Search This Blog

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Apologetics - Week 6 - Science Has Shown the Bible to be Unreliable - Archeology





 One of the major obstacles to accepting Christianity as the truth and the only way to restore a right relationship with the Creator of the universe is people's unwillingness to take the Bible seriously as the word of God. We already saw that in the area of morality where people balk at the thought of having a 2500 year old book determine behaviors, especially in the area of sex. It is primarily seen as a theological book written by men not God and as to History and Science, it can't be trusted in these areas. The next few blogs will deal with this subject - Is the Bible to be trusted as a correct history of the world and can we take seriously the science found in the Bible. Certainly if it is God's word, we would be embarassed for God if He can't recount History or Geography accurately. And if we are claiming that God is all knowing and all powerful, we should expect His book to represent that in the areas of science. Lastly, we would expect His word to not have to be updated as to content to adjust to scientific or archeologic findings. It should be as accurate 2000 years after it is written as when it was written. So first, let's look at if the Bible has historical errors.


   If you look at a religious book like The Book of Mormon that tries to be historical, or the Koran which gives some history also, we see how the Bible stands in a completely different league. In fact you could make a case that the Bible is a History book which also contains theology. The Book of Mormon, for example, states that in the Americas from 600BC - 421 AD that there was silk, horses, steel, iron, coins, donkeys, cattle, cows, and oxen, pigs, grain and wheat - yet according to the Smithsonian Institute none of those items existed here according to archeology. Mormon 6:9-15 states that many thousands of men fought in a great battle armed with swords, bows, axes, yet none of this has ever been found. Ether 15:2 states that 2 million Jaredite people were killed in a battle armed with shields, breastplates, headplates, etc. yet not one person or armament has ever been recovered from this battle.
   The Koran has some notable problems too. According to the Koran, Mecca was the first and most important city in the world. Adam placed the black stone in the original sanctuary there while Abraham and Ishmael rebuilt the sanctuary many years later. Mecca was the center of Arabian trading routes before Muhammad's time. Unfortunately there is no archeological confirmation of this. In fact, Mecca is first mentioned as a city in an 5th century document. According to the Koran, the direction of prayer was to face Mecca as of 624AD. However on excavating mosques, they all faced Jerusalem until the 8th century. Also, on studying the earliest manuscripts of the Koran (150 years after written) they vary substantially with the current Koran.


Not so with the Bible. A noted archaeologist said, "No archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference". Let's look at some of these findings and validations.



Creation - Ebla tablets found in Syria consist of 1800 clay tablets dated 2500BC.

 They are in the Sumerian language which predates the Hebrew language. Long before all the creation legends developed in many cultures, this one is very similar to the Genesis account. It speaks of one being who created Heavens, Moons, Stars,and Earth out of nothing. A quote goes "Lord of Heaven and Earth, the Earth was not...You created it. The day was not...you created it, the morning light you had not yet made exist." Also, near Ninevah, a seal dated 3500BC shows a naked man and woman bent over as if they were downcast. This is felt to represent Adam and Eve.
Flood - Sumerians, Babylonians, Greeks, Hindus, Chinese, Mexicans, Hawaiians all have records of or stories of a flood. What is common to all of them is that a man is told to build a ship to specific dimensions by God who is going to flood the world. He rides out the storm and offers sacrifices on leaving the boat. God responds with remorse and makes a covenant with man. Much of our geological findings confirm a universal flood which we will get to in the next blog.
 
Tower of Babel - Sumerian literature alludes to a world with a universal language. It tells of the king of Ur (2044BC - 2007 BC) gave orders to build a great tower as an act of worship to the Moon God. This offended other gods so they threw down the temple, scattered the people, and made their speech strange.
 
Abraham - The Mari documents were found in northern Syria and are dated around 2000BC. They speak of the war described in Genesis 14:8,9 between four kings one of whom is the Amorite king called Arioch in the Bible and Ariwwuk in these documents.

"...the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboyim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Siddim against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goyim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five." Gen.14:8,9

 It also describes cities by the name of Haran and Nahor possibly after Abraham's brothers.
Dr. Steven Collins is currently excavating the region of Sodom and Gommorah and has made multiple findings confirming the validity of scripture. Along with locating the area by using geographic descriptions from the Bible, he has found an area covered with Sulphur smelling ash with evidence of super-heating to the level of a nuclear event. Also he has found signs of rapid death and destruction and even though this is in a well watered plain, no one built on this sight for 500 years after the destruction.
 
