Quick reflection on the Bible inspired by Eddie Gibbs

As part of the graduation rehearsal and student facility at Biblical Theological Seminary we got a short talk from Eddie Gibbs, who will be the commencement speaker. The part of his talk that stood out to me the most was the part when he talked about the importance of the Bible and being rooted deeply in it. He also talked about marking up Bibles with notes and the personal problems that he started with it. The first being the need to throw out your Bible after every few years to prevent the notes from hindering his ability to read the text. The second being that he came to realize that it was the often the parts of the Bible that he didn’t mark up, didn’t like and even disagreed with were actually the passages that he needed to hear the most. While I personally don’t mark up my Bible because of how I don’t want my previous notes to influence previous readings, I found his observations of why he changed sides on the issue enlightening regardless of how one feels about marking up their Bible. He also briefly commented on the language masterpiece of the King James Bible, in how unlike modern translations it was the last Bible that was translated to be heard instead of read. Which is reflected in the rhythm of its language, which is lacking in the modern translation which according to him makes memorizing Bible verses much easier in the KJV than our modern Bible versions. I found it especially interesting observation but it seems to make sense as a few hundred years I know that most households would have only owned a single “family Bible” at most and how the thought of everybody having their own personal Bible would have seemed absurd throughout much of church history. Yet our loss of rhythm in our Bibles goes to show how we are no longer have much oral traditions within our society and how it might have affected the role of Scripture in our lives. Finally the last point that stood out to me was how Dr. Gibbs talked about how his reading of Scripture has changed over the years in the light of George Whitefield, who made an effort to pray the entire Greek NT verse by verse. As compared how our Greek, Hebrew and theology classes teach us how to dissect a Bible passage into little pieces to examine, but the problem is when you dissect something you kill it. He shared with us that he prays through a Psalm a day and aims to pray though the entire Bible once every three years. Honestly at first I was surprised that he read or should I say prayed through the Bible only once every three years, given the big emphasis by many on the importance of reading the entire Bible yearly. But than again it had me thinking about his earlier comment about getting deeply rooted in the Bible, and how spreading out one’s reading plan over three years instead of a year could likely be a better way of better understanding and talking to heart what they are reading.

Road Rage and Dodge Ball

Road Rage is something that we have been hearing a lot lately, especially with the newer anti-aggressive driving laws that have been passed in some states. Still I must be honest in saying that I do not completely understand how road range works in the people that have problems with it. In some ways I’m under the impression that believe that road rage might be a bit of a psychological disorder, yet if that is the case then does it make sense to pass laws against it. As if that is truly the case isn’t it as pointless as passing a law to make it illegal to be depressed and to subject people that are depressed to fines while rebuking them to cheer up and threatening further punishment if they don’t? Well neither do I, as if anything I think it might be boiled down to a matter of pride and having the wrong outlook on driving. Just think about the last couple car commercials that you’ve seen and chances are they were filled with images of how a certain type of car goes fast and give one an almost godlike image and experience while driving it. Yet we all know that driving is rarely a flawless experience for us as things like red lights and traffic jams get in the way between reality and the image that marketing gives us of what driving should be. Yet in reality as hard as it might be for some people to accept when driving you are not the only person out on the road nor does the highway revolve around your car regardless of what make and model you happen to be driving. Yet it seems as if our own driving style is the standard by which all others should be judged all too often or as George Carlin put it: “Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anybody driving faster is a maniac?” The other area that really gets to some people a bit too much is when somebody slows down suddenly or pulls out too close in front of them, and thereby cutting them off and forcing them sacrifice their plan in order to slow down in order to avoid a collision. Yet I’m sure all of us have also done the same to others when pulling out when neglecting to look or misjudging speeds and distances or when making a sudden turn and out of forgetfulness putting on our turn signal at the last minute to avoid giving much of a warning that you are about to slow down. Regardless in virtually all cases where somebody makes a mistake, the other driver reacts in time to avoid a crash. After which it is over and no longer an issue, so why does this cause such rage in people that somebody had the nerve to do to them what they almost certainly did to others themselves on other occasions? Yet even from the most self-centered point of view road rage does not make sense, as it lets the momentary mistake of someone else, get them pissed off for the rest of the drive, most likely long after the offender has even remembered how they pulled out a bit too slowly when making a turn. So how about an alternative way of viewing things that comes from watching children play – dodge ball. Sure its not a perfect mentality as in dodge ball unlike driving one tries to hit others in purpose but doesn’t that make it all the more insightful? As if in a game of dodge ball, someone comes close to hitting you but missing, its a given that one does not sand there and start screaming at the idiot for almost hitting them. As it not only makes sense, not to mention that the moment of blind shouting rage at the other person who missed them will only make them very vulnerable to others targeting them with an increase of scoring a hit. So why are so many “mature adults” unable to do the same when someone accidentally almost hits them, when our children are able to brush off missed intend hits as nothing or something to laugh about? As this is the real root of the road rage problem and until this is resolved there will be no real progress made.

