Posts Tagged ‘Bible’

25 Jul

Frivolousness, Good Humour and a Christian walk into a Blog

Posted by tyrellh in Devotional, Personal. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

“Dead flies make a perfumer’s oil stink, so a little foolishness is weightier than wisdom and honor” (Eccl 10:1) Solomon penned those Word’s thousands of years ago, yet the truth of them is felt just as much today. Over the past 5 weeks or so, I have been contemplating the difference between frivolity and good humour. Frivolity is when someone makes light of everything, when one lacks seriousness, or even better, someone who is marked by unbecoming flippancy (that’s a great word). The reason for my contemplations were (and are) rooted in my own weaknesses and personality; that is, by nature I find it easy to be flippant.

The problem here is the Scripture calls elders (and by virtue of that everyone) to be “…temperate, prudent, respectable…” (1 Tim 3v2). These attributes do not correspond with a frivolous attitude. For all the honor that comes to the office of an elder (1 Tim 5:17), a little foolishness, a little flippancy with the tongue, can do great damage. As Christians, with the world watching us all the time, waiting for that mistake, the slippery tongue makes for a easy target (James 3:2). Thus Christians should be on their guard against slips of the tongue… but this we all know, it’s nothing new.

Humor though is a good thing, we find God the Father and Christ using sarcasm and wit in Scripture, as do His apostles… “A merry heart does good like medicine” (Proverbs 27:22), but there is a kind of flippancy, a mode one can go into, where they take nothing serious, where nothing is weighty, and conversations are kept at a superficial level. It is even common to use humor as a coping mechanism in the face of tragedy and death (as was done with Princess Diana).

Jesus made this telling statement about the relationship between the heart and the mouth, ““The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. (Luke 6:45)”. The answer to being more careful in speech, is not so much to watch what you say or be extra careful, but to deal with the source of speech; the heart. Speech is merely a barometer of what is happening in our hearts, so use speech that way, when I catch myself being flippant I need to ask, why am I being like that? What in my heart is overflowing in this coarseness, stupidness etc.

The criteria for humour should be the same as for all conversation, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear” (Eph 4:29). We know the difference between humour that is edifying, it leaves our heart feeling merry, it’s like a medicine, but we also know what it is to laugh and have an emptiness and a shallowness. Exactly how this works out all the time, I don’t know, perhaps that is why Paul writes “according to the need of the moment” some jokes may be appropriate sometimes, some jokes may never be appropriate (like racist or sexist jokes), we can get it right though only when our hearts are overflowing with the good things of God’s Word, with the sweetness of Christ.

One closing thought on this issue, and this would apply to us in every field in which we exercise influence, the great Baptist preacher Al Martin said, “You cannot be a clown and a prophet!” If our friends know us as a clown, how can we then expect to be God’s messenger to them? Which are you?

12 Aug

A Response to Codringtons “Perspectives on Homosexuality”

Posted by tyrellh in Book Review, Christianity. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

What follows in this paper is not an attack on Dr Graeme Codrington, I am sure he is a wonderful person, and what I remember from the few times I have heard him speak is that he is a articulate, friendly and intelligent man. In addition, this is not an attack on gays, the Bible teaches that real Christians love homosexuals and accept them as people, yet the Christian call is the call of the gospel, that all those who labor and are heavy laden, may come to Christ for rest, and our call to the homosexual is the same as our call to the gossip, murderer, adulterer, liar, they are commanded to repent and have faith in Christ, there is hope and freedom in the gospel.

As many may know, in the recent (August 2008 ) publication of the ‘Baptist Today’ Dr Graeme Codrington wrote an article in entitled ‘Perspectives on Homosexuality’ in which he looks at the texts which were traditionally understood to condemn homosexuality, subsequently concluding that all these references really addressed situations containing inhospitably, idolatry, shrine prostitution, adultery, promiscuity, lust, violence and rap etc (pg18). For those of you who may have read this article and been swept in by the appearance of biblical respect, or for those who are merely inquisitive I wish to examine Codringtons’ use of hermeneutics (science of Bible interpretation).

