A few years ago I argued with a friend of mine over saying grace prior to eating a meal. In his opinion this act, at best, is nothing more than old meaningless tradition. At worst it is an antiquated way of puffing oneself up. While I may agree with his diagnosis of how many in the church treat this act, I disagree with “throwing the baby out with the bath water”. In my opinion I think he was just trying to justify his forgetfulness and laziness, at best.
So should we pray before we eat our meals? Absolutely! We are actually commanded to do this.
Deuteronomy 8:10-18
In verse 10 we see the commandment.
The remaining verses focus on the very likely possibility of becoming prideful over our provisions, as if we had anything to do with them.
From these verses it’s interesting to note that one verse is the commandment, but 8 verses on the downward spiral of disobedience and pride (i.e. sin).
Acts 27
Acts 27:33-38 actually focuses on this act of praising God for His provisions. From reading these verses we can see how Paul praising God for the food is:
An act of leadership. Even though Paul was the prisoner and the Roman centurion was the one person in command, it was Paul who actually took charge and obviously the one person God was working through. God gave Paul command of that ship.
Garnered respect. Through his consistent and well known relationship with Jesus Christ, Paul’s act of praising God was viewed, by the unbelievers, as consistent with his beliefs. Also the fact that Paul was doing this after 14 days without food and under constant stress, as well as the fear of death (at least until the angel appeared to him) showed validity for his beliefs to these same unbelievers.
A powerful witness and an act of encouragement. At the very least everyone on the boat believed Paul was in touch with his god, even if this god wasn’t their own.
I believed I’ve touched on this subject in a previous article, however, I feel it’s important, even if we’ve relegated this practice of praising God for our food to a dead tradition. So openly praise God for His provisions and let others see your light. Even if your head is bowed in silence, people will typically know what you're doing and trust me they're watching.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Friday, October 20, 2006
Deuteronomy 8:2-5
This is more like something I’d typically write down in my journal. Closer to random thoughts then a firm grasp of the topics. I’m definitely still learning about much of this; however, it’s exciting to find the correlations between OT and NT teachings. This is the type of stuff I get very excited about as the Holy Spirit uses other scriptures I’ve read and studied to bring new light (for me) to “old” scriptures. The only problem is that this can really blow up, as the entire Bible is weaved very tightly together.
Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
NT references:
The below NT verses directly teach on the above OT verses. Matthew 4:1-11 & John 4:1-42 directly refer to suffering temptation and the true bread of life, meaning of course Jesus. Jesus actually quotes part of verse 3 to Satan during His temptation.
Hebrews 12:1-12 Verse 5 (in Deuteronomy) above speaks to God’s motivation for discipline as well as the reason a man should discipline his son.
Hebrews 5:1-10 (Christ’s obedience bought salvation) Hebrews 5:8 speaks to the importance of obedience and its relationship to suffering.
Romans 5:1-11 (encouragement through trials) Why must we suffer through trials? The short answer: because we are sinners. The longer answer takes a lifetime to answer. However, these verses in Romans provide us a great deal of clarity.
2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (Why must we suffer?) One particular use for suffering, as it relates to glorifying Jesus. It can be a powerful ministry tool as the one suffering matures.
Matthew 6:25-34 (Do not worry) We ought not worry about our clothes nor what we eat. These verses in Deuteronomy speak of a subtle miracle done by God as an act of love to His children. Though they complained and rebelled, He still loved on them and supplied for all their needs, even though they never acknowledged this, except through Moses.
I want to delve deeper into Deuteronomy chapters 8 & 9. I read them a few days ago and they’ve stuck with me, for some reason. I believe there is a wealth of knowledge and explanation in these verses and as I’ve pointed out, the NT references, or stays precisely in line, with the OT.
Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
NT references:
The below NT verses directly teach on the above OT verses. Matthew 4:1-11 & John 4:1-42 directly refer to suffering temptation and the true bread of life, meaning of course Jesus. Jesus actually quotes part of verse 3 to Satan during His temptation.
Hebrews 12:1-12 Verse 5 (in Deuteronomy) above speaks to God’s motivation for discipline as well as the reason a man should discipline his son.
Hebrews 5:1-10 (Christ’s obedience bought salvation) Hebrews 5:8 speaks to the importance of obedience and its relationship to suffering.
Romans 5:1-11 (encouragement through trials) Why must we suffer through trials? The short answer: because we are sinners. The longer answer takes a lifetime to answer. However, these verses in Romans provide us a great deal of clarity.
