Following a conversation with some of our Bible Study folks last night, I thought this was a very timely blog post over at internetmonk:
http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/what-do-gays-and-lesbians-hear-test
Read it and consider seriously.
Grace and Peace,
Joe
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Set Me Free
It hasn't always been this way
I remember brighter days
Before the dark ones came
Stole my mind
Wrapped my soul in chains...
Now I live among the dead
Fighting voices in my head
Hoping someone hears me crying in the night
And carries me away...
Set me free, of the chains holding me
Is anybody out there, hearing me?
Set me free...
Morning breaks another day
Finds me crying in the rain
All alone with my demons I am
Who is this man that comes my way?
The dark ones shriek
They scream His name
Is this the One they say will set the captives free?
Jesus, rescue me
As the God man passes by
He looks straight through my eyes
And darkness cannot hide...
"Do you want to be free?
Lift your chains, I hold the key
All power on Heav'n and Earth belong to me!"
"You are free
You are free
You are free..."
~Written by Mark Hall of Casting Crowns
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Relevance
My friends Jason, Thomas, and I were having a conversation in the car the other day, and from my side of it it goes something like this:
I believe God will use circumstances, cultural norms, likes/dislikes, and etc.. of a person's life in order to draw them near to Him. If that means hard Christian rock music, because that's the type of stuff he/she likes, then God can use that. Why not? If the Calvinists really believe God is totally sovereign, then why wouldn't He, if He can do whatever He likes? "Because the Bible said be not of the world blah blah blah" (translate: "don't do anything I don't like!!") or "why would God need to use something other than Himself to save a person...(translate: "I like putting God in a box and limiting Him to only what I like Him to do")?" is what I normally hear. But I say "For Godso loved the WORLD..." Is God against Himself or something? Love not the world...' but 'God loves the world'? I think many Christians' idea of what is "the world" is screwed up. That's a study in and of itself.
Anyways, is God still totally Sovereign even if He uses his servants, or even non-believers (it happens in the Bible) to accomplish His purposes in the world, whether it to be to save someone, train someone, or help someone? Of course. Since we're human, wouldn't God, transcendent beyond our lowly 3-dimensions, use human-looking, human viewpoint, human things, human words, and human-form in order to communicate, command, teach, and save us? If you had to communicate with a 2 dimensional being, how would you do it? You could either smash your finger through the 2D plane (like a piece of paper) and destroy his universe with your extra dimensional physicality, or you could become like him, put yourself in to his form, and communicate that way. Now think of how smart God is, and how God could do it, and how He did do it. You can't discount the human-factor in God's work on Earth. God gave us the greatest example possible, by becoming like us, to save us. Sound familiar? And look at the Old Testament, how did God appear/communicate with the prophets? He became like things they could comprehend, understand, assimilate, wonder at, and relate to. Ultimately something in their dimension, relating on a human level (think: Burning Bush, The Angel of The LORD, the three men visiting Abraham, etc etc) . That's the greatest example of being "relevant" in order to communicate and connect, in my opinion.
Why did God choose to do it that way, why couldn't he just have killed Himself in Heaven and say "you're all saved!"? You know, save Himself the "trouble" of incarnation, coming to earth, living in the confines of 3D, feeling pain and suffering, temptation, abandonment, all the human woes, including a terrible horrible death. Why did He use sinful and evil humans to kill Him, ravaging politics that would warp His message, jealousy, false religiosity, imperial death penalties, in order to kill Himself for our sins? Is there a message to us in all of that? If we're to be like God, to reflect our Master, is there a message in the Cross, on the level of fundamentally showing how God relates to mankind, beyond what we normally think of when "The Cross", or the Incarnation of the Son comes to mind?
Besides all of this, don't you find it odd that the Bible is written in such a way as to suggest that we, as believers, must live in such a way as to influence the darkness around us? What about being a lamp on a hill? Why tell us to act a certain way, to be like our Master, to say certain things, unless it actually had an impact on unbelievers? Why"...make the teaching about God our Savior attractive" (Titus 2:10) if it has no actual effect on the unbelievers turning towards God? If being relevant within the culture God's put us in is useless in bringing about salvation among people, then why all the fanfare to just as much in the Bible?