Moses -  An old papyrus written by Egyptian priest Ipuwer
 
 tells of a series of plagues including the river turning to blood, crops consumed, darkness, and children and princes dying and mass burials of brothers with wailing and lamentation throughout the land. A monolith of El-Arish tells a similar story of darkness and suffering in the land in the days of King Thom. Armies of Pharoah went out to fight against the friends of Apopi (the god of darkness) and didn't come back as they leapt into the Place of the Whirlpool.

 There is much archaeological evidence for the Pharoahs mentioned in the Bible.

"So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed." Gen. 47:11

 RamsesII 1279-1214BC

Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush, was marching out to fight against him". 2Kings 19:9

Tirhakah 690-640BC
 
This is what the Lord says: ‘I am going to deliver Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hands of his enemies" Jeremiah 44:30 

 Hophra 598-560BC

"...Necho king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish." 2Chron.35:20
 
 Necho 610-595BC
 
 
 Saul became the first king of Israel and his fortress at Gibeah has been excavated. One of the noteworthy finds was that slingshots were one of the most important weapons of the day which not only relates to David but Judges 20:16 "there were 700 slingers in Israel who could sling a stone at a hair and not miss."
 
The Hittites were thought by critics of the Bible, not to have existed. In recent years, so much has been excavated about the Hittites that there is a whole museum in Ankara, Turkey devoted to Hittite relics.
 
David was thought to be a legend made up by the Israelites to scare their enemies until an inscription dated 900BC was found which refers to "The House of David" called the Tel Dan Inscription: This stone tablet
 
 contains an inscription that is the first reference to the Davidic dynasty outside of the Bible. It was erected by Hazael, king of Aram, which is present-day Syria. The inscription makes reference to a military victory and corresponds to the biblical account in 2 Chron. 22.

"He also followed their counsel when he went with Joram son of Ahab king of Israel to wage war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram; so he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds they had inflicted on him at Ramoth in his battle with Hazael king of Aram." 2Chron.22:5,6

 This inscription dates to the 9th century B.C., thus giving us accurate dating to the Davidic dynasty as well verifying its existence. This is the only extra-biblical reference to the House of David that has been discovered to date.
 Also a stone was found in the city of Gath, the city of Goliath that bears the name Goliath written in Hebrew. This is also dated in the same time period.
 
Solomon's temple was completely destroyed so little evidence for this has been found. However, in a curio shop in Israel was found  a small ornament, a pomegranate, that sits on the end of a rod and bears the inscription, "Belonging to the temple of Yahweh"
 
An excavation of Gezer in 1969 revealed a massive layer of ash covering a mound. This puzzled researchers until they found 1Kings 9:16, " For Pharoah, king of Egypt, had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire and killed the Caananites who lived in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomons's wife.
 
The Assyrian invasion - 26,000 tablets found in the palace of Esarhaddon
who conquered the northern kingdom  in 722BC confirm the Bible's accuracy. Even though Sargon was unknown for sometime, when his palace was found and excavated there was a wall painting of the battle mentioned in Isaiah.

"In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it" Isa.20:1

 Accounts of the attempted siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib (2Kings 19:36) are also found where he recounts," I made the King of Israel  a prisoner in his own palace like a bird in a cage." His annals were found in the Sennacherib prism.
 
 

Ahab and Jezebel  the below artifact mentions Ahab at the battle of Qarqar in 850BC
...and a seal of Jezebel has also been found
 
 
An 8th century BC amulet has been found which reads, "Belonging to Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah"
 Also, Hezekiah made a tunnel in  which was discovered in 1838 and can be walked through today.

"As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?" 2Kings 20:20

 
A recent article from Relevant magazine tells of this finding in 2016.
Archaeologists in Israel were recently digging at the site of the ancient city of Tel Lachish located in the Kingdom of Judah. There, they uncovered what is believed to be a 2,700-year-old toilet like one actually described in the Bible. The toilet was found in a room of a multi-chambered gate, that may have once been a shrine. Nearby, were small alters to cult figures which appeared to have been intentionally damaged: their "horned corners had been smashed."  It looks like ancient Israelite rulers installed a toilet in the alter room as a way of desecrating idols to false gods. As it turns out, this exact scenario is mentioned in the Old Testament. 2 Kings 10:27 says that Israelite forces had previously “demolished the sacred stone of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal, and people have used it for a latrine to this day.”

