Why do we read the Bible?

I just finished a book called Reading the Bible For All The Wrong Reasons. It was an interesting book on why we read the Bible and how many of us use the Bible for abuse rather than to build each other up.

By abuse we use the Bible to support those things we already believe. We proof text to find the nugget of information to support our thoughts. Even if we have to take that nugget out of context. We have long held beliefs of Biblical authority and of the text being inspired by God and being with out error. The Bible contradicts itself way to many times though according to the author for this to hold water. How can an all knowing and powerful God give us His divinely inspired work that contradicts itself? Why would He do this?

Plus the Bible has been used to hold down women, homosexuals and many others. There is the backing in the Bible to support interracial marriage being wrong. We chose to uphold something’s while ignoring or writing off others. The Bible says not to sow different types of seeds in the same field, or to wear garments of mixed fibers or to eat pork or shrimp or especially bacon wrapped shrimp… (personally I think not eating Bacon wrapped Shrimp should be a sin!)

Why do we think we can say the Bible says it and therefore we have to do it. And allow that to hold true for somethings and not for others.

The Bible is suppose to be a boon that brings us closer to God. The Bible is a book that grabs us and pulls us in, not a boom we grab and hold up against someone to measure how good they are.

So why do you read through Bible? Is it to be grab and filled with the Spirit to be brought closer to God? Or is it to prove what you think you already know and to bring you up and others down?

Trust in the Lord

In what do you trust? Do you trust in wealth? Do you trust in the amount of money you make and how much you have saved for the future? Is this security? When the dollar keeps falling and banks can close or be robbed?

Do you trust in the security of your job? Is there such a thing as job security? Any one can lose their job at anytime and be replaced. None of us our irreplaceable.

Is there absolutely security in anything? Can we trust in anything? Yes we can. God who is faithful and just. He will follow through on the promises He has given us. We see that in the Bible. How He has given His promise and He has followed through on that promise. Time and time again He is faithful.

We can trust in Him and not waiver in that because He is faithful and just, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

So put your trust in the Lord and I promise you will not be let down.

What have you read

Today’s gospel lesson has the Sadducees trying to trap Jesus. You see they do not believe in the resurrection of the dead so asking if a man dies and leaves a childless wife then she marries the dead man’s brother and on and on until the all die, so whose wife is she in the resurrection? You see they do not believe we are resurrected. So why trap Jesus?

But it is them who get trapped. Jesus tells them they do not know God or the scriptures, we read the Bible all the time, but do we actually understand what we read? Or do we read to support what we already believe? Or do we only comprehend or retain what we read that supports what we believe?

So what have you read? Did you actually let the Bible live in you and breath through you, or did you look for what you needed? The Bible is the living breathing word of God and we need to let it breath in and through us to fill us, not use it as a place to get the answers we seek…

The Lions Den

Daniel 6 tells us about Daniel’s trip into the lions den.

Daniel was not liked by those who wanted his place. People around him were envious of him and his position with the king, so they moved in to get rid of him. They were caught up in the things of the world. They wanted the prestige and the power that came with the right hand man position of the king. They were willing to do anything to get that position. They did not know God. But sometimes in our day there are people who know God but are so hung up in getting their worldly due they will twist what God has said to ift them and tar others down.

We can live in the lions den, and we can put others in the lions den. Sometimes we lose sight of what God has called us to do and we get caught up in the beauty and riches this world offers us.
We need to stay focused on God. We need to trust in thee promises that we are told and know that God will follow through and be there for us. Just as He was to Daniel.

So do not get hung up on those around you making life a little harder, and throwing the road blocks out there. Remain focused on God and what He has called you to do. Also remain focused on what God has called you to do, so that you are not the one throwing others in the lions den.

Love or hate…

So what does it mean to love another believer? How do we love someone we do not agree with?

You see not all believers agree. And this is really nothing new, we see disagreements in Acts. The early church has issues with each other and who could be a christian, and wether you needed to be circumcised before you can be a follower of Christ…

Today we disagree over age of baptism, age of communion, frequency of communion. We disagree about what the Bible says about alot of topics. Some we stick hard to what the Bible says while some we let slide what the Bible says. For instance according to the Hebrew scriptures we are not to eat shrimp or bacon, but I love bacon and shrimp and especially bacon wrapped shrimp. So we are not that keen on keeping these things not allowed by the Bible, but homosexuality is right out because the Bible says it is wrong….

How can we love a brother/sister in Christ if we hate who they are? The sin committed is not the person is what some will say. We can hate the sin and love the sinner. But what if the sin being committed have no choice to do what they do? How do you hate the sin and love the sinner when they are linked and can not be separated?

1 John 2:3-11 tells us if we say we are light but hate our brother we are not light but darkness, and are leading people astray. We can no come down on someone for who they are or what they do and follow after Christ. Even Jesus Himself said that He did not come to judge, but to love. People would be judged by wether they followed what He taught or not, but He did not come to judge, He came to give us an example.

So live like Jesus and love everyone and show them how much God loves them.

Doubting who?

Today is low Sunday in the church, or the lowest attended Sunday in worship…

Why? I heard an excellent message this morning in worship that touched on this. Pastor Amy Danchik this morning said people come to worship on Christmas and Easter because they know they are going to hear the good news of Jesus and how we all are accepted and we all can have grace, and we all can get mercy, and everything is wonderful because of Jesus. But then on this Sunday, the Sunday that somewhere along the way got named Doubting Thomas Sunday we will hear that we are not good enough and our sin is over whelming and  we just aren’t good enough. She continued that none of us are ever good enough and if it was contingent on us having it all together before we came to church the building would be empty including the pulpit! It was a powerful message of the understanding of who we are and why Jesus came to earth. It was the “necessity of the incarnation” she said and told us that we all are loved by God just the way we are.

There were many things in Pastor Amy’s message that resonated with me. And she made me feel loved by God and acceptable to be used in mission with Him in the world.

You see today has been dubbed Doubting Thomas Sunday which is sad.  First of all doubting does not appear in the original language of John 20:19-31. And this dubious name has setup doubting to be the opposite of faith and that is simply not true.

Plus a close look at the text shows us that Thomas asked for no more than the disciples themselves got. Jesus appeared to them in the locked room and said “Peace be with you” and what happened? The disciples looked at Him in awe and were dumb founded, or they gasped, or they looked on in unbelief, or what? Obviously Jesus knew something was up, because the next thing John writes is and He showed them His hands and His side, and then they rejoiced. The disciples didn’t believe it until they saw what Thomas asked to see! And we say that  Thomas was doubting! The disciples saw Jesus standing among them in a room where the door was locked and they do not know who it is?

Plus there is the issue of the wording….

The NRSV has Jesus saying to Thomas ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Do not doubt but believe! This is not what the original Greek says.  Now it is true that one could possibly rend this statement this way. I personally believe though that this causes undue stress on doubt and sets all of us up for making ourselves crazy over doubting too much. The actual sentence is  καὶ μὴ γίνου ἄπιστος ἀλλὰ πιστός  The word there that is translated doubt is apistos which is the opposite of pistos.  The sentence in a strict translation is ‘and not become you unbelieving but believing’, or ‘and not become you unfaithful but faithful’, or ‘and not become you untrusting but trusting’. It is not doubt vs belief. Doubt is not the opposite of belief. Doubt in my mind makes my belief, my faith, my trust stronger. Doubt allows me to question and seek our answers to my faith issues, problems are solved by the doubt that arises, and I am drawn closer to God in my doubt.

Thomas asked for nothing more than the disciples got, and we all want, so who needs to be questioned, or called out. And notice, Jesus did not reprimand Thomas, He gave him what he sought. And told him to trust, have faith, and believe.

So don’t get caught up in your doubt. Have it push you closer to Jesus, and trust, have faith and believe!

Jesus was a puppet…

Are you a puppet? Of course we do not want to think that we are a puppet, we have free will, and decide our own future, our own actions. We are not controlled by anyone or anything!

I am my own person and that is that! No one tell me what to do or how to do it.

Well last night a read a book about how free will is an illusion and we are all actually making decisions based on our genes, our upbringing, our life to this point, so therefore we are really not in control of our actions. Not sure I believe everything I read but the author made nice logical arguments. But am I really in control of my life? Of my decisions?

One could say yes, you are in control, and you can decide what to do. But I want us to think about how nice it is to be a puppet, as long as we are controlled by the right source…

You see in John 12:44-50 Jesus talks about how the things He says are not His own, and whoever who sees Him sees not Him but thee one who sent Him, and He is a light that points to something greater. He is the light to illume this dark world, because He does not do anything but what He is told to do. Jesus is was a puppet, under the control of the Father. Now do not crucify me for saying Jesus was a puppet. He did what the Father wanted Him to do even when He may not have wanted to, remember the garden where He asked the Father to remove the cup from Him? He may not have wanted to do all that He was told to do (this ring true with me too!!!), but He knew that what the Father wanted was the best. So He did not question, and did as He was told, or knew He had to.

So take control of your life by handing the strings over to your creator and let Him guide you and control you through life. Doing what He leads you to, as you know that it is the best thing to do and be a puppet like Jesus.

together in unity…

Psalm 133 tells us “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!”

How true that is! Aren’t things more pleasant when everyone is getting along? Ever been to a family gathering where everyone knew there was a huge pink elephant in the room no one was willing to mention? Everyone tip toed around the issue and never brought it up, because it would make the gathering unpleasant.

On the other hand though have you ever been in a gathering where that same huge pink elephant was there, and people were willing and able to talk about it. Not that they agreed on how to handle or deal with the elephant, but were united in understanding and handling the elephant.  You see the thing the psalmist says is things are pleasant and good when people are united. Unity and agreement are not the same thing! We do not have to completely agree with each other to live in unity. This is something we forget, or completely over look. We think if someone disagrees with us we can not live in unity with them. We do not agree so there is no unity. No that is not true. We are unified in the cross of Christ. Even if we can not agree on whether it is right to eat shrimp, or pork, or catfish, or crab. Personally I think it is a sin to not eat bacon wrapped shrimp, or bacon wrapped anything for that matter. And what if we don’t agree on sexuality, we are still united in the cross of Christ. We do not have to agree on everything. We need to live in unity, not always agree.

How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!

To what are you devoted?

What is it that keeps you going?

What is the center of your life?

What is the thing that is the focus of your life?

I love this passage of scripture from Acts 2:42-47. There are many congregations that claim to be an Acts 2:42 congregation.  They devote themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer…  This is a wonderful thing to devote yourself to…

Verse 42 tells us to what the early gathering of believers was devoted to, and verses 43-47 tell us what happened because of the devotion of verse 42. The early gathering was devoted to the teaching of the apostles, to being together in fellowship, to breaking bread (eating together and celebrating communion) and to prayer, and because of this awe filled them. All gave what they had and everything was held in common by the apostles. No one horded their belongings they gave them up! And anyone who was in need was taken care of because there was no selfishness or hording of what is mine. They spent time together in temple and ate together and was joyous about it all. And God added to their numbers daily!

I love that last line. You see, we can not bring anyone to God. We can only live the way God and Jesus have asked us to live. We need to be a disciple of Jesus, and live together will all people in fellowship, and give to them as God gave to us and break bread together, worship together, and pray together.  When we do these things God will add to our numbers.  We can not have great programs and wow factor and bring people to God.  It won’t happen. Acts 2:47 is clear that God does the addition! God brings the people, through them seeing how we live.

So to what are you devoted? And what does you life point people to?

Go tell…

Today’s reading is the same reading we had for the gospel on Easter morning, the true ending to the gospel of Mark 16:1-8.

The women approach the tomb, and are wondering who will move the stone back for them, and when they get there it is already rolled away. The angel tells them that Jesus is not here that He has risen, just like He said He would and He will meet y’all in Galilee. This is all the story we know, and we have heard, but what about the details we miss?

First off, as the women approach the tomb, it is Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. I have a problem with this reference. Isn’t Mary the mother of James the mother of Jesus? So why is she not refereed to as Mary the mother of Jesus? Why is Mark not speaking to this?

And later when the angel tells these women to go and tell he says, “But go, tell His disciples and Peter…” Is Peter not a disciple? I mean he did just deny Christ 3 times, so maybe he isn’t a disciple. That worries me though because how many times have I denied Christ? So can I be a disciple?

The best part of this reading is the ending, they ran away in fear! Just like we would have! And the truly best part is this end is not an end, but a step in the story that is the Beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

You and I my friend are living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ everyday and adding o the story that Mark began in writing to show forth the love of God. The world will kill us on a cross, but God will raise us to new life, so go and tell of the wonderful mercy and grace waiting for those who will come.