Apologize!

          Ok, we’re taking a new approach.  Now you all get to do some Scripture searching and some faith-defending.  I’ll give you some real challenges by real people against Christianity.  Christians apologize!!! (make a defense, not say “I’m sorry”)

          This is from a writer who has a whole website devoted to discrediting Christianity and telling “deconversion” stories.  He is a self-described “former” Christian.  This man is challenging your faith; defend it!  Write exactly what you would say to him.

“A disturbed relationship
          This is the most dislocated aspect about Christianity – its similarity to an abusive relationship. Some apologists expend enormous amounts of energy attempting to convince others (and themselves) that the God of their bible who orders baby massacre (1 Samuel 15:2-3) and pronounces on damnation (Mark 16:16) is a divine, loving and just being. “My husband hits me because I deserve it, he only does it because he loves me and my behaviour is so poor. He does so much for me – I owe him everything and would be nothing without his care.” He is perceived as having complete power whilst demonstrating both kindness and cruelty. But it can’t really be cruel – where would I go! We must deserve it. And so God stood by during the holocaust because of a “higher purpose.” It just has to be so!
          Then it gets even more disturbing. The beloved husband starts beating the children. The wife of the abuser then shouts at the “disrespectful” children when they dare to tell her what Daddy is doing to them. Bad non-Christians, it’s your fault – you deserve to be tortured. It is too horrible for the dependant wife of an abuser to confront the fact of his abusive nature. Eventually though, many do see through and walk away to more healthy relationships. What exactly can a Christian know that the god they believe in has done to deserve their love when the evidence from the bible, human atrocities and terrible natural disasters of the world speak so loudly against a benevolent deity? Just what should an abusive husband do to his wife before she stops loving him, and what worldly negligence or biblical cruelty would the Christian God have to commit before it became obvious that Christianity is a set of confused beliefs constructed by humans and built on a foundation of a very primitive war like god?” http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~slocks/conundrums.html

Ok, what’s the deal with sacrifices?

Next, we will seek to understand the religious laws of ancient
Israel.  These laws include the sacrifices, holy days, cleanliness laws, and dietary restrictions found in the first five books of the Old Testament.  Do these laws really mean that we have to kill and burn animals to God?  Should we order our steaks well done?  What do these weird festivals mean? 

           

            Just as we have done before, we must first understand what the intentions of these laws were.  Several of you identified that Christ was sacrificed once for all, so there is no need for sacrifices to be administered any longer.  You did well.  The Bible is very clear in its explanation of the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice.  The sacrifices had symbolic significance: they pointed to the sacrifice of Christ.  The Bible makes clear that it is impossible for the blood of animals to atone for sins. (extra credit for those who find this verse) 

 

When the Old Testament speaks of forgiveness through the animal sacrifices, understand that it was the mercy of God which granted forgiveness, not the ritual observance of animal sacrifice.  The blood of Jesus Christ was the only blood sufficient to atone for sins.  Abraham’s sins, Moses’ sins, David’s sins, your sins, and my sins are all atoned for through the blood of Jesus Christ.  So, the sacrifices of the Old Testament served their purpose: to provide a way for understanding that our sin offends God and he will only be appeased through the shedding of blood.  The bloodshed should have been our own, but Jesus Christ shed his blood so ours would not be needed.  This symbol of sacrifice is no longer needed because we are no longer waiting for this promised redeemer.  He has come and made reconciliation between God and man.  

Capital Punishment? Seems a bit harsh.

The next law we will examine prescribes the punishment for a stubborn and rebellious son.  This law could fall under the category of family laws.  This law obviously identifies disobedience, rebellion, drunkenness, and gluttony (21:18-21) as sins which should not be overlooked.  After the capital punishment is prescribed, Moses explains that this kind of punishment achieves the purging of evil from among the people as well as fear, so as to prevent future infractions.  The society benefits from this law.  This law maintains a holy and God-fearing society which takes unrepentant sin very seriously.

             Israel’s relationship to God is very similar to king-servant relationships which existed in the ancient Near East.  This relationship would form either when a king would take initiative and help a people that could not help themselves, or when a people called on a king to help them in a time of trouble.  Often the servants could not protect themselves from enemies, so the king would offer this protection.  The king and servants would make a covenant, or oath, declaring faithfulness to one another.  The servants would operate by the king’s standards and this would ensure the king’s continued protection.  This was the kind of relationship God had with
Israel.  He promised them land, descendents, and blessings if they would be faithful to Him and obey His statutes.  If the people disobeyed God, they would be in jeopardy of losing their covenant relationship.  With this kind of relationship, severe measures were taken in order to ensure faithfulness on Israel’s part.  An unrepentant son who was belligerent and vile could not go unpunished.  If such sin were treated as insignificant, it would show God that His people did not fear Him and did not appreciate the covenant relationship they were in.  Capital punishment was most likely not administered every time, but by the law’s presence, children had great reason to be obedient to their parents. 

