Recently I was engaged in a theological debate. My opponent was sharp, quick witted, and spiritually deep.  For every point I made my opponent volleyed my opinion with a stealth, but engaging, response.

7 year old:  Daddy how do I know that you love me?

Dad: Well because I do.

7 year old:  Daddy…that doesn’t tell how I KNOW that you love me.

Dad: Well because I provide the things you need.  Food, a house, clothes and stuff like that.

7 year old:  Oh ok.  (slight pause) Daddy why do you love me?

Dad: Uh…well because you are you.

7 year old: But WHO am I daddy?

Dad: You are miserable, rotten wretch.   A sinner that deserves to die.  The scum that scum calls scum.  In fact you’re so terrible you deserve DEATH.

7 year old: (through tears) Daddy do you really think that I am all that? (sniffle, sniffle)

Dad:  Yep

7 year old:  (sobbing) Daddy…How can you say that and still say that you love me.

Dad: Well I already told you that I give you things that you don’t deserve.  Food, a house, clothing etc…(exasperated) C’mon you gotta keep up if we are ever gonna  believe that I love you.

7 year old:  (drying tears)  I’m sorry Dad.  I’ll try to do better.

Dad:  Okay.

7 year old: Boy, Daddy, the fact that you explained that I suck and everything you give me I don’t deserve sure makes me want to love you. 

Dad: Good.  Just always remember that I created you to be the scourge of the Earth and nothing you do could ever make me love you.

7 year old: (starting to cry again) I’ll try Daddy.

Dad: Don’t worry if you ever forget I’ll have people, who I also created,  scream, write, and blog to constantly remind you that you are absolutely NO GOOD.

7 year old:  Daddy you would do that for me?

Dad: You betcha!  Cause remember; I Love you kiddo!

Congratulations to Christian P on the new addition to his family!

Friends,

I am currently engaged in a through-the-bible-in-90-days reading ‘program.’ It is a fast-paced, exhilarating, whirl-wind adventure! This week I finished Leviticus and Numbers and started Deuteronomy. Anyhow, as you know, those books are filled with plenty of sermon stuff and, interestingly enough, one of the topics is that nasty three letter word ’sex.’

Now we have discussed much around here about whether or not sex is an appropriate topic for sermons on Sunday. It’s a good conversation to have. (Ironically, whenever the subject of ’sex’ comes up we always rush to Song of Solomon and never to the book of Numbers or Leviticus, but I digress.) So, since everyone is contributing humor this week, I thought perhaps to add my own bit of humor to the posting with this piece from Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby) that I clipped about 14 years ago.

When I went to City Hall to renew my dog’s license, I told the clerk I wanted a license for Sex. He said, ‘I’d like one, too!’

I said, ‘But this is a dog.’

He said he didn’t care what she looked like. Then I said, you don’t understand. I’ve had Sex since I was 9 years old.’ He winked at me and said, ‘You must have been quite a kid.’

When I got married and went on my honeymoon, I took my dog with me. I told the hotel clerk I wanted a room for my wife and me, and a special room for Sex. He said, ‘You don’t need a special room for Sex. As long as you pay your bill, we don’t care what you do.’

I said, ‘Look, you don’t seem to understand. Sex keeps me awake at night.’

The clerk said, ‘Funny, I have the same problem.’

Well, one day, I entered Sex in a contest, but before the competition began, the dog got loose and ran away. Another contestant asked me why I was just standing there, looking disappointed. I told him I had planned to have Sex in the contest. He said, ‘Wonderful! If you sell tickets, you’ll clean up!’

‘But you don’t understand,’ I said. ‘I want to have Sex on TV.’

He said, ‘They already have that on cable. It’s not big deal anymore.’

Well, my wife and I decided to separate, so we went to court to fight for custody of the dog.

I said to the judge, ‘Your honor, I had Sex before I was married.’ The judge said, ‘The court is not a confessional. Please stick to the facts.’ Then I told him that after I was married, Sex left me. He said, “Me, too.”

Well, last night Sex ran away again, and I spent hours looking all over town for him. A cop came over to me and asked, “What are you doing in this alley at 4 o’clock in the morning?’

I said, “I’m looking for Sex.’

My case comes up on Friday.

Have a good weekend everyone.

HT: Levticus 18

jerry

For those who never knew, for those of us that need a reminder, and for those who still don’t get it, Ben Witherington III has a great article explaining a few of the basic reasons for a proper hermeneutic: Hermeneutics – What is it, and why do Bible readers need it?

(Etic: of or relating to features or items analyzed without considering their role as a structural unit in a system.)

Tags: hermeneutic, hermeneutics

For your Friday afternoon entertainment (submitted by numerous people here, to my email, and – by Bob Hyatt – to my Facebook page):

As a number of you may have noticed, we have a new “Submissions” form, which sends your submissions for article ideas to the authors of this site in a way that sticks with the actual intent, rather than becoming a rogue discussion thread.

