How Thick Is Your Bible ?

Over the years, I've spent many hours trying to build a belief system and a worldview that is consistent with the teachings of the Bible.
The Bible is the standard, so whenever I discover a conflict between my thinking and the Bible, I question my thinking.
For me, the Bible teaches truth, so any discrepancy is on my side and needs to be remedied.

As you know, I am now fellowshipping in a liberal church where most people don't seem to hold the Scriptures in as high a regard as I am used to. 
Even though readings from all parts of the Bible are listed in our lectionary for each week of the year, the Gospels are the books given the most attention.
And recently I attended a small home group that even pruned the Gospel of John from this list as well, leaving them with a very thin volume comprising just the books of Matthew, Mark and Luke.

These lovely people, whose fellowship, hearts and Christ-like ministry I am enjoying and applauding, have their reasons for relegating the other books of the Bible to "ancient sacred texts." 
I won't go into those reasons here, but I will mention the reason for the home group eliminating the Gospel of John.

This Gospel quotes Jesus as saying that He is the way, the truth and the life, and that no-one can come to the Father except through Him.
Considering that many in this group believe that all will get to God no matter what route they take or what religion they belong to, John's Gospel is considered to be restrictive, exclusive, and in conflict with their universal belief.
So, the offending Gospel has to go.

Being a Christian Universalist and having a high regard for Scripture, I don't see the conflict.
Jesus IS the way.  Absolutely true, as John proclaims.
God reconciled the world to Himself through Christ and is no longer counting anyone's sins against them.  [ 2 Cor 5 : 19 ]
So no-one could possibly come to the Father without Jesus having done that.  
Jesus IS the only way we get to the Father.
And absolutely everyone WILL get there because He did this for the whole world.  [ 1 John 2 : 2 ]

So no matter who you are, where you live, or what religion or political party or football team you follow, Jesus has determined your eternal future.
No need to throw out John - or Paul or anyone else for that matter.
We can keep the whole Bible and still guarantee everyone will get to God eventually.

Blessings, Barry.

Progress on Finding a Church Home.

Back in February I posted "Can You Recommend a Good Church?" in this blog.

I described a good church, or a church that would be attractive to me, as one that believes and proclaims that God is the Creator and Saviour of the world, and that is preparing believers to be co-rulers with Christ in the Kingdom of God.

That shouldn't have been too big an ask, but it was beginning to look an impossible task until very recently.
I'm not saying too much just yet, but ..... we may be on the verge of finding a church home within mainstream christianity.
No names, no commitment, no final decisions just yet.
But in the last two weeks we have uncovered a distinct possibility.

Here is a one-liner from the service last Sunday.
"See how God loves us!
God loves us enough to swallow up death forever."

Here is another from the Communion service.
"We have come to share in Jesus' kingdom meal.
We eat and drink in anticipation of that great day when we with all people will eat and drink in the Kingdom of God."

And one of the main Bible readings for the day was Isaiah 25 : 6 - 9, one of my favourites.

On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine - the best of meats and the finest of wines.
On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth.  The Lord has spoken.
In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."

I haven't talked to anyone at the church about this yet, but it certainly shows some promise, doesn't it?

I have also attended one of its weekly Bible studies, which was not deep, but very enjoyable.
Here's the Golden Rule for the group.
"Agree if possible, disagree in an atmosphere of respect for the other person, and always listen carefully and thoughtfully to your fellow Bible student."
 
Wow, what a difference in tone from my other church experiences since retirement, where I've been told not to express any views that differed from the church's published views as that would cause confusion and division, and would undermine the leadership.
(Undermining the Bible didn't seem to cause the same sort of problem.)

Anyway, there's a ray of hope in this town that we'll continue to explore.  I am beginning to look forward to "going to church" again.
Keep you posted.

Blessings, Barry

Scripture Connections

I spend a lot of time "in the Bible."  I read it, read about it, think about it, doodle about it.
I love making notes about connections I see in it - connections between OT and NT, between promises or prophecies and fulfilment, etc.

So I thought I would share a few of these with you.
They are about God's will, pleasure, promise, oath, and work to save all people.

The first is below, and I'll add the others as comments to this post over the course of the weekend.

God's Will - to save all people
God wills all people to be saved and come to recognise the truth.
[ 1 Timothy 2 : 4 ]

God declares the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying, "My plans will stand, and I will do all my will."
[ Isaiah 46 : 10 ]

Blessings, Barry

Heresy

I continue to be amazed at the accusation of heresy levelled against me by leaders and others in the mainstream church.

