The Early Church

And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”   So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.  And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.  And all who believed were together and had all things in common.  And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.   And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

There is a great misconception in the church today.  The misconception is that, in order to bring people into the church, it is necessary to be as close to the world as possible.  The idea is that, by becoming very much like the world in appearance, the church then becomes more accessible to the world.  Then, those people who are afraid of traditional church or who feel judgment from the churches they have attended in the past can feel “comfy” and “cozy” by attending the church that feels just like home.

I totally agree with what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23.  I have no issue with the concepts that he is speaking of.  The problem is that Paul is saying nothing of the sort of thing such as “I am becoming worldly just like the world.”  Look at the groups that Paul is talking about.  Paul is comparing between Jews and Gentiles.  He is comparing between those “under the law” and those not “under the law.”  To stretch this passage to the point where it is assumed that Paul is saying to blend in with the world is to stretch it past the breaking point.  Paul is only saying that in order to hang out with folks from Dacia, he wouldn’t wear his kippa, talit, and phylacteries.

Today, this verse has become the impetus for seeker-sensitive churches to tune in to the world with bigger music, lightshows at churches, sermons that only scrape the very top of the bulk of Christianity.  It always amazes me that, while the seeker-sensitive movement decides to pull out 1 Corinthians 9, they seem to miss 1 Corinthians 3, where Paul derides the Corinthians for not growing and still being of the flesh.

Beyond that, I have other problems with the seeker-sensitive/megachurch movement.  How many churches of more than 300 people do you know of where everyone knows each other?  Probably none.  The answer is the small group/cell group/whatever group.  However, the group dynamic is entirely dependent on the group leaders, as well as how involved the group is.  Therefore, typically, these churches foster two things:  1, a total divorcing of practical, deep preaching of the Word, and 2, a very unaccounted, anonymous Christian walk with God.

When Mark Driscoll, who I know is an incredible pastor from listening to him, freely admits that he is unable to interact with his congregants the way that small church attendees expect to be interacted with, then there is a problem in the church movement.  What kind of answer can there be for this situation?  Well, I think the answer is to look at the model of the early church in Jerusalem.

The early church in Jerusalem did not have coffee and donuts.  The early church did not have “Mother’s Day Out” or outreach programs to the local at-risk community.  What they had was Peter’s passionate preaching of the Word on the morning of Pentecost.  Three thousand people were saved off of the message of “Jesus was the Son of God Most High, and YOU killed Him.”  Now, take this with a grain of salt- I am not saying outreach programs, donuts and coffee, and the like are bad.  I AM saying that the way to reach the unsaved is actually a lot simpler than modern churches think.  Paul exhorted Timothy saying “Preach the Word.”  The point I am getting at is this:  We will reach the masses with the message of Christ when we stop worrying about looking like the world and start worrying about creating fellowship and community, but not at the expense of truth.

The connections of the early church thrived from true community.  The church expanded on the strength of those who had heard the Word being discipled by the apostles and being taught the truth, then continuing in fellowship with one another.

What about Pentecost?

Q.  I was recently asked the question,`Did Jesus ever include the Holy Spirit when praying to God?` What would be an appropriate answer to this. ? This person believes the Spirit didn`t come till the day of Pentecost.

The Descending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost

A.  The recorded prayers we have of Jesus do not indicate that He prayed to the Holy Spirit.  Jesus’ prayers were always addressed to the Father (again, that we have recorded in the Gospels), much as we now pray to the Father through Jesus, our intercessor.

While it is true that the ministry of the Holy Spirit was vastly magnified on Pentecost, it would be fallacy to assume that the Holy Spirit did not involve Himself with the workings of earth until that day.  Instead, we see Him at work first in Genesis 1:2, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters (ESV).“  The ministry of the Holy Spirit was not dissimilar in the Old Testament to the ministry described in the New Testament. Consider that the Holy Spirit gave wisdom and revelation (Deuteronomy 34:9, Micah 3:8, Nehemiah 9:20).  It is obvious from these and many other verses that, much as He gives us wisdom now and did in the New Testament (John 16:13), He did so as well in the Old Testament.

Also, much as the Holy Spirit indwells believers now, He did so as well in the Old Testament with men like Joshua, Jepthah, Samson, Samuel, Saul, David, Elijah, Jerubbabel, Jeshua, and countless others.  Also, the Holy Spirit was and is an agent to bring about inward renewal of the hearts of believers (Ezekiel 36:26-27, Jeremiah 31:33, Romans 8:9-16).

