Jesus came to open the door to God's house, all human beings can walk through that door, whether they know about Jesus or not. Today I see it as my call to help every person claim his or her own way to God” (Henri Nouwen, Sabbatical Journey, 1998)
The belief that ‘God dwells…in the inner sanctuary of each human being’, whether a believer or not, is a fundamental concept of ‘God’ in panentheism. It states that ‘God is in all’ that the God of everything, who is above creation, is also IN creation and unites everything, that ALL is one. It is a belief embraced by mystics of all religions.
The belief that there are many paths to the unity of ‘God’, that every person has ‘his or her own way to God’, or that every person is on a journey TO God, therefore it is not necessary to ‘know about Jesus or not’, is called pantheism. It is the belief that all IS God. It too is a belief embraced by mystics of all religions.
The belief that all human beings will be saved, that ‘God’ dwells ‘in the inner sanctuary of each human being’, and since God will not destroy Himself, therefore there is no hell, is part of a belief system called universalism.
Henri Nouwen's teachings show he held to all of these beliefs.
The second edition of Henri Nouwen’s book “With Open Hands” (2006) has a foreword written for him by Sue Monk Kidd. She was at one time a Baptist Sunday school teacher who became involved with contemplative prayer. Her spiritual journey ended in Goddess worship.
Here are two quotes from her autobiography, called ‘The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman’s Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine’:
“Today I remember that event for the radiant mystery it was, how I felt myself embraced by the Goddess, how I felt myself in touch with the deepest thing I am. It was the moment when, as playwright and poet Ntozake Shange put it, ‘I found god in myself/ and I loved her/ I loved her fiercely’” (The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, p. 136). “Over the altar in my study I hung a lovely mirror sculpted in the shape of a crescent moon. It reminded me to honor the Divine Feminine presence in myself, the wisdom in my own soul” (p. 181).
Sue Monk Kidd’s autobiography was written a decade before Henri Nouwen asked her to write the foreword to his book! Henri Nouwen not only accepted Sue Monk Kidd's beliefs as valid, he openly endorsed them by allowing her to write the foreword to one of his books.
“Through the discipline of contemplative prayer, Christian leaders have to learn to listen to the voice of love. … For Christian leadership to be truly fruitful in the future, a movement from the moral to the mystical is required” (In the Name of Jesus, pp. 6, 31, 32).
These are just a few of many quotes that show the fruit of Henri Nouwen's beliefs took him. Yet this book can be found on the bookshelf of, and often enthusiastically endorsed by, almost every pastor. The teachings of this man have influenced modern Christianity enormously and detrimentally. Yet warnings usually fall on deaf ears.
Henri Nouwen and The Way of the Heart - Part Six
Henri Nouwen ‘The Way of the Heart’ An Evaluation and Comparison to Scripture
PART SIX – Epilogue
Silence prevents us from being suffocated by our wordy world and teaches us to speak the Word of God.
We do NOT learn to speak the Word of God through our initiation of and participation in mystical silences, which is silence as defined by this book. We learn to speak the Word of God by reading it, studying it to learn God’s meaning, and living it out in daily and joyful obedience.
…solitude, silence and prayer allow us to save ourselves and others from the shipwreck of our self destructive society.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:14-17)
The epilogue does contain very accurate warnings to believers. We ARE in the end times, and have been since Christ returned to heaven, where he is now sitting at the right hand of the Father. He WILL return soon, and that is how we have to live; as people prepared for his imminent return. There is even a Biblical warning here to guard against deception and false prophets. Those warnings are good and right. It is in HOW we prepare that this book not only falls far short of the mark, but actually leads down an entirely different path.
Our faithfulness in relationships is severely tested, and our inner sense of belonging is questioned again and again. Our anger and greed show their strength with added vehemence, and our desire to indulge ourselves in the despairing hedonism of the moment proves to be stronger than ever.
If we struggle with a lack of assurance of our salvation, that is a sign not of the end times, but of our age old rebellion against knowing the Word, trusting in the one who spoke it, and believing with our whole lives that he is sufficient to make us right with God. The evidence of our being accepted is a changed (transformed) heart; an entirely new will that has been washed clean of sin by the Holy Spirit. Not a transforming heart, but a fully transformed heart; a heart that belongs to a new creature in Christ; a heart that delights in serving God and knows the full contentment that we are right with Him.
