by Tim | Mar 19, 2010 | God, Our Culture, The Church World, The Gospel, The Scriptures |
Unfortunately, Jesus didn’t leave us with a book of teachings or an autobiography. Why not? I don’t know–maybe we’d worship them or do other wacky things. The way Jesus commands us to remember Him isn’t by receiving a book of sayings He writes for us; it’s by actually receiving Him. Although He didn’t write us a book, He did commission His apostles to spread the good news. He knew He was leaving, and that it was now the Holy Spirit’s job to speak through the Apostles’ hands and mouths in taking the Gospel to all the world for all times. We can’t get around the fact that 2,000 years later, if there was no written documentation of the life and teachings of Jesus, as well as the Apostles’ Spirit-led understanding of Jesus’ life and teachings, where would we be today? How much truth would be lost by now? Just look at what the Catholic Church today claims was passed down orally by the Apostles–much of it isn’t found in Scripture, and some of it seems to even be opposed to it. How much crazier would Christianity look like today if the Apostles hadn’t written anything at all? Would it at all be faithful to Jesus’ teachings? Would it even still be around? That’s why, several blogs and days later, I have come to the conclusion that the major difference between orthodox Christianity and other “better” versions of Christianity all boils down to this: OPTION 1: You come to the discussion assuming that the Old Testament Prophets/authors, Apostles and Gospel writers got it right. They accurately recall the history between...
by Tim | Mar 18, 2010 | God, Our Culture, The Church World, The Gospel |
One reason we refrain from sharing our faith is that we really don’t feel we have much of a faith to share. And we might be right about that. Few know where to turn in Scripture to share salvation outside of John 3:16. And when we evaluate our relationship with Christ, we don’t feel like we have much to say. What can we discuss about Jesus and who He means to us? What personal witness of Jesus’ message do I have? Even if someone was eager to learn about becoming a Christian and wasn’t argumentative…do I even know what the Gospel is? As a result, we leave the responsibility for spreading the faith to the marketing efforts of our church to the unchurched so that they can hopefully hear something about God Sunday morning from an educated preacher or teacher. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with distributing promotional materials about our church. Or people hearing about God from the preacher. But we have almost made this the primary way to share our faith–hoping that unchurched people will come. That is why Sunday morning worship at church has become so targeted at seekers today–everything is catered to the unchurched. Is this God’s intent for our time of corporate worship of Him? What many are starting to realize is that this model continues to perpetuate weak Christianity in the lives of the average church-goer. They do not know how to do anything else but come to church, hear a message, and leave. They think this is what Christianity is largely all about! To be fair, some churches who follow this model also...
by Tim | Mar 17, 2010 | God, Our Culture, The Church World, The Gospel |
It is embarrassing that we would need to consider such a question. The accusation that sharing “good news” is somehow hateful or mean seems odd. Isn’t the message of Jesus we share all about love? Yet, I understand why we pose the question. After all, although there is great news, there is also “bad” news. Not all truth is pretty. But that’s just the reality of life. We Americans need a reality check. We think that loving others is doing/saying to others what we would vainly want them to do/say to us (a misrepresentation of the Golden Rule). In other words, we think this is “love”–making people feel good. Everyone has a hard time hearing truth about ourselves. And when the truth ain’t pretty, it is important to share it carefully, no doubt. I have encountered quite a few examples of people preaching to other people (in the pulpit or one-on-one) in manners that are less than cordial. This is unacceptable. Often, this occurs because someone is more concerned with spreading their cause in efforts to feel better about their own self rather than out of genuine concern for the people to whom they are sharing it. As frustrating as this can be to hear people blasting other people, the correct response to this is not to shun speaking the truth. Too often, we react by saying, “Let’s stop talking about hell, because we don’t want to be associated with those Hell-fire and Damnation preachers!” or, “Let’s stop talking about sin because of those legalistic hypocrites who preach about it all the time!” No–when the truth is being used...