The question then, to be asked, is this:  What significance is Pentecost?  While the Holy Spirit had ministered on earth before Pentecost, there was a difference in the scope and reach of His ministry.  The Holy Spirit’s empowerment was not always permanent (see Saul, Samson, Balaam, and consider David’s heartfelt plea for the Holy Spirit not to leave him in Psalm 51:11), and He only empowered certain people and for certain missions (consider that Samson was empowered by the Holy Spirit for the destruction of the Philistines, or Saul being empowered to save the people of Jabesh-Gilead).  In contrast, Pentecost was the fulfillment of a powerful prophecy in Joel:

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. Joel 2:28-29 (ESV)”

At Pentecost, the Spirit empowered ALL believers, as such people of all ages and positions in life would be filled with the empowering Spirit of the Lord.  Pentecost was the beginning of this great prophecy of Joel that continues to be fulfilled today in the lives of believers on whom the Lord’s Spirit and favor rest.

provided to www.gotquestions.org

An Anti-Christian Rant

Martin Luther once said `Reason is a whore, the greatest enemy that faith has.`

Buddha once said `Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.`

Why are Christians so bitter? Are they unhappy with themselves and their bigot of a God?

Why does their God kill and show admonishment towards his followers? Is it because he has held a grudge since the times of Adam and Eve?

Why is knowledge sinful? Is it because their God`s word should be accepted without question?

Why are most Christians closed minded towards scientific breakthroughs? Is it because they are taught from a young age that reason and the ways of self faith are wrong?

Why should one blindly believe in the most violent and hateful entity in religion, if one cannot have the ability to believe in themselves and question the world around them?

Okay.  How to answer that?  Well, this is how I look at it:

One thing I would consider is this:  Do not consider one person, i.e. Martin Luther, the spokesperson for Christianity.  The Bible over and over again presses the issue of using our minds.  A few examples:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  (Matthew 22:37)”

“Come let us reason together…(Isaiah 1:18)”

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God… (1 John 4:1)”

“they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so (Acts 17:11).”

Far from being a religion of blind faith and ignorance, Christianity offers itself to be tested for its historical veracity.  As far as Martin Luther goes, while he made many commendable contributions to our faith, he himself was not without his own faults (bouts of anti-Semitism and the like), and I certainly would not evaluate the whole of Christianity based off of one quote that may or may not be being used entirely out of context.

Also, I would ask, what do you mean that “Christians are so bitter?”  Everyone succumbs to the weight of a heavy heart every once in a while, but to say that “Christians are so bitter” is a bit of a faulty generalization.  Many Christians are very joyful indeed. Indeed, however, there are some who profess the name of Christ with their lips only to embrace a different path in practice.  Those people should not be looked at as an example of the faith of Christ.  Also, I would ask why do you consider God a bigot?  After all, Peter says

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance… (2 Peter 3:9)”

It is not God’s desire to kill and destroy everything that lives on earth, nor even is it His delight to eliminate certain races and peoples such as the Amalekites and the Ammonites.  God does not, however, tolerate unholiness, and a people as consistently wicked as those two examples (they sacrificed children to idols and engaged in horrid behaviors in worship to their gods) will eventually be given their just punishment.  To say that God is violent and hateful is to ignore the witness of scripture:

“The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Exodus 34:6)”

“The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression(Numbers 14:18)”

“And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country?  That is why I made hast to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster (Jonah 4:2)”

There are 56 instances in the Bible where God is referred to as slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.

Knowledge is by no means considered a sin.  Again, God wants us to reason.  The church was the sole bastion of learning during the Dark Ages, and were it not for the efforts of the church, learning would have ground to a halt and would have been forever hindered during those times.  Most Christians are not closed minded to scientific breakthrough.  However, many times science is used in the hands of those who actually distort the evidence to prop up support of doctrines such as evolution (look at the number of faked fossils, the amount of academic dishonesty that goes into supporting evolutionary theory) and Christians guard themselves against such faulty science and equip themselves with a balanced view on Science.

Again, there are 56 references in the Bible to God that say He is slow to anger and loving.  Faith is not a blind jump into an abyss of stupidity.  For myself, faith has been something that I have developed in time based on a realization that there is historical support for the veracity of the Judeo-Christian God.

provided to www.gotquestions.org

Do Two Wrongs Make a Right?

The death of abortion practitioner George Tiller has been a very hot topic over the past few days.  Tiller was killed in church by an already apprehended suspect.  Tiller’s family released a statement saying that it was an abomination that Mr. Tiller was killed in a house of worship and that he was a man dedicated to the rights of women everywhere.  The killing has been reminiscent of the abortion clinic bombings in Alabama several years ago, and Mr. Tiller is the eighth abortion clinic employee and fourth doctor killed in the obviously hostile abortion debate.

I find this entire situation reprehensible on a number of levels.  For starters, I find it terribly hypocritical that while Mr. Tiller was a champion of women’s rights and viewed himself as being part of the solution, Mr. Tiller was most ostensibly a part of a huge problem.  The holocaust of abortion has far outpaced the holocaust of WW II, and all signs are that this holocaust will not be ended by any storming of concentration camps by allied troops.  Instead, this bloody stream of death and murder will continue unabated due to new legislation passed by Barack Obama, such as the Freedom of Choice Act, as well as various other actions taken by the newly minted liberal government.  While Mr. Tiller was so very protective of the rights of women (some of whom, arguably, were in the situation because of their own selfishness and lack of accountability), he was doing so at the expense of unborn infants, who, scientifically, are just as human as we are.