- Sodom and Gomorra –

Genesis 19 refers to Sodom and Gomorra, (v4-9) which is a story which has traditionally been understood to contain a situation where men of the city wanted to have homosexual relations with Lot’s visitors, Sodom was subsequently destroyed for its pervasive wickedness. Codrington appeals to a excellent hermeneutic, letting Scripture interpret Scripture, and asks that we see what Ezekiel 16:49 says that the sin of Sodom was; there we read that the sin of Sodom was “pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness… neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy” thus he says, homosexuality was not the issue.

While this argument is partially true, when Sodom was destroyed, homosexuality was only part of its wickedness, this does not negate the fact that homosexuality was also part of the wickedness. We find a similar kind of picture in Romans 1, where homosexuality is given as a symptom of a generally corrupt mankind. As for Codrington’s statement that only those who have prejudged the story can say that the ‘detestable things’ mentioned in Ezekiel 16:49-50 is homosexuality, I would respond, only those with a desire for it not to be homosexuality can say confidently that it was not.

As for Jude 7, Codrington here explains that the ‘strange flesh’ mentioned refers to the men of Sodom desiring the flesh of angels. However this interpretation has a number of problems, if you read the context (as Codrington rightly says you should) you may want to ask these questions: When did the angels invade Sodom and Gomorrah? And, if fallen angels are meant, how can their sin and the sin of the Sodomites apply to us today?[i] Furthermore, certainly the men wanted to engage in homosexual relations with the men at Lot’s door, but they did not know that they were angels. In any case the language of ‘strange flesh’ and its meaning has resemblance to Romans 1:27 which speaks of ‘unnatural use’ in the original languages, all together the evidence lies weightier on the fact that homosexuality was one of the issues of Sodom and Gomorrah.

- The Law -

Next Codrington approaches Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 Here he gives two main reasons why this text against homosexuality should be disregarded:

1) There are verses surrounding this which speak about many other laws which we do not follow anymore, thus he implies, we are picking and choosing what we want to obey and what we don’t want to obey.

In response to this, I point out Codrington comment on page 17, “ The accepted hermeneutic is that only those laws specifically reiterated in the NT are still applicable to us today”. Right, that is the accepted hermeneutic, thus the entire wave of writing he goes, on arguing about the other laws surrounding this text, seems a bit puzzling, since he knows how the interpretation is done; but allow me to expand on that rather limited statement briefly.

Firstly, we know that the law is good, and that we cannot keep it no matter how hard we try. However in and of itself the law is good, and the NT in no way makes it void (Romans 7:12). Thus whatever role we assign the law we must remember that it is good, perfect and holy (Matthew 5:17)

Secondly, the NT shows what portions of the laws are no longer binding on believers. When laws are mentioned in the NT as no longer binding, then we conclude that we do not have to keep them. This is not making unbiblical categories, far from it, this is a matter of looking at the whole counsel of God. In Galatians 3:10-13 we see that the ceremonial and dietary laws are no longer binding on Christians for example.

Thirdly, some commandments that are in the law also go beyond the law. In Leviticus 18 and 20 bestiality, incest and adultery are also condemned. These are repeated in the NT, making them not only part of the law, but a larger biblical ethic as well.

2) Codrington suggests that this practice of homosexuality may have had some relationship to cultic practices of the surrounding nation…

Does this apply to adultery, incest and bestiality as well? In Lev 18:27 God says that all the practices mentioned, defiled the land, when they were committed by the people living there. God said that He ‘abhorred’ the people in the land before Israel did, since they practiced such behaviors (Lev 20:23). So we see that these practices offended God no matter whom or in what context they were practiced by or in.

