Reasons Not to Vote

I stumbled across the following essasy that encourages Christians not to vote. I don't agree with some of the presentation, but was interested to hear what you have to say about it. I apologize for the length, but I didn't write it.

A Non-Voting Manifesto?
By Tripp York, Visiting Prof. of Religious Studies, Elon University, NC

There are few things imagined in this life more dutiful than the so called ‘responsibility’ of every American to vote. Despite the fact that many decide, for whatever reasons, not to vote, the very idea that voting is an indispensable requirement on each individual goes without question.
Let me state at the very beginning that any qualms I may have with voting stem from neither apathy nor indifference. It simply makes little sense to me, given that we are as Aristotle claimed, “political animals,” that anyone would or should be indifferent to voting. Christians (whom I am addressing) should be concerned with the goods that constitute the temporal cities of this time between times, and voting is but one means of attempting to seek those goods. Nevertheless, I often wonder if what has been passed down to us as an unquestioned duty is the only way, or even the best way, to be political? To be even more specific, is it possible that some form of conscientious objection to voting could be understood as an act of politics that is concerned with the good of the polis? Could it function as a witness to a different order, one not predicated on the enforcement of legislation, laws, and the lording of power over one another? If so, what would be the rationale for such an objection, or at least a hesitation, to the act of voting? What sort witness would this attempt to make? In order to answer these questions I have jotted down eight possible reasons why voting could be problematic for Christians. If nothing else, at least dealing with these possible objections should make us more conscientious voters, if we decide Christian civic responsibility entails voting.

I. Romans 13 demands subordination to the government.
Which government? All governments. Paul (while sitting in jail) demanded that Christians are to be submissive to all powers that be because, despite how fallen they are, they, nevertheless, are ordained by God. Rebellion against such powers is understood as rebellion against God and is, thus, not permitted. It makes little sense, therefore, to perpetuate any order that was founded on explicit disobedience to God. The United States of America only comes into being inasmuch as it rebelled against the God-ordained powers of the English monarchy (the irony of this is rich as the most patriotic of souls love to use this text to demand obedience to every whim of their beloved nation-state without recognizing the hypocrisy that made it possible for it to come into being in the first place). To vote for the maintenance of such an order seems to approve of this act of disobedience against God, or at least renders Paul’s command nonsensical as it can be disobeyed if enough time has elapsed from the inception of the said rebellion/revolution.

II. Jesus requires that his disciples not be like those Gentiles who lord their power over others, even it is for some sort of ‘good’ (Mt 20:25).
Christians are, as Jesus says in Matthew 20:26, not to be power-hungry. Rather they are to be as slaves to one another. Perhaps it would be one thing if the elected officials of this nation were forced to take office; instead these are all individuals who desperately want to be in power and all of whom beg and plead with the common folk for their votes, all to the tune, at least in regards to the last election, of more than $1 billion—$1 billion spent to convince us that we should exalt those who would be like those Gentiles who lord their power over others. If we are forbidden to be like them, why would it be permissible to place them in the kind of posture that Jesus decries?

III. Capitalism, the socio-economic order that underwrites this culture, is predicated on the seven deadly sins.
Without just one of these sins, it would fold and collapse on itself. For instance, if there was no greed this economy would be destroyed. We are taught to never be satisfied, to never have our fill, to never be satiated, to remain in a perpetual state of want, all in the name of the common good. How is this even remotely akin to the kind of desires that should be produced by ecclesial formation? Goods are only good if they are shared goods, at least according to scripture and early Christian history. Sharing goods in this culture would be a sin. An aside: Let it not be lost on us that immediately after September 11, 2001, the President of the U.S. demanded that the people of this commonwealth respond by neither prayer nor patience—rather he told the people that they should respond by . . . shopping! The saddest thing about this ‘command’ is that this was actually a morally legitimate response by the President (as it would have been for any president for that matter). Had people ceased spending money, the economy would have collapsed. Therefore, in such a culture one responds to terrorism via trips to the mall as well as supplying a lot of missiles and the youth of the country. This is our way of life? This is what Christians are willing to both die and kill for? How can we vote for any potential Caesar under this sort of politic?