The unborn infant is not an organ, like a liver or a pancreas.  Rather, it has it’s own DNA, its own metabolism, its own ability to reproduce cells.  While it is dependent on the nutrition and behavior of the mother, in essence, no child alive can lay claim to any different state.  Whether the child must be properly nursed inside the mother’s womb or outside the womb, it is still entirely dependent on the mother for survival.  Therefore, it can’t stand to reason that the unborn fetus is philosophically or scientifically different from the born infant.  Because of this conviction, I find abortion to be one of the most reprehensible acts a person can commit.  Abortion is the murder of, quite simply put, the least capable of our society to defend themselves.  As a civilized nation, it should be a moral duty of our country to protect those who are least able to protect themselves.  Therefore, I find abortion to simply be deplorable and horrible an a scale incomparable to any crime commited.

With all these things said, I believe that the acts that Mr. Tiller commited as an abortion practitioner were heinous and despicable.  Anyone who can sleep at night after a hard day of murdering innocent children is beyond my comprehension.  I have to wonder how one can sit in a house of God and be okay with knowing that they are ceasing permanently the existence of someone who could potentially be part of the solution.  That being said, however, I believe that it was wrong to the worst extent possible to repay his acts with a grisly shooting in the middle of a house of worship.

I agree entirely that, due to his sin, Mr. Tiller was worthy of death.  Also, I agree that I am worthy of the penalty of death, as is the shooter who killed Mr. Tiller.  You see, there is no problem with the idea that George Tiller commited abominations before the Lord.  The murder of the least capable of defending themselves is an odor before God, a sin that cannot and should not be tolerated by the body of Christ.  My feelings toward the entire situation can best be summed up by the following Bible passage:

Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst  they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”  This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.   And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”   And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.   But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.   Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”   She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more,” (John 8:2-11, ESV).

The woman’s sin was a sin worthy of death in the Hebrew culture.  Mr. Tiller’s sin, though not deemed worthy of death by our culture, is nonetheless the equivalent of sinfulness in the eyes of God.  The problem is that none of us meet the requirements necessary to be ruled worthy of being George Tiller’s executioner.  Was he a murderer?  Without a doubt.  Was he helping to perpetuate a mass murder of ridiculous proportions?  Certainly.  George Tiller was one of many hands dirtied by the blood of our nation’s innocent babes, the unborn souls who have never had the opportunity even to breathe the fresh air outside the womb.  For this, he was worthy of death.  However, consider also the words of Jesus:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’   But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire, (Matthew 5:21-22).

Even those who have even reached the point of being angry at others are just as guilty of murder as someone who kills someone in cold blood.  In this truth is both the judgment and the relief of the gospel.  The judgment is that this standard is impossibly high for us to keep.  One is not capable of being this perfect.  The relief is that we don’t have to, because the finished work is on the shoulders of Jesus Christ.  Therefore, let no men be judge and jury, for that is the job of Christ Jesus alone.  It is the message Jesus gave to us both in the Sermon on the Mount and in the passage in John.  It is a hallmark of Jesus’ message that our sins have made us worthy of death, but that judgment belongs to the One who stands without sin, which is Christ the Lord alone.  Therefore, while Mr. Tiller’s works and deeds were an abomination worthy of death before the Lord, his killer likewise will answer to the Holy One of Israel.

It is my prayer for America that rather than debating the two sides of this issue, we would instead figure out a way to end the holocaust of abortion so that the blood of those who ARE truly innocent on our society are given a chance to be born and develop, possibly to change the world for the better.  For Mr. Tiller’s family, I offer my condolences that they lost a husband and a father.  To the would-be parents who enlisted the services of George Tiller to end their pregnancies, I pray for them to receive the mercy and love of God, to repent from their sins, and perhaps reconcile themselves to God with the realization that they will again see their lost little ones on the other side of the Eastern Gate.  For Mr. Tiller, I pray that his transition to the afterlife came with a reconciliation to the Lord his God, and that he is now experiencing the joy divine of living out eternity in the presence of both our Loving Father and those whom he took their lives.  There is no more expression of God’s love and reconciliation than that all wrongs will be righted and that all men who bow the knee to the Lord our God will experience reunion even with those that they potentially harmed.

Alpha and Omega?

Q. If The LORD is `The Alpha AND The Omega`…He is the beginning AND the end…Does that mean since there WAS a beginning, there WILL be an end?

A. There are a couple of factors to look at in Jesus’ designation of Himself as the Alpha and the Omega.   While it could certainly be taken at face value that Christ was identifying Himself as the first and last/beginning and end, He may also have been using the alphabet reference for a different purpose.  Consider that all knowledge is, in some way, formulated by the alphabet.  Therefore, by identifying Himself as Alpha and Omega, He may very well be using that imagery to establish Himself not just as beginning and end, but the bearer of all true knowledge.  By claiming this position, He is not just making a statement of omnipotence (beginning and end), but also omniscience (the bearer of all knowledge).