The more and more I read, the more I realize that there is something to being 'seeker sensitive', to relating to someone on terms they might understand. Can God work in that? Are we willing to say He won't? How scary a thought that'd we tell God what He can and cannot do. How small and weak a God do we dare make God out to be? I just wasn't spiritually sensitive to it, and rejected it outright (which was probably because of my preconceived notions on how everything had to fit inside my nice little systematic box of theology/evangelism methods). Why is it portrayed in the Bible like God uses US to make a difference, if that's not the case? I think this is just how God chooses to operate, through sinful men. Sure He reaches down and rips a man's old heart out, giving him a new one, sure He can do that. But more often than not, is that how God works? Look at your own life, look at the conversion of everyone you know. Look at conversions in the Bible. Was it as black and white as we'd like it to be? "I heard this sermon, and I was saved immediately." Or can you see God using different things around you, perhaps over a period of time, different people, different songs, different pictures, stories, sermons, circumstances (think about: "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some" 1 Corinthians 9:22), to draw you near to Him, and save you? I don't think anyone would deny this, but do we believe it? Why does the Master think we can be like Him, if it was to no effect in His plans?
"A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher." Luke 6:40
This was the goal of following a Rabbi, a "Teacher". It was to be like Him. You wanted to be JUST LIKE Him, do things His way, follow in His footsteps. Is it possible? If Jesus said it was, why doubt?
I have to believe I can actually be like Jesus, and that He believes I can be like Him, that I can actually make a difference, and that God can actually use me, or what good am I actually doing? Then I actually have to go out and DO SOMETHING. The Kingdom is something we do, it's something we live in, and living is an action. If you're not alive, what are you doing?
Just some thoughts...
Grace and Peace,
Joe
I believe God will use circumstances, cultural norms, likes/dislikes, and etc.. of a person's life in order to draw them near to Him. If that means hard Christian rock music, because that's the type of stuff he/she likes, then God can use that. Why not? If the Calvinists really believe God is totally sovereign, then why wouldn't He, if He can do whatever He likes? "Because the Bible said be not of the world blah blah blah" (translate: "don't do anything I don't like!!") or "why would God need to use something other than Himself to save a person...(translate: "I like putting God in a box and limiting Him to only what I like Him to do")?" is what I normally hear. But I say "For Godso loved the WORLD..." Is God against Himself or something? Love not the world...' but 'God loves the world'? I think many Christians' idea of what is "the world" is screwed up. That's a study in and of itself.
Anyways, is God still totally Sovereign even if He uses his servants, or even non-believers (it happens in the Bible) to accomplish His purposes in the world, whether it to be to save someone, train someone, or help someone? Of course. Since we're human, wouldn't God, transcendent beyond our lowly 3-dimensions, use human-looking, human viewpoint, human things, human words, and human-form in order to communicate, command, teach, and save us? If you had to communicate with a 2 dimensional being, how would you do it? You could either smash your finger through the 2D plane (like a piece of paper) and destroy his universe with your extra dimensional physicality, or you could become like him, put yourself in to his form, and communicate that way. Now think of how smart God is, and how God could do it, and how He did do it. You can't discount the human-factor in God's work on Earth. God gave us the greatest example possible, by becoming like us, to save us. Sound familiar? And look at the Old Testament, how did God appear/communicate with the prophets? He became like things they could comprehend, understand, assimilate, wonder at, and relate to. Ultimately something in their dimension, relating on a human level (think: Burning Bush, The Angel of The LORD, the three men visiting Abraham, etc etc) . That's the greatest example of being "relevant" in order to communicate and connect, in my opinion.
Why did God choose to do it that way, why couldn't he just have killed Himself in Heaven and say "you're all saved!"? You know, save Himself the "trouble" of incarnation, coming to earth, living in the confines of 3D, feeling pain and suffering, temptation, abandonment, all the human woes, including a terrible horrible death. Why did He use sinful and evil humans to kill Him, ravaging politics that would warp His message, jealousy, false religiosity, imperial death penalties, in order to kill Himself for our sins? Is there a message to us in all of that? If we're to be like God, to reflect our Master, is there a message in the Cross, on the level of fundamentally showing how God relates to mankind, beyond what we normally think of when "The Cross", or the Incarnation of the Son comes to mind?
Besides all of this, don't you find it odd that the Bible is written in such a way as to suggest that we, as believers, must live in such a way as to influence the darkness around us? What about being a lamp on a hill? Why tell us to act a certain way, to be like our Master, to say certain things, unless it actually had an impact on unbelievers? Why"...make the teaching about God our Savior attractive" (Titus 2:10) if it has no actual effect on the unbelievers turning towards God? If being relevant within the culture God's put us in is useless in bringing about salvation among people, then why all the fanfare to just as much in the Bible?
