If it is not in the Bible, it is of the Devil

THE DEVIL DOES NOT PRODUCE LOVE FOR THE TRUTH AND REVERANCE FOR THE WORD - Michael Brown

"Where in the Bible does it say that?" often gets translated by some biblicists to mean something then must be either wrong, evil, or of the Devil. Where is the historical precedent for that in the Bible? That doesn't fit with my understanding of God's Word so it must be wrong! If Jesus did not fit current expectations of the Messiah, can we be wrong about some of our expectations today of God? If Jesus was viewed as crazy, a false prophet, and against Moses which means against God's Word, could we do the same today with God working in ways that are outside of our current knowledge or experience?

Here would be some ways I'm sure the religious leaders of Jesus day knew that Jesus could not have been from God because he did not fit their understanding of Scripture:

1. Jesus first miracle was to turn water into wine at a wedding party. Does not Proverbs 20:1 teach, "Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler? whoever is lead astray by them is not wise."

2. Jesus family thinks he is crazy and he making deals with demons (remember the story of the Gerasenes man?). Where do you even see demons being cast out of people before Jesus came on the scene?

3. Jesus says if we are going to follow him then we must hate our parents. My Bible says honor your parents and love them.

4. Jesus says if we are going to inherit eternal life, we must drink his blood and eat his flesh. No one has ever said such outrageous things before!

5. Jesus said he was going to suffer and die on a cross but every good Jew knows that the Messiah is going to be a reigning King and not a dying criminal!

"Show me that in the Bible!" Where are we told in Scripture to marry a prostitute like Hosea did or walk around naked like Isaiah did? The larger issue is not if there is a historical precedent or it's not in the Bible but is the practice or issue contrary to the Word of God! We certainly need wisdom and discernment on such issues but isn't the underlying issue whether or not something is in clear contradiction to God's Word?

Just asking . . . .

The Bible Made Impossible

WE NEED TO DISCOVER THE DEEPER SPIRITUAL MEANING THAT CAN BE SEEN TO BE THE FULFILLMENT TO WHICH THE LITERAL POINTS

Christian Smith may not be a well known name but his book "The Bible Made Impossible" is certainly stirring some conversation between people who want to assert the full authority of Scripture while dealing with the problem of many diverse interpretations of the same biblical texts. How Christians read the Bible is becoming more and more problematic rather than building unity and consensus among faithful believers. Christian Smith wants followers of Jesus to take more credible steps when it comes to scripture, church, and tradition. Here is a list of some of the ways Christian biblicists try to deal with the knotty issue of interpretive pluralism.

1. Biblicists rarely know how to handle texts that frankly everyone ignores because no one lives by them.

2. Some problem texts are explained away by appeals to cultural relativity.

3. Some passages in the Bible are so strange that they are better left alone.

4. Some texts seem to contradict or are incompatible with other biblical texts.


Here are how some of these problems are handled by biblicists according to Smith's study:

1. Ignore the problem texts (a kind of ostrich stick your head in the sand approach).

2. Interpret the problem texts to say things the texts actually do not say.

3. Build huge and complex analogies and illustrations to rescue the texts but in actual life make no practical sense.

Christian Smith proposes what I call a Catholic-Evangelical approach that takes Christ the living Word as the key to solving many of the problems and letting the Bible be the Bible rather than trying to turn it into something it is not. Smith proposes a post-biblicist approach to reading and understanding the Scriptures. He does not believe this will magically do away with interpretive pluralism but he does believe it will have much better results than what we have currently seen with Evangelical biblicism.

I tend to agree that a more humble approach that has Christ as the focus and which understands progressive revelation and the role of the Holy Spirit in more dynamic and flexible ways can be several steps forward in the malaise of global interpretive pluralism.

Whose Will? Which God?

PERVASIVE INTERPRETIVE PLURALISM IS THE PROVERBIAL MASSIVE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM OF EVANGELICAL BIBLICISM THAT NOBODY TALKS ABOUT

- Christian Smith


I am currently reading Christian Smith's "The Bible made Impossible" which is about why biblicism is not truly the best way for Christians to read the Bible. Biblicism is to be the knock down answer to all questions and problems we face in life. Whatever the issue or problem, the Bible has the answer. Biblicism often is guilty of prooftexting the Bible because of its own latent dogmatism. Christian Smith's thesis is simple. If biblicism is true, why are there so many diverse and plural interpretations of the Bible? Smith is unswerving to let the reader know and beware that no matter how one tries to duck or get by this issue, the problem still persists nevertheless.