TBR 2008

I just learned about the TBR (To Be Read) Challenge site a few days ago and thought it would be a nice thing to pick up for the year even though its already April. Pretty much its a public challenge to make progress by naming 12 books to knock off one’s to be read pile in the year to come, with the option of also choosing alternative books. Sure I’m off to a slow start but that will just make it more of a challenge and I’m sure I can handle the increased pace.

1. The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer
2. Answering God by Eugene H. Peterson
3. The Spirit of The Disciplines by Dallas Willard
4. Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster
5. Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney
6. Ten Questions To Diagnose Your Spiritual Health by Donald S. Whitney
7. How Can I Be Sure I’m A Christian? by Donald S. Whitney
8. Simplify Your Spiritual Life by Donald S. Whitney
9. The New Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan with updated text by Judith E. Markham
10. The Sacred Way by Tony Jones
11. The Way of A Pilgrim And The Pilgrim Continues His Way by unkonwn - translated by R. M. French
12. Messy Spirituality by Michael Yaconelli

Alternatives/Extra Credit

1. Affluenza The All-Consuming Epidemic by John DeGraaf, David Wann and Thomas H. Naylor
2. The Book of Creation by J. Philip Newell
3. Listening For The Heartbeat of God by J. Philip Newell
4. Promptings From Paradise by J. Philip Newell

The Story of Stuff

In the past I’ve written at least one post about the problems of consumerism. If this is a topic that interests you, check out The Story of Stuff a short 20 minute online documentary which gives the complete story of the shocking life of consumer goods and the darker environmental and social economical side to consumerism which all too often gets brushed under the rug as no big deal.

The Bible in 90 Days?

An estimated 75 million adults (42%) said that reading the Bible is very important to them (the Barna Group) … but less than 50% of Americans can name the first book of the Bible (Gallup).
Among Bible readers, the average amount of time spent reading the Bible is less than 7 minutes a day (the Barna Group).
And yet, the average person spends almost 5 hours a day watching TV (Communications Industry Forecast & Report)
~Stats from Zondervan’s The Bible in 90 Days - http://www.biblein90days.com/

When I first read the above I was shocked as I’m sure that a good number of you were as well. Although soon afterward I started having mixed feelings about the concept. Part of me wants to say good, if the typical American Christian really spends only 7 minutes reading the Bible and 5 hours watching television. Then a church wide push for them to read the entire Bible in 90 days will do them good and hopefully set their priorities straight. The downside to this approach is that it is a marketing ploy that uses guilt to sell a program for a profit. As according to the website one needs the 90 Day NIV Bible, a participants guide and to be a member of a church group which needs a leaders guide and a DVD in order to read the Bible in 90 days. I’ll admit that I’m bias because my Bible translation of choice is not the NIV but the ESV, but doesn’t this seem a bit over the top to you? Especially since most Christians in this country most likely already have a Bible or two, so yet another Bible is probably the last thing that they need. It also makes me wonder what happens to most of the 90 Day Bibles after the program is over, as I could see them being set aside, making it all the more easier for one to fall into the pattern of not reading the Bible again. So I believe that using an existing personal Bible is probably a better idea. Also maybe I’m a bit hardcore when it comes to devotional ideas, the given the norm of the Bible in a year plan, I wonder how many people turn the Bible in 90 days plan into reading the Bible 4 times in a year. But I will admit that they deserve some credit for making their 90 day reading plan (actually 88 days with 2 grace days) available for free of charge on the website. So if you feel up for a Bible reading challenge I’d recommend you checking out the site and downloading a Bible bookmark with the reading plan to print out. And you have my permission not to buy anything and to use a Bible other than a NIV if you feel like it.

The Problem of Idolatry Today

This week in my one seminary class we talked about idolatry. Within the Bible, especially the Old Testament the issue of Idolatry comes up both frequently and harshly. Yet it is difficult for us to fully understand and apply those texts to our current situation today. For example, the ancient idols which have survived in Israel and later discovered during archaeological digs have not been destroyed but preserved as historical artifacts. But then again its depends upon one’s definition if those ancient idols are still idols or mere artwork. Also at the same time I think when idols are confronted today that people often go after easy soft targets like American Idol and sports to target celebrity worship. Not to say that this has not become a problem to some extent within the American Church just that it does not cut to the heart of the issue. As idols are anything that one places their ultimate hope and trust in other than God, which can get tricky at times as it can be relational. A better idol to target would be national security, in how people place or at least feel that they should be able to place their faith in the government to protect them from terrorists. Yet according to the Bible, national security is a myth if it comes from anywhere other than God - “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep” (Psalms 127:1-2 ESV). I’m not saying that its wrong to protect one’s boarders, just that its interesting that the name national defense has given way to national security. Personally I’d say that defense is more honest as it states that like in sports, it makes its best attempt to keep things out but is realistic in the sense that it realizes that it is not possible to keep everything out. As compared to security which brings up the image of a secure fortress, which is again something that the Bible warns against. Just like what happened to Jerusalem, a mountain fortress city at the time of the Babylonian exile. As Judah wrongly assumed that simply because Jerusalem had not fallen before that they were safe, especially since it contained the temple of Yahweh, so there was no way that Yahweh would let His temple be destroyed by pagans right? Which goes to show that they did not learn from the Ark Narrative of 1 Samuel 4-6, where they took the Ark of the Covenant into battle under the belief that it would make it so they could not lose as God would not allow the Ark of the Covenant to be captured and carried off to a pagan temple as a defeated god, right? Thus showing that God is willing to do whatever it takes to make His people trust in Him alone and not the externals, even if it means trashing His own temple to drive home the point.

A Lament of Love

Last semester when I took a class on the Old Testament Poetic books and we had an assignment to write a lament Psalm. Laments are probably the most frequently neglected part of Bible literature today, yet the most common type of Psalm is lament. While the Psalter contains a lot of beautiful collection of praises to God, it also contains a lot of angry words uttered against God. Thus the mere fact that it is part of the Bible shows not only that God can handle it, but that He values it. As lets be honest there are times when shouting at God in anger is much more open and honest than attempting to cheerly praise God for how everything is great when it is clearly not the case. Finally, the vast majority (but not all) of the Biblical laments take a turn toward the positive at the end.

1 How long O Yahweh will you despise me? - (synonomous)
When O God will you stop tormenting me?

2 You ordained that it is not good for a man to be alone - (synthetic)
So male and female you created man

3 You say finding a wife, O Yahweh is a sign of your favor - (antithetical)
But you have caused me to be alone all of my days

4 All of my friends have abandoned me for their lovers - (synthetic)
As community has given way to dating and double dating

5 Day and night I cried out to You, to deliver me from loneliness - (antithetical)
But I have only gotten wet with tears in Your deafness

6 The light of the sun, illuminates not my search of desperation - (synonomous)
The darkness of the night, conceals not my wanderings of madness

7 Will your favor be ever departed from me O Yahweh? - (synonomous)
When will you remember man should not be alone, O God?

  Selah

8 O Yahweh, my hope in you was failing in the darkness - (antithetical)

But Your broke though with a faint glow renewing my trust in You, O Yahweh

9 Praise Yahweh who has shown favor to His servants (synonomous chiasmus)
Together we shall continue to praise Yahweh

Spiritual Lukewarmness

“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
(Revelation 3:14-22 ESV)

To many Christians these verses are a source of fear and uneasiness, especially when one fears that they have become lukewarm in their spiritual walk. Whenever one talks about the issue of spiritual lukewarmness, it is only a matter of time before the church of Laodicea in Revelation 3:14-22 comes up. Although few people realize that there are actually two ways of reading the passage. The first and more common way at the moment is to view the hot water as the Christians who are “on fire for Jesus”, the cold water as the lost that need to be saved and lukewarm water as the Christians who are not “on fire for Jesus” that make Jesus want to vomit. The second way and the one that I favor, is to view the passage within the historical context of the the city Laodicea. In short Laodicea was a very rich trade city build upon the junctions of major trade routes. The city was famous for its textiles, medical schools with its well known salve treating eye disease and its banks. Yet the city’s major weakness was that it was far away from any water supply, which had to be piped in through Roman aqueducts. The cold water was brought in from Colossae, which was ten miles away and the hot water came from the hot springs at Hierapolis, which were six miles away; both of which were lukewarm by the time the reached Laodicea. Thus it appears that Jesus was poking fun at Laodicea’s water supply. As the rest of His rebuke of the Laodicean church attacks what they through were their strengths, by them naked, blind and poor. So following this trend of interpretation, our next step is to take a closer look at the water. Cold water in general is used to stimulate and refresh, like washing one’s face with cold water in the morning or how nice it is to drink a glass of cold water on a hot day. Hot water has relaxing and soothing properties, as well as being useful for cooking and cleaning, like how relaxing in a hot tub sooths a sore body and lets not forget about needing hot water to brew tea. Lukewarm water on the other hand is not known for being good for anything useful. Although lukewarm water can give one an upset stomach and possibly vomiting when drank. Which goes to show why we normally chill or heat our beverages to some extend, instead of drinking them at room temperature. With that being said, I do not think the question is if should we be cold or hot as both have their uses as both cold and hot water are needed. Just like a Roman Bath has both a hot pool where people start out in to relax, it also has a cold pool to plunge into to cool down as its dangerous to remain in hot water too long despite the proven health benefits of hot tubs. Thus both are needed as it was a necessity for one spending an afternoon at the Roman baths to move from pool to pool. Also consider the typical water cooler filled with spring water, which has 3 faucets: one is blue and gives cold water for drinking, another is red and gives hot water for making tea or hot chocolate and the last one is white and gives lukewarm water yet is pretty much never used. Thus I think the point being made is that as Christians we should be useful to Jesus and His church in a way fitting our gifts, abilities and circumstances; rather than become indifferent and do nothing.

Finally the question comes up of what should one do when they discover that they have been in a lukewarm spiritual slump for a while that they are not sure how to break. To which I think the best answer is found within Luke 18:9-14: the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector praying in the temple. As simply being honest with God about with the situation we’ve fallen into and the sin of living as if He didn’t exist is clearly the best response. Especially since it wasn’t even possible to hid it from God to begin with, as He knew that we had fallen into a lukewarm slump before we realized it ourselves. As we are all stumble and fall into sin again and again as taught in Romans 7:14-25, yet God still loves us and wants us to get up again to start following Him again. In reality the worse thing we can do is that of the Pharisee and refuse to admit our sin nature by acting as if everything is fine with us spiritually, instead of being honest with God and confessing our sins to Him as He is faithful and will forgive us as taught in 1 John 1:7-10.

My visit to a food bank

On January 19^th, I visited the food pantry run by CrossPoint United Methodist church, which assists around 13 local families, around 70 people, both inside and outside of their church. The food pantry is fully sponsored by the donations of the congregation, through a combination of donated nonperishable food items and a modest budget to buy discounted food in bulk as part of the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank Member Agency. The food pantry works on self declaration of need, as it serves to supplemental support for anyone who claims to have a need. Which is in turn is picked out by the person in need through the assistance of one of the volunteers according to a guidelines sheet based upon family size.

I talked with Lora and Wendy, the two women from CrossPoint that oversee the food pantry outreach, both of whom were motivated through the Prophetic Scripture books but without directly realizing it. Wendy was motivated by what she called Jesus’ first sermon in Luke 4:14-21 which was centered around justice for the poor, believing that if is important to Jesus than its important to me. Lora was motivated by a Hymn in the Methodist Hymnal adapted from Micah 6:6-8, with command to do justice and love mercy standing out to her the most. Both Lora and Wendy were so caught up in seeking to help others that they struggled with answering my question of how God was blessing them through their work with the food pantry. Wendy told me about how her work with the food pantry was helping her to learn how we are all equal before God, which stands out to her as she connects with others and extends the love of Jesus to them. Lora felt most blessed by being able to take the time to listen to the stories of the people the food pantry reaches out to. An experience which she finds humbling as she learns both who they are and what gratitude is.

Overall I was very impressed with the CrossPoint food pantry, especially how it was considered just another ministry of a single parish church and not part of the wider denomination. I think the sense of local church ownership of the food pantry is a major strength of its ministry because it allows the congregation to actively minister to the real needs of the local poor in their neighborhoods. Another advantage of this hands on congregation approach, is that people tend to be more generous and motivated with their giving when they see exactly where it is going, and know that others are depending upon them. This direct social interaction with the needy causes the church to build outreach relationships with local churches in a way that presents them with a much fuller picture of the Gospel than a street preacher could ever give them. As was clearly the case when during my visit, one of the regular customers, ask one of the workers what time the church meet on Sundays. As to disadvantages, its really hard to criticize CrossPoint as I feel that a lot more churches need to be doing exactly what they are doing. But if I must be critical, I feel that their ministry might be a little more effective if they also had men visibly involved instead of just women, in order to give a more complete picture of the church.

A Judgement Oracle

This semester in seminary I’m taking a class called Hebrew Prophets on the Old Testament prophetic books. One of our assignments was to write a judgment oracle for today in English but in the style of Hebrew poetry around an issue that we feel strongly about. The assignment is not to be taken as Scripture writing but to better understand the Biblical role of prophets. As while the prophetic books include prophecies, they also express concern about the here and now in expressing strong disapproval of injustice, unrighteousness. Also the professor points out that God speaks through Scripture, therefore it is not a misrepresentation to speak out against things in God’s name which clearly go against what is written in the Scriptures. I wrote my oracle against the frequent neglect for social justice for the poor, a theme which comes up often in the Bible, yet is rarely preached upon today as often as it should be. Personally I view this work mainly as a tool to draw attention to the issue and not as a prophet of doom.

1 Thus says Yahweh of hosts,
Snarling words of fury against His People

2 “Woe to you rich Christians who neglect justice,
You well-off who ignore the poor.

3 Because you have exploited the poor to live in luxury,
Surrounding yourselves with sweatshop goods.

4 You have gorged yourselves with rich foods,
But have allowed others to perish for lack of food.

5 You have guzzled gallons of fancy coffee lattes, sodas and wines,
But have neglected those in need of clean drinking water.

6 I despise your many prayers for riches,
But I am deprived of prayers on how to use wealth to bless others.

7 You were blessed to be a blessing upon others,
But selfishly you have hoarded the blessing unto yourselves.

8 Therefore, I will withdraw my blessing from you,
I will set my hand against you.

9 You have whored yourselves after consumerism and greed,
therefore, your pursuit of wealth will betray you.

10 You shall desire and shall not receive,
What you have shall not satisfy you any longer.

11 And in that day I will refuse to listen to you,
For you did not listen to the cries of the poor.

12 Therefore I will not relent,
Unless you repent!” declares Yahweh.