2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (Why must we suffer?) One particular use for suffering, as it relates to glorifying Jesus. It can be a powerful ministry tool as the one suffering matures.
Matthew 6:25-34 (Do not worry) We ought not worry about our clothes nor what we eat. These verses in Deuteronomy speak of a subtle miracle done by God as an act of love to His children. Though they complained and rebelled, He still loved on them and supplied for all their needs, even though they never acknowledged this, except through Moses.
I want to delve deeper into Deuteronomy chapters 8 & 9. I read them a few days ago and they’ve stuck with me, for some reason. I believe there is a wealth of knowledge and explanation in these verses and as I’ve pointed out, the NT references, or stays precisely in line, with the OT.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
A caution against the doctrine of man (or woman)
Be careful how much you admire or listen to others who claim to be someone. Be careful who you consider yourself to be a disciple of. Many teachers here in America are very wealthy, even by American standards, and this should be a tremendous concern in itself. How much money do you think your pastor makes? How much money does Norman Giesler or Beth Moore or John Eldridge make? How much do they give away? How much do they spend on comforts for themselves and their families? Does this mean they know nothing about Jesus Christ? Not necessarily. It just means they have a completely unnecessary temptation living with them everyday. An unnecessary temptation which may cause them to worship something other then God. (Matthew 19:24)
A Christian should only be a disciple of Jesus Christ and His teachings and the only source of truth is the bible. This means Calvin, the Apostle’s Creed, C.S. Lewis (one of my favorite authors), Jonathan Edwards (another favorite) and any of the above mentioned folks, can and will be wrong at times, no matter how strong or mature they appear to be. This is why we ought to read the Bible every day, multiple times preferably. This way we’ll be able to discern truth from opinion.
For instance, up until recently I simply believed what the Apostle’s Creed was biblical fact (see previous article ‘Did Jesus Descend into Hell?’. However, a friend recently challenged the validity of this teaching based on the lack of direct support found in scripture. This makes this supposed “truth” actually a doctrine of man. So up until one of my friends confronted me about this I had thought this was biblical truth.
This past Sunday morning, during a small group time, a topic was brought up which has concerned me ever since I heard it. Someone briefly discussed a teaching of Beth Moore which goes something like “we were created specifically for this time” and “we are more blessed now because we believe without seeing”. I admit I know almost nothing about Beth Moore. However, the fact that we were created for this time and elected prior to our births can be supported in Romans 9:10-12, among many other supporting verses. However, the scriptures Beth Moore references for her teaching (John 20:28-30) do not clearly support the belief that we have more faith, or are more blessed then the folks in the early church. If this is what Beth Moore teaches then I strongly disagree with her. We believe Jesus rose from the grave, but when was the last time any of us heard of someone, like Peter, raising someone from the dead (Acts 9)? Now that’s great faith!
If anything the opposite would be more true, especially here in the American church where we horde our wealth, love our material possessions, passionately protect our independence (even from God), arrogantly believe we own or are the keepers of the gospel for the world, arrogantly believe we know God and His truth, rarely take risks for Christ and continually look to flesh and blood for answers, much like the ancient Israelites who wanted a king other then God and received Saul (1 Samuel 8). However, what we need to do is very simple. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind and soul. Love thy neighbor as thyself. I will boldly tell you that any teaching which contradicts or takes away from these essential truths is a false doctrine. Mark 12:28-34 & Matthew 22:34-40.
A good Litmus test for truth:
Every doctrine must line up with the Word in order to be true; however, many people (as well as satan) have perverted scripture (Matthew 4:1-11). Along with reading the Word and praying another practice I use to discern God’s truth from man’s, is to answer the following question: Who is more glorified by a specific doctrine or interpretation, Jesus Christ or man? If man then it is false. If I’m made to feel above or better then anyone, alive or dead, then I’m hearing false doctrine. If pride swells in my heart from hearing a teaching, then it is false, as this feeling is not from God. If however, I’m brought to my knees in humbleness, desire to repent and confess my sins to Jesus Christ and glorify His name, then I’m made right with God.
If I misquoted or misunderstood this teaching by Beth Moore then please feel free to correct me.
A Christian should only be a disciple of Jesus Christ and His teachings and the only source of truth is the bible. This means Calvin, the Apostle’s Creed, C.S. Lewis (one of my favorite authors), Jonathan Edwards (another favorite) and any of the above mentioned folks, can and will be wrong at times, no matter how strong or mature they appear to be. This is why we ought to read the Bible every day, multiple times preferably. This way we’ll be able to discern truth from opinion.
