Thoughts From Romans 13 - Part 1

  Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. Rom.13:7,8

         These are the go-to verses people use for debt free living. I will agree, it's good to pay cash for everything if you can. I just heard that if you buy a $450,000 house on a 30-year mortgage at 6.75% interest rate, over the 30 years you will have paid 1 million dollars to own that house. No wonder first time age of ownership of houses has skyrocketed from 29 years old to 45 years old. Trump is now proposing a 50-year mortgage which would change the previous bank payment from $550k to $1 million. If nothing else, that is bad stewardship of the money God has entrusted you to manage. If Marty on Ozark did this, he would lose his eyes. Fortunately, God is merciful to us dummies, but he might start giving His resources to better stewards to manage.

        Is this passage really forbidding taking out loans, though. The word outstanding in "let no debt remain outstanding", to me seems to say, if you have taken out a loan, don't miss your monthly payments. If you are renting, the landlord deserves his monthly checks. If you have workers, they deserve their wages on time. This is part of Christian integrity. It's part of being responsible, trust-worthy people that reflect well on Christ and don't allow people to say, "If that's a Christian, I don't want to be one."

      The one debt he says that has no 15, 30, 50- year end is the debt we owe others to love them. We owe people love. God gave us an unbelievable amount of love by sending His son Jesus to die for us and He is telling us that we are to do likewise. We owe a debt of love to God and He expects us to pay it back by loving others and it's such a huge amount that it will take our whole lives to give it back.

       We as humans are owed very little. We don't deserve health care, education, retirement, life liberty the pursuit of happiness - the only thing I believe we deserve is judgement for our sins. But God, rich in mercy, sent Jesus to take what we are owed. Now, we owe it to others to serve them. For example, as a doctor, if someone comes in thinking "I deserve medical care" they will be demanding unthankful and usually unsatisfied. This is also seen in the midst of the government shutdown as people aren't receiving their food stamps. One eighth of Americans feel they are owed these and are angry they aren't getting them. As a Christian doctor, I owe people health care, it comes from me. If people think they don't deserve it but I out of love am giving it to them, what a difference in attitude that makes. If people would think that they aren't owed food stamps but we as Christians owe the poor food and we feed them, what a change in attitude!

       Let's dedicate our lives to meeting the needs of others and sometimes to do that we should have less debt to free up more of God's resources to redirect.

Thoughts From Romans 12 - Part 7

 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. 6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.  Rom. 12:17- 13:6

          As a Tennessee Vols fan, over the years there have been a handful of games that have been decided by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Just when you thought you were going to get the ball back because you stopped them on third down, your defender pushes, punches, makes a hit out of bounds and it's game over. The coach and the fans don't care that the ref didn't see the first hit or that he was trying to stick his finger in your eye, all that matters is you retaliated, got caught, and cost us the game. Paul says, this is what happens when you return evil for evil. No matter how justified you might think you are, you are the one that always looks bad.

         There are people that are allowed to meet out justice, which can look evil, but those are people who God has granted authority to - like police, the King, even Church leaders who might excommunicate. God, who judges the Earth is the ultimate dealer of dire consequences. That's why people accuse Him of being evil and not merciful because He is the separator of the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, the fish in the nets. God is just and always right. He sees the first blow, so we don't have to give the second blow. He doesn't miss anything.

        You should be glad God is a judge. Because of that, we don't have to go through life defending our honor but love and forgive people like Jesus did. Otherwise, you go through life like Donald Trump getting even with everyone who has come up against him, hating his enemies rather than forgiving them like Charlie Kirk's wife. Which one do you want to be like? As much as I have appreciated how Trump has stood for the unborn, brought rationality to the gender issues, stood for suffering Christians in Nigeria, been a friend to the Jews, tried to bring peace to warring nations, his personal rhetoric has brought division to our nation worse than I have ever witnessed in my lifetime. You might say, "But isn't he the authority you just mentioned?" and you would be somewhat right. He does deserve deference because of his position, and he does "wield the sword".

