Am I Really Pro Life?

I consider myself "Pro Life." In 2016 vernacular, that means I do not believe in abortion.

I suspect a number of people are conflicted on what, exactly, this means. We are well into the presidential election cycle and every four years we listen to politicians dance around their positions on abortion. Those who consider themselves hard-core conservatives oppose abortion in any circumstance. Some candidates, perhaps seeking to earn that politically advantageous label "moderate" also oppose abortion, but with exceptions for rape, incest and/or danger to the life of the mother.

Although the issue of abortion is critical in and of itself, the question I have been asking myself lately is, "Am I really pro-life?"

As a person who accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord in 2001, it is my honor - and my challenge - to live a more Christ-like life each day. So how do I do that?

The only source we have to draw from, with regard to how Jesus lived, is the Bible. Yet there are those who would have us believe unless we have a doctorate in biblical studies or are at least facile with ancient Greek and Hebrew, we have no chance of understanding what the Bible really means.

In the wise and gentle words of the late (fictional) Colonel Sherman T. Potter:

As I pointed out in our small group this past Sunday, there are atheists who know a lot more about the Bible than I do. They have undertaken an in-depth study of the book, pouring through ancient copies of manuscripts, reading them in the languages they were first written, dissecting various treatises, and so on. They presuppose that by completing a logical and organized academic study of the book, they will be able to fully grasp the meaning of the Bible and thus be equipped to successfully debate anyone, anywhere, on any biblical topic.

Just like that recipe your grandmother used to make. You know the one. Every, single time you make it, there is something missing. You've got the recipe and you follow it exactly. Yet the dish never tastes like you remember when Grandma made it.

Why? Because there was something else she put in to it. She didn't happen to write it down. She just put whatever that extra ingredient was in when she made it.

Biblically speaking, that missing ingredient is the Holy Spirit. On the Day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter said to them (those gathered in Jerusalem), "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." [Acts 2:38-39]

Although I have digressed, the purpose (and point) is, if we have repented of our sins and placed our faith and trust in Jesus, God has promised to provide us an advocate - the Holy Spirit - to guide us from that point onward.

Now, having established that each of us, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, can rightly determine the truth and meaning of the Bible, what does it say about being "Pro-life?"

Exodus 20:13 is probably the best place to start. "You shall not murder." [NASB]

That seems pretty clear. Unless you are a lawyer, judge, politician or human, apparently. The modern definition of murder is something like: the killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in law. In the U.S., special statutory definitions include murder committed with malice aforethought, characterized by deliberation or premeditation or occurring during the commission of another serious crime, as robbery or arson (first-degree murder) and murder by intent but without deliberation or premeditation (second-degree murder).

I tend to gravitate toward a more simple definition: to kill or slaughter inhumanly or barbarously.

This, I believe, is the definition around which the abortion debate swirls.

But what if being Pro-life was more than just defining your position in the abortion debate? What if it encompassed your beliefs on capital punishment, self-defense, DUI manslaughter, and all the other ways that we as a species have learned to dispose of each other?

Biblical nitpickers might poke an index finger toward the sky and say, "Ah ha! But the Hebrew word (transliteration) 'ratsach' means 'to murder' so, as long as we are not murdering people, we are not killing them in the biblical sense and breaking that commandment."

Ratsach can mean 'murder' but it can also mean 'to slay' or simply 'manslayer'. If I perform an abortion on a fetus with a heartbeat, shoot a burglar who has broken into my home, run over someone when I'm driving under the influence, kill someone by lethal injection or any other scenario you can think of, I have slayed them.

I cannot imagine God thinking, "I'm going to give humanity this vague commandment and just sit back and wait for them to argue about what it means."

Thou shalt not kill/murder/slay.

I don't see any ambiguity there.

"But I'm protecting my family! I'm being a good steward of my home by defending it from the burglar when I shoot him."

Fair comment. I used to own a 9mm semi-automatic pistol. It had one purpose. I am thankful I never had to make the decision whether or not to use it to fulfill its purpose. I don't have the weapon anymore.

However, if we cannot agree on the meaning of the sixth commandment, let's look at something a bit more recent.

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount provided some pretty plain behavioral rules. Specific to our discussion, the instructions Jesus gave in Matthew 5:38-48 are pretty clear. Not much wiggle room there, when you consider the examples He provided.

During His ministry, lawyers, scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees...seemingly most everyone...sought to trip Jesus up in some way. The Hebrews had a good few thousand years to build on those original ten instructions God provided them. By the time of Jesus, their construct rivaled that of The Matrix.

Those guys are everywhere!

If you want to put a modern spin on it, Jesus was like Neo and all those lawyers, scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees were like the innumerable Agent Smiths trying to capture Him.