I think God is love and therefore loves all of his creation, yet I'm the heretic.
I think God is more powerful than those he has created, yet I'm the heretic.
I think God's free will is more likely to be achieved than man's "free" will, yet I'm the heretic.
I believe Paul when he told Timothy that God is the saviour of the world, not just believers, yet I'm the heretic.
I think Jesus died for the sins of all mankind, not just those who accept him in their lifetime on this planet, yet I'm the heretic.
I believe Jesus when he said he would draw all people to himself, yet I'm the heretic.
I believe the Bible when it says that at the completion of the ages God will bring everyone in the heavens and on earth together under the headship of Christ, yet I'm the heretic.

So you can see why I was delighted to find this definition of heresy.

"Heresy" is often nothing more than the rejection of widely held error.

Isn't that something?
I'm a heretic, and proud of it.

Blessings, Barry

Will the Real God Please Stand Up

Remember the TV Game Show called "Tell the Truth?"
The show featured a panel of contestants who tried to correctly identify a certain character who was accompanied by two impostors.

As a result of questioning the character and his/her imposters, the panel had to choose which of the three was the real character.
The real character was required to always tell the truth, but the imposters were permitted to lie in answering the panel's questions.

After the panelists had made their choice of which character they thought was telling the truth, the real character was asked to stand up and identify him/herself.
Sometimes the impostors had done such a good job in their deceiving role, the panel was totally surprised when the real character was revealed.

This reminded me of the real God accompanied by the impostor Gods of mainstream christianity.
The Calvinist God has the ability to save all mankind, but doesn't choose to.
The Arminian God wants to save all mankind, but does not have the power or ability to.
The real God, the God of the Bible, has the will, power and ability to save all mankind, and sent Jesus to be the Saviour of the world to make sure it happens.

We need to encourage people, and especially those in the churches, to start asking questions about the character and actions of the presenting Gods, to see if they can determine the real character, the One telling the truth.

Eventually the real God will stand up, much to the surprise of those who have been deceived by promoters of the impostors.

Blessings, Barry

Growth is God's Desire For Us

In a recent comment to the "Trustworthy Sayings" post, I mentioned that Rog's linking of hardships with God's refining fire reminded me of Paul's comment about temptations in 1 Corinthians 10 : 13.

Here's the NIV translation of this verse.

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.  And God is faithful, he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. [NIV]

It is typical of most English translations, but does it make sense?
..... God will provide a way out or a path of escape so that you can endure the temptation ?????
How can you endure something by avoiding it?

Let's think for a moment.
What is your own personal experience of facing hardships, temptations and crises?
Does God usually provide you with a way of escape?
If you're like me, that rarely happens.
He is more likely to provide encouragement, wisdom, strength, endurance or some other way for us to grow and mature and become Christ-like, rather than a way to remain weaklings looking for outs, excuses and escape chutes.

What Bible character was ever given an escape route?
Moses, Joseph, Job, Jonah, David, Hosea, Paul, Stephen, Jesus ????????
Have a quick flick through Hebrews 11.

God sees that the size of the problem is never more than we can cope with, but there is usually no escape from it.
So I began researching the translation of this verse.

Here's my translation.

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide the planned outcome (or sequel) so that you can endure it. [BSV]

If God is sovereign, and all is from him, through him, and to him, then we can be sure that any trial that God brings our way will also have its planned outcome in place, ready to be experienced also.
Which also guarantees that everything works together for good, for those loving God and fitting in to his plans.  [Romans 8 : 28]

So we need to trust God in all our trials and hardships, because he will also have the planned outcome ready to be achieved as well - not an escape chute so we can avoid the refining fire and growing experience God desires for us.

Blessings, Barry

5 Good Questions

Mainstream Christians of the "eternal torment" variety often haven't thought very much about what they say they believe.
Just a few simple questions soon gets them to realise this.

In fact, I am beginning to use the following set to actually get some conversations started.

1.  What do you think is God's plan for mankind and the world?
2.  Do you think he will be successful?
3.  Do you think Satan is more powerful than God?
4.  Do you think our will is more powerful than God's?
5.  Whose sins did Jesus pay for?

Most church-goers, regardless of their stated "eternal torment" position, will be inclined to answer these questions in ways that are far more consistent with the universal reconciliation view than with their own.
But they're still reluctant to give up their original position.
Go figure.