           Here's the problem as I see it. Have you ever seen a team take on the personality of the coach? It happens all the time. The USA has a "coach", an authority figure over us who belittles people he doesn't like, dismissing them, degrading them, making up derogatory nicknames so our country does the same thing. If anyone disagrees with him, he marginalizes them and calls them stupid, and the left and the right do that to each other. Authorities still need to live lives under the authority of God and His rules for personal conduct, but Trump acts like he is the ultimate authority, and this is where he fails and he is failing us.

        Lest we pick on him and deflect the message God is giving to us, may we not be accused of hateful, vengeful, angry, plotting behavior, but rather be accused of love, forgiveness, meekness, humility, being good citizens submitting to those placed in authority above us. Let God defend you against injustices, and there will be many. He will, maybe not in this life but for sure in the life to come.

Thoughts From Romans 12 - Part 6

 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.  Rom. 12:15,16

          It's pretty easy to mourn with those who mourn. A bad diagnosis, a death in the family, a layoff at work, a divorce, the 1st Baptist prayer request list goes on and on (although a divorce may be an unspoken request) We wouldn't want any of that to happen to us or our loved ones, so we can easily mourn at best and sympathize or empathize at least. Sending cards, praying for, setting up food chains for or even just texting prayer hand emojis or phone calls saying, "I'm praying for you" or "how can I help?", are legitimate gestures to those mourning. The only fake morning that we might struggle with are when we dislike or are envious of a person and we somewhat gloat and think to ourselves, "I warned them that might happen and they wouldn't listen" or "they got what they deserve" or some kind of vindication of you or your way of managing life is shown to be superior.

        Those are rare cases where we can't mourn and indicate people that we need to learn to love and need to work better at living in harmony with. Paul uses "one another" which means that most of these people that we have hidden dislike for are in the church. As I invent circumstances I would not mourn over in my head, I would concur that most are believers that I have friction with. Unbelievers don't really bother me that much because they are behaving according to their center and don't know better. Also, I know that they will be judged someday and I wouldn't want to be in their shoes. I know I need to do better with believers. Lord help me!

       The other command is to rejoice with those who rejoice. This can be tougher because of our love of self. Someone gets an award. Yay! (Why didn't I get recognized?) Someone's child got engaged or pregnant! Yay! (why is mine struggling with singleness or infertility?) Someone got a huge promotion. Yay! (why did I get passed over again?) Paul says "don't be conceited" or don't think you are better than or more important than someone else. You aren't! Remember, you are just a cog in a wheel that is rolling the Kingdom of God bus. A fellow worker for the kingdom. If one of your fellow cogs gets polished, we should just be happy for them. As fellow servants, it's not like they became a master, they are just a servant who got a new cloak or extra dessert. We have a wrong view of the body which leads to jealousy. We have a wrong view of self which leads to a lack of true rejoicing.

        May God work on our hearts to not think of ourselves more highly than we ought and begin to forgive people who have hurt our inflated ego so that we can truly mourn and rejoice with one another.

Thoughts From Romans 12 - Part 5

  Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.  Rom.12:11-13

           Are you on fire for Jesus? Have there been times in your life where all you could think about was the Lord? My guess is that most of us have experienced that in our lives either on a mission trip or going on a youth retreat or maybe right around the time of your salvation. Unfortunately, the passion or zeal wanes over time. Why is that?

         I think it's a little like love. You meet a person of the opposite sex, you have a memorable date with them, and you can't wait until you see them again. You start talking to them on the phone for hours, even fall asleep at night talking. When you are around your friends you show them his or her pictures and you are present, but your mind is elsewhere. You get married eventually and you start having kids, taking care of a house, working a job to pay the bills and when you see the love of your life it almost has become a joint partnership in fighting life together. The passion is gone or at least on a "back burner" waiting for a vacation with just the two of you. Isn't this what happens with our passion for Jesus? So many things take up our time and life that our relationship with Jesus gets put on hold waiting for a revival conference or retreat to reignite it.