One day, as Matthew 22:34-40 recounts, a lawyer asked Jesus the sixty-four thousand drachma question, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"

Unsurprisingly, Jesus gave the correct answer. However, the last part of His answer is where the rubber meets the road in the context of Pro-life. "The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Would you clamp down on your own tender head with a pair of cold, metal forceps and pull yourself out of the womb? Would you shoot yourself as you jimmied the lock on your own front door? Would you push the button to fill your own veins with a lethal cocktail of capital punishment drugs?

I would hazard a guess that most of us would not. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Am I really pro-life?

I've got some work to do, Jesus. Help me.

X

...and then the end will come.

A recent analysis published in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists entitled Five Minutes is Too Close lays out all the reasons why our Doomsday Clock - in place since 1947 - remains at five minutes before midnight. If that scares the neon out from under your Nitrous-powered import, take heart. This is not the closest the collection of Nobel laureates (science) have predicted we are to Armageddon.

2 Minutes to Midnight: In a 1953 announcement which the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists label The Horror of Hydrogen, they state, “The hands of the Clock of Doom have moved again. Only a few more swings of the pendulum, and, from Moscow to Chicago, atomic explosions will strike midnight for Western civilization.”

17 Minutes to Midnight: But that was the height of the Cold War and anything could have happened. By 1991, Reagan had helped tear down the last vestiges of the old Iron Curtain and President George Bush (41), along with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), an agreement which significantly reduced nuclear weapon stockpiles around the globe.

So what, in the intervening twenty-three years, has caused the jitters to resume and the Doomsday Clock to tick its way back, only five short minutes from Earth's predicted annihilation?

A large part of the Doomsday threat, as it originally did, rests on the continuing danger of nuclear disaster; I'm looking at you Kim Jong-Un. But a much more recent scourge is rearing its ugly head as a major threat to human survival.

Pogo - © Walt Kelly

Yep, that's right. Good, old global warming - or just plain Climate Change as it's better known today. A nuclear holocaust would be our fault too; but maybe we don't dwell on that so much because nuclear destruction comes on like a deadly spring tornado as opposed to climate change, which seems to be sneaking up on us like a five-year-old playing hide and seek rather poorly.

But this is not a blog specifically concerning humanity's self-flagellant slide toward Earth's destruction. What I want to illustrate is that science believes there is an imminent threat and that this fact, not in-coincidentally, tracks with the beliefs of another group.

The Bible also speaks of the end of Earth - at least as we know it. From Old Testament to New, prophecy after prophecy points toward a future time when God will pass judgement on the earth. Secularists don't believe a word of it. And even Scripture is vague on the when, but not on the what or the where.

The book of Revelation indicates that Armageddon is a place, and we have since co-opted the term to refer to an event which ushers in the end of the age.

Jesus' disciples were as curious as anyone; and why wouldn't they be? They were walking and talking with God's Son on a daily basis and they figured if anyone knew when all the prophecies were going to come to fruition, it would be Him.

The Gospel of Mark (13:32) quotes Jesus telling the Apostles, "But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."

This statement is also contained in the Gospel of Matthew but despite that fact, there are many who try to tell us that they've got it all figured out. This falls right in line with another piece of advice that Jesus gave in Matthew 24:11: "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many."

I suppose that's just an example of how many of us are not so enamored of this world and will, in a moment of weakness, believe those who claim they have some secret, sacred knowledge that reveals the moment of Jesus' return. Ironically, in addition to Jesus Himself, many of the New Testament writers  - Paul and John among them - warned against this very thing.

To me, the last word on this sort of knowing is Jesus' statement in Matthew 24:14, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come."

So there's your sign. For any secularists, atheists, agnostics, etc. who happen to read this blog - and have made it this far - that is one of the main reasons why Christians continue to share their faith with you - or should be. Jesus has told us when His Gospel is preached to the entire world, the end will come. And only God (the Father) knows when that exact moment in the future will be.

Is it five, atomic-clock minutes from now? Is it still thousands of years away? Stinks to be us. We have no idea.

What do you think?

X

The Stairway to Heaven

I grew up in the 70's. That's the 1970's, not the 1870's, as our young X-men may believe sometimes. If you grew up in the 70's you are aware of Led Zeppelin. I state that as a matter of fact. I suppose there may be people living in the Amazon rain forest who have not heard of Led Zeppelin, but they probably don't read my blog either.

In December 2012, Led Zeppelin reached the pinnacle of western civilization with their recognition by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Each year, JFKCPA selects a group of artists to honor. Their criteria reads, in part, "The Kennedy Center Honors provide recognition to living individuals who throughout their lifetimes have made significant contributions to American culture through the performing arts."

I was pleased for the band and amused at the cultural ironies involved. Then I learned David Letterman was being honored in the same program. Letterman and Zeppelin are not even in the same talent universe, but I didn't have a vote, so...

 Photo: Linda Davidson / The Washington Post via Getty Images

Jack Black was tapped to introduce the honorarium for Zeppelin.

The first two minutes of the video above contain Black's intro for the band, as well as the video montage that highlights a few of the reasons for their inclusion. In a statement that will have as many strident defenders as detractors, he names Led Zeppelin the best Rock and Roll Band on the planet - better than the Beatles, better than the Stones...