With that being said, to answer your question, there most definitely will be an end.  There is an end not in the sense of a cessation of existence, but an end to the things of the present.  Time will be ended in the eternal state.  Jesus will physically return to the earth to set up His earthly kingdom, which will lead into the eternal state which will culminate in a New Heaven and a New Earth.  In Revelation 21, John says “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more,” (Revelation 21:1).  Also, with the eternal state will come an existence devoid of the Adamic curse on mankind.  Revelation 21:3 says that “I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away,” (Revelation 21:3, 4).

With these things in mind, the answer to your question would be that there will be an end to the current world system and current ecosystem.  Every human condition tied to the curse brought upon us by Adam will cease to affect us (death, disease, the cursed conditions of the ground, etc.).  Instead, we will then live eternally with God in our very presence.  So while there will be an end, it is certainly an end to be anticipating and not dreading.

provided to www.gotquestions.org

The Rich Young Ruler

Q. In Matt 19:17 a rich young man asks Jesus, The Author of Eternal Life, what he must do to gain Eternal Life.  Jesus tells the man to `keep the commandments`.  Now since Eternal Life is not the promise under the Old Covenant, the answer Jesus gave was pertaining to the New Covenant of grace.We know this because it is under this New Covenant that Eternal Life is the promise. You teach that good works has nothing to do with one’s salvation. If you are right, wouldn’t that mean that Jesus lied to this man?

A. To begin with, let us clarify the two different covenants you speak of.  The Old Covenant, or the Mosaic Covenant, was essentially a land grant covenant that deeded the land of Israel to the Children of Jacob, provided they met the conditions of God’s covenant.  This particular covenant was peculiar among the different covenants outlined in the Bible (Adamic, Noahic,  and Abrahamic) in that it was a conditional covenant that required both parties to fulfill the terms of the agreement.  It should be noted that this covenant had nothing to do with eternal life of those who were participants.

The personal salvation of man was not based on the Mosaic Covenant.  While the Aaronic priesthood and the sacrificial system existed as a tangible reminder to the people that their sins could only be covered by blood, the blood of animals could not atone for sin (Hebrews 10:4).  The entire sacrificial system for righteousness was only in place in order to point God’s faithful in the direction of the Messiah, whose blood would be required to truly bring righteousness to people.  Therefore, personal salvation has always depended on belief in the LORD and trusting the LORD with one’s fate.  This is why in Genesis 15:6 it is said of Abram, “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6, NASB).  Therefore, we are accorded righteousness before the Lord by our faith in Him.

Now, in consideration of this, let us look at Matthew 19.  Jesus told the young man to keep the commandments, but it was not because this is the path of salvation.  He was revealing to the young man his own sinfulness.  The young man attested to keeping the commandments from his youth.  It is interesting to note, however, that Jesus did not ask him about any of the commandments pertaining to his relationship to God. The young ruler’s reaction, however, tells us what Jesus found in his heart.  While he was willing to claim a certain portion of blamelessness in front of God, he was not willing to fully obey the word of God, nor was he willing to place his God above his possessions.  The whole of the law could be summed up in two commandments:  Love the LORD your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as you love yourself.  By valuing his possessions over obedience to the will of God, the young man was revealing his own fallen state.

When it comes to salvation, there are two options.  First, we can stand on our obedience to the law.  This was the approach of the young ruler.  However, we cannot keep the law.  Jesus, in the same passage, affirms our inability to keep the law when He says “With people, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26, NASB).  If we, like the young ruler, try to stand on our obedience to the law, we are doomed to fail, as “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, NASB).  Only one person, Jesus the Messiah, was able to fully keep the law.  By accepting His sacrifice and gift of salvation on our behalf, we, like Abraham, are accorded righteousness before the LORD our God.  Rather than teaching that salvation could come only through the law, Jesus instead was pointing to salvation through grace based on wholehearted love and devotion to the LORD.

provided to www.gotquestions.org.

Which Set of Standards?

I received an interesting response from a reader about a post I wrote on moral relativity.  The commenter brought up a good point in saying that with all the religions claiming truth, which one really is true?  Because of the number of religious systems available to people, which system is right?  Since there is such relativity in the world, the commenter’s opinion is that atheism is the best answer for developing a system of absolute morals.

First, I applaud this person for being a thinker and not merely parroting something he read from Sam Harris or Richard Dawkins.  Thanks for really turning your brain on, because you are doing better than many atheists just in doing that.  I would hazard a guess, however, that to this person, the relativity in religion is at least in some part due to the lack of desire to judge or be intolerant of another person.