This brings me back to Francis Chan and Preston Springle book. An interesting illustration to apply to discipleship and life questions is following God's will. Chan and Springle make a remarkable illustration of how Samson broke God's "moral will" by loving a pagan woman but followed God's "decreed will" which prompted Samson to fight against the Philistines (see Judges 14:4). But doesn't this sound like we are pitting God's moral will against His decreed will? And where does one find these kind of distinctions and divisions within Scripture itself?

Although I find Chan's and Springle's observation here intriguing, I can't help but wonder if foreign categories and a some kind of systematic theology is leading the interpretation of Scripture rather than Scripture leading our systematic theology. And how does this bear out in life? God's decreed will trumps His moral will at times? It seems like there are a whole lot of baggage being brought into this discussion that actually isn't from Scripture itself. So coming back to Smith's interpretative pluralism, doesn't this become just one more interpretation among many others of the same biblical text? Biblicism always sounds good but it does appear when the rubber hits the road, the problems are legion.

Erasing Hell

GOD HAS A RIGHT TO DO WHATEVER HE PLEASES . . . WE NEED TO ASK GOD TO HELP US THINK RIGHTLY ABOUT HELL - Francis Chan

There are so many response books coming out on Rob Bell's book "Love Wins." Obviously Bell's book hit a nerve within the Christian community. One of the more popular books I am currently reading is Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle's "Erasing Hell." I for one after reading Bell's book would like to say that Rob Bell did not erase hell, but he did soften it and possibly tried to empty it of its finality. Does hell matter? Chan and Sprinkle certainly think so and say it does matter. One may wonder if this doctrine actually effects a person's personal salvation or not but how we practice our faith in regards to others around us may very well impact their salvation!

Where Bell's book convicted me the most is the hypocrisy of the traditional viewpoint that doesn't seem to stir people to witness to other people about their faith in Christ anymore than it does people who profess faith in Christ and do not believe in hell. Bell's book is a 'wake up" call for anyone who wants to think deeply about these issues rather than simply ignoring them or not thinking about them at all.

There is a profound humility and honesty in Chan's and Sprinkle's book which is refreshing. They may deal with history and biblical exposition on contested biblical passages better than Bell but there still seems to be a popularized version of Evangelical interpretation of history that I for one find problematic.

For example, Origen's universalism is so different than later eighteenth century enlightenment thinkers that it is really not fair to link them together in some way. Origen is an early Christian martyr and early church father. Again, I find it troubling to link the condemnation of later Origenists (who miscontrued Origen's teachings) to somehow to Origen himself (which the early council did but the long history itself actually tells a different story). One of the ways to learn from Origen in being a disciple of Jesus is how intellectually credible Origen made his Christian views to the people of his day and even how he was willing to be torutured and killed for his Christian faith. How many Christians are willing to risk all for the gospel of Jesus Christ? If Origen is a universalist, I wish there were more like him! Where are those Christians who take a more tradititional take on hell when it comes to sharing one's faith and laying one life down for others?

I would love to hear a conversation between Rob Bell and Francis Chan because I cannot help but wonder if they are not talking past each other on some of these very important issues.

Christ Room

Some time ago, I read an exert from John Chrysostom about Christ Rooms.  One of these days it might come back to me.  However, last night I had a chance to read some from the distributist review.  In this particular article, he mentioned the Christ Rooms in reference to Dorothy Day.  So I searched under Christ Rooms and here was an interesting old article from her.  I had a chance to read it today and now there is another book I need to read/buy...  Of course, I hope to find a first edition from 1937 which I think will be possible.  Anyway, given what is going on in our world today, is this not something that needs to be a focus of every home?

Mystic, Counselor, Friend

Jerry Park was the most annointed-gifted counselor I have ever met. Jerry could listen to you for a few minutes and start telling you things about your life that you never told him. He was an amazing friend and most known for his friendship with God. "Jerry, you will be greatly missed. This is not goodbye but just we'll meet later dear friend!"

By Chris Criminger

Remembering Tombstone

Wyatt Eerp: Why does Ringo do all the bad he does?
Doc Holiday: Revenge! Revenge for being born!

There have been several great movies made about the gunfight at the O. K. Corrall but one of the best westerns ever was the movie "Tombstone" with a great story, cinematography, and cast like Kurt Russell, Van Kilmer, Sam Elliot, and Charleston Heston to name a few. This is not only a great western but has great theological remarks throughout this film.