The encore of the evening is led by Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart singing Stairway to Heaven...

There has been a tremendous amount of discussion over the years regarding the meaning of the song, whether it contained satanic messages if played backwards, and whether Robert Plant would ever sing it again (which he did in 2007). What I see in the video above is perspective. Playing any song over and over again, night after night, no matter how good it is, must get old. The magic that Plant and Page caught in a bottle at Bron-Yr-Aur and Headley Grange back in 1970 had diminished over the decades. But on this night it was clear that distance had made the heart grow fonder. That is as much a testament to the greatness of the song as it is to the sterling performance by the Wilson sisters, Jason Bonham (son of the late Zeppelin drummer John), and the supporting orchestra.

Stairway to Heaven means a million things to a million people. Something else I noticed when viewing the performances of Zeppelin's songs: the audience. In particular, there is one lady who appears to be 'praising' during Stairway to Heaven, her hands raised, eyes closed. Others in the assemblage are also lost in the music.

Even more powerful to me were the reactions of the band. We can only wonder at the thoughts passing through the minds of Jimmy, Robert and John as they sat in their tuxedos, beside the President and other luminaries, listening to their anthem...what memories were playing out behind teary eyes? How many shows? How many faces in the crowd? How much pain and loss remembered as the familiar chords echoed across the auditorium?

If you watch the entire program you will hear Jack Black reiterate his challenge - his statement of fact - from the introduction: Best band...ever.

But for all their greatness, for all their amazing music, for all the wonder I have felt when listening to their songs...I know in my heart that Led Zeppelin do not stand at the foot of that stairway. John Bonham's death was tragic. Robert Plant's son's death was tragic. But Jesus' death on the cross was the most tragic event in human history, while at the same time the most powerful and uplifting. Because Jesus truly is our Stairway to Heaven.

This is not a popular sentiment. People get offended when you tell them there is only one way to get to Heaven. Just like the meaning of the song Stairway to Heaven, people want to define their own wisdom, their own understanding, their own path, their own truth. The disciple Thomas was a skeptic. In John 14:6 Jesus tells him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."

Yet later, in John 20:29, Thomas finally accepts the truth of things while being chastised just a touch when Jesus says, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."

Paul writes that when we accept Christ as our Savior, when we put our feet on the true Stairway to Heaven, we are to put off the old man and put on the new.

One of the things that seems to puzzle critics of the Church is how it can be filled with people who still sin. In 2001 I accepted Christ as my Savior. I had a real and personal experience that left me, like Thomas, with no doubt that Jesus is who He says He is. In the intervening years I have worked to be the man that God created me to be but I am still very much a work in progress. How can I be a Christian yet still listen to Led Zeppelin and wonder at the amazing talent and true giftedness of these four mortal men? As long as I don't put them ahead of God, I think I'm going to be okay there. The very first Commandment God gave us was that we were to have no other gods before Him. I've heard Zeppelin called the gods of rock. Look at the Kennedy Center audience again. There are some worshipping folks in that crowd.

But Led Zeppelin won't get you to Heaven, no matter how many times you play the song. The three surviving members of the band won't get you to Heaven, no matter how many honors they receive - no matter how much praise you give them. People talk about how great Heaven is going to be. They discuss who all will be there, wonder if they will get to see their favorite old dog again, and if their friends and family will greet them as they walk through those pearly gates. Over the years I've heard people talk about the music that will be made in Heaven by all the artists that have gone on before us. And perhaps they're right. Maybe Heaven will be a big party.

Who knows what the Stairway to Heaven will be...

All I know about Heaven is what's in the Bible. Near the end, John writes, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."

The Bible also says that we will worship Him and any rewards we might get for things accomplished on Earth in His name will be cast at God's feet. I've heard folks say, "How boring if that's what Heaven is all about...just standing around and worshipping God for eternity."

From my perspective, trading in death, mourning, crying, and pain for an eternity in God's presence sounds pretty good to me. But hey; I'm still human. Maybe Led Zeppelin will be there. Who knows? But I'm not too worried about them playing for me. If they are there, they will be too busy playing for One who is much more worthy.

And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last.

What do you think?

X

Head or heart?

I have an addictive personality. Just ask Mrs. X. If I like something, no matter what it is, I can really go off the deep end. I'm a grown man, but I entered adulthood in the years when computers and video games were just taking off. I love playing video games. My tastes have changed over the years but I could still play Ms. Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Mario Kart, FIFA 20xx, Zork...you name it, for hours. Literally. Arcade game? Pinball machine? PC? Console? Bring it.

Castle X from the ocean-side...

