Author: believersarmedanddangerous

This is a copy of an answer I gave to a FaceBook critic.  His question was if Christianity is true, why are there so many different beliefs within it and why are there so many interpretations of the Bible?  Here is what I wrote, and I think it is important to post here as well:

 

Reading the Bible, in a way, is like reading the newspaper. When my local paper says the sun will rise at 5:30 and set at 7:30, I don’t immediately think the weather guy doesn’t understand that the earth rotates. When it says someone is a “giant of industry” I don’t understand them to be saying something about the person’s physical stature. In the same way, the Bible contains idioms, metaphors, and other figures of speech. Not everything is literal.
. Christians don’t claim the actual Bibles we hold in our hands in church on Sunday are inspired. We claim the original copies, the autographs, were inspired. We no longer have those, but we are very confident the Greek and Hebrew texts we have today are better than 98% identical to the originals. And, none of the disputed portions are doctrinal in nature.
. Many of the “errors” pointed to by Bible critics are actually scribal errors which come from personal copies being made prior to the printing press. If I wanted a copy of Paul’s letter to Titus, I borrowed someone’s copy and copied it myself including any errors his copy had and unwittingly, perhaps, a few of my own. We have textual critics in the church whose job is to search all the manuscripts (we have over 24,000 handwritten copies of the New Testament alone) and discover the most accurate reading based on a number of factors including the manuscript’s closeness in age to the originals and the number of manuscripts which agree with one another on that passage.
. We are also dealing with translations from the original languages. With translation comes loss of some meaning.
. While the central message that Jesus is God, died for your sins in your place, and faith in Him as your Lord and Savior brings forgiveness and salvation is clear, many other points are open for interpretation. Some of those would be mode of baptism, type of church government, which day of the week to worship, and so on. We can all disagree on those and other points but still be Christians.
. Then there are those who do not accept the Bible as inspired or even valid. There are those who deny the central message and call themselves Christians. They’re not. Just as there are physical characteristics that identify us as humans, there are beliefs which need to be held in order for us to be identified as Christians. At a minimum, those beliefs are what I laid out as the Bible’s central message.

Anselm of Canterbury gave this definition of God: “Now we believe that You [God] are something than which nothing greater can be thought.”  I’ve always liked that definition.  It says however grand our thoughts of God might be, He’s much more.

He is personal because a personal God is greater than an impersonal one.  He is all powerful, all knowing, ever present, unchanging, all good, infinite in His nature, eternal past and present all because those attributes are greater than their alternatives.

Interesting enough, the Bible supports these ideas: He is all-knowing (1 John 3:20), He is all powerful and greater than the universe itself – infinite (Gen. 1:1), He is omnipresent (Ps. 139:7-10), He is unchanging (Jam. 1:17), He is personal (Ex. 3:14), He is all good (Luke 18:19), He is eternal past and future (Ps. 90:2).

If God is infinite in nature, then His attributes should be infinite as well.  We serve a God who is more merciful than we can ever imagine, more gracious, more forgiving, more just, more loving, our God, the God of the Bible, is greater in all ways than could ever be imagined.

A few weeks ago Pastor Tim talked about Namaan the leper (2 Kings 5:1-14).  Namaan came to Elisha’s home with gifts and all sorts of expectations of what Elisha should do to heal him of leprosy.  Instead, Elisha didn’t even come to the door but sent his servant.  The servant told Namaan Elisha’s instructions were to dip seven times in the Jordan river.

Thinking about this later, I realized Namaan didn’t understand whose door he was knocking on.  It was the door of  the personal representative of the perfect and infinite God.  Namaan expected rituals and sacrifice.  What he got was a commonplace request: “go bathe.”

To the God we love Who is greater than we can ever imagine, healing leprosy requires no effort at all.  In fact, Genesis 1:1 required no effort at all for an infinitely powerful God.  How can we doubt Him as Namaan did.  Is there truly anything this God cannot do in our lives?

 

As usual, an expanded version of this blog containing the Scriptures cited can be found in the menu either on the right side bar or at the bottom of the page.

Among the qualifications for a bishop listed in 1 Timothy 3, is the ability to teach (vs 2).  Often, we leave this to the church leadership thinking that is their duty and not ours.  But, is that true?

As servants of God, we are instructed to be able to teach (2 Tim 2:24).  The Greek word for “teach” here, “DidaKtikos,” doesn’t necessarily mean we should hold positions as teachers, but we should be able to teach the basic beliefs of the church to those who are young in the Lord (Col. 3:16).

We who are older in the faith should be able to contend for the faith  and be able to spot false teachers within the body (Jude 1:3-4), we need to examine ourselves to see if our beliefs line up with the Bible (2 Cor. 13:5), we are to be able to answer the questions of those who challenge our faith (1 Pet. 3:15), older (in the Lord) women are expected to teach the younger women (Titus 2:3).  This takes more study and commitment than the average Christian is willing to take on.