 
 
Babylonian captivity - Records found in Babylon's Hanging Gardens have shown that Jehoiachin and his five sons were given a monthly ration and place to live and were well treated. It actually lists the oil and grain rations given to him and his family.

 "In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. He did this on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. 28 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 29 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table. 30 Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived." 2Kings 25:29,30

The name Belshazzer (Daniel 5 and the writing on the wall) had caused problems because there was no mention of him in the list of Babylonian kings. Records have recently been found in a clay cylinder 
 
 that Nabodonius appointed his son, Belshazzer, to reign for a few years in his absence. 

 The edict that Cyrus gave in Ezra 1 to rebuild Jerusalem has been found in a cylinder in 1879.
 
 and corroborates the Biblical account.

"Now if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to see if King Cyrus did in fact issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter.
King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. A scroll was found" Ezra 5:17, 6:1
 
Nebuchudnezzer  605-582BC. The Nebuchudnezzer brick states, "Nebuchudnezzer, King of Babylon who cares for Esaglia and the eldest son of Nabopolassar, King of Babylon

 
  Nebo-sarsekim - the Nebo-Sarsekim tablet is a clay cuneiform inscription that refers to Nebo-Sarsekim as being an official from the court of Nebuchudnezzer, was unearthed in the 1870s

"Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and took seats in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officials of the king of Babylon"  Jeremiah 39:3
 
 King Esarhaddon 689-671BC Below is a plaque of Esarhaddon, youngest son of Sennacherib with the queen mother.

"One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king". 2Kings 19:37

 King Mesha of Moab. The Mesha or Moabite stone is dated at 840BC and is set up 20 miles east of the Dead Sea

"Now Mesha king of Moab raised sheep, and he had to pay the king of Israel a tribute of a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams." 2Kings 3:4

 King Uzziah. In 1931 the Uzziah tablet was discovered
 
 
 
 
Ezekiel  prophecies that the city of Tyre would be ruined and its remains cast into the sea.

They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; they will break down your walls and demolish your fine houses and throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea. 13 I will put an end to your noisy songs, and the music of your harps will be heard no more. 14 I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread fishnets. You will never be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord." Ezek 26:12 - 14

This provoked scoffing at the Bible when it was discovered that Nebuchudnezzer destroyed Tyre and left the ruins where they were. However, it was found that 200 years later, Alexander the Great conquered the city and its inhabitants fled to a nearby island. In order to reach them, Alexander threw all the remnants of the city into the sea to make a causeway to reach the island. Later, this area became a great place for fishing.

As to manuscript evidence for the old testament...
 Dead Sea Scrolls: One of the most important finds of in the field of biblical archaeology is the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 in the Qumran area on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. There are approximately 900 documents and fragments that comprise the find. The scrolls predate A.D. 100 and include a complete copy of the book of Isaiah. The significance of the find is the age of the documents and the astonishing lack of variants to documents that have been most trustworthy . The vast majority of the variants (about 99 percent) are punctuation or spelling errors. Incredibly, none of the variants changed the meaning of the text, nor did they contain any significant theological differences. This gives us the assurance that the text we have today in our Bible is the same as the early church had two thousand years ago. No other secular manuscripts can make the same claim.

 
New Testament Archeology
 
Caesar Augustus Luke 22:17-21 When Jesus was asked about paying taxes, he asked for a coin and said, "Whose face is on this coin?"... "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's"
 

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. Luke 3:1,2 Luke lists eight people here and all eight have been confirmed by outside sources, to have lived and to have lived at this precise time, 29AD.

Tiberius Caesar - Tiberius also had his face on a coin


Caiaphas Ossuary: An ossuary is a stone or pottery box in which the remains of a deceased person are buried (an ancient casket). The Caiaphas Ossuary found in 1990, bears the inscription “Yeosef bar Qafa” and is dated to the second temple period. Yeosef (Joseph) was the son of Caiaphas. This verifies that there was a high priest at the time of Jesus and his name was Caiaphas. Caiaphas was the priest that presided over the false trial of Jesus


 Pilate Inscription: This stone tablet was found in Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast. The tablet was found in the theater of Caesarea and bears an inscription mentioning the name of Pontius Pilate the procurator of Judea, and the Tiberium, which was an edifice built in honor of the Emperor Tiberius by Pilate. There has been much written to discredit the biblical narrative in regard to the existence of Pilate; this tablet clearly says that it was from "Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea" and verifies that he was a person that lived during the time of Jesus, exactly as written in the biblical narrative.

