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Killing Others for Christ

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Calling Down Fire from HeavenWhen we use doctrinal statements to determine the eternal destiny of other people—which is something only Jesus should do—it is not long before we get the idea that if a person is reprobate and a heretic, it is better to send them on their way to hell, then to let them stick around and lead others astray.

Such thinking was actually evident in the apostles of Jesus before the church even began. At one point in the ministry of Jesus, the people of a Samaritan village rejected Jesus. The Jews didn’t really like the Samaritans anyway, and the disciples became incensed that the village had turned them away.

So two of the disciples, James and John, asked Jesus if they could call down fire from heaven to consume and destroy the town and everybody in it (Luke 9:54). They figured that if people didn’t act like them, look like them, and believe like them, they were under the curse of God and were fit only to be destroyed.

The response of Jesus is telling. Not only does He not give them permission to call down fire from heaven, but He rebukes such an attitude! He says, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of! For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them” (Luke 9:55-56).

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Hand This Man Over to Satan

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Apostle Paul handed a man over to SatanIn 1 Corinthians 5:5 and 1 Timothy 1:20, Paul says he hands people over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh.

What does this mean and how is it accomplished?

There are a few main views:

Let Satan Kill Him

Some believe that the man who is handed over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh will suffer premature death. They noted this word “destruction” (Gk. olethros) is used three other times in Scripture (1 Thess 5:3; 2 Thess 1:9; 1 Tim 6:9) and refers to physical death as a result of sin. Some believe this is what happened to Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11), or what Scripture means when it refers to “the sin unto death” (Rom 6:16; 1 John 5:16).

In this case, handing someone over to Satan is like giving them a death sentence. Related to this, some believe that handing someone over to Satan means that we are consigning them to everlasting torment in hell. This is the sort of thinking that has led to so much judgment, condemnation, and killing of other people throughout church history, and is a complete misunderstanding of the text.

Destruction of the Sin Nature

A second, softer view is that Paul is not referring to physical death, but what some refer to as “the mortification of sin,” that is, the destruction of our sinful tendencies and fleshly desires. Proponents of this view point out that in 1 Corinthians 5:5, Paul contrasts “flesh” with “spirit.” While “flesh” can refer to the physical body, it most often refers to the “sinful nature” in mankind (cf. Gal 5:17), especially when placed in contrast to “spirit” as in 1 Corinthians 5:5. So the destruction of the flesh would not be physical death, but the process of learning to defeat temptation and sin.

Some authors have referred to this as the “mortification of sin.” In support of this view, when Paul speaks of handing two believers over to Satan in 1 Timothy 1:20, they did not die but were still alive and well, and still causing problems for Paul and the church in Ephesus (cf. 2 Tim 2:17; 4:14).

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Judging – Keep it in the Family

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The Apostles Judged Others in their Letters

One of the biggest reasons we feel justified in condemning others is because the apostles did it in their teachings and writings. Peter, James, John, Paul, Jude, and even the unknown author of Hebrews all seem to criticize and condemn people with whom they disagreed. Paul instructs the believers in Corinth to hand a man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh (1 Cor 5:5). Paul did this himself to Hymenaeus and Alexander so they would be taught not to blaspheme (1 Tim 1:20). Peter spends a good portion of his second letter condemning false teachers (2 Peter 2), and in John’s letters, he accuses some of having the spirit of the antichrist (1 John 2:18-23; 2 John 7-11). And Jude, though he wanted to write something positive and encouraging, found it necessary to write a letter of warning against the false teachers who were infiltrating the church. Similar examples could be taken from almost every letter in the New Testament.

So if the early apostles felt justified in condemning, criticizing, and even handing some people over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh (we’ll look at this tomorrow), can we not also do the same thing today?

Yes and no. The problem is that we have misunderstood who the apostles were judging, and until we get this straightened out, we must not judge others.

The Judgement of the Apostles

Most of the people Christians want to condemn today are the ones that Jesus and the apostles would have loved, embraced, accepted, and welcomed: the sinners, the traitors, the prostitutes, and the drunkards. And most of those whom Jesus and the apostles condemned and criticized are the same people who quickly rise in the ranks in most of our churches, and find themselves in pastoral positions of large churches or as prominent members of board meetings. We tend to judge those whom Jesus and the apostles loved, and love those whom Jesus and the apostles judged.

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The Son of God is Selling Children

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Are you shocked by the title of this Post? That’s good. You should be.

But it is not Jesus who is selling children, but the Son of God Orphanage in Haiti.

I learned about the following from Tom Davis of Children’s Hope Chest through his Red Letters blog.

Human Trafficking at Son of God Orphanage

The time has come to share the results of a 15-month investigation into suspected human trafficking at the Son of God orphanage in Haiti.  I need your help to spread this news to the CNN Freedom Project by signing our Change.org petition today. 

SIGN THE PETITION NOW

We are petitioning CNN to bring their international media voice and passion for ending slavery into the Son of God Orphanage. Please urge CNN to expose the corruption within the Haitian government, and allow international organizations to secure the children from the child traffickers who are now controlling the orphanage.

The evidence in hand shows:

> Children have been and are currently being trafficked from the Son of God Orphanage. The evidence on human trafficking leads back to the Son of God orphanage. The orphanage director was imprisoned in July as part of a police-led operation that resulted in his conviction of trafficking a child.

> Haitian investigators have told our team the evidence suggests organ harvesting and trafficking as well.

> Numerous photos show extreme physical abuse and neglect. U.S. and Haitian doctors have documented cases of severe abuse and neglect including burns and broken bones.

SIGN THE PETITION NOW

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Jesus Condemns Religious People

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Jesus Condemns Religious PeopleIn Matthew 23 Jesus pronounces judgment upon the Pharisees for some of their beliefs and behaviors. He pronounces several “woes” upon the Pharisees for what they teach and how they live. As a result, many believe that we can follow the example of Jesus, and condemn those with whom we disagree, especially those who have bad theology or sinful actions.

But I have been arguing that we must not judge and condemn others for their beliefs and behavior? If so, what can we say about the words of Jesus in Matthew 23? Do His actions provide justification to judge and condemn others, consigning them to hell, simply because we disagree with what they are saying or doing?

Well, there are numerous things going within the theological and cultural context of Matthew 23, most of which I cannot mention here. But here are some of the more important points to help us navigate Matthew 23.

Jesus was part of Rabbinic Judaism

First, remember that Jesus had some Pharisaic followers, and He Himself generally followed the Pharisaic tradition. So this criticism from Jesus was not a condemnation of an outside group, but was a criticism of part of the group to which He belonged. This is criticism from within. Jesus was criticizing His own group, in a similar fashion to how many Old Testament prophets challenged their own people, the people of Israel, to return to covenant obedience.
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The End of the World is (not) Nigh

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You have one last week to get your copy of The Theology of the Book of Revelation, before several of us begin blogging about it next Monday, October 24 (assuming that the End of the World doesn’t happen on Friday, October 21).

Just to let you know in advance, I am predisposed against preterism. Here is what I think I will run into:

Preterism

Nevertheless, I could be persuaded otherwise, and am excited to begin reading The Theology of the Book of Revelation this week.
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How Peter Used the Keys of the Kingdom

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Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom of heaven to Peter so that Peter could unlock the gates of hell and set the captives free.

But did Peter ever use them? Yes, he used them in three places in the Book of Acts.

Peter used the Keys to open the Kingdom

The Question of the Kingdom

The book of Acts begins with the disciples asking if Jesus was now going to restore the kingdom (Acts 1:6).

Jesus answers in Acts 1:7-8. Most people think that Jesus basically says, “I’m not going to tell you because that is the wrong question, and here is what I want you to do instead.” But this is not what Jesus was saying. Instead, He was explaining that while He couldn’t tell them exact times and dates, He did know what it would look like when it came: they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the rest of the world (Acts 1:8).

Scholars have often noted that this is the outline of the book, as the good news about Jesus begins in Jerusalem in Acts 2, and then spreads out to Judea, Samaria, and eventually to the rest of the known world. But what is less often noted is the role Peter plays in this spread of the Gospel, especially in connection with the statement of Jesus in Matthew 16:19.
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Theology is Dead

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Theopoetic TheologyTim Nichols wrote a fantastic article today about Theopoetics.

What are Theopoetics?  Well, it is where I hope “theology” goes.

We must get away from studying God and the Bible as if they were science projects. They are not. But that is what theology does. Instead, Theopoetics invite us to relate to Scripture and God in ways that involve all the senses, using the full range of our creative abilities, rather than just spoken or written words.

Here is some of what Tim Nichols wrote:

Theopoetics is the appreciation of — no, the embodied luxuriating in — God’s words and works as art.  The same God wrote the Bible as spoke the world, so theopoetics extends from the exegesis of Paul’s use  of kosmos to the dancing of taste buds at breakfast this morning.
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The End of the World is Here (Again…)

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Remember the “End of the World” fiasco when Harold Camping duped many into believing that the End of the World would be on May 21, 2011?

Harold Camping October 21, 2011

When it didn’t happen, he said that it was just a “spiritual end of the world” but the real, physical one would occur on October 21, 2011. Those who weren’t saved on May 21, Camping said, “will be annihilated together with the whole physical world on October 21, 2011.”

So here we are. One week away from the Second End of the World. I’m sure Harold is crossing his fingers and hoping this one “takes.”

And just as I did in May, I am issuing another wager to Harold Camping: I am willing to bet him $1 million he is wrong. 

If he is right, I pay him $1 million on October 22. If he is wrong, he gives me $1 million. I’m sure he has it, since many people emptied their bank accounts and sent the money in to him prior to May 21 so that he could spread the message about the end of the world, and when it didn’t happen, he refused to return the money.

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