by Tim | Mar 15, 2010 | God, Hell, My World, Our Culture, The Church World, The Gospel |
In a recent post, I already touched on hell, but focused mostly on those around the world who have never heard the Gospel–is it fair they go to hell? If you are interested in that topic, I suggest you read that post. In today’s post, I want to focus on my next-door neighbor or the people in our own communities. Most of them have already heard the Gospel at one point in their life. They can’t claim ignorance. Yet they have refused to give their lives over to Christ. Why as churches are we not motivated to reach out to the large number of people who refuse to trust Christ with their lives? Why are we not passionate to reach them? I only see this passion when it comes to growing our churches. I believe there’s a difference between really trying to reach people for Christ and trying to grow our church. Why are there so many “church growth” mega-conferences, best-selling books, models out there, but very little when it comes to investing in people who don’t know Christ? It is a shame that so many of us church leaders think these are one-in-the-same, but that is another topic altogether. I think too many Christians (especially in the South) want to assume that these people in our communities are generally “good folks,” and we have bought into the lie that people around us don’t need to believe in Christ–in the end, they won’t really go to hell, will they? We just think it would be a good idea for them to start coming to church. It would “help them...
by Tim | Mar 13, 2010 | God, Hell, Our Culture, The Church World, The Gospel |
Enough about what I have to say about all these subjects I’ve been blogging about lately…it’s good to hear from other people, who often say it better than I ever could: FRANCIS CHAN Out of all the well-known Christian pastors/speakers out there today, I connect with and respect Francis’ message over and over. This video is Francis’ message from last Sunday. The video is 50 minutes long, so move on to the next source and plan to watch it later if you don’t have the time right now. It’s excellent, of course. It deals quite a bit with specific disagreements over Scripture (Old Testament and New) that I heard while at my former church. About halfway through the video and on is what I’m referring to, but the first part of the video should not be skipped, because it is the foundation for the second part. By the end of the video, if you think the point of the message was about condemning a pastor’s wife–you couldn’t be more wrong and need to re-watch the video. It was totally all about me. And I’ve gotta believe it’s all about you, too. If you need to, watch it again. Here are my notes I took from the video, and the video is found below my notes: Scripture teaches that God doesn’t listen to everyone’s prayers. Don’t Expect God to Answer Your Prayers If: 1. you don’t honor your wife (1 Peter) 2. you have unconfessed sin (James) 3. you’re asking for things to fulfill your own passions/desires (James) 4. you are doubting the whole time (James) 5. you’re not taking...
by Tim | Mar 12, 2010 | God, The Gospel, The Scriptures |
C.S. Lewis made this argument famous about the divinity of Christ: Jesus is either a liar, lunatic, or he is Lord. What this means is that Jesus in the Bible claimed to be Lord. If you accept that Jesus actually claimed this, then these are the only three options for Jesus: He claimed to be the Son of God, even though he knew full well that he wasn’t. He was a liar or deceiver. He honestly thought he was the Son of God out of self-delusion, which makes him a lunatic. Or he was indeed who he claimed to be–our Lord. Many Christians, including myself, find this argument quite compelling, as long as you believe that the Bible accurately records Jesus’ teachings/words. Remember, Jesus didn’t write any of the Four Gospels, his followers did. This is one flaw many people find in this argument for the divinity of Jesus. They hold out the possibility that Jesus never made these claims for himself, but his followers later attributed these notions to him. However, I believe that Jesus did indeed make these claims, so the argument is solid for me. We don’t have this problem with Paul. Paul actually wrote some letters, and those letters written by his own hands are contained in the Bible. As a result, I think this argument is even stronger for Paul than it is for Jesus. Let me lay out why I think this, and anyone who sees a fallacy in my logic, I’d like to hear it. Some people try to pit Paul against Jesus, saying that Paul’s gospel of salvation contradicts Jesus’ gospel...
by Tim | Mar 10, 2010 | God, The Church World, The Gospel |
Last night, one of the Bible stories that I read to Naomi and Rachel was the story of the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with perfume using her hair. Simon, the owner of the home where this occurred, is disappointed that Jesus is letting such a sinful person carry out such behavior. Jesus’ reply made me think of the messages of my recent posts. I know some may be growing tired of hearing about hell, judgment, wrath, sin, the Fall, etc. It certainly isn’t uplifting material. Or is it? Jesus’ reply was, “Those who have been forgiven much, love much.” There is worry today among church leadership about decline in church attendance, giving, etc. Statistics show that most denominations are declining in almost every statistical item that can be quantified. This may or may not be a bad thing. (I think outward statistical progress doesn’t necessarily reflect inward progress.) I do, however, think that in general, there is one factor of enormous importance that is indeed affecting a decline among “church-going Christians.” Because we don’t realize how much we’ve been forgiven, we don’t seem to love God very much. Even if you disregard numerical statistics, take a look around the average church today. Where is the passion for Jesus? Do you see it in the eyes of the congregation as they worship? Do you see it in their insatiable hunger for pouring through God’s Word? Do you see it in a renewed fervor to abandon their life of comfort and live as Christ lived? Do you see it in their tireless efforts to share salvation with friends, co-workers, neighbors?...