Discussion, Bible verses, logic, don't work very often.
Truth just needs to be revealed.
I guess that's never changed.

Blessings, Barry

Atheists Understandably Confused

Found this poster on an atheist website today.  The URL for the poster was:
http://www.thinkatheist.com/photo/satan-more-powerful-than-god?

The text of the poster says,

    “Why Satan is more powerful than God.

    Because of original sin you will go to hell.

    However God desires that all men be saved.

    In effort to save many from death and hell God spent several thousand years developing a plan.

    This plan involved a miraculous birth, 33 year life, and horrific death of His Son.

    But this plan of salvation only provides salvation for a lucky fraction of all mankind who hear and believe.

    All of this in an attempt to undo what Satan accomplished with a single conversation…and it isn’t working.

    Christians actually believe this !!

    They believe that Satan is either much more powerful or much more intelligent than God.”

Atheists can see how stupid the mainstream Christian view is, even though mainstream Christians can't.  Fancy calling that Good News and being able to keep a straight face !!

Barry

Another Bunch of Hypocrites

We have all heard many times the excuse for not coming to church as, "The church is full of hypocrites."  On hearing this, I would usually talk about our sinful weakness, even though we are saved, and the need for those in the church to be refined and matured towards God-likeness over time.

I still think this is true.  Yet, I think mainstream christianity has a lot to answer for nevertheless.

I have seen books written recently with titles like "How to Quit Church Without Quitting God", "So You Don't Want to go to Church Anymore",  "7 Biblical Truths You Won't Hear in Church", "I'm Fine with God ... It's Christians I Can't Stand", among others.  I have read several of these and have agreed with much that is in them.

It's interesting that the mainstream religion of the Old Covenant era was described in a similar fashion.  Isaiah reports that God accused Israel of being responsible for having his name constantly blasphemed. 
Ezekiel was just as damning.  "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake, O House of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone.'"

Those familiar with the Bible are well aware of the ways in which Israel profaned God's name, but we are often blind to the ways we have done so.  We too, are guilty of the same hypocrisy they were.  We say one thing, and preach or act in a quite opposite way.

Mainstream christianity says that God loves us unconditionally, but then preaches that this is true only on the condition that we love him in return.
Mainstream christianity says that we are saved by grace alone, but then preaches that this is not true, we are required to take some action ourselves, and right now by the way.
Mainstream christianity says that God is the Saviour of all, but then preaches that most people will not be saved but will be tormented in hell forever.

What do not-yet-believers make of all of this?  How do they respond?  
Confused.  Frustrated.  Cynical.  Antagonistic.  Disinterested. 
I wonder why the mainstream churches are becoming empty and only the entertainment style churches are growing in the western world?  Any thinking outsider is more likely to respond with, "I'm fine with God... it's christians I can't stand," than join God's latest bunch of hypocrites.

Boy doesn't God take a risk in allowing humans to represent him?  Even when they are "his chosen" under the Old Covenant or "the saints" under the New.  It's pretty sobering to realise that the heathen are not accused of profaning God's name, only God's people.

I have been reluctant to expose this hypocrisy and share these Bible truths strongly in the past.  Why?
What would happen to the positions I hold, the respect of other christian leaders I enjoy or the close friendships I value?

I have my similarities with the first century followers of Jesus.
No-one would say anything publicly about Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles celebrations for fear of the Jewish leaders, the leaders of the mainstream religion of the time. 
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus buried Jesus' body secretly (probably at night) for fear of those same leaders.
On the evening of Jesus' resurrection, his disciples were meeting behind locked doors because of their fear of the Jewish leaders rather than proudly and publicly announcing the good news of Jesus being alive, having conquered death as he predicted he would.

So here I am with the good good news of God's unconditional love and extravagant grace that needs to be proudly and publicly announced and preached.  How am I to do this is my big question?

I have now retired and no longer hold any of those precious mainstream church positions.  Indeed, the more public I become about this, the more likely I am to remain retired. :-) The need to have the respect of other christian leaders is not as important as it was, and  friendships will surely sort themselves out as being close or not.

The proposed book will be the end result of the website that will be generated mainly from this blogsite.  The website and book will be widely advertised, even though the blog is only for friends.  That's as far as I have travelled with this question.  

Any suggestions?  Using the comments section under this post for brainstorming this over the next few months would be appreciated.  Barry.