Ours is a reasonable faith, a faith founded on fact, not a blind faith.  We have reasons to believe what we do, and this blog is here to help you find ways to deepen your faith and to share your faith more effectively with others.

Ours should be a quest to lead people out of the darkness and share the Light of the world, Jesus.

The resources to help us do this are plentiful and readily available.  If you can’t find them, drop me a note so I can help.  Let’s build an army of Believers Armed and Dangerous to reach out to even the hard to reach.

 

As usual, an extended version of this can be found on the “Apt to Teach” page found either on the right sidebar or at the bottom of the page.

This is a word study on “ransom.”  To see a more in depth treatment, please look for the link to “Ransom” on the sidebar, if you’re using a PC, or at the bottom of the page if you’re using a tablet:

Ransom

In our culture the word “ransom” means pretty much one thing: a payment for the release of a hostage or hostages.  In the verses in the Old Testament where the KJV translates a Hebrew word, “ransom,” it can mean a number of things from a payment in place of the death penalty (Ex. 21:30) to a simple census fee (Ex. 30:12).  In Prov. 13:8 it is used as a measure of a man’s wealth.

Most of the time, however, it generally means a payment to redeem someone to keep them from punishment.  One interesting portion of Scripture is Isa 43:3 where it is used to describe God giving Egypt, Seba, and Cush to Cyrus, the king of Persia, as a consideration for delivering Israel.  Seems to be a national substitutionary sacrifice, these three nations as a ransom for Israel’s freedom.  Not sure on this.  I’m going to look into it further.  Lots of history to look over.

In the New Testament, two Greek words are translated as ransom:”Lytron,” which we find in both Matt 20:28 and Mark 10:45.  This word means, “to liberate many from the misery and penalty of their sins.” Here we find the idea of Christ’s death as a ransom.  That ransom is a sort of bail paid to God (Prov. 49:7) in order to gain our release from the penalty we face.

The second Greek word, “antilytron,” means something which is given in exchange for another as a price of his redemption.  “Anti” as a prefix in Greek can mean, “replacement” or “substitution” as in “antichrist” who makes himself a substitutionary Christ.  In the same way, the ransom paid for us in 1 Tim 2:6 is a substitution.  Christ for you and for me.  This idea is called the vicarious atonement.  Jesus’ death was my debt, but He paid it in my place.

It has been suggested that my blog posts are a little too long.  Most folks look here for a pithy comment or as a sort of devotional.  My ideas usually take longer to lay out.  So, I’m going to try something new, a short post here and the thought and research behind it on a page listed on the right of this post.  If you are viewing this on a tablet or phone, you might have to scroll down to the bottom of the screen.  So, if you would like to read more on the subject, just look for a page with the same title.  Here is my first attempt at this.  The following is a word study on “longsuffering:”

Longsuffering:

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV)
²²  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³  gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

God may well be longsuffering in His goodness to show His riches and glory in the lost who are being saved.  Just look at Paul as an example:  He was a murderer and a blasphemer, yet God uses him to show us how longsuffering He is toward the sinner.

As Christians, we are to be joyfully longsuffering toward others in the body of Christ.  It is one of the fruit of the spirit, part of the Christian walk, and identifies God’s elect. Persecution should be faced with faith and longsuffering.  We should follow the examples of those who faced death and torture but faced it with faith and longsuffering.  These and the prophets of old are our examples for how we should act.

Pastors should be longsuffering with their congregants lest they drive them into the arms of false teachers.

So, be tolerant of others especially for fellow Christians.  Realize that God is extremely patient with the lost and so should we be.  We are examples to the world of God’s character.  Let’s not drive people away and into the arms of false teachers.

How reliable is the Gospel message?

The minimal facts approach of Gary Habermas

You can see this explained by Dr. Habermas himself here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXqpnRoB7_g&t=1s

How do we date the crucifixion of Jesus?

Most New Testament scholars, including Christian, agnostic, and atheist scholars date the crucifixion of Jesus about 30 a.d.  By the way, there are agnostic and atheist New Testament scholars not because they believe the New Testament is inspired, but because it is an interesting ancient Greek document to them like the Iliad or the Odessy.

The Gospels are dated as so:

Mark at about 70 a.d., 40 years after the crucifixion

Matthew, about 80 a.d., 50 years after the crucifixion

Luke at about 85 a.d., 55 years after the crucifixion

John at about 95 a.d. or 65 years after the crucifixion.

These are good sources, but what if we could get closer to that?

There are seven New Testament books considered by the consensus of scholars to be genuine, not inspired, but genuine: Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon.