Kurt Russell plays the famous Wyatt Eerp and Van Kilmer does the most remarkable acting job of his career playing Doc Holiday. The movie raises theological issues such as justice, vengeance, sin, evil, and why should we do good? Doc Holiday says things like "its not about vengeance but a day of reckoning." There are apocalyptic hints throughout the movie like what happens after you die and is there really justice in this life (or the life to come?).

One of my favorite parts of the movie is where Kate, Doc Holiday's woman is constantly pushing him to extreme behaviors of drinking, gambling, and sex. Doc learns he is dying and he has to give up these things if he is going to survive his sickness. Kate presses her body against Doc Holiday, puts a cigarette in his mouth and fills his whiskey glass. She says, "I've been good to you . . . Haven't I been a good woman?"

In an unforgetable moment, Doc Holiday looks at her and says, "It appears you are a good woman OR you might be the Anti-Christ!"

Wow, does evil come clothed in the beautiful and the subtle? Maybe the contemporary song has a point that the Devil often comes in bluejeans?

Books I am reading

The book that I am going to be primarily reading for hopefully the next year - I have been a very slow reader the last number of years, is the book entitled Mystical Elements of Religion by Friedrich von Hugel.  Volume I and II can be found online for free.  This is my philosophy on my library:  I buy books predominately, and I am foolish enough to know that I will make exceptions, that I want to not only read, but to be able to access whenever I want to.  However, with this book, for where I am in my life, this is a book I really want to finish soon.  He started to write a biography of St. Catherine of Genoa, but ended up writing a book broader in scope.

Romans 8:28

I have been thinking about Romans 8:28 for some time now.  Last week or so, I did a search under meaning when I had a little time because I was particularly thinking of what Greek word for love is in that verse.  What I found as the first link was actually very interesting.  It is written from a Mennonite perspective.  Now, one of the areas of Christianity that I study is the Anabaptist and the Reformation.  When it comes to salvation and life, I am synergistic, or one who believes in the cooperation in our life between God and us to accomplish the work of our salvation.  Therefore, I am comfortable with the coexistence of our free will (although limited) and God's absolute sovereignty/control/origination of all things.  Unfortunately with the Wikipedia article linked, it begins with a what I consider an incomplete beginning by starting with the Reformation as in reality, the early church's position in my opinion, prior to Augustine, was synergistic.  So to me, the correct "organization" if you will of the Wikipedia article would be to begin with the oldest traditions and then move historically forward. 

Farewell, Friend

Chris and I lost a friend a week and a half ago, Pastor Jerry Park.  Here is an obituary.  Follow the link to the guest book for notes from people who knew him!  I only met him March of this year, but a more dedicated follower of Christ I have not met.  I knew he was ready at any moment. 

On Pain of Heart

I joined a forum site on Christian Mysticism.  On the site is a page of interesting videos.  One of the videos is with an Orthodox Priest who I think is from Indianapolis, IN (We are in Southern Indiana!).  Anyway, the interviewer mentions St. Mark the Ascetic and Pain in the Heart (something like that).  When I searched Google under On Pain of Heart, I found this site.  Today I was looking for it and found some other sites that mention it.

Anyway, why this calls to me is the idea that when following God, there is an interior suffering (suffering defined as something done to you against your will).  An example is suffering against yourself such as when your will is crossed by another.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

"YOU'RE TRYING TO CONTROL THINGS THAT ARE NOT MEANT TO BE CONTROLLED"

- from the movie "Rise of the Planet of the Apes"

I remember loving the original Planet of the Apes movie with Charleston Heston. One thing I forgot was how the first movie was so anti-Christian. This is not true of this latest remake which is a prequel to the first movie. One sees a quick picture of a spaceship flying into outerspace to catch the quick reference that this was supposed to represent Charleston Heston and his original crew. What one finds in this prequel is a clever story of how man created his own worst nightmare. Doing something good like finding a cure to altizmer leads scientists to invent a drug that causes a plague that wipes out most of mankind while it gives exceptional intelligence to apes. One also sees the apes also need a kind of savior and one who will lead them out of captivity into the freedom of the jungle once more.

Issues such as good and evil, freedom and slavery, evolution and creation, morality and mores are contrasted in the response of those in the movies as well as the viewers. I have heard several people tell me they are not going to see a movie about apes. But this kind of creative sci-fi genre has a larger story to tell for those who have the time to go see this movie for themselves.

Excellent article on Ancestral Sin

Here is an excellent article entitled "View of Sin in the Early Church" written from an Orthodox Reverend.

I am thoroughly of this viewpoint.