Tolerance has been redefined in today’s society to a level that is no longer tolerance, but the theater of absurdity.  Tolerance today means that everyone’s beliefs are equally valid, and that you and I are both right.  In reality, tolerance is the idea that the holders of the ideas are equal.  We should be egalitarian towards other people, but elitist in our thought and beliefs.  The new tolerance is a weird mixture of cowardice and noncommitment.  We don’t know enough about what we believe to stand for it, and we don’t know enough about another person’s beliefs to prove them wrong even to ourselves.  Therefore, we consider it easier, more tactful and tasteful, to not just agree to disagree, but agree to agree with no basis in agreement.

The problem with religion from the terms of relativity is this:  Religions in and of themselves require the adherent to make a value dcision, and religions in and of themselves are value/truth systems.  No one becomes a Hindu because “they didn’t have anything better to do.”  No one espouses Sufism or Islam because you get a cool turban.  There is a reason that resonates inside of the religion to the adherent.  The reason for that is that the religion is making some kind of truth claim.

With that in mind, one must consider this: if all religions make some kind of truth claim, there are going to be areas where these “truths” become contradictory and instead of harmonizing, compete with one another.  A Muslim and a Hindu by definition cannot agree with one another on the basis of Theism, because while Muslims are staunchly monotheistic, Hindus are polytheistic, and to an extent, pantheistic.  Therefore, it is impossible for these two religions to come to terms with one another.  With that in consideration, there are only two conclusions that are valid:  Either both are wrong, or parts of each one are right, and it requires one to blend some odd syncretism to reconcile the two.  This comparison can logically be drawn between all of the different religions of the world.

When this process is duplicated with Christianity versus any other religious system, a distinct pattern emerges:  Judeo/Christianity time and again proves itself historically verifiable, either by archaeology or historical writings.  The Judeo-Christian theology has proven itself venerable enough to convince men who are staunch skeptics, like Sir William Ramsey, C.S. Lewis, Simon Greenleaf, and Anthony Flew.  Like it or not, there is no skeptic alive who has proven one single statement from the gospel of Luke wrong, no one who has determined beyond a doubt that the bible contains fallacious reporting.  There exists proof of David, Solomon, the temple of Solomon, Omri, Ahab, Jehu, Hezekiah, and many other biblical figures.  Unlike many religious texts, the Bible does lend itself to be tested historically.  The same cannot be said of many scriptures, such as the Book of Mormon, or the Vedas.

It was the fact that Christianity makes truth claims and can be tested that drove me to make a decision to follow Christ.  While other religions contain some truth, Christianity offers a system that time and again has withstood the test of the archaelogist’s spade, the textual critic’s razor sharp brain.  For 2,000 years, Christ continues to be “The Way, the Truth, and the Life.”  As such, my response is that even the search for truth is not a relativistic nightmare, but a simple endeavor of reading the Bible and seeking after the mind of the One Who IS, Who WAS, and Who IS to come.

Bart Ehrman’s Gospel Harmonization Challenge

The Risen Christ as spoken of in the four Gospels.

I recently received a comment from a reader telling me that Professor Bart Ehrman likes to challenge his students to write a harmonization of the gospels from the resurrection to the ascension without contradicting and without leaving any details out.  Now I am sure, as sure as I am that I am alive, that no matter whether the student gets it right or not, Ehrman I am sure finds a problem because he reads a Bible made entirely out of wood from cover to cover.  However, for those willing to consider that the Gospels really are eyewitness accounts, and therefore will have some differences between the four (if they didn’t, I am sure professor Ehrman would scream PLAGIARISM so loud I could hear it here in the Charlotte area from Chapel Hill), here it is.

Very early in the morning, at that time when it is still dark but the sky has begun to turn to an opalescent purple in the earliest rays of the sun, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, Salome, Joanna, and a few other women left out to pay their last respects to their master and teacher.  They had prepared a mixture of spices to anoint the Lord’s body, for even though Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimethea, good men who had no part in the death of Jesus, had anointed the body, the women felt led to perform their own anointing.  Perhaps it was the idea that this Jesus, who had meant so much to them, who had brought such healing and wholeness into their lives, deserved this devotion from his followers, not just from two members of the Sanhedrin.  Whatever the case may be, the women were on the way to the tomb, when the conversation shifted to “Who would move the stone?”  Little did they know, well before they arrived, an earthquake had occurred, the stone had rolled away, and the guards over the tomb had been scared into catatonia.  One of the angels sat upon the top of the stone after revealing their presence to the soldiers, and then the two angels faded from sight as the soldiers lay comatose on the ground.

Mary Magdalene had separated herself from the group of women, perhaps driven by the pain of knowing that the one who had released her from demon possession lay in a cold sepulcher dead.  Continually outpacing the others, she arrives to the tomb several paces ahead of the other women and sees the stone rolled away from the tomb.  The last straw on poor Mary has finally been laid.  Without investigating, without considering what she has seen, she turns and runs toward Jerusalem to the two men that Jesus trusted most, Simon Peter and John, the disciple whom Jesus loved.

