More Than Stone

When a slave owner strikes a male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies immediately, the owner shall be punished. But if the slave survives a day or two, there is no punishment; for the slave is the owner’s property. (Exodus 21:20-21)

If a man has sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman, the two of them have committed an abomination. They must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves. (Lev 20:13)

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as you obey Christ; not only while being watched, and in order to please them, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. (Eph. 6:5-6)

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, (1Co 6:9)

Tell slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect; they are not to talk back, not to pilfer, but to show complete and perfect fidelity, so that in everything they may be an ornament to the doctrine of God our Savior. (Titus 2:9-10)

For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, (Rom 1:26)

Let all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be blasphemed. Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful to them on the ground that they are members of the church; rather they must serve them all the more, since those who benefit by their service are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these duties. Whoever teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that is in accordance with godliness, is conceited, understanding nothing, and has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words. From these come envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions, and wrangling among those who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. (1Tim. 6:1-5)

realizing that law is not intended for a righteous person, but for lawless and rebellious people, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, sexually immoral people, practicing homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, perjurers — in fact, for any who live contrary to sound teaching.
(1Ti 1:9-10)

-Edmund Gibson, Anglican Bishop in London on slavery

The Freedom which Christianity gives, is a Freedom from the Bondage of Sin and Satan, and from the Dominion of Men’s Lusts and Passions and inordinate Desires; but as to their outward Condition, whatever that was before, whether bond or free, their being baptized, and becoming Christians, makes no manner of Change in it.

-Stephen Bennett, “The Gay Spin Zone”, Agape Press

Day in and day out, America is getting bombarded with ‘pro-gay’ propaganda. It’s relentless. You can’t open a newspaper or magazine, listen to the radio, or turn on the television without someone, somewhere pounding the ‘glories of gayness’ into your brain.

-JOHN L. WILSON, 1823

There can be no doubt that such doctrines, from such a source, will produce the best of consequences in our mixed population, and tend to make our servants not only more contented with their lot, but more useful to their owners. The great piety and learning of Doctor FURMAN, his long established character with the religious of every denomination throughout our State, will at once command the respectful attention of every reader.

Joe Dallas, “Responding To Pro-Gay Theology”

The male-female union, introduced in Genesis, is the only model of sexual behavior consistently praised in both Old and New Testaments. While other forms of behavior (polygamy and the use of concubines, for example) are introduced and even allowed in the Old Testament, a monogamous relation between husband and wife is the standard upheld as the ideal within scripture. While the old phrase, “God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” seems flippant, it is a fair assessment of created intent: whereas heterosexuality is commended throughout the Bible, not once is a homosexual relationship mentioned in anything but negative terms.

-Thornton Stringfellow, “Scriptural and Statistical Views in Favor of Slavery”

Before we conclude slavery to be a thing hateful to God, and a great sin in his sight, it is proper that we should search the records he has given us, with care, to see in what light he has looked upon it, and find the warrant for concluding, that we shall honor him by efforts to abolish it; which efforts, in their consequences, may involve the indiscriminate slaughter of the innocent and the guilty, the master and the servant. We all believe him to be a Being who is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.

-Bible.org

There are cases on record where a marriage license was issued to persons of the same sex. I recall one such incident in Phoenix, Arizona. A marriage license was issued in the Maricopa County clerk’s office to two men 39 and 21 years old respectively. The two men are reported to have “married” in a private ceremony.

However, to call a union of two persons of the same sex a “marriage” is a misnomer. In the Bible, marriage is a divinely ordered institution designed to form a permanent union between one man and one woman for one purpose (among others) of procreating or propagating the human race. That was God’s order in the first of such unions (Genesis 1:27, 28; 2:24; Matthew 19:5). If, in His original creation of humans, God had created two persons of the same sex, there would not be a human race in existence today. The whole idea of two persons of the same sex marrying is absurd, unsound, ridiculously unreasonable, stupid. A clergyman might bless a homosexual marriage but God won’t.

