A while back I wrote about how confrontational evangelism turns way more people away from Jesus than toward Him. Below is a Facebook account of exactly what I was talking about.
Ever wonder what evangelism victims are thinking as you drone on about sin and hell?
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We See in the Bible What We’re Told To See
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Have you ever seen this video? Watch it and follow the instructions carefully…
If you’ve seen the video before, you know what to look for, but if you have never seen the video, you might have been shocked at what the end of the video revealed…
I think that sometimes, the way we read the Bible is similar.
We have been taught by books, pastors, seminaries, and Christian friends for so long to read the Bible a certain way and look for certain truths in Scripture, that when someone comes along and says, “Yeah, but did you notice the gorilla in the text?” we reject such an interpretation and say, “No! That’s not there! I have read and studied the Bible for years and have sat through countless sermons, and since I have never heard that idea before and no pastor I have listened to has ever brought that up, it must be wrong! I went to seminary and never heard that in any class!”
And yet, maybe we missed what is really going on in the text because we have been counting the number of times people in white t-shirts pass the ball around. Just as we only see in a video what we are told to look for, so also, maybe we only see in the Bible what we are told to look for.
Maybe I’m only talking about myself.
For the past 7 or 8 years, I have been struggling with Scripture. Some days it almost literally feels like I am wrestling with the Bible. There is all my theological education on one side, screaming at me “Count the number of times the people in white t-shirts pass the ball!” and then there is a still, small voice over on the side saying, “Yes, but did you notice … ?”
I’m trying to notice. I really am. But it is so hard to retrain the mind to see and hear something else.
I was reading The Magician’s Nephew to my daughters last night, and there is a part in the story after Digory, Polly, and Uncle Andrew witness the creation of Narnia where C. S. Lewis explain why Digory and Polly could understand what the Narnian animals were saying but Uncle Andrew could not. It all began when Aslan was singing Narnia into existence and Uncle Andrew convinced himself that the lion was not actually singing, but was only growling. From there, Uncle Andrew’s logic carried him the rest of the way, so that by the time he is surrounded by curious Narnian animals, all he sees is dangerous, brutish beasts who want to eat him. Lewis says that by that point, it would have been impossible for Uncle Andrew to have ever hear the animals talking.
As I read this, I felt like I was Uncle Andrew. There are things I feel like I have believed for so long about God and the Bible, that I am not sure I could ever un-believe them, simply because I have believed them for so long. Try as I might, and despite all the people speaking into my life (and even the still small voice of God), I find it extremely difficult to believe something other than what I have believed my entire life.
Like what?
I’d rather not say.
Last time I wrote about some of the things I was having questions about, I lost my job…
That’s why for now, on this blog, I am going to have to steer away from my series on the violence of God and write about something I feel a little more confident about.
Namely, Calvinism.
I ran a survey earlier this week, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Over 98% of you want to know more about Calvinism, and specifically, why I am NOT a Calvinist. So, I am going to start that series on Monday.
Just so you know, however, I will still be trying to see the gorilla in the text. I will try to believe what some have been whispering to me, that “animals talk” and that the Lion is not going to eat me.
A Theological Shibboleth about the Violence of God
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Do you know what a Shibboleth is? You might have heard the term and not known where it comes from…
In modern usage, a shibboleth is an idea, practice, belief, or custom which differentiates one group of people from another. So, for example, if you wanted to know whether someone was politically conservative or liberal, you could maybe ask them about global warming. If they thought global warming is a hoax, they are probably conservative. If they think global warming is irrefutable science, they are probably liberal. In this case, the “shibboleth” is the issue of global warming.
The origins of the word “shibboleth” come from Judges 12:5-6 when there was a war between the people of Gilead and Ephraim. The soldiers of Gilead set up a little checkpoint at a river crossing and whenever a man tried to cross, the soldiers would ask them to say “Shibboleth.” Why? Because the people of Gilead said “Shibboleth” and the people of Ephraim said “Sibboleth” (because they could not pronounce the Sh). If the soldier said, “I am from Gilead” but then could not pronounce “Shibboleth” and instead said, “Sibboleth” then the soldiers of Gilead would know the man was lying and would kill him.
Anyway, that is the origin of the word Shibboleth.
I recently stumbled across a theological Shibboleth regarding the violence of God in the Bible. Almost everybody claims to believe that God is love, that Jesus reveals God to us, and that God does nothing but that which is merciful, kind, and gracious. And yet there are vast numbers of Christians who believe that God commands people to slaughter others, that God drowned people in a flood, and that God is the one who killed His own Son on the cross to appease His own wrath and anger against human sin.
Yesterday I was reading the Gospel of Luke and read Luke 12:5. I did a double-take on the verse because while the pronouns are capitalized in the Bible I was reading, it sure seemed to me that Jesus was not talking about God, but about Satan. Here is the verse (without capitalization):
But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear him!
The shibboleth is this: Is Jesus talking about God or Satan in Luke 12:5?
If you check most modern commentaries, they will tell you that Jesus is talking about God. Some argue that the verse refers to Satan. During the first 300 years of the church, it was almost exactly opposite. Many of the early church fathers believed Jesus was talking about Satan, but a few thought He was referring to God.
But what do you think? In Luke 12:5, is Jesus talking about God or Satan?
In the comments below, please feel free to state you opinion, and then also state why you believe what you do about Luke 12:5. And I promise, that whether you answer “God” or “Satan” (Shibboleth or Sibboleth), nobody is going to kill you!
Whose name tag goes on that verse?
I guess I’ll start…
I used to think Jesus was talking about God, but in the last couple years, my theology has changed enough so that I now think Jesus was talking about Satan.
After all, why would Jesus say that God kills when He later says that it is the thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10)? Why are we called to fear God when John tells us that there is no fear in love for perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18)? And is it really God who casts people into hell, or is He rather working to rescue people from hell?
2017 UPDATE: After further study and discussion with people in the RedeemingGod.com discipleship group, it is interesting to note that the word for “hell” is Gehenna, which is the smoking trash valley outside of Jerusalem, and the word for “destroy” is appolumi, which is used in Matthew 10:6 in reference to the “lost” sheep of Israel, and then also in 10:39 (cf. 16:25) when Jesus says if you “lose” your life for his sake, you will find it. So other forms of the word can refer to “lose” or “lost.” Notice later that the Jewish leaders plot how they might “destroy” Jesus (Matt 12:14; 27:20). This sort of seems to indicate that other human beings might be in view … but if so, Jesus would be saying “Don’t fear human beings who can take your life, but do fear human beings who can cast you into the burning trash pile outside of the city.” How does this make sense?
Maybe the key is the word “soul” (psuche) in the context, which is not the “eternal principle of a person” but is instead the “life.” That is, your “life” here on earth. Who is it that can destroy your body AND your life by sending you out into the burning trash pile? Only one group: The religious leaders. They often sent people to live in Gehenna. It was one of the places where lepers and outcasts were sent. But how is this worse than being killed?
We have two contrasts here:
body (sarx) vs. life (psuche)
kill (apokteino) vs. destroy (appolumi)
2021 update: I address this text here, and provide my current beliefs about Luke 12:5 and Matthew 10:28
Watch out! The Lord’s Prayer will ruin your life
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A while back I wrote about the 8 most dangerous Christian prayers. Afterwards, I realized that one of the most dangerous prayers of all was the Lord’s prayer, which we have also looked at briefly before.
Let us now take a closer look at the Lord’s Prayer and see why it contains several dangerous prayer requests.
The Lord’s Prayer is full of dangerous prayers which can destroy your life.
Each line of the Lord’s prayer is designed to invite God into your life to overthrow, upend, and destroy your life. When you pray the Lord’s prayer, God enters your life like a bull in a china shop.
Afterwards, however, God takes all the shards of crystal and glass that He left behind, and makes the most beautiful mosaic you have ever seen.
If you pray the Lord’s prayer, get ready for destruction … but the beauty that rises from the ashes will be incomparable to whatever plans you had for your life previously.
Here is a quick run-through of how each line in the Lord’s Prayer will upend, overturn, and destroy your life as you know it.
Hallowed be thy name
In praying this, we announce that we want God’s name to be glorified. Sounds good, right?
Yes, except that usually, when we pray this, what we mean is “Hollowed be they name in and through me.” We want God to be gloried, and we want to ride His coat tails to some glory of our own.
But the prayer doesn’t say this will happen. It is a prayer for God’s name to be glorified; not our name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven
This seems fairly safe, right? Haven’t many of us been taught to close out our prayers with “Not my will, but thy will be done?” Don’t we want God’s will to be done on earth?
Sure!
… Just not in our lives.
When it comes to our own lives, we want our own will to be done. God’s will for our lives usually looks much less enjoyable than our plans for our own life.
And besides, God’s will often seems to lead into death, slavery, obscurity, and suffering. Who wants that? Not me.
So this prayer is dangerous when we include ourselves in it.
Give us this day our daily bread
Daily bread means “enough food for today.” It means barely scraping by. But who wants that? I need a full fridge and a growing retirement account. I need a new car, a shinier cell-phone, a faster internet connection, and maybe an Apple iWatch.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgiven those who trespass against us
Of course we want God to forgive us, but are you ready to forgive the person who has wronged you?
… Um, maybe not yet.
Enough said.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
God doesn’t actually lead anyone into temptation, so this phrase probably means something closer to “Help us resist temptation when it comes.”
But regardless, we don’t really mean it. We like our pet sins. We don’t want God to point them out to us, nor do we want to get rid of them.
Instead, what we usually do, is invent other “sins” that we “struggle” so that we can make ourselves feel better about the small victories we gain over these fake sins while completely ignoring the bigger sins we harbor in our lives every day.
What sorts of sins? Oh, greed, pride, anger, and judgmentalism to name a few.
The Lord’s Prayer is Dangerous
So be careful about praying the Lord’s Prayer. Every phrase is a minefield just waiting for you to step on it so that your life can get turned upside down.
Here is a video in which I teach a bit more about the Lord’s Prayer:
The Disciple’s Prayer – Matthew 6:9-13
Do you want to pray like never before?
Do you what to talk to God like you talk to a friend? Do you want to see more answers to prayer?
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Bill Maher on Loving our Neighbors
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Politically and theologically, I am fairly conservative. But when a liberal like Bill Maher makes a good point about Christians, I nod my head in agreement. Heck, maybe Bill has been reading my blog, because some of the points he makes I have made on this blog (Such as this point about a Pastor Leaving no Tip).
Before you watch this video, I should issue a warning: This video clip has foul language and crude humor. If that offends you, don’t watch it.
[Thanks goes to Sam Riviera for sending me this video.]
But someone might say… “Yeah, but Bill Maher is of the devil!”
… Right …
But then I did an internet search, and lo and behold, found a website which had “proof” that Bill Maher was satanic. Here is the evidence:
Not only is Bill Maher flashing the satan sign with his hand, that shirt looks pretty questionable as well… What is that? Some sort of serpent with a crown on it’s head?
Sigh.
I think it’s ironic that when someone criticizes the Christian religion by calling us to live according to the principles we claim to follow, we respond by accusing him of speaking for the devil.
Hmmm… That sounds eerily familiar to something that happened about 2000 years ago when Someone else showed up and started criticizing the established religion of the day…
Of course, now someone will criticize me of equating Bill Maher with Jesus…
Join the Bible and Theology Forums!
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I used to have a forum. It no longer exists.
Do you want a blog series on Calvinism?
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My series on the violence of God has exhausted me. I think I know where I want to go with it, but I now need to read about 20-30 more books and let my ideas congeal.
So in the meantime, I need a blog series to “fill the gap.”
Since I used to be a hyper 5-point Calvinist, but slowly rejected Calvinism over a period of about 15 years, I have always wanted to write a series of posts in which I take the passages used to support Calvinism and show how I understand these texts.
I would not write these posts to be contentious or to rile people up. That’s not my desire or goal. I know that lots of people have questions about Calvinism, and I want to do what I can to offer my perspective.
So I am asking you if a series on Calvinism is something you would find interesting. Let me know by taking this 10 second survey below.
Thanks!
Why Cain’s Sacrifice Was Better…
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This past week we took a look at why Cain offered a sacrifice to God, and why God rejected Cain’s sacrifice, but accepted Abel’s. Here is a lighthearted perspective on why Cain’s sacrifice was better…
Why Did God Reject Cain’s Sacrifice?
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Yesterday we discussed why Cain attempted to make an offering to God in the first place. God had not yet commanded sacrifices and offerings, so why did Cain give one to God? In today’s post, we look at the question about why God rejected Cain’s sacrifice but accepted Abel’s.
Various Explanations for why God Rejected Cain’s Sacrifice
Some argue that the problem was with Cain’s offering itself.
God wants blood, we are told, and Cain brought only fruit. Only death atones for sin. Yet nothing is said anywhere in the text about this being a sin offering. And besides, later in the Pentateuch when Moses gives instructions to the Israelites about the sacrificial system, fruit and grain offerings are said to be acceptable to God.
Others take this a step further and point that Abel brought the firstfruits from his flock (whether we understand this to mean the firstborn lamb or the first batch of milk) whereas Cain brought the last portion of his harvest.
But once again, this is not something which is explicitly stated in the text. Since the flood had not yet occurred, it is unlikely that there were seasons, and so fruit would have been produced all year long.
Finally, some argue that it wasn’t fruit from the last harvest of the year (for there was no such thing), but rather, the fruit of the ground, that is, fruit that had fallen off the tree and was lying on the ground, and therefore, not the best part of the harvest.
But again, this explanation is nowhere in the text, and must be read into what is there.
So why then did God accept Abel’s offering but not Cain’s?
God seems to explain why right in the text.
He tells Cain that if he does well, he will be accepted (Genesis 4:7).
We saw yesterday that Cain was trying to give God’s fruit back to Him. God is telling Cain now that acceptance is not dependent upon giving God His fruit back.
The problem with Cain, it appears, was that he was trying to please and appease God by giving God what he thought God wanted, namely, fruit. Cain was apparently trying to manipulate God by giving God back His fruit so that God would allowing Cain and his family back into the Garden of Eden.
By offering fruit to God, Cain was trying to the savior of his family.
God gently rebukes Cain and tells him he is already accepted and loved, that nothing is required. All God wants is for Cain to live well, to do what is right. If he doesn’t do what is right, rather than being the savior of his family, Cain will fall into the same trap that his parents had fallen into, and will become prey to sin. In fact, God warns Cain that sin is already crouching at Cain’s door, seeking to devour him.
The problem with Cain’s offering wasn’t with what Cain offered. The problem was with Cain’s heart in the offering.
Why then does God accept Abel’s offering?
The text simply doesn’t say. But it seems likely that if Cain’s offering was not accepted because he was trying to please and appease God through an offering of fruit, then maybe Abel’s offering was accepted because he had no ulterior motive. He was simply following his older brother’s example.
He saw Cain give fruit, and though, “Oh, is this how we thank God for what He has provided? Okay. I will give something too.”
For Abel, the offering of the firstfruits of his flock (which was probably the first batch of milk) was an act of worship to God and a way of saying “Thank you.” He had no desire to control or manipulate God into doing something for him or for his family. This seems to be how his offering differed from Cain’s, and therefore, why his offering was accepted while Cain’s was not (cf. Heb 11:4).
And of course, we all know how the story ends. Cain, the one who wanted to save his family from their sins, ends up taking his family deeper into sin by becoming the first murderer of the human race. Despite God’s warning about sin seeking to rule over Cain, Cain becomes jealous of his brother Abel, and murders him (Genesis 4:8).
The Sacrificial System in the Bible
Genesis 4 nevertheless begins to lay the groundwork for why the sacrificial system developed and what God thought about it.
Nevertheless, when people give gifts, God is pleased to accept them if they are given with the right motive and intention. He does not want humans to give offerings in an attempt to manipulate or control Him into doing what humans want, or as a way of getting back into God’s good graces.
As God told Cain, we are already accepted. We don’t need to do anything, other than live our life the way God desires. This is what God wants.
Of course, if we do end up giving something to God out of love and thanks to God for what He has given us, God is fine with accepting it, not because He needs or wants it, but because He recognizes such offerings as the acts of worship that they are.
Why Did Cain Offer a Sacrifice to God in Genesis 4?
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Though some believe the first sacrifice in the Bible is found in Genesis 3:21, others say the first sacrifice in Scripture is one chapter later in Genesis 4 when Cain brings an offering of fruit and Abel brings the firstborn from his flock.
But just as people who view Genesis 3:21 as the first sacrifice read a lot of their theology into that verse, we also tend to read a lot of sacrificial and atonement theology into Genesis 4 which is not there. In so doing, we often miss what actually seems to be present in the text itself.
Why Did Cain Make an Offering to God?
Note first of all that nowhere in the text does God command or instruct people to bring sacrifices and offerings to Him. This practice seems to be Cain’s idea.
Why would Cain do this?
Cain, we must remember, was raised with his parents telling him the story about how they disobeyed God and were barred from the Garden of Eden.
Cain knew that the reason his parents were disciplined by God was that they had eaten forbidden fruit. He also knew that when God had explained to Adam and Eve the consequences of their sin, God had told them that the Seed of the woman would set things right (Genesis 3:15). When Eve bore her firstborn son, she named Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord” (Genesis 4:1).
From this it appears that Adam and Eve thought that Cain would be the one who would set things right and allow them to return to the Garden of Eden.
This is the story that Cain grew up with. This is the narrative that guided Cain’s life.
So it is not surprising that as he grew older, Cain looked for ways to get his family back into the Garden. Genesis 4 says that he became a tiller of the ground (Genesis 4:2), and he brought an offering of fruit to the Lord (Genesis 4:3).
Why fruit? Not because God had asked for it. God hadn’t asked for anything. Cain brought fruit because this is what his parents had taken from God.
In effect, Cain was trying to give God back His fruit.
Cain was trying to please and appease God, and hopefully, gain a way for himself and his family to reenter the Garden of Eden. He was trying to fulfill the expectations of his parents.
What about the Offering of Abel?
The text goes on to say that Abel brought an offering also, but since he was a keeper of sheep, he brought “the firstborn of his flock and of their fat” (Genesis 4:4).
We must be careful to not read sacrifice into this. The text does not say that Abel killed the firstborn of his flock. The text calls it an “offering,” which does not necessarily imply a blood sacrifice.
People get the idea of sacrifice from the text because it says that Abel also offered the fat of his flock. How could he have done this if the animal had not been killed?
Some early Jewish and Christian scholars noted that the consonants of the Hebrew word for “fat” are the same as the Hebrew word for milk and curds (Heb., ch-l-v), and so they understood this text to be saying that Abel offered milk products up to the Lord. The Jewish historian Josephus is one such source, who wrote that “Cain brought the fruits of the earth, and of his husbandry; but Abel brought milk and the first-fruits of his flocks” (Antiquities 1.2.1).
Some have also noted that the Hebrew word translated “and” could also be translated as “that is.” When this is taken into consideration as well, Genesis 4:4 could be translated this way: “Abel also brought the firstborn of his flock, that is, of their milk.”
Though some might consider such an interpretation to be far-fetched, we must ask ourselves why the text would refer to the “fat” of the flock if what God really wanted was blood. If it truly is blood sacrifice that God desires, and this is why God accepted Abel’s sacrifice over Cain’s, then wouldn’t the text have been clearer if it has emphasized the blood of the flock instead of the fat?
Furthermore, since everybody at this time were vegetarians (cf. Genesis 9:1-4), it would make no sense for Abel to think of offering a dead animal to God. What reason could there be for God to want a dead animal?
Nevertheless, no matter how we understand the offering of Abel, the real question from Genesis 4 is why God accepted Abel’s offering but rejected Cain’s. We will look at this question tomorrow.
What do you think? Do you think Abel killed an animal and gave it to God? Other than tradition, why do you think so?
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