The other women, rather than following the panic stricken Mary, continue toward the tomb, and look inside, not sure what to expect.  Once they were all in, they saw that the body was nowhere to be found, and as they stood perplexed, two angels appeared to them in white, shining dazzling clothing, such that left little doubt these men were no men, but rather, they were angels.

One of the angels began to speak to the women, saying “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”  The women continued to be afraid, and the angel speaks again after asking the first question, saying “Do not be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.  He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said he would!  See the place where He laid.”  Still dumbfounded, the women continue to be silent.  THIS CAN’T BE!!! Dead men do not rise again from the dead, and their master was certainly dead.  Detecting the lack of belief and trust in the women, the angel begins again, saying “Remember how he told you, while He was still in Galilee that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again?  But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there just as He told you.’”   With that, the angels disappear from sight.  But the women, still terrified, panic and leave trembling, and said nothing to anyone, since they were afraid.  The women have a feeling of panic mixed with joy.  “Is it possible for this to occur,” they wonder.  Rather than follow the orders of the angel, however, they return to one of their number’s homes.

As this is occurring, Mary Magdalene has made it back to Jerusalem and found Peter and John.  In a panic, she comes to Peter and John and tells them “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”  Mary had left in such a panic and so distraught, that she merely mentions the opened tomb to the other women and makes no other investigation, so to her, no one knew why that stone was gone.  The other problem with poor Mary was that in her mental state, her only conclusion that she could reach was that someone had stolen Jesus’ body.  Peter and John respond by rushing to the tomb, and though John beats Peter to the tomb, Peter walks in first, notices the wrappings, and then John went in.  John began to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead (before this point, no one thought Jesus would be raised from the dead), and saying nothing, leaves the scene.  Peter leaves the scene, marveling at what had happened, apart from John.

Mary, who up until this point, was lost in her sorrow, lost in trying to get a grip on what was going on, enters the tomb herself.  She sees two angels sitting on the right side of the tomb, where Jesus’ body had previously been laid.  They ask her “Woman, why are you weeping?”  She said to the two “because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”  Mary still convinced that the only possible explanation, since dead men don’t stop being dead, was that someone had stolen the body.  Now when she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and in the grief, the tears, the pain, and the miraculous change from His shattered mortal body to His resurrection body, Mary does not recognize the Lord.  She supposes Him to be a gardener, and Jesus asks her “Woman, why are you weeping?”  Mary says to Him, through her tears in a weak, strained voice, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”  Jesus, the LORD of life, the Good Shepherd, says to His disciple one word: “Mary.”  As His sheep know His voice, Mary knew the voice of the lover of her soul, and responded “Rabboni,” a term that means teacher, but was usually used of God Himself by devout Jews.  Jesus tells her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, “I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.”
The excitement of the moment is all over Mary, as thoughts of defeat, loss, and pain melt away to the sheer and utter joy of her Savior being alive again!  She runs to find the other women, who in panic, have fled to one of their own number’s homes and told no one.  Upon hearing the report of Mary Magdalene, they now decide to continue the trip into Jerusalem to tell the eleven (minus Peter and John, who had already gone and seen).  On the way into Jerusalem, Jesus makes another appearance to these women, at which point they all worship Him.  Jesus reiterates the command that had been given earlier and then disregarded, saying “Go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

The women arrive, recount what has happened to the eleven (again, minus Peter and John, who had gone to the tomb already), and they think the women are crazy.  As these events are occurring, Jesus appears to Peter, who was by himself after leaving the tomb by himself in a state of marvel over the events that had happened.  Peter returns toward Jerusalem to join the eleven and recount what has happened.

As for the guards, when they awoke, they headed back into the city to tell the chief priests all that happened.  The priests gave the soldiers a large sum of money, told them to tell all that the disciples stole the body while they slept, and that the priests would cover up the whole thing with Pilate.  The story was widely circulated among the Jews to account for the empty tomb.
Later in the evening, two disciples are on the road to Emmaus, when Jesus catches up with them and walks with them on the way to Emmaus, talking with the two about the events that happened in Jerusalem.  The two tell Him what has happened, and He responds by explaining to them from the scriptures that these things must happen to the Son of Man.  They reach Emmaus, and Jesus begins to leave, but they ask Him to stay.  He sits with them to break bread, and as He breaks the bread, they realize:  IT IS THE MASTER!!!!!  He then disappears, and the two disciples head to Jerusalem to tell the others.