-Rev. Dr. Richard Furman, “EXPOSITION of The Views of the Baptists, RELATIVE TO THE COLOURED POPULATION In the United States”

In the New-Testament, the Gospel History, or representation of facts, presents us a view correspondent with that, which is furnished by other authentic ancient histories of the state of the world at the commencement of Christianity. The powerful Romans had succeeded, in empire, the polished Greeks; and under both empires, the countries they possessed and governed were full of slaves. Many of these with their masters, were converted to the Christian Faith, and received, together with them into the Christian Church, while it was yet under the ministry of the inspired Apostles. In things purely spiritual, they appear to have enjoyed equal privileges; but their relationship, as masters and slaves, was not dissolved. Their respective duties are strictly enjoined. The masters are not required to emancipate their slaves; but to give them the things that are just and equal, forbearing threatening; and to remember, they also have a master in Heaven. The “servants under the yoke” *[upo zugon Douloi: bond-servants, or slaves. Doulos, is the proper term for slaves; it is here in the plural and rendered more expressive by being connected with yoke—UNDER THE YOKE.] (bond-servants or slaves) mentioned by Paul to Timothy, as having “believing masters,” are not authorized by him to demand of them emancipation, or to employ violent means to obtain it; but are directed to “account their masters worthy of all honour,” and “not to despise them, because they were brethren” in religion; “but the rather to do them service, because they were faithful and beloved partakers of the Christian benefit.” Similar directions are given by him in other places, and by other Apostles. And it gives great weight to the argument, that in this place, Paul follows his directions concerning servants with a charge to Timothy, as an Evangelist, to teach and exhort men to observe this doctrine.

-Exodus International

The Bible is very clear about its condemnation of homosexual conduct. Both the Old and New Testaments speak with one voice on this subject. In spite of the publicity given to pro-gay theologians in recent years, serious and consistent exegetical study still allows no other interpretation.

Those who take seriously the authority of God’s Word should be aware that perhaps no subject poses a greater threat to the place of Scripture in our world today. If the world (and too often, even the church) can be convinced that we can ignore what the Bible teaches about homosexuality, then every other teaching of Scripture can be rationalized. Rejecting its teachings means confidence in the Bible as the inspired Word of God will be seriously eroded.

-Thornton Stringfellow, “Scriptural and Statistical Views in Favor of Slavery”

…Jesus Christ recognized this institution as one that was lawful among men, and regulated its relative duties… I affirm then, first (and no man denies) that Jesus Christ has not abolished slavery by a prohibitory command; and second, I affirm, he has introduced no new moral principle which can work its destruction…

-George Fitzhugh, “Cannibals All! or Slaves Without Masters”

All modern philosophy converges to a single point — the overthrow of all government, the substitution of the untrammelled “Sovereignty of the Individual,” for the Sovereignty of Society, and the inauguration of anarchy. First domestic slavery, next religious institutions, then separate property, then political government, and, finally, family government and family relations, are to be swept away. This is the distinctly avowed programme of all able abolitionists and socialists; and towards this end the doctrines and the practices of the weakest and most timid among them tend.

-Bob Knight And Peter Sprigg. “Marriage: One Man, One Woman“

If same-sex relationships acquire marital-type status in the law, several things will occur:

* Businesses that decline to recognize non-marital relationships will increasingly be punished through loss of contracts and even legal action. This is already occurring in San Francisco and in Canada.

* Other groups, such as bisexuals and polygamists, will demand the right to redefine marriage to suit their own proclivities. Once the standard of one-man, one-woman marriage is broken, there is no logical stopping point.

* As society rewards homosexual behavior, more young people will be encouraged to experiment and more will be discouraged from overcoming homosexual desires.