While we’ve gotten some good submissions (which have been expanded into articles – or referenced in new articles), the expected issues with ‘hate mail’ of course crop up, since there is less accountability.  This is, of course, always a danger in granting even slight anonymity here on the ‘net.

I have to say, though, that our most recent comment from Ms. Parker Tressa Ellis certainly takes the cake. (Read below the fold for more, realizing that Ms. Armchair Ellis uses some language that would likely be condemned by the ODM’s with which she likely finds validation …)

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I saw this Hayward cartoon a year or so ago, and it has just kept popping back up into my mind every time I hear the caterwauling about Rick Warren and/or churches that are anything less than “seeker insensitive”…

Beautiful!

These past few weeks and months have been rather interesting, from a historical perspective, particularly as it comes to the discussion of faith, action and eschatology. It seems like the level of panic has ratcheted up significantly, and I have even caught myself obsessing on it unhealthily, as well.

In all of it, though, I continue to find more and more comfort in the promises made to us by the Lord. In some way, I am reminded of 8 years ago when my infant daughter had to have open-heart surgery – it was an incredibly worrisome and stressful time, but the closer the date of the surgery came, the more at peace I felt with God, with my own life and with His control of all things. In fact, on the day of the surgery, I felt at a level of peace I can’t remember experiencing since. During that time, it enabled me to be the man my wife needed and the father my kids needed and the son my parents needed me to be.

I knew that, in all of the events transpiring, I had no control to speak of – no ability to alter whatever outcome or trial we would face. After 8 hours of surgery, my daughter came through beautifully – the second time she had been given to me as a gift.

And so today, with so many world events transpiring, I find myself in a position where I’m being asked questions, giving what answers I can, and doing my best to give my anxieties to God. While I’d like to think it’s something strong within my framework, the truth is, I’m just realistic about what I have the power to change and realistic about what I just need to accept will happen regardless of me.

Financial Crisis

With all of the dire predictions about the world financial situation, I’ve been inundated this past week with questions, stories, questions about stories, and even stories about questions dealing with the financial crisis – both in the US and in the world. In some corners, the sentiment has truly bordered on the hysterical. Even from some Christians, who ought to know better.

With much of the financial crisis, it is a case – in the US primarily, and worldwide in some cases – of the chickens coming home to roost.

The blame falls squarely on four groups of people – 1) People (including many Christians) who desired to live beyond their means and incurred risky debt, finding themselves unable to pay the piper when the music stopped; 2) The government, for forcing some financial institutions to give risky loans (as social policy) all-the-while turning a blind eye to regulating risky loans and Freddy & Fanny (to line their own pockets); 3) The lenders who created all sorts of creative ways to make ninja loans and other subprime loans; and 4) the idiots on Wall Street who broke the loans up and used them as securities.

Basically, a majority of the US population was at fault.

And if it all melts down? The church gets a glaringly obvious chance (like during the Great Depression and during the Black Plague) to be the hands and feet of Christ to each other and to the community at large.

If it recovers? The church needs to take a role in providing sound financial advice, based on Christian principals, to its own members and to the community at large. Living within your own means is a hard lesson to learn, but one that we, within the church, should have already been living.

Obama the Antichrist?

In the past few weeks, I’ve been asked (or heard asked) at least a half-dozen times if it is possible that Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ. Geesh. Now, a few of the questioners were folks that I know are Creasters, so I had to be pretty basic in my answers to the questions. Others, though, ought to know better. Basically, though, I tried to at least do a bit of teaching on eschatology, and on the uselessness of playing pin-the-tail-on-the-antichrist.

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Straining Forward, Don’t Look Back

Philippians 3:13-15

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. “

Jesus Christ calls us upward in to a new life; a life of service to Him and others, and not a dictatorship of ourselves.   We begin this new life when coming in to a relationship with the Living God in Jesus Christ, and it’s ongoing from the time we join ourselves to Christ in this world we live in now until the time we join Him forever in eternity.   During this time God is growing us, and preparing us to be used for the purpose of service in the Kingdom of God.  God is helping us and showing us how to be fit for service, you could say, and it’s our job to stay fit.

Jesus made a point of this, and left some pretty strong words for those who would join or already have joined the ‘service’ but refuse to get fit for service in the Kingdom or have become lazy and unfit for service.  He has strong words for those who make excuses for their lack of gumption in following after Christ and serving Him.

Luke 9:61-62

“Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.”
Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

One of the ways we become unfit, after being ‘drafted’ in to the service, is by being caught up in what’s behind us and the circumstances around us instead of the work in front of us.   What Jesus means by this is similar to what is meant in the parable of the 4 soils (Luke 8:14 specifically) and the seed that tries to grow up around the thorn bushes.  It’s choked out by life’s worries and the things around us, and never matures.   The solution Jesus gives for this specific issue is the example of the person who hears the Word and puts it in to practice as well, and because of that bears fruit in his or her life for God.