The more and more I read, the more I realize that there is something to being 'seeker sensitive', to relating to someone on terms they might understand. Can God work in that? Are we willing to say He won't? How scary a thought that'd we tell God what He can and cannot do. How small and weak a God do we dare make God out to be? I just wasn't spiritually sensitive to it, and rejected it outright (which was probably because of my preconceived notions on how everything had to fit inside my nice little systematic box of theology/evangelism methods). Why is it portrayed in the Bible like God uses US to make a difference, if that's not the case? I think this is just how God chooses to operate, through sinful men. Sure He reaches down and rips a man's old heart out, giving him a new one, sure He can do that. But more often than not, is that how God works? Look at your own life, look at the conversion of everyone you know. Look at conversions in the Bible. Was it as black and white as we'd like it to be? "I heard this sermon, and I was saved immediately." Or can you see God using different things around you, perhaps over a period of time, different people, different songs, different pictures, stories, sermons, circumstances (think about: "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some" 1 Corinthians 9:22), to draw you near to Him, and save you? I don't think anyone would deny this, but do we believe it? Why does the Master think we can be like Him, if it was to no effect in His plans?
"A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher." Luke 6:40
This was the goal of following a Rabbi, a "Teacher". It was to be like Him. You wanted to be JUST LIKE Him, do things His way, follow in His footsteps. Is it possible? If Jesus said it was, why doubt?
I have to believe I can actually be like Jesus, and that He believes I can be like Him, that I can actually make a difference, and that God can actually use me, or what good am I actually doing? Then I actually have to go out and DO SOMETHING. The Kingdom is something we do, it's something we live in, and living is an action. If you're not alive, what are you doing?
Just some thoughts...
Grace and Peace,
Joe
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Remez
Tonight I stumbled upon the name of a style of Biblical teaching, and consequently a method of interpretation, that I've seen for a very long time in the Scriptures, but didn't know the name of. It is called "Remez".
Jesus used this style of rabbinical teaching over 30 times in the Gospels, and his Apostles followed suit in the Acts and Epistles. It is a method of teaching where the teacher 'hints' at additional meaning of what he or she is saying, by 'hinting' at other parts of Scripture (usually the Old Testament).
If we want to understand as much about our Teacher Jesus as we can, then we must understand this method of teaching which He frequently used. One used even at the Cross.
And it is to this end that I invite you to watch this video, which details one of the greatest examples of "Remez" that Jesus used.
Enjoy! "Remez and Psalm 22"
Grace and Peace,
Joe
Jesus used this style of rabbinical teaching over 30 times in the Gospels, and his Apostles followed suit in the Acts and Epistles. It is a method of teaching where the teacher 'hints' at additional meaning of what he or she is saying, by 'hinting' at other parts of Scripture (usually the Old Testament).
If we want to understand as much about our Teacher Jesus as we can, then we must understand this method of teaching which He frequently used. One used even at the Cross.
And it is to this end that I invite you to watch this video, which details one of the greatest examples of "Remez" that Jesus used.
Enjoy! "Remez and Psalm 22"
Grace and Peace,
Joe
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Long Time No Postee
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Merry Late Celebration of Jesus Christ's First Advent! And a happy new year to boot, ladies and gentlemen.
I wanted to share something, it's a comment on a forum I found, and my reply.
I think the comments speak for themselves
It's a touching example of how far we all have come, through faith in Jesus Christ.
"Some Guy: Evolution is real and it exists today. Scientists have proved so many things. The Big Bang is real and it happened so many years ago and Christians believe that some God created the universe. That is just rubbish and there is no evidence to prove that God exists especially before the world was created nothing existed just nothing. Even I considered becoming a Christian but Christianity is false! A lie! Atheism is the only way the only hope we have."
[Not my full comment] "Joe C: ... Let me try your method with your own words ok? =)
“Jesus Christ is real and He exists today. Scientists have proved so many things. The Creation account is real and it happened so ‘many’ years ago and Atheists believe that nothing became something and exploded and then formed in to an amazingly complex system of order all by itself, far surpassing, infinitely, anything any humans have ever DESIGNED. That is just rubbish and there is no evidence to prove non living chemicals ‘evolved’ in to human beings over time, especially since nothing existed before God created it, just nothing. Even I considered becoming an Atheist but Atheism is false! A lie! Jesus Christ is the ONLY WAY– THE ONLY HOPE WE HAVE."
What hope do we have outside of Christ?
Can everything from nothing, moving towards nothing, really be hope?
Of course not, but then again, I've come a long way to realize this. And I'm not so sure it was on my own either.
Goodnight,
Joe C
P.S.-- GO PATS, BEAT THEM GIANTS!!! 19-0!!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
A wonderful song
Who said Contemporary Christian Music wasn't God-honoring and edifying?
