What Faith Does!

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. -Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)

The above verse is a majestic translation as only the King James Version can deliver, but the wording to the modern reader can be somewhat misleading. The verse is not trying to reveal what faith is, but rather what it does. There are two aspects of faith revealed in this verse, one for the here and now and the other for the future.

In the here and now, faith provides us with the evidence, or more accurately put, a conviction of things not seen. Noone has seen Christ since the apostles, but by faith we can know through their testimony the reality of Him and His work. Christ himself said we are blessed because of this faith. Jesus speaking to Thomas says:

"Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." -John 20:29 (NASB)

For the future, faith provides us with the substance, or better stated an assurance of a future hope to be with Him. Jesus speaking:

"I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." -John 14:2b-3 (NASB)

Put another way, Paul says the following to the Church at Rome:

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. -Romans 8:22-25

Faith provides the believer with a conviction of the unseen present reality of our salvation through Christ's work and an assurance of a future hope to be with Him!

Just Read "Schizophrenic Christianity"

Many may have read the recently released book entitled "UnChristian", by David Kinnaman which addressed how Christianity is broadly viewed by both saved and unsaved in society, with emphasis on the unsaved. Backed by studies by the Barna Group, it provided some interesting insights into what those surveyed think and it is probably fair to say its conclusions leaned in the direction of the emergent church movement. The work has not been without its critics who point out that judging the Christian message and methods by views of the unsaved is like polling PETA on how hunters could better hunt. But I thought the read was worth it if for no other reason than to have a better understanding of how the message is being interpreted. Now another book is on the scene which will probably cause no small stir in the Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) community.

I don't do this often, but I preempted my current reading/writing projects and read the just released book by Jeri Massi entitled "Schizophrenic Christianity." Rather than analyzing Christianity as a whole from the outside, Massi's work looks at a specific sect from the perspective of another protestant group. In summary, she uses actual case studies of pastors accused, indicted or convicted of inappropriate sexual behavior to provide practical examples of how the IFB movement is not self policing itself to ensure those guilty are removed from their positions, and not providing for mechanisms to track these individuals as they move from church to church. She explores the patterns of behavior these individuals use to gain trust, move into positions of leadership and create for themselves environments where little or no accountability or redress for grievances exists. She explains how fundamentalism today has drifted theologically from its beginnings consistant with historic Christian belief.

Having been a part of an IFB church for many years and seen first hand the disastrous consequences of an abuse situation unfold, I found much of her research is pretty accurate as far as how she described the actions of leadership and laity both prior to and during a situation such as that. From previous course work, I understood the group dynamics involved with authoritarian leadership styles often found in the IFB movement, but I found her work provided more in depth information as to why the dynamics happened as they did.

She did a good job overall of providing opposing viewpoints for given behaviors, but in a few area her criticisms of the IFB movement are clearly impacted by her knowledge of organizational structures within her own branch of protestantism. She is now a member of a Reformed Presbyterian church, an organization with a hierarchical structure that extends beyond the local church body. As such it would clearly have processes and procedures to exert influence over a local church body that fundamental independent local churches would not have. Her contention is that a better job could still be done, and I think she is right, but as she points out in her work, it is not something that can be readily done in the current hyper-independent environment.

This work is also not without its critics who voice their opinions often at www.fundamentalforums.com (FFF), with some saying she is overly critical of the IFB movement and does not apply the same veracity to problems in other branches of protestantism. For more on these and other objections, the FFF is the place to go.

Overall, I found it to be an informative book and an easy read considering the breadth of material. Some subject matter, while tastily done, may not be appropriate for school age readers.

A Lesson From The Axehead

“They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axehead fell into the water. “Oh, my lord,” he cried out, “it was borrowed!” The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. “Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.”

- 2 Kings 6:4b-7 (NIV)

To the Jewish culture, the Jordan was never considered a sacred river, like the Nile was to the Egyptians, for example. It was something crossed at significant times indicating profound change and challenges for a person or people with their walk with God. God has had some of us cross the Jordan in our spiritual lives, but sometimes we are just brought to the Jordan, to be reminded of how great God is. One such case is preserved in the scripture above, involving Elisha and a company of prophets.

They went to the Jordan to build some kind of dwelling, perhaps a meeting place. In the process of this work, an axehead, something of great value was lost. Iron was a new technology at this point in time, and as such, tools made of this material were expensive and few could own them.

The scripture above indicates this particular tool had been borrowed for the work at hand. The loss of this tool brought about great despair to the one responsible for its care, for if it could not be found, he may have had to work off the debt; a most unsettling prospect. We see this despair as he cries out to that great man, Elisha.

The tool was lost in the Jordan, a river that for the most part, does not have gently slopping banks as we are often accustomed to. One who steps in is immediately up to their shoulders in water, and often fast moving water at that. A man who steps in could be at great risk.

Elisha, as great a man as he was, could no more find the axehead than any other man present that day, but he was a faithful servant of the one who could. Upon inquiry by Elisha, the man points to the spot in the river where the precious item was lost. With faith, Elisha cut down a stick and threw it in the water, and the axehead floated. All the man who had lost the tool had to do was reach out and take it. What a mighty God we have!

We too, if we are not careful, can fall into the very same kind of despair at the Jordan's in our life. When we can't help ourselves we must remember the cross, for there we can find one who can, if we only have faith and reach out.

An Interesting Quote

I found the following in my readings from "The Portable Seminary":

The worst moment for an atheist is when he is genuinely thankful, but has nobody to thank.
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti

More Writings Added!

I finally took the time to go through some of my old college papers and have posted them in the sidebar. Keep in mind that they were originally written with the intent of meeting classroom objectives and may not drill down the various topics in extreme detail, but if nothing else I figure someone may be able to use them as a jumping off point for further study.

The paper I have started is concerned with the idea of taking up the cross. I was messing around on youtube a while back and stumbled on some clips of Gail Riplinger, a noted KJVOnlyist (an individual who believes the King James Bible is the only translation for English speaking people and any other English translation is spawned by the devil). There are many who hold a preference to a particular translation and there is nothing wrong with that, but some go on to believe that a believer cannot be saved if they use a modern translation. I have not written on the topic myself, but read what others have to say about it and heard some speakers as well and I personally don't believe the argument holds much weight, if any. I won't say much more on that that as there are a vast number of websites and books on both sides of the isle that can be referenced for a deeper study. I am a big believer in studying both sides of an issue and if you are interested in that debate, I encourage you to do the same.

Anyway, Riplinger, in the clip I saw was going on about the phrase to take up the cross in Mark 10:21, and I thought it would make a good study, from the textual, exegetical and application perspectives. I am just getting started so don't expect it next week or anything, but I believe it will make for an interesting read! :)

The Old Deacon And The Kid

I read this today at www.fundamentalforums.com from a poster named Mario and thought I would post it here...enjoy!

There is a story told about a man named Bill. He had wild hair, wore a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college. He was brilliant, kinda esoteric and very bright. He had become a Christian while attending college.

Across the street from his campus was a well-dressed, very conservative church. They wanted to develop a ministry to the students, but were not sure how to go about it. One day Bill decided to go there. He walked in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The service had already started and so Bill started down the aisle looking for a seat.

The church was completely packed and he couldn’t find a seat. At this point, people were looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one said anything. Bill got closer and closer to the pulpit and when he realized there were no seats, he just sat down on the carpet. The people became tense.

About this time, the minister realized that from way at the back of the church, a deacon was slowly making his way toward Bill. The deacon was in his eighties, had silver-gray hair, a three-piece suit, and a pocket watch. He was known as a godly man— very elegant, very dignified, and very courtly. He walked with a cane. As he started walking toward Bill, everyone was saying to themselves, “You can’t blame him for what he’s going to do. How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor?”

It took a long time for the man to reach Bill. The church was utterly silent except for the clicking of the man’s cane. All eyes were focused on him, and it was absolutely silent. And then, the people watched as the elderly man dropped his cane on the floor.

With great difficulty he lowered himself and sat down next to Bill. The deacon worshiped alongside him so he wouldn’t be alone. When the minister continued, he said, "What I’m about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget." The deacon surprised the whole congregation by choosing to worship alongside Bill. He was not concerned with worshiping in the same pew in which he’d probably worshiped for years. The tradition of the place of worship did not matter. Instead, the deacon worshiped, and he did so in spirit and truth.

When Jesus told the woman that the true worshippers must worship in spirit and truth, he made no claim as to the right place to worship or the right dress for worship. In a way, Jesus reminds us that worship is not confined to these four walls, that true worship takes place whenever we see and feel the work of the Holy Spirit in and around us.

New Writings Links Added

I have added some links to material I wrote, the most recent of which is regarding the Dead Sea Scrolls. While reading various exegetical material, I kept encountering references to the scrolls and decided to learn more about what they are about. It has been a very interesting study that I hope to do more of soon.

The other documents I added regarding Philemon and Education were papers I originally wrote while completing my B.S. degree from Colorado Christian University. I have a number of others I will be adding over the coming weeks, but this is a good start. I figure after doing so much work on them, maybe somebody else can benefit from them as I have. :)

What Is Meaning?

While reading an article some time ago, a question was asked, "Where does meaning lie-in the words of the text or in the audience reaction to the text"(Problems of Translations, by Harvey Minkoff)? I have given much thought to this question and how it relates to the study of ancient texts generally and the Bible in particular. While on the outset, the question above seems simple enough, there are many facets to it one must consider.

On one hand, there is the literary text. This text is composed at a most basic level of letters (symbols) that make up words, combined by some structured syntax into sentences and paragraphs (thoughts), that in turn combine to preserve the idea (message) the writer is trying to convey to the reader. Just bringing across a message from one language to another is difficult enough as these thoughts and symbols rarely translate in a straight forward fashion given the differing symbol patterns and thought structure. These messages come to us often from very ancient times, from languages now dead or nearly dead, and to complicate matters even further, the people who wrote them certainly had very different ways to view their morality, their communities and their place in it. We today refer to this lens of interpretation as a world view and whether you think you have one or not, you do.

A translator of a text must take all this into consideration and decide what to do, translate as close as possible word-for-word (formal translation) or do something more oriented towards ensuring the reader leaves with the same idea the original reader would have had (dynamic translation). He or she must decide, where does the meaning of the text lie.

I am new at blogging and I am not sure I will be very good at it, but I do enjoy writing and exploring issues like those above. Over the coming weeks, I hope to begin exploring some ancient texts and relaying those thought to you, and I hope after reading them you have found this area to be as interesting as I find it!