Where to Draw the Line

Recently I read the book, The Future of Faith by author and Harvard theologian Harvey Cox (http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780061755521).  I am curious for the sake of the kingdom of God what the future of faith is.  I mean, as a Christian, as I grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ, I am reaching out to the lost souls of this world and I should be as Jesus said, shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.  You know, understanding and working within the mindset of the people I share Jesus with while be holy and undefiled like Jesus.

Mr. Cox makes some very interesting observations and as well as some disturbing interpretations of the future.

Click on this link to read a PBS interview of Mr. Cox about the  book;http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/september-25-2009/harvey-cox-extended-interview/4342/.

I have to admit, what he believes about the Bible and truth was somewhat unexpected.  For instance, he claims more than once that the creation account in Genesis is a creation myth as well as many other accounts in the Bible.

He believes that we are moving away from dogmatism into a time of faith, in an era he is calling the age of the Spirit.  There is a shift away from dogmatism and creeds.  Denominationalism is fairly dead.

It appears that the idea is a move away from the full understanding and teaching of scripture and a complete reliance on faith and the Spirit, regardless of truth and Biblical teaching.

One thing this denies is the connection of the Spirit and the Word.  They work hand-in-hand.  I will have faith.  I will be practical.  I will be Biblical.  But I will not give up the clear teaching that the Holy Spirit has given us, the Bible.

The answer, if this is the trend for the next couple of decades is what has been termed “Biblical-Theology.”  Let the Bible be the doctrine and creed, not this man-made crap such as Calvinism, Catholicism, Arminianism, etc.

Let the Bible be the Bible and the rule and guide of our faith, just like the concepts the Restoration Movement has touted for a couple  of centuries

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Challenged by the Bible

I am often challenged by scripture.  Challenged to learn and understand.  Challenged to live and prove.  Challenged to be who God would have me to be through his divine revelation, the Bible.

As I’ve stated before, I am a “biblio-theologian.”  The Bible speaks for itself.  I don’t follow a systematic theology (such as Calvinism, Arianism, Catholicism, etc.).  I let the Bible and God’s Spirit be the only rule in my life.

I might note that the Bible is the Holy Spirit’s tool.  He works hand-in-hand with what God has revealed to us and guides and directs us according to the truths and teachings of Scripture.

Here’s where the Bible has challenged me:

I am a sinner in need of salvation (Romans 3:10-18, 23)

God loves me and his greatest desire is to save me from sin and its penalty (1 Timothy 2:3-4; 2 Peter 3:9)

God sent Jesus to pay for my sins, so that I don’t have too, he is my propitiation (John 3:16; Romans 3:24-26)

Through faith in Jesus being the risen Son of God, I receive salvation (John 3:16-18; Romans 5:1-2; Acts 4:12)

Faith involves believing in Jesus, confessing Jesus, repenting of my sin, being immersed in water, and living a life of holiness (Acts 2:38; Romans 10:9-10;  1 Peter 3:21; 1 Peter 1:13-2:17)

But finding all this out and following through in faith is not all there is.  The Bible continues to challenge me.  Here’s how:

It challenges me to live in a holy, sin free manner (1 Peter 1:14-16; Romans 12:1-2)

The Word of God is like a double-edged sword

It challenges me to know and love God more (Matthew 22:27)

It challenges me to make Jesus known to others (Matthew 28:18-20; 1 Peter 3:21)

It challenges me to serve others (Galatians 513; Ephesians 6:7)

It challenges me to love others (Matthew 22:29; John 13:24)

It challenges me know and understand it’s truths, the hopes it presents, the help it provides, the joy it instills.

The Bible will, in the heart of those who will let it, challenge and change them, perfecting them into the likeness of Christ, our hope and joy, our Savior and friend, our Lord and provider.

“All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

“For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints, and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart.  No creature is hidden from him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account”  Hebrews 4:12-13.

All scripture quotations are from Holman’s Christian Standard Bible

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What’s Biblio-Theology?

It seems the church has always been in a state of flux.  I’m not saying that it should be, I’m admitting this is true.  Changing to meet the times or to combat the pagan, secular, non-Christian world, or even to protect against heresy and false prophets and false teaching.

The problem with so many of these things is that when they are dealt with, the church will often move away from the clear teaching of scripture.  Then the traditions that may or may not be biblical, become equal to or even greater, in their minds and practice than the Scripture.

I will admit that Wikipedia is a dangerous dictionary because people can add to definitions and meanings.  There is, after some searching and finally getting the search terms correct, a form of theology called Biblical Theology.  Here is a one line definition from Wikipedia for Biblical Theology.   “Biblical theology seeks to understand a certain passage in the Bible in light of all of the biblical history leading up to it and later biblical references to that passage.”  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_theology

That definition is the essence of Biblio-Theology.  Maybe the term will catch on, probably not.  The matter is what is true and what is right.

