Too Many Translations

I sometimes wonder if we have too many translations of the Scriptures.  I started reading this book and the author uses a different translation every time, or so it seems.  Now I know it is important to use different translations when we are studying the Scriptures but why do we do it?  The reason should be to make the original words clearer.  The problem is that too many people use different translations to fit their opinions and ideas.  To me this raises the question, Who is the authority?  The original Scriptures or the one who chooses the translation?  We must be careful to allow Scripture to say what it is intended to say and not to have it say what we want it to say.

Betrayed with a kiss

We all know that Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss but do you know that Judas wasn't the only betrayer who betrayed a friend with a kiss?  Joab betrayed Abner with an act of friendship.  "Now when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into an inner chamber, as if to speak with him privately. And there, to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel, Joab stabbed him in the stomach, and he died." 2 Samuel 3:27
But I wonder if we are not any better?  Surely we have betrayed our Lord with what would seem to be an act of friendship.  We say we will follow and obey but it is only on our terms.  When we run into obstacles then we turn away. 

Attention to details

I was so embarrassed.  There in my PowerPoint presentation was a rosary.  Why hadn't I seen it earlier?  I guess it is because I don't always pay attention to details.  I would make a terrible witness.  What was the colour of hair? Did she wear glasses?  What colour was his eyes?  What was he wearing?  I can seldom answer these questions because I don't pay attention to the details.
I taught mathematics and in mathematics I always stressed the importance of details.  Signs, brackets, equal signs, etc.  The details always are important in mathematics but they are also important in life and certainly in Bible study.
In the parable of the prodigal son if you miss the details you miss much of the message of the parable.  The father was watching for his son, the father ran to his son, and so much more.  There is always truth at the surface but as you dig deeper into the Word of God you will discover greater and greater riches.  I need to learn to pay attention to details.

Creation and Redemption Part 3

Continuing with the theme of creation and redemption brings me to the final book of the Bible.  In Revelation 4 we have a scene of worship around the throne in Heaven but the basis of that worship is creation. “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”  Revelation 4:11
When you turn to the next chapter you read, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.  You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”  Revelation 5:9 - 10  We see the parallel themes of creation and redemption in our worship.  We are called to worship our God because He is both our Creator and our Redeemer.  It is not enough to worship Him because He made us though that is where we must start.  We worship Him because He has redeemed us.

Creation and Redemption Part 2

The theme of redemption runs through the entire Scriptures.  One of the places that we see it is in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.  Because we are God's children first by creation and secondly by redemption we must understand what it means to live in light of that theme. 
The Great Commandment is rooted in creation.  Because we are created by God we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and to love our neighbour as ourselves.  We are to work along side our unbelieving neighbours to help make this world a better place.
However, the Great Commission is different.  It is rooted in redemption.  The role of the church is to make this redemption known to the world through going, teaching and baptising.  The church cannot confuse the two or it will become ineffective in the world. 
When we confuse the two and the church preaches issues like justice and social issues and ignores the Gospel then the church becomes irrelevant.  However, the church must instruct its members to deal with the justice and social issues. 
A great example of this is Newton and Wilberforce.  Newton remained faithful as pastor of his church to proclaim the Gospel but he encouraged Wilberforce as a member of his congregation to fight for justice. 

Creation/Redemption

I have been thinking about different themes through Scripture and one theme is the creation/redemption theme.  We are all God's children in the sense that He created us but those who are believers are also God's children in that He redeemed us. 
In the Ten commandments we read in Exodus 20:8 - 11, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."  Here we see that the basis of the Sabbath is that God is the creator.
However in Deuteronomy 5:12 - 15 we read that the basis of the Sabbath is redemption, "Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day."
This dual theme creation/redemption is throughout all Scripture.  In Colossians 1 we read that Jesus is the Creator but He is also the redeemer reconciling all thing to Himself.

Martha, Martha

Luke 10:38 - 42
Mary and Martha were sisters but they were very different. They both loved the Lord but they had different ways of showing it. Mary just wanted to be near Him and listen to His words while Martha showed her love by serving Him.
In our BfM stores we have many Martha's but fewer Mary's. Most of us joined the BfM family because we want to serve. Where would our stores be without it's Martha's?
However the Lord seemed to be exasperated with Martha. Can you hear the tone of His voice as He says, "Martha, Martha."? The Lord had used a similar tone when He addressed Moses, Simon, Saul. Moses, Moses; Simon, Simon; Saul, Saul.
I don't need to tell most of you to be Martha's. But many of us need to take time to be Mary's. I think the Lord was saying to Martha, "You don't need to do so much, maybe one or two dishes would be enough. We do need to eat but is all this necessary?"
Many of us are busy serving the Lord, raising money so that people all over the world may have Scriptures but do spend time with the Word. I don't mean that we read a few verses in the morning or at meal time but do we really spend time in the word? It is hypocritical of us to say that the world needs the Word of God while we ignore it. The world does need the Word but we need it too. We need to be Martha's and work hard to send out the Word but we must also be Mary's and sit at the feet of Jesus and hear His words.

The Laptop Bible

The furnace did it!