Herod the Great 74-4BC Matthew 2:1   Here is a coin named after Herod the great or Herod I
Herod Antipas 6AD - 39AD  Herod Antipas also had a coin inscribed after him.

"Now Herod Antipas had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison " Matthew 14:3.


 Crucified Man: This is the remains of a full skeleton of a man crucified in the first century. The foot bone contains a bent crucifixion nail. There have been those that argued that the crucifixion of Christ was a hoax because that was not a form of capital punishment in Christ’s time. These remains verify that crucifixion was being done and that the crucifixion of Jesus was done exactly as outlined in the biblical narrative.
 
King Aretas was the king of Damascus from 9AD - 40AD. He also had a coin in his honor

"In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me." 2Corinthians 11:32
 
Claudius Caesar- The 4th Roman Emperor who had, guess what, a coin made after him ... 

"who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome.  Acts 18:2"

...which also on the reverse side has Diana of the Ephesians
 There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty. They all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”  Acts 19:27,35

 
Sergius Paulus  An inscription was found in 1877 which referred to Sregius Paulus as a proconsul.
"... who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus."Acts 13:7 

Jesus - How do we know that Jesus really existed outside of the Bible? Is there historical proof? Actually there are a number of hostile and Jewish sources that talk of Jesus. Josephus (37-101AD), Thallus (52AD), Tacitus (56-120AD), Mara Bar-Serapion (70AD), Phlegon (80-140AD), Pliny the Younger (61-113AD), Suetonius (69-140AD), Lucian (115-200AD), Celsus (175AD) If you compile their writings along with the Jewish Talmud and the Toledot , here is what we know about Jesus without the Bible:

Jesus was born and lived in Palestine. He was born, supposedly, to a virgin and had an earthly father who was a carpenter. He was a teacher who taught that through repentance and belief, all followers would become brothers and sisters. He led the Jews away from their beliefs. He was a wise man who claimed to be God and the Messiah. He had unusual magical powers and performed miraculous deeds. He healed the lame. He accurately predicted the future. He was persecuted by the Jews for what He said, betrayed by Judah Iskarioto. He was beaten with rods, forced to drink vinegar and wear a crown of thorns. He was crucified on the eve of the Passover and this crucifixion occurred under the direction of Pontius Pilate, during the time of Tiberius. On the day of His crucifixion, the sky grew dark and there was an earthquake. Afterward, He was buried in a tomb and the tomb was later found to be empty. He appeared to His disciples resurrected from the grave and showed them His wounds. These disciples then told others Jesus was resurrected and ascended into heaven. Jesus’ disciples and followers upheld a high moral code. One of them was named Matthai. The disciples were also persecuted for their faith but were martyred without changing their claims. They met regularly to worship Jesus, even after His death.

So the history of the Old and New Testament seems very reliable. Any challenges, given time, are explained with new findings. But how do we know that the content hasn't changed substantially over 2000 years. In other words, how do we know that the Bible we have in our hands is the one that was written by God through inspired men so many years ago?
 
The following is an article on the archeology of Bible manuscripts by Matt Slick.
 