- New Testament -

Next, Codrington comes to 1 Cor 6:9-10 and 1 Tim 1:9-10, and begins discussion on two Greek words, ‘μαλακοὶ’ and ‘ἀρσενοκοιτης’ , he attempts to throw doubt on the translation of these words by suggesting that they can best be understood as referring to pederasty, a practice in which young boys were used to serve adult men and offer them sex, and effeminate call-boys who were used as sex-slaves. He maintains that this cannot be seen as a blanket condemnation of homosexuality. Part of this is seen, he says, in the fact the Paul uses a new word for homosexual when there were other words that meant homosexual already available.

I respond to this by saying, Paul actually coined 179 new words; this does not change the context of the verse these words appeared in.

Lets examine the word ‘ἀρσενοκοιτης’ this is made up of two words in the Greek ἀρσενο’ which means ‘male’ (used in Romans 1) and ‘κοιτης’ which we only see twice in the NT, both times meaning bed (Romans 13:13; Hebrews 13:3). What is interesting is that in the two terms ‘male’ and bed’ there is not mention of any kind of ‘use’ or ‘abusiveness’, Paul puts these two words together to create a picture of a sexual issue, not one of prostitution or anything like that at all. This same construction is used in Leviticus 18:22 where the two words תִשְׁכַּב and זָכָר which is ‘bed’ and ‘man’ are used in Hebrew to speak against homosexuality, thus if one reads the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) one sees the Greek words mention by Paul in place of the Hebrew words forbidding homosexuality. When Paul made his statement against homosexuality he could not have been clearer, making the word out of the words in the Septuagint used to forbid homosexuality.

- Romans -

Yet the real issue becomes clear in the end of Codrington’s article when he mentions Romans 1, since here Paul is so emphatically against homosexuality that one is hard pressed to wiggle out of the text some other meaning. Codrington suggests that one ‘viable’ option in dealing with Romans 1, is to say that God was against homosexuality at the time, but now things have changed. The theological problems with this are implicit and I do not want to lengthen an already long article. Suffice to say that those who which to immediately throw the word cultural at every text that does not fit with our ‘advanced’ society should be alert to see where the rabbit hole eventually leads.

The article ends with a few more short confusing statements about Scripture, ones to which I am sure Dr Condrington knows the answers from a hermeneutically faithful and biblically conservative view. Yet he does not say them in an attitude that suggests their may be an answer. Granted a paper in a journal like ‘Baptist Today’ would be under space constraints, and thus Codrington could not go as deep into the arguments as he would have liked or been able to. However, this does not diminish the fact that there is an agenda pushing his interpretation of these verses

In Conclusion, the Bible and God, who does not change, clearly condemn the practice of homosexuality, yet that same God, who does not change, still offers in the good news of Jesus Christ, an escape from the wrath of God, and freedom from the bondages of all and any sins.

[i]Wiersbe, Warren W.: The Bible Exposition Commentary. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1996, c1989, S. Jud 5

1 Jul

Why Read The Bible?/Whats the Point of Having a Bible? (Part 2)

Posted by tyrellh in Christianity. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

-          Hard to Understand-

 

One of the most encouraging passages in the Bible is in 2 Peter 3:15-16. There Peter talks about Paul’s writings and admits that some of it is hard to understand. To be honest, sometimes I read something in the Bible and I am like huh? What was that?! Have you ever felt like that?

If so, its okay, so did Peter.

 

I read one author who looked at the story of the fall of Jericho in Joshua 6. He reacts in the same way most of us might react… with shock!

 

“They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it- men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.”

 

How could God have commanded that, how could a good God have commanded that?

 

God was with Joshua when he slaughtered men, women and children?

 

Is that God?

 

What does a person do with something like that?

 

The way I see it you have a couple of options:

1)     Deny that the Bible is God’s Word

2)     Humble yourself and try understand it, even though it may be difficult

3)     Say that the Bible is kind of God’s word except for the parts that I don’t like and are too hard to figure out

4)     Hide under your bed and recite the Greek alphabet

 

I remember years ago I had a third-person computer game called ‘Blade Runner’, in this game you are a detective and you have to try to figure out what is going on in the story, and as you figure stuff out and put it into action you move on. On day I got to a place where I just didn’t know what to do anymore… I must have spent three hours walking around the same place. I got so frustrated, I turned the game off to play a more mindless game, one where I just run and shoot (I wouldn’t have had to do this if some of my friends had finished it and could have told me what to do).