* Popular understanding of what marriage is and what it requires will undergo change. Homosexual relationships, which usually lack both permanence and fidelity, are unlikely to change to fit the traditional model of lifelong, faithful marriage. Instead, society’s expectations of marriage will change in response to the homosexual model, thus leading to a further weakening of the institution of marriage. Some homosexual activists have acknowledged that they intend to use marriage mainly as a way to radically shift society’s entire conception of sexual morality. See appendix.

Conclusion

“Marriage” for same-sex couples (or the counterfeit equivalent under pseudonyms such as “civil unions” or “domestic partnerships”) is being promoted as an extension of tolerance, equality, and civil rights. But they are really wedges designed to overturn traditional sexual morality and to win official affirmation, celebration, subsidization and solemnization of behavior that is harmful to the people who engage in it and to society, and that is still viewed as morally wrong by a majority of the American public.

For the well-being of children and of society, we must not allow the creation of government-imposed counterfeit “marriage” by any name. Marriage is civilization’s primary institution, and we tamper with it at our own peril.

As you may have noted, I have not added much commentary to this, other than a few bolds and italics. I’d love to hear your gut reactions to this post…

Of course, I was very behind in putting together my post. So late in fact, that I just pulled out a post from a few months ago that I thought fit perfectly with the subject of “Persecution, and
Suffering for Righteousness:”

Matt 10:22
All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved

Mark 13:13
All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Luke 6:22
Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

Luke 21:17
All men will hate you because of me.

These 4 verses are thrown around in the US Christian culture a lot. It’s a “badge of courage”. The problem is that Jesus was not only talking to His disciples, many of whom were martyred, but also, across the ages to Christians in places like China, Sudan, and the Middle East. I do not think that Jesus was talking to us, here and now, to give us an excuse to be careless and unkind. If my basic understanding of the Scriptures is correct, those who were persecuting Jesus, and then the church, were the religious system and the empire of Rome. Persecution came as a result of challenging the Pharisees. Persecution came because Jesus challenged the empire that oppressed and abused those who were weak. I do not see evidence that persecution came because Jesus hated first.

“All men will hate you because of me.” How we love this statement. We love it because, if we can say it’s true, it somehow proves that we are genuine followers of Jesus. We love it because, if we can say it’s true, it puts us in good company. We love it because, if we can say it’s true, we will grow spiritually through the persecution. The problem is that most people that throw this statement around are taking it out of context and using it to be insufferably arrogant and cruel.

Think about the times you have heard one of the above Scriptures used. What was the context?

· People will hate you because they don’t like their sinfulness being exposed.
· People will hate you because they look pretty good until contrasted with true righteousness.
· People will hate you because you don’t laugh at their dirty jokes.
· People will hate you because you believe in 6-day creation.
· People will hate you because you picket at abortion clinics.
· People will hate you because you call homosexuality an abomination.

AMEN, Brother! REJOICE in the persecution!!! Now, perhaps the above examples are the far leaning “right” kinds of examples. However, I recall a conversation recently with a friend. This friend is not what I would call a fundamentalist. I was talking to him about Rob Bell, and how I love the fact that Rob focuses on the redemption of the world and Jesus’ love, the fact that Rob doesn’t use all the “churchy” language like “substitutionary atonement”. My friend replied, “It doesn’t matter how we talk, or if we change our approach to presenting the Gospel, because the world hates us.” It doesn’t matter. Really? It doesn’t matter…because all men will hate us. Then what are we doing? What’s the point? No wonder we all just sit around waiting to get to heaven. There’s no point doing anything in this world, because all men will hate us, anyway.

Isn’t this just a tired old excuse to be judgmental and hateful? Or an excuse to not have to examine the way we’ve been doing things in the Church? Or an excuse to stay locked within the church walls fraternizing with all the other Christians that the world hates? Could it be that when Jesus said the world will hate us, he meant that they will hate us because we are breaking the dominions, empires and structures of this world that oppress? That we are truly setting captives free, not just from their own sin, but also from the sins of others? That we are setting people free from religious institutions that keep people from the freedom that Jesus promised? Could that be what he meant?

