Liberating you from bad ideas about God
Stop relying on pastors and Bible teachers to tell you what the Bible means.
Read this book and learn to study the Bible for yourself. Available now on Amazon.
The book discussion questions with each chapter to make it perfect for a home study group. There is also a LONG appendix on how to understand the violent passages in Scripture.
I know that “there is no fear in love, for perfect love drives out fear” but is there “fear in faith”?
Some might say that “If you believe in God and believe that God is love, then you won’t be afraid to do what He asks.”
That sounds great, until God actually asks you to do something risky…
Then there is great quaking in the boots.
Have you ever experienced this, or is it just me? What has God asked you to do recently that caused great fear and took great risk?
I have been studying the doctrine of hell recently, and by coincidence, ran across the following video.
The quality is pretty bad, but you don’t really need the images to get the… horror of it… Not the horror of hell, but the horror that Christians would use such tactics to try to scare people into heaven.
What makes it worse is that this video is obviously geared toward High School Students. The video is called “A Letter from Hell.”
Yikes!
I recently heard of a church that at a Youth Rally had 100% conversion. The speaker passed out little pieces of paper and had everyone write their name on their paper. Then he brought up two garbage cans, and in one, put some paper and lighter fluid and lit the thing on fire. Then he told the kids that the flaming trashcan represented hell, and the other represented heaven. He had the kids line up, and pass by the cans putting their piece of paper in the can where they wanted to go when they died…
Amazingly, not a single kid put his name in the flaming can! Instead, everyone wanted to go to heaven. The church reported that 100% of the kids at the rally were converted.
Now that’s evangelism success.
…Or is it?
Last week, Mark Driscoll tweeted that all unbelievers are going to hell.
https://twitter.com/PastorMark/status/421674123132416000
Thanks for clearing that up, Mark. We wondered where you stood on this issue and am glad you gave the watching world yet another reason to realize how kind and loving we Christians are…
But seriously, Mark’s point was that it is loving to tell people they are going to hell.
I know, I have heard the arguments:
If a man was about to drive his car off a cliff, the loving thing to do is to warn him. So also with hell. If a person is headed for hell, the loving thing to do is warn them.
If that’s true, then why did Jesus talk about hell so little? Why is it rarely (if ever) mentioned by Paul or Peter? The New Testament authors do not try to scare people into heaven with threats of hell.
OK, some of you Bible scholars are thinking to yourself, “Jeremy doesn’t read his Bible. Doesn’t he know that Jesus talks about hell more than He talks about heaven?”
Yes, I know that this is what some people claim. But it simply isn’t true. The passages where Jesus mentions “weeping and gnashing of teeth” are not talking about hell, but about profound regret for a life poorly lived that some Christians will experience at the Judgment Seat of Christ (cf. Matt 8:12; 22:11-13). Most of the references to “fire” in Jesus’ teaching are not about hell, but about some sort of temporal divine discipline; not eternal conscious torment.
I think maybe the only place Jesus talks about hell is with the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (which is likely a parable), and when Jesus says that hell was made for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41), and sadly, some people end up there as well.
…Speaking of which…. if hell was made for the devil and his angels, why are they on the earth now? Hmmm…. simmer on that one for a while.
Look, when Jesus, Paul, Peter, John and everyone else in the New Testament sought to invite people into the family of God, they did it winsomely. They didn’t threaten or coerce. God does not force people to love Him. God does not rape.
Even in the early church, people became Christians because they saw how loving and generous the Christians were (see Acts 2-3).
Look, people are never going to truly respond to the Gospel if you tell them that unless they accept Jesus they will be going to hell. Many people are already living in hell, and they think God has done this to them, and another such threat from God only reinforces there idea of this angry God up in the clouds who is out to kill and hurt them. Do we seriously want people to “come to Jesus” with this sort of picture of God in their minds?
No!
Not only because it doesn’t “work” but more importantly, because it isn’t true!
God looks like Jesus, and Jesus always loves people into the Kingdom.
You know what is really loving? Not warning people that if they don’t believe in Jesus they will go to hell. That’s not loving, nor does it draw anyone to God or into His Kingdom.
What is really loving is living in such a way that people notice a difference in your life. They see your joy, your grace, your generosity, and your patience in trials. They never sense judgment coming from you, but only acceptance and love. If given the opportunity, you can use words to invite people to follow Jesus with you, and experience the true contentment, peace, and joy that comes from living in such a way.
That is loving, and best of all, it’s true.
One important part of being the church in your community is to welcome new people to the neighborhood. In this post, Sam Riviera reminds us of the importance of welcoming new people, and provides some suggestions for how you can welcome new people to your area.
Have you ever been the new person or family on your block, at church or at work? Did anyone welcome you?
When we moved into our current home several years ago, there were two pastors, one seminary dean, one Christian college professor and one Buddhist who all lived within half a block of us. Which one welcomed us? Of course it was the Buddhist! We eventually had to introduce ourselves to the others.
That experience helped us decide that as followers of Jesus we should be the first ones to welcome new people, whether it be to our neighborhood, our church, our workplace or even social groups to which we belong. But how? How could we welcome people in a non-threatening way that almost everyone would accept?
One approach we discovered that has never been rejected the many hundreds of times we have used it is a freshly baked, slightly warm plate of cookies. I use this recipe (try them today!):
List of Ingredients
Instructions
Chop the nuts and Heath bars. Preheat the oven to 375. Lightly spray two 12 x 17 heavy duty aluminum baking sheets with cooking spray.
Melt butter. Empty box of cake mix into a large mixing bowl. Add vanilla to melted butter and stir. Add butter and eggs to cake mix and stir until completely mixed. Immediately add chocolate chips, nuts and Heath bars. Stir until completely mixed.Evenly divide to make twelve cookies per baking sheet. (If you don’t eat half the dough!) Drop by spoonfulls onto the baking sheets and flatten slightly with your hand.
Place cookies on two oven racks near middle of the oven. Bake 8 minutes, then turn pans. Bake five to seven minutes more, until golden brown. Time varies according to your oven.
After you remove the cookies from the oven, cool one to two minutes max on the baking sheet and then loosen with a spatula, or they will stick. Cool the pan a few minutes longer on a wire rack, then remove cookies and place on wax paper to cool.
We buy heavy duty plastic dinner plates (the type with no dividers), and place eight to twelve large, fresh cookies on the plate, and then cover it with clear plastic wrap.
My wife and I both go to the new people’s house and knock on their door. When the people answer the door, we say “Hello, we’re the Riviera’s. We want to welcome you to the neighborhood, so we brought you a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies.”
If the people invite us in, we reply, “We know you weren’t expecting us and we weren’t planning to come in.” (Especially if they’re just moving in, their house may be messy, which may embarrass them.) If they insist, we reply, “OK, but we won’t stay long.”
When we deliver cookies to a new neighbor we ask if they are new to San Diego. If they are we offer to help if they need to find a new doctor, plumber, or whatever.
We also offer to help them meet their new neighbors, and give them our phone number so they can call us if they have questions about San Diego or the neighborhood.
Even if your neighbors didn’t just move in, it’s never too late to take a plate of warm cookies to neighbors you don’t know and introduce yourself.
Maybe when you moved to a new area, no one welcomed you to the neighborhood. This happens all the time.
You move into a new neighborhood and the neighbors don’t seem to notice.
If this happens, once you’ve unpacked (assuming that doesn’t take years), a warm plate of cookies is a good way to introduce yourselves to your neighbors, even if you’re the new people on the block. Also, asking them about recommended doctors, plummers, electricians, or community events is a good way to get them talking about the neighborhood and the town.
Want to be the church in your community but don't know? Here are some posts which not only explain what it means to be the church in your community, but also gives concrete, practical examples of what it looks like and how to be the church whatever you do and wherever you go.
Remember, you ARE the church, and wherever you go, Jesus goes with you!
There is a popular Bible training DVD called “Learn the Bible in 24 Hours.” I highly recommend it, as it does a pretty good job summarizing the story and themes of Scripture in 24 1-hour segments.
But guess what? I can summarize the Bible in 24 words…
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your strength, and your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Of course, this isn’t MY summary. It comes from Jesus. He used slightly different words in various places in the Gospels, but this is the basic gist of how Jesus summarized the entire Bible (cf. Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10:27-28).
Of course, do we Christians really believe that Jesus was right? It often seems that we do not. We often seem so intent on believing the right things, and knowing the right things, and doing the right things, and forcing other people to believe, know, and do the right things also, that we neglect to actually show love.
Which begs the question… What does it matter if I am an expert in Bible trivia, can speak to angels in my prayers, and can quote a thousand Bible verses, but have not love? Have I understood the first thing about Scripture? I think not.
What benefit is there to attending church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, and a Bible study on Friday night, if I have not love? Have I understood the first thing about God? I think not.
If I can perform miracles and cast out demons and get politicians to jump at my every word, but have not love, am I truly following Jesus? I think not.
Pastors and seminary professors today bemoan the fact that Christians are biblically illiterate, and they do everything they can to teach people more about the Bible.
I say the problem is not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of love. And to love God and love others, you don’t need Bible studies and sermons, books and podcasts, or Reverends and Ph.D.s.
Learning the Bible is important, but learning the Bible doesn’t help you love; loving helps you learn the Bible. We study the Scripture, not simply to learn what it says, but to learn better how to love. This means that if you have no intention of trying to show tangible love to your friends, neighbors, and coworkers, then you have no reason to study the Bible. Where there is no love, the study of Scripture is nothing more than an empty religious exercise.
So you want to learn the Bible? Start by loving others.
The Christian crusades of the Middle Ages were one of the greatest evils ever carried on in the history of the world. Oh, I know, I know. It was nothing compared to the holocaust, right? The crusades were just wars where one country was trying to get land from another country, right?
Wrong.
I would argue that the crusades were worse than the holocaust and all other wars. Why? Because the crusades were carried out in the name of Jesus and under the banner of the church. Though numerous evils occur in this world, they become exponentially more evil when done in the name of Jesus.
Which is worse? Rape, or raping someone in the name of Jesus? It does happen. Some men treat their wives like crap, and then when the woman doesn’t want to sleep with him, he rapes her, quoting 1 Corinthians 7:4-5: “The wife does not have authority over her own body; but the husband does,” and “Do not deprive one another…”
Which is worse? Killing babies, or killing them in the name of Jesus? Again, this happens also. We have all read news stories about parents who kill their children because they thought Jesus was telling them to do so. That is not Jesus; that is pure evil.
Which is worse? Going to war, or going to war in the name of Jesus? War is bad enough, but when we go forward to kill and conquer others for the cause of Christ, we are not following Jesus but the devil instead.
So I was shocked and outraged to learn about a new “Crusade” that is starting to take place in Uganda under the guise of Christianity and bearing the name of Jesus. It is a new “Holy War” for Jesus where Christians are going out to kill other people because those people live a certain way. And before we too quickly blame African Christians for such barbaric behavior, it is American Christians who are going over to Africa to teach and encourage the Christians there to engage in this bloody and murderous crusade.
There is a documentary coming out this week about this newest Christian crusade. It is called “God Loves Uganda.” Here is the preview:
I have looked at some of the comments on this video on other blogs, and it is shocking to me how some Christians try to defend what is going on in Africa at the hands of Christians.
I read one person who said, “They’re gay and under the curse of God!” WHAT? Even if that were true (it isn’t), that gives you the right to kill them? Such an idea is Satanic.
Another person said that what the Ugandan Christians were doing is nothing compared to what the Muslims are doing or what Kony is doing. So…. our standards of behavior are now Muslim extremists and Kony? Whatever happened to following the ways of Jesus?
Look, I am sure there are extenuating circumstances in Uganda that I know nothing about. I am sure that the makers of this film had some sort of agenda. I am sure that some of the people who kill others in the name of Jesus are not really Christians.
But I don’t care about any of that.
As long as there are Christians who teach people to hate others because of their lifestyle, politics, or skin color, there must be other Christians who stand up and denounce such behavior as having absolutely nothing to do with Jesus Christ or His church.
If you want to read more about this film and it’s director, Roger Ross Williams, I recommend an interview he did here with the Sundance Film Festival. Here is one thing he said:
It’s OK to believe that homosexuality is not God’s way, but it’s not OK to condone or support or even look the other way when there’s violence against LGBT people. Many of the Evangelicals who are missionaries in Uganda, even though they’re not directly participating in violence, will look the other way and pretend it’s not happening. If you’re a Christian you don’t condone violence against anyone, but they’re not standing up. American Evangelicals have a huge amount of influence in Uganda.
I do not know if there were Christians who stood up and condemned the Crusades against the Muslims in the Middle Ages, but I, for one, stand up and condemn the Crusade against Gays in our own day. Where do you stand?