For instance, up until recently I simply believed what the Apostle’s Creed was biblical fact (see previous article ‘Did Jesus Descend into Hell?’. However, a friend recently challenged the validity of this teaching based on the lack of direct support found in scripture. This makes this supposed “truth” actually a doctrine of man. So up until one of my friends confronted me about this I had thought this was biblical truth.
This past Sunday morning, during a small group time, a topic was brought up which has concerned me ever since I heard it. Someone briefly discussed a teaching of Beth Moore which goes something like “we were created specifically for this time” and “we are more blessed now because we believe without seeing”. I admit I know almost nothing about Beth Moore. However, the fact that we were created for this time and elected prior to our births can be supported in Romans 9:10-12, among many other supporting verses. However, the scriptures Beth Moore references for her teaching (John 20:28-30) do not clearly support the belief that we have more faith, or are more blessed then the folks in the early church. If this is what Beth Moore teaches then I strongly disagree with her. We believe Jesus rose from the grave, but when was the last time any of us heard of someone, like Peter, raising someone from the dead (Acts 9)? Now that’s great faith!
If anything the opposite would be more true, especially here in the American church where we horde our wealth, love our material possessions, passionately protect our independence (even from God), arrogantly believe we own or are the keepers of the gospel for the world, arrogantly believe we know God and His truth, rarely take risks for Christ and continually look to flesh and blood for answers, much like the ancient Israelites who wanted a king other then God and received Saul (1 Samuel 8). However, what we need to do is very simple. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind and soul. Love thy neighbor as thyself. I will boldly tell you that any teaching which contradicts or takes away from these essential truths is a false doctrine. Mark 12:28-34 & Matthew 22:34-40.
A good Litmus test for truth:
Every doctrine must line up with the Word in order to be true; however, many people (as well as satan) have perverted scripture (Matthew 4:1-11). Along with reading the Word and praying another practice I use to discern God’s truth from man’s, is to answer the following question: Who is more glorified by a specific doctrine or interpretation, Jesus Christ or man? If man then it is false. If I’m made to feel above or better then anyone, alive or dead, then I’m hearing false doctrine. If pride swells in my heart from hearing a teaching, then it is false, as this feeling is not from God. If however, I’m brought to my knees in humbleness, desire to repent and confess my sins to Jesus Christ and glorify His name, then I’m made right with God.
If I misquoted or misunderstood this teaching by Beth Moore then please feel free to correct me.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
A Kiss from a Rose
Ok so I’m a bit of Seal fan.
During the same conversation about whether or not the Bible indicates Jesus did a pop-in on hell we also discussed dating and some of the issues and frustrations faced by both sexes in the Christian universe, versus the Marvel or DC universes (for any former or current comic book fans). Anyway, specifically we discussed whether kissing is acceptable or not in dating. I just had a flashback of high school. For some reason this topic seems like such a high school-ish topic. However, I believe many Christians struggle with this, or worse don’t even think about the consequences.
First I’ll look at the definition of kiss: “to touch with the lips especially as a mark of affection or greeting”. In its purest form a kiss is innocent. As Christians we are actually encouraged to kiss one another: Romans 16:16, 1 Corinthians 16:20, 2 Corinthians 13:12 & 1 Thessalonians 5:26. Not to get on too much of a rabbit trail, but how often do we see or participate in this holy kiss? Also how often do we see and participate in hugging each other? God has provided these two forms of physical contact as means of encouragement for the body, in a plutonic sense of course. 1 Timothy 5:2 teaches men how we ought to view and treat our sisters in Christ (single or married, it makes no difference).
Honestly to me most of my brothers and sisters seem very 2 dimensional to me. We are so uptight we can’t even make ourselves vulnerable enough to obey the Word, even though it’s good for us. And we wonder why depression is such a huge issue in our culture. We’re physical beings created for physical interaction. This is why it feels good to be and get hugged or kissed. However, this would be a complete 180 in our perspective on physical touching. Physical touching (up to and including sex in marriage) should be a form of affection and encouragement. It should always be about the other person. Perhaps because we disobey scripture which states that we should engage in more physical encouragement, we now struggle with sinful physical contact in dating relationships? This is my belief, at least, as to the why kissing has become any kind of an issue in Christian dating relationships.
So I’ve established there’s nothing wrong with kissing or hugging for holy encouragement. However, if we look again at 1 Timothy 5:2 as scripture which is not only directed at the men, but also the women, we will see that it is the woman’s responsibility to encourage the men to treat them with absolute purity.
