I want to honor the departure of Hurricane Irene with my 800th Blog Post.
We got a lot of wind and rain, and some downed trees, but overall, we weathered the weather quite well.
Hurricane Irene and 800 Posts
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The New Church Planter in Town
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There is a new church planter in the town where I live. I met him the other day and asked about how his church is going. You will never believe what he told me.
He has about a dozen people so far in his “core group.” One is a member of the Black Panthers. Another is the member of the Klu Klux Klan. And somehow, they both worship together.
But that is only the beginning. One guy is a mega-wealthy Wall Street Banker democrat, and another is a out of work construction laborer who is a rising star in the Tea Party movement. Somehow, they both worship together.
They have a girl who is almost certainly a cocaine-using prostitute, and they also have a police officer. Somehow, they both worship together.
They have a gay couple and a Marine. Somehow, they worship God together.
One type of person they do not have is someone who has been involved in church before in any significant way (other than the church planter himself).
Should You Become Jewish?
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I see a rising tide of people today who want to use the Jewishness of Jesus to defend their own legalistic requirements of observing the Jewish law. The logic goes like this:
- Jesus was Jewish.
- If we are followers of Jesus, we should act like Jews too.
- Jews (and Jesus) obeyed the law, and so should we.
But no Jewish person would ever tell you this, including Jesus and Paul. Neither one said anything of the sort in Scripture.
Even today, Jews do not teach that in order to please God, a Gentile must convert to Judaism and follow the Jewish Law.
I have many Jewish friends, and when I have asked what God’s requirements are for people who are non-Jewish, not a single one has ever said that God wants non-Jews to follow the Jewish laws. Why not? Because Jewish laws are for Jewish people. If you are not Jewish, then you do not need to obey Jewish laws. And if you are not Jewish, it is insane to want to become Jewish because then you would have to obey the Jewish laws.
Why Jesus Obeyed Jewish Law
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Why did Jesus obey Jewish Law?
The answer is simple:
Jesus obeyed Jewish Law because Jesus was Jewish.
The answer is not more complicated than that.
Because Jesus was Jewish, He obeyed the Mosaic Law, worshipped God in the Jewish Temple, attended a Jewish Synagogue, taught from the Jewish Scriptures, and even obeyed many of the Jewish oral traditions. There is much evidence that He even followed many of the teachings and traditions of the Pharisees.
Should We Obey the Jewish Law?
However, when people talk about Jesus and the Jewish Law, what they might really be asking is whether or not we, as followers of Jesus, should also be obeying the Jewish Law.
I suggested yesterday that based on what Jesus says in Luke 5:33-39, Jesus was bringing something brand new. He was not trying to reform Judaism, or even introduce a new religion.
You Cannot Reform Religion
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Many people believe that Jesus was trying to renew, reform, or overhaul the religion of Judaism. The idea is that in general, Judaism is good, and Jesus just needed to tweak and modify a few things to make it universally applicable to all.
I don’t believe this one bit.
Sure, Jesus was Jewish. And sure, Jesus was a Rabbi. And sure, Jesus practiced, observed, and obeyed the Jewish law.
But none of this means that Jesus wanted all of His followers everywhere in the world and throughout time to also be “Jewish.” Jesus never taught this, and while some in the early church believed that following Jesus required conversion to Judaism, the idea was quickly condemned by the apostolic leaders within the church.
One of the places where Jesus explains the type of ministry and mission He was engaged in is Luke 5:33-39. With three short and humorous images, Jesus shows that He is not remodeling or patching up the old way of doing things, but is bringing a brand new way of doing things. A way built upon grace, love, and forgiveness.
[Read more…]
The Humor of Jesus
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The humor of Jesus is not like that of many comedians today, whose monologues are full of coarse language and perverted jokes. (Although, I must admit, Jesus does tell a few “bathroom humor” jokes.)
But in general, the humor of Jesus is rich, deep, insightful, and most of all, intentional. His humorous stories and witty remarks were always for the purpose of making a point, and getting people to think about what they believed.
