Overcoming the Exhaustion of the Exhaustive

The law is not a fun ride.

As the disciples of old concluded, it was actually quite impossible to keep. The nation of Israel had tried ... and tried ... and tried ... but never hard enough, and never with success for very long. No wonder the disciples reduced their expectations on the new Gentile converts. You might say that law-keeping had really turned out to be a failed project. Badly failed.

So, you might be forgiven if, today, with the prospect of keeping all the commandments in the Bible, Christians pull back and halt. It was bad enough when the Old Testament commandments were tried. How much worse is it to think of all the additional commandments added in the New? Fatigue sets in, even when we think of a task like that.

The law wears us out.

The Synoptic Gospels and Atonement (1)

Brace yourselves for a pair of lengthy but necessary posts. The error they address has been around for ages, but people are still circulating it online. Others have certainly pushed back against it, but we’ve never addressed it here at any length, and I think it’s worth some careful analysis.

Critics of Christianity often try to set the teaching of the gospels, in particular the synoptics, against the teaching of the apostle Paul in his epistles. They allege that the gospel preached by Paul contradicts and even “destroys” the teaching of Jesus. That’s a claim that cries out for rebuttal from the pages of scripture. If true, it presents a major difficulty for the Christian faith.

One of the areas in which Paul and Jesus allegedly differ is the subject of atonement.

Getting Practical with Exposition

Peter broadly categorizes the gifts of the Holy Spirit under the headings of speaking and service. There are verbal gifts and non-verbal gifts. He then says anyone who speaks should do so “as one who speaks oracles of God”. That’s a high standard and a challenge for everyone who attempts to explain the Bible to others. Faithful exposition requires making the text understandable to the best of our ability as the Holy Spirit leads, interpreting scripture with scripture.

A problem: in most meetings of the church these days, the opportunity to ask questions during or after a sermon does not exist.

Anonymous Asks (397)

“Is nagging a Christian tactic?”

Nagging is often associated with frustrated wives and mothers, perhaps unfairly. Passive aggressive men do it too. Try the words “If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a hundred times” with a little ‘Y’ chromosome on them, and you’ll quickly think of somebody male in your life with the habit of saying considerably more than is useful or necessary. I definitely did.

In any case, neither of my parents were inclined to nag. My early home life was happily unmarked by the irritation that persistent verbal harassment provokes.

Exposition Without Expositing

Premastication or kiss feeding is the act of breaking down food by chewing it for those who can’t yet chew, then passing the pulped food mouth to mouth. Most mother apes do it for their offspring. Pigeons and parrots do something similar, but they regurgitate. Some human cultures do it too.

I have to confess some of what I’m hearing from church platforms these days puzzles me. It’s not that it’s wrong, exactly; most of the Bible teaching in the churches I frequent is quite orthodox in terms of its conclusions. Nobody is indulging in heretical craziness or flights of wild fancy. Nor are speakers subjecting their audiences to a barrage of sentimental anecdotes at the expense of biblical content, as I found was common in the late eighties.

It’s more like the art of expounding the text of scripture has suddenly gone AWOL, and I miss it. No small number of Bible teachers have never learned to chew their food before they pass it on.

No King in Israel (50)

At dinner with Christian friends a few days ago, we discussed the subject of how we should best apply New Testament principles to a situation outside regular local church meetings. Nowhere in the NT do we have either precept or example concerning how to conduct a series of Bible teaching meetings of women gathering from multiple local churches. Whose authority are they under? Which normal church practices should they observe in such a context and which are they free to ignore? Inquiring minds wanted to know, including the men.

Unsurprisingly, despite most of us being relatively mature in the faith, we quickly found we disagreed.

Too Hot to Handle: Made for More of What?

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

Tom: Immanuel Can is sending me bad things again. And I’m not entirely sure how to respond. This time it’s Moody Publishers’ “Post Sunday”, in which Moody extols one of its new releases. This one is a Hannah Anderson special in which the author holds forth on the “lameness” of the church. Okay, I can’t stop there: the church is lame (according to Hannah) because she has crippled herself. In the words of Ms Anderson, we have failed to equip “Bible women” because we “don’t have a vision for how God could use them for His glory.”

Help me out here: what are “Bible women”?

A Dangerously Clear Head

True story: When I was in my early university career, I was friends with a girl whose father taught history there. One of his students exhibited a most peculiar propensity in his essays; and that is, that no matter what question he was asked, he always answered, “God did it.”

What caused the Napoleonic Wars?

“God did.”

The Eye of the Beholder

“Heretic” is a strong word.

As an enthusiastic young believer, I used to hurl the epithet around a fair bit, as did several of my equally enthusiastic friends. We were excited about the things we were discovering in the word of God and determined to practice them. Anyone who didn’t agree with our views of scripture obviously had serious spiritual problems. Perhaps they were merely dull or deluded … or maybe they were the dreaded “H” word.

Yeah, we didn’t do nuance much.

Where Are the Nine?

Luke’s gospel tells us the Lord Jesus healed ten lepers in a village between Samaria and Galilee on the way to Jerusalem. At the word of the Lord, these all found themselves remotely cleansed of their disease on the way to show themselves to the priests. That must have been quite a moment.

Nine of the ten were Jews. Perhaps they continued to the priests as instructed, though Luke doesn’t tell us. Their tale ends at the miraculous healing. The tenth turned back, praising God. He fell at the feet of Jesus, giving him thanks. Luke says he was a Samaritan.

Anonymous Asks (396)

“What does the Bible say about ice ages?”

Weather and climate are two different things, a fact deliberately obscured by the Global Boiling true believers and those who make financial use of them.

Weather is short-term. It’s the state of the atmosphere at a given time and place. It happens today, tomorrow or next week. Ask me what the weather has been like this winter and I’ll answer that it’s been close to normal temperatures with perhaps a little more snow than usual.

‘His’ Cross

On at least three occasions, the Lord Jesus told his followers that in order to be his disciple it was necessary they take up their cross and bear it. To his disciples in Matthew 10, he said, “Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Luke quotes a similar statement made to great crowds: “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

What’s striking about that in hindsight is that he said it well prior to going to the cross himself.

No King in Israel (49)

In a recent post I noted similarities in the Lord’s reaction to Israel’s prayers prior to going into battle against Benjamin and his response to Joshua’s prayer after Achan’s sin led to Israel’s defeat at the first battle of Ai. In Judges 20, it’s quite possible the leaders of Israel’s army lifted the ambush strategy they employed to defeat Benjamin from Joshua’s strategy at the second battle at Ai not many decades prior. That strategy did not originate with Joshua. It came from the Lord. On top of that, the account in Joshua shows the former city of Ai was not far from Bethel, where Israel gathered to pray earlier in this chapter.

Like the sins of Sodom and Gibeah, the two battle accounts in Joshua 8 and Judges 20 have several features in common.

Too Hot to Handle: Generation Z and Unbelief

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

In this article in The Atlantic, Larry Taunton tells the story of Phil, a young atheist whose reasons for his unbelief sound surprisingly unlike those of the New Atheists.

To me they sound uncomfortably close to home.

Phil had been president of his Methodist church youth group, and loved the Bible studies led by Jim, their youth leader. Jim didn’t dodge the tough chapters or questions. He couldn’t answer every question, but he made the Bible come alive for Phil.