The Rest of the Old Old Story

It seems that there’s always some incident making me want to talk about honest Bible interpretation.

Today it was a phone call  made to a call-in talk show. The hosts, conservatives like most talk radio hosts, had repeated a rumor I’ve heard that the lastest statistics say there’s been a 7-year cooling trend globally.

Caveat: This blog’s not about global warming. I have not yet checked whether that rumor is true. I don’t care about global warming.

I’m against polluting the earth. I am for weaning ourselves off coal and oil and using as much clean, free energy (sun, wind, tide, rivers) as possible. I like clean water and clear air.

I think if you don’t agree with that, then you’ve been blinded by politics, and you should ask God to deliver you from the world.

The caller was deeply offended. “What if,” she began, “listeners simply take a sound byte off the radio from you and assume it’s true?”

They went back and forth until I couldn’t take it anymore, and I turned the radio off. I had a question to ask her, and the hosts weren’t asking it.

Assumptions and Humility

Here’s what I would have asked. “What if listeners just took a sound byte off the radio from those hosts, assumed it was true … and it was true? Would you mind so much then?”

Or, “What if you just took sound bytes off the evening news, assumed it was true, and never checked it out? Is that a problem?”

The underlying assumption in her call was that these guys were wrong. What they said was false. Why? Not because she researched it. The other parts of her call made it obvious that she knew very little about global warming.

She was simply assuming that what she heard was true, exactly what she was accusing their listeners of doing.

Honest Bible Interpretation

Like I said earlier, this isn’t about global warming. If global warming is true, we should stop polluting the earth. If global warming is false, we should still stop polluting the earth. (What I do know is that we are polluting the earth less, especially in America. Yeah! Don’t slow down now!)

The problem is that so many Christians do exactly the same thing with the Bible. They are absolutely confident of so many doctrines that have a weak Biblical basis at best.

By itself, that’s not a big problem. You can get a lot of doctrine wrong and still be a great Christian if you obey Christ and walk by his Spirit.

However, the flip side is the condemnation and haughtiness associated with these assumptions.

Let’s pick a not-very-threatening example.

An Example: The Devil’s Rebellion in Heaven

Almost every Christian knows the story about the devil deceiving a third of the angels into rebelling against God. That’s how he became the devil, and he was thrown out of heaven.

Almost every modern Christian believes that everything from Revelation ch. 4 and forward is future prophecy.

Almost every modern Christian thus believes a contradiction.

The story about the devil deceiving a third of the angels is in Revelation 12. There’s no reason at all to believe that this happened before Adam.  It’s strange that any of us believe it at all.

Worse, the story simply says that the dragon drew a third of the stars of heaven with his tail and threw them to the ground. That could mean angels, I suppose, but I don’t know any Christians who believe that the stars which fell to earth in Revelation 6:13 are angels. I don’t know any who believe the twelve stars in the crown of the woman in Rev. 12:1 are angels.

There’s a lot of guessing and contradiction going on here.

That’s not the only place.

Honest Bible Interpretation: The Rest of Our Doctrines

I’m not going to talk about the rest of our doctrines. I don’t want to correct the rest of our doctrines. I want us to be more humble.

No, I want us to quit dividing.

We violate the Scriptures every day by telling young Christians to go to “a Bible-believing Church.” Of course, there will be 75 “Bible-believing” churches within driving distance of his house, and they will disagree on some really major doctrines, including how he is saved, how he keeps his salvation–or whether he even needs to–how he should be baptized, and what that baptism means.

Our tracts should say

Dear new believer, I am so sorry but I have to tell you to pick among our many sinful divisions of Christ’s body. I weep and cry to God every day that we might repent of our sin and unite. Until we do, you’ll have to choose from one of those divisions. Please don’t join the division. The Bible clearly teaches that it’s our unity that will convince the world that Jesus is God’s Son (Jn. 17:20-23), and Paul tells us that we’re being carnal when we say we belong to a denomination (1 Cor. 3:3-4). In fact, our divisions could keep us out of the kingdom of heaven (Gal. 5:19-21)!”