I want to make a point that while a person may be unfit for service that does not mean that they are out of the service.  We might be unfit for the Kingdom, but that doesn’t mean we’re not in the Kingdom.  I flew a mission with the AF Reserve squadron from my base last week, and I met a crusty old Master Sergeant who was at least 200 lbs overweight by service standards.  Now, that man was completely unfit for military service and would be virtually no good in a combat situation, however, the MSgt was still in the service nonetheless.   He’s not much good for anything but he’s still there.  However, I don’t believe God just wants us to be space wasters in His Kingdom.  God has prepared good works for us to do, acts of service to His people and others, and a Great Commission to carry out.  How are some ways we can become fit and stay fit?  Practice of our faith and the teachings and Person we claim follow, disciplining ourselves, and teaching/sharing.   Remember those!!

But then the EXCUSES come…

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Friends,

I’m commenting on this because it was posted by Lane Chaplin at SOL. Note this quote from near the end: “A single accurate and correct interpretation of every verse and passage in Scripture.” According to who? Did you ever notice how Paul and James use the exact same passage of Scripture and interpret it two different ways–one to support faith and the other to support works? (Concerning Abraham.) Jesus seemed to think differently on matters of interpretation too: You have heard it said, but I say unto you.

I’m not really sure what to make of this. I’m not sure who the narrator is. I’m not even sure who Lane Chaplin is. I’m not sure what the video is trying to say. But is the ADM crowd really the Elijah and those who oppose them really the Ahab? Oh, really?

You know, from where I sit, Truth here is not as much the issue as this video clip makes it out to be. From where I sit, the issue is not those who ‘take a stand for biblical truth’ being opposed by others. Certainly, no one here is opposed to truth. I’ll bet if you asked, you would find that hardly any one on the planet is opposed to the truth. Is the work of the ADM crowd really comparable to the work of Luther? Is this video really cursing ‘us’? I hardly think that ‘we’ are Ahab; I doubt even more that ‘they’ are Elijah.

Who decided what the ‘rules for interpretation’ are? Aren’t they all arbitrary? ‘Rightly interpret Scripture.’ In college, I learned to interpret Scripture by reading a book by Louis Berkhof of Calvin College. Well, as I have gotten older, more learned, I cannot think of a worse way to interpret Scripture than in the manner which a good Calvinist might. And what about the Left Behind stuff? That way of interpreting Scripture might be as bad as the Calvinist/Reformed way. Even Martin Luther, whom this fellow holds up for his wisdom in such matters, was hardly a bastion of biblical wisdom and orthodoxy. I recall that he rejected the letter of James outright, held over much of his Catholicism, and was at least a closet anti-Semite if not an overt one. The point is that everyone has an interpretation; but those who interpret also have the Holy Spirit: Does the Holy Spirit lead people into un-truth?

‘Those who create their own, personal, inaccurate interpretations of the rules are the ones that are causing the problems.’ ‘Untrained pastors.’ Oh, this is really too much. I don’t care what anyone says: After studying Scripture on a daily basis and preaching it regularly since 1994–not long, I grant–but I can safely say: All Interpretation, no matter how much one adheres to the ‘rules of interpretation,’ is a matter of personal interpretation. And, to be sure, application of said interpretation is something else entirely.  I can pull 10 commentaries off my shelf on the book of Matthew alone. I guarantee you that no two of them will be exactly the same at every point. (A good book on this is Eat This Book, by Eugene Peterson.) And I read the commentaries of people that they would hold up as orthodox. There’s disagreement all over the place–that’s why so many commentary series’ are written in the first place and why every teacher who writes one takes the first several pages to justify the publication of a new one when so many others already exist. If there was no room for correction and rebuke and accountability there would be only one set of commentaries in existence.

Look, the issue here is not a matter of truth, or the rules of interpretation, or untrained pastors. No one is saying truth doesn’t matter. No one is saying the rules of interpretation don’t matter. No one is saying the Bible doesn’t matter. What we are saying is something closer akin to: Mind your own business because each servant will stand or fall to his own master. Or maybe we are saying: It’s one thing to disagree with an idea and it is something else entirely to destroy a person’s reputation or work. It’s one thing entirely to have a theological issue with someone; it’s something altogether different to cast them as an anti-christ, heretic, or an unbeliever. Maybe, just maybe, God is big enough to handle the fact that Scripture is ambiguous enough at points to allow so much variation in interpretation. To be sure, there probably is a line that should not be crossed, but who decides that line?

And, finally, for the fella in the video to suggest, however implicitly, that somehow or other he or ‘those he speaks for’ have the corner on the ‘one, correct and accurate interpretation of Scripture’ is, in my opinion, the height of arrogance. To the dude in the video: Get a grip.

jerry