Dr. Habermas uses the information found in some of these books to show the gospel Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 15 was exactly the same gospel taught by the church just after the resurrection of Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:1-7 (NKJV)
¹  Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
²  by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you–unless you believed in vain.
³  For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
⁴  and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
⁵  and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
⁶  After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
⁷  After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.

1 Corinthians is dated around 55 a.d., just 25 years after the crucifixion of Jesus. In verse 1, Paul says the gospel he preached to the Corinthian church was the same gospel he received.  The question is, “When did Paul receive this gospel?”

Most scholars believe it was when Paul met with Peter and James:

Galatians 1:15-19 (NKJV)
¹⁵  But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace,
¹⁶  to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,
¹⁷  nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
¹⁸  Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days.
¹⁹  But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.

The consensus of New Testament also scholars believe Paul’s conversion was about two or three years after the crucifixion of Jesus.  Three years of study takes us to around 35 or 36 a.d., within five or six years of the crucifixion.  Paul met with Peter and James in Jerusalem and heard of the events these eye witnesses.  They spent fifteen days sharing with Paul what they had seen, and Paul shared what he had learned in his three-year preparation in study.

Paul left that meeting solid in what the gospel was.  In fact, he came back to Jerusalem fourteen years later to make sure he hadn’t varied in his teaching:

Galatians 2:1-9 (NKJV)
¹  Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me.
²  And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain.
³  Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
⁴  And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage),
⁵  to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
⁶  But from those who seemed to be something–whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man–for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me.
⁷  But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter
⁸  (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles),
⁹  and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

So, Paul checked to make sure his teaching was still in line with what he had been taught fourteen years earlier, and it matched perfectly to the point he was sent out by Peter, James, and John with the right hand of fellowship.

Therefore, the gospel Paul was teaching the Corinthians twenty five years after Jesus was crucified was the same gospel as he had learned from Peter and James twenty years earlier.

Now, one more point given by Dr. Habermas is that the statement of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 1 is in a creedal form.  In other words, it is laid out in order to  make it easy to memorize.  This creed is seen by these same scholars to have been formed somewhere between just a few days after Jesus was raised to two years after.

So, we have the gospel as it is presented in 1 Corinthians 15, the very gospel we believe today, is the same gospel creed taught by the eye witnesses to the events it describes.

“But how reliable can Paul’s letter be,” you may ask yourself.  Well, in 1 Corinthians 15 Paul is making reference to events which took place just 25 years earlier.  25 years ago, Rodney King was beaten and Bill Clinton was elected president of the United States.  There are still millions of people who witnessed those events on TV.  In fact, there are still people who could tell you about the assassination of John Kennedy.  So, what Paul is writing could be easily discounted by the members of the church he championed especially by the leaders.  But the church has supported that teaching for over 2000 years.

Well, there is more new stuff on the site today.  I’ve added a lot of lesson plans.  There is also more new info in the Apologetics menu.

Today, let me add a passage that makes me understand Jesus a little better.  When you think maybe Jesus isn’t on your side, or you doubt he’s even listening, or you doubt he’s on your side when you may even be doubting Him, look at this:

Luke 7:18-29 (NKJV)
¹⁸  Then the disciples of John reported to him concerning all these things.
¹⁹  And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”
²⁰  When the men had come to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’ ”
²¹  And that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind He gave sight.
²²  Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.
²³  And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”
²⁴  When the messengers of John had departed, He began to speak to the multitudes concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
²⁵  But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings’ courts.
²⁶  But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.
²⁷  This is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’
²⁸  For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
²⁹  And when all the people heard Him, even the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John.

No doubt, many of the people following Jesus at this time were previously followers of John the Baptist, and John had directed them to follow Jesus (John 1:36-37).  When they saw that John was doubting or, at least making sure Jesus was the Messiah, perhaps they thought less of John.  And, what was Jesus’ reply.  He defended John asking who the crowd went to see when John was baptizing.  Jesus said that John was a true prophet and “more than a prophet” perhaps because John was the only prophet predicted to come.

So, even when John was doubting, Jesus had his back, and He has yours as well.  He loves you even when you doubt.

Now look at this:

Mark 10:32-34 (NKJV)
³²  Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed. And as they followed they were afraid. Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him:
³³  “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles;
³⁴  and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.”

Here Jesus tells the disciples of the horrible fate which awaited Him in Jerusalem, yet look at verse 32.  Jesus was ahead of the group.  He was anxious to pay the price for us to spend eternity with Him.  In Hebrews 12, it says this:

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV)
¹  Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
²  looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

“For the joy that was set before Him….”  What is that joy?  You are.  In Jude it says, “Jude (NKJV) ²⁴  Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, ….

You are that joy.  Jesus loves you so much, He wants to present you before the Father with “exceding joy.”

So, Jesus loves us even when we doubt.  He was anxious to pay the price for us to be with Him, and He will joyously receive us into His Kingdom.  What more can He show us to convince us of His love?