Jesus challenged the power hierarchies. He challenged the hierarchies of kingdom, religious structures, wealth and social status. When Jesus said the world will hate you because of me, could it be that we would be hated because we;

· Love everyone, not just those we call our “brothers and sisters”.
· Invite the lame, poor, maimed and blind to our parties.
· Do not continue to amass wealth within an unjust system.
· Proclaim that in the Kingdom of God there are no slaves or masters, no men or women, no teachers or students.
· Challenge the systems that tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders.
· Have fellowship with outcasts, thus rejecting the views of those who demand separateness from an unclean world.

Could that be what Jesus meant?

Take some time to check out the other synchrobloggers

David Fisher - Be the Revolution
Fishing for Trouble - Phil Wyman’s Square No More
Mike Bursell - Mike’s Musings
Restoring Our View of Humanity - Eternal Echoes
Persecuting the Marginalized - JohnSmulo.com
The Ends Justify the Means - Calacirian
Billy Calderwood - Billy Calderwood
Seeking First Righteousness - Tim Abbott
Jamie Swann - More Than Stone
Persecution and Martyrdom - Handmaid Leah
“Don’t squash the counter-revolutionary/the plank in my own eye” - Jeremiah
The Martyrs of Epinga at Notes from the Underground
Terrorism in Christianity at The Rivera Blog
Persecution or Poor Elocution? “Hello,” said Jenelle

Today, I had to go to a baby shower. It was at someone’s house that I recently had a falling out with. This falling out didn’t just include us, it included many in our core group. So, here I am, at this event, with some of the same people that I feel very betrayed and hurt by. I wanted to vomit, I was so nervous. The baby shower was fine, and I held it together, but promptly went home and cried for about an hour.

So, I read Psalm 55, written by David when he felt betrayed by a friend. So many of the verses were exactly how I felt, that I thought I would just post them on the blog. But as I read, David was really asking God to “take care of these people”, if you know what I mean. Things like “haul my betrayers off to hell” (The Message). So, it got me to thinking, should I post the whole psalm? With the tongue splitting and throwing people into hell? Sheesh, that seems harsh.

But really, if I’m going to be honest…haven’t I felt that way? Haven’t I wished that those who have hurt me would feel the same hurt? Haven’t I thought ugly things towards them? Was David just kidding when he prayed that? (And, by the way, made a song out of it–how angry is that?) Then, I thought, why shouldn’t I post the whole Psalm? Is it God’s word, or not? Was David a lover of God, or not?

I’m realizing more and more that we have soooo cleaned up the humanity of the bible. We gloss over the anger, outrage and hurt. We clean it up. We pretend that the Godly people of Scripture didn’t have those emotions, and “Hallelujah!”, neither do we.

But that’s a crock of crap, isn’t it? We do feel that way sometimes. So, in honor of David’s humanity, and mine, I give you …Psalm 55.

1-3 Open your ears, God, to my prayer; don’t pretend you don’t hear me knocking.
Come close and whisper your answer.
I really need you.
I shudder at the mean voice,
quail before the evil eye,
As they pile on the guilt,
stockpile angry slander.

4-8 My insides are turned inside out;
specters of death have me down.
I shake with fear,
I shudder from head to foot.
“Who will give me wings,” I ask—
“wings like a dove?”
Get me out of here on dove wings;
I want some peace and quiet.
I want a walk in the country,
I want a cabin in the woods.
I’m desperate for a change
from rage and stormy weather.

9-11 Come down hard, Lord—slit their tongues.
I’m appalled how they’ve split the city
Into rival gangs
prowling the alleys
Day and night spoiling for a fight,
trash piled in the streets,
Even shopkeepers gouging and cheating
in broad daylight.

12-14 This isn’t the neighborhood bully
mocking me—I could take that.
This isn’t a foreign devil spitting
invective—I could tune that out.
It’s you! We grew up together!
You! My best friend!
Those long hours of leisure as we walked
arm in arm, God a third party to our conversation.