Assumptions and Honesty

I got a little off track there.

Let’s use another political example. In Hank Hanegraaff’s The Bible Answer Book (I can always count on Hank as a massive resource for presumptions and assumptions; generally I can find one on any page I look) , he writes, “The Book of Hebrews warns us that there were Jews who, like Judas, tasted God’s goodness and yet turned from grace. They acknowledged Christ with their lips, but their apostasy proved that their faith was not real.”

Really? Where does Hebrews say their faith wasn’t real?

The fact is, it doesn’t. Hanegraaff has argued the eternal security issue with people for years. He’s discussing Hebrews 6:2-6, actually, and he knows very well that whether the people mentioned there had a real faith or not is exactly what people argue about.

But he doesn’t care. He has a point to make. Who cares if it’s false or unreasonable?

Let’s quit picking on Hank Hanegraaff. What about you?

That verse you’re using to prove your point, does it really say what you say it says? Or do you just have a point to make whether or not the Bible really backs it up?

Maybe we could try saying, “You know, I think this, but I can’t really back it up well right now. Besides, you’re more important to me than this doctrine, even if I could back it up well. We’re both servants of Christ. Let’s follow him together.”

I know, I know. There’s doctrines we can’t do that with. We might be surprised how few doctrines we can’t do that with, however.

Humility and Good Works

We fight so strongly for our doctrines, and we are so offended when they are crossed. Yet, have you ever read the part in your Bible where we’re going to be judged for our doctrines?

I’ve never read it, either, because it doesn’t exist.

We are going to be judged by our deeds. The words of a Don Francisco song make the point perfectly (and Scripturally):

The thing I need to ask you is, have you done the things I said?
Do you love your wife?
For her and for your children, are you laying down your life?
What about the others?
Are you living as a servant for your sisters and your brothers?
Do you make the poor man beg you for a bone?
Do the widow and the orphan cry alone?

Now that’s some honest Bible interpretation!

Today, at the chiropractor’s office, I read that the problem with low-carb diets is that people can’t stick to them.

I’d heard that before. People who go on the Atkins’ diet have been tested, and the results are amazing. Not only do they lose weight, but heart-attack indicators like triglycerides are lowered. On top of this, they lose more weight that people on other diets . . .

For six months.

Yo-Yo Dieting and Yo-Yo Christianity

After twelve months people on the Atkins diet have usually lost no weight at all or very little.

The article said you would do better continuing with carbs, but making better choices. Get your carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables.

Which brings us to following Christ. This is, after all, not a health blog.

The Scriptures say:

Why, as though you are living in the world, do you subject yourself to religious dogmas? ‘Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle … ‘ are things that vanish and are misused because they belong to the commands and teaching of men. True, they have an appearance of wisdom in self-made religion, humility, and severity with the body, but they’re of no value against satisfying bodily desires. (Col. 2:21-23, wording by me)

When we get filled with zeal for God, we are prone to setting all sorts of strict rules for ourselves. We adopt strict dress codes, forbid all entertainment, and insert religious language into everything we say.

These things make us feel good about ourselves. We’re denying our natural inclinations, and we’re subjecting ourselves to God.

Or so we think.

Indulging Bodily Desires

Bodily desires do not only include food, sex, and luxury–the things against which we love to make rules. In the Scriptures, bodily desires include things like jealousy, pride, envy, and selfish ambition; they include hatred, slander, and gossip.

How often are our rules–”do not touch,” “do not taste,” “do not handle”–perfect vehicles for condemning others and then talking about those we condemn. They are great reasons for us to be proud of our Christianity and how well we do in Christ, especially compared to others. There are whole denominations founded on such strict rules, but those denominations struggle with hypocrisy and nominalism as badly as any others.

Such denominations are victims of low-carb Christianity. They’ve cut out the carbs, but it’s done no good against the indulgence of the flesh. Eventually, their desires overcome them, and those desires come out either by hypocritical violation of their own rules or by condemnation, envy, and hatred towards other Christians.