Many non-denominational, independent, and inter-dependent churches are doing what the Restoration Movement began doing.  Let the scripture speak for itself and letting God’s word be the only guide and final word on all things in life, including the church.

Instead of reform for Christianity and the church, restoration.  Go back to the Bible and follow the practices of the early church.  That’s why there are so many churches called New Testament churches.  It’s not that they ignore or don’t believe the Old Testament is scripture or doesn’t have value, it’s that since Jesus died and raised, when the church began, the teachings and practices of the church are found in the New Testament.

Over the 2000 year history of the church, man-made concepts and creeds, and scriptural maneuvering (accidental and purposeful) have put barriers between the church and God because they have taken a focus off of God’s Word and on Man’s thoughts.  Let the Bible be our guide, the one and the only guide for understanding and life.

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Exploring Religio-Spiritual Themes

Okay, so technically I am not a theologian.  I mean I do not have a theology degree from a seminary or university, but if we are working through, studying and figuring out theology, aren’t we then in realistic ways, theologians.

I got this definition from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/theology

the·ol·o·gy

[thee-ol-uh-jee]

noun,plural-gies.

1. the field of study and analysis that treats of God and of God’s attributes and relations to the universe; study of divine things or religious truth; divinity.

2. a particular form, system, branch, or course of this study.

Even by definition #1, I qualify as a theologian, though I don’t get paid for it.

At the moment, I am exploring a handful of things that are related to theology:

• Biblio-theology and all that means
• Where the church and religion is headed
• The need for and way of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ
• Even how history still plays a part in the future of church and religion

I have a lot of questions.  Maybe they’re not your questions, and maybe you have the answers to the questions I am exploring.  Pass them on if you have them.

It’s a Biblio-Religio-Spiritual-Theology Safari.

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The Justification of…You and Me

The red pouch is the viewer

When I was growing up in the 60′s and 70′s, there was a game show on TV called Password.  It was pretty popular.  I even enjoyed it,  we had the home edition and played it with family during holiday like Christmas and such.

There are cards with the words that your partner is supposed to guess based on the clues you give them.  In order to see the word, you passed a card with several words on it through the view-finder and a red screen would show the word.

The “Password” was blue and there were red characters printed over the word that concealed it until you passed it through the view-finder.

That has always been the picture of justification that I have.   The essence of justification is this, it is “just as if I’d never sinned.”  That phrase almost sounds like the word.

Justification is that by our faith in Jesus Christ, through Jesus death on the cross, we are cleansed and freed from sin.  It is just as if I had never sinned.  Here’s why; I am then judged by Jesus’ life, not my own.  He was without sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), he paid for my sin when he died on the cross and to receive that sin, I must place my faith and the activity that faith is in Jesus Christ and when God looks at me, it is as if he sees Jesus instead.

It’s like the Password view-finder.  You can’t see the word until you see it through the view-finder.  You cannot be justified, made righteous unless you place your faith in Jesus.

When a person has been justified by faith, God sees them through Jesus and does not see the sin that we have committed against him.  Thank you Jesus!

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I Just Don’t Know

I don’t get art. I mean, I am not an art appreciationado by any means. If someone paints an apple and it looks like an apple. I go, “Wow, that looks like an apple.” If someone paints a portrait than I admire the resemblance to the subject of the painting. But most art to me, is about as understandable as abstract art. There is no rhyme or reason behind it. The piece on the left here seems like light to me. But makes no sense otherwise. There seems to me to be nothing normal about it. Just colors. Just paint strokes. Whatever. I may like it, but it means nothing to me. It’s not an apple or a painting of a president or something that makes sense to my mind.

Today has been a difficult day. I guess it is the culmination of the past few days. Now there is tomorrow and I don’t know what that will bring. Life to me has always been, that’s an apple or that’s a president, not what is that?

Let me explain.

For me, life has been cut and dried. It is what it is and it made sense. I’m a guy, a product of a Christian home, 70′s music, a conservative understanding of life and politics and the Bible. I have been influenced by family, and church, and school, and friends (both Christian and not). I believe in marriage, that it is between a man and a woman, in parents raising their children, and punishment for wrong-doing. I can go on.

Life has always been pretty cut and dried. And I know a lot of the answers for why bad things happen to good people and why good things happen to bad people. You know, the problem of evil. I’ve even led people to a belief and understanding about God while discussing the problem.

But today has been, well, abstract. All I know just doesn’t make sense at the moment. Why does a 90-year-old woman die of cancer and not old age. That’s what happens to younger folk, people  my age. Why am I working the grave-yard shift when it so unnatural to stay awake all night long every day of the week. Night is for sleeping, not for working. And so sleep doesn’t come in ways that gives rest and clear-headedness. Why is a work week not Monday through Saturday, but Wednesday through Sunday. Who thought of that?