“YOU WON’T BELIEVE THIS!!!!”, as they begin to recount to the disciples (minus Thomas, who had now left the locked upper room), the disciples confirm by announcing that He had appeared to Simon Peter.  As they are all talking, Jesus appears in their midst, and says “Peace be with you.”  Everyone is in panic, terrified, thinking that He may be a ghost.  Even those who had seen Him already were concerned, because though they had seen, it was still a lot to process.  Jesus, seeing them in their state of weakness, offers proof that He is a real person:  a plate of broiled fish, which He proceeds to eat.  He also offers His own body for examination, at which point they believe.  He speaks to them, breathes upon them, and says “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”  Then he vanishes again from their midst.  The disciples tell Thomas once he returns the great news.  Thomas responds by saying “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

The next Sunday, Thomas was with the disciples and Jesus appeared again, demonstrating Himself to Thomas and showing Thomas His wounds.  With these events, the disciples, emboldened, amazed, departed from Jerusalem and returned to their hometown of Galilee.  In the meantime, Jesus appeared to over 500 witnesses at one time, to His brother James, and again to the disciples at the Sea of Galilee while they were fishing.  Jesus also appeared to the gathered disciples on the mountain which He had earlier told them to meet at, and Jesus spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  He then disappeared from in their midst.  Some had worshipped Him, but many were absolutely perplexed at how the man they knew to have died to be alive and tangible again.

As Shavuot (First Fruits, or Pentecost, as we would know it) was approaching, the disciples returned to Jerusalem, as Shavuot is one of three festivals that all men had to come to Jerusalem to celebrate.  They convene again in Jerusalem for Shavuot in the upper room, when Jesus appeared to them again and spent more time with them. “These are My words, which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”  Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.  And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Jesus led them all out to the Mount of Olives, near Bethany, telling them “This is what you heard from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now”. When they had all arrived together, they asked Him “Lord, at this time are You restoring the kingdom to Israel?”  Jesus responded “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  After He said this, they watched as He parted from them, ascending into heaven.  Two men in white clothes appeared, saying “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven?  This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen Him going into heaven.”  At this, they returned to Jerusalem and returned to the upper room.

The eyewitness accounts of the Gospels can be combined together to create quite a stunningly accurate and detail filled account of the events of that incredible time period when the resurrected Christ appeared to His followers.  There are some portions of the Gospels that may at first glance seem contradictory, but instead of contradicting, they lend actual credence to the idea that these were eyewitness reports.  I attempt to explain them in order.

1.     Who all went to the tomb?  Mary Magdalene?  Salome?  Mary?  WHO!!!!???
A.     Mary Magdalene, Mary Mother of James, Salome, Joanna, and other women went.  John mentions only Mary Magdalene in his account because she is the focal point for John.  We know that more than just Mary went, though, even from John’s gospel, because in Greek Mary says “We don’t know where they have taken Him.”

2.     Was it dark?  Was it at sunrise?
A.     Ever notice that, in the very first rays of sunrise, the sky is just beginning to turn light purple in the east, but it is still dark?  Yeah, that’s about what time they went.

3.    When did the earthquake, soldiers falling down, and angels happen?
A.     The earthquake happened before the women arrived at the tomb.  How far before, I don’t know, but it must have been some time.  There is no mention of the guards in the other gospels, so they may have already come to, discovered the body gone, and went back to the priests.

4.     If Mary Magdalene was with the women who went, why did she run back to Peter after being  told by the angel that Jesus had risen?
A.     Mary may have gotten there merely moments before the others, saw the opened tomb, screamed or told the others, then ran quickly back to get Peter and John.

5.   How many angels were at the tomb?
A.     There were two.  One did the speaking.  The mention of two angels necessarily means that there is one.

6.     What did the women do upon finding out about Jesus’ resurrection?
A.     Like any rational human being, they freaked right out.  Matthew says they were joyful and fearful at the same time.  They were so messed up from the experience that I would surmise they headed out and rendezvoused at some other landmark, not obeying the command of the angels.  That also gives a window for Mary Magdalene to get Peter and John to the tomb without running into the other women to find out the story from them.

7.     Why didn’t Mary know what had happened and still had to ask the two angels what happened to Jesus’ body?
A.     Again, Mary was not with the women when they went in the tomb.  Again, since there was no dialog traded between John and Peter for her to understand, and they both left in stunned amazement, there was no information transfer.  Therefore, Mary stepped into the tomb to see for herself what happened.

8.     How did the other women see Jesus on the way to Jerusalem?
A.     I surmise that after Mary Magdalene encountered the risen Jesus, she immediately went to find the other women, since that was the party she went to the tomb with.  Therefore, she would want them to know that Jesus was not dead, and His body had not been stolen, but He was alive.  Upon giving them this information, they all regrouped and went into the city, but on the way, they encountered the risen Christ.  Jesus reiterated the command the angel had given the women earlier.

9.     The women told the disciples, and they thought the women were crazy.  Peter went to the tomb.  But, didn’t Peter already go to the tomb?
A.     Peter had indeed already gone to the tomb.  Luke is telling the story as an anecdotal account.  Peter had already gone to the tomb earlier, and Luke is indeed affirming Peter’s experience.  Effectively, the Peter account was being added to refute the question of the women’s sanity.