Truth is Unkillable

Anam Chara

I have been looking at Mysticism for some time and while viewing some books on Amazon about Mysticism, I came across this author and went and looked at his website.

Interesting Occurrences

So I listened to two awesome new songs this week.  On Wednesday, I found this one:  Heaven Come My Way by Abandon Kansas from their album Ad Astra Per Aspera (Latin - To the Stars through difficulties - apparently a motto for a whole bunch of different people and one I have not heard but love!)

Yesterday I found this song which I linked in this post as well:  Coming My Way.

These two songs are very uplifting!

Truth is Unkillable

Book Trailers

I have not posted any as I have not made the time too.  However,  I intend to change that slowly and small as God leads and right now, I am going to begin to post links and such to items I find on the internet of value and interest.  I will let Chris carry the banner of original content for now!

Lately, and I am not sure when people started doing this (I am not afraid to admit that I do not follow trends so book trailers appear to have been around for a couple of years at least), I have seen some book trailers that are very profound.  Probably the first one I watched was some months ago, Rob Bell's Love Wins, and while I am not going to offer my own opinion about the controversy as I have not read the book, I will say that it was very moving to me.

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking on the internet for just a book of the gospels.  This is what I found:  The Four Holy Gospels.

Probably close to finding the one above on the four gospels was this book by Jon Tyson and Darren Whitehead:   Rumors of God.  Ironically, when I went to link the trailer, I found out the book released basically this week.

So yesterday, I went to the merry monk's website (He produces Steve Brown's radio programs - I will tell a personal story about Steve Brown later) and on it was this video:  All is Grace.  Now what is interesting on this video in addition to the words, is the song!  The City Harmonic Coming My Way.

I would be remiss if I did not mention four other book trailers (I bought all four books eventually) that I remembered a few minutes after I was going to go read!  I viewed two of these in 2010:  Unchristian (Not sure if it is the official book trailer, but it is a preview nonetheless!), The Next Christians (Actually, I follow this author's stuff on the internet so I bought the book at the end of October 2010 so I cannot actually remember if I viewed a book trailer of it or not).  The next two I did view the book trailers:  Veneer and Quitter

Disclaimer:  These are not meant to be advertisements or anything.  These all moved my heart.

Truth is Unkillable

Communion Meditation

"JESUS CAME TO DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL" - John 3:8

I love the story in 2 Samuel 2:13-17 where David asked for a drink of water from the well of Bethelehem which was totally surrounded by the enemy army of the Phillistines. Three of David's mighty men fought their way through the enemy's camp and brought back David a drink. David was so moved by their willingness to lay down their lives for him that he could not even take the drink given him. These three mighty men of David remind me of three powerful truths for us today.

1. You must know who you are as God's warrior. David's men were completely loyal to David and would do anything for him.

2. To conquer the enemy, you must enter his territory. David's men had the courage to go over to where the stronghold was the toughest and fight.

3. You and God make a majority. David's men knew David and the God he served and they accomplished an impossible task because God went with them into the battle. Three men against the whole Phillistine army!

When it comes to Jesus death and resurrection, we too need to know Jesus is our divine warrior. Jesus overthrew the gates of hell and even conquered death. Jesus knew who he was as God's warrior. Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness and said, "If you are the son of God." Jesus knew he was God's son. Jesus entered Satan's domain. His whole ministry was one of casting out demons, healing the sick, and raising the dead back to life. Jesus came not only to seek and to save the lost but also to destroy the works of the Devil. Finally, Jesus conquered the grave. Not even death could hold Jesus back! Jesus died on the cross so that you could meet his Father.

If God can raise the dead, He can raise an army

"YOU CANNOT COMBAT A STRONGHOLD OF THE ENEMY IN OTHERS IF THE SAME STRONGHOLD OF THE ENEMY IS IN YOU"

When Jesus washed the disciples feet, he told them that one of them was going to betray him and one of them was not clean. If we are going to be used by God, we must be clean vessels to go forth and do battle in God's power. The church is often weak and compromised because the enemy has infiltrated the church rather than the church infiltrating enemy territory. If we are going to be battle ready and put on the whole armor of God then we need to understand that Jesus is our divine warrior. When I pray to put on the breast plate of righteousness, I know Jesus is my righteousness. When I put on the belt of truth, I know Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. When I put on the shoes of the gospel of peace, I know Jesus is my peace. When I put on the helmet of salvation, I know Jesus is my Savior and redeemer. On and on it goes, Jesus is my joy. Jesus is my strength. Jesus is my all in all!

[picture of Michael the Archangel]