As evidence of our transformed heart, we have a new desire to serve God. This is demonstrated naturally by our life choices, and our willing co-operation with the Holy Spirit. The struggle against the old man's desires will continue, but we live with a new heart, as victors through Christ. We cannot remain in sin (anger and greed, worldly temptations) and really have a transformed heart. The Spirit will convict us constantly that our choices are not honouring to the Father, and that will grieve us. If it doesn’t, that is a sign we are rebelling against the Father.
By solitude, silence, and unceasing prayer the Desert Fathers show us the way. These disciplines will teach us to stand firm…When we have been remodeled into living witnesses of Christ through solitude, silence and prayer, we will no longer have to worry about whether we are saying the right thing or making the right gesture, because then Christ will make his presence known even when we are not aware of it.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (Heb 10:19-23)
The Way of the Heart attempts to show that if we are being tested by vehement desires, then the solution is to be led by human leaders to use human tools of self-sacrifice, and therefore to be. The emphasis is on our sacrifice. The emphasis in Hebrews 10 is on CHRIST.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)
As we continue to submit our lives to the Lord, and daily ‘take up our cross’ to put our self will to death and follow him in obedience, we mature in faith. As we resist the temptation to follow our own will, we grow stronger in trusting God, and our Adversary will flee from us (James 4). It is not what we DO, it is WHO we TRUST that matures our faith and prepares us for the end times. And as we trust and obey, we begin to DO the right things out of our changed heart. The doing is not our own interpretation of offerings, but it is a right response to the commands of God that HE has given.
PART SIX – Epilogue
Silence prevents us from being suffocated by our wordy world and teaches us to speak the Word of God.
We do NOT learn to speak the Word of God through our initiation of and participation in mystical silences, which is silence as defined by this book. We learn to speak the Word of God by reading it, studying it to learn God’s meaning, and living it out in daily and joyful obedience.
…solitude, silence and prayer allow us to save ourselves and others from the shipwreck of our self destructive society.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:14-17)
The epilogue does contain very accurate warnings to believers. We ARE in the end times, and have been since Christ returned to heaven, where he is now sitting at the right hand of the Father. He WILL return soon, and that is how we have to live; as people prepared for his imminent return. There is even a Biblical warning here to guard against deception and false prophets. Those warnings are good and right. It is in HOW we prepare that this book not only falls far short of the mark, but actually leads down an entirely different path.
Our faithfulness in relationships is severely tested, and our inner sense of belonging is questioned again and again. Our anger and greed show their strength with added vehemence, and our desire to indulge ourselves in the despairing hedonism of the moment proves to be stronger than ever.
If we struggle with a lack of assurance of our salvation, that is a sign not of the end times, but of our age old rebellion against knowing the Word, trusting in the one who spoke it, and believing with our whole lives that he is sufficient to make us right with God. The evidence of our being accepted is a changed (transformed) heart; an entirely new will that has been washed clean of sin by the Holy Spirit. Not a transforming heart, but a fully transformed heart; a heart that belongs to a new creature in Christ; a heart that delights in serving God and knows the full contentment that we are right with Him.
As evidence of our transformed heart, we have a new desire to serve God. This is demonstrated naturally by our life choices, and our willing co-operation with the Holy Spirit. The struggle against the old man's desires will continue, but we live with a new heart, as victors through Christ. We cannot remain in sin (anger and greed, worldly temptations) and really have a transformed heart. The Spirit will convict us constantly that our choices are not honouring to the Father, and that will grieve us. If it doesn’t, that is a sign we are rebelling against the Father.
By solitude, silence, and unceasing prayer the Desert Fathers show us the way. These disciplines will teach us to stand firm…When we have been remodeled into living witnesses of Christ through solitude, silence and prayer, we will no longer have to worry about whether we are saying the right thing or making the right gesture, because then Christ will make his presence known even when we are not aware of it.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (Heb 10:19-23)
The Way of the Heart attempts to show that if we are being tested by vehement desires, then the solution is to be led by human leaders to use human tools of self-sacrifice, and therefore to be. The emphasis is on our sacrifice. The emphasis in Hebrews 10 is on CHRIST.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)
As we continue to submit our lives to the Lord, and daily ‘take up our cross’ to put our self will to death and follow him in obedience, we mature in faith. As we resist the temptation to follow our own will, we grow stronger in trusting God, and our Adversary will flee from us (James 4). It is not what we DO, it is WHO we TRUST that matures our faith and prepares us for the end times. And as we trust and obey, we begin to DO the right things out of our changed heart. The doing is not our own interpretation of offerings, but it is a right response to the commands of God that HE has given.
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