If not for my addictive personality, how else can you explain that - at my age - I put the time and effort required into building a castle in Minecrack that is three stories tall, surrounded by water, has a rooftop made completely of glass, has a boat dock, and can be seen for miles because of the Netherrack burning eternally atop its battlements? Do you have any idea how long it took me to dig, mine and build that sucker? I won't even discuss the cavernous, multi-level, underground complex I'm currently building that will eventually be connected - over a significant distance - by powered rail to the catacombs of Castle X (see above). Like I said, an addictive personality.

This is an addiction of the head. I would opine that the head is where most addictions reside. The Bible has (roughly) 95 verses that speak of wine or alcohol in one way or another. Many Christian denominations teach that believers should abstain from alcohol completely, others do not. Clearly, overuse of wine or strong drink is discouraged in the Bible. My guiding principle in this regard comes from Romans 14:21 -

It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother [and by extension, sister] stumbles.

I've pretty much put aside the drinking thing. As I suspect most folks who have addictive personalities will tell you, if someone likes the taste of alcohol or the effect it brings or the impression of good times it engenders, look out.

I believe there is one overriding principle the Bible teaches that covers just about everything, whether it is mentioned specifically by name or not: If something takes your heart away from God - in effect replaces God with something of this Earth - then that, my friend, is bad.

With all your heart?

Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:37, among other verses, tell us that we are to love God with all our hearts. Every time I read those verses I am convicted because I know there are compartments in my heart (and mind, and spirit...) that I have not let God into. I would hazard a guess that even the most devout believers might have a few sections in the picture above that are absent of God. But maybe not, maybe that's just me justifying my own weakness.

I know in my head that I need to allow God into every aspect of my life, but the mirror of my heart doesn't always reflect that. As Ferris Bueller said during his day off, "Life moves pretty fast..."

There are two parts to this heart discussion. There is part one: the belief part and part two: the life part. In order for us to love God with all of our hearts, we need first to believe in His redeeming plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. That is not a head decision but one of the heart. The Apostle Paul illustrates this perfectly in Romans 10:9. Based on the Bible a person cannot arbitrarily decide they are a Christian - a follower of Christ - they have to have a change of heart.

I'm not trying to back anyone into a doctrinal corner, far from it. I've read some Christian blogs recently that discuss the openness - or lack thereof - of today's churches. Our churches should be open and welcoming to all. A few verses on, in Romans 10:14, Paul hits on another truth, "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?"

If we expect our churches to be places where people can come and hear the truth of the Bible and places where, once having heard, can confess with their mouths and believe in their hearts, hadn't we better make sure that our church doors are wide open?

Not very welcoming...

If someone has decided in their head to give Christianity a try, they aren't Christians. Even if they are attending church regularly, serving the community, etc. there has not been a change of heart. I can make a head decision not to drink alcohol, but if I'm going to dedicate my life to Jesus and call myself a Christian, that has to come from my heart.

Once I've made that heart decision, I've got a whole bunch of other life decisions to make. And in my short time as a Christian, I've learned that it takes both the head and the heart to make those.

What do you think?

X

Jesus Christ, Superstar

In 1971, long before I came to know Jesus Christ personally, a stage play was performed in London. Sadly, I can't go back and see that performance. I can only imagine how powerful it must've been. And although there have been revivals of the stage version of Jesus Christ Superstar, I find the 1973 film more in tune with my remembrance of the original soundtrack - sitting in front of Mom's Magnavox console, listening to that original London cast singing...over and over again.

The play - and the film - open with Overture, a rather haunting introduction that underscores the time period in which they were both made. In the 1973 film we see the cast arriving on location - I believe - at the ruins of Avdat, an ancient city in the Negev. They disembark and begin unloading the bus, with the cross of the crucifixion carried on top and featured prominently. Judas, played superbly by Carl Anderson, walks away by himself, then turns to watch the appearance of Jesus - as if by magic - from the middle of the rest of the actors.

Judas opens the vocal performances with Too Much Heaven on Their Minds, an interesting plea to Jesus which infers that Judas was concerned that what started out as a good thing - walking around performing a few miracles and teaching some good life principles - was starting to spin out of control. People were beginning to refer to Jesus as the promised Messiah and that was dangerous under the Roman occupation. Jesus' followers needed to get their heads out of the clouds, away from Heaven and back to Earth, where real things were happening that were much more important.

Apparently they didn't take Judas' warnings to heart because in the next scenes, scored with What's the Buzz and Strange Things Mystifying, the disciples pepper Jesus with questions about the future while Mary works to provide some calmness for her Lord. This scene also includes a reference to Mary's use of a very expensive container of oil (or perfumed oil) for which Judas chastises Jesus, saying that it would've been better to sell it and give the money to the poor. The biblical accounts - in Matthew, Mark and John - note that far from being a waste, the oil was being used to prepare Jesus for burial.

There are a great number of inaccuracies from a biblical perspective in the film, so I wouldn't use the film as a basis for a theological treatise. However, Ted Neeley's portrayal of Jesus has a quality that one can't help but think is accurate to some degree as he mourns the lack of understanding - even among his own disciples - regarding Jesus' true purpose.