Jesus was no serious, dour-faced, religious teacher who never smiled and looked down his nose at those who did. I believe one reason Jesus attracted the crowds He did is because of the sparkle in His eye, and the constant half-smile which hinted at a secret joke only He knew.
The Humorous Stories of Jesus
I did not realize this about Jesus for the longest time, but when I first began to understand the humor of Jesus, I soon realized that in the Gospels, Jesus is telling a humorous story on almost every page.
Laughing With Jesus
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We Christians are far too serious.
In seminary, Howard Hendricks used to look at us students all sitting there in class and say, “When I look at most of you, it just makes me want to cry.”
It is for this reason that I really enjoy the following blogs. Some contain “Christian” humor, some atheist humor, and some just good humor.
Do you know of any others?
Some of these may offend you, but here is how I think Jesus responds to every single one (including the last one there which pokes fun at religion with a really big stick):
The more and more I learn about Jesus, the more convinced I become that Jesus was not only a man “acquainted with grief and sorrow” but was also a man full of joy and laughter. It is high time for us who follow Jesus to learn to laugh again.This post was (loosely) based off of the Grace Commentary on Luke 5:33-39.
Writing Three Books at Once
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I am one of those people who reads five or six books at once. The reason is that I often get bored with what I’m reading, but I really want to finish the book. So rather than completely stop reading, I just put the book aside to finish later.
I realized recently that my writing projects are similar. I am currently working on three writing projects.
For a while there, I was focusing heavily on a Commentary on the Gospel of Luke. I haven’t written anything on this since April. Then I switched to a book about church, called Close Your Church for Good. I haven’t forgotten about this project; I just got bored with it. So over the past several weeks, I switched over to begin writing a different book, one on questioning my theology. I began by questioning the foundations of theology, and then I wrote about 50 posts questioning what I have been taught about the Bible.
You Don’t Believe in Sola Scriptura
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A large segment of Christianity holds to Sola Scriptura, which is typically defined as the belief that the Bible alone is the final authority for all things related to faith and practice. This view is taught in many Bible colleges and seminaries, and we are taught that it was one of the central battle cries of the Reformation. Holding to Sola Scriptura, men like Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli led the charge against the Roman Catholic Church.
The Reformers were opposed to many abuses within the church, and believed that most of these abuses stemmed from the Catholic Church’s reliance upon tradition for their beliefs, practices, and understanding of Scripture. The Reformers, in trying to correct these abuses, tried to reject tradition and return to the Sola Scriptura,“the Bible alone.”
It’s too bad such a move was impossible.
Sola Scriptura is Impossible
Yes, Sola Scriptura, or “the Bible alone” is an impossible belief. It is doomed from the start. It cannot be held. It cannot be practiced. It cannot be believed. Even if you or your church claims to believe in Sola Scriptura, you actually don’t.
Why not? Because in every area of the Bible, from the writing of the text, to the collection of the books, to the transmission, translation, and teaching of the text, extra-biblical tradition and authority is required.
[Read more…]
The Bible Made Impossible
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In light of my recent series on the the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, someone wondered if I had read The Bible Made Impossible
I had not heard of the book, and so obtained a copy. What a fantastic book! Either Christian Smith has been reading my notes, or I have been reading his. This book will go onto my Burning Books list.
The Problem of Biblicism
In Part 1, Smith spends four chapters talking about the problems of “biblicism.” Biblicism consists of the constellation of beliefs and practices surrounding the way most Christians in the United States view and use the Bible. Among other concepts, biblicism contains the ideas of the Bible as the inspired Word of God, the inerrancy of Scripture, the ability of anyone to read and understand Scripture, the inductive method of Bible study to find the universal truth within Scripture, and above all, the idea that the Bible contains all the truth we need for Christian belief and practice.
Christian Smith shows convincingly that the goals and claims of biblicism have not worked, and so it is an impossible way of viewing and reading Scripture. It has great ideas and goals, but it just doesn’t work.
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