What I consider normal, working during the day and not on weekends, and sleeping at night and eating 3 times a day at pretty much set times, and people living to be old but dying from being aged, is well, only normal to me I guess.

The questions of life come down to this. In everything, in every aspect of life, every moment whether “normal” or not, do I love God with all of my heart and mind and soul and strength, and do I trust him with all my heart.

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PS: Besides, I may be catching a cold. Now that sucks!

The Difficulty with Differences

I told you about the young man who asked what we believed and taught about when justification happens.  I received an email and he wanted to talk.

We met this afternoon and visited and prayed for a while.  He is leaving our little fellowship because of the difference in belief about what the Gospel is.  To him it is that God sent Jesus to earth and he died and raised and that a person has only to believe to be saved.  Belief is faith.

We believe and teach what the Bible indicates that faith is the whole process that begins with belief and ends with faithfulness that lasts until Jesus returns.

I’m sorry to see him go. He is an exceptional young man. When he leaves for the mission field in a year or two, we would lose him anyway, but we are parting weekly fellowship with love, respect, and encouragement for each other.

The point here is not that actuality of truth as important as it is, but that we have agreed to disagree and blessed each other as we serve in separate fellowships.  May God bless this young man.

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Theology as It Is; Biblio-Theology

I have to be who I am.  Once, a long time ago I called it the “Idiocy of Jeffreyosity.”  Kind of silly, but I meant that no one is like me.  I am who I am and I can’t be anything else.  Aren’t we all that way.  We are who we are.  It’s our DNA and the environment that we grew up in and currently live in.  It’s our beliefs and choices, and a hundred or a thousand things or more.

Theology has a lot of different systems to present belief about God and Christ and the Bible.  I have a book that is several years old that has almost a hundred different creedal statements by groups and churches over the centuries.  Most of those creeds are developed in response to some question or to protect against false teaching as if the Scriptures can’t handle the job.

These doctrinal statements called creeds are mostly based on what is called “Systematic Theology.”  Systems of belief that attempt to

Augustine of Hippo

force the teachings of the Bible in a box.  Usually it is a  means of interpreting things that may or may not interpret scripture accurately.  Calvinism is one of those systems.  John Calvin learned it from Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354-430), a monk who held a mystical view of things.  He believed and taught what Calvin  later refined and taught, thus Calvinism.  A current trend is “Reformation Theology.”  An explanation of reformed theology is to large for this post.  Check this link for an explanation; http://reformedtheology.org/SiteFiles/WhatIsRT.html.  Arminanism is another one.  It has different views of God’s sovereignty and predestination than does Calvinism.  Check this link for a further explanation; http://www.theopedia.com/Arminianism.  And eschatology is concerned with the end times and there is at least one form of systematic theology within it, the premillennial dispensational view.  It does what systematic theology does, it takes a form of belief and makes everything fit within that form, whether right or wrong.

I am none of the above.  My church tradition involves a concern that the reformation began with Martin Luther and though he was correct his method was mistaken.  What the reformers did was discover un-Biblical and non-Biblical practices and teaching in the church and address them.  As they addressed each issue, a dozen more would appear.  It’s like swimming up-stream against a violently raging river, at flood stage.  Always more!

The tradition I am referring too is often known as the Restoration Movement.  The desire was to restore the church to New Testament Christianity.  Instead of dealing with issue after issue, we should go back to New Testament teachings and practice and the issues will fall away.  We will be dealing with a pure church, a church that has no man made creeds or systematic forms of belief.

Some of the restoration pioneers are Thomas Campbell and his son Alexander.  Barton W. Stone, Walter Rigdon, Walter Scott, Racoon John Smith and more.  They all came to the same conclusions in different parts of the world at about the same time, and eventually through a series of events met and worked together, not to set up a new denomination, but to avoid the man made and let the church be under the authority of Christ and the Scriptures.

Some of the churches that have a history with the Restoration Movement are the Disciples of Christ, the Church of Christ (non-instrumental), the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) and several others such as the more recent Disciples Heritage.

Please know that I am not criticizing or condemning any of these creeds, theology’s or Churches.  Some of what they present are true to Scripture, and some are not or mistaken in interpretation or understanding.

This evening in our Bible discussion at church, one of our elders and I tried to be honest and fair with these other belief’s and groups, but show our people how we differ from them too.  One of the motto’s of the Restoration Movement is that “We are people of the Book,” and “Where the Scriptures speak we speak and where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent.”  We may learn from Calvin, or Augustine, or Luther, or Campbell, or even Bob Russell, or Rick Warren, or Bill Hybels and contemporary preachers and theologians.  But we are bound not by any man’s teaching or interpretation of Scripture.  We don’t have a man made and developed creed, or a systematic theology.  Our creed is Christ and our theology is the Bible.

We are “Biblio-Thologians.”

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