So we come to the question: Is kissing ok in a Christian dating relationship or not? First I’ll reference the 10 commandments and Matthew 5:27-28. So yes it’s ok to kiss your boyfriend or girlfriend, provided you can do it without disobeying Matthew 5:27-28 and 1 Timothy 5:2. My question is; why not simply wait till marriage? Is Christ glorified by engaging in this act prior to marriage? Are you somehow drawn closer to God? Someone once told me that I ought not engage in any activity with my girlfriend which I wouldn’t with my own flesh and blood sister, at least prior to marriage (not the sister). Now I don’t have a sister, but this seems fairly simple to me.
Another predicament is with the women folk. Most women I’ve known seem to almost need this intimate level of physical touch to know the guy loves them or cares about them. For me personally I would most likely be breaking Jesus Christ’s commandment in Matthew 5:27-28, if I were to kiss a woman I’m dating. Also, plenty of guys kiss women, even have sex with women, they don’t really care for at all, so I’m not sure I completely buy what my female friends are telling me. In my opinion this all comes down to sinful/selfish desire. I believe both men and women feed off of each others desire for one another.
Everyone wants to be wanted, but it’s where we look for this ownership that’s the concern. We should be looking to Jesus and His desire for us. I realize many single men and women roll their eyes at this topic or perhaps label someone with my convictions as a prude, but I believe judgment is that big of a deal. I also don’t want to have to bear the weight of guilt from being intimately involved with a woman (essentially claiming ownership of her body) and then rejecting her. I believe that kissing is part of sex. The initial step, but sex none the less. Ownership comes with marriage. Any form of physical intimacy before marriage is selfishly claiming ownership without any form of commitment.
In conclusion, why not try to communicate with your significant other using non sexual methods, like talking or writing or giving flowers or gifts or physically with hugs and holy kisses? 50% of all marriages in the church fail. That’s keeping up with the world, so we're doing something wrong. Maybe some of these marriages would’ve worked out if both parties weren’t so selfish, waited for marriage and learned to communicate with each other?
Just my 2 cents.
During the same conversation about whether or not the Bible indicates Jesus did a pop-in on hell we also discussed dating and some of the issues and frustrations faced by both sexes in the Christian universe, versus the Marvel or DC universes (for any former or current comic book fans). Anyway, specifically we discussed whether kissing is acceptable or not in dating. I just had a flashback of high school. For some reason this topic seems like such a high school-ish topic. However, I believe many Christians struggle with this, or worse don’t even think about the consequences.
First I’ll look at the definition of kiss: “to touch with the lips especially as a mark of affection or greeting”. In its purest form a kiss is innocent. As Christians we are actually encouraged to kiss one another: Romans 16:16, 1 Corinthians 16:20, 2 Corinthians 13:12 & 1 Thessalonians 5:26. Not to get on too much of a rabbit trail, but how often do we see or participate in this holy kiss? Also how often do we see and participate in hugging each other? God has provided these two forms of physical contact as means of encouragement for the body, in a plutonic sense of course. 1 Timothy 5:2 teaches men how we ought to view and treat our sisters in Christ (single or married, it makes no difference).
Honestly to me most of my brothers and sisters seem very 2 dimensional to me. We are so uptight we can’t even make ourselves vulnerable enough to obey the Word, even though it’s good for us. And we wonder why depression is such a huge issue in our culture. We’re physical beings created for physical interaction. This is why it feels good to be and get hugged or kissed. However, this would be a complete 180 in our perspective on physical touching. Physical touching (up to and including sex in marriage) should be a form of affection and encouragement. It should always be about the other person. Perhaps because we disobey scripture which states that we should engage in more physical encouragement, we now struggle with sinful physical contact in dating relationships? This is my belief, at least, as to the why kissing has become any kind of an issue in Christian dating relationships.
So I’ve established there’s nothing wrong with kissing or hugging for holy encouragement. However, if we look again at 1 Timothy 5:2 as scripture which is not only directed at the men, but also the women, we will see that it is the woman’s responsibility to encourage the men to treat them with absolute purity.
So we come to the question: Is kissing ok in a Christian dating relationship or not? First I’ll reference the 10 commandments and Matthew 5:27-28. So yes it’s ok to kiss your boyfriend or girlfriend, provided you can do it without disobeying Matthew 5:27-28 and 1 Timothy 5:2. My question is; why not simply wait till marriage? Is Christ glorified by engaging in this act prior to marriage? Are you somehow drawn closer to God? Someone once told me that I ought not engage in any activity with my girlfriend which I wouldn’t with my own flesh and blood sister, at least prior to marriage (not the sister). Now I don’t have a sister, but this seems fairly simple to me.