 

Many people are like that when it comes to their Bible, they read Joshua 6 and get a shock, cause all their life they have read bumper stickers that say ‘Jesus loves you’. Now God sends in armies to attack and destroy….  So they throw in the towel and jump to an easy out conclusion.

 

Ah, the folly of bumper sticker theology.

 

Reading the Bible is really important to understand it, I mean really reading, not just remembering flagellum. Before Joshua goes out In Leviticus 18:25 God speaks about the kind of people that live in the land the Israelites are about to invade, it seems from the rest of the chapter there was the worship of Molech, this involved sacrificing a child into the fiery arms of a steel idol, furthermore homosexuality and bestiality were rife. All these things being loathsome before God.

 

God was visiting judgment upon them!

 

This leads to a whole load of other questions, and that is not all there is to it, but the real question you have to stop and ask is, am I willing to keep looking and searching, or should  I cop out now?

 

In Peter chapter 3 Peter goes on, he says that because some of what Paul writes is hard to understand, other men who are untaught and unstable twist what he says as they do with the rest of Scripture.

 

A favorite one which is twisted is in 1 Corinthians 7:12. Here Paul says, “But to the rest I, not the Lord, says…”

 

Oh, so this is not inspired right, this is just Paul’s opinion!

 

Well if you read the few verses before (v10-11) and you have been reading widely in your Bible, maybe places like Mark 10:6-10, you would see that Paul had just been quoting Christ Himself. And so now, to end his quotation he uses the words ‘I, not the Lord, in case you are thinking I’m still quoting Mark’.

 

Anyway, wasn’t Paul’s opinion inspired when he wrote Scripture?

I though men of God wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit? Oh, how the bumper-sticker theology has made so many unstable and untaught teachers.

 

Have you ever looked at Christianity and thought, wow, so many denominations?

 

I have, all the disunity is quiet a problem. Let’s boil it down a little…

 

Most of these denominations exist because of a difference in interpreting the Bible. What we want to know then is what influences how we interpret the Bible:

 

1)     What is the Bible

2)     Rules of interpretation

 

Those are the two major influences on how we interpret the Bible.

 

Islam, is relatively unified because they all see the Koran as being Allah’s word so they just obey it, Hindus, don’t really care, nor do Buddhists. Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses all see the Bible Joseph Smith and Charles Taze Russel want them to, so that’s pretty unified. The average catholic doesn’t care, they just do what they got to do to get into heaven.

 

Let me say it like this, how much value you place on the Bible will determine how you understand it, and it will determine if it will bring you the life it is supposed to.

 

I believe that the Bible is God’s perfect revelation of Himself to man, that all of the Scripture is God-breathed, and flawless, and that it contains all things the man of God may need to be fully equipped for very good work.

 

Tell me, does democracy mean that I can say or do anything I want to?

 

Does freedom of expression mean that I can kill someone to express myself?

 

Have people done that before?

Does that mean that anytime someone argues a point from their democratic right and from their right to freedom of expression that they are being crazy?

 

Exactly, it doesn’t.

 

Now even though someone may try to use the Bible to defend something that’s wrong, and that the Bible doesn’t say, that doesn’t mean that whenever someone uses the Bible to defend a point, that they are wrong.

 

Peter points out that people can twist things, but God in His wisdom placed the Bible in a context, in actually history with actual words that have actual meanings.

 

So, guess what, people can not make the Bible say whatever they want it to say.

 

There is only one interpretation of every verse, one. But people twist what it says to make it mean what it does not say…. Why? Two reasons

 

1)     They have a low view of the Bible

2)     They don’t know who to interpret the Bible

 

Times are crazy. When I go out to share the gospel, I often encourage people to find a good ‘bible-preaching’ church.

 

What does that mean?

 

Does that mean that the pastor must quote verses?