Still, with all the misleading, misinterpreted and flat out incorrect biblical information, Jesus Christ Superstar has a power about it that I think stems more from the actual life, death, and resurrection of Jesus than any man-made attempts to dramatize it. Our society is one that craves visual stimulus and the stark, spare costumes, scenery and props used in the film somehow fade into insignificance behind the powerful story being told.

Jesus Christ Superstar focuses on the events leading up to the trial and crucifixion of Jesus; told against a backdrop painted with the conflicted relationship between Judas and Jesus, as well as questions surrounding not only the background of Mary Magdalene, but the nature of her relationship with the Messiah. Most disappointingly, I found the portrayal of the Apostles - especially Simon the Zealot - to be overdone. All of this is subjective of course, since none of us were there and can't really know what happened in between the lines - the facts - that we read about in the Bible. Certainly I would've been confused by Jesus. Even today we find it difficult to conceive that He came to save us. Back in 1st century Israel, chafing against Roman occupation, there would've been a variety of opinions about who He was and what He was there for.

One of the things I think Jesus Christ Superstar portrays well is the sadness of Jesus. There are several references to Jesus crying in Scripture. He weeps for Jerusalem in Luke 19:41 - right in the middle of what we call the Triumphal Entry. Similarly, just before one His most powerful miracles - raising His friend Lazarus from the dead, John 11:35 states simply, "Jesus wept." I imagine that the biblical Jesus, fully God and fully man, with foreknowledge of His fate, couldn't help but be sad about a great many things. His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane clearly indicates an internal pain regarding His own Earthly fate. However, I believe that the lion's share of Jesus' sadness came because of the Jew's reaction to Him as well as what He knew was to come...even today.

The moneychanger scene in the Temple also comes in chapter 19 of the Gospel of Luke. This is another scene I like to believe the film portrayed somewhat accurately. There are shots of Judas staring incredulously as Jesus turns over the tables and generally makes a wreck of the Temple courtyard, all the while rebuking the merchants - as well as the nearby Pharisees - that God's Temple should be a house of prayer, not a den of thieves.

Although the trial and crucifixion are dramatically much tamer than portrayed in Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ, there is still a power and poignancy to the scenes that tell the story. And as the cast shuffles off down the hill after Jesus' death, with Mr. Neeley still on the cross, the director leaves us to wonder about a few things.

We never see Neeley board the bus and in the closing scene, the single cross is spread against a blood-red sunset, with no body hanging limply from its members.

There are no real historical arguments against the life and death of Jesus. All of the argument centers around what came next. Did He rise? Is He in Heaven today, fulfilling the promise He made to the Apostles in John 14.

What do you think?

X

Hate or Love?

2 Samuel 19:5-6 (NASB) recounts how Joab, the commander of King David's armies, came and gave him the old what-for regarding David's reaction to the death of his son Absalom:

Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, “Today you have covered with shame the faces of all your servants, who today have saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters, the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines, by loving those who hate you, and by hating those who love you. For you have shown today that princes and servants are nothing to you; for I know this day that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased."

David mourning Absalom

What is the backstory here? The trap that Christians and non-Christians alike stumble into (or jump into on purpose) is taking single verses or passages in the Bible and using them as a hammer to prove their point. In effect, are we attempting to use the Bible like a common hand tool and beat people into submission?

In Matthew 5:44-47 (NASB) Jesus tells us, "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?"

I wonder what Joab would have made of that instruction? Don't get me wrong. I totally get where Joab was coming from. As Commander in Chief of Israel's military, Joab was looking after the King's interests. And although he knew David had asked that Absalom be spared, Joab drove three javelins through the young man's heart while he hung helpless in a tree. There may have been malice between Absalom and Joab, but it was probably more an act of political expediency than outright spite and disobedience to the King. Absalom had attempted to usurp David's throne; David was God's anointed. Had Absalom been left alive, he would have always been a threat to the King, to Jerusalem, and to Joab.

Joab wanted to wrench David from his grief over Absalom so that the men who had fought and risked their lives to restore the throne to David would not be sitting around saying, "Well that's a fine thank you."

Joab was also family - as were many others in David's court - and those who supported David without question needed to know that he, in turn, supported them.

Going back to the New Testament again, Luke 8:19-21 (NASB) provides another interesting statement by Jesus, "And His mother and brothers came to Him, and they were unable to get to Him because of the crowd. And it was reported to Him, "Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wishing to see You."

But He answered and said to them, "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it."

Our earthly families are important; what was Jesus trying to say? How does that differ from Joab's reaction in the Old Testament? Shouldn't Joab have understood that, even though Absalom had usurped the throne, conquered Jerusalem, defiled the King's concubines in full view of Israel, and previously raped the King's daughter (his own half-sister), the King would still mourn the loss of his son?

It sounds to me like, at least in this case, Joab was taking the longer view and acting as he believed appropriate to maintain and support God's chosen ruler. Joab knew that God had anointed David King - and that was more important than the death of (one of) his son(s).