I was reading in Exodus about the time that Moses confronted Aaron regarding the golden calf. Aaron made the excuse that all he did was throw in the gold and out came the calf. Basically he said that the furnace did it.
Since that time people have basically been using the same excuse. If you were born into my family, if you lived where I lived, if you had my job, if you had my ... and the excuses go on. People are willing to blame anyone or anything but refuse to take responsibility for themselves.
I remember hearing a native pastor say that for years he had blamed his father for what had happened to him until one day the Holy Spirit said that he was not responsible for his father but he was responsible for himself. At that point he took responsibility for his own actions and found forgiveness and release. Stop blaming the furnace.

A Biblical World View

There has been quite a bit of talk about having a Biblical worldview but some people who talk about it don't know what a Biblical worldview is. First of all to have a Biblical worldview one has to know the Bible. You need to read it, study it, meditate upon it and know that it is truth not just contains truth. Second you shouldn't ask the wrong question. Instead of asking how does the one view this situation Biblically you should ask how does the Gospel speak to this situation. So what is the difference in these two questions? To me there is a big difference. The difference is the starting point. In the first you start with the situation and then apply the Bible while in the second you start with the Gospel knowing that the Gospel speaks to all areas of life.

Whose faith heals?

Last Sunday I heard Bob Craft of the Bible League of Canada preach from Luke 5 and yesterday I heard via audio book Joni Ericksen Tada refer to the same passage. Often people point out to Joni that either there is secret sin in her life that she hasn't confessed or that she does not have the faith to be healed. Joni took the passage that her accusers were using against her and showed that it says, "that when Jesus saw their faith". She then told the accuser that maybe she wasn't healed because he didn't have faith. In a society that honours individuality it does not occur to us that we are together responsible for each others lives and that includes healing. I want to say more about healing but I also wanted people to be aware that it is wrong to accuse others of secret or unconfessed sin or lack of faith when the problem may be us.

Deconstructionism

So what is deconstructionism? Deconstructionism is a way of interpreting a text by trying to dig into what the original author was experiencing at the time of writing. If that is all that it meant then I would say that would be a good thing but it doesn't stop there. It also means that there is no one way of interpreting it today. Now this is where the problem lies. Scripture is not by private interpretation according to 2 Peter who tells us plainly that holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit and not to the whims of culture of the day. Though they wrote in the culture of the day it was not the culture but the Spirit that influenced Scripture. It is a must that we do look into the culture of the time but we must not forget that it is the Holy Spirit who moved men to write what they did.

Google and Wikipedia

I typed "truth" into google and the first entry that came up was Wikipedia. Now it is interesting how google and wikipedia define truth. Truth according to google is what is relevant and according to wikipedia it is what is the consensus. Now if truth is defined by relevance then there is no absolute truth. If truth is defined by consensus then again there is no absolute truth. However, Jesus said that He is the truth. There is an absolute truth and that means that there is an absolute authority.

Dust

I was reading in Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest from the June 18 entry and I couldn't help contrast with the Dust video I saw this past week by Rob Bell. Oswald Chambers tells us that Peter was to self confident but Rob Bell tells us that he didn't have enough confidence in himself. This new age teaching is what you might expect from Oprah or Dr. Phil but from a Bible teacher it is unbelievable. We are told over and over again in scripture not to put our trust in ourselves or in our flesh but rather to depend upon God. Peter couldn't walk on the water because he had too much confidence in himself and not in the Lord. The Lord can use a person who has all his or her confidence in Him (Jesus) and not in self.
Is Peter his own saviour or is Jesus the Saviour? Sorry Rob Bell I believe that Oswald Chambers understands salvation and Scripture.

Photo of the Day

Three years ago today I started taking a photo of the day. Each day for the past three years I have taken photos and have put one in a file as the photo of the day. Shortly after I started someone broke into my car and stole my camera so that even though I have taken a photo each day there are three days without photos. One thing about taking a photo a day is that you have to look at things differently.
When you are studying Scripture you also have to take time to look at it differently than you have always read it. Many times that doesn't change anything but there are times that you get fresh insights.
The picture below is four pictures that I took of the same scene.

Cart before the horse

I have been studying the book of Hebrews in preparation for the fall program at our church and there is one thing I found from many writers that frustrated me. Many writers try to make the Scriptures fit their doctrine rather than their doctrine fit the scriptures. Maybe our doctrine needs to change. Maybe their is conflict in human reasoning and the divine. Remember God said that His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. Sometimes doctrines must be held in tension and we cannot explain what God has not revealed.

Good Answer

In Luke 20 the Jewish leaders tried to trap Jesus by asking Him if it was okay to pay tribute to Caesar or not. First, Jesus asked them for a coin showing immediately that they did pay tribute in spite of what they might have said to the contrary. After all they were using Caesar's money. But when Jesus asked them whose imprint or image was on the coin they said it was Caesar's. Then Jesus said something amazing. He said that they were to give to Caesar was was due to Cesar and to God what was due God. The coin bore the image of Caesar but each one of us bears the image of God. The implication is obvious.

Great is Thy Faithfulness

The Prophet Jeremiah said these words.

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."

I captured the following four pictures just north of where I live. I think these pictures show the faithfulness of our God.

Nowhere but everywhere

I have been thinking about the story of Esther lately. God is not mentioned in the book but if you read the story there is only one conclusion you can draw; God is present everywhere.
Someone once preached a sermon on Esther where he told the story and then said "Wasn't it lucky that..." and then he listed all the ways that some people would contribute events to luck and then sat down. The reaction was exactly what he wanted. Everyone recognized that it wasn't luck but it was the hand of God.