There are presently 5,686 Greek manuscripts in existence today for the New Testament. If we were to compare the number of New Testament manuscripts to other ancient writings, we find that the New Testament manuscripts far outweigh the others in quantity.
AuthorDate
Written
Earliest CopyApproximate Time Span between original & copyNumber of CopiesAccuracy of Copies
Lucretiusdied 55 or 53 B.C. 1100 yrs2----
PlinyA.D. 61-113A.D. 850750 yrs7----
Plato427-347 B.C.A.D. 9001200 yrs7----
Demosthenes4th Cent. B.C.A.D. 1100800 yrs8----
Herodotus480-425 B.C.A.D. 9001300 yrs8----
SuetoniusA.D. 75-160A.D. 950800 yrs8----
Thucydides460-400 B.C.A.D. 9001300 yrs8----
Euripides480-406 B.C.A.D. 11001300 yrs9----
Aristophanes450-385 B.C.A.D. 900120010----
Caesar100-44 B.C.A.D. 900100010----
Livy59 BC-AD 17----???20----
Tacituscirca A.D. 100A.D. 11001000 yrs20----
Aristotle384-322 B.C.A.D. 1100140049----
Sophocles496-406 B.C.A.D. 10001400 yrs193----
Homer (Iliad)900 B.C.400 B.C.500 yrs64395%
New
Testament
1st Cent. A.D. (A.D. 50-100)2nd Cent. A.D.
(c. A.D. 130 f.)
less than 100 years560099.5%
As you can see, there are thousands more New Testament Greek manuscripts than any other ancient writing.  The internal consistency of the New Testament documents is about 99.5% textually pure.  That is an amazing accuracy.  In addition, there are over 19,000 copies in the Syriac, Latin, Coptic, and Aramaic languages.  The total supporting New Testament manuscript base is over 24,000.
Almost all biblical scholars agree that the New Testament documents were all written before the close of the First Century.  If Jesus was crucified in A.D. 30., then that means the entire New Testament was completed within 70 years. This is important because it means there were plenty of people around when the New Testament documents were penned--people who could have contested the writings.  In other words, those who wrote the documents knew that if they were inaccurate, plenty of people would have pointed it out.  But, we have absolutely no ancient documents contemporary with the First Century that contest the New Testament texts.
Furthermore, another important aspect of this discussion is the fact that we have a fragment of the gospel of John that dates back to around 29 years from the original writing (John Rylands Papyri A.D. 125).  This is extremely close to the original writing date.  This is simply unheard of in any other ancient writing, and it demonstrates that the Gospel of John is a First Century document.
Below is a chart with some of the oldest extant New Testament manuscripts compared to when they were originally penned.  Compare these time spans with the next closest, which is Homer's Iliad, where the closest copy from the original is 500 years later.  Undoubtedly, that period of time allows for more textual corruption in its transmission.  How much less so for the New Testament documents?
Important
Manuscript
Papyri
ContentsDate
Original Written
MSS
Date
Approx.
Time Span
Location
p52
(John Rylands
Fragment)3
John 18:31-33, 37-38circa
A.D. 96
circa
A.D.
125
29 yrsJohn Rylands Library, Manchester, England
P46
(Chester Beatty Papyrus)
Rom. 5:17-6:3, 5-14; 8:15-25, 27-35; 10:1-11, 22, 24-33, 35; 16:1-23, 25-27; Heb.; 1 & 2 Cor., Eph., Gal., Phil., Col.; 1 Thess. 1:1, 9-10; 2:1-3; 5:5-9, 23-2850's-70'scirca
A.D.
200
Approx.
150 yrs
Chester Beatty Museum, Dublin & Ann Arbor, Michigan, University of Michigan library
P66
(Bodmer Papyrus)
John 1:1-6:11, 35-14:26; fragment of 14:29-21:970'scirca
A.D.
200
Approx.
130 yrs
Cologne, Geneva
P67Matt. 3:9,15; 5:20-22, 25-28 circa
A.D.
200
Approx.
130 yrs
Barcelona, Fundacion San Lucas Evangelista, P. Barc.1
If the critics of the Bible dismiss the New Testament as reliable information, then they must also dismiss the reliability of the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Caesar, Homer, and the other authors mentioned in the chart at the beginning of the paper. On the other hand, if the critics acknowledge the historicity and writings of those other individuals, then they must also retain the historicity and writings of the New Testament authors; after all, the evidence for the New Testament's reliability is far greater than the others.  The Christian has substantially superior criteria for affirming the New Testament documents than he does for any other ancient writing.  It is good evidence on which to base the trust in the reliability of the New Testament.


 
 
 

Thoughts From Luke - Day 13


                                                 Luke 4:1-4
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.

       Jesus was full of the Spirit. What does that mean? How is the Son of God not full of the Spirit all the time? My guess is that his 30 sinless years before this, He was going through life as a son, student, carpenter, and living an exemplary life while going through everything we go through so that He could be our perfect High Priest. At His baptism, the Holy Spirit empowered Him in a way to leave it all behind and pursue the reason He came. The Spirit sais, "The time is now". Now, the supernatural powers He had no longer had to be subdued. Now the obligations to His earthly family were turned over to His brothers. Now He could leave home and live 100% for the Kingdom of God.