Yet family or no, David was loving his enemy.

It was brought to my attention the other day that there was a group page on Facebook named, "Witches Must Die By Fire". The founder of this group was a self-professing Christian and he/she challenged other weak Christians to join his/her cause and fight the enemy. He/she said that if Christians united as strongly as pagans or Muslims, we [sic] would have already taken over the world.

First of all, as a Christian, I'd like to point out that it's not my job to take over the world. Naturally, I have reservations concerning witches and pagans. However, any thoughts I might have regarding their beliefs and practices fall into the same category as those regarding anyone who does not believe that Jesus is our eternal King. But seriously, die by fire?

The founder of this hate-filled page - which has since been (thankfully) taken down by Facebook - obviously skimmed over the love your enemy references that Jesus made in the Gospels. He/she must've also missed Paul's note in Ephesians 6:12 (NASB), "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Paul doesn't mention a hate-filled Facebook page when describing the full armor of God.

I don't claim to have the Bible all figured out. God's Word is complex and He will speak to us in different ways through different passages at different times. However, there are some pretty straight forward passages, and I've tried to point out a few in this blog. Finally, Peter - that rabble-rousing, ear slicing fisherman that Christ used to start His earthly church - has an oft-quoted instruction in 1 Peter 3:14-16 (NASB) that bears repeating: "But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame." [EMPHASIS from BLB text]

Thanks Peter; that's some good advice I needed to hear again today.

What do you think?

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To be or not to be...

Perhaps the most difficult biblical instruction to follow is for us to be in the world but not of the world. This is one of those instructions that some folks will kick back and say, "That's not in the Bible." And they're right. There is no direct quote from Jesus or one of the Apostles that states, "You believers, be in the world and not of it."

However, the instruction is there, you just have to discover it. Joshua 1:8 finds God instructing the man who was stepping into Moses' huge sandals, "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success."

The meaning of prosperous and success is a subject for a completely different blog...stay tuned. But, in fact, the Bible does instruct believers to be in the world and not of it. Here are a few examples...

In John 17, just before His arrest, Jesus prayed to the Heavenly Father on our behalf; the key verses for the purposes of our discussion today are John 17:13-16.

In verse 15, Jesus says, "I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one."

More's the pity. The problem with being in the world is that it is hard not to be of it. Living on Earth is like constantly being at a carnival with hucksters and tempters drawing you in with their promises of amazing things behind the curtain.

So that's how they do it...

Life, with all it's booths and rides, with all the Internet, movies, television shows, games, music, philosophies...it's not hard to realize that grabbing it all - or as much as we can - is just another way for us to give up our dollar in order to see the bearded lady behind the curtain, to ultimately be disappointed with the fact that we've fallen for yet another sham.

So what do we do? Paul gives us a practical answer in Romans 12. Verse 2 guides us to, "... not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

Easier said than done of course, but the instruction manual is freely available if we're willing to pick it up and read it.

In keeping with the more practical aspects of life, in the Bible Jesus also calls for us to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16) to the people of the Earth, not cheerleaders for the enemy. I don't want to fall down the rabbit hole of expounding on the many values of, and references to, salt in the Bible. Briefly, salt was of tremendous value in ancient times. As something that brought flavor and zest to food, as something that acted as a preservative, and even as something used to establish binding agreements.

Salt was a precious commodity. But our ancestors did not have the luxury of popping down to the local Wal-Mart to pick up a bag of Morton's. It was collected from natural sources and didn't quite have the staying power of our purified salt of today. It needed to be replenished...refreshed.

We could easily chat for a couple of hours on all the connotations of Jesus' instruction to be salt and light to the world. My understanding leads me to the conclusion that Jesus is instructing his followers to add flavor to the lives of others, not with the things of the world, but with His teachings. He is asking us to share His light, His preservative, His flavor, with those in our little corner of the Earth.

Psalm 12:6 affirms that, "The words of the LORD are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times."

That furnace could very well be fired with salt. Salt was often mixed with other materials because of its catalytic properties and used to start fires. How many fires have you started recently?

I know that some folks get tired of hearing Christians talk about Jesus. I'm not going to apologize for doing so because over and over in the Bible, Jesus tells us to do exactly that. If someone is a believer in Jesus, then they are duty-bound to do the same. I think one of the reasons people get cranky is that only a fraction of people that profess to believe in Jesus actually do what He says we should do. If every believer in the whole world talked to their friends, neighbors, family, co-workers and others about Jesus...just think how much salt and light there would be.

To be or not to be...that is indeed the question.

What do you think?

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I'll be back

I haven't had a lot of time to blog in the last couple of months. I won't bore you with my whiny excuses. It is what it is. When I do blog, I try to be interesting, informative and thought-provoking. I'm not above using certain key-words, catch phrases or tantalizing titles in an effort to stimulate readership. Sorry. I'm a writer. Part of being a writer is liking it when other people read your stuff.