Must the preacher have verses to back up his point?

Should the preacher only say stuff I can imagine God would say?

 

Lets compare this to a professor of medicine who is about to graduate and next month will be doing his first open heart surgery…. On you!

 

Does that mean the professor must quote parts of the textbook?

Must the professor recite sentences from the textbook to back up his point?

Should the professor only say stuff that you would imagine could help during open heart surgery?

 

No, I want him to teach medicine, what does the textbook say, line by line, tell him how to do everything properly.

“Oh, yes, I remember the professor saying I should use a scalpel, then he spoke about the nice patterns one can make with it, hmmm yes”

 

What really helped me to grasp this was to see how Jesus interpreted and used the Old Testament. Jesus Himself said that he did not come to do away with the Law or the Prophets, but rather to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).

 

Lev 19:18 tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves, that’s pretty simple, but the Pharisees had messed it up by Jesus’ time so he simply restates it for the people in Matthew 5:43-44 and corrects the wrong rabbinical interpretation, that’s why Jesus says, ‘you have heard it said’ so often, they had heard it from rabbias who were making their own self-serving interpretations on God’s word.

 

The Bible is the best interpreter of itself, why do I say that?

 

Well, who is my Neighbor? In Luke 10:30-37 Jesus answered that exact questions when he told the story of the good Samaritan.

 

Well, how do I put this into action day to day? If you read the book of Leviticus there are hundreds of day to day principles for loving your neighbor, from keeping him safe when he is in your house to making him feel welcome and giving him refreshments (lets not forget 6 of the Ten Commandments)

 

Well, what kind of love should I have, who defines that love? Jesus did in the rest of Matthew 5:43-48.

 

The Bible is a closed book, and its perfect. Yes we need to interpret it, but we are not alone, we have most importantly the Holy Spirit, and we have common sense.

 

Words have meaning, contexts give color, and surroundings writings give added and deeper meaning.

 

Did you understand what I just wrote? Did the words mean something? Did you know I was talking about the Bible not a Superman comic cause of context? When you read the next chapter I hope you will have some added meaning to have I have just written.

 

Guess what? I mean everything I just said, and there is only one way to understand what I said, you may make a mistake and miss-read me, I hope not though. In the same way the Bile has meaning, and if one is fair to it, one can see it, it will be meaningful and applicable to life.

 

 

10 Jun

Why Read the Bible?/ Whats the Point of Having a Bible? (Part1)

Posted by tyrellh in Christianity, Devotional, Religion. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

Mind blowing…. I was chosen to do this!

I remember being really sick when I was a kid, I had allergies upon allergies, and probably spent less then half the time at school then most kids do in primary school. It was always scary having tests done, I never knew what the results would be- once I watch this movie called Lorenzo’s oil about this child who got a rare disease, eventually his parents found a cure- it’s a real amazing heart-breaking story- but after that, I thought maybe I have that. It was not a good time, however…. God used it.

Since I was not able to go around playing all day, I had to sit home, and often times I would read, most of my time was spent reading Christian books, and theology books, from my brother who was a pastor. I learnt so much then and grew such a love for God and Jesus Christ that grew out of my understanding…. And so I became passionate about understanding what God meant by what He said in the Bible.

I got very involved in a ministry with my next youngest brother, at this time I was exposed to Satanists and the occult, I leant how to share the gospel with these people, and have so many wonderful testimonies to the grace of God, as people we saved out of the darkest and most hopeless states.

Eventually the doctors found out what was wrong with me, at the end of my standard five year at school- all it took was like a month of medication and I have been fine since then, so fine, that I discovered a rather natural affinity for sports and did rather well in high school.

At the end of high school, I was deciding what to do, and to cut a long story short, God showed me how all my life had been prepared for the ministry (as opposed to Bio-kinetics and the army), my passion, my learning, and so my brother, who had the right connections, got me to into the Baptist Theological College and I started working as a Student pastor at a Baptist church in Johannesburg.