       I remember back in '93, on a mission trip to Tepic Mexico, I would have to say I was filled with the Holy Spirit. I remember calling home and hearing about the kids sporting results, how my practice was going, etc. and what use to consume me paled in importance to what was going on in Mexico. The presence of the Lord was intense, people were getting saved, revival was happening among our group, the youth were on fire, it was awesome. When I came home I started witnessing to all my patients and saw 20 saved. I met with guys throughout the week to pray in the early morning. If I went shopping, played tennis, went to Dollywood - the only reason was to get out in the public to look for someone to share the gospel to. This went on for a good two years. People thought I was somewhat nuts, it put strain on my marriage, it was physically exhausting... but it was great.(I knew 2 people going through the same thing at the same time that I was going through it and they were both put on bipolar medicine - ha) I can truly say that I have experienced that a close relationship with Jesus and living for Him is the greatest thing in life, hands down. I often feel guilty that I'm not there now. What can I do to get it back? Certainly I could go back to meeting with guys for prayer, that would help. Certainly I could go out witnessing - that would help. The problem is that those were a result of what was going on inside me, they didn't cause it. They overflowed from it. Could it be that this was just a period in my life where God filled me with His Holy Spirit for a job to be performed and now that is done? It's not that I am out of His will now or done with my purpose in life - it's just that I've resumed the roles, like Jesus was, until the filling takes place again. I don't know if this is true, I'm just pondering.

   Lord thank You that I can truly say that Your love is better than life. Fill me with your Spirit. Use me while I still have breath I'm me. Amen

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Thoughts from Luke - Day 12


                                     Luke 3:21-38
When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
23 Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph,
the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat,
the son of Levi, the son of Melki,
the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,
25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos,
the son of Nahum, the son of Esli,
the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath,
the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein,
the son of Josek, the son of Joda,
27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa,
the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel,
the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melki,
the son of Addi, the son of Cosam,
the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,
29 the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer,
the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat,
the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon,
the son of Judah, the son of Joseph,
the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim,
31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna,
the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan,
the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse,
the son of Obed, the son of Boaz,
the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon,
33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram,
the son of Hezron, the son of Perez,
the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob,
the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham,
the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,
35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu,
the son of Peleg, the son of Eber,
the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan,
the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem,
the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,
37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch,
the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel,
the son of Kenan, 38 the son of Enosh,
the son of Seth, the son of Adam,
the son of God.
 
          This is a heavy passage. Why did Jesus get baptized when He had never sinned? Isn't baptism a picture of salvation? Jesus didn't need to get saved? Why did the Spirit descend on Him? Didn't He already have the Spirit? If John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from birth, would Jesus be any less? And what's the deal with the dove? And why did He wait until 30? And why give the geneology through Joseph when Joseph wasn't really His father?
 
     I can't tackle all those but the one that jumped out at me was the Holy Spirit descending on Him like a dove in bodily form. What's that?  
 
I guess from watching so many "Jesus" films I pictured a dove flying down and landing on His shoulder but it wasn't that at all. Somehow, something like this "spirit" in AMC's The Preacher floated down from the sky and people were able to see it land on Him. Or maybe it was like the form in The Predator that was invisible, yet they could see a form. It maybe fluttered like a dove but had the shape of a body. Who told the writers of the gospel, because this was even before He started calling disciples to follow Him? It appears from John 1 that John the Baptist had disciples who, when Christ came on the scene, were instructed by John to follow Jesus instead. These were probably the ones that recounted it to Matthew, Peter, Luke, and John.
 
But why did it happen, Certainly, Jesus already had the Spirit, He didn't need the life of God inside Him, He already had it. Here is my theory. In the previous blog I talked about the two parts of salvation and maybe Jesus is giving a real life parable of salvation. Baptism and going under water represents the washing of our sins away by the blood of Jesus and our willing admitting to the need for forgiveness of sins. It symbolizes being buried or dying to the old self. Then the being raised from the water symbolizes going forth with the rest of your life as a clean forgiven person. The problem is that this is moral reformation. This is the best that John the Baptist could do. We have all seen people addicted to porn, alcohol, smoking, drugs, shopping, eating, etc. make a decision to change but 6 months later they are back to their old lifestyle. That is moral reformation. It lacks the power to do it.
 
Jesus came to give spiritual transformation. He rose from the dead, symbolized by coming out of the water, so that He could send the Holy Spirit to come inside of us at salvation and transform us from the inside out - to give us rebirth. This gives us the ability to walk in newness of life. Jesus' baptism was the symbolic passing of the torch from the Old Testament to the New Testament. We now can change from the sons of Adam to the sons of God, and like Jesus, hear God say to us, "You are my son in whom I am well pleased."
 