Walking by the Spirit

Do you ever wonder why the New Testament emphasizes walking by the Spirit over obeying the Law, but then turns around and says that only those who keep God’s commands know him (1 Jn. 2:3-4)?

It’s to save us from low-carb Christianity, a Christianity in which we will eventually be overcome by our cravings (Rom. 7). The problem with low-carb diets is not that they have the wrong goal. The problem is they don’t achieve the goal.

The same with low-carb Christianity. The problem is not the goal. Romans 7 warns us about the weakness of the Law, but it highly praises the purpose of the Law (e.g., v. 12). When God provides Romans 8–the sacrifice of Christ and walking by the Spirit–as a solution, it is to “fulfill the righteous requirement of the Law” (8:4).

It is good to keep God’s commands. It is not good to walk in the flesh.

Saul of Tarsus thought he was keeping God’s commands when he was killing Christians. Today, many “Christians” think they are keeping God’s commands while they hate their brother and divide Christ, and they are just as guilty and just as in need of the light of Jesus Christ as Saul was.

The Right Way to Deny the Flesh

Throughout Christian history there have been great saints of God who denied themselves in the extreme and were greatly blessed and used by God. What’s the difference between them and the low-carb Christians I’m talking about?

They denied themselves, not others.

If you walk by the Spirit, the first lesson you will get from God is that Romans 7 is true. In you, that is in your flesh, nothing good dwells. He will drive that home to you, and you will learn not to trust yourself.

If you walk by the Spirit, you will be filled with love. You will encourage your brother, not exalt yourself above him. You will consider others better than yourself, not because of your impressive humility, but because you know who you are. You won’t have to pretend you consider others ahead of yourself. Knowing yourself, seeing that nothing good dwells in you, it will not be difficult for you to do.

A Proper Diet

Just as the solution for a low-carb diet is to make modifications to your diet and lifestyle that will be permanent, so if you walk by the Spirit, you will find that you are able to walk in obedience to God. He will lead you; he will not overwhelm you with strict, ascetic rules that you can’t continue in. He won’t give you a lifestyle that causes you to look down your nose at others.

I once watched a news interview with Mother Theresa. A newscaster asked what it felt like to be a saint of God. Mother Theresa looked directly at him and said, “I am no more a saint than you are. I simply do what I can where I am, and you must do what you can where you are.”

I’m quoting from memory, so I’m sure that’s not real accurate, but that was the gist of her statement. It applies to all of us. We are not to make duplicates of ourselves; we are to make disciples of Christ. Jesus is still able to lead his people*.

*In the current state of Christianity, it is important when mentioning “his people” to point out that his people are those who have believed his Gospel. They deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him. Those that accept Jesus into their heart on the promise of a better life followed by heaven, but who have not agreed to follow him wherever he leads them, are not his people. Sorry.

Good Search

GoodSearch is a Yahoo-powered search engine that donates 50% of its proceeds to charity. Better yet, it lets you choose the charity.

Their 50% works out to approximately 1 penny per search conducted on their page. Think of it! You can contribute to the kingdom of God without spending a dime. Just do what you’ve always done, but do it at GoodSearch.

Rose Creek Village Ministries

Rose Creek Village Ministries is devoted to speaking about, demonstrating, and spreading the life of God. As I write this, we have three people in Nakuru helping establish a church walking in the unity Christ prayed for, bound together by the Spirit of God.

Our missionaries stand out overseas. Unlike most preachers, they have not shown up simply to teach. They have shown up to fellowship.

The church we are starting there is based in a slum area of Nakuru, Kenya. The destitute families there are constantly astonished to find “Muzungus” (white people) coming into their houses to visit. They are thrilled, and they go out of their way to show all the hospitality they can.

Here in America and overseas, we want to bring far more than church services. We want to bring the life of God and teach the followers of Christ to live that life together, taking care of one another. Like the churches the apostles started, we teach the followers of Christ to share everything with one another, taking care of one another like we are more than family to one another–which we are. We are one Spirit in Christ.

Combining the Two

Rose Creek Village Ministries is listed with GoodSearch.