by Tim | Mar 8, 2010 | God, Hell, The Church World, The Gospel |
Without any intro, here’s their argument: —————————————————————— THE WORLD’S NOT GOING TO HELL If there was anyone who was humble who walked this earth, it was Jesus. The Son of the Most High God was born as a helpless baby. He didn’t own any earthly possessions. He was ridiculed, but turned the other cheek. He allowed himself to be crucified by merciless men, asking God to forgive them all the while. Over and over, He reminded us to show mercy. His big procession was on a lowly donkey. Over and over, He didn’t want it to leak out that He was the Son of God. He was a man of humility. As followers of Christ, we are to do the same. So many people today in the name of Jesus arrogantly go around, trying to convert people to Christianity–as if they know the truth and everyone else is in darkness. How arrogant! Do Christians have a monopoly on truth? Isn’t God’s truth sprinkled in other places–in other faiths–as well? Didn’t Jesus die for the sins of the entire world? These Christians claim that if you don’t convert, you’ll go to hell. Does this sound like Jesus’ teachings? Is that what Jesus would do? ——————————————————————– The world is going to hell? That sounds judgmental, doesn’t it? In today’s world, any such assertion will be met with quite a bit of resistance. The root of that resistance will be: that can’t be God’s way. If there is a God, He loves everyone. If He inflicts wrath like that, surely He isn’t a good God! But is that how Scripture looks at...
by Tim | Mar 5, 2010 | God, Hell, Our Culture, The Church World, The Gospel, The Scriptures |
In my previous post, I started by stating that this “new” Christianity states that we should be cautious to judge things up to Scripture, since quite a few parts of Scripture appear flawed/misguided in their understandings of God. That’s why I commented to Melena that I chose not to use the words of Paul in my last post. I know that there are those who might dismiss what Paul has to say, because they see some of his teachings as contradictory to what Jesus taught. So I wanted instead to study Jesus’ own words as much as possible, since we hadn’t addressed the issue of this blog post yet. So what does this “better” Christianity have to say about Scripture and Jesus? ——————————————————————————— TRUST JESUS, NOT THE BIBLE The idea goes something like this: Jesus is the fullest revelation of God, not the Bible. Jesus is the word of God (John 1:14), not the Bible. The Old Testament tried its best to describe who God is, how He acts, what He wants from us. But it was written by people who didn’t have the knowledge of God given to us by Jesus, and therefore they attribute things to God that aren’t really in His character. And it’s not just them that do this. Even in the New Testament, various authors in their zeal of God over-reach themselves. People like Paul, for example, who is trying his best to understand what it means that Jesus has come in the flesh and how we should respond to that truth. But we also have something better than the writings of people before...
by Tim | Mar 1, 2010 | God, Hell, Our Culture, The Church World, The Gospel, The Scriptures |
Ok, so here’s the start of some blog posts that I promised a little while back to unpack some of the beliefs being presented today–claims for a “better” Christianity. Before I get into the first one about “not judging”, let me say that we must judge these “new” claims by Scripture. I believe it’s clear that they don’t stand up. But part of this “new” Christianity states that we should be cautious to judge such things up to Scripture, since quite a few parts of Scripture appear flawed/misguided in their understandings of God. In effect, these people are judging Scripture and find it to be lacking. This illustrates one of the points I will present in this blog that people who say “don’t judge,” create impossible criteria for what it means to “judge.” In fact, it is quite ironic that, when I was told that “my” view of Christianity (as if I’ve come up with something new) and my attitude was narrow-minded, judgmental, and arrogant, the very people telling me that I was judging were doing exactly that–and to an even greater degree. In other words, I did in fact “judge” their positions by stating that I completely disagree with their positions on matters that I believe are central to the Christian faith, and that I firmly believed they go completely against the whole of Scripture. I made judgments on their positions, for sure, but did not belittle them as persons in doing so. In return, those who would say that we shouldn’t judge responded by making judgments not only on my positions (which is completely fair and appropriate),...