IV. While we are on the subject of the seven deadly sins, let’s look at pride.
Outside of the word ‘freedom’—which is by far the most seductive god competing for our allegiance—there simply is no greater form of idolatry than the worship of, freedom. Pride is a term that is uttered again and again by this country’s leaders. For some reason I am reminded by both scripture and tradition that pride is purely representative of the fall of humanity. There is really nothing to be proud about, except as one can boast with St. Paul, our hope in Jesus. Pride has become the very means that Christians have co-opted to this culture, for it is because of pride that we seem to lack the ability or desire to practice repentance, confession, humility and servanthood—all of which are at the heart of Christian discipleship. Voting is, de facto, an exercise in pride. Especially if you find yourself on the winning side.

V. The kingdoms of this world seem to be ruled by Satan.
Once Satan took Jesus to the mountain-top and offered worldly power: “The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve him only’” (Lk 4:5-8). Though the powers may be ordained by God, they are, nevertheless (as with all of creation), in rebellion against God. According to this passage it is Satan leading this rebellion. Satan offers the kingdoms to Jesus because they belong to Satan. He gives them, or at least offers them, to whom Satan pleases. All Jesus had to do in order to rule the world the way most of us imagine it is to be ruled, was to worship Satan. Thus it would appear that all of the kingdoms of the world, though rightly ordained for the maintenance of social harmony, are currently under satanic influence. One way to lead them is to worship Beelzebub, hence, my reluctance to vote for this sort of ruler.

VI. Regardless of which leader wins, that ruler will expect my allegiance.
That is, of course, a problem in and of itself, as Christians are called to serve only one Master. One way this affects Christians is that leaders of empires simply cannot enact the radical kind of peace Christians are to offer their enemies. Rulers, history has shown, must take up arms against their enemies. They must engage in warring, or at least threats of warring, in order to secure certain goods. This is a far cry from the peacemaking and non-violence which Jesus calls from his disciples. Jesus demands that those who would follow him must turn the other cheek, pray for those who persecute us (ever heard a president pray for an enemy—except that they be destroyed?), and refuse to exercise vengeance, which belongs only to God.
Yet any nation-state, not just this one but all of them, demands the exact opposite. The literal imitation of Jesus in non-violence must be rejected in order to exist and survive in the world. I would argue that any order that demands that a Christian not imitate Jesus is a demonic one indeed, a stumbling block for Christ-like discipleship.

VII: The United States may (not) be the greatest Babylon on the planet, but she is still a Babylon.
As William Stringfellow astutely pointed out, if we are to read all nations biblically then we must recognize that they are all Babylons. No nation or culture is the Heavenly Jerusalem or the City of God. They are, therefore, parasitic on the good that is the heavenly city, and the church, as the image of this city on earth, is called to show the state that it is not the heavenly city. This is her task. It is not to buttress the powers that be, but to show them, through her witness that whatever the powers that be are, they are not the church. One way to resist being co-opted by the powers of this world, I imagine, might be to neither vote nor take office.

VIII: Voting is an attempt to elect someone who will enact, legislate and enforce your political values upon others.
That is the point of voting—to elect someone who will legislate and enforce your convictions. If a candidate promises this, you will support her or him. That is, you expect your candidate to do what you want them to do for the betterment of how you envision the world and how you secure the peace of the city.
This process, in a sense, alleviates the burden of Christians to be the church because now Christians can ask the state require of others our Christian convictions. The church does not need to create an alternative community, does not need to be prophetic, does not need radical discipleship, because Christians now have become the very powers and principalities that Paul claims Jesus has defeated.
By the simple refusal to vote perhaps we can at least see how we have all become seduced by such a power in such a way that we can see how our faith has been compromised and domesticated in the name of something other than the Triune God.
These simple musings are but a few reasons why I am currently hesitant to cast my vote for yet another Caesar.

A Despicable Church Sign

A church sign made it on the Ft. Wayne news last night. I drive by this church every day I go to work. They usually have pretty judgmental signs that make me chuckle, but this one has drawn the media limelight. The sad thing is that they probably think they are doing God's will by putting this out there.



First, they just add to the stereotype of ignorant Christians. There are also people in my church who also believe that he is. The record is pretty clear; Obama is not a Muslim. How people can believe he is is a step of mental gymnastics that I have yet to learn. He is as much of a Muslim as I am a Jehovah Witness; my parents were Witnesses until I was in the second grade.

Second, even if he is a Muslim, that would not discredit him from being President. I would prefer a righteous Muslim over a Christian in name only to be my leader. Colin Powell summed it up best when he said:

I'm also troubled by, not what Sen. McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said, such things as, "Well, you that know Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is: What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

Unlike Powell, I am not really disturbed by Republicans behaving that way. I am disturbed by fellow Christians. I would call the church and talk to them about it if I thought it would do any good.