RCV Ministries doesn’t waste money. We have no paid employees, so no one profits from the ministry. What we have extra goes to orphans in India and Myanmar through Voice of Gospel’s Mercy Homes and through Orphan’s Tear.

I’m asking you to consider doing your searches with GoodSearch, and don’t forget GoodShop as well! No extra cost, you simply get to the places you’ve always shopped using GoodShop as your portal.

Thank you!

Have you ever wondered if someone was really a Christian?

You see regular signs that they’re not. Perhaps there’s a lack of interest in obeying Christ. Perhaps there’s situations where you wonder, “Can a Christian really be that mean on a regular basis?”

I suspect we’ve all encountered people like that.

The problem is that they’re regular church attenders. They pray. They give whenever a collection is taken. They do all the right religious things. How could they not be a Christian?

Nicodemus

Have you ever considered just whom Jesus was talking to when he said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”?

This was a Pharisee; and not just any Pharisee. This Pharisee, Nicodemus, came to Jesus at night to learn from him.

He was doing all the right things. How could Nicodemus not be heading for the kingdom of God?

Examine Yourselves; Whether You Are in the Faith

Each of us are told to examine ourselves. Doing the right things is not enough to know that we are born again or that we are in the faith.

Remember the rich, young ruler. Here’s a guy who had kept the commandments from his youth. Now he was on his knee, asking Jesus for eternal life. The Scripture says that Jesus loved him.

He went away sad.

Doing the right things is not enough to know that you are in the faith. You must be born again.

There is a fellowship with God that delivers from sin. It changes and transforms those who enter into it. According to Scripture, it is “his divine power” that has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness.

Religious People

Religious people abound. The fact that someone is religious does not establish that they have the Spirit of God.

You may or may not know this, but it was normal for religious Jews under the Old Covenant to be without God’s Spirit. Only priests, prophets, kings, and a certain few special people received the Spirit of God under the Old Covenant.

The promise of the New Covenant is that everyone can receive his Spirit, from the least to the greatest.

That is our goal. Our goal is not being good and having the right thoughts. Our goal is to be born again and receive the Spirit of God.

Only as we walk in the Spirit can we overcome the flesh. It is true, we must be born again.

And being religious–or even outwardly righteous–does not make us born again.

I responded to an email asking about Bible preaching and why the preacher was lacking success, and worse, feeling unfulfilled. Here’s what I wrote:

Small Things

Our approach to changing things has been to start small. Jesus didn’t begin a political movement to change the cultural momentum in Israel. He didn’t even try to get the Romans thrown out. He simply gathered twelve disciples around him–and a few women–and kept them with him as he preached.

He made a big impact in his country, but he didn’t change the country much by himself. His apostles, on the other hand, changed the whole world.

We would include Jesus’ 30 years as a quiet citizen of Nazareth as part of his ministry. We like to say that Jesus spent 30 years preparing to minister for 3.

The Scriptures say, “Don’t despise the day of small things.”

The Power of the Church

There is a power to the church–the gathered people of God–that will never be found in an individual ministry. Protestants have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. They escaped Rome, but they lost an understanding of the Church and the promises tied to it.

To us, it begins with two. The supply, according to Ephesians 4:16 and Colossians 2:19, comes from the joints and ligaments. In other words, it comes from the joining of the saints. It’s nourishment.

That’s why so many ministers, like yourself, feel unfulfilled. You’re not being properly nourished because you can’t get properly joined, and nourishment comes from the joining.

Keep your eyes open for whom you can join with; whose heart you can be tied to in the same way that the Father and Son’s hearts are joined. Feed each other, and thus give people something they can come into. Bible preaching is good, but in the apostolic churches there was something for those who heard the preaching to come into. “The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

Remember what happened with Paul? He was knocked off his horse on the way to Damascus. There he was, on the road, communing with Jesus. Jesus was speaking to him personally, and Paul could see him.

Nonetheless, Jesus wanted him to be joined to something. He didn’t save Paul there on the road. He sent him to Damascus to be healed of his blindness and to have his sins washed away by Ananias (Acts 22:16).

Maybe that’s why Paul understood and emphasized the church so strongly.