              So how does this command look in 21^st century Christianity?  After Pentecost, the people of God were no longer primarily made up of Jews.  Redemption spread to the ends of the earth so that the promise to Abraham might be fulfilled: “And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”  The people of God are in a covenant relationship with Him and are subject to discipline if they are disobedient.  Those who are stubborn, rebellious, and unrepentant are showing the church that they have no life in themselves.  While the church may not kill them physically, the church does put this person outside the community of faith and has no reason to believe that they are spiritually alive.  Paul prescribes such discipline in 1 Corinthians 5 and actually quotes the Old Testament: “Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.” 
Israel was trying to maintain an obedient, faithful community and so are we.  Sin is very serious and should be treated as such.  If we are seeking to obey this law, we should understand the severity of sin and refuse to overlook it.  We should encourage obedience and should discipline sin in our community of faith.

Answer (the beginning of one, at least)

I’ll get to another question soon, don’t worry.

Ok folks, here is my attempt.  To understand how the Old Testament (and the laws contained therein) applies to us in 21st century America, there are a number of steps that must be taken.  We must first understand how the law was understood in its own context.  God gave these laws (found in the first five books of the Old Testament) to Israel through Moses as they were about to enter the Promised Land.  God had rescued this people from slavery in Egypt and was instructing them in how they should live as a holy, covenant-keeping community before him.  These laws were not arbitrary; they were given with a certain standard, or ethic in mind. 
 
We must also recognize that not all of these laws were the same categorically.  There were specific case laws (beginning with If…. or When…..), there were family laws, there were criminal laws, and there were religious laws (sacrifices, holy days, and dietary instructions).  We will need to interpret these laws differently as we seek to understand how they are binding on us.
 
When reading a command of God in the Old Testament, it is important for you to consider a few things: What moral principles are communicated through this law? Who benefits from this law? What kind of society does this law seek to maintain?  These are only a few of the appropriate questions that any interpreter must ask.
 
Let me take one law from each category and show how this might play out.  Take for example the command in Exodus 21:7-11.  This law prohibits a man from selling his female slave.  She cannot be passed around from master to master.  This law protects this woman from being exploited.  If you read the law, you will notice that she is supposed to be taken care of even if the master gets another woman.  She is not to be taken advantage of.  Many case laws are put in place to prevent exploitation of the poor, widows, orphans and slaves.  This law, in our context, would communicate that same message even though we don’t have the same exact circumstances.  We should care for the poor and not exploit them.

I’ll be back with an example from the other categories (including the toughies….hopefully)

If you guys want to try one, go ahead.  Take a really obscure law, try to understand it using the steps above, and share it with us.  If anyone wants to try the tough ones, go for it!  It may take some more resources than just your noggins.  So if you need some historical help, both Greg and I have some resources in the office.  “It’s not a tumor!”

(cont.)

Ok, this is new (sort of).  Your answers to the initial question (which I hope to address later) are good, but a bit incomplete.  Now, I brought up something in the middle of the discussion that nobody has answered to my satisfaction.  It is this: What determines which commandments we keep in the Old Testament?  Here are some of the proposed answers:

“We do not just obey the NT but we are under the new covenant. We have a different standard now.” 

“To answer Daniel, I think Ian really has something. The Ten Commandments can be divided into two groups: God and other people. Part of the commandments deal with honoring God, and the rest deal with honoring other people. Love the Lord your God sums up those commandments about honoring (and loving) God. Love your neighbor as yourself sums up those about honoring (and loving) people. If we follow these two commandments with everything we have, we can’t go wrong. I guess these two commandments tell us which commandments to follow in the OT; the rest are to learn from.”  “After Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected, there was no need for many of the laws of the Old Testament. However, that does NOT mean that we should ignore them. Some of the laws and instructions that God gave the Israelites were fulfilled when Christ came. (Such as the sacrificing.)” 

There are a lot of laws in the Old Testament and Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that “not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”  What do we do with all these laws?  Do we ignore them because Jesus has come; or do we obey them?  What about the really confusing ones like killing disobedient children (Deuteronomy 21:18-21) or boiling a young goat in its mothers milk (Deuteronomy 14:21) or mixing wool and linen together for clothing (Deuteronomy 22:11)?  If they are here only to teach us, what do we learn from them?  Was there a different standard for the Israelites?  Did God change the way He dealt with people?  Have fun!:)

Genocide?

Alright guys, you’re doing great so I decided to make it really hard now.

In the Old Testament God commanded Israel to completely wipe out the Canaanites.  Scripture says in Deuteronomy
7:1-2 “When the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you…and when the Lord your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them.”

and in 20:16-17 “Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes.  But you shall utterly destroy them…as the Lord your God has commanded you.”

We also see that when they don’t kill everyone (as with Saul in 1 Samuel 15) they are punished by God.  How can this be?  How do we reconcile this part of the Bible with the commands to love our enemies and go make disciples of all nations?  Why would God command such a thing?  Have fun!  (I think I’ll give you a little longer to wrestle with this one) 🙂

Cannabalism?

Ok, you guys did pretty good with the last one.  Now we’re going to turn up the heat a little bit.  We are going to leave the Sermon on the Mount and move into the gospel of John.  Jesus says some very difficult statements here that actually drive many people away.  They dismissed him as a crazy man.  So, get your Bibles out and open them to John 6.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood , you have no life in yourselves.  He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.  For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in Me, and I in him.” (John 6:53-56)

Tough Questions

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says some tough things.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to figure out the explanation to the selected passages.  In our postmodern world, it is acceptable to have different answers to the same question.  That is not acceptable here.  There is one right answer; find it!

 The first question is:

What does Jesus mean when he says “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”? 

Life every moment

5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.

6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

7. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.

Jonathan Edwards wrote these resolutions with a profound determination to live every moment for the glory of God.  John Piper records in his book: God’s Passion For His Glory, that Edwards maintained a strict diet that would allow him to be the most alert in his studies.  He wanted to draw the most he could out of his study of the Bible so he found out which foods were the best for fruitful contemplation.  He also added a sheet of blank paper in between each of the pages in his Bible for notes.

 

When Edwards made these resolutions he committed to doing certain activities that would cause him to live with all his might.  These were practical things that accomplished the kind of devotion he desired.  This is a good example for us. 

 

Do we live with all our might?  Are we consumed with things that we would never dream of doing if it were our last hour?  Are we so committed to the study of God’s word that we would rather lose sleep than neglect these words?  These are convicting questions.  The questions get tougher, though.  Do we live every moment consciously attempting to make that moment more profitable for our own holiness and more glorifying to God.  Every moment?!?!  Doesn’t that sound a bit restrictive?  What about time for me? 

 

Only when we are filled completely with God-centeredness will we be the most free.  Freedom comes when we are loosed from the chains of self-exaltation and released from the prison of pride into the glorious world of Christ-exalting pleasure.  It doesn’t seem to make sense, but try it.  Commit every second to a God-honoring life.  Think about God; pray to God; enjoy God; read his word; love his people.  This is where freedom is found.   

Resolved

Jonathan Edwards was an American Congregationalist who lived during the 1700’s. He was a great theologian and philosopher who wrote many works throughout his life, which contributed greatly to the study of theology in America. One of his contributions was called Resolutions: a collection of Edwards’ deepest desires for his own life. Edwards started writing these when he was 19 years old and committed to reading them once a week. These resolutions show Edwards’ deep desire for holiness and for his own joy. As we study them, make these resolutions your own and seek your joy in giving God glory!

Resolution #1
Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’ s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many soever, and how great soever.

In this resolution, Edwards mentions a theme that is found in much of his writings. He says, “I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’ s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure…” Edwards is known for identifying the dual effect of an obedient and God-glorifying life. In our obedience to God we not only show him off to the world (glorify him), we experience great joy while we do it!

The privilege of being a child of God comes with so many great benefits. Just think, as a Christian you can see the world as God sees it: a grand stage where all of history is the storyline and the plot is God’s greatness! What a privilege to know that God is using us to make himself known. And another thing, he has wired us in such a way that when we are making much of him, we get great pleasure! In fact, we get the greatest of all pleasures!

To not see the world as God sees it is to be blind, deceived and delusional. We all tend to think that the world is a place where “I get what’s best for me” or “I do what I want.” This is not reality. It is easy to make up a fake world where we are at the center and God fits neatly into our self-centered story. We have our school, our friends, our jobs, our families, our goals, and we add God and church on to make us feel like we are good folks. We live our lives how we want to and expect to get eternity in heaven because we added God into our schedules.

Friends, this is not real! Real life is this: God is at the center and all things (school, friends, jobs, families, goals etc.) are intended to make much of him. If we lose sight of this, we are not seeing what is real; we are blind.

So, this is just one of the many great, joy-giving truths that we as Christians have. Jonathan Edwards understood that to live a life that has God at the center is to live a life full of joy. Resolve to live a life that glorifies God for this is Christianity; this is reality; and this is joy!