Preaching or Pandering?

In one of my classes we have been tracing how different segments have interpreted the Bible and the tools and framework they brought to the text.

The early church (100-500 CE) stood in one of the most intriguing segments in human history. A common language existed (Greek and then Latin) and the Roman contributions to society allowed Christianity to flourish, even through the persecution pre-Constantine. Thus, the literacy level was quite high, and a large segment of the population – Christian and non-Christian – knew the Bible. And so, when we read some of the sermons from guys like Origin, Augustine, and Chrysostom we see a deep and profound exposition of Scripture. If a preacher in today’s society stood up and preached one of these sermons or one similar, s/he would probably loose the audience in the first five minutes and would not make it very long in pulpit of the churches I see dotting the landscape.

But back then these guys were rock stars. They would walk around and people just wanted to be near them. But it was not an easy task to preach to these audiences. There were plenty of distractions and other preachers that the audience could go hear instead. In one of Chrysostom’s sermons he basically calls out his audience and says, “I know you would rather be at the races, but bear with me.” Every week when these guys stepped into the pulpit they knew they were battling against the culture and against an audience that would not put up with any sort of half-hearted sermon. Imagine preaching in front of Bible College professors every week. These were the people hearing the sermons and if the preachers missed a reference or spouted off bad exegesis they would hear about it.

The fact is, the early fathers won their audience not by entertaining but by illuminating the text. They brought fresh perspectives on the text that were not contrived or based on bad interpretation. These guys new their Bibles and they knew that their audience knew the Bible. So they preached some amazingly dense sermons and their audiences ate them up.

Later patristic leaders were great preachers but their content and their audience were far different. Eventually literacy started to decline and fewer and fewer people had access or opportunity to study the Scriptures. Thus the preachers, though profound, had to water down their sermons to meet the audience on their level.

Not long after the Patristic Period the Middle Ages/Dark Ages came about and the distinction between the Catholic church and laypeople became even more stark. A hunger grew for “Secret Knowledge” that only the preachers could dispense. Thus manipulation and elitism ran rampant as the clergy were the only ones who knew the Bible and could properly interpret it. But even during these periods of low literacy, at least there was a hunger for hearing and understanding God’s Word.

As I look around at the state of things today I see the worst of each of these eras. Humanity is the most literate than any other time on the planet. And yet, biblical illiteracy seems to plague the church. Most Christians don’t know their Bibles well and there does not seem to be any overwhelming desire to learn more. Add to that the preacher’s uphill battle to engage the audience when and if they show up. The result is a self-fulfilling system – sermons that have little spiritual depth because the preacher seeks to entertain and laypeople that reflect the same thing. And then the preachers throw their hands up in despair as their members care more about going to the lake after church than engaging the God of the Universe during the worship service. I know that I am painting with broad strokes, and that many churches are not like this picture, but many, and dare I say the majority, are.

Is there an easy solution? Probably not. But I believe some things can be done. As church leaders, we need to expect more out our congregation and they should expect more out of us. Just as the early church fathers poured over the Scriptures and knew them intimately, so should we. And then it is the responsibility of the preacher to convey his/her findings in a relevant, engaging way. And it is the audience’s responsibility to respond by continuing the search on their own and committing to the process of maturing in Christ.

May we, together, grow in the knowledge and understanding of God’s revelation through the Word.

Our Dislike Of Death Bed Conversions or A Total Misunderstanding of Grace

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, 'You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.' they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?' They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You go into the vineyard too.' And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.' And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?' So the last will be first, and the first last."

To summarize briefly, the master hired workers early in the day and went out later in the day and hired more. Those who worked just a short while received the same day's wage as those who worked the whole day. In Jesus' parable, those who worked the whole day were angry about those who worked just a short while. A direct parallel at the time of writing would be teaching that kingdom of God is open to the Gentiles, as it always was, along with the people of Israel, who had been the people of God for a longer time. A modern parallel would be the people who have grown up in the church their whole life being frustrated with the elderly lady accepting Christ in the last moments of her life. We see jealousy over those who got what they really did not deserve by those who felt they earned it.

Last Sunday I heard a sermon on this parable. The preacher never addressed the source of jealousy. He just shared his own struggle with being jealous over death bed conversions and admitted that his jealousy was wrong. He will work his whole life for the Lord while the person who comes right at the end receives the same blessing; that's frustrating to my friend who preached and to others of a similar mindset. In the frame of worldly reason, that just does not seem fair. I think the source of this frustration is a misunderstanding of two things: the life God has planned for us and God's amazing grace.

When I look back on my years of wandering, I do not look fondly. I do not think those times were great despite the festiveness of the world being exemplified in the way I lived. I look back and wish that I could have been in love with the Lord the whole time. My life in the Lord is much better than that life ever was. I missed out on a lot by wandering aimlessly.

We find ourselves jealous of people in the world when we feel that the people in the world are living a life better than the one we are living in God. When we do not strive to experience God every moment of every day, we often miss out on what God's intention for our life is. Oftentimes we are not living in the joy and peace that God wants us to live in, and our sad, selfish spiritual life creates in us a secret love for the world. Eventually, this secret love, if left uncheck, might morph into indulging those secret loves with the possible cost being our faith. Whether we indulge in it or not, the secret love for the world is only there because we do not experience the Christ-like life to the fullest, the life God has desired for us to live.

When we experience God to the fullest throughout our days, we will not be jealous of the people that come late in life and receive the same eternal reward as we receive because we know that the time we spent working for the Lord is also a great reward. We were happy to work because we love the privilege of being a follower of Christ. And we should be overjoyed, like the Lord becomes, to have more workers no matter what stage of life the new worker is in.

After the sermon, I went over and talked to my friend about what I just shared here. An elderly lady was there and she shared, "If you have a giant cup and it is full, you will be just as happy as those who have a small cup and it is full." She was implying that those who are faithful all day will have a giant cup while those who are faithful just a short while will only have a small cup. This idea that she will be rewarded more in heaven for her life of work compared to the reward a recent convert would receive is a complete misunderstanding of grace. What she fails to see is that her works are not what makes her right with God. Her works are, in themselves, a blessing from God. We are privileged to be involved in his work. She is only right with God because God is infinitely graceful despite our failings. Our misunderstanding of the grace of God and an overestimation of our righteousness is what leads us to think we are more deserving than others. None of us are more deserving. It is only by grace that we spiritually breathe.

If we live in the realization that our life in Christ is a better life than the other lives we could be leading and that our life in Christ is solely available through the grace of God, then we will not be jealous of people who come late in life and lived the way they wanted nor think that our reward will be greater than them because of our life of service. May we live life to the fullest in the grace and love that Christ shares with us.

Liberation

A little bit of bragging time.

This is a picture of the youth group at our church. They go by the name WAYward Youth. This morning they are on the front page of the Oakland Press. The article is about their efforts to raise awareness of the sex-slave industry and sponsor a ministry that's combating it.

This Saturday at 4, 6, and 8 pm, they will be showing a documentary called Baht (which they got from CIY). If you can come, please do.

Of course, it is not the newspaper article which causes me to be so proud. It is their passion for following the WAY of Jesus in liberating the those who are enslaved.

A Neat Post in the Middle of the Night

I found this post tonight as I woke up with something on my mind.

trust trust trust trust trust

I found it encouraging.

Always Live a Quiet and Peaceable Life

The following is another excerpt from testimony in front of the House Military Affairs Committee hearings on the Selective Training and Service Act from July 10 to August 2, 1940. This is from is from a statement written by Orie Miller, a shoe manufacturer and member of the Mennonite's Peace Problems Committee.

If our country becomes involved in war, we shall endeavor to continue to live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty; avoid joining in wartime hysteria of hatred, revenge and retaliation, manifest a meek and submissive spirit, being obedient unto the laws and regulations of the government in all things, except in such cases where obedience to the government would cause us to violate the teachings of the Scriptures so that we could maintain a clear conscience before God (Acts 5:29). We confess that our supreme allegiance is to God, and that we cannot violate this allegiance by any lesser loyalty, but rather must follow Christ in all things no matter what the cost. We love and honor our country and desire to work constructively for its highest welfare as loyal and obedient citizens; at the same time we are constrained by the love of Christ to love the poeple of all lands and races and to do them good as opportunity affords rather than evil, and we believe that this duty is not abrogated by war. We realize that to take this poisition may mean misunderstanding and even contempt from our fellowmen, as well as possible suffereing, but we hope by the grace of God that we may be able to assume, as our forefathers did, the sacrifices and suffering which attend the sincere practice of this way of live, without malice or ill will toward those who may differ with us.

Progressive Accountability

In Christian circles there is this vague theological concept that is never clearly defined yet consistently held by those, like myself, who do not believe in original sin in the Catholic sense. That concept is the "age of accountability." The idea is that children are right in God's eyes and will be saved. Eventually, each child reaches an age in which they are intelligent enough to understand the the call of Christ. At that point they have reached the age of accountability. No longer will they be able to coast into salvation but have to make a decision on their own.

In the "age of accountability" concept, it is all or nothing. The kid has reached a point where he should have enough understanding to completely surrender his complete life to Christ. I guess it would depend on the kid, his upbringing, and the situations he has lived in, as to when that age comes about. My hangup is that I just don't see any Scriptural evidence for the age of accountability.

Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans (Romans 2:6-16):

"God "will give to each person according to what he has done." To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11For God does not show favoritism.

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares."

In this passage, Paul points out that Gentiles, those who do not know the special revelation of God, are, as the NASB translates, "a law to themselves...their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them." If we can peer into a man's soul and see whether they are being faithful to what they understand as the truth, then we could sit and judge whether they are right with God.

In regards to the age of accountability, this would mean that there is a progressive accountability, an accountability that increases over time as our understanding grows. It isn't all at one point that a child has to be faithful. As they grow, they will learn more and more what they should be faithful to. It is their faithfulness on the things that they know that makes them right with God. We like to overemphasize a conversion experience, but all that does is narrow having a proper faith down to a sinner's prayer, baptism, or your denominations conversion experience of choice. We can have the conversion experience without being right with God. We need to consistently and continually be faithful to God in all that we understand he wants of us. It is our conscience and our thoughts that will bear witness for us in the areas we are ignorant in.

"He will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile."

When we encounter a person who follows God differently than we do but to the best of their ability with the understanding they have, we can confidently call them a brother. They might need help in understanding the gospel more fully, or maybe we will be the one's doing the learning. Each is accountable to the truth as they understand it, for our understanding will be greater tomorrow than it is today.

Love in the Face of Oppression - Quakers under Nazi German Control

In testimony given before the House Military Affairs committee from July 10 to August 2, 1940, during the hearings on the Selective Training and Service Act, the Society of Friends gave their view on how they hoped the government would treat conscientious objectors. During the grilling from representatives who did not regard conscientious objectors highly, Paul French, the eventual head of the organization that represented the conscientious objectors with the government, was asked how Quakers were fairing under the Nazis. In reply, French shared the following testimony about a group of Quakers who were in an area conquered by the Germans:

"The Quaker units in Holland under German occupation and in Germany are still functioning. We just had a very interesting account last night from a member of the Service Committee of the Quaker unit functioning in Bordeaux when the Germany army came in. They had been feeding Spanish refugee children, and as soon as the German army of occupation landed, naturally, they were a bit concerned as to what was going to happen and they went to the commanding general and asked what their position was to be, and the two ranking officers of the German army told them that they had been fed by the Quaker relief organization 20 years ago, and to go ahead an operate as they had."

What a powerful testimony of the principle to love all people in all situations.

Refusing to Be Involved with Churches of a Different Christian Persuasion

My response to a question from Jule from my last post, Following God to the Best of My Ability Versus Expecting Others to Follow God Like Me, became somewhat lengthy so I made a new post. I have not made this my post for this week because I have something else that I want to get out of me.

Jule asked how the "Don't worry about the speck in your brother's eye when you have a plank in your own" and "Iron sharpens iron" relate to what I wrote.

Here is my attempt to meld everything together.

This whole subject has been on my mind because our leadership just refused to host the community Thanksgiving service. Some comments were made about people in the other churches not being our "brothers in Christ." Our church has never hosted a community service but I thought I would give them a chance, so at the Antwerp ministerial meeting earlier this month I volunteered our church after being asked if we would be willing to host it. I attend as our churches representative because I believe in inter-church involvement and we were not participating. I have since had to call up the leader of the group and tell him our church would not host or even participate since the community is on a Sunday night and we have services then. That situation has forced me to think this through.

What I wrote is my failed attempt to work through the verses and explain to the leadership that we can fellowship with people who might have a different take on following Christ. In the end, I think they just didn't want the conflict that hosting would cause within our church. What I find amazing is how different the church of Christ/Christian church is in different parts of the nation. Some are ultra-conservative while others are liberal. Antwerp is ultra-conservative, although other neighboring towns are even more conservative.

The context of the "speck" verse (Matthew 7) does seem to encourage us to help one another out despite being the pillar for the practice of total tolerance and individual spirituality. Jesus warns that we must be vigilant to not use a different standard of judgment for others than we use for ourselves, but he does not tell us to let our brothers and sisters do their own thing without us noticing their faults. Verse 5 reads, "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." We should not go around helping people with something we struggle in, but we do need to go around helping. We need to "see clearly" so that we can "remove the speck" from our brothers' or sisters' eyes.

We need to be growing in Christ all the time. If we are not, we will never really be able to help a brother out. If we see a brother struggling with something we struggle with, we should pray for strength to fix ourselves before attempting to fix our brother. Sometimes it is easier to see our faults in others rather than in the mirror. Jesus abhorred hypocrites (Matthew 23), but that does not mean we are not supposed to help a stumbling person out. As the proverb says, "Iron sharpens iron." If we are left alone to our own vices and our own form of spirituality, we will eventually lose our usefulness. Believers need one another. We need to not shirk our responsibility to our brothers and sisters in the name of tolerance, yet we must always remain careful to not be judgmental.

The Example of Abraham

In one of my classes we have been translating through Genesis 15. A few things have been highlighted that I thought I would share which have encouraged me and hopefully will do the same for you. First some textual/interpretive notes, then some observations.

This story of God’s promises to Abraham really is made up of 2 units – verses 1-6 and verses 17-21. Both units begin with divine disclosure that has a predicate nominative clause – “I am a shield” and “I am Yahweh.”

Verses 1-6 revolve around zerah – seed or offspring – which is interesting because Abraham has no progeny. This second unit revolves around eretz – land. In the ancient world offspring and land were key elements to stability and prosperity. After all what good is it to be a tribal chieftain with no tribe? Or even more specifically, a nomadic tribal chieftain with no offspring to follow? And if you don’t have seed it doesn’t matter if you have land or cattle or anything.

Verse 6 moves into an omniscient narrator who knows both Abraham’s and God’s thoughts and interprets what has just happened. Finally we find someone who actually believes and follows God and has a continuing line of faithful believers. This is what the reader of Genesis has been looking for.
There are many explicit references to this verse in the NT (Rom. 4:3,9,22; Gal 3:6 James 2:23), also implicitly behind Hab. 2:4. There is also a great deal of debate about how to actually translate and interpret this verse. More than likely, when the text tells us that “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness,” the object of Abram’s faith is Yahweh himself.

In verse 8 Abram asks how he will know that what God says will come to fruition. In verse 13 God gives the answer – “You will certainly know” and God gives a prophecy.

Verse 18 contains a particular usage of the verb natan which might best be translated, “(by this act of speaking) I (hereby) give.” This is the first mention of the word “covenant” and it is out of the mouth of the narrator. Abram already knows he is in the midst of a covenant ceremony, but it is as if the narrator is making sure that the reader gets that this is a covenant. This verse brings all the aspects together – land, seed, and the giving from God.


As I read this passage and similar ones (Genesis 12, 17, Exodus 3), I think we see clearly that divine revelation results in faith. When God discloses God’s self it will produce faith in the human heart, which we might also call discipleship – an ongoing process of growing in the knowledge and faith of God. But this story is not just a nice background story describing God’s covenant with Abraham. Verse 7 has clear parallels with Exodus 20 (and others) describing similar experiences with God. The point is that your experience is supposed to be paralleled with Abram’s. The faith he had should be the same as yours. We aren’t getting theophanies any more, but we have received divine revelation. So is our belief credited as righteousness and faithfulness or not?

Also, we see Abraham was asking for cognitive certainty. Some may see this as unbelief, but that does not seem to be the case. Like any of us, it is not that we don’t believe – we just want to try to understand how it is all going to work out. God responded with a covenant in which God took the consequences of breaking the covenant upon God’s self. God did not lay out exactly how God’s promises would be fulfilled, but God clearly conveyed that the promises would in fact be fulfilled. As Abraham is walking through life he just had the word and the covenant to hold onto.

Again, our story parallels Abraham’s in so many ways. We have a received a word of God. God has revealed God’s self through the word made flesh and through God’s actual word. And God has made promises to us and we often wonder, “How? How will they be fulfilled?” So God responds with a covenant which Christians call a “sacrament”. In communion we experience God making a covenant with us and taking the consequences upon God’s self. And so we go walk through this life with the word and the covenant, and that is what we have to live on until the “not yet”.

A Piece of Amish Wisdom

There is an Amish lady in our home school group named Martha. Martha shared the following words of wisdom with Lindsay yesterday. She shared it with me this morning. Martha says it is not original. It probably isn't, but I have never heard it.

"If your cup is filled with sweetness, then when circumstances bounce and jar you, you will not spill anything but sweetness."

Following God to the Best of My Ability Versus Expecting Others to Follow God Like Me

Each of us should be following God with complete sacrifice, but our journey of sacrifice is limited by what we understand that God wants from us. If you think the command to the rich young ruler to sell all his possessions and give them to the poor is a command to all Christians, then you better sell all your possessions and give them to the poor. If you think that the command to the rich young ruler was a command specifically given to that one man with the understanding that Jesus' command to that ruler does not apply to all Christians, then you do not need to sell all your possessions and give them to the poor. Sorry is the man who believes the command to the rich young ruler applies to all Christians, yet he does not sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor. Each of us will be held accountable if we do not live out the faith as we understand it.

We begin with prayer and dealing honestly with Scripture. However, even two people who deal honestly with Scripture might not come to the same conclusion on what Scripture means based on their understanding of the context of the situation or the experiences of their lives that the Scripture is inevitably filtered through. That does not mean that there is not absolute truth. What it means is that we currently "see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12). If Paul's knowledge was limited, then it would be arrogant to assume that our knowledge is perfect. Paul's conclusion is the key. "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13). In the end, the most important thing is that we are people of love.

We need to follow the truth as we understand it to the best of our ability and not be judgmental to those who are following the truth in the way that they understand it. We should not ignore others who follow differently, nor should we bash them, whether to their face or in our fellowship circles. "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently" (Galatians 6:1a). In light of Paul stating that we do not fully know, we also must deal gently with those who are struggling to live out the faith as we understand it. We deal gently because we must not be arrogant or prideful about our understanding of the truth. In the end, we might realize that we are the one with the inaccurate understanding when we confront a brother in sin. The key here is that we actually have a gentle conversation with our brother. We do not ignore our differences, but we deal with one another gently in the hope that the end result will be that we are both built up in Christ.

Paul does give the warning, "But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted" (Galatians 6:1b). When dealing with a brother's sin, we must be careful that we are gentle and open to the fact that we might have the wrong understanding, but we also need to remain firm in the faith as we understand it.

Paul made the point in his letter to the Romans that people will be judged based upon their faithfulness to the knowledge they have (Romans 2:5-16). Earlier, in the first chapter, he set out that everyone should have a basic knowledge of God through nature. We can automatically say that those who do not believe in God are not our brothers or sisters in Christ as there is no excuse for a lack of belief in God. After believing in God, we will be judged based upon the knowledge we have. This means that the man who does not know he should be baptized as an adult will be judged based upon his knowledge and faithfulness to God in areas that he does know. This means that often brought up mythological man living in the center of Africa who never has heard the Gospel will be judged based upon his faithfulness in the knowledge he does have. This means, for those who believe that speaking in tongues in essential to salvation, that those who do not speak in tongues are fine with God as long as they are faithful in what they believe God expects of them. We must deal with one another gently, in love, with the possibility that we might be wrong yet always remain firm in the truth as we understand it.

As teachers, we are to help transform people's understanding of what God expects of them into action. It is not healthy for a person to believe God expects something of them, yet they refuse to live it out. We are also in the important yet precarious situation of shaping people's understanding of God. I can guarantee that we will teach errantly at times, but we need to teach to the best of our ability with the understanding we now have.

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

Prayer Requests

In studying Colossians, I have become burdened with one major thing. We need to be praying for others to know and stand firm in the will of God.

Paul opens the letter with a prayer for the followers he's Colosse.

Colossians 1:9-14 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

If you break this prayer down (and please do), I think you'll see that it is basically a prayer to be filled with knowledge of God's will. Everything that follows that is an explanation of why that is so important. (It is then that you will live a worthy life that pleases God, being strengthened to endure with gratitude.)

You can tell a lot about what is important to a person by what they pray. And Paul says that he has prayed non-stop that they would be filled with this knowledge ever since they heard and embraced the gospel.

Skip to Colossians 4:12-13. We have already learned in Colossians 1:7 that Epaphras was the one who originally preached the gospel to this group of beleivers. Here we find that Epaphras in no way sees his job as completed.

Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.

Epaphras is "always wrestling in prayer". That sounds intense. And when Paul says that Epahras is "working hard" for them, I assume that is a second illusion to his effort in prayer on their behalf (What more could he be doing for them so far away?).

And what is it that Epaphras wants for these believers? To stand firm int he will of God, mature and fully assured.

Paul prayed non-stop that they would know God's will. Epaphras was about doing the hard work of always wrestling in prayer that they would stand firm in the will of God.

So, when Paul instructs us in Colossians 4:2 to "devote" ourselves to prayer, I think we have a pretty clear picture of what kind of intensity that devotion should carry. ("I have not stopped praying." "He is always wrestling in prayer for you... working hard for you.")

And I think we get a pretty good idea of what to be praying for.

So, as I type this, I pray that those reading would be filled with knowledge of God's will through all spirtual wisdom and understanding that you may stand firm in that will, mature and fully assured.

Please, do no less for me.

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur is the "Day of Atonement" and refers to the annual Jewish observance of fasting, prayer and repentance. Yom Kippur is the tenth and final day of the Ten Days of Repentance which begin with Rosh Hashanah. This is considered to be the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. It is a day set aside to "afflict the soul," to atone for the sins of the past year.

In three separate passages in the Torah, the Jewish people are told, "Now, the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you: you shall deny yourselves and present the LORD’s offering by fire"(Leviticus 23:27). Fasting is seen as fulfilling this biblical commandment. It is a complete, 25-hour fast beginning before sunset on the evening before Yom Kippur and ending after nightfall on the day of Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is a complete Sabbath; no work can be performed on that day.

The Yom Kippur fast also enables us to put aside our physical desires and to concentrate on our spiritual needs through prayer, repentance and self-improvement. It is customary in the days before Yom Kippur for Jews to seek out friends and family whom they have wronged and personally ask for their forgiveness. It is customary to wear white on the holiday, which symbolizes purity and calls to mind the promise that our sins shall be made as white as snow (Is. 1:18). Some people wear a kittel, the white robe in which the dead are buried.

Yom Kippur has its own candle lighting blessing:

“Blessed are you, our God, Creator of time and space,
who enriches our lives with holiness,
commanding us to kindle the Sabbath and Yom Kippur lights.”

After the candles are lit, the following prayer is recited:

“Blessed are you, our God, Creator of time and space,
who has supported us, protected us,
and brought us to this moment.”

A few great Rich Mullins quotes

I have been so busy this week that I have not had time to write a solid post (not that my posts are always solid). Instead, I would like to share a few quotes from Rich Mullins that I found inspiring.

I hear people say, "Why do you want to go to church? They are all just hypocrites." I never understood why going to church made you a hypocrite because nobody goes to church because they're perfect. If you've got it all together, you don't need to go. You can go jogging with all the other perfect people on Sunday morning. Every time you go to church, you're confessing again to yourself, to your family, to the people you pass on the way there, to the people who will greet you there, that you don't have it all together, and that you need their support. You need their direction. You need some accountability, you need some help.

And here is another quote.

With "Step by Step," if I had to make an overall statement, it's that faith is walking with God. The biggest problem with life is that it's just daily. You can never get so healthy that you don't have to continue to eat right. Because every day I have to make the right choices about what I eat and how much exercise I need. Spiritually we're in much the same place. I go on these binges where it's like "I'm going to memorize the five books of Moses." I expect to be able to live off the momentum. The only thing that praying today is good for is today. So, with "Step by Step"...it's not what you did, and not what you say you're going to do, it's what you do today.

Step By Step by Rich Mullins

Sometimes the night was beautiful
Sometimes the sky was so far away
Sometimes it seemed to steep so close
You could touch it but your heart would break
Sometimes the morning came too soon
Sometimes the day could be so hot
There was so worth much left to do
But so much you'd already done

Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise you
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise you
And I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days

Sometimes I think of Abraham
How one star he saw had been lit from me
He was a stranger in this land
And I am that no less than he
And on this road to righteousness
Sometimes the glime can be so steep
I may falter in my steps
But never beyond Your reach

Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days

And I will follow You all of my days
And I will follow You all of my days
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days