15 Haul my betrayers off alive to hell—let them
experience the horror, let them
feel every desolate detail of a damned life.

16-19 I call to God;
God will help me.
At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh
deep sighs—he hears, he rescues.
My life is well and whole, secure
in the middle of danger
Even while thousands
are lined up against me.
God hears it all, and from his judge’s bench
puts them in their place.
But, set in their ways, they won’t change;
they pay him no mind.

20-21 And this, my best friend, betrayed his best friends;
his life betrayed his word.
All my life I’ve been charmed by his speech,
never dreaming he’d turn on me.
His words, which were music to my ears,
turned to daggers in my heart.

22-23 Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—
he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out.
He’ll never let good people
topple into ruin.
But you, God, will throw the others
into a muddy bog,
Cut the lifespan of assassins
and traitors in half.

And I trust in you.

John Smulo says:

“I could develop a list of things to say sorry about that could go on until tomorrow. But over the last few weeks I’ve been thinking through a few different ways for the Christian community as a whole to say “we’re sorry”.”

If you’ve ever regreted the way you’ve acted, or things you’ve said “in the name of God”, take a look at John’s website and join the chorus of apologies.

Craig Ferguson, a late night TV host, made an absolutely brilliant statement. Probably one of the best statements I’ve heard recently, and as far as I know, he’s not a Jesus follower. He was doing a bit on Pat Robertson’s recent prediction of mass killings at the end of 2007.

Ferguson said,

“I think what happens is that some of these televangelists, they prey on the good-will of the congregation… People flock to these preachers, cause they want someone to tell them everything is gonna be all right. But here’s my thing, you can’t have certainty and faith. You can’t. You can’t have them at the same time. If you have faith, you don’t need certainty. If you have certainty, you don’t need faith. They can’t coexist. It doesn’t make sense. You can’t be hungry and full. You can’t be drunk and sober. You can’t be fat and thin. It doesn’t make any sense.”

This is an absolutely fascinating statement. If we have faith, we do so many of us flock to those public figures that predict the future through “prophecy” or promise the “best life now” or promise healing. Where is the faith in that? Are we not simply running off to soothe sayers? What is the difference, other than some use the name of Jesus and others don’t?

It reminds me of Job’s story, in some ways. It all came crashing down on poor Job. When I think I’m having a bad day, I just think of Job…puts things in perspective. Job lost his house, his children, his wealth, and then to make a bad day worse, his wife tells him “Why don’t you just curse God and die.” My husband loves when I say that to him.

So, there Job is, when his friends show up. The see how absolutely miserable he is. Scripture says that he looked so bad, they hardly recognized him. His friends sat with him for 7 days, mourning with him. But 7 days of mourning was about all they could handle. I think that we are not much different. We can only stand someone else’s grief for so long before we have to jump in and “fix it”. But that’s a story for another day….

His friend Eliphaz (I’ll call him Eli) jumps in and says, “Hey, Job, do you mind if I jump in here?” From there, Eli goes on to tell Job that the innocent prosper and the wicked get what they deserve. Hmmm…what was Eli implying?

Then old Bildad (Bill for short) weighs in. He suggests that perhaps Job’s children deserved to die for their sins and that if Job would simply repent, then certainly God would restore him.

As if this isn’t enough, then Zophar (Zoe for short) jumps in. He proceeds to tell Job that he is a mocker and a babbler and that he got LESS than he deserved from God as punishment.

Round and round it goes….for chapter after chapter. Eli, Bill and Zoe accuse and condemn Job (apparently, these guys have never heard of a fair fight). Job doesn’t fear God, Job is wicked, Job is clearly not listening to God. Of course, Job spends much time attempting to vindicate himself before his 3 “friends”. However, at some point the convo stops, because his 3 friends were disgusted with Job, as he was “righteous in his own eyes.” Then, to Job’s delight I’m sure, another friend swings by Job’s pad. I’ll call him Eli Jr. (no relation to the older Eli). Junior is already in a right state by the time he speaks. He was ticked with Job for justifying himself. He was ticked with the older 3 men, because they were unsuccessful at proving Job wrong. Junior takes 5 chapters and just lets Job have it.

And then…..drum roll….blowing of the shofar…..

Jehovah shows up.

I just love God. He has a fabulous sense of humor. So, God shows up and speaks to Job out of the storm. Even this is a clever little play on words. I think when God shows up, He must show up in the midst of a tempest, but Job was experiencing quite a tempest of his own. So God tells Job …
“Ok, Mister Man…get ready for me. I will now ask the questions, and YOU can answer.” God proceeds to ask Job questions like “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the world? Can you create lightening so that it says to you ‘Here I am?” Stuff like this. I’m thinking Job was feeling a bit humble. About halfway through God’s tirade, Job breaks in and says “Ok, Ok, You are right, God, I’ll shut up”. But God isn’t done with Job, yet. God continues to question Job with more humbling questions. One of my favorite questions that God asks is “Will you play with the leviathan like a bird, or put him on a leash for your girls?”. That’s funny. I don’t care what you say.

So, as the story wraps up, Job repents. He admits that he had no business questioning God or His purposes. Then, here comes the beautiful part, God totally OWNED Job’s friends. He tells them “that you have not spoken rightly of Me and that Job has. IF Job will pray for you, I will accept Job’s prayer and not deal accordingly with you.” BURN. I bet that Job’s friends were glad that Job was not the vindictive type. Job DID pray for his friends and God accepted Job’s prayers.

So, if you’re still with me, you may be wondering, “What the heck does this have to do with Pat Robertson and Craig Ferguson?” Well maybe, not much. However, I think it speaks to this need for us to have all the answers. Pray and God will heal. Be holy and God will bless you. Seek God and He will tell you the future so you can prepare.

God is not a gumball machine. We can’t stick in a quarter (the right action) and expect a gumball (the thing we want) to pop out. God is God. Who are we to question?

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

Technorati Tags: Pat Robertson, prediction, Craig Ferguson, Job, prophecy, healing, prophetic, Joel Osteen,

Lev 25:10-14 And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and you shall return every man unto his possession, and you shall return every man unto his family. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of your untended vine. For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: you shall eat what it yields thereof out of the field. In the year of this jubilee you shall return every man unto his possession. And if you sell anything unto your neighbor, or buy anything of your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another:

Luke 4:18-19, 21 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Messiah’s arrival was to proclaim the year of Jubilee, the “acceptable year of the Lord”. Jesus inaugurated the arrival of a perpetual Jubilee. Jubilee year was God, setting things back to rights. It reflected God’s standards for how people should treat people. In the year of Jubilee, debts of the poor were forgiven, slaves were set free and land that had been sold off was to be returned to the original owner. God set in place a system of caring for the oppressed; putting humans back on equal playing fields with one another. He knows that power and money corrupt and allow for the usury and oppression of those without.

How is it, that we have so spiritualized His words that preaching the Good News to the poor, healing the brokenhearted, freedom for captives, and recovery of sight to the blind has simply come to mean telling people that they are going to hell if they don’t accept Jesus? Did God not mean those things? Are we not to set the prisoners free? Feed the poor? Heal the sick? Where is this Jubilee that Jesus proclaimed? How am I bringing the Kingdom of God to bear in this world?

God implemented Jubilee, Sabbath and the Sabbath year to remind us of who we are and who HE is. The land is on loan to us. Food is a provision from God for all. God cares for the poor and oppressed. Exodus people must never return to a system of slavery. In Biblical Israel the cycle of poverty began when a family fell into debt, it deepened when they had to sell their land to pay the debt and reached it’s climax when they only had their labor to sell, becoming bond-servants. In the Sabbath year, God demanded not only that bond-servants were to be set free, but also that they were to be given enough resources to make it on their own. (Deuteronomy 15:12-17)

I am absolutely fascinated by the Old Testament. So often, we miss the beauty and power of the principles that God laid out for us. Will we continue to downgrade these scriptures as obscure snippets that have no meaning for us while we continue to add to our own pockets? Hunger, homelessness and systemic poverty can only be viewed as a lack of obedience on the Church’s part.

John Haughy, a Jesuit theologian said:

“We read the gospel as if we had no money, and we spend our money as if we know nothing of the gospel.”

Technorati Tags: poverty, social+justice, Exodus, Messiah, Jubilee+Year

One of things I’ve been thinking about lately is how we Christians state that all truth is found in the bible. We follow the bible. The bible is the book to gain all wisdom and truth. “God said it, I believe it. Not one jot or tiddle will be added or taken away.” And yet, we fool ourselves. As the Jews do, we have oral law that we follow as well. We just haven’t compiled all of it into a written format. Each Rabbi (pastor or denomination) that we follow had its/his/her own yoke.

Many of the Jewish scholars note that God gave 613 commandments in the Torah. 248 of these commandments are positive commandments (actions we should take), 365 are negative commandments (actions we are to abstain from). Oral law is simply the act of interpreting these 613 commandments. The Mishna is the first written recording with the oral law. It is divided into 6 portions dealing with 6 basic areas of Jewish law:

· Agriculture and food
· Holidays and Sabbath
· Issues between men and women (divorce, remarriage, etc),
· Civil and criminal law
· Laws of the temple
· Spiritual laws of purity and impurity.

Someone look me straight in the face and honestly tell me we don’t have our own Mishna. I dare you to. I’ll look right back and tell you that you are a fibber. Jesus gave us the 2 greatest commandments. Love God and love others. However, we take this and the rest of the New Testament, extrapolate verses and create our own Mishna. Matthew Henry, John Wesley, and Martin Luther are our some of our sages. They’ve written our Talmud and some of us will fight to the death to protect the words they’ve written. We don’t call it Talmud or Mishna; we call it Ecclesial History, or Hermeneutics or Systematic Theology. But at the end of the day, as far as this non-theologically trained girl thinks, it’s all the same.

What does it look like to follow Jesus? That’s what we are all trying to figure out. Let’s at least be honest when we talk. There is interpretation when we read Scripture. We do look to wiser men to help us decipher the upside down world of Jesus and His parables. We have a lens on when we approach Scripture. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t have 4029 different denominations, or whatever it is we have (is that an exaggeration?). I think that if perhaps we began being honest about this, we might be more successful at reaching some common ground within the Christian community. If we simply admit that we follow this Rabbi, or that Rabbi in it’s/his/her interpretation, we might be more successful in our dialogues. Maybe, just maybe, if we come to the table honestly and humbly, we could work together in this beautiful, mystifying, complex thing we call The Church.

Technorati Tags: Matthew+Henry, John+Wesley, Martin+Luther, Scripture, Bible

Shannon asks this question in a recent post on his blog
Shannons states:

I for one have always held that the Bible is the ultimate answer for the ultimate problem. Throughout the ancient text we can find every problem that has ever been known to man.

Relational
Emotional
Physical
Spiritual

These are facinating questions that leads me to my question. Is the Bible an answer book? That is what I’ve always been taught. Perhaps we are asking the wrong question. N. T. Wright, in his book “The Last Word” points out ever so eloquently that Scripture is God’s authority, in a delegated sense. And if that is true, how does that actually work? The Scripture is story after story of God, His people, and His actions in the world. How is authority excercised through story?

I think perhaps that the question we should be asking is “Is God Central To All Life’s Problems”. Perhaps, in our enthusiasm to point to the beauty, majesty and wonder of Scripture, we have overemphasized it’s supremacy and facts and underemphasized it’s wisdom and authenticity.

Truly a facinating discussion!

Technorati Tags: bible, scripture, Tom+Wright