That said, I found it ironic that after such a long layoff, my first post back is entitled, "I'm Leaving..." while the very next post (this one) is entitled, "I'll be back".

I didn't plan it that way; it just worked out.

In 1984, James Cameron directed a film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger called The Terminator. Arnold played a cybernetic being from the future who had returned to the past in order to kill Sarah Connor, who would eventually be the mother of John Connor, who would eventually lead the resistance against the rise of the machines in the future…where The Terminator came from to…

Where do I take the driver's test?

You get the idea – all these time travel movies are confusing anyway. One of the most famous lines from the film was Arnold’s iconic, “I’ll be back.” If you've watched any of the Terminator films, you know that the machine is relentless; no matter what happened to it, it kept to its mission – its program. The first scene where the line, “I’ll be back,” is used is in a police station. The Terminator has been going around killing everyone in the city named Sarah Connor. He had tracked the right Sarah Connor to a police station. He went inside, asked the desk sergeant if he could see her because he was a friend. The desk sergeant looks up, gives him a busy bureaucrat answer and says if he wants to wait, there’s a bench right over there he can sit on.

Arnold looks around, analyzes the structure of the cage the desk sergeant is sitting in, then he leans forward and says, “I’ll be back.”

The desk sergeant doesn't even look up. A minute or so later, Arnold drives a speeding car through the front doors of the police station and through the sergeant’s cage, he gets out amidst the wreckage and starts shooting everyone in sight, with the single-minded purpose of completing his mission: killing Sarah Connor.

What is your single-minded purpose each day?

I'd like to talk to more people about being a Christian. Unlike a lot of my peers at church, my salvation experience is relatively recent (2001). For me, it’s hard sometimes to start each day with the thought, “I am going to do exactly what Jesus asks me to do today.”

The Terminator had a mission. He had a program that was very simple: Kill Sarah Connor. As Christians, we sometimes find it difficult to know exactly what Jesus wants us to do each day, because we don’t always hear from Him directly. We can’t sit down at the breakfast table with Jesus or carpool to work with Jesus or sit in the cubicle next to Jesus and just lean over and say, “What do I do in this situation?”

Don’t we have a program too?

Actually, we can carpool with Jesus – our program is called The Bible, and with audio Bibles, (reputable) radio teachers and other methods, we can review our instructions every single day.

Let’s look at a few specific directives Jesus gave us (Emphasis from BLB.org):

1. Matthew 4:10 - Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'”
2. Matthew 14:16 - But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!”
3. Matthew 18:22 - Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”
4. Matthew 19:18 - Then he said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER; YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY; YOU SHALL NOT STEAL; YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS;
5. Mark 12:17 - And Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” And they were amazed at Him.
6. Luke 10:37 - And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
7. John 14:3 - “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
8. John 14:23 - Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
9. John 20:21 - So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
10. Matthew 28:19-20 - Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

These are just a small sampling of direct quotes from Jesus in the New Testament wherein He is giving us – people who are living today – specific instructions. Think of them as lines of code in our daily program.

I was filling in as our small group teacher this week and our object verses were 1 John 2:28-29.

One thing I've noticed in our study of 1 John is that the Apostle John repeats himself a lot. I kind of wondered about that until I really started unpacking what he was trying to say. John was writing to believers in the early church. I surmise that John's purpose was somewhat similar to a computer program: he was reinforcing the original teachings that the church had been given so that believers would not be led astray. John used repetition and compare/contrast among other teaching strategies.

John wasn't trying to brainwash anyone - his audience were already believers - he was working to reinforce their faith so that the church would survive and the believer's faith would endure into the future. In 1 John 2:28, John urges his audience to abide in Jesus.

What does that mean?

1. 1 John 2:5-6 – John teaches that abiding in Christ is synonymous with knowing him; having a personal relationship with him
2. John 15:4-7 – Jesus gave us this illustration of Him being the vine and us being the branches. Without the vine, it is impossible for branches to bear fruit
3. Revelation 6:15-17 – Many things were revealed to John during his prophetic experience on Patmos. These verses paint the picture of those who do not abide in Jesus and what their reaction will be upon his return.

I don't quote Revelation 6:15-17 as a hammer; so many people are turned off by the idea that God would take vengeance on those who do not believe in Him. My purpose for this blog is not to stand on a virtual street corner and shout anyone into Hell. I am simply looking at the context of what John is teaching in 1 John 2 and exploring the context of that instruction.

In a sense 1 John 2:28 is a microcosm – a small yet complete example – of what the New Testament is about after the Gospel is complete. The end of 1 John 2:28 reinforces how John does not – and God does not – want us, as believers, to be ashamed at the time of Jesus’ return. We've learned about all of the false gospels that were springing up during the time that John lived. Then and now, these false gospels pull believers away from the deep and abiding relationship that we forge with Jesus at the moment we receive His gift of salvation and make Him Lord over our lives.