Casting Crowns – East To West
Here I am, Lord, and I'm drowning in your sea of forgetfulness
The chains of yesterday surround me
I yearn for peace and rest
I don't want to end up where You found me
And it echoes in my mind, keeps me awake tonight
I know You've cast my sin as far as the east is from the west
And I stand before You now as though I've never sinned
But today I feel like I'm just one mistake away from You leaving me this way
Chorus:
Jesus can You show me just how far the east is from the west
'Cause I can't bear to see the man I've been come rising up in me again
In the arms of Your mercy I find rest
'Cause You know just how far the east is from the west
From one scarred hand to the other
I start the day, the war begins, endless reminding of my sin
Time and time again Your truth is drowned out by the storm I'm in
Today I feel like I'm just one mistake away from You leaving me this way
Chorus:
I know You've washed me white, turned my darkness into light
I need Your peace to get me through
get me through this night
I can't live by what I feel, but by the truth Your word reveals
I'm not holding on to You, but You're holding on to me
You're holding on to me
Chorus:
Just how far, east is from the west
Just how far, one scarred hand to the other
You know just how far, just how far east is from west
Just how far, from one scarred hand to the other
Be blessed...
Love and Grace,
Joe
Monday, December 3, 2007
Why I love football, and hate cable
Monday Night Football, you all know about it, most of us watch it (even if you're not in to football, what else is on at 10pm Monday besides the late news?). But this season, it's been on ESPN, a cable sports network. I am a huge New England Patriots fan, my wife and I originally coming from the Boston MA area, and NE just played their second Monday night game of the season, tonight.
Now here's my dilemia: I do not have cable. I'm a cheapy; unwilling to pay 50$ a month for something I'll hardly ever use, and will most likely be a huge distraction to me serving God to boot.
So, you can imagine how I might feel, with the Patriots going in to MNF (Monday Night Football) 11-0, going for the perfect season, and coming up against the lackluster Baltimore Ravens. Not very excited, afterall, The Pats were picked to win over lame-o Baltimore by 20 1/2 points!! (You can't really get a half point in football, but you know, statistics and all).
So then why am I writing this? Because turns out, the game was close. So close, we're talking down to the last seconds. With the Patriots trailing.
When the game first started, I booted up the play by play gamechannel on ESPN, to see what plays were being made since I could not watch the game on TV. The game quickly turned in to a close touchdown for touchdown game, and I began to regret not having cable. I knew, just knew, this was going to be a close game. A game the Pats COULD lose.
Which is saying a lot, considering they've smashed 9 out of 11 teams they have played so far. Last week, when my son was being born (literally, to the moment), the Pats barely squeaked by 31-28 over the injured and losing record Philadelphia Eagles, to my great happiness. This helped my wife push better, by the way, thanks Tom Brady.
So this week, we were hoping the Pats would go back to their smashing-fest over this weakened and messy Ravens team. Not so.
The Game was TIED at the half. TIED. And by the end of the 4th, with 44 seconds left in the game, the Pats were down by 4 points.
I was left 'watching' the game, on a refreshing computer screen that told me what had happened after each play.
I hate cable because it keeps fans like me from seeing the greatest games of the seasons, that are supposed to be blowouts!!! How can you be on the edge of your seat watching a slowly refreshing computer screen? I WAS. How much more for those who could watch the game.
Thank the Good Lord that Tom Brady is a clutch player. And after 2, count them 2, 4th down conversions near and in the red zone, Brady hit his receiver for 6 points (and then the extra). Pats up by 3. Like...30 seconds left.
Baltimore makes a bunch of penalties, and then tries to march down the field to get in Field Goal range to tie, and can't do it. Time runs out. Pats squeak by, by only 3 points, again. Whew.
What a ridiculously close game, I can't believe I missed it. If the Pats don't get their act together, they won't be the Steelers (9-3) next week. And they're good.
But hey, Brady is clutch.
In other news, we gave Josh a (victory) bath (his first) after the game. He liked it. WHOOOO!
Okay, -end mindless football dribble-
Grace and Love,
Joe
**UPDATE**
It has just been brought to my attention that the final Patriots game of the season, where the Pats will hopefully be clinching a perfect 16-0 season, will be aired December 29th, on a Saturday night, on the...NFL Network. The problem? Most of America DOES NOT GET THE NFL NETWORK. When I say most, I mean 70,000,000 Americans "most". The cable companies don't even carry it, so I couldn't get it even if I wanted to. It's Satellite only. This is football blasphemy, ladies and gents.
Those greedy money mongers. If Jesus let us know when He was returning, I bet the Network Television guys would charge 'every eye' money just to see Him come!!! Infuriating.
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