        Paul gives some hints in this passage on how to keep the flame going and it could be summarized with these two words - prayer and fellowship, or if you want to make it one theme - pray with fellow believers. I would have to say that when I was going my strongest in the Lord, I met with guys before work and prayed with them. We would spend a good half hour on our knees before the day started and pray and the next day before prayer, we would share the "God things" that we saw as a result of our prayers the previous day.

        What, not a 7-step plan to keep your flame burning for the Lord? Nope, just one. Find a fellow believer and meet with them for prayer every day, if you can. It works!

Thoughts From Romans 12 - Part 4

  Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Rom. 12:9,10

        When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He replied a two-part answer, to love God and love your neighbor, but if we want a "bullet point" it would be to love. Paul delves into this command briefly in verses 9 and 10. First of all Paul says, "love must be sincere." In other words, no hypocritical or faked love. This season, 49, of Survivor has a lot of that. Teammates will say how much they love the person, are on their side, want to make it to the end with them but as soon as they are away from them, they confess to the camera their disdain for the person and how they can't wait to vote them out. Drawing an inference, what would be the motivation for insincere love? We are insincere because the relationship is benefitting us, so we stoke it for our gain.

        Paul says true love isn't for our gain but the other person's benefit. Therefore, we are devoted to them which implies some sacrifice and commitment on our part. It also suggests that we don't give up on them when they disappoint us but rather are in it with them through thick and thin. It also honors them above ourselves so we are more concerned about their flourishing than our own. If you can find friends like that in life, you are blessed because most people's love is insincere.

       The first part of Jesus' great commandments, I am dealing with second. It is to Love God. Paul addresses this in verses 9 when he says, "Hate what is evil and cling to what is good." Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey my commandments." As Paul has said time and again in Romans, our love for God WILL manifest itself in our behavior. Jesus said, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." We must hate the mindset and system of this world, and cling tightly to the teachings of the Bible even if they go against every longing of our sinful self and every championing by those who don't know Christ. This is true love for Christ not insincere, fake love which so many so-called "Christians" have.

      How is your love life? Do you have real love for God demonstrated by your obedience? Do you have real love for others demonstrated by selflessness? These are marks of true believers.

Thoughts From Romans 12 - Part 3

  For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Rom. 12:3-8

            As a Christian, what is your (my) proper view of yourself? I certainly have a sense that I am a VIP. I'm a child of the king and creator of everything who is going to live forever in Heaven and just visiting the planet Earth for a short time. Therefore, I should have a sense of worth that supersedes whatever my status is on Earth and the value placed on me by others in regard to that status. If I have a low paying, low status job, my self-worth should not be low because of it. If I have a high status, high paying job, my self-worth should not be influenced by that.

       Paul in this passage then deals with our proper view of ourselves when we enter into the fellowship of believers which happens when we are saved. In this world there always is a hierarchy whatever group you belong to. In school, there are the jocks and cool girls working its way down to the, well you get the drift. We are watching a medical show, The Pitt, which deals with an Emergency Room. One thing is clear from the start, there is a hierarchy in the ER and people are treated accordingly that work there and the patients are treated according to their perceived worth.

     In the Church, there is no hierarchy as to worth. Yes, there is a chain of authority and command to help it function properly, but people in charge like pastors, elders, deacons all have the same worth in the body. They should not think they are better than or more necessary than or more valuable than the doorkeeper. We are all parts of the body necessary for bodily function. (that sounded like a bathroom experience) We are all cogs in a wheel that are all needed for it to roll properly.

     If you find a person in the church that emanates an air of superiority, and you will, pray for that person. I would say confront but that's difficult because you may be wrongly judging them, too. Anyway, make sure that isn't you!

Thoughts From Romans 12 - Day 2

  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Rom. 12:2

         So much of Romans is about living a life pleasing to God. If we are really Christians, that should be our number one goal in life. The Baptists would say, no, it's witnessing. But witnessing is a way we please God. Others would say loving our neighbors. Yes, but loving our neighbors is a way we please God. Did I wake up this morning thinking, "How can I please God today?" No, but I should have.