10.     Why were there two great commissions, one given on a mountain in Galilee, one in Jerusalem telling the disciples not to leave the city?
A.    Simple.  Matthew records a commission given to the disciples in the time period between the time they went back to Galilee after Passover and before they came back to Jerusalem for Shavuot (Pentecost).  This commission to baptize and witness was given to the disciples on the very mountain Jesus had told them to go to.  The second one, recorded in Luke, was given once they had returned to Jerusalem for Pentecost.  There were three holidays that all men had to be in Jerusalem to celebrate, and two of those are Passover and Pentecost.  That explains the return to Galilee and hence, two times Jesus spoke to them in this manner.  The speech recorded in Luke details the coming of the Holy Spirit, as well, which they were to stay in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit had come.  Why?  Simple as well.  Many people would be gathered into Jerusalem for Pentecost from around the Roman Empire, just as they were for Passover.  The disciples would have thousands to preach the gospel to, who would then take it home to their own places.

I realize that in a wooden, literal reading of the Bible, men like Bart Ehrman would say that I have harmonized contradictory accounts, and that the Bible can’t be harmonized.  My response to that would be two-fold.  First, these are supposed to be fast moving eyewitness accounts of the high points of Jesus’ life.  You can say all the words Jesus said in the Gospel recordings in two hours.  Do you really think Jesus only said two hours worth of stuff in three years?  Don’t be daft.  Second, those who argue that it simply cannot be harmonized are doing so only from the standpoint of needing to not accept it.  They are simply skeptical and can’t be convinced no matter what you say.

Apologetics is not an evangelism tool in the sense that apologetics will win someone over to faith in Christ.  Apologetics is a tool to provide believers with the truth of why they believe what they believe.  Our life witness and the witness of the Holy Spirit is what saves the souls of men.

I invite you to read over this, and if there are any thoughts that the records may still contradict, please, bring them to me.  I am not an arrogant jerk who is unwilling to retrace his work.  I just have ultimate faith that the gospel records are inerrant and am willing to defend that belief.

Amos and the Plumb Line

A modern day plumb line, much like the illustration from Amos.

“This is what he showed me:  behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.  And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”  And I said, “A plumb line.”  Then the LORD said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel;  I will never again pass by them;” (Amos 7:7-8) ESV

The plumb line was the ancient equivalent of a level, so to speak.  When a builder built a wall, this line, which had a weight at the end known as a plummet (the term plumb comes from the Latin “plumbum,” meaning lead.  These tools were originally made with a lead weight), would indicate whether or not the walls of the structure were straight.  Obviously, in order for a structure to be sound, it needed straight walls.

The metaphor behind the plumb line is this:  God’s plumb line is His standard.  For the Israelites, it was His covenant law.  The wall upon which God was standing was a wall constructed true to that plumb, or one that was straight and conformed to His measurements.  He now stood on this perfect wall with His plumb line (The covenant He made with Israel) ready to measure Israel.  The importance of the plumb line is this:  if a wall was not straight (true to plumb), then that wall would be torn down, as it would not stand.  Israel would not, obviously, measure true to plumb, and God was no longer going to “pass by them”, which could best be interpreted as “looking past their iniquity.”  As history proved, God was true to His word and Israel was defeated by the Assyrians, thus fulfilling God’s promise to destroy the wall that did not measure true to plumb.

While we no longer are measured by the plumb line of the Sinai Covenant, God still has measures by which we are measured.  Those standards are too high for us to meet them alone.  We need the sacrifice of Jesus, and the acceptance of Him as our Savior.  Otherwise, we will meet with the same fate Israel faced.  We will eventually be judged for our works and our deeds, and if we do not accept the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross, we will then be judged on our own merit, which is not a good thing.

What would your plumb line look like?  If you have accepted Christ, the walls you build will be “true to plumb,” not by your own efforts, but by the effort of the one who was, who is, and is to come.

provided to www.gotquestions.org

Is Satan Real?

It always amuses me that the existence of Satan has gone from being a foregone conclusion to an intellectual conversation that typically leans toward the liberalist idea of life without an adversary.  It seems in our age of enlightenment that we no longer fall for the barbaristic, backward idea of a cosmic adversary that is bent on our destruction and defying the LORD most High.

I am quite amazed by the fact that according to a recent survey, over half of evangelical Christians do not believe that Satan exists.  I would think that considering our Lord spoke more on Hell and Satan than any other topic, it would be a forgone conclusion that this should be a concern of ours.  However, for the most part, we brush the possibility of a cosmic adversary under the rug, as if to pretend that it is not an issue.

I think I may have an idea why we like to go in that direction.  I think that by acknowledging the possibility of Hell and Satan, we have to acknowledge that there is a standard of good and evil.  If we acknowledge this, then we are now left with the realization that there will be some who will be judged to be less than the standard for good.  When followed to its logical conclusion, this route takes us to a place where we have absolute standards, accountability, and the potential for judgment.  People try to avoid this both for the sakes of those who are not Christians as well as ourselves.  If all are saved, then there is no need to offend nonchristians, and there is no need for us to fear either.

Christians need to realize that Satan is a real force and can bring our souls down with him.  If we acknowledge that reality, we are one step closer to ultimately winning the war against our adversary.