In 1 John 2:29, John urges us to practice righteousness; what does it mean to practice righteousness?

The verses that we went through above are a good start. Being obedient to the instructions – the program – of Jesus looks like righteousness to me. Have you ever known someone in church (or who attended church regularly) who you just knew was a born-again believer only to find out that they were there serving, being kind, loving the children, helping others, etc. without having accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior?  The thing is, without salvation, we can be as righteous as we can humanly try to be and yet, we will not be seen by God as righteous.

1. Philippians 1:9-11 - verse 11 clearly indicates that we cannot come into righteousness by our own power; it is something that must be received through/from Jesus
2. Matthew 5:20
3. Romans 10:10

So what does all this have to do with The Terminator? The Apostle John is trying to remind those early believers - and us - that we can't just sleepwalk through life. We can't just have a mountaintop experience with Jesus and then coast down the other side until either we die or He returns. Just as The Terminator was relentlessly purposeful in carrying out his instructions, so should we be equally purposeful in carrying out ours.

What do you think?

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It's time to ask yourself what you believe...

The title of today's blog comes from the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. [Paramount, 1989]

In a pivotal scene, Walter Donovan (Julian Glover), an American industrialist who has thrown in with the Nazis in search of the Holy Grail, has just shot Professor Jones (Sean Connery). Donovan asks Indy (Harrison Ford) in effect, 'Do you really believe in the Holy Grail?'

It seems an odd question; with all of the death-defying action that has taken place, would Indy have really gone through all that if he didn't believe? But you could make a case that Indy was in it for fortune and glory, as he famously intoned in the second installment of the Indy franchise [Temple of Doom, Paramount, 1984]. And his seeking for the grail could have just been a way to help complete his father's lifelong quest and mend a relationship that had been tenuous at best.

Of course, in the heat of battle how often do we have time to really consider the important questions?

As life is steaming along full-speed and you are careening from one event to the next, do you ever stop and ask yourself, 'What do I believe?'

We all have a handy pouch that we carry around the stock answers in. You know the ones;

As some of you know, I finished up my annual Bible reading this week. Today, I started this years' reading. I decided to go with the English Standard Version [Crossway, 2001] because the goal of ESV is to be very accurate (word for word) yet very readable. This morning I embarked on a chronological plan provided by the great folks at the Blue Letter Bible. If you are looking for a new - or maybe your first - site for online Bible study, BLB is the bomb.

So what?

So, a chronological plan - as you might expect - presents the Bible in the order that the events happened, as near as we can determine. Naturally I began with Genesis and read chapters one through three. Most will know that these chapters deal with creation and our removal from the Garden.

While reading, that line from The Last Crusade just hit me right upside the head...it was time to ask myself what I believed. I thought about what possibilities exist for creation:

1. God created the heavens and the earth and everything in it. (the Bible account as documented in the book of Genesis)
2. The heavens and the earth and everything in it have come to be as a result of some cosmic event and over time have evolved into what we see today

With some variation, those are the two main schools of thought regarding how we got here.

Those who believe - or lean toward - number 2 can be very logical, factual and, dare I say it, evangelical, in their belief. It seems like those who adhere to number 2 do not recognize the logic inherent in believing number 1. After all, isn't that all based on the Bible, a book written by fallable men? And aren't most people who believe in the creation account just taking it on faith with no real proof to sustain their beliefs? So obviously that belief is flawed, right?

I'm no apologist and I'm not here to sway you to either belief. All I'm saying is that it's time to ask yourself what you believe - and then ask yourself, 'Why?' 

Go outside, look at the sky, the trees, the grass, the flowers, the mountains, animals, an apple (not your phone), your wife, mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter - anything existing naturally (i.e. not manufactured like a car, home, etc.). Where did they come from?

                              The big, blue marble

I'm looking out my kitchen window. The sky is a vibrant blue; there is a large evergreen in our backyard swaying in the wind. I can't see the wind, but I know it's there because the tree is moving. And because if I went outside I would be able to feel the air moving against my skin. There are pine cones hanging from a few of the branches. I'm not an expert but things like acorns and pine cones are the mechanism trees use to make more trees. The grass in the yard is mostly brown; it's not dead...just dormant because it's cold. In the Spring it will turn green again - even if I don't go to Lowe's and get any weed and feed. Because that's what grass does.

                                        Our beautiful earth...

Why?

Because supposedly billions of years ago there was a big explosion out in space and somehow, in a completely random series of events, enough particles came together to form a planet. And over billions of years those particles continued to connect in different (random) ways to form mountains, rivers, trees, oceans, grass, animals and ultimately people. They formed in such a perfect way that they could be self-sustaining.

                                                             ...came from this?

Which school of thought takes the most faith? The one that believes what a book that is thousands of years old says? The one that believes there was a guiding hand that lent purpose to the creation of the earth and everything in it?

Or the one that asks you to believe that all of it - every little thing - came about, in essence, by accident?

It's time to ask yourself...

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