Another predicament is with the women folk. Most women I’ve known seem to almost need this intimate level of physical touch to know the guy loves them or cares about them. For me personally I would most likely be breaking Jesus Christ’s commandment in Matthew 5:27-28, if I were to kiss a woman I’m dating. Also, plenty of guys kiss women, even have sex with women, they don’t really care for at all, so I’m not sure I completely buy what my female friends are telling me. In my opinion this all comes down to sinful/selfish desire. I believe both men and women feed off of each others desire for one another.
Everyone wants to be wanted, but it’s where we look for this ownership that’s the concern. We should be looking to Jesus and His desire for us. I realize many single men and women roll their eyes at this topic or perhaps label someone with my convictions as a prude, but I believe judgment is that big of a deal. I also don’t want to have to bear the weight of guilt from being intimately involved with a woman (essentially claiming ownership of her body) and then rejecting her. I believe that kissing is part of sex. The initial step, but sex none the less. Ownership comes with marriage. Any form of physical intimacy before marriage is selfishly claiming ownership without any form of commitment.
In conclusion, why not try to communicate with your significant other using non sexual methods, like talking or writing or giving flowers or gifts or physically with hugs and holy kisses? 50% of all marriages in the church fail. That’s keeping up with the world, so we're doing something wrong. Maybe some of these marriages would’ve worked out if both parties weren’t so selfish, waited for marriage and learned to communicate with each other?
Just my 2 cents.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Did Jesus Descend into Hell?
I was having a conversation the other day, over dinner, with Greg, Samantha and a few other folks. (I only mention Greg and Sam’s names because our other friends don’t yet exist in the blog world.) Anyway, amongst conversations about dating, marriage and desires, we somehow ended up discussing the common belief that Jesus Christ descended to hell during the 3 days. Both Sam and I agreed that this was most definitely in the Bible and I was rather vehemently convinced of this fact (or so I thought). However, Greg held his ground and mentioned that he had actually researched this very topic and found that this premise is only discussed in the Apostles Creed (hyper link provided by Sam). Soooo, now after performing several word searches on “hell”, “Hades”, “descend” and “keys” I’ve come up lacking. Greg was correct. The Bible most definitely does not state that Jesus descended to hell.
This realization again brings up my same frustration with false teaching in the church. Obviously the concept of Jesus descending to hell to get the keys has been drilled into me head by someone, as I’ve never even studied the Apostles Creed. I’ve heard of it, but never researched it. I don’t care if every “saint” and supposed godly wise man who ever existed states something. If the teaching is outside of scripture it ought not to be taught. Discussed, yes, taught, absolutely NO.
So Greg, you were right and I was wrong. Everyone else feel free to pipe in (if anyone still reads this blog. I know I’ve been very bad about keeping up on this).
Here are the relevant (or not so relevant) verses I found during my word searches. None clearly reference this concept:
Acts 2:26-28
Matthew 16:17-20
Revelation 1:17-19
Revelation 20:13-15
Yes there are many possible inferences, but nothing clear. I recently completed an OT study and I don’t recall anything there which would elude to this belief either.
Again this is an open topic. This is the first time in my life I’ve ever pondered this, so please comment and share, which ever side you agree with. These are simply my preliminary findings. If I find any more pertinent scripture I will post them.
This realization again brings up my same frustration with false teaching in the church. Obviously the concept of Jesus descending to hell to get the keys has been drilled into me head by someone, as I’ve never even studied the Apostles Creed. I’ve heard of it, but never researched it. I don’t care if every “saint” and supposed godly wise man who ever existed states something. If the teaching is outside of scripture it ought not to be taught. Discussed, yes, taught, absolutely NO.
So Greg, you were right and I was wrong. Everyone else feel free to pipe in (if anyone still reads this blog. I know I’ve been very bad about keeping up on this).
Here are the relevant (or not so relevant) verses I found during my word searches. None clearly reference this concept:
Acts 2:26-28
Matthew 16:17-20
Revelation 1:17-19
Revelation 20:13-15
Yes there are many possible inferences, but nothing clear. I recently completed an OT study and I don’t recall anything there which would elude to this belief either.
Again this is an open topic. This is the first time in my life I’ve ever pondered this, so please comment and share, which ever side you agree with. These are simply my preliminary findings. If I find any more pertinent scripture I will post them.
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