       So how do I figure out what pleases God today? First of all, I could start by asking Him, "Show me what pleases you today, open my eyes to see it and help me to be obedient to it even if it goes against my natural inclinations. My goal is to please You today." Second, read His word and see if there is something He is telling you. Lastly, Paul would say in this verse, analyze in what area of my life am I conforming to the pattern of the world?

        What is the pattern of the world? My dad would have said, "Get all you can and can all you get," meaning accruing possessions or wealth that isn't going to last. Maybe we should think about who could I give money to today? As I look in the mirror and see aging and gravity, maybe the pattern of this world is keeping up with those who are paraded before us as looking so much better than us. How much time do we spend on our bodies that Peter describes as tents? My skin is starting to look like canvas! We are going to get new bodies, stop wasting so much time! The pattern of this world is self-gratification. What will make me happy today? I just saw it in a TV show yesterday. A person wrestling with life was told to "Just find out what makes you happy." How about finding out what makes someone else happy today?

      I want to make God happy today. How about you?

You Do Believe in the Bible, You Just Don't Realize It

           When I argue against an issue in society, like abortion, I try not to use the Bible because I realize not everyone accepts the Bible as a valid universal source of morality. They could say, "well, I don't believe the Bible", therefore I try to reason from knowledge or common sense. Lately, I'm rethinking this strategy a little after reading The Air We Breathe by Glen Scrivener, which makes the point that no matter how much people protest the influence of the Bible in regard to morality, they are living by and adhering to the Bible without realizing it. Let me explain from his writings.(I'm not going to footnote, etc. Just assume none of these thoughts belong to me but all come from The Air We Breathe)

  EQUALITY

         You probably believe in equality of people. Where did you get that belief? Is it just common sense or intuitive? Actually, it's not. Back in 300-400BC, Aristotle and Plato taught the philosophy of natural inequality; nature herself taught that some were fitter, stronger, smarter, and frankly, better than others. There were superior races, sexes, and classes. How could anyone deny some people can govern well while others need governing. It was obvious that certain humans were born to be "living tools"; machines to be used by others. Justice was superiors ruling over you - that's what nature decreed and those most in tune with reason could see that. Even before Aristotle and Plato, ancient creation myths of man from Babylonians to Mesopotamians, to Greeks, all had a common theme and that was that man was made out of bloodshed to be slaves to the gods.

        Is that what we believe today? You can just look at the reaction to CoVid in 2020 not just here but worldwide to see that our views have changed. CoVid 19 selectively killed the elderly, sickly, obese, immunocompromised who in pre-Christian era would have been considered lesser human beings. Yet, we and other nations effectively shut down our whole lives to protect those people who we deemed as equal in value to ourselves and were appalled by any suggestion to the contrary. What has caused this radical shift in our view of equality of mankind?

       Human equality, human rights, and humanism can trace their sources back to the Biblical root that our inherent value is that we are made in the image of God. If we feel that life is sacred, that every person possesses dignity and equality, and that no one deserves to be trampled down simply because they are smaller or weaker or poorer, then we are standing on particularly Biblical foundations not taught by any pre-Christian thought.

COMPASSION

    Today we are moved with compassion for the down and out. We are champions for the underdog and the whole Critical Theory that has permeated our thinking in the West of identifying the oppressed and delivering them from oppressors is something that would never have entered the minds of pre-Christian thought. Plato thought in order to be worth rearing, children must be "malleable, disposed to virtue, and physically fit.?" If they didn't prove themselves worthy parents should "properly dispose of them in secret, so that no one will know what has become of them." Aristotle thought defective children should be discarded at rubbish tips, abandoned on hillsides, thrown down wells or drowned in rivers. "Let there be a law that no deformed child should be reared", he stated. Infanticide was so widespread in the Roman world that the first known treatise on gynecology in the 1st century by Soranus of Ephesus included the vital section, How to Recognise the Newborn That is Worth Rearing.

    What caused the shift in thought from "survival of the fittest" to compassion? Nietzsche identified the cause and blamed Christians for it. He stated, "Christianity has taken the part of all the weak, the low, the botched; it has made an ideal of antagonism to all the self-preservative instincts of sound life." In other words, Christians have put themselves on the side of the inferior, endangering the survival of the species. What caused Christians to think this way? If natural selection means the survival of the fittest and the sacrifice of the weakest, Christianity's moral revolution taught sacrifice of the fittest (Jesus) for the survival of the weakest (us). This thinking caused Christians to introduce Hospitals, orphanages, and stop the Roman death arenas and eventually slavery. William Wilberforce, a Christian, in his speech to the House of Commons in 1791 said,

" ...we have gained one victory; we have obtained, for these poor creatures, the recognition of their human nature, which, for a while was most shamefully denied. This is the first fruits of our efforts; let us persevere and our triumph will be complete. Never, never will we desist till we have wiped away this scandal from the Christian name, released ourselves from the load of guilt, under which we at present labour, and extinguished every trace of this bloody traffic..."

implying that Christians were complicit in this travesty by nature of both turning a blind eye to it when they knew it was contrary to the teachings of the Bible, and in some cases participating in it.

       If you consider yourself to be a compassionate person, don't pat yourself on the back saying, "I'm a good person." This does not come naturally. You have unknowingly adopted the teachings of the Bible.

CONSENT and ABUSE

        When a patient comes into the hospital, they are inundated with consent forms. They sign consents for treatment, procedures, release of information, transfer of records and others because in the day we live we are very conscious of people's rights, privacy, and not treating them as objects or lesser beings. But it's not just medical facilities that require consent forms. With the abundance of "hook-up" apps, there are consent forms one click away to spell out what a person will allow in bed. This is done for protection against sexual abuse claims. Where did our concern for consent and abuse come from? Is it from our membership in the animal kingdom? No, animals don't behave this way. Just the other day I saw a duck holding down a female duck so another male could mate with it. If that was a human action, those two would get life in prison. Does it come from ancient thought? Let's see.

      In the ancient world, gods were violent rapists, and sexual agency was solely in the hands of powerful men and sexual misbehavior consisted in the violation of reputations, not of bodies or wills. In other words, if a person was below you or beneath you or inferior to you, in the Roman culture, you could force yourself on them physically. Women, because they were considered inferior were required to be chaste and virgins at marriage and monogamous while men could relieve themselves with anyone beneath him. Adultery was considered wrong only because it was deemed a power play against another man. Pedophilia, abhorrent in today's culture was common in the Roman culture. All one had to do was buy a child as a slave and you could do what you wanted with them.

      Then the teachings of the Bible came in. It said that everyone is equally made in the image of God. Women, children, men, slaves, races, impoverished all had equal value in the sight of God and no one could impose their will on another without their consent. In the area of sexuality, Jesus gave two options: lifelong monogamy or chaste singleness. When the disciples, who were steeped in the philosophy of their day heard this, they were shocked and stated, "then it's better off not to get married". Although consent and not Biblical sexual ethics has been adopted by our society, sociologists recognize that the Biblical sex ethic would suppress the male reproductive competition, drain the pool of unmarried men full of testosterone and low on responsibility, and tie men to their women and families. If this Marriage and Family Program (MFP) that the Bible teaches were adopted, society would flourish.

       So next time you ask someone's permission or consent, you aren't doing what comes naturally or is intuitive. It only seems the rational thing to do because you have unknowingly adopted the teachings of the Bible.

  SCIENCE

              You might think that to say that your belief in science would come from Christian "brainwashing" when the contemporary view of science is at odds with the Bible. As Esqueleto (Skeleton) told Nacho Libre when Nacho asked Esqueleto if he had been baptized, "Why are you always judging me, just because I believe in science?" One of people's major objections to the veracity of the Bible is because of its apparent conflicts with science. Is this valid? Let's explore.

       The basis of modern science comes from three unprovable premises: 1) The belief that the world is real and the human mind is capable of knowing its real nature. Einstein called this the "miracle of science". "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility... The fact that it is comprehensible is a miracle", Einstein said. 2) The second postulate underlying the structure of scientific knowledge is that of cause and effect. 3) The third postulate is that the universe is unified. "These scientific premises define and limit the scientific mode of thought. It should be pointed out that each of these postulates had its origin in or was consistent with Christian theology."(Stanley Beck journal of Bioscience 1982) 

          Thus, science emerged among people who believed certain things. Specifically, they believed that science could be done. They believed in what Einstein called the "miracle of comprehensibility"- the wonder that puny human brains could figure out the mysteries of the cosmos. Here are some quotes by early scientists who believed in the Bible

       Copernicus -"To know the mighty works of God, to comprehend... the wonderful workings of His laws, surely all this must be a pleasing and acceptable mode of worship to the Most High."

      Galileo - "The glory and greatness of almighty God are marvelously discerned in all His works."

      Kepler - Geometry is unique and eternal, a reflection of the mind of God. That men are able to participate in it is one of the reasons why man is an image of God."

      Newton - "This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of a powerful intelligent being."

Add to these four pioneers Joseph Lister (antiseptic surgery), Louis Pasteur (bacteriology), Robert Boyle (chemistry) Georges Cuvier (comparative anatomy), Charles Babbage (computer science), Lord Rayleigh (dimensional analysis), James Maxwell (Electrodynamics), Michael Faraday (Electromagnetics), Ambrose Fleming (electronics), Lord Kelvin (energetics), Henri Fabre (entomology), George Stokes (fluid mechanics), William Herschel (astronomy), Gregor Mendel (genetics), Louis Agassiz (geology), James Simpson (gynecology), Leonardo DaVinci (hydraulics), Matthew Maury (Hydrography), Blaise Pascal (Hydrostatics), William Ramsay (chemistry), John Ray (natural history), Bernhard Riemann (geometry), David Brewster (minerology) John Woodward (paleontology), Rudolph Virchow (pathology), James Joule (thermodynamics), Nicholas Steno (stratigraphy), Carolus Linnaeus (biology), and Humphrey Davy (thermokinetics) who were all Bible believing scientists.

        Today's scientific method formulated by Bible believing Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is based on these Biblical principles; Investigating what is - God had the freedom to create the universe as He so desired and now we can figure out what is. Secondly, the world can be figured out. There are regularities in the way the world works and these are reliable. Thirdly, humans are fallible. Stephen Pinker said, "The signature practices of science, including open debate, peer review, and double-blind methods are designed to circumvent the sins of scientists who are human and vulnerable."

     When you are "trusting the science", it's important to realize that science is standing on the broad shoulders of Christian thought.

   CONCLUSION

    Scrivener has several other arenas of thought or morality that he deals with which didn't resonate with me as much, so I didn't give them much time in this discussion. He considered the age of Enlightenment commonly referred to as the Dark Ages, where education, once considered a luxury for rich men, became a necessity for all. He also considered "Progress". Once history was thought of as a descent from the Golden Age, Christianity taught an arrow pointing onwards and upwards.

    The obvious objection to this is that if Christianity teaches all these principles and world views that we have supposedly adopted, why have Christians been such major offenders of these? He gives this as an answer, maybe unsatisfying to critics and disheartened Christians alike, but nonetheless he makes a good point. He says that if you don't like the violence of the Old Testament wars or church history of the last 2000 years, it's probably because you have adopted the teachings of the One who said, "Put away your sword." If you recoil at Israel's ancient practice of slavery or the Bible-belt's adoption of slavery, you have probably inherited the Biblical notions of redemption, freedom and equality. If you are devastated by church abuse scandals, you are standing with Christ against the misuse of sex and power. Remember, Jesus saved his harshest criticism for hypocrites in the "Church". If you are bothered by hypocrisy, He was bothered more. If you abhor the church mistreating minorities, you are assigning a Christian value to the weak, poor and oppressed. If you consider the church to be on the wrong side of history, you are considering history and progress in Biblical ways.

    He basically says that on all the points that critics judge the Church on violating all these moral principles, the straight line they are using to judge "crookedness" is the Bible. In a way, I feel that is a bit of a "cop-out" because it doesn't address the fact that Christians haven't practiced what they preached through the ages. In a sense though, (my thoughts) the very fact that we don't do what we know is right, beneficial, and would lead to our flourishing, illustrates the biblical truth of first of all, sin, which the Bible declares is our default nature - rebellion against God, and secondly a force warring against God, the Devil, who wants us to destroy ourselves and draw others away from God.

     

    

Thoughts From Romans 12 - Day 1

 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Rom. 12:1

            Scandals abound in the area of worship music. Just this week we heard a worship song from an artist, and I said to my wife, "Wow, I haven't heard a song from him in ages." My wife googled him and found out he has now been sober for a year, which is great for him but bad for worship music in general. Worship music has far surpassed traditional contemporary music in popularity. If you look at YouTube views or monthly followers, you will see that groups like Hillsong or Elevation are much more viewed than the most popular traditional artists. Even our local Christian radio station changed its format from contemporary to worship.

       Paul, in Romans 12:1, would seem to say that to sing songs of worship to God and not have a surrendered heart to Him which manifests itself in the way we live, Holy, obedient, Godly lifestyles - is non-sensical. I recently saw a video on YouTube which talked about 8 Christians in Hollywood and when I watched it I was shocked by the ones they included because from their lifestyles I had no idea. One of the most haunting verses in the Bible is Luke 6:46 where Jesus says, "Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and not do what I say?" As we sing worship songs, most of which have the word "Lord" in them, are we being hypocritical?

      Why the fascination with Worship music when our lives are telling the opposite story? Maybe it's because it is echoing where we want to be but we aren't and it's the cry of our hearts to get there or thanking God for the mercy shown to us while we mess up? I don't know, but let's start demonstrating true worship by living lives totally surrendered, obedient, righteous, and a stark contrast to the immorality around us.

Thoughts From Romans 11 - Part 2

 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

    How unsearchable his judgments,
    and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
    Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Who has ever given to God,
    that God should repay them?”
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
    To him be the glory forever! Amen.  Rom. 11:33-36

      Peter states in his 2nd epistle that Paul's writings can be hard to understand and ignorant people distort them. I'm pretty sure that he must be referring to Romans 9-11. As we have looked at these, you can see so many controversial areas in the body of Christ that we divide over. Here are some of them:

       Predestination vs. Foreknowledge

       Double Predestination 

       Individual election vs. corporate election

       Eternal security (can your branch be removed from the vine?)

       Replacement theology (The Church has replaced the Jews)

       Dispensational theology (are we in the Church age?)

       Eschatology (End times views)

       Altar calls and "Saying the Prayer"

You might be able to come up with others, but these three chapters stand out in the book of Romans as ones that make you want to skip from Chapter 8 to 12. Funny thing is that some "theologians" love to camp out on these verses to prove that their understanding of the Bible is correct.

         I love the way Paul closes out this passage. He seems to be saying, "I know I have just blown your mind with some hard teachings. Even if you don't understand it all, that's OK. What you do need to understand is that we serve a God who is far greater than us. His mind and plans are way above our comprehending and that's great because if we are worshipping a God that is on our level, is He really God? Have we made Him up?"

         That's kind of what I think Paul is saying. It's probably wrong to put words in his mouth but my point is that when we study these controversial areas we should study and know what we believe and be convinced up until the point that we aren't willing to change our minds if presented with an overwhelmingly convincing argument. If we get to that point, we have become smug and actually a bit foolish. Paul said in Corinthians that at this point we know in part, it's like we have blurry vision, but someday we will fully know. When we come up to these difficult passages let it turn our eyes to that day when we will see clearly.

Thoughts From Romans 11 - Part 1

 

11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:

“The deliverer will come from Zion;
    he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is my covenant with them
    when I take away their sins.”

28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. 32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

            A big debate today is whether or not God is done with the Jews. Are the Jews still God's chosen people? An interview of Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz on this matter went viral with Carlson lambasting Cruz for his Sunday School answers on this matter. Paul in this passage states that the Jews have received a temporary hardening while the gentiles are coming in, even though there are a million born again Jews today, but at some point, the Jews will in mass come back to God and receive the Messiah.

        What are some signs that the Jews are still God's chosen people? First of all, Israel getting their land back in 1948 as a fulfillment of Ezekiel 37. Along with that, the fact that after hundreds of years of dispersion, the Jewish people weren't amalgamated into the general population through intermarriage. In other words, the fact that there were still a Jewish people to move into Israel, that they kept their race pure by only marrying in their people group, is supernatural.

        When Egypt along with other Arab countries in 1967 decided to wipeout Israel in what was later dubbed the 6-day war, despite overwhelming odds, the Israel Airforce destroyed 452 planes while losing 46 of their own. Egyptian tanks rolled into town, and some went down the wrong streets where they became useless, some surrendered due to literal paralysis of the soldiers, some surrendered due to mirages of hundreds of Israeli tanks that didn't exist.

       I hear today of Hamas being wiped out by an elaborate scheme of a pager company formed by Massad that Hamas leaders would all use pagers from this company and the pagers were filled with C-4. Israel sent a page, and they all blew up! How can that even work? It has to be the hand of God.

        Netanyahu stated that evangelical Christians are Israel's best friend. We need to cultivate friendships with our Jewish acquaintances because in this day and age of prejudice and hostility toward Jews, this is the best time to let them know of our friendship toward them. I heard one Messianic Jew say, "ask them, who is this talking about? and then read them Isa.53. They will answer 'Jesus, of course, but we don't accept the New Testament.' Then you show them it's from their writings and they will be shocked. They have no idea." Back in 1950 there were 2000 messianic Jews. Today there are near a million. Let's pray for continued revival of the Jews.

Thoughts From Romans 10 - Part 3

  But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:

“Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.”

19 Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,

“I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
    I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”

20 And Isaiah boldly says,

“I was found by those who did not seek me;
    I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”

21 But concerning Israel he says,

“All day long I have held out my hands
    to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? 4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

7 What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, 8 as it is written:

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
    eyes that could not see
    and ears that could not hear,
to this very day.”

9 And David says:

“May their table become a snare and a trap,
    a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
    and their backs be bent forever.”  Romans 10:18-11:10

Why did Jesus speak in parables?

"He told them, 'The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,

“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
    and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’" Mark 4:10

It appears from this passage in Mark that this hardening of the heart spoken of by Paul in Romans 10,11 didn't make it impossible to repent and become part of the remnant of Jews, like Paul, to be saved. It appears that their hardening of their hearts, aided by Satan, keeps them from accepting the truth.

We all understand this to a certain degree. Let's say in the area of some doctrine that's debatable like Women's role in the church. There are two camps, egalitarian which believe there is no difference in roles and complementarian which believe there is. Mike Winger, a Bible commentator on social media with a million followers published probably 50 hours of content where he studied the issue starting from no preconceived notion (if that's truly possible) and conclusively stated complementarianism is correct. Did he convince any egalitarians that he was right? I sincerely doubt it. In fact, I doubt if any even listened to it knowing his conclusion ahead of time. What am I saying? You could quote Isa.53 to a Jew who is convinced that to believe in Jesus is to forsake one's Jewish roots, and it would be falling on deaf ears. Like a parable recited by Jesus, to dig below the surface and strive to find the truth is non-negotiable. Don't bother me with facts, my mind is already made up!

What is the conclusion? Don't get disappointed by those who reject the gospel or be discouraged to the point where you give up. I must admit that I've been discouraged with our medical mission trips to the Philippines. Hundreds have prayed to receive Christ and baptized, yet when I return, the Church is still the same size. It appears to me these are phony salvations. Like Elijah saying, there are no believers, yet there is a remnant being saved and even if there is only one genuine convert, it is worth it. The road is narrow and few find it yet a remnant do. Keep sharing and praying that God would bind Satan's influence and open their minds to understand and receive the gospel that can save their souls.