Thank you Lord for dying for me, defeating death, advocating for me in Heaven, and sending Your Holy Spirit to transform me. Thank You Father for adopting me into Your family and calling me your own. Help me to live like that, today. Amen
 

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Apologetics - Week 5 - Christianity's Rules Restrict My Freedom and are Culturally Repressive



The right wing conservatives think it's a decision
And you can be cured with some treatment and religion
Man-made rewiring of a predisposition
Playing God, aw nah here we go
America the brave still fears what we don't know
And "God loves all his children" is somehow forgotten
But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago
 Macklemore

And I command you today: Love God, your God. Walk in his ways. Keep his commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by God, your God...
   Moses 1300BC


      This objection really is three fold. 1) How can I be free with a book full of rules telling me what I can't do, hanging over my head. Why would I want that? 2) How do we know those are the right rules especially since they are written 3000 years ago. Shouldn't they adapt as time changes? 3) It is arrogant for Christians to tell me how to live, that their way is right. Let's try to develop all these.

    First - the issue of freedom and rules. Isn't this the crux of the devil's argument with Eve way back in Genesis 3?

He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

  Notice what Satan was doing. He was saying, "You aren't really free. God is restricting your freedom and your fulfillment by making you follow rules." Eve and Adam both believed the lie. The truth was that they were the most free people in the whole history of mankind living under that rule. They were free from death, pain, shame, guilt, and sickness. And they were free to be in the presence of God without covering up. Once they came out from under that rule everything changed for the worst.
     The fact is that freedom isn't the absence of rules but rather living under the correct ones. For example, at the age of 60, I have to restrict my eating habits. I hate exercise but I make myself do it everyday. Why? Because I want to be free to enjoy my body and health as long as physically possible. To have ultimate freedom I have to follow rules. The police force and governing bodies of my County have also established rules that I have to follow. Why? To restrict evil so me and my family can safely play outside and live without fear. This is why we have all the rules to follow as we board an airplane. They are a pain but they are made so we are free to land at our destination. Our kids are given rules all the time - don't play in the street, brush your teeth, go to bed, look both ways before crossing, don't go anywhere with a stranger, no more video games tonight..., all of which are so that they can enjoy freedom, safety, and a better life. 

                               Freedom isn't the absence of rules but living under the right ones
     As we look at the Genesis account, we see that when God had created everything the way He wanted, there was only one rule because God isn't into rules, God is into freedom. However, when that rule was broken and sin entered the world, the world became a dangerous place so God had to establish many more rules to protect our freedom and since we are now bent toward sin, God had to establish some boundaries for us to keep us from heading full force into these areas and let us know what those areas are. For example the laws on discharges, sores, sanitation, mildew, handling dead bodies, washing hands - all were meant to protect them from bacteria that they knew nothing about. The laws promoting monogamy not only were to keep them from relationships that were not how God had designed them but also to prevent them from 44 different sexually transmitted diseases. They allowed people, if they followed those laws to have the ultimate loving free relationship. The laws to separate themselves from the rest of the world were intended to keep them as far from sinful behavior as possible. God was saying, even though this now is a sinful world, here is how you can live a life in maximal freedom.

        So once we establish that rules are necessary for ultimate freedom, the question is, how can Christians say that they have the right rules? First of all, our rules aren't that different from most cultures. C.S. Lewis, in The Abolition of Man, explored all major world religions and came up with eight laws that they all had in common
     1. Don't harm others with word or deed
     2. Honor your parents
     3. Be kind to siblings and the elderly
     4. Be honest in your dealing with others
     5. Don't lie
     6. Don't have sex with another person's spouse
     7. Care for those who are weaker
     8. Put others first
 So if people struggle with these and blame Christians for putting their morality on other people, it is not just Christians that they are having issues with, it is every religion.
      Secondly, Christians claim to worship the God that created humanity and therefore the designer knows what works best for His design. Not only that, if time began at a certain point and there must be a cause for every effect, there had to be someone outside of time, or eternal, to start it up. Therefore, His words or rules would transcend time and not change as society changes with time. And if that doesn't convince you, listen to the One who predicted His death and resurrection and pulled it off - Jesus! Jesus affirmed in His teaching the Ten Commandments. When defending Christianity to a polytheistic society not unlike ours, Paul says,

    “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else..."

      I would expect that the owners manual of my car, though restrictively telling me that I must change the oil, I must rotate tires, I must not tow anything over a certain weight, I must use a certain type of oil, I must not use a certain type of gasoline, etc., would be accurate and be designed for maximum freedom and longevity, and enjoyment of my car. If there is a God who created us, as the Christians say, we believe that He gave us an instruction manual because He knows how we function best. If my Honda car breaks down, I probably would be better off taking it to a Honda garage than a Ford garage. If my IPOD breaks I take it in to Apple rather than Microsoft. Likewise, shouldn't we go to the One who made us to help us understand how to live according to our design.
      Another objection would be that people see our God as saying, "Follow my rules or I will send you to Hell. That is not Christianity. Christianity is totally different from all other religions in this. Look at the intro to the Ten Commandments;

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before me." (and so on with the other nine).

What people gloss over when they start looking at all the "Thou shalt nots" is the beginning part, "I am the Lord your God." You see, when we recognize that we are sinful, by faith we receive Christ's substitutionary death on the cross for our sins, we enter into a relationship with God. We become part of His family - He becomes our Father; He becomes our God. We don't obey the rules to get into a relationship with Him. Rather we get into a relationship with Him and then obey the rules because we love Him and like a good father, we know He has our best interests at heart. This is totally differtent than all other religions which believe we follow rules to get to Heaven. In Christianity we follow the rules out of love for God. We are never truly "free" when we are in love. However that lack of freedom we embrace willingly because what we have in love is so much better than the alternative. Watch this video by Ben Stuart.


"For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.
14 For the love of Christ constraineth us..." 2Cor.5:13,14
 
 
Lastly, the final question is why do Christians force their morality on me? That is a loaded question and controversial among Christian ranks. The general rule is that in areas of personal choices, we as Christians expect non-Christians to behave in non-Christian ways and we have no right or need to change them. My brother in law who has terminal cancer had an interesting quote yesterday. I went to visit a friend of mine getting chemotherapy in a brand new, state of the art cancer facility. It was beautiful, friendly, spectacular view, serving fruit smoothies... I could have moved in. I told this to my brother - in- law who had received chemotherapy there and he said, "Yep, they sure know how to build beautiful facilities. Too bad they don't know how to cure cancer." This is how moral reformation works. We can get a person to quit living with his girlfriend and get married, yet if that person hasn't received spiritual transformation they are still headed for an eternal destiny separated from God.
The real question is what happens when their choices start affecting my freedoms and my children's freedoms? For example, as LGBT continues to fight for civil rights and make advances, it affects my children's safety in gender non specific bathrooms. It affects my church's ability to preach the whole of scripture or lose their tax exempt status or worse be prosecuted for "hate" speech. It affects my children as this lifestyle will be taught in their schools on equal footing with heterosexuality. It yesterday affected a whole state of North Carolina who won't have the NBA all-star game played there because of their stand on bathrooms. So do we put guardrails around us by fighting against these things or acknowledge that we as Christians were never promised ease here and our citizenship is in Heaven.  Let the debates begin!
 
 
 
      


The right wing conservatives think it’s a decision
And you can be cured with some treatment and religion
Man made rewiring of a predisposition
Playing god, aw nah here we go
America the brave still fears what we don’t know
And god loves all his children, is somehow forgotten
But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago


The right wing conservatives think it’s a decision
And you can be cured with some treatment and religion
Man made rewiring of a predisposition
Playing god, aw nah here we go
America the brave still fears what we don’t know
And god loves all his children, is somehow forgotten
But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago
 


The right wing conservatives think it’s a decision
And you can be cured with some treatment and religion
Man made rewiring of a predisposition
Playing god, aw nah here we go
America the brave still fears what we don’t know
And god loves all his children, is somehow forgotten
But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago


The right wing conservatives think it’s a decision
And you can be cured with some treatment and religion
Man made rewiring of a predisposition
Playing god, aw nah here we go
America the brave still fears what we don’t know
And god loves all his children, is somehow forgotten
But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago


The right wing conservatives think it’s a decision
And you can be cured with some treatment and religion
Man made rewiring of a predisposition
Playing god, aw nah here we go
America the brave still fears what we don’t know
And god loves all his children, is somehow forgotten
But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago