Somebody Else’s Mail (3)

Before we dive further into our sequential exposition of the Psalms, it’s probably a good time to set out what my objective is in devoting every Saturday for more than the next three years, Lord willing, to one of the longest books in the Bible.

An aside: You may be surprised to realize Psalms is not the lengthiest by any standard other than total chapters and verses. I was. It’s actually third-longest. By Hebrew word count, both Jeremiah and Genesis exceed Psalms by a fair margin. (Translating Hebrew poetry into English apparently requires more words than does prose. The original is quite succinct.)

In any case, it’s a very long book and a major project. Why invest the time?

Too Hot to Handle: Empty-Somethings

In which our regular writers toss around subjects a little more volatile than usual.

The Telegraph reports an Italian court has ordered a divorced father to pay child support for his 28-year-old son, who has already meandered through one degree in literature and has now enrolled in a post-graduate course in experimental cinema.

Tom: I bring this up, Immanuel Can, because this is not an isolated case. Most parents have not been nailed for child support, but many all over the world have their adult sons and daughters living in their homes well into their thirties and beyond.

The phenomenon has a name in Italy. They call it bamboccioni, which essentially means “chubby children”. You had what I thought was a better idea, IC. How about “empty-somethings”?

Who’s Running This Place Anyway?

Churches today need leaders — badly. And biblically speaking, that means they need elders.

“Elder” doesn’t necessarily mean ancient but it does mean spiritually mature, so some age and experience are required, of course.

Unfortunately, spiritually mature people are in short supply these days. I fear that the majority of my generation, the currently middle-aged, didn’t spend much of their youth reading the Bible or seeking spiritual growth opportunities. Consequently, those now in the best age group to be selected as elders to lead the churches are not quite up to the task.

But churches still need leadership.

The Rod Revisited

The writer of a recent article in Canada’s National Post is troubled by a report that about 20% of parents aged 18 through 42 still spank their children. “Is that even legal?” asks Sharon Kirkey. Thankfully, I’m well past the age where I have to wonder if that insistent knocking on my door is Children’s Aid making a friendly visit, but research shows corporal punishment was not just an acceptable option in my generation. It remains acceptable today, especially among those who were themselves spanked as children.

Now, that’s interesting. It strongly suggests those who have actually experienced spanking believe it has its merits.

The End of All Argument

Is Jesus Christ a created being? Orthodoxy says no, the heretics say yes, and the argument has been going on for centuries. Even today, Jehovah’s Witnesses will plainly tell you, “God created Jesus before creating Adam.” One of the most common texts employed to attempt to demonstrate Christ’s ‘createdness’ is John 3:16, along with other verses in the New Testament that use the word monogenēs [“only begotten” in the familiar language of the KJV]. John uses the term four times.

The reasoning is that if Jesus was “begotten”, then there had to be a point before which he did not exist.

Anonymous Asks (403)

“How should a Christian respond to unreciprocated romantic interest?”

Christians are called to love one another, but it’s a very specific kind of love. “Just as I have loved you,” the Lord Jesus told his disciples, “you are to love one another.” That was the “new commandment” he gave them, and one of its purposes was to identify Christ’s followers to the world. “By this all people will know that you are my disciples.”

If the love the Lord commanded and commended is like his own, it should be obvious there is no element of romance in it.

What Constitutes Biblical Evidence?

“The Bible gives clear, direct guidance on many topics of morality, but not on birth control. Thus, any inferences from the Bible are opinions and not Biblical evidence.”

Where the subject of the morality of birth control is concerned, this quote from the Christian Bible Reference Site is probably as good a place as any to start.

The question it raises in my mind may be framed different ways. One way: Are direct commands from God our only real source of unambiguous moral guidance? Another way: Do inferences drawn from established biblical principles really constitute such an ephemeral and debatable source of spiritual direction that God may as well have given us nothing at all to go on?

In short, what exactly constitutes legitimate biblical evidence?

Somebody Else’s Mail (2)

I have a second introductory post coming next week, but I’m eager to get going, so let’s just jump in.

The author of Psalm 1 is unknown. Naturally, most scholars attribute these first six verses to David. For me, that’s a bit like the answers you get from ten-year-olds in Sunday School to questions about who did this or that in the Bible: they always guess either “God” or “Jesus”. Kids are not stupid. Those odds are usually better than 50/50; that’s just how Sunday Schools roll. Hopefully, they think, there’s something better at stake than yet another pencil. Maybe so do the scholars.

Too Hot to Handle: To Debate or Not to Debate

In which our regular writers toss around subjects a little more volatile than usual.

Kristin Howerton thinks evangelicals need to rethink our response to the gay marriage issue. “Is the debate over gay marriage what we want to be known for?” she asks:

“Do these squabbles speak love? Does the loud and passionate protestation about same-sex marriage draw others to Christ?”

Tom: Good questions, Immanuel Can. Is there any easy answer? Or is this a debate where both sides may have legitimate concerns?

Inbox: Have I Got a Deal for You

Alison writes:

“Something [has] been bothering me for a really long time. Everybody says, ‘Read the book of Job for comfort, blah blah blah’, but look at Job 1:8.

‘Have you considered my servant Job?’ The speaker is God.

OMG did you get that?!?! It was YHVH who pointed Job out to the Adversary in the first place! He might as well have said, ‘Sic him, Satan!’ ”

[Throws hands in the air and wonders what it’s all about anyway]

That’s a big question, Alison. And though your wording may jar some readers, I think that at the end of the day, it’s actually quite a fair one.

The Claims of Christ and the Issue of the Week

A single line from Doug Wilson’s most recent fake letter to a Jewish man grappling with the Christian faith leapt off the screen at me this morning. It was this: “Jesus did not rise from the dead because Sandi is beautiful, and He did not remain in the grave to keep your parents from having to grieve.”

That’s not going to make a whole lot of sense to you if you haven’t read the post. It doesn’t really need to. Doug’s point was that people have all kinds of personal issues, problems, conflicts, needs and desires that Jesus Christ can address and satisfy. But Christians are unwise to present him to the world as merely a “fix” for their personal issue of the week, month or even lifetime.

That’s not first and foremost who he is or why we preach the gospel.

Privilege and Responsibility

“Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.”

The situation is as follows, and you have probably seen it many times. I have.

A married man comes to faith in Christ. His wife is not quite there yet in her thinking, and she may never be. How should that new believer look at his existing domestic arrangements? What does the Bible have to say about that?

The situation could just as easily be reversed, and often is. I have seen more wives than husbands saved first over the years. Perhaps women are easier to engage in conversation.

Anonymous Asks (402)

“Is it wrong to be pessimistic?”

The New Testament epistles have much to say about Christian joy. Paul mentions it six times in each of 2 Corinthians and Philippians, and five times in 1 Thessalonians. Our joy is one of the ways the world know we are different. Peter, John, Jude, the writer to the Hebrews and even grumpy old James mention joy too. By my count, that’s every NT letter. Joy should characterize the Christian life.

Of course, joy is not mere optimism. It’s far more than that.

The Eternal Perspective

“I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

I think it’s fair to say God rarely gets a fair shake from any but his own.

If any being in all the cosmos has ever been so second-guessed, given zero benefit of the doubt, or had the worst of all possible motives attributed to him, it is the Creator and Sustainer of our universe. Some of the more vicious attacks on God’s character are merely laughable when closely analyzed. We easily dismiss them as ignorant blathering.

Other critiques feel like they might have more substance. The Christian attempting a defense for his faith finds himself with a difficult task.