I was going to teach the Bible, I was going to spend time preparing the bread of God’s word to break and give to God’s people. I was excited.

Its been fifteen years now, fifteen years of a love for God and a passion for God’s Bible. Sometimes a very difficult book, but overall a clear and practical book. I find that most of the time when I struggle to understand what the Bible is saying, it is because I am not reading it. You know what that’s like, when you are busy studying for a big biology test and you are just reading over the work trying to feel like you are studying, then you get to the end of the page and you don’t know a thing about what you just read, except maybe ‘flagellum’. Chances are if you are finding it difficult to read, you are not reading. At least that’s what I found.

I don’t like calling it a book, it’s so much more.

28 Apr

Is Doctrine that Important/ The Distaste for Doctrine (Part 2)

Posted by tyrellh in Christianity, Devotional, Religion. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

-THE DISTANCE TO BE TRAVERSED- (Reading part 1 will help)

As a Jesus follower I am a person who is just trying to live the way Jesus lived, to follow Him as he walked, to travel the same distance he did. I know that the path He walked is the absolute best way to walk.

This isn’t a blind faith, anti-intellectual way of living. It’s simply living the way the Creator who proved himself with signs and purity, that He is the best path to follow. Jesus surpasses every other person in all of history in purity, in righteousness, in compassion, in holiness, in wisdom, in Life.

I’m persuaded that loving what Jesus loved is the right distance to travel

I’m persuaded that hating what Jesus hated is the right distance to travel

I’m persuaded that pursuing God’s glory in every situation is the greatest distance to travel

I’m persuaded that being holy is the best distance to travel

I’m persuaded that having the wisdom of God is the best way to travel any distance.

This isn’t ignorant blind following of a random historical person, it’s looking into reality with a strong desire for truth and seeing a man who came back to life, who forgave those who killed him, who overturned tables at a temple, you called religious leaders ‘children of the devil’, who showed compassion on a hungry crowd, who lifted up a crushed adulterous.

When you start traveling the distance Jesus traveled you notice that people start treating you like they treated Jesus, your family might think you are out of your mind (Mark 3:20), others think you are to harsh or hard and leave you, your friends betray you, the majority of people want to kill you.

Not to say that there are not other ways to get people to treat you like that.

Jesus purpose was to show people who God really was… Often people say, ‘If God is real, why doesn’t He just show Himself?’

But God did!

Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30)

The Light that came from God is God and the world couldn’t see it – He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him ( John 1:10). Why didn’t and doesn’t the world see the Light that is Christ?

Is it because science has disproved God?

Is it because The Bible is too narrow-minded?

Is it because the church doesn’t reflect God accurately?

Or is it because ‘people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)

Jesus once claimed to be ‘the way, the truth and the life’ what Jesus was saying is rather plain for anyone to see, the way of Jesus is the only way, the truth of Jesus is the only truth, and the life of Jesus is the only real life. I look in a world and I see catholics and Buddhists and Muslims and Jews and Mormons and unnumbered others trying to tell me there way is the right way… And I’d be lost if I had to sift through all those millions of views to find truth, but Christ came into the reality He created and gave me the right to be a child of God (John 1:12).

1Co 2:10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

1Co 2:12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

And then Paul climaxes his chapter with this great statement “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Jesus brought life to dead corpses in sin and at enmity with God

So the distance of Jesus is not about pretty thoughts, its about who He is and what he taught

It about traveling the road as He lived and taught it should be traveled

What we need to ask ourselves is not what sounds cool and noble, but who lives and teaches what Jesus lived and taught

Being right and living righteously are not separable: If a murder has some mental understanding of what is right, that doesn’t change who he is… If someone who gave their life for dying people on the streets of India does it to earn or merit something for them self and not out of a love for God, that is no more vitreous.

John brought right belief and right action together in chapter 5 of his first epistle, he said, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.

Notice how he says, those who believe something.. are born again

And then goes on to say those who love other Christians…are born again

The only way to know the truth about reality is to